In August of the twenty-sixth year of Jian'an, Liu Bei ascended the throne and proclaimed it to the world, triggering violent turmoil in the north and south.
The first is the war of public opinion.
Legally speaking, Cao Wei claimed that Cao Pi's throne came from Liu Xie's abdication, and that he legally inherited the Han Dynasty. Liu Bei acted arbitrarily and was a traitor.
But Liu Bei claimed that Cao Pi had usurped the Han Dynasty and was a contemporary king who should be condemned by everyone in the world. He followed Emperor Guangwu in inheriting the throne in the south because he was ordered by heaven to revitalize the Yan Han Dynasty and not allow any doubts.
The two sides issued edicts to each other and spread public opinion, causing all kinds of news and rumors to spread all over the government and the public, accusing each other of being a puppet government.
From the perspective of later generations, during the Three Kingdoms period in history, Cao Wei was undoubtedly the orthodox one.
The main reason is that Cao Wei was usurped by the Western Jin Dynasty, and the Western Jin Dynasty finally unified the country. If the Sima family wants to legitimize the throne, they must legalize the process of Cao Wei usurping the Han Dynasty, so that the process of the Sima family usurping the Wei Dynasty can be whitewashed.
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Therefore, Chen Shou, the author of "Three Kingdoms", can only regard the Wei Kingdom as the orthodox one. Including the official history of later generations, there is no record of the Three Kingdoms period.
The order of the orthodox dynasties of the Central Plains of China in the past dynasties has always been - Xia, Shang, Zhou, Qin and Han, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing. Ji, Han and Soochow are not in the orthodox dynasty order.
But it's different now.
Because we haven’t reached the Western Jin Dynasty yet, who knows who will be the winner in the Han, Wei, Southern and Northern Dynasties?
What's more, the Han Dynasty has gone through two dynasties so far. The influence of the Western Han Dynasty and the Eastern Han Dynasty for four hundred years cannot be dissipated by Cao Cao's control of the northern region for more than 20 years.
In addition, the plot of Cao Pi's usurpation of the Han Dynasty and Liu Bei's succession to the throne in the south looks familiar to many people, and people can't help but think of Wang Mang's usurpation of the Han Dynasty and Emperor Guangwu's succession to the throne in Hebei, and then he took over the throne and started the road to revitalizing the Han Dynasty.
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Comparing the two, some people will naturally think that they have seen this scene before, so they will instinctively connect Cao Pi with Wang Mang, and Liu Xiu with Liu Bei, thus deepening their empathy for the Southern Han Dynasty.
The result was a war of public opinion between the two sides, which was very uncomfortable for Cao Wei.
Many people in the north who were exploited, oppressed, and revolted by aristocratic families, dignitaries, and the imperial court launched rebellions in the name of responding to the Han Dynasty in the south, which led to widespread rebellions in the north.
If Cao Pi had not completely taken control of the court and used the nine-level Zhongzheng system to greatly ease the conflicts between the Cao Wei Group and the small and medium-sized aristocratic families and the poor landlord class, the northern aristocratic families were all Wei ministers, and I am afraid that the entire north would have been in turmoil by now.
After the war of public opinion comes the military.
Both sides have deployed troops on the border. Except for Guanzhong and Huainan, which are sparsely populated, and Cao Wei only sent a small number of people, Nanyang, Henan and other places are heavily guarded on both sides.
History has proven that it is difficult for the South to succeed in the Northern Expedition. No one except Zhu Yuanzhang can succeed.
But that was after the Sui and Tang Dynasties.
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Zu Ti's Northern Expedition, Huan Wen's Northern Expedition, and Liu Yu's Northern Expedition all achieved great results, especially Liu Yu's recovery of Chang'an and Luoyang, which almost unified the world if it hadn't been for a fire in the backyard.
Therefore, although in later dynasties only Zhu Yuanzhang succeeded in the Northern Expedition, it does not mean that it cannot be done now.
At this moment, Liu Bei controls the entire south, and with Xiliang in hand, he is very powerful. He is much stronger than Liu Yudu in history. He might not be able to become the first successful Northern Expedition.
Therefore, after Liu Bei proclaimed himself emperor, he established his capital in Xiangyang and personally took command of the front line. He deployed his army at the border of Nanyang to confront hundreds of thousands of Wei troops.
At present, Nanyang, Henan Province is the most likely place for war. Both the Han and Wei dynasties have more than 100,000 soldiers.
The two sides have been engaged in a war of words for several months, and have deployed additional troops and horses on the border. The atmosphere has been quite high, but there has never been a fight.
Cao Pi was bluffing, so why wasn't Liu Bei seizing the time to recuperate?
