Chen Deng died, and Zhang Yan could no longer hide the sadness in his heart, after all, Chen Deng was the first friend and brother he made in this era.

Moreover, he was able to take charge of Xuzhou and unify the north, and Chen Deng's contribution was also indispensable. It can be said that without Chen Deng's support, he would never have gone so smoothly this way.

However, Chen Deng died at this time, and he didn't blink an eye.

"King Yan, the Jiangdong Army has sent chasing soldiers, it is not advisable to stay here for a long time, it is better to leave here as soon as possible!" Zhao Yun hurriedly walked over and whispered in Zhang Yan's ear.

There was no time to grieve, Zhang Yan immediately ordered a retreat with tears in his eyes, he put Chen Deng's body on the back of the white dragon horse he was riding, carried Chen Deng's body, and returned to Yixian.

More than 2,000 remnants of the army left here at the fastest speed, galloped all the way, and finally arrived in Yixian.

Lu Su, Xu Chu and others were stationed in Yixian, and they were dumbfounded when they saw Zhang Yan, Zhao Yun, Zhou Tai, Liu Ye and others leading the remnants of the army back.

Lu Su's face was heavy, even if he could roughly guess that there would be a defeat before this, he would never have expected that he would be defeated and suffer such heavy losses.

More than 37,000 troops, on the occasion of this battle, came to naught, for the Han army officers and soldiers who often won victories, and often won more with less, this was undoubtedly a huge defeat, but also the biggest defeat in the history of the Han army.

After Zhang Yan arrived in Yixian, he immediately had Chen Deng's body transported back to Jinling, buried in the suburbs of Jinling, and buried Chen Deng with a state funeral, and asked Xue Li to build a mausoleum for him. not only retained the official position of the hussar general and Yangzhou pastor during his lifetime, but also posthumously became the Marquis of Jinling.

Besides. Zhang Yan even named Chen Deng's son as a counselor. Receive the official title of the fifth grade. The money is distributed according to the official of the second grade.

Chen Deng's son is currently only eight years old, and what kind of official can he be, but it is just to show Zhang Yan's love for Chen Deng, and it can be regarded as solving Chen Deng's worries.

For the current war, it was all under the command of Zhang Yan, and all the troops were concentrated in Yixian County, and Zhao Yun, Xu Chu, Zhou Tai, Lu Su, Liu Ye and others were all sitting in the hall of the county government, ready to discuss how to deal with the unfinished war.

"Although our army is temporarily defeated. But the strength is still there, there are still more than 10,000 elite soldiers here, as far as the current situation is concerned, you might as well come up with ideas and see what to do. Zhang Yan looked around at everyone present and said slowly.

As soon as Zhang Yan's words fell, Zhou Tai immediately stood up, hugged his fists and said: "King Qiyan, the hussar general was shot dead by the enemy, and our army lost more than 30,000 soldiers. This hatred is not shared. It must be reported. The last general thought that our army should regroup its forces, mobilize reinforcements, and fight to the death with the Sun clan in Jiangdong, which is bound to destroy the Sun clan's shili in Jiangdong, avenge the hussar general, and avenge the more than 30,000 soldiers who died! ”

Where Xu Chu was rubbing his hands, he couldn't bear it, and said loudly: "His Royal Highness King Yan, our army has never been so humiliated, if you don't give the Jiangdong Army a blow this time, and spread it, you will think that our army is afraid of their Jiangdong Army!" ”

"The enemy has just won a great victory, and it is the time when morale is high, and the enemy's forces are several times more than ours, and although our army is all elite soldiers, it has fewer troops and is outnumbered. Moreover, our army has just been defeated, its vitality has not yet recovered, and its morale is relatively low, so if you fight the enemy at this time, it is definitely not the best time for our army. The subordinates thought that it was better to retreat as an advance, temporarily retreat to Wanling City, rest and recuperate first, avoid the enemy's edge, and then make another plan. Liu Ye said.

Among those present, only Zhao Yun and Lu Su did not speak, Zhang Yan looked at Zhao Yun and asked, "Zilong, what is your opinion?" ”

The last general thought that what Liu Taishou said made some sense. Although our army is an elite division, but after all, the number is small, as the so-called two fists are difficult to defeat four hands, outnumbered, it is indeed not possible to have any advantage, it is better to retreat first to avoid the edge, recuperate and recharge, and then make another plan. Zhao Yundao.

Zhang Yan moved his gaze to Lu Su again and asked, "Zijing, do you have any lofty opinions?" ”

"His Royal Highness King Yan, I don't dare to be a high opinion, but I have some foolish opinions." Lu Su said modestly.

Zhang Yan said: "Whether it's a high opinion, or a foolish opinion, you can say it, let me hear it, if it's a high opinion, I will adopt it, if it's a foolish opinion, I just listen to it, and I will never blame you." ”

Lu Su said: "Then my subordinates will talk about my foolish opinion." The biggest reason why the hussar general had this defeat was that he was too aggressive, and the general was eager to eliminate the Sun clan as soon as possible and pacify Jiangdong, and the enemy army took advantage of the general's heart to lure the enemy into the depths and set up an ambush, wanting to annihilate our army. Although Sun Ce occupied Jiangdong for a few years, Jiangdong was governed by the Sun clan in an orderly manner, and even the once tyrannical Shanyue began to gradually compromise with Sun Ce, it can be said that the Sun clan has a relatively solid foundation in Jiangdong, if Jiangdong is captured in a hurry, in the next few years, Jiangdong may not be sincerely attached to our army, and there will definitely be frequent rebellions. ”

