Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1477 Changes
After reading the military situation, Lu Su closed his eyes and thought for a long time before he said, "It's different."

Yuan Xi asked with interest: "Why is it different?"

Lu Su replied: "The strategy of dividing the world into two that I proposed to Lord Sun was refined based on Gongjin's strategy."

"But our differences are not the same. Gongjin's original plan was to take Jiangdong, then Jingzhou, and finally Yizhou, so as to confront Cao Cao in the north across the river."

"However, after Gongjin's death, the world has undergone tremendous changes. At that time, I saw that Your Majesty had the power to suppress Cao Wei, and the situation in the north of the Central Plains was evolving into a situation where Jin was suppressing Wei and Wei was retreating to Guanzhong and Yizhou."

“So what I proposed later was a strategy of dividing the world into three parts.”

"Your Majesty occupies You, Ji, Qing and Xu, Cao Wei occupies Guanzhong, Liangzhou and Yizhou, and the struggle will be concentrated in the Jingzhou area."

"At that time, I suggested to the Duke of Wu that he should seize Jingzhou as soon as possible. Although Wu might not be able to complete the task as it was surrounded by the Jin and Wei states, as long as it could seize Nanjun Xiangyang, the area south of the Han River, and divide Jingzhou with the Jin and Wei states, it would form a three-way balance of power in the world."

"This way, Wu will be able to occupy the northward passage to the Funiu Mountains. If there is any change in the Central Plains, we will be able to head north to the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers in time to expand Wu's territory."

"As for Yizhou, it had already been taken by Cao Wei at that time. It would be disadvantageous for Wu to cross mountains and rivers and fight upstream, so we did not consider it."

After hearing this, Yuan Xi praised: "Mr. Zijing has clear ideas and a good grasp of the situation. He is indeed a first-class strategist of the time."

Lu Su looked ashamed, "But this plan was just talk. I didn't expect that Your Majesty would be so good at using the army. In just a few years, you not only drove Cao Wei out of Jizhou, but also suppressed it to Luoyang, thus creating an opportunity to send troops south to attack."

"I never expected that Wu would cross the bottom line of Hannan at that time. Because Zhang Fei was assassinated, Liu Bei mobilized the whole country to avenge him. In a fierce battle with Wu, the living forces of both sides were destroyed."

Yuan Xi nodded and said, "I didn't expect that either. I heard that Sun Quan sent someone to assassinate Zhang Fei, but he didn't tell you and Zhang Zhao and the others."

Lu Su sighed, "That's true, otherwise Zi Bu and I would stop Sun Hou no matter what."

"This behavior is really not very honorable. At that time, Lord Sun was at a loss as to what to do under the attack of the two countries, so he resorted to this desperate measure."

Yuan Xi nodded and said, "So the destruction of Wu was all his own fault. He doesn't deserve any sympathy."

"By the way, why does Zi Jing think Sima Yi would think differently?"

Lu Su said: "The current situation in the world does look like a three-legged tripod, but two of them can only be said to be barely holding up."

"Even if Wei and Hannan join forces, they still cannot defeat Jin, so Hannan has actually given up on using force to fight Jin. As a result, there is no possibility for Hannan and Wei to join forces anymore."

"Since Sima Yi is in a position where he cannot maintain a balance of power among the three parties, there is no need for him to fight to the death with Hannan. After all, even if Hannan is destroyed, Jin will take the opportunity to send troops to attack the already exhausted Wei."

"And now the Wei State is facing the Jin State's offensive from Hanzhong to Chengdu, and it is obviously powerless. After all, no matter how powerful Sima Yi is, he can't conjure up troops out of thin air. Now Yizhou has been emptied out after years of war."

"So what he wants to do now is to reduce the threat from Hannan as much as possible while finding enough troops to delay the attack. There is only one choice, and that is the Nanzhao tribe south of Nanzhong."

"But the southern barbarians are extremely ferocious and difficult to tame. While the Wei Kingdom is fighting on two fronts, it no longer has the energy to deal with the southern barbarians."

"So he will definitely pretend to negotiate peace with Jin State first, and at the same time try to secretly destroy Hannan. After temporarily eliminating the threats from both sides, he can then take action against the Nanman."

"This approach is extremely covert, so as to confuse His Majesty. For this reason, he will definitely not attack Hannan openly. If he uses underhand tactics, such as alienating the relationship between the monarch and his subjects in Hannan."

"If there is internal unrest in Hannan, Sima Yi will have an opportunity to take advantage of it. This is why he took the initiative to give up attacking Jiangling and transferred the army back to Baidi City, in order to let Hannan relax its vigilance."

"On the surface, it looked like Wei had to abandon the Maicheng front because of General Zilong's offensive, but in reality, Sima Yi was probably just holding back his fist and waiting for an opportunity to strike again in order to achieve the greatest possible outcome."

"If he wants to fight his way out of Yizhou, he must first occupy Jingzhou before he can advance to Jiaozhou and Jiangdong. This is also the best way to keep the Wei Kingdom alive."

After hearing Lu Su's words, Yuan Xi's thoughts became clear instantly, and he couldn't help but praise: "Zi Jing still sees it clearly."

"Sima Yi has become increasingly difficult to deal with over the years. With him in charge of Wei, he is always a major concern."

He couldn't help but think of how Sima Yi's descendants in later generations used the same method to force Cao Wei to abdicate and established the Jin Dynasty. However, at this time, the name of Jin Dynasty had already been taken by themselves. Even if Sima Yi wanted to rebel and establish a country, he could still change the name of the country, right?

