My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 299: If Liu Bei could be deceived, why can’t I, Cao Cao, be deceived?
Because of the good news of defeating Sun Ce, Liu Bei in Wuchang City was very carefree for a while, feasting and drinking every day.

After asking Zhuge Liang for any additional comments, Liu Bei approved all the personnel arrangements requested by Zhuge Jin and immediately replied.

As for the strategic plan for the next stage...to be honest, Liu Bei hasn't thought about it yet, and hasn't thought about it yet.

Having just achieved such a great victory, who would have the patience to think about what comes next? People are all lazy, so what's wrong with just feeling good.

It’s not too late to talk about it next month!

Unfortunately, Zhuge Jin did not give Liu Bei much time to relax. Just a few days after Liu Bei approved the personnel appointment opinion, Zhuge Jin sent another urgent report from Danyang, which was about the military affairs on the northern front. Please pay attention to it and study it.

Liu Bei took a rough look at it first, and the content was nothing more than "There seems to be Cao's army moving opposite the Yi and Si defense lines of Xuzhou. Guan Yu has moved from Wujun to Shangpi in the north to take charge. The mountainous counties in the southern part of Kuaiji are taking over the work, and it is currently in charge of Zhao Yun and Bu Zhi."

After reporting on the situation on the eastern front, Zhuge Jin added his own assessment, saying that he felt this might be a feint by Cao's army. Given Cao Cao's intelligence, it was unlikely that he would provoke our army again at this time.

Therefore, I hope that the Western Front will also pay attention to the situation on the front line bordering Cao’s army to see if there are any unusual movements by Cao’s army. If there are any unusual movements, Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong should make a careful assessment.

Liu Bei had not paid attention to military affairs for several days, and he did not quite understand the questions in Zhuge Jin's letter, so he had to call Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong again.

Liu Bei showed the letter to Zhuge Liang and discussed with him, "Has there been any unusual movement of Cao's troops in the Ru'nan direction recently? Cao Cao wouldn't expect to cross the Dabie Mountains to start a war with us, right?

Although he defeated Yuan Shao, he did not occupy much of Yuan Shao's land. He has been recovering his fighting power for three months and has not taken any further actions. How dare he suddenly go south?"

Zhuge Liang had been paying attention to the surrounding military situation. After hearing Liu Bei's question, he immediately responded: "There has been no unusual movement in the Runan direction recently. If there is any unusual movement in the Huai and Si directions, it should be a feint.

Perhaps, as my brother said, he wanted to trick Yuan Shao into thinking that Cao Cao would withdraw to the south and fight on two fronts after his victory at Guandu? If Yuan Shao really fell for it, he might organize a second wave of offensive, thinking that he had taken advantage of the opportunity. "

Liu Bei: "Why did Cao Cao choose Huai and Si to launch a feint when our army borders on him for thousands of miles?"

After reading Zhuge Jin's letter, Liu Bei was actually inclined to believe it, but he just couldn't understand this point.

The Cao and Liu families are now separated by a very long distance from each other. It may not be easy to march and fight in the Dabie Mountains, but it is also possible to attack Hefei and Shouchun. Cao Cao only chose Xia Pi to make a feint, which must be due to other considerations.

Zhuge Liang had no idea at first, but after thinking for a while, he came up with some possibilities: "I think Cao Cao chose to feint in Xia Pi for two reasons:

First of all, Cao Cao's territory was relatively thin around Xia Pi, and the area was where our army, Cao's army, and Yuan Tan lived together. Any movement of Cao's army would easily be detected by Yuan Tan and then reported to Yuan Shao.

If Cao Cao moved between Qiao and Shouchun, or made a flank move from Runan to Hefei, those places were too far away from Yuan Shao's territory and Yuan Shao might not be able to see them.

Secondly, Cao Cao's feint at Xiapi could be disguised as rescuing Sun Ce or "encircling Wei to save Zhao". In this way, Yuan Shao's chances of being deceived would also increase greatly.

