My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 437: Zhuge's plan to deal with suspicious enemies

Zhao Yun rode alone to intimidate Tian Chou, forcing him to give up his wait-and-see attitude and try to cooperate tentatively with the government first.

The value of this move, of course, was not only to obtain Tian Chou, but also to use Tian Chou as a benchmark to strike a blow to many powerful fortresses in the three counties of Liaoxi, Youbeiping and Yuyang.

In this chaotic world, with the successive changes of princes in the northern border for more than ten years, starting from the killing of Liu Yu, the border defense of the area along the Yanshan Mountains, which stretches for more than 600 miles where the Han and the Hu people live together, has gradually collapsed.

Those who can survive in the local area are all ruthless people who have survived the great waves. They all have to form fortresses and organize their own self-defense forces. Any free people who have no military power would have been swallowed up by the waves of looting.

Tian Chou controlled the three northern counties of Youbeiping, but he was only the strongest and most prominent force among them.

The other Yanshan mountainous areas in the north of Yuyang and the Yanshan mountainous areas in the north of Liaoxi County also had powerful people with similar positions to Tian Chou. They divided the land and defended it themselves, and did not pay taxes and grain to the prefecture and county government. They used the proceeds from their own taxes and grain collection to raise private soldiers for self-protection.

Tian Chou temporarily surrendered to Zhao Yun, and those powerful people who were not as strong as Tian Chou would of course be afraid and had to follow suit and test the waters temporarily.

In this way, Zhao Yun's path to unifying the military defense of the entire Youzhou region has taken a big step forward.

Throughout May and June, the powerful people in northern Yanbian used their connections to communicate with the Hu tribes who had maintained peace with them.

They were advised to send caravans and more cattle and sheep to Yuyang County, the county seat of Yuyang Commandery, to participate in the border market and see what preferential trade conditions the new Youzhou government could offer for long-term stability.

If the government officials who come this time are really helpful and sincere, it would be nice to live a stable life for a long time.

If the county and state government were playing tricks on them, it wouldn't be too late to turn against them after the autumn harvest. Anyway, they wouldn't lose much by doing a one-time deal to test the waters.

……

Zhao Yun patrolled the border with force, achieved his goal, and returned safely to Ji County.

Just leading a patrol of a hundred cavalrymen made the mountain people of the three counties dare not act rashly. Such a heroic feat will probably be passed down as a good story in the future.

Mi Zhu had also been waiting in Ji County for a long time. As soon as Zhao Yun came back, he arranged for Zhao Yun to be welcomed and refreshed. The two naturally talked about their respective duties and recent developments.

This situation where one civil official and one military official shared the highest administrative power in a state was still very new in the Han Dynasty. Thanks to the two of them being very familiar with each other and having a good personal relationship, there was no conflict between the civil official and the military official, and they were able to cooperate sincerely.

Mi Zhu first asked Zhao Yun about his border patrols, and Zhao Yun answered them one by one. Then he asked in return: "The leaders of those powerful fortresses are willing to send people to the border market in Yuyang County in late June or early July.

How are you preparing? Have you transferred enough goods from the south recently? There must be no shortage in Yuyang. I don't know why they have to set up the market in Yuyang."

Mi Zhu immediately explained to Zhao Yun: "Zilong, don't worry about the business trip. I'm here so nothing can go wrong. And the choice of Yuyang as the trading place was also discussed with Ziyu before I came here.

Yuyang County is located along a tributary of the northernmost side of the Weishui River. It goes deep into the Yanshan Mountains and upstream, where the mountains are steep and the river is turbulent, making it impossible for ships to sail. Therefore, the river-sea dual-purpose sand ships from the Yishui River and Weishui River can only sail as far as the Yuyang Wharf.

We set up the market there, so that goods arriving by sea can be unloaded directly to Yuyang County without changing ships. As long as the Hu people do not bring too many soldiers and come over the Yanshan ridge north of Yuyang County and cross the Great Wall pass to trade, it will not be inconvenient for both sides. "

The Wei River mentioned by Mi Zhu is the Haihe River in later generations. A branch of its northern tributary, the Yongding River, can allow large sand ships to navigate all the way to the city of Yuyang.

Yuyang County is equivalent to Miyun in Beijing in later generations. Friends who are familiar with Beijing know that there is a reservoir in Miyun, a remote suburb in the northeast of Beijing in later generations. The reason why the reservoir can be built is that the Yanshan Mountains will become steeper and steeper as you go upstream, and the drop is enough to block the water flow for power generation.

Therefore, in ancient times when there were no reservoirs, the river section near the reservoir area had a large drop in height, so boats could not pass through. It was most convenient to set up the border market dozens of miles downstream of the reservoir in later times, just where boats could directly reach.

