My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 706: Liu Bei: It's not that I can't take Xu Du, I'm just worried that Cao Cao will take the emperor as a hostage
The serious illness of the Queen's father, Fu Wan, Marquis of Buqi, slightly disrupted Cao Cao's plan to forcibly relocate all the nobles in Xu Du to Luoyang.

Although Cao Cao blamed Wei Huang and Geng Ji for their incompetence, and secretly resented the imperial physician Ji Ping for not concealing Fu Wan's illness, he was too busy with affairs to think too much about it.

After feeling a little resentful for a while, I put the matter out of my mind.

Although Wei Huang and Geng Ji were also frightened by these setbacks, they did not want to oppose Cao Cao because of this.

If there are viewers who have a God's perspective and infer the final outcome of history, they may feel that Wei Huang, Geng Ji, Ji Ping and others were all loyal and righteous men of the Han Dynasty.

Later in history, in the 23rd year of Jian'an, these people participated in the planning of an uprising to overthrow Cao Cao. Unfortunately, they were suppressed by Wang Bi and Yan Kuang under Cao Cao's command with force, and they were all killed in the end. They could be regarded as the ultimate loyal subjects.

(Note: Wang Bi has died in this book. Friends who missed it can go back and review it. He died in the fifth year of Jian'an when Dong Cheng and Lu Bu rebelled against Cao in Xudu. Lu Bu replaced Wang Bi and Cao Chun before his death.)
However, when reading historical materials from the late Han Dynasty, the most taboo thing is to use stereotyped images. In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, many characters do not have a growth arc. Their initial stance and personality will last a lifetime.

However, in real historical records, the mentality, personality, and abilities of many characters have changed greatly.

People like Wei Huang and Geng Ji were, at the beginning, Cao Cao's confidants who were promoted from the grassroots level. One was promoted to Sizhi in the Prime Minister's Office, and the other started as an ordinary Cao Yuan in the Prime Minister's Office, and later became Shizhong and Shaofu.

These people were not from the imperial court, but from the minor officials of the prime minister's office. They were Cao Cao's own people with "good family background". In Cao Cao's early days, before he showed any signs of usurping the Han Dynasty, they were all truly loyal to Cao Cao.

According to the original development, Cao Cao was conferred the title of Duke of Wei, granted the Nine Gifts, killed Empress Fu's entire family, and finally was conferred the title of King of Wei. His ambition gradually expanded to the point where it was obvious that he was going to usurp the Han Dynasty. These people gradually repented and joined the anti-Cao camp.

But now it is only the 14th year of Jian'an, and of the bad deeds Cao Cao originally wanted to do, he has only accomplished two: being conferred the title of Duke of Wei and coercing the emperor. In addition, Cao Cao also returned several of the nine gifts bestowed on him by the emperor and only accepted six.

As for Cao Cao's cruelty to Empress Fu's family, it was just beginning to show some signs. Wei Huang, Geng Ji and others naturally did not accumulate enough "anger" to the point of being determined to rebel against Cao.

People change slowly until they can no longer tolerate it.

It was completely reasonable for Cao Cao to continue to trust them.

……

In order to appease the people of the world and preserve his own reputation, Cao Cao did not force the royal family and Empress Fu's relatives to set off as soon as possible.

Families of other officials whose travel is delayed due to illness or bereavement are also allowed to solve their own transportation problems to Luoyang.

This information was public, and Cao Cao did not deliberately conceal it.

In particular, as long as there are a few court officials who meet the above conditions and choose to arrange their own transportation to Luoyang and officially leave Xudu, the relevant news will naturally spread out at the first time and be known to outsiders.

With the conclusion of the Battle of Nanyang, Liu Bei's army moved Guan Yu from Luyang and Liangxian to Bowang and Yexian. Zhang Fei, who had moved north from Runan, remains in a standoff with Sun Quan and Cao Zhen in Shangcai.

Therefore, Liu Bei's camp also increased the intensity of its espionage and reconnaissance work in the direction of Xu Du to the maximum extent possible.

After all, Zhuge Jin and Zhuge Liang had warned Liu Bei long ago that if their army could threaten Xu Du, Cao Cao would most likely move the capital. Liu Bei was just waiting for Cao Cao to make a move so that he could respond accordingly.

From a military perspective, collecting as much information as possible about the enemy forces in Xudu and surrounding counties may also be helpful to Guan Yu and Zhang Fei's subsequent military operations. So no matter how you look at it, Liu Bei cannot relax in intelligence work.

