In just one month, Zhuge Liang learned the experience of motivation and military management that Guan Yu spent seven or eight years exploring.
This may seem unbelievable and the progress is too fast, but it is actually reasonable.
Back then, Guan Yu relied entirely on talent and actual combat, without the guidance of famous teachers. At most, after defeating the battle, he would come back to read some military books and sum up his experience. Every bit of progress was hard-won.
Zhuge Liang had already read many military books before actually leading the army.
In addition, the composition of the troops this time is really suitable for training to control the morale of the army. There are Danyang soldiers, Jinfan soldiers, soldiers from other places and local counties under his command.
It can be said that at this moment, even if you look at the entire Han Dynasty, you can't find another such a complicated military training environment.
The combination of a distinguished teacher, a student with outstanding intelligence, and a subject that was most suitable for teaching content created Zhuge Liang's rapid progress.
In addition, there is actually an implicit condition - that is, during this month, Zhuge Jin silently helped his second brother take care of all the internal affairs tasks originally assigned to him.
Zhuge Jin also knew that he did not have the talent to directly command an army. Even if he studied hard, he might not be able to be among the best in the world.
In this case, there are still many things that he needs to do anyway, and he can't finish them in his lifetime, so why not specialize in the art.
In just one month, Zhuge Jin initially sorted out the people's livelihood and financial details of Chaisang, Pengze and other places in order.
Those farming matters that are technically trivial are also arranged in a very orderly manner.
The holes originally dug were filled one by one as planned.
In the end, they even persuaded four remote surrounding counties to surrender - mainly the mountainous counties in the east of Yuzhang County and close to Danyang County.
Including Poyang County, Guangchang County, Le'an County and Shangrao County.
However, these efforts to persuade people to surrender cannot be said to have much substantial gains, because apart from Poyang County, the other three counties mentioned above are more or less entrenched by Shanyue forces.
Originally, before the Han Dynasty fell into war, the local area could hardly collect money, food, taxes, or recruit any troops.
Since Zuo Rong took over Yuzhang, the counties in the mountainous areas on the border between Zhejiang and Jiangxi have nominally surrendered to Zuo Rong.
It may not be a good thing that Zhuge Jin can persuade the above-mentioned areas to surrender this time——
This means that Zuo Rong's power in several counties to the east of the county has begun to shrink and concentrate its forces. It was only after the backbone of Zuo Rong's direct line had withdrawn that Zhuge Jin was able to successfully persuade him to surrender.
As for what Zuo Rong wanted to do after shrinking his troops, Zhuge Jin also vaguely guessed it.
…
Time has quietly come to the end of January, and in a few days the dragon will raise its head, and the spring plowing of the second year of Jian'an will soon begin.
At nightfall, Zhuge Liang, who had turned a deaf ear to what was going on outside the window and only focused on learning military skills, dragged his tired body back to the government office.
As soon as I entered the main hall, I saw that my eldest brother was still burning the midnight oil and doing official duties.
Zhuge Liang greeted him casually, but this time Zhuge Jin did not let him go.
"Ah Liang, let's take a look at this military information and these two letters." Zhuge Jin said while pushing the document in front of his brother.
Zhuge Liang was stunned for a moment, then picked it up. This month, the eldest brother has not given himself any tasks. It seems that something big must have happened this time.
"Ze Rong actually completely withdrew the garrison in Poyang County? Secretly gathered all the troops in Haihun County? Our army took advantage of this opportunity and relied on the imperial decree to successfully persuade the Poyang County Magistrate to surrender?"
As mentioned before, Zhuge Jin and his uncle Zhuge Xuan, Qing Mimi controlled four more counties in one month, and Poyang was the last and most important of them.
Compared with the other three counties that abandoned the dark side and turned to the bright side, Poyang County's land is relatively fertile, and it is also an important transportation hub where the Po River flows into Pengli Ze, controlling the waterways in and out of Pengli Ze for the other three counties.
Zhuge Liang couldn't help but be surprised that Zuo Rong gave up even this kind of place.
