My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 509: Still as a Mountain, Moving as Thunder

Xiahou Yuan and Jia Xu discussed how to plunder military supplies from the Baxi Bandun barbarians in order to sustain the troops for another month and a half.

At the same time, in Jiangzhou's new city of Jiangbei, Liu Bei gradually stopped "playing music and dancing" in the past few days, put down his original work of winning over the scholars in Shu, and refocused his attention on military issues.

On Zhuge Liang's side, as mid-March passed, the peak of the busy spring farming season had finally passed.

Local farmers who just planted Linyi rice this year have also completed the water and fertilizer operations after sowing, and no longer need to rely on high-frequency guidance from the "agricultural technicians" sent by Liu Bei’s army.

After the work of persuading farmers became easier, Zhuge Liang was able to focus his main energy on military strategy planning.

Zhang Fei and Gan Ning had already prepared their troops and were ready to fight at any moment. They were just waiting for Liu Bei's order to go up the Jialing River to trouble Xiahou Yuan, and together with Wei Yan, they would attack Xiahou Yuan from both inside and outside to defeat him.

Perhaps because he had been frustrated for too long and was eager to make achievements, Zhang Fei had recently been looking for Liu Bei to fight him every day:
"Brother! Xiahou Yuan is now in a state of panic! He has attacked Wenchang's Diaoyucheng Wharf several times in a row without success. The morale of everyone must be low. Even the ordinary Cao soldiers know that they have been besieging for nothing for the whole winter.

This is a golden opportunity, what are we waiting for? Go over there quickly, and together with Wen Chang, we will attack Xiahou Yuan from both inside and outside!"

Liu Bei heard this and assured him, "I naturally know these principles, but I just discussed it with Kong Ming a few days ago. Xiahou Yuan besieged Wenchang for a whole winter, and his siege camp was repeatedly repaired. It was ten layers of deer horns and was extremely solid.

Kong Ming suggested that we devise a plan to lure Xiahou Yuan away from the stronghold and withdraw our camp, and then we can attack him, which will be twice as effective with half the effort. Kong Ming's words have never failed, and we don't need these few days. I promise you: when the general attack comes, you will lead the front army on land! Xingba will be in charge of the waterway. "

Zhang Fei scratched his head and said, "I don't know what trick Kong Ming will use to lure Xiahou Yuan out of the camp that has been reinforced for several months... It's really frustrating!"

The two brothers were talking, and Zhang Fei became more and more anxious. He wanted to urge Liu Bei to find Zhuge Liang and ask all the details of the plan in person. This way he would feel at ease. Otherwise, who could stand being kept in suspense?

Liu Bei was so annoyed that he also came up with this idea. However, just when he was about to send someone to summon Zhuge Liang, a messenger came running in from outside the mansion gate, led by Pang Tong and went straight into the main hall.

When Liu Bei saw Pang Tong coming, he quickly pulled him to sit down and asked in detail: "Shi Yuan is so anxious, but what urgent matter happened in the east? Zi Yu and Yun Chang should be able to stabilize the situation, right?"

Pang Tong took the secret letter from the messenger and handed it to Liu Bei. While Liu Bei was opening it, he repeated the following words:
"Both Ziyu and Yunchang are good. This letter was signed by them. Cao Cao appointed Ma Teng as General of Cavalry in the first month of the year. He then framed and dismissed Si Tu Zhao Wen. In February, he abolished the three officials and appointed a new prime minister. Ma Teng led the petition to force Your Majesty to appoint him as prime minister!"

It turned out that this urgent letter was sent by Zhuge Jin and Guan Yu to inform Liu Bei after they learned that Cao Cao claimed to be the Prime Minister of Han. The letter not only described the objective situation, but also included Zhuge Jin's response opinions and some predictions and deductions about the subsequent situation in Guandong.

The roads in Shu were difficult to travel, so Liu Bei and Xiahou Yuan learned about Cao Cao's appointment as prime minister almost at the same time, with Xiahou Yuan only a few days earlier than Liu Bei.

The only other princes who knew the news later than them were probably Liu Zhang and Shi Xie.