Both sides now rely on the Nanyang Basin and the Henan Plain to provide food and grass for the front line. The main force of Liu Bei's army is stationed in Yecheng, Jixian, Luyang, Duyang, Juancheng, Wuyin, and Biyang.
Cao Wei's army was stationed in Kunyang, Wuyang, Xiping, Dingling, Wufang, Langling, Yang'an and other places. The distance between the front lines was only more than thirty kilometers.
In addition, Liu Bei's army also controlled Wuguan, posing a threat to Chang'an from two sides.
This is the current military situation between the two sides.
To sum up, the war of words has never stopped. However, due to the unstable internal situation of Cao Wei, Liu Bei has just settled in the south, and the territory is large and difficult to manage. In addition, the two sides need to recuperate, so the two sides have no idea of going to war now and have temporarily entered a truce period.
During this period, after Liu Bei ascended the throne, he immediately launched a series of internal stability measures, such as announcing that the first imperial examination system would start next year and awarding a large number of casual officials and honorary officers.
At the same time, many children of powerful families were recruited to serve as officials, and officials from Yangzhou were sent to Shu. Officials from Shu were stationed in Jingzhou, while officials from Jingzhou went to Jiangdong.
And Liangzhou.
The current situation in Liangzhou is actually not as good as imagined.
Because Liu Bei only had a few counties in Longyou, the population of Beidi County and Anding County were moved by Cao Cao, making the area vast and sparsely populated.
Therefore, Liu Bei's actual control area is Jincheng County, Longxi County, Hanyang County, Wudu County and part of Wuwei County. The approximate range is from Xining City in Qinghai Province to the west, Baiyin City in Gansu Province to the north, Tianshui City in Gansu Province in the east, and Longnan Gansu Province in the south.
city.
Including Jincheng County in the Han Dynasty and Lanzhou City in later generations were also under his control. The traditional Longyou area was basically acquired by Liu Bei. Now only Wuwei County in the north has not been captured by him.
Although Ma Chao was there, there were hundreds of Qiang tribes in Liangzhou. Some people worshiped Ma Chao as a god, while others were not interested in Ma Chao, so they didn't get it so quickly.
However, Zhang Fei's reports frequently spread, and he defeated a large number of rebellious Qiang people. He marched through Longguan and shocked Liangzhou. Gradually, officials from the south were able to smoothly enter Xiliang to control various counties and counties, and began to march towards Wuwei County in the north, making great gains.
The trend throughout Xiliang.
At the end of the first year of Zhangwu, it started to snow lightly in Xiangyang. The rustling snowflakes dyed the streets and lanes a white, but they quickly melted into wet water stains in the bustling shopping mall.
People in Xiangyang are accustomed to humidity, so there is a great demand for charcoal fires in winter.
The government has repeatedly ordered that windows must be opened for ventilation when burning charcoal. This year, many fewer people will die from charcoal poisoning.
Shen Chen's carriage entered the Prime Minister's Mansion at three o'clock in the morning. Today he was wearing casual clothes. After getting off the carriage, he was led by a hired servant into the back courtyard.
The servants in Zhuge Liang's mansion are all hired, there are no slaves.
But even though many people around Shen Chen set an example and hired servants instead of enslaving servants, this was still not possible for the Southern family.
What the Song Dynasty was able to do was that its commodity economy was extremely developed and urban commerce and trade were active, so that many people chose to work in cities instead of farming, which is somewhat similar to the situation after the reform and opening up in later generations.
It was difficult for landlords to retain the population through slavery. Slavery itself was illegal in the Song Dynasty. People were forced to become slaves. They could either run away or sue the officials. There may be local cases where officials protected landlords, but it was difficult to do so. The whole country is like this.
Therefore, the landlord class in the Song Dynasty could only complete land cultivation through employment, which was the emergence of farm laborers.
However, at this time, Jihan, founded by Liu Bei, had just stabilized and business had just recovered. Although the monetary policy had been issued, there were too many remote mountainous areas and the situation of bartering still existed.
Even if a large amount of arable land is uncultivated, for the people at the bottom, by hanging out with aristocratic families, they can still have something to eat even in disaster years. In addition, they do not have to do corvee labor or pay taxes, which makes their survival a little more stable.
Therefore, in order to survive, many people still voluntarily become hermits under the protection of the aristocratic landlord class. Even if the government allocates land to them, it may not be able to attract these people.
However, Shen Chen knew that this situation would gradually dissipate with the improvement of productivity, price stability and economic prosperity.
After all, no one is born wanting to be someone else's slave.
As long as Liu Bei's group is stabilized, the corvee is reduced, taxes are reduced, and the land is distributed, there will still be a large number of Guizhou leaders willing to come out of seclusion and become naturalized citizens.