The two sides did not deliberately block the route, but the other side tried hard to find out. However, four or five days later, the news that "Queen Fu's father could not move due to illness, and other officials in the court who had postponed their trips due to illness or mourning were allowed to prepare their own trips" spread to Bowang County and Shangcai County.

Then it was sent to Wancheng by a fast messenger and presented to Liu Bei and Zhuge brothers.

Liu Bei had just come to Wancheng in person in recent days to inspect the post-war reception work, and also to declare his victory and the complete end of the Jingbei Campaign.

After all, Wancheng was the seat of the last county in the Jingbei region that Liu Bei recaptured, and its symbolic significance was immense. Even if Liu Bei had no intention of launching a further northern expedition, he would have personally visited Wancheng to boost morale.

In the past, if Cao Cao had deliberately blocked what happened, Liu Bei would have needed at least a month to know. But now it only took five days, which was at least five times faster.

But judging from common sense, this is completely normal, because the area controlled by Liu Bei's army is getting closer and closer to Xu Du.

It took more than a month at first, because Liu Bei was in Wuchang, which was at least three or four counties away from Xudu. Now it only takes five days, because Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are only four or five counties away from Xudu.

When Liu Bei heard the news, he was holding a banquet in the government office in Wancheng to celebrate the victory of his generals. Zhuge brothers also sat on both sides of the banquet, helping to toast and comfort the generals.

Therefore, when Liu Bei learned that Cao Cao was actually moving the capital and encountered obstacles, he was in a good mood.

He drank three cups of wine with everyone, appeased the generals, and asked everyone to eat and drink well and watch the singing and dancing. Then he waved his hand proudly, asking the Zhuge brothers to come closer to the table, and then whispered in a voice that only the two of them could hear:

"Cao Cao's attempt to relocate the families of officials was blocked by the royal family, meritorious officials and nobles, who used the excuses of mourning and illness. According to the news sent back by the spies, even the families of generals who "died for the country" such as Yu Jin were included in this preferential treatment.

Wouldn't that be a convenient way for our army to provide support? Ziyu, how is the contact with the person I asked you to send to Xudu going? What should we do next?"

The reason why Liu Bei asked this question was naturally because he had already made preparations. He had thought about taking advantage of the opportunity of Cao Cao's relocation of the capital to take advantage of the chaos and get out the families of generals such as Yu Jin who had secretly surrendered, in order to win Yu Jin's complete loyalty.

At the same time, it can also take the opportunity to further undermine Cao Cao's prestige.

Zhuge Jin was the one who suggested the relevant matters at the beginning, but Zhuge Jin himself was not responsible for the specific implementation. He was only responsible for the overall supervision and listening to the reports. So when Liu Bei remembered to care about this matter, he could only catch him and ask.

Zhuge Jin was quite familiar with the progress of the relevant matters, so he didn't need to listen to the report immediately. He just spoke roughly from memory: "Since Cao Cao allows the families of royal relatives and nobles who have suffered bereavement or illness to arrange their own travel, this provides us with great convenience.

Our spies have already contacted Yu Jin's family, carrying a secret letter from him, but they've been unable to do so. Now, we just need to send another letter, informing them where to go after leaving Xudu. We can then have Yide lead the cavalry, making a short detour north from Yancheng to meet them. We'll surely be able to reach them without any problems.

From Shangcai and Yancheng eastward, although all the counties are controlled by Cao, there are no strategic locations to defend on the plains. Yide's cavalry can simply bypass the fortified cities and infiltrate a hundred or eighty miles north. It will be easy. As long as they stay within the range that the cavalry can cover in a day, they will be able to do so.

Zhuge Jin didn't even need to look at the map or think for too long. He quickly combined the geographical features and came up with a solution to guide the escape.

After all, there are only two ways for those who escaped from Xudu to go south to join Liu Bei and enter the area occupied by Liu Bei's army.

Either go to Bowang via Ye County and join Guan Yu's army, or go around to Yancheng and join Zhang Fei in the south.

Guan Yu had to cross the Tongbai Mountains and pass through mountain passes, so he would definitely be easily checked.

As for Yancheng and Shangcai, it was a vast plain, and Zhang Fei had successfully infiltrated them before.

Sun Quan remained in hiding and did not dare to intercept. Cao Zhen, on the other hand, was fearless and tried to intercept him once. However, after being severely beaten by Zhang Fei, he has now become obedient.

