"Kill! Capture Cao Cao alive." Seeing that he won this battle and defeated the enemy, Sun Quan was very excited and immediately ordered the army to launch a counterattack, preparing to break through Guangling in one fell swoop, and then occupy Xuzhou, seize the emperor, and achieve his goal of holding the emperor to command the princes.

However, unexpectedly, the Cao army was defending stubbornly. The Wu army launched many charges, but they were all useless. Seeing that it was almost dark, Sun Quan had no choice but to order the withdrawal of troops.

"I really didn't expect that the soldiers under the old thief would have the ability to defend themselves. Humph, I'm going to give him a discount and save his life in vain!" Sun Quan snorted, but his face was full of pride.

At this time, the personal commander Jia Hua came forward and said, "Lord, the battle situation has been calculated. The Chu army lost more than 20,000 people in this battle, and more than 5,000 warships of all sizes. Correspondingly, our army also lost more than 16,000 people and more than 2,000 warships. Although the soldiers were fighting with high spirits, they could also see that they were very tired and looked forward to resting."

"Since it is the common wish of the soldiers in the army, how could I go against their wishes? Since that's the case, then withdraw your troops. Although you haven't won the full effort, this battle is also exciting. It's enough to fight here."

Although Sun Quan said it beautifully on the surface, in fact, he had no choice but to withdraw his troops because of the serious losses.

Despite this, this battle has indeed boosted morale and increased its prestige again.

"Haha, although the old thief Cao Cao defended the north bank, this battle made him lose all his might. I guess the old thief would not have any ambitions in the future. In the future, we only need to continue to attack Xuzhou, and one day we will break through Xia Pi and welcome the emperor back."

When Sun Quan won, he was very proud and ordered the Jin Dynasty to withdraw his troops.

After returning to the south bank, Sun Quan ordered the rewards of merits and designated Yu Fan as the first meritorious service, appointed Yu Fan as the prefect of Danyang, the chief minister of Wu Gong's mansion, the Dong Cao official, and the appointment of management, and became a hot figure for a while.

"Lord, your reward to your subordinates is too heavy. How dare you accept this?" At the celebration banquet, when Sun Quan was the first to toast him, Yu Fan pretended to give in.

But when Sun Quan looked dark, he said seriously: "Zhongxiang, don't say that. I just think the reward for you is too thin. When our army was attacking Cao Zheshui Village, we were attacked by the opponent's stone-throwing cart. At that time, the morale of the army was in chaos and the soldiers had no desire to fight. Even I thought about retreating. Fortunately, you made suggestions to me at that time. If it weren't for your suggestions, I'm afraid that the old thief Cao Cao would be held here now. Also, when the war was not started yesterday

, You suggest to me to be careful of the fraud of Cao thieves. But I was immersed in the fantasy of defeating Cao thieves and did not care about it. As a result, I suffered a defeat. If I had listened to your advice at that time, our army would not have lost so many people. Today, it is very likely that I could have defeated Guangling in one fell swoop. This glass of wine is to toast you and apologize to you. I hope you can assist me wholeheartedly in the future, point out my shortcomings and avoid making similar mistakes."

"Hehe, if you hadn't seen through your true face of being respectful and arrogant in the front, if you hadn't already belonged to your lord, I'm afraid I would have been confused by your acting." Looking at the face that was very sincere, Yu Fan sneered in his heart. He had already known that Sun Quan was a desperate attempt to win over when he was worthy of others, even if he could call him father, he would be fine. If he didn't need to be cold to you, he would like to be frosty to get rid of his hypocritical nature, so he would naturally be immune to this person's performance.

However, Yu Fan did not show it, but instead showed a look of flattery and gratitude. He said emotionally to Sun Quan: "My lord treats me like this, even if Feng is torn to pieces, it will be difficult to repay this kindness and virtue."

Seeing Yu Fan talking like this, Sun Quan nodded with satisfaction. His plan to win over Yu Fan was successfully implemented. In the future, as long as such a person is loyal to him, he can rely on this to stabilize the order in Jiangdong, and at the same time slowly seize Xuzhou, and realize his plan to hold the emperor to command the princes. As long as this plan is realized, he will implement the strategy of forming a good relationship with Liu He, and his status will be as safe as Mount Tai.

After the banquet, Sun Quan left Yu Fan alone and invited him to the study room to discuss the future grand strategy with Yu Fan. Yu Fan said: "Now under the auspices of Duke Qin, the border between our army and the Shu army and the Han army is stable. It may not be easy to break this pattern. At present, our army has Lingling, Changsha, Guiyang, Jingzhou, and the place east of Cangwu County in Jiaozhou, as well as Jiangdong. It is strong enough to compete with the Shu army. However, given that the Grand General Zhou had no choice but to do so before.

We should not attack Shu when attacking Shu. Fortunately, Cao Cao has suffered heavy damage. We need to concentrate our troops in the future to deal with Cao Cao first. As long as we can break through Xuzhou and welcome the emperor, the lord will gain the advantage of using the emperor to command the princes. At that time, Liu Chan and Duke Qin were named as relatives of the Han Dynasty, while the lord would compete with them in the name of supporting the emperor. To talk about 10,000 steps, even if Duke Qin unified the world in the end, the lord would not lose the position of princes in the future.”

"Haha, Zhongxiang's words are exactly what I want. This is really given to me by God." Sun Quan held Yu Fan's hand and said with a loud laugh.

The next day, Sun Quan ordered that except for 10,000 soldiers to guard the western border counties, the rest were concentrated in Qu'a, and the navy governor Huang Gai was responsible for the city's training.

In fact, Huang Gai was the most suitable candidate in terms of qualifications, prestige and talent, but because Huang Gai was Sun Ce's old minister and later became friendly with Zhou Yu, Sun Quan was displeased, so he changed it to Ling Cao, and Huang Gai continued to be responsible for the construction of Moling Stone City.

Now facing the good situation of attacking Xuzhou, Sun Quan is even more looking forward to relocating the capital to Danyang, so he strictly urges Huang Gai to speed up the progress of the project and must be completed within three months.

Huang Gai, who received the order, was immediately miserable because he knew that the people's power had been used enough now. If it was completed within three months, two-thirds of the people's power in several counties would need to be levied. This means that not only adult men, but also young men, elderly and women would have to transfer a large part of it. By then, the public's grievances were boiling, and I'm afraid they would not be able to suppress it.

Thinking of this, Huang Gai was in a very complicated mood and wrote a letter to Sun Quan, urging Sun Quan to be lenient for a while. However, the reply was that Sun Quan ordered the people of Xindu County nearby to be included in the scope of the levy, and Huang Gai was assigned to recruit people, but this task must be completed in a timely manner.

"Although Xindu is close to Danyang, it is about 800 miles from the nearest Yi County to Shitou City. If it is to recruit people's power, it will take at least one month. When they arrive, there will be only two months left before the deadline. This is the best situation. But now it is the wheat harvest season, and the people are busy, who is willing to apply for the recruitment? If you force it, it is easy to cause civil rebellion. If you don't force it, I will be a criminal who is ineffective. Alas, I am in a dilemma now. Instead of doing this, I might as well stop doing it and avoid a disaster for the people."
Chapter completed!