My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 175 Gongsun Zan is dead, how long can Lu Bu live?
After learning from Liu Bei that the imperial court had finally issued an official decree for the Yangzhou army to attack Huang Zu next year, the Zhuge brothers were really excited by this good news.

This is not to say that they hate Huang Zu so much or want to kill him.

But I have worked hard to farm and learn technology for more than a month, and I have come up with two new gadgets that will be put to practical use next year. This feeling is really great.

What people who work in technology hate the most is to create new things but have no application scenarios and they are not taken seriously in practice. Now it’s like a pillow is given to you just when you feel sleepy.

However, the Chinese New Year is coming soon, and we will have to do spring plowing after the New Year, so there is no rush to go to war.

Knowing this, the right thing to do is to let Huang Yueying, Liu Ye and Pu Yuan speed up their progress, transform laboratory results into industrial results and run in mass production as soon as possible.

Huang Yueying was in poor health, so she took a vacation after working until the New Year.

A surrendered general like Liu Ye had to prove himself, so he had little rest during the first month of the year.

With occasional guidance from Zhuge Liang and Huang Yueying, he spent more than a month to overcome the other minor technical difficulties of the counterweight trebuchet, in addition to the core technology of the "squirrel cage crane". Finally, before the end of February of that year, he produced the first complete "counterweight trebuchet".

Of course, as a first-generation product, its size and tonnage are definitely much smaller than the "Huiyi Cannon" used by the Mongols to destroy the Song Dynasty in history.

In history, the Mongolian Huihui cannon was said to have a maximum counterweight mass of six tons, and it used a thirty-fold lever to throw a 150-kilogram boulder.

The first prototype that Liu Ye trial-produced barely used a little over one ton of counterweight, which was only one-fifth of the tonnage of Mongolian products produced a thousand years later.

As for Pu Sheng and Pu Yuan, uncle and nephew, they also did not dare to rest during the first month of the year. They worked hard with their craftsmen for a month and finally built the first experimental high-temperature furnace made of refractory bricks.

This time also included the time to build a kiln for firing refractory bricks according to Zhuge Jin's instructions, and mass-produce tens of thousands of refractory bricks made of aluminate clay.

The problem of coke fuel and fluorite flux has not yet been solved, but just having this new furnace can slightly improve production efficiency and further improve the steel pouring experiment.

A benevolent manager like Zhuge Jin would not order people around at will, so overtime work would definitely be rewarded.

First, he promised Pu Sheng, Pu Yuan and others that they could still have a day off from New Year's Eve to the second day of the New Year, so these few days would not be a big deal.

Work started after the third day of the New Year, and the wages were doubled every day for the rest of the first month. Everyone was given a new animal fur coat to keep warm during the New Year.

And they ensured that all the craftsmen had fish for every meal every day, and the quantity was sufficient. They would not use small pieces of fish to make up the number, but only whole large fish with few bones.

There was also enough staple food, as the blacksmiths were physically exhausted and sweated a lot, so they needed to replenish salt. There was also a midnight snack, and they could eat as much pickled mustard as they wanted. Zhuge Jin specially prepared a separate canteen for the blacksmiths and kiln workers.

With such treatment, the craftsmen had no resistance to working overtime during the New Year, and they all said that the princes could give them any tasks they wanted.

……

In Wuhu, time has passed and it is already the beginning of February of the fourth year of Jian'an.

At this point in time, the biggest thing that happened in Wuhu City was obviously that the prince Zhuge Jin finally got married.

There is no need to go into the details of the various red tape and fairy couples, but Zhuge Jin had to find a woman of the right age to marry.

After the Chinese New Year, he will be 24 years old. His age means he won't be able to wait until Master Bu Lian reaches adulthood.

As for the big and small bridges, it was a matter of national law, and they had to be treated as slaves, which could not be washed away. Ni Heng was killed by Huang Zu because he told the truth on this issue, which was an ironclad case recorded in history and could be moved.

