Sun Quan bowed his fists and said, "I would like to listen to what the public said."

"Actually, my basis is very simple. The people of Jiangdong are determined. Due to the wars every year, the people of Jiangdong are seriously insufficient in the labor force. Most of the fields are farmed by elderly people and women, and the grain yield per mu is reduced by 20%. Once war breaks out, the economy of Jiangdong will inevitably be devastating. By then, Jiangdong's land is devastated. Even if Wu Hou unifies Jiangdong, Liu Jing will probably not wait any longer."

Sun Quan nodded silently, "Please continue"

Zhang Hong said slowly again: "The second is our strength. Wu Hou now has only more than 30,000 troops. If you add the 5,000 militia army in Piling County, it will be 40,000. Jianye's inventory of grain is only 100,000 stones, which can only maintain the army's expenses for three months at most, and you have to pay the salaries of officials and stabilize the price of grain. Wu Hou, I am really worried."

Sun Quan lowered his head and said nothing. After a while, he sighed: "I was angry with Lu Zijing for not being able to bring the prisoners of war back. Now I think about it, if 30,000 prisoners of war come back, what will I do to support them?"

"Weichen thinks that Zijing's mission is still very rewarding. The prisoners of war are not a big problem. Liu Jing will be released sooner or later. It is beneficial to us to exchange Lujiang for the two counties of Yuzhang and Poyang. At least the tax revenue of Yuzhang and Poyang is much greater than that of Lujiang. Liu Jing wants a strategic place. What we want is tax sources. It should be said that each person needs it. Wu Hou should praise Zijing, not scold him for treasoning."

Zhang Hong implicitly persuaded Sun Quan. When Lu Su came back this time, Sun Quan was furious and angrily accused him of treason, removed him from his position as the chief of the country, and demoted him to Dongcao Cheng. Lu Su fell ill because of this. Many ministers sympathized with Lu Su, but did not dare to stand up for him. The same was true for Zhang Hong. He found this opportunity and implicitly avenged Lu Su.

Sun Quan understood what Zhang Hong meant. He was angry for a moment and regretted it afterwards. After all, Lu Su was loyal to him, but Sun Quan could not bear the face, so he had to say vaguely: "I know, I'm a little too strict with him this time. I'll make up for it slowly if I have the chance in the future."

Although Lu Su's case was solved, there was no way to do what to do with food. Zhang Hong said carefully: "Wu Hou, the grain price in Jiangdong has risen to 150 cents of rice, which is unprecedentedly high. If the food price is not stabilized, the people may rebel."

"How much food is needed to stabilize the price of grain?" Sun Quan asked in a trembling voice.

"It takes at least fifty thousand stones."

"Fifty thousand stones" Sun Quan shouted in disbelief, "Isn't it going to use half of the stored grain?" What if his army does?

Sun Quan's face turned pale. He also wanted to collect military rations from the people to launch a war against Wujun. Now there is no hope of collecting grains, so he even asked him to dump them out. How could it be

"Is there no other way?" Sun Quan asked.

Zhang Hong sighed, "Originally, the prominent clans could be used to support him, but most of the prominent clans in Jiangdong are in Wujun. Now there is no hope. The prominent clans in Danyang County can support him a little, but at most several thousand stones of grain, and the food and water and cups of food are far from enough to make up for the gap."

Sun Quan walked slowly in the lobby with his hands behind his hands. Where could he get food? At this time, Zhang Hong said again: "If we have another 100,000 stones of grain, then the 40,000 troops can last for five months. Better to be frugal and barely last until next summer harvest."

Sun Quan sighed, "Of course I understand, but where did you go to get this 100,000 stone of grain?"

"Weichen thinks that this 100,000 stone of grain is not impossible to solve."

Sun Quan was overjoyed, as if a drowning man had caught a piece of wood. He hurriedly asked, "Tell me quickly, what can I do?"

Seeing that Sun Quan's posture had softened, Zhang Hong smiled and said, "Weichen has three suggestions now, and Wu Hou might as well give it a try."

"Please speak with Mr. Zhang." Sun Quan was so energetic that he actually had three plans.

