My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 98 The Final Blow to Shanyue

Yuan Shu proclaimed himself emperor, and the court controlled by Cao Cao temporarily argued with Liu Bei and the Zhuge family, trying to divert the blame, which suddenly made the situation between Jiang and Huai tense.

Although Liu Bei and the Zhuge family did not plan to attack Yuan Shu immediately, they hoped that Yuan Shu would fight with Cao Cao first so that they could continue to develop in Jiangdong and gain more benefits.

But considering Yuan Shu's character of bullying the weak and fearing the strong, he always likes to pick on the weak first, so between Cao Cao and Liu Bei, Yuan Shu will most likely attack Liu Bei first and complete the battle to establish his prestige after becoming emperor.

The tree wants to be calm and the wind does not stop.

After all, Cao Cao had already occupied the entire Yanzhou, a considerable part of Sili, and two counties in Yuzhou (Yingchuan and Liangjun), and he had the emperor in his hands.

No matter how you look at it, his strength on paper is at least among the top three great princes in the world, second only to the two Yuans, and slightly stronger than Liu Biao and Liu Zhang.

Liu Bei's strength on paper is only one and a half counties, and his military strength and population are at most 20% of Cao Cao's - Yuan Shu would not regard the current territory of the Zhuge family as Liu Bei's territory.

Liu Bei was very self-aware, so after Yuan Shu proclaimed himself emperor, he immediately accelerated his military preparations, strengthened defenses, and deployed heavy troops along the Huai River defense line.

And just like last year, they proactively pushed the defense line from Huaiyin to the vicinity of Xuyi in order to gain a certain buffer and prevent their core territory, which they had painstakingly cultivated, from being destroyed by the confrontation.

As long as Yuan Shu tried to attack downstream along the Huai River, Liu Bei would firmly stop him west of Huaiyin.

However, compared with last year, the biggest change in Liu Bei's defense was that he was not too worried about the attack on the southern front. Last year, Yuan Shu still had Guangling City as a springboard on the southern front, but now Liu Bei has completely controlled that section of the north bank of the Yangtze River. So if Yuan Shu wants to attack again, he can only advance from Lujiang County in the rear or by water along the Yangtze River.

Liu Bei knew very well that Zhuge Jin would help him block Yuan Shu's offensive from the Yangtze River, so he would not have to devote too many troops in this direction.

……

While Liu Bei was preparing his troops and deploying his defenses, Guan Yu, who was still in Linli Mountain at this moment, was naturally worried.

He has been besieging Chen Pu for a whole month.

His eldest brother and third brother might be attacked by Yuan Shu at any time. How could he stay in the southern mountainous area of Danyang County and argue with the Shanyue people?
Although it was Liu Bei who personally agreed to lend Guan Yu to Zhuge Jin for a few more months to train troops, digest and reform prisoners, and rebuild the new Yuzhang Army.

But if you count carefully, Guan Yu had been on loan for more than three months beyond the deadline, which means that since Zuo Rong was killed, Guan Yu had stayed for at least three more months.

In comparison, Zhuge Liang was previously sent to Guangling as an envoy, where he was only used by Liu Bei for two months before being sent back.

In other words, the tacit understanding between Zhuge Jin and Liu Bei of "sharing what they have and temporarily exchanging the second brother for orders" ultimately resulted in Zhuge Jin taking advantage of the situation for at least one more month.

On the seventh day of June, the sixth day after Yuan Shu proclaimed himself emperor and the second day after Guan Yu heard that Yuan Shu had proclaimed himself emperor, he immediately wrote a letter in his own hand and had a courier send it back to Chaisang, requesting Zhuge Jin to let him return to Guangling to participate in the defense of the front battlefield and deal with the offensive of Yuan Shu that might come at any time.

Zhuge Jin took it very seriously and did not force him to stay. Instead, he urged Zhuge Liang and Huang Yueying to rush to the front to reinforce Guan Yu and persuade Guan Yu to finish the battle.

"Aliang! You've been working on this for a month. How's the improvement of the newly invented mountaineering equipment going? How much has been mass-produced? Send as many as you can to Yunchang as soon as possible. There's no time to debug it slowly!"

