Sima Zhao took the initiative to ask Ying to go to the Eastern Wu, although Sima Shi did not immediately agree, but his heart was also inclined to go to the expedition, since Sima Shi took the throne, in the hands of Cao Liang repeatedly suffered defeats, not only lost the city and lost the land, but also Sima Shi's prestige also fell to the bottom, many people compared Sima Shi and Sima Yi, and naturally came to the conclusion that Sima Shi is not good.

So Sima Shi urgently needs a victory to boost morale and raise his prestige, at present, it is difficult to find the field from Cao Liang's body, the mountains and rivers on the side of Shu are steep, the generals are concentric, and Sima Shi has no way to send troops to recruit, so Sima Shi also set his sights on the side of Eastern Wu.

Sun Quan's death is undoubtedly the best opportunity, taking advantage of the beginning of the establishment of the new monarch of Wu and the instability of the court, it is the right time to send troops to fight.

However, if you send troops to fight, you must have careful preparations, and blindly use troops, the result is likely to be a big defeat, so Sima Shi is not in a hurry, he decided to let his staff first come up with a feasibility report, formulate a detailed battle plan, and then consider sending troops. At this time, Zhuge Dan, the general of Zhengdong, and Wang Chang, the general of Zhengnan, successively wrote and presented their own strategy for attacking Wu, and it is obvious that they also got the news of Sun Quan's death, and they all thought that this was a great opportunity to attack Wu, and if Sima Shi could seize this opportunity, he might be able to pacify Wu in one fell swoop.

Their ideas coincide with Sima Shi, and Zhuge Dan guards Huainan and Wang Chang guards Jingzhou, they know the situation of Wu the most, and the strategic plan they put forward has the most reference value.

After Sima Zhao read the two reports, he encouraged Sima Shi and said: "Brother, even Zhuge Dan and Wang Chang think that the matter of defeating Wu is feasible, the opportunity must not be lost, and it will not come again, and please brother Don't hesitate, take this opportunity to send troops to Eastern Wu to win a complete victory." Sima Shi's mind also became lively, he nodded, and ordered to summon the ministers to the general's mansion to discuss the plan of sending troops.

The loss of Youzhou made the ministers of the DPRK and China also depressed, and every time they discussed the matter, they were all colorless, all of them were disgraced, and they were afraid that Sima Shi would ask them by name, after all, with the current situation in Youzhou, no one could come up with a better way.

However, in this attack on Wu, the ministers showed great enthusiasm, and they all made suggestions and suggestions, all believing that this attack on Wu was a godsend, as long as Sima Shi could seize this opportunity to unify Jiangdong, it would no longer be a dream.

Only Shang Shu Fu had some different opinions, he said: "Some people advocate crossing the river directly by boat and running rampant in the south of the Yangtze River; Some advocated attacking simultaneously on four fronts to capture its ramparts; There are also those who advocate stationing troops on the border, cultivating the land in peacetime, and then taking advantage of the civil strife to launch an attack; Indeed, these are all common tactics used to capture enemy countries. However, it has been three years since we trained and assembled the troops to attack Wu, and the enemy has long known that it is no longer an army that can carry out a sneak attack by surprise. The state of Wu has been my enemy for nearly sixty years, during which time their kings and ministers have united and shared weal and woe, and recently lost their commander, and the kings and ministers are worried about danger and strengthen their vigilance, if they order the ships to line up at important crossings and strengthen the city to occupy the dangerous points, then our strategy of rampage on the river may not be effective. Now the defenders of the border are far away from the enemy, and the enemy has set up observation and liaison posts, and there are so many of them that they are heavily guarded, and our spies cannot enter, and they cannot get any information. If the army has no information and does not reconnoiter well enough, but it dares to send heavy troops to face great dangers, this is a fluke mentality to invite success, and to try to fight first and then seek victory, and this is not a good strategy to protect the army. Only the strategy of the garrison border is the most complete and reliable; You can first order Wang Chang and Hu Zun to choose a place to be stationed in a place where the situation is dangerous, examine their arrangements and arrangements, and order the three sides to be stationed in the garrison at the same time. First, it is necessary to seize fertile land and let the enemy retreat to barren land. Second, the soldiers were not allowed to oppress and plunder among the people. Third, the policy of appeasement and tenderness was implemented in the nearby areas, so that those who surrendered and surrendered came every day. Fourth, reconnaissance and liaison posts should be set up from a distance so that spies cannot come. Fifth, after the enemy troops retreated, the reconnaissance and liaison posts would inevitably not be able to penetrate deeply, and it would not be easy to carry out land cultivation. Sixth, the army will eat the accumulated grain on the spot, and there is no need to separate troops to transport it. Seventh, the internal contradictions and confusion of the enemy army can be informed in a timely manner, and a decision can be made quickly to make a surprise attack. The above seven aspects are the top priorities of military operations. Without mastering these, the enemy will monopolize convenient assets; If you grasp this, the benefits will belong to our country, so we must not be unaware. The barracks of the two armies are approaching each other, the positions of the two armies are already clear to each other, wisdom and courage can be displayed, all kinds of clumsy tactics can be used, strategies can be used to understand their gains and losses, mutual competition can also know the advantages and disadvantages of the strengths and weaknesses, where will the truth of the enemy's situation be hidden? If the enemy is small, the enemy will be frequent, and the national strength will be exhausted; Attacking the rich with the poor will aggravate the lack of financial resources for taxation. Therefore the art of war says: 'The enemy's comfort makes him tired, and the enemy's satiety makes him hungry.' That's what it means. ”

Sima Shi's face showed displeasure, although Fu Yan's words were more pertinent, but it was equivalent to pouring a basin of cold water on Sima Shi Xingtou, and the atmosphere in the whole hall was a little cold. Sima Zhao stood up and said: "Although what Hu Shangshu said is true, but the way of using soldiers, how can you stick to the art of war, change at the right time, judge the situation, it is something that the general needs to master, now the state of Wu is in national mourning, the people's hearts are unstable, the new monarch is weak, and the dynasty is chaotic, it is a good opportunity for me to give me the Great Wei, don't take it at this time, but when?" ”

All the ministers were praised, so Sima Shi decided to send troops to fight against Wu.

In this dispatch, Sima Division mobilized a total of 150,000 troops, divided into three routes, the eastern route led by Zhuge Dan to attack Dongxing, the middle route led by Hu Fen to attack Wuchang, and the western route led by Wang Chang to attack Jiangling.

Among these three routes, the middle and west roads were used as partial divisions to contain the forces of Wu in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, while the 70,000 army led by Zhuge Dan attacked Dongxing, which was the main direction of attack of the Wei army. And Sima Zhao was appointed by Sima Shi as the supervisor of the army, and the governor of all walks of life accompanied Zhuge to Dongxing.

After months of careful preparations, Sima Zhao arrived in Shouchun at the end of October, rendezvous with Zhuge Dan, raised a large army, marched into Dongxing, and opened the curtain of the invasion of Wu.