During the provocations between the Wei State and the Marquis of Qi, the Chu State had always been very "modest" and the only targets for a resolute counterattack were the pirates.
As for Wei Guo and Qi Hou, they still focused on sending envoys to hold them accountable, and showed that they did not want to start a war.
As for the reason... everyone generally believes that the main force of the navy that Gan Ning took away has not returned yet, so the Chu State is not willing to fight a decisive battle at sea far away from the local logistics!
It was precisely because of this that Gongsun Kang had the courage to interfere with these three families to divide the Bohai Sea.
However, after thinking clearly about the relationship between the State of Wei and the Marquis of Qi, Gongsun Kang decided to send an envoy to the Marquis of Qi...
After Liu Bei received Gongsun Kang's letter, he also discussed Gongsun's intention to form an alliance with Zhuge Liang and others.
"It seems that Gongsun Kang doesn't completely trust Wei Guo... he's not completely stupid." Zhang Fei, who had grown a slight beard, said frivolously.
"Yide, don't look down on anyone." Liu Bei advised him seriously.
"I'm not looking down on you, I'm not looking down upon you. If I hadn't known about the military advisor's bad idea earlier, I might have been just like this Gongsun boy, hahaha." Zhang Fei said with a hearty giggle after hearing this.
Liu Bei glared at him, and then looked at Zhuge Liang apologetically, but Zhuge Liang just shook his fan and didn't care.
indeed.
From the beginning to the end, only Gongsun Kang believed that Wei and Qi were just for the Bohai Sea and a few ports.
Although I am not stupid enough to believe in the Wei State, I have only seen through the fact that the Marquis of Qi is also involved. However, neither the Marquis of Qi nor the King of Wei are actually thinking about a few ports and counties along the coast...
Of course, if we can capture all the five enclave ports around the Bohai Sea: Liaodong Port, Andong Port, Peiping Port, Donglai East Port, Donglai West Port, etc., in theory, we can directly kick Chu out of the Bohai Sea without a naval battle.
of.
After all, if all the ports are captured, just be careful of Chu's counterattack by harassing the coast.
But actually there is one biggest problem...
Liaodong Port!
Not only is it the only ice-free port, it is also geographically easy to defend and difficult to attack. For the defender, water and land linkage is very convenient and efficient.
If you want to conquer it purely by land warfare, I am afraid that the Yan State will not be able to do it with all its strength. Simply by land warfare... the peninsula in the southeast of Liaoning cannot be conquered, especially in the south, where the mountains are dense and the cavalry is not very strong.
Big room for performance.
Gongsun Kang has also discovered this now, and is often sulking over the decision made by his father and his staff to give up Tajin...
As for the State of Wei and the Marquis of Qi, from the very beginning, they did not set their strategic goals on the port!
Indeed, as Gongsun Kangzhong's brain thought (after Liang Mao reminded him), there was an alliance between the King of Wei and the Marquis of Qi.
It's just that the content of the covenant is somewhat different from Gongsun Kang's imagination.
After all, Yanhou still lacks top counselors to act as think tanks. If Liu Yi is placed in Chu State, even the Langguan will be reluctant. Liang Mao is talented as a prefect, but he and Gongsun are not of the same mind. He is only responsible for "being stupid just right".
Not only did he convince Gongsun Kang, but he also misled him, his deeds were considered complete.
The main agreement between the King of Wei and the Marquis of Qi is that after the war in Hanzhong, the Wei State will attack the Yan State with all its strength, trying to annex this somewhat unsightly and somewhat fat territory in the rear in the shortest possible time!
The basis for this covenant to take effect is that Ma Teng and Han Sui of the Xiliang Clan, as well as Yang Feng and Zhang Yan of the Yellow Turban Clan, have already pacified the rear of Liangzhou and Guanzhong respectively!
Ma Teng and Han Sui were preparing to join forces and attack Hanzhong. At this time, the Han princes naturally did not want the Wei State in the north or the Chu State in the south to come out to cause trouble for them.
At that time, Yang Feng and Zhang Yan will be responsible for heading south to approach Wancheng, and Liu Bei will be responsible for guarding Wei - not seeking merit, but seeking no faults... holding them back until Hanzhong is captured, and the forces supporting Han will be united, which will be the largest
of credit!
From this point of view, it would be in the interests of the Han Dynasty for the Wei State to go to war with the Yan State, and it might even involve the Chu State, which would be the best thing.
Of course, this is just the "agreement" between the King of Wei and the Marquis of Qi.
In fact... what kind of integrity can there be between Cao Cao and Liu Bei? Even if they go to the old fox in the mountain to become a vegetarian, the two of them will never believe what the other person says! It's useless to establish written evidence!
Cao Cao is indeed preparing to attack Yan, but will he really "try his best"?
