My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 324: Under the Winter
Guo Jia carefully and methodically listed the possible specific offensive directions for the future war against Liu, and finally left Cao Ren speechless.

Cao Ren then realized: Guo Jia was not making excuses out of fear of fighting, he had thought it all through.

Even Cao Cao, who had been watching from the sidelines, had to admit that Guo Jia's vision was good this time.

When the time comes to attack Langya, the tactics will be flexible and require little initial investment. We won't have to go all out and find it difficult to withdraw, and it will also serve the purpose of testing the enemy.

It is so flexible and it gives you the best of both worlds.

It can also cut off the land communication between Liu and Yuan, and tear a hole in Liu Bei's Huaibei defense line.

As long as we break through Langya, Liu Bei will lose the two barriers of Yishui and Mengshan.

At that time, Liu Bei's defense line in Xuzhou would have to retreat directly to the Huai River.

The entire Xuzhou, except for Guangling County in Huainan, will return to Cao Cao's hands.

After all, Liu Bei's other territories were all south of the Huai River, with only Langya, Donghai, and Xiapi isolated in the north of the Huai River.

If Liu Bei wanted to hold on to the Huaibei part, the key was to advance to the dangerous area of the Yimeng Mountains in southwestern Shandong. Once this area was breached, the entire Liu-occupied area in Huaibei would be undefended.

After figuring out all these tricks, Cao Cao finally smiled heartily and expressed his approval and affirmation of Guo Jia's strategy:

"Feng Xiao, this is a very good plan! It's not suitable to use troops in the cold winter. Yuan Tan won a small victory on the eastern front, so let Zi Lian switch to defense first. We don't need to fight for the short term!

In Wei County, we should continue to put pressure on Benchu. As long as Benchu survives, we will remain unchanged in the face of all changes. When Benchu is really exhausted, as long as we see signs of internal fighting between the two Yuans, we can return to the south and go to Langya to test Xuande's strength.

If we can win, we can take over the rest of Xuzhou except Guangling. Even if we can't win, by then Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan will probably be too mired in internal strife to pull out. We can stop there and return to the north to decide whether to take Qingzhou or Jizhou first, depending on the strength of Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan."

Cao Cao spoke so cautiously and divided the situations into so many categories, Cao Ren and Cao Xiu knew that he was absolutely serious, and there was no need to persuade them any further.

Cao Xiu was young and full of vigor, and he praised him immediately: "Uncle, why do you need to encourage others? With the might of the imperial army, when the time comes, they will march south and east, and there is no reason why they will not be destroyed. Uncle is really open-minded, and he even considered the 'what if' situation is unfavorable', which is better than Han Bai."

Cao Cao smiled and waved his hand: "Hey, young man, don't be too arrogant. War is dangerous. Before you think about victory, you must think about defeat first!"

Cao Xiu quickly put on a sincere attitude and said, "I will definitely remember your teachings, uncle! They have really benefited me a lot!"

Cao Cao was too lazy to respond to the young man's little thoughts and signaled that the topic should end there.

……

After Cao Cao, Guo Jia and Cao Ren discussed countermeasures, they replied their opinions to Cao Hong on the eastern front.

On the one hand, Cao Hong was asked to keep his troops in place and remain on the defensive for the rest of the winter. As long as there were no more troubles, he would not be asked to counterattack, and no reinforcements would be sent to him in the short term.

On the other hand, Cao Cao also gave Cao Hong a thorough admonition for his carelessness and defeat. He should be demoted or fined.

To show that the court is clear about rewards and punishments and fair in its work.

After all, Cao Cao was the Sikong of the Han Dynasty, and the imperial court belonged to the Han family, not the Cao family, so we still have to pay attention to the influence.

But the demotion was just a move of the title of general to a more humble one, and there was no change in actual power.

No matter how big the matter was before Cao Hong was in charge, he was still in charge of the same thing even after he was demoted.

