Sometimes, Zhuge Liang really doesn't know how Zhang Xi's brain grows.
Zhang Xi often makes some ridiculous moves. For example, during the last land swap and distribution in Yongzhou, Zhang Xi seemed to be very ignorant of economics, which made Liu Ba, who was still alive at the time, very anxious.
But sometimes, some of the suggestions put forward by Zhang Xi can accurately find the weak points, and the angle of entry can be said to be wonderful.
For example, this arrangement for Jingnan.
In this arrangement, Zhang Xi not only considered the present, grasped the aristocratic family's loyalty to interests, and drew a big pie for the Pan family, but also considered how to check and balance the growth of the Pan family in the future. The most important thing is that in addition to Zhuge Liang, he had to write a story. Apart from a seemingly insignificant letter, the court did not need to pay any price at all.
At least in Zhuge Liang's view, this method is much more effective than asking Ma Liang to reason with Pan Jun.
In terms of details, after the two continued to discuss and improve them, Zhuge Liang chose to adopt Zhang Xi's suggestion and wrote a letter to Pan Jun himself. At the same time, he asked Zhang Xi to borrow a person and asked him to send the letter to him.
This person is none other than Jiang Wan.
There is no way, Jiang Wan and Pan Jun are cousins, and they can barely be considered a family. If Jiang Wan goes, it will increase the possibility of persuading Pan.
Moreover, for this kind of matter, if you don't send an eloquent person, there is really no way for a smart person of Pan Jun's level to make a gamble.
Therefore, Jiang Wan can only go.
But the question is, what will happen to Yongzhou's government affairs once Jiang Wan leaves? !
Zhang Xi is counting on Jiang Wan and Chen Zhi to help him handle the trivial and complicated government affairs. Once Jiang Wan leaves, Chen Zhi will be too exhausted to finish these things.
In this regard, Zhuge Liang also wanted to persuade Zhang Xi.
Although let's face it, the most important thing for a superior is to know and employ people. But Zhang Xi, the powerful governor of Yongzhou, cannot always rely on his hands to govern the place.
You can not do it, but you can’t do it!
So, Zhuge Liang also used this to persuade Zhang Xi to take over some of Yongzhou's affairs.
Especially in the next period of time, Yongzhou affairs will slowly shift from dealing with internal affairs to preparing for the Northern Expedition. There are many things in it that need to be kept secret. Zhang Xi takes over directly, and the effect is completely different from letting his subordinates handle it for him. .
Administrative efficiency alone is not on the same level.
Besides, Zhuge Liang has already arrived in Chang'an. With Zhuge Liang's character, he will not leave everything to Zhang Xi alone.
Therefore, although Jiang Wan left Chang'an for a temporary mission, there would be no sluggish operation for Chang'an's government affairs.
After all, this is Zhuge Liang! ! !
Zhang Xi just felt a little uncomfortable.
Not only do they have to take over a lot of official duties, but they also do things under Zhuge Liang's nose. Haha, who knows who does it.
Zhuge Liang is a perfectionist. He does everything very carefully and has very high requirements. He is not a character like Zhang Xi who can just do the job.
In the past, Zhang Xi was the largest official in Yongzhou. He wanted to fool Jiang Wan and Chen Zhi, but it was different now. Although Zhuge Liang could not show up, in the governor's mansion, except in the backyard, he could not do anything else. In affairs, Zhuge Liang can dominate Zhang Xi.
Zhang Xi is called a depressed person.
But fortunately, this kind of thing didn't last long, probably about two months.
In June of the fifth year of Jianxing, Deng Zhi secretly visited Soochow and reached a private agreement with Soochow.
In mid-June, Zhou Yu suddenly led his troops out of Chaisang, marched all the way along Jiangxi, and "captured" Jingling County, the county seat of Jiangxia County, in one fell swoop.
Wenpin, the prefect of Jiangxia in the Han Dynasty, "defeated" and retreated to Lukou. In the end, he lost to the Jiangdong fleet commanded by Zhou Yu in a verbal battle at Lukou. He led his troops to retreat north, completely evacuated Jiangxia County and retreated to Xiangyang.
The news reached Chang'an probably in early July.
At this time, Jiang Wan, who went to Lingling County to persuade Pan Jun, also returned to Chang'an and brought Pan Jun's answer.
"As a minister of the Han Dynasty, I should go through fire and water to fulfill the emperor's mandate."
This is a scene talk, and everyone knows it. The real meaning is that Pan Jun decided to obey the court's arrangements and take a big gamble.
If you lose, you'll have to go back to Xiangyang and start over.
If he wins, the rise of Pan will be right in front of him.
After taking care of Pan Jun, Zhuge Liang immediately had no worries and immediately sent an order to Xu Shu in Jingzhou, asking him to order the troops from the two counties in Jingnan to withdraw northward. Under the pretext of preparing for Soochow to attack Jiangling, Zhuge Liang gathered his troops to prevent Jiangdong from backstabbing him.
At the same time, preparations for the Northern Expedition began to be stepped up, and Wu Yi in Qinzhou was contacted to lead the Northern Army into Yongzhou, while at the same time preparing various ministries in Jingzhou to attack northward.
