My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 719: Reopening the Shu-Shendu Road

Fa Zheng was fully authorized by Zhuge Liang and was in charge of both military command and logistics.

The preparations for the campaign against the barbarians in Yuexi County were also further accelerated.

However, by the end of April, Fa Zheng had completed all the preparations for the war and assembled three generals, Zhang Ren, Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin, as well as young officers such as Zhang Yi and Ma Zhong.

He led more than 20,000 troops at one time, claiming to have 50,000 troops. He set out from Nan'an County, marched westward along the Dadu River, and began his expedition to Yuexi.

Some readers may find it strange that all the barbarian kings in the south are so stubborn. The barbarian kings in the other counties just surrendered after Zhuge Liang sent people to kill them. Why did Zhuge Liang or Fa Zheng still use their power to attack them?

At this time, if I say a few nice words to please everyone, I should be able to avoid the disaster, right?

But this is not that easy. On the one hand, information transmission is blocked in this era, especially in remote areas located in the mountains.

Yuexi County might not know the latest situation in Zangke County so quickly. Even if some people knew about it, the rest might not believe them, and most of them would still be skeptical and want to wait and see.

On the other hand, the barbarian king Yi Shuai in Yuexi County had committed no fewer misdeeds than those in Zangke County, and even worse ones.

In the original history, Zhu Bao, the barbarian king of Zangke County, at least declared independence in fact when Liu Bei was alive, and did not dare to rebel openly in name. It was only after Liu Bei's death that he completely let go of his arrogance.

Gao Ding, the number one Yi general in Yuexi County, was arrogant from the beginning. He dared to openly stir up trouble when Liu Bei was still alive. He also crossed the border from Yuexi County to attack Xindao County in Jianwei County, but was repelled by the reinforcements sent by Li Yan, the then governor of Jianwei.

Although the situation has changed slightly in this life, Gao Ding had tried to cross the border to gain some advantage as early as when Liu Bei and Liu Zhang were fighting for Chengdu.

In the end, because Liu Bei quickly swept away Liu Zhang and stabilized the situation, Gao Ding saw that he had no more opportunities, so he only seized the Yak County and other places at the junction of Shu County and Yuexi County, and stopped in time.

Yaniu County is a county town in the middle reaches of the Dadu River and the starting point of the "Yak Avenue", the northern section of the Shu-Shendu Road.

From here to the east, you can take the Dadu River waterway for a while; from here to the south, you have to leave the waterway and cross the Daliang Mountain Valley in Yuexi County, all the way to the Jinsha River, which is the Panzhihua area in later generations.

Strictly speaking, during the Han Dynasty, Yaniu County had always been under the jurisdiction of Shu County. After Gao Ding occupied Yaniu County a few years ago, he never returned it. Zhuge Liang was busy rectifying internal affairs and did not send anyone to ask for the jurisdiction of the county in time, so this claim of conquest was retained.

This kind of operation is also very consistent with Zhuge Liang's usual style.

Originally, after Liu Bei's death, all the counties in the south rebelled. Zhuge Liang also sent people to negotiate, wrote letters to condemn and appease, and used both kindness and force, but did not immediately use force to attack. He just kept the claim, and then rectified and stabilized the internal affairs, dealt with domestic affairs and farmed, which took two years before he went to war.

This is a typical political wisdom of "put aside disputes when poor, and follow ancient practices when rich". First, maintain mediation and negotiation, keep the intensity of the declaration in check, and wait until the day when you have the hands free so that you can take action immediately.

The party that was beaten can only blame itself for being short-sighted. Why did it have to take advantage of Zhuge Liang when there were so many other places to take advantage of? Wasn't that just giving away fame for nothing?

……

Fa Zheng implemented the spirit of Zhuge Liang's document "When in poverty, put aside disputes; when prosperous, follow the ancient ways" very well. After sending out troops in late April, he marched westward along the Dadu River from Nan'an County and headed straight for Yaoniu County.

Because this section of the road can be traveled by water via the Dadu River, Zhang Ren and Zhou Tai can both do some bystander work for the time being. It is Jiang Qin, who is in charge of the navy, who has to work harder to ensure the safety of the ship and deliver the army intact to Yaoniu County.

Along the way, Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin, who were born as pirates, did not care about the greater good. They just did whatever Fa Zheng asked them to do and only cared about military execution.

