Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 760 Pushing the envelope

When Liu Ji heard Yuan Xi ask about Zhe Rong's whereabouts, he replied: "I heard that after he was defeated, he fled to the Yuzhang Mountains and his whereabouts are unknown."

Yuan Xi listened, nodded and said: "Good people don't live long, and disasters live for thousands of years. Sooner or later, they will be brought to justice. In the meantime, let him live a few more days."

Liu Ji quickly thanked him and sat aside.

Speaking of which, he felt strange now, because although he came to repay Yuan Xi's favor for helping Liu Yao that day, there were actually many people under Yuan Xi who had some relationship with Liu Ji.

Taishi Ci will not talk about it anymore. He was born in Donglai together with Liu Yao. He is one of the few people from Qingzhou under Yuan Xi. It stands to reason that Liu Ji should have a relationship with him, but after Liu Ji came to Shouchun, he has been making peace with him so far. Taishi Ci paid a visit.

Because Liu Ji was very cautious in making friends and rarely had any interactions with other people at home. Although Taishi Ci held a high position under Yuan Xi, Liu Ji was afraid that some people would criticize him for forming a clique, so he deliberately alienated Taishi Ci.

And Liu Ji did this because there was another reason for his existence.

Zhuge Liang.

At that time, Zhuge Liang and nearby Zhuge Xuan fled to Jiangdong. Zhuge Xuan was appointed as the prefect of Yuzhang by Yuan Shu, and he attacked Zhu Hao, who was appointed as the prefect of Yuzhang by Liu Yao. In the end, Zhuge Xuan was defeated and escaped, and finally died of illness.

But in the end, Zhu Hao was assassinated because he trusted Zuo Rong, and both of them died young in the end. So when Liu Ji heard that Zhuge Liang had become Yuan Xi's military advisor the day before yesterday, he couldn't help but feel a little complicated, so for the sake of Mingzhe's protection, no one is willing to do anything now. Make friends and just do your own thing behind closed doors.

Yuan Xi knew about these things, but he just turned a blind eye and would not get involved in the affairs of his subordinates.

As a lord, the main subordinates can cooperate wholeheartedly in official matters. Apart from that, the lord does not care much about their personal relationships. Instead, he hopes that his subordinates will not get too close to each other, so as not to form too strong a group.

At this point, Yuan Xi believes that most of his subordinates are smart people and should be able to grasp this degree. As the lord, he has more things to consider.

He said, "Jiangdong's sending troops this time can be described as betrayal. I have tolerated it time and time again and released enough goodwill, but in exchange for such a result, I can only say that they do not have a clear understanding of the current situation."

"If I give in again, sooner or later they will advance further and plot against Jiujiang, or even Xuzhou, to threaten the people in my territory."

"Now I want you to discuss what to do next?"

After everyone heard this, their expressions became condensed, because from Yuan Xi's words, we could hear Yuan Xi's plan to use troops against Jiangdong.

In normal times, the fight would have been a fight, but at this time, Yuan Xi's forces still had several fighting locations. With such a multi-faceted war, if there was a problem on one side, it would be a collapse situation.

That's why Yuan Xi asked them to consider whether it was appropriate to use troops against Jiangdong at this time, and the extent of the use of troops. After all, if they could not win in a short time, they might risk falling into a long-term war quagmire.

Guo Jia said: "The biggest problem in Jiangdong is that they have no determination to resist Cao Cao."

"After all, it is not bordering Cao Cao's territory. From Jiangdong's point of view, we occupying Jiangbei are a greater threat than Cao Cao."

Everyone nodded, and Guo Jia's words were on point. Jiangdong had never suffered from Cao Cao's losses. Instead, he believed that Yuan Xi had hindered their expansion, so he would naturally regard Yuan Xi as his primary enemy.

Lu Xun spoke up: "If it is found that Sun Ce was assassinated, it was Cao Cao's conspiracy. Will Jiangdong share the same hatred with the enemy?"

Guo Jia smiled and said, "Does Boyan think Jiangdong would give up his great career for a dead man?"

Lu Xun was silent. Even if Jiang Dong knew, he might still pretend to be stupid. After all, Sun Ce was dead. For Jiang Dong who dared to stab his ally in the back, he would most likely not stand up for Sun Ce.

Thinking of Jiangdong's behavior, Lu Xun was a little depressed and said: "This timing is really not good for us. Jiangdong can send troops anywhere on the Yangtze River and attack anywhere in the north of the Yangtze River. In comparison, we cannot mobilize troops as quickly as the other side. Especially since the opponent is famous for its naval force being good at fighting, even if it cannot defeat the Jianghuai River, it will have no problem defending the Yangtze River."

Everyone listened in silence. Although Lu Xun was young, he had gained a lot of reputation in the past few days. His words indeed reflected Yuan Xijun's current predicament in Jianghuai.

Seeing that the atmosphere was somewhat silent, Yuan Xi turned to Zhuge Liang and said, "I want to hear Kong Ming's opinion."

Hearing Yuan Xi name Kong Ming, everyone looked over. They actually didn't understand why Yuan Xi suddenly found an unknown young man to be his military advisor. Moreover, although the position of military advisor appeared very early, the Western Zhou Dynasty had this title. , but in fact few appeared in the army after that. In the late Han Dynasty, when there were more official positions, they reappeared in front of people.

This position obviously conflicts with the Supervisory Army, so Yuan Xi's subordinate generals secretly guessed whether Yuan Xi specially recruited someone to compete with Lu Xun?

