My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 653: Empathy is the hardest thing to guard against

After Zhuge Jin pacified Guan Yu's troops and ensured that "everyone had a chance to fight and every one had achievements to make",

Those warriors who are eager to make progress will no longer be anxious and will be able to calm down and wait quietly.

Everybody relaxed and everyone enjoyed the welcoming banquet.

Even Gao Shun, who never liked drinking, was inspired to drink several glasses. As for Guan Yu and other generals, they were even more drunk and were helped back to rest.

Over the next three days, the reinforcements brought by Guan Yu gathered and rested to adapt to the climate and soil near Xiangyang.

Liu Bei also allocated enough food, fodder, fish and meat to these new reinforcements to ensure that the soldiers had enough to eat every meal and to improve their morale and condition to the best before the battle.

In order to provide the army with the freshest possible source of meat, Liu Bei's army's speedboats cruised back and forth in the Han River, trawling and fishing to their heart's content, making full use of the navy's light boats.

Every day, thousands of boats were dragging nets on the Han River, competing for the current. They would bring back heaps of fresh, fat fish, which would be stewed with the army's stockpile of pickles to make soup for the soldiers.

This scene was detected by the patrol boats sent by Cai Mao on the opposite side, which made Cai Mao tremble with fear. He always felt that Liu Bei's navy might be about to make some big move.

Cai Mao did not dare to act on his own, so he reported the situation. After Cao Ren heard about it, he was very prudent and did not take it seriously.

"What's there to worry about when the navy ships are being mobilized? The cities of Xiang and Fan are mutually supportive, and the Han River is narrow in the area of Xiang and Fan.

As long as we have control over the strategic points on land, even if Liu Bei's navy is slightly stronger than yours, it won't be able to cause any trouble!"

Cao Renru encouraged Cai Mao and told him not to scare himself.

Cai Mao had no choice but to continue to wait and see.

……

However, after just three or four days, as Liu Bei's navy continued to be frequently mobilized, Cao's scouts continued to report back new situations.

Cao Ren, Yu Jin and Jia Xu finally became suspicious.

On the evening of July 12, Cao Ren could not help but summon Yu Jin and Jia Xu to ask for advice.

Among them, Yu Jin came back specially from the Xianshan camp in the south of the city.

In addition, Cai Mao, the leader of the surrendered generals in Jingzhou, was also rarely invited by Cao Ren to participate in the military meeting.

After everyone arrived, Cao Ren did not hesitate to take out some intelligence brought back by the spies and asked Jia Xu:
"I heard that Guan Yu's reinforcements have arrived four or five days ago. We all estimated that after Guan Yu arrived, Liu Bei would definitely hold on with peace of mind, because time is on their side.

Although the total number of troops deployed by the imperial court to the battlefield in Jingzhou was still much greater than that of Liu Bei, Liu Bei still had reinforcements from Yizhou that did not arrive in time.

Give Liu Bei another month to wait for the Yizhou troops to arrive. By then, his combat power will be stronger and he will be more likely to launch a counterattack.

But now it seems that Liu Bei does not intend to wait for the Yizhou troops to arrive. As soon as Guan Yu arrives, he is eager to counterattack - why is this? Is there a trick?"

Faced with the coach's question, Yu Jin did not dare to answer immediately, and he was not good at speculating on such things.

Jia Xu took the intelligence obtained by his spies and repeatedly checked it, trying to find some clues. After reading it, he said solemnly:

"According to the intelligence gathered by the spies sent to Yicheng, Guan Yu seemed to be quite dissatisfied with his subordinates in the past few days after his arrival. He believed that Liu Bei had not allowed the generals in Guandong to take the initiative to attack in the past few years, making it difficult for them to achieve success.

Now that the battle is finally approaching, with Liu Qi's surrendered general Huang Zhong taking the opportunity to steal the credit, and Zhang Fei's Yizhou soldiers rushing to share the credit, it makes sense for Guan Yu to ask to fight alone to win credit for his men..."

Cao Ren was quite familiar with Guan Yu and those generals who surrendered under Lu Bu. Hearing this, he couldn't help but recall the past and tried to figure out how credible this story was.

After all, Cao Cao and Lu Bu fought each other for several years. As the first famous general of Cao's camp, Cao Ren had fought with Lu Bu, Zhang Liao and Gao Shun several times.

After recalling for a long time, Cao Ren still couldn't believe it: "Are Guan Yu and Gao Shun so close? Gao Shun is just a general under Lu Bu.

If Guan Yu wanted to fight for his own merit, I believe he could do it. But standing up for Gao Shun was a bit too nosy and righteous.