Zhuge Liang also quickly agreed, discussed the arguments with his eldest brother, and then set off.

……

Three days later, Zhuge Liang and his entourage rushed to the front line of Yi County, handed over the newly brought equipment to Guan Yu, and persuaded him: "Brother Yunchang, there is no need to worry too much about Guangling. It is better to finish the battle of Linlishan and completely subdue Zulang. Then, we can reinforce Lord Xuande. Perhaps we can get another miraculous effect and achieve twice the result with half the effort."

Guan Yu's face was not very happy: "Brother, you only have 20,000 soldiers, and Guangling is small and lacks depth. Once Yuan Shu enters, the counties that we managed with great difficulty will be destroyed again. How can I not be worried?

Besides, my eldest brother only has Yide to command now, and the rest, Shuzhi and Guorang, have only led 3,000 soldiers at most. If you lack a general who can stand on his own, how can you do without me!"

Zhuge Liang came prepared, so he patiently analyzed: "Brother Yunchang, you should think like this: last year you only had 12,000 people, but you also withstood the attack of Ji Ling and Liu Xun's 40,000 troops. This year you already have 20,000 people, even if the enemy's troops increase by several times, you should be able to withstand it.

Moreover, the pincer attack that Liu Xun planned last year may not be possible this year - our Yuzhang Army is now pretending to be in harmony with Yuan Shu on the surface, and when Liu Xun really dares to send troops along the Yangtze River, we will naturally "abandon the dark and join the light" and attack Liu Xun.

In this way, Lord Xuande only needs to hold off Ji Ling, and the pressure will be greatly reduced. You stay in Yuzhang, or even move to Danyang in the future to threaten Lujiang from the flank, which may play a greater role!

Moreover, a piece of good news just came from Lord Xuande, which you may not know yet - Mr. Xianhe, who set sail north from Guangling at the end of March, has brought back Guo Rang and his family members who were stranded in Youzhou after more than two months of sailing, visiting and searching.

He also found and brought back General Zhao, who was unemployed in his hometown of Changshan. With General Zhao's help on the front battlefield in Guangling, there is no need to worry that Lord Xuande will not be able to withstand Ji Ling's offensive! "

Zhuge Liang said so much, but it was the last sentence that made Guan Yu feel at ease. When he heard the three words "General Zhao", his squinting eyes suddenly opened and his expression became calm:
"Zilong? Xianhe finally found Zilong? God really helps big brother! Zilong went back home for his brother's death and was gone for more than two years. He is finally back! Now that Zilong is helping, big brother doesn't have to worry anymore."

With the addition of Zhao Yun, Ji Ling and others are no longer a threat!
Zhuge Liang saw that he had successfully persuaded Guan Yu, so he looked forward to the situation: "If Yunchang is willing to stay in Danyang, after our army breaks through Linli Mountain and kills Chen Pu, Zulang and the Shanyue tribes will surely be frightened and subdued, and we can issue an order to settle the matter.

At that time, our army can use Zu Lang as the vanguard to lead the way, and take advantage of the fact that Jingxian and Wanling are located on both sides of the Jing River and have stored food supplies along the way, so that our army can go downstream along the Jing River and go straight to Wuhu, which is now occupied by Sun Ce!

Once Wuhu is captured, our army will have a good port in the central part of Danyang, which is enough to build a large water fort and station the main force of the navy, and deter the key points such as Wankou and Ruxukou in Lujiang County on the opposite bank, thus blocking Liu Xun's navy's waterway to enter the Yangtze River.

From now on, Yuan Shu will be cut off from the Yangtze River and will be unable to attack Guangling. This will solve the problem once and for all and resolve half of the threat to Lord Xuande."

Liu Bei's territory was bordered by the Huai River in the north and the Yangtze River in the south. Originally, Yuan Shu's threat to Liu Bei was like two powerful punches attacking in coordination.

The left fist went down the Huai River, and the right fist went down the Yangtze River. Blocking Liu Xun's Yangtze River offensive route was equivalent to abolishing Yuan Shu's right fist and bearing the pressure of the Lujiang Army.