For example, since last year, Liu Bei has sent envoys to communicate with the Shanyue people, appease the Shanyue people, and invite them to join Ji Han's camp.
At the same time, rewards were given to win over Shanyue leaders, granting them official positions, reducing their taxes and corvees, helping them increase productivity, etc.
The government exists to maintain order and stability.
The Yue people also live a precarious life.
It is not easy to find food in the hills and mountains of the southeast.
Sometimes Shanyue and Shanyue would attack each other, fighting to the death for a water source or a piece of land that could be cultivated.
Moreover, internal strife is also serious, and the leaders of the upper echelon can easily decide the life and death of the lower level.
Therefore, the desire for order, peace, and stability has become the desire of the people at the bottom of Shanyue.
Liu Bei was able to bring them these things, which naturally made them willing to join.
When Shen Chen entered the study room in the back hall of the Prime Minister's Mansion, the first thing he saw was not Zhuge Liang who was reading official documents at the desk, but the sword hanging on the wall behind him.
The sword was three feet and six inches in size, with a simple style. The scabbard was white in color, and a tassel hung on the hilt, fluttering gently in the breeze.
"Your Majesty is partial, brother, this sword is more beautiful than mine."
Shen Chen came in and said.
Zhuge Liang put down the official document in his hand, raised his head with a smile and said, "If Xiaoqing likes it, you can take it yourself and exchange it with yours."
"That's not possible."
Shen Chen dragged over a stool and sat down on the edge of his desk: "My sword is black. When killing people, it needs to be stained with blood. It is stained and easy to wash. Your scabbard is wrapped in Shu brocade white satin. It’s not easy to clean up after killing someone.”
This sword was given to me by Liu Bei at the end of last year. I quarried iron from Mount Taurus and made it into steel using the steel pouring method. I asked the famous craftsman Pu Yuan to create nine pieces of magic weapons.
Nine Soldiers Liu Bei brought one himself, Liu Chan gave one to him, and the others were Shen Chen, Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Huang Zhong, Ma Chao, and Zhao Yun, each of whom were named Zhangwu Nine Swords.
In addition to the Nine Swords, Liu Bei also gave some other things to senior staff and counselors such as Pang Tong, Fazheng, Jia Xu, and Xu Shu to ensure fairness and justice.
When it comes to emotional intelligence, Liu Bei still has a good handle on it. At least he didn't make people around him dissatisfied with unfair rewards because of the Nine Swords issue.
Zhuge Liang waited for him to sit down and reached for the brush. He originally wanted to give instructions on the official document, but suddenly realized that he had been so absorbed in reading the official document that the tip of his pen had frozen. So he washed the brush again and turned to ask Shen Chen: "What's the matter with coming here today?"
"Your Majesty summoned me yesterday."
Shen Chen said.
Zhuge Liang paused in his posture of washing his pen, and then sighed: "Your Majesty is too impatient."
"Don't be impatient. Your Majesty is already sixty-two years old."
Shen Chen shook his head.
Liu Bei is indeed very old. He remembers that he died of illness the year after next in history, but he doesn't know if he would have lived longer without Guan Yu being attacked by a surprise attack and the disastrous defeat in the Battle of Yiling.
"Xiaoqing thinks, where should we start the Northern Expedition?"
Zhuge Liang asked.
Shen Chen smiled and said: "Why don't you guess?"
"good."
Zhuge Liang nodded.
This is a little game between him and Shen Chen.
The two of them wrote on the paper with brushes, and then spread it out at the same time.
They all have the same place name written on them - Chang'an!
The two looked at each other and smiled, but Zhuge Liang's expression soon darkened again. He smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Even Chang'an is not easy to attack."
"yes."
Shen Chen said: "Henan is a place heavily guarded by Cao Wei. It is like a copper wall and an iron wall, and it is difficult to attack by force. Huainan and Chang'an both have a situation where they are thousands of miles of desolate and inhabited areas, so it will be more difficult to transport food. Huainan is better, as it takes the waterway, while Chang'an has to take the land route. , but compared to Huainan, we can only attack Chang'an first."
"Um."
Zhuge Liang nodded.
Chang'an is indeed difficult to fight. The biggest problem is transporting food.
When Liu Bei fought the Battle of Guanzhong, it only lasted two or three months and almost wiped out Yizhou.
Later generations may not be able to imagine how difficult it was to transport grain from Bashu to outside Chang'an City.
Moreover, even if we attack from both sides at Wuguan, transporting grain will consume a lot of money.
So even Chang'an is difficult to fight.
However, compared to Henan and Huainan, among the three options of Normal, Hard, and Hell, Chang'an can be beaten.
Because of the grain transportation problem in Huainan, Hefei will block it.
