Chapter 407 General Yu Wei Eight Character Key
Author: Soy Sauce Mixed History
Chapter 407 General Yu Wei Eight Character Key
On October 25, the second year of Emperor Zhangwu of the Han Dynasty, outside Chengdu.
Today is the day when Zhuge Liang vows to conquer the south.
Because of the importance of today to the Han Dynasty, many ministers gathered outside Chengdu early this morning.
It is already winter at the end of October. Due to the abundant moisture in the air, the winter in Chengdu has a coldness that sinks into your bones.
But this coldness did not stop all the ministers in Chengdu, and even the prince Liu Chan, who used to live in the palace, to come outside the city to see Zhuge Liang off.
Given Zhuge Liang's character of not cherishing false fame, he would certainly not issue an order for the ministers to see him off outside the city today.
Many ministers and prince Liu Chan gathered outside the city to see Zhuge Liang off today. This was their spontaneous action, which shows Zhuge Liang's status in their hearts.
However, although many ministers wanted to come to Zhuge Liang and say a few auspicious words in front of him, their goals could not be accomplished for a while.
Because Zhuge Liang is currently talking with Prince Liu Chan.
Liu Chan held Zhuge Liang's hand tightly, as if he had a thousand words to say.
Zhuge Liang specially put on a suit of fine armor for today's expedition.
Zhuge Liang was already eight feet long, and his appearance was particularly majestic. But when Zhuge Liang put on a suit of fine armor, he looked even more heroic, like the divine general descending from heaven.
But even so, Liu Chan still couldn't hide his worries about Zhuge Liang.
Liu Chan gave a look, and Huang Hao, the chamberlain beside him, immediately held up a sword and placed it in front of the two of them.
Then Liu Chan temporarily let go of Zhuge Liang's hands. He took the sword from Huang Hao's hand and handed it to Zhuge Liang respectfully.
"The Prime Minister is about to go on an expedition, and there is no good plan to help him succeed.
However, the sword is a gentleman's weapon. I only hope that the Prime Minister can accept Gu's personal sword. Gu uses the sword to wish the Prime Minister a victory and an end to rebellion."
The sword had a very special meaning in the hearts of ancient scholars. Because of its meaning, it was often given as a gift.
In history, there are many examples of kings giving swords to ministers as a blessing when they went on an expedition.
Therefore, Liu Chan's current behavior fell into Zhuge Liang's eyes, causing a lot of smiles to appear on his lips.
The prince's intelligence and strategy may be lacking, but his qualities are good.
In order not to worry Liu Chan, Zhuge Liang did not refuse Liu Chan's kindness.
After taking the sword presented by Liu Chan with both hands, Zhuge Liang looked at Liu Chan with a sad face and comforted him:
"Prince, don't worry. I have arranged the internal affairs of the court a few days ago. The prince only needs to listen to the advice of a group of wise ministers, and then there will be no mistakes in the affairs of the Han Dynasty."
Zhuge Liang certainly knew why Liu Chan was worried.
After Liu Chan listened to Zhuge Liang's words, as expected, the sadness on his face instantly lightened a lot.
In fact, even if Zhuge Liang did not make any arrangements in advance before leaving Chengdu, there would not be any major mistakes in the Han government after he left.
Liu Bei is just sick.
But it was precisely for this reason that Liu Chan was worried about Zhuge Liang's departure.
Zhuge Liang's presence means that there are people who will keep him safe, but if Zhuge Liang leaves, the probability of him making a mistake will greatly increase, and he will inevitably be reprimanded by Liu Bei by then.
It has to be said that no matter how Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang taught Liu Chan in the past, Liu Chan is still a child who has not grown up, especially in terms of his character.
After comforting Liu Chan, Zhuge Liang saw that it was getting late, so he bowed to Liu Chan and asked him to return to the city first.
After Liu Chan received an answer that reassured him, he obeyed Zhuge Liang's request and turned back to Chengdu.
After Liu Chan returned to Chengdu, other ministers gathered outside the city thought of going forward to say goodbye to Zhuge Liang one by one.
But how could Zhuge Liang let such a thing delay his expedition?
Therefore, before all the ministers came forward, Zhuge Liang took the initiative to bow to the ministers in front, thanked them, and then let them go back to the city first.
The ministers also knew the reason for Zhuge Liang's behavior, so even though they still had many things to say to Zhuge Liang, they could only retreat one by one in the end.
After all the ministers returned to Chengdu, Zhuge Liang took the sword gifted by Liu Chan and embarked on the expedition.
The chariot Zhuge Liang was riding was the emperor's six-horse chariot.
This is what Liu Bei issued an edict to Zhuge Liang a few days ago to ride on during his southern expedition.
