My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 160: The Three States of Jing, Yu and Yang Are in Chaos
Cao Cao knew very well in his heart that Liu Bei was now the Left General and had also taken the credit for capturing the pseudo capital. His popularity was very troublesome.

Looking ahead, behind, left, and right, and upward, there are only the large chariot guards.

The general is Yuan Shao, the general of cavalry is temporarily vacant, and the general of chariots and cavalry is Cao Cao himself.

Although the position of General of Guards was also vacant, it was nominally given to the central commander in charge of the Northern Army. The Han Dynasty had never given a general of guards to the outer garrisons. Instead, the cavalry and chariot cavalry were in charge of the expedition. Moreover, the status of the general of guards was not much different from that of the front, back, left, and right, and it was a little insufficient to reward the merit of breaking the pseudo-capital.

If I promote Liu Bei to the rank of General Wei, Liu Bei will definitely claim illness and not come to Xu Du, and he will still hold this position remotely. He has a thousand ways to appear submissive and resign, but in fact he will damage the dignity of the court.

After much deliberation, Cao Cao decided to temporarily suppress the situation and proceed in two steps:

In the letters Liu Bei wrote to him, asking for instructions on military strategy and whether the Yangzhou army needed to cross the border and pursue the enemy into Yuzhou, this part could be replied in the name of the Sikong Mansion/Chariot and Cavalry General's Mansion, which could be regarded as "a general is not bound by the orders of the king when he is away from the court."

As for the issue of promoting Liu Bei himself and the generals in his camp, this does not belong to the urgent military affairs that require "a general is not always subject to the orders of the emperor when he is away from the emperor", so Cao Cao would state in his first reply that he would forward these issues to Xudu, and Xun Yu would present them to the emperor for the decision, and it was not something that a minister should discuss.

In this way, the trip from Ruyin to Xudu and back, plus the waiting in line for court discussions, took at least another month.

What Cao Cao wanted was to take advantage of the time difference of one or two months to quickly pursue Yuan Shu and force Yuan Shu to move several times. In this way, he could declare to the outside world that he had won a further great victory in the suppression of the rebellion and use his own military achievements to suppress the popularity of Liu Bei's great achievements.

At that time, this kind of merit can be big or small. As long as someone helps to brag about it, it is entirely possible to say that Cao Cao's own achievements in the fight against Yuan Shikai are no less than Liu Bei's, or even better than Liu Bei's. Then Cao Cao can take the position of General of Cavalry, vacate the position of General of Chariots and Cavalry, and then give it to Liu Bei after a while to cool down and wait for the rumors to die down.

As for official positions that may bring real power to local areas, they must never be given.

The title of General of Chariots and Cavalry was just a nominally high and noble position, and it would not bring any real benefits. Whether it was Zhang Ji who died two years ago or Li Jue who just died this year, they both had the titles of General of Chariots and Cavalry during their lifetime, but it was not seen that these titles could make them live a few more days.

Even a capricious person like Lu Bu, who actually had no merit last year and threatened the court, was tolerated by Cao Cao and given Lu Bu the title of Right General, on the same level as Liu Bei. This shows that Cao Cao was absolutely not stingy with empty titles such as the title of general.

However, if Liu Bei was allowed to take over one more state, or if his subordinates were appointed as prefects of a few more counties other than Yangzhou, that would be real territorial benefits, which he absolutely could not give up.

……

Cao Cao used the name of the court to delay the reward. After Sun Shao got the explanation, he was helpless and could only go to Xudu to go through the process again.

The deputy envoy Sun Qian took the reply from Cao Cao's Sikong Mansion and returned to Shouchun first to report on the military affairs.

It only takes two days for a horse to travel from Ruyin to Shouchun, so Liu Bei received the order that "the court does not need the Yangzhou army to enter Yuzhou to assist in suppressing the rebellion" in mid-September.

Liu Bei, who still needed to fully respect the court for the time being and could not regard Cao Cao as a traitor who was holding the emperor hostage, of course followed the order completely and carried it out without any compromise.

However, although Sun Qian did not go directly to Xu Du on this trip, he also brought back some rumors and intelligence from the direction of Yingchuan in Yuzhou for Liu Bei.

Sun Qian told Liu Bei two important pieces of information: During the months when Liu Bei's army was fighting Yuan Shu, two major events occurred in the court and Guanxi.

