The "next strategy" that Zhuge Liang thought of, to put it bluntly, was to torture the aristocratic families in Liang County, and even Yique Pass and Dagu Pass, and ask them to provide the money and food needed for the army, so as to create a frontline army for the Northern Expedition for Sima Yi. Misjudgment of food shortage in China.
The reason why this is said to be "the next best thing" is because this era belongs to the aristocratic families. If any political power wants to gain a foothold in this era, it is inevitable not to rely on the aristocratic families, but to maintain a certain degree of close cooperation with the aristocratic families.
In terms of the theory of later generations, the aristocratic family controlled a large amount of the means of production - land, a large amount of labor force - hidden households, plus the popularity accumulated over hundreds of years - public opinion, and the superstructure - official positions.
Under such circumstances, it would be quite irrational to completely offend the family.
Although Zhuge Liang also wanted to weaken the influence of the aristocratic family on the government as much as possible, and also wanted to liberate more Dingkou from the anonymity of the aristocratic family and increase the court's ability to centralize power. But to be honest, in today's era, if you want to take a complete step It is impossible to completely eliminate the influence of the aristocratic family.
Even in accordance with Zhuge Liang's national governance in Shu, a method of both cooperation and suppression of aristocratic families was adopted, but compared to Cao Wei's approach of relying on aristocratic families, it was still unacceptable to the aristocratic families in the Central Plains and Hebei.
These aristocratic families believe that the Shu Han's attitude towards the aristocratic families is depriving the aristocratic families of their existing interests.
In this case, the wealthy families in the Central Plains and Hebei would definitely give priority to supporting Cao Wei unless it was a matter of life and death.
And this was also the biggest problem Zhuge Liang encountered during the Northern Expedition to Heluo.
Without the support of the aristocratic family, Zhuge Liang would have completed the division and siege of Luoyang by now, besieged Luoyang, and waited for Sima Yi to surrender after running out of food.
Although Zhuge Liang wanted to torture the wealthy families and ask them to provide money and food for the army, he was just threatening, with a stronger tone and harsher conditions. If there are some who are not discerning, killing one or two to shock them is enough. .
Well, in fact, Zhang Xi has really overthought this matter. Zhuge Liang is also a son of a noble family. Do he really think that he is just like Li Zicheng, with only that little structure and knowledge? ! !
In fact, Zhang Xi's first reaction was that he did not approve of Zhuge Liang's approach.
Zhuge Liang really didn't want to go door-to-door to torture, and torture him even if he didn't pay. This was too disrespectful to the dignity of a wealthy family.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang was very right to define his strategy as the "lowest strategy".
But it can’t be like this.
If we don't take advantage of the current era of war, grasp the righteousness of the court, and have a large army at hand, we can set some rules for these aristocratic families. When the world is unified, the aristocratic families will also have a certain say in the Han court. If we have power, if we start to rectify it again, I am afraid it will cause greater turmoil.
Zhuge Liang's current way of governing the country has just returned to the style of the mid-Later Han Dynasty. It not only suppresses aristocratic families, but also has a certain degree of dependence. After all, without the support of aristocratic families, the central court may not even be able to control local political power, so it has to do this. But if this continues, this big man is actually no different from the middle Eastern Han Dynasty.
Or, if you encounter an idiot emperor on the throne, powerful officials and ambitious people are in power, attack each other, and repeat the process of the Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. This is not impossible.
Therefore, after Zhang Xi thought about Zhuge Liang's strategy carefully, he actually felt that it was somewhat feasible.
Therefore, completely offending the family was not an option for Zhang Xi.
This era is the era when the power of aristocratic families is rising. What Zhang Xi can do is to suppress the rising power of the aristocratic families as much as possible, reduce the pressure on the people to survive in this era, and reduce the oppression and exploitation of the people by the aristocratic families. The rest. Zhang Xi really can't do this.
There will be chaos in the world.
As for Zhang Xi, after receiving Zhuge Liang's letter and understanding Zhuge Liang's "next strategy", he indeed fell into deep thought.
Even if the development continues for about fifty years, after the generations of Zhuge Liang and Zhang Xi pass away, the power of the aristocratic families will still become the dominant force, and it will become like the late Eastern Han Dynasty, where the powerful occupy a large amount of land, and the people have no land to farm. , resulting in a large number of refugees.
After another natural disaster year, even if there is no Zhang Jiao, a figure like Li Jiao or Wang Jiao will appear and stand up to overthrow the rule of the Han Dynasty.
Zhang Xi's attitude towards the aristocratic family is that he can't live without it, but he can't let the aristocratic family take complete power.
