Three Kingdoms: Ancestors of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 124 Prelude to the Northern Expedition
227 A.D., the first year of Wei Emperor Cao Rui Taihe, Han Emperor Liu Chan Jianxing five years, Wu Wang Sun Quan Huang Wu six years.

After Deng Zhi went to Soochow as an envoy, Sun Quan called Lu Xun, Zhu Huan, Hu Zong and others privately many times to discuss the matter of attacking Wei in private, but it has been fruitless.

Zhuge Liang wrote many times to urge Sun Quan to determine the time to send troops.Liu Chan even worried that if Sun Wu fought ahead of time, the historical course of the Shiting War would be changed, so Liu Chan wrote to Sun Quan privately, suggesting that Sun Quan could make his important officials follow the example of Chibi Huang Gai to feign surrender and lure Jiangbei Cao Xiu to attack.

Sun Quan also had this idea when he received Liu Chan's letter, but suffered from the lack of suitable candidates under his command.Just when Sun Quan was in a hurry, Peng Qi of Poyang County rebelled and captured the city of Poyang. Tens of thousands of troops rebelled, claiming to "raise troops and conquer Wu for Wei".

Sun Quan was overjoyed when he heard about it, and planned to use Peng Qi to lure Cao Xiu to attack.However, Poyang prefect Zhou Bing believed that these people were not enough to rely on to succeed, and there were several uprisings in Poyang, but they were all quickly wiped out. I am afraid that Cao Wei would not attack.

At the same time, Zhou Bing said: "I am willing to imitate Huang Gai's feigned surrender. I pretended to destroy Peng Qi and was blamed for failing. The king will choose a good general to quickly put down Peng Qi's chaos. I took the opportunity to write to Cao Xiu, saying that I was blamed and afraid of being killed. , intending to return to the north with Poyang County, and asked Cao Wei to send troops to respond."

After receiving Zhou Bing's performance, Sun Quan urgently summoned Lu Xun, Zhu Huan, Quan Cong and others to discuss, and after a few days of discussion, he acted according to the plan.

Zhou bream led the county soldiers to attack Peng Qi, pretending to be defeated.Sun Quan immediately went to Wen to reprimand him, and chose Xie Fandu Hu Zong to lead the army to attack Peng Qi, and captured Peng Qi alive.

Zhou Bream immediately wrote to Cao Xiuyan: "Sun Quan is dissatisfied with his failure to attack Peng Qi, and plans to punish himself. He hopes to return Poyang County to the north, and asks Cao Xiu to send troops to respond."

Zhou Bream wrote seven letters in a row, and Sun Quan also sent Shang Shulang to Poyang County to investigate various things about Zhou Bream, the prefect. At the same time, Sun Quan also wrote letters to Zhuge Liang about the situation.

Zhuge Liang, who was originally planning to send troops to Hanzhong in March, had no choice but to let Huang Quan lead some troops to Hanzhong first because Sun Quan had not decided to send troops to Hanzhong to publicize the Han's attack on Guanzhong.

At the same time, Zhuge Liang and Li Yan continued to exchange letters with Meng Da, hoping that Meng Da would join him, and stated in the letter that if Meng Da joined him, he could also receive the same treatment as Li Yan.

At this time, Meng Da also sent Zhuge Liang jade rings, Zhicheng, Zhanhan, Su Hexiang and other items.After Zhuge Liang received it, he was overjoyed. For the jade jue, the plan has been decided; for the weaving, the plan has been completed;But Zhuge Liang didn't know that Meng Da at this time was only interested because he was hooking up with Sun Wu at the same time and had a secret relationship.

Because Meng Da has realized that he is located at the junction of the three countries, with a superior geographical location, inherited from his father Meng Tuo (Note ①), and decided to make a big gamble to increase his own weight and obtain greater benefits.

After several months of correspondence, Zhuge Liang gradually realized that Meng Da didn't seem to have the intention of surrendering, but wanted to be on two boats, with a bigger picture.

In May, Zhuge Liang entered the palace overnight and asked to see Liu Chan who was about to fall asleep.

"Country, please see the prime minister." Gong'e whispered.

Liu Chan, who was lying on the couch, heard about it, and thought that something big must happen, otherwise Zhuge Liang would not have entered the palace late at night to seek an audience, so he got up suddenly, dressed briefly, and then met Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Liang, who was standing outside the hall at this time, was pacing at the door, thinking about Meng Da and Sun Quan.

"Prime Minister, Your Majesty invites you into the palace." The attendant sent a message.

Zhuge Liang turned around, stopped, straightened his clothes, and stepped into the hall.