A little further north from Miyun is the Han Great Wall that stretches over the main ridge of Yanshan Mountain. This place can be heavily guarded in the future. Only the merchants of the Hu people are allowed to enter the pass, and the army is not allowed to enter the pass, so there is no need to worry about the Hu merchants making trouble.

In the future, when peace is restored in the world, an inner Great Wall can be built around Yuyang County and connected to the city wall of Yuyang County. The area reserved between the inner and outer Great Walls can be used for free trade between the Hu and Han peoples.

But that's all a story for the future. Right now the world is still at war, the Han people are full of martial virtues and are not afraid of the Hu people. Moreover, they don't have that much money and food to waste on such things for the time being.

Zhao Yun did not argue with Mi Zhu about the issue of the market, but only asked about Mi Zhu's stockpile.

Mi Zhu also told the truth: "By the end of June, there will definitely be no shortage. What Ziyu asked us to prepare will definitely be transported to Yuyang. But I don't have that much transportation capacity to do this now.

Things have their priorities. Ziyu also explained that after arriving in Youzhou, the first priority is to secretly trade with the local tyrants in Jizhou, which is controlled by Cao's army, along the Yishui River, and buy more food for storage. As for transporting food from Yuan Tan in Qingzhou and preparing goods with the Hu people, they can be put off until later.

The latter two things can be done at any time, but the trade with the powerful forces in Jizhou and Hejian controlled by Cao Cao will be done less and less every day. Once Cao Cao finds out something is wrong and strictly prohibits it, this thing can no longer be done. "

Zhao Yun thought about it and it was right. The former was time-sensitive. If you missed it, you would never get it again. Although the latter was also important, it could be done at any time, so the former naturally came first.

He didn't know much about these civil affairs and logistics, so he just asked casually. Since Mi Zhu was sure, he wouldn't interfere. He just asked a few more questions out of curiosity: "What about the private grain trade with the Hejian tyrants? How much military rations did you buy? Is the price expensive?"

When asked about the price, Mi Zhu couldn't help but smile bitterly: "Of course it's expensive, there are people who will get themselves killed, but no one will do business that will lose money.

This kind of trade is risky. Those who are caught will have to pay a price. Who would sell it to us if it is not more expensive?

On Yuan Tan's side, Ziyu helped us negotiate a low-priced grain price of only 200 coins per stone. In a normal year, grain would only cost more than 400 coins per stone. But when I asked the local tyrants in Hejian to buy grain, I offered a full 2,000 coins per stone! This is already five times the price in a normal year."

Zhao Yun had not had time to care about this matter before, so he was shocked when he heard this: "Two thousand coins? This is the price of hoarding and robbing during a famine! Although Youzhou is short of food, it shouldn't be exploited like this, right? Is the food shortage really that serious? How much have you bought now?"

Mi Zhu saw that Zhao Yun's reaction was even more exaggerated than his, and the resentment in his heart was swept away. Instead, he smiled and comforted Zhao Yun:
"Don't worry, I don't feel bad about spending money, and you are responsible for the food, so why would you do that! I am willing to pay such a high price, of course, there is a reason - this is also part of Ziyu's plan to deceive Cao thief.

If we offer such a high price, and the trade is finally exposed after more than a month, what will Cao think if the news reaches Cao? Cao will definitely overestimate the extent of our long-term food shortage in Youzhou and think that Youzhou will not be able to hold on for a long time after losing the support of Jizhou.

At the same time, he would also think that we have bought a large amount of inventory at a high price, so there should be no shortage of food in the short term. He would not be in a hurry to take the initiative to start a war when we are fully prepared.

In this case, the easiest choice for him is to think, "Even if Youzhou currently relies on a short-term one-time transaction to store a batch of grain, it can firmly defend it, but if it takes a year or two, the border will be strictly guarded and private merchants selling grain will be thoroughly investigated, which will inevitably make Youzhou poorer and poorer. Even if Liu Xuande supports Youzhou by shipping grain from Qingxu in the south, the shipping cost will inevitably be huge, which will drag down Liu Xuande's national strength."

As long as Cao Cao is deceived into thinking this, he will not rush to attack Youzhou. He will continue to recuperate, restore the people and military strength under his rule, and take his time, hoping to waste time bleeding Youzhou, and then attack when he is fully prepared. "

Zhao Yun didn't understand what he said at first. It took him a while to figure out what Mi Zhu meant by "creating the wrong impression among Cao Cao that Youzhou will not be short of food in the short term, but will be very short of food in the long run".

Needless to say, with Mi Zhu's brain, he certainly couldn't think of such a complicated thinking routine, so this was obviously one of the tricks Zhuge Jin told him to do before leaving.