Guan Yu thought it made sense. After forcing Zulang of Jing County to surrender, he could fight his way along the Jing River to the river mouth (Jing River/Qingyi River merges into the Yangtze River in Wuhu), and then he could provide support to his elder brother across the river.

Of course, Wuhu is still some distance away from Guangling, with Niuzhu and Moling in between.

Niuzhu is the famous "Caishiji" in later generations, the most important river defense crossing in Danyang County. Ma'anshan near Niuzhu is also an important land barrier of Moling.

Moreover, once they steal to Wuhu, it will mean a complete break with the Sun family, and they will not be able to let it go, so they have to think about this matter again and not make a decision in a hurry.

……

After being completely convinced, Guan Yu finally made up his mind and devoted all his energy to the attack on Lin Lishan.

Solving Zu Lang is also to help Big Brother better cover the flank! Connect the two enclaves as much as possible!
He ordered his soldiers to practice and familiarize themselves with the new mountaineering equipment brought by Zhuge Liang as quickly as possible, and selected the most elite and most skilled Danyang soldiers to form a mountaineering surprise attack team.

Zhuge Liang also spared no effort to explain the use of various equipment to the selected Danyang soldiers.

In the past month, due to the tight schedule and the need to complete R&D, testing, and manufacturing at the same time, the actual time allocated to R&D was only half a month at most.

This amount of time is not enough to create anything epoch-making, just some minor innovations.

Zhuge Liang first made plans based on his elder brother's description, improved the existing mattocks, and made a batch of rock picks with high-quality steel.

This kind of thing only took a few days to develop, and the subsequent production was done overtime. It is also the main equipment for climbing Mount Linli. It is produced in large quantities and hundreds of them were forged.

After the rock pick was invented, Zhuge Liang tried to combine the pick blade with mountain climbing shoes, and then added some leather reinforcement to the shoes to create rock climbing boots that could be used to kick holes in the mountain wall directly with the toes.

This kind of thing is also commonly used by mountaineering teams in later generations. Zhuge Jin obviously saw its appearance from those TikTok bloggers who posted photos of their climb up Mount Everest. He gave a rough description and asked his brother to make it.

In addition, Zhuge Liang also had two small inventions, namely a new type of hemp rope hook with a safety knot, and a wrought iron rock wall expansion nail.

Don't think these two hooks are too big. The traditional hemp rope flying claw hook was already available in the Han Dynasty. Zhuge Liang only worked hard on the knot this time and improved it to be more suitable for safe mountaineering. In ancient times, there were mortise and tenon expansion nails, but they were made of wood. After inserting a wooden tenon with a crack on the head and a triangular piece of wood wedged in the back, it was inserted into the slot and then hammered tightly, so that the triangular piece of wood would crack the head of the tenon and completely tighten it to prevent it from pulling off.

Zhuge Liang simply changed the material of the expansion tenon used in carpentry to a square slotted wrought iron pipe, and then made the triangle iron that was wedged into the slot with harder quenched metal to ensure that the latter could crack the former. Then he made some minor adjustments and experiments.

Therefore, this kind of expansion screw is definitely different in shape from the later rock climbing expansion screws, but the functions are similar, which can be regarded as a combination of ancient and modern times.

Zhuge Liang taught the Danyang rock climbing team selected by Guan Yu how to use these four micro-innovation tools. He also had them train for two days to ensure that they had mastered the skills, and then launched a surprise attack on Linlishan Stronghold.

……

At the same time, on the top of Linli Mountain, there stood a large stronghold.

Chen Pu, who has been besieged for more than a month, still feels anxious occasionally, but his mentality has become much more relaxed than when he was first besieged.

When the mountain was first surrounded, he could hardly sleep every day and even went out personally at night to inspect the defenses, fearing that there would be loopholes anywhere.

But after the first ten days of confrontation and after repelling Gan Ning's several tentative attacks, he gradually became less worried.

Now, Chen Pu was more worried that the enemy would continue to besiege until the mountain ran out of food and grass. However, that would take at least several months, until the autumn harvest, and he didn't know if Guan Yu had that much patience.