After all, Zhang Ren was born into a decent and civilized family. From the day he set out, he was a little confused by Fa Zheng's behavior and always felt that something was not right.

So when he approached Yaoniu County, he couldn't help but ask: "My Lord, is our army's quiet march undermining the dignity of the royal army? Shouldn't we display our flags and strengthen our military power, and then send envoys to condemn Gao Ding and force him to surrender, using courtesy first and then force?"

Fa Zheng was unimpressed: "What do you mean by condemning Gao Ding and using courtesy before force? Do you think that this is a war between two countries and that we have to declare war first to have a legitimate reason? We are suppressing the rebellion and taking back what we deserve!
Since Gao Ding took advantage of the chaos to seize the county seat of Shu County three years ago, he had already been a rebel. The Han Dynasty and this "Southwestern Yi rebel" have been at war all the time. What else is there to announce?

We will first seize a county town from him, then enter Yuexi territory, and wait for him to come to us, then we can talk to him! We can only withdraw our troops if we completely surrender and let the court send officials and garrisons to actually control the Shu-Shendu Road!"

Fa Zheng thought very clearly. If he used courtesy before force at the beginning, what if the other party backed down and hoped to settle the matter by returning one or two counties, and then Gao Ding would continue to "obey Liu Bei in name only, but only want the actual governance rights of Yuexi"?

Therefore, in order to prevent the other party from "cutting losses", it is necessary to make a big fuss first, and then force the other party to "surrender completely, there is no such thing as losing half by surrendering", to ensure that the court can completely control the main key areas of Yuexi.

Yuexi County was too large, and Zhuge Liang and Fa Zheng never expected to completely control all the tribes in the mountainous area. That was impossible. Not to mention that it was impossible in the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was still impossible in the first half of the 20th century.

But Zhuge Liang had to ensure that the "Shu-Shendu Road" or "Yak Avenue" was completely opened along the way, and that the several counties and subordinate towns along the way were all under the control of the government.

After listening to Fa Zheng's explanation, Zhang Ren realized that Fa Zheng wanted to make full use of the declaration, and it was indeed justified, so he didn't say anything more.

If you are not an expert on matters of justice, don't make any suggestions.

Under this tone, Fa Zheng’s first battle became a "surprise attack".

Moreover, it was a sneak attack that was legitimate and did not damage our reputation.

……

On April 28, Fa Zheng's army approached Yaoniu County.

More than 20,000 people came along the Dadu River, with sufficient supplies and able to carry some relatively light siege weapons with them.

A small county like Yak can actually be conquered by flying ladders, so the equipment on the warship is enough.

Although Gao Ding's garrison was relaxed, they were not completely unaware of the approaching army.

After all, even if you don't send out scouts to investigate the cavalry, as long as the army is approaching, ordinary fleeing civilians can bring back military intelligence. What's more, this place is more or less an important commercial route.

Half a day before Fa Zheng's army arrived, Li Qiucheng, a general under Gao Ding who was stationed in Yaoniu County, learned about the general enemy situation from the people who had fled back.

This amount of time is enough to close the city gates and order the soldiers to guard the city.

But it would be too late to seek help from other places or mobilize the militia to provide temporary assistance.

Li Qiucheng can only rely entirely on himself.

Half a day later, Fa Zheng brought 20,000 people to the dock outside Yak City.

Because there were still barbarian soldiers guarding the dock, Jiang Qin's navy first sent out a few small boats to find a shallow beach nearby for landing.
After hastily assembling a few hundred men in battle array, the landing soldiers rushed towards the dock in a roundabout way, expelling all the barbarians guarding the dock and capturing and surrendering those who were slow to run.

After taking control of the dock, the large ship methodically unloaded Zhang Ren's main army, and the simple siege weapons were also unloaded, heading towards the county town.

The defending general Li Qiucheng still wanted to resist, but the wall of the small county of Yaoniu was extremely low, and there was not even a moat, only a dry trench.

A pile of bitter bamboo sticks were randomly spread at the bottom of the ditch, forming a pit - this was because the production of bitter bamboo in the entire Yuexi County was too abundant, and the hard bamboo resources were so cheap that there was no need to spend any money, so a lot of them could be cut at will.

Li Qiucheng could only hope that the pit system could hold off Zhang Ren for a while so that the archers on the city wall could output more damage.