After hearing this, Zhang Yan felt that what Lu Su said made some sense, so he asked: "Zijing, then in your opinion, what should our army do to capture Jiangdong?" ”

Lu Su said: "Jiangdong is not big, but it is not small, and in its current form, our army does have some underprepared places. First, our army has too few troops, and its ability to divide troops to occupy the counties of Jiangdong is limited, and if there is no army garrison as a threat, the counties of Jiangdong may not really be annexed, and it is very likely that they will rebel again. In order to occupy the whole of Jiangdong, it is necessary to have a strong army, and every time a county is occupied, it is necessary to leave a garrison, nominally to protect the territory and the people, but in fact to prevent the occurrence of rebellion. Second, after occupying the counties in Jiangdong, it is necessary to dispatch a number of officials with relatively high administrative ability, who can handle large and small political affairs with ease. Third, we must work step by step and gradually encroach on Jiangdong, and we must absolutely not be greedy for merit and rash progress. If the above three points can be achieved, within five years, the entire territory of Jiangdong will definitely be occupied, and the Shili of the Sun clan will also completely collapse in Jiangdong. ”

After listening to Lu Su's suggestion, Zhang Yan couldn't help but feel very useful, and at the same time remembered Chen Deng's last words, saying that after Chen Deng's death, the candidate who could take over the post of Yangzhou pastor was Lu Su.

Moreover, Lu Su is also very famous in history, is the Sun Wu group, the second generation of the governor after Zhou Yu, during the period when Lu Su was the governor, the situation of Sun Wu was relatively stable, which shows the strength of Lu Su.

As for the three points that Lu Su had just put forward, Zhang Yan could immediately fulfill two of them, but on the issue of military strength, it was a long-standing and difficult problem.

Although he unified the north, the number of troops has always been relatively small, and the troops already stationed on the northern border cannot be mobilized, otherwise, the northern border will lose its deterrent effect. But Zhang Yan's main opponents are now in the south, but Chen Bing's troops in the south are pitifully small, if Zhang Yan hadn't brought Zhao Yun and Xu Chu from Pengcheng to support, the current Yangzhou army is only afraid that the whole army will be wiped out, and the Jiangdong army can also lead the army commander to drive straight in.

Zhang Yan said: "The king agrees very much with the three points you said. However, it is not possible at this stage. Chen Deng and more than 37,000 soldiers all died tragically in the county seat of Wuyang, and we must avenge this revenge. However, judging from the current situation and situation, it is difficult for our army to protect itself, let alone take revenge. As the so-called gentleman takes revenge, ten years is not too late. The king of Yue, Goujian, has been hiding his courage for 20 years, so I think we should withdraw our troops for the time being, occupy the main cities with superior forces, and form a confrontation with the Sun clan in Jiangdong. When the king draws his troops, it's not too late for us to attack! ”

Zhang Yan made up his mind, and the rest of the people no longer had anything to say, whether it was the main battle or the main retreat, they all hugged their fists in unison and said: "Everything is at the disposal of His Royal Highness King Yan!" ”

So, Zhang Yan ordered the withdrawal of the army and withdrew to Wanling City, the county seat of Danyang County. In addition, Zhang Yan also began to shrink his forces, for fear of accidents, he took the initiative to give up some cities, sent someone to inform Jiang Qin, and led the army to return to Qiantang, as long as he held Qiantang and did not let the Jiangdong army enter the territory of Wu County, it would be a great achievement

Said to withdraw the army, there was no trace of mud and water, all the Han troops withdrew from Yixian City, and all of them retreated to Wanling City.

Two days later, the army arrived in Wanling City, Zhang Yan left Liu Ye to be the Taishou of Danyang County, and divided more than 5,000 troops from Xu Chu's army to Zhao Yun, forming a total of 8,000 troops, all of which were left to Zhao Yun and let Zhao Yun garrison Wanling City. After that, Zhang Yan led the army back to Jinling City, Zhang Yan officially appointed Lu Su as the pastor of Yangzhou, taking over Chen Deng's position, and was fully responsible for the affairs here, while Zhou Tai was named the Taishou of Wu County by Zhang Yan, and as for Shouchun and Lujiang, Zhang Yan promoted Feng Xi and Liangmao to serve as the two Taishou.

At this point, Zhang Yan finally finished confessing, and he returned to Pengcheng with Xu Chu. Before leaving, he specially instructed Lu Su to pay attention to the people's livelihood while also paying attention to the military liliang, which can strengthen the number of Yangzhou troops, and initially asked Lu Su to recruit 100,000 Yangzhou troops.

Zhang Yan retreated and occupied Danyang and Wu County, and Sun Quan did not send troops to pursue him, but appointed Lü Fan as the Taishou of Huiji, and took Chen Wu, Ling Cao, Tan Xiong, and Pan Zhang to take office, temporarily maintaining the safety of Huiji and Nanchang County, and confronting the newly appointed Yangzhou Mulusu.

After the victory in Wuyang County, the water level of the flood slowly dropped to a normal position, so Zhou Yu led the navy to go upstream, returned to Peng Lize, bid farewell to Sun Quan, returned to Chaisang, and prepared to turn with the reinforcements sent by Liu Bei to attack Xunyang, which was forbidden to be garrisoned! (To be continued......)