My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 62 Zhuge Liang: My sister cannot be sold, so my sacrifice is enough (will be available in the second half of tomorrow night)

Facing Huang Yueying's earnest questioning, Zhuge Liang paused for a long time, and finally mustered up the courage:

"Aying, I have to go. But if you trust me and help me, I will not let you down.

You and I have similar interests. Although you haven't said it explicitly, I know what you mean - do you believe me?"

Huang Yueying took a deep breath and said, "I believe you. How can I help you?"

There was no way out. Huang Yueying believed it when she saw this face.

The readiness with which he agreed to this plan made Zhuge Liang, who was confident in his decision, feel at a loss.

He also knew that he would definitely succeed, but he didn't expect it to be so smooth.

He also prepared a lot of arguments to convince Huang Yueying, but in the end, none of them were used.

At this moment, Zhuge Liang's self-awareness improved a little. He couldn't help but think to himself: Could it be that my appearance really makes it easy for me to persuade people? Those people I persuaded in the past were not entirely because of my eloquence?
When he realized this, Zhuge Liang was not actually happy, but rather a little disappointed.

I'm so resourceful, why did you notice my handsomeness first?

Zhuge Liang adjusted his mood and then revealed his plan: "Aying, I need you to go and ask Lord Cai to find an excuse to persuade Liu Biao to hold a banquet in Xiangyang to entertain celebrities. At that time, I will ask for help in public with my filial piety.

But even if I leave Jingzhou, I will not let you down. A man cannot stand without trust. Give me a year or two, and I will ask my elder brother to help me propose marriage. When you reach the age of marriage, I will..."

"You...what are you talking about? I...I don't understand anything!" Huang Yueying was still young after all.

Zhuge Liang spoke so quickly that she suddenly became shy and ran away.

But despite running away, the deal was finally made.

Huang Yueying returned home that day and managed to find an excuse with her father to visit her maternal grandfather Cai Feng.

Another day later, Cai Feng went to see Liu Biao and no one knew what he said.
Anyway, Liu Biao suddenly decided to hold a banquet in Xiangyang three days later to entertain a group of celebrities.

It is estimated that this situation was also set up by Cai Feng.

As for Zhuge Liang, after receiving the schedule in advance, he immediately started to prepare.

……

Because Liu Biao was too slow, Zhuge Liang had more time than expected and had three full days to prepare.

Zhuge Liang asked himself: He didn't need to think too much about the lines to be used to plead with Liu Biao at the banquet and the subsequent countermeasures, as he had already thought of them in his mind.

Therefore, with the remaining time, he became more confident and prepared to give himself more bargaining chips and expected returns.

It was the eighth day of the twelfth month, two days before Liu Biao’s banquet.

Zhuge Liang crossed the river from Xiangyang and went to Fancheng, where he met an acquaintance whom he had just known for more than a month - not even a friend.

This man was in his twenties, dressed in fancy clothes and had a somewhat frivolous manner. He led several hundred men and was stationed in a water fortress at the mouth of the Baihe River outside Fancheng. He was Gan Ning, who had fled to Jingzhou to seek a job after the failed mutiny in Ba County, Yizhou, more than a year ago.

Talking about how the two sides met, it was by chance more than a month ago when a servant of the Zhuge family went out to sell fish.

After Zhuge Liang learned the longline fishing technique from his elder brother, he often went out to fisher while studying, and his catches were all good deep-water fish such as mandarin fish and sea bass.

He and his siblings ate steamed fish every day to nourish their brains, but they couldn't finish it, so he asked his servants to sell the excess to supplement the family income.

As for other local fishermen, if they rely on fishing nets, although the yield is high, they often catch more shallow and poor fish and fail to catch good fish that sink to the bottom.

Although anglers who rely on fishing rods can catch good fish in deep water, the yield is unstable.

The Zhuge family, as a supplier of good deep-water fish with a stable and fresh output, obviously immediately opened up the market around Xiangyang and came into contact with many wealthy people with extravagant lifestyles.

Gan Ning's lifestyle was also extremely luxurious. After all, he was the one who used Shu brocade as ropes to tie up warships.

As a river thief, he also loves to eat fish, and he specifically wants to eat good fish. When he was stationed in Fancheng Water Fort a while ago, he discovered that the Zhuge family often sold good goods.

The two camps were not far from each other, separated by the Han River. Gan Ning was a river thief, so he crossed the river as easily as walking on flat ground.

