Autumn, the seventeenth year of Jian'an.
Liu Bei's attack on Zhang Lu failed and he retreated to Jiameng Pass.
On the one hand, Liu Bei wrote to Liu Zhang to inform him of the specific situation. On the other hand, Liu Bei was still raising food and grass at Jiameng Pass and training his soldiers, planning to send troops again to attack Hanzhong after the autumn.
The above is the entire battle report Liu Zhang received.
Liu Zhang was not a fool after all. He could see that Liu Bei's attack was not very careful and seemed to be perfunctory.
But Liu Zhang couldn't do anything to Liu Bei.
The issue of military rations was his fault. In any case, it was him who transported the old rice mixed with moldy chaff to the front line, causing a shortage of food on the front line and causing Liu Bei's attack to fail. This is justified.
Moreover, the secret letter between Generals Yang Huai and Gao Pei did not mention that Liu Bei had a clear intention to be passive and sabotage. He only said that northern Yizhou was the gateway to Yizhou and Liu Bei was a powerful figure in the world. This kind of person was not suitable to stay in northern Yizhou. , and asked Liu Zhang to send the people away quickly.
But Liu Zhang was hesitant at this time.
After all, Liu Bei is a guest army he invited. In theory, he has no interest in Yizhou. If he is willing to travel across mountains and rivers to help you, he is already very generous.
Now that Liu Bei is being criticized harshly just because his attack is not going well, Liu Zhang's character reputation will become somewhat unpleasant if word spreads about it.
Another one, Zhang Song started to bubble again.
Zhang Song and Liu Zhang carefully counted the current generals in central Sichuan, and none of them could make Liu Zhang feel at ease and lead troops to attack Zhang Lu.
Zhang Ren's ability is good, but Liu Zhang wants to put Zhang Ren to the south and watch the Dongzhou soldiers and noble families in Jianwei County and Jiangyang County.
The veteran Yan Yan was also capable, but he came from a wealthy family in Bajun. Liu Zhang could not command him, let alone send him north to attack Hanzhong.
The other people have their own thoughts and agendas. They are fine inside Shu County. Once they leave Shu County, who knows what will happen.
From Liu Zhang's succession to the present, there have been rebellions in various parts of Bashu almost every year, and the main subjects of the rebellion are basically the wealthy families of Bashu. Otherwise, Liu Zhang would not have invited Liu Bei from outside to attack Hanzhong.
Under Zhang Song's persuasion, Liu Zhang gave up on sending Liu Bei away, and could only mobilize money and food to send to Liu Bei's front line, continue to support Liu Bei, and wait for the autumn to attack Hanzhong.
As long as Hanzhong is captured and Liu Zhang has Hanzhong as a barrier, then with the geographical advantages of Bashu and Hanzhong, Liu Zhang is confident that he can block Cao Cao's westward advance.
By that time, Liu Bei can leave, and Liu Zhang will not have any worries.
Therefore, Liu Zhang chose to continue to support Liu Bei.
As for Liu Bei, he is also busy training soldiers at the moment.
Located in the northern part of Yizhou, Liu Bei has basically established his kindness and regained the hearts and minds of local aristocratic families and people. Everything is ready.
But now, Liu Bei lacks a righteous reputation that would allow him to turn around and attack Liu Zhang.
In "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", it was because Liu Zhang was wary of Liu Bei, so he sent old and weak soldiers and military rations mixed with sand, which made Liu Bei's army dissatisfied. Then Liu Bei pretended to return to the army, but ended up being defeated because of Zhang Song's incident, and both parties completely fell out. , a big fight.
It's generally historically accurate, but there's a small problem.
What really caused Liu Zhang and Liu Bei to fall out was Zhang Song's failure as an internal agent, not the issue of military rations.
There is a saying that the quality of military rations these days will at most cause mutiny in the army, but if Liu Bei uses this as a reason to attack Liu Zhang, it is really unjustifiable.
So Liu Bei is really worried now.
The basic preparations for entering Sichuan have been completed, but now, there is just one less excuse. What should I use for this excuse?
Liu Bei closed the door again and discussed with Pang Tong, Fazheng and Zhang Xi.
As for Meng Da, he was drinking with Yang Huai and Gaopei every day in Baishui Pass to stabilize the two of them.
Zhang Xi's opinion on this matter is that there is no need for any excuses, just use military rations.
Our protagonist is kind-hearted and helps Liu Zhang to conquer territory, but Liu Zhang treats Liu Bei like rotten chaff and old rice as military rations. This is not justified.
Yes, this is unjustifiable at best, and it is not enough reason to raise an army. But it doesn’t matter, we can use the topic to our advantage.
Liu Zhang is Liu Bei's good brother and a relative of the same clan. When the two met in Fucheng last year, they had a good relationship. They drank together for a month and had fun bragging about each other. So how could Liu Zhang cope with it with moldy military rations? Where is Liu Bei?
It's not in line with "brotherly love".
There must be someone who is sowing discord, there must be a villain who is obstructing it.
In this case, Liu Bei is not allowed to go to Chengdu. Should he ask Liu Zhang properly? !
And there is so much chaos along the way. What if a villain wants to harm Liu Bei under the guise of Liu Zhang? Can't we bring some soldiers to protect ourselves? !
So, Liu Bei led his troops to Chengdu to discuss an explanation with Liu Zhang. Anyone who blocks the way is the henchman of Liu Zhang's villain, and it's not too much to kill him, right? !
This move is called Qing Jun Side, also called Jing Nan. Zhang Xi learned it from Zhu Laosi.
Although Liu Zhang is not a king, at least this makes sense.
Fazheng's understanding of Zhang Xi immediately deepened. This person is more shameless than me. Can you think of such an excuse? !
