My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 797 Cao Cao has revealed his cards. Will Liu Bei follow him?

Two flowers bloom, one branch each.

On the seventh day of the eighth month, the eve of Cao Cao's coronation ceremony, Wen County, Henei County.

Liu Bei, who was only one step away from the peak, made a rare visit to Wen County in person to inspect the situation on the front line and make final arrangements for the upcoming battle of crossing the Yellow River.

Of course, the so-called "personal deployment" was actually just the final decision. The specific staff planning work was of course done by Zhuge Liang and Guan Yu was responsible for execution. Even Zhuge Jin could be a hands-off boss, let alone Liu Bei himself.

There is no way. This is the final step that determines who will own the world. Luoyang is on the other side.

The top leaders of Liu Bei's camp and 200,000 of the most elite troops naturally gathered in Hanoi, with talented civil and military officials gathered together.

To paraphrase a line from the fantasy world, it is like "there are as many Yuanying as dogs, and the streets are full of people who are undergoing tribulations." There are too many talents on the local battlefield to use them all.
Any military planning for a county-level battle would be enough to get the Zhuge brothers to take action, while a county-level battle would require people like Pang Tong and Lu Su to worry about it.

It is even more exaggerated than the Zhongguancun and Beijing Drifting in later generations. Because there are so many talents, the janitor and miscellaneous positions have to be temporarily filled by some PhDs from 985 universities, and those from 211 universities don't even have a chance to clean the toilets.

However, the more things go smoothly, the easier it is for people to get carried away, just like many organizations that become large companies tend to have big company problems. Of course, Liu Bei is a man who can learn from his mistakes, so when he encounters a problem or suffers a small loss, he will reflect on it as soon as possible. In addition, Zhuge Liang is also around, so he can immediately check for omissions and make up for them, so that the problem will not get bigger.

For example, a few days ago, Liu Bei had just heard that Cao Cao was preparing to proclaim himself emperor, so he ignored the fact that he was not yet fully prepared and hurriedly wanted to cross the river from Wen County to directly attack Mengjin on the other side, and then take advantage of the chaos to rush into Luoyang and deal a heavy blow to Cao Cao.

However, because Zhang Fei's army in the east was still advancing, it also occupied a lot of Liu Bei's troops and resources. Therefore, Liu Bei's front-line troops near Wen County did not have an absolute advantage in size and were not well organized.

After Liu Bei rashly organized a tentative crossing of the river, he was unexpectedly beaten back by Cao Cao's heavily assembled troops on the other side of the river. Some of his vanguard troops were slightly damaged, but fortunately there was no loss of high-level civil and military officials.

This was a typical case of underestimating the enemy's determination to resist and then being attacked by the enemy halfway across the river.

Liu Bei admitted his mistake and corrected it. The next day he reviewed himself with his brother Zhuge, saying that it was all his fault for over-optimistically estimating the situation. He mistakenly believed that "Cao Cao would soon become emperor, and the people on the other side would be in a panic, with low morale and unable to defend the banks of the Yellow River. He mistakenly believed that Cao's army would shrink and defend the city of Luoyang, rather than deploying comprehensive defenses along the Yellow River. This was why his tentative attack was thwarted."

Fortunately, Liu Bei changed his mind quickly, which led to today's trip to Wen County. He felt that no matter how great the advantage was, he could not be complacent, but must proceed steadily, personally go to the grassroots and the front lines to conduct research, and then make battle decisions.

We must never again fantasize that “If the thief Cao usurps the Han Dynasty, there will surely be countless old people who are loyal to the Han Dynasty. I just need to go up to Cao Cao’s door and kick it, and Cao Cao’s house will collapse by itself.”

After two days of inspection, he had a new understanding of the situation. He also knew that Cao Cao was determined to defend the south bank of the Yellow River at this critical juncture and had stockpiled heavy troops in the wild.

