My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 40: The Zhuge Family Surrounded by Wolves

Although he was surprised by the thick letter from his elder brother, Zhuge Liang remained polite and continued to chat with the messenger without opening it directly.

He also asked his third brother to prepare onion, ginger and tea for the guests, asked the only servant in the house to light the fire, and asked his two sisters to help prepare the meat.

There are still two unmarried sisters in the Zhuge family. They usually do not see outsiders and only take care of the housework in the backyard.

Tang Guang felt quite uneasy and quickly said that he didn't need to entertain him. He was just a messenger. "Sir, why don't you read the letter first? Mr. Ziyu told me not to open it. There must be something important in it."

Zhuge Liang had noticed that the scrolls were sealed with wax, but he didn't care. "It doesn't matter. There are some things that I can't learn from my family's letters. It's better to ask you. Tell me, what strategy did you use to repel Yuan Shu and capture Guangling?"

The other party was a little embarrassed by his confident tone: "Sir, how can you be sure that these things were not written in the family letter? Maybe you can tell at a glance. I am not good at speaking and cannot explain clearly."

"Impossible." Zhuge Liang denied. "Brother has always been modest and self-disciplined, and never boasts, so I can only ask the bystanders - how about a bet?"

Although Tang Guang didn't know what was written on the scroll, seeing Zhuge Liang's confident expression, he didn't dare to gamble. So he told him the general situation of the battles of Huaiyin and Guangling, and also talked about his achievements such as inventing drift nets to catch fish and solving the problem of military food.

Zhuge Liang listened very carefully.

Hearing his elder brother's advice to Liu Bei to block the news and not rush into a decisive battle when he just learned that Xia Pi was lost, he couldn't help but sigh and comment:
"That's right. The art of war is to be realistic when you are weak, and to be realistic when you are weak. When the enemy thinks your army is weak, even if you succeed in raiding their camp, they will fight to the death. You have to hold on, to make them suspicious and wait for them to become lazy. But the key is to block the news, otherwise it will be in vain. It seems that General Zhendong is good at managing the army."

When hearing about the surprise attack on Guangling, Zhuge Liang frowned slightly:

"It was still a bit risky after all, and the preparations were not sufficient. When Big Brother left Huaiyin, he probably didn't think of stealing the city, right? Most likely he annihilated Lei Bo on the way, and then he suddenly came up with the idea. Otherwise, why didn't he make preparations in advance when the troops were first divided?"

It's a pity that Zhuge Jin is not here. If he could hear these words with his own ears, he would definitely feel guilty:

That's right, when Zhuge Jin was escorted by Zhang Fei to break out, he really didn't think of relying on Zhang Fei's surprise troops to steal Guangling. After arriving in Haixi County, Mi Fang told him a new piece of bad news: Kong Beihai had just been destroyed, and the army's food could not be bought in time.

Seeing that Liu Bei was forced into a new desperate situation, Zhuge Jin helped Zhang Fei to make a desperate move and came up with several risky strategies.

Zhuge Liang basically guessed his eldest brother's mental journey, but he guessed wrong about just one thing - Zhuge Jin didn't think that far at the beginning, not because he was incapable, but because when he first came through, he was still very timid and just wanted to take one step at a time and protect himself.

In a nutshell: Zhuge Liang underestimated his elder brother's foresight, but overestimated his courage. One was a positive deviation and the other was a negative deviation, but the final conclusion was similar.

After listening to Zhuge Liang's comments, Tang Guang was surprised and thought to himself: "Mr. Ziyu once said that his brother's talent is ten times that of his. Now it seems that the second young master is indeed extraordinary. With just a few words, he figured out the gains and losses of his brother's use of troops. I wonder if it is right..."

He lacked judgment and could not have a deep conversation with Zhuge Liang, so he could only say: Mr. Ziyu, please read the letter from home in the next few days and write back as required so that he can take him away.

Zhuge Liang understood everything he should understand, so he didn't bother the other party.

After dinner, he asked Zhuge Jun to arrange another place for them to rest.

……

After sending the messenger away, Zhuge Liang finally took out his knife and opened the seal on the scroll.

He noticed that each seal was numbered, apparently indicating the order in which the books should be read, and he began reading from the first volume.

