My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 361: Who is the rival of the heroes in the world? Cao and Liu each took one state in one year
In Wuchang city, as the twelfth lunar month approaches, the General of Chariots and Cavalry's residence is very busy with year-end government affairs.

In the past two years, many scholars from Jingzhou have been subtly wooed by Liu Bei. As the end of the year approaches, Liu Bei also needs to personally meet many new talents, appease them and appoint them to strengthen their hearts.

Although Liu Bei himself did not take any military risks in the past two years, his gains were definitely not less than those from military attacks. He won over so many of Liu Biao's base that the two governors Lai Gong and Wu Ju also surrendered to Liu Bei without bloodshed.

However, even though he was in charge of Jingzhou and could still ensure a rich harvest every year, compared to Cao Cao who directly conquered cities and expanded his territory, Liu Bei was still a little restless.

So in addition to entertaining guests every day at the end of the year, he still took time out to have a deep talk with Zhuge Liang.

"Kong Ming, today's meeting has no other purpose but to discuss one thing - I want to move the shogunate so that I can fight against Cao Cao in the north and cooperate with Ziyu and Yunchang. Is that okay?"

Of course, there was no need for Liu Bei to be polite to Zhuge Liang. As soon as Zhuge Liang entered the room, Liu Bei made his intentions clear.

Pang Tong was sent to Zhao Yun this year, and Xu Shu followed Zhang Fei in Jingnan. In Jiangxia, there was only Zhuge Liang who had a say, so there was no need to hold any meetings. They could just close the door, set out some homemade wine and fruit, and make a decision through a one-on-one chat.

In this situation, Zhuge Liang had nothing to hide, and he didn't need to explain too much. After listening to the question, he directly reported his answer:

“I have been thinking a lot about this matter recently and I think it is indeed feasible, but now is not the right time. I recently learned that Cao Cao used troops against high-ranking officials in Bingzhou, but the number of troops he used was not large, and he mainly relied on Ma Teng from Xiliang to provide support.

Yuan's generals have already lost their loyalty, Gao Gan is destined to not be able to contain Cao's strength much, he can attack Gao Gan while defending us. Cao's main force is still in Huaibei, Zilong and Xingba have been harassing Chen and Qiao on a small scale, but have not been able to find any flaws.

Moreover, in the cold winter, only between the princes with a huge gap in strength can a strong attack succeed. If the two sides are evenly matched, the attacking party will suffer a great loss.

The gap between Cao Cao and Gao Gan is too big, but we are not that close to Cao Cao. Only when Cao Cao attacks Yuan Shang again in the future will it be a good opportunity for our army to march north.

However, Cao Cao's attack on Gao Gan also inspired our army. Our army should be more determined to take advantage of the winter and early spring when there is no opportunity to attack the northern line and deploy an offensive against Jiaozhi Shi Xie. In this way, Cao Cao will get Bingzhou, and we will also eliminate the trouble in the south.

As long as our army does not invest too much, it can last for four or five months, and we can ensure that we can stop at any time if the progress is unfavorable, then we will not miss the opportunity to take advantage of Cao Cao's attack on Yuan Shang next year to launch a northern expedition.

After the busy spring farming season next year, if you wish to personally lead the Northern Expedition, it won’t be too late to move the shogunate then.”

Liu Bei thought it made sense. It was winter now, and even if he moved the shogunate, he would not be able to do anything to Cao Cao, and it would be a waste of money and manpower.

With Zhuge Liang in charge of the overall situation, these few months won't be a problem.

Liu Bei did not dwell on the timing, but moved on to the next question: "If we need to move the shogunate before the Northern Expedition, where do you think we should move it to?"

Zhuge Liang thought for a moment and said: "Why not move to Hefei? Jiangxia borders Liu Biao in the west, so there is no place to use military force. Although it borders Cao Cao's Runan in the north, it requires crossing the Tongbai Mountain, which is steep and difficult to travel. It is not easy to deploy troops.

