My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 505: When Xiahou Yuan was anxious, Zhuge Liang was no longer anxious
As another year's planting season passed, it seemed as if it was the end of February and the beginning of March in the eleventh year of Jian'an.

In the southern states of Jing and Yang, it was already the third year that Linyi rice was planted, but in Yizhou, it was only the first year that these things were planted.

The planting area of new crops has expanded from a few townships in the first year, to several counties in the second year, and to the county level this year.

In Jiangxia and Changsha counties of Jingzhou, Linyi rice was planted in most of the counties. In Wu and Danyang counties of Yangzhou, Linyi rice was planted in the entire plain area around Zhenze (Taihu Lake) - this planning also took into account the demanding nature of Linyi rice in terms of water and fertilizer, and it must be grown on the most fertile and irrigated land in order to grow rapidly and vigorously.

In later generations, there were large lakes like Dongting Lake and Liangzi Lake around Changsha and Wuhan, and the Taihu Plain in Wuhui was also famous for its fertility. Of course, these places were the first choice.

Zhuge Liang himself chose Pi County and Jiangzhou in Shu for pilot projects out of similar considerations. These places either had Dujiangyan or other convenient conditions for irrigation and fertilization.

After the sowing season is over, the busy spring farming season is not over yet. In theory, the busy spring farming season can last until the end of March. After plowing and sowing, there are still some other tasks to do, which can last for more than half a month.

Out of consideration for protecting production, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang would certainly not re-escalate the war in March, and would postpone it until early April at the latest - and their original plan to counterattack Xiahou Yuan was also intended to be postponed until April.

However, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang wanted to consume Xiahou Yuan further, but others might not be willing to sit idly by.

As time entered March of the eleventh year of Jian'an, pressure from three aspects simultaneously weighed on Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang.

……

The first pressure was that the news that Cao Cao framed and dismissed Si Tu Zhao Wen, deposed the three highest officials and appointed another prime minister, and appointed himself as prime minister, finally reached Liu Bei's territory.

Cao Cao did this in early February, and the news spread to all the states under his rule that month. In early March, Xuzhou and Jizhou Bohai County, which were considered "enemy-occupied areas" for Cao Cao, also received the news.

Liu Bei, who was in Shuzhong for the time being, did not know about it yet, but Zhuge Jin and Guan Yu, Liu Bei's right-hand men, found out almost at the same time.

The local officials in Yangzhou had not yet responded, because Cao Cao had blocked the Huai River, not allowing anyone from the north of the Huai River to go down the river, and also banned trade on the Huai River. With the blockade of the river, the message naturally spread slowly.

In contrast, in Xuzhou and Jizhou, the areas controlled by Cao and Liu are directly adjacent to land plains, with at most a few small hills such as Mount Tai and Mount Mangdang blocking the way, making infiltration much easier.

Zhuge Jin was a cautious person who would not act out of loyalty, while Guan Yu hated evil and would rather break than bend.

So as soon as he got the news, Guan Yu wanted to send a Pegasus messenger immediately to Shu to inform his elder brother as soon as possible and ask whether to send troops to show Liu Bei's army's punishment on Cao Cao's rebellion.

Fortunately, in Xuzhou, there were Lu Su, Chen Gong, Zhuge Jun and others to assist Guan Yu.

Chen Gong did not make many achievements, had a low position, and had no say in major issues. Lu Su, on the other hand, had followed Liu Bei for many years, and was highly appreciated by Liu Bei in major strategic decisions, and had made many contributions.

At the critical moment, Lu Su naturally had to step on the brakes a little and reminded Guan Yu: "Before the lord entered Sichuan, he entrusted the Dongxia states to Ziyu and the general. Now that he has heard of the sudden change, he should have discussed it with Ziyu first. Ten days or half a month is not a big deal."

Guan Yu thought it made sense, so he calmed down and immediately sent a fast messenger to Ji County to contact Zhuge Jin. He also led a thousand cavalry guards and headed north from Xiapi.

More than ten days later, after crossing the Yellow River, the two met in Bohai County, Jizhou, on the north bank of the Yellow River.

Guan Yu and Zhuge Jin have not seen each other for a year or two since they were busy with military and civil affairs since they each took charge of several states.

Especially after Zhuge Jin went north to Youzhou, he has spent more than a year and a half and has done so many major things: rectifying the market on the border of Yuyang, sorting out the Wuhuan tribes, killing the chicken to scare the monkey and destroying Su Puyan, destroying Gongsun Du in Liaodong, attacking the Three Han all the way to recover Lelang Daifang, and then capturing Gongsun Huang and exiling him to Jeonra Island and Busan.

Today, only Goguryeo is left in the northeast with some strength. In addition, Gongsun Kang fled with the remnants to his brother-in-law Wei Choutai and took shelter in the Buyeo Kingdom.

Apart from these two that could be considered enemies, the other small barbarian countries in the northeast had basically been lured into the Han border market system by Zhuge Jin using conciliatory tactics over the past year and a half, and gradually softened through trade.

