My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 675: Set up the oil pan and wait for Zhuge Jin's envoy to persuade him to surrender

A few days after Yu Jin was recruited, the siege of Xiangyang took place.

Huang Zhong, who was in charge of besieging this place, was really bored for a while.

When the Minister of Justice assigned tasks, he gave Guan Yu and Zhang Fei the task of attacking Cao Ren and Xu Huang in the north of Han, leaving him to besiege Yu Jin in the south of Han. But Xiangyang was strong and steep, and the cost of a strong attack was too high. The Minister of Justice told him to besiege but not attack. How could he achieve success in such a task?
Therefore, Huang Zhong was depressed for a while at the beginning, thinking that "Si Tu really still does not fully trust my ability. He used me in the Battle of Dangyang only because it happened in a hurry and none of the trusted generals under the command of other Taiwei arrived. Si Tu had no one to use, so he had to use me."

Until recently, Zhuge Jin instructed Huang Zhong to launch a few more feint attacks and force Yu Jin to accept the prisoners and disrupt the enemy's morale. Huang Zhong's mood became high again.

"Situ really hasn't forgotten my talent for commanding troops! Situ still values me! I must fight with all my strength and worry about it every day to be worthy of Situ's trust!"

Huang Zhong thought so in his heart and was very eager to see the result.

After the captives were released back into Xiangyang City, Huang Zhong stepped up patrols almost every day. He also ordered archers and river-filling auxiliary troops to do some sabotage work and had catapults throw a few rounds of stones.

I wanted to see if the enemy's defense was lax and if the soldiers' morale was low. In short, I wanted to see some immediate results.

Unfortunately, after three or five days, Huang Zhong did not get any results.

Although daily firepower preparations can still achieve some killing results, it is impossible to capture enemy corpses or heads with this kind of shooting method. Even if you kill someone, you don't know how many you have killed, and you can't check your achievements, which is really frustrating.

"What's going on? Why is Yu Jin still defending so vigorously? Is it that Situ's strategy has no effect? The released captives failed to shake the will of the Xiangyang defenders?" Huang Zhong couldn't help thinking this several times, but then he seemed to think that such a thought was too rebellious, and hurriedly suppressed this subconscious thought.

"Impossible! Situ is a master of foresight and has made brilliant decisions over the past decade. He has never made a mistake! Huang Hansheng, Huang Hansheng, why are you so impatient? How dare you have such a reckless thought? Situ told you to wait, so just wait. Why are you so impatient?"

There is no way, because the Zhuge brothers have had too much “accumulated trust” over the past decade.

Huang Zhong endured it for another two days, and finally came back from inspecting the siege defense line that day and made his daily report to Zhuge Jin.

Seeing that he was not eating or drinking and had a lot on his mind, Zhuge Jin took the initiative to bring up the topic: "General Huang, why have you been so impetuous these days? Is it because you are tired of leading the army to besiege the city for so many days? Now Yu Jin dares not to act rashly. The old general is not energetic enough, so you can let another deputy general watch over him for a few days. Alternating between tension and relaxation is the way of civil and military affairs."

When Huang Zhong heard that Zhuge Jin wanted to give him a leave, he naturally refused to accept his old age. He didn't care about the taboos at this time and quickly made it clear:
"Don't worry, Situ! Although I am over sixty years old, my arms can still draw a three-stone bow, and my whole body still has a thousand pounds of strength. How could I feel tired for such an easy job? It's just... it's just..."

"Just what?" Zhuge Jin asked with a smile, shaking his folding fan.

Huang Zhong gritted his teeth and said, "I just wondered, those captives have been released into the city for six or seven days, why are the defenders still not slacking off? Could it be that the strategy arranged by the Minister of War... has not worked?
"Sir, please forgive me! I'm not questioning your strategy, I've just been feeling anxious after seeing no results for so many days. If I've made any mistakes, please forgive me!"

Zhuge Jin snapped his folding fan shut, smiled calmly, stood up gracefully, paced back and forth for a few steps, and then tapped Huang Zhong's shoulder with the fan bone:

"If you have anything to ask, just ask directly. A wise man may make mistakes even if he makes many plans. You don't have to blindly trust the plans of me and Kong Ming. Even if you ask the wrong question, after I enlighten you, you will be able to improve and won't make the same mistake next time.

However, Cao's army was clearly slacking off this time, yet the old general didn't notice. This clearly isn't a problem of strategy, but rather a lack of careful observation of the enemy."

Huang Zhong was quite moved when he saw that Si Tu did not blame him for worrying too much, but patiently encouraged him to learn more and ask more questions.