Fortunately, he was only briefly surprised and quickly reacted: "Brother, does Zuo Rong know that his navy is incompetent, and is he afraid that our army will use the advantage of the navy to cut off Pengli Ze's shipping route, divide its territory on the west bank, and defeat them one by one?"
"There is indeed such a consideration," Zhuge Jin nodded, "Think about it again, what else?"
Zhuge Liang was reminded like this, and then said: "Does Zuo Rong dare to do something more daring? Could it be that after he concentrated his troops, he dared to take the initiative to counterattack us?"
Zhuge Jin said with a stern look: "The naval scouts sent by Xingba went deep into the southern part of Pengli Ze and found signs of enemy ships approaching Haihun from Nanchang. However, it is still not possible to confirm whether this is a suspicious enemy.
If the enemy army only withdraws the Poyang garrison to Haihun, it can be said that it is afraid that the navy will separate the east and west banks and defeat them one by one. But if the enemy troops in Nanchang also move north, they must be gathering their forces to launch an attack.
I estimate that after this period of standing still, Zuo Rong finally woke up and saw that time is on our side. If you delay any longer, you and Yun Chang can gradually transform the seven or eight thousand newly surrendered troops into the backbone of our army, but Zuo Rong's military strength will not become stronger.
Therefore, he must have changed his mind and wanted to take the initiative to seek a decisive battle and make a desperate move before we could complete the training and transformation of our troops. "
The enemy has realized it, and if he waits any longer, he will just sit back and wait for death. As the Han army digests the fruits of victory, the Zuo army's chances of winning will only get lower and lower.
"Who is going to attack him if he just sits there and waits for death?"
Zhuge Liang was stunned for a moment, and then he was pleasantly surprised: "This is a good thing! Originally, we planned to spend two or three months to completely reorganize and train the surrendered army into a division with strict military discipline, and then go south to attack Haihun and Nanchang one by one.
Although it has not yet been fully trained, our army has made rapid progress in this month, and the soldiers' fighting spirit and military discipline have been greatly improved. If Zuo Rong dares to go north, then we will attack the city and he will defend the city, but he will attack the city and we will defend the city——
How dare he? Doesn't he know how much extra difficulty it brings to attack and defend the city? Why don't we take this opportunity to annihilate them and then counterattack Haihun and Nanchang. By then Zuo Rong's main force has been wiped out, and maybe it can be decided by spreading the word among the counties. "
Zhuge Jin couldn't help but be speechless for a while. He stared at his brother seriously to make sure he was not joking:
"You and Yun Chang have only been training for a month. If you are about to face a big war. With less than 5,000 elite veterans and more than 7,000 new troops who have surrendered for a month, you can defeat 13,000 enemy troops. County soldiers, monk soldiers, plus 30,000 rabble?"
Zhuge Liang was full of confidence:
"Brother, you should really listen carefully to General Guan's experience in running the army. Then you will understand to what extent he can improve the military discipline, orders and prohibitions of the soldiers in just one month."
As he spoke, he explained a lot of what he had seen, heard, and practiced.
Although Zhuge Jin didn't have time to study systematically, his brother was willing to summarize the essence like this, so he was still willing to chat.
At the end of Zhuge Liang's words, he couldn't help but add: "Although I am young, I have studied hard with General Guan for the past month. I estimate that my ability to run an army has far surpassed Zhang Yide's and is on par with General Zhengnan - —
General Guan occasionally talked about Xuande Gong's ability in running the army. It's just that Xuande Gongsheng is good at employing people and winning people's hearts with kindness, but he is not good at rewards, punishments, inducements, and motivating soldiers. It can be seen that he is better than Li Guang's method, but he does not know Huo Qubing's method. "
When Zhuge Jin heard this, he couldn't help but laugh and said: "Don't underestimate the heroes of the world. I think Mr. Xuande may not understand, he just doesn't want to do it. A gentleman talks about justice but not profit, and a virtuous person will inevitably have too many concerns about what he does. I have known Duke Xuande for several months, and I know that he is an eclectic reader, and he actually knows a lot."