As for drinking water, he was not worried. There was a lake on Mount Linli that could store spring water and rainwater. It would be enough to drink no matter how long it took.

As an aside, this Linli Mountain is the Qiyun Mountain Scenic Area in Huangshan City, Anhui Province in later generations.

Friends who have traveled there should know that there is indeed a Tianchi Lake on the mountain, and there is only one main peak on the main road of Wangxiantai, and there is a red sandstone cliff with Danxia landform on one side.

After the Song Dynasty, the Dusongyan stronghold where Chen Pu camped was renamed "Fang La Stronghold" because Fang La was more famous than Chen Pu. And Fang La also resisted Tong Guan's siege here, which shows that this place is indeed easy to defend but difficult to attack (it can also be seen that Tong Guan is worse than He Qi, because He Qi could attack the mountain, but Tong Guan could not)
On this day, Chen Pu was taking a nap out of boredom when suddenly a scout came back and reported a piece of good news.

Chen Pu was woken up and was a little angry at first, but the news the other party told him was very useful:

"Your Majesty! We went down the mountain to investigate and found that Gan Ning was indeed transferred away! Those Bajun soldiers who are good at attacking mountains have also left! Now only Guan Yu is left to guard the mountain, and the vigilance has been relaxed a lot!"

Chen Pu was delighted when he heard this, and he didn't care about being woken up. "Oh? Did you find out why Gan Ning was transferred?"

The scout officer boasted: "We were also puzzled at first. At dawn today, I took a few capable brothers and sneaked down. We captured a prisoner and tortured him. We learned that Yuan Shu had proclaimed himself emperor and wanted to annex the Zhuge family.

Zhuge family transferred soldiers who were familiar with water warfare to the Yangtze River to deploy defenses, so Gan Ning was transferred away! It is estimated that Guan Yu will not be able to siege for much longer. It is said that Yuan Shu will also attack Guangling soon, and Guan Yu is anxious to withdraw his troops to save his master. "

Chen Pu was overjoyed: "God is helping me! I knew that as long as we hold on, changes would happen! The world is in turmoil, and the princes are annexing each other. Who can keep besieging such a worthless stronghold with heavy troops? When they find that the military rations and manpower they consume are more than what they get by defeating us, this deal is not worth it, so they will naturally leave!"

It's true that Chen Pu's words are very similar to what Gongsun Zan said before his death two years later in history. Before his death, Gongsun Zan knew that he would definitely not be able to defeat Yuan Shao, but his bet was that "the princes of the world are fighting and annexing each other, Yuan Shao will not waste heavy troops on the task of besieging Yijing Tower for a long time, and he will definitely leave if he thinks it is not cost-effective."

It's a pity that Gongsun Zan did not make the decision to bet against Yuan Shao, and the same was true for Chen Pu.

Upon hearing that Gan Ning had left and Guan Yu's soldiers had no will to fight, Chen Pu was excited for a moment and decided to take out his treasured wine tonight and celebrate with his trusted officers and personal guards.

Of course, it was definitely not the turn of the ordinary soldiers. They still had to guard the mountain road. How could they set up defense after drinking? The mountain stronghold had been besieged for more than a month, and wine became extremely precious. Only the confidants and direct descendants were not worthy of drinking it.

……

Time quickly came to the late night.

Chen Pu and his trusted followers drank heavily to celebrate Gan Ning's withdrawal, and fell asleep right after drinking. There were no important officers coming to patrol the defense tonight.

Those soldiers who were not direct descendants were guarding the main road leading up the mountain. Although they were clear-headed and not paralyzed by alcohol, their morale was low and they had many complaints.

"The chiefs have gone out to drink, leaving us here to watch the night and drink the wind, with our mouths dry! They don't even give us dry rice to eat, just porridge! There is so much food stored in the cave!" A young officer guarding the mountain road couldn't help yawning and complaining.

Another colleague nearby heard this and was more aware of the overall situation than him. He advised him kindly: "Although there is food in the cave, who knows how long Guan Yu will besiege it? Of course, we should eat sparingly. There will be no fighting these days, so it's okay to drink some thin food."