But when Zhang Ren brought out a bulldozer with an anti-arrow shield that the Yuexi barbarians had never seen before, Li Qiucheng soon fell into despair.

This type of equipment has appeared on the battlefield in the Central Plains for four or five years, but in the eyes of the Yuexi Southwestern Yi, it is still its first appearance.

No matter how many arrows were shot, they were of no use. There was no way to stop the Han army from pouring cartloads of mud into the pit, and then slowly pulling the carts back to reload them.

After an hour and a half, several gaps in the trench were filled.

Then the Han army's crossbowmen carrying rattan shields came forward to suppress the enemy with fierce firepower, and then it was the turn of the light ladders to approach the city, and the axe and shield soldiers in cloth armor swarmed up, hacking and killing indiscriminately.

After suffering hundreds of casualties, Li Qiucheng wisely chose to surrender and was tied up by Han soldiers and sent to Zhang Ren.

Zhang Ren did not care about these things, but just personally and quietly sent the captives to the commander-in-chief Fa Zheng.

Fa Zheng was so arrogant that he didn't even bother to meet the other party immediately. He took him into custody first, and then had the soldiers take over the entire city, control the county government office and the warehouse, and then clean up the county government office.

Only after Fa Zheng personally arrived did he bring Li Qiucheng up.

This behavior is indeed quite righteous. In history, after he followed Liu Bei into Chengdu, he became arrogant and domineering, madly amassing wealth, repaying favors, and taking revenge.

Now that he is leading a battle, and is planning to use a deterrent strategy to strike a blow against the enemy, he must put on a show of authority, otherwise, would he be worthy of his status?

Li Qiucheng was stripped of his weapons and armor, leaving him only in his underwear, and was brought to kneel in front of Fa Zheng.

Standing next to Fa Zheng was Zhou Tai, who was fully armed and holding the hilt of his sword, as if he would chop him down if the other party made the slightest move. Fa Zheng had a good grasp of the other party's mentality, so he sat cross-legged and questioned him: "Why did you help the tyrant to commit atrocities and help Gao Ding invade our Shu County? Are you willing to give up the dark and join the light and help the court to suppress the rebellion!"

Li Qiucheng had been frightened by Zhang Ren's offensive. He knew that the local armed forces in Yuexi were powerless to resist, so he begged for mercy:

"That was all a few years ago. At that time, Liu Zhang was weak and ignorant, and he resisted the Taiwei's heavenly soldiers. My lord Gao Ding just took advantage of the opportunity.

Now that Lord Zhuge has sent people to ask for it, fortunately this Yakniu County has been recaptured by your army. If there are any other places that have invaded the territory of Shu County, we are willing to return them. We only ask General Fa to forgive our previous crimes and let us go back. We will obey your orders in the future."

Fa Zheng smiled coldly: "I will obey the order? Then you go and tell Gao Ding that the court will send another governor for Yuexi County, and the county magistrates and county lieutenants of Jingdu, Huiwu and other counties will also be changed to temporary officials and sent from Chengdu.

The garrisons of these counties must also be arranged separately, and the original garrisons must be replaced. But you can rest assured that Zhuge Lingjun will find a way for the soldiers to make meritorious contributions in the Northern Expedition. "

Li Qiucheng was shocked when he heard this. He didn't expect that Gao Ding's previous act of taking more than he deserved would be investigated and punished.

He subconsciously argued: "General Fa! The counties of Yuexi have been taken by Gao Ding and several other tribes since ancient times. Whoever can convince the tribes will naturally become the leader. The lands we occupied have now been spit out..."

"How can there be such a good thing in the world! Is it enough for thieves to just return the stolen goods? Then what is the point of the court's laws?"

Fa Zheng immediately shattered the other party's fantasy with a righteous voice, "If you can do it, do it. If you can persuade Gao Ding, do it. If you can't persuade him, there are many people willing to cooperate!"

Under such extreme pressure, the other party was completely frightened and after hesitating for a while, he decided to cooperate.

Fa Zheng then patted the other party on the shoulder, and after giving him a big stick, he gave him a sweet date: "It would be best if Gao Ding knows how to deal with current affairs. If he doesn't, there will naturally be someone else to replace him.

However, don't expect to get something for nothing. You still have to participate in the Northern Expedition and contribute to the court in the future. Whoever has the most merits among the Yuexi tribes will be able to take over."

