Chapter 16: Liu Bei's Ridicule and Ma Chao's Coming to Vote
In the twenty-first year of Jian'an, 216 AD, at this time in history, Cao Cao had already become the king of Wei.
But one step is slow and every step is slow.
Yuan Shao did not die in the Battle of Guandu, which delayed him for three years, so that he has not yet become the king of Wei.
Fortunately, now that he has defeated Xiliang in Guanzhong and won a great victory in Huainan, relying on the victory of Sui Ma Chao of Han in the west and Sun Quan in the south of Jiangdong, Cao Cao officially ascended to the top and established the Wei Kingdom.
What is the general trend of the world at this time?
Sun Quan was defeated in the Battle of Hefei and fled back to Jiangdong in disgrace with his tail between his legs. When Cao Cao was proclaimed Duke of Wei, he shamelessly congratulated him.
Although Cao Cao was not ashamed of his ugly record, he thought of using him to weaken Liu Bei's strength, so he wrote a letter to appease him and suggested that the two of them form an alliance to jointly plan Liu Bei's territory.
Guo Jia was the first to propose this plan, but at that time Cao Cao looked down upon Sun Quan because of the Battle of Hongkou, so he did not directly reveal the plan to him. Instead, he brazenly sent troops to Huainan and fought with Sun Quan at Ruxukou with real swords and spears.
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There are two reasons for this.
First, I wanted to see Sun Quan's strength and see if he could withstand his own offensive.
If you can stand it, then we can talk about it. If you can't stand it, then of course you can beat the rabbit in the grass and kill it conveniently.
The second is to let Liu Bei see that Cao Cao and Sun Quan fought in a real war, and it was a real war in which 10,000 or 20,000 people died. The two sides were in the same situation, and there was almost no possibility of alliance.
At this time, Liu Bei is very likely to lower his defense against Sun Quan and provide assistance for Sun Quan to attack Jingzhou.
However, Liu Bei was not a good person. He did not fully trust Sun Quan and was always on guard, so he actually forced Sun Quan to attack Hefei.
Cao Cao knew that this battle was inevitable, so he had already made plans to abandon Huainan and simply let Sun Quan occupy it to win Liu Bei's trust.
Unexpectedly, Sun Quan was really defeated. He was stopped by Xue Ti, Zhang Liao, and Li Dian with 7,000 men in Hefei. While Cao Cao was overjoyed, he was also disappointed in him. He was really ashamed of Sun Wentai, the fierce tiger from Jiangdong.
However, he needed Sun Quan to send troops to attack Jingzhou, so he finally revealed his plan and told Sun Quan that he would return to Guanzhong in the middle of this year to continue fighting Liu Bei, forcing Liu Bei to mobilize troops from Jingzhou, hoping that he would not miss this opportunity.
So much.
At this time, Liu Bei's troops are still in the same situation as last year. Hanzhong currently has 30,000 troops stationed, Guan Yu has 50,000 troops stationed at Xieyuguan on Baoxie Road, and Zhang Ren has about 10,000 troops stationed at Dashan Pass on Chencang Road.
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Bajun and Shujun in Yizhou also guarded some soldiers and horses, who were scattered in various places to guard and suppress the occasional uprising of ethnic minorities in Yinan.
On the Nanyang side, Shen Chen's 20,000 people confronted Xu Huang's 10,000 people at Wuguan, and 60,000 people from the Wenpin, Ganning, and Lu Chang tribes confronted Cao Hong's tribe in Runan, Yingchuan, in Wancheng, Ye County and other places.
Jingnan soldiers and horses were transferred to Nanjun, and there were still thousands of county soldiers left in each county. Liu Pan died of illness at the end of last year, and Huang Zhong inherited his army, with about 20,000 people in Jiangling.
In this way, adding the Jiangxia Huangshe tribe, Xiling Zhaoyun tribe and soldiers from ten counties except Guiyang County, Jingzhou still has a total force of about 170,000.
Sun Quan envisaged that Jingzhou's remaining troops would be able to send troops when it had 130,000 troops.
Because the 80,000 people in Nanyang are watched by Cao Hong and Xu Huang, once Shen Chen takes action, Cao Hong and Xu Huang from Yingchuan Runan and Wuguan will immediately rush into Nanyang.
Therefore, he believed that in an ideal situation, he would only need to deal with 50,000 Jiangxia naval troops and a total of more than 60,000 troops from Zhao Yun's troops in Xiling.
There are still some county soldiers in the counties in Jingnan, and Huang Zhong's troops have become an obstacle to him.
