Chapter 325: Zhou Tai offers advice and Sun Quan is frightened
Zhoutai was a native of Nanyang County. Although he was not from a famous family, he was not unlearned and incompetent despite his meager wealth.
In order to increase his knowledge, he has traveled to various states and counties many times to study.
This experience not only enriched Zhou Tai's own talents and learning, but also increased Zhou Tai's vision and ambition. He was very different from other colleagues who were willing to do nothing.
If other colleagues could become Bailijun at his age, it would be a matter of honor for their ancestors.
But Zhou Tai wanted more.
But because Zhoutai is not from a wealthy family and has no personal connections, it is extremely difficult for him to take another step forward.
He lacks an opportunity.
Even the reason why he became the Prime Minister of the Champion Hou Kingdom was because Mi Yang gave him the opportunity and promoted him beyond a certain level of common sense.
Without Mi Yang, Zhou Tai would be just an unknown person among the hundreds of officials in Yiyang County.
Of course, Zhou Tai didn't know the real reason why Mi Yang promoted him. He thought that the reason why Mi Yang promoted him was because he saw his past political achievements in the previously submitted list.
But even if he didn't know this, Mi Yang's actions made Zhou Tai realize that Mi Yang was not inconsistent with the image he had in his past.
As long as he can make political achievements, Mi Yang will really spare no effort to promote him.
Just as Mi Yang's reputation spread throughout the world, Ding Feng, Deng Ai, Zhang Yi and others who were Mi Yang's minions gradually became known to people all over the world.
None of them has a better background than him, and they are not even older than him.
But their ability to gradually emerge on the big stage of the world depends on Mi Yang's promotion, doesn't it?
The power of examples is infinite. Because of those examples, when Zhou Tai knew that Mi Yang was now the governor of Yiyang County, his mind became quite active.
And when Mi Yang appointed him as the Prime Minister of the Champion Kingdom, Zhou Tai's already active thoughts became even more uncontrollable.
When Taide from other states met the Lord of the Ming Dynasty, he came.
Now that he had to meet the Ming Lord, Zhou Tai knew that he had to make some political achievements as soon as possible so that Mi Yang could continue to focus on him.
This is also the reason why Zhou Tai knew it was impossible to do, but still did it resolutely.
Otherwise, once Mi Yang leaves Jingzhou and returns to Yibei, Zhoutai will definitely regret it for the rest of his life.
Seeing Zhou Tai turn his expectant eyes towards her, and listening to Zhou Tai's words, Mi Yang understood Zhou Tai's thoughts after thinking about it.
The reason why Mi Yang didn't summon Zhou Tai immediately before was to examine Zhou Tai's ability in detail.
From what Zhou Tai is doing now, it can be seen that he is a person who is good at seizing opportunities and dares to take risks.
This style of work is consistent with the evaluation of him as "good at military maneuvers" and "good at making achievements" in historical books.
Faced with Zhou Tai's straightforward desire to surrender to him, Mi Yang would certainly not refuse.
The more talents, the better.
With this in mind, Mi Yang signaled the soldiers behind Zhou Tai to untie the rope for him.
Then he threw the bamboo slips in his hand that accused Zhou Tai of treason directly into the brazier in front of him.
Mi Yang's behavior means that he will no longer pursue Zhou Tai's crime of killing senior officials.
And when Zhou Tai was untied, he still didn't understand Mi Yang's thoughts.
So when his body regained freedom, he immediately bowed to Mi Yang and said: "Tai pays homage to the king."
Hearing Zhou Tai call himself Junhou, a smile appeared on Mi Yang's face.
Mi Yang is now a county prince, so he is certainly qualified to be called a prince by his subordinates.
It's just that the title Junhou is different from other titles. Compared with other titles, this title has a stronger personal attribute.
Now Zhoutai calls himself Junhou, and the meaning is clear.
Zhou Tai's title of "junhou" undoubtedly indirectly brought some relationship between him and Mi Yang.
Mi Yang looked at Zhou Tai, who was about ten steps away, and asked Zhou Tai to step forward.
Seeing Mi Yang's wave, Zhou Tai took a few steps forward in a hurry.
It's just that he is a new minister after all, and he has some concerns in his heart. Of course, he will not get too close to Mi Yang rashly, and the personal guards around Mi Yang will not allow him to do so.
After Zhou Tai got closer to him, Mi Yang asked Zhou Tai: "Wen Da has lived in northern Jing for a long time, so he must be familiar with the situation in northern Jing."
"If I want to use troops to conquer the city in the future, what should I do first?"
Hearing Mi Yang's question, Zhou Tai knew that it was Mi Yang who was testing him, so he immediately cheered up, thought carefully and replied:
"If your troops are active but have no results, your reputation will be lost outside and your wealth will be exhausted inside, so you must use it first.