It turned out that Situ had no prejudice against those who came first or those who came later. Veterans who had followed him for more than ten years could get Situ's guidance, and people like him who had just been here for a year or two could also get Situ's guidance as long as they worked hard.

After figuring it out, Huang Zhong hurriedly asked gratefully: "Please give me some advice, Situ!"

Zhuge Jin walked out of the tent and stood in the open area in front of the tent. He first looked up at the sky, and then pointed far away in the direction of Xiangyang City in the east with his fan bone.

Zhuge Jin himself did not turn his head, nor did he look in the direction he pointed, he just pointed casually. However, Huang Zhong looked in the direction Zhuge Jin pointed without hesitation as if he had received an order from the gods.

"As a general, one should know Sun Tzu's five things and check them with strategies to find out the truth. The old general has been inspecting the siege line for days. Didn't he have someone observe how much smoke there is in the city during cooking time and how long it lasts?"

Huang Zhong was stunned. He had led troops for many years and of course he had some knowledge of military tactics. Although he did not know how to use strategies, his basic skills in leading troops were still solid.

As soon as Zhuge Jin mentioned cooking smoke, he was able to react to the symbolic meaning of cooking smoke and what it represented.

So after a brief thought, he quickly said, "I have indeed neglected to observe this point. Thank you for your advice, Situ! However, since ancient times, observing the enemy's cooking smoke is mostly to determine the increase or decrease of the enemy's military strength by confirming whether the number of enemy soldiers eating has increased or decreased.

Now Yu Jin is surrounded by our army in Xiangyang City, and the reinforcements cannot enter, and his original troops cannot break out. How can the number of troops increase or decrease? Isn't it more important to observe the smoke from cooking fires during field battles? Why observe the smoke from cooking fires during a siege?"

What Huang Zhong said is also in line with the correct way of military strategy. When Sun Bin and Pang Juan observed the smoke from cooking and counted the number of stoves, they were fighting long-distance raids and pursuits in mobile warfare, and the number of troops changed quickly, so they needed to confirm.

In a fixed-position battle, with neither side moving around, what is there to observe?
Zhuge Jin just shook his head helplessly, and asked Huang Zhong to take a closer look.

Of course, this place is quite far from the city, so even if Huang Zhong looks carefully he may not be able to see any clues.

Therefore, Zhuge Jin made two preparations. He asked his chief clerk to bring a copy of the data sent back by the scouts a few days ago, which had been filed and organized into a table.

After watching for a while, Huang Zhong felt that the smoke from cooking in the city at this point seemed to be more than usual. However, it was so far away, and the smoke from the military camp and the houses where the people lived in the city were mixed together, making it more difficult to confirm at first glance.

He could only say in general terms that he felt there was indeed more smoke from cooking, and then he looked at the account form given to him by Zhuge Jin, the chief clerk, and confirmed this judgment.

Huang Zhong looked at the form he had just received. The data records and text notes on it were really detailed.

After just a few glances, he realized that Situ's requirements for observing the enemy situation were much higher than his, and cooking smoke was just a very small item to observe.

The Situ's form for observing the enemy situation also contains many other things that the scout officers are required to write down and report. It is much higher and more detailed than the requirements for scouts by other military generals of the same period, and can better guide the deployment of war.

Sure enough, this is the difference! Huang Zhong had just come into contact with these things and couldn't help but be convinced.

So the other high-ranking generals under the command of the Taiwei were usually instructed by Situ in this way during battles? Those generals were too lucky.

Zhuge Jin waited for him to see some clues before he said slowly and calmly: "Although Yu Jin is trapped in an isolated city without reinforcements and unable to break out, but observing the smoke from cooking, we found that there is more smoke. Since the number of people has not changed, it is enough to prove that each soldier has eaten more food on average.

Therefore, Yu Jin was probably imitating my old trick of "singing and measuring sand" in order to dispel the fear of the soldiers in the city about the bad news that "Cao Ren has abandoned them and will no longer transport food to them", and deceive the soldiers in the city that there is still enough food.

What a pity, it's too crude, using the same trick I used more than ten years ago to trick me... Hehe."

After hearing this advice, Huang Zhong finally understood the truth.

He could not help but admire Situ's wisdom and keen insight. At the same time, he despised Yu Jin's poor imitation and commented with a sneer:

"It's a pity that Yu Jin could come up with this idea. Isn't this just showing off one's skills in front of an expert? If so, Yu Jin is just trying to show off. When food becomes truly scarce, won't he be forced to surrender?
Yu Jin has resorted to such a desperate measure. Situ wondered if he really intended to surrender at that time? Did he think that this would be a way to repay Cao Cao?"