Seeing the commander's questioning, Jia Xu didn't know how to refute for a moment, so he remained silent.

Yu Jin, who had not thought of what to say just now, was inspired by Jia Xu and seemed to have some new ideas.

Seeing Jia Xu at a loss for words, Yu Jin suddenly had an idea and analyzed:

"General, I think this is not surprising. Guan Yu already holds a high position, and Liu Bei recommended him as the General of Guards. What else can he be promoted to? Even Liu Bei himself was only the General of Chariots and Cavalry, and there was only a thin line between him and Guan Yu.

Therefore, given Guan Yu's pride, even if he wanted to compete for credit, he should not compete for himself, but for his subordinates.

Let's take a step back and say that even if Gao Shun was a general who surrendered to Lu Bu, so what? Zhang Liao was also a general who surrendered to Lu Bu, but the general should have heard of the friendship between Zhang Liao and Guan Yu. Maybe Gao Shun was taciturn, but he worked diligently and strictly for Guan Yu in recent years, so Guan Yu admired him.

And... there is one more thing. I am not speculating maliciously about Guan Yu, but who is without selfish motives? According to the spies' report, Guan Yu brought many generals with him when he came to help, including his eldest son Guan Ping.

I heard that Guan Ping had no great achievements, and he had no battles to fight in the past four years following Guan Yu. Now that there is finally an opportunity for a big battle, Guan Yu will definitely want to promote his own son.

But he couldn't let go of his pride and didn't want to make it too obvious for his son to make achievements, so of course he had to find another subordinate who was not related to him and promote him. And he also included the matter of promoting Guan Ping..."

Yu Jin's words about the ways of the world can be regarded as "judging a noble man by one's own mean character".

But unexpectedly, the effect of these words was better than expected, and more convincing than Jia Xu's just pragmatic analysis.

Cao Ren seemed to have figured out Guan Yu's behavioral logic and inner motives all at once.

Yes! He had been promoted enough and didn't need to be jealous of Huang Zhong, but he still wanted to pave the way for his own son!
Even if he is a famous general in the world, who doesn't want his son to become successful?
Cao Ren asked himself, if he had the opportunity to help his son Cao Tai achieve merit and be awarded a title, he would definitely put all his efforts into making the plan.

Moreover, in the original history, this is what Cao Ren did in his later years - in Cao Ren's later years, that is, when Cao Pi first usurped the Han Dynasty, the Wei army attacked Sun Quan's Ruxu from Hefei.

The general sent by Sun Quan to guard Ruxukou at that time was Zhu Huan. Cao Ren was already famous, but in that battle, he underestimated the enemy and rushed forward without listening to Jiang Ji's advice. In fact, to put it bluntly, he wanted to pave the way for his son Cao Tai, help Cao Tai make meritorious deeds, and give the most outstanding task of attacking the enemy to his son.

In the end, Cao Ren was defeated by Zhu Huan. He was so ashamed that he fell seriously ill and died after returning home.

Therefore, given Cao Ren's desire to pave the way for his son, he immediately believed it when he heard that Guan Yu also had this character weakness.

How could he have thought about whether the statement that "Guan Yu was trying to get an opportunity for Gao Shun to make merit was actually to cover up the fact that he wanted to give Guan Ping an opportunity to make merit" was the truth or a rumor deliberately spread by the enemy? Did the enemy deliberately induce him to think so?
Zhuge Jin's smokescreen, which was seven true and three false, soon confused Cao Ren and Yu Jin. Even Jia Xu might not be able to see the flaw.

But what could be done? Zhuge Jin knew Cao Ren too well.

……

However, making Cao Ren believe that Guan Yu and Huang Zhong were indeed at odds and really wanted to compete for merit and make reckless advances was only the first step in Zhuge Jin's plan.

Even if you believe it, there won't be any adverse effects for the time being.

At this moment, Cao Ren has already believed this, but he has not yet figured out how to take advantage of the mentality of competing for merit and being aggressive within Liu Bei's army.

For this reason, he had to ask Jia Xu again: "Wenhe, tell me, since Liu Bei's army is competing for merit and advancing rashly for their own interests, how should our army respond? Can we take advantage of this situation?"

Jia Xu could not help but frowned, and after thinking carefully for a while, he said cautiously: "These are just rumors now, and there is nothing we can use for the time being. We still have to wait for Guan Yu and Huang Zhong to make a move first, and then we can respond accordingly.

In my opinion, even if the enemy is eager to launch a new offensive, our army cannot defend everywhere. It is better to resist step by step, tire out the enemy, let the enemy penetrate deep into our territory, and then choose the opportunity to concentrate our forces and weaken part of it.