If we move to Hefei, we can be in the middle of the city and respond to changes. In my opinion, when Cao's army goes north again next year, there will be only two opportunities for the southern line to be empty.

If there is a shortage of troops in Xuzhou and Pengcheng, our army should use Yunchang as the main force to continue the battle that has not been completed this year. If there is a shortage of troops in Huaixi, Runan, Chencai, our army should use Zilong as the main force, go upstream from Shouchun and Xiacai, and occupy Huainan. Move the confrontation line between our western front and Cao's army from the north of Tongbai Mountain to the Huaihe River.

Hefei is located in the middle of the city, not far from Xiapi in the east and Xiacai in the west. If there is an opportunity, even if we need to ask for instructions before the battle, we can make a decision in two or three days without any delay. "

Zhuge Liang originally wanted to say that Shouchun was more suitable than Hefei, but Shouchun was too close to the front line after all. It was a bit dangerous for Liu Bei to push the General of Chariots and Cavalry's headquarters directly to the front line.

It's not that Liu Bei himself would be in danger, but once the shogunate moved, it should not be moved again without a reasonable reason. Although Shouchun could not be conquered by Cao's army, it could be surrounded. If it was left there, it would be very damaging to morale.

Moreover, Shouchun had been used as a pseudo-capital by Yuan Shu, and its reputation had already been ruined. Liu Bei was born to fight against the rebellion and save the Han Dynasty, so how could he make the same choice as Yuan Shu?

Since Hefei is not much worse, we will take a step back. In the future, the most important political center in the middle reaches of Huainan will be moved south from Shouchun to Hefei, and Shouchun will only serve as a pure military fortress to control the Huai-Fei waterway.

Historically, princes like Sun Quan were able to use Moling/Jianye as the core of their rule for a long time. That was because Sun Quan's territory was small. He only had influence in Huainan and Jiangnan, and did not have an inch of land in Huaibei. At that time, the surrounding areas of Nanjing in later generations had sufficient strategic depth and river defense to rely on. Everything else was secondary.

But Liu Bei's current situation is very different. He has fought well in Qingxu, and the area east of Yishui and Sishui, all the way to the sea, is his power. At this time, if he still relies on the surrounding areas of Nanjing or Wuchang in the future, the territory will indeed be too narrow and long, and he may not be able to take care of both ends.

In the past two years, he lived in Wuchang for so long because he wanted to digest the resources of Jingzhou, subtly win over the forces under Liu Biao's rule, and show that Liu Bei respected the status of General of Chariots and Cavalry and Marquis of Wuchang conferred on him by Liu Xie.

Now almost everyone who can be won over in Jingzhou has been won over, and Jingnan has also been completely stabilized. After Zhang Fei completes the conquest of the South China Sea in Jingnan this winter, Liu Bei can indeed move away next year.

This is what is most in line with the interests of our camp, and there is no need to simply copy the original historical answers - besides, Liu Bei asked Zhuge Liang, not Zhuge Jin.

Zhuge Liang was not a time traveler. All his insights were analyzed by himself. At most, he relied on his elder brother's early teachings and mutual inspiration, and brought a little bit of Zhuge Jin's thinking and shadow, but in essence, it was still Zhuge Liang's own foresight.

Liu Bei no longer had any doubts and decided to continue to use Wuchang as the economic center.

The military command center was naturally moved to Hefei.

That is, only the General of Chariots and Cavalry's shogunate was moved there, but the Marquis of Wuchang's mansion remained unchanged. As for the Governor of Yangzhou's mansion, it would not be moved at all and would remain in Moling.

The Palace of the General of Chariots and Cavalry, the Palace of the Marquis of Wuchang, and the Palace of the Governor of Yangzhou were located in three cities. Hefei, Wuchang, and Moling occupied a place in military, economy, and politics respectively.

……

After Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang discussed and decided on the future focus adjustment ideas, the following winter and even the beginning of next spring would be the tedious stage of plan implementation.

Because Zhuge Liang's strategic plan was so well made, no accidents occurred during the subsequent implementation process, and there are no details worth writing about.

