My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 162 Death of Ni Heng
After Liu Bei agreed to assign the task of contacting and reinforcing Wang Lang to Bu Zhi,

Zhuge Jin can personally explain most of the remaining operational details to Bu Zhi when the time comes, so there is no need to waste Liu Bei's time.

The main reason was that Liu Bei was not very interested in the conflict tactics between agents. His moral standards made him not want to know too many details. Zi Yu said let's do whatever we want.

Even so, Zhuge Jin still thought of a point that might be able to be communicated with Liu Bei, so he suggested: "My lord, I think that this time, secretly helping Wang Lang and checking Sun Ce, maybe we can use both civil and military means.

The military route was to have Zishan secretly support Wang Lang. The literary route also required the lord to write letters to Sun Ce and Wang Lang at the same time as the governor of Yangzhou.

On the one hand, he expressed his understanding of Sun Ce's attitude towards punishing those who colluded with the Shanyue, but he also wanted to allow Wang Lang to hand over the Shanyue surrendered generals to atone for his sins. He hoped that both sides would exercise restraint and not completely resort to force to resolve the issue.
To avoid the tragedy of "the intention is to solve the problem of Shanyue but it leads to internal strife among the Han people and the loss of lives" - Sun Ce will definitely not listen, but the lord must say that this gesture will benefit the lord's reputation for benevolence and righteousness, and the people of Yangzhou will support the lord even more in the future.

Moreover, I estimate that since Sun Ce only has navy on the river and lacks a navy, he needs to build and prepare ships separately. Therefore, if he lands in Dongye and sieges the city for a long time in the future, it may be easy for him to run out of food.

This kind of battle across hundreds of miles of sea is extremely difficult to guarantee logistics, and I am afraid that Sun Ce will slaughter innocent people to raise food. The lord can anticipate the enemy's moves and clearly tell Sun Ce the difficulties of fighting across the sea to show his magnanimity and use it as a reason to persuade the other side to resolve the situation peacefully.

Then he gave a preventive warning: Since Sun Ce provoked this conflict because he thought he was righteous in the Han people's resistance against the Shanyue, he must keep his word and be clear about what he is doing at all times.

If he dares to send troops in the name of defending Han and attacking Yue, and then slaughters Han people to raise food when he runs out of food, then the lord will definitely seek justice for all the Han people in Yangzhou in the future! The lord must make it clear in advance, so that even if Sun Ce encounters a situation where he runs out of food and the subsequent fleet is intercepted during the crossing, he will only dare to plunder the Shanyue people in Fujian, which can also reduce the losses of our Han people in internal strife. "

Zhuge Jin said this, of course, because he had seen many people discussing Sun Ce's issues online in his previous life.

To be honest, Sun Ce was definitely more restrained than Cao Cao in terms of massacres, but there was indeed a record of city massacres. The three words most clearly written in his biography are "massacre in Dongye", which was the last battle against Wang Lang, and is Fuzhou in later generations.

As the only iconic record, it is naturally mentioned very frequently and has a high popularity on the Internet.

As for why Sun Ce wanted to massacre Dongye, "The Three Kingdoms" certainly did not write about it, and it is difficult to find evidence for such motivation.

However, most of the speculation on the Internet in later generations was that the logistics of crossing the sea to fight were difficult. For example, after fighting for several months, Fujian encountered a typhoon season and the ships could not go out to sea and return. The only hope was to quickly capture the city and rely on looting food in the city to survive.

Zhuge Jin didn't want to speculate, but regardless of whether Sun Ce massacred the city because of the heavy casualties and deep resentment when he broke the city at all costs, now that Liu Bei has become the governor of Yangzhou, he should take precautions.

When Sun Ce arrives in Fujian, if he really can't raise food for the army, I hope he will remember Liu Bei's warning that if he wants to raise food, he must go along the Minjiang River into the mountains and look for Shanyue tribes to raise food. If Liu Bei finds out that he is raising food in a county where Han people live, Sun Ce will definitely pay the price in the future.

