My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 113 Three Visits to Guangling
After Lu Su was completely impressed by the insights of the Zhuge brothers, he soon regained his absolute freedom.

He had promised Zhou Yu to deliver his letter to Sun Ce, so he had to complete this task. As a man, one must be trustworthy, and Zhuge Jin was also happy to help others achieve their goals.

On the other hand, as time entered July, Zhuge Liang also had one last bit of personal matter to deal with in Wuhu.

Before leaving for Guangling, Zhuge Jin gave his second brother a rare few days off so that he didn't have to worry about any official business.

Because Huang Chengyan's family had just been taken to Wuhu by Gan Ning from Chaisang for a "tour", Huang's wife was also brought along. Zhuge Liang had to entertain guests these days and accompany Huang Chengyan's family as a "temporary tour guide". By the way, he also had to complete the procedures for him and Huang's wife to accept the marriage proposal.

The etiquette and laws of the Han Dynasty were relatively strict. For a family of Zhuge's status, the time from proposing marriage proposal to getting married should be controlled within about half a year. It could not be too long, otherwise it would be a bit presumptuous.

Since Zhuge Jin had decided to let his second brother get married next year when he turned 18, it was already July, the second half of the year, which was a good time to ask for a marriage proposal. Zhuge Liang was going to Guangling again, and he didn't know how many months he would stay there, so he couldn't delay.

Zhuge Liang's engagement vacation in early July was just enough time for Lu Su to go to Moling to deliver the letter and return without delaying either party.

……

On the second day of July, the day after meeting Zhuge Jin, Lu Su packed his luggage and headed north from Wuhu Lake in a small boat.

After just one day of sailing, they arrived at Niuzhu, but were intercepted and inspected by Zhou Tai's river defense patrol fleet. Lu Su took out Zhou Yu's token seal, but Zhou Tai didn't recognize it and didn't dare to look closely, so he assigned a small boat to escort Lu Su all the way north.

They arrived in Moling in the evening of the next day. With the help of Zhou Yu's token, they entered the city and were properly settled. On the morning of the third day, they were personally received by Sun Ce.

At this time, more than ten days had passed since Sun Ce sent envoy Hua Xin to Xu Du to express his loyalty to Cao Cao.

So when Lu Su came in, he explained his purpose and conveyed Zhou Yu's difficulties. Sun Ce agreed without hesitation:

"My attitude towards Yuan Shikai's claim to the throne was indeed ambiguous, which made it difficult for Gongjin. Your name is Lu Su, Lu Zijing, right? Zijing, thank you for taking the risk and bringing this letter to Gongjin.

You can reply to Gongjin and tell him that I have made up my mind. I sent an envoy to Xudu ten days ago to express my intention and that I will never collude with the Yuan thief! Gongjin just needs to be prepared and can surrender at any time. I will welcome him. There is no need to worry about damaging the relationship between me and the Yuan thief. There is no relationship left to damage. "

"I will convey this message to the general and urge Gongjin to make a decision as soon as possible." Lu Su agreed one by one, and at the same time observed Sun Ce.

Sun Ce indeed looked quite heroic and had the aura of a ruthless and heroic man.

However, Lu Su now has other plans in mind, and he will not jump to conclusions based on Zhou Yu's one-sided praise.

On the other hand, seeing that he agreed readily, Sun Ce put Lu Su aside and took the time to read Zhou Yu's letter to him. After reading it, he noticed that Zhou Yu strongly recommended Lu Su as a great talent and extraordinary insight, and also said that he recommended Lu Su out of public interest, not for repaying a favor.

Seeing this, Sun Ce's expression changed slightly. He had come in a hurry and thought that Lu Su was just a messenger, a man of good faith, but that was all. Now it seemed that he had failed to show courtesy to a wise man.

Sun Ce quickly put on a respectful expression, asked Lu Su more about his concerns, and even asked whether his family members had been settled.

Lu Su only responded by saying that “most of the tribesmen are old and weak and cannot bear the bumpy ride, so they are moving slowly and have not yet reached Danyang. I have a mission and have been traveling day and night, so I arrived first.”

Considering that Lu Su had just arrived, Sun Ce did not doubt him, but changed his tone to persuade him to stay: "In this case, you can rest in Moling and wait for your family and take care of your household affairs. I will write a reply to Gongjinzhi and ask someone else to take it back, so as not to delay your household affairs."

Lu Su's expression was serious. He cupped his hands and said, "A gentleman should be cautious at the beginning and the end when he is in charge of something. Gongjin has entrusted me with an important task, so I should be careful in my work. If someone else is not familiar with the geography and the current situation of Juchao and Ruxu, and the reply is caught by the officers of Yuan Shikai's patrol, wouldn't that harm Gongjin?"
I have been living in Juchao for two years and am familiar with the deployment of Yuan bandits. Please do not doubt me, General."

After Lu Su said this, Sun Ce suddenly encountered a moral dilemma. He also had to fulfill the other party's trust and integrity, so he did not mention recruiting him anymore.

