At the end of the Han Dynasty: a stingy husband from his hometown

Chapter 357 Three Ways

Zhuge Liang's political wisdom is indeed far beyond ordinary people.

He knew that this time Liu Bei asked Chu for help, and it was obviously impossible to succeed if he did not pay a sufficient price.

So what else can impress His Highness the King of Chu?

There is no doubt that Guangling County under the rule of Xuzhou and the four cities of Xiapi County south of the Huaihe River (the previous chapter was wrong, it was four cities, has been revised), are extremely important to the national security of the entire Chu State.

The location of Guangling County is also extremely special. Although it is under the jurisdiction of Xuzhou, more than 90% of its territory is located south of the Huaihe River.

Fortunately, there is a Yangtze River between Guangling County and Jiangdong, so the threat to Yangzhou is not that great.

However, once Guangling County is acquired by the Chu State, the Chu State's Jiangdong will have two natural dangers, the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River, and it will be very easy to attack Xuzhou at any time.

The place that can really pose a fatal threat to Yangzhou is Xiapi County.

Huailing, Gaoshan, Xutai and Dongcheng in Xiapi County are all located to the south of the Huaihe River, especially the southernmost Dongcheng. It is like a sharp sword piercing into the hinterland of Jiujiang County, which will have a great impact on Jiujiang County and even the entire western Yangzhou. All pose fatal threats.

Once Xuzhou sends troops to Jiujiang County from Dongcheng, since the Yangtze River is to the east and the Huaihe River is to the north, Jiujiang County will have no danger at all.

As for Liu Bei really choosing to abandon Xuzhou and lead his troops to withdraw to Guangling County, it is simply untenable.

However, Quanzhou is far away. Even with Zhou Qi pointing out the general direction on the map, it is unrealistic to send a large army of troops to Quanzhou. Only a small advance fleet can be sent to draw the sea map.

Once chaos breaks out in Xiapi County, the Huaihe River must be blocked as soon as possible. When necessary, Xu Huang and Shi Huan may even be allowed to lead troops across the border to occupy Xuzhou's territory south of the Huaihe River.

All he had to do was blockade the Huaihe River to prevent Yuan's army from going south. At that time, he could seize Xuzhou's land south of the Huaihe River at any time, and Liu Bei would be unable to stop it.

When Xuzhou was occupied by Liu Bei, because Liu Bei was weak, Jiujiang County was guarded by Xu Huang, a famous Chu general, and the Huaihe navy led by Zhou Jin could threaten Xiapi County and Guangling County at any time, so I am not worried about the safety of Yangzhou.

And don't forget that