Naturally, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhuge Liang and others also came to watch the ceremony, so needless to say there was quite a bit of noise.

After getting married, Zhuge Jin had to take a short break and had no plans to handle government affairs throughout February. Anyway, Liu Bei was relatively free now.

Zhuge Liang, on the other hand, had just attended his eldest brother's wedding at the beginning of the month, and stayed in Wuhu for only three or five more days before he hurried back to Hefei.

Because the spring farming season was approaching soon, Zhuge Liang had to arrange for and supervise the rice sowing and seedling raising work in the two counties of Huainan.

Last year, the rice-wheat rotation was only piloted in Sheyang and Haixi counties. Although a lot of experience has been accumulated, many problems will still arise if it is expanded to two entire counties this year. We need the most professional people to monitor it personally and solve them on-site as soon as possible.

The most difficult stage of refractory furnace ironmaking and steelmaking, as well as the production of counterweight catapults, has passed, and Zhuge Liang no longer needs to watch over it. If there are occasional minor problems, Zhuge Jin can handle them alone.

On the day Zhuge Liang crossed the river and returned north, Zhuge Jin went to the Wuhu wharf in person, saw off his second brother and sister-in-law, and then went back to rest.

Throughout early February, although Zhuge Jin himself did not have much work to do, if Liu Bei got wind of any major events or important news in the world, he would still send someone to pass on the message, or simply invite him to his house for a drink, chat and banquet, and synchronize the information at the same time.

Within just over ten days, Liu Bei and Zhuge Jin actually received two or three important pieces of news that affected the situation in the world.

First, on this day in early February, three days after Zhuge Jin's marriage, Liu Bei heard from a spy who had returned from the north a piece of bad news that he had been mentally prepared for but could not help but feel sad about when the moment really came.

Liu Bei was in a bad mood, so he invited Guan Yu, Gan Ning, Zhuge Jin, and Lu Su to go out with him to relax. They also drank wine and told everyone after they were drunk:
"According to the messenger who came back from Yuan Tan, Brother Bogui has already been in Yijing and personally set fire to the Yijing Tower. Before the fire, he personally killed all his wives, concubines and daughters to avoid being humiliated. In the end, he himself died in the fire.

Yuan Shao besieged Yijing for a whole year, and finally succeeded. Yuan Shao also designed to severely damage Zhang Yan's troops, who were invited by Gongsun Zan from Bingzhou. It is estimated that Yuan Shao will soon start to settle accounts with Zhang Yan and completely control most of Bingzhou. "

Guan Yu and Lu Su didn't know what to say when they heard this, especially Guan Yu who knew about the friendship between Liu Bei and Gongsun Zan for many years.

However, after Gongsun Zan killed Liu Yu, the Grand Chancellor and Governor of Youzhou, it was impossible for Liu Bei to continue to associate with Gongsun Zan. It was at that time that he left Gongsun Zan with Zhao Yun and went to Xuzhou to join Tao Qian.

So later on, Liu Bei and Yuan Shao had a good relationship. After establishing his friendship with Yuan Tan, Liu Bei's attitude gradually changed towards Yuan Shao in the past few years.

At this moment, I just felt a little emotional when I finally heard that the senior brother who took the wrong path finally came to an end.

Zhuge Jin is very clear about this feeling. It's just like when the protagonist played by Lu Yi in "In the Name of People" saw his senior brother Qi Tongwei commit suicide.

No matter what, in everyone's eyes, Gongsun Zan's death was a foregone conclusion, it was just a matter of time.

Only Zhuge Jin knew that the butterfly effect caused by Ah Liang's secret operation for Yuan Tan last year caused Gongsun Zan to die about two months earlier than the same period in history, which was harmless. Liu Bei certainly didn't know about this from beginning to end. Although he might not mind if he knew, it would be difficult to get over it. Yuan Tan was also very happy to take the idea of "digging holes to attack the city and Yijing Tower" for himself, so they both got what they needed.