If the Han princes' attack on Hanzhong goes smoothly, then Cao Cao will indeed consider wiping out his own rear before Hanzhong is captured. However, once the battle situation in Hanzhong reaches a stalemate, Cao Cao will definitely release a "pack of wolves" to bite the Yan Kingdom.
His main force went directly south to Qingxu, and even went south to attack Guanzhong!
As for Liu Bei...
It is said that everyone has agreed to fight each other, but does it really mean that everyone should fight each other?
As long as everything goes well in Hanzhong, Liu Bei will definitely take the opportunity to make the Northern Expedition - Wei seems to be powerful, but there is a very serious problem, that is, Cao Wei's real elites in hundreds of battles are all from Qingzhou or the Central Plains, and now many of them
Most of the sources of troops are no longer under Cao Cao's control.
Only the "manpower" from other source areas can be used for annual recharging, which will undoubtedly reduce the elite level of these elites, and because the source areas are not under their control, morale will be falsely high...
That is to say, after training, encouragement, and rewards, the morale of this part of the Wei army can be maintained at a high level, but... it can easily collapse!
In fact, Bai Tu's Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry and Xiliang Iron Cavalry also faced the same predicament, but... during the General's Mansion era, Bai Tu also quickly developed a real local main force, and then got rid of its dependence on these cavalry.
The cavalry added later were all from Jingyang's local troops.
As for the current "main force" of Cao Wei, they all come from Jizhou - the original territory of the Yuan family!
Although Cao Cao has been operating many places for five or six years, after all, they are not as easy to use as where he started.
This is one of the reasons why Cao Cao is eyeing the Yan Kingdom...
In the original history, Gongsun was undoubtedly just a weak local warlord to the northern super overlord Cao Cao, so when he showed obedience and gave the heads of the Yuan brothers to Cao Cao, Cao Cao chose to temporarily accept him as his own.
vassal.
It was not until Gongsun took the initiative to cause rebellion that Sima Yi took action to pacify Liaodong.
However, the situation is obviously different now. The Wei State previously accepted the Gongsun family as a vassal and granted him the title of Marquis of Yan. This was more because in the face of pressure from the Han Dynasty, Cao Cao was anxious to win over a few allies - no longer because
He becomes a vassal because he is "weak", but he is worthy of becoming a "vassal ally" because he is "relatively strong"!
Such a relationship was undoubtedly untrustworthy in the warlord era of the late Han Dynasty, especially Cao Cao.
After all, this was the relationship between him and Yuan Shao at the beginning.
And for the current Wei State, annexing the Gongsun family will also be of great benefit to itself.
Especially after the Gongsun family traded with the Chu State, their accumulation became increasingly powerful, and more importantly, the potential of Liaodong was discovered.
Just talking about those thousands of sets of plate armor... those are thousands of plate armor cavalry!
Even though this thing has its limitations and is easy to target, its power on the frontal battlefield is unquestionable.
For the Wei State, although the Yan State is far less powerful than itself, it has initially begun to have the ability to stab someone in the back!
There is a more important point...
Wei Guoming's plan on the surface is nothing more than to seize the Bohai Sea?
If the Yan State can be destroyed, the Wei State can completely capture Fuyu and the Seafood Peninsula by land. Will the navy still need to decide the ownership of the Bohai Sea?
The entire continent surrounding the Bohai Sea belongs to the Wei State. What else can the Chu State think about the Bohai Sea?
For Liu Bei, from beginning to end, he regarded Cao Cao as his biggest enemy - Bai Tu was the biggest stumbling block on the road to realizing his ideals, but he was not the biggest "enemy".
Cao Cao naturally knew this. The so-called covenant was just for everyone to set a tone first and then see how to break the covenant.
After all, there is no necessary trade between Cao Cao and Liu Bei. How can there be any guarantee for a mere piece of paper?
At present, the only princes who can form "credible strength" with empty words is Baitu. After all, they still have some baggage of Chu learning.
If everything goes well for the Han Dynasty in the Battle of Hanzhong, Liu Bei will definitely follow the trend of the Northern Expedition. No matter whether it can cause serious damage to Wei State, at least it will not make Cao Cao feel too good!
Liu Bei's only worry was whether the Battle of Hanzhong would really go smoothly.
At the same time, what Liu Bei didn't know was that what Zhuge Liang and Guan Yu were worried about were completely opposite...
After Liu Bei received the letter from Marquis Yan, he initially identified Marquis Yan's IQ with everyone. After the meeting, Jian Yong went to Zhuge Liang and even invited him to ride in Zhuge Liang's car - and he went to ride Zhuge Liang's car!
Naturally, Zhuge Liang would not dislike Jian Yong, a "senior" who was known for his favorability. After all, his so-called military advisor may not be as powerful as Jian Yong, a "veteran minister".