After all, everyone in the world knows that our army was unable to go north to help Yuan attack Cao Cao during the Battle of Guandu because Sun Ce held our army back. But our army defeated Sun Ce only last month.

In order to avoid taking on more responsibility for assisting Yuan, and also to paralyze Cao Cao and prevent him from being overly wary of us, we have been slow to announce the destruction of Sun - and there are at least ten counties in the southern part of Kuaiji County that we have not yet taken over, so it makes sense to say that 'Sun has not yet been destroyed'.

As long as Yuan Shao and Cao Cao do not know that Sun Ce has been destroyed, Yuan Shao will certainly believe that Cao Cao will save Sun Ce at all costs in order not to lose Sun Ce, a bargaining chip that has long been used to pin down our army from behind. He will also believe that Cao Cao’s northern line has once again become empty of troops, and thus advance rashly - Yuan Shao knows too well the value of Sun Ce to Cao Cao. "

Liu Bei was a little confused by the twists and turns of suspicion. Fortunately, Pang Tong helped him out and it took him dozens of seconds to finally sort out the logic.

Liu Bei finally realized: Indeed, he had used the "information time difference" to deceive Sun Ce twice.

The first time was before the war. It was obvious that Cao's army did not go south, Xia Pi was not under pressure, and Guangling was not empty, but Ziyu deceived Sun Ce into thinking that Guangling was empty. Even Zhou Yu was fooled and sent a wave in Guangling.

The second time was before the end of the battle. Cao's army had clearly won the Battle of Guandu, but Sun Ce's army did not know it when they were defending Moling and Wuxian, and failed to boost morale to hold out a little longer.

These two experiences are enough to prove that "when the princes in the sandwich position block the news, the princes on the border may have to wait one or two months to know the latest developments of the war between the princes on the other side."

Since he could do this, Cao Cao could certainly do the same, because Cao and Liu were both "sandwiched" princes. Since these sandwiched princes faced the disadvantage of being attacked from both sides, they should enjoy the advantage of deceiving the enemy from both sides. The world is very fair.

Moreover, Cao Cao may have pretended to save Sun Ce to deceive Liu Bei when he didn't even know whether Sun Ce was dead or not. In fact, Cao Cao may not have the courage to save Sun Ce, because saving Sun Ce would mean taking the initiative to officially go to war with Liu Bei.

After sorting out these ideas, Liu Bei just wanted to know how he should respond:

"Then, should we try to tell Yuan Shao that the main force of Cao's army has not moved south? If we can make Yuan Shao realize this, he might not launch a new round of attacks. But even if Yuan Shao attacks, he may not be defeated again...

Even if we lose, if we can consume a little more of Cao Cao's troops, it won't be harmful to us - sir, what do you think we should do?"

Zhuge Liang thought about it and said decisively: "We must remind Yuan Shao when it is time. After all, our two armies are nominally in an alliance to fight Cao. If we sit back and watch our friendly army fall into Cao's trap and do nothing, it will undermine the righteousness of our army.

The key point is that my brother mentioned in the letter that a few days before he wrote this letter, he had just intercepted and forced Zhou Yu to land in a naval battle at the mouth of the Yangtze River. In return, he promised Zhou Yu that he would not kill Sun Quan.

After Sun Quan went north, if he wanted to surrender to Cao, he would probably have to pretend to surrender to Yuan first. Once Sun Quan appeared, Cao Cao's plan of pretending to save Sun would fall apart. By then Yuan Tan would definitely know that Sun Ce was dead - of course, Cao Cao could also 'pretend that he didn't know that Sun Ce was dead, pretend that he was sincerely trying his best to save Sun, and that there was still a vacancy on the northern line'.

So, if Sun Quan has already arrived at Yuan Tan's place, but our warning envoys have not yet arrived, how will Yuan Shao and Yuan Tan view us in the future? This reminder must be given. We can be late, and arrive later than Sun Quan, and just say that we were delayed on the way, but we must not not go. "

Liu Bei then remembered that there was a detail in the letter Zhuge Jin had just sent him, which he had overlooked and had not linked together several things. Zhuge Liang's planning was comprehensive and he had thought of all the details.