"The first suggestion is that Wu Houke sent someone to Cao's camp to show weakness to Cao Cao, expressing his willingness to submit to the court, and paying tribute to the court every year. On the one hand, this can weaken Cao Cao's support for Sun Ben, and on the other hand, it is also a warning to Liu Jing. If he blindly supports Wujun, the consequence is that Jianye will turn to Cao Cao completely. I think Liu Jing will definitely restrain himself. As for maintaining neutrality, more importantly, if the negotiation is well, Cao Cao may support us 100,000 stones of grain."

"But he himself lacks food. Will he support us?" Sun Quan asked in confusion.

Zhang Hong smiled and said: "In the past two years, the north has a bumper harvest of food, and there is no longer a shortage of food. Cao Cao can completely take out the 100,000 stones of grain."

Sun Quan thought about it and said happily: "This suggestion is very good, I will consider it, and then what?"

"The second suggestion is to military farming. Now there are a lot of abandoned grain fields in Danyang County and Piling County. The government can take them back and hand them over to the military farming. In this way, by harvesting next summer, the military food will be self-sufficiency, which will greatly alleviate the financial burden and be conducive to health and restoration."

Seeing that Sun Quan nodded repeatedly, Zhang Hong obviously agreed with his plan. He was also excited and continued: "The third suggestion is to implement a plan against Wujun and Kuaiji. Sun Shao and Sun Yu in Wujun were in conflict. Sun Ben was cruel and greedy. Although the people of Kuaiji were bewitched by him for a while, they would definitely see through him over time and abandon him. Although we did not engage in troops against Wujun and Kuaiji, we could also defeat others without fighting."

Sun Quan was overjoyed and stood up to salute and said, "Listen to your words is better than reading for ten years. With Mr. Zhang's assistance, Jiangdong's revival is expected. I will accept all three suggestions."

....

In Fuchun County, the confrontation between Kuaiji Army and Wu Army continued. Although He Jing suffered huge losses, he was not willing to withdraw from Kuaiji. One important reason was that before he went to war, he issued a military order in front of Sun Ben, and used a head guarantee to seize the four counties of Zhejiang Shui. As a reward, Sun Ben also agreed to enfeoff Linshui County to him as a fief.

But now he encountered setbacks and his fief was out of reach, but his head was in danger. He Jing was both hated and angry and ordered the army to collect ships everywhere. The river network in this area was dense and there were many lakes. The search for soldiers lived up to his expectations. He spent ten days collecting more than 200 ships, all of which were moored on the south bank of Zhejiang River. In this way, he could transport 3,000 soldiers across the river at one time, which made He Jing very excited, and he began to patiently look for opportunities.

That night, the sky was covered with clouds, the stars and moon were dull, and the night was dark, and there was no sign of people ten steps away. This was a great opportunity to cross the river. However, He Jing did not cross the river from Fuchun County, but went west thirty miles, crossing the river at a wharf called Baimao Town. Two hundred ships were densely arranged by the river. Teams of Kuaiji army boarded the ship in ten steps, and the first batch of 3,000 soldiers quickly boarded the ship.

He Jing turned around and asked, "When is it now?"

"Report to the general, it will take about two o'clock."

He Jing nodded and immediately ordered: "Send orders to cross the river"

The military order to cross the river was issued. Boats loaded with soldiers left the shore and slowly sailed towards the north shore. He Jing also boarded a medium-sized ferry of 500 stone and followed the first batch of soldiers toward the north shore. The river surface was pitch black, and no other ships could be seen more than ten steps away. Even the river water was no longer reflected in the light. Only the sound of rowing oars could be heard in his ears. He Jing was secretly happy. Tonight, even the scouts on the other shore could not investigate their information. Zhu Huan could not imagine that he would cross the river thirty miles away.

Soon, two hundred ships gradually sailed to the middle of the river. At this moment, a fire suddenly appeared on the upper river surface, and was approaching them quickly. The soldiers of Kuaiji Army were frightened and uneasy. Soon the flames approached, and it turned out to be dense warships. The soldiers on the warship were holding torches, illuminating the river surface as day.

The soldiers of Kuaiji Army screamed, and many ships began to turn around and want to escape. He Jing was also shocked. I wonder why so many warships appeared, all of which were 500 stone warships, about a hundred, covering the river.

This fleet was the Han army warship led by Lu Xun. They came from Taihu Lake to support the Wu army against the Kuaiji army. Since Lu Xun became the navy commander, he was obliged to fight the Zhejiang waters. In fact, the Han army fleet arrived in the afternoon and was moored ten miles away. Lu Xun received information. Nearly two hundred ships appeared on the south bank of Baimao Town. He guessed that this was most likely that the Kuaiji army was going to cross the river in Baimao Town at night. He was waiting for the enemy to cross the river.

