Summoning the Peak of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 2954: The marriage between Chu and Wei, the battle between Xu Bei and Xu Bei begins (Part )
Chapter 2950: The marriage between Chu and Wei, the battle between Xu and Bei begins (Part )
After Zhu Di learned the news that Zhang Liang was going to Qingnan, he felt as if the sky of the Ming Dynasty was about to fall. After all, he knew too well what kind of status Zhang Liang, who had the identity of "General Ren Gong", held in the hearts of Mingjiao believers. It was not an exaggeration to say that Zhang Liang was second only to him, the "Ming Zun".

Zhu Di was filled with regret. He should not have tried to establish a country based on religion. Although raising the banner of the Ming Cult could rally people's hearts, this shortcut would also leave hidden dangers, and Zhang Liang's boomerang was about to hit Zhu Di's throat.

Given Zhang Liang's status in the Ming Cult, if the ignorant people of Qingnan knew that the person sent by Daqin was Zhang Liang, many of them would surely kneel down in joy and make pilgrimage, and these people would in turn influence other believers, thus forming a vicious circle. How could the people of Qingnan dare to resist the rule of Daqin?

If Zhang Liang really solved the problem in southern Qingzhou, allowing the Qin army in Qingzhou to move south with all their strength, the Ming army, which had withdrawn to the north of Xu and whose morale had not yet recovered, might not be able to stop them. Even if they could, they would certainly suffer heavy casualties, which was obviously something Zhu Di did not want to see.

Therefore, Zhu Di summoned Fan Zeng and other advisers overnight to discuss ways to deal with Zhang Liang, but Fan Zeng was not omnipotent.

The fact that Zhang Liang had such a high status in the Ming Cult was largely due to Zhu Di's fault. After all, if he hadn't over-praised Zhang Jiao as the God of Heaven, how could Zhang Liang have his current position as the God of Man?

However, although Fan Zeng could not come up with a solution, he had a way to restore morale as soon as possible. At the same time, he made arrangements before Zhang Liang arrived and tried his best to create as much trouble as possible for Zhang Liang in order to delay the time for the Qin army to move south with all its strength.

But even so, Zhu Di still felt unsafe, so he revised the doctrine overnight and announced to the public that General Ren Gong had been completely brainwashed by the evil spirit. He was just short of saying that Zhang Liang was also a demon, hoping to reduce his prestige in the hearts of the Mingjiao believers.

Zhu Di had tried his best to overestimate Zhang Liang's threat, but he didn't expect that he still underestimated it far too much, because Zhang Liang did not take office alone, he was accompanied by Feng Yunshan, Zhang Baiqi and Zhang Niujiao.

Zhang Baiqi and Zhang Niujiao are not only veteran leaders of the Yellow Turbans, but also direct disciples of Zhang Jiao, while Feng Yunshan is the right-hand man of Emperor Ming. In the teachings of the Ming Cult, the three are also reincarnations of gods and have considerable influence in the hearts of believers.

With Zhu Di's prestige in the Ming Cult, if he said that Zhang Liang was the only one who was brainwashed, naturally many people would believe it. After all, there might be something wrong with Zhang Liang himself. But to say that so many reincarnated gods were bewitched by evil spirits would obviously arouse some people's suspicion.

Although most of the Ming Cult members are ignorant, they are not all fools. It is too shameful for a reincarnated god to be brainwashed so easily. What is the difference between them and ordinary people?
Therefore, when Zhang Liang, together with other Yellow Turban elders such as Feng Yunshan, Zhang Baiqi and Zhang Niujiao, appeared in front of the people of southern Qing, Zhu Di's smearing measures not only failed to have much effect, but also caused many Mingjiao believers to waver.

As for Zhang Liang himself, he was actually frightened by the pilgrimage of the Mingjiao believers. If he had not been protected by a grandmaster, he would not have dared to show up in person and interact with these believers, because there was a high probability that he would be trampled to death by these crazy believers.

Although Zhang Liang knew that he had a high prestige in the Ming Cult, he had no idea how high it was. After all, he was just a strategist during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and there were many people in the Taiping Cult who had a higher status than him. It was not until the establishment of the Ming Dynasty that he became the core leader, but then he hid in the Taihang Mountains, so he had never directly experienced the feeling of being worshipped by believers.

