My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 265 Zhang Fei: Kong Ming, you can't favor your brother-in-law! We want fairness!

The ninth day of the fourth month in the fifth year of Jian'an.

Zhang Xian, the former governor of Changsha and the newly appointed governor of Jingzhou by Cao Cao's government, started his march north three days later.

Due to the distance and confidentiality, at this moment, the news of Zhang Xian's dispatch of troops had not yet reached Jiangxia County and Wuchang County.

It took time for the Changsha army to gather troops from all over the place. It also took two or three days to march from the county seat of Linxiang County (now Changsha City) and Luo County to Baqiu County at the mouth of Dongting Lake.

So at this time, Zhang Xian's army had not yet left the mouth of Dongting Lake and the territory of Changsha County. Even Liu Biao's garrison in Nanjun had not noticed anything unusual, let alone Liu Bei in Jiangxia.

But no matter what the situation is on Zhang Xian's side, Liu Bei has his own rhythm.

Early in the morning of that day, Liu Bei, who had been waiting impatiently for the war, suddenly received a secret report saying that Zhao Yun, who had come from Hefei, had finally arrived in Wuchang County after a forced march last night.

In order to keep it secret and prevent the enemy from realizing that reinforcements had arrived and thus arousing unnecessary alertness, Zhao Yun arrived in the middle of the night and quietly entered the city.

Liu Bei had already fallen asleep at that time. As the matter was not very urgent, the attendants around him did not wake Liu Bei up. They only told him all this when he woke up naturally in the morning, washed up and had breakfast peacefully.

Liu Bei was drinking millet porridge and eating mutton dumplings fermented with old dough. When he heard that Zhao Yun had come last night, he immediately complained: "Zilong is coming, why didn't you report it earlier! Come with me to Zilong's camp to greet him! It won't be too late to eat with him!"

Liu Bei put down the remaining buns and was about to change his clothes and go out. The attendant quickly explained that Zhao Yun had already arrived and was waiting outside. Liu Bei complained and went out to greet him. After a while, he brought Zhao Yun back and ate mutton buns together.

"Come on, come on, Zilong came early in the morning, he must not have eaten yet, let's eat together."

Zhao Yun did not refuse, but as there was only one food table in the room, he felt a little uneasy. So Liu Bei directly pulled him to sit at the same table, and the two of them sat opposite each other. Then Liu Bei took out two small steamers from a stack and placed them in front of Zhao Yun.

Only then did Zhao Yun let go of his restraints and grabbed him directly.

While eating, Zhao Yun also sighed and talked about business: "I thought I would miss the first round of attack on Zhang Xian, but I didn't expect Zhang Xian to be so indecisive and drag it on until now."

Liu Bei followed Zhao Yun's words and encouraged him: "Haste makes waste. It's actually OK. It's only half a month later than expected at the beginning.

Brother Jingsheng has sent Liu Pan, Wen Pin, and Huang Zhong to attack Wancheng. This is a rare opportunity for Zhang Xian, and he will definitely take action, probably in the next few days."

Then, Liu Bei casually asked Zhao Yun how many people he brought from Hefei this time.

Zhao Yun said that there were only more than 6,000 people, and he did not dare to withdraw too many troops from the Huaihe-Feishui defense line to avoid leaving it empty.

Liu Bei patted Zhao Yun on the shoulder and said, "With these troops, our army has 40,000 soldiers who can conquer southern Jing. In fact, it is enough for you, Zilong, to make achievements. In the past few days, Kong Ming has planned all the battle plans. Let's listen to them together later. You, Yide and Xingba will have the right division of labor."

Liu Bei and Zhao Yun quickly finished their breakfast, and then someone notified Zhang Fei, Gan Ning, Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong to come to the General of Chariots and Cavalry's office to discuss matters and finally adjust and confirm the battle plan.

In fact, a battle plan had been drafted a few days ago and had been initially issued to the generals. However, the plan made at that time was still based on the situation that Zhao Yun could not catch up with the first wave of offensive.

Now that Zhao Yun has caught up, the tasks must be redistributed. It’s no big deal to just make some minor adjustments.

After the three main generals and main advisers arrived, Liu Bei signaled Zhuge Liang to take the lead and adjust the deployment of the generals.