In this respect, it is similar to the way Zhuge Liang was dealt with when he was defeated at Jieting several decades later in history. He "demoted himself three ranks to supervise the cause of the disaster. He was promoted to the position of Right General, performing the duties of Prime Minister, and his responsibilities remained the same as before."

(Note: The original origin of the word "President" in Chinese comes from "The Biography of Zhuge Liang". It originally meant "a person who is in charge of national affairs regardless of whether his name is worthy of his reputation")
Cao Hong was a little confused at first, wondering why Cao Cao didn't send reinforcements to help him counterattack immediately. But after calming down, he realized that this was the right decision and he had prioritized the important things.

In addition, a few days later, Yuan Tan on the opposite side did not know the seriousness of the situation. After a small victory, he thought he was strong enough and took the initiative to go to Dongguan County to hit a wall.

Cao Hong won another small victory, captured one or two thousand heads, and regained his face, so he was no longer in a hurry to counterattack.

The entire winter of the sixth year of Jian'an was spent in such a stalemate in which both sides defended their cities in freezing cold.

Although both sides had stopped fighting militarily, Cao Cao never stopped fighting politically and using tricks to win over people's hearts and minds.

He asked Guo Jia to use strategies to strengthen intelligence and psychological warfare. On the one hand, he inquired about Yuan Shao's health condition, on the other hand, he sent spies to spread rumors to shake the morale of the Yuan family, and on the other hand, he did everything he could to make Yuan Shao lose face.

As time entered the twelfth lunar month, Guo Jia learned through secret channels for the last time that Yuan Shao's health condition had further deteriorated.

Considering that Yuan Shao suffered a stroke, both sides had senior medical officers who could analyze the characteristics and precautions of this disease.

So Cao Cao was also very clear that according to the latest situation, Yuan Shao would most likely not survive this winter.

The only difference is whether one dies in the twelfth month or the first month of the lunar year.

However, Cao Cao and Guo Jia soon lost track of the subsequent details, because the latest news from Yecheng showed that Yuan Shao's wife, Liu, had been completely isolated from all internal and external information.

With this attitude, maybe when Yuan Shao really dies, she can keep the news a secret for a while and hide some ulterior motives.

……

With the battle to relieve Nanpi and its subsequent chain reactions, the dust has finally settled.

Yuan Tan's side realized the situation and naturally expressed gratitude to Taishi Ci, and also to Liu Bei who was behind Taishi Ci.

The weapons Liu Bei brought to reinforce also shined in the battle to relieve the siege of Nanpi. Yuan Tan equipped the horse-slashing swords, one-piece forged steel-infused long halberds, and steel-infused lamellar armor to the elite troops of Qingzhou under Guan Tong.

These troops performed exceptionally well in the fierce battles with Zhang He and Gao Lan. With a total force only 30% greater than the enemy's and under the command of a mediocre general like Guan Tong, they were able to defeat Gao Lan miserably.

Although it is difficult to say how much the weapon factor played a role in the outcome, Yuan Tan was well aware of the talents of the generals in Hebei, and he was well aware of the gap in strength between Guan Tong and Gao Lan.

So after the war, Yuan Tan took two counties in Donglai County and let Taishi Ci garrison there, but the local civil servants were still sent by Yuan Tan and continued to be employed.

In this way, on the one hand, he could avoid giving up too much power to Liu Bei, and on the other hand, he could concentrate Yuan Tan's military strength and concentrate the second-line garrison troops in the rear to the front.

Moreover, Yuan Tan's attitude was much better than two months ago. Although he still could not let Taishi Ci be the governor of Donglai this time, he once again sent Xin Pi to the south to explain the reason to Liu Bei:

His father was seriously ill, and he absolutely could not sell out the prefectures and counties that his father had conquered at this critical moment. He had to maintain a good impression on his father. In other words, he could give up some of the actual benefits, but he absolutely could not give up the status at this time.

Having said that, Liu Bei and Zhuge brothers would not make things difficult for him and agreed to gradually deliver the subsequent military aid and support troops.

