Chapter 431: Conspiring against Sun Quan, Cao Wei is greatly saddened
Chapter 431: Strategies against Sun Quan and Cao Wei’s Great Bei
Author: Playing with Basilisk
Chapter 431: Strategies against Sun Quan and Cao Wei’s Great Bei
Many members of Liu Bei's staff came out of the camp gate, each bowed to each other, then separated into several teams and left together.
Although they are all in the same camp, Liu Bei's counselors are also divided into several small groups.
For example, Ma Liang, Yang Yi, Jiang Wan and others belong to the Jingzhou faction because they are all Jingzhou people and most of them come from Jingzhou aristocratic families.
Dong He, Huang Quan, Zheng Du and others belong to the Yizhou faction. Needless to say, Huang Quan and Zheng Du are both from Yizhou.
Although Dong He was from Nanjun, Jingzhou, his family moved westward at the end of the Han Dynasty, and his ancestors were from Jiangzhou, Bajun, so the people under Liu Bei's command naturally belonged to the Yizhou family group.
As for Zhuge Jin and Lu Xun, they are undoubtedly from the Jiangdong faction. Even if Zhuge Jin is from Shandong, it cannot change the fact that he moved to Yangzhou.
Therefore, under such geographical division, Liu Bei's staff group has roughly formed several group sizes.
At this moment, the Jingzhou faction still has the highest status, and Ma Liang has won the trust of Liu Bei. He is the sixth person besides Zhuge Liang, Xu Shu, Pang Tong, Fazheng, and Jia Xu. He is the most powerful competitor for the three high-ranking officials in recent years.
After coming out of the main camp, Ma Liang, Yang Yi, and Jiang Wan headed toward the back camp under their jurisdiction. It was still raining lightly. None of the three people had umbrellas, and the raindrops soaked their clothes.
"If it goes as expected, when Cao Pi gets the news of the fall of Guanzhong, I'm afraid he will be eager to go to war and start a head-on confrontation with His Majesty."
Ma Liang raised his head and looked at the sky with dark clouds, and sighed deeply.
Yang Yi nodded slightly: "Yes, Cao Pi is indeed anxious, so we can only advise His Majesty and hope that Your Majesty will not be impatient."
Ma Liang looked back at Jiang Wan and said, "Gongyan said before that the governor would recover Bingzhou and the general would seize Huainan, but he didn't tell your majesty. This will take a long time."
Jiang Wan said in a deep voice: "Bingzhou and Tongguan are both continuous mountains. It takes a long time for most governors to transport food. Even if they change to Nanyang later, they still have to be well prepared. Even if the generals conquer Huainan, Cao Wei will still be on the Huaihe River."
Building a defense line from the north, these things naturally do not happen overnight."
"When the Han Dynasty and Cao Wei reached the size of the Han Dynasty, it was no longer the time when the feudal lords, large and small, annexed each other during the feudal chaos in the early years. At that time, the victory of a big battle was related to the ownership of a certain state or county. Slowly seize it, and eventually it will be
Grow stronger.”
Yang Yi shook his head and said: "But now the north and the south have formed two countries, with a population of more than ten million. The outcome cannot be determined by a single war. If your Majesty wants to unify, you must not act too hastily."
"I'm just afraid of His Majesty's body."
Ma Liang looked at the cloudy sky and sighed, with a sad look on his face.
What they need most now is time, and what they lack most is time.
Liu Bei is the backbone of the southern 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 plow the courtyard and clear the holes to take Luoyang. However, 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.
Already."
"Um."
Ma Liang nodded and said: "Your Majesty has promised to slow down the plan. Although the cavalry general is warlike, with your 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. In the end, One day, the great general and the great governor will not disappoint His Majesty."
They all raised their heads and looked to the sky.
The rain in the sky is getting lighter and lighter. It is the rainy season in the south now, and there are continuous heavy rains in Jingzhou, Yangzhou and other places. It has some impact on Henan, but it is not serious enough that the heavy rain all day prevents the two sides from fighting. Therefore, small-scale fighting continues on the front line. .
However, these things are not a big deal to Cao Pi. Even in the recent period, scouts and scouts from both sides have been fighting back and forth, and everyone has won and lost, but it cannot affect the overall situation.
Now the real chance to change the situation in one fell swoop, to allow Cao Pi to defeat Liu Bei in one fell swoop and seize the entire world, is to continue to delay.
The size of Cao Wei is here.
Although the south is not weak, the confrontation between the north and the south, coupled with Liu Bei's Northern Expedition, is a long-distance attack. Delaying it will only benefit Cao Pi and continue to consume Liu Bei's group to see who can outlast whom.
However, in the past six months, Shen Chen and Guan Yu had been continuously attacking Chang'an and Hefei. The two cities were teetering like boats in the wind and rain, which also made Cao Pi feel uneasy.
I don't know why today, Cao Pi felt very uncomfortable, so he summoned a group of advisers around him to discuss some matters together.
Chenliu County, Chenliu County.
The former Chen capital of the Han Dynasty was no longer an imperial capital due to the move of the capital to Chaoge and the usurpation of the Han Dynasty by Cao Pi, which led to the fall of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
However, the original palace is still there, and now it has 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 uneasily, flipping through his hands, but absent-mindedly.