The main reason is that Cao Cao over Gao Gan and Liu Bei over Shi Xie were both excessive crushing.

No one needs to use their full strength, and the opponent can be defeated with just one hand.

Thus, the winter of the seventh year of Jian'an and the spring of the eighth year of Jian'an were spent with Cao and Liu confronting each other with their "internal strength" while the other hand easily killed the weak enemies in the enemy's ranks.

In Bingzhou, Cao's army occupied Shangdang in the twelfth month of the year, captured Jiexiu in the first month of the following year, and began to besiege Taiyuan in February.

After Guo Yuan was beheaded, Gao Gan's army was outnumbered and his main force had been annihilated. He could only defend Taiyuan City and asked for help from the Southern Xiongnu Chanyu Huchuquan by offering a large sum of money.

But Huochuquan came from afar, and his heart was uncertain, and he was quite hesitant. After fighting with Cao's army and Ma Teng's coalition, Huochuquan was defeated and chose to surrender to Cao Cao.

With Huochuquan's defection, Gaogan's situation became increasingly precarious. In early March, as the snow in the Taihang Mountains melted and the roads became passable, Yuan Shang reluctantly sent Qian Zhao to reinforce Gaogan, but he was also defeated by Cao's army in Shangai (Yangquan) and surrendered to Cao.

With all the high-ranking officials and external aid cut off, they knew that it was hopeless to defend the isolated city. They wanted to take a small road, abandon the army, disguise themselves and break out, and flee south to Liu Bei or Liu Biao. However, they were captured by Cao's army in the Luliang Mountains and sent to Xudu to be beheaded in public.

(Note: In history, Gao Gan felt that it was hopeless to continue defending the city, so he abandoned the city and tried to surrender to Liu Biao. This is a historical fact. Now, just because of the butterfly effect, there is an additional option to surrender to Liu Bei. But the result is the same, they were all intercepted and killed by Cao's army on the way.)
With the fall of Gao Gan, the entire Bingzhou was returned to Cao. Moreover, at the end of the Bingzhou Campaign, Cao's army and Yuan Shang had another armed conflict because Cao Cao attacked Gao Gan and Yuan Shang rescued Gao Gan. So Cao Cao and Yuan Shang were actually at war again, and the truce between the two sides lasted only ten months.

To be fair, Cao Cao's excuses for attacking high-ranking officials in this life were more blunt than those in the same period in history. After all, Yuan Shang was already in a state of submission to the court, and Cao Cao used false charges to provoke and clip his wings, which was a big blow to Cao Cao's political credibility.

Of course, compared with Sima Yi's fart at the Luoshui River in history, Cao Cao's inconsistency this time was not that exaggerated. At most, he was only one or two percent as powerful as Sima Yi's fart at the Luoshui River.

Cao Cao had no choice because he was being pressed harder by Liu Bei. In order to gain actual benefits faster and convert his territory into cash, he could only overdraw a little more on the political credit and reputation and exchange false reputation for more real benefits.

If Cao Cao could take it slow without the pressure from Liu Bei, he would also want to take it slow.

This is like the classic Olympic saying: All technical movements are the result of opponent pressure. If it can be played as a training match, who would have technical movements that are out of shape?

……

However, although Cao Cao gained real benefits in a corner of the country in the winter of the seventh year of Jian'an and the spring of the eighth year of Jian'an, Liu Bei was not idle either.

In the twelfth month of that year, relying on the capital accumulated from the large-scale water conservancy construction, road improvement and repair of the Lingqu Canal in southern Jing in the previous two years, Zhang Fei was finally able to send troops from Lingling County, transport grain via the Lingqu Canal, cross the Five Ridges with a small number of troops, and enter Guilin and Cangwu areas in Lingnan.

As for the reasons and excuses for the war, they were all there - historically, "Jiaozhou" did not exist at that time, there was only "Jiaozhi Provincial Administration". Jiaozhou was originally established by Cao Cao in the eighth year of Jian'an, in order to support Shi Xie and make trouble for other southern princes (historically, Cao Cao was not defending against Sun Quan, but against Liu Biao).

