Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 431 Conspiring against Sun Quan, Cao Wei is greatly saddened

Many Liu Bei's staff groups left the gate of the camp, bowed their hands to each other, and separated into several teams to leave together.

Although they are all in the same camp, Liu Bei's advisers are also divided into several small groups.

For example, Ma Liang, Yang Yi, Jiang Wan and others belonged to the Jingzhou faction, because they were all from Jingzhou, and most of them came from Jingzhou families.

Dong He, Huang Quan, Zheng Du and others belonged to the Yizhou faction. Needless to say, Huang Quan and Zheng Du were all from Yizhou.

Although Dong He is from Nanjun, Jingzhou, his family moved westward at the end of Han Dynasty, and his ancestors were from Jiangzhou, Bajun. Therefore, under Liu Bei's command, it is naturally a Yizhou family group.

As for Zhuge Jin and Lu Xun, they are undoubtedly the Jiangdong faction.Even if Zhuge Jin was from Shandong, it would not change the fact that he migrated to Yangzhou.

Therefore, under such a geographical division, Liu Bei's staff group probably formed such a group size.

At this moment, the Jingzhou faction still holds the highest status, and Ma Liang has won the trust of Liu Bei. He seems to be the sixth person under the five counselors Zhuge Liang, Xu Shu, Pang Tong, Fazheng, and Jia Xu, and the most powerful competitor of the three high-ranking officials in recent years.

After leaving the main camp, Ma Liang, Yang Yi, and Jiang Wan headed towards the back camp under their jurisdiction. There was still light rain in the sky, and the three of them didn't have umbrellas, and the raindrops drenched their clothes.

"If it is as expected, when Cao Pi gets the news of the fall of Guanzhong, I am afraid that he will be eager to fight, and he must start a direct confrontation with His Majesty."

Ma Liang raised his head and looked at the sky with dark clouds floating, and said with a deep sigh.

Yang Yi nodded slightly: "Yes, Cao Pi is indeed anxious, so we can only persuade His Majesty, and hope that His Majesty will not be impatient."

Ma Liang turned his head and glanced at Jiang Wan and said, "Gong Yan said before that the governor would take back Bingzhou and the general would take Huainan, but he didn't tell His Majesty that it would take a long time."

Jiang Wan said in a deep voice: "Bingzhou and Tongguan are both continuous mountains. The general governor transports grain for a long time. Even if he changes to transport grain from Nanyang in the future, he must be well-prepared. Even if the generals break through Huainan, Cao Wei will definitely be in the Huaihe River." Building a defense line to the north, these things, of course, will not happen overnight."

"By the time when the great Han and Cao Wei were of the size, it was no longer the time when the princes, big and small, annexed each other during the chaos of the princes in the early years. At that time, the victory or defeat of a big battle was related to the ownership of a certain county in a certain state. Gradually seize it, and eventually it will be Grow up."

Yang Yi shook her head and said: "But now the North and the South have formed two countries, with a population of more than [-] million under their rule. It is by no means a war that will determine the outcome. Your Majesty cannot be too hasty if he wants to unify."

"I'm afraid of His Majesty's body"

Looking at the cloudy sky, Ma Liang sighed, with a sad look on his face.

What they need most now is time, and what they lack most is also time.

Liu Bei is the backbone of the southern imperial court, but he is very old. Once he falls, I am afraid that the current good situation will be ruined, so time is too important to them.

Jiang Wan said softly: "I hope that Your Majesty can live a long life, and I also hope that the general and the governor can sweep the hole and take Luoyang directly. But the current situation is like this, and we need to continue to seek stability. We probably don't have to worry about the front line. gone."

"Ah."

Ma Liang nodded and said: "Your Majesty has promised to slow down the plan. Although the General Chaqi is aggressive, but with His Majesty's instructions and the assistance of the two deputy prime ministers, he will not go to war. We just need to wait and continue to wait until the end." One day, the general and the governor will not disappoint His Majesty."

They all looked up to the sky.