Therefore, Sun Quan hopes that Cao Cao can increase his efforts and continue to put pressure on Liu Bei in Guanzhong, asking him to send at least another 30,000 to 40,000 people to Bashu.
In this way, Liu Bei transferred a total of 70,000 people from Jingzhou. The area around Jingnan and Jiangling was empty. He could take advantage of the emptiness and attack Nanjun, Jiangxia and Xiling from Jingnan and Yuzhang, and sneak attack on Jingzhou.
At that time, they would join Cao Hong, Xu Huang and others who were attacking Nanyang, and together they would surround Shen Chen.
Even at that time, Cao Cao could lead his army from Wuguan to Nanyang and join in this gluttonous feast.
Since Liu Bei's road from Guanzhong to Nanyang was blocked by Cao Cao, he had no choice but to retreat southward and provide support from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. They had to travel for at least several months, giving them enough time to carve up Jingzhou.
After receiving Sun Quan's letter of advice, Cao Cao readily agreed, so in the middle of the 21st year of Jian'an, he set off back to Guanzhong again, as if he was going to attack Hanzhong.
But before that, in October of the 20th year of Jian'an, Liu Bei, who was building up his troops in Jiangzhou and continuing to implement Jia Xu's plan of luring the enemy step by step, suddenly heard that Sun Quan's 100,000 men were attacking Hefei, and they were defeated by Zhang Liao's 800 men. News of the escape.
"Uh this."
At the residence of General Zuo in Jiangzhou, Liu Bei looked at the letter in his hand and looked at each other with Zhuge Liang beside him.
Compared to Cao Cao's uproarious laughter, Liu Bei looked stunned and speechless.
He even rubbed his eyes and read the contents of the official document and urgent document in his hand several times to make sure he had read it correctly.
One hundred thousand people.
By eight hundred people.
Easily defeated?
Is there such an operation?
Liu Bei just felt unbelievable.
"I used to hear that Jiangdong was good at water fighting but weak on foot and cavalry. I thought that no matter how weak he was, he wouldn't be much weaker. Now, I have seen it."
Zhuge Liang tactfully expressed his concerns about the combat strength of Jiangdong Army.
Liu Bei threw the letter in his hand on the table and showed a dumbfounded expression: "Mr. Wen He also once said that we can use Sun Quan to capture Huainan. When Sun Quan comes to attack Jingzhou, we can take advantage of the situation to capture Jianghuai. Who knows. "
"It seems we can no longer count on Sun Quan to help us capture Huainan."
Zhuge Liang thought for a while, put down the feather fan in his hand, walked to the table map and observed: "But this is not a bad thing, the lord can move his troops and leave blatantly."
"oh?"
Liu Bei was surprised and said: "Why."
Zhuge Liang smiled and said: "My lord can send a letter to Sun Quan, and there is no need to mention anything else. Just comfort him. What will Sun Quan think if we move troops at this time?"
Liu Bei raised his head and looked at the ceiling and thought: "If I were Sun Quan, I would probably feel that the other party was mocking me. The blatant move of troops to leave is simply because the other party saw my defeat in Hefei and thought that Jiangdong was nothing more than this and did not let me go at all. In the eyes."
"This is it."
Zhuge Liang nodded in agreement and said: "Sun Quan has suffered too many defeats. Yi County was flooded by Xiaoqing's water, Hongkou was burned by Xiaoqing's fire, and now in Hefei, he is beaten to the point of running away by eight hundred people from Zhang Liao District. If he can still make people It’s a strange thing that people look up to you.”
"Um."
Liu Bei thought so.
Zhuge Liang drew a circle somewhere on the map and continued: "My lord can transfer Huang Zhong's troops to Jiangzhou next year, and then go north in person to Guanzhong for a decisive battle with Cao Cao."
"Aren't you stationing troops in Jiangzhou to wait for the right time?"
Liu Bei was puzzled.
Zhuge Liang said: "The annexation of Jiangzhou is too obvious. Even Mrs. Sun has secretly formed spies to inquire about the movements of the Lord's troops. It is even more impossible for Sun Quan not to place troops in Jiangzhou. We cannot check every citizen, so
Things must be done for real.”
"Really?"
Liu Bei was shocked and said: "But if we really leave Guanzhong, Jingzhou is attacked, and Cao Hong involves Xiaoqing in Nanyang, Jingzhou will be really empty. It is impossible for us to withdraw from Guanzhong to Jiangling in just one month."
"So we have to find a place suitable for shipping."
Zhuge Liang set his sights on Wuyang, Nan'an, Bodao and other places, which would later be Leshan and Yibin in Sichuan. He prepared ships for the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, especially Bodao, where the Jinsha River and the Minjiang River intersected, leading directly to the Yangtze River water transport.
