Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

Beside the dock at Guchengzhou, Sun Deng watched the naval fleet gradually disappear into the distance and muttered to himself:
"With 20,000 naval troops and over 300 ships, we only need to capture Yidao City. If we take Yidao, we can use it as a base to gradually conquer Jiangling."

Meng Zong, standing nearby, praised, "General Bu is a famous general of Wu. Taking a small city like Yidao is as easy as taking candy from a baby."

"Indeed, he is a renowned general of Wu." Sun Deng nodded in satisfaction, then glanced at Xiling City with a hint of resentment: "He's better than some people who repeatedly advised me against sending troops and even tried to intimidate me with the Wei army!"

Meng Zong advised from the side, "The General is just a bit too rigid, or perhaps he has been misled by Zhuge Liang and doesn't know when to advance or retreat. Once General Bu returns victorious, the General will surely come to his senses."

"I hope so," Sun Deng sighed. "Now that I need Zhuge Liang's help, I should be patient."

Meng Zong nodded silently.

Throughout the war to conquer Wu, when Jiangxia was harassed by Xiahou Ru, it was Quan Cong who led the Wu central army to help Sun Deng's Jiangxia achieve a great victory. While Zhuge Jin and Man Chong were locked in a prolonged stalemate at Jiangling, Sun Deng served as a guest force guarding the Hanjin ferry crossing, and did not participate in the most intense fighting. Even later, when defending Xiling, Sun Deng remained holed up on Gucheng Island, completely detached from any actual combat…

Sun Deng certainly understood war, but perhaps due to his status as crown prince and emperor, he overlooked the most important aspect of military strategy: prudence.

Behind every soldier is a family. As a commander, in order to achieve the purpose of the battle, one may not hesitate to sacrifice the lives and losses of soldiers, but one cannot blindly throw away the lives of soldiers and use troops recklessly, which is tantamount to murder.

Sun Deng and Meng Zong, among others, did not understand these things and were unwilling to listen to Zhuge Jin's advice. Bu Zhi, who did understand these things, was completely unwilling to refute them in the slightest.

How could Bu Zhi not know that the Kingdom of Wu had already fallen?

He himself was prepared to die, so how could he possibly object to the king's request to send troops? And how could he possibly begrudge the lives of the other soldiers?

If you order me to lead troops into battle, I will lead troops into battle without hesitation. At worst, I will die, which would fulfill the duty between ruler and subject!

At dawn on October 5th, Bu Zhi led 20,000 Wu naval troops down the river.

Before noon, the navy arrived near Yidao City, but not a single Wei ship was seen nearby. Just as Bu Zhi ordered the vanguard to disembark, two fleets, one on the Yi River to the west of Yidao City and the other on the Yangtze River to the southeast, attacked Yidao City from both sides. These were the 20,000-strong navy under the command of General Yue Lin and General Xiahou Wei.

Lu Xun himself was leisurely following Yue Lin's troops from a position further upstream on the Yi River.

The 30,000-strong navy, divided into two groups, ambushed the city of Yidao, which was completely empty. This was merely a casual move by Lu Xun. After waiting for several days like a hunter waiting for a rabbit to run into a tree stump, the Wu navy actually did come from upstream and ran into them!
The sails of the ships were visible in the distance; the Wei ships were much larger than the Wu ships, stretching endlessly across the river like a city wall. In an instant, the more than five thousand Wu soldiers who had already landed lost their courage and fled towards their ships. The Wu ships were busy engaging the enemy and had no time to care about their panicked comrades.
The arrival of the Wei fleet completely shattered the morale of the 20,000 Wu naval soldiers. They couldn't be blamed; in the past few months, who didn't know that the once mighty Wu, which dominated several provinces, was now barely clinging to life? And which of these soldiers from Yangzhou and Jingzhou didn't yearn for home?
What kind of remote and desolate place is Xiling?
If I surrender to the State of Wei, at least I can save my life and go back home to farm!