As a result, the counties of Langya County and Ju County, which had been completely handed over to Liu Bei's side before, did not publicly change their flags. Liu Bei's side only had complete actual control, but did not publicize it.

This in turn facilitated the subsequent smooth implementation of Guo Jia's plan on Cao Cao's side - Guo Jia's original intention was to persuade Cao Cao to attack those "territories under the banner of Yuan Tan but actually controlled by Liu Bei" to test the waters. Now Liu Bei wanted real benefits instead of false reputation, so he and Cao Cao were on the same side.

……

The flower has three heads, each showing its own beauty.

Taishi Ci won a victory in the exploratory counterattack in Hebei and helped Liu Bei further win over and control Yuan Tan.

The brothers Zhuge Jin and Zhuge Liang in the south also assisted Liu Bei respectively, and achieved a lot of results in internal political management and scientific and technological farming in the two directions of Jingzhou and Yangzhou.

Zhuge Jin left Wuchang in late September and returned to Wujun in early October.

Before leaving, Zhuge Jin and his second brother helped Liu Bei to make some general arrangements for the mediation between Lai Gong and Wu Ju.

Throughout the late autumn to winter of the sixth year of Jian'an, Liu Bei's camp focused its main efforts in Jiangxia County and Jingnan on winning over Lai Gong and Wu Ju.

By persuading Lai Gong to repair and improve the ancient canal in the local area, improve water transportation conditions and reduce road losses, he intercepted the money and grain that should have been handed over to Liu Biao. Liu Bei's side also took out money to help Lai Gong "work in lieu of relief" and used the money to buy food for the corvée laborers who were repairing the canal.

Although Liu Biao also gave some support and sent Yi Ji to win people's hearts, he demonstrated that "the reason why Lai Fujun and others were allowed to intercept money and grain for their own use was because of Liu Jingzhou's generosity."

Unfortunately, Liu Biao did not have an iron fist and did not have the power to control the situation in southern Jing. Even a good man like Yi Ji could not solve the problem of "when the government spent a lot of money to buy grain on a large scale, the local tyrants did not cooperate, hoarded and concealed the grain, causing the grain price to rise" when he arrived in Lingling.

In the end, Liu Bei asked Zhang Fei, a rough man, to play the villain. He directly caught several powerful people who had hidden their grain reserves and hoarded them to increase the price. Then he killed the powerful people in their clan according to the law, and replaced them with the side branches that were usually oppressed to play the balancing hand. He also took out the stored grain and had to sell it openly without raising the price or hiding it.

Faced with such bloody tactics by Liu Bei's camp, the local lawless tyrants who hoarded goods were completely helpless.

Thesis, they concealed the evidence but could not escape Zhuge Liang's scrutiny,
When it comes to using knives, they can't resist Zhang Fei and Gan Ning coming to their house to kill them.

This is why Liu Bei was more ruthless than Liu Biao in governing the local area. Liu Biao could not use this trick. He rode into the state alone, and the people he relied on, Kuai Liang and Cai Mao, were the biggest hoarders in the area who enriched themselves. How could Liu Biao use the knife to govern the hoarding?

There is no need to expatiate on the details of the internal political management and the rectification of the Haojian system in Lingling and Wuling.

Anyway, in history, the first official mission granted to Zhuge Liang by Liu Bei after the Battle of Chibi was to "supervise the troops, horses, money and food of the four counties in southern Jing." What he is doing now is basically the same as what he was going to do seven or eight years later in history.

Now Zhuge Liang has come out of retirement a few years earlier, and has been taught and guided by his elder brother. Zhuge Liang, who is only 22 years old, has already grown to the level of a 30-year-old in the same period of history.

It is not surprising that he managed these things with ease and made the four counties in southern Jing gradually become Liu Bei's granary and money bag.