First of all, this summer, Li Jue in Chang'an was finally defeated by Zhong Yao and Duan Wei. In the autumn, Cao Cao finally formally decided to reward Zhong Yao and Duan Wei with official positions, and Zhong Yao and Duan Wei also accepted it.

This means that after Liu Xie returned to the east, the civil and military forces that had refused to follow him and chose to stay in the old court in Chang'an were finally taken over by Cao Cao without bloodshed.

Chang'an was the capital of the state, with Zhong Yao as the head of the civil affairs and Duan Wei as the head of the military affairs. Although the hinterland of Guanzhong was in ruins and only one tenth of the population survived, it was still a large area.

After hearing the news, Liu Bei and Zhuge brothers did not have any emotional fluctuations, but just said that they knew it. This was also expected. Cao Cao had the emperor in his hands, so he could get a lot of benefits for free.

The second piece of news reported by Sun Qian gave Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang another understanding of Cao Cao's treacherous nature: Cao Cao had killed Liu Xie's confidant and counselor Zhao Yan a few months ago.

Although the cause of Zhao Yan's death has not been announced, and Cao Cao did not even conduct a trial but directly "arbitrarily arrested and killed him", the rumor has now spread everywhere in Yuzhou. It is said that Zhao Yan was killed by Cao Cao because he wanted to help Liu Xie to regain some power and openly requested in the court that "the emperor is already eighteen years old and may be able to rule the country himself".

At the same time, Cao Cao also implicated a large number of people because of Zhao Yan's case, and they were all killed without any trial based on fabricated charges.

Although Zhao Yan was a low-ranking official, the impact of this case was extremely significant. It was a small achievement of Cao Cao's "deceiving the emperor a little more every year" after he held the emperor hostage.

Historically, from Cao Cao welcoming the emperor to the outbreak of the Yidaizhao incident, in the four or five years before and after, there was actually a landmark event that escalated the degree of deceiving the emperor almost every year.

In 196, the deception of the emperor was manifested by the exclusion of other loyal ministers and generals who returned from the east.
In 197, the Yuan Shu case was used as a pretext to eradicate Yang Biao's group. (Although Yang Biao was not killed, he was stripped of his position as the Grand Marshal, and many people were dismissed.)
The symbol of 198 was the killing of Zhao Yan - this incident was later written into "An Edict to Yuzhou on Behalf of Yuan Shao" by Chen Lin as important evidence of "Cao Cao's desire to confuse the people and stop them from speaking out".

Now, this small achievement of deceiving the emperor has been completed. After hearing this, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang were quite angry, but they could not come up with a countermeasure for the time being.

When Zhuge Jin heard about it, he was not surprised at all. After all, he had met Zhao Yan in front of the emperor when he went to Xudu the year before. At that time, Liu Xie asked Zhao Yan to lead him to the emperor's library, and they had a secret conversation there about "On the Righteous Emperor, Xiang Yu and Emperor Gaozu". It can be seen that Liu Xie regarded Zhao Yan as his confidant.

Zhuge Jin sighed for a moment, then did some mental calculations and estimated that Cao Cao's progress in becoming a traitor should be about 60% complete.

After that, there were only two minor achievements: the hunting in Xutian in 199 and the Yidaizhao case in early 200, when Dong Cheng's entire group was killed.

Five years and five small achievements. After completing all of them, Cao Cao can transform into a complete traitor. The blackening progress bar increases by about 20% at each stage. It is really well organized.

……

After Liu Bei listened to Sun Qian's report on the important news in Yuzhou, he quickly put it aside because there was nothing he needed to respond to.

Zhuge Liang was quick-witted and advised Liu Bei on the same day: "If the lord does not intend to investigate the case of Zhao Yan's innocent murder, and intends to follow Cao Cao's false will of the court and stop crossing the border to pursue Yuan Shu, then the main force should be withdrawn to Guangling and Danyang. First, Yuan Shu is about to be destroyed, and the lord was originally carrying the will to fight against Yuan. Whoever attacks the lord will help Yuan. But now Cao Cao has re-ordered that the subsequent task of chasing and killing the remaining enemies has nothing to do with the lord. If other princes take advantage of this and rush in, there will be room for explanation, so they will not immediately become traitors.

