My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 242 The first question when the princes meet: Which edict are you following?

Gao Shun was not surprised to see that Liu Bei had a cautious attitude and did not dare to immediately raise the flag and obey the emperor's order to fight the enemy. After all, Liu Bei only listened to one side of the story he brought.

Yuan Shao was in a high position and had power, and he was in conflict with Cao Cao, so it was only right for Yuan Shao to be the first to raise the flag and throw a stone to test the water.

After speaking out, Liu Bei took Gao Shun back to Xiling County, where he was treated well and allowed to rest for two or three days.

After the injuries of Gao Shun's entourage were bandaged and treated and they were able to move around without any problems, they took a boat across the river and went to Wuchang County to reside permanently.

Dong Cheng's orphans, Lü Bu's wife and daughter, naturally moved to Wuchang County. By the time they were done with all this and settled down in Wuchang City, it was already late February.

Of course, Zhuge Liang was not idle during these four or five days. The day after Gao Shun surrendered, he consulted Liu Bei, recorded the latest situation, wrote a letter, and sent it down the river to Wuhu to Zhuge Jin.

The letter also added some details, such as emphasizing that "the two pieces of chain mail armor that Sun Shao gave as gifts to Dong Cheng when he went to Xudu were eventually seized by Cao Cao after Dong Cheng and Lu Bu died for their country."

At the end of the letter, Zhuge Jin was asked to deliver the message to Yuan Tan as soon as possible through the coastal communication channel between Xuzhou Donghai County and Langya County, and then ask Yuan Tan to rush to deliver it to Yuan Shao - there was no other way, as most of the territories under the jurisdiction of Liu Bei and Yuan Shao were separated by Cao Cao, and only a small part of the easternmost coastal area was bordered, so they would definitely have to take a long detour.

Zhuge Liang's secret letter was sent on February 17. It was sent by galloping horse during the day and by boat down the river at night. It took only four days to reach Wuhu.

Zhuge Jin did not dare to delay either. While preparing his troops, he wrote another letter and attached it to the letter. He also used both vehicles and boats and arrived in Huaiyin in two days. He then sent people to ride horses hundreds of miles a day through Xuzhou and arrive in Langya.

On February 25, the news reached Yuan Tan, who then rushed the message another 600 miles to Yecheng three days later, delivering all the inside information of the "Secret Decree" that he knew.

……

February 28th, Yecheng, General’s Mansion.

Early in the morning of that day, Yuan Shao was recruiting advisers in his shogunate to discuss how to use the excuse of the Xu Du mutiny to launch an all-out war with Cao Cao.

He learned five days ago that a mutiny had taken place in Xudu and that Dong Cheng and Lu Bu had been defeated and killed. He then sent someone to investigate again, but there has been no updated intelligence so far.

Therefore, Yuan Shao only knew this fact, but had not yet found out the specific motives of Dong Cheng and Lu Bu's actions or how to characterize them.

As Yuan Shao was indecisive, he naturally wanted to listen to opinions from all sides. Tian Feng, Ju Su, Guo Tu, Shen Pei, Xu You and Feng Ji argued over this.

Tian Feng was the one who liked to find faults after the fact the most among everyone and was also the first one to be disliked by Yuan Shao.

The reason is simple, it is because among all Yuan Shao's advisers, Tian Feng attaches the most importance to practical interests, and his vision for practical interests is indeed the most sensitive.

As early as a few months ago, Tian Feng advised Yuan Shao not to worry about the problem of face and reputation, and to take advantage of the battle against Yang Chou in Henei and rush over! Don't give Cao Cao a chance to catch his breath and win over other princes!
What does it matter if I lose some righteous reputation? As long as Cao Cao is killed quickly, history will be written by the victors, and no one will ask whether the excuse for starting the war was sufficient! Wouldn't it be better to slowly whitewash it later?
Unfortunately, Yuan Shao had to save face, and even senior officials like Ju Shou had to save face, so Tian Feng's suggestion was isolated and abandoned at the beginning.

Later, more than a month after the truce was reached, that is, in the twelfth month of last year, the envoy sent by Yuan Shao to persuade Zhang Xiu was driven back by Jia Xu. Jia Xu actually persuaded Zhang Xiu to surrender to Cao, and Zhang Xiu really surrendered, and Cao Cao accepted and treated Zhang Xiu with courtesy.