Moreover, judging from the current situation, Cao Cao has managed to feed the troops and generals guarding the river through rewards and promotions, and the morale of these people will remain very high for a month or two.

Of course, this is nothing. Morale boosted by feeding money and food is not sustainable. Cao Cao did not have the financial resources to keep feeding them. He only spent so much money at the critical juncture before and after he became emperor. After the anger was lost, the situation would change quickly.

……

"Well, our army doesn't need these few days. Cao's bandits are now making a strong push, but they will eventually become exhausted.

In order to save the lives of the soldiers, I will not fight with him for a day, and will wait until he ascends the throne before crossing the river. I was reckless a few days ago, otherwise I would not have been attacked halfway across the river and lost more than a thousand soldiers in vain. "

After inspecting the defense and military morale around Wen County and observing the movements of Cao's army on the other side of the river, Liu Bei stood on horseback on the bank of the Yellow River, pointed at the other side with his whip, and said this to the Zhuge brothers on his left and right.

Because he was close to the battlefield, Liu Bei was wearing a full set of extremely sophisticated armor today. The outside was a whole piece of steel armor that was cold-forged with a hydraulic hammer, and the inside was a steel chain mail soft armor.

The two swords hanging from his waist were also newly made, not the male and female double-edged swords used in the early years. In addition to the two Zhuge brothers chatting and discussing things, there were also Zhao Yun and Ma Chao guarding on the left and right sides.

Zhuge Jin also advised: "Don't worry, my lord. If we cross the river a few days later, it will not tarnish the reputation of the Han Dynasty. Even if Cao Cao rebels for a while, the vast majority of people in the world will never recognize him.

Even though the Han Dynasty is without an emperor for the time being, with the Lord here, no one in the world will think that the Han Dynasty has ever been interrupted. If we cross the river a few days later, it can actually help clear many obstacles, which is a blessing in disguise.

My lord, please think about it. In the current situation, Cao's bandits are bound to fail. We no longer need to worry about whether the policy of 'not accepting rebellion and unconditionally abandoning darkness to join the light' will lead to the enemy's stubborn resistance. Even if there are those who want to resist, they should resist as much as they can. Our army can destroy them all like a mountain pressing down on their heads or a vast ocean.

If our army crosses the river now and Cao Cao has not yet proclaimed himself emperor, and we defeat him, those who once served under Cao Cao will still be able to make excuses and say that "they are in Cao's camp but their hearts are with Han. Although they are in Luoyang, their loyalty is not to Cao Cao but to the Han. They were just deceived by Cao before and did not know that he would usurp the Han."

Or, they might also argue that "although we followed Cao Cao and helped him, Cao Cao was still the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty. We stayed by Cao Cao's side hoping to feign complicity and wait for an opportunity to oppose Cao Cao from within, or even get rid of Cao Cao like Dong Cheng and Lu Bu, Geng Ji and Wei Huang did."

If there are too many people making such excuses, how can the lord, after entering Luoyang, thoroughly settle accounts with those filthy wealthy families who may not have been officials for four generations but have definitely been entrenched for several generations? So it is better to give them a chance, wait until Cao Cao becomes emperor, and wait until these people have pledged their loyalty to Cao Cao, and then we will attack them.

By then, as long as we win militarily, we can do whatever we want with them in the subsequent political treatment, and the cost of ruling in the future will be much lower. Confucius said, "To punish without teaching is cruelty." If we didn't give them a chance and just killed them, it would definitely cause people to be uneasy. But if we give them a chance and let them see clearly that Cao Cao has become the emperor, and they still stay, then it means they have been taught, and we can justifiably kill or expel them after we invade.

Next year we will start the reform of "local selection and imperial examinations" and use the new method to select officials. In theory, in the fall, the counties should start selecting people to come to Beijing for the examination next spring. Sweeping away these entangled and complicated families will be beneficial to the long-term stability in the future."

