My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 300: It's not that Lord Xuande didn't try his best, he was just being held back
After Liu Bei listened to Zhuge Liang's advice, he immediately sent scouts and spies from Jiangxia County to pay attention to the military situation in the direction of Nanyang County in the northwest.

Jiangxia County controlled by Liu Bei faces Runan County in the north across the Tongbai Mountain. If you penetrate westward along the Tongbai Mountain area, you can reach the border between Nanyang County and Yingchuan County.

Because the two counties were also divided by the Tongbai Mountains. The control of the various princes over the border mountainous areas was relatively weak, so it was easy for a third party to infiltrate with a small group of mountain scouts.

While sending out scouts, Liu Bei was also busy at the same time. He sent Zhuge Jun as a messenger, first down the river to Xuzhou, and then from Xuzhou to Qingzhou, to warn Yuan Tan.

The mountain roads were difficult to travel, and the infiltration scouts in the Tongbai Mountains took at least half a month to make a round trip. As for Zhuge Jun, it would take at least a month to reach Yuan Tan, and at least two months to go back and forth.

Liu Bei originally wanted to remind Liu Biao after the Tongbai Mountain route was clear, but half a month later, in early April, when the scouts came back, Liu Bei was shocked to find that it was no longer necessary because Liu Biao had already retreated back to Wancheng.

"Could it be that Brother Jingsheng's troops were severely damaged by Cao Cao?" When Liu Bei heard the news that Liu Biao was retreating, his first reaction was that Liu Biao had suffered a crushing defeat.

He even felt a little bit reluctant in his heart, thinking, "If I had been more vigilant earlier, asked more questions to Kong Ming, and reminded Brother Jingsheng in advance, would things have been different?"

For a moment, Liu Bei even blamed himself for "being too lax after defeating Sun Ce, and wasting too much time enjoying and celebrating the victory."

However, when the scout told Liu Bei all the information he had found out, Liu Bei's guilt instantly disappeared, because the subsequent development was not what Liu Bei had expected at all.

According to the scouts' report, the follow-up is as follows:

"Reporting to the Lord! Liu Biao was indeed defeated twice in Ye County and Bowang last month, but the losses were not great! However, Cao Cao took advantage of the victory to seek peace and returned the newly captured Bowang County to Liu Biao, and also returned the prisoners of the Jingzhou army captured in the previous two battles.

Cao Cao also recognized Liu Biao's rule over Wancheng, promoted Liu Biao to the position of Left General with the imperial decree, and stated that Zhang Xian's claim to be the governor of Jingzhou was a misunderstanding, and that Huan Jie forged the imperial edict, and that the governor of Jingzhou recognized by the Xudu court was still Liu Biao. Liu Biao therefore recognized Cao Cao's peace talks. "

When Liu Bei heard the whole story, he was quite surprised and once again called Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong to discuss countermeasures.

After hearing this, Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong were a little surprised, but not shocked. Obviously they knew Liu Biao's temper too well, that is, he would "quit when he saw the going and not plan for the future."

After all, Liu Biao in history also sat on the fence for six or seven years after the Battle of Guandu, wavering constantly. Sometimes he wrote letters to persuade Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan to make peace, and sometimes he recognized Cao Cao, and if he couldn't defeat him, he would join.

It is not surprising that an old man in his sixties is no longer ambitious and is hesitant.

Moreover, in the original history, with Liu Biao's strength, he couldn't even take back Wancheng. In this life, he has benefited from the butterfly effect, because Cao Cao spent two more months defeating Yuan Shao at Guandu, and Liu Biao didn't have to personally pacify Zhang Xian, freeing up his hands to attack Wancheng in advance, which is how he took Wancheng.

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the administrative division of Jingzhou originally included Wancheng/Nanyang County. Liu Biao was very satisfied to be able to take back "what should have belonged to him".

……

"Brother Jingsheng has actually negotiated peace with the thief Cao? He only wants to take back Wancheng and quit while he's ahead? How should our army respond to this? Brother Jingsheng won't be lured over by Cao Cao and become our enemy, right?" Faced with this situation, Liu Bei was the first to express his main concern.

Zhuge Liang reacted quickly and immediately analyzed: "Liu Biao doesn't even dare to continue fighting Cao Cao, how can he dare to be our enemy? He probably just wants to occupy Wancheng first, slowly control Nanyang County, and wait for another opportunity in the future to act.

Compared with Liu Biao, we should pay more attention to Cao Cao. Cao Cao took advantage of his victory in Ye County and Bowang to seek peace. Since ancient times, most wars have been fought to pursue the enemy, so how could they seek peace? This further proves that Cao Cao wanted to concentrate his forces to launch a new round of war against Yuan Shao in a short period of time.

I think it is too late to send Ah Jun to Yuan Tan and warn Yuan Shao. But at least we have done what we should do. "

After hearing this, Liu Bei no longer worried about what was already irreversible. Even if the Zhuge brothers were right, the only one who would suffer the loss would be Yuan Shao, and it would have nothing to do with him directly.