You really don’t think everyone knows about the “Seven Kingdoms Rebellion” in the early Han Dynasty, right? !
After Liu Bei listened to Zhang Xi's suggestion, he was also hesitating about this. Back then, King Wu Liu Bi raised an army in the name of "Qing Jun Side" and forced Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty to kill Chao Cuo.
But the problem is, everyone knows that the so-called "Qingjun side" is just an excuse for rebellion. If I use this trick now, wouldn't it be a disgrace to others, and it is equivalent to making it clear to the world that I am going to attack Liu Zhang and seize Yizhou? !
Zhang Xi was speechless. Why did we come to Sichuan? !
Didn't he just come to seize Yizhou?
Could it be that he really came here to help Liu Zhang? !
If you have an excuse, you can just make do with it. Why care about whether the excuse is well-founded? !
But it's not easy to say this. After all, Liu Bei is the lord, and he has to save some face. Since Liu Bei wants to be pretentious, Zhang Xi, a subordinate with high emotional intelligence, can only keep silent.
But Pang Tong was not used to Liu Bei.
When Liu Bei said something about "faithfulness", Pang Tong directly persuaded him, "When there is a contingency, it cannot be settled by one person. It is the matter of the five uncles to attack the weak and the ignorant. Take the opposite and be obedient, and repay the righteousness. After the matter is settled, , to be granted a great power, why should we disappoint our trust? If we don’t take it today, we will eventually benefit others.”
To put it simply, in Yizhou, if you hesitate about your integrity, it will be taken away by others.
As for Liu Zhang, it would be enough to give him a place to settle down and protect his family after he captures Yizhou.
After all, Liu Bei was a warlord in troubled times. After being persuaded by Pang Tong, he thought about the cause and effect and the possible consequences, and finally decided not to care so much and raise troops to attack Yizhou.
Of course, it still has to be under the banner of "Qing Jun Side".
After all, this is an excuse at least. At least at the beginning of the army, it can have a certain righteous effect.
As for whether Liu Zhang would learn from Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty and introduce a scapegoat, it doesn't matter at all.
Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty killed Chao Cuo, and Wu King Liu Bi did not retreat, right?
When the troops are really at the gate of the city, who would care whether Liu Bei really came to "Qingjun's side".
It's just that Liu Bei's current geographical location is not suitable for rashly raising troops, because in front of him is Baishui Pass.
Once Liu Bei raised his troops and turned around to attack Chengdu, Baishui Pass would be behind him. Yang Huai, Gaopei and the 15,000 soldiers at Baishui Pass were not vegetarians and could backstab him at any time.
Therefore, these two people must be dealt with carefully.
Liu Bei has been stationed at Jiameng Pass for almost a year, and has been trying to think of ways to subdue the two generals Yang Huai and Gao Pei. However, these two are Liu Zhang's most loyal confidants, so Liu Bei has no choice but to bribe them.
At this time, it was Pang Tong again, who offered three strategies: upper, middle and lower.
The best strategy was to station troops at Jiameng Pass and remain stationary. Yang Huai Gaopei, who was defending Baishui Pass in the north, privately sent an elite force to raid Chengdu while Liu Zhang was unprepared, captured Liu Zhang, and then used Liu Zhang's name to persuade the counties to surrender.
Zhongce, looking for any reason, killed Yang Huai and Gaopei, annexed their tribes, and then turned around and attacked Chengdu with the whole army.
As a last resort, find a reason to retreat to Jingzhou, retreat to Baidi City and not leave, occupy this pass into Sichuan, and then immediately call Jingzhou soldiers to come over for support, and then attack Chengdu.
Fazheng and Zhang Xi looked at each other and immediately understood that this was not just an upper, middle and lower strategy, it was just one strategy.
The best idea is to send a small force to raid Chengdu. You think it's just a piece of paper. It's so easy to break through, not to mention there are so many city checkpoints along the way. How strong can your small force be in fighting all the way? !
The last resort is to retreat to Baidi City. Then we have wasted a year. What did we do here? !
Both the best and worst strategies are nonsense, which means the middle strategy is feasible.
But Pang Tong said this. Although everyone knew that only the middle strategy was feasible, he did give the decision-making power to Liu Bei in the end, highlighting Liu Bei's status as the lord.
"The best policy is too urgent and the next policy is too slow, so just follow the middle policy!"
Liu Bei made a decision. The question now is how to trick Yang Huai and Gao Pei into coming to Jiameng Pass.
Pang Tong immediately continued to offer advice and told Liu Zhang that after Cao Cao pacified Guanzhong, he intended to attack Nanjun from Xiangyang, and Liu Bei had to go back to rescue him.
As for Yang Huai and Gao Pei, they were eager for Liu Bei to leave immediately. As soon as they heard that Liu Bei was leaving, they had to come to see him off for the sake of face. Once this man came, he would not be able to leave.
The strategy was a good one, but Zhang Xi suddenly remembered that there was also the matter of Zhang Song.
Although, Zhang Xi doesn't think much of people like Zhang Song who are seeking glory, but after all, he is determined to help Liu Bei. If he accidentally cheats him, it is not Liu Bei's original intention.
So, Zhang Xi reminded Liu Bei that he had to say hello to Zhang Song about this kind of thing, so that he wouldn't be surprised, write a letter to his brother and intercept it, and eventually lose his life.
Liu Bei was convinced of this and immediately wrote to Zhang Song to tell him what happened.
The matter of Liu Bei's capture of Yizhou cannot be washed away. It was just the decisive killing of a warlord in troubled times. Although he did not do it kindly, in terms of results, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang were far better at governing Bashu than Liu Zhang.
(End of chapter)