As Yue Chen and Xiahou Wei's two forces charged headlong into the Wu fleet, the Wu navy's hasty defenses crumbled at the first touch, and they all begged to surrender to the Wei navy. Only about sixty Wu ships, which were originally at the rear, saw the situation turn so badly that they hurriedly turned their rudders and fled upstream.

……

"Have the battle results been tallied yet?" Lu Xun asked softly.

"Your Majesty, please wait a moment, I will be done soon." Wang Jun sorted through the reports from various departments, did some calculations, and then reported: "Your Majesty, we have captured more than 250 Wu ships of various sizes, and the number of Wu soldiers who surrendered should exceed 14,000. In addition, the Wu army's commander-in-chief, Bu Zhi, was also captured in the battle by General Xiahou's troops. General Xiahou said that after Bu Zhi learned that the commander-in-chief was Your Majesty, he kept shouting that he wanted to see Your Majesty."

"He wants to see me?" Lu Xun stood with his hands on his hips, remained silent for a moment, and then sighed: "Have Xiahou Wei bring Bu Zishan here. It's been many years since we last met. I wonder what the scene will be like when we meet again today."

"Understood, Your subordinate." Wang Jun nodded softly.

Xiahou Wei, being sensible, had already loosened Bu Zhi's bindings and had him escorted by two trusted soldiers to Lu Xun's ship.

"Brother Zishan, how have you been?" Lu Xun asked, cupping his hands in greeting.

In order to meet Bu Zhi, Lu Xun specially changed out of his royal robes and into ordinary scholar's clothes, without bringing any items that would indicate his status.

Bu Zhi sized Lu Xun up and down for a long time, then chuckled, "It's been a long time. Boyan, you still have the same charm, while I've grown old. Now that we meet again, I don't know how I should address you. Should I call you General Lu, or Prince of Chencang?"

Lu Xun replied softly, "Let's address each other by our courtesy names. You can call me Boyan, and I'll call you Brother Zishan. Or would it be better if I addressed you as His Highness Prince Huai or Minister of Works?"

Bu Zhi smiled but remained silent, his demeanor quite upright.

Lu Xun said, "Brother Zishan, the Wu Kingdom has already perished, and the Mandate of Heaven rests on Wei, which is unshakeable. I will not say anything more, I only ask that you consider this matter. If you are willing to surrender, I guarantee that you will not lose your high-ranking official position and title!"

"Give me a few days to think it over." Bu Zhi's expression was relaxed, as if he had taken off a heavy burden he had carried for a long time. He casually asked, "I heard that Boyan married a princess? Are the women of the Cao family virtuous?"

Lu Xun stroked his beard and laughed, "The word 'virtuous' is not applicable to the princess; we should talk about her appearance." "Extremely beautiful?" Bu Zhi asked with a smile.

“That’s natural.” Lu Xun nodded.

Bu Zhi then asked, "Boyan, when your family suffered misfortune, I was in Xiling at the time. Although I wrote a letter to strongly dissuade them, the late emperor insisted on exiling you to Jiaozhou, and I was ultimately powerless to stop it..."

“It’s alright.” Lu Xun raised his hand slightly to stop Bu Zhi from speaking: “Lord Lü Dinggong has already promised to return my family, so Brother Zishan need not worry.”

Bu Zhi sighed softly, "That's wonderful. After a long separation, there is nothing more perfect in this world."

Lu Xun carefully examined Bu Zhi's face and then said, "Brother Zishan, you may not know, but your eldest son, Bu Xie, was enfeoffed as a Marquis within the Pass after surrendering to the Great Wei in Wuchang. He was appointed to a position of two thousand shi by the Privy Council and sent to serve as a colonel under Wu Zhou, the military supervisor of Yingzhou. He should be on his way to his post now. Your second son, Bu Chan, was enfeoffed as a Marquis for his merit in surrendering Jiangling and was kept in the imperial court as a Minister of Personnel."

