Chapter 117 – Each Sides Reaction to the Big Event in Lujiang (1)
Translated by Bloodfalcon, Edited by Krayto
4 major cities in Jiangdong started their movement. Jianye, Hukou, Chaohu and Wuhu, all are noisy these days, they are busy loading grain and provisions, and weapons into the warship. Soldiers one by one boarding into the ship and quickly raising the war banner as if showing their superiority in the water.
The big warship can be considered a carrier class in modern times. Its body was several stories high. There are also smaller boats which can only hold several people called Meng Chong boats. That kind of boat is classified as a destroyer class in that age. This boat is small but it is the overlord in river battles.
Its speed is unmatched in naval battle. Once a large ship was rammed by this Meng Chong boats, it will tumble to one side. This type of boat was usually used by pirate, and was used to rob merchant ships by ramming into them and boarding that merchant ship. A common ship is not a match for Meng Chong boat’s speed.
Moreover, it is small in size. Once the government troops attacked, they can just hide in marshes and disappear quickly.
Now, the entire Jiangdong made their move because Sun Ce is retreating its main force in preparation a for revenge battle.
How can Sun Ce let Lu Bu sleep soundly for offending him, not to mention that his own wife was murdered in Jiangdong by Lu Bu’s army? What Sun Ce had right now is 30,000 elite naval troops.
However, out of nowhere, Sun Ce amassed 100,000 troops to do battle with Lu Bu’s army. Those 30,000 naval units were his elites and the other 70,000 troops were drafted from all of Jiangdong. A Majority of them were the nobles’ private soldiers. The death of the Chen clan in Wancheng city touched the nerve of some noble clans. 50,000 troops was collected by Jiangdong nobles and the remaining 20,000 were Sun clan’s personal soldiers. Thus one can see, the terror of nobles.
Offending nobles never had any good results. Historically, when Cao Pi made Cao Wei Kingdom and had the entire nation on its heels, they were only able to suppress the nobles to the point of opening the imperial examination system and Nine Grades Official Selection to the common people.
Cao Wei wanted to eliminate these nobles but they couldn’t. Cao Wei’s kingdom was also afraid of offending these nobles completely due to nobles also possessing the ability to create a separate power. And in the end, Cao Wei kingdom was seized by another noble, that person is Sima Zhao of the Sima clan who subsequently made the Jin Dynasty.
With Jiangdong making such big movements, naturally they cannot hide anything from the nation's warlords.
Now, we go to Xiaopei city in Xu Province. Cao Cao is the final victor of his battle against Liu Bei but unfortunately he is unable to capture Guan Yu in this timeline. In Cao Cao's hand there is an Intel from Jiangdong. Cao Cao's face is very complex when reading the Intel, sometimes frowning, sometimes smiling.
The intel reported that Sun Ce of Jiangdong who initially marched toward Jiangxia to capture entire it and swallow Jing Province, unexpectedly retreated to his main HQ to battle in Jiangdong. Unexpectedly, his opponent is Cao Cao's old acquaintance, Lu Bu.
A few weeks ago, when he got the rumor that Lu Bu and Sun Ce had made an alliance, Cao Cao was truly frightened. Lu Bu is a very formidable foe, Cao Cao himself only with great difficulty managed to expel Lu Bu and he needed more than 100,000 troops to do that.
This Sun Ce is also more frightening than Sun Jian. Sun Ce is known as Jiangdong's Little Conqueror, and that title is not only for show. Sun Ce is currently still in his twenties, but he can pacify Jiangdong with only 3,000 borrowed troops from Yuan Shu and a little amount of veteran generals, that is his true accomplishment.
In this nation, there are only two people that Cao Cao most feared, that is Lu Bu and Sun Ce.
Once they formed an alliance, the Jing Province that Liu Biao held will be impossible to defend and he will lose his inheritance. Liu Zhang of Yi Province is also the same as Liu Biao, only having interest in defending their own inheritance, so more or less, they will be defeated by Sun and Lu alliance in the same way.
If that happens, half of this nation will be in Sun Ce's hands. With Sichuan under his control, he will have unlimited supply of grain and provisions due to Sichuan being a very fertile land. And on his hand there is an elite squad called Danyang soldiers of Western Chu.
At that time, Cao Cao will just go personally to Sun Ce and Lu Bu throwing a towel in front of them and maybe ally with them in order to destroy Yuan Benchu who is currently eyeing him covetously.