Zhuge Jin turned around and patted Huang Zhong on the shoulder: "You have made progress. I think Yu Jin won't be able to hold on for much longer. This man is not so determined to die rather than surrender, and he should have seen the general trend clearly.

Now he is still struggling here, as if to pretend that he has done his best. I guess he is also afraid of Cao Cao's harsh punishment on surrendered generals and soldiers, so he wants to play a bit of misery to squeeze Cao Cao in the future. "

Zhuge Jin had no doubt that Yu Jin would surrender.

He believed in the existence of this possibility more than anyone else in the world, and it could even be said that he was more confident than Yu Jin himself.

However, Zhuge Jin has been trying to figure out what Yu Jin is worried about. Based on his observations and Yu Jin's latest reaction, Zhuge Jin feels that the key reason for Yu Jin's delay and hesitation is that he is worried that Cao Cao will punish his family members.

Cao's army was very harsh in punishing the families of surrendered generals and soldiers.

The fact that Cao's generals were willing to fight to the death even when they knew that the situation was hopeless and they had been abandoned by their friendly forces was most likely due to this reason.

Of course, in history, Cao Cao did not punish Yu Jin's family members for his surrender in the Battle of Xiang and Fan. Cao Cao even lamented, "Yu Jin has been with me for thirty years, but when faced with adversity, he is no match for Pang De."

But the problem is that this is hindsight, a certainty that only those who confuse cause and effect can have.

Just because Zhuge Jin can be so confident doesn’t mean Yu Jin himself can foresee the future.

The two sides are still in a state of hostility, and Zhuge Jin cannot tell Yu Jin "Don't worry and surrender, Cao Cao will not implicate your family this time. He also wants to show his tolerance towards the old man who has followed him for many years to stabilize people's hearts and the situation."

Even if Zhuge Jin tried every possible way to persuade Yu Jin, he would not believe it and would only regard it as a trick of the enemy to shake his will.

Therefore, Zhuge Jin could only think of another way.

If it can be done, the difficulty of this task is probably comparable to sneaking into the other person's mind and implanting a consciousness in "Inception".

It’s difficult.

Zhuge Jin himself had only just figured out these principles. Huang Zhong, who was standing next to him, had just come into contact with this field today, so it was naturally difficult for him to understand.

Huang Zhong was confused and didn't know what to do, so he had to ask honestly and humbly: "Does Situ have a good idea to solve this dilemma? It would be great if it can make Yu Jin not worry about his clansmen being liquidated by Cao Cao."

Zhuge Jin did not answer immediately, but waved his folding fan more vigorously.

He thought about it earnestly for a while, taking the problem very seriously and not sparing in mobilizing more of his brainpower.

After a long time, Zhuge Jin sighed softly and said in a tone of inquiry: "As for the solution, it is not completely impossible. In fact, we can follow our previous strategy and do it again in the opposite direction.

"Hasn't our army previously spent so much effort just to convey to Yu Jin the message that 'Cao Cao and Cao Ren no longer care about Yu Jin's life or death'? Now we can also try to convey to Cao Ren and even other Cao army generals in the rear that 'Yu Jin is still doing his utmost to maintain the morale of the Xiangyang defenders', so that they can bear witness in the future."

Huang Zhong couldn't understand such profound logic, and was a little confused. He thought for a long time before he couldn't help asking:
"How can we do this? Can our army directly tell Cao Ren that Yu Jin is still struggling to hold on? Cao Ren will not believe us, and it will also harm Yu Jin."

Zhuge Jin smiled and said, "Of course we are not going to deliver it in person, but we are hinting to Yu Jin and giving him a chance to deliver it in person."

Huang Zhong had a slight understanding after hearing this step, but he still couldn't fully grasp it.

Fortunately, Zhuge Jin's strategy did not require Huang Zhong to fully understand it, and it was not Huang Zhong who would execute it anyway.

Zhuge Jin saw his reaction and knew that the old general was still a little confused about these conspiracies and tricks, so he patted him on the shoulder and gestured:

"Don't think too much. Find a few reliable guards. I will send an envoy into the city to negotiate with Yu Jin and persuade him to surrender. You don't have to worry about the rest, General."

Huang Zhong quickly took the order and went to help prepare the team to escort the envoy.

Zhuge Jin also quickly found Deng Zhi, a Cao official from his Situ Mansion.

(Note: Deng Zhi was previously Zhuge Jin's "Cao subordinate". Later, due to a series of performance, he was promoted to "Cao official". If you forget the cause and effect, you can refer to the plot of Chapter 590.)
As a Cao official, Deng Zhi was supposed to follow Zhuge Jin around and do his work always at his beck and call.