Zhuge Jin's lengthy speech also gave Liu Bei a new understanding of the plan of "waiting to see Cao Cao successfully become emperor and then crossing the river to wipe him out in one fell swoop". He also became more confident and optimistic about this plan.

"Ziyu is still thinking long-term. I am still considering the current war, while Ziyu is already thinking about the pros and cons of post-war governance. But it is true that Cao thieves are already lingering on, so there is nothing to worry about in the first place."

Liu Bei admired sincerely for a while, but then changed the subject and began to ask about the tactical arrangements.

After all, no matter how beautiful the future is, we still have to deal with the things at hand.

"Let's talk about the present first. When Cao Cao has completely completed the process of usurping the throne, how should we fight this river crossing battle? Should we wait like this until Cao Cao's morale, which was boosted by the widespread distribution of gold and silver before he ascended the throne, declines again before our army crosses the river? Or should we force a crossing as soon as possible?"

Zhuge Jin has been thinking about grand strategic issues recently, and has not spent much time thinking about this matter. Of course, even if he spent some time thinking about it, his level is still slightly lower than that of his second brother for a battle that has no ready-made answers to copy, so this kind of thing is for his second brother to worry about - this is by no means to say that Zhuge Jin has not made much progress in independently planning military issues in the past 18 years. On the contrary, he has made great progress, and he has already honed it over the years, but to be honest, he is indeed not as good as his second brother.

Zhuge Liang in this life made great progress in military proficiency, far surpassing his peers in history. Everyone is growing, and it's not shameful that the eldest brother can't catch up with his shortcomings.

Zhuge Liang quickly took over the conversation and said, "I think you can pretend to be furious and angry about Cao Cao claiming to be the emperor. Let people spread the news that you will tear Cao Cao down as soon as he ascends the throne, making him lose face and become a laughing stock of the world.

Then, the lord continued to gather heavy troops in Wen County, attracting Cao Cao's main force to deploy defenses along the entire line from Xiaopingjin to Mengjin Ferry, and trapping Cao Cao's main force.

After Cao Cao fell into the trap, the lord retreated slightly to Huai County, crossed the river, and attacked Chenggao on the other side of the river. There was no need to storm the county seat of Chenggao, but only to land in a weak spot on the eastern outskirts of Chenggao.

Because Luoshui merges into the Yellow River in Chenggao, landing in the east of Chenggao ensures that you are on the east bank of the estuary of Luoshui and the Yellow River, and further east is Hulao Pass. Although Hulao Pass is majestic, it can be breached at any time if attacked from both sides.

After we break through Hulao Pass, we can also completely open up Zhongmu Road, and let Yide and other troops who have just recovered Yingchuan and Chenliu enter the Heluo Basin directly from Zhongmu and Hulao Pass. By then, the main force of our army can rely on Hulao Pass for logistics, and no longer need to rely on water transportation in Henei.

Cao Cao's Heluo Basin is full of loopholes. What's the point of him deploying heavy troops along the Yellow River? Our land logistics supply line has also been completely opened up, so there is no need to give Cao the enemy a chance to attack us halfway across the river. "

When Liu Bei heard the plan, he agreed without even thinking about it.

Liu Bei was also knowledgeable about military affairs. Having fought for so many years, it might be hard to say how good his decision-making level was, but he could tell whether a strategy was good or bad at once.

Zhuge Liang's strategy is very safe and just happens to fit the current pace.

Before this, Liu Bei's army had already bent their bows and mounted their horses, waiting for the opportunity to attack without firing, and had built up enough momentum, ready to attack Luoyang City directly. They did not care about Hulao Pass at all, and there was no need to attack it anymore.

But now Cao Cao has deployed all his heavy troops on the northern front, and has strictly guarded the Yellow River from Xiaopingjin to Mengjin, which is more than a hundred miles long. He has also deployed his main forces there, just to prevent Liu Bei from crossing the river and gaining a foothold, in order to achieve the ultimate goal of attacking him while he is crossing the river and driving him down the river.