Lu Su stayed in Moling for only one day. In the afternoon of the day after meeting Sun Ce, Sun Ce sent a letter to Zhou Yu that he had just written to Lu Su at the post station. The next morning, Lu Su set out from Moling to return south with the letter.

……

After returning to Wuhu, Lu Su was not troubled by Zhuge Jin.

Zhuge Jin was also a gentleman. He had not forced anyone to open Zhou Yu's letter to Sun Ce before (mainly because the letter was also sealed with wax, and if it was opened, the seal Zhou Yu had stamped would be destroyed, and Sun Ce would know about it). This time, he would not open Sun Ce's reply letter either.

Lu Su had originally been worried about this problem, fearing that Zhuge Jin would suddenly turn against him after seeing that he had completed the first phase of the task. Now it seems that this worry was completely unnecessary.

Out of gratitude, Lu Su also gave Zhuge Jin a piece of intelligence he had just gathered, which was what Sun Ce had told him personally:
"My Lord, I have learned a piece of good news from General Sun. General Sun actually sent Hua Ziyu to Xudu ten days ago to show goodwill and ask for a title.

When the king arrived in Xudu, it would be the day he officially broke with Yuan Shu. Kong Ming's guess the day before was really accurate and admirable. "

Before Lu Su came, Zhuge Liang had already guessed that Sun Ce's mood had stabilized after Wuhu was captured. But Zhuge Liang only had some circumstantial evidence, after all, there was no real direct evidence.

The news that Lu Su brought back this time helped to confirm Zhuge Liang's experience. At the same time, it also made Lu Su admire Zhuge Liang even more. He felt that each of the Zhuge brothers was much more capable than himself.

After hearing this, Zhuge Jin was also very satisfied. He did not expect that Lu Su's visit would facilitate the establishment of a better temporary harmony and tacit understanding between Liu Bei and Sun Ce - this at least shows that Sun Ce will not turn against Liu Bei within a year.

Zhuge Jin was even able to use this new evidence to roughly deduce Sun Ce's inner thoughts: Kill Yan Baihu first, since Yan Baihu is a thief, not a Han official. After pledging loyalty to the Xudu court, he can continue to kill thieves. As for Wang Lang later, he must have been looking for an excuse to create friction.

Before these two were dealt with, Sun Ce would never dare to fight against Liu Bei's Guangling or Zhuge Jin's Wuhu, otherwise he would be seeking death.

Of course, as mentioned before, this kind of "harmony" has a shelf life, and we don't know what it will be like after a year.

This time when Aliang went to Guangling, he happened to bring this new information to Liu Bei.

……

After another three or five days, Zhuge Liang finally finished dealing with all his personal affairs. After taking a short vacation, his energy level had recovered to a better level.

Lu Su also sent someone to deliver a reply to Zhou Yu. After completing all the things he had promised, he agreed to go with Zhuge Liang to Guangling to see the world.

Zhuge Jin also wrote another letter, which his second brother would deliver to Liu Bei, and also prepared a few scrolls for Zhuge Liang—but this time they were not study materials, but just some reference books that might be used. After everything was ready, on the evening of the eighth day of the seventh month, Zhuge Jin personally carried out the ceremony at the Wuhu dock.

Guan Yu, who had just reformed more than 2,000 captured pirates in recent days, took these new recruits and his trusted guards to gather 3,000 sailors, divided them into 50 ships, and took Zhuge Liang and Lu Su with him. He drank a few cups with Zhuge Jin, said goodbye to each other, and then set sail.

Three thousand soldiers certainly do not require fifty warships to transport them. Theoretically, each warship can hold at least more than a hundred people, so Zhuge Jin obviously allocated more ships to Guan Yu this time.

On the one hand, he considered that although Guangling had survived the famine this year, the weather was bad last year, and Liu Bei was estimated to have only been able to avoid famine and could not store much food. Therefore, he gave more warships and transported several thousand more tons of food, which would be enough for these sailors to eat for a long time.

Wuhu and Yuzhang had a bumper harvest this year, and there had been no disasters before. The weather was cold at the end of the Han Dynasty, and the south was less susceptible to disasters than the north.

On the other hand, after Guan Yu returned to Guangling, he would definitely help Liu Bei to train more sailors. With the increase in soldiers, warships became a problem. Now that warships are over-equipped according to half of the establishment, the size of the army can be directly doubled in the future without being constrained by shipbuilding capacity.

Moreover, this will better and faster demonstrate Liu Bei's determination to "build a navy and defend the Huai River to the end", and help Yuan Shu recognize the situation more quickly. In short, there is no loss, and everything depends on the consideration of details.

The fleet sailed all the way, and because they set sail in the evening, they arrived at Niuzhu in the middle of the night. The Yangtze River was very wide, and Guan Yu tried his best to sail along the north bank and did not have any intersection with Sun Ce's navy.

Out of caution, Guan Yu personally stood guard on the deck all night, looking around for fear of seeing any patrols with fire on the river.

After daybreak, he finally relaxed. Looking at his huge fleet, he couldn't help but sigh while sitting on the deck: "It was a wise decision for my brother to lend Tzuyu soldiers.