After he arrived at the commander's tent, Zhuge Jin gave him instructions straight away: "Bo Miao, I have an errand, you should prepare for it in the next two days. I will write a letter to persuade Yu Jin to surrender, and you can take it into the city. I have listed a guideline for how to tell Yu Jin, and you can respond accordingly when the time comes. Just do this..."

Zhuge Jin explained the precautions in detail and asked Deng Zhi to repeat them and talk about his own experience.

After confirming that everything was correct, Zhuge Jin gave his final advice: "After all, the two armies are now at war, and the situation is tense. Will Bo Miao be afraid?"

Deng Zhi quickly said, "Don't worry, Situ! Yu Jin is already in a difficult situation, and there is only one step left. I am here to help Situ to give Yu Jin a way out. Although it seems dangerous, it is actually as safe as Mount Tai. Why should you be afraid?"

Zhuge Jin nodded, which was a new level of affirmation for Deng Zhi's loyalty, but he still reminded him: "Even so, in order to avoid being caught, Yu Jin will definitely scare you when you first go there, and act out his loyalty to Cao Cao to shut up the onlookers.

Don't be too stubborn, or he won't have the chance to give in. After the matter is done, as long as Yu Jin surrenders, I will promote you to the position of Si Tu Zhu Bu."

Although Zhuge Jin has a very high chance of success in persuading Yu Jin to surrender in the long run, he should still try to speed it up as much as possible.

Deng Zhi's trip was indeed somewhat life-threatening, so he couldn't let him work for nothing. Promising him promotions and rewards was also a good way to employ people.

Upon hearing this, Deng Zhi was very grateful and immediately said that he would complete the mission even if he was torn to pieces.

……

Two days later, Huang Zhong organized another deterrent feint attack and ordered the catapult troops to concentrate their firepower for a while in advance.

Giving Yu Jin some more scorn would also help dampen the arrogance of the die-hard hawks among the Xiangyang defenders.

After applying eye drops and killing Deng Zhi's arrogance, Huang Zhong gave Deng Zhi a sweet date after beating him with a club. He ordered people to raise the banner of the negotiation envoys and sent a team of shield soldiers wearing steel armor to escort Deng Zhi forward and shouted outside the city gate:

"Yu Jin! You're already surrounded, with no reinforcements. Even Cao Ren can't save himself. Why are you still hanging on? If you abandon the dark side and join the light, the Grand Marshal and the Minister of Rites will give you a good ending! When two armies clash, envoys must not be killed!"

Upon hearing this, the Xiangyang defenders on the city wall did not dare to act on their own and reported to Yu Jin.

Yu Jin did not dare to be reckless. He did not immediately order the arrows to be shot. Instead, he personally rushed to the city wall and looked down to confirm.

Seeing that the other party was waving the banner of an envoy, Yu Jin was shocked and confused for a moment, and he didn't know what to do.

Among the other generals nearby, some were even more die-hard Cao Cao loyalists than he was, and they urged him on: "General, why not just shoot them with arrows? If we receive Zhuge Jin's envoy, no matter what the final outcome, if word gets to the Prime Minister, it will be bad for you."

Yu Jin couldn't help but give him a cold look in his heart, but there were some things he couldn't say out loud. He pondered for a long time before finding an excuse to contact her, and said:

"If we execute the envoy outright, Zhuge Jin will become enraged and force Huang Zhong to attack with all his might. Wouldn't that be self-defeating? After all, the enemy is stronger and we are weaker. If we want to live up to the Prime Minister's trust and defend the territory for the court, we have to feign compromise with the enemy. If we can trick Zhuge Jin into temporarily suspending the siege, we'll have a chance to catch our breath."

After Yu Jin said so, those die-hard hawkish generals could not find any evidence against him. Only a few of them were still trying to find out the flaws:
"But what if we receive the enemy envoy and cause the enemy to become more arrogant and damage the reputation of the court? They might even think we are afraid of them!"

Yu Jin was so irritated by such nitpicking that he could hardly hold back his anger, but he still had to patiently think of an excuse.

After stroking his beard and pondering for a few seconds, Yu Jin finally had an idea and thought of finding a way down. He then ordered, "Let the swordsmen prepare! Set up an oil pan in front of the shogunate! When the envoy comes in, let two rows of halberd soldiers greet him with halberds! I want to see how brave the enemy is."

Yu Jin had his men set up halberds and oil pans, so Cao Cao's loyal generals naturally had nothing to say. They immediately made preparations, then used a hanging basket to lift Deng Zhi up the wall and let him into the city.

(End of this chapter)