The rain in the sky is getting smaller and smaller. Now it is the rainy season in the south. There are continuous torrential rains in Jingzhou, Yangzhou and other places. It has an impact on Henan, but it has not been so severe that the heavy rain makes it impossible for the two sides to fight. Therefore, the front line is still fighting on a small scale. .

But these things are not a big deal for Cao Pi.Even recently, scouts and scouts from both sides fought back and forth, and everyone won or lost, but it couldn't influence the overall situation.

Now the chance to really change the situation in one fell swoop, to allow Cao Pi to defeat Liu Bei in one fell swoop, and to seize the whole world is to continue to delay.

Cao Wei's size is here.

Although the south is not weak, the confrontation between the north and the south, plus Liu Bei's northern expedition, is a long-distance attack. Delaying it will only benefit Cao Pi, and it will continue to consume Liu Bei's group. It depends on who can consume more.

It's just that in the past six months, Shen Chen and Guan Yu have been constantly attacking Chang'an and Hefei. The two cities are crumbling like boats in the wind and rain, which also makes Cao Pi feel uneasy.

For some reason today, Cao Pi felt very uncomfortable, so he summoned the advisers around him to discuss some things together.

Chenliu County, Chenliu County.

The former Chendu of the Han Dynasty no longer became the imperial capital because of the relocation of the capital to Chaoge and Cao Pi's usurpation of the Han Dynasty.

However, the original palace is still there, and it has now become Cao Pi's palace, allowing him to supervise the battle from the rear.

At this time, in a side hall in the backyard of Chenliu Palace, Cao Pi was sitting on the main seat, flipping through official documents from various places with a little restlessness, flipping through his hands, but absent-minded.

Because these official documents have already been read, after all, Huainan and Guanzhong are thousands of miles away from here, and the battle report is many days ago. The latest news is that Guan Yu and Cao Xiu fought in the Chengde area. The two sides fought in full swing and each other won. burden.

After a while, Sima Yi, Chen Qun, Dong Zhao, Jiang Ji, Liu Ye and others entered the hall one after another, bowed their hands to Cao Pi, and then sat down in rows with Cao Pi's nod.

"Your Majesty, I don't know what is the purpose of calling the ministers here today?"

Sima Yi asked first.

Cao Pi frowned and said, "I don't know why, I've been feeling depressed for the past few days, and occasionally I would be awakened by nightmares in the middle of the night, making me always feel that something bad might happen."

Chen Qun said with a smile: "Your Majesty, this is caused by worrying in your heart and thinking too much. There is no need to think about messy things."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Dong Zhao also said: "As the old saying goes, there is something to think about every day and dreams at night. It is a good thing to think often, but if you think too much every day, you will be made anxious by trivial matters, and you will lose your calm thinking instead."

"Well, perhaps it is."

Cao Pi nodded, thought for a while and said, "Even though I may be thinking too much, it's good to convene everyone to discuss matters. As the so-called brainstorming, now that the battle is stalemate, maybe we can think of a way to break this situation and let us win the victory." .”

"That's true."

Sima Yi said: "Putting the hope of victory entirely on Liu Bei's old age, sickness and death is not realistic, but it is more beneficial for us to delay at present. If we can find other ways, we may be able to win as soon as possible."

Jiang Ji thought for a while and said, "What Zhongda said is true. At the beginning, I thought that Liu Bei was ill and would die soon. It was also a common sense. But if he can live for another year or two, the long-term confrontation will make it difficult for him. We also consume a lot, and it would be bad if we don’t have the ability to go south in a big way even if we win.”

Dong Zhao said with a smile: "Didn't the Taiwei offer stirrups and saddles before? These things are good things. Our cavalry is far more than Liu Bei. Large-scale equipment of these can greatly enhance the combat effectiveness of the cavalry, so that we can Added another point to the odds.”

Cao Pi said: "Well, I have ordered the generals to be built on a large scale, but it will take time to build tens of thousands of stirrups and saddles in a short period of time, and then equip the entire army. I want to know how to make them as soon as possible. Break this deadlock."