But now, this news brought relief to Cao Cao. Sun Ce of Jiangdong not only he did not make an alliance with Lu Bu, but now they became enemies. Lu Bu is an old tiger, but he bumped into Sun Ce this new tiger, naturally it will be a fun entertainment.
“Fengxiao, Gongda, both of you, say your views!” These days Cao Cao truly happy, because he had two of his most reliable advisors around which are Guo Jia and Xun You. Every time he went to battle, he always brought Guo Jia and Xun You. He actually had another advisor who is extremely clever named Xun Yu, but Cao Cao did not brought this Xun Yu with him, because his ability is shine by managing army's rear.
“How can this change get so big? A few weeks ago, Lu Bu and Sun Ce were in amiable terms, they were so friendly that they formed an alliance and even broke through Jiangxia. This matter really confusing!” Xun You's brow wrinkled. Xun You truly did not understand what happened in Jiangdong. From Liu Mang's victory over the war of words to Sun Ce's marriage. That news was spread throughout the nation like wildfire. If Lu Bu and Sun Ce did not have a good relationship with each other, it is impossible for Sun Ce to invite Lu Bu to his wedding and forgive Lu Bu’s army after offending its two top advisors.
Moreover, Sun Ce’s army had overcome half of Jiangxia with Lu Bu’s army's help. This news made Liu Biao of Jing Province sleepless at nights, and not just Liu Biao, this news also made this whole nations warlords shaken to the core. The presence of these two warlords joining up terrified everyone else to that point that all of the other warlords would possibly join up to repel these two.
Now the news has become, Sun Ce leaving Zhou Yu to return to Jiangdong's HQ to build up 100,000 troops to prepare its attack on Wancheng city in order to eliminate Lu Bu.
“What is strange about this? A mountain can only have one male tiger. If it is have two, it can only one male and one female!” Guo Jia's conclusion is much simpler. He already looked at the changing situation in Jiangdong.
Lu Bu is the god of war in this era, he is the mighty tiger who managed to pin down all the warlords in Hulao Gate, with that as his accomplishments, is this tiger satisfied working under other people?
If a tiger did not have its fierceness, can he still be called a tiger?! Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo wanted to turn this mighty tiger into pet cat, and they have paid the ultimate price for that.
Yuan Shao also wanted to tame this tiger, provide shelter for him when he has just expelled from Luoyang by Li Jue and Guo Si but Lu Bu's arrogance made Yuan Shao disgusted with him and actually made Yuan Shao want to kill him, but he escaped adding further insult to Yuan Shao.
Even Cao Cao, before he attacked Xiapi also talked with Lu Bu, he wanted to give Lu Bu a commander position for his Yan Province army, making Lu Bu a spearhead in his expedition to pacify the nation while Cao Cao sits behind him guarding the rear area.
With both of them, they would definitely make this nation's warlords tremble in fear. Liu Bei also wanted Lu Bu to submit under him, but in the end, his Xu Province was snatched by Lu Bu and Liu Bei was forced to hide in a small city of Xiaopei
But these people are defeated in their own terms. Cao Cao using 100,000 troops was able to overtake Lu Bu's base Xu Province, he is still unable to take down this mighty tiger and was even hurt by Lu Bu by almost annihilating Cao's Ferocious Cavalry. In the end, Xu Province was also snatched back by Liu Bei, furthering Cao's wound.
Sun Ce of Jiangdong is also an arrogant and rebellious person much like Lu Bu. When Sun Jian is dead, properly speaking, the Sun clan's light should have been diminished, but this Sun Ce personally took up the Sun clan banner and quickly pacified Jiangdong further rising the Sun clan's fame.
If Sun Ce is a person who is only glad being an employee, logically he should have comply with Yuan Shu's request to marry Yuan Shu's daughter and after that he would become Yuan Shu's sword. But, he directly rejected it and even offered the Imperial Seal in exchange for 3,000 soldiers for himself.
That Imperial Seal that is the most valuable object in the whole nation. If one calculates the value, even 30,000 troops are not enough to cover its value. But Sun Ce just gritted his teeth and thanked Yuan Shu with only 3,000 soldiers, at that moment the child in Sun Ce changed into wolf. As a result, Sun Ce able to lay his foundation in Jiangdong.