Jingzhou is located in one of the four war zones in the world, with dense water networks and vast hectares of fertile land. If we do not first prepare for the long-term war by connecting rivers and gathering grain, we will not be able to seize Wan even if we accumulate troops in new fields.
Today, there are Ju and Zhang rivers in Jiangling, which irrigate thousands of fertile fields. Around Anlu, there are fertile ponds.
If the ruler combines land and water with agriculture to consolidate military resources, he will then lead troops to attack Wancheng, occupy Runan separately, gather the southern troops, and float the river to transport the grain.
If the thief knows that the king has a reputation for being good at fighting, and that the officers and soldiers have a long-lasting power, then those who resist heaven's punishment will be discouraged, while those who want to become kings will strengthen.
Then the princes will lead their elite troops to attack Wancheng from inside, and send their cavalry generals to block the northern road. Then the south of Wancheng will be taken out, but the counties of Yuzhou will not be defended.
In this way, Wan and Luo are inseparable from each other, and Wan can be captured if they are inseparable. Otherwise, the benefits of sending troops are not guaranteed."
After listening to Zhou Tai's advice, a look of surprise appeared on Mi Yang's face.
After the Battle of Xiangfan, although many ministers knew that Liu Bei had no intention of capturing Wancheng for the time being, Wancheng would definitely be captured in the future.
Therefore, many ministers have been discussing privately with each other recently about how the Han army will capture Wancheng in the future.
Although Mi Yang was in Xinye, thanks to Mi Yang's military exploits and his popularity, many ministers in Xiangyang would privately send letters asking Mi Yang for his opinion on this matter.
Through this, Mi Yang also learned about several strategies currently circulating in Xiangyang City for capturing Wancheng in the future.
For example, Liu Bei's strategy of "becoming good at cavalry first" has become the strategy with the largest number of supporters.
What Mi Yang didn't expect was that in Zhou Tai's advice, he also admitted that the Han army must have the advantage of cavalry before it could have the capital to attack Wancheng.
But compared to this, Zhou Tai valued the sustainability of the Han army's operations in the future.
In order to ensure the sustainability of the Han army's operations, it is necessary to make full use of Jingzhou's geographical advantages.
I have to say that Zhou Tai’s advice is very reasonable.
The Battle of Wancheng will definitely be an arduous and protracted battle in the future.
After Zhou Tai finished speaking, he quietly looked at Mi Yang's face.
He felt a little uneasy when he saw that Mi Yang was silent for a moment after listening to his advice.
Although Zhou Tai believes that his suggestions are in line with the current situation, he has not yet made any achievements, so he is still a little unsure of himself.
However, Zhou Tai did not feel anxious for long, and a smile appeared on Mi Yang's face.
Mi Yang's smile meant that he agreed with Zhou Tai's view, and it also made Zhou Tai's anxiety disappear in an instant.
Mi Yang looked at Zhou Tai with satisfied eyes. Zhou Tai was not recorded much in history, although he and Deng Ai were from the same county and were about the same age.
But compared to Deng Ai's famous reputation in history, Zhou Tai seems very ordinary.
However, this does not mean that Zhou Tai's personal talents were not good. On the contrary, judging from the positions he held in history books, it can be seen that Zhou Tai was an extremely important feudal official in the late Cao Wei Dynasty.
He was the governor of Xincheng, the governor of Yanzhou, the governor of Yuzhou, and finally the governor of Jiangnan.
If Zhou Tai didn't have extraordinary talents, how could he hold these positions?
Especially when Zhou Tai was last in charge of the military affairs in the south of the Yangtze River, the famous general Zhou Tai faced during that time was Lu Kang.
The reason why Zhou Tai did not have any outstanding experiences during his tenure may be because Zhou Tai is a general who is good at preventing problems before they occur.
And such generals are exactly what Mi Yang currently lacks.
Because of such a general, Mi Yang will not have to worry about the safety of the rear when he goes out to fight in the future.
With such a talent, Mi Yang has no reason not to make good use of him.
After thinking about it, Mi Yang said to Zhou Taiyan: "I will write to Your Majesty to ask Wenda to move to Nanzheng Order. I hope Wenda will not disappoint my expectations."
Mi Yang's arrangement made Zhou Taixi smile.
At present, everyone in Jingzhou already knows that Mi Yang will return to the Yibei Metropolitan Area in the near future. If the Yibei Area is compared to a small country, then Nanzheng is the capital of this small country.
Serving as such a county magistrate does not mean that his powers are much higher than those of ordinary county magistrates.
This also means that he has initially entered the small political group headed by Mi Yang.
How could this not make Zhou Tai happy?
Zhou Tai quickly bowed to Mi Yang and said, "Thank you so much, Lord."
