My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 595 The rolling wheel of history cannot be stopped by the rulers’ lack of desire
Deng Zhi was of low status, so Zhuge Liang handed him the reply letter and gave him only a few simple instructions, asking him not to ask anything that he shouldn't ask. How could Deng Zhi dare to question him?
All he could do was to carefully take note of Zhuge Liang's instructions and prepare to follow them exactly as he returned.

As for what inside stories had happened between Zhuge Liang in Jiangzhou and Pang Tong in Zitong during the past half month, Deng Zhi knew nothing about it.

He took the reply letter and sailed downstream from Jiangzhou. It took only five or six days to reach Yufu. After entering the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, it took only two days to reach Jiangling, and another four or five days to reach Wuchang, where he handed the letter to Zhuge Jin.

(Note: The condition for "returning from Jiangling to a thousand miles in one day" is the flood season in midsummer. Now it is late autumn, the river is not so turbulent, and the speed of navigation has to be twice as slow.)
However, if we want to truly understand what happened behind the fog, we have to start from who Pang Tong met this month.

……

The timeline goes back to more than ten days ago, when Deng Zhi had just entered Shu to deliver a letter in early August.

Almost at the same time, Pang Tong in Zitong City was also routinely receiving the secret envoy sent by Fa Zheng from Fucheng across the street.

Fucheng is only a hundred miles away from Zitong. The former is located on the south bank of the main stream of the Fu River, and the latter is located on the north bank of the Zitong River, a tributary of the Fu River (now called "Zijiang"). They are equivalent to the later Mianyang city and Zitong County under Mianyang respectively.

The two cities are separated by these two rivers and a not-so-high watershed, so traveling between them is quite convenient.

Ever since Zitong was actually occupied by Liu Bei's army last year and used as a supply base for the Battle of Hanzhong, Liu Zhang has been quite suspicious and worried about the defense of the northern line.

He felt that it was not reassuring to rely solely on Zhang Ren, Liu Gui, Ling Bao and Deng Xian to guard Fucheng and Mianzhu respectively, so he wanted to send his trusted advisers to the front line to serve as military supervisors to ensure that the generals obeyed his orders.

The other counselors were worried that "the more they do, the more mistakes they will make, and if they do nothing, they will make no mistakes." Taking on this thankless and hot potato would easily affect their long-term careers under Liu Zhang, so they were not very enthusiastic.

Only Fa Zheng didn't care about all this, and finally he was brave enough to take on the task and easily took over this difficult job.

Just like in later generations’ state-owned enterprises and public institutions, those who plan to work for a lifetime and receive a pension will of course be afraid of “the more you do, the more mistakes you make, and the less you do, the better.”

But those who are ready to change jobs don't worry. They just want to gain more experience and learn more real skills so that they can get a better starting salary in the next job. As for how much they have offended their former leaders and colleagues, what does it have to do with a job-changer?
After Fa Zheng arrived at the front line in Fucheng, he naturally had more flexible ways to deal with it. On the surface, he could contact Pang Tong without harming Liu Zhang's interests or even being loyal to Liu Zhang's interests, while secretly doing other communications.

Pang Tong would also give Fa Zheng some information about the outside world at the right time to help Fa Zheng respond flexibly and act accordingly.

After all, since the Battle of Hanzhong last year, all channels for Liu Zhang's forces to communicate with the outside world have been blocked by Liu Bei.

Today, Liu Zhang's army, from top to bottom, is very isolated from the news from the outside world. Many things can be delayed for several months or even half a year, and are only slowly brought to you by merchants from the outside world.

With Pang Tong as an additional source of information, Fa Zheng can gain an information advantage over other advisers in Liu Zhang's camp.

……

This time, it was just another routine contact between Pang Tong and Fa Zheng, nothing special.

Sitting on the couch opposite Pang Tong was an official in his early thirties with a square face and a mustache. This man was Fa Zheng's close friend, who was also on official business at the front line in Fucheng. His name was Meng Da.

Meng Da and Fa Zheng were both from Youfufeng, Guanzhong. Meng Da's ancestral home was Pingling County, and Fa Zheng's ancestral home was Mei County. The two had been classmates since childhood.

Twelve years ago, when Li Jue and Guo Si in Guanzhong were engaged in internal strife and fighting, all the counties in Youfufeng were affected. Fa Zheng and Meng Da fled south to Shu together and took refuge with Liu Zhang.

However, compared to Fa Zheng, Meng Da was less valued and had no reputation. In addition, his father Meng Tuo bribed Zhang Rang, the head of the Ten Eunuchs, with a hu of Western Region Pu Tao wine, which enabled him to replace Zhang Huan, a famous anti-Qiang general, and be appointed as the governor of Liangzhou.

This story was widely spread, and even Su Dongpo, who lived thousands of years later, wrote two lines of poetry about it: "The general fought a hundred battles but still failed to win the title, while Bo Lang won Liangzhou with just one hu of water." Therefore, the Meng family had a bad reputation among the noble families who prided themselves on being noble.

Liu Zhang was of respectable origin, so how could he be willing to employ a "descendant of the eunuch party" like Meng Da? After ten years in Shu, Meng Da could only rely on the support of his old friend Fa Zheng and do some things with him.

Therefore, Fa Zheng was very confident in letting Meng Da help him with these secret matters. He knew very well that Meng Da's wealth and honor depended on him. Only when Fa Zheng was promoted could Meng Da follow him to the top. At this moment, Meng Da took the lead in conveying good news to Pang Tong to show Fa Zheng's contribution to Liu Bei in the past few months since he arrived in Fucheng:

"I'd like to let Pang Changshi know that Brother Xiaozhi has been restraining his troops and redeploying the troops since he arrived in Fucheng in the past two months, withdrawing some of the troops from Fucheng back to Mianzhu, which is farther behind.