However, in mid-July, Zhuge Liang and Zhang Xi, who were in charge of Chang'an, received simultaneous reports from Hu Zun, the prefect of Fengyi on the left, and Liu Yin, the prefect of Fufeng on the right.
There was only one thing in the report - Cao Wei suddenly left the pass and invaded Guanzhong.
This time, it’s not a small fight involving more than a thousand people.
Regarding Wuguan, Guo Huai led more than 20,000 troops out of Wuguan Road and is now attacking the fortress group at the entrance of Wuguan Road.
In Tongguan, Cao Zhen personally led an army of 50,000 people and attacked Gaoling, the governor of Zuofengyi County.
The four major defense areas designated by Zhang Xi were all attacked, and the enemy's numerical advantage was huge. Now Wei Yan was a little unsure whether to follow the original plan to lure the enemy deeper, or to block the attack layer by layer to give Chang'an defensive war time to respond.
For this reason, Wei Yan ordered all war zones to strengthen their vigilance and went to the front line to lead the troops to fight. On the other hand, he asked Zhang Xi to quickly gather troops and prepare for dispatching troops.
This sudden counterattack by Cao Jun with a total strength of more than 70,000 troops really surprised Zhang Xi.
But fortunately, Zhang Xi does not need to face this attack alone. Zhuge Liang is here.
"What does Cao Jun want to do?!" Zhang Xi humbly asked Zhuge Liang for advice.
Zhuge Liang, however, remained silent, looking at the map of Guanzhong and thinking hard about countermeasures.
To be honest, Zhuge Liang didn't know what Cao Jun was going to do with his troops this time. !
Recover Chang'an? !
No way!
Not to mention that there are more than 50,000 county soldiers blocking Guanzhong. In less than twenty days, 30,000 elite Han soldiers will move south from Qinzhou and arrive in Chang'an. By that time, it is hard to say who will encircle and suppress whom.
Why did Cao Wei choose this time to suddenly send troops? !
Although Zhuge Liang didn't know the real reason, Zhuge Liang knew that Cao Wei's sudden dispatch of troops this time solidly disrupted his original strategic plan for the Northern Expedition.
According to Zhuge Liang's estimation, in about two months, he can make all preparations for the Northern Expedition, and then contact the Jingzhou Army in Xiangyang to go north together to attack the Central Plains.
But now, Zhuge Liang doesn't know whether Jingzhou has encountered the same attack. Yongzhou is already at war.
"No matter what, we must first respond to the challenge!" Zhuge Liang sighed and said to Zhang Xi.
But this is basically nonsense. People are calling, so they must be the first to respond.
What Zhang Xi wants to ask is not this, but what kind of strategy to use to deal with Cao Wei's attack.
Today's Yongzhou actually has two sets of coping strategies.
One set is based on the response strategy first discussed by Zhang Xi and Zhuge Liang. When the enemy attacks in a large scale, they abandon the defense of the front buffer zone and lure the enemy deeper.
The 10,000 soldiers were broken into pieces and detoured to the rear of the Wei army to seize the opportunity to destroy the Wei army's food route and cut off the Wei army's retreat. The remaining soldiers defended Zuo Fengyi, waiting for the opportunity to attack from both front and rear.
This is a defensive counterattack strategy.
Another set of combat ideas is the Northern Expedition strategy newly formulated by Zhuge Liang and Zhang Xi.
Feng Yi launched a frontal attack from the left to attract as many Cao Wei troops as possible to gather in the direction of Tongguan, creating conditions for a surprise attack by the Jingzhou Army in the direction of Wancheng.
This is a strategy of using offense instead of defense.
What Zhang Xi meant was to ask Zhuge Liang whether he should carry out the defensive battle of Yongzhou according to the original plan, or simply launch the Northern Expedition directly.
Zhuge Liang was also a little undecided about this.
Although it would be safer to fight the defensive battle of Yongzhou according to the original plan, the plan of the Northern Expedition would be completely disrupted, and it is not known whether Cao Wei's attack is a short-term sneak attack or whether he is ready for a fierce battle.
If it's a short-term sneak attack, it's okay. At most, it will take a few more months to prepare and wait until next spring before launching the Northern Expedition. But if it is a long-term and fierce battle, the war is still burning in Yongzhou. I really don't know how long this Northern Expedition will be delayed.
But if he simply started the Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang felt that he was not prepared enough.
Not to mention that all the grain and grass in Hanzhong and Shu have not yet been transported to Guanzhong, but it will take at least ten days for the Northern Army to move south.
Once the Northern Expedition is launched according to the plan and Cao Wei is aware of it, the advantages of concealment and suddenness of the Northern Expedition will be completely gone.
For this reason, Zhuge Liang had to think carefully. If possible, Zhuge Liang really hoped that Pang Tong and Fazheng would be in Chang'an at this time. By gathering the wisdom of Zhuge Liang, Zhang Xi, Pang Tong, and Fazheng, we would be able to come up with the best answer. .
Unfortunately, Pang Tong is still preparing the last batch of grain and grass supplies in Chengdu. Although Fazheng has gone north, he has not yet reached Hanzhong, and the distant water cannot relieve the close fire.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang could only discuss with Zhang Xi to decide whether the battle of Yongzhou should be a defensive war or an outpost of the Northern Expedition.
Zhang Xi's opinion is to conduct an outpost of the Northern Expedition.
(End of chapter)
