My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 335: Cao wants to fight, so let's fight
It was the seventh year of Jian'an, also a day in late May.

Jiangxia County, Wuchang County, and the General of Chariots and Cavalry’s Mansion.

While Yuan Tan was gathering his colleagues in Linzi City to discuss the battle strategy against his third brother.

In Wuchang, Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang and other key staff members were also planning how to respond to the peace talks between Cao Cao and Yuan Shang, and what kind of impact Yuan Shang's nominal submission to the court would have on the overall situation.

Of course, Liu Bei was farther away from the north than Yuan Tan, so he was less well-informed than Yuan Tan.

When Yuan Tan received the memorial of surrender from his third brother, Liu Bei had not yet received it. He only vaguely knew that Yuan Shang had surrendered.

Fortunately, this was not a big deal. Liu Bei didn't care whether Yuan Shang's letter of defense would humiliate Yuan Shao's reputation after his death.

Only Yuan Tan cares about this issue, and only Yuan Tan has the right to care about it. Anyone else who cares about it is just meddling in other people's business.

……

"Yuan Shang finally gave in to Cao Cao, and the peace talks were so thorough. I wonder how Lord Benchu would view his son if he knew about this! He is really... a pig and a dog!"

After the initial shock, Liu Bei couldn't help but curse him in private.

He couldn't say something like "If I had a son, I hope he would be like Sun Zhongmou", so he could only comment on Yuan Shang as "pig and dog".

After expressing his feelings, Liu Bei carefully asked Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong for advice to see if the strategy against Cao Cao that was decided last year needed to be fine-tuned according to the new situation:

"Our army originally hoped to rely on Ziyi, Zijing, Zhongda and others to support Yuan Tan in Langya and Donglai to fight against Cao Cao and control the scale and intensity of the war. Now that Cao Cao has stopped fighting on the northern front, although Yuan Shang's population and land cannot be used by Cao Cao, it has temporarily relieved Cao Cao's worries about the north. Will he increase his efforts to invade the south?"

Facing Liu Bei's question, Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong naturally said in unison, without even thinking: "Don't worry about this, my lord. Cao Cao may invade the south because of the truce on the northern front, but he will definitely control the scale and intensity and find excuses to prevent the two sides from fighting to the death.

Because Cao Cao knew very well that if the war with our army lasted for a long time and his army became as weak as Yuan Tan, Yuan Shang would definitely betray him again. At that time, whoever of the two Yuans could make great achievements in the war against Cao would be able to win back some of the loyalty of the civil and military left by their father from their brother who had turned against each other, and would be able to prove that he was the most qualified successor to Yuan Shao.

In this situation, even if Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan wanted to fight each other, they would be opposed by internal resistance, because they both had the surname Yuan. In the eyes of the former officials of the Yuan family, who can realize the last wish of Master Benchu is the most important. If either of the two Yuans not only does not contribute to this issue but also hinders it, he will lose all his popularity and be despised by his subordinates. "

After hearing that Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong all agreed, Liu Bei finally felt relieved.

In other words, Cao Cao might invade the south because of the ceasefire on the northern front, but the intensity of the invasion would be controlled to "ensure that the troops left in the north are at least stronger than Yuan Tan." This critical line cannot be crossed, otherwise there may be accidents, leading to a complete collapse due to losses over small ones.

After all, Cao Cao was still in the Central Plains, surrounded by powerful princes on all sides. The people he conquered seemed submissive, but in fact any one of them might jump out and bite him when the situation was not right for him. Cao Cao absolutely did not dare to place a heavy bet.

Seeing that his lord accepted this inference, Zhuge Liang continued to talk along the line of thought and continued to deduce: "In my opinion, even if Cao Cao went south to use his troops, it was probably to kill two birds with one stone.

First, it is to test our strength. After all, our army has not directly fought against Cao's army in the past five or six years. The last time my lord fought against Cao Cao was when Lord Tao was in charge of Xuzhou. Cao Cao will also want to test whether the south is easy to pacify and whether there are weak enemies that can be taken advantage of.