Ziyu has already repaid the favor of lending troops to rescue his uncle with interest, and this time he allowed me to take 3,000 soldiers with me to Guangling to build a navy team, and even bring my own military rations. He is truly a man of integrity and loyalty."

Lu Su had never met Guan Yu before. During the time he was in Wuhu, Guan Yu was busy training sailors in order to bring them back to his elder brother, and did not care about anything else.

So Lu Su and he had only just met in the last two days and they still needed to get to know each other.

After listening to Guan Yu's sigh, Lu Su had a deeper and more vivid understanding of Zhuge Jin's righteousness. At the same time, he was also more curious about the whole story of how Liu Bei borrowed troops to help the Zhuge family save his uncle.

He couldn't help but ask Guan Yu about the details. Guan Yu was always happy to talk about such chivalrous deeds, so of course he didn't hesitate to speak.

In his words, his elder brother and Tzuyu are very sympathetic to each other and are both people of great righteousness.

Lu Su's first reaction after hearing this was that Guan Yu was bragging, but as he heard Guan Yu could confide in many details, Lu Su gradually couldn't help but believe it.

Lu Su could not help thinking to himself, "I thought that when the princes borrowed troops from each other, it was all like the one between Yuan Shu and Sun Ce, one of them used the imperial seal as a hostage, and the other wanted to control the principal and interest after borrowing.

Now it seems that I have been in the abalone shop for so long that I no longer feel its stench. There are still princes in the world who act purely on faith and loyalty.

But how can one survive in this chaotic world of intrigue and deception if one is so sincere? No wonder there were still four counties in Xuzhou at this time last year, but now only one and a half counties are left after being stolen.

If it weren't for Ziyu not despising his poor situation and offering advice, I'm afraid the General Zhengnan would be homeless now, right?"

……

When Lu Su, Guan Yu and Zhuge Liang woke up, they chatted. When they were tired, they went back to the cabin to rest for a while. Another day passed in a flash, and the voyage finally ended.

Because Liu Bei was not informed of the arrival time in advance, he was unable to go to the riverside pier to greet him.

But after hearing the news, Liu Bei rode out of the city gate as soon as possible and briefly welcomed the guests at the gate.

"Kong Ming! Second brother! I already know the recent situation of Yuzhang and Danyang. We have pacified Zulang, captured Wuhu, and repelled Liu Xun. This is cause for celebration! Zilong and Yide also repelled Ji Ling many times in Xuyi.

Ji Ling has been advancing for over a month and is already exhausted. It seems that our army will be able to completely drive Yuan Shu back soon! I saw that the defenses ahead were consolidated, so I withdrew and returned to Guangling."

Guan Yu listened to Liu Bei patiently, then he grasped Liu Bei's arm tightly a few times: "Brother! Is this the time to talk about this? Military information can be disclosed at any time. You sent me to Ziyu for more than half a year! It's already the eighth month!

I helped Ziyu train the surrendered county soldiers, and also helped train the captured Yuan army, pirates, Shanyue Danyang soldiers... In total, he reorganized 20,000 soldiers and horses, and then he sent me 3,000 to serve as the seeds of the navy."

Liu Bei smiled heartily and patted Guan Yu on the shoulder: "I know you have worked hard and made great contributions! Well, let's not talk about business today, let's drink all night! After Ji Ling leaves in a few days, we will drink with Yide Zilong! You haven't seen Zilong for three years!"

After comforting his own people, Liu Bei could not neglect the guests. He signaled Guan Yu with his eyes that there was no need to be anxious and he would entertain Kong Ming first.

Zhuge Liang also took the opportunity to help introduce him: "Liang happened to meet a friend traveling with him this time, and I was just about to introduce him to you: This brother Lu's name is Su, and his courtesy name is Zijing. He returned to Yi from Yuan Shu's rule.

My brother talked with him for several days and found that he had a good understanding of the general situation and great virtues. His views on the virtues and fortunes of the world coincided with what my brother said when he made a speech in front of Your Majesty last year. "

When Liu Bei heard this, his eyebrows twitched immediately.

Even if he has no other abilities, just the ability to see the overall situation as clearly as Zhuge Jin is extremely remarkable.

Liu Bei couldn't help rubbing his hands, revealing a look of "how can I feel embarrassed" but he quickly controlled himself.

"Mr. Zijing, right? Come, come, I have little education, and although I hold a high position, I always feel incapable of doing things. You must teach me. But you are tired from the journey today, so please take a good rest first. I have already asked for a banquet to be prepared."

Liu Bei said this, and went to the group of cavalry attendants nearby, gave an order to have one cavalryman dismount, and then personally led the horse over:
"I didn't know you were coming, so I only prepared the horses of Yun Chang and Kong Ming. I was so rude. If you don't mind, you can ride this horse first. Although it is ridden by ordinary soldiers, it is also docile. My brothers are all somewhat skilled in martial arts and are used to riding fierce horses, so it is inconvenient to switch."

Lu Su hurriedly took the reins and bridle, then thanked him, turned over and rode steadily on this ordinary cavalry horse.

Liu Bei took a look, patted his thigh, and laughed heartily: "In this case, I underestimated your horsemanship."

(End of this chapter)