Zhang Fei didn't take it seriously at first, and didn't listen carefully, because he felt that he had already understood what he should do a few days ago. So when he arrived at Liu Bei's place, Zhang Fei took Zhao Yun aside to chat and talk about their friendship.

As a result, when Zhuge Liang came up with an adjusted plan, Zhang Fei was still surprised.

Zhuge Liang said, "Yide, now that Zilong is here, I think the original plan can be adjusted. The task of attacking Luoxian and Linxiang County, the core of Changsha County, should be given to Zilong. He has come a long way and is not suitable for a long journey. So let him take on the tough battles on land that are closest to the marching distance.

Xingba's mission remains unchanged, and he is still responsible for intercepting Zhang Xian's navy on the Yangtze River, Dongting Lake, and Yunmengze. If it is discovered that Zhang Xian has sent his navy to cross the Yangtze River to attack Nanjun, then Xingba will be responsible for cutting off the retreat and supply of Zhang Xian's main attack force..."

Zhang Fei was immediately anxious when he heard this: "What? Didn't we agree to let me attack Changsha? Kong Ming, you can't be nepotistic! Just because Zilong is your brother-in-law, you give him a good job, this is not fair!"

Liu Bei originally did not want to interfere with Zhuge Liang's arrangements, as he fully trusted Zhuge Liang. But after hearing Zhang Fei's argument about "appointing people based on personal connections," Liu Bei became curious and wanted to see what Zhuge Liang thought.

Even Zhao Yun felt a little embarrassed and took the initiative to say: "This is not so good. A gentleman should help others to achieve their goals. However, serving the country and supporting the Han Dynasty are not different..." The way Zhao Yun said this was like a person who receives red envelopes during the Chinese New Year. While saying how embarrassing it is, he turns his head and stretches out his pockets.

For example, when Hu the butcher returned the silver to Fan Jin, he held the silver ingot tightly in his hand and only extended his fist.

Fortunately, Zhuge Liang immediately resolved everyone's doubts and found another job for Zhang Fei: "Yide, don't be anxious. Let Zilong take Changsha because Changsha is closer and there is no need to travel.

On your side, there is another new mission for you. Just yesterday, our army's patrol boat scouts on the river reported back downstream that they found that Wuling County Governor Jin Xuan had mobilized troops and his behavior was unusual.

In my opinion, it is basically certain that Jin Xuan has been persuaded and won over by Zhang Xian, and he is likely to participate in the first wave of attack on Nanjun. Therefore, our counterattack against Wuling County will also be earlier than originally planned. This requires a fierce general who can attack quickly and decisively, and Yide is the only one who can do it. "

When Zhang Fei heard that he could not attack Changsha County but could attack Wuling instead, he finally calmed down a little. However, he soon realized that Wuling was relatively poor and the credit would be too small.

Zhang Fei could not help but continue to argue: "It's fine to attack another county, but Wuling is mostly a wild land, full of barbarians, how can it be compared with the fertile land of Changsha County? The population and land area are two or three times different! I don't want to change!"

Zhuge Liang waved his feather fan and continued to analyze and persuade: "Yide, don't underestimate the merit of attacking Wuling. Now Liu Biao has been deceived and his main force has gone north to Wancheng. It will be difficult for him to withdraw troops to suppress Zhang Xian in a hurry. Therefore, Changsha County will definitely be captured by our army. The situation is becoming clearer and clearer.

The biggest unresolved issue now is whether we can completely block Liu Biao's way to the south to divide the land in the future. The key lies in Wuling County. Wuling is the county with the longest distance from Nanjun separated by the Yangtze River. If we take Wuling, we can completely block the way for the soldiers of Jingzhou in Nanjun to go south. We can slowly take over the remaining Lingling and Guiyang. Sooner or later, we will take them all.

If we fail to capture Wuling immediately, and Liu Biao's army crosses the Yangtze River from the west to the south while we attack Changsha, then he is the legitimate governor of Jingzhou after all, and it is legitimate for him to suppress the rebellion. In the end, it is very likely that the two sides will be divided into east and west with the Xiang River as the boundary.

