For Liu Bei personally, Jian Zuo's ascension to the throne was certainly the fulfillment of one of his life's wishes, but for the national strategy, this was not a good thing. Although the Western Dynasty had taken the initiative in terms of national strength and offensive in the past two years, it ultimately failed to conquer Jiuzhou and unify Chi County, so it was easy to settle on the time of proclaiming the emperor.
Sure enough, in January Liu Bei proclaimed himself emperor, and in February news came that Liu He, King of Qinghe, had ascended the throne. The Eastern Dynasty was restored to the Yuan Dynasty and the emperor granted amnesty to the world. He appointed Cao Cao as Prime Minister and posthumously named Liu Xie as Emperor Xiaosi. He denounced the crimes of the Western Dynasty for killing the emperor and usurping the throne and self-respect. He also issued a proclamation to Liu Fan in Sichuan and the Sun family in Jiangdong, threatening to Invite two countries to attack Yan and Henan together with three routes. The news reached Chang'an, which shocked Guanzhong. During this period of time, Chen Chong was discussing the matter at the Shangshutai.
Regarding the so-called Three Kingdoms alliance to manage the Central Plains, Chen Chong thought it was nonsense. After all, judging from the current situation, the struggle for power in the South is the top priority.
News of Sun Ce's assassination had reached Guanzhong a few months ago, and now, the situation had changed even more unpredictably. Although Sun Quan held the power of the Yangzhou capital, he was not the legal crown prince after all, and Sun Shao in Jiaozhou was Sun Ce's legitimate son. And Sun Shao was indeed unwilling to lose his fortune.
After receiving the news, Sun Shao negotiated peace with Shi Xie and led his army back to Cangwu. He summoned the civil and military forces of Jiaozhou, appointed him an official and made a wish, proclaiming himself General of Zhennan and Shepherd of Yangzhou. He then entered Guiyang through the Nanhai Pass via Jiepu Pass. On his way north, he recruited troops and horses and won people's hearts. By the time he reached Changsha and Linxiang, he had already reached nearly 100,000 people. More than 60,000 people. In this case, Sun Shao and Sun Quan were incompatible with each other, and they were incompatible with each other.
As the initiator, Liu Fan from the upper reaches was naturally happy to see the results. He personally sat in Jiangling and constantly mobilized troops and horses to Jingzhou. He also secretly formed an alliance with Sun Shao, donated money and goods, and supported him to move eastward. Sun Quan, who was married to Cao Cao, promised to jointly conquer the west in the future, and in exchange for the support of the Eastern Dynasty, he was named General Zhendong by Cao Cao, and commanded the military affairs of the four states of Jing, Yang, Jiao, and Yi. Then he used Zhou Yu as the vanguard to resist Sun Shao, and he recruited troops in Chaisang as backup. Seeing that a big war was about to break out in Jiangxia.
To sum up, due to the various influences of the Jiangdong drastic change, although the Gengyin Revolution was huge, at present, it was overshadowed by Sun's fire. Cao Cao's series of political offensives in this regard were actually bluffs, hoping to gain an opportunity to breathe and develop. Shangshu ordered Xun You to give advice on this: "Today, the south of the Yangtze River is in ruins, and wars are happening one after another. The people of Shu have a desire to be partial and hegemonic, and they will beg their neighbors instead of looking to the north. This is a good opportunity to fight the bandits from the east again. If they cannot be defeated quickly, we will wait until the southern country is unified. By raising our troops to Wan and Luo, I will be attacked from both sides, and the situation will be under the enemy's control!"
Liu Bei was convinced of this and said to his ministers in the Tai Pavilion: "In this case, this year we should use all our national strength to fight the Cao traitors in a life-and-death struggle." He planned to mobilize all the three prefectures in the east, north and middle, and the south prefecture. Most of the army was also mobilized to march eastward to Hebei with 200,000 troops, which was bound to make great achievements in one fell swoop.