After a few interactions, Gan Ning discovered that Zhuge Liang did not look down on the moral integrity of river bandits like other aristocratic families, so he became acquainted with Zhuge Liang, but they were just nodding acquaintances.

As for why Gan Ning appeared in Fancheng today, there is another tortuous case behind this -

Gan Ning was the one who launched a mutiny in Ba County when Liu Yan, the governor of Yizhou, died of illness the year before last and Liu Yan's son Liu Zhang succeeded to the throne. He was then defeated by Zhao Wei, the governor of Ba County and the General of the Eastern Expedition, who supported Liu Zhang.

(Note: This position of General of the Eastern Expedition was created by Liu Yan himself during his lifetime in order to "go down the river and conquer Liu Biao in the east")
Gan Ning's mutiny was originally instigated by Liu He, the deputy governor of Jingzhou sent by Liu Biao. Therefore, after his defeat, he could only flee along the Yangtze River to join Liu Biao.

Liu He, the instigator of the rebellion, naturally had to help Gan Ning to make connections. Liu Biao also accepted him and initially stationed him in Yiling. This year, he was transferred to Nanyang County and stationed in Xinye and Rangcheng successively.

The timing when Liu Biao transferred Gan Ning to Nanyang was actually very subtle - it was exactly this summer when Zhang Ji, a general of the Western Liang Army, was running out of food in Guanzhong, so he took the Wuguan Road to the east and left Wancheng to seek food.

To put it bluntly, Liu Biao was afraid that the Western Liang army would continue to invade Xiangyang in the south after occupying Wancheng, so he sent Gan Ning and other troops to resist Zhang Ji to the front line.

However, after occupying Wancheng, Zhang Ji continued to move south. During the Battle of Rangcheng between Wancheng and Xinye, he was suddenly shot and killed by a stray arrow.

The Western Liang army collapsed immediately, and the remnants retreated to Wancheng. They appointed Zhang Ji's nephew Zhang Xiu as the commander. Zhang Xiu felt that his prestige and strength were insufficient, so he reconciled with Liu Biao.

After turning his enemy into a friend with Zhang Xiu, Liu Biao no longer had to guard against the north, so he withdrew some of the troops from the front lines of Xinye and Rangcheng.

Gan Ning was originally responsible for maintaining the Yu River grain route between Rangcheng and Xinye. He also fought with Zhang Ji's army several times. Relying on the advantages of warships and bows and crossbows, he killed and wounded some Xiliang soldiers.

Unfortunately, after Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao became friends, Liu Biao did not promote or reward the generals who had made contributions in the battle against Zhang Ji. Gan Ning gained nothing and was transferred back to Xinye, and then retreated to Fancheng, feeling very depressed and frustrated.

It was in this context that Zhuge Liang crossed the Han River to visit Gan Ning in Fancheng.

……

"Brother Xingba, are you all right?"

Zhuge Liang asked his servant to row a small boat across the Han River to the north and directly enter the Baihekou water fort in Fancheng, where he soon met Gan Ning in person.

Gan Ning was also a little surprised to see Zhuge Liang coming to visit him, and said jokingly: "Aliang, how come you have the time to come here in person today? Don't you always complain that the water fort is filthy?"

Zhuge Liang had not yet reached adulthood and had not yet entered officialdom, so he did not have a courtesy name, and others could only call him Aliang.

It was only after he went to Yuzhang this time and officially worked for his elder brother that Zhuge Jin could give him the name "Kong Ming".

Zhuge Liang didn't waste any words and went straight to the point: "My uncle was officially appointed by the court recently and was appointed as the governor of Yuzhang. But this also further angered Zuo Rong and he attacked me. Although I am not talented, I know how to repay the kindness of raising me. I want to ask Liu Jingzhou for help and go to Yuzhang to visit my relatives and help them.

I am also afraid that Liu Jingzhou will dissuade me by saying "you can't fight a rock with an egg", so I would like to ask you to escort me and my party. As for whether you will go to Yuzhang in person to help in the battle, it is not important. I have other ways to solve it and will not let you fight in vain.

I guess you haven't had a good time in Xinye and Rangcheng in the past six months. I heard that Zhang Ji was shot and killed by a stray arrow in Rangcheng. You were also in Rangcheng at that time? Did you contribute to it?"

Zhuge Liang's words were quite irrelevant and directly hit Gan Ning's sore spot.