The first volume was just a normal family letter, describing the situation of his eldest brother, mother, and uncle over the past two years, and telling him not to worry. It was all just some everyday talk.

As expected, there was no claiming of credit or boasting in the letter, but there were some complaints, and it also mentioned that "the world is difficult, and I have been forced to cope with it in the past two years, struggling to make ends meet, but I have also made a lot of progress. I get up early and go to bed late, and occasionally I work hard and gain a lot in my dreams."

Zhuge Liang felt that this writing style was not like that of his elder brother, as his elder brother seldom complained.

Even if they complain, it is often just a humble prelude to say that "today's results are purely luck."

But there is not even a hint of luck between the lines. Instead, there is a sense of "I deserve all my achievements."

Is it really because I have suffered too much and grown so much in the past two years that I have become more confident and think “who else but me”?
Perhaps people will be changed by the pressure of the environment.

At the end of the letter, my eldest brother also told me to write a reply, and the reply must include the following parts:

I need to make a list for you, big brother. How have you made academic progress in the past two years in Jingzhou? What books have you read so far?

Then, he had to write down what friends he had made and what connections he had made in Jingzhou in recent years, as well as whether his second sister had any intention of being married. All of these had to be described in detail.

Finally, he said that the remaining scrolls were mostly his experiences in handling worldly affairs in recent years, as well as ancient books and miscellaneous knowledge he had collected while traveling around the world, which he had compiled into manuscripts. He hoped that he would study hard and make the best use of his time.

...Zhuge Liang closed the letter and thought about it, then decided to write the reply first and then slowly study the materials given by his elder brother.

After all, learning would take a long time, and he couldn't let the messenger wait all the time, as the other party would leave with the reply tomorrow.

He first reported on his study progress in Jingzhou over the past two years.

Zhuge Liang was very smart since he was young, and his elder brother knew this a long time ago. When they separated two years ago, the fourteen-year-old Zhuge Liang had read much more than the nineteen-year-old Zhuge Jin.

Before his biological mother Zhang passed away, Zhuge Liang learned to recognize characters from "Jijiupian" and "Pangxipian". He was only four years old at that time and finished learning it in a few months.

Then he started to learn to recognize characters by reading Er Ya, and then read The Analects of Confucius and The Book of Filial Piety. He recognized all the commonly used characters at the age of six.

At the age of seven, he began to read the Book of Songs and Mencius, and at the age of ten, he had read all the 13 Confucian classics (excluding commentaries and annotations), but he only read them briefly without seeking to understand them in depth. In contrast, Zhuge Jin studied for purity and worked hard to understand them in depth. When he left his hometown of Langya, he had not yet finished reading the 13 classics.

After his father passed away, Zhuge Liang taught himself the Legalism, Taoism and Mohism of various schools of thought in his hometown of Langya. He read through everything from Shen Shang's magic to Han Feizi, from Laozi and Zhuangzi to Mohist Canon, and grasped their essence. He would also compare and verify the teachings of Confucianism, Legalism, Taoism and Mohism on his own, and understand the advantages and disadvantages of each.

When he was bored, he also studied Zhoubi Suanjing and Jiuzhang Suanshu by himself. He also read Shanhaijing, Yugong and Hanshu. Geography with the mentality of reading a story book. Zhuge Jin could not teach him these things at that time, and his father had passed away. Zhuge Liang was completely self-taught. He had to take notes for the parts he could not understand due to his lack of experience, and ask for advice later.

Fortunately, after exile in Jingzhou, the opportunity to further study and seek advice soon came. Last year, Zhuge Liang met Sima Hui by chance. Sima Hui also knew a little about mathematics, so Zhuge Liang asked for advice on the parts of "Nine Chapters" that he could not understand.

When Sima Hui was young, he traveled to famous mountains and rivers and had extensive knowledge of geography and customs. In just over a year, he made up for Zhuge Liang's shortcomings in understanding astronomy and geography.

With the help of Sima Hui, Zhuge Liang finally spent more than a year to thoroughly read the entire text of "Records of the Grand Historian" and "Book of Han". Before, when he was in his hometown of Langya, he could only read the stories about the characters in them and treat them as storybooks.

Now I have finally understood and grasped the professional "books" such as "Geography", "Book of Laws", "Book of Celestial Officials", "Rivers and Canals", and "Price Regulation".

