Three Kingdoms: Ancestors of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 248 Military affairs
It was night, Liu Chan returned to his residence full of joy, Dong Yun and Huo Yi didn't disturb Liu Chan's interest, they chatted for a while and then retreated.

On the surface, it seems inappropriate for Liu Chan, who is the emperor of the Han Dynasty, to accept Xia Houhui, a daughter of the clan of Cao Wei, his enemy, as his wife, but if you look carefully at the high-level relations of the Three Kingdoms, you will not think so.Don't look at the three countries conquering each other, but in fact, the top leaders of the three countries are all relatives.

Cao Chun, Cao Ren's younger brother, led tiger and leopard riders to attack Xinye, captured Liu Chan's sister, and betrothed her to his son Cao Yan as his wife.

Cao Yan is now the leader of Cao Wei's middle army, in charge of the middle army, and has a high position and authority. In terms of seniority, Liu Chan still calls Cao Yan's brother-in-law.

And Cao Chun is Cao Cao's younger brother. After careful calculation, I found that the two enemies, Lao Cao and Lao Liu, are still related to their relatives. Liu Chan and Cao Rui are also relatives, although they are a bit far away.

On the other side, Xiahouyuan's niece, Xiahouba's younger sister, Xiahoushi, went out of the city to collect firewood, and was accepted by Zhang Fei as his wife.In terms of seniority, Zhang Fei still calls him Uncle Xia Houyuan.

In general, Liu Bei and Cao Cao are related by their relatives, and Zhang Fei and Xiahou brothers are related by uncles and nephews.If Liu Chan and Xiahou Hui are added now, Liu Chan will call Da Sima Cao Zhen his uncle and the Han thief Cao Cao his grandfather.

Um!Compared with Cao Cao, Lao Liu was instantly shorter by one generation.But it doesn't matter anymore, because Xiahou's relationship has already been shortened by a generation.

As for Soochow, let alone, it is related to Shu Han and Cao Wei.So from another joke point of view, the Three Kingdoms is three relatives fighting each other and competing for family property.

After Liu Chan returned to his residence, he saw that it was still early, so he knelt down in front of the desk and read a book.

After a while, the sky gradually dimmed, and the attendants were also very discerning and lit a fire for lighting.

At this time, the attendant outside the house said: "Your Majesty, please come to the prime minister to see me!"

Liu Chan was fascinated by reading, without looking up, he said, "Xuan!"

Zhuge Liang entered the house, took off his shoes, took off his triangular socks (Note ①), and walked into the house barefoot.

"My minister, Zhuge Liang, pay my respects to Your Majesty."

"Father Xiang, stand up and sit down as you please, don't be restrained." Liu Chan put down the scroll and said in a gentle voice.

Seeing Zhuge Liang's bare feet, Liu Chan also took off the triangular socks on his own feet, and asked his attendants to prepare snacks and tea for Zhuge Liang's desk.

Zhuge Liang saw Liu Chan taking off the socks himself, and a warm current surged in his heart.

In Zhou Dynasty, when the ministers saw the monarch, they had to take off their socks before entering the hall.Ordinary people are not allowed to wear socks when they are with their elders or people with higher status than themselves.

In the battle of Guandu, Cao Cao heard that Xu You was coming to vote, and greeted him with all his feet, as a show of respect.

Liu Chan's subtle movements are tantamount to telling Zhuge Liang, you respect me as a monarch, and I respect you as a father.

The relationship between Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang, and Liu Chan is very mysterious. According to Liu Bei's age, Zhuge Liang is more like his son, and Liu Chan is his grandson.Zhuge Liang had no children in his early years. He watched Liu Chan grow up and often taught Liu Chan, but Liu Chan was more like Zhuge Liang's son.

After all, in history, Liu Bei asked Liu Chan to call Zhuge Liang's father, but it didn't come out of thin air.

Liu Chan cast his eyes on Zhuge Liang and said, "Is there any important matter to discuss with Xiangfu?"

Zhuge Liang shook his feather fan lightly, and said with a smile, "Now that Cao Zhen's army has retreated, I wonder what His Majesty is thinking?"

Liu Chan frowned slightly, and said: "I want to attack Liang, but I'm afraid I can't do it. For two consecutive years, the Great Han sent more than [-] troops and hundreds of thousands of corvee people. First they attacked Long, and then they retreated from Wei. When fighting, women should be lucky. The people are suffering, and my heart is restless!"

Zhuge Liang nodded in agreement and said: "Your Majesty's words are reasonable. Longyou is in dire straits. There are 300,000 people in Qinzhou, but there are more than [-] troops. It is so difficult. The food and grass are all supplied by Yizhou. But I think it is time to attack Liang. It must be done, and Cao Wei must not be allowed to breathe."

"Cao Zhen raised 200,000 soldiers today, but I was retreated by my big man. In recent years, Cao Wei will not be able to attack me again. Therefore, this is a good opportunity for my big man. If Cao Wei is allowed to recuperate and regain his vitality, even though Liangzhou will be the meat of my big man, But it’s also quite difficult to fight fiercely to win the cool air!”

Finally, Zhuge Liang lightly raised his feather fan, and said in a deep voice, "It's hard for me to cut Liang, but it's also hard for Wei."

Liu Chan nodded, agreeing with Zhuge Liang's statement.Don't look at the fact that the big Han has captured Longyou and repelled Cao Zhen's 200,000 army. He is in full swing, but in fact the big Han lives in the west, and he is far from being comparable to Cao Wei.