Therefore, Wuling is the key among the keys, which determines whether we take all of Jingnan or use the Xiang River as the boundary. In comparison, Changsha is already in our bowl. "

After hearing Zhuge Liang's explanation and compliments, Zhang Fei finally felt a little better.

After Liu Bei understood this, he also quickly expressed his opinion: "Yide, don't be willful. As long as you take Wuling, I will give you credit, which will naturally be better than the credit for taking Changsha. Although the enemy army in Wuling is not as strong as the army in Changsha, the journey is far.

You need to march lightly and quickly, even if your retreat is cut off and your supply is not smooth, you must insist on blocking the throat and must not let Liu Biao react and divide his troops to cross the Yangtze River to the south. This matter is not something you are not capable of, and I can only rely on you."

Seeing that his elder brother trusted him so much, Zhang Fei was very easy to please. He immediately said that he would definitely be able to cut off the border area between Jin Xuan and Liu Biao as soon as possible.

Seeing that he had accepted the mission, Zhuge Liang gave him some tactical details and precautions: "Yide, since you have accepted this mission, you must know that the key to this battle is not to capture Linyuan County, the capital of Wuling County, but to capture Chanling and Yidao on the south bank of the river.

Although these counties are small, they are the key points of the Yangtze River defense. If you take them, Liu Biao's counterattack troops will not be able to cross the Yangtze River to the south. If you just attack Linyuan first, even if you take the county seat, you may be helping Liu Biao to fight the enemy.

Once the Wuling rebels collapsed, Liu Biao would cross the Yangtze River to the south without bloodshed and gain a foothold. With his title as the governor of Jingzhou and his allies in the fight against Cao Cao under the imperial edict, it would be difficult to stop them. There are other places to cross the river on the east and west sides of Linyuan, upstream and downstream, and by then, Jingnan would still be infiltrated by Liu Biao. "

Zhang Fei listened very carefully this time, studied the map carefully, and finally patted his chest and guaranteed: "Don't worry, sir! I already know the priorities. Don't rush to attack the county seat, but first dig along the south bank of the Yangtze River and block all the land along the river! It must be quick!"

In this battle, we were more careful about preventing teammates from stealing the credit than preventing the enemy!

This kind of thing really requires a reckless person like Zhang Fei to do it, because once Zhang Fei is impulsive and rough, causing some minor friction, Liu Bei can go back and explain to Liu Biao afterwards:
Alas, my third brother has this temper. He is ignorant and he stubbornly carries out the orders I give him. He doesn’t know how to adapt when the situation changes. I really offend Brother Jingsheng... But things have come to this, and the matter has been settled. Let it go.

Just like the Kongbala developer in "Black Gold", when faced with Hui Ge's threat to make tea, he could still say "Oh, country people have never seen the world. I told them not to come, but they were afraid that I would be in danger, so they insisted on following me. I can't control them. Sorry for the embarrassing thing."

If a calm person like Zhao Yun is asked to carry out such a mission, once he needs to use rough tactics to stop friendly forces, Zhao Yun will say that he was impulsive and did not discipline his subordinates, and no one will believe him. At that time, Liu Bei will have no chance to apologize.

As Liu Bei thought about this, he gradually realized the ingenuity of Zhuge Liang's plan. He completely believed that Zhuge Liang would never be partial to his brother-in-law Zhao Yun.

This task arrangement is definitely the most suitable for the talents of each general.

Just after Zhuge Liang arranged all this, two days later, when the three main generals of Liu Bei's army had finished preparing for battle and resting, news finally came from the direction of Baqiu that Zhang Xian's army had officially sailed out of Dongting Lake and crossed the Yangtze River to the north.

The news that Zhang Xian claimed to be the governor of Jingzhou by the new edict of Xudu also spread throughout Nanjun and Jiangxia. This was because Zhang Xian wrote a letter of persuasion to surrender, hoping that the local counties would recognize him as the new governor of Jingzhou and the army would surrender to him directly.

When Liu Bei heard about it, he immediately gave the order: "Zhang Xian has finally taken action! Yide, Zilong, and Xingba, immediately dispatch troops according to the original plan! Attack on both sides and take Changsha and Wuling!"

(End of this chapter)