My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 480: Put the brakes on General Huang and don't draw too much hatred

Zhuge Liang quickly calculated in his mind, and after reviewing the entire chess game between Jing and Yi, he quickly came to a conclusion:
Xiahou Yuan couldn't die yet, as he was still threatening Liu Zhang. He had to let him live until Liu Zhang took the bait, so that he could move forward with the next plan in the direction of Shangyong.

However, this principle is not easy to explain.

After all, this is forcing the two allies to compete with each other. "Whoever can please Liu Bei better and get the protection of Liu Bei's camp will be less likely to be beaten by Cao Cao." If this is said openly, it will hurt the face of the allies.

So Zhuge Liang waved his feather fan lightly and gave Liu Bei a wink.

Liu Bei understood what he meant immediately, and made an excuse that he was drunk and needed to rest to sober up, and sent everyone away - including Zhang Fei.

This is not because Liu Bei does not trust Zhang Fei, but he is worried that Zhang Fei often drinks too much and talks nonsense, which may leak secrets unintentionally. There is no need for Zhang Fei to be involved in such tricks, and he will trouble his third brother when the time comes.

Zhang Fei did not notice it, so he did not stop his elder brother from going back to the back hall to sober up.

Liu Bei pretended to be drunk and took Zhuge Liang to the back hall alone. After asking the maids to make two cups of sobering tea, he waved the maids away and did not allow anyone to approach.

As soon as the maids disappeared, Liu Bei immediately regained his spirits and sincerely asked Zhuge Liang for specific countermeasures.

Zhuge Liang then spoke freely: "My Lord, please send someone across the river as soon as possible to tell Yuan Zhi a few words. I will also write a secret letter to instruct Yuan Zhi on what to do...

In a word, the eldest son and General Huang must be patient and hold their ground, and must not anger Xiahou Yuan to a point where he would lose face at this time.

Otherwise, if Xiahou Yuan got angry and turned his troops to attack Shangyong instead of threatening Sanba, how could Liu Zhang ask for help in the defense? And how could Ziqiao take advantage of him?
This time, I was also at fault, because I underestimated General Huang's fighting ability. I didn't expect that the old general, who had been stationed in Jiangling diligently for so many years, had a rare opportunity to fight, and he actually defeated Shangyong and killed Shen Dan in one day.

If I had known that he was so brave, I wouldn't have been so eager to ask the eldest son to lead the troops to attack Shangyong. It wouldn't have hurt to wait a little longer, and I wouldn't have provoked Xiahou Yuan to the current extent. "

Liu Bei heard this, but he did not blame her at all, but was rather proud:
"Why do you say that, sir! How can it be wrong to underestimate the enemy? As for the fact that the fighting power of the friendly army's generals is beyond imagination, so that they advance faster than expected and occupy more counties, this is a good thing!
Even if a divine divination master descended to the earth, it is impossible to predict everything. You two brothers, you have been able to predict things to this point, which is unparalleled in ancient and modern times. Don't worry, I will reply to Yuanzhi right away. "

Zhuge Liang was not vague either. After receiving the order, he immediately asked someone to grind ink. On Liu Bei's desk, he casually drafted a secret letter to Xu Shu, without any changes, and finished it in one go.

Let Xu Shu negotiate with Liu Qi and Huang Zhong in this way. In order to prevent accidents, please ask Xu Shu to go to Shangyong Army in person to prevent Liu Qi from being impulsive or behaving inappropriately and making mistakes when executing tactics.

After Zhuge Liang finished writing, Liu Bei also read it, nodding his head repeatedly as he read, praising it as wonderful. After finishing reading, he sealed it and gave it to a trusted messenger to send it away immediately.

……

Without further ado, after Xu Shu received the letter, he rode non-stop at full speed, following the messenger and guards sent by Liu Qi, and rushed back to the Shangyong front line in a few days.

During the time when Xu Shu was traveling back and forth, the battle situation on the Shangyong front made some progress - Liu Qi had previously reported the victory to the rear when he had just captured Shangyong City.