Liu Bei's reward not only reflects his love for Zhuge Liang, but also tells the world that Zhuge Liang's southern expedition is a personal expedition on behalf of the emperor.
This is very important because it allows Zhuge Liang to have the same power as the emperor during the southern expedition.
When the time comes for the Southern Expedition, Zhuge Liang will either kill or reward, fight or make peace, all at Zhuge Liang's whim, which will be enough for Zhuge Liang's personal strategy to be fully utilized.
As Zhuge Liang entered the chariot, the 5,000 Liang troops who had been prepared for a long time began to move towards Nanzhong under the command of Deng Ai.
This time, the only people following Zhuge Liang on his southern expedition outside Chengdu were the five thousand Liang troops commanded by Deng Ai.
This was not because of Zhuge Liang's fault, but because most of the field troops inside and outside Chengdu had already followed Zhao Yunnan.
So Zhuge Liang only needs to lead five thousand Liang troops all the way south to join forces with Zhao Yun.
Of course, although most of Chengdu's field army was taken away by Zhao Yun, Chengdu still had some elites, and Zhuge Liang could have taken these elites south.
The reason why Zhuge Liang did not do this is that there is not much food and grass in Yizhou at present.
Under such circumstances, Zhuge Liang could not bring too many troops to march south due to various considerations.
When Zhuge Liang entered the chariot, he saw a man sitting upright and waiting for him.
This man is General Yu Jin of the Han Dynasty.
After the public security battle ended, Yu Jin followed Liu Bei back to Chengdu.
After returning to Chengdu, even though Liu Bei rewarded Jin from time to time, Yu Jin always seemed to be very law-abiding in Chengdu because of his status as a surrendered general.
Because of this, even though there had been several major disturbances in Chengdu before, Yu Jin was never seen.
But during this southern expedition, both Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang thought of him.
Yu Jin's reputation is not very good, but he still has some abilities. It is a good idea to take him with you to coach military aircraft.
Besides, Liu Bei has never been stingy about his fame, status, and wealth, so he can't afford to keep an idle man in vain.
Even for a Sangong like Xu Jing who only talked about Confucian classics and Taoism, Liu Bei would often take him with him when he went on an expedition in order to squeeze out every ounce of value from Xu Jing, not to mention a famous general like Yu Jin.
Liu Bei, who made his fortune from scratch, was a prudent emperor.
After Yu Jin saw Zhuge Liang entering the chariot, a look of anxiety instantly appeared on his face.
He was not worried that Zhuge Liang would be disadvantageous to him. After all, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang had treated him well in the past.
The reason why Yu Jin was uneasy was because he felt ashamed after seeing Zhuge Liang.
Zhuge Liang has a great reputation in the world and is known as the "Guan Zhong of the world". Zhuge Liang's political ability was even praised by Cao Cao.
Cao Cao has a problem, that is, he likes to praise anyone who has suffered losses.
So after the Battle of Hanzhong, he almost praised Zhuge Liang and Fa Zheng to the sky.
What makes Zhuge Liang most admired by people all over the world is his unswerving character.
It is precisely this kind of character that makes Yu Jin uncontrollably feel ashamed of himself after seeing Zhuge Liang.
Yu Jin's discomfort could not be hidden from Zhuge Liang. Faced with Yu Jin's discomfort, Zhuge Liang just smiled gently at him.
It was he who invited Yu Jin to ride in the chariot. After all, given Yu Jin's nominal status, he was worthy of riding in the same chariot with him.
Zhuge Liang's gentle smile calmed Yu Jin's anxious heart a lot.
After greeting Yu Jin with each other, Zhuge Liang went to a place in the chariot and sat down, then picked up the map on the desk in front of him and read it.
Zhuge Liang was looking at the map of Nanzhong.
Nanzhong is a general name for the southern part of Yizhou. According to the political division, Nanzhong is mainly divided into four counties.
These four counties are: Yuexi County, Zangke County, Yizhou County, and Yongchang County.
The total area of the four counties occupies almost half of Yizhou's territory.
However, because the four counties of Nanzhong were still in an undeveloped state at that time, whether it was the Liu family and his sons in Yizhou in the past, or Liu Bei, they mainly used methods to appease the four counties of Nanzhong.
Among the many means of appeasement, a very important point was Liu Bei's recognition of "Southern Autonomy."
Southern autonomy refers to the important positions in the four counties of Nanzhong, and even the post of governor, Liu Bei appointed local powerful people in Nanzhong to hold the positions.
It is precisely because Liu Bei recognized this that the four counties of Nanzhong generally maintained a submissive attitude in the past.
Southern autonomy was an expedient measure adopted by Liu Bei at the beginning. After all, Liu Bei's power was in the stage of outward expansion, and there was really no need to waste energy on the four counties of Nanzhong.