The Han army warships were walking along the water at a very fast speed. They rushed into the Kuaiji Army's crossing brigade. The warships were sharp and overturned the boats. Countless soldiers fell into the river and swam desperately to the south bank. However, the Han army warships were arrows like rain, shooting most of the soldiers who fell into the water to death in the river.

The tinder oil tanks hit the enemy's boats, and the tinder oil overflowed. Rockets shot the boats, and the flames soared into the air. In just a moment, more than fifty boats were ignited by the fire. The soldiers dived to survive, but were still ruthlessly shot in the river by dense arrows.

He Jing was so shocked that he ordered the ship to escape along the east side of the river. Although his boat was extremely fast, he was still hit by a tinder tank and the stern of the boat burned rapidly. He Jing shouted to put out the fire while rowing the boat himself. His boat seemed to be about to fly up on the river surface, and gradually fled from the battlefield.

At this time, Zhu Huan led his army to the north shore. Although he found that the enemy was trying to be one step late, the north shore was not occupied by the enemy. What he saw was the corpses of Manjiang and the wreckage of ships, as well as the Han warships showing off his might on the river. The Kuaiji army crossing the river was almost wiped out.

.....

Two days later, He Jing led two thousand remaining troops back to Shanyin County, and what greeted him was Sun Ben's rage. In front of the military camp, He Jing was stripped of his armor and pressed it to the ground. The heavy military stick hit his buttocks and legs like raindrops. He Jing was beaten to his screams and fainted twice. One hundred military sticks were enough to kill him half his life.

Sun Ben was not angry. He saw that He Jing was punished for death in front of He Qi, but only 2,000 elite soldiers led by He Jing fled back, losing 6,000 people, but he could not even survive the Zhejiang River. How could Sun Ben not be angry? He suffered a crushing defeat in the first battle, losing all his face.

"Blow me hard"

Sun Ben pointed at He Jing and cursed, "Incompetent bastard, what else can you do besides playing with women? Eight thousand elites were killed by you. Where is Fuchun, where is Yuhang, you have the face to see me and beat this bastard to death."

Sun Ben was furious, and dozens of generals next to him were speechless. Everyone felt Sun Ben's cruelty. He was dark inside and beat and scolded soldiers at every turn. There was often no reason. Although He Jing's failure this time was also related to Sun Ben's hasty heading north. He underestimated the enemy too much and sent troops to the north without even building a warship. However, he did not admit that he had any responsibility.

Not far away, He Qi stood in front of a large tent, watching his brother being knocked out, gritted his teeth and turned around and walked into the large tent...

At night, a military doctor was carefully wiping the wound on He Jing. He Jing was beaten to the point of being so terrible that he saw that when salt water was rubbed against his wound, He Jing screamed like a pig. At this time, He Qi walked in, holding two pills of elixir in his hand, and the military doctor quickly greeted him.

He Qi walked forward and saw that his brother's lower body was almost broken. He sighed and said to the military doctor: "I'll give him medicine, you go back."

The military doctor withdrew from the tent, He Qi used wine to dissolve the pills and carefully applied them to his wound. He Jing suddenly felt a coolness and the pain disappeared. He looked at his brother gratefully, but couldn't help but grit his teeth and said, "Today's humiliation will be brought back in the future."

"Don't talk nonsense"

He Qi scolded his brother and said, "You were defeated by yourself and even issued a military order. If he doesn't kill you, he will give me face."

"Hmph, what is he? What kind of virtue? How dare you call yourself the lord of Jiangdong?"

He Jing looked disdainful, and he whispered to his brother: "The military power of Kuaiji is in the hands of my elder brother. Why don't we proclaim ourselves as kings and insist on serving the Sun family? Especially Sun Ben, who is cruel inside. He respects his brother on the surface, but actually hates him. If he has the chance, he will definitely kill his elder brother. Such a person is not worth our service for him."

He Jing looked outside and whispered: "Don't say anything like this anymore, be careful of the ears of the wall."

"I know, I know"

He Jing hurriedly said: "This matter is not a small matter, we should make a long-term plan."
Chapter completed!