My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 345: Zhuge Jin: Playing a skin-changing war in front of me? Isn't this just showing off one's skills in front of an expert?
September 2, the seventh year of Jian'an.

Xia Pi County, Xia Pi County, the former residence of the governor of Xuzhou.

Early in the morning, a mighty warrior with a red face, long beard and nine feet tall was practicing swordplay and physical training in the yard.

The whistling sound of the wind caused by the knife light forced the fallen leaves in the yard to rustle and all of them were blown to the corners of the wall. Some even stuck to the wall and embedded in the cracks between the bricks, unable to be picked out.

None of the servants in the mansion dared to approach. They all hid outside the gate, with their backs against the wall, listening with their ears pricked up, and would only come in to serve once the wind died down.

There was only one boy, about thirteen or fourteen years old, who was also hiding outside the door, but dared to face the doorway. He looked at it intently with nervousness and expectation, while trying to figure out the sword skills in his mind.

There is no doubt that the general wielding a sword is Guan Yu, and the boy of about 13 or 14 is his son Guan Ping.

Six years ago, when Liu Bei was in desperate situation due to the pincer attack from Lu Bu and Yuan Shu in Huaiyin and Guangling, Guan Ping, who was only seven or eight years old, and Liu Bei's daughter, who was only two years old at the time, were left in Xia Pi and were captured by Lu Bu.

Later, Zhuge Jin's butterfly effect helped Liu Bei out of his desperate situation. He also designed to send Jian Yong to negotiate peace with Lu Bu and get back the families of Liu, Guan and Zhang. At that time, Zhuge Jin also met Guan Ping and Liu Rui. More than six years have passed, Guan Ping has grown into a 13 or 14-year-old boy, and Liu Rui is also a 9-year-old girl.

Moreover, Guan Ping was no longer Guan Yu's only son, he now had a two-year-old brother, Guan Xing. However, Guan Xing in this life was born from Du's belly.

Perhaps it was because of the change in Guan Xing's mother that Guan Yu doted on his youngest son Guan Xing. As for his eldest son Guan Ping, he was not alienated from him, but he was stricter than in another time and space, and was more ruthless when teaching him a lesson.

Anyway, for an unfavored son, he would be trained hard and strictly required. Since he was eleven years old and his younger brother was about to be born, his father's training intensity for Guan Ping suddenly increased.

Guan Yu was not worried about his son crying at all. If his son dared to cry, he would continue to increase the intensity until he had no more energy to cry.

Since being sent to Xia Pi by Liu Bei last year, Guan Yu has been living in the official residence of the former governor of Xuzhou to handle military and political affairs.

But up to now, Liu Bei has not given Guan Yu the title of governor of Xuzhou. Perhaps it is to keep things fair, to keep a low profile and to coordinate relations with friendly forces.

After all, Liu Bei only occupied half of Xuzhou, and the other half was in Cao Cao's hands.

Some of Liu Bei's civil servants also instigated Liu Bei, saying that since the lord had already followed the imperial edict to fight the enemy, and the other half of Xuzhou was in the hands of the traitor, then he should ignore the traitor and appoint another governor of Xuzhou.

But Liu Bei was very mature and prudent in this regard and rejected this proposal. He felt that the territory he actually controlled was equivalent to two states, but Xuzhou and Jingzhou were only half.

If Xuzhou can nominate Guan Yu as governor of Xuzhou, can Jingzhou nominate Zhuge Liang as governor of Jingzhou? If both are nominated, where will Liu Biao, who is a friendly army, be placed? Even if only Xuzhou is nominated and not Jingzhou, will Liu Biao be suspicious?

In this case, I won't mention it. I will just keep the title for now. Liu Bei planned to wait until he actually controlled at least three states in the future, preferably two or three states that he controlled completely, and then promote all his trusted subordinates together to treat them equally.

At that point, Liu Bei no longer needs to hold the title of Yangzhou Mu, and he can ask for a higher title. At that time, the title of Yangzhou Mu will be given to Zhuge Jin, the title of Jingzhou Mu to Zhuge Liang, and the title of Xuzhou Mu to Guan Yu, and none of the three will fall behind.