Because I have already read these official documents. After all, Huainan and Guanzhong are thousands of miles away from here. The battle reports were all many days ago. The latest news is that Guan Yu and Cao Xiu fought in the Chengde area. The two sides fought fiercely 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 in salute to Cao Pi, and then sat down in separate rows with Cao Pi's nod.
"Your Majesty, I wonder what's going on with the summons today?"
Sima Yi asked first.
Cao Pi frowned and said, "I don't know why, but I've been feeling depressed these past few days. Occasionally, I'm awakened by nightmares in the middle of the night, which makes me always feel that something bad might happen."
Chen Qun smiled and said: "Your Majesty, this is caused by sadness in your heart and too much thinking. There is no need to think about some messy things."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Dong Zhao also said: "As the old saying goes, you have something to think about every day and something to dream about at night. Thinking often is a good thing, but if you think too much every day, you will be made anxious by trivial matters and lose your calmness in thinking."
"Well, maybe that's true."
Cao Pi nodded, thought for a while and said: "But even if I may be thinking too much, it is good to call you all to discuss the matter. As the saying goes, brainstorming, now that the battle situation is deadlocked, maybe we can think of a way to break this situation and let us win. .”
"That's true."
Sima Yi said: "It is unrealistic to pin the hope of victory entirely on Liu Bei's old age, illness and death. It is just that it is more beneficial for us to delay for now. 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. I thought that Liu Bei was ill and would die soon, which was common sense. But if he survives for another year or two, the long-term confrontation will not be easy."
We are also spending a lot of money, so even if we win, it would be bad if we are unable to move south in a big way."
Dong Zhao smiled and said: "Didn't the Taiwei donate stirrups and saddles before? These things are good things. We have far more cavalry than Liu Bei. Equipping them on a large scale can greatly enhance the combat effectiveness of the cavalry, so that we can
Increase your chances of winning by one more point."
Cao Pi said: "Well, I have ordered the generals to build them on a large scale. However, if we want to build tens of thousands of stirrups and saddles in a short time, it will take time to equip the entire army. I want to know if there is any way to do it as soon as possible.
Break this deadlock."
Cao Wei does have more cavalry than Liu Bei. Currently, Cao Wei has 150,000 soldiers in Henan, and the cavalry alone has 40,000 to 50,000 horses. It can be said that the troops are strong and the horses are strong, and they have enough mobility to allow Cao Pi to attack everywhere to cut off the food road.
But again, in the era without stirrups and saddles, if the infantry formed a formation to confront the cavalry on the plains, the cavalry would kill one by one, and a pair by the pair.
The battle between Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao is the best example.
At its peak, Gongsun Zan had tens of thousands of cavalry and 78,000 or 80,000 infantry, with a total strength of more than 100,000. Yuan Shao, on the other hand, only had tens of thousands of infantry and thousands of cavalry, and his total strength was far lower than 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 that we have stirrups and saddles, it's different.
It turns out that cavalry cannot shoot arrows on horseback. With these things, they can train mounted archery, shoot while running, and wear out infantrymen alive.
In this way, their winning rate against the Han infantry on the plains will be greatly improved.
It's just that although Cao Wei's national power is not weak, it is not in the industrial era. Making so many stirrups and saddles purely by hand requires a lot of manpower and material resources. How can it equip the entire army so quickly?
So Cao Pi still hopes to find a faster way.
Liu Ye thought about it: "Although our army now has 20,000 to 30,000 more troops than Liu Bei in Henan, the total number of troops on both sides is nearly 300,000. It is difficult to defeat Liu Bei in one battle. Unless a large-scale rebellion can occur in Liu Bei's rear, causing
If we are defeated along the way, we will have extra troops to deal with Liu Bei's main force."
"Massive rebellion?"
Jiang Ji shook his head and said: "I'm afraid it's very difficult. Liu Bei has been stabilizing the situation in the rear in recent years. All the Wuxi barbarians in Jingnan have been attracted by him and used for his use. The Nanzhong rebellion was put down by Zhuge Liang last year. Only Jiaozhi may still have a rebellion.
happens, but how does that affect him?"
Everyone lowered their heads and started thinking.
Liu Bei's group took a few years to recuperate, unlike Cao Wei who mainly exploited the people, causing constant rebellions in the rear. Therefore, the people's livelihood was very good. Even the Shanyue people who had always been dissatisfied with the king surrendered to him, and the people were less likely to rebel.
occur.
Therefore, if you want to launch a rebellion in the rear of Liu Bei's group, it will obviously be difficult to reach the sky.
But after a moment, Sima Yi suddenly raised his head and said, "Maybe this is not impossible."
"oh?"
Cao Pi looked at him hurriedly and said, "Zhongda has a clever plan?"
Sima Yi smiled and said: "Your Majesty, Liu Bei suppresses the wealthy families and supports the people at the bottom. It is indeed difficult for the people to rebel. But it is possible for him to suppress the wealthy families and incite the wealthy families to rebel, right?"