Zhuge Liang had never been in contact with Liu Bei, so he couldn't help but be curious: "Is this really so? Does the elder brother think he knows Duan Juong's method of 'burning soldiers to accumulate wealth, so that soldiers will no longer cherish their lives and be willing to fight to the death'?"
Zhuge Jinran said: "Why don't you know? I once spoke to Xuande Gong, and I heard him lament that 'if the people are humiliated, they will be noble. If they are weak, they will respect the officials. If they are poor, they will be rewarded generously'."
Isn't Duan Qiong's method just to "make the people poor and reward them heavily"? If you have money, who is willing to risk your life for a little money? Mr. Xuande understands the principles, but he just doesn't want to learn them. If we follow the principle of "strengthening a country by weakening its people", even if it can be achieved, what is it worth pursuing? It's just a matter of discarding the basics and chasing the weak. "
Zhuge Liang was silent then. He listened to his elder brother casually quoting that Liu Bei had read it. He finally believed that it was not that Liu Bei had not learned Guan Yu's positive and negative military methods, he was just unwilling to use one of them.
"In today's world, there are still people who are so restrained. I would like to see them if I have the chance." Zhuge Liang sighed from the bottom of his heart, out of pure curiosity.
Zhuge Jin then stretched out his hand and tapped the two letters in front of him: "It's not easy for you to see me. Take a good look at them. They were just delivered in the past two days. At the beginning of the month, I handed over Yuzhang's troop training task to Yun Chang After that, Yun Chang sent a letter to Guangling, saying that he might stay a little longer and ask Duke Xuande for instructions.
Twenty days later, I got a reply from Duke Xuande. The messenger also brought a letter from his stepmother. The Song family now also lives in Guangling. "
Only then did Zhuge Liang notice the letters that his elder brother had just pushed over, and he quickly opened them one by one.
The first letter mentions Liu Bei's permission to Guan Yu: "If after Yuzhang is pacified, a large number of Zuo Rong's surrendered troops need to be reorganized, and the Zhuge family has insufficient military training, then Yun Chang can continue to stay in Yuzhang and help the Zhuge family run the army." .
But after this condition, Liu Bei changed the topic and mentioned, "When the war is over, I hope to send capable people to Guangling to report the results immediately."
Then he mentioned a few things, including Chen Qun's winter flood control task in Guangling. He said that the easy preparations had been completed, and there were still some difficult details left that needed to be consulted by Tzuyu. It would be best if Tzuyu could come. If not, at least a capable person who understands his plan should be sent to do it for him.
Zhuge Liang pondered for a while: "Does this Duke Xuande want to exchange for me to go to Guangling to pay a visit at the cost of lending General Guan to us for a few more months? He said that if you can't go in person, brother, at least send someone else who knows how to do it." A master of water conservancy...who else could be there besides me?"
Zhuge Jin did not answer, and motioned to Zhuge Liang to read another letter.
Zhuge Liang opened it again, this time it was a family letter from his stepmother Song. The book said vaguely that she hoped that she could still meet the other stepchildren as the wife of the Song family and understand how they were doing in the past few years.
Zhuge Liang rolled his eyes and said, "It seems that after the battle against Zuo Rong, I can only take my siblings back to Guangling and pay my last respects to the Song family."
Zhuge Jin: "In the month you have been training with Yunchang, I have arranged some civil affairs officials under my command to deal with some water conservancy matters related to the dredging of the Penglize polder in the east of Chaisang County, and also tried a few water conservancy ideas in my mind.
After you don't have to worry about military training, spend a few days getting familiar with me, and give me a good look on your way back, so that you can help Chen Changwen solve difficult problems when you return to Guangling. Mi Zizhong may have something he doesn't understand and will ask you, so you should be prepared in advance.
After all, Duke Xuande is not yet a Yangzhou shepherd. Our Zhuge family is still considered an ally with Duke Xuande, rather than a tribe. So you are just a guest here, and you can come back after handling the matter. "
Zhuge Liang respectfully accepted the order, saying that he would deal with the upcoming war with Guan Yu in the past few days. After the war, he would go to Guangling to help him with anything else.
