My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 429 If you want to be the leader, you have to protect your younger brothers
After listening to Zhuge Jin's analysis, Zhang Song's impulsive enthusiasm cooled a little, and he realized that he was indeed a little too eager to surrender.

There is nothing wrong in surrendering to a wise ruler. But it is obviously unrealistic to expect a wise ruler to immediately shift the strategic focus to Yizhou and use any means to attack Liu Zhang.

You also need to be patient, be undercover for a long time, slowly collect information, and wait for the opportunity.

Zhang Song was obviously not mentally prepared for this at the beginning, and now that he was suddenly asked to act like this, he was actually a little confused.

After all, he has never received any "lurking training".

In history, Zhang Song was finally exposed and betrayed by his elder brother Zhang Su, which was largely due to his lack of professionalism.

Unfortunately, Zhang Song himself did not realize how unprofessional he was. Liu Bei and Zhuge Jin asked him to lie low for a long time, so he just patted his chest and promised:
"After listening to Mr. Ziyu's valuable advice today, Song finally realized how careless he was in his previous actions. When he returns to Chengdu, he will concentrate on collecting information and wait for the right opportunity."

After hearing this statement, Zhuge Jin knew that Zhang Song had not yet corrected his attitude and underestimated the difficulty of the matter. Zhuge Jin quickly reminded him indirectly:
"It's not that easy to lurk for a long time and collect information about the secluded faction and the pro-Cao faction in Shu. If you don't do it carefully, you will lose your life.

Ziqiao had never done such a thing before, and his decision to join my lord was a sudden impulse recently, without any long-term plan.

I think we should stay a few more days to plan our action strategy and details after returning to Yizhou, and we must not be impatient. "

Liu Bei also thought it made sense. Zhang Song was not a professional at this kind of thing. If he had something on his mind and couldn't hide it, and it was exposed over time, wouldn't that hurt others and himself? So he persuaded Zhang Song to stay for a few more days so that he could check the accounts and sort out the details.

Zhang Song thought about it and did not refuse. It would be good to sharpen his skills before the battle to find out the shortcomings.

Zhuge Jin then took the opportunity to say something else: "Since Ziqiao has made up his mind, one thing is most important. This kind of thing must not be disclosed to anyone. Even to your relatives around you. Don't assume that they will agree with you and be careless.

I heard that Liu Zhang's original deputy was your brother, right? Did your brother also suggest that Liu Zhang make peace with Cao Cao? Once you have chosen a course for contacting foreign princes and paying homage to the imperial court, it is difficult to change your mind halfway through. You may be branded as "pro-Cao" or "pro-Liu" for the rest of your life.

So when Ziqiao returns, don't rashly try to recruit your brother to our side. Be careful about everything, starting with keeping your brother a secret!"

Zhuge Jin couldn't tell you all the details that other undercover personnel should pay attention to at the moment, and even if he forced himself to, he would miss some of them.

But in history, Zhang Su betrayed Zhang Song, and there is a ready-made answer that can be copied.

Since Zhuge Jin knew this, he did not hesitate to give Zhang Song a warning, warning him not to let his guard down because of family ties.

By the way, we can also use this warning as a typical example to summarize the main points. Let Zhang Song use this as a starting point, and when he returns, he can draw inferences from it, figure out more confidentiality precautions, and take it seriously.

Zhang Song was indeed slightly shocked when he heard this.

If Zhuge Jin had not specifically pointed it out, Zhang Song would have really thought about winning over his elder brother to work with him at the beginning. He felt that the blood relationship between brothers could outweigh his loyalty to Liu Zhang.

But since someone like Zhuge Jin, who is famous for his wisdom and strategy, has specifically pointed it out, I'd better be safer than sorry, and I shouldn't have any illusions either, even if it's my own eldest brother.

"Thank you for your teachings, sir. I will definitely keep it in mind!" Zhang Song looked solemn and accepted the advice respectfully.

It is true that he is arrogant, but that depends on the person. For someone of the level of Brother Zhuge, even the most arrogant person would choose to listen to advice.

The precedents that have occurred in China over the past eight years have already proven that:

After the Zhuge brothers spoke, those who listened to their advice all had a good ending.

As for those who don't listen to advice, the grass on their graves will probably be several feet high.

Even if someone dares not to listen to the judgment of the Lord of Mount Tai, no one dares not to listen to the advice of Mr. Zhuge.

In the following days, Zhang Song temporarily changed his plan and stayed in Xuzhou for a few more days to polish his long-term latent plan strategy, check for omissions and reduce loopholes.

He was supposed to return home in mid-March, but now he has to delay his return until the end of March.

Fortunately, the journey to Yizhou is long, and the return journey requires sailing against the current, which would take at least two months, so these ten days or half a month would not matter.

From Chengdu to Xuzhou, the Yangtze River waterway alone is 4,000 miles long, and the subsequent journey along the Huai and Si rivers is another thousand miles long. It's a total of 5,000 miles, so it's inevitable that there will be all kinds of unexpected delays.

Liu Zhang was also accustomed to the situation that the deputy drivers he sent out to contact the princes would not come back for half a year, and he did not suspect anything.

...After dealing with Zhang Song's problem, Liu Bei was also quite emotional.

Especially the discussion with Zhang Song that day, which led to Zhuge Jin's outlook on the future situation, gave Liu Bei a refreshing feeling.