You should know that among the ten tables and eight books in the Records of the Grand Historian, the twelve basic annals, thirty family histories and seventy biographies, in fact, the "eight books" are the most difficult to understand for the ancients, because they are all professional knowledge.

In comparison, the Annals, Family Histories, and Biographies are just storybooks that record events, which young people have no difficulty understanding.

……

Zhuge Liang sorted out his memories, organized his writing style, and reported his new learning experience and progress in the past two years in detail in his letter home:
He thoroughly understood the entire contents of "Records of the Grand Historian" and "Book of Han", supplemented the difficult parts of "Nine Chapters", and learned some fragments of "The Art of War" and "The Art of Wu" from Sima Hui. In addition, in order to farm and study, he also studied the reference books "The Book of Si Sheng" and "Monthly Orders for Four Mins" on his own. Finally, he also read "Miscellaneous Records of the Western Capital" and some collections of Han Dynasty fu as literary entertainment.

I finished studying four large volumes in two years, and also read three sets of fragments and a bunch of literary and recreational books. This progress should be worthy of praise from my elder brother, right?

At least as a famous book of the time, Zhuge Liang felt that he had almost finished reading it. What else could his elder brother teach him?
Isn't it enough to just see the general idea? Must he spend his whole life studying the classics and delving into every word to get to the essence?

After reporting on his studies, Zhuge Liang started a new paragraph and continued to tell his elder brother about the people he had met in the past two years.

The most senior scholar in Jingzhou today is Cai Feng, the father-in-law of Liu Biao and Huang Chengyan, the father of Cai Mao, and the brother-in-law of Zhang Wen, the late Grand Commandant of the Ling Dynasty. (When Liu Biao died of illness more than a decade later and Cao Cao went south, Cai Feng had already died of old age, but he is still alive now, just old and sick.)
Zhuge Liang had previously met Cai Feng reluctantly with the help of his uncle Zhuge Xuan, but it was estimated that the other party was too old and his eyes were blurry to remember this young man. At most, Cai Mao still had a slight impression of him.

Among the famous scholars of a lower generation, Zhuge Liang met Liu Biao and Huang Chengyan, and also studied under Sima Hui. It was at Sima Hui's place that he met Pang Degong.

After all, it is now 196, and the scholars of Zhuge Liang's generation have not yet emerged.

Among the so-called "Four Friends of Zhuge" in later generations, Cui Jun and Meng Jian have not yet fled to Jingzhou.

Xu Shu and Shi Tao had already escaped, but they had no place to live and did not know Zhuge Liang. If history had not been changed, Xu Shu would have gone out to wander and cause trouble, and finally he would have completely changed his ways and returned to study.

To put it bluntly, the talented and learned people of the same generation that Zhuge Liang made friends with in Xiangyang were all from the three major local families in Xiangyang, the Kuai, Huang, and Pang families, and there was not a single exiled northern scholar from other places.

Including Pang Degong's son Pang Shanmin and nephew Pang Tong, several younger generations of Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue's family, Kuai Qi and others, Huang Chengyan's daughter Huang Yueying (mainly because Huang Chengyan had no son)

Among these people, Pang Shanmin and Kuai Qi had their eyes on Zhuge Liang's two sisters and wanted to marry into the Zhuge family, so they often came to study and exchange ideas with Zhuge Liang, and gave Zhuge Liang various rare copies of ancient books that he had never seen before. In short, their motives were not very pure.

And Huang Yueying’s motives... may not be pure either, it’s just that she is not targeting Zhuge Liang’s sister.

When Zhuge Liang thought of the hardships his family was facing being surrounded by others, he could not help but tell his eldest brother all the inside information and see if his eldest brother had any other arrangements.

If the eldest brother didn't mind selling his two sisters for marriage, he would really be unable to hold on by himself. The Zhuge family is now a pure outsider with no foundation. If they insist on holding on and refusing to marry any of them, it will be difficult for them to survive in Xiangyang.

"I hope my elder brother will reply soon and give me an explanation." Zhuge Liang muttered to himself and stuffed the reply into the bamboo tube. Then he took his elder brother's letter and showed it to his two sisters and third brother.

(End of this chapter)