Secondly, Cao Cao must have wanted to eliminate Yuan Shang's worries and let Yuan Shang fight Yuan Tan boldly. In Cao Cao's view, after he went to war with our army, Yuan Shang would not worry about Cao's army going back on its word, and Cao's army would not have the remaining troops to re-attack Hebei.

Our army is being held back by Cao's army and we are certainly unable to rescue Yuan Tan. This is a godsend opportunity for Yuan Shang to attack Yuan Tan with all his might. I am afraid that the situation this year will turn into a one-on-one fight between us and Cao's army, and the two Yuans will also fight one-on-one. "

Zhuge Liang didn't know that with just a few short sentences he had deduced Guo Jia's plan for Cao Cao.

In this kind of situation, we can only say that wise men see things alike. By seeing the other party's actions, you can basically guess his intentions.

After hearing this, Liu Bei sighed and said, "Although our army has developed rapidly in recent years, our foundation is not as good as Cao Cao's. In a head-on confrontation with Cao Cao, Cao is still strong and we are weak. It will be difficult to win a complete victory.

As for Xiansi (Yuan Tan), after the four counties of Hejian were returned to Yuan Shang, I am afraid that he will not be able to withstand his offensive. Should we persuade Xiansi to hold on to the north line and delay until the situation changes?"

Pang Tong nodded to this question, thinking that what Liu Bei said made sense and that he should strive for such a situation, so that Yuan Tan would not be weakened too much when Cao and Liu fought.

Zhuge Liang sighed and shook his head, "It would be best if this were possible. But I don't think Xiansi would listen to us right away. I have been in contact with him for several months. When I was sent as an envoy to Yuan Shao, I observed him very carefully.

Xiansi has always been conceited that he is the eldest son of Lord Yuan and should inherit the family business. He also has an inexplicable confidence in the appeal of the eldest branch of the Yuan family. This time, when Yuan Shang criticized his father, Xiansi would definitely hold on to this point, thinking that with his reputation for filial piety to Lord Yuan, he would definitely be able to inspire the former officials of the Yuan family to abandon the dark and join the light. If he is not allowed to take this gamble, he will not be willing. My lord, please think about it. Last year, we tried to test the extent to which Xiansi would rely on us, and at that time we persuaded Xiansi's cousin Yi to be the governor of Donglai. But in the end, he only gradually handed over more than half of the counties in Donglai County to our army for governance and garrison. It can be seen that he has not yet made up his mind to rely on us. He also felt that Lord Yuan was still alive at that time. If he ceded the counties of the Yuan family casually, it would make him lose the opportunity to inherit Lord Yuan's foundation.

Now that Yuan Gong has passed away and everything is set in stone, the officials in Yecheng still support Yuan Shang. But for Xiansi, he will not be content if he does not try his luck and see how much appeal the reputation of the Yuan family still has.

Only when he has tried and finally found that "few people in the world care about who is filial and who is not among Yuan Gong's sons", will he completely give up and become discouraged, and then he can only rely on us completely. We can only help him avoid a major defeat and avoid losing his favorite land, but we can't stop him from taking risks."

Zhuge Liang didn't want this to happen, but he was sharp-eyed and could see through Yuan Tan's unwillingness.

Yuan Tan is just one defeat away from realizing that "the Yuan family's reputation is no longer valuable, and no one cares which of Yuan Shao's sons is more filial", and only then will he completely and obediently become Uncle Liu's nephew.

Even if Liu Bei wanted to help, he could only reduce Yuan Tan's losses. At the same time, he showed his power and momentum on the battlefield between Cao and Liu. He made Yuan Tan see a significant contrast and realized that "relying on oneself is a dead end, and the only way to survive is to give up autonomy and cling to Uncle Liu's thigh."

After listening to these comprehensive analyses, Liu Bei completely gave up the fantasy of directly helping others avoid being taught a lesson, and temporarily respected the fate of others.

As long as Yuan Tan doesn't get beaten too badly and doesn't lose territory obviously, it's fine. A little lesson can make Yuan Tan completely give up the idea and become a good boy from now on, which is worth it.