Cao Wei's cavalry is indeed more than that of Liu Bei. At present, Cao Wei in Henan has 15 soldiers, and the cavalry alone has 5 to [-] horses.

But still the same sentence, in the era without stirrups and saddles, on the plains, infantry formed formations and cavalry confronted each other, and the cavalry came one to die, and one pair to die.

The battle between Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao is the best example.

In his heyday, Gongsun Zan had tens of thousands of cavalry, [-] to [-] infantry, and a total force of more than [-].On the other hand, Yuan Shao had only tens of thousands of infantry and thousands of cavalry, and his total strength was far lower than that of Gongsun Zan.

As a result, in the Battle of Jieqiao, Ju Yi's 800 infantrymen defeated Gongsun Zan's tens of thousands of cavalry. It can be seen that in front of bows and crossbows, all infantry and cavalry are equal.

But now with stirrups and saddles it's different.

It turns out that cavalry can't shoot arrows on horseback. With these things, they can train cavalry archery, shoot while running, and kill infantry.

In this way, their winning rate against Han infantry on the plain will be greatly improved.

It's just that although Cao Wei's national strength is not weak, it is not in the era of industrialization. It takes a lot of manpower and material resources to build so many stirrups and saddles by hand. How can the whole army be equipped so quickly?
So Cao Pi still hopes to find a faster way.

Liu Ye thought about it and said: "Although our army is 3 to 30 more than Liu Bei in Henan, the total number of troops on both sides is nearly [-]. It is difficult to defeat Liu Bei in World War I. Unless there is a large-scale rebellion in Liu Bei's rear, causing the If we are defeated all the way, we will have surplus troops to deal with Liu Bei's main force."

"Massive rebellion?"

Jiang Ji shook his head and said: "I'm afraid it will be very difficult. Liu Bei has been stabilizing the situation in the rear for the past few years. All the Wuxi barbarians in Jingnan were recruited by him and used by him. The rebellion in Nanzhong was put down by Zhuge Liang last year. Only Jiaozhi may still have a rebellion. Happened, but what does that affect him?"

Everyone bowed their heads and thought.

The Liu Bei Group has been recuperating for a few years, unlike Cao Wei who mainly squeezed the people like Cao Wei, which caused continuous rebellion in the rear.So the people's livelihood is very good, even the Shanyue people who have never obeyed Wang Hua surrendered to him, and it is even more impossible for the people to rebel.

Therefore, if you want to launch a rebellion behind Liu Bei's group, it is obviously difficult.

But after a while, Sima Yi suddenly raised his head and said, "Perhaps this is not impossible."

"Oh?"

Cao Pi hurriedly looked at him and said, "Zhongda has a clever plan?"

Sima Yi smiled and said: "Your Majesty, Liu Bei suppressed the powerful families and supported the low-level people. It is really difficult for the people to set off a rebellion. But it is possible for him to suppress the powerful families and instigate a rebellion, isn't it?"

Chen Qun said: "I'm afraid it will be very difficult. What kind of imperial examination system has Liu Bei implemented in the past few years? Only talents are selected. It sounds beneficial to the common people, but in fact, how many low-level ordinary people can afford to study? Those who become officials are not from aristocratic families. The worst is that he is also a child from a poor family, so most of his subordinates are from aristocratic families, and a large number of aristocratic families have been deprived of their fields, but becoming an official will reduce their hatred of Liu Bei too much."

"What Changwen said is very true. The imperial examination system has indeed eased the problems between Liu Bei and the family, but Changwen ignored one point."

Sima Yi laughed.

Chen Qun asked, "Oh? What did I overlook?"

"Jiangdong!"

"Jiangdong?"

"good."

Sima Yi looked around at the crowd and said, "Everyone, Liu Bei started his family in Jingzhou, and most of the people he relied on were the dignitaries of the Jingzhou family. The Yizhou family came second. Because Liu Zhang lost his state, Fazheng Zhang Song and others donated the land of Bashu, so they benefited a lot. The Zhou family also quickly turned to Liu Bei."