But the disadvantages of this are obvious.
The Nanzhong tycoons already have strong influence in this county.
Nowadays, all the important positions in the four counties of Nanzhong are in the hands of powerful people in this county. This has led to the transformation of the powerful powers of the four counties of Nanzhong into separatist princes.
The four counties of Nanzhong are still nominally the territory of the Han Dynasty, but in fact the Han Dynasty has very little control over those four counties.
Under this situation, Zhuge Liang knew that once the news of his southern expedition reached the four counties of Nanzhong, the local powerful people in the four counties of Nanzhong would definitely rebel by seizing the counties in order to protect themselves.
Zhuge Liang had already anticipated this, so after reading the map of the four counties in Nanzhong, he began to think about corresponding strategies.
The strength of the four Nanzhong counties alone is not strong, but if the four counties are united, the total strength of the Nanzhong rebels will most likely reach about 20,000.
And Zhuge Liang knew that even if he united Zhao Yun's army, the total force he would use to suppress the rebellion would probably be around 20,000.
However, although the number of armies is about the same, the Nanzhong rebels occupy a favorable geographical location. Under such circumstances, the advantage of the Nanzhong rebels will be very great.
When Zhuge Liang was thinking, he remembered the strategy Mi Yang had presented to him in the letter.
Mi Yang suggested that Zhuge Liang should divide the four counties of Nanzhong and try not to unite them into one, so that they can be defeated individually.
It can be said that Mi Yang's strategy coincides with what Zhuge Liang himself had planned in his mind.
But how to achieve this depends on Zhuge Liang's strategy. After all, Mi Yang did not visit the Nanzhong battlefield in person.
While Zhuge Liang was thinking, he noticed that Yu Jin began to become restless again, so he asked Yu Jin gently:
"Wen Ze has been in battle for a long time and is considered a famous general. Now our army is about to march south. I don't know what Wen Ze can teach me?"
Zhuge Liang's sudden question startled Yu Jin, who was already worried.
But Zhuge Liang's gentle attitude made Yu Jin's mood calm down again.
Compared with Mi Yang's original method of asking him to propose a plan, Zhuge Liang's question and calculation were very humble.
After his mood stabilized, Yu Jin couldn't answer Zhuge Liang's inquiry for a while.
Of course, Yu Jin knew Zhuge Liang's purpose of bringing him with him. Even before today, Yu Jin had provided a lot of relevant information about Nanzhong.
However, after gaining some understanding of Nanzhong, Yu Jin felt that this southern expedition was not easy to fight.
Although in terms of strength and the fear of the world, the rebels in Nanzhong are not comparable to the Wei army, and even the Wu army is far inferior.
But as a veteran general, Yu Jin understood one thing, that is, attacking remote enemies is sometimes more difficult than attacking powerful enemies.
Since we will attack powerful enemies, we must be prepared accordingly, but when attacking remote enemies, sometimes this is not the case.
Take this Southern Expedition as an example. On the surface, the total strength of the rebels in Nanzhong is around 20,000, which doesn’t look like much.
But those 20,000 rebels were scattered in the mountains of Nanzhong, relying on the steep terrain.
Under this situation, the four counties of Nanzhong are like a bottomless quagmire. Even if our own army raises its hard fist and hits the quagmire, what effect will it achieve?
Just like Shanyue in Jiangdong, they almost never defeated the Wu army in a head-on battle.
But they have always been a serious problem for Wu Jun. The reason is that Shanyue dragged Wu Jun into the quagmire they were in.
In this way, the Wu army will become more tired as they fight, while Shan Yue will become more tenacious as they fight.
Yu Jin is a veteran general, but Wu Jun once had famous generals such as Sun Ce, Zhou Yu, Lu Su, etc. There were problems that they could not solve. Yu Jin did not have a good solution at the moment.
After all kinds of thinking, Yu Jin could only sigh and said to Zhuge Liang with shame: "Jin is incompetent and has no clever plan to help the prime minister."
Facing Yu Jin's confession, Zhuge Liang just smiled and waved his hand, telling Yu Jin not to pay too much attention.
The reason why he asked Yu Jin was really because he wanted Yu Jin to come up with a good plan for him, but if Yu Jin couldn't think of it, Zhuge Liang wouldn't be so disappointed.
All he wants is to check for deficiencies and fill them up.
Just because Yu Jin couldn't think of anything, it didn't mean that he didn't have a plan in mind.
Although Zi Sheng's strategy was good, it still had shortcomings.
Thinking of this, eight words gradually emerged in Zhuge Liang's mind, and those eight words were:
"Divide and transform them, gather them and annihilate them."
(End of chapter)
This chapter has been completed!