He said, "Zijing, do you think that Wei can alienate the ruler and ministers of Hannan?" Lu Su said, "Hannan actually has a lot of problems. The biggest problem it faces is that it can't see a way out."

"Originally their goal was to inherit the Han Dynasty, but the emperor of the former Han Dynasty came to Jin."

"When Hannan was founded, it relied on the close relationship between the Liu, Guan and Zhang families, but now the girl from the Zhang family has become the crown princess of Jin. This has caused a great shock to its officials."

"Let alone the senior subordinates who have always followed Liu Bei, I'm afraid the new officials from Jingyi may have some other ideas in their minds."

"After all, the big ship of Jin is cutting through the waves, while the small ship of Hannan is sinking at some point in time."

"Your Majesty, letting the crown prince marry Miss Zhang is a brilliant move. This strategy of alienation is quite clever. It has caused Hannan to suffer a great loss."

Yuan Xi smiled bitterly. Regarding this matter, it can be said that Lu Su guessed right, but also wrong.

At that time, the entry point proposed by Yang Xiu to alienate the Southern Han Kingdom was precisely the Xiahou clan of the Zhang family.

However, what Yang Xiu proposed at that time was to use Xiahou Yuan's relationship to make the Zhang family and the Xiahou family suspicious of the other two families, thereby disrupting Liu Chan's selection of concubines and affecting a series of decisions in Hannan.

After thinking about it, Yuan Xi decided not to adopt this plan for the time being, because he felt that this approach was a bit unacceptable to the Xiahou family. It was really shameful for the great State of Jin to use such means to deal with a widow.

Seeing Yuan Xi's attitude, Yang Xiu did not insist any longer. After all, he was not sure of success. He put forward his opinions only as an attempt considering various possibilities and it would not affect the general situation of the world.

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However, Yuan Xi and Yang Xiu did not expect that Xiahou was dissatisfied with the selection of concubines, and on a whim, sent Zhang to the north for temporary refuge. By chance, Zhang met Yuan Rui, and a marriage was formed between them.

Although this marriage brought Jin and Hannan closer together, it also caused divisions within Hannan, which in disguise achieved Yang Xiu's original intention. It can be said that it was an unexpected success.

Yuan Xi couldn't explain too much to Lu Su about this twist, so he could only ask, "What do you think, Zi Jing, should we do in response to Wei's actions?"

Lu Su said, "In fact, in my opinion, the situation in Jin is already established. We just need to proceed step by step. No matter how powerful Sima Yi is, he is only one person. How can he create an army of thousands of troops?"

"Why is your majesty so worried?"

Yuan Xi sighed, "Just like Zi Jing said, no matter how powerful a person is, it is difficult to turn the tide."

"But on the other hand, although he can't accomplish anything, his destructive power cannot be underestimated. If he is determined to destroy everything and take Yizhou with him, or even flee to India, he may recruit young men from Yizhou or even the southern barbarians, or instigate an attack between the two, causing chaos in Yizhou."

"Even if I sent troops to take Chengdu, I would still be faced with hundreds of thousands of young and strong men killed in battle and Yizhou destroyed. The cost of quelling the riots and rebuilding the area is incalculable."

"So what I want to do now is to prevent Sima Yi from taking desperate measures. It would be best to nip this idea in the bud before it is implemented."

Lu Su thought that this was asking too much. Now that Sima Yi controlled the military and political power of Wei, what he wanted to do was just a matter of words. No matter how powerful Jin was, it had to capture Chengdu. Besides, I was just a strategist, not a god. How could I have any magical strategies?
Yuan Xi saw that Lu Su was embarrassed and knew that his request was a bit excessive, so he smiled and said, "I thought too much, but Zi Jing has given me enough reminders. I have already thought of how to write a letter to Kong Ming and Boyan to remind them to deal with the possible actions of Wei State."

"Zijing should go back and rest first. Gongyu has always been in poor health. I hope Zijing can take on his role in the future."

After hearing this, Lu Su hurriedly thanked him and left. However, Yuan Xi wrote two letters that day and sent them to Zhuge Liang and Lu Xun respectively.

When the letter to Lu Xun was delivered to Jianghuai, Lu Xun was not at the front line in Maicheng, but went to Changsha County of Hannan Kingdom with his wife Liu.

Lu Xun's original intention was to take advantage of the opportunity of his wife Liu to pay homage at Liu Bei's tomb to meet with Liu Chan and strengthen their relationship. After all, the two sides were related. If he could make Hannan submit to Jin without fighting in the future, it would naturally be a great achievement.

However, his military adviser Jiang Qin felt that this idea was quite unrealistic. He suggested to Lu Xun that although the two countries were now allies, Lu Xun, as the governor of Jin, was going to meet the ruler of Hannan. If the emperor knew about it, he might think too much.

Lu Xun said, "What Gong Yi said makes sense. If my lord is the suspicious Lord Sun, I would not do such a thing."

"But Your Majesty, when I was young, you ignored all objections and appointed me when I was less than fifteen years old. Over the past ten years, you have always trusted me. Your Majesty trusts people and I am open about it."

"Besides, I also sent a letter to inform Your Majesty before, but the situation was urgent and I couldn't wait for Your Majesty's reply, so I rushed to Changsha in advance to prevent the situation from getting worse."

Jiang Qin was puzzled and asked, "It is winter now and the Wei army has stopped fighting. How can the situation get worse?"

(End of this chapter)