Liu Bei collected his thoughts and focused on the present, continuing to ask: "Brother Jingsheng was not completely pulled over by Cao Cao, which is a blessing in disguise. Can our army use this to warn Brother Jingsheng? Of course, we cannot force Brother Jingsheng to go to Cao Cao's side."

After knowing that he could not be harmed directly, Liu Bei thought about making some gains. Although Liu Biao's peace talks with Cao Cao had no direct relationship with Liu Bei's camp, Liu Bei was at least a force that "actively obeyed the imperial edict", so he could morally condemn Liu Biao and pave the way for the future.

Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong had obviously thought of this as well, and thought about it in more detail than Liu Bei. Pang Tong, who had not had a chance to show off his skills in the past few days, immediately offered a suggestion:

"My Lord, I think we can send an envoy to moderately condemn Liu Biao for this matter. As a Han minister, we should continue to respect the imperial edict. By the way, we can also further win over the hearts of the scholars in Jingzhou.

In this way, we can use Liu Biao's peace talks with Cao Cao as a hidden weapon. If we don't take action against him now, we will have an extra handle on him when the time is right. "

Liu Bei thought it made sense, nodded slightly, and asked Zhuge Liang for his opinion.

Zhuge Liang's ideas were similar to Pang Tong's, except that he didn't need to rush to express himself, so he could think slowly and in more detail. When Liu Bei called him out, he slowly added:
"I think what Shi Yuan said is fine in principle, but it can be more detailed. For example, we can give Liu Biao a way out. As everyone knows, there are serious divisions among the various factions in Jingzhou. There are poor scholars who are friendly to our army, exiled northern scholars, small and medium-sized tyrants, and the Cai and Kuai clans who are pro-Cao.

Liu Biao was old, how could he have the energy to personally decide everything? No matter whether he finally decided to continue to fight against Cao or negotiate, there would be people who would persuade him to do so.

For example, if Liu Biao decided to fight against Cao, it was most likely because of Ji Bo and others' initiative, or because Liu Pan and Huang Zhong asked for the fight.

Liu Biao chose to negotiate, and before he made the decision, Cai Mao, Zhang Yun, Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue must have advised him to make peace. We can ignore Liu Biao's decision-making mistakes and only focus on the advice of Cai Mao and others, saying that Liu Biao mistakenly believed in slander, and give Liu Biao a way out.

In this way, our condemnation will be more effective, Liu Biao will be less stimulated, and he will be able to save his face and not turn to Cao Cao. If there is a change in the future, we will have more reasons to attack Jingzhou. "Liu Bei woke up instantly. Isn't this the same as "clearing the emperor's side", but now it has become "clearing the governor's side". It never said that there was a problem with the governor of the Liu clan, but only that there were treacherous people around him who deceived him and hindered him, destroying the great cause of the clan and the princes to protect the emperor.

Doing so would be of great help in winning over the people of Jingzhou to his side.

This opportunity for diplomatic condemnation must not be wasted.

Even if he had no plans to take action against Liu Biao, it would always be a good idea to get an extra claim for free.

……

A few days later, Liu Bei sent Sun Qian to Liu Biao to "express condolences" according to the plan made by Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong, and expressed "regret" for Liu Biao's peace talks with Cao Cao.

He also said that if Liu Biao was willing to repent and reform and launch another offensive, Liu Bei would be willing to send more troops to help.

Of course Liu Biao expressed shame and declined, saying "Cao's army has defeated Yuan Shao and is now powerful. Yuzhou is no longer empty, so now is a good time to advance."

Sun Qian also pretended to persuade Liu Biao, telling him that "Cao Cao took advantage of the victory to ask for peace, which shows that he is guilty. He must withdraw troops to fight Yuan Shao again. Duke Jingsheng must not be deceived by Cao Cao."

Facing Sun Qian's persuasion, Liu Bei was embarrassed. He didn't want to do anything to bear the damage, but just wanted to take advantage of Cao Cao's fight with others. So even if he knew what Sun Qian said was true, he didn't want to change.
Instead, he fantasized, "If Yuan Shao is dissatisfied and makes a comeback, and has another battle with Cao Cao similar to the Battle of Guandu, and if he can hold Cao Cao accountable, it will not be too late for me to take action."

However, given Liu Biao's status, he certainly could not express such dirty thoughts, so in the face of Sun Qian's condemnation, it was Cai Mao and Kuai Liang who refuted it.

Cai Mao refuted bluntly: "Humph, Liu Bei is good at talking big and claiming to be the first batch of people to fight against the rebellion in accordance with the imperial edict, but everyone in the world knows that he is all talk and no action! It has been a year since the imperial edict was issued, why hasn't he sent troops to attack Cao?

Although my lord's military strength is weak, his heart to uphold justice for the world remains unchanged. He fought hard against Cao Cao and recaptured most of Nanyang County. Has Liu Bei ever taken a county from Cao Cao so far? Do you still have the nerve to condemn my lord?"