Liu Bei was a man who could let go of things easily. After he stopped worrying about it, he immediately turned to the next question.

He walked to the front of the map and asked himself, "So if Cao Cao invades the south, from which direction will he most likely attack us?"

Zhuge Liang: "I think Langya is the most likely. First of all, Langya is still Yuan Tan's in name, but it is actually occupied by our army. There is no need to engage in a full-scale war with us to attack Langya, so it is more flexible. But it is not ruled out that Cao Cao will take advantage of the situation if he sees that our army is lax in defense in other places."

Pang Tong quickly added: "Cao's army has no naval advantage, nor the strength to cross the Tongbai Mountains. If we don't attack Xuzhou, the only breakthrough point is Shouchun and Hefei.

Although this place is located in the south of the Huai River, the Huai River is not as strong as the Yangtze River, and we do not need a naval advantage to advance. Moreover, Runan is in the hands of Cao, and Cao's army can attack from the upper reaches of the Huai River downstream, so the benefits of the Huai River can be shared with our army. "

Liu Bei felt along the Huai, Si and Yi rivers on the map, and finally knocked hard on several points at Langya, Xiapi and Shouchun with his knuckles.

“Let Ziyu dispatch the main force of the Yangzhou army that is resting to the front line of Xuzhou for Yunchang to dispatch. We will also dispatch part of the main force in Jingzhou to the front line of Jiujiang County to reinforce Zilong.

Even if Zilong can't fight, we can stockpile heavy troops to deter Cao Cao and make him dare not send too many troops to Yunchang's side, otherwise he will have no place to defend in Huaibei.

However, more cavalry should be sent to Zilong's troops. Once Cao's army attacks Xuzhou, as long as Cao's army does not have heavy troops stationed in Huaibei opposite the Shouchun-Yicheng line, let Zilong use cavalry to cross the Huai River to harass them, but there is no need to make a big fuss. He can even disguise himself as Huainan bandits or even the remnants of Gong Du.

We don't ask Zilong to occupy or hold on to any city in Huaibei, as long as we can make Cao's army restless and force them to station heavy troops in Huaibei across Jiujiang County, so that we can help Yunchang share the pressure."

The war between Shouchun, Hefei and Chenqiao could be a stalemate or a sit-in war, just to delay Cao's troops and prevent them from sending too many people to Xuzhou. That would be enough.

The main battlefield where the outcome of the battle is easily decided is still in Xuzhou.

After listening to it, Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong also felt that their lord's overall deployment was indeed stable and there was no problem, and there was no need to change it.

Liu Bei is a man who knows military affairs.

After Liu Bei's order was issued, the Jingzhou Army and Yangzhou Army under his command also began to assemble and mobilize.

Half of Zhang Fei's troops originally stationed to clear up the Jingnan area were withdrawn. Since Liu Biao and Liu Zhang would not pose a threat at the moment, these troops quickly assembled in Wancheng and then turned to Hefei.

Zhang Fei and Gan Ning also wanted to fight, but Liu Bei stopped Zhang Fei and told him to stay in Jingnan. As for Gan Ning, he was more experienced in playing the role of bandits. Zhao Yun could play the role of a horse bandit to harass Huaibei while Gan Ning could play the role of a Huaihe river bandit to harass the Huaibei River, so he was temporarily transferred there.

Zhang Fei's acting skills are not good and he is easily impulsive. In this situation, if the stalemate and harassment of the enemy is turned into an all-out battle, Liu Bei's troops in Jiujiang County are too weak and will easily suffer. Anyway, a general must be stationed in Jingnan, so let's put him in Zhang Fei.

On the other hand, the Jiangdong surrendered generals and soldiers who had been reformed in batches under Zhuge Jin's command were also transferred to Xuzhou in batches depending on their loyalty and reliability, as the second echelon for Guan Yu.

Liu Bei's army had made all preparations and was just waiting for Cao's army to attack.

(End of this chapter)