He did not discuss with the other party, but was merely informing and stating a decision that had already been made in advance.

After some beatings, Fa Zheng completely stripped Li Qiucheng of his military power. He let him rest in Yaoniu County for two days, and then asked him to serve as a guide for the army along the Liangshan Valley Road to Jingdu County.

After the army left the Dadu River basin and entered the mountainous area, it was natural to split up the troops. Jiang Qin, who was in charge of the navy, took 4,000 people to stay in Yaoniu County to maintain the waterways along the Dadu River.

Zhang Ren and Zhou Tai followed Fa Zheng and led 15,000 people over the mountains and continued southward.

Along the way, some tribes and camps were ignorant and blocked the way. Fa Zheng asked Li Qiucheng to go and tell them first that if they surrendered, they would be spared, otherwise they would be struck down with thunder.

In just over ten days, the army slowly arrived at the county seat of Jingdu.

Gao Ding actually stayed in Jingdu County and did not escape. After Fa Zheng confirmed this, he sent Li Qiucheng into the city to persuade him to surrender.

After hearing this, Li Qiucheng knelt down in fear and pleaded with Fa Zheng in private: "General Fa! Gao Ding has always been cruel and always bullies people. If I go to persuade him to surrender, he will surely kill me!"

Fa Zheng knocked with a cold face: "I will send my servants to follow you back to the city. If Gao Ding is really stubborn, don't offend him too much when you speak. When the time comes, just say that you are willing to report back and help him mediate. I believe he will not harm your life.

Anyway, everyone knows what you said, what you didn't say, whether you tried to persuade me, and you will report to me when you come back. If you dare to stay and not return, or even cooperate with Gao Ding to defend the city, then you can try it. When Jingdu is also captured, I will never allow anyone to surrender a second time! "

Surrender and forgiveness are things that will only be accepted once, and for those who are fickle, there will certainly be no second chance.

Fa Zheng was also quite open-minded and flexible about who would surrender and who would be used as a puppet in the future. In any case, whoever cooperated would be the winner, and he didn't need to consider the other party's prestige in the local area.

In this regard, Zhuge Liang in history actually did a very good job, but it was Luo Guanzhong who severely criticized Zhuge Liang's IQ on this issue in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

In Luo Guanzhong's description, Zhuge Liang was so conservative that he said he would capture Meng Huo seven times, but in the end he had to use Meng Huo as a puppet. As a result, after Yang Feng, Dong Tuna, and A Hui Nan, the barbarian generals made up by Luo Guanzhong, kidnapped Meng Huo, Zhuge Liang had to let him go again, which led to the killing of supporting roles such as Dong Tuna and A Hui Nan.

In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Gao Ding is a barbarian king with a relatively positive image. Later, he is portrayed as a "repentant" man who helps Zhuge Liang deal with Yong Kai and Zhu Bao. But in actual history, Gao Ding was eventually killed by Zhuge Liang's army, and there is no difference between him and Zhu Bao and others.

Luo Guanzhong wrote this way, of course, for artistic processing, in order to avoid repetitive character creation. Meng Huo has been created for such a long time, how pity would it be to not use the character? Killing him off halfway and then replacing him would mean having to create the character all over again.

In order to reduce unnecessary duplication of character creation, Luo Guanzhong even dared to make such a drastic decision as "let Zhao Yun completely absorb Chen Dao". When discussing the issue of "merging similar items of supporting roles", the later screenwriting textbooks all used Luo Guanzhong's experience as an example.

A mature and calm bureaucrat like Fa Zheng would certainly not make the same mistake as the novelist. He knew very well that in Yuexi County, it didn't matter who he supported as a puppet.

After beating Li Qiucheng, the other party was sent back to Jingdu County.

After Gao Ding's defenders confirmed his identity, they did not dare to open the city gate, and they directly used ropes to lower him up to the city. There was not even a hanging basket, it was really crude.

Li Qiucheng soon met Gao Ding. Since he had entourage accompanying him to the audience, Li Qiucheng did not dare to cut corners and just gritted his teeth and said words of persuasion to surrender, and he said them very sincerely.

It was nothing more than that Fa Zheng had strong troops, stable morale, and capable generals, and his side was definitely no match for him. For Gao Ding's sake, he had better surrender early and completely accept the other side's control.