It took Zhuge Liang half a year to completely win over the hearts of the people in the two counties and ensure that everyone from top to bottom switched from following Liu Biao to following Liu Bei, which was considered a fast process.

Liu Bei's charm is self-evident, and Zhuge Liang's plans and achievements are equally impressive. Although there are no outstanding achievements and the details are not worth writing about, the results are obvious.

Throughout the whole process, although Yi Ji was trying his best to help Liu Biao and win back the hearts of the people, he further felt that Liu Bei was indeed aware of the sufferings of the people.

Liu Bei had a very good understanding of what the people needed and how the powerful would encroach on their interests. It was obvious that he had also grown up in poverty, so he had a lot of social experience.

This was actually a rare ability among the princes in the late Han Dynasty.

What most of the princes lack the most is that they have experienced hardship in material life since childhood and know the survival methods and needs of the lower classes of society.

Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu never suffered any hardship in their lives, and Cao Cao basically never suffered any hardship either.

Among other powerful princes, it is estimated that only people like Sun Jian and Lu Bu, who came from the lower class and had experienced hardships, but their empathy should be much inferior to that of Liu Bei.

Moreover, Sun Jian and Lu Bu were both dead, so the second generation of the Sun family had Sun Jian as their foundation, so they did not have to suffer hardships when they were young. When Sun Ce and Sun Quan were just born, their father was already a military commander of the Wujun army.

Looking at this circle, Liu Bei's deep understanding of the suffering of the people is precious. Liu Biao, the control group in Yi Ji's mind, was also well-off since childhood, had never suffered any hardship, and had no empathy for the lower classes.

In this way, Yi Ji was gradually won over to Liu Bei and came to believe that Liu Bei's management of Lingling and Wuling would indeed benefit the local people.

Liu Biao and Liu Bei struggled for half a year, but failed to win back Lai Gong, Wu Ju, and even Yi Ji was lost.

……

While Zhuge Liang and Taishi Ci were making progress respectively, Zhuge Jin, who had returned to Wujun since early October, had also prepared a lot of assistance for Guan Yu and Taishi Ci on the northern front in the past two months, laying a solid foundation for Liu Bei's camp's subsequent strategy in the northeast.

It covers everything from military strength to talents, from material reserves to the latest research and development of military technology and farming results.

Navigation and shipbuilding technology must not be relaxed. In the past few years, warships with keel structures and stable fins have accumulated a lot of experience, but it is not enough. Liu Bei's camp is too thin in the coastal area, and it must establish further absolute advantages to ensure that it will not be threatened by Cao's land interception attempts.

After defeating Sun, Zhuge Jin obtained a large number of naval warfare talents from the original Jiangdong camp. The winning over, transformation, and training of these people were also top priorities.

Zhou Yu and others will soon be sent out to important positions. Even if Zhuge Jin is about to send Lu Su to Langya to use Lu Su to ensure Zhou Yu's loyalty, this is not safe enough.

Han Dang was not released to the south until early October and handed over to Zhuge Jin by Yuan Tan. Zhuge Jin also had to hurry up and place Han Dang with Lu Su, Zhou Yu and others, so that other "reform activists" could influence Han Dang and change his mentality as soon as possible.

If it weren't for these things, Zhuge Jin should have transferred Lu Su north to be the prefect of Langya long ago, and the handover would not have been delayed until now.

Fortunately, all the efforts and preparations are worth it. As the year draws to a close, Zhuge Jin's preparations have begun to take shape.

-

PS: It’s later again... I may update in the afternoon or even evening these days.

I admit that I underestimated the power of influenza A... and I later found out that my family had more than one problem. At first I thought it was mycoplasma, but later I found out that only my son had mycoplasma, and my wife had both mycoplasma and influenza A.

The last time I checked, the doctor said that I had good immunity to mycoplasma, so I thought it wouldn't be too serious and I would be fine in two days. But who knew that my wife would be such a "poison king" at home? The key is that she doesn't work, and I don't know where she got such a complicated disease from...

(End of this chapter)