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Chapter 2734 The Governor of Yangzhou!

After finishing his cough, Fa Zheng's face regained a lot of color. He patted the corner of his mouth with a handkerchief and then calmly said, "Your Majesty, this method is difficult, but it has given hope to others who are willing to surrender."

If Your Majesty could simultaneously grant Sun Quan the title of Marquis of Wu and Zhang Zhao the title of Marquis of Yue, I don't believe Zhang Zhao would wholeheartedly support Sun Quan after being granted a marquisate himself!
I believe that once a rift develops between them, even if we can't wipe out Jiangdong this time, we will definitely be able to defeat them one by one in the future.

Liu Bei thought this plan was quite good; it was just a simple imperial edict, yet it could plunge Jiangdong into internal strife—it was practically a zero-cost operation. He then looked at the other ministers.

The other ministers also nodded in agreement, and even the Jingzhou faction thought that Fa Zheng's idea from the Yizhou faction was good.

However, the Jingzhou faction couldn't possibly remain completely silent; that would make them seem utterly useless. So, Ma Liang stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, I believe that the Earl of Fangcheng should be appointed as the Governor of Yangzhou!"

In this way, Marquis Fangcheng, you will have a legitimate reason to deal with the military affairs of Wu Commandery and Kuaiji.

After all, Wu Commandery and Kuaiji both belong to Yangzhou, so it is perfectly reasonable and legal for the Earl of Fangcheng to handle this matter!

Liu Bei thought this idea was pretty good, but the problem was that Guan Yu had already become the governor of Jingzhou. If Wang Yue also became the governor of Yangzhou, then the territory controlled by the father-in-law and son-in-law would be too large.

Liu Bei had no doubts about his brother Guan Yu, but Wang Yue was an outsider, so he was still somewhat uneasy about him.

So he decided to pass this difficult problem on to Guan Yu, and looked at Guan Yu and said, "Second brother, what do you think?"

Guan Yu hadn't expected his elder brother to suspect him; he simply thought it was a simple question. He stroked his beard and replied,
“Changwen is capable, but we still need to send a few generals to help him. Otherwise, his subordinates are all garrison soldiers, and they may not be able to win a battle.”

"Eldest brother, I thought that appointing Bao'er from my third brother's family as the Prefect of Yuzhang and Feng'er from my eldest brother's family as the Prefect of Lujiang would ensure everything goes smoothly."

Guan Yu's words were very fair. Zhang Bao was a very strong fighter, and Liu Feng was also a fierce general. If Liu Feng and Zhang Bao had assisted Wang Yue, along with his son Guan Xing, with Wang Yue's wisdom, Jiangdong would have been basically crushed.

Liu Bei, however, gleaned another possible solution from Guan Yu's words. Since he didn't particularly trust Wang Yue, and Wang Yue hadn't shown any signs of wrongdoing, he might as well send some of his trusted generals instead.

So Liu Bei immediately smiled and said, "Second brother is right, we'll do as you say."

However, our focus will likely shift here in the future, and it wouldn't be appropriate to leave my third brother alone in Hanzhong.

I think it would be better to transfer Wei Yan to Hanzhong, which will ensure that Hanzhong is not lost, and transfer my third brother to Jiangxia to replace Changwen. The three of us brothers can then meet with Cao Wei together!

This way, the third brother and his son won't be too far apart, which is a win-win situation.

When Guan Yu thought of his loud and boisterous third brother, he smiled and said, "Big brother is right. It's time to let our third brother come here. He's probably been missing us for a long time. We're getting old, and it's indeed time for us to get together."

After the two reached an agreement, Liu Bei immediately issued an edict to notify all the generals.

Wei Yan was very pleased with this, not because he liked Hanzhong, but because if he stayed in Nanyang, he would have Guan Yu as his direct superior and Liu Bei as the emperor, and all his movements would have to be repeatedly approved. It was much more convenient for him to go to Hanzhong, where he could make his own decisions. Moreover, Wei Yan was also ambitious; he wanted to seize Guanzhong so that Liu Bei would grant him a marquisate.

Zhang Fei was even happier. He had originally thought that he was getting old and had been separated from his two elder brothers, but he never expected that Liu Bei would transfer him over at this time.

After the three brothers reunited, they naturally celebrated happily, and then the three brothers personally went to the front line in Ye County to watch the battle.

If it weren't for Fazheng's desperate attempts to stop him, and his extremely weak condition which worried Liu Bei greatly, the three brothers might have insisted on going into battle.

Fortunately, when the Shu soldiers learned that His Majesty had come to supervise the battle in person, their fighting spirit increased by several times. In addition, the catapult squadron transferred from Jiangxia had been fully deployed, and they managed to capture Ye City, which had been under siege for a long time, in one fell swoop.

After Yecheng was acquired, the situation changed immediately. From then on, the entire Yingchuan, or rather the entire Central Plains, was now open to the Han Dynasty.

After capturing Yecheng, Guan Ping and Fu Shiren did not linger. After handing the city over to others, they immediately headed towards Wuyang and Kunyang.

These two threads were meant to assist in the defense of Ye County. The triangular formation they formed was originally very strong, but now that Ye County has been lost, the two cities are separated, and the situation has become precarious.

At this time, Cao Pi was still overseeing the battle in Xuchang. Upon learning that the Han army had broken through the night line and was heading straight for Xuchang, he hurriedly left Xuchang at the urging of his ministers.

After Cao Pi left, Cao Zhen, who remained behind, commanded his generals and, although they still lost Wuyang and Kunyang, they firmly held off the Han army, preventing them from crossing the Ying River.

Guan Yu immediately made a decision and went to Luyang with Zhang Fei, preparing to open a breach from another direction. Whether it was attacking Luoyang or going around to attack Xuchang, it would be very convenient.

However, Cao Zhen was prepared, and the two brothers launched several attacks in succession, but failed to breach the city of Luyang.

Later, Zhang Fei got so angry that he ordered catapults to be sent over, which finally broke through the walls of Luyang City.

Thus, the army suffered a crushing defeat, and Cao Zhen could only retreat to Xuchang, where he relied on the high city walls to withstand the attack from the Han Dynasty.

However, since the three brothers had already set off, they could not possibly stay under the walls of Xuchang. So, on the one hand, they sent a large army to keep an eye on Xuchang, and on the other hand, they sent Guan Ping with 3 troops toward Runan.

Upon learning this news, Man Chong immediately retreated with Yu Jin. After all, they couldn't withstand the attack from the Ru River. Now, with attacks from both sides, he wisely chose to retreat to Chen County and also notified Zhang Liao and others in Hefei.

At that moment, Wang Yue, having received the news, immediately ordered Liu Feng to lead an army of 30,000 from Xunyang toward Lujiang.

Since Sun Quan had already submitted a memorial to the emperor acknowledging his submission, the Jiangdong soldiers stationed there withdrew without hesitation when they saw the Han soldiers asking for passage.

(End of this chapter)