"All members of your clan have been allowed to return to their ancestral home, and one of your sons has been appointed as a county magistrate. Moreover, Lady Bu currently resides in Luoyang, and her eldest daughter is a Zhaoyi (a high-ranking concubine) and her second daughter is a Meiren (a high-ranking concubine), and they are not out of favor."

"Brother Zishan, the Great Wei has treated your Bu family so well. Brother Zishan, you should not worry too much. Since things have come to this point, it is not worth it to be buried with the Sun family. Just surrender."

Bu Zhi nodded slowly: "Boyan, may I give you an answer tomorrow?"

“Alright, Brother Zishan, please proceed.” Lu Xun had no doubts.

At 11:45 PM, while Lu Xun was fast asleep on the ship beside the dock, Wang Jun rushed up the wooden stairs in a panic. Lu Xun was first awakened by the noise, and after realizing it was Wang Jun, he hurriedly asked:

"Why is Shizhi so flustered? What happened?"

Wang Jun said urgently, "Your Majesty, General Xiahou... General Xiahou said that Bu Zishan bit off his tongue and committed suicide on his ship!"

Lu Xun didn't stop for a moment. He sat up, ignoring his bare feet, and ran out with Wang Jun, still wearing his robe. After changing to a small boat and getting close to Xiahou Wei's ship, he hurriedly boarded the boat. There, he found Bu Zhi lying on his side, fully clothed, with a serious expression. Blood from his mouth had soaked into a large pool on the bed. He had been dead for some time.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me, this humble general did indeed send men to keep an eye on him, but it was a momentary oversight, and unexpectedly he committed suicide!" Xiahou Wei said somewhat awkwardly, "Please punish me, Your Majesty!"

Lu Xun ignored Xiahou Wei and sat down by Bu Zhi's bedside, holding Bu Zhi's stiff right hand and weeping silently.

Xiahou Wei was momentarily taken aback, staring at him for a few seconds before quickly retreating outside the cabin, pretending not to see him. Xiahou Wei had no idea why Lu Xun was weeping—was it for his own origins, for the ultimately irreversible demise of the Wu kingdom, or for his many years serving the Sun family…

In short, Xiahou Wei didn't want to think about it in detail, nor did he care what Lu Xun was thinking. He was from a prominent family, born into a high-ranking clan, and had never needed to consider such things!

The bright moon shines, and the great river flows on.

At midnight, the remaining sixty-odd ships, large and small, escaped back to the outskirts of Gucheng Island under cover of darkness. Sun Deng, who was fast asleep, was hurriedly woken up by his subordinates.

Sun Deng was confused when he woke up.

When he finally figured out what had happened, the confusion he felt while half-asleep almost instantly turned into an overwhelming panic.

Despite Zhuge Jin's repeated attempts to dissuade him, he finally agreed to Sun Deng's attack plan. Sun Deng then dispatched Bu Zhi's 10,000 troops and another 10,000 troops transferred from Zhuge Jin.

Now, more than half of these 20,000 men have been killed... What should we do if the Wei army takes advantage of the situation and attacks again?

Often, maintaining a balance of power is a delicate and protracted process, but once the balance is broken, one side will have an absolute advantage over the other.

Sun Deng left Meng Zong to guard the camp and personally led his personal guards on horseback to the central army camp under Xiling City at night. This news not only startled Zhuge Jin, but also quickly reached Zhuge Liang, Yang Yi, Fei Yi and others.

When Zhuge Jin hurriedly rose to greet him, and saw Sun Deng, who looked as if he had lost his parents, Sun Deng actually bowed deeply to Zhuge Jin, and his first words were:

"I have agreed to everything that the General and Prime Minister Zhuge discussed. I beg the General to save me! Bu Zishan's 20,000-strong navy has suffered heavy losses!"

Zhuge Jin was initially taken aback, but then, remembering Zhuge Liang's words, he felt a great weight lifted from his shoulders. (End of Chapter)