"Lord, sir." Zhuge Liang took a step forward, bowed his hand to Liu Bei and Zhou Ping, and continued, "We captured Jiangdong, killed Sun Ce, and drove Sun's bandits to Yuzhang. Our power has increased. Yuan Shu has a lot of troops.
, but he held on to the city and did not dare to fight, which shows that he is afraid of his lord."
"If the Lord is afraid, the general will be weak. If the general is weak, the soldiers will be afraid. Everyone in the city, from Yuan Shu to the soldiers, will be afraid of us. If they are afraid, I can force them. We can force the soldiers in the city out of the city."
"Kong Ming, how come they dare to come out and fight with us when they are afraid?" Zhang Fei suddenly interrupted and asked.
Zhuge Liang smiled softly and continued: "We are not forcing them to fight, but forcing them to surrender. With strong troops approaching the city and defense alone, under coercion and inducement, the people in the city will surely find a way to survive.
The rich man went out of the city to ask for surrender. If the soldiers in the city rebelled, could Yuan Shu still defend the city?"
"Good! Good! Good!" Zhou Ping clapped his hands and praised, "If you want to subdue others, you must use your willpower. Power can capture their will, and profit can seduce their heart. Yuan Shu is not a wise master, and many of his people must be afraid of death and greed.
If you want to win, under coercion and inducement, some people will leave the city and ask for surrender. Kong Ming’s wisdom is better than mine! Hahaha..."
Zhou Ping is really happy that Zhuge Liang can make suggestions, which means that he can start to assist Liu Bei to supplement his own wisdom.
Zhuge Liang hurriedly said: "Sir, you are being humble. When it comes to the ability of people, no one in the world can compare with you, and when it comes to the power of the world, no one can match it. Liang's strategy is a helpless one, not a good one."
"How to coerce and induce?" Liu Bei asked.
"You can let General Guan Yunchang lead 10,000 troops to surround the south of the city and block Yuan Shu's way south. At the same time, let people shout to the soldiers in the city. As long as they leave the city and surrender in time, they can be rewarded generously. Otherwise, when the city is broken, they will not be spared. So.
There must be people in the city who want to surrender, but whether they can leave the city to surrender depends on their ability." Zhuge Liang replied.
This is indeed a helpless strategy and not a good one, but it can be tried.
"My lord, I think what Kong Ming said is feasible."
Guan Yu, Gao Shun and others also agreed.
Liu Bei asked Guan Yu and Gao Shun to lead 10,000 soldiers and horses to camp in the south of Wancheng, and sent soldiers and horses to the city to shout to the city.
It is said that within ten days, if a general is the first to lead his troops out of the city and surrender, he will be rewarded with a hundred gold, and he will be appointed as a lieutenant or general, and the soldiers who follow him out of the city will also be generously rewarded.
Otherwise, after the city is broken, they will be killed without mercy.
In addition to the north and south sides, Liu Bei even sent several teams of soldiers and horses to the east and west sides of Wancheng to spread the news.
Yuan Shu was worried, and many soldiers in the city were tempted by Liu Bei's conditions.
For this reason, Yuan Shu asked Liu Xun to personally lead the troops to guard the north city, Zhang Xun to guard the south city, Chen Lan to guard the east city, and Zhang Kai to guard the west city.
Ever since Zhang Kai left Xuzhou to join the army, he has never been favored by Yuan Shu and could only stay with him.
Now that Yuan Shu has lost all his generals, he can be entrusted with the important task of leading the troops to defend the area.
"Master Yan, Liu Bei is trying to lure him with benefits. I heard there are rumors among the soldiers and wants to go out of the city to respond. How do you think we should respond?" Yuan Shu asked Yan Xiang.
"As long as the gates on all sides are guarded and the general can patrol the camp in person to appease the people, there is no need to worry even if some people who are afraid of death and greedy for profit come out of the city and surrender," Yan Xiang replied.
Yuan Shu felt that this was the only way for now.
He put on armor and led his troops, first to inspect the surrounding city defenses, and told Liu Xun, Zhang Xun, Chen Lan, Zhang Kai and others to guard the city gates and not allow anyone to escape from the city.
