dognovel Chapter 428 places its hopes on ancestral blessings.
Chapter 428 places its hopes on ancestral blessings.
In the days before radio, message transmission was severely delayed, and the delay was directly proportional to the distance between the two places; the farther the distance, the later the message would be received, as is the case in present-day Jiangling City.
The distance from Jiangling to Yuhan is over 1,300 li. In addition to mountains, rivers, and lakes, the Wei, Han, and Wu armies also created obstacles, forcing the people to retreat and cutting off trade, making the transmission of information increasingly difficult.
More importantly, Guan Xing annihilated Lu Xun so thoroughly that tens of thousands of Wu soldiers were trapped in the corridor without a single survivor. Under such circumstances, who would send someone to inform Sun Quan?
Therefore, Jiangling has only received the bad news that Lu Xun sent back earlier, that Han Dang committed suicide and Xu Sheng was killed, but has not received the news that Lu Xun and Lü Dai were captured.
Nevertheless, the news still caused a huge uproar in Jiangling City. Sun Quan was so frightened that he couldn't sleep for several days. Even the wise and steady Zhang Zhao went mad and for a while, he was so confused that he couldn't even tell which way was which.
Other officials and gentry collectively fell into self-doubt, became extremely worried about the upcoming battle, and even began to consider their options.
The reason they haven't taken action yet is because they still hold onto a sliver of hope for Lu Xun. They hope that Lu Xun can make a miraculous comeback, defeat Guan Xing, and achieve final victory. They don't expect him to retake Kuaiji and recover Wu County as planned, but at least he can win a victory to boost morale.
Indeed, the people of Eastern Wu no longer expect to reclaim Jiangdong. They only hope that Lu Xun can win a battle and return alive, so that they can still hold Jingzhou and play both sides between Cao Cao and Liu Bei. If Lu Xun also dies, Eastern Wu will be truly finished.
To put it simply, the current top management of Soochow University is like a student who has already taken the exam and walked out of the exam hall, knowing that they failed but not yet seeing their college entrance exam results. They are praying to God every day for a miracle to happen and hoping that their scores will exceed the admission score.
The most agonizing state is knowing you're doomed, yet still hoping for a miracle because you haven't seen the final outcome.
Therefore, after receiving news of Han Dang and Xu Sheng's deaths, Sun Quan did only one thing: he ordered Zhou Tai, who was stationed in Chaisang, to have his eldest son, Zhou Cheng, lead 5,000 troops back to Jiangling to strengthen the defenses of Jiangling. Then he prayed to the gods and waited anxiously for Lu Xun's victory report.
Inside the general's mansion, Sun Quan looked at the food brought by the maid but had no appetite. He sat at the table for a long time before sighing and getting up. He took the food into the inner room and placed it as an offering in front of the memorial tablets of his father Sun Jian and elder brother Sun Ce.
This was naturally not the old memorial tablet of Sun Jian and Sun Ce in Jiangdong, but a new one that Sun Quan had temporarily made after receiving the tragic news of Han Dang and Xu Sheng's deaths in battle. After placing the offerings and lighting incense for his father and brothers, Sun Quan said with a dejected look, "Father and elder brother, our Sun family has encountered the greatest crisis since the uprising began. I am powerless to help. You must protect me from the afterlife and help me get through this calamity and preserve the foundation of our Sun family."
After making his sincere wish, Sun Quan respectfully kowtowed three times to his father and brothers, showing that he had placed all his hopes for victory on the divine intervention of his ancestors.
With such meager offerings, how can such grand ambitions be fulfilled?
Sun Quan stared at the memorial tablet in silence for a moment before getting up and heading to the front hall to summon Zhang Zhao and Gu Yong to discuss a solution. He couldn't keep being so dejected.
Just as he was trying to cheer himself up and get back on track, several fast horses rushed from the direction of Chaisang to the city of Jiangling. The soldiers guarding the city saw that they all had command flags on their backs and did not dare to stop them, allowing them to rush into the city.
The messenger with the command flag on his back entered the city and headed straight for the general's mansion. When he arrived outside the mansion, he found that Zhang Zhaosun, Shao Gu Yong and three others had arrived at the same time and had already gotten out of their carriages and stepped onto the steps in front of the general's mansion.
Zhang, Sun, and Gu came to Sun Quan to discuss the follow-up matters. They needed to come up with a solution to the negative impact of Han Dang and Xu Sheng's deaths in battle; they couldn't just abandon the situation and do nothing.