As soon as the news reached Yecheng, Tian Feng began to sigh and said on several occasions:

"If it weren't for the lord's indecisiveness and his love of face that gave Cao Cao a chance to breathe, how could Cao Cao have won over Zhang Xiu? We have waited for a few more months in vain, and our army has not received any additional reinforcements, while the enemy army is constantly gathering foreign aid! By then, we will have to fight another Zhang Xiu on the battlefield!"

When Tian Feng said this, other Jizhou faction counselors, such as Ju Shou and Shen Pei, did not spread rumors. However, Xu You and Guo Tu from Yingchuan and Nanyang factions whispered to Yuan Shao.

When Yuan Shao heard Tian Feng insulting him, he felt secretly resentful. Fortunately, Tian Feng had not yet talked about this topic in public. Yuan Shao could temporarily pretend not to know and endure it, but secretly resented it in his heart.

Today, Yuan Shao once again summoned a group of advisers to discuss the southward march, and Tian Feng was the first to speak out:
"I think now is not the best time to send troops. As for the opportunity to attack Cao Cao in the south, the best opportunity was before Zhang Xiu was persuaded to surrender. If we marched south without hesitation, Zhang Xiu and Cao would have been enemies at that time and would have attacked him from behind.

The second best opportunity was at the beginning of the year, when we went south and Dong Cheng, Lu Bu and other people who were against Cao in Xudu were ready to make a move but had not yet done so. As long as we attracted the main force of Cao's army, Xudu would surely be attacked by Dong Cheng.

Now Cao Cao has just killed Dong Cheng and Lu Bu. Even if these two are not our traitors, as long as our army immediately moves south, Cao Cao will certainly spread the word that "Dong Cheng and Lu Bu were originally our traitors. He was furious and attacked because his traitors were discovered and killed. There is no need to be afraid of them."

By then, Cao's army will surely be in high spirits after having just suppressed the rebellion, and it will be difficult to rush to defeat them. In this case, why don't we wait a little longer and wait for Cao's army to recover from the high morale after suppressing the rebellion before we attack them."

Tian Feng's analysis was very insightful from a tactical point of view. Wars are fought on morale. Regardless of whether Dong Cheng and Lu Bu were colluding with Yuan Shao, as long as Yuan Shao attacked, Cao Cao would definitely spread the word that they were colluding.

This will create a morale boost of "our army has discovered and eliminated the enemy's spies in advance", and put everyone at ease.

Tian Feng just didn't want to give Cao Cao an extra psychological advantage. Unfortunately, he had offended Yuan Shao many times in the past three months. After hearing this, Yuan Shao's face was not very good, and he just asked in a low voice: "Then sir, tell me, when is the best time to attack?"

Tian Feng shook his head: "That is beyond my knowledge. I only know that now is not a good opportunity. When the opportunity comes, as long as you listen to me and act immediately, don't hesitate, I will find a good opportunity for you."

After hearing this, Yuan Shao was also frightened: So you are just "destroying without building", you can't even say good things when others say good things, and you can't even say something good when you are asked to?

You also want us to not hesitate and execute your decision immediately?

Yuan Shao finally showed his anger and slammed the table: "I asked you to give me advice, but you only know how to talk nonsense and criticize others. How can you be so disrespectful! Why don't you leave now!"

A guard came over and asked Tian Feng to leave, but Tian Feng had no choice but to leave with his neck hung high.

But at least it didn't end up like in history, where he was imprisoned and interrogated by Yuan Shao for his strong advice - this may be because the situation has changed. Now Yuan Shao's offensive success rate is indeed higher than the same period in history. Therefore, even if Tian Feng is striving for perfection and wants to find the best time to start a war, he will not try his best to obstruct and resist Yuan Shao to the point of being imprisoned.

At best, he had offended his lord and was alienated to the point where he could not temporarily participate in military meetings.

After Tian Feng was driven away and treated coldly, the opinion that obstructed "advancing in the near future" no longer existed. What remained was only the disagreement on how to advance specifically.

Guo Tu and Xu You naturally used the same tactics as last winter. They hoped that Yuan Shao would march immediately. They were already prepared.