Then he inspected each camp, saying that after Liu Bei retreated, he would reward all the troops.
Three days later, although Liu Bei sent people to shout at the city every day, it seemed that the effect was not obvious. Only seven people raped out at night.
Under cross-examination, two of them were suspected of being spies, but there was no evidence, so Liu Bei had to send someone to keep an eye on them.
At this time, the news coming back from Youzhou made Liu Bei and Zhou Ping very worried.
Gongsun Zan was defeated and was beheaded by Cao Cao's general Xu Huang.
It is said that during a sudden attack by Yuan and Cao, Gongsun Zan asked for help from the Black Mountain bandit Zhang Yan and agreed to raise a fire as a signal. As a result, the messenger was captured and the letter was obtained by Yan Liang and Cao Ren.
Cao Ren followed the words in the letter and raised fire as scheduled. Gongsun Zan thought that reinforcements were arriving and fought out of Yijing. However, he was ambushed and was beheaded by Cao Cao's general Xu Huang.
"This...Gongsun is defeated, and Yuan Cao's troops may attack Xuzhou in the future. Do we have to retreat like last time?"
Liu Bei was really shocked. The last time he was attacking Lujiang, Cao Cao led his troops to attack Xuzhou, and he had to retreat.
Last time, there were only 50,000 Cao Cao troops. Now if Yuan Shao and Cao Cao join forces, there may be 100,000 troops to attack. There are only 5,000 troops stationed in Pengcheng and Xiapi now, and I am afraid they will not be able to defend.
"Lord, we have now secured Danyang and Wu Commandery, and have leveled Jiujiang. We have secured these three commanderies. Yuan Shu is holding on to Wancheng. He is afraid that it will be difficult to leave for a while, so it is better to withdraw his troops and stick to Xuzhou first, and then attack Lujiang."
Seeing that everyone was speechless for a moment, Gao Shun couldn't help but reply.
As the governor of Yangzhou, Guan Yu naturally hoped to capture Lujiang, but the safety of Xuzhou was of great importance. He did not persuade Liu Bei to retreat, but he also did not persuade Liu Bei to continue attacking Yuan Shu. Everything was decided by Liu Bei.
Zhang Fei thought that Cao Cao was not that scary and there was no need to retreat yet.
"My lord, although Gongsun is destroyed, it will take some time for Yuan Cao's troops to send troops to attack Xuzhou. We might as well wait first. If we can capture Lujiang, it will be easier to retreat." Zhou Ping said.
"Yes, if Cao Cao wants to attack Xu, he still needs time to prepare. It is better to wait until the ten days have passed. If Wancheng is not available, it will not be too late to retreat."
Zhuge Liang had just made a suggestion and didn't want to give up halfway.
Moreover, although Yuan Shao and Cao Cao destroyed Gongsun Zan, he still had to return his troops from Youzhou first and let his troops recuperate and rest.
At the same time, if Yuan Shao wants to send a large army to attack Xuzhou together with Cao Cao, it will not be so fast. Liu Bei still has at least a month.
If Wancheng still cannot be captured after ten days, it will not be too late to retreat at that time.
"Sir, what I'm worried about is that even if we capture Lujiang, if Yuan and Cao really join forces to attack Xu, and we retreat to Xuzhou, and Sun Quan's troops are close to Yuzhang, I'm afraid we won't have the troops to defend Lujiang!"
Liu Bei is not worried about not being able to capture Lujiang. What he is worried about is that after capturing Lujiang, he will have to divide his troops to defend it. He is afraid that there will be fewer soldiers and horses to go back to rescue Xuzhou.
Sun Quan is in Yuzhang now. If Yuan and Cao join forces to attack Xu and retreat to Xuzhou, he will definitely lead his troops to fight for Lujiang.
Since you can't hold it, it's better not to take it.
"Exactly, if Yuan and Cao join forces to attack Xuzhou, we will definitely retreat. Even if we capture Lujiang and Sun Quan comes to seize it, we may not be able to hold it." Gao Shun agreed.
Even Guan Yu felt that taking Lujiang now would be a bad thing.
"Brother, if that's the case, we might as well retreat. If Xuzhou is prepared, Cao Cao may not dare to invade."