Moreover, as long as evidence is obtained, this can also be used as an excuse for Liu Bei to intervene in the affairs of Sun Ce and Wang Lang in the future. After all, Liu Bei is the governor of Yangzhou, and even if Sun Ce has the imperial edict to authorize the handling of the Wang Lang issue, it should be carried out within the framework drawn by Liu Bei.

Of course, the strength of the claims for this issue is not very strong, mainly because the Xu Du court was controlled by Cao Cao, and Cao Cao himself did not think that massacring a city was a sin.

But there is no such thing as too many declarations, and it is more effective to use several methods at the same time. When Chen Lin helped Yuan Shao to fight against Cao Cao, he found many declarations, but Yuan Shao never complained that they were too many.

What Zhuge Jin hoped most was that Sun Ce could listen to some advice and give up his evil idea of massacring the Han people because of Liu Bei's butterfly effect. He would rather not have this declaration. After all, in Liu Bei's view, the Han people in Yangzhou were already his subjects.

……

After hearing Zhuge Jin's additional suggestions, Liu Bei naturally accepted them and immediately asked someone to find Sun Qian to write a warning letter to Sun Ce. Wang Lang also had to pretend to write a letter and then let Bu Zhi take it to the letter.

You have to do the whole thing. If you only send a letter to one party, you may be suspected of taking sides.

Sun Qian can organize the wording of the letter himself, and just listen to Zhuge Jin's oral narration of the main ideas.

However, the waiter sent by Liu Bei could not find Sun Qian in Cao's office. After a long time and a lot of detours, he finally found him.

When Liu Bei saw Sun Qian, he was surprised to see that Sun Qian looked confused and uncertain. He asked in a kind tone, "Gong You, are you busy with other important matters today? Why are you not in Cao's office? You look uncertain, is there any difficult official business?"

Sun Qian bowed and said, "My lord, please forgive me. I heard something important this morning, so I rushed to the posthouse to receive a few officials from the imperial court who were brought back from Jiangxia to calm them down.

The last time Ni Zhengping passed through the border, the lord treated him with great courtesy, so after they completed their mission, they returned to Xu and passed by here, and came here privately to reveal some important information. "

When Liu Bei heard that Sun Qian was busy maintaining relations with the court, he immediately stopped caring and quickly ordered:

"This is business, Gongyou, you should go and take care of entertaining the guests first, I'm not in a hurry here. By the way, how come Ni Heng has become so humble and doesn't shout at anyone after he returns? Aren't they angry that only you, Gongyou, are accompanying them?"

Sun Qian shook his head helplessly, and finally had time to finish his words: "There is no such thing as Ni Heng. The person I received was just an official of the imperial court. Ni Heng himself was killed by Huang Zu in Jiangxia."

Even though Liu Bei was a calm and composed man who never panicked, upon hearing such explosive news, he instinctively jumped up from his couch:
"What? Huang Zu dared to openly kill the imperial angel who came to mediate? Is he crazy? Even if the Han Dynasty was in decline and the rules and regulations collapsed, it would not be like this...

When Liu Yan wanted to kill the angel entering Sichuan and block the emperor's order, he could only release the rice thief Zhang Lu, who used the rebel's hand to carry out this heinous act.

Although Huang Zuzhi is like a warlord who only obeys orders but not declarations, he is not as good as Zhang Luzhi and Liu Yan. Does Brother Jingsheng know about this?"

Sun Qian: "Liu Jingzhou should not be involved... After all, the actions in Qichun, Zhuxian and other places were Huang Zu's own initiative, and the benefits of expanding the territory were also enjoyed by Huang Zu himself."

After Liu Bei heard that Liu Biao was not involved, he felt that the matter made some sense. Then he could not help asking: "Have you found out why Huang Zu killed Ni Heng?"

