Chapter 208 Weird Behavior

Author: Ximen Yangzhou

Chapter 208 Weird Behavior

Xiang'an belongs to Lujiang County and is located in the southeast of Chaohu Lake. It is a small county in the northeast corner of Lujiang River. It has a small population and is not very eye-catching. However, the sudden appearance of a large number of troops made Li Shu's actions interesting.

Li Shu was appointed as the governor of Lujiang, and focused his main efforts on the south of Lujiang and around Wan County, where he was governed.

Since Sun Ce left only 3,000 garrison troops, Li Shu intended to let the people of Shu County move south to prevent conflict with Long Xiang, who had defeated Sun Ce.

And Long Xiang also moved all the people of Zhengbao in the south of Chaohu to Hefei before Sun Ce attacked Hefei.

As both sides moved south and north, the vast land in the south of Chaohu Lake was flat and fertile but uncultivated, turning it into a strategic buffer zone covered with weeds.

Chaohu Lake, which lies in the middle of Huainan, is a natural dividing line that physically separates Lujiang River and Hefei.

Hefei's surveillance of the Lujiang River focused its attention on Shu County in the south. If not for the accidental discovery by the fishing boat of the cavalry battalion, Li Shu's army almost avoided surveillance.

Long Xiang was very sensitive to the military mobilization around Chaohu. While he asked the cavalry battalion to continue monitoring and reporting, he also sent someone to ask Lu Su to come to the Sima Mansion for discussion.

There was no news from the envoys sent by Sun Quan to Xudu, and the imperial court did not send an appointment edict. Although many people already called Long Xiang the title of Captain, he was not in a hurry to change his title.

Although autumn has entered at this time, the heat of midsummer has not subsided.

Zhang Fei had no military training missions during this period and temporarily acted as Longxiang's guard.

Long Xiang was designing and drawing the new city at his residence, while Zhang Fei stayed at Junsima's residence to enjoy the cool air and escape the summer heat.

Looking at those dense lines and the strange symbols on them, Zhang Fei's mind was like a mess.

Zhang Fei, who was originally lazy and listless, suddenly heard the urgent military situation and stood up as if he was electrocuted. He felt very energetic.

"Yunqi, is there going to be a war?"

"It depends on what Li Shu means. If you dare to attack Hefei and Junqiu, we will show our swords when we should."

Sun Ce's attack on Hefei Longxiang and his inability to escape showed basic respect for the word "little overlord" and the disparity in military strength.

If a cat like Li Shu brought thousands of people to provoke him, Long Xiang wouldn't mind letting him have a long memory.

In addition, the temperature this summer is far higher than in previous years. The high temperature has caused a significant reduction in grain production, and Hefei has even lost some money.

It was now the time for autumn planting and seedling raising, and Long Xiang did not want the impact of the war to delay farming.

Zhang Fei had been in Hefei for several months, and it was the first time he saw Long Xiang being so domineering.

After being stunned for a moment, he nodded and affirmed: "That's right. When it's time to show your sword, use it. People in this world often bully the weak and shy away from the strong. I can't wait until the autumn planting is over, and I don't know how many soldiers I can recruit."

"The total population of Junqiu is less than 10,000 households. It would be good if we could recruit one or two thousand. Don't be too little for Yide." Long Xiang vaccinated Zhang Fei in advance.

Zhang Fei went to Junqiu and knew that there were not many people there, but Long Xiang moved thousands of poor people to farm in Hefei, so more than a thousand people could meet his psychological expectations.

After all, more than a thousand people could not fight, so Zhang Fei smiled and asked Long Xiang to discuss it.

"Yun Qi, I have seen that the people outside Hefei City have probably exceeded the total population of Junqiu. Can't you just let me pick some in Hefei? It takes too long to build a new city. Don't rush."

Long Xiang said earnestly: "It's easy to recruit troops but difficult to raise them. It's not a problem to recruit 20,000 young men outside the city, but the key is that they use the sword to kill the enemy and who uses the hoe to cultivate the land? You can't go out to rob if you don't have food, right?"

Today's summer harvest is not good. Generally, severe drought will be followed by severe floods, and the coming year is unlikely to be a good year. Although there is grain in the official warehouse in Hefei, we still have to live a planned life."