Liu Bei's troops are now not much weaker than ours. If they work together and move north, we will be unable to fight them and can only continue to hold our ground.

But if Guan Yu and Huang Zhong really don't obey each other and can't cooperate, and choose to advance separately, then our army can gather the main force, and when the enemy has a flaw to exploit, selectively defeat one of them.

As for the other enemy army, it is enough to use a small number of troops to hold them back. In this way, Liu Bei can be gradually weakened, the strength of the two armies can be stretched again, and the final reversal can be sought.

Moreover, the Prime Minister is now planning to confer the title of Duke of Wei, and this has reached a critical juncture. I heard that the first edict to confer the title of Duke of Wei, which Your Majesty asked Zhong Yuanchang to draft, has been humbly declined by the Prime Minister.

I think these procedures will be completed within half a month. By then, the Prime Minister will be conferred the title of Duke of Wei, and he will have to go back to Xudu in person. We can’t rush into anything at this time.”

Jia Xu helped Cao Ren sort out the timeline of events, and Cao Ren agreed with it and nodded frequently.

As mentioned earlier, when Liu Bei and Guan Yu met up, Cao Cao was planning to "take advantage of the peak of his military achievements in defeating Liu Biao and quickly get promoted to Duke."

This is also a big deal, which will inevitably cause Cao Cao's camp to focus more on the rear and the interior. Correspondingly, the front line must be slightly restrained.

Cao Ren thought through the causes and consequences and finally decided on the final strategy:
"Let's wait and see how Guan Yu and Huang Zhong will advance. In the first stage, we will wait and see, resist step by step, and shrink to preserve our combat power. When the enemy army reveals a flaw, if there is an opportunity, we will concentrate our forces to seek a counterattack!"

Cao Ren has already decided that as long as the target chosen by Guan Yu or Huang Zhong in the first phase is not too fatal, he will not forcefully rescue them.

If Cao's army was rescued without knowing its own strength, it would only waste Cao's strength. Yu Jin and Xu Huang had lost 40,000 troops in the previous two defeats, and the court could not afford to take risks.

Appropriately abandoning less important outer positions and shrinking the defense line to consume the enemy's manpower can also be a good expedient measure.

……

Cao Ren and Jia Xu gradually accepted the rumors spread by Zhuge Jin, and believed that Guan Yu's faction and Liu Qi and Huang Zhong's faction had a tendency to compete for merit and advance rashly. Unfortunately, Liu Bei and Zhuge Jin on the opposite side could not immediately sense the enemy's trick.

As Guan Yu's troops were ready to attack, on the eve of the battle, Liu Bei was still chatting and worrying about this issue when he met Zhuge Jin for a private drink and supper.

"Tzuyu, do you think the rumors you spread these days have really worked?"

When he said this, Liu Bei and Zhuge Jin were sitting on the same couch, with a small table in the middle of the couch, on which were several grilled meats and fish, and a large pot of wine. Liu Bei personally took the wine pot and poured wine for Zhuge Jin. After pouring the wine, Liu Bei couldn't help but exclaimed,
"How did you come up with this idea? In order to highlight Yunchang's desire for merit and battle, you even hinted that Ping'er was eager to make merit and asked her father to fight, causing all this trouble."

There is no doubt that it was Zhuge Jin's stroke of genius to drag Guan Ping into the situation of "Guan Yu's greed for merit and reckless advance."

At the welcoming banquet that day, when Zhuge Jin hastily dealt with Guan Yu, he had not thought about it in such detail.

But with his intelligence, after he calmed down, he reviewed and thought about it at night, and quickly improved his ideas from the day, and came up with this brilliant idea.

Facing his lord's admiration, Zhuge Jin couldn't say, "I've read history books, and I know that Cao Ren's fame in history was ruined because of his desire to flatter his son. So I think that it would be easiest for Cao Ren to believe if I portray Yun Chang as a man who would do anything to flatter his son."

Therefore, Zhuge Jin could only smile without saying anything, indicating that he had his own clever plan and the lord should just watch.

"Whether this plan will work or not will be clear in a few days. I believe that Cao Ren will not resist resolutely in the first battle, and Zhongda is good at attacking strongholds, so Lumen Mountain will surely be easily taken.

However, when Zhongda wins the first battle and Yunchang sends Tanzhi as the main general to attack Yuliangzhou, Cao Ren will definitely feel that Tanzhi is our army's weak spot and will resolutely counterattack. At that time, it will be a good opportunity for our army to defeat the enemy."

