My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 484: Chivalrous Liu Xuande

Because Baxi could fall into the hands of Cao's army at any time, this was the last straw that broke Liu Zhang's psychological threshold, and he finally decided to send Zhang Song to seek Liu Bei for help.

Zhang Song was also afraid that the night would be too long and he prepared to set off overnight after receiving the order, in case his lord went back on his word.

On the other hand, Zhang Song also became more cautious. He knew that if he left too hastily, it would easily give people an excuse to criticize him.

Even if the lord does not have time to chase him back, if Wang Lei speaks ill of him while he is away, over time, three people can make a tiger out of nothing, and the accumulated slander will destroy him.

When I come back, the lord's trust in me may be greatly reduced. Later, when Liu Bei's reinforcements enter the practical stage, there may be unexpected friction, which should be avoided as much as possible.

Therefore, before leaving, Zhang Song did not forget to find his good friend Fa Zheng and told him something in private. The gist of it was, "When I leave, if Wang Lei comes back and says something bad about me, or spreads rumors to sow discord in front of the lord, please help me to clear it up, brother Xiaozhi."

Fa Zheng had been gradually won over by Zhang Song over the past year or so. After hearing Zhang Song's stories about Liu Bei's great talent and his trust in his subordinates, Fa Zheng was inclined to find another wise leader to come to Sichuan and clean up the mess in Shu.

So he naturally agreed to Zhang Song's request: "Zi Qiao, don't worry. I'm in Chengdu and won't let Wang Lei do anything wrong."

Zhang Song was relieved then. The next morning, he left the city and took a boat, sailing downstream along the Minjiang River, passing Nan'an, crossing Baidao, turning into the Yangtze River, and heading all the way to Jingzhou.

Because we are going downstream with the water flowing very fast, it would take about three or four days to reach Baidao, seven or eight days to reach Jiangzhou, and ten days to reach Yidao.

When passing through Jiangzhou, Zhang Song also delivered a secret order from Liu Zhang to Yan Yan, the garrison commander of Jiangzhou. The content of the secret order was naturally to hope that Yan Yan would cooperate well with Liu Bei's reinforcements when they entered Sichuan in the future to avoid friction with friendly forces.

When Yan Yan first met Zhang Song, he was a little suspicious, thinking that Zhang Song wanted to bring a wolf into the house. After seeing Liu Zhang's handwritten order, he had to believe it.

But Yan Yan, out of military caution, could not help but ask for some details: "Zhang Biejia, you advise the lord to do this, aren't you afraid that it is too reckless? Jiangzhou is an important town, controlling the throat where three rivers merge into the Yangtze River. How can you allow Liu Bei to build another city in the north of the river to station troops?

The West Han River (Jialing River) may seem turbulent, but these rivers flowing from mountainous areas have a disadvantage - in the winter when the water level is low, the water level will be very low, and the rocks at the bottom of the river will be exposed. If Liu Bei's army takes advantage of the low water level in winter and directly crosses the river to attack, how can we resist? "

Readers who have never been to Sichuan and Chongqing may not understand what Yan Yan said.

But anyone who has lived in Chongqing should be familiar with this - in winter, the Jialing River in Chongqing is several times narrower than in summer. The rocky beaches on both sides are several hundred meters wide, and the water in the middle is only a hundred meters wide.

At this time, if someone wanted to cross the river quickly, it would be much easier. If someone tried to sneak across in the dark at night, it would be even harder to prevent.

The Jiangzhou city where Yan Yan was stationed was located south of the Jialing River and north of the Yangtze River, which was equivalent to the Yuzhong District of Chongqing in later generations. It extended all the way to the sharp corner where the Jialing River and the Yangtze River converged, which was the Chaotianmen Wharf in later generations.

The location where Zhang Song suggested to Liu Zhang that he allow Liu Bei to build a new city was equivalent to part of Yubei District and Jiangbei District in the north of the Jialing River in later generations.