This will be a great help to the Han Dynasty's future infiltration of the Northeast region. Although Zhuge Jin did not accomplish anything great in the military, his actual contribution was definitely not small.

Although Guan Yu was filled with worries and indignation, when he reunited with Zhuge Jin, he couldn't help but reminisce about the past and express his feelings about recent events.

"Ziyu, how are you? You have been spreading the prestige of the Han Dynasty far and wide in the Northern Frontier these past two years. I am so enviable. I am in Xuyang, and I am just on guard against Cao Cao every day. The two armies have more than 100,000 soldiers facing each other, but I have no place to use them. It is really frustrating."

When he saw Zhuge Jin, Guan Yu felt like he had found someone to talk to, and couldn't help but vent a few words.

Of course, Zhuge Jin could also understand Guan Yu: as a famous general of the time, he had always made great achievements before, but only in the last one or two years, the front line he controlled had turned into a stalemate. It was impossible for him to say that he didn't care about this sense of gap at all.

Fortunately, Zhuge Jin was very good at persuading people. He drank with Guan Yu and comforted him: "It is easy for people to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality. Yun has experienced wars for a long time, and it is of course difficult for him to adapt to the sudden cessation of wars. But put yourself in their shoes. When Zilong was in Huainan, how long did he guard the land? Yide was in Jingnan, and he never encountered a strong enemy.

Last winter, Yide finally followed his master into Sichuan, but the credit for the first battle was snatched away by Wenchang. Yide has paid a lot for his recklessness back then, and these years he can only fight Zhang Xian and Shi Xie. Yunchang and Yide have a brotherly relationship, and now he will have the opportunity to make great contributions and become famous. Isn't it a good thing for us to help him achieve his goal?"

Before Guan Yu opened his mouth to ask "How should we fight back against Cao Cao's rebellious act of proclaiming himself Prime Minister", Zhuge Jin had already taken the opportunity to reminisce and chat about the past to lay the groundwork and mostly blocked Guan Yu's words.

Guan Yu was so embarrassed to ask for a fight, and he was also slightly alert in his heart: Ziyu is invincible. When he heard that I asked for a meeting, he must have guessed that I wanted to fight. Now he is using these words to guide us subtly, which must mean that he doesn't want us to start a war with Cao Cao on the eastern front right away.

But these words do make sense, and Yide has wasted all these years and never had the chance to fight against Cao's generals. Now that I'm about to get the chance to fight Xiahou Yuan, can I still ruin my third brother's good fortune for my own greed?

After all, Guan Yu was a man of great loyalty. When he thought of Zhang Fei's wasted years, he softened his heart. Ever since Zhang Fei lost most of the territory of Xuzhou and had his home stolen by Lu Bu, he could no longer stand on his own and deal with top enemies. It is estimated that Zhang Fei himself is almost in trouble, and he is looking forward to this time to avenge his previous shame. After understanding all these social practices, Guan Yu stroked his long beard and sighed: "Zi Yu really knows me, and also knows my eldest brother and third brother. I haven't even asked the question yet, but you have blocked my answer. You are really a god. I admire you.

Since that is the case, I will not beat around the bush. I have another question that I want to ask, Ziyu: If we do not launch an offensive on the eastern front, will it not damage the reputation of the anti-rebellion faction? If we attack both the east and west, will the effect be better?

Is it just to let my third brother make achievements that we slow down our actions in the east? If that is the case, even if I value brotherhood, I really don’t want to sacrifice public interests for personal gain.”

Zhuge Jin couldn't help but laugh when he heard this. He stood up and paced a few steps, patted Guan Yu's arm with the handle of his folding fan, and said comfortingly:
"Why are you so suspicious, Yunchang? I certainly won't persuade you to put private interests above public interests. All of this is for both public and private benefit.

The current situation in the world, Liu Biao and Liu Zhang have not yet submitted to the lord. If we really talk about military strength and population, Cao thieves still have nearly half the number advantage over the lord. If the lord's population and military strength are counted as two, Cao thieves should have three, and the rest of Liu Zhang and Liu Biao together have one.

Even though we have the advantage of military equipment and armor, our disadvantage in food is not that obvious. However, if we want to attack the strong with the weak, we must seize the opportunity when there is a change in the world and cannot attack casually.

Of course, I know what you are going to say. This time, Cao thief proclaimed himself prime minister, and many people in the world are dissatisfied. This can be regarded as a kind of "change in the world", but it is not drastic enough. We can only take the opportunity to weaken Cao thief to a limited extent. We cannot completely reverse the strength in one go.

However, Yunchang can rest assured, there are still many opportunities for changes in the world, and Cao Cao is definitely not a monolithic group. As he becomes more and more domineering and reveals more and more his ambition to replace the Han Dynasty, loyal and righteous people who secretly oppose Cao Cao and are loyal to the Han Dynasty will continue to emerge in waves, whether in Xudu, Yecheng, or Luoyang.

As long as we fully seize the opportunity, if we do it once more, we will be able to completely reverse the strength of the situation. If we do it twice more, it is very likely that we will be able to defeat Cao Cao and force him to retreat. There is no need to rush.