"Hey, I didn't think so much"

Zhang Fei scratched his head and smiled: "In the past, in Xuzhou, the big brother was the one who took care of the food and grass."

Long Xiang said sternly: "Don't worry, Yide. If Hefei has food, it will attract the refugees. There is still some time before you go to find the envoy. You will be able to gather thousands of soldiers. We are not in a hurry."

"Okay." Zhang Fei nodded slightly.

After Long Xiang comforted Zhang Fei, he turned around to find the Huainan map, spread it flat on the table and waited for Lu Su.

Not long after, Lu Su hurriedly entered the mansion and entered the palace.

Holding his hands with Long Xiang, Zhang Fei bowed briefly and sat down at the table where the map was laid.

As soon as Lu Su sat down, Long Xiang asked like a barrage of questions: "Zijing, what do you mean by Li Shu? How could he send troops to Xiang'an for no reason? Could it be that he was going to attack Liyang in the north (now He County, Anhui)?

)?"

"How many people are there?" Lu Su did not answer directly.

Long Xiang shook his head slightly: "Our patrol boats are far away. We haven't counted them clearly yet. We roughly estimate there are several thousand."

"How many thousands of people? If we go to fight Liyang, why not take the water route? Impossible."

Lu Su asked and answered himself, then pointed to the map and added: "Yunqi, look carefully. Even though Lujiang County is large, half of it is covered by mountains (Dabie Mountains) to the west, and the north is occupied by Chen Lan, Lei Xu and others;

Li Shu actually controls only the south of Lujiang River, a narrow area between the two mountain ranges. If he attacks Liyang and openly breaks with Jiangdong, he will never be able to hold it even if he takes it. Liyang is too far away from Wan County, where he governs."

Long Xiang nodded in agreement: "Zijing's analysis is very reasonable, but since he is not going to fight Liyang, he won't go to Xiang'an to play when he is full, right?"

"I can't guess Li Shu's intention. In short, Sun Ce's tens of thousands of people can't attack Hefei, and his thousands of people can't attack a stone with an egg."

Lu Su stopped mid-sentence and suddenly exclaimed: "I once talked with Zhang Zibu. Sun Ce only left three thousand soldiers for Li Shu last year, but now there are thousands of people in Xiang'an. Li Shu's behavior is really

Unbelievable.”

Long Xiang put forward a hypothesis: "Perhaps there was a sudden increase in troops? In the past two months, many refugees fled to Wan County on the other side of the river. Li Shu has the basis for increasing troops."

Lu Su asked without hesitation: "If Li Shu suddenly increases his troops, where will his military rations come from? Sun Ce had completely wiped out the Lujiang River last year."

"Military rations."

Long Xiang frowned and pondered, and continued to hypothesize: "Could it be brought by the refugees from Jiangdong?"

"Refugees bring military rations? Yunqi, you really dare to think that they don't have enough to eat themselves. It would be good if they don't eat the food from Lujiang. How can they give it to Li Shu?"

Zhang Fei listened for a long time and finally got involved in the conversation.

Lu Su was twirling his beard, but suddenly his eyes lit up. He looked at Zhang Fei and said with a smile: "Yunqi's hypothesis is probably true. Those refugees fled to Jiangbei in an organized way. Someone inside Jiangdong must provide convenience and some military rations."

There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Zhang Fei frowned and sighed: "It seems that Jiangdong is really suffering from internal and external troubles. Sun Quan is really miserable."

Long Xiang did not respond to Zhang Fei, but continued to ask Lu Su: "Since the food has a source, it is reasonable for Li Shu to increase his troops. Guess what Zijing wants to do? This march can be said to be silent."

"Li Shu's move makes no sense. We can only wait and see before talking, and let the sentry continue to monitor and conduct reconnaissance."

"Zijing, don't worry, Cao Xing has experience."

Long Xiang nodded slightly and suddenly asked: "Will Li Shu come to attack Hefei or Junqiu?"

"The number of this partial division is too small. Yunqi can send people to monitor the direction of Shu County. If there are more troops in the future, it may be possible."

Lu Su frowned and finished speaking, waving his hands and answering firmly: "It's even more unsound to fight against Jun Qiu. It's impossible."
Chapter completed!