As for Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun, in Liu Bei's heart they are definitely one level lower than the Zhuge brothers in terms of their contribution to supporting the Han Dynasty. If there were only three governors, it would not be their turn.

His brotherhood with Zhang Fei was one thing, and the appointment and authorization was another. In history, after Liu Bei won the battle of Hanzhong, he appointed Wei Yan as the governor of Hanzhong instead of Zhang Fei, which shows that Liu Bei was very clear about how to employ people.

Today, Guan Yu is in Xia Pi, doing the work of a provincial governor, which is just short of the last title.

Ever since Xiahou Yuan attacked Langya County more than two months ago, Guan Yu has been on guard every day and has never relaxed the border defense of various counties in Xuzhou.

The generals and civil servants under his command had been on guard for a long time and were somewhat mentally exhausted, but Guan Yu himself remained consistent and refused to reveal any flaws.

……

Perhaps he was in a good mood today, with the autumn weather being clear and refreshing, Guan Yu practiced his sword skills for the entire morning, and only stopped at 9:00 p.m., then threw the sword to Zhou Cang.

Guan Ping outside the door also quickly put away his knife and personally handed over a large bowl of yogurt just taken out of the warm water bath to honor his father. A maid soon came over to help Guan Yu wipe his sweat and change his clothes.

"Haha - Tzuyu and Kongming really know how to live. How did they figure it out? This yogurt should be hot, but not too hot. It should be soaked in warm water like this, and it has to be cooler than the pot of warm wine. But it is really comfortable to drink."

After wiping the sweat off his face and drinking the drink, Guan Yu felt refreshed, and the fatigue from practicing martial arts for an hour was swept away. "The general's swordsmanship is really becoming more and more proficient, and his strength is also more sustained. He didn't even feel tired for an hour. Ordinary people may still have improved their skills and experience when they reach their forties, but their physical strength may not be improved. The general is really a god."

Chen Jiao, a close aide to Guan Yu who was in his twenties, also praised him from the bottom of his heart.

Chen Jiao worked in Guangling County a few years ago. He was a talent discovered by Chen Deng and a distant relative of Chen Deng. During the war to destroy Sun Ce, Chen Jiao stayed in Guangling and resisted Sun Ce's attack together with Chen Deng. At that time, he also made some hard work.

Chen Deng saw that he had some ability in military planning and dispatching. After the demise of the Sun family, he recommended Chen Jiao to Xia Pi to work with Guan Yu. He also considered that Xia Pi County was closer to the front line and there was an opportunity to make achievements. Guan Yu thought that this young man was good at handling daily military dispatch and logistics coordination, so after a year of internship, he promoted him to a military officer.

This is similar to the work that Guan Yu asked Ma Liang to do when he was in Jingzhou in the original history.

At this moment, Guan Yu listened to Chen Jiao's flattery and waved his hand indifferently, indicating that he should stop talking about these trivial things and report the important things:
"Have you found out anything about Xiahou Yuan's behavior in the past two days? He suffered a series of minor defeats in Langya. With his temper, he will surely lose his temper. We must be more careful at this time. With a war imminent, what can personal bravery do? It is not worth mentioning."

Guan Yu said "not worth mentioning" while his face became redder and he stroked his beard gently. He accidentally pulled off a strand and frowned, remembering that he should put on a beard cover every day in late autumn, so he quickly asked someone to come over and put the beard on and put it back into his robe.

He just turned 40 this year. Overall, his martial arts still have a little room for growth, but it is basically almost at its peak. What makes him proud is that at the age of 40, his experience and moves are still becoming more and more proficient, and his physical fitness has not declined, at least his explosive power has not declined, only his endurance has begun to decline, which is already very gratifying.

Chen Jiao on the side briefly reported the enemy's movements collected in the past few days, and said that he had not found any trend of Xiahou Yuan's troops regrouping and organizing an offensive.