If Yuan Shao could get rid of his enemy earlier and free up his hands, it would be easier for him to go south to contain Cao Cao in the future. Historically, after Liu Bei defeated Yuan Shu, he also briefly returned to Xia Pi to attack and kill Che Zhou, and slightly reoccupied Xuzhou for a few months.

Unfortunately, in history, Cao Cao always regarded Liu Bei as a formidable enemy. He would rather ignore Yuan Shao who had already stationed troops in Liyang and send 50,000 troops to quickly counterattack Xuzhou, driving Liu Bei away to Yuan Shao.

In this life, Zhuge Jin could have easily predicted that once Lu Bu was destroyed, if Liu Bei also took some advantage of it, the relationship between Cao Cao and Liu Bei would definitely become unbalanced. If Cao Cao felt that "Yuan Shao was currently being held back by another powerful enemy", Cao Cao might have the idea of "joining forces with Sun Ce to attack Liu Bei".

But now Yuan Shao can free up his hands from the task of destroying Gongsun Zan more than two months in advance. Even if he is "fierce in appearance but timid in courage, and indecisive in his plans", he should have hesitated enough by then.

In this way, seeing the threat of Yuan Shao, who was pressing southward earlier than the same period in history, and the fact that he had not yet completely broken off relations with Liu Bei, might help stabilize the relationship between Cao and Liu for a few more months.

Zhuge Jin finally convinced the drunk Liu Bei by saying, "Yuan Shao can finally free up his hands to look south, which may be good for us."

Liu Bei was drunk for several days and figured the matter out. The death of Gongsun Zan was over.

……

However, perhaps the fourth year of Jian'an was destined to be a turbulent year.

In the month of February alone, major events that shocked the world occurred one after another.

Just seven or eight days after Gongsun Zan's death, around February 14, Liu Bei, who was in Wuhu, received another piece of important news.

Moreover, this news was told to Liu Bei in person by the messenger sent by Lu Bu to Wuhu for help.

After fighting with Lu Bu for three months, Cao Cao finally succeeded in breaking through Pei County, the capital of Pei State, after a winter siege, and also captured the surrounding Feng County and Xiao County, thus conquering the entire Pei State.

Before this, the Taishan bandits who were affiliated with Lu Bu, such as Sun Guan and others, finally surrendered to Cao Cao after losing thousands of people in several small-scale battles and being attacked by Cao Cao.

Cao Cao did not go to the extreme, but necessary punishment and warning were still necessary, so generals such as Sun Guan were stripped of part of their military power, and only a very small number of direct troops were retained without being reorganized, and they continued to lead them personally to serve Cao Cao.

At this point, all the lands occupied by Lü Bu outside Xuzhou were recaptured by Cao Cao. In the Battle of Pei State, Lü Bu lost about 40% of his remaining total forces, as well as nearly 10,000 soldiers and auxiliary troops. Finally, when the counties of Pei State were besieged and the city was captured, he surrendered to Cao Cao.

Lu Bu himself did break out from Pei County and retreat to Pengcheng before the city was finally captured, but all the infantry around him, except for the cavalry that broke out, were surrounded and destroyed.

Cao Cao needs to take a short rest for the time being, and it is estimated that he will soon launch a new round of offensive and officially invade Xuzhou to compete with Lu Bu for the remaining Pengcheng, Xia Pi and Langya.

Langya was not pushed to the front line against Cao because of its remote location, so it was still guarded by Zang Ba. Seeing that Lu Bu was in danger, he no longer worked for Lu Bu and just defended his own territory.

Lu Bu wanted to dispatch Zang Ba's direct troops to Pengcheng to help in the battle, but Zang Ba made all kinds of excuses not to come, which made Lu Bu so angry that he scolded Zang Ba for being fickle, but there was nothing he could do.

In the end, Lu Bu was left with less than 20,000 troops, and among them were a large number of remnants of the defeated army and improvised militiamen.