After hearing about such a major change, Liu Bei of course took it very seriously. A surge of anger rose subconsciously in his heart. He almost couldn't help but take action against Xiahou Yuan immediately. How could he care about any other strategies?
Fortunately, he also knew that such a big thing should be notified to Zhuge Liang as soon as possible, so he ordered his servants to find Kong Ming immediately, and then he and Pang Tong and Zhang Fei quickly read the letter.

Pang Tong had not read the letter either, as the seal had just been opened. The information Pang Tong had just learned in advance was all dictated by the messenger and was not detailed enough.

Liu Bei unfolded the letter and read it carefully sentence by sentence.

In Zhuge Jin's letter, he mentioned his plan. He believed that the best strategy for now was to maintain the original pace, take action on the western front first, and then attract Cao Cao to invest more and more troops and resources on the western front.

After Cao Cao's main force is stuck in a quagmire on the western front, the eastern front will naturally cooperate. By then, Zhuge Jin, Guan Yu and Zhao Yun will be ready at any time to see where Cao's army has defensive loopholes and respond flexibly to expand the results of the battle.

Or, if there are any loyal ministers in the area controlled by Cao Cao, who have risen up against Cao Cao because Cao Cao forced the emperor to abolish the Three Dukes and appoint him as the sole prime minister, Guan Yu, Zhao Yun, and Taishi Ci can also respond to them as soon as possible.

After describing his plan in the letter, Zhuge Jin also mentioned that he would try his best to let Cao Cao relax his vigilance on the eastern front and use his attitude of not taking any more hostile actions for the time being to paralyze Cao Cao as much as possible.

Therefore, I hope you will be prepared to deal with the situation that "Cao's army may come to Yizhou in large numbers to support it", and even be prepared for the possibility that Ma Teng may also go all out to help Cao Cao. Therefore, you can consider temporarily transferring more reserve troops from Jingnan and Yangzhou to Sichuan to ensure that there are enough troops for the decisive battle.

If they could design a plan to coerce some of Liu Zhang's troops to fight for the survival of Yizhou, that would be even better. After all, if Cao Cao's main force entered Sichuan, the biggest pressure would be on Liu Zhang himself, and it would be unreasonable for Liu Zhang not to contribute.

At the end of Zhuge Jin's letter, he also advised Liu Bei to seize this opportunity to speed up the integration of Liu Zhang's forces. In the process of leading Liu Zhang's generals to fight against Cao, he should infiltrate and win over Liu Zhang, forcing him to surrender faster.

However, since Zhuge Jin was not very familiar with the current situation in Shuzhong, his words could only be general advice.

Liu Bei could only grasp some guiding principles from it, and the specific implementation still had to rely on Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong to discuss it later.

After reading it, Liu Bei felt that it made a lot of sense, and said to Pang Tong and Zhang Fei with emotion: "I never thought that Cao Cao would risk the world's disapproval and do such a rebellious act. Zi Yu is right. At this critical juncture, Cao Cao must want to take the opportunity to expand his military achievements and establish his prestige for his promotion to the prime minister, in order to deter those who question him.

If Ziyu can stabilize the eastern front, Cao Cao will most likely send reinforcements to the western front. What we need to do is to ensure that Xiahou Yuan is eliminated before the main force of Cao enters Sichuan! In this case, Kong Ming really needs to step up his efforts.

Even if Xiahou Yuan's winter camp is ten layers high and well-defended, we can't delay for long. Compared with the huge profits that can be gained by creating a time difference and defeating Xiahou Yuan and Cao Cao one by one, the extra cost of strengthening the camp is insignificant. "Liu Bei sighed, and the more he thought about it, the clearer it became.

Sometimes the best way to learn is to tell others what you have learned, which can greatly deepen your understanding.

Liu Bei knew very well that a quick attack on Xiahou Yuan would bring him more tactical disadvantages. But compared to the strategic advantages, this disadvantage was a price that had to be paid and was absolutely worthwhile.

The lesser of two evils.