The nearly 10,000 defenders we had left in Guangling and Danyang were not enough to resist Lü Bu and Sun Ce. Without an imperial decree to protect us, the main force should immediately strengthen the defense of key points in the rear.

Secondly, Lujiang and Jiujiang were newly conquered. The people of the two counties had been destitute and there was no surplus food in the wild under Yuan Shu's rule. They had been persecuted very badly. If we wanted to avoid starvation next year and even take in refugees fleeing from Runan County, we had to restore production in Lujiang and Jiujiang counties as soon as possible and give the people a rest.

After our army destroyed Yuan Shu's main force, the number of troops left in these two counties has exceeded 60,000. It is too much of a burden to feed 60,000 people with local food. They should return to Jiangdong and Guangling where there are more abundant crops to eat, so as to avoid transportation costs.

It is September now and rice is already being harvested. If the winter wheat and summer rice double-season farming plan summarized by Sheyang County and Haixi County of Guangling this year is extended to parts of Lujiang and Jiujiang, winter wheat must be planted in early October and harvested in April or May of the following year. At the same time, rice seedlings are raised in small fields in February of the following year, and rice seedlings are immediately transplanted to large fields after the wheat is harvested in April or May.

Therefore, we have a very tight time to govern the two counties of Lujiang and Jiujiang. We must persuade farmers to plant within one month after the ceasefire. If it is too late, we can only abandon the double-crop plan around Shouchun and promote rice planting rotation only in the fertile plains south of Hefei next year. "

Zhuge Liang's words were very clear and he explained the pros and cons to Liu Bei plainly. After listening to them, Liu Bei felt that he could not change a single word and there was no need to discuss it with Sun Qian who had brought the letter back. He simply followed Zhuge Liang's advice.

Liu Bei made a quick calculation and made a decisive decision: "Since the battle here is over, it would be a waste of money and manpower to keep so many soldiers in Jiujiang County. However, Shouchun and Hefei are two key places that cannot be ignored. How about this? Leave 20,000 troops to garrison for the time being, 10,000 each in Shouchun and Hefei, to prevent the situation from recurring between Cao Cao and Yuan Shu.

The remaining 40,000 troops were stationed with 5,000 each in Wancheng and Ruxu. The soldiers in Wancheng could guard against Huang Zu, and the soldiers in Ruxu could be used to guard against Sun Ce's detour across the river. They could also maneuver to assist in the defense of Wujiang, Liyang and other counties along the river.

The remaining 30,000 soldiers were all withdrawn to Guangling and Jiangnan. As for the old and weak who were sent back to farming from the Yuan army captives, they were organized into military settlements to get busy with the two-month winter wheat planting season. Organizing military settlements to farm the land is easier than persuading the people to farm, and it is a good way to save time. "

At the beginning of April this year, before the war against Yuan Shikai began, the total strength of Liu Bei's army was about 45,000, less than 50,000. Now, after five months of fighting, the total strength has increased to 70,000, a net increase of 25,000.

This figure, after deducting casualties and the dismissal of inferior, old and weak soldiers to return to farming, is a real net increase in combat power.

After hearing this arrangement, although Zhuge Liang still felt a little pressured about leaving 30,000 people in a territory that had just been fought and destroyed, he also knew that he could not just consider the economic reasons and had to ensure military security, so he did not say anything more.

I just gave a final piece of advice, hoping that during the upcoming busy farming season of winter wheat planting, the main combat soldiers could temporarily help with farming. As for the slack season after the twelfth month, there would be no need for the combat soldiers to farm next year, and they would just need to get through the most urgent and difficult time.

In order to increase his persuasiveness, Zhuge Liang also took out the household registration books of Jiujiang and Lujiang counties that he had just checked, and gave Liu Bei a preliminary report on the latest actual population situation of the two counties.

During the peak period of the Eastern Han Dynasty, these two counties had a population of about 500,000 each. In recent years, because Jiujiang has been exploited severely and had to supply the pseudo-capital Shouchun, its population is now only 270,000 to 280,000.

Lujiang County was slightly better, with the stalemate not so obvious. It was just that three years ago, when Sun Ce helped Yuan Shu fight Lu Kang, Wancheng was severely damaged, but other rural counties were not obviously exploited.