After Zhou Tai thanked Mi Yang, Mi Yang saw that Zhou Tai had been detained in prison for several days and his body was quite dirty, so he asked Zhou Tai to go down and wash himself first.
After Zhou Tai resigned, Mi Yang was thinking about Zhou Tai's plan for him, and an idea suddenly appeared in his mind.
Zhoutai's strategy is feasible for attacking Wancheng, but if it can be modified and used to attack Jiangdong in the future, it seems to be good.
Thinking of this, Mi Yang closed his eyes slightly, and a city named Yong'an appeared in his mind.
His mentor Fazheng once told him before his death that he should guard against Jiangdong all his life.
He has never forgotten these words.
I think Sun Quan, who came to Jiangdong, had also received the news of the Xiangfan battle.
How will he react?
...
As Mi Yang expected, a few days after Guan Yu was buried, Sun Quan in Yong'an also quickly received the news.
As for why Sun Quan was in Yongan?
That's because when Liu Bei decided to fight Xiangfan, he issued an edict as the emperor of the Han Dynasty, asking Sun Quan to lead troops to attack Hefei, Cao Wei's important town in Huainan.
Faced with Liu Bei's edict, Sun Quan did not want to implement it at all at first.
Although Jiangdong has recovered some of his strength after nearly two years of training, he still does not have the strength to launch an attack with a large army.
Moreover, although he was named the Taiwei of the Han Dynasty, accepting this title was only a temporary measure for him.
How could he really obey Liu Bei's edict and waste Jiangdong's national power to attack Hefei rashly?
However, although Sun Quan had no plans to send troops to Huainan, he had other thoughts in mind and still sent many additional troops to Yong'an City.
His idea is very simple, he wants to sit on the mountain and watch the two tigers fight.
Sun Quan believed that no matter which side wins this battle, it will definitely be a tragic victory.
And if it ends in a lose-lose situation, it would be better for him.
This means that he may be able to help Jiangdong obtain some good development opportunities after this war.
Even in Sun Quan's mind, he believed that Liu Bei was more likely to lose in this battle.
After all, judging from the apparent strength, the Wei army was stronger in this battle, and its leading general was Zhang Liao, who was deeply feared by Sun Quan.
In Sun Quan's view, Zhang Liao is a general who is absolutely capable of competing with Guan Yu.
This is also the consensus of Jiangdong’s monarchs and ministers.
It was precisely because of this consensus that Sun Quan decided to increase his troops to Yongan instead of to Wancheng.
But when the results of the Battle of Xiangfan reached Jianye City, it undoubtedly caused an uproar in Jianye City.
The 70,000 Wei army was almost completely wiped out. The Wei army general Zhang Liao, who could stop the children of Jiangdong from crying, was actually beheaded by Guan Yu in front of the battle.
Such a brilliant result was something that no one in Jiangdong could have predicted beforehand.
Although Liu Bei kept it secret, Sun Quan did not know how much the Han army suffered in this battle.
But with such brilliant results, any kind of battle damage can be put aside.
This is a great victory that is enough to shake the hearts of the world and change the situation of the world.
From then on, the Han Dynasty established by Liu Bei will no longer be despised by anyone.
After Sun Quan learned the news, his dissatisfaction and disdain for Liu Bei's previous restoration of Han Dynasty and proclaiming himself emperor disappeared in an instant.
The dissatisfaction and disdain he had for Liu Bei before was only temporarily suppressed by him after seeing Cao Ren's head.
Sun Quan felt afraid of Liu Bei for the first time.
Just like he was afraid of Cao Cao back then.
Under such fear, Sun Quan didn't dare to neglect. He immediately left Jianye City and came to Yong'an City.
It's just that compared to the previous ulterior motives, he came to Yong'an City in person this time, hoping to explain to Liu Bei at close range why he didn't send troops to Hefei before.
He is a great captain of the Han Dynasty.
It's normal to behave like this.
But before Sun Quan could finish writing the memorial, news of Guan Yu's death reached Yong'an City.
At the same time as the news of Guan Yu's death reached Yong'an, there was also the eulogy written by Mi Yang himself.
So before Sun Quan felt happy about Guan Yu's death, he fell into a kind of panic again.
Mi Yang's eulogy was essentially to promote the martial arts of the Han army in order to shock everyone in the world.
It's just that if the same deterrent effect falls on different people, it will have different results.
Compared to Cao Pi's fear, Sun Quan just felt terrified.
No matter whether Sun Quan looked left or right, he felt that there was a hidden threat in Mi Yang's words.
Although Sun Quan now knows that the next governor of Jingzhou will not be Mi Yang.
But the problem is that Mi Yang didn't rely on the power of the governor of Jingzhou to defeat him and escape!