The Three Kingdoms: Hindsight is 20/20, and the Three Revivals of the Han Dynasty

Although Ma Chao's military order surprised Hou Xuan and the others, they were concerned that only by following Ma Chao could they share in the benefits of the Shu brocade. Moreover, Ma Chao was now holding the seals of General Who Conquers the West and General Who Conquers the South, which was the time for him to establish his authority. Therefore, the generals did not dare to disobey Ma Chao's military order at this time and restrained their troops.

This move astonished Fu Gan and others in the city. What shocked Fu Gan the most was that Ma Chao actually talked about the Shu brocade business with the powerful families of Hongnong City.

As the seat of the Sili Commandant, Hongnong City had trusted confidants from powerful families from Hedong, Hongnong, Henan, and Henan Yin stationed within its walls.

Fu Gan originally thought that Ma Chao was tyrannical and the generals in Guanzhong were extremely undisciplined, and that they might act recklessly in the city, causing dissatisfaction among the powerful families. At that time, when Zhong Yao returned with his troops, Fu Gan could take the opportunity to unite with the powerful families to expel Ma Chao and his followers.

Unexpectedly, Ma Chao also began to show "benevolence and righteousness".

A person whose reputation used to be no different from that of a bandit leader suddenly starts talking about benevolence and righteousness. This is like someone telling Fu Gan: "The sun is rising in the west today."

Fu Gan couldn't understand: would all those who supported Liu Bei become benevolent and righteous?
All of this was caused by Sun Zi, whom Liu Bei deliberately sent to Ma Chao's side.

Sun Ziben was exceptionally talented and had studied at the Imperial Academy, so his vision and knowledge were naturally not limited to immediate interests like those of Ma Chao and other generals in Guanzhong.

It is easy to gain a city, but difficult to gain the hearts of the people. If you cannot win the hearts of the people, you may gain a city today because of your military strength, but you may lose it tomorrow because of your military weakness.

With Sun Zi as an external brain, Ma Chao only needed to express "benevolence and righteousness" while using force, and the rest was left to Sun Zi to engage in verbal battles with the representatives of the powerful families.

As for Hou Xuan and others, once the powerful families were willing to buy Shu brocade, these families became their patrons. Naturally, they had to maintain a certain level of courtesy towards their patrons in order to ensure their continued prosperity.

Sun Zi then took the opportunity to promote benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness to Hou Xuan and others, for example, "Generals, you are all people of status now. How can you still act as before? If the scholars of the Central Plains all think that you generals are ignorant of etiquette, wouldn't that make you look inferior to others for no reason?" and so on.

No one wants to be inferior to others, especially the generals from Guanzhong, such as Hou Xuan, who do not want to be looked down upon by the scholars of the Central Plains.

The fact that Zhang He liked Confucianism and elegance, and Zhang Fei liked to be close to scholars, are all examples of the stress response of military men who do not want to be inferior to scholars. Even if they are pretending, they have to pretend to be polite.

Under Sun Zi's dual guidance of profit and courtesy, these generals from Guanzhong, who used to be fond of plundering and acting unreasonably, all became polite and reasonable.

The benefits gained through fighting and killing are ultimately not respectable and will eventually be replaced by others. Only by firmly grasping the profits of Shu brocade can everyone be fed and maintain this order.

With the agreement reached on the Shu brocade business with powerful families, Ma Chao's influence began to expand rapidly into the counties of Hedong and Hongnong, and many counties surrendered upon hearing of his arrival.

When Wang Yi, the governor of Hedong, saw that Hongnong City had been captured and that many counties were surrendering, he also abandoned the city and fled to Hangu Pass.

In an instant, Ma Chaosheng's might was closing in on Hangu Pass!

Faced with such rapid expansion, Zhong Yao, who was at Hangu Pass, was quite surprised and couldn't understand why Ma Chao, a rough and uncouth man, would have such powerful methods.

"Fortunately, Hangu Pass is an impregnable natural barrier, otherwise Your Excellency would have been in grave danger!"

Zhong Yao put down the battle report in his hand, his hands trembling as he wiped away the sweat. Zhang Ji and the others were like a skilled cook without rice; they had no choice but to defend Hangu Pass against Ma Chao's tactics.