Therefore, they would definitely find an opportunity to surrender to Zhang Fei. Liu Bei's army only needed to tell them where Zhang Fei was and where he could go to meet him. The rest was up to the surrenderers themselves.

This principle is easy to understand, so Liu Bei grasped it immediately, nodded and agreed, indicating that he would do it according to Zhuge Jin's idea.

Saving the families of Yu Jin and others was not a big deal, and it was not worth taking up too much of Liu Bei and Zhuge Jin's energy. Everyone knew that it was not important whether they were completely rescued or how many were rescued.

What’s important is that the top leaders of Liu Bei’s camp put their heart into it, came up with a feasible plan, and worked hard to rescue them.

As long as this step is achieved, even if there are some casualties in the end, it will only make Yu Jin hate Cao Cao more, and hate Cao Cao for wanting to kill everyone and take their families as hostages, thus making Cao Cao lose more support.

Therefore, Liu Bei quickly shifted his attention to other points and wanted to discuss with his Zhuge brothers to see if they could make better and more effective use of Cao Cao's relocation of the capital to gain more practical benefits in other areas.

Of course, this topic is rather complicated and not suitable for in-depth discussion at a celebratory banquet.

After talking for a while, Liu Bei made the excuse that he had drunk too much and asked everyone to eat and drink. He got up to change his clothes. In fact, after changing his clothes, he returned to the inner room, dismissed his attendants, and had a private chat with Zhuge brothers.

……

"Ziyu, Kongming, in your opinion, Cao Cao encountered an unexpected incident when moving the capital. Can our army be more radical in military terms, further pressure Cao, or even... do something that will be of decisive help to the great cause?"

After closing the door, Liu Bei no longer hid anything and asked the question that concerned him most directly.

Is it possible to take some additional risks in the military field based on the original plan?

Liu Bei certainly knew that the Zhuge brothers had already made plans for him. This time, he was not pursuing the capture of Xudu, nor was he pursuing a protracted tug-of-war with Cao Cao on the Guandong Plain. Liu Bei did not have the strength to achieve a decisive victory over Cao Cao in a full-scale war of attrition. Once the tug-of-war turned into a war of attrition, the damage to the people would be too great.

However, things are always changing, and this incident allowed Liu Bei to see an additional possibility.

That is, the emperor might not really want to leave immediately. At least a considerable number of the emperor's relatives and friends had this idea - of course, it was also possible that the father-in-law Fu Wan was simply ill and was indeed seriously ill.

Liu Bei didn't want to miss this opportunity to make some extra money. Why not take advantage of something that he could get for free?

However, facing Liu Bei's impulsiveness, the Zhuge brothers still put the brakes on him slightly from different angles.

Zhuge Liang's answer was relatively balanced. He was just being cautious and did not want any complications. He also admitted that things would not be that simple. This little accident would not cause much trouble and would not affect the outcome of the adventure.

After hearing this, Liu Bei nodded slightly, as if he was interested, but did not immediately express his opinion.

Zhuge Jin, who was standing by, knew that his lord was still unwilling to give up and wanted to hear what he had to say. If his opinion was different from that of his second brother, then Liu Bei would definitely still hope to adopt his opinion.

However, Zhuge Jin analyzed the situation from a different perspective and came to a conclusion similar to Zhuge Liang's - he also did not agree to hastily change plans because of these small surprises or additional good news.

Of course, the reasons Zhuge Jin gave were more bloody and straightforward, not as upright as those given by Zhuge Liang.

"My lord, even if Cao Cao encountered a minor incident, we should not take advantage of it or change our course. These incidents are not big enough to bring about any decisive changes. The key to the matter is that the emperor wants to return to Luoyang, and no one can stop him from doing so. It is legitimate and reasonable.

Luoyang had always been the capital of the Han Dynasty. Even when Cao Cao forcibly relocated it to Xudu, he only dared to say that it was because Luoyang was short of food and that he needed to facilitate transportation. Now that he wanted to go back, he also claimed to be returning to the official capital of the Han Dynasty. How could he be stopped?
However, if we take military risks and interrupt this process, trying to surround and rescue the emperor and force him to stay in Yuzhou, no one in the world will think well of us for this, but we may end up making things worse. In short, the result is unpredictable.

However, if we let the emperor go back to Luoyang this time, and Cao Cao wants to move the emperor to Chang'an when we attack Luoyang again in the future, then he is completely wrong. Since Emperor Guangwu, the capital of the Han Dynasty has been Luoyang. The trip to Chang'an more than ten years ago was Dong Zhuo's reckless order. As the emperor grew older and took power, he also wanted to return to Luoyang.