Now, Cao Cao wanted to contain Liu Bei, so he had of course appointed Shi Xie as the governor of Jiaozhou in advance, and allocated some land from Jingzhou and Yangzhou to Jiaozhou - after all, "Jiaozhou" was a new establishment, and there would definitely be differences from the original divisions.

Shi Xie felt that he was far away from the emperor, and if Cao Cao dared to confer an appointment on him, he would accept it. Moreover, he could nominally rule over some of the land that actually belonged to Liu Bei, so it was natural for Liu Bei to attack him. The two decrees of establishing Jiaozhou and conferring the title of "Jiaozhou Mu" were issued two years after the Yidaizhao incident broke out. They were completely wrong orders. How could Liu Bei obey them? Of course, he had to correct this mistake.

Taking into account the logistical difficulties, Zhang Fei only brought more than 10,000 combat soldiers, while the number of logistical support personnel was more than the combat soldiers.

In order to ensure a smooth crossing of the mountains, Xu Shu gave Zhang Fei advice. He first pretended to station heavy troops in Qujiang (Shaoguan), which borders Guiyang County and Nanhai County, and in Linhe, which borders Lingling County and Cangwu County, in order to attract Shi Xie to place his main forces in Linhe and Qujiang and block the valley passes of the Five Ridges.

Then Zhang Fei's real main force took the Lingqu Canal, cut into the upper reaches of the Lijiang River from a tributary of the Xiangshui River, made a circle, and went straight to the seat of Cangwu County from the area of Guilin in later generations, taking the heart of Cangwu in one fell swoop.

When Shi Xie reacted, he quickly divided his troops to block the entrance and harass Zhang Fei's food supply route, but Zhang Fei's more than 10,000 men had already fought their way into the Pearl River Basin. Zhang Fei could completely support himself by fighting and relying on plundering supplies to maintain his troops.

Shi Xie saw that he had blocked the pass in time and prevented Zhang Fei's rear troops and supplies from continuing to be transported in, so he planned to fortify the city and clear the fields to wear down Zhang Fei.

He sent a large army to surround Zhang Fei from all sides, defending but not attacking, and firmly holding the cities around Zhang Fei. But Zhang Fei ignored the cities, bypassed them everywhere, roamed deep into the countryside, and was not afraid of getting farther and farther away from his retreat, causing chaos in the hinterland of Nanhai and Cangwu.

Shi Xie was so overwhelmed that he had to switch from defending the city to field defense, and sent troops to surround Zhang Fei in the Panyu area. Then he tried to set up camp to block the enemy and slowly built a tunnel to trap Zhang Fei to death.

Unfortunately, Zhang Fei was waiting for Shi Xie to leave the city. Without waiting for Shi Xie's camp to be built solid, he launched a fierce attack on Shi Xie's camp.

Most of Shi Xie's troops were tropical soldiers with southern barbarian habits. They were unfamiliar with discipline and only used swords, shields and soft bows. They couldn't even use spears in phalanxes.

If they wanted to fight against the powerful army of the Central Plains, their only chance was to hope that tropical diseases would kill the Central Plains army, or to hope that tropical bacteria and viruses would multiply quickly and the Central Plains soldiers would be infected and die from a small injury.

Unfortunately, this time Zhang Fei strictly followed Zhuge Liang's instructions and took advantage of the severe winter to fight a short battle.

Moreover, before the war, brothers Zhuge Liang and Zhuge Jin conducted a lot of microbial experiments with Hua Tuo, and had a deep understanding of the reproduction patterns of pathogens. Therefore, the medical and health care measures they took for Zhang Fei's troops were far better than those of any other previous ancient army.

Even the security measures taken by General Ma Yuan during his expedition to Jiaozhi in the early Eastern Han Dynasty were far less sophisticated than those taken by Zhang Fei.

Zhang Fei's army had such strong sanitary conditions that the battle was more than half won.