, traveling day and night, we can reach Jiangling within ten days.
"Bo Dao."
Zhuge Liang finally said: "I have ordered Huo Jun to train troops in Bo Road for several years. At that time, my lord can send the main force to the north, take the Micang Road to Hanzhong, and then return to Shu via Jinniu Road from Hanzhong, avoiding Sun Quan's eyes and ears, and station troops at Bo Road.
, and then in the name of crusade against the Southern Barbarians, Huo Jun was transferred to Zhuti, leaving Bashu empty."
Liu Bei thought for a while and said: "But until now I have only sent 60,000 troops in Guanzhong. Cao Cao has now conquered Xiliang to attack Ma Chao. Even if I deploy troops and generals and transfer the Jingzhou troops to Bashu, there will be no one on the front line in Guanzhong.
Sun Quan will still be suspicious."
That's a problem.
Liu Bei's group of advisers calculated that if they wanted to induce Sun Quan to send troops, Jingzhou's 200,000 troops would have to mobilize at least 70,000 to 80,000.
In this way, the Nanyang Army was watched by Cao Hong, and what Sun Quan really had to deal with head-on was the 50,000 Jiangxia Navy Army.
Although there is still some guarding force, it is enough to lure Sun Quan to attack.
But you have removed so many troops from Jingzhou, but the Guanzhong front line has yet to see any large troops dispatched. Sun Quan would not be so stupid as not to pay attention to the situation in Guanzhong.
Once it is discovered that Liu Bei's main force has not appeared in Guanzhong, no action will be taken.
Therefore, there must be so many soldiers and horses in Guanzhong.
Is it okay to transfer from Bashu?
Neither is possible.
Because Bashu's military strength was originally smaller than that of Jingzhou. Previously, there were only 50,000 main troops and 30,000 county troops.
Now five years later, in terms of main combat troops, only 10,000 cavalry and 10,000 well-trained soldiers have been added.
In addition, Zhuge Liang asked Huo Jun to train 30,000 county soldiers in Bodao to deal with the major families and southern barbarians in southern Yizhou who were constantly revolting and making trouble.
There are now fourteen counties in the northern part of Yizhou. The soldiers from various counties are scattered, with only one or two thousand people in each county.
They were redistributed to counties. Basically, there were only one or two hundred people in each county. They were county guards in various places. County magistrates were used to maintain public order in various places. They basically served as government servants, caught thieves, county soldiers, resolved local disputes, and promoted government policies.
This means that the actual main force that can be dispatched in Yizhou is the 50,000 infantry in Guan Yu's hands and the 10,000 cavalry in Zhang Fei's hands.
Now they have set off and are confronting Cao Cao's troops in Guanzhong.
The current 30,000 people in Hanzhong were all transferred from Jiangling. Even Liu Bei's current headquarters in Jiangzhou has only five or six thousand troops. It can be said that the troops and horses are very empty and somewhat stretched.
Therefore, in a sense, excluding the county and county soldiers who were used by various counties in Jingyi to suppress powerful families and promote reform system policies, Liu Bei's actual main force of soldiers was actually about 210,000.
They are 60,000 from Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, 80,000 Nanyang Army from Shen Chen, 50,000 Jiangxia Navy from Jiangxia Huang Archer, and 20,000 original Changsha Army from Huang Zhong who succeeded Liu Pan.
Not even Zhao Yun's army is counted, because the more than 10,000 people in Zhao Yun's hands actually belong to Xiling County soldiers, who were streamlined and eliminated from Lei Xu, Chen Lan, Mei Gan and other troops who originally came from Huainan, and are not front-line elites.
On the Nanyang side, Shen Chen could resist the two armies of Cao Hong and Xu Huang by himself, and the Jiangxia navy could not engage in land warfare. The troops Liu Bei can currently mobilize are Huang Zhong's army and some county troops from Jingyi, which total about 40,000 to 50,000.
In this way, the entire Jingyi land will be completely empty.
But after the deployment, there should be more than 100,000 troops on the Guanzhong front line.
How could Sun Quan act rashly if he didn't see the rabbit but didn't let go of the hawk?
Zhuge Liang pondered for a moment, but at this moment, a guard came outside the door and reported: "Report!"
"What's the matter?"
Liu Bei asked.
The soldier said: "Cao Cao marched westward to Liangzhou, but Ma Chao was defeated. He fled from Longyou to Hanzhong, hoping to submit to his lord."
"oh?"
Liu Bei was overjoyed and asked: "Where is he?"
"Still in Hanzhong."