"That's right, Liu Bei's so-called Sixiang are mostly from Jingzhou and Yizhou."

Everyone nodded.

The official system of the Liu Bei Group has been slightly rectified, and the three provinces with lower ranks have been raised up, and they have become important institutions to assist the prime minister.

So the prime minister became the prime minister, and the chief officials of the three provinces, Shang Shuling, Zhongshu Cheng, and Menxiaqing, became deputy prime ministers.

As for these four, although Zhuge Liang and Xu Shu are not from Jingzhou, they have already been branded by the Jingzhou Group. Pang Tong is a local wealthy family in Jingzhou, and Fazheng is the representative of a wealthy family in Yizhou. Naturally, the high-level power is controlled by Jingzhou and Yizhou. .

Sima Yi continued: "The gentry in Jiangdong support Sun Quan and resist Liu Bei. Although some aristocratic families have defected to them, there are still many aristocratic families who are unwilling to hand over their land and population. They do not serve Liu Bei and are suppressed by Liu Bei. The aristocratic family has an extremely low status in the south, and this is the reason why they can launch their rebellion."

Cao Pi frowned, and then said after a while: "Even so, Jiangdong's gentry supported Sun Quan and Liu Bei's wars in the past few years, and they have shown their background. I'm afraid there are not many people. Besides, we can't connect so many noble families together to send troops to deal with it. Liu Bei."

Sima Yi smiled and said: "Although they don't have many troops, there are many gentry in Jiangdong. Each family has hundreds of people. It is not a problem to gather tens of thousands of troops. They don't need to do anything, as long as they can raid Guan Yu's food road and cooperate with General Zhennan to defeat Guan Yu , then the pressure on the eastern front will drop sharply, and Huainan naturally doesn’t need to worry, and they can even go straight to Jingzhou along the Yangtze River and harass Liu Bei’s lair.”

"Then how do you link up so many great families?"

Cao Pi asked back.

Sima Yi smiled and slowly spit out a name.

"Sun Quan!"

He said.

"Sun Quan?"

Everyone was surprised immediately.

"Exactly."

Sima Yi nodded his chin lightly and said: "Sun Quan is now imprisoned in Xiangyang, but after all, the Sun family has been in Jiangdong for three generations, and has been favored for a long time. If we can contact Sun Quan, let him link up with the Jiangdong family and start a rebellion in the rear, then Huainan will be a major event. Cheng, if Guan Yu can be killed, His Majesty may really be able to rule the world."

"Liu Bei and Guan Yu have a deep relationship. If Guan Yu dies, Liu Bei is already in poor health and mentally exhausted. If he dies directly, there will be great chaos in the south."

Jiang Ji thought about it for a while, and said with approval: "Your Majesty, I think Zhongda's plan is indeed feasible."

"That's right. Anyway, I just contacted Sun Quan, and it seems that there is nothing to lose."

"It's the best, it doesn't matter if it doesn't."

"This is a wonderful move."

Many counselors suddenly felt that this strategy seemed to be pretty good.

Anyway, it belongs to one move layout chess.

It would be best if it can take effect, even if it can't take effect, it's okay, after all, there is no loss.

"Ah."

Cao Pi Fuxu nodded and said: "Okay, this plan is not bad, it is very clever. Zhongda, I will leave this matter to you. If you can really start the Jiangdong rebellion, I will reward you greatly."

Sima Yi hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, this is due to the efforts of all the ministers, not the merit of the minister alone."

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha."

Cao Pi laughed and said: "At that time, everyone will be rewarded, and I will never treat meritorious ministers badly."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Everyone also stood up and saluted.

Cao Pi looked around at the crowd, and said with a smile: "If Guan Yu can be killed, Liu Bei will surely die. I will eventually conquer the world and rule the world, hahahahaha!"

"Report!"

At this moment, a messenger hurried in from outside the door and shouted in mournful voice: "Shen Chen broke through Chang'an, General Anxi was beheaded, Taiwei was captured alive, and Guanzhong was lost!"

The smile on Cao Pi's face froze immediately.

(End of this chapter)