"You can bear it, but I can't! They still have wine to drink! Forget it, I don't have any food, so I feel tired. I'll take a break for a while. Call me if there's any movement down the mountain!"

I have been on guard for most of the night and there is no movement. People tend to get sleepy, and this is also the most relaxing time of the day.

After another hour or so, the soldiers guarding the mountain road had become extremely lax. Except for a few sentries on duty, most of the others went to sleep.

The sky was already getting light, and the sun would come out in another quarter of an hour.

At this moment, behind the mountain pass checkpoint, a group of elite Danyang soldiers, holding safety ropes, flying claws, hooks and rock picks, wearing pointed shovel-shaped hiking boots, and with their weapons tied to their backpacks, appeared.

Stepping on the expansion nails that had been driven into the red sandstone on the mountain wall in advance, he climbed up silently and directly reached the back of the dangerous pass in the mountain path.

Not long after, the main force of Guan Yu's army at the foot of the mountain once again rushed up with rattan shields and door panels, shouting and launching a frontal attack on the mountain pass.

"Enemy attack! Guan Yu is coming again!" All the Shanyue soldiers in the checkpoint picked up their weapons and focused their attention on the mountain road ahead.

They couldn't understand why Guan Yu had given up the attack for twenty days, but suddenly started sending people to die today.

"Hurry up and throw the logs and rocks! Don't save them! Hit them hard!"

"Don't shoot! We don't have enough arrows! Just use wood!"

A bloody battle immediately broke out in front of the mountain pass checkpoint, and the Shanyue soldiers fought to the death with all their might.

But at this moment, bursts of shouts and screams were heard behind them. Hundreds of Danyang elite soldiers who had climbed up the rocks and went around behind them suddenly took advantage of the fact that all their attention was drawn to the enemy in front of them, and rushed up the wall of the pass along the wooden steps from behind, engaging in hand-to-hand combat with the bandits guarding the pass.

Hundreds of elite soldiers from the attacking side climbed up the wall directly. What was the point of defending this pass? The bandits were naturally in chaos and collapsed completely. Guan Yu's army took advantage of the chaos to seize the pass and attacked all the way up the mountain.

However, because the checkpoint on the dangerous road halfway up the mountain was lost too quickly and suddenly, the main reserve force of the subsequent stronghold on the mountain did not even have time to react and failed to organize a second line of defense along the mountain road.

Some scattered bandits who spontaneously rushed down to block the attack were instantly defeated by Guan Yu's army, and Guan Yu directly attacked the Dusongyan stronghold.

Chen Pu, who had drunk a lot of wine last night to celebrate Gan Ning's retreat, was now sober. He quickly led his main force to fight to the death, but the two sides had already fallen into an equal hand-to-hand combat. The Shanyue people no longer had the advantage of terrain, so how could Chen Pu be a match for Guan Yu?
Guan Yu knew that he had to fight quickly and decisively at this time, and not to engage in a fight with the Shanyue tribe, which numbered tens of thousands, and thus caused more killings. So he led a few hundred Danyang soldiers and headed straight for the cave where Chen Pu was stationed, which was the "Fang La Cave" attraction in the Qiyun Mountain Scenic Area in later generations (not the Bangyuan Cave where Fang La died in battle, but just a copy of it).

Chen Pu was trapped in the cave, and the soldiers blocking the entrance were no match for Guan Yu. Although Guan Yu's Qinglong sword was not suitable for foot combat, the enemy was too weak, and he quickly killed Chen Pu with one sword. Chen Pu, like the other soldiers, was chopped off before he could waste Guan Yu's second sword.

A stick of incense later, as Chen Pu's head was sent to various places, all the Shanyue people, numbering tens of thousands on Mount Linli, surrendered obediently.

A few days later, Guan Yu sent Chen Pu's head to Zu Lang for criticism. Zu Lang was also shocked by the strength of the Han army in attacking the dangerous mountains. After a little hesitation, he finally led his men to surrender.

The other two tribes in She County, Mao Gan and Jin Qi, also surrendered upon hearing the news.

Guan Yu decided the outcome of the battle in one go and completely took over the Shanyue-occupied areas in the six southern counties of Danyang County.

(End of this chapter)