My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 605: Liu Zhang prepares for war, tit-for-tat

The words are divided into two parts.

Liu Bei's army disdained to take advantage of a surprise attack, but instead made the reasons for starting the war clear, explained the frictions between the two sides and the other side's crimes, and built up momentum for preparations for war, which took more than half a month in total.

Liu Zhang's army on the other side would certainly not sit still and wait for death. So in the past half month, Liu Zhang has been making hasty preparations, first using courtesy and then force.

On October 9th, right after the breakdown of negotiations and the "accidental killing" of Liu Bei's military patrol team, the defender of Fucheng reported the relevant news to Liu Zhang in the rear.

Fa Zheng did not dare to delay on this issue, because he knew that even if he did not report it, Zhang Ren would definitely report it to Liu Zhang after he led his troops to retreat to Mianzhu and gained a firm foothold in Mianzhu.

If Fa Zheng concealed his position, his position would be exposed immediately. Although he had already planned to surrender, it would be good to stay undercover for one more day until the last moment. And only by hiding his undercover identity until the end could he help Liu Bei do more things when the battle came and avoid bringing trouble to the reputation of Liu Bei's army.

Fa Zheng did not want the world to know immediately that he, Fa Zheng, had been Liu Bei's undercover agent. Wouldn't that mean Liu Bei had been plotting against Liu Zhang? The so-called "accidental discharge of a gun" would also be interpreted as "deliberate provocation to create trouble."

So, just two days later, on October 11, Liu Zhang, who was in Chengdu, was shocked to hear that the soldiers on the front line and the negotiation delegation were in trouble - of course, until this moment, Liu Zhang was still not sure whether war had to break out and whether there was any room for maneuver.

Liu Zhang was so frightened that he immediately summoned Huang Quan, Wang Lei, Zheng Du and other advisers to discuss countermeasures to appease Liu Bei.

After all, he still fantasized that the matter could be resolved peacefully.

After Huang Quan and others arrived at the governor's mansion and heard the bad news, they almost unanimously realized that war was inevitable.

But Liu Zhang asked a cowardly question: "Can you please calm Brother Xuande's anger? Oh! How does Xiaozhi do things?
The money and food that would be given had been promised before, but things got to this point because of a discrepancy between the two sides' calculations of the number of garrison troops!

If we hand over those captains under Zhang Ren who ordered the shooting on their own initiative and let Brother Xuande deal with them, can we quell this disaster?"

The counselors were also shocked to hear the cowardly words of their lord.

Not to mention die-hard hawks like Wang Lei and Zheng Du, even a prudent and impartial person like Huang Quan found this matter a bit far-fetched.

Wang Lei immediately tried to wake Liu Zhang up with fierce words: "My lord! Now that things have come to this, if you hand over the officers who are determined to resist Liu Bei, who will be willing to fight to the death for you? The morale of the entire army will definitely be greatly affected!
"It is very likely that Liu Bei has long been plotting against our army and trying to seize our lord's foundation. Now that he has seized the opportunity, how can we just hand over a few people and let it go?"

Liu Zhang was completely panicked when he heard Wang Lei's fierce words. In a hurry, he sought other opinions to comfort him, and forced Huang Quan to express his opinion: "Gong Heng, do you think so too?"

Huang Quan saw that he was named and could not shirk his responsibility. He sighed and said, "Whether Liu Bei was deliberately plotting this, I really cannot say for sure. But even if all this was an accident, suspicion between the two sides has been aroused. It is impossible to return to the previous harmonious state.

How could Liu Bei keep the master and wait for Cao Cao to gather his strength and go south again in the future, so that the master can sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight? Wouldn't he be worried that the master would stab him in the back? "

Liu Zhang was stunned. "But didn't you say a few months ago that Liu Bei was busy guarding against trouble in Jingzhou? Cao thief... Lord Cao has been on the alert this year and is preparing to march south. Liu Bei is also facing a strong enemy in Guandong, why is he taking action now? Shouldn't he try to stabilize our army?"

Huang Quan shook his head helplessly: "My lord, forgive me for being frank, I originally thought that the rumors among the people were more credible. Liu Biao might really be seriously ill, and Jingzhou also has wars to deal with.