On the one hand, it is an excuse to avoid too many troops on the border, intensifying the conflict between our two families, and avoiding unnecessary misunderstandings. On the other hand, it is also an excuse that Fucheng is easy to be bypassed, so it is better to block the northern gate of Chengdu directly from Mianzhu. "

After listening to Fa Zheng's arrangement, Pang Tong naturally realized that Fa Zheng could not wait any longer and was very eager for Liu Bei to remove Liu Zhang as soon as possible, so that he and Zhang Song, Meng Da and other people who wanted to make progress could participate in the battle against Cao Cao's camp in the future and gain merit and promotion.

Following Liu Zhang is good in all aspects, except for those who are capable and ambitious and want to be promoted. Liu Zhang is a dog who guards the house. How can you have the opportunity to make meritorious deeds by following him?

In such a chaotic world, one year less of military experience means one year less of chance for promotion, and capable people have long seen this. Only those who just want to lie low and gain experience will truly follow Liu Zhang and wait for death.

In fact, if Liu Zhang was willing to send all his advisers and generals to participate in the war against Cao and reap the merits, Zhang Song and Fa Zheng might also consider the second path. But Liu Zhang just wouldn't invest his resources in the cause of suppressing the rebellion, so there was nothing he could do.

Of course, to be honest, people like Zhang Song and Fa Zheng were definitely not very good morally.

They also have the idea that "one general's success is the result of the sacrifice of thousands of soldiers". They think they are just counselors and generally don't need to go to the front line of the battlefield. They will not be killed or injured when they lead troops in battle. The casualties are all the soldiers below. If they win the battle and make contributions, they can get promoted.

From the perspective of ordinary civilians and able-bodied soldiers in Yizhou, Zhang Song and Fa Zheng were definitely bad guys. Because originally, the locals of Yizhou did not have to go to war, nor did they have to support the Han Dynasty, and soldiers from other states could fight the civil war. The appearance of people like Zhang Song and Fa Zheng could put ordinary people in Yizhou in danger of fighting on the battlefield.

But this is human nature. It is still the Han Dynasty, and there is too much inertia and not much humanistic care. It is difficult to suppress the desire of scholars and officials to make achievements and get promoted and take advantage of the situation.

Facing the olive branch extended by the other party again and again, Pang Tong was restrained by Liu Bei's morality and could not respond for a while. So he just said to Meng Da in a tactful way:
"How could I not know that Xiaozhi was so sincere and wholeheartedly caring about the court, the Grand Commandant, and his efforts to support the Han Dynasty? Even the Grand Commandant himself knew it very well and would definitely treat Xiaozhi well in the future.

However, we cannot rush this matter. Liu Zhang was quite submissive to the alliance last year, and during the Battle of Hanzhong, there was no shortage of food and military supplies. The general will not take the initiative to let his friends down. Go back and tell Xiaozhi to act in secret and hold off on the progress to avoid hurting others and yourself. "

Meng Da was of low status, while Pang Tong was already the chief secretary of the Taiwei Mansion. How could Meng Da dare to refute him? He just accepted the advice.

However, even though he accepted it humbly, after expressing his attitude, Meng Da tactfully proposed another new idea of Fa Zheng:

"Brother Xiaozhi actually knows that the general is kind and righteous, and knows that the general does not want to let others down first. But he said that sometimes we, the subordinates, are needed to share the general's worries.

So... he had recently thought of a good plan and wanted to verify it with Pang Changshi. Didn't Liu Zhang and your army negotiate twice about the withdrawal of troops? In February of the beginning of the year, the first batch of more than 20,000 troops under the command of the Taiwei withdrew from Yizhou via the Yangtze River. Later in May and June, another 20,000 people were withdrawn, totaling 40,000.

Brother Xiaozhi remembers that Liu Zhang only asked you to withdraw at least half of your army, and the food and grass provided to the Hanzhong garrison should be reduced in proportion, and your army should be self-sufficient in the future. But at that time, we did not agree on how to define this "half".

Now, if Liu Zhang's idea is followed, your army should withdraw the third batch of troops, at least another 20,000 troops. But if Wu Yi and Fei Guan's troops are assumed to be "still under Liu Zhang's command, but only temporarily under the command of the Grand Commandant", then the previous withdrawal of 40,000 troops has already fulfilled the promise of "withdrawing half of the troops".

If they were to argue about how many troops to withdraw and how much food to supply, Brother Xiaozhi would be sure to make Liu Zhang be rude first and offend the Grand Commandant, and then the Grand Commandant would have an excuse to retaliate and punish him. Brother Xiaozhi could even temporarily bear the responsibility for the sake of the Grand Commandant's cause.

In the future, when the Taiwei's troops 'break through' the city guarded by Brother Xiaozhi, and they want to question Brother Xiaozhi for the crime of 'parsimoniousness and destroying the harmony of the royal family', Brother Xiaozhi can be demoted or dismissed for a period of time, and then reused after the storm has passed or he has made meritorious contributions for other reasons. Brother Xiaozhi has such a sincere intention, please let Pang Changshi convey it on my behalf!"

When Pang Tong heard this, he was finally moved.

Is Fa Zheng so anxious? Is he willing to help Liu Zhang to show a tough attitude, offend Liu Bei, and give Liu Bei an excuse to go to war? And if Liu Bei really attacks, he can even be arrested first and then be blamed and dismissed?
This sincerity has reached a new height.

However, Pang Tong changed his mind and realized that Fa Zheng was indeed capable of doing such a thing.

(End of this chapter)