Ju Su was a little more cautious and suggested again: "My lord, perhaps our army should first send an envoy to Xudu, first with courtesy and then with force, to ask Cao Cao to thoroughly investigate the case of Dong Cheng and Lu Bu's mutiny, to find out whether there is any injustice, or whether Cao Cao has committed the crime of killing dissidents.

Once we catch more evidence against Cao, or even force him to feel guilty and obstruct our envoys who are asking for a thorough investigation, or even harm them, we will have sufficient reasons to advance. The soldiers of the three armies will know that Qu is completely on the enemy's side, and they will be more united in their hatred of the enemy, which will be helpful for encouraging us before the battle."

Guo Tu curled his lips and sighed, "Although Lord Ju's words are prudent, it will take at least one or two months to go back and forth. Time is running out. If we attack now, Yanzhou and Yuzhou will not be able to cultivate the spring plough this year, and Cao Cao will have to recruit troops with all his strength to fight us. If the war continues until autumn, Cao Cao will be out of food again.

If we delay for another month and a half, the spring ploughing season will be over. If we fight a protracted war, Cao Cao won’t starve to death until the end of this year! "

Ju Su was furious when Guo Tu refuted him like this: "What are you talking about! My lord, you are raising an army to save the world, how can you expect to win by starving the people of Yan and Yu to death!"

Xu You quickly jumped out to help Guo Tu smooth things over: "Gong Ze didn't say he wanted to starve the people to death. Isn't this just squeezing Cao's army's food supply? Why is Ju Gong making wild guesses?"

As time went by, the Jizhou faction and the outside advisers from Yingchuan and Nanyang split into two major camps.

Local people from Jizhou such as Shen Pei and Xin Ping all supported Ju Su, while Xu You and Feng Ji both supported Guo Tu.

Yuan Shao saw that everyone had clearly agreed to send troops, but had not come to an agreement on the pace of the expedition and the literary drama before it, so they started arguing again, and Yuan Shao felt a great headache.

Just when Yuan Shao was about to explode and yell at everyone to shut up, a messenger suddenly ran in from outside the door, bowed and reported:
"My lord! The eldest son sent an urgent messenger from Qingzhou with a secret letter from General Liu Bei to you! There is also an additional memorial from the eldest son, saying that it is related to the mutiny in Xudu."

This letter directly saved Yuan Shao from his predicament, so he took the opportunity to scold everyone and asked them to be quiet as he wanted to read the letter first.

"I wonder if there is any new information about the incident in Xudu? Perhaps my dear brother Xuande knows more than I do." Yuan Shao muttered to himself as he opened the letter and read it one by one.

After reading only a few lines, Yuan Shao's eyes gradually widened.

"Hahaha! God is helping me! Lord Ju, there's no need to say more! There's nothing to send people to Xudu to investigate! Order the three armies to get ready as soon as possible, gather at Liyang, cross the Yellow River today, and attack Yanjin and Baima!"

Ju Su was very anxious: "My Lord! What did the eldest son and Liu Bei say?"

Yuan Shao laughed triumphantly, "This villain Ah Man has been feared by Your Majesty since he wrongly killed Zhao Yan the year before last and destroyed Gonglu last year. Your Majesty sent a secret edict in his belt to ask Dong Cheng to plot the execution of the traitor, but Dong Cheng was not careful enough and Jia Xu, who Ah Man had just surrendered, saw through the clues and plotted to lure him to death, causing the plot to fail!

"Dong Cheng's orphan, Lu Bu's wife and daughter, and Gao Shun, a general who knew about the situation, have already crossed the Tongbai Mountains from Runan to Jiangxia to join Liu Bei. How could Liu Bei's story be false? Our army will obey the secret decree of the emperor and serve the king to punish the thieves!"

After finishing speaking, Yuan Shao could not help but sigh: "It's been ten years, a full ten years! Finally, I have encountered such a grand occasion where my army is so righteous! Ten years ago, I went south from here to contact the princes of the world to fight against Dong! Wherever the royal army went, the people were fed and drank, and the grand occasion is still before my eyes!

Now we have hundreds of thousands of soldiers, far more powerful than Cao Cao, and we have the best timing. How can we not destroy him? Chen Lin! Quickly write a manifesto to fight against the enemy and send it to all counties, listing all the crimes of Cao Cao! "

(End of this chapter)