Liu Bei took a sip of the liquor and sighed with longing: "Then I will wait and see. I believe that this time everything will be as Ziyu predicted. I wonder how the history books of later generations will record such a divine prediction."

……

The next morning, Guan Yu's troops were fully prepared for the attack. The soldiers were fully prepared and, under the leadership of Gao Shun, boarded the ship to attack.

Guan Yu personally met with the vanguard Gao Shun at the Yicheng Wharf.

This time, he brought more than 50,000 reinforcements, and first allocated 30,000 to Gao Shun, letting Gao Shun lead the attack on Lumen Mountain.

Cao's army in Lumen Mountain was not very large. There were less than 10,000 direct troops of Cao's army, and a considerable number of surrendered troops under Cai Mao. Moreover, the mountain stronghold was not as difficult to attack as the city. With Gao Shun's ability to attack, 30,000 people were enough for him.

If there are more, the troops will easily get tired, and it will be difficult to retain enough fresh troops to launch a second wave of attack, which will affect the continued advance towards Yuliangzhou.

Secondly, the terrain of the Lumen Mountain battlefield cannot accommodate so many people, which would be a waste.

Of course, there were still some small details when Guan Yu was deploying his troops, which were different from Zhuge Jin's rough estimate before the war. Although Guan Yu had made up his mind to let Gao Shun take the lead in the first battle, he would give his son Guan Ping the opportunity to perform in the second battle in order to lure the enemy to counterattack at that time.

However, Guan Yu did not let Guan Ping play a supporting role in the first battle as Zhuge Jin expected. Instead, he asked Guan Ping to learn from Gao Shun and to gain more experience as Gao Shun's deputy general during the attack on Lumen Mountain.

Of course, in order to prevent people from accusing him of protecting his own shortcomings and promoting his son, Guan Yu did not give Guan Ping any direct military power during the Battle of Lumen Mountain. He only let Guan Ping follow Gao Shun's command in everything.

Before the battle, Guan Yu personally poured three bowls of wine for Gao Shun and said, "Zhongda, this time it's up to you. In order to make Cao Ren believe that there are factions fighting for merit within our army, the lord also specifically ordered:
We must compete fairly with Huang Zhong's troops and march north in two groups on the same day. It depends on your ability whether Huang Zhong takes Shandu County first or you take Lumen Mountain first.

After you take Lumen Mountain, if you feel tired and need to rest, that's fine. I will let Ping'er take charge of the main attack and lead the remaining troops to advance to Yuliangzhou."

Gao Shun usually seldom drank, but he had to drink the wine for the farewell party. He drank three bowls in a row and promised: "General Wei, rest assured! I will not fail you. We will definitely capture Lumen Mountain within three days!"

After saying this, Gao Shun boarded the ship and set sail.

Hundreds of warships of Liu Bei's army sailed upstream to the north.

After more than half a day's sailing, no more than forty or fifty miles, we landed on the north bank of the Han River.

As mentioned above, the distance from Yicheng to Xiangyang is only about 60 li, but the Han River is winding, so the whole journey is not in a straight line.

In the Lumenshan area, because of the obstruction of the mountains on the east bank, the Han River first turned west, bypassed the Lumenshan, and then turned east. So even if the straight-line distance is only more than 30 miles, the water route is 40 to 50 miles.

Of course, Gao Shun's attack had long been discovered by Cai Mao's naval patrol boats on the river.

But a few days ago, Liu Bei's army often dispatched hundreds of ships. In the end, Cai Mao's patrol boats discovered that the enemy was just fishing, so they did not take too much precautions.

So this time, Cai Mao's patrol boats were a little slack, and at first they still thought that Liu Bei's army was fishing. It was not until Gao Shun approached the dock near Lumen Mountain and began to try to land that the enemy reacted.

It is possible that this is another "cry wolf" type of test. After a long time of testing, the enemy will become numb and no longer take it seriously.

Because Cao's army was slow to react, they naturally missed the opportunity to "attack Gao Shun halfway across the river, take advantage of the enemy's lack of foothold after landing, and annihilate the enemy on the beach."

But in fact, even if Cao's army reacted quickly enough and had the courage to do so, they might not be able to defeat Gao Shun on the beach.

Maybe they will even lose lives, and Gao Shun's side will at most be involved in a tough battle, and the final result will not change.

……

Gao Shun successfully gained a foothold on the northeast bank of the Han River, occupied the dock town, and arranged his troops into battle formation.

After doing all this, he planned to start attacking the camp on the mountain.

Cao's camp on Lumen Mountain was very close to the Han River. One of the small hills was less than a hundred steps away from the river bank.