However, now it seems that Liu Bei’s army dared to create trouble like this, so the message that Liu Biao was seriously ill... was probably false. We can observe for a few days. If Liu Bei’s army makes moves to prepare for war, it means that the rumor that Liu Biao is about to die is absolutely false! If Liu Bei’s army is willing to send envoys to condemn the lord again and solve the problem with literary means, then the rumor may be true. "

Liu Zhang thought about it and realized that this was indeed the case.

Now, is it our side that is afraid of the outbreak of war, or is it Liu Bei's army that is also afraid of the outbreak of war? The key lies in whether there will be any literary peace talks in the follow-up.

If Pang Tong sent someone to condemn and make conditions again, it would mean that Liu Bei was really afraid of war, or at least was unwilling to fight at this critical juncture and wanted to buy time.

After sorting out these reasons, Liu Zhang reluctantly ordered: "Well, let's wait a little longer, three days... five days is fine!
Within five days, all frontline troops must defend the city and not take any further actions, so as to avoid new misunderstandings and angering the civil and military officials under Brother Xuande.

If Pang Tong doesn't send anyone to ask for our troops within five days, it means they are not afraid of a fight, and our army is ready to defend to the death. We should prepare for the battle!"

All the counselors felt that the Lord's handling of the situation was acceptable, although it might have delayed military affairs a little. It was also considered as the last step of diplomatic efforts to avoid missing the chance to stop the war.

So everyone agreed, and Liu Zhang made the arrangement.

For the next five days, Liu Zhang waited in anxiety, not daring to take any additional military action, and the battle was delayed until October 16th.

Although the final observation period had clearly arrived, Liu Zhang still did not give up. He was always worried that Pang Tong's envoy of condemnation was delayed on the road or was late for some other reason. In the end, he hesitated and waited for two or three more days.

In fact, during this period of time, Pang Tong on the opposite side had also thought about sending an envoy and engaging in some literary haggling with Liu Zhang in order to throw a smoke bomb to paralyze Liu Zhang and make him think that the matter could still be resolved through diplomatic means, thereby delaying Liu Zhang's army's preparations for war.

However, after weighing the pros and cons, Pang Tong finally gave up the idea. Pang Tong knew that delaying the enemy's war preparations was good, but what if Liu Zhang agreed to all the conditions he proposed? Then wouldn't he have no excuse to start a war again? Therefore, in order to prevent the excuse for war from changing, he absolutely could not negotiate at this time. He would rather let the enemy be alert and prepare for war for a few more days, and pay a higher price on the battlefield later, than continue to give others a handle for the sake of justice.

As for Liu Zhang, until October 19th, the envoy who was asking for the murderer had not arrived again and again. He finally became completely discouraged and was sure that Brother Xuande did not mind at all whether he handed over the murderer or not, and was determined to take advantage of the opportunity to start a war.

Liu Zhang then made up his mind and sent envoys to the front-line areas of Fucheng, Mianzhu, Jiangzhou and other places, ordering the garrisons to enter the highest alert and prepare for war with all their strength.

Because of the distance, it was already the 21st when these messengers arrived in Fucheng, and the 22nd when they arrived in Jiangzhou.

All counties and prefectures on the Chengdu Plain also began to mobilize troops, incorporating able-bodied civilians into the army, and transferring some of the second-line soldiers who usually farmed the land into combat units.

The only thing Liu Zhang could be thankful for was that in the final stage of his war preparations, his brother Xuande did not take advantage of the situation to launch a sneak attack, but instead gave the Yizhou army time to assemble its troops.

This inevitably caused Liu Zhang to feel a little hesitant and fantasize.

On the 24th, after receiving a reply from the front line: all armies have begun to prepare for mobilization, the arsenal inventory has been cleared out, polished and distributed, and the soldiers have begun daily training. However, Liu Bei's army on the opposite side did not make any movement.

Liu Zhang found an excuse and summoned Huang Quan again, and finally asked him privately: "Liu Bei's troops have not taken any action so far. Is it possible that we have misjudged them and they have no intention of launching an attack?"

Huang Quan sighed and said, "My lord, why do you still have illusions at this moment? Since Pang Tong has not sent anyone to interrogate us and demand our release, but is standing ready, it is clear that he wants to fight.