"Kong Ming was in Qingzhou before, and he got along well with Yunchang, which was beyond our expectations." Jian Yong said with seeming praise.
Zhuge Liang did go to Qingzhou for a period of time before, mainly to appease Guan Yu and calm his restless heart - otherwise Guan Yu might have started a war with Lu Meng.
"Liang is young and has little knowledge, but he is humble." Zhuge Liang said very modestly.
But what Jian Yong wants to say is obviously not the case.
"No, Kong Ming is naturally easy to get along with, but Brother Guan... hahaha, even I don't dare to joke with him." Jian Yong said with a smile.
"A proud man has his own arrogance." Zhuge Liang praised Guan Yu.
Seeing that Zhuge Liang was just speaking in an official tone, Jian Yong also made it clear: "Second brother and I are usually stoic, but... if there is anything, he will still discuss it with me... Well, although he basically won't listen to my opinion."
Zhuge Liang then stopped shaking the fan and said, "Oh? It seems that Brother Xianhe is someone General Guan trusts... What do you think, Brother Xianhe?"
Jian Yong saw that Zhuge Liang didn't panic at all, as if he was sure that he would not tell Liu Bei, so he couldn't help but said: "Kong Ming's plan is dangerous and sophisticated enough, but I just don't tell my lord. Isn't that good?"
"Xianhe thinks the Lord will agree?" Zhuge Liang asked.
"this……"
"If Xianhe is not sure of persuading the lord and still has to report it, then it will be Xianhe's fault if he misses the opportunity in the future! In the future, it will be the historians of Wei or Chu's turn to record history, and Liang will definitely tell them,
Write down today's conversation." Zhuge Liang threatened, half jokingly.
Jian Yong rolled his eyes when he heard this, and could only spread his hands and said, "That's all, I don't know about your affairs."
Yes, Liu Bei and Cao Cao have their own "scripts", but even Zhuge Liang also has a script that Liu Bei doesn't know about...
That is, once the Battle of Hanzhong is still going to be a hard fight, especially if the Chu State intervenes and endangers the situation, Guan Yu can firmly recommend himself to support, and Zhuge Liang will also ask for it. As for the purpose... it is not
For the sake of Hanzhong, they took the opportunity to seize Ma Teng and Han Sui's military power!
After observing the court in the past few years, Zhuge Liang has also deeply felt that the current situation of the six princes supporting the Han Dynasty is a great drag on the "supporting Han Dynasty".
The only one who has any hope of supporting the Han Dynasty is his own lord. Although he is the strongest among the feudal lords supporting the Han Dynasty, his influence is limited.
Just like now, the reason why Liu Bei was "assigned" the task of guarding Wei was also the result of Ma Teng and Han Sui's performance - the two Xiliang faction themselves were also wary of other princes who were supporting the Han Dynasty!
If Zhang Yan, Yang Feng, and Liu Bei had nothing to do, they would not dare to go to Hanzhong.
Otherwise, let alone being stabbed by an ally, even if an ally has a "whim" to take on more responsibilities, control the imperial court, etc., wouldn't it be a big trouble?
What makes Zhuge Liang feel even more urgent is that the Emperor of the Han Dynasty is also very confused now. Even if he really wants to be on guard against all the princes, he should at least be more inclined to his own lord and the one in Yizhou, right?
Doesn't the current distribution give Ma Teng and Han Sui the opportunity to eat meat, while restricting Liu Bei?
Therefore, Zhuge Liang felt that in order to help the Han Dynasty, he must first increase his master's say in the Han Dynasty. Even if there are some disputes, it is worth it.
When several royal relatives wanted to make Liu Bei emperor, Liu Bei didn't tell anyone else, but Zhuge Liang was able to guess some of it.
Although Zhuge Liang would not take the initiative to promote anything in this regard, Zhuge Liang did it with a clear conscience in strengthening Liu Bei's influence in the Han Dynasty.
Of course, you can "conspire" with Guan Yu, but you can't tell Liu Beiming.
Jian Yong actually understood this, so he just wanted to remind Zhuge Liang not to go too far, but he had no intention of making the matter dirty.
Zhuge Liang's "threat" was just a joke, but as Zhuge Liang said, if his lord doesn't work harder, it may be Chu's turn in the future, and Wei's historians are orthodox!
…
At this time, Bai Tu also received letters from the King of Wei and the Marquis of Qi.
Cao Cao informed Bai Tu that Liu Bei and Gongsun Kang were plotting against Chu. Liu Bei was informing Bai Tu that Cao Cao and Gongsun Kang were plotting against Chu...
Facing the increasingly tumultuous situation, Bai Tu was very calm and immediately decided to put more pressure on the culprit, Lord Shu.
The only thing that worries Bai Tu now is actually the situation of Gan Ning and the Yuanhang Army...