Gan Ning's expression changed several times, but he did not directly blame Liu Biao. He just sighed in indignation:
"I did have several battles with the Xiliang cavalry using warships when I was transporting grain across the Yu River, but I can't really say in which battle Zhang Ji was shot dead."

Zhuge Liang made a direct analysis: “When Sun Jian was shot dead, no one knows who shot him, but at least it is certain that it was Huang Zu’s army that did the job.

This time, it is not even clear which specific guarding force or grain transporting force shot him, which shows that it was not Liu Biao's direct subordinates who did it.

If you can attribute the credit to your direct descendants, how can you not claim the credit?"

Gan Ning was stunned, and had to admit that this was indeed the truth.

Generally speaking, if a subordinate who is valued has the potential to make a contribution, then the information must be as precise as possible, and then he must be supported to get promoted, receive rewards, and establish prestige.

If in the end it is not even clear which unit made the contribution, then it is usually an unpopular unit that made the contribution.

With just three sentences, Zhuge Liang helped Gan Ning complete the psychological preparation for "Liu Biao's unfair rewards and punishments."

In history, Gan Ning originally thought that Liu Biao did not practice martial arts and that there was no future for him to achieve success by hanging around with Liu Biao.

So when I heard that "Jiangdong was recruiting talented people and hiring famous scholars, and Lu Su, Zhuge Jin and others were the first to become guests", I felt that there was a future in going there.

Then he came all the way from Hanbei to Jiangxia. If he had not been intercepted by Huang Zu when passing Xiakou, Gan Ning would have been able to leave Jingzhou around the fifth year of Jian'an.

A famous scholar like Liu Biao would always look down on people who came from the background of river bandits.

Liu Biao didn't care at all about Gan Ning's stay or departure, only Huang Zu cared a little bit - and this care was not for the purpose of promoting him, but just for fear of aiding the enemy.

Now, Zhuge Liang told him directly that going to Yuzhang would give him the opportunity to gain promotion and establish fame. Of course, Gan Ning, who wanted to make a career and climb up the ladder, would be enthusiastic.

Moreover, in this life, he no longer has to listen to any chicken soup about a powerful ruler who was "eager to seek talents and invited Lu Su and Zhuge Jin as guests."

Zhuge Jin himself testified and told him that as long as he worked hard in Yuzhang, it only took him three months before he was personally appointed as the Captain of Pinglu by the Emperor.

If Zuo Rong is killed, he can continue to be promoted. The opportunity is right in front of him, it depends on whether he wants to make a contribution.

All of this, plus Zhuge Liang's words, "Zhang Ji was a General of Cavalry. When he was in Guanzhong, among the four generals of Xiliang, only Li Jue's General of Chariots and Cavalry could be ranked with him. Even Guo Si's rank of rear general was not as high as his. How can you not reward him for participating in the killing of Zhang Ji?"

Finally, Gan Ning made up his mind: just follow Zhuge Liangrun!

-

PS: When I woke up in the morning, I found that the book had exceeded 20 words and had disappeared from the new book list... I paid the price of being dropped from the new book list early in order to update faster, even though it was only a day or two.

Even so, there are still people who complain that I am too slow. You can go to Qidian.com and ask around, and you will see who doesn't take advantage of the new book list until the very last minute.

Those are all exposure traffic and recommendation effects.

However, since it will be released soon, we really need to speed up the plot, so the better the day in advance.

There are still three updates today (last night's update before 12: is considered yesterday's, and there are still three updates today)

There will be one update each morning and afternoon during the day, and there will be another update after 11: p.m., which is the third update of the day.

Then after midnight, the next few updates will be immediately posted.

At present, I only have two drafts saved after the release. I can still write during the day today, and I will post as many as I can. I will continue writing after I get up tomorrow, and I will post them as soon as I finish writing. I will not save them. All the drafts saved overnight will be gone.

There may not be a lot of new words on the first day, but everyone should also see my sincerity - I did not hold back on writing 4,000 words a day in the first few days before the release. I started last Friday, and until today, I have been updating nearly 10,000 words every day. Today is the fourth day.

This means that I have already given you 15,000 extra words in four days before I put it on the shelves. Because I update 10,000 words every day, my manuscript accumulation speed has obviously slowed down, and most of the manuscripts have been published as soon as they are written.

If I hadn't given you all these 5 words in the past four days, I would have been able to give you 3 more chapters of words on the first day of the book's release.

Please understand that I will continue to update 10,000 words a day for a while after the book is put on the shelves.

(End of this chapter)