Secondly, Zhang Xi told Zhuge Liang that continuing to compromise with the wealthy families will not change their current attitude. After all, we cannot give them the same treatment as when they were in Cao Wei.
Zhuge Liang didn't want to use it easily, so he wrote to Zhang Xi to discuss it. After all, Zhang Xi, in Zhuge Liang's eyes, is the kind of person who often has whimsical ideas. Perhaps from his perspective, he can give a different view of himself. inspiration.
After thinking about this, Zhang Xi immediately wrote a reply to Zhuge Liang, and this time, he wrote a lot eloquently.
First of all, Zhang Xi fully supported Zhuge Liang's use of such methods to force Sima Yi to send troops. At the same time, he also wrote his thoughts in the letter to provide more reasons for Zhuge Liang to take such action.
In the end, Zhang Xi emphasized to Zhuge Liang that it was possible to do this, but he still had to leave behind the last bit of identity and dignity so as not to make everyone look ugly. After all, in this era, one cannot do without aristocratic families.
But anyway, with Zhang Xi's support, Zhuge Liang has some confidence to take action, but he is still waiting.
On the contrary, Zhuge Liang also felt that Zhang Xi actually thought of torture. Although he warned himself not to do it, the fact that he mentioned it showed that this kid really thought of it.
How can this be done?
Including but not limited to inciting people to riot, colluding with Cao Wei to influence border security, undermining local administration, etc. These aristocratic families have the ability to do these things.
During the Northern Expedition of the Han Dynasty, the local aristocratic families would be tortured and asked to provide money and food. Which of these aristocratic families was not an iron rooster, how could they give up their own interests so easily? !
Now that the aristocratic families in the Heluo area are not at the end of their rope, they will naturally find ways to influence Sima Yi, who is guarding Heluo, and ask him to drive the Han Northern Expedition army out of the Heluo area as soon as possible.
If one or two aristocratic families made such a request, Sima Yi might not take it seriously, but if a large number of aristocratic families made similar requests, could Sima Yi be able to withstand it? !
In fact, to put it bluntly, Zhang Xi is afraid that Zhuge Liang will go too far and cause the same farce as when Li Zicheng entered Beijing. Our ultimate goal is not that little money and food, but the entire Heluo region. The priorities cannot be reversed.
If everything goes well, then Zhuge Liang does not need to use such extreme measures. After all, it is a last resort. But the problem is that after waiting until late November, a month has passed since the attack on Luoyang, and the situation still has not made much progress. .
Another one. This move is actually what Zhang Xi wants. It can allow the Heluo family to create a lot of pressure on Sima Yi and force Sima Yi to take the initiative to fight.
What Zhang Xi wants is not such a big man, but a brand new big man with enough vitality, a big man who can make the people live with their heads held high.
But Zhuge Liang definitely didn't know who Li Zicheng was, so what Zhang Xi said was more vague. The general idea was that it was enough to leave a decent appearance for the wealthy family, but don't really torture him.
These aristocratic families would not choose to take refuge with the Han in peacetime, so it would be better to set rules for them in advance while they have a knife in their hands, so as to save the trouble of governing Heluo in the future.
If the Heluo family does not support the return of the Han Dynasty to Luoyang, then even if Luoyang is captured, they will probably encounter countless difficulties in governing this place.
Therefore, in this case, in order to lure Sima Yi out of the city, Zhuge Liang used the method of interrogating the aristocratic families in Liang County, Yique, and Dagu areas. Although it can be explained as a "temporary emergency", it can also be explained in the same way. This aroused resentment among the aristocratic families in the entire Heluo area, causing them to move closer to Cao Wei instead of choosing to join the Han Dynasty.
Obviously, there is still a certain gap between the current state affairs implemented by Zhuge Liang in Shu.
Twenty years after traveling to this era, Zhang Xi is no longer a novice who doesn’t understand anything. Each era has different stages of development of productive forces. At different stages, the most appropriate method of governing the country should be adopted, and It’s not about relying on the so-called knowledge of more than a thousand years and trying to get it right in one step.
Sima Yi continued to hide in Chang'an City. As for Yingchuan and Xiangcheng, although Chen Tai also sent troops to attack Kunyang once, it was just a small trial and did not even siege the city. The battle lasted less than ten days. He chose to retreat.
If this continues, time will be very detrimental to the Han army.
I don’t know if Cao Zhen quickly put down the Gongsun Yuan rebellion. After all, it was too far away from the Heluo area. When news comes from there, I am afraid that the southward support army led by Cao Zhen is not far from the Heluo area.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang did not have enough time to continue spending time with Sima Yi. Although it was a last resort, it was better than no strategy at all.
Just do it! ! !
(End of chapter)