This was actually the idea that Chen Chong had discouraged a few years ago, but this time Chen Chong had no objection. Firstly, as Xun You said, the changes in Jiangnan also affect the national strategy. Secondly, his state of mind is no longer the same as before. A few years ago, he felt that time was rushing by. Now, he often feels exhausted mentally and physically. It made him secretly alert, and he became more and more aware of Gaozu's mood when he sang the Great Wind Song in his hometown.
However, he is still skeptical about whether he can achieve success this time. After all, in the matter of managing Liaodong, Cao Cao had clearly shown his idea of separatism. If he had made up his mind to defend the city, with Cao Cao's talent, it would be difficult for Chen Chong to imagine any way to destroy the country in one battle.
Therefore, in terms of general strategy, he made two suggestions.
The first suggestion is to move the capital. With the gradual elimination of the Qiang Di and Xianbei, the fighting on the Western Front has basically been eliminated. Guanxi can be used as a stable rear area to continuously supply food and supplies to the front line. However, if it wants to serve as the starting point for the expedition against Hebei, Chang'an, which is separated from Hebei by Wei and Han, It's a bit out of place. Now that Hanoi, Nanyang and Yanzhou have been recovered, there is no longer any concern about the safety of the capital Luoyang, and it can instead respond to the changes in Kanto more quickly.
Chen Chong said about this: "Henan has thousands of miles of fertile soil. It has been the heart of China since ancient times, where the world's crops are. If the middle land is safe, the world will be safe. If you want to attack Hebei, you should revitalize Henan." In addition, the capital was moved to Luoyang. There are two advantages. First, it can show the world's determination to unify, and it can increase the reputation of the new dynasty's orthodoxy.
Secondly, it can rely on river transportation to greatly reduce military expenditure.
Everyone has no objection to this. Except for a few people who follow the law, most of the old ministers' hometowns are in Guandong. Moving the capital to Luoyang is equivalent to returning to their hometown and returning to their roots. However, this matter cannot be accomplished overnight. The rafters and stalls of all officials in the imperial court must be moved accordingly, and the palaces, ancestral temples, imperial schools, Cao Mansion and other buildings in the Eastern Capital also need to be repaired. After Liu Bei and Chen Chong discussed it, they decided to leave this matter to Zhuge Liang, the new Sili captain.
The second suggestion is to cut down Shu. He actually planned to lead the Xifu army southward and cross the Qinling Mountains to attack Hanzhong when Liu Bei was launching a large-scale eastward expedition. This idea made everyone suspicious, and Yu Fan asked: "Although the wealth is sufficient, I heard that Hanzhong can be called a land of heaven, with dangers on all sides, the roads are as narrow as stems, and people walk like snakes. If the teacher only thinks of Xifu It would be too much to try to break through this natural danger with just one army."
Chen Chong said with a smile: "What you said is not unreasonable, but I do not act based entirely on the odds of winning, but on strategic considerations." He gestured to the map of the states hanging on the pavilion and said: "Right now Liu Fan Moving to Jiangling, keeping an eye on the changes downstream, we must be taking advantage of the situation to advance eastward, swallow up Wu and Yue, and stand side by side with the north and south of the Central Plains. Even if we defeat Cao Cao at this time, it will be even more difficult to regain the lost territory in the south. Difficult."
"My attack on Hanzhong now is actually to prepare for a rainy day. If we can capture Hanzhong, it would be the best. If we cannot capture it, we must at least contain the troops in Shuzhong so that they do not dare to use force against the Sun family. As long as we can conquer Hebei before The two countries in the south of the Yangtze River have been maintained side by side, and then they can be defeated one by one, and they can easily succeed."
After saying this, everyone thought it was reasonable, but Liu Bei was a little reluctant to give up. He stroked his short beard and asked, "Why do you need to do this yourself? You can leave it to Duan Xuan. You and I will go to Hebei together." A little more chance of winning."
Chen Chong shook his head and refused. He analyzed: "When I march eastward with the army, it is just a siege. If I want to win a big victory, Cao Cao will have to make mistakes on his own. If such a thing happens, with Gongda and Xiaozhi in the army, it will It's enough for you to win. But if you want to contain Liu Fan, I'm afraid I will have to raise my banner before he returns to Shu."