Because it is close to the Yangtze River and the area is vast and sparsely populated, it is convenient for the people to fish for wild vegetables, and also to eat shrimps, crabs, clams, loaches and eels to satisfy their hunger. Although the people all looked pale, the number of people who starved to death was relatively small. In the final statistics, the remaining population of Lujiang County was actually higher, with a little over 300,000.

In addition, this year, there are 200,000 to 300,000 people who fled downstream from Qiao, Runan and other places, passing through Jiujiang and Lujiang. Among them, more than 100,000 are temporarily unable to escape and are stranded in the local area, while at least half continue to flee long distances to Yuzhang, Danyang and Guangling.

Therefore, the population of the area controlled by Liu Bei's camp increased by about 800,000 to nearly 900,000 in the first nine months of this year. 600,000 were captured and 300,000 were refugees.

Before the war, the total population of the area controlled by Liu Bei was between 1.7 and 800,000. Now that there are two more counties, the total population has increased to more than 2.6 million.

The specific distribution is as follows: Jiujiang County has 35 people, Lujiang County has 42 people, Yuzhang County has 85 people, the entire Guangling County plus the three counties bordering Donghai County have a total of 66 people, and the seven counties actually controlled by Danyang County have a total of 34 people (the part of Danyang County controlled by Sun Ce still has a population of 40 to 50).

This data is certainly not accurate, but it is roughly correct and can be used as a reference. After reading it, Liu Bei agreed to let the soldiers left in Jiujiang County also participate in agricultural production in an emergency, as the burden was indeed too heavy.

After Liu Bei finished speaking, he couldn't help but sigh:

“Although the territory has expanded by half, the people’s livelihood in the newly occupied areas is so desolate that I’m afraid the army will be short of food next year. From December to next spring, I’m afraid we’ll have to transport more food from Yuzhang to provide disaster relief and prevent the people from starving to death.

Guangling County should be responsible for raising grain and disaster relief for the counties recovered by Guangling County, such as Xuyi, Huailing, and even the counties along the Huai River such as Yicheng in Jiujiang County. Guangling has a double-season crop this year, so it is still possible to help provide relief to the three counties.

The transportation costs and losses from transporting grain from Guangling along the Huai River to the local area are also less. The surplus grain in Yuzhang County is used to relieve famine in the newly occupied areas along the Yangtze River. The division of labor between the Yangtze River and the Huai River is clear. "

Zhuge Liang immediately accepted the order, and all the coordination of internal affairs and public security was handed over to him.

Zhuge Jin did not raise any objection. He knew that this might slightly slow down the pace of further expansion because if he wanted to mobilize for large-scale warfare next year, there would not be enough military rations.

But given Liu Bei's temper, he would definitely not sit back and watch the people he had just brought under his rule starve to death in order to accelerate expansion. Liu Bei was not Yuan Shu, Lu Bu, or Li Jue. He would never do something like robbing and coercing others to fight to support the war.

A few days later, the main combat troops began to withdraw as planned and returned to the south of the Yangtze River to find food.

Liu Bei himself did not stay in Shouchun for long. He knew very well that if he stayed there, a large set of governance teams and guards would remain there, which would be a huge financial burden, so he planned to cross the river and return to Wuhu to carry out his daily work. There was no need to transport the food of the seven counties in Danyang County. He could just use it to support his shogunate and the Yangzhou Mu team and guards.

However, just after Liu Bei packed up and set off, when he had just marched through Hefei and arrived at Juchao, Lu Su, who was guarding his home in Wuhu, sent him an urgent military intelligence - it was not that there was an accident in his hometown of Wuhu, but Lu Su reported to him the latest progress of Sun Ce's attack on Wang Lang.

During the months when Liu Bei was fighting with Yuan Shu, Sun Ce was indeed not idle. He did a lot of great things and cleverly found an excuse to start a war, bypassing the restriction of "destroying the cause of suppressing rebellion."

In addition, messengers suddenly came rushing in from Yuzhang and Lujiang at night, bringing Liu Bei another explosive news from other princes, which was about Ni Heng going to mediate between Huang Zu.

Liu Bei hurriedly stationed in Juchao for two more days, met with messengers from both sides, and summoned his staff to discuss how to deal with the situation.

(End of this chapter)