My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 539: Taking Jiameng Pass for Nothing and Occupying Zitong County Again

After Liu Bei adopted Pang Tong's suggestion, he immediately took action.

The next day he issued an order to Zhang Fei: all the secondary camp that Wu Yi had left on the Chencang Road, as well as the large camp blocking the road at the "human" shaped intersection that was originally occupied by Xiahou Yuan and later recaptured by Zhang Fei, should be demolished.

All the usable building materials such as wood and stone were moved to the camp that Zhang Fei set up at the beginning, which was the one at Jinniu Pass, 40 miles southwest of Yangping Pass.

Relying on this large camp, the new Yang'an Pass was built immediately, becoming the new gateway between Bashu and Hanzhong.

Liu Bei did not seek to achieve everything in one go, as he could achieve it gradually by digging trenches and building rammed earth walls, and then using the sharp stakes and wood brought in from other places to make antlers or to lay them at the bottom of the pit.

Jinniu Road is located in a valley and there is no river to draw water from. It is definitely impossible to build a moat in front of the pass. The only thing they can do is lay some sharp wooden stakes and bitter bamboo sticks at the bottom of the dry trench to kill the enemy.

Liu Bei had 20,000 Yizhou troops to dispatch for construction, so the project progressed naturally very quickly.

Five thousand people were assigned to dig the trenches, five thousand to tamp the earth, and the rest to assist in various installation and transportation tasks.

In just three or four days, a rammed earth wall about one person high appeared in front of Zhang Fei's camp, crossing the valley. In front of the rammed earth wall, there was a trench about one person deep.

It’s a pity that facilities such as city towers and city gates have not been found yet, and the only gates of the village can still be made of huge wooden nails.

Liu Bei's original intention of repairing the pass was to defend and win the hearts of the army. The soldiers worked so hard, and he was generous in rewarding them. He spent money on cloth and silk like water, and also made sure that the soldiers had enough food every day.

The 20,000 soldiers of the Yizhou Army soon discovered that serving under Liu Bei was much better than serving under Liu Zhang.

However, this also significantly accelerated Liu Bei's military ration expenditure. Liu Bei could obtain supplies for high-value goods and dried fish by transporting them from the rear.

But it would be too difficult for Liu Bei to transport food, a commodity with low value density, over thousands of miles by himself.

It takes more than 600 miles to get to Yang'an Pass from Dianjiang County along the Jialing River. If it is shipped from Jiangzhou where Liu Bei is currently farming, it will take 800 miles.

Therefore, Liu Bei naturally needed to ensure that Liu Zhang was nearby to supply him with sufficient military rations.

In comparison, the distance from Jiameng Pass to Yang'an Pass is only 120 li. The distance from Zitong behind Jiameng Pass is only 160 to 170 li.

In Shu, how much difference would there be in transportation losses if grain was transported over a distance of 160 to 70 miles, or 800 miles? Even if 600 of the 800 miles were by water along the Jialing River, it would still not work.

Therefore, on the eighth day after Wu Yi surrendered to Liu Bei, Liu Bei finally showed his true colors and prepared to send people to Jiameng Pass to negotiate with Fei Guan and Pang Xi who stayed behind.

Moreover, Liu Bei had done enough homework in advance and was well aware of the status of Pang Xi and Fei Guan. For this reason, when Liu Bei exchanged letters with Zhuge Liang in the rear last time, he discussed how to persuade Fei Guan and others to surrender.

Zhuge Liang also mentioned in his last reply that he had already made preparations for this matter. This time, among the officials accompanying the second batch of reinforcements sent by his elder brother and Yunchang from Jing, Yang and other places who were supervising the army, there happened to be an old friend of Fei Guan who could lend a helping hand.

It was still the eve of the Battle of Yangping Pass. After receiving it, Liu Bei was completely relieved and no longer worried about it. He then fought, repaired the pass, and waited.

Until today, Zhuge Liang sent another letter, saying that the 50,000 reinforcements prepared by Zhuge Jin and Guan Yu for Liu Bei had arrived in Jiangzhou, and could continue northward along the Jialing River today to participate in the decisive battle between the lord and the Cao thief.

Moreover, the messenger who delivered this letter was none other than the several military supervisory officials in the second batch of 50,000 reinforcements mentioned in Zhuge Liang's previous letter, including Dong He and Li Yan.