Seeing his master's determination, Pang Tong happily congratulated Liu Bei, "My lord is wise and decisive. It is a blessing for the Han Dynasty to be able to make such a decision. According to common sense, the snow in the Qinling Mountains will melt in April, allowing the army to pass through. If Cao Cao wants to reinforce Xiahou Yuan, the earliest he can enter Hanzhong is mid-April. To reach Baxi, it will be at least May.

It is only the end of March now, and we still have a month and a half to defeat Xiahou Yuan alone! This way, even if Cao Cao or even Ma Teng comes, we won't have to face too many powerful enemies at once! Then we can continue to fight Cao Cao with the power of victory!"

All I can say is that history is sometimes full of amazing coincidences.

The basic skills of the wise men in both camps are equally solid.

Jia Xu and Pang Tong's judgments were surprisingly consistent as to when Cao Cao would support Xiahou Yuan, how long the defending side should delay, and within what time the attacking side should decide the outcome of the battle quickly.

After all, it is known in which months that large armies can pass through the Qinling Mountains. Jia Xu and Pang Tong both understand this basic knowledge of weather and geography, so there is no information gap.

However, at this moment, Jia Xu and Pang Tong still did not know each other's judgment.

Jia Xu tried his best to help Xiahou Yuan delay the decisive battle to May, and used strategies such as feigning defeat to lure the enemy.

Pang Tong tried his best to persuade Liu Bei to end the battle within April, so that Xiahou Yuan and Cao Cao could use the tactic of adding fuel to the fire, and the Calabash Brothers could come up one by one to save their grandfather.

……

Liu Bei, Pang Tong and Zhang Fei had a brief discussion and roughly reached a consensus on their ideas.

Several servants hurried in from outside the hall and led Zhuge Liang in with big strides.

Liu Bei didn't even raise his eyes. He just listened to the familiar footsteps and subconsciously raised his hand to hand over the letter: "It's Ziyu's letter. Take a look first."

Zhuge Liang took it quickly and started reading the contents without any further ado. After a while, he had finished reading his elder brother's opinions.

Perhaps it was because brothers' mindsets were more compatible, Zhuge Liang read Zhuge Jin's letter at a glance and immediately grasped the key points. After a few seconds, he responded calmly:
"My brother and I share the same opinion. Have the Lord and Shi Yuan reached a conclusion?"

Liu Bei and Pang Tong smiled at each other, and Pang Tong explained: "My lord also thinks that Xiahou Yuan should be dealt with within April. Even if he relies on a strong camp, we must take the initiative to attack."

Zhuge Liang nodded and said, "Now is a good time indeed. Xiahou Yuan has suffered a series of defeats, and everyone knows that they have been besieged for a whole winter in vain. Morale is at its lowest right now.

At this time, if he can exert the combat power of 30,000 out of his 50,000 troops, it would be good. If he uses some tricks to attack the enemy's heart, he may not even be able to exert the combat power of 20,000 out of 50,000 troops. "

Liu Bei: "What do you think is the plan?"

Zhuge Liang casually pulled a map from the table, pointed at it and said, "I have just come up with a plan recently. We just need to let Xingba go first and advance along the Xihan River (Jialing River), pretending to cut off the connection between Cao's army's Xihan River and Qujiang River routes.

But in fact, Xingba can deliberately create some accidents, strand a few large ships, and create the illusion that "the river water is still too shallow in early spring and the large ships are not suitable for use."

Let Cao know that when the spring flood arrives in April and the river water surges, all the large ships we have waiting downstream will be able to attack. By then, the navy they will face will be much stronger than it is now...

At that time, we will see who is more anxious, us or Xiahou Yuan. Even if Xiahou Yuan is not in a hurry to withdraw his troops, he must move his camp to prevent being cut off by our army from the waterway. As long as he is willing to move his camp and join forces, the ten-layer deer horn he has arranged will be useless! That will be a good time for us to launch a general attack!"

After listening to Zhuge Liang's deduction, Liu Bei's eyes suddenly lit up.

As expected, Kong Ming never let him down. If he was given time to think, he would always come up with a good idea.

"Sir, what you said is very good! Let's follow this arrangement!"

(End of this chapter)