Chen Chong said this for a good reason. Liu Bei was a little regretful, but he still nodded slightly and asked, "Then when you leave, who will handle all the affairs in the court?"
"According to the system, it is naturally handed over to the Chancellor to co-manage with the Prince."
Unexpectedly, these words made Liu Bei hesitate a little. Chen Chong saw his inner knot and said, "The last chaos was not Gong Lin's fault. He was able to adapt to the situation and take back the national seal, which is already beyond ordinary people. It's just that things often happen. Seeking success without caring about the consequences, if you cut off one of his fingers, I think his character has changed a lot. Now that he is the prince, how can he not supervise the country? As the saying goes, those who are close to red are red, and those who are close to ink are black. You are worried. Just send a few more virtuous and respected people to assist him."
Following Chen Chong's habit, Liu Bei was also quite familiar with history. He knew the allusion that Duke Huan of Qi's relationship with Guan Zhong led to hegemony, while using Yi Ya led to defeat. However, he was still worried and sighed to Chen Chong: "I'm afraid he's too smart. At that time, like the late emperor, he was wise enough to refuse advice and his words were enough to cover up his wrongdoings, but it turned out to be a bad thing."
Chen Chong knew that what he said was reasonable, but he had actually figured it out. After all, a person only has one pair of hands and feet. There are many things that you can't do, so you can only use the method that you have no choice about. Such as forcing a break, such as waiting. So he said to Liu Bei: "The world belongs to us, and it belongs to those who come after us. We must have some patience and some hope. We believe that people in the future can do better than us."
When leaving the palace in the evening, Prince Liu Xie came to see Chen Chong off. It seemed that he had received the news that Chen Chong strongly recommended him to supervise the country. Since his fingers were cut off by Liu Bei in public, Liu Xie had lived in a simple life and had not seen Chen Chong for about a month. When they met again, Chen Chong saw that Liu Xie looked pale and his left hand was unconsciously tucked in his sleeve, looking very reserved. He couldn't help but feel a little emotional, thinking that this matter had a great impact on this child.
But on the surface, Chen Chong still chatted with him as usual, first tested some of Liu Xie's homework, and then asked him about the current situation of his mother and wife. Since becoming emperor, Liu Bei's wives and concubines from Jinyang have also come to Weiyang Palace. Logically speaking, Liu Jia is Chen Chong's adopted sister, but in fact they have not seen each other for a long time.
Chen Chong asked casually, and Liu Xie answered casually. Unexpectedly, Chen Chong suddenly said:
"Gong Lin, if your father and I both die of old age and you inherit the throne, what career do you want to pursue?"
Liu Xie was stunned for a moment. He thought for a while and replied: "Emperors like Shizong and Zhongzong should accept the talents of the world, develop civil and military industries, then expand the land and fight the barbarians, enrich the people, enshrine Mount Tai, and make the world without resistance. Remember my name for all eternity."
Chen Chong laughed when he heard this. He looked at the young man and thought, there is really no difference between this child and his own child. He stretched out his left hand with missing fingers, patted Liu Xie on the shoulder, then raised it in front of his eyes, smiled at him and said: "Boy, if you want your name to be remembered by all generations, even Shizong and Zhongzong will not be able to compare, at least , you have to do better than me."
Liu Xie was stunned when he heard this, obviously he had never thought of it this way. But looking at Chen Chong's left palm, which also had a broken finger, he felt a surge of pride in his chest. He immediately stretched out his left hand, clasped hands with Chen Chong and said, "My uncle has a word, do you dare to disobey me?"
Chen Chong was very pleased to see Liu Xie cheer up. He just realized that the child had grown as tall as himself, so he pondered for a while and wrote a poem in his heart, reciting it to encourage Liu Xie:
"Thousands of miles of mountains and rivers have fallen into the dust of war, and the southern mountains of Luoyang are like Jingzhen.
Isn't the dragon a thing in the pond? The louse is empty and the ministers on earth are sad.
He is nostalgic for his old days in the trees, but nowhere can he see his old friends in the wild smoke.
The autumn wind does not need to blow my hair, the sea flows across my body. "