Sun Qian: "I didn't have time to ask you in detail just now. Why don't you go to the posthouse and ask the angel's entourage in person?"

Liu Bei nodded, thinking that this was as it should be. Although the other party was only an attendant, he was sent by the court after all.

Liu Bei was always polite and modest in his dealings with others, and he immediately brought Zhuge Jin and Sun Qian to the posthouse. The envoys and their attendants looked a little frightened, and when they saw Liu Bei coming to meet them in person, they recalled the fear they had felt when they were with Huang Zu. This strong contrast was really impressive.

"General Zuo, please save us!" Several envoys and their entourage bowed deeply to Liu Bei when they saw him.

Liu Bei quickly helped him up and said, "Why is it so? Why is it so? You are sent by the imperial court. Did you encounter any misunderstanding in Jingzhou? No matter what, since we are back in Yangzhou, I will definitely send you back to Yuzhou safely.

I heard that Cao Sikong's army has just conquered Anfeng County in Runan Prefecture. If you go north directly from here and take a short detour, you will be able to meet Cao Sikong in less than three to five days. It will be safe if you travel with the army."

The several attendants finally calmed down, and then one of Ni Heng's deputy envoys during his lifetime was responsible for talking to Liu Bei.

Liu Bei then asked about the causes and consequences of Ni Heng's death and how he had offended Huang Zu.

The deputy envoy experienced the entire scene and told it all in detail:
"That day, when Doctor Ni arrived at Huang Zu's place, Huang Zu also hosted a banquet for him. Doctor Ni... also did some inappropriate things, and the general knew that. When he was alive, he always pretended to be wild and unruly, and spoke without giving people face.

At the welcoming banquet, seeing that Huang Zu had a vulgar manner and his toast was crude and uncivilized, Doctor Ni repeatedly made sarcastic remarks, which made Huang Zu extremely angry.

Later, they talked about the imperial commission. Doctor Ni thought that when he was in Hefei, he was treated with such courtesy and obeyed all the imperial orders. Who was Huang Zu? How could he dare to disobey the imperial will? So Doctor Ni did not give in and asked Huang Zu to hand over all the surrendered generals of Yuan Shu, and said some harsh words.

Huang Zu was embarrassed and angrily said that Doctor Ni had bullied him too much, saying that in today's chaotic times, soldiers and generals could not be handed over by the imperial court just because of a piece of paper, so he asked Doctor Ni to be more aware of the current situation.

When Liu Bei and Zhuge Jin heard this, they couldn't help but look at each other, and they saw a hint of helplessness in each other's eyes.

It seems that if nothing unexpected happens, Ni Heng is just a foul-mouthed person who refuses to give in and ends up killing himself.

Zhuge Jin's previous request for Liu Bei to treat him with courtesy, and Zhuge Jin's various tolerances on the first day he met Ni Heng (Zhuge Jin pretended to be sick and disappeared from the second day, so he only had to endure the first day), now seem to have contributed to Ni Heng's increasing arrogance.

If Ni Heng had not been the one who had the final say with Liu Bei, and had not felt the pleasure of being an angel of the court for the first time and had not been so arrogant, he might not have been as arrogant as he was later when he went to Huang Zu.

Zhuge Jin estimated that the degree of Ni Heng's arrogance in front of Huang Zu this time must have far exceeded that of the same period in history, and he was being flattered to death.

Thinking of this, Zhuge Jin interrupted for the first time and asked the deputy envoy: "So, Ni Heng still refused to give in, so Huang Zu killed Ni Heng?"

The deputy envoy sighed, but revealed some secrets:

“Not really. Huang Zu’s son Huang She saw that his father was drunk, so he stepped forward to persuade Huang Zu not to be too rude to the court angel.

At the same time, Huang She refuted Doctor Ni, saying that Doctor Ni's request was not fair and biased, and that we must have received a lot of benefits from Lord Xuande, which is why we cheated on the mission. "

Liu Bei wanted to slam the table when he heard this, but unfortunately there was nothing to slam. However, he still shouted in a dignified manner: "Huang She is judging a gentleman with a mean heart! When Ni Zhengping was in Lujiang, I did not ask him for anything!"