Liu Chan was kneeling in front of the table, saw Zhuge Liang entering, motioned him to sit opposite, and asked curiously: "Is there something urgent for Xiangfu, so I entered the palace late at night."

After Zhuge Liang saluted, he was not polite.Kneeling down, facing the sleepy Liu Chan, he said seriously: "National, I have received a letter from Meng Da and Sun Quan in return this afternoon."

After Liu Chan heard this, he cheered up, frowned and asked, "Father Xiang, could something have changed?"

Zhuge Liang took out the letter from his bosom, put it on the case, and said in a deep voice: "Meng Da's surrender is fearful of disaster, and he may have no intention of surrendering. After Sun Quan agreed to his promise, he finally made a plan to feign the surrender of Cao Xiu with Zhou Bing, the prefect of Poyang County. , I want to bring the county back to Cao Wei in the north, and hope that Cao Xiu will send troops to Lujiang County, but the time for the two sides to send troops has not yet been determined."

After hearing what Zhuge Liang said, Liu Chan got up and walked to the map of the Han Dynasty hanging in the center of the palace wall, Zhuge Liang followed.

Holding an oil lamp in his left hand, Liu Chan searched for Lujiang County and the Three East Counties according to the Han map on the wall. He moved slowly on the map with his right hand and muttered: "Longyou, Guanzhong, Jingzhou (Three East Counties), Jianghuai Four The land stretches thousands of miles from west to east, in my imagination, my great Han, Dongwu, and Mengda sent troops to four places at the same time, so that Cao Wei could not look after each other, and there were wars everywhere."

"Under such circumstances, it will be easy for my great Han to go down to Longyou; and if Cao Wei wants to raise troops to invade Longyou, it will take time to prepare the army for war, and our great Han can digest the other counties of Longyou. But if there is no Mengda to raise troops, then The soldiers in Jingzhou can be transferred to the east and west to help."

Zhuge Liang was behind him, and added: "The country, I think that Meng Da will not be hindered if he does not raise his troops. The battle between Soochow and Cao Xiu will inevitably involve Jingzhou. Cao Wei will not dare to mobilize Jingzhou soldiers to ensure safety."

After hearing this, Liu Chan stared at Dongsan County and asked curiously, "Then why did Xiangfu say that Meng Da's return might cause disaster?"

Zhuge Liang stepped forward and pointed to the east three counties to the west to Hanzhong County, and replied with a serious expression: "Meng Da died of Cao Pi's illness. In addition, since the death of Hengjie and Xiahou in the court, there has been no good friend to speak for him. In Wei In the country, it is like sitting on pins and needles. That is why there is the intention to surrender, but if Cao Rui sends an envoy to comfort him with good words, and then appoints him as a high-ranking official, I am afraid that if Meng Da promises to go west to the Han River, he will lead his troops to attack Hanzhong County."

At this time, Liu Chan realized that maybe Meng Dazhen would act as a demon and disrupt the plan of the Northern Expedition.

Liu Chan frowned, with a troubled expression on his face, and tapped the location of the three eastern counties on the map with his index finger, recalling the history of Meng Da's rebellion in his mind, pondered for a long time, and said slowly: "The prime minister entered the palace late at night, and there must have been something about Meng Da. It can be resolved.”

Zhuge Liang stroked his beard and said with a sneer, "I want to force Meng Da to rebel, so he has no choice but to raise troops to fight against Cao Wei."

"Is Xiangfu trying to kill someone with a knife?" Liu Chan turned to look at Zhuge Liang and asked.

"No, this is a divorce plan. After Meng Da was forced to rebel, when Cao Wei attacked, I was waiting to raise troops to rescue." Zhuge Liang stared at the location of the East Three Counties on the map and said.

Hearing this, thinking about Meng Da's actions in history, Liu Chan's eyebrows were not loosened, and he asked: "When Meng Da descended to Wei, he placed Shen Yi in the west of the three eastern counties and served as the prefect of the west city. I am a big man to contact. We will be blocked by Shen Yi when we wait for the rescue."
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①Meng Tuo’s property was spared. In order to seek a high-ranking official, he did not hesitate to lose his family property and bribe Zhang Rang’s family servants, and married him in-laws. After many years, Meng Tuo finally lost his family property because of bribing the slaves.The slaves felt ashamed and introduced Zhang Rang to Meng Tuo, who appointed him as the governor of Liangzhou.

Su Dongpo said: "The general won a hundred battles, but Bo Lang won Liangzhou with one Dendrobium." The man was Meng Tuo.

(End of this chapter)