Then Liu Bei suddenly made a feint, not caring about his face anymore, and didn't care whether "he had said before that he would go straight to Luoyang to wipe out the traitors, but in the end he didn't go straight and instead went to Hulao Pass" would embarrass him.

All Liu Bei wanted was to gain practical benefits, reduce casualties among his soldiers, and reduce combat costs, and that would be enough.

His ancestor Liu Bang didn't care much about face back then, as long as he could get benefits.

But Cao Cao had no way to defend against this strategy. Even if Cao Cao guessed it, what would it matter? He simply did not have that many troops. Extending the river defense line to Mengjin was already the limit. If he wanted to extend it to Chenggao, or even cross the Luo River to the east bank of the Luo River estuary, Cao Cao simply did not have that many people to deploy defenses everywhere.

If the defense was really fully deployed and deployed everywhere, Liu Bei would definitely have the strength to attack when the enemy was halfway across the river and break any of Cao Cao's points.

This is the sorrow of Cao Cao who is already close to despair.

So that’s settled.

After inspecting the work and finalizing the strategy, Liu Bei was very satisfied and ordered the army to prepare immediately, intending to execute this battle plan directly when Cao Cao proclaimed himself emperor.

However, as luck would have it, just when Liu Bei was about to finish his work and return to the city, there was suddenly some commotion on the Yellow River, and it seemed that a boat was coming from the south bank.

Liu Bei's army also had patrol boats on the north bank, all of which were brisk boats. Because the lord was here, the vigilance was naturally very strict, so the boats coming from the south bank were quickly intercepted.

The people on the boat began to shout loudly from a distance: "Don't shoot! We have escaped from Cao Ni, we are all loyal to the Han Dynasty! We have brought the son of the previous emperor, the King of Shanyang! Please ask the commander to escort the King of Shanyang back to his fiefdom in Shanyang County!"

Liu Bei was a mile or two away, so of course he couldn't hear the people on the river shouting. So the people who came were also disarmed, guarded by the patrol boat officers, and brought to Liu Bei's army.

Of course, it was impossible for them to come and meet Liu Bei directly, so they had to pass on a message to see if Liu Bei would meet them.

The scout officer on the boat quickly came to ask for instructions: "My lord, our army just intercepted a small boat on the river. The people on the boat claimed that they were escorting the fifth son of the late emperor, King Shanyang Liu Xi, to surrender.

The reason is that last month when Cao Cao was discussing usurping the Han Dynasty, someone in the court advised Cao Cao to establish the King of Shanyang as the emperor to inherit the will of the previous emperor, but Cao Cao rejected the advice in the end. The minister who advised Cao Cao was afraid that Cao Cao would be afraid of the King of Shanyang and that the King of Shanyang would be killed, so he took the risk of stealing the King of Shanyang and sending him to Hebei to ask the Lord for protection.

When Liu Bei heard this, he was also amazed.

Is there such a thing in the world?
"Dong Cheng, Lu Bu, Geng Ji, Wei Huang, so many people wanted to rescue the late emperor over the years, but in the end they were all killed by Cao Cao.

How could this man be so capable that he could rescue the King of Shanyang just by saying so? Can he come and go from Cao's camp as he pleases? "

Liu Bei couldn't help but sigh, his tone full of disbelief.

As he questioned, he naturally turned his head, looking past Zhuge Jin and towards Zhao Yun.

"Zilong, can you do this?"

Zhao Yun did not think his lord was joking, and answered solemnly in a deep voice: "I can't do it. This man was able to cross the river in a small boat when the army was confronting each other. Could it be that his martial arts and courage are better than mine?
But there is no such warrior in Cao's army. Xu Chu and Dian Wei have been dead for many years. If Cao Cao had such a warrior, he should have sent him to the battlefield to let us see him."

After hearing this, Liu Bei couldn't help but become curious.

"Even Zilong can't imagine it, so I'll see it for myself."

(End of this chapter)