Cao Wei has a vast land and rich resources, occupies the Central Plains, and owns 2/3 of the world. Although [-] soldiers were lost in this battle, it is only a pain in the flesh, and it can be recovered within a few years.If the big man loses [-] soldiers, it will almost hurt his muscles and bones. Without more than ten years of cultivation, it will be difficult to recover.

Liu Chan picked up the teacup and sipped it lightly, thought for a while, and said, "I don't know how Xiangfu will cut down the cold, but we need to know that Longyou is in a difficult situation and it is difficult to raise an army."

Zhuge Liang took out a scarf from his bosom, passed it to Liu Chan, and said, "The main difficulty of our Northern Expedition lies within. First, our army has too many soldiers but short of food. There are more than [-] soldiers, but Longyou has a large number of people. Rare; although Hanzhong has a population of [-], it is difficult for a large army to attack the north; in addition, the road to Shu is difficult and dangerous, and grain is transported thousands of miles from Yizhou, resulting in a lot of losses. This is also the difficulty of grain and grass."

Liu Chan spread out the scarf and read the content while listening to Zhuge Liang's explanation.

"Secondly, our army is mixed but not refined. Our Han Dynasty's northern expedition to Longyou was done by surprise; the retreat of Cao Zhen was due to the dangers of Longshan and Qinling Mountains. The victory over Fei Yao, Guo Huai, and Xiahou Ru was the elite soldiers of our Han Dynasty. But attacking Cao Wei's soldiers is not worth mentioning."

"If our soldiers of the Han Dynasty fought against Sima Yi and Cao Zhen's army in the field, our soldiers of the Han Dynasty would definitely not be as good as the soldiers of Cao Wei. It is because of the lack of sharpness of the soldiers. Simplifying the soldiers can also make the soldiers return to their hometowns, cultivate the fields, and nourish the national treasury.

Zhuge Liang raised his feather fan lightly, talked eloquently, and pointed out the situation.

"Thirdly, it is difficult for our generals to command an army of tens of thousands. Among our generals, Wei Chen and General Chariots have experience in commanding tens of thousands of troops, while Zi Jun, Wen Chang, Shi Zai, Bo Yue and others have no large army. The experience of combat deployment. It is the former minister who wants to teach generals about martial arts and teach the art of war."

After Zhuge Liang had finished speaking for a while, Liu Chan nodded slowly, raised his head and said, "The words of Xiangfu pointed directly at the military disadvantages of our great Han, and I deeply agree with it!"

After a pause, Liu Chan asked, "I don't know what Xiangfu plans to do next?"

Hearing this, Zhuge Liang smiled and said: "I want to stay in Qinzhou, refine the soldiers, teach martial arts, teach generals, store grain and save up, and investigate the geography of Liangzhou. Next year, the strategy has been decided, the soldiers will be streamlined, and the minister will send troops to attack Cao Wei in the north. After pacifying Liangzhou, I will return to Beijing."

Liu Chan nodded slightly, agreeing with Zhuge Liang's thoughts.

The number of soldiers is good but not large, coupled with the lack of population in the northern border of the Han Dynasty, and the inconvenience of food transportation in Yizhou, the kingly way is to reduce the number of soldiers and increase combat effectiveness.

At the same time, as Zhuge Liang said, the Cao Wei corps fought a lot, and the combat experience of the big Han generals was mostly small fights with thousands of people. It is still immature for tens of thousands of troops to fight and needs to be polished.

Such a large amount of engineering can basically only be completed by Zhuge Liang. After all, this is a matter involving an army of [-]. It requires not only military strategy, but also the ability to manage politics.

"Good, I will take care of the affairs of the Han army. I will return to Chengdu on my own after the Liangshan banquet." Liu Chan laughed.

"promise!"

Liu Chan thought about one thing and asked, "I wonder if the father of the prime minister can make a proper arrangement for the reward?"

Zhuge Liang took out the scarf from his bosom again, passed it to Liu Chan, and said, "This is the list of rewards, Your Majesty can check it out."

Liu Chan put the memorial under the palm of his hand, and said with a smile: "If my father does not follow me back to Chengdu, I will choose a good time, and I will accept Xiahou as my concubine in the near future. Yuanrong is in a foreign country and has no elders. Why don't you pay homage to my father? Accept it."

Zhuge Liangliang nodded, stroked his beard and said with a smile: "I wish!"

Before Liu Chan met Xiahouhui, he had an affair with Zhuge Liang. Anyway, Xiahouhui's identity was a bit embarrassing, and Zhuge Liang accepted her as a righteous daughter to cover up her embarrassing situation a little.

Zhuge Liang also hesitated about Liu Chan accepting Xiahou Hui, but he agreed on the grounds that Liu Chan took the daughter of Cao Wei's clan as his concubine, which would help to pacify the Wei land in the future and appease the officials of Cao Wei.

After all, the emperor of the Han Dynasty can accept even the daughters of the clan who rebelled against Wei, so those of us who serve as officials in Cao Wei have nothing to be afraid of.

"Xing Han Duke Questions and Answers"

Zhongzu said: "Longyou has many soldiers but few people, what's the reason?"

Liang said: "Soldiers are skilled, not numerous. Please be simple."

Zhongzu said: "The general (command) has few soldiers, how to solve it?"

Liang said: "The generals have few soldiers, and the most important thing is to dispatch them. Please teach me about martial arts."
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①The socks in the Qin and Han Dynasties were triangular stockings, but concubine Cao Pi changed the triangular stockings into a similar modern sock shape, which is more beautiful.

(The map of Cao Zhen's conquest of Shu will be released the day after tomorrow)
(End of this chapter)