Liu Bei was a little confused about what to focus on in the next phase of strategic deployment after Cao Cao's retreat. He decided to sit down with Zhuge and work out a new roadmap for supporting the Han Dynasty.

Therefore, just two days after communicating with Zhang Song, Liu Bei had a deep discussion with Zhuge Jin on the most pressing issue at hand.

"That day, you made a firm judgment, saying that if Cao Cao wanted to attack our army again in the future, he would first choose Jizhou as his target. How did you come up with this judgment? Zi Qiao was there that day, so I didn't have time to discuss the matter in detail. After I went back, I always felt that it was a bit arbitrary."

Liu Bei asked very directly. He certainly would not question Zhuge Jin's judgment. He just said that he did not understand the reasoning principle.

This question had nothing to do with outsiders, especially with Zhang Song's long-term hiding, so Liu Bei did not ask about it in Zhang Song's presence, but only asked him in detail afterwards.

In this regard, Zhuge Jin certainly did not hesitate to analyze it in detail:

"This is easy. My lord, please think about it. If Cao's army attacks our army, is it easier to attack from the mountainous and densely populated areas or from the Hebei Plain? Of course, it is easier to attack from the Hebei Plain."

Liu Bei: "If that's the case, then at the end of last year, Cao Cao shouldn't have come to Xuhuai to fight, and should have let Cao Ren shrink the defense. After he broke through Yecheng, he went directly down the Zhang River from Yecheng and marched eastward to attack Nanpi.

Why didn't he just take the remaining county of Jizhou after he broke through Yecheng, but rushed to rescue Cao Ren? Why didn't he just choose 'I fight mine, he fights his' and let each of them show their strengths? "

Zhuge Jin gently waved his folding fan: "Of course it won't work. At that time, our army not only made progress in Xuzhou and Xiaopei, but also took over Huainan in Runan and advanced to Xincai. If Cao Cao did not return to the south, our army might threaten the Huaibei part of Runan County and even Yingchuan.

Therefore, even if there were capable people in Cao's army who advised Cao Cao to focus on attacking Nanpi, he had to divide at least half of his troops and return to the Xuhua battlefield to block the entrance.

In addition, Cao Cao himself had never been defeated by his lord before, and with his pride, he would definitely want to give it a try. Since more than half of the troops had arrived, he simply sent the entire division to Xuhuai to fight his lord to the death.

Now the situation is different. Cao Cao led the victorious army in Hebei and came with all his strength to compete with the lord in Xuhuai, but was defeated by the lord who took advantage of his rest and took advantage of the terrain. Although Cao Cao was arrogant, he was a person who could correct his mistakes. He learned his lesson, calmed down, and naturally would not repeat the same mistake in the future.

Especially this year he has made it clear that he will take a year off to recuperate and restore production to support the people. In this way, after he has completely calmed down, if he starts a war again in the future, he will definitely plan the overall situation before taking action. There will be no such thing as raising an army in anger, and he will not make suboptimal decisions.

On the other hand, when Cao Cao destroyed Yuan Shang in the autumn and winter of last year, if he had immediately gone downstream to attack Yuan Tan's Bohai County, there would have been another problem - at that time Yuan Tan had not yet formally surrendered to our army, nor had he formed an alliance with our army.

Even if Cao Cao conquered some of Yuan Tan's land, it was just to expand the results of the battle when he was chasing the remnants of Yuan's family. It could only prove that "Cao Cao had absolute strength to suppress the remnants of Yuan's family", but it could not prove that "Cao Cao was able to win the battle between Cao and Liu."

At that time, he urgently needed to prove that he could not only defeat the Yuan family, but also defeat his lord, stop the decline, and prevent the people of Xu Du from losing their morale. Therefore, this battle had to be carried out by attacking the territory directly under the lord's jurisdiction.

But the future will be different. When Cao's army and our army go to war again, Yuan Qingzhou will be a formal vassal of the lord, or even a subject of the lord. At that time, attacking Yuan Tan will be the same as attacking the lord.

If the lord fails to protect Yuan Tan and sits by and watches Yuan Tan completely lose all the territory in a certain state, it will be a major incident that will make the lord lose face, and may also affect the confidence and position of other princes who have been won over by the lord's alliance.

Therefore, Cao Cao will certainly be able to force the Lord to fight in the Jizhou battlefield. He is sure that if the Lord wants to be the leader of the alliance, he must bear the heavy responsibility and take on the responsibility of protecting the vassal. "

Zhuge Jin explained this principle in such detail and thoroughness that Liu Bei suddenly understood it, and the details that were originally confusing in his mind also became clear.

It turns out that Cao Cao could not establish his authority by attacking Bohai County last year, but he could do so in the future. There are such deep political considerations behind this.

And since he has become the leader of the alliance to fight against the rebellion, he will also bear such heavy political responsibilities.

In fact, I underestimated the responsibility behind this leader at the beginning.

It is true that if you wear the crown, you must bear its weight.

It is good to be the boss, because you can let your younger brothers give you blood transfusions, send troops to join forces with you, and obey your orders.

But when you become the boss, you will also have heavier responsibilities. You have to protect your subordinates when something happens to them. If you cannot do so, spanking your subordinates is equivalent to slapping you in the face. Who in the world will obey you then?

Therefore, subsequent strategic deployments must take this factor into consideration, and then make an overall plan to see how to adjust the deployment of the military and talents.

The original deployment was made for the "era before becoming the leader" and may not be suitable for the new situation after becoming the leader, so it must be thoroughly reorganized.

(End of this chapter)