[Three-step strategy to build a nation]
"Sun Tzu's Art of War" says: "The first step is to attack the enemy, the second is to attack the enemy, the second is to attack the enemy, and then the third is to attack the city." Those who are excellent at attacking the city are called generals; those who are excellent at attacking the troops are called commanders; those who are excellent at attacking the enemy are called hegemons; The one who excels in attacking and planning is the king.
Although Dong Zhang of Dongchuan conquered cities and territories during the Sichuan War and doubled his sphere of influence, he was always led by others. It lacks top-level design and focuses on the immediate small profits. He didn't even pass the "cutting off diplomatic relations". Strictly speaking, he was not worthy of being a prince at all, and sitting in Dongchuan was already unworthy of his position.
However, Xichuan Meng Zhixiang planned a big chess game from the beginning and became the operator of the entire two-sichuan chess game. Everything was under his control. Even An Chongjie and Li Siyuan acted according to his script.
Even in the unfavorable situation where Pig teammate Dong Zhang lost the first tower in the middle (Jianmenguan), Meng Zhixiang was still able to hold on to the first tower in the top (Longzhou) and push down the highland tower in the bottom (Kuizhou) to take the initiative. , bringing the rhythm to the entire audience.
At present, the two Sichuan provinces present a power distribution with the character "叵". The "mouth" in the middle is Dong Zhang of Dong Sichuan, and is surrounded by Meng Zhixiang of Xichuan to the north, west and south.
Meng Zhixiang clearly realized from the beginning that it was absolutely impossible to overthrow the post-Tang Dynasty with the strength of the two Sichuan provinces. Therefore, the strategic goal of Meng Zhixiang's rebellion was to complete the resource integration and power redistribution of Shu. To put it bluntly, that is Separate the two rivers.
To achieve this goal, there are three steps:
The first step is to provoke a war between Sichuan and Sichuan.
The strategic intention was to force the Central Committee of the Later Tang Dynasty to recognize the relative independence of Shu and become the "Sichuan-Sichuan Special Administrative Region" with a high degree of autonomy, which is commonly known as local armed separatism.
Drive away the imperial power.
Step two: properly handle the Dongchuan issue.
Dong Zhang's character and magnanimity did not allow him to recognize Meng Zhixiang's absolute leadership, and his strategy was not enough to keep him out of the two-sichuan new order system led by Xichuan.
In short, annex Dongchuan Dong Zhang. Adapt the Dongchuan forces.
The third step is to build a nation.
After completing the first two steps, Meng Zhixiang's family was the only one left in the territory of the former Shu Empire. It only needed to do some finishing work on the details, and it was natural to change the situation here.
Now, the imperial court took the death of An Chongjie as an opportunity to proactively request a ceasefire. Meng Zhixiang successfully completed the first step, so he readily accepted the invitation to ceasefire and began to prepare for the second step of the plan.
When Meng Zhixiang apologized to the court to express his gratitude, he deliberately pulled Dong Zhang over, knowing that Dong Zhang would not agree with him, so he kept the promise. Li Siyuan placed the imperial court's responsibility for the civil war on An Chongjie, while Meng Zhixiang placed the responsibility for both Sichuan and Sichuan on Dong Zhang.
Theoretically, Meng Zhixiang had once again become a loyal minister of the Later Tang Dynasty, restored his official title, and gained political legitimacy, while Dong Zhang alone took on the reputation of a "traitor" and lost his legal foundation.
Dong Zhang foolishly jumped into Meng Zhixiang's trap. Not only did he refuse to reconcile with the court, he also took advantage of the geographical convenience to cut off land transportation and the connection between Xichuan and the court.
Meng Zhixiang discussed with Zhao Jiliang and wanted to maintain close and friendly interactions with the imperial court through the Yangtze River waterway. Li Hao, the secretary in charge, objected, saying that we must not bypass Dong Zhang, and we must continue to add fuel to him.
So Meng Zhixiang sent envoys a second time to lobby Dong Zhang, asking him to accept reconciliation and stop the war. Dong Zhang refused again.