Everything can only happen once, and Cao Cao's return to Luoyang this time was justified, but when he wanted to leave Luoyang again a few years later, he was in such a mess. He praised Luoyang today and created more sacred reasons for Luoyang, but these reasons will backfire on him in the future.

"Since that's the case, why don't we hold back temporarily this time, ensuring that Cao Cao will be defeated next time and continue to commit more evil deeds until he is defeated? Anyway, even if we try our best this time, we can't achieve a decisive victory. Why not save our righteous cause and force Cao Cao to retreat next time?"

As Zhuge Jin spoke, he also analyzed the situation from a military perspective for Liu Bei: Guan Yu's position was now impassable. The terrain of Tongbai, Funiu, and Songshan Mountains was extremely difficult, and the disadvantage to the attacker was obvious.

At the moment, the only route that Liu Bei's army can advance is Zhang Fei's, but Cao Cao has already reinforced Xu Huang to the Yancheng line to block Zhang Fei. Zhang Fei has no hope of forcing his way through.

Liu Bei also knew his own weight, but he said unwillingly: "Then this time is just to pave the way for the future? We have to do something, right?"

Zhuge Jin immediately took over the conversation, "Of course we have to do something, but not militarily, but politically, through propaganda and psychological warfare. As mentioned earlier, we stopped the attack this time to allow Cao Cao to move the capital, in order to force him to move the capital even more unjustly next time."

Then, we cannot keep silent but must make this truth clear, lay the groundwork and publicize it to the people of the world in a subtle way, and seize the full and real political benefits.

I do not recommend that Yide continue its offensive northward, but we must not let the people of the world think that we are unable to fight. Instead, we must let them think that we have the strength to fight, but are only holding back because we are afraid that Cao Cao will take the emperor hostage and threaten to kill him.

If we say that what we cannot do is because we don't want to, and that we are worried that the rebels will endanger the safety of the emperor, then people all over the world will be completely convinced of our lord.

And as long as we publicize it in this way, there will be an extra benefit: when Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and others joined forces to fight against Dong Zhuo, fighting against Dong Zhuo was of course right, but when they approached Luoyang, they did not care about the safety of the emperor, and they did not worry that "once Dong Zhuo was surrounded together with the emperor, he would take the emperor hostage or kill the emperor to vent his anger."

If the lord thought of this today and pointed it out, wouldn't the lord's noble character overshadow that of Yuan Shao and Cao Cao? The reason why a considerable number of people in the world still believe that Cao Cao was a Han minister is because Cao Cao also fought against rebellion for the country in the past, and some people believe that he really wanted to save the Han Dynasty at the beginning.

But if my lord were to compare himself with him today and clearly distinguish the superior from the inferior, the number of people deceived by Cao Cao would be greatly reduced. In the future, when we launch a full-scale northern expedition, we will encounter less resistance, and more enemy troops may abandon their dark side and join the light. Compared to those gains, what difference does it make whether a city or a piece of land is taken sooner or later?

Liu Bei's eyes lit up, and he felt a surge of energy. He had never considered the issue from this perspective before. Zhuge Jin's reminder actually opened up a new perspective for him.

The princes of the world have been fighting each other for more than 20 years. Some people are trying to seize the emperor, but it seems that no one is really worried about the person who has kidnapped the emperor, taken the emperor as a hostage in a critical moment, and threatened the loyalists to withdraw their troops with the emperor's life.

This was partly because the hostage-taker himself had no moral integrity, but also because he knew that those who came to "support the king" were equally immoral. Even if he took the hostage, it would not have any substantial effect.

The loyalists will certainly continue to press forward, hoping that the hostage-taker will kill the emperor, and then the loyalists will kill him again, claiming to be "the avengers of the late emperor."

Over time, Liu Xie, the puppet, was retained, but the prestige of the court was increasingly undermined.

But today, if Liu Bei made the decision of "saying that he had the ability to capture the capital, but had to give up for the personal safety of the emperor, or had to negotiate with the traitor and ask the traitor to escape at the cost of 'not harming the emperor'", and widely publicized it.

Then Liu Bei's moral high ground would be infinitely elevated again, reaching a height that the princes of the late Han Dynasty had never reached before. When the time is right, he would be able to use his power to suppress others, and he would be invincible.

That is absolute strength, coupled with the absolute ability to punish the rebels with the obedient.

In fact, there is an extra benefit to doing this - but this benefit is a bit embarrassing to talk about, so Zhuge Jin couldn't say it right away.