The only terrain in the north is the Yellow River, which is barely a natural hazard. After that, it is smooth and smooth without any obstacles.
In addition to the wars in the cold weapon era, military advantages were mainly reflected in the quantity and quality of the army. In ancient times, the north was the population and economic center, so it could quickly assemble and arm a large army.
For example, when the Sui Dynasty launched the Unification War, it was able to dispatch five armies with a strength of about 500,000. Nanchen was unable to defend itself and could only accept the fate of destruction.
At the same time, due to the abundant pastures in the north, large-scale cavalry regiments can be formed.
Later, after stirrups, horseshoes, and high-bridge saddles were introduced, the combat effectiveness of the cavalry increased sharply, and the emergence of heavy cavalry began to crush the infantry. The wars between the Southern Song Dynasty, Jin, and Mongolia were typical examples.
Even if these things are not available now, the mobility possessed by the cavalry is still something that the southern army cannot match.
Therefore, Cao Pi could confidently deploy a small number of troops and horses only in Guanzhong and Huainan.
Because once the war starts.
Guanzhong and Huainan were uninhabited for thousands of miles, so Liu Beijun could not replenish food on the spot, so he had to travel long distances to transport supplies.
Cao's troops in Hefei and Chang'an only needed to hold on for a while before they could quickly receive cavalry reinforcements.
However, compared to Huainan, Cao's army in Chang'an City had to hold on for longer.
After all, there are only two ways to go from Guandong to Guanzhong. One is to take the Qinling line at Hangu Pass in Luoyang, and the other is to take the line from Taihang Baxing in Shanxi to Hedong County.
Both roads had a lot of mountainous terrain, and the cavalry's reinforcements were not that fast, giving Liu Bei's group time to conquer Chang'an.
It's a pity that Cao Pi obviously knew this too.
Therefore, Cao Pi's arrangement for the defense centers in the three directions was very simple. Huainan deployed the smallest number of people, only 7,000 people. Chang'an had more people, 40,000 people. Henan had 150,000 or 60,000 people.
In this way, Cao Pi's 40,000 troops in Chang'an City only need to hold on for about a month, and Cao Pi's reinforcements in Luoyang can quickly rush to help and push back Liu Bei's army.
So this is the situation.
All three directions of attack were difficult to attack, but Shen Chen and Zhuge Liang set their targets on Chang'an.
Zhuge Liang pondered and said: "The problem in Chang'an is the transportation of grain. I talked about this matter with Yuan Zhi. He told me that when he was in Hanzhong, he had been building roads. If the roads could be built, even if it could be speeded up a few times. The daily food delivery speed is also good.”
"Now His Majesty is still eager for the Northern Expedition, and we still need to be persuaded on this matter."
Shen Chen said: "But Guanzhong must be taken back, the Han Dynasty must be restored, and the old capital must be restored. Chang'an City must be captured. Brother, what do you think?"
"Well, that's natural."
Zhuge Liang agreed.
Shen Chen continued: "Transporting grain is indeed a problem, but we have to take our time, not only to build roads, but also to build granaries. Just like ants moving, they constantly transport grain and grass to Hanzhong, and then Hanzhong transports grain and grass to Chencang, step by step, This is the best policy."
Zhuge Liang smiled and said: "Xiaoqing thought the same as me. I have written to Duke Sheng of the Han Dynasty and asked him to expand the Chencang Road and build granaries along the road to store grain in Chencang City."
"Chencang Road is the best road among the four roads in Hanzhong. Although it is a little longer, it is more spacious and stable. After stocking up on food and grass, we can officially send troops."
Shen Chen said.
Zhuge Liang looked at him and said: "Cao Wei has many cavalry. According to Xiaoqing's words, they are very mobile. How should we deal with them?"
"This is why I came to see my brother."
Shen Chen sighed: "I want to go to Hanzhong next year to start the formal large-scale formation of cavalry. Stirrups, horseshoes, and high-bridge saddles will be widely used in the cavalry. The formation of well-trained cavalry is definitely not a matter of a year or two, so it is necessary My brother and I will go to meet His Majesty together to convince Him to be patient and endure, and at the same time, we will officially start preparations for the Northern Expedition."
"How long do you plan to make the Northern Expedition?"
Zhuge Liang asked.
"Three years."
"Three years?"
"good."
Shen Chen nodded, looked at the north with deep eyes and said: "Three years of rest and recuperation, with Jiaozhi rice and retting techniques, extensive water conservancy projects, reclaiming wasteland, and absorbing more ethnic minority populations in the southern mountainous areas, we should be able to quickly enrich the southern heritage. Let the people and the country be rich, and the army and horses strong. By then, the cavalry will have been formed, and the Northern Expedition can be officially launched."