gnovel Chapter 27: Delaying the Flow
Chapter 27: Delaying the Flow
Sun Ce is going to lead an army of 100,000 to attack Lujiang!
The news spread like wildfire and quickly reached the entire city of Wancheng.
On the very night Yuan Yao received Sun Ce's challenge, he immediately convened an emergency military meeting to discuss how to respond with his confidants and several senior officials of the Zhong clan.
Zhang Xun arrived at the Grand Commander's Mansion with a sour face and took the initiative to sit in the farthest seat.
Just a day ago, Yuan Yao was colluding with that scoundrel Yang Hong to suppress the military forces represented by Zhang Xun—thankfully, Yuan Yao didn't go all out and his methods were relatively mild, otherwise they would have turned against each other long ago.
But when they heard that Sun Ce was going to attack, the two of them instantly changed their expressions and respectfully invited Zhang Xun to come and discuss state affairs.
It's truly a case of being arrogant at first and then obsequious later, which is quite laughable.
These two were incredibly thick-skinned, completely unfazed by the embarrassment, and utterly ignored Zhang Xun's death stare.
That's not surprising.
Yang Hong is a typical example of someone in a moral vacuum, who only sees self-interest and not right or wrong, and naturally feels no sense of shame.
Although Yuan Yao's skill level wasn't that high yet, after spending so much time with Zhong's scoundrels, his moral compass gradually became more flexible.
(Yuan Yao: Politics is a dirty game, and I'm a dirty player~)
Once everyone had arrived, the meeting officially began.
Yuan Yao spoke first: "Sun Ce's attack is fierce. With our army's current strength, can we withstand his invasion?"
Sitting in the corner, Zhang Xun replied, "If it were before, I could have wiped out Sun Ce without breaking a sweat. But now, hmph, there are treacherous people in the court."
Zhang Xun stared intently at Yang Hong, convinced that this scoundrel had bewitched Yuan Yao; otherwise, how could the two sides, who had always cooperated so well, suddenly turn against each other?
Yuan Yao had a slight headache.
Admittedly, Zhang Xun was exaggerating, but he did get one thing right.
That is, the Zhong family is carrying out military reforms. Whether it is the personnel transfer of officers at the top level or the reorganization of the army at the bottom level, it has just begun and is currently in the most chaotic period, making it impossible to fight.
Currently, the only remaining fighting force consists of the newly expanded Imperial Guard and a small portion of the old army that has not yet been reformed, totaling no more than a few thousand men.
However, Sun Ce on the other side is said to have an army of 100,000, and even if that's just a figure of speech, he would still have 50,000 if his army was reduced to half!
Yuan Yao looked at Yang Hong: "Is it possible to use diplomatic means to make Sun Ce back down?"
Yang Hong looked troubled: "We can try, but this old minister thinks the chances are slim."
The main issue this time is that Yuan Yao is in the wrong.
Who told him to raise the banner of a southern expedition against Sun Ce and to publicize it so widely that everyone thought the Yuan family was going to fight to the death against the Sun family?
This allowed the Zhong clan to seize a rare window of opportunity and, while the other feudal lords were watching the show, successfully invade and annex Lujiang.
From this perspective, the war was actually initiated by Yuan Yao. He had declared war on Sun Ce several months earlier, and this time it was just retaliation.
Yuan Yao continued, "Can you find any foreign aid?"
Yang Hong opened his mouth: "I'm afraid that won't work either."
As mentioned before, the Zhong family has recently ushered in a rare period of opportunity, as the surrounding forces are all busy with more important matters and have no time to attack Huainan for the time being.
But fortune and misfortune are intertwined. They had no time to attack, so naturally they had no time to provide support. This time, Zhongshi could only face Sun Ce's threat alone.
Huang Yi suddenly had a brilliant idea: "How about we contact Gongsun Du in Liaodong?"
Everyone looked at him as if he were an idiot.
Huang Yi: "...Never mind what I said."
Seeing that his family was isolated and helpless, Yuan Yao sighed deeply, feeling extremely bad.
Is there no law left?
Are there any laws?
Sun Ce has blatantly crossed the line and launched a large-scale invasion of Lujiang County, which belongs to the Zhong clan. Is there anyone who can do something about this? I, Yuan, am willing to acknowledge him as my father!