Zhang Liang felt that no matter how high his status in the Ming Cult was now, it would never be higher than that of his former elder brother Zhang Jue. However, what he did not expect was that although his status was not as good as Zhang Jue's, the Ming Cult believers were much crazier than the Taiping Cult believers.

As soon as Zhang Liang entered the territory of southern Qing, some believers came spontaneously to make pilgrimages. After seeing him, some laughed, but more were crying. Some even knelt down and kowtowed continuously, and would not stop until their heads were broken and bleeding, unless he personally stepped forward to stop them.

The closer to a densely populated city, the more pilgrims came. Some of them were clearly ragged and pale, and clearly looked hungry, but they turned a deaf ear to the idea of ​​bringing chicken, duck, fish and meat, and instead offered sacrifices to Zhang Liang, the god in their hearts.

I don’t know how they can resist eating when they are hungry.

Not only Zhang Liang was dumbfounded by the spontaneous behavior of the believers, but even Feng Yunshan, Zhang Baiqi and Zhang Niujiao, the three Yellow Turban elders, were dumbfounded.

They had seen believers making pilgrimages to Zhang Jue, and although they were also crazy, they were far from this level. At the same time, they also understood why the Emperor was determined to crack down on cults.

It's really a bit too crazy.

And this is just the area of ​​Qingnan. Among the many evil cults in the Central Plains, the teachings of the Ming Cult are considered normal. The White Lotus Cult, the Shura Cult and other evil sects are even more terrifying.

If the problem of cults is not solved, even if the Qin Dynasty occupies the Central Plains, it will only be dragged into the quagmire, constantly investing and consuming resources. If it is not completely resolved, there will be no hope of going south to complete the cause of unification.

In order to solve the problem in Qingnan, after Zhang Liang arrived, he first met with Zhuge Liang and Su Dingfang, and then immediately issued a public speech.

Zhang Liang did not throw dirty water on Zhu Di like Zhu Di threw dirty water on him. Instead, he played the emotional card with the Mingjiao believers. He first recalled the difficulties of the uprising against Han, which made thousands of elderly people present burst into tears. It also evoked the believers' nostalgia for Zhang Jue.

Then Zhang Liang said that Ying Hao was Zhang Jiao's son-in-law, a person recognized by General Tian Gong and Emperor Ming, and was definitely not the evil demon mentioned by Zhu Di.

Zhang Liang did not vilify Zhu Di, but was merely realistic. However, this had already shaken many believers with firm faith. He then introduced the policies of the Qin Dynasty and the preferential policies he would bring to Youqingxu this time.

In a word, as long as everyone does not resist the rule of the Qin Dynasty, the future will definitely get better and better. If you are determined to resist the Qin Dynasty, not only will you let your parents and family down, but the spirit of General Tiangong in heaven will also be disappointed in you, and you will not be able to ascend to the kingdom of God and reincarnate after your death.

In just half a month, Zhang Liang, Feng Yunshan and others traveled to various cities in the three counties of southern Qing, delivered nine speeches with more than 30,000 participants, and greatly reduced the resistance of the people of southern Qing to the rule of the Qin Dynasty.

Of course, no matter how nice Zhang Liang's words were, he was still a demon in the eyes of some stubborn believers, and the words of a demon could not be believed, so there were still many people who resisted the Qin Dynasty.

Although the resistance of the Ming believers did not stop, the intensity was much smaller than before, and at most it caused a small uprising of dozens of people, which basically posed no threat to the rule of the Qin Dynasty. Seeing that Zhang Liang solved the problem of Qingnan so easily, Zhuge Liang and Su Dingfang were happy and couldn't help but sigh that Your Majesty was right to let Zhang Liang come to Qingnan this time. After all, the effect of Zhang Liang's few words was ten times better than killing 10,000 people.

Let the right people do the right things to achieve twice the result with half the effort.

At the same time, in Qi County, Linzi City, inside the governor's mansion.

Zhang Liang, the governor of Qingxu, Fan Zhongyan, the governor of Qingzhou, Su Dingfang, the commander-in-chief of Qingzhou, and Zhuge Liang, the governor of Jizhou, the four most powerful people representing the Qin Dynasty in Qingxu, are gathering together to discuss the next course of action.

"Although the three counties in Qingnan are still unstable, they have generally returned to stability."

Zhuge Liang looked at Zhang Liang in the middle, waved his feather fan and said, "General, now that there is no worry in the rear, we should start a war with the Ming army as soon as possible while the Ming army has lost soldiers and territory and their morale has not yet recovered."