That is, if Liu Xie still willingly followed Cao Cao after Liu Bei's propaganda, it would mean that Liu Xie had lost his moral integrity. The emperor himself was afraid of death and unwilling to sacrifice his life for the country, willingly becoming a pawn in the hands of the traitors! This prevented the loyal ministers and generals who were supposed to be fighting the rebellion from making any use of their power!

If the emperor had any backbone, shouldn't he rather die than be a hostage?
At that time, Emperor Yi would rather be killed than be a puppet of Xiang Yu. As a result, Emperor Gaozu got the upper hand and attacked Xiang Yu under the banner of revenge for Emperor Yi.

This story was told to Liu Xie by Zhuge Jin, a commoner at the time, when he came to Beijing as an envoy of Liu Bei to meet the emperor.

Liu Xie sighed at the time, praising Emperor Yi for his backbone, and said that the Han Dynasty was indeed destined by heaven. So this is how the Han Dynasty's destiny came about.

Later, Zhuge Jin's orthodox philosophical theory of "the prosperity of the palace is a blessing, and those who defend themselves properly should be virtuous" became popular and gradually became the path that the emperor of the Han Dynasty was willing to follow.

As for Liu Bei's camp, Liu Bei himself had unconditionally believed in the orthodox philosophical principles proposed by Zhuge Jin more than ten years ago, and he did not doubt it at all and accepted it completely.

It's a pity that Liu Xie said one thing and did another. He praised Emperor Yi's courage so much, but he himself was a coward.

In the fifth year of Jian'an, on the eve of the Battle of Guandu, Dong Cheng and Lu Bu gathered private troops in Xudu to rebel against Cao.

Finally, Liu Xie saw that Cao Cao had an ambush, and Jia Xu helped Cao Cao's ambush troops to take back control of the situation in Xu Du City. Liu Xie became scared and sold out Dong Cheng and Lu Bu, saying that they were plotting a rebellion by forging an imperial edict.

This incident was more or less a stain on Liu Xie's character and a "misconduct" on the part of the emperor. However, the incident was not serious enough, and Dong Cheng and Lu Bu were indeed unreliable, so no one mentioned it later.

But the saying goes: Nothing can be done once, never again. When Liu Xie betrayed Dong Cheng and Lü Bu, it could be said that he was young and inexperienced and had just committed the same offense.

Nine years later, if Liu Bei had expressed his position first, saying that he did not attack Xu Du because he was worried about the emperor's personal safety, and Liu Xie still backed down after hearing his uncle's statement, then he would have been completely immoral.

Of course, this is the truth, but Zhuge Jin would never say it out loud.

Letting the emperor lose his virtue and being accused of being unworthy of the position in the future, and choosing a man of both ability and virtue from among the Han royal family to revive the Han Dynasty - these words must never be spoken out loud.

It's enough as long as everyone has a vague understanding of it.

Because Zhuge Jin spoke too obscurely and deliberately paused for a long time, waiting for Liu Bei to think about it himself, he only gave some guidance in a very concise manner.

So Liu Bei thought about it for a long time before he roughly understood it. He was slightly surprised in his heart, but he did not say it outwardly.

As for Zhuge Liang on the other side, he had already heard something wrong in his elder brother's words. After thinking for a moment, he frowned and said nothing.

Obviously Zhuge Liang understood it immediately and reacted much faster than Liu Bei, but he couldn't say it either.

Liu Bei looked at Zhuge Jin, then at Zhuge Liang, and finally made a decision:
"That's it, then. I remember Kong Ming was busy drafting a document last month, right? It was Ziyu who suggested the idea, which talks about Xiang Yu's defeat and his swift suicide to end the war.

Emperor Yi had the virtue of preferring death to surrender, and Xiang Yu had the virtue of committing suicide after his defeat to end the suffering of the people. These two things can be combined and promoted.

By the way, let's follow the virtue of our army to be cautious about the personal safety of the emperor and be cautious about the consequences. Mix the three virtues together and promote them well. Even if we don't expand the military offensive this time, we must win the hearts and minds of the people and gain prestige, and lay a solid foundation for Cao Cao to retreat next time!

I don't know how to do it specifically, you two brothers can do it on your own. You can also do the work of rescuing the families of surrendered generals and persuading them to surrender."

Zhuge Jin and Zhuge Liang immediately accepted the order and said that the two brothers would handle this great cause of building momentum and establishing virtue well and safely.

(End of this chapter)