But the Cao army in the Langya direction has completely retreated, and now only retains a narrow and long occupation zone from Kaiyang County to the coastline. However, after arriving at the seaside, the Cao army only controlled a small section of the coastline and did not dare to spread out along the coastline like it did two months ago.

In other words, Cao's army had completely withdrawn from the Yimeng Mountain area of Langya County, and only controlled a strip of gentle slopes at the southern edge of the Yimeng Mountain area, where it connected to the Subei Plain. They set up several camps in a row, and cavalry often patrolled.

However, Liu Bei's army was certainly inferior to Cao's army in terms of cavalry combat power, so they did not send troops to obstruct Cao's patrols.

Guan Yu looked at the map and what Chen Jiao said, and he didn't dare to relax at all. He knew that if Xiahou Yuan dared to go south, he would be able to penetrate into Donghai County on the first day and divide and surround several counties controlled by our army.

Guan Yu: "Is there anything else going on recently?"

Chen Jiao flipped through the wooden tablets he used for shorthand and added, "Also, we received an urgent report from Yangzhou the day before yesterday, saying that Envoy Zhuge intends to go north in person. He may have military affairs to discuss with the general. He may arrive in the next two days, and no later than the day after tomorrow."

Guan Yu: "Why didn't you report it earlier? Ziyu is usually in Moling and doesn't care about military affairs. He came here in person, he must have noticed something wrong with Xiahou Yuan."

Chen Jiao: "It's not even time yet."

Guan Yu: "We have to prepare in advance. I will set off today and go to Xiaxiang to welcome him first! If I haven't been able to welcome him yet, I will go to Ling County!"
Anyway, I don't think Xiahou Yuan will attack directly in Xiapi County. The Yi and Si rivers here are crisscrossed, which is not conducive to the mobility of the Northern Army. If they want to attack, they will go around Wenyuan's defense zone in Donghai County. I should have gone to the east to inspect the defense."

……

Chen Jiao was criticized by Guan Yu for a few words, but he didn't take it to heart. Guan Yu made hasty preparations and left immediately to inspect the defense of Xiaxiangdeng and meet Zhuge Jin.

A day later, Zhuge Jin was really welcomed by Guan Yu in Xiaxiang County.

Zhuge Jin came by boat along the Si River. As soon as he arrived at the dock, he got off the boat with a folded fan in his hand:
"Why are you so polite, Yunchang? You and I are each in charge of a state according to the order of our lord. I am an uninvited guest, crossing the border to come to Xuzhou to disturb you. How can I ask you to leave the county to greet me?"

Guan Yu grabbed Zhuge Jin and said, "My lord treats you and me with such sincerity, how can we judge it by common sense? Is Ziyu still worried that my lord will blame you and me for crossing the border to visit you?
You are willing to come here, there must be something important for you! Could it be that you are in Moling and have noticed that Cao Cao is behaving strangely? If so, it is really a brilliant plan. Let's go into the city and talk first."

Zhuge Jin slapped the fan bones in his palms and analyzed casually: "The autumn harvest in Jiangnan this year went smoothly, the results of encouraging farmers are good, and the water conservancy and corvée labor that should be rectified in winter have also been arranged.

I had some free time, and I happened to hear from you that Cao Cao had promoted Zang Ba, Sun Guan, and Chang Xi, and the promotions were quite large. I was worried that something might have happened in Xuzhou, so I came here to help out and give you some warnings."

Guan Yu was closer to the front line than Zhuge Jin. With his military instinct, he also realized that Xiahou Yuan was planning a new trick, but Guan Yu lacked the support and deduction of military theory, so he couldn't explain it.

After hearing Zhuge Jin's analysis, he became solemn and listened to his instructions: "Oh? I wonder why Cao Cao promoted these Taishan bandits? I have heard about this, but I never paid attention to it. Could it be that after the promotion, the combat power of Zang Ba and others will also become stronger?"

Zhuge Jin patted his folding fan and smiled wisely: "This is not a question of whether the combat power is getting stronger or weaker, but a question of whether the name is right or wrong."

(End of this chapter)