After reading the letter, Liu Bei was very happy and immediately held a banquet to welcome Dong He and Li Yan: "You have come here from Changsha and Wuchang to supervise the army. It must be a hard journey."

Dong He and Li Yan hurriedly thanked him, "Our lord has braved the arrows and stones to fight the Cao bandits. We are only in charge of civil affairs in southern Jing, transporting military supplies and gathering troops. How dare we claim to have done you a great service?"

Dong He and Li Yan both defected to Liu Bei before Zhang Fei defeated Zhang Xian and pacified Jingnan five years ago.

Later, because Liu Biao still nominally held the power to appoint officials in Jingnan, he sent two governors, Lai Gong and Wu Ju, to the area. Liu Bei followed the Zhuge brothers' arrangement and used the strategy of mixing sand with the enemy to gain control of the four counties in Jingnan.

At that time, Dong He and Li Yan were appointed by Liu Bei as county magistrates, serving as deputies to Lai Gong and Wu Ju, and actually in charge of the internal affairs of a county.

In order to maintain harmonious relations with Liu Biao, these two people did not receive any apparent promotions in the past five years. They just did a good job in the internal affairs of the county, and their political achievements were quite good.

This time, Zhuge Jin and Guan Yu needed to draw another 50,000 troops from Jing and Yang to reinforce Liu Bei. There were no generals to mobilize, so they had to rely on a few military supervisors to lead the team.

Anyway, we don't expect these reinforcements to lead the troops. As long as they can deliver 50,000 reinforcements to Liu Bei and Zhang Fei, and ensure that the logistics support along the way is not lacking and everything goes smoothly, these two people are also competent. Of course, when Zhuge Liang selected people, he must have considered a lot of factors. He would not just "let whoever is competent go", but he must have chosen the most suitable person.

There are three reasons why Dong He and Li Yan are the most suitable:
First of all, the new batch of reinforcements entering Sichuan would need to be coordinated and raised by the four counties in southern Jing for their food and logistics needs along the way. These two people had actually been in charge of the government affairs of a county in southern Jing for many years and were familiar with the situation, making coordination easier.

Secondly, Liu Bei also revealed to Zhuge Liang that after entering Sichuan, he would give an explanation to those subordinates in Jingnan who were "powerful but lowly" and take the opportunity to promote them so that their titles would match their status. Since they wanted to match their titles, of course they had to take the opportunity to show some merits so that they could win the support of the people.

Finally, and most importantly, Zhuge Liang found out that although Dong He was from Nanjun, his ancestral home was in Bajun, and he was a distant relative of Fei Guan, the commander of Jiameng Pass, and they were old friends. This time, the lord wanted to persuade Fei Guan to surrender, so of course he had to send Dong He as well.

In the original history, because Liu Bei had not risen for a long time, Dong He felt that Liu Biao could not accomplish anything when he was in Jingzhou, so he was summoned to Shu County by Fei Guan's brother Fei Boren and surrendered to Liu Zhang.

Fei Guan also had a nephew, Fei Yi, who later became one of the "Four Prime Ministers of Shu Han". He was about the same age as Dong He's son Dong Yun. Because the Dong and Fei families were close friends, Dong Yun and Fei Yi became classmates. The elders of the Fei family felt that their own talents and moral character were not as good as Dong He's, so they were relieved to leave their nephew to Dong He for instruction.

The fact that the Fei family dared to give their nephew to Dong He for teaching shows that the relationship and friendship between the Fei family and the Dong family is very strong. However, the situation has reversed in this life. Liu Bei in Jingzhou rose first and won the hearts of the people, making the Dong family follow him wholeheartedly.

As a result, we will no longer see the Fei family persuading the Dong family. Instead, it is the Dong family's turn to persuade the Fei family to "change their allegiance to a wise leader as soon as possible."

……

Liu Bei originally knew only a little about these things, but he didn't know much about the friendship between the Fei family and Dong He. It was only after Zhuge Liang reminded him in the letter that he realized it.

Since he could use Dong He to persuade Fei Guan to surrender, Liu Bei was not polite. After three rounds of welcoming wine, Liu Bei directly expressed his position to Dong He:
"As long as you can successfully persuade Fei Guan to serve our army and provide military supplies from Zitong, I will reward you according to your merits and promote you to the governor of Baxi, and let Fei Guan remain as the governor of Zitong. After you go, you can tell Fei Guan to rest assured. Don't worry about your clansmen being implicated, and don't worry about me and your brother Ji Yu getting into trouble.