Both Lu Bu and Sun Ce are arrogant characters, how can they possibly submit under other people. A mountain can only have one tiger, if it has two, certainly that one is male and one is female and that is true even to this day.
What Guo Jia did not know is why these two people were so quickly to prepare for battle. If he is Sun Ce, first he must take Jiangxia first and then hold Chibi. After that he will definitely block the entire Jing Province army at Chibi. Only after doing that, can he retreat back to main his HQ to gather forces again to fully destroy Lu Bu.
But now, Sun Ce can had this irrational decision, it is certainly have a big matter that impacted Sun Ce’s whole being.
“Da Qiao died!!!” Cao Cao said it in regretful tone. This Old Cao is a person who liked beautiful landscape and also beautiful women. A man liking beautiful women is a very normal matter, but Old Cao's obsession for possessing beautiful women goes even further than that and that is one of his big weaknesses.
When he was young, he was one of Luoyang’s three big playboy, along with Yuan Shao and Xu You. Later when he had his own home base, he married Madame Bian. Afterwards he drooled for Diaochan. When Old Cao hit Xu Province, some people thought it was because he wanted to obtain Diaochan.
And also, when he was at Nanyang. At the battle of Wan Castle, he lost his son Cao Ang, his nephew Cao Anmin and his general Dian Wei because he drooled with Madame Zou who has just become a widow.
Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao. Cao Cao had known them much earlier than Sun Ce and Zhou Yu. They are Lord Qiao Xuan's daughter, they are also known as the pearls of Huainan. Historically, later on, Cao Cao made a copper platform especially for these two women, but what a pity, he cannot overcome Jiangdong due to Zhou Yu's tactics.
Now, that the two Qiaos have lost one person, it can be described as a damaged jade. So Old Cao cannot help but lament this loss.
Guo Jia who listened to Cao Cao's words just shook his head because he understood what he meant. He lamented in his heart, because of how difficult it is to change Cao Cao's obsession for women.
“All of you, who are you going to bet as the winner? Lu Bu or Sun Ce?!” Cao Cao is very curious. These two people are the bane of his existence, possibly they can stop his plan for hegemony. But these two actually went battle now. Two tigers fighting are bound to have a large wound.
Is it the god-of-war Lu Bu or Jiangdong's Little Conqueror who will win this battle?
“Both of them, eh?!” Guo Jia wanted to say that Sun Ce is the one who will win, because Sun Ce has the entire Jiangdong at his beck and call. He had all the nobles of Jiangdong backing him. He also had Huang Gai and Han Dang and all the veteran generals. On the advisor side, he had Zhang Hong, Zhang Zhao, and co. Jiangdong also have the handsome Zhou Yu as a viceroy who was assisting Sun Ce in competing for hegemony.
However, Guo Jia just held his tongue from speaking further, because he is truly uncertain. Suddenly Guo Jia remembered Kaiyang, a young man who insulted Cao Cao until he almost vomited blood. Guo Jia is a sly genius, and did not dare to boast that his plan is foolproof but he is very confident in his schemes, but after the battle of Kaiyang, he is unable to explain the event of this nation.
That young man ruined his calculations. Originally, he made a plan for Cao Cao to surround Xiapi, after that he proposed for Cao Cao to break the dam of Yi River and Si River so Xiapi would drowned, further lowering Lu Bu's army morale. Sooner or later Lu Bu will lose. But no one had thought that there was a wild card played in Lu Bu's army. That wild card helped Lu Bu step by step to escape Xiapi and also the one who held them off for a whole 10 hours were Wei Xu and Song Xian who originally betrayed Lu Bu, but they reformed at the last hours.
After that, at the battle of Kaiyang. Kaiyang was sieged by the Ferocious Cavalry and their soldiers, it was impossible for Lu Bu to escape. After the battle of Xiapi, Lu Bu quickly was besieged in another battle in Kaiyang!
However Guo Jia misjudged again. That wild card was set in play. The result was that Lu Bu escaped with his freshly restored Bing Province Heavy Cavalry. Not only did Lu Bu escaped, but he also destroyed Cao's trump card, the Ferocious Cavalry and killed General Cao Chun and Major Li Dian.
And at the end, it also made Lu Bu and Guo Jia's showdown to a big draw
“This is an opportunity!!” Guo Jia just shook his head because he needed to say his opinion even though he does not understand anything anymore!