The deputy envoy said quickly, "Of course, we are all witnesses, and of course we know that the general is fair! These are all the mean words of Huang She! But at that time, Huang She just judged others by himself and gave a piece of evidence, thinking that he had a good idea, but it caused a bigger dispute with Doctor Ni.

Huang She said at the time: "I have heard for a long time that the key to Lujiang is Wancheng. When Wancheng was captured, I heard that the family of the criminal general Qiao Rui was also left in the city, and they must have been captured by Zhuge Jin. Zhuge Jin dared to accuse his father of harboring a surrendered criminal. He was completely unscrupulous and wanted to find a pretext for the crime.

Because it was heard that Qiao Rui's two daughters were quite beautiful and had been taken as wives and concubines by Zhuge Jin. Zhuge Jin himself disregarded the law for his lust and arbitrarily registered the criminals as slaves. How could he have the face to blame the Huang family for taking in surrendered generals?'

Unfortunately, it was these words that ultimately harmed Doctor Ni. Doctor Ni and I spoke out for justice at the time, saying that when we met Zhuge Fubo in Lujiang, we had seen with our own eyes that the two daughters of Qiao Rui were dressed in servants' clothes, serving tea and water, just like the court etiquette.

Huang She was surprised and couldn't believe it. He said that we, as angels of the court, had accepted benefits from the Yangzhou army and lied openly. Huang Zu was drunk and thought we were biased. In anger, he said he would help the court clean up the mess and kill these treacherous people who deceived their superiors and subordinates.

When Huang She came to his senses, he tried to persuade him, but the executioners had already carried out Huang Zu's order and killed Doctor Ni. The next day, after Huang Zu sobered up, he realized the seriousness of the situation, buried Doctor Ni with great honor, and submitted a petition to defend himself.

After hearing these words, Liu Bei's mind, which had been shocked for a long time, gradually calmed down. At least he could imagine what had happened in the whole process.

Zhuge Jin was also silently reviewing the matter in his mind, wondering how different this death of Ni Heng was from the death of Ni Heng in history.

To be honest, Zhuge Jin did not expect that Ni Heng would die this time. He felt that Ni Heng's identity had changed. This time he went to Huang Zu with a mission, and maybe Huang Zu would stop.

But if you think about it carefully, in history, Ni Heng went to Liu Biao in order to "persuade Liu Biao not to oppose the court." Strictly speaking, he was also an angel. If Huang Zu's knife was strictly investigated, it would be a very serious crime.

It’s just that Cao Cao in history didn’t want to pursue the matter, and he himself was scolded by Ni Heng, so he wished someone could help him kill someone with a borrowed knife.

But now, the situation is completely different.

In this life, many people are willing to take Ni Heng's death seriously.

After sorting out the causes and consequences, Liu Bei suddenly thought of a terrible possibility. He stared at Zhuge Jin in surprise for a long time, which made Zhuge Jin feel a little guilty.

After pacifying the deputy envoy and other subordinates and leaving the posthouse, Liu Bei grabbed Zhuge Jin's sleeve at the entrance of the posthouse and whispered in his ear:
"You made Qiao Rui's two daughters slaves, and made them wear coarse linen clothes and serve tea and water in front of the imperial envoys. Wasn't this also part of your plan to make the enemy proud?
Was this also part of the plan? Did you expect Huang She to refute the court's mediation by saying that our army also took in the relatives of criminals? "

Zhuge Jin cried out innocence: "How could this be my plan? I was just being careful not to make any mistakes and not let anyone catch me.

But judging from common sense, as long as we respect the court's laws in minor matters that do not cause any harm, we will naturally have the opportunity to highlight the other party's lack of respect for the government."

(End of this chapter)