"Shan, you go back and pass the order, and I will go to Hanzhong to see him in person next month."
"only."
The soldiers leave.
Zhuge Liang looked at Liu Bei and said with a smile: "Congratulations, my lord, aren't the troops and horses coming soon?"
The timeline at this time is still in October of the 20th year of Jian'an.
At the end of the 19th year of Jian'an, Cao Cao defeated Han Sui and Ma Chao and drove them to Xiliang.
Ma Chao then occupied Hanyang County in the early 20th year of Jian'an, killed Wei Kang, the governor of Liangzhou, and separatized Longshang.
In the first month of the twentieth year of Jian'an, Guan Yu came out of Hanzhong and confronted Cao Jun at Wuzhangyuan.
The two sides were in a stalemate for more than seven months. Guan Yu was besieged by Cao's army for half a year, which was twice his own. He gradually lost the enemy and retreated to Xieyuguan on Baoxie Road.
Cao Cao left Xiahou Dun in Jin to keep an eye on Guan Yu in August, and he personally conquered Xiliang in September of the 20th year of Jian'an.
In August of the same year, when Cao Cao was on his way to Xiliang, Sun Quan went north to surround Hefei, but was beaten head-on by Zhang Liao and was beaten to a disgrace.
Later, Sun Quan became angry and besieged Hefei for a month. It was not until September that he withdrew his troops and returned to Jianye.
At that time, Cao Cao had just cooperated with Yang Fu, Jiang Yin and others who rebelled against Ma Chao to defeat Ma Chao, and sent Xia Houyuan to continue attacking Jincheng County where Han Sui was located. He was still in Hanyang, Liangzhou.
After Ma Chao's defeat, he defected to Hanzhong and wanted to submit to Liu Bei. It was not until October that the news was sent to Liu Bei.
Similarly, Sun Quan withdrew his troops in September, and what happened to him in Hefei was also sent to Liu Bei in October, so Liu Bei held a meeting with Zhuge Liang in Jiangzhou.
The two believed that with Sun Quan's defeat, they could continue to mobilize their troops to Guanzhong.
It's just that the main force is stretched thin, the territory is too large and empty, and there are more than 300,000 troops. There are actually too few troops, so that it is impossible to do anything.
Unexpectedly, at this critical juncture, Ma Chao came.
At that moment, Liu Bei was overjoyed and smiled at Zhuge Liang and said: "Kong Ming, that Ma Chao is known as Xiliang Jin Ma Chao, and his prestige is very high in Liangzhou. If he is here, Liangzhou will be the best choice."
Zhuge Liang picked up his feather fan and shook it slightly, then looked to the north and said: "Not only Ma Chao, I believe Han Sui will also come. By then we will have enough troops. Even if we cannot defeat Cao Cao in Guanzhong, we can still march out of Qishan and compete with Cao Cao for Long." Right, with Liangzhou in hand, we can use Shi Yuan's plan to show off the cavalry."
Liu Bei stood up, stretched his waist, and walked out of the hall with his hands behind his back.
The autumn and winter rains have fallen in Jiangzhou in October recently, and the pitter-patter rainwater hits the eaves, making a crackling sound.
The courtyard was lush with vegetation, and huge banana leaves covered half of the courtyard. A raccoon dog ran across the corridor.
Liu Bei watched the raindrops fall on the banana tree, then drip along the banana leaves in the courtyard, and then converge into a stream, flowing out along the drainage channel.
A smile appeared on his lips involuntarily, and then he laughed.
"Hahahahaha."
The guards standing to the left and right of the door didn't know why.
Chen Dao didn't even know what his lord was suddenly going crazy about, so he looked at him confused.
Only Zhuge Liang's feather fan covered half of his face, hiding his smile.
"Hahahahaha."
Liu Bei continued to laugh, then sat on the corridor, turned his head and asked Zhuge Liang: "Kong Ming, do you know what I am laughing at?"
Zhuge Liang cupped his hands and said, "My lord, you are laughing at Sun Quan, who had 100,000 men and was almost captured alive by 800 men."
"Hahahahaha."
Liu Bei covered his stomach and waved his hands repeatedly: "Stop talking, stop talking, I will die laughing if you say it again. I can't think about it in detail. When I think about it, I feel that there are such funny things in the world, hahahahaha."
In November of the 20th year of Jian'an, when Cao Cao received news of the siege of Huainan and the news of the rebellion in Hejian, he returned to Guandong.
Liu Bei got up and went to Hanzhong to meet Ma Chao in person.
Sun Quan was defeated, Liu Bei won Ma Chao, and Cao Cao was named Duke of Wei. They all have a bright future.