If we launch an attack on Cao's army on the eastern front right now, Cao's army will certainly organize a large number of troops to fight with us, and we may not be able to make a breakthrough quickly. In addition, Cao will not have the spare energy to go to Hanzhong to reinforce Xiahou Yuan.

In contrast, our army's decisive battle with Cao's army in Shuzhong has another major advantage compared to the decisive battle on the eastern front: Cao Cao has no waterway to Hanzhong and Baxi. If he wants to support Xiahou Yuan from Guanzhong and Heluo, he must cross the Qinling Mountains.

Our army can let Liu Zhang supply military rations and use the output of the thousands of miles of fertile land in the Chengdu Plain to fight on the home front. As long as the war is fought in Shuzhong and Cao Cao cannot make a quick breakthrough, his consumption will inevitably be several times higher than ours.

On the eastern front, we eat one stone of military rations, which can only consume the national strength of Cao's one stone of military rations. On the western front, we eat one stone of military rations, but can consume the national strength of Cao's three stones of military rations. Is this account not clear? We should certainly not do anything to hinder Cao's support for Xiahou Yuan.

Of course, I didn't say that we shouldn't fight on the Eastern Front, I just wanted to delay it for a while. When Cao Cao gets desperate about the Western Front and feels that it's useless to support Xiahou Yuan, we should shift our strategic focus back to the Eastern Front and win on both fronts."

Zhuge Jin helped Guan Yu sort out the logic in a very organized way, and finally Guan Yu suddenly understood.

To put it bluntly, Zhuge Jin's design is actually very similar to the original Longzhong Strategy in history.

The Longzhong Plan also asked Liu Bei to "personally lead the troops of Yizhou to march out of Qinchuan, and have a general lead the troops of Jingzhou to attack Wanluo." The difference is that in this life, Liu Bei has a lot of land on the eastern front and many routes to attack, so the western front only plays the role of consuming Cao's army.

As long as Cao Cao's manpower and money and food were squeezed out as much as possible in the Yizhou battlefield, the subsequent counterattack could be completed entirely in the areas with convenient transportation on the eastern front. The original plan of "using Yizhou troops to attack Qinchuan" in the Longzhong Plan could be eliminated.

Everyone knows that the Qinling Mountains are poor and bad, and whoever crosses the mountains will suffer. In history, the prime minister went to Qishan six times to the north, because there was no other way to choose, and he had to bear such logistical losses. In this life, Liu Bei had so many better ways to go, so of course he had to abandon the least cost-effective option.

Therefore, as long as Hanzhong is recovered on the western front, all strategic tasks will be completed, and no further northern expeditions will be considered. Even if the northwest region is the last to be recovered in the end, it does not matter.

After pacifying Liu Zhang, the money and grain resources that Yizhou could provide to us were all transported downstream via the Yangtze River to subsidize the war on the front line.

Zhuge Jin and Zhuge Liang did not think about asking Yizhou to contribute more troops for the great cause of unification. It was too remote, and the people there only needed to contribute money and food. Especially money and other high-value products, because those things had lower transportation costs and losses, and were more suitable for transportation thousands of miles out of Sichuan.

Guan Yu thought all of this through and digested the blueprint that Zhuge Jin had drawn for him. He finally came to a consensus: "If that's the case, I was worrying too much. We will immediately send fast horses and fast boats to Sichuan to report to our elder brother and inform him of Cao's latest rebellion.

As for the military, we will not take any action for the time being. At most, we will just bluff and denounce, and let the eldest brother and the third brother first destroy the thief Cao's prestige in Shu and bleed him. Then it will be our turn to take action."

"It is a blessing for my lord that Yunchang thinks this way." Zhuge Jin was pleased to see that he had finally stabilized Guan Yu, and that Guan Yu was convinced.

The two of them did not hesitate and immediately jointly signed a report, which on the one hand clearly stated the latest rebellious activities of Cao Cao that they had learned in Guandong, and attached the personal opinions of Zhuge Jin and Guan Yu.

Then he sent fast horses to the messengers to deliver the letter south and west.

Since there was no rush to send troops from the eastern front, there was no need to march 600 miles a day. Just marching 300 to 400 miles a day would be enough, and it would also save the post horses from running out of energy.

It is estimated that it will take five or six days to reach Hefei, and another ten days to enter Sichuan.

At the same time that Zhuge Jin and Guan Yu were reporting the events on the eastern front to Liu Bei, Xiahou Yuan was already getting a little restless at the foot of Diaoyu City in Ba County - the wooden sign intelligence he had obtained from Wei Yan last year showed that Wei Yan had enough surplus food to get through the winter and last until February, and then Gan Ning and Zhang Fei would need to launch a counterattack to break the encirclement and transport the food in.

So, since February, Xiahou Yuan has been waiting for Gan Ning and Zhang Fei to rescue Wei Yan.

But when the time came, the situation seemed to have changed.

Liu Bei's camp remained calm and composed. As the date of Wei Yan's food shortage written on the wooden sign was getting closer, Zhang Fei and Gan Ning remained on the sidelines.

This made Xiahou Yuan alert.

(End of this chapter)