In order to ensure the military security of Liu Zhang's camp, Liu Bei's army would not be allowed to enter the south of the Yangtze River or the south of the Jialing River, and could only operate on the common northern bank of the two rivers.

This layout is similar to the previous arrangement of Liu Bei and Liu Biao's camp in Jiangxia.

When Liu Bei was in Jiangxia County, he destroyed Huang Zu and only occupied the southern and northern parts of Jiangxia. He left the "Hanyang" area in the three towns of Wuhan and the southern and northern parts of Jiangxia to Liu Qi to build a new city, facing Liu Bei's army across the river.

Now in Jiangzhou, Zhang Song intends to learn from Jiangxia's Wuchang-Hanyang model and build two cities facing each other across the Yangtze River at the fork in the river, with each side occupying one side.

This is equivalent to the city of Wuhan in later generations, which is now divided equally between Liu Bei and Liu Biao across the river. The city of Chongqing in later generations will soon be divided equally between Liu Bei and Liu Zhang across the river.

Zhang Song thought this was reasonable, so he tactfully advised Yan Yan: "General Yan, you think the West Han River is shallow in winter and easy to wade through, but I don't think this is a big deal. In terms of naval superiority, can our Bashu navy compare to Lord Xuande's navy?

Duke Xuande's territory spans Jingyang and the East China Sea. It is said that they can even cross the sea to destroy Gongsun Du. Whether the Yangtze River and the West Han River are wider or narrower, it makes no difference to them. On the contrary, wider and deeper ones are more conducive to the movement of their warships.

Now is the time of crisis, Cao's army has come, we can only trust Lord Xuande to rescue the lord. Regardless of whether Lord Xuande has selfish motives or not, he is much better than Cao Cao! He has occupied the world's righteous name for more than ten years, how could he destroy his reputation for such a small profit! "

Yan Yan was left speechless by Zhang Song's eloquent rebuttal. Besides, Liu Zhang's secret order was indeed true, so he could only make preparations and cooperate with Liu Bei in advance.

Zhang Song also took the initiative to advise him to let Yan Yan's army cut down more trees, mine stones, dig rammed earth, build kilns and burn bricks in the local area in the near future.

In this way, when Liu Bei's army arrives, they can use money to purchase building materials and build a city directly in the north of the river. Maybe they can also strengthen the fortifications of Dianjiang County in the north, so as to ensure that they can resist Cao's army in Dianjiang.

Yan Yan's army was not working in vain. Everyone in the world knew that Liu Bei's camp was very wealthy in terms of wealth, and they would definitely pay for doing things. Yan Yan's army could also earn some extra money to subsidize military supplies and reward the soldiers.

Yan Yan thought about it and felt that it made sense. He had been stationed in Ba County for two years, and his lord had not provided him with sufficient money and food. The morale of the troops was low and they really needed some encouragement.

Moreover, the soldiers in Shu were quite lax because they had not seen battle for a long time. It was time to find some work for them and to rectify the military discipline. So, they should help Liu Bei cut wood, dig soil and make bricks.

……

After instructing the troops in Jiangzhou to prepare for cooperation, Zhang Song continued to move eastward along the river and soon arrived in Jingzhou.

Fa Zheng, who stayed behind, also thwarted Wang Lei's two attempts to obstruct and persuade Liu Zhang during this period.

After learning that Liu Zhang had sent Zhang Song, Wang Lei wanted to work on the details so that even if Liu Zhang allowed Liu Bei to enter Sichuan, he would not give up too many benefits.

His main argument is nothing more than "If Liu Bei wants to enter Sichuan, the most difficult thing is Wu County and Yufu County, which are the throats of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River. If these places are given to Liu Bei and our army retreats to Jiangzhou, the natural barrier into Sichuan will be lost, and it will be difficult to stop Liu Bei if he wants to turn against us in the future."

But Fa Zheng also used Zhang Song's words to counter Zhang Song's moves and calm Liu Zhang's worries. He simply used the examples of Wuchang and Hanyang in Jingzhou as evidence to make Liu Zhang fully trust Yan Yan's ability to control the situation.