After hearing this, Gao Ding couldn't help but get angry and almost drew his knife to kill the traitor Li Qiucheng.

When Li Qiucheng saw the knife was at his neck, he knelt down again and begged for mercy, saying that he had no choice but to surrender under the pressure of Fa Zheng. As long as the king spared his life, he was willing to be a pawn and just wanted to survive.

When Gao Ding saw how cowardly he looked, and considering that he needed cannon fodder to defend the city, he didn't bother with it anymore.

However, for someone who had surrendered to the Han army after the city was broken, since his own direct troops had been defeated and surrendered, it would not be easy to use him too much, and there would not be enough soldiers to allocate to him.

So Gao Ding finally just made a temporary decision and retained Li Qiucheng's original position, but actually only gave him a garrison of soldiers to help defend the city.

After saving his life, Li Qiucheng was helpless.

He was forced into a dangerous situation again. He knew very well that Gao Ding could not defeat Fa Zheng and Zhang Ren.

In desperation, he had to find the envoys sent by Fa Zheng to monitor him. After a discussion, Li Qiucheng finally said that he could help release water from the section of the city wall he was responsible for defending to help the attackers enter the city in order to atone for his second surrender to Gao Ding.

Li Qiucheng wanted to offer the city gate, but Gao Ding didn't trust him enough and didn't let him guard the tower or the gate. He only gave him a section of the city wall to defend.

The servants of the delegation were Fa Zheng's confidants. They saw all of this and expressed that they understood it and would speak well of it when the time came.

So that night, Li Qiucheng secretly let the servants of the delegation out of the city using hemp ropes to contact Fa Zheng and Zhang Ren.

Zhang Ren thought about it and advised from a technical point of view: "My Lord, I don't think this is a trick. Jingdu is not strong enough to set an ambush.

Moreover, what Li Qiucheng was willing to abandon was just an ordinary section of the city wall, which was not even a city gate or a tower, and it was impossible for him to deploy the inner city in advance. As long as our army reached the top of the wall, the whole city would be within our grasp. "

Fa Zheng thought about it and felt that this was true, but he was still cautious and reminded two more points: "In this case, the key is to be fast. If it is a gate, there is a drawbridge at the gate that can directly pass through the moat.

If we attack from other sections of the wall, there is no drawbridge to put down, so we have to use trench bridge vehicles to build bridges directly. If we want to fill the trenches, it will take too long, and other enemy units will definitely react.

If you only use wooden trench bridge vehicles to build in the air, only foot soldiers and shoulder-carried ladders can pass through. Even small ladder vehicles cannot pass through, and will crush the trench bridge planks. You should quickly organize a team of soldiers and use the simplest siege equipment. The key is to race against time."

Zhang Ren also understood these precautions and immediately said that he would go there right away.

However, after an hour or two, Zhang Ren was ready for the attack, and then launched a sneak attack before dawn.

This was the first night after Fa Zheng's army arrived at Jingdu County, which means that Gao Ding had been surrounded by the Han army for less than a whole day, and it was not until the afternoon of that day that the city had been occupied for twelve hours.

Just like this, without any warning of siege preparation, the Han army arrived at the agreed siege position in the dark, carrying dozens of shoulder-carried lightweight bamboo ladders and a simple trench bridge made of four folding thick wooden boards.

After a series of unusual movements, the barbarian soldiers and generals on the adjacent positions on Li Qiucheng's left and right reacted quickly and immediately sent people to rush over to engage in a melee to plug the leak.

But because Zhang Ren acted quickly enough, several hundred Han soldiers had already climbed up the simple ladders and successfully reached the top of the wall.

The Han army's first warriors wielded steel hammers, fine swords, and long-bladed axes with steel clips. Everyone held a shield and engaged in a fierce battle with Gao Ding's Yuexi barbarians on the wall.

In just an incense stick of time, when the fifth watch was about to end and the sky was already bright, Zhang Ren had already completely stood firm and rushed towards the nearest city gate.

After a short and fierce battle, Zhang Ren captured the east city tower of Jingdu County and opened the city gate to let the subsequent troops enter the city.

In the chaos, Gao Ding heard that the city had been broken, so he could only rush out of the west gate with dozens of his followers and flee into the mountains.

But he is no longer the leader of the Yuexi tribes. Naturally, someone will destroy this toothless tiger who has lost his army and his people.

(End of this chapter)