Liu Bei readily agreed and said, "In that case, we must send someone to remind Yuan Tan. Cao Cao's plan does have loopholes and may not be able to fool Yuan Shao. Sir, do you think there is a suitable person to send to Yuan Tan this time? If not, I will send Gong You as usual."

This time, Zhuge Liang recommended someone, saying, "Why not send my younger brother? Gongyou is capable. If he is delayed on the way and arrives too late, and fails to warn Yuan Shao, it will inevitably arouse suspicion."

My brother is only eighteen years old, and has never held an official position. This is his first time to do something, and he has been procrastinating and making mistakes. Yuan Tan can't blame us, and can only sigh that he is unlucky. Yuan Tan and I have always been on good terms since I was sent to Hebei four years ago. Our Zhuge family sent someone to show our sincerity, and even if he makes mistakes, he will not be detained. "

When Zhuge Liang made this suggestion, he had already been subtly influenced by his elder brother.

Zhuge Jin liked to find mediocre people among his brothers and classmates to take on dangerous missions and gain some credit. This time, Zhuge Liang targeted his third brother Zhuge Jun with this "mediocre person".

Even though Yuan Tan had a very good relationship with Zhuge Liang, the brothers Zhuge Jin and Zhuge Liang were already in high positions and had great power, and the world knew that they were rare geniuses. If they were to carry out diplomatic missions now, it would be a bit like a gentleman not standing under a dangerous wall.

Zhuge Jun did not have this problem, he had no ability at all, he just lived to make a living. Yuan Tan would never have any idea after knowing how useless he was.

Even though the third brother was late and was reprimanded by Yuan Tan, it also served as a lesson for him, making him realize that being an official is not easy, and he should study hard, correct his mistakes and make progress in the future. In recent years, compared with his other brothers and sisters, Zhuge Jun was really "degenerate". There were so many secret scrolls at home, but he didn't study hard and was only doing it for a few days.

Liu Bei thought Zhuge Liang's suggestion made sense, and he immediately approved Zhuge Jun's "public expense travel" trip. Zhuge Jun set out from Yuzhang and had to take a detour to Qingzhou, which was a long journey, so the delay was reasonable.

After arranging the hindsight warning to Yuan Shao's camp, Zhuge Liang reviewed the matter again, drew inferences from it and thought of another possibility, which he shared with Liu Bei and Pang Tong.

"I think that if Cao Cao wanted to lure Yuan Shao into thinking that his northern front was empty, and he made a move in Xiapi, then he might have combined it with other actions to further strengthen his deception.

Shouchun, Hefei and Dabie Mountain are unlikely to be his attack directions. Even if he plays Yuan Shao, he will not believe it, so it can be ruled out. But another direction is completely possible, that is Nanyang County - in the early winter of last year, after Liu Biao and I reached peace on the control of Jingnan, he once again let Huang Zhong and Wen Pin lead troops north to attack Wancheng.

In the end, because of the tight situation at Guandu, Cao Cao transferred almost all the troops from Nanyang to Guandu at the critical moment of life and death, which also led to the final fall of Wancheng in the twelfth month of that year.

After that, Liu Biao wanted to make further efforts to recover the entire Nanyang Basin. However, the Battle of Guandu had already been decided, and Cao Cao quickly returned to block the passes in Ye County and Bowang, preventing Liu Biao from occupying the passes of Funiu Mountain and Tongbai Mountain in the northeast of the Nanyang Basin.

Nanyang County is close to Xudu. If Cao Cao withdraws troops to the south to recapture Wancheng, Yuan Shao is likely to believe it. Our army should pay attention to the direction of Wancheng and remind Liu Biao by the way.

If Cao Cao really wants to attack Wancheng, then his deception of Yuan Shao may just be my overreaction. But if there is also a feint in the direction of Wancheng, Yuan Shao will be in real danger. "

Liu Bei agreed to this suggestion and said, "Sir, you are right. I will strengthen the frontline scouts on Brother Jingsheng's side."

(End of this chapter)