Chen Qun said: "I'm afraid this is also very difficult. In recent years, Liu Bei has implemented an imperial examination system based on meritocracy. It sounds good for the people, but in fact, how many people at the bottom can afford to study? Those who join the officialdom are not from aristocratic families.
?The worst is that he is a descendant of a poor family, so most of his subordinates are from aristocratic families. A large number of wealthy families have indeed been deprived of their land, but becoming an official can greatly reduce their hatred of Liu Bei."
"What the long article said is true. The imperial examination system did ease the problems between Liu Bei and the aristocratic family, but the long article ignored one point."
Sima Yi smiled.
Chen Qun asked, "Oh? What did I overlook?"
"Koto!"
"Koto?"
"good."
Sima Yi looked around at everyone and said: "Everyone, Liu Bei started his business in Jingzhou, and most of the people he relied on were the powerful and powerful families in Jingzhou. The Yizhou family came second, because Liu Zhang lost his state, Fazheng, Zhang Song and others donated the land of Bashu, so it benefited
The Zhou family also quickly fell to Liu Bei."
"It's true that most of Liu Bei's so-called four prime ministers are from Jingzhou and Yizhou."
Everyone nodded.
The Liu Bei Group's official system has been slightly rectified, and the three provinces that were originally lower-level have been promoted to the top and have become important institutions to assist the prime minister.
So the prime minister became the prime minister, the chief officials of the three provinces, Shangshu Ling, Zhongshu Cheng, and the ministers became deputy prime ministers.
Although these four, Zhuge Liang and Xu Shu, are not from Jingzhou, they have long been branded by the Jingzhou Group. Pang Tong is a local wealthy family in Jingzhou, and Fa Zheng is the representative of a wealthy family in Yizhou. The high-level power is naturally controlled by Jingzhou and Yizhou.
.
Sima Yi continued: "The Jiangdong gentry supported Sun Quan and resisted Liu Bei. Although some aristocratic families have defected to Liu Bei, there are still many aristocratic families who are unwilling to hand over their land and population and refuse to serve Liu Bei, so they are suppressed by Liu Bei. And even if they defect to Liu Bei,
The aristocratic family has a very low status in the south, which is the root cause of their rebellion."
Cao Pi frowned, and then said after a moment: "Even so, the Jiangdong nobles supported Sun Quan and Liu Bei in the war a few years ago, and they have all the information. I'm afraid they don't have many people. Besides, we can't connect so many noble families and send troops to deal with them together.
Liu Bei."
Sima Yi smiled and said: "Although they don't have many troops, there are many noble families in Jiangdong. Each family has a few hundred people, so it is not a problem to gather an army of tens of thousands. They don't need to do anything, as long as they can raid Guan Yu's grain road and cooperate with General Zhennan to defeat Guan Yu.
, then the pressure on the eastern front will be reduced sharply, and Huainan will naturally not need to worry, and we can even go straight to Jingzhou along the Yangtze River to harass Liu Bei's home base."
"Then how do you connect so many aristocratic families?"
Cao Pi asked back.
Sima Yi smiled and slowly spoke out a name.
"Sun Quan!"
he said.
"Sun Quan?"
Everyone was suddenly surprised.
"Exactly."
Sima Yi tapped his chin and said: "Sun Quan is imprisoned in Xiangyang now, but the Sun family has been in Jiangdong for three generations and has been favored and powerful for a long time. If we can contact Sun Quan and let him connect with the Jiangdong family and start a rebellion in the rear, then great events in Huainan will be possible
If you succeed, if you can kill Guan Yu, your Majesty may really be able to rule the world."
"Liu Bei and Guan Yu have a deep relationship. If Guan Yu dies, and Liu Bei is already in poor health and mentally and physically exhausted, if he dies directly, there will definitely be chaos in the south."
Jiang Ji thought for a moment and said with approval: "Your Majesty, I think Zhongda's plan is indeed feasible."
"That's right. Anyway, we just contacted Sun Quan, so there seems to be no loss."
"If you become the best, it doesn't matter if you don't."
"This is a wonderful move."
Many counselors suddenly felt that this strategy seemed good.
Anyway, it is a one-move layout chess.
It would be best if it can take effect. Even if it doesn't take effect, it doesn't matter. After all, there is no loss.
"Um."
Cao Pi stroked his beard and nodded and said: "Okay, this is a good plan, very clever. Zhongda, I will leave this matter to you. If you can really start a rebellion in Jiangdong, I will reward you greatly."
Sima Yi quickly raised his hands and said: "Thank you, Your Majesty. This is the result of the collective efforts of all ministers and not the credit of one single minister."
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha."
Cao Pi laughed and said: "Everyone will be rewarded by then, and I will never treat meritorious ministers badly."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
Everyone also stood up and saluted.
Cao Pi looked around at everyone and said with a smile: "If I can kill Guan Yu, Liu Bei will definitely die. I will eventually conquer the world and dominate the world, hahahahaha!"
"Report!"
At this moment, a messenger hurried in from outside the door, shouting in a mournful voice: "Shen Chen captured Chang'an, General Anxi was beheaded, the Taiwei was captured alive, and Guanzhong was lost!"