"Yes, opportunity is rare and will never come back." Su Dingfang agreed with a smile.

Fan Zhongyan, the governor of Qingzhou, objected, saying, "The situation in southern Qing is very good now. It is a good time to wipe out all the evil spirits in one go. If the army leaves at this time, I am afraid that all the previous efforts will be wasted.

The morale of the Ming army will not recover so quickly, so we should solve the problems in Qingnan first, and then we can start a war with the Ming army."

Zhuge Liang retorted: "Master Fan is wrong. Zhu Di is not a man without strategy, and Fan Zeng is even more wise. The opportunity for war is fleeting, so how can we wait any longer?"

Zhuge Liang and Su Dingfang, the main generals of the army, were both firm believers in a quick war. On the contrary, Fan Zhongyan, the governor in charge of internal affairs, hoped to slow down the war for a while.

Although Su Dingfang supported Zhuge Liang, he also felt that what Fan Zhongyan said made sense. In addition, he was not good at speaking and knew that he could not beat Fan Zhongyan, so he did not participate in the debate. Instead, Zhuge Liang and Fan Zhongyan argued about whether to send troops immediately.

Although Zhuge Liang had many outstanding achievements such as debating with a group of scholars and scolding Wang Lang to death, and could be said to be a man of iron teeth and unparalleled eloquence, Fan Zhongyan, who was both civil and military and known for his quick wit, was also good at speaking.

Zhuge Liang started from a military perspective, and Fan Zhongyan refuted from the perspective of people's livelihood and the future. The two of them argued back and forth, and neither could convince the other. The debate was very exciting.

The opinions of the civil and military officials were not consistent, so the opinion of Zhang Liang, the governor of Qingxu, was crucial at this time.

Although Zhang Liang is the governor of Qingxu, ranking above the governor and the governor-general, and theoretically can directly lead the three people, he was parachuted in after all, and currently has no foundation in Qingxu.

If Zhang Liang harmed the interests of the three people, causing the governor and the governor to disapprove of him, he would be sidelined by Fan Zhongyan and the other two and become a governor in name only.

Although Zhang Liang did not care about power, he cared about his reputation. As the first governor of the Qin Dynasty, it would be a great loss of face if he was sidelined by his subordinates.

Therefore, in order to avoid embarrassment, Zhang Liang, who could clearly hold both military and political power, chose to give up the military power and handed it over to Zhuge Liang and Su Dingfang, while he and Fan Zhongyan divided the rule of Qingzhou's north and south.

Of course, this is only temporary. After taking Xuzhou, Zhang Liang will hand over the power of Qingnan to Fan Zhongyan. When he is in charge of the Xuzhou government, it will be the best time for him to get involved in military power.

"Governor Fan, I know you care about the people, but compared to defeating the Ming army in Xubei, it is worth it to give up the entire Qingzhou, let alone taking Qingnan."

Hearing Zhang Liang's words, Fan Zhongyan was stunned. He thought Zhang Liang would side with him. After all, if Zhuge Liang and Su Dingfang led their troops away and Qingnan became chaotic, they would be the ones who would have to worry in the end. However, he did not expect Zhang Liang to side with Zhuge Liang without any hesitation.

After Zhang Liang's words, Fan Zhongyan knew that he could not stop the army from leaving. He could only sigh, force a smile and nod to show his agreement.

Zhang Liang smiled and said, "That's right. I have sent a pigeon to inform your majesty of the situation in Qingnan. I believe that your majesty's order to urge us to fight will be delivered soon."

Zhang Liang's words were actually to give Fan Zhongyan a way out. After all, whether or not there was an emperor's order would not affect their leading the troops into battle. However, if the three of them opposed Fan Zhongyan together, they would be suspected of political isolation. But if Ying Hao was brought up, naturally no one would think too much about it.

After hearing Zhang Liang's words, Fan Zhongyan understood what he meant. He looked at Zhuge Liang and Su Dingfang and said, "Master Zhuge, General Su, I have no objection to sending troops, but we still need to leave enough troops in Qingnan."

Su Dingfang and Zhuge Liang looked at each other. Zhuge Liang waved the feather fan in his hand and said with a smile: "Of course, Qingnan is related to the rear of the army. If we don't leave enough troops, how can we concentrate on fighting the enemy?"

(End of this chapter)