Zhao Yun certainly had no doubt about the intelligence of Zhuge's family, but he still felt that the reliability of this plan was a bit doubtful, mainly because it had too many twists and turns.

He couldn't help but ask back: "The psychological calculations behind this plan are so complicated, wouldn't it be like throwing a wink to a blind man? Aren't you afraid that the enemy won't understand?"

Mi Zhu: "I also thought it was a bit too convoluted at first, but Ziyu said that the opponent was Cao Cao, so he was confident, and before he left Hefei, he mentioned it to Kongming, and Kongming also thought it was feasible. The key is that even if it fails, we won't lose much, it's nothing more than buying some expensive grain. It's a waste not to try a plan that can be used by spending a little more money, and Ziyu is not short of money. So far, I have only bought 20,000 to 30,000 dan of expensive grain, which cost tens of millions of dollars. If the plan can be used, in exchange for a little more peace after we take over Youzhou, these tens of millions are just a small amount of money."

Zhao Yun thought about it and it made sense. If the war broke out again, the expenses would be in the tens of billions to hundreds of billions of money, two orders of magnitude higher than tens of millions.

Although this strategy involves a lot of psychological calculations, the opponent is Cao Cao, who is suspicious. Perhaps this strategy is specifically designed to defeat a suspicious enemy.

What's more, even Zhuge Liang agreed to this plan, which made it foolproof. In fact, not only did Zhuge Liang agree to this plan, but Zhuge Liang also personally discussed and optimized it with his elder brother.

It’s just that Zhuge Liang was humble. This idea was first thought of by his eldest brother. He was responsible for the subsequent detailed adjustments and ensuring strictness, so there was no need to publicize it deliberately.

Zhuge Liang felt that he had received a lot of training and teachings from his elder brother when he was young, which led to his current status. How could he steal the limelight from his own elder brother?
This is equivalent to the big brother being named the first author or the corresponding author. Zhuge Liang would absolutely not bother to ask for the second or third author, as he doesn't care about this little bit of reputation.

Just when Zhao Yun thought that all this was quite reasonable, Mi Zhu pulled out another trump card, which made him a little more surprised: "Now you think this deal is quite worthwhile, right? And this is not over yet."

Zhao Yun raised his eyebrows: "Could it be that Ziyu has given us some other tricks?"

Mi Zhu smiled complacently, took out a slightly scribbled map and a list from his sleeve, and pushed them in front of Zhao Yun: "This is what I found out about the grain storage in various forts and towns in Hejian through private trade with those Hejian tyrants.

I can't get a handle on the Cao army's rations, but I have a pretty good idea of the civilian tyrants' situation. After Cao Cao notices and strictly prohibits private trade, if Zilong is confident, he can wait until the patrolling Cao army arrives, take advantage of the opportunity to cross the Yishui River and rob them, so that Ziyu can successfully complete the task assigned to you.

Moreover, this move can make Cao Cao more convinced that Youzhou has been short of food for a long time, but no longer short of food in the short term. This will further strengthen his determination to hold off and consume the enemy, and bring Youzhou a year or two of peace.

From this perspective, I paid 2,000 coins to buy high-priced grain, which was not such a loss. If I hadn't lured them with a high price, how could they have stockpiled so much grain in the weak spot at the front of Yishui River that was easy to break through and waited to sell it to me?
When Cao Cao found out, this was the last bargain. I wanted the food but didn't want to pay, so I just robbed him for a big sum."

Zhao Yun couldn't help but laugh: "I've heard that your Mi family has been doing business for decades and has been passed down for generations. You value your reputation. Aren't you afraid that this one-time deal will ruin your reputation?"

Mi Zhu: "It is because we can no longer trade with people under Cao's rule, so we can take advantage of them completely. Besides, we don't really want to rob the powerful people in the enemy's territory. It was Cao Cao who issued the ban on trade first. We can't buy them even if we spend money, so we have to rob them. We have to blame Cao.

Ziyu often taught me why when Ying Zheng conquered Qi, he suddenly became even more shameless than before. He promised King Jian of Qi a safe life, but then he starved him to death in the cypress forest. It was because Ying Zheng saw that conquering Qi was the last battle, and he no longer needed to be shameless.

Propriety, righteousness, integrity and shame are all based on what Tzuyu calls "repeated games". When it comes to the final deal, everything loses its conscience. Alas."

Mi Zhu's last few words were pure emotion. At least this time, he was able to save face after Zhao Yun had robbed him.

Seeing that the information was so comprehensive, Zhao Yun no longer hesitated.

……

Over the next ten days, Zhao Yun and Mi Zhu sorted out Youzhou's military, political and internal affairs step by step in Ji County and Guangyang County.