They disdained to take advantage of the surprise attack, probably because Pang Tong was confident of defeating our army. On the other hand, they probably didn't want to give people a chance to criticize them, and for the sake of Liu Bei's reputation, they would rather pay a higher price for the subsequent attack."

It can be said that Huang Quan's two guesses are basically right. The other party's motive is really like this.

After hearing this, Liu Zhang painfully gave up his last fantasy and just ordered the troops to continue their operations.

The current Yizhou army still has a lot of troops. After all, Liu Zhang has been in power for more than ten years, plus his father Liu Yan has been in power for seven years, adding up to nearly twenty years for the two generations of father and son. Shu has not fought any major wars, the population is dense, and there are sufficient troops.

Before the war broke out, Liu Zhang had deployed 30,000 troops on the front lines of Fucheng and Mianzhu, and another 20,000 troops in Luocheng.

Chengdu in the rear also guaranteed 30,000 combat troops all year round to protect the heartland. In the direction of Ba County, Yan Yan and other generals also had 20,000 combat troops to be responsible for the defense of the Yangtze River.

So just adding up these parts, there are 100,000 troops - this number is absolutely not exaggerated. In history, when Liu Bei finally reached Chengdu, the garrison of Chengdu was still as large as 30,000.

Historically, it was easy for the princes of Chengdu to send mobile troops to the north to block the enemy, and it was easy to send 30,000 to 40,000 people. For example, in the late Han Dynasty, Liu Chan sent Zhuge Zhan to lead 30,000 troops to defend Mianzhu and fight against Deng Ai. With the manpower in Shu, such mobilization could be easily achieved.

Liu Zhang had a population of more than three million, with more than 100,000 regular troops, and could also temporarily mobilize tens of thousands of local braves and able-bodied men as temporary city defenders. Compared with the attacking Liu Bei, Liu Zhang even had an advantage in numbers.

Because although Liu Bei also claimed to have an army of 100,000 in Shu, 10,000 were needed to defend Hanzhong, and nearly 10,000 were needed to defend Zitong and Jiangzhou respectively. So the number of troops actually used for the attack was only between 70,000 and 80,000.

The number of Liu Zhang's regular troops was 30% to 40% more than that of Liu Bei's army. If the men temporarily captured to defend the city were included, the total number was twice that of Liu Bei's army.

Liu Bei did not want to bear the infamy of a sneak attack, so he gave Liu Zhang time to mobilize and gather a total resistance force of nearly 150,000 people.

It was not until the last two days of October that Pang Tong ordered the official distribution of the manifesto to attack Liu Zhang.

It was spread from Zitong to Jiangyou, Fucheng, Mianzhu and other places in order to undermine the morale of Liu Zhang's army and let the soldiers of Liu Zhang's army know why they turned against each other and fight, hoping that the generals, soldiers and people in Shu would abandon darkness and join the light.

After the manifesto was issued, the troops of Zhang Fei, Wei Yan and Wu Yi first marched south from Zitong, advancing steadily and advancing thirty to forty miles a day. Three days later, they reached Fucheng and prepared to begin a siege.

As Zhang Fei began to build a camp and assemble siege weapons, the manifesto distributed by Pang Tong finally reached Chengdu and was delivered to Liu Zhang himself.

Although Liu Zhang knew that this was definitely an insult to him, he couldn't help but take a look out of curiosity. He really wanted to know what excuse Brother Xuande would find to attack him.

"What? Isn't this just... a different version of 'clearing the emperor's side'? No, according to Liu Bei's wording, this is 'clearing the younger brothers' side', helping me to clean up the mess!

How can there be such a shameless excuse in the world? You actually said that I was weak and could not control my pro-Cao faction and refused to hand over Wang Lei, Zheng Du and other treacherous people who destroyed the alliance?"

Liu Zhang couldn't help but get angry when he saw it. This person who helped Liu Bei declare war was too vicious.

But now that things have come to this, there is no point in saying anything. Let's just fight with real swords and guns to decide the outcome!

Liu Zhang didn't believe that anyone would be moved by such an excuse and surrender!
(End of this chapter)