He and Gao Shun led 10,000 troops to defend Pengcheng, standing at the forefront of the fight against Cao, and holding off the main force of Cao's army coming from the west.

Chen Gong, Chen Deng and the injured Zhang Liao were to guard Xiapi, and Cao Xing was assigned to help Zhang Liao, because Cao Xing had no experience in leading a large army and could not take charge of it alone, but Zhang Liao was injured and could not go into battle personally, so Cao Xing could serve as Zhang Liao's mouthpiece and executor. In Xiapi, Lu Bu also left more than 6,000 people.

In addition, middle-level generals such as Song Xian, Wei Xu and Hou Cheng were assigned to guard the surrounding transportation hubs such as Xiaxiang, Lucheng and Suiling as a support. However, these places generally only had one or two thousand people, which was really weak. Once Cao's army made a detour to plunder, these places could only delay time for a while, and then they would have to give up.

It was for this reason that Lu Bu had to ask Liu Bei for help again.

Liu Bei also received the envoy very politely, expressed his regret for the conflict between Lu Bu and Cao Cao, and hoped that the two sides could resolve the misunderstanding.

At the same time, he said that he was ordered by the court not to interfere in the war, and as a loyal minister of the Han Dynasty, he could not disobey the order.

In the end, he just gave Lu Bu's envoy some military equipment and supplies as a token of his kindness, so as to make Lu Bu understand his position and difficulties.

Moreover, these materials could not be sent to Pengcheng, but at most to Xiapi. Liu Bei promised to send things, so it would take time to prepare, right? It would take at least five or six days for the decision to be made in Wuhu and the news to be sent back to Huaiyin.

When it comes to military supplies, maybe they will check and prepare. Now is the busy season for spring farming, and we can't use too much labor and corvée for transportation, so it's good enough to walk from Huaiyin to Xiapi in more than half a month.

By then, even if Pengcheng, which was defended by Lu Bu and Gao Shun, had not yet fallen, it would probably have been surrounded by Cao's army on all sides. Even if Liu Bei wanted to send his troops in, he would not be able to succeed, so he could only send them to Xia Pi.

With this calculation, Liu Bei didn't lose out. He estimated that Lu Bu would not be able to use this batch of humanitarian aid materials personally, and he got a favor for free, thus playing nice with both sides.

……

Lu Bu's last messenger for help was sent away politely by Liu Bei with kind words.

The successive encounters of Gongsun Zan and Lu Bu also made Liu Bei realize that time was running out, so he decided to use his troops against Huang Zu immediately after the busiest days of spring ploughing. Perhaps this year he couldn't even wait until early April, so he would do it as soon as possible, around the end of March.

In addition, Xiapi was always prepared to support Chen Deng, and Chen Dao and Tian Yu were also ready to fight. Whenever Chen Deng saw an opportunity to start a rebellion, Chen Dao would respond immediately.

Just when Liu Bei was making preparations, training his troops on both the east and west routes, and was about to send generals such as Guan Yu and Gan Ning out.

In mid-February, Liu Bei received another piece of military intelligence from his own side, which had gone through untold hardships and took a detour via the sea to Hailing in Huainan.

This news was sent back by Bu Zhi, who was sent out by him at the beginning of the twelfth month of last year. Bu Zhi reported to him the results of his mission to pressure Sun Ce and the results of his contact with Wang Lang.

Liu Bei, who had been gossiping about other princes for more than half a month, finally got an important piece of news from his own people. Of course, he took it and read it impatiently. He also ordered someone to go to Zhuge Jin's house to invite him to discuss it together.

Liu Bei knew that Bu Zhi and Zhuge Jin had been classmates for two years, and he believed that Zhuge Jin would definitely care about Bu Zhi's safety.

Throughout the twelfth month of the third year of Jian'an and the second month of the fourth year of Jian'an, the other civil and military officials in Liu Bei's camp stayed at home and farmed, and there were no major moves. The only major move was made by Bu Zhi.

(End of this chapter)