If Ma Chao were alone, he might be helpless against Zhong Yao and his men's steadfast defense of Hangu Pass. However, with Sun Zi devising a plan for Ma Chao, his perspective changed. "Hangu Pass is impregnable; one man can hold it against ten thousand. Zhong Yao has defended it strategically, making it difficult to breach by force. General, you can use your title of Left General to denounce Cao Cao for deceiving the emperor, organize refugees to cultivate land, and appoint virtuous scholars as officials in various counties. In this way, the area west of Hangu Pass will no longer fall into Cao Cao's hands."

Sun Zi continued to use the strategy of winning over the people.

As long as the hearts of the people are in hand, it doesn't matter whether Hangu Pass can be breached in a short time. What Sun Zi seeks is that the area west of Hangu Pass will no longer be controlled by Cao Cao.

In addition, Liu Bei had left a good impression on the people of Hedong when he entered Hedong last time. Compared with Cao Cao, who was known for his bad reputation, supporting Liu Bei, who was known for his benevolence and righteousness, was not a bad thing. Sun Zi's strategy of winning the hearts of the people was also implemented smoothly.

At the same time, Sun Zi asked Ma Chao to send an envoy through Wuguan to Jingzhou, inviting Liu Biao of Jingzhou to send troops to help Liu Bei attack Cao Cao, out of consideration for their kinship.

In Sun Zi's view, although Liu Biao might not actually dare to send troops to attack Cao Cao, he would certainly not refuse to take the opportunity to seize Wancheng, the northern gateway to Jingzhou, and recover the lost territory of Jingzhou.

Cao Cao underestimated Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang's plans in Guanzhong over the past few years. He did not expect Ma Chao to dare to kill Han Sui and put Ma Teng under house arrest, nor did he expect that Ma Chao could force Zhong Yao to retreat to Hangu Pass.

As the saying goes, "A single hair can affect the whole body."

Last year, Cao Cao's five-pronged northern expedition failed, which not only allowed Liu Bei to defend his base in Hebei, but also increased Liu Bei's prestige among the heroes of the land.

Those from remote areas like Zhang Lu and Liu Zhang might not care; but for generals like Ma Chao from Guanzhong who relied on patronage to survive, Liu Bei's rise gave them another option to patronize.

And facts have proven that it was far better to ally with Liu Bei than with Cao Cao: Liu Bei was able to provide the benefits of Shu brocade and was trustworthy; Cao Cao cut off the benefits of salt and iron and was untrustworthy.

Whether the generals of Guanzhong will achieve their future goals is something Ma Chao and others don't think too much about, but in the current situation, their priority is definitely to join forces to eliminate Cao Cao, who is using the emperor to command the other lords.

Xiangyang.

Upon receiving the message from Ma Chao, Liu Biao couldn't help but hesitate.

As Ma Chao said in his letter, helping Liu Bei was helping Liu Biao himself. A powerful Cao Cao was always a threat to Jingzhou.

But Liu Biao's considerations weren't limited to Cao Cao; he also had Liu Bei in mind.

"Last year, Liu Bei withstood Cao Cao's five-pronged northern expedition, and this year he has even been able to launch a southern campaign against Cao Cao. Moreover, Ma Chao has seized Hongnong and forced Hangu Pass to respond to Liu Bei. The situation has changed so quickly that it is truly unexpected. Now Ma Chao has sent an envoy to invite me to attack Cao Cao. I still have some doubts in my heart. I wonder what you gentlemen think?" Liu Biao turned to look at Cai Mao, Kuai Yue and others, his expression also becoming solemn.

This news, like a boulder dropped into water, shocked everyone, causing them to change color.

The situation changed too quickly, so quickly that no one had time to react, and they couldn't understand how Ma Chao had captured Hongnong and forced Hangu Pass in just one month. Wasn't this the same as Ma Chao having never fought a battle since he raised an army to respond to Liu Bei, and that everyone along the way had surrendered at the first sign of trouble?

When did such a formidable figure emerge among the generals of Guanzhong? (End of Chapter)