In terms of age, Zhuge Liang is still a few years older than Lu Xun, but Lu Xun has proven himself in several consecutive battles in the past two years, and his prestige in the military has also increased day by day. Logically speaking, if Yuan Xi wants to establish checks and balances, he should not Should a person with high moral character and high prestige be used as a military advisor like Guo Jiaju?

But Guo Jia is not good at military affairs, and Jushu is Lu Xun's teacher. Neither of them is suitable, so it is reasonable and reasonable to lead him to find someone else. The key question is, is the Zhuge Liang he found really reliable?

If it were another lord, the subordinates might have some doubts, but in Yuan Xi's case, although the subordinates had doubts, their trust in Yuan Xi himself temporarily suppressed these worries.

After all, the talents Yuan Xi was looking for, from Zhao Yun to Tai Shici, from Guo Jia to Lu Xun, were all not well-known at the beginning, but after joining Yuan Xi's command, they all became famous in a short period of time. Every battle proved himself and Yuan Xi's vision.

Zhuge Liang looked around the field and saw the thoughts on everyone's faces. He thought that with a lord like Yuan Xi, the obstacles to his coming out were much smaller than he thought before. Thinking of this, he was not polite and said loudly: "Jiangdong wants to fight, and he wants to fight immediately. The pain will be so painful that it will hurt his muscles and bones, and he will not dare to move rashly for a few years."

"Only in this way can they be honest and see us as an opponent they dare not provoke."

"Otherwise, it will only make the other party arrogant and push forward, encroaching on our territory step by step."

"The purpose of this battle is to let the other side know that they cannot afford the price they pay for plotting against us. The purpose of this battle is to destabilize the other side's heart, so that they will turn around to recuperate and suspend their weapons."

Everyone was surprised when they heard this. They didn't expect Zhuge Liang to be a determined fighter!

And does the other party really judge this way, or does he want to use a big victory to establish his prestige in the military?

If that's the case, wouldn't it be the same as Jiangdong Sun Quan's idea?

Guo Jia said: "The idea is good, but what if we lose?"

"The consequences you mentioned will all come back to us."

"Or maybe Jiangdong has never given up and sent troops to harass him all the time. How should we respond?"

Zhuge Liang thought for a moment and said: "I can't guarantee that the war will go smoothly without any setbacks."

"But I think that as long as the deployment is proper, with my lord's current morale and the strength of the soldiers, there is no reason to lose to Jiangdong."

"What's more, Jiangdong's treacherous behavior obviously puts his interests first. They have no interests, how can they fight a war with just one breath."

"As long as they suffer setbacks in the war, they will inevitably want to retreat. At that time, we only need to give them a step down, and they will naturally withdraw and stabilize the overall situation."

"But if the opponent is Cao Cao, he will only fight us to the death."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Jiang Dong's strategic vision was far different from that of Cao Cao. Cao Cao really gambled his life every time he fought. Does Jiang Dong have this awareness now?

Zhuge Liang continued: "Instead of using military tactics, I suggest a two-pronged approach, from the domestic and military aspects, while putting pressure on Jiangdong."

"In terms of internal affairs, we sent people to make friends with Liu Biao and Huang Zu, and sent troops to contain the Jiangdong troops in Jiangxia."

"In terms of warfare, the cavalry was used to harass the towns in Jiangbei occupied by Sun Quan's army and make them exhausted."

"However, in contrast to this, I suggest abandoning the Jiangbei line, establishing a defense line centered around Hefei, and controlling Chaohu at the same time."

"In this way, Jiangdong will definitely invest a large number of troops in the defense of Wankou Ruxukou area, but it has to be defended."

"And if they want to go north, they can only attack Hefei, compete with us on foot and cavalry, and use short attacks to attack longer ones. They don't have much chance of winning."

Lu Xun spoke up: "I also agree to abandon Wancheng. This place is really difficult to defend with our strength. If we hadn't occupied the area between the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers and could move troops back and forth between the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River, the situation would have been even worse."

“But why Hefei and not Shouchun?”

"If we let Sun Quan's army go further and go deeper alone, wouldn't it be easier to fight?"

Zhuge Liang said: "Because Chaohu Lake south of Hefei cannot be given up."

"If Jiangdong is allowed to occupy it, they can continuously bring in troops to fight a war of attrition. This is not worth the loss for us."

Lu Xun frowned and said, "But after the opponent occupied Wankou, their fleet was able to go north to Chao Lake. Our fleet is limited to the Huai River. The river between Chao Lake is too shallow, and large warships cannot enter."

"If we want to fight against the Jiangdong Navy, we can't widen the waterway between Huai River and Chao Lake, right?"

After hearing this, Zhuge Liang smiled and said: "There is no need for the navy to fight the navy. We only need to make their navy suffer losses in Chaohu."

When Lu Xun heard this, he thought about it, "The military advisor said that we should use other methods..."

"After much thought, the only thing that can cause damage to warships is trebuchets, but trebuchets are big and heavy. If they can completely wipe out the opponent, they will fall into the hands of the opponent when they land ashore."

"The military advisor also said just now that the purpose is only to cause damage to the opponent. This means that the opponent will definitely land ashore. This..."

Zhuge Liang replied: "I have some ideas about this, which are a series of defense ideas around Hefei."

When he finished speaking his mind, everyone's eyes widened. Zhuge Liang's ideas and combat style were completely different from their previous ones. And his idea about the catapult seemed to be really feasible?

(End of this chapter)