The trade of buying grain between the front-line Zhuo County and Hejian County controlled by Cao's army through the smuggling route on the Yishui River also continued.

After all, the Youji border is too far away from Cao Cao's core territory. Any small problems will not spread to Yecheng so quickly, let alone Xudu.

Therefore, it was not until the beginning of June that Cao Cao realized that there was a large amount of private grain trade between the enemy forces along the Yishui River and Youzhou in Hejian County, Jizhou. Cao Cao was able to learn about it so quickly thanks to Mi Zhu's high price of two thousand coins per stone.

Many wealthy families under Cao Cao's rule in Jizhou were tempted, and some even transported grain from other counties further south than Hejian to the frontier of Hejian to sell. The more people involved in an event, the harder it is to keep it secret, and the faster it will leak out.

When Cao Cao learned about this, he was of course furious. He summoned important officials such as Xun Yu and had a rage at the Sikong Mansion in Xudu:

"I am mindful of the sincerity of Lü Kuang, Jiao Chu and others in surrendering. I should treat the surrendered generals and officials of Hebei well and impose less discipline on them. However, they are so lazy! I want to take this opportunity to punish them. What do you think?

Moreover, how did Lü Kuang guard the border? He even replaced the border commander of Youzhou with Zhao Yun without informing the court! Did Yuan Tan completely surrender to Liu Bei? Why didn't the court's scouts and spies report back yet? "

It turned out that three months had passed since Liu Bei's meeting with Yuan Tan and Liu Qi. However, Cao Cao only knew that Liu Bei had worshipped King Xiao of Liang and had representatives of other princes attend the meeting, but he did not know the specific content of the alliance between Liu Bei and those princes, nor how high Liu Bei's status was now.

This is also because Liu Bei's camp was not in a hurry to publicize the results of its negotiations. They only announced the event but did not publicize the "content of the treaty". Even Chen Lin's new manifesto was not released publicly.

According to the communication conditions of the Han Dynasty, it is not surprising that during the truce and recuperation period, one side wanted to conceal its internal alliance documents, and the enemy did not find out the specific content for three months.

It was only a month after Zhao Yun and Mi Zhu arrived in Youzhou and began to take charge of the affairs. Cao Cao learned about this explicit intelligence more than a month later, which was not too late, although Lü Kuang must have been a little careless and negligent.

Facing Cao Cao's anger, Xun Yu and others urgently discussed and gave some suggestions: "Your Excellency must not be impatient and angry, so as to avoid unexpected events. It has been more than half a year since the generals of Hebei surrendered, and the people's hearts have not yet been completely settled. You must not severely punish Lu Kuang.

At most, Zhang He could be transferred to replace Lü Kuang, in charge of the defense of several counties in Hejian, and confront Zhao Yun along the Yishui River. Zhang He was also a surrendered general, but he surrendered earlier than Lü Kuang. If he was ranked above Lü Kuang, the surrendered generals in Hebei would not panic.

Moreover, although Zhang He had suffered repeated defeats before and was unlikely to be promoted, he is still more loyal and steadfast to you, so it is appropriate to change his defense at this time.

In addition, the most urgent task at the moment is to find out the specific details of the alliance between Liu Bei and Yuan Tan and others as soon as possible, and what conditions they have reached. This is much more important than punishing those who have failed in their duties and surrendered. "

After listening to Xun Yu's advice, Cao Cao calmed down a little and ordered Zhang He to go north urgently to eliminate illegal trade along the Yishui River and crack down on the activities of Liu Bei's army who infiltrated and bought grain.

On the other hand, he also exerted strong pressure on the spies and the review departments to speed up intelligence investigation and to dig out the details of the alliance between Liu Bei, Yuan Tan and Liu Qi at all costs.

More than ten days passed quickly.

The two things Cao Cao assigned also had results.

Unfortunately, the latest news from both sides is bad.

After Zhang He arrived in Hejian, he strictly investigated the private illegal trade on the Yishui border.

However, before Zhang He arrived, Zhao Yun seized the opportunity and led his cavalry to launch a surprise attack and rob several Hejian County forts that had stored large amounts of grain and fodder for sale according to the map and intelligence provided by Mi Zhu. This caused huge losses to the Hejian local tyrants who had originally planned to sell the grain at a high price, and they lost a lot of money.

The Cao army officers who were sent to Pei County to investigate, at the cost of the lives of several capable officers who had been lurking well, also brought back the details of the handover of Yuan Tan's army to Liu Bei.

He also retrieved for Cao Cao the "Version 2.0" of the manifesto in which Chen Lin insulted him.

This article, which had scolded Cao Cao three months ago, had finally come to Cao Cao's desk after many twists and turns, but this time Cao Cao did not have a headache and needed drastic measures.

(End of this chapter)