So Zhang Zhao called Sun Shao and Gu Yong to come over together. Unexpectedly, as soon as they stepped onto the steps, they heard the sound of horses' hooves behind them and instinctively turned around. When they saw the messenger coming at high speed, all three of them felt a jolt in their hearts.
The more chaotic the situation became, the more afraid they were of seeing the messenger, fearing that he would bring them more bad news, while at the same time hoping that he would bring good news. With this contradictory feeling of fear and expectation, the three of them tacitly stopped and waited for the messenger to come.
After the messenger dismounted, Zhang Zhao immediately asked, "I am Zhang Zhao. What kind of letter are you delivering, and who delivered it?"
The messenger, recognizing Zhang Zhao's identity, quickly bowed and said, "Lin Feng, the scout commander under Commander Zhou Tai, greets the strategist. Several days ago, Commander Zhou received a message from the Grand Counselor Jia Kui, saying that the Eastern Expeditionary Army led by Grand Commander Lu Dai had been completely annihilated by Guan Xing, and even Grand Commander Lu Dai himself had been captured. Jia Kui has already left Wanling and is on his way to Chaisang, saying that he will come to Jiangling to meet the lord. Commander Zhou dared not delay and ordered me to come immediately to report to the lord..."
What? The Eastern Expeditionary Army was completely annihilated by Guan Xing?
Even Lu Xun was captured?
This devastating news was like a meteorite falling from the sky and striking the tops of the three people's heads precisely, causing their souls to leave their bodies and the world to spin around them, their upper bodies swaying as if they might fall at any moment.
A moment later, Gu Yong was the first to give in and fall backward. Gu Yong was standing to Zhang Zhao's left front at that moment, so he naturally fell on top of Zhang Zhao. Zhang Zhao was also on the verge of falling, so he couldn't withstand the impact and tragically fell down with Gu Yong. When he fell, he instinctively reached out to grab Sun Shao's belt, trying to use Sun Shao to steady himself. As a result, Sun Shao was also pulled to the ground, and then the three old men fell down on the steps at the same time.
These were marble steps, and Zhang Zhao had been pinned down by Sun Shao and Gu Yong. His back hit the edge of the steps, almost breaking his back, and he screamed in agony.
The screams startled Sun Shao and Gu Yong awake. The two quickly got up and helped him sit up, but instead of checking Zhang Zhao's injuries, they stared at the messenger and asked, "You said that the news of Grand Commander Lu's defeat was sent by Jia Kui?"
The messenger quickly took down two letters and handed them to the three men, saying, "These are letters from Jia Kui to Commander Zhou and from Commander Zhou to our lord. Please take a look, strategist."
Ignoring the pain, Zhang Zhao quickly reached out and snatched it. Sun Shao and Gu Yong immediately came over to watch it together. After watching it, the three fell into a long silence.
In his letter to Zhou Tai, Jia Kui recounted Xie Jing's plea for help and Luo Tong's return, as well as the deduction from Xie Jing and Luo Tong that Lu Xun had been completely annihilated. Finally, he expressed his desire to travel from Chaisang to Jiangling to meet Sun Quan and asked Zhou Tai for assistance.
The letter is signed by Xie Jing and Luo Tong at the end, proving its authenticity.
Zhou Tai's letter was brief, stating that he had sent men to Yuhan to investigate Lu Xun's whereabouts and verify the authenticity of Jia Kui's letter. He asked Sun Quan to wait patiently, promising to report back to him immediately once the situation was clear.
The three stared at the letter for a long time before gradually coming back to their senses. Zhang Zhao looked as if he had aged ten years in an instant, and said weakly, "Xie Jing has already gone to ask Cao Ren for help, which shows how dangerous Lu Xun is. Moreover, the fact that Jia Kui came to Jiangling in person is enough to prove the authenticity of the news. We actually have to rely on Jia Kui to report such a big thing. How badly Lu Xun must have been defeated."
Sun Shao sighed in agreement, "Yes, Lu Xun's tens of thousands of troops couldn't even get a messenger out. In the end, we had to rely on Jia Kui to inform us. How did he even fight this battle?"
Gu Yong sighed, "There's no point in talking about this now. Let's go see our lord first and report the situation to him."
After saying this, he and Sun Shao worked together to help Zhang Zhao up. The three dejected old men weakly stepped over the threshold and walked into the mansion. Their hunched backs were full of sorrow no matter how you looked at them.