I have no intention of annexing the counties of Brother Ji Yu. This is all for the great cause of resisting Cao, so that the frontline troops can coordinate food and grass nearby. As long as Zitong is under the jurisdiction of our army, our army can collect and transport food along the Fu River, and use the extra output of double-season rice in Zitong County to make up for military needs, greatly reducing the loss of thousands of miles of transportation, which is beneficial to both our armies. "

Dong He quickly responded: "Since my lord has placed such trust in me, how dare I disobey your orders?"

Liu Bei stood up, personally poured a glass of wine for Dong He, held his hand and said: "You can follow Wu Ziyuan this time, and you will get twice the result with half the effort."

After arranging everything and preparing the gifts, Wu Yi set off with Dong He the next day, and brought several thousand troops with him, mostly the original Yizhou troops, but there were also one or two thousand Jingzhou troops.

It took less than two days of express horse travel from the newly built Yang'an Pass for Wu Yi and Dong He to return to Jiameng Pass.

Fei Guan heard some time ago that Xiahou Yuan was defeated by Liu Bei and the threat to Jiameng Pass had been eliminated, so he no longer stayed on the front line to personally guard the pass.

When Wu Yi came, Fei Guan was in Zitong County in the rear, and those who stayed in Jiameng Pass were not as high-ranking as Wu Yi. So after verifying their identities, he directly let Wu Yi's troops and the more than a thousand Jingzhou soldiers who accompanied him enter the pass.

Wu Yi was not in a hurry to control the wall. The atmosphere between the two sides was harmonious, and they were completely like friendly allies.

After passing the customs, they walked for another half a day and arrived at Zitong. It was Wu Yi who shouted to open the city gates again, and entered the city with a small number of soldiers, asking to see Fei Guan.

When Fei Guan heard that Wu Yi had returned, he was also a little surprised and hurried out to greet him: "Brother Ziyuan? You are back? Last month, I heard that you were ambushed and your way back was cut off by Xiahou Yuan. I have been very anxious, but I regret that I am unable to lead the reinforcements to rescue you.

Fortunately, a few days ago, I heard that you and the General of Chariots and Cavalry joined forces to defeat Xiahou Yuan outside Yangping Pass and finally escaped from the desperate situation. I am really happy for you. How could the General of Chariots and Cavalry be so kind? He saved you and let your entire army return to Jiameng Pass?"

Wu Yi's face became solemn, and he bowed to the northeast from a distance: "The General of Chariots and Cavalry is a descendant of the imperial family, and his benevolence is known throughout the world. When our army advanced recklessly to gain credit, he still forgot the past and tried his best to rescue us. In order to save me from trouble, even General Zhang Yide was injured. I feel ashamed in my heart, and I am really embarrassed!
Therefore, I have learned from my mistakes and decided that in order to defeat the rebellion and revive the Han Dynasty, since we are all allies, we should accept the unified dispatch and command of the General of Chariots and Cavalry when fighting. This way, we can be stronger together and not fight alone and be defeated by Cao Cao one by one.

My dear brother, please forgive me for speaking frankly. Although the Lord is kind, he is weak and cannot control his troops. He is also influenced by slander. The military is a matter of life and death for a country, so we must be careful. As generals, we should follow the lord's orders when we are away from home for the sake of the alliance and the great cause of suppressing the rebellion.

After this defeat, Cao will not give up. When facing Cao's revenge later, we should all obey the orders of the General of Chariots and Cavalry! "

Wu Yi spoke very tactfully. He also did not suggest joining another wise leader. He only said that in time of war, they would accept the direct military command of the "leader". After hearing this, Fei Guan was able to accept it more easily.

While Fei Guan was wavering, another envoy sent directly by Liu Bei to negotiate with Fei Guan also showed up at the right time.

Wu Yi introduced him in a nonchalant manner, "If you still have doubts and do not believe the General's sincerity, you can ask Mr. Dong. He is the newly appointed governor of Baxi by the General, and he came here specifically for you."

Fei Guan then noticed that Wu Yi was accompanied by Liu Bei's envoy. He hadn't seen Dong He for more than ten years, so he couldn't remember what he looked like. After Wu Yi reported his identity, he finally remembered.

"Isn't this Brother Youzai? Are you now the governor of Baxi?"

(End of this chapter)