Of course, Sun Qian could not destroy Liu Bei's reputation, so he argued: "Although our army has not seized the prefectures from Cao's army, that was also because the traitor Sun from Jiangdong joined the rebellion and tied down our army! Our army's situation is not as good as that of Jing Shenggong. We are attacked from all sides.

Your army was able to march north with all its strength last winter because our army first wiped out Zhang Xian, then asked Duke Jingsheng to reappoint the prefects of Wuling, Lingling and other counties, and made Zhao Fan, the prefect of Guiyang, who was being coerced, rebel and obey Duke Jingsheng again.

The Sun family in Jiangdong has always been your enemy. If our army had not isolated Huaisi and Yuzhang, I am afraid your army would have to deal with the Sun family! Our army has been busy removing the thorns behind us, so how could we have the spare energy to go north? The Kuaiji area has not been pacified yet. Once the south is stabilized and reorganized, we will naturally go north! "

Sun Qian's remarks beautified Liu Bei's conquest of Jingnan into that he only conquered Changsha County where Zhang Xian was stationed, while the other three counties were said to be "still ruled by Liu Biao's people", thus finding a sufficient excuse for Liu Bei's busyness in the past year and his lack of time to directly attack Cao.

Cai Mao did not expect the other party to be so unreasonable. He did not know how to refute at first and was stunned for a moment.

Kuai Liang quickly jumped out to save the situation and stir up trouble: "Mr. Gongyou, what you said is not right! Since ancient times, I have never heard of a rebel who did not eliminate the main culprit, but focused on his followers! In the past, General He Jin listened to Yuan Shao's foolish advice to punish the eunuchs and invited Dong Zhuo to the capital, which caused chaos in the world.

If we had listened to Cao Cao's words, 'Just execute the ringleader and hand him over to a jailer,' how could there have been more than ten years of chaos? This shows that to suppress rebellion, we must go straight to the heart of the rebellion. Once the ringleader is executed, the rest will submit. This is the way to suppress rebellion with the least amount of bloodshed!"

Sun Qian did not give in at all: "Mr. Zirou is known as a great scholar in the world, but today he is so unreasonable. This is a different time. When He Jin was in power, the world was not in complete chaos, but punishing the main culprit would naturally solve the disaster of the Ten Attendants.

But now the world has been in war for more than ten years and is falling apart. Can the rebellion be solved by killing the main culprit? If killing the main culprit is effective, why was Wang Yun killed by Li Jue and Guo Si soon after killing Dong Zhuo? Why did Dong Cheng and Lu Bu conspire to kill Cao in Xudu, but were counterattacked by the rebels?
The lessons of Wang Yun and Dong Cheng have already taught the later generations a lesson, so my lord decided to proceed step by step and not to rush into anything rashly, and not to expect to achieve success in one battle. "

When Kuai Liang heard Sun Qian cite the examples of Wang Yun and Dong Cheng, both sides were unable to convince each other for a while. In the end, Kuai Liang could only evade Sun Qian's condemnation by saying, "One day when Liu Bei's army officially launches a northern expedition and directly attacks Cao, my Jingzhou army will naturally consider helping again."

Although this verbal attack failed to convince Liu Biao to immediately declare war on Cao Cao again, it did portray the pro-Cao faction in Jingzhou more clearly. Even Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue could no longer hide.

After Sun Qian left, within a few days, people in Jingzhou had reached a consensus on Liu Biao's agreement to negotiate peace with Cao Cao: the envoy did not want to negotiate peace with Cao Cao in the first place, and he was loyal and wanted to save the emperor, but he was deceived by Cai Mao, Zhang Yun, Kuai Liang, and Kuai Yue, so he chose the wrong method.

These rumors were spread by Sun Qian according to the plan of Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong, and even by Liu Biao's own people. They could be regarded as gilding Liu Biao's behavior, clearing Liu Biao of any responsibility and making him appear more detached.

After all, Liu Biao didn't want to be known as a coward. He would rather outsiders say "Liu Biao was not really a coward, he was tricked into being a coward by Cai Mao."

Liu Bei's camp was able to cover up the fact that "after killing Sun Ce, they did not immediately reinforce Yuan Shao or attack Cao Cao", and in exchange they had more flexible timing choices.

Later, as long as Liu Bei needed it, he could rest and recuperate for a few more months, digest his own territory, and do some farming construction with a slower investment recovery period.

At present, the only three princes who respect the Yidaizhao camp are Yuan Shao, Liu Bei, and Liu Biao. As long as Yuan Shao and Liu Biao believe in Liu Bei and accept Liu Bei's plan, Liu Bei's reputation for righteousness will not be damaged.

As for other princes such as Liu Zhang, Ma Teng, Zhang Lu, Shi Xie, etc., they were not originally in the Yidaizhao camp. Some of them even respected Cao Cao's side and were Cao Cao's allies/subordinates.

They didn't care whether Liu Bei attacked Cao Cao immediately after defeating Sun, and they had no right to care.

(End of this chapter)