The crossbow arrows thrown down from the hill, especially the crossbow, could even block part of the waterway on the east side of the river.

It is precisely because of this geographical advantage of Lumen Mountain that the Mongolian Yuan army deliberately attacked Lumen Mountain during the Battle of Xiangyang in history in an attempt to cut off the Southern Song army's supply to Xiangyang from the Han River.

Just now, when Gao Shun's fleet passed through this section of the river, it was also shot by arrows from the enemy on the top of the mountain. However, most of the warships Gao Shun chose for this battle had roofs, or at least large warships, and he did not use small boats.

In addition, when the fleet passed, the soldiers in the cabins were specially ordered to hold shields and be on guard, and all the shooting holes in the cabins were blocked, so the arrows shot by Cao's army did not pose much threat.

Only the iron-feathered arrows shot from the crossbows were really powerful. If they hit the target, they would most likely penetrate the deck and cause some casualties. Fortunately, the number of Cao's crossbows was small, and Gao Shun's troops managed to pass that section of the river smoothly.

Gao Shun himself was from another place and was not familiar with the terrain features here. After gaining a foothold, he quickly pulled in the army guide to help indicate the attack route on the spot.

Some things can only be roughly outlined on the map. Military maps of this era do not depict terrain in sufficient detail.

Even if Zhuge Jin had cheats, it would be impossible to turn important battlefield terrain into a sand table without sufficient field surveys.

So many times, we still have to rely on on-site instructions.

Gao Shun turned to a young man in his early twenties and asked without hesitation:
"General Xiang, you have also lived in Lumen Mountain for a long time. Can you tell me how to plan the route for attacking the mountain?"

The young soldier bowed to Gao Shun and began to elaborate:
"General, I think that Lumen Mountain is high and steep, and there is a valley in the north. We can attack from the north to the south, following the terrain of the mountain.

However, we must also be wary of ambushes set up by Cao's army on both sides of the valley road, so we must not rush or advance recklessly.

The general can also leave a reserve. Once Cao's army is attracted by the main attacking troops in the north and sets up an ambush, the Xifeng stronghold will be empty.

I know of another very secluded path that can lead to the West Peak. As long as the top of the peak is empty, we can launch a surprise attack from here. All we need to do is do this..."

The young soldier spoke eloquently. Gao Shun followed his gestures and understood everything clearly. He soon had a clear idea of the specific attack plan.

Gao Shun couldn't help but praise him a few times: "As expected, you know the terrain of Lumen Mountain very well. You are so young and you can do this. You will definitely be a good military officer in the future. This is a rare opportunity. Now that you are accompanying the army to assist in military affairs, you should learn more."

"Thank you for your guidance, General. I will certainly do my best." The young soldier expressed his opinion modestly.

It turned out that this person was the nephew of Wuchang County Magistrate Xiang Lang, named Xiang Chong.

In terms of age, Xiang Lang is Xu Shu's senior brother, several years older than Zhuge Jin. He is now in his thirties and approaching forty.

His nephew Xiang Chong is a dozen years younger than him and is already in his twenties. Now is the right age for him to make achievements.

Thanks to his uncle's relationship, Xiang Chong was able to serve in Liu Bei's army four years ago.

However, he chose the military career path and started from the grassroots level. There had been no wars in Kanto in the past four years, so even with the help of his uncle, he could only become a village chief.

This time, Gao Shun needed a military officer who was proficient in the geography of the area around Lumen Mountain. Xiang Lang recommended his nephew, saying that his nephew had lived with him in Lumen Mountain since he was a child. Only then did Xiang Chong get the opportunity to show his abilities.

Joining the army was just a temporary position and did not represent a rank. Because Xiang Chong had not yet made any achievements, Zhuge Jin only temporarily promoted Xiang Chong to the position of Quchang.

When he really helped Gao Shun in this battle, he would be able to convince the people. If his contribution was great enough, it would not be impossible to be promoted to the next level. But if he couldn't even lead the way, he would not be ashamed to be the leader of the group, and he would have to be demoted.

The capable ones are promoted and the mediocre ones are demoted. This is fair.

Relying on Xiang Chong's plan, Gao Shun quickly made the deployment before attacking the mountain. Each army followed his dispatch and took up their attack positions.

Some reserve troops who needed to hide their strength continued to hide in the dock town, or even continued to hide on the warships, waiting until after dark.

Gao Shun brought Guan Ping as his deputy general this time, so he chose to lead the main force and attack from the north valley. He then gave some Danyang soldiers who were good at climbing to Guan Ping as the second ambush, and left Xiang Chong to Guan Ping as a guide, and acted according to the situation.

(End of this chapter)