Zhao Jiliang retreated and discussed with the generals, planning to send troops from Lizhou to seize Bizhou and completely block the imperial army from the Qinling Mountains to ensure the safety of the two rivers.
Meng Zhixiang sought the opinions of his staff, but Li Hao objected again, saying that as soon as the imperial court reconciled with us, we launched a treacherous attack. We might as well directly cross the Qinling Mountains and attack Xingyuan Prefecture and Yangzhou. The next step would be to Fengxiang, Chang'an, and Luoyang. Are you still worried about the little Bizhou?
Meng Zhixiang suddenly realized that the first step had been completed and he was just beginning to plan the second step.
Li Hao rejected Zhao Jiliang twice in a row, which made Zhao Jiliang resentful.
Meng Zhixiang sent envoys to persuade Dong Zhang for the third time, and his words began to contain threats, saying that if you did not rein in the situation, you might be tempted to attack by the imperial army, and everyone would be destroyed. I hope you will think twice.
Dong Zhang refused for the third time. Come just come, it's not like you haven't been here before, what are you afraid of?
Meng Zhixiang sent Li Hao as envoy to Dongchuan for the fourth time.
It’s only three things, is Meng Zhixiang still finished? I’m giving you face, right? This time, Li Hao was forced to turn off the microphone by Dong Zhang and was not allowed to speak at all. Dong Zhang cursed Li Hao as soon as he saw him, thinking that Meng Zhixiang had betrayed Dongchuan's interests.
Dong Zhang was right. Meng Zhixiang betrayed Dongchuan's interests, so he wanted to compete with Meng Zhixiang for the second step: unifying the two Sichuan.
The forces of the imperial court were driven out of Shu by the two of them. There is a saying that one mountain cannot tolerate two tigers. Who will be the master of Shu? On this issue, Dong Zhang and Meng Zhixiang were incompatible with each other, and they were fighting to the death.
Li Hao returned to Chengdu and reported to Meng Zhixiang that Dong Zhang was also ready for the second step of the fight. We should be careful, he might strike first.
He's right. Just after Li Hao left, Dong Zhang held a high-level secret military meeting to seriously discuss the issue of conquering Xichuan.
The generals in Dongchuan unanimously believed that victory would be achieved, but Meng Zhixiang in Xichuan was extremely easy to control. I really don’t know whether it was Liang Jingru who gave them the courage, or whether it was just to flatter Dong Zhang.
Only Wang Hui has a cool head and thinks it is not appropriate to send troops, because Chengdu City has the strongest defense system in Shu. Even looking at the whole country, Chengdu City can be said to be one of the most impregnable, easy to defend and difficult to attack; and Dongchuan has lost We have lost our political foundation, and Xichuan occupies the moral commanding heights. We are unknown, and we fight against the good with the unreasonable; now it is hot summer again, we have traveled long distances, and others are waiting for work... In short, we cannot fight, let alone fight now.
Wang Hui's analysis was reasonable, and he saw through Meng Zhixiang's trap at a glance. He made four appointments with Dong Zhang to express his gratitude. He was so stubborn in order to crush Dong Zhang politically.
However, Dong Zhang couldn't listen.
In his opinion, Xichuan and the imperial court had just reconciled and could not fully trust each other. Zhao Jiliang's proposal to attack Bizhou and blockade Qinling was the best proof. Therefore, Dongchuan should take advantage of the time when they are suspicious of each other to send troops to cut through the mess quickly and fish in troubled waters.
Once it is fully settled and the imperial court and Xichuan find a mutually beneficial cooperation model and reach a certain strategic consensus, Dongchuan will undoubtedly become a political bargaining chip for both parties and be ruthlessly divided. When the fight started, Dongchuan fell into the dilemma of being attacked from both sides.
The civil war between Sichuan and Sichuan should begin sooner rather than later.
This is Dong Zhang's political level, ignorant and arrogant. Dong Zhang began to deploy troops and generals, conduct military mobilization, and prepare for a large-scale invasion of Xichuan.
A battle to decide the master of Shu is about to begin.