Yan Xiang encouraged him, saying, "There are no fixed formations in warfare, just as water has no fixed shape. Even if the enemy is strong and we are weak, there is still a chance to turn defeat into victory. Your Highness, do not be discouraged."
Liu Ye also said, "Young lord, in my humble opinion, Sun Ce's move is merely a bluff, an attempt to throw us into disarray. That is not the case."
The reason is simple.
Given Sun Ce's personality, he never talked about martial virtue. If he thought he could easily subdue Yuan Yao, he would never have issued a challenge. Instead, he would have directly led tens of thousands of warships to the Yangtze River.
Therefore, although the situation Zhongshi is facing seems dire, there is actually a certain buffer period, which can be used to accomplish a lot if it is used properly.
Yuan Yao humbly asked, "Ziyang, what brilliant plan do you have?"
Liu Ye said, "Why not try the delaying tactic?"
What's the trick to stalling?
This brings us to the situation inside Jiangdong.
It must be acknowledged that Sun Ce was quite capable in battle. Starting from the first year of Xingping (194 AD), he successively defeated Liu Yao, Wang Lang, Chen Yu, Yan Baihu, Xu Gong, and others, almost unifying Jiangdong. He absolutely deserves the title of Little Conqueror.
On the other hand, Sun Ce was ruthless and cruel, and his brutality and bloodthirstiness during his campaigns made Jiangdong unstable. There were often counterattacks from the old forces, such as Taishi Ci, a former subordinate of Liu Yao who had been fighting guerrilla warfare in the mountains a year earlier.
Although Taishi Ci has now surrendered to Sun Ce, there are still other anti-Sun forces in Jiangdong. As long as we can contact these people and incite them to cause trouble behind Sun Ce's back, even if we can't tie down many troops, we can at least slow down the enemy's advance. If we're lucky, we can even carry out an assassination...
As for how much delay there is, there is a limit. If all of these fail and Sun Ce insists on attacking Lujiang, what should be done then?
Liu Ye shrugged. He wasn't a god; he had already done more than enough to help the Zhong family buy more time to prepare for war.
Then Yuan Yao understood.
In the end, all I can rely on is that same phrase:
If we hold firm, there's a way!
Having realized this, Yuan Yao abandoned his illusions. Since his own side was likely to have to fight Sun Ce head-on, he had no choice but to seriously reorganize his army.
Unfortunately, his military reform plan, which he had just begun, had to be postponed.
On the other hand, looking on the bright side, if this battle is won, it will be a grueling tempering process for Zhong's army, making reforms much easier to implement at that time.
Having made up his mind, Yuan Yao stood up and declared, "Pass on my order: effective today, issue a general mobilization order, and put the entire nation into a state of war to confront Sun Ce!"
Everyone bowed in unison: "Yes, sir!"
Since it is a state of war, it is naturally different from normal times.
First, an additional war tax was levied. Then, a curfew and material control were implemented in Wancheng, with even food being rationed. Other commercial and entertainment activities were completely banned.
In addition, Yuan Yao used to be concerned about the social impact and would often pretend to be respectable when dealing with powerful families. Now that the Zhong family is facing a life-or-death crisis, he doesn't care about anything anymore. He just randomly picks a few soft targets with bad reputations and goes to their homes to confiscate their property and arrest their people.
This move immediately caused quite a stir in Lujiang County. Some powerful local figures, seeing that Yuan Yao's actions were becoming increasingly outrageous, quickly realized that they would inevitably face retribution sooner or later. Coupled with the growing shadow of war, they immediately decided to pack up their bags and flee to find a better place elsewhere.
Some of them fled north to Cao Cao's camp, but let's leave that aside for now.
Another group, perhaps harboring deep resentment towards Yuan Yao, simply headed south to Jiangdong, intending to seek refuge with Sun Ce, an enemy of the Zhong clan.
These powerful clans could not bear the fear of not knowing tomorrow under Yuan Yao's rule. They longed for Sun Ce to lead them to fight back, so they slandered Yuan Yao in front of him in an attempt to gain Sun Ce's sympathy.
The local tyrants said, "General Sun, you don't know! That Yuan Yao is utterly wicked and has committed countless atrocities. He killed over a hundred of our fellow villagers, all of whom were good people!"
"Killed over a hundred? Oh, that's quite a lot." Sun Ce looked surprised, then asked, "But what about yesterday?"