My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 513: Win the hearts of the people and go to war

Yan Yan urgently asked Liu Zhang for permission to send troops to join Liu Bei in counterattacking Xiahou Yuan. Liu Bei also knew about this in advance.

The distance between Jiangzhou and Chengdu can be covered by a relay of fast horses in three days one way. The round trip, including the time required for meetings, would only take seven or eight days at most.

Therefore, the day when Yan Yan received the reply was already within Liu Bei's budget. It was impossible for Yan Yan to play ostrich and get away with it. When the time came, he had to give Liu Bei an explanation.

On March 27, which was also the eighth day after Yan Yan asked Liu Zhang for instructions, Liu Bei personally brought a few guards and crossed the river to discuss matters with Yan Yan, obviously wanting Yan Yan to give him a final answer.

Liu Bei even brought gifts to reward the army, which were all sheep, wine and fresh fish. He planned to use these gifts to reward Yan Yan's soldiers after Yan Yan went out to fight, and boost their morale before the battle.

Liu Bei was so solemn that Yan Yan felt even more embarrassed and guilty. When he heard that Liu Bei had arrived, he set up a grand banquet to welcome him.

As soon as they met, before the two sides had even finished their greetings, Yan Yan bowed in shame and said, "I am here to see the General of Chariots and Cavalry! As the governor of Ba County, I cannot accompany the general to fight off the invaders of Ba County. I am really ashamed and have no face to see the elders of Ba County!
But the Lord's order cannot be disobeyed. My Lord Ji Yugong believes that the defense of Jiangzhou City is more important and cannot be left lightly. I cannot refute it. However, my Lord has allowed me to select another 4,000 Brazilian soldiers from the army to be under your command. I hope you don't mind it too much! "

When Liu Bei heard that Liu Zhang only sent 4,000 reinforcements, he felt angry and amused.

However, in this life, his family background was richer, so he was able to remain calm and did not immediately express his dissatisfaction. In the original history, Liu Bei helped Liu Zhang defend Zitong and resist Zhang Lu for nearly two years. Finally, when he was about to leave, he asked Liu Zhang to borrow tens of thousands of soldiers. Liu Zhang only gave him 4,000. That fuse made Liu Bei angry, and later the two sides fell out.

It can be seen that a person's ability to keep calm is closely related to his family background. People with a rich family background are less likely to lose their composure after a small loss.

In this life, Liu Zhang was still petty and only gave Liu Bei 4,000 men. However, Liu Bei was not defeated at all and instead just wanted to laugh.

Being so stingy, Liu Zhang will only lose the support of his own people.

Therefore, Liu Bei immediately controlled his emotions and said calmly, "General Yan, why do you have to be like this? Please get up quickly! It's enough that Brother Ji Yu is sincere. I don't expect him to contribute much troops.

I just want to see if he has the determination to fight Cao, and if he has the awareness to unite and eliminate the thieves for the country. As long as he has this awareness, 4,000 people are enough, and General Yan should not take it to heart. You can sit back and watch our army defeat the enemy in the next few days!"

Yan Yan was so moved by Liu Bei's generosity that he burst into tears: "In this battle, your army must defeat Xiahou Yuan first. As long as we can win this battle, I will write a letter in blood to ask for your permission to fight later!"

Liu Bei took Yan Yan's hand and led him to the table, and let him sit with Zhang Fei, opposite Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong. This courtesy was already enough face.

Yan Yan felt more and more embarrassed, and even forgot that he was supposed to be the host today, and he should sit in the host seat while Liu Bei was the guest. However, Liu Bei was of noble status, so strictly speaking, there was nothing wrong with sitting like this.

Liu Bei easily turned the tables and toasted Yan Yan to comfort him. Yan Yan drank the wine tremblingly, and after three rounds, he quickly told Yan Yan everything he knew.

He didn't intend to leak the inside information, he just wanted to cover up the fact that he couldn't fight in person and explain the reason as clearly as possible.

Yan Yan said earnestly, "Let the general know that although our army's direct reinforcements are only 4,000 men, there are still many of our troops hiding in the deep mountains and dangerous strongholds behind the enemy lines in Baxi.

When Xiahou Yuan invaded, he only came along the West Han River and Qujiang River, and cleared the roads along the river valleys. As for the places in the deep mountains and dense forests where there are no county towns, I am not bragging, even if Xiahou Yuan is given a few years, he may not be able to completely clear them out!

Otherwise, the Han Dynasty would not have been repeatedly harassed by the Bantun barbarians and the Qiang people for more than a hundred years.

Now Xiahou Yuan is doing something perverse. It is said that in order to raise food, he has recently been levying heavy taxes and looting tribes in various places in the Baxi Mountain area. He has captured the young and strong and sent them to the army, killed the old and weak who resisted, and also robbed the food that the Qiang people kept for themselves.

The Bantun Man and Qiang tribes all hate Xiahou Yuan. As long as the general's army marches north, the local soldiers and civilians will certainly prepare food and drink to welcome the royal army. Here are several letters from my master Ji Yugong, which are for the chiefs of the various tribes of the Bantun Man. As long as the general can contact them at that time, they will obey the general's orders and it will be justified. "

As he spoke, Yan Yan solemnly took out the orders that Liu Zhang had given him from his sleeves, bowed his head and presented them with both hands.

Liu Bei also stood up and took the letters with both hands. He glanced at the covers and put them back into his sleeves without opening them. He was open-minded and trustworthy.

Seeing that he did not question the contents of the letter, Yan Yan began to like him more and more.

Liu Zhang was famous for his paranoia - he had no choice. Every time he sent a general to Ba County to quell the rebellion, the general in charge of Ba County's defense might become independent and no longer obey his orders. After being repeated so many times, how could Liu Zhang not be paranoid?