Shi Xie led several times more troops to besiege Zhang Fei, but was defeated in a siege in Panyu. Shi Xie's main force suffered heavy losses. Zhang Fei took the opportunity to capture Panyu and firmly established his foothold in Jiaozhou.

Shi Xie was desperate, and before losing Panyu City, he wanted to burn the food in Panyu City to ensure that Zhang Fei would not be able to get the food even if he broke the city, and could only wait to starve to death or retreat when the food ran out.

Unfortunately, although Shi Xie succeeded in setting the fire at a heavy price, he did not leave his remaining food to Zhang Fei.

But he soon discovered in despair that as the war with Zhang Fei entered the second month, two divisions of Liu Bei's army had actually entered Jiaozhou!

One group came from central Fujian along the coastal land route, and their number can be almost ignored. They fought under the banner of Wang Lang, the governor of Kuaiji, and harassed the Chaozhou, Shantou, and Zhangzhou areas which were later controlled by Shi Xie.

The other group came from across the sea and headed straight for Panyu, led by Bu Zhi and Lu Yi. Although their forces were small, after they joined forces by land and sea in Panyu, they were able to rely on sea transportation to deliver a steady stream of supplies to Zhang Fei from the coast of central Fujian.

As the encirclement network drawn up by Zhang Fei, Bu Zhi and Lu Yi was completely formed, the lands west of Cangwu and Panyu surrendered to Liu Bei one after another.

Shi Xie suffered defeat after defeat and had no choice but to flee back to Jiaozhi County, which was later known as northern Vietnam.

Due to time constraints, Liu Bei's camp only had a window of half a year to deploy troops. When the weather got hot, they had to withdraw their troops, leaving only the newly surrendered local soldiers as the main defense force. They did not chase "Vietnam" to kill Shi Xie himself. They just relied on the mountainous area of western Guangxi and divided the rule with Shi Xie.

But in later generations, the entire Guangdong region was completely conquered by Zhang Fei in just four months.

That is to say, Nanhai, Cangwu and Hepu were all taken. Shi Xie continued to occupy Jiaozhi. Yulin (ancient Guilin) between Cangwu and Jiaozhi was in a state of contention between the two sides. It was a mountain buffer zone and was not valuable.

Bu Zhi also relied on Zhang Fei to conquer the entire Guangdong province in the future. From then on, he could set up seaports and build supply bases in Nanhai County and Zhuya, preparing to go south to contact the Linyi Kingdom and search for Linyi rice next year.

However, there is no need to make a big fuss about this matter. It can be done by sending a small fleet. It does not cost much money and manpower, and it will not affect the battlefield on the northern front.

It's not that Bu Zhi didn't want to continue southward to open up the Linyi waterway and explore trade. It was really restricted by the weather. They could only work for half a year, and they had to stay dormant when the weather got hot.

When the weather gets warmer this year, Bu Zhi and Lu Yi can first adapt to the climate and soil of the south. The soldiers can also be screened, and those with strong adaptability can be kept. Attention should also be paid to the construction of the local medical and health system. Only after the foundation is laid can we sharpen the knife before chopping wood.

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PS: The above is already 5,000 words. In the end, it was decided that Cao Cao would attack Bingzhou and Liu Bei would take most of Jiaozhou, and the story would be told in one chapter.

Because the enemy is too weak, it would be too fake to write about the back and forth. It is better to be detailed and brief, and roughly describe the tactics, strategies, and analyze the reasons for victory and defeat. Otherwise, if I write tens of thousands of words, people will think it is spammy. (The main reason is that I can't write new ideas about the strategies and strategic planning for the battle of Jiaozhou. The previous book fooled Liu Bei with a similar idea. If there is no confrontation, it will only be the same if I write in detail)
I will write in detail when the enemy is strong enough, and the follow-up will still revolve around the struggle between Cao and Liu.

A map of the situation in the spring of the eighth year of Jian'an will be attached at the end of this chapter.

(End of this chapter)