Liu Zhang also felt that this problem could not be solved at the same time - since he was counting on Brother Xuande to save him, how could he not give up the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River? If he didn't, Brother Xuande's reinforcements would not be able to come in at all.

This is the price that must be paid. There is no reason for Wang Lei to be unreasonable.

In the end, Wang Lei's persuasion was ineffective.

However, Liu Bei's reputation in this life is better than that in the same period in history, and Liu Bei has been rescuing and supporting other anti-Cao princes so far, and has become the leader of the anti-Cao camp. Therefore, even if Wang Lei is afraid of Liu Bei, he has no real evidence and no convincing reason.

He did not go to the extent of hanging himself on the gate of Chengdu to protest as originally planned in history, and he gave up when he could not persuade others.

Huang Quan gave up even earlier than Wang Lei. When he heard that Zhang Song had been sent out, Huang Quan sighed and said nothing more. The story of "biting Liu Zhang's clothes and losing several front teeth" did not happen.

Time flies and it is the end of July this year.

On July 28th, Zhang Song's fleet finally broke out of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River. At a speed of a thousand miles a day, they set out from Baidi in the morning and arrived at Yidao in the evening.

Watching the continuous mountains on both sides finally disappear and be replaced by the flat fields in front of him, the flow of the river also became slower, and Zhang Song's mood was finally no longer nervous.

He knew that his mission on this trip would be accomplished.

Zhang Song asked someone to bring the map, checked it one last time, and silently calculated in his mind: "After passing Yidao, it is Jiangling for another 200 miles downstream. However, Jiangling is in the hands of Liu Biao, so I have to go to the south bank and walk another 80 miles to Chanling and Gong'an. Then go downstream to Baqiu, I should be able to meet General Zhang Yide, and he will lead me to visit Lord Xuande later..."

Zhang Song estimated that he should be able to meet Lord Xuande in three or four days at most.

However, just as he was distracted and planning his itinerary, a row of warships suddenly appeared on the Yangtze River in front of him, with neatly arranged flags, tall and majestic hulls, and a mighty military might.

The lookout noticed something unusual and immediately called out to Zhang Song on the deck: "My dear, there are the Jingzhou navy ahead!"

Zhang Song was stunned and quickly asked the lookout to confirm the flag. When he learned that it was Liu Bei's army and not Liu Biao's army, he was relieved.

"It seems that Lord Xuande had already anticipated that I could persuade my lord to ask for help. Mr. Kongming and Mr. Shiyuan who are by Lord Xuande's side are really good at predicting things." Zhang Song thought to himself.

After a while, the two fleets met on the river. The warships of Liu Bei's navy were much larger than Zhang Song's ships.

When the flagship of Liu Bei's navy came close, Zhang Song had to look up, but he still could not see the deck of the ship, only the side.

Soon, a middle-aged man with long arms and big ears and elegant clothes appeared from the side of the flagship. He bowed politely to Zhang Song with a smile on his face, "Zhang Biejia, how are you? I have been waiting for you for many days since I came to Yidao."

Zhang Song looked carefully and saw that it was Liu Bei who came to greet him personally. He was flattered and bowed to him on the deck: "How dare a humble man like me be greeted by a general in person!"

A rope ladder was quickly lowered from Liu Bei's boat, and several capable sailors came over and helped Zhang Song climb the ladder and board the ship.

Zhang Song stood still on the deck of the big ship, and then he bowed solemnly: "Cao thieves have annexed Hanzhong and are planning to take Langzhong. Baxi is in danger. My main force cannot defeat them, so I can only rely on Zong Bo and Shen Da Yi to spread justice to the world!"

Liu Bei took Zhang Song's hand and patted it gently a few times: "Ji Yu is my brother, and we are both relatives of the Han Dynasty and are both governors. We share the same hatred and the same enemy. How can I not save him!"

(End of this chapter)