When compared with Liu Bei's open-minded attitude of completely trusting his subordinates, the difference between this timid and cautious character is obvious and there is no hesitation.

Yan Yan was touched and quickly told him more details. He then asked, "In this case, I have several generals and military assistants from the Qiang tribe. If the general is free, you can meet them first.

When we enter Baxi, we can have them lead the way for the army and contact those tribesmen trapped behind enemy lines to attack Xiahou Yuan. To be honest, I only learned about Xiahou Yuan's recent actions of levying heavy taxes and killing innocent people in Baxi to raise food from the tribesmen who escaped over the mountains. " Liu Bei became more interested when he heard this.

Now that the decisive battle is approaching, he still pays great attention to scouting and reconnaissance on the movements of Xiahou Yuan's main forces.

It’s a pity that the terrain of Bashu is too dangerous, and the line between Diaoyucheng and Dianjiang County is the only gap for the three rivers to pass through the mountains in the north of Jiangzhou.

Therefore, once Xiahou Yuan's garrison blocked this gap, it became difficult for Liu Bei's army to penetrate into the hinterland of Bashu in the north.

Of course, it is also difficult for Xiahou Yuan to infiltrate Jiangzhou. The mountains block both roads and information.

No matter how much Liu Bei tried to inquire on his own, he could only find out the situation of the enemy forces on the front line that were in contact with him. Now that there was a new source of intelligence, how could Liu Bei not take it seriously?
Thanks to the fact that the Qiang people and Bandun barbarians are mountain tribes living in the mountains, they are very familiar with the terrain of the Sanba area. They are very good at crossing mountains and ridges. Even if the mountain valleys are blocked by the army, they can find another way to cross.

In order to grab food, Xiahou Yuan and Jia Xu completely offended the Bandunman, and they deserved the absolute disadvantage in the intelligence war.

……

Seeing that Liu Bei was interested, Yan Yan did not dare to delay and quickly brought several young officers to meet Liu Bei.

Liu Bei naturally would not treat others with arrogance and condescension. What he was best at was treating people with courtesy and respect, so even if the other party was of low status, he would set up mats for them and let them sit down and drink.

Those young officers had never seen the world, and had never even left the mountains. It was only after listening to Yan Yan's introduction that they realized how important Liu Bei was. Seeing Liu Bei drinking with them, they were of course touched and flattered.

He is a more powerful figure than Liu Zhang!

Liu Bei drank two cups with everyone, then pulled a young officer who looked to be in his teens aside and asked him kindly, "Which tribe are you from? How did you escape back to Jiangzhou? I heard that Xiahou Yuan was levying heavy taxes in Baxi. Do you know the details?"

The young officer was flattered and grateful, and said loudly: "My name is Wang Ping, and I am from the Dangqu Qiang tribe. I have been fostered by my mother's family since I was young. I changed my surname to He after my mother, and now I have just changed back to my father's surname after joining the army. These two are my brothers Du Fu and Pu Hu, who are also from the neighboring Qiang tribe.

Just a dozen days ago, Xiahou Yuan suddenly imposed heavy taxes on the tribes in the mountains east and west of Dangqu, asking us to hand over our stored food. If we refused, he would attack and destroy us to establish his authority. It is said that he allocated 10,000 to 20,000 soldiers and horses to do this, and all the tribes hated him for a while.

My maternal grandfather died in Xiahou Yuan's burning robbery. The young and strong of the clan fled overnight, crossing the mountains and heading south. Only then did I hand this letter to General Yan! Please avenge us! We are willing to fight to the death for the vanguard! "

Only then did Liu Bei notice that Wang Ping had a sackcloth tied on his head. It was obvious that one of his relatives or elders had been killed by Xiahou Yuan's troops, so he wanted to wear mourning clothes to seek revenge.

How could Liu Bei miss such a good opportunity?

Of course, he immediately expressed his position: "Don't worry, everyone! Brother Ji Yu is just unable to lead you to counterattack because of the years of war in Shu! But it doesn't matter! People will do their best.

Cao is a perverted and cruel traitor. I, Liu Bei, swear to wipe out his followers, his minions, and finally destroy this traitor! Xiahou Yuan is Cao's biggest minion, and he is right in front of us. If we don't kill him now, when will we kill him? "

As Liu Bei spoke, he stretched out his hand and Zhang Fei immediately handed him a few feather arrows.

Liu Bei then broke an arrow on the spot as a pledge of allegiance in front of everyone, indicating that if he still delayed the battle, everyone would say that he was a hypocrite.

Yan Yan and Wang Ping were filled with passion after hearing Liu Bei's words. Yan Yan in particular also felt a little contempt and disdain for the "Liu-doubting" advisers in Shu.

Last year, many of the lord's counselors kept saying that Liu Bei came to Sichuan to seize the foundation of his clan and took advantage of an opportunity. He would definitely not really repel Xiahou Yuan and would definitely keep the enemy at bay.

Look at it now! It's a slap in the face! Liu Bei has made it clear that he is going to go to war! He doesn't care that he will have no excuse to stay in Shu after destroying Xiahou Yuan.

This kind of great benevolence and righteousness cannot be understood by those who are always calculating.

Wang Ping and other Bandunman officers who were burdened with blood feuds also quickly requested to fight. They drew their swords, pierced their arms and bleed, and swore an oath in blood. There was no other way, because most of these Bandunman officers were illiterate and could not write blood letters, so they could only swear in blood.

"Good! You are all loyal and righteous men of the Han Dynasty! I will join you all in killing the enemy!"

Liu Bei patted each other on the shoulders to encourage them, and personally bandaged the small wounds on their arms that were caused when they took the oath.

(End of this chapter)