So when Xu Shu was returning, he ran into the second group of envoys reporting victory on the road. This time, the envoys brought the good news that Huang Zhong and Su Fei had broken through the West City and forced Shen Yi to retreat.

After hearing this, Xu Shu was both happy and surprised. Fortunately, he knew how to adapt to circumstances and knew that the grand strategy of his lord and Kong Ming would not be shaken by these small changes on the front line. So he still insisted on his original opinion and rushed all the way to Xicheng to meet Liu Qi.

When Liu Qi heard that Xu Shu was coming, he was of course very solemn and went out of the city to greet him personally.

As soon as he saw Xu Shu, Liu Qi took his arm and said, "Yuanzhi has come from afar and worked hard. Uncle actually sent you to the front line. I guess it is to give us some advice on tactics and to find out what is missing. This shows how much Uncle values my war in Shangyong. I will definitely not disappoint Uncle Xuande."

Seeing how enthusiastic Liu Qi was, Xu Shu couldn't help but smile bitterly - there was no other way, his mission on this trip was to pour some cold water on Liu Qi and cool him down temporarily.

However, some things are hard to say and cannot be said openly in front of the generals. Xu Shu had to evade the question first, hoping that Liu Qi would send him back to the county government office and then discuss the matter in detail behind closed doors.

Fortunately, Liu Qi was going to host a banquet for Xu Shu, and soon took him back to the palace. Xu Shu waited until there were no outsiders around, and then he told Liu Qi everything: "Young Master, you know how to appoint people to the right positions. General Huang is so brave and aggressive, which is really admirable! To be honest, my lord, the General of Chariots and Cavalry, did not expect that General Huang had not made any achievements for many years, and would be so brave when he suddenly got the opportunity to attack. It is really a cause for celebration!"

Liu Qi was praised by people in Liu Bei's camp, and for a moment he felt a little flattered, and quickly put on a humble attitude:
"Hey, Yuanzhi, you are too kind. I just know that I don't have the talent to lead troops, so I let them dispatch them on their own. What's there to praise about this?
General Huang is indeed brave, but after a few days, I have figured out the reason. The battle went so smoothly because, firstly, the soldiers of Shangyong had not experienced a battle for a long time and did not know the fierceness of the disputes among the princes. Secondly, General Huang was not well-known before, so the enemy underestimated him when they suddenly started fighting.

If the generals under Uncle Xuande were to lead the troops, even if they were far more valiant than General Huang, they were all well-known, so how could Shen Dan dare to fight? As long as Shen Dan did not fight, he could still hold out for ten days or half a month. We are just talking about the facts, not bragging. "

Liu Qi's words were half humble and business flattery, and half he really felt that way.

Seeing that he was self-aware, Xu Shu thought that the following conversation should be easy, so he began to persuade him tactfully:
"Your Excellency is so modest and magnanimous, which is a blessing for Jingzhou. There are some things that I don't know whether I should say or not. My Lord and Mr. Kong Ming both think that your army is making such rapid progress, which is certainly a good thing, but it is easy to break if you are too strong, and it is easy to retreat if you advance too lightly.

The brothers Shen Dan and Shen Yi are just chickens and dogs. General Huang and Governor Su can easily defeat them, but that doesn't mean they can defeat Xiahou Yuan. Xiahou Yuan is also a famous general in the world. Moreover, Cao Cao has half of the world, with well-trained soldiers and sufficient food. Once Xiahou Yuan is completely enraged, resulting in a fight between Cao's army and your army, how will the eldest son end up?

Even if General Huang could defeat Xiahou Yuan, if Cao Cao got angry and led a large army from Xu and Luo over Tongbai Mountain and attacked Wancheng, Xinye and Fancheng, what would the eldest son do? What would your father do? No matter how brave General Huang was, two fists could not defeat four hands, and one person could not fight two enemies. Who would Wancheng's defense line rely on at that time?

Therefore, for now, my Lord and Mr. Kong Ming both think that the eldest son should stop while he is ahead, keep a low profile, save face for Xiahou Yuan, and not make the war worse. "

Liu Qi was not a very courageous person to begin with. After hearing Xu Shu's analysis, he immediately became nervous and felt that it made a lot of sense.

"Alas! If it weren't for the farsightedness of Mr. and Kong Ming, Qi would have almost made a mistake! Indeed, Cao Cao is powerful, we should stop while we are ahead and not offend him to death... Uh, Uncle Xuande will not blame me for being cowardly, right?"

As Liu Qi spoke, he felt a little embarrassed again, realizing that Uncle Xuande probably hoped to see all the clan members and governors in the world fight against Cao. How could he bring the subtext of "wanting to preserve strength" out into the open? How embarrassing!
Fortunately, Xu Shu came here to put the brakes on him today, so of course he would save his face, and immediately tried to smooth things over for Liu Qi:
"Why do you say that, young master! The Jingzhou army is temporarily accumulating strength in order to better fight against Cao thieves in the future. I once heard Mr. Ziyu say a famous saying: Retracting a fist is to make the next punch more powerful. Tension and relaxation are the way of civil and martial arts, and there is nothing wrong with it."

Liu Qi regained his face and felt better. He followed Xu Shu's thoughts and soon thought of another problem at the execution level:

"What you said is true, sir. But even if we want to bide our time and stop while we are ahead, will Xiahou Yuan let us go? If we send someone to explain with humble words and show that we have no intention of fighting him, but only want to punish Shen Dan and Shen Yi and protect ourselves, will Xiahou Yuan be willing to withdraw his troops?
We have switched to defense now and have no plans to attack Hanzhong. Xiahou Yuan is determined to attack us and take back Xicheng and Shangyong, which we have already taken. We can't just go there in vain and give up the territory we have conquered, right? Wouldn't that be in vain? My father won't let me off easily. "

Xu Shu saw that there was a way, and while combining the explanation in Zhuge Liang's secret letter, he came up with an improvisation and analyzed:

"You don't have to do this, my lord. If you keep being humble and submissive, Xiahou Yuan will certainly think you are weak and can be bullied. So the key for us is to be neither humble nor arrogant, showing that we can withstand Xiahou Yuan's offensive militarily. However, we should let him go, stop at the right time, and not counterattack after repelling him.

Then, while we had just repelled Xiahou Yuan's attack, we sent an envoy with some gifts to ask for peace. We persuaded Xiahou Yuan with reason and emotion, and told him: If Xiahou Yuan insisted on taking back Shangyong, then the Jingzhou army would have to allow the army of our lord, the General of Chariots and Cavalry, to enter the country and reinforce the Jingzhou army to fight against Cao.

Xiahou Yuan must be worried that this move will cause the Jingzhou army to completely side with my lord, allowing my lord's army to move freely in northern Jing from then on. At that time, he will have to weigh whether to fight to the death.

At the same time... we can also try to hint to Xiahou Yuan subtly that Liu Jiyu of Yizhou has always been skeptical about cooperating with our lord, Lord Xuande. So if Xiahou Yuan turns around and attacks Liu Jiyu, it will be impossible for Liu Jiyu to get reinforcements from our army soon.

Therefore, there are two options before Xiahou Yuan and Cao Cao:

If we continue to fight Shangyong, we will sooner or later face the joint forces of the Jingzhou Army and my main cavalry general.

If he turned south and attacked Badong Brazil instead, he would only have to fight Liu Jiyu alone.

Cao should have a good idea of what is easy and what is difficult."

After listening to this, Liu Qi finally understood what was going on. He couldn't help but stand up, ran to Xu Shu, and shook Xu Shu's hand a few times:

"Yuan Zhi's words are like a ray of light in the clouds! Suddenly, I know what to do! Alas, there are so many great men under my uncle's command!

Ziyu, Kongming, Shiyuan, Yuanzhi, any one of them has the ability to turn the tide and reverse the situation. If I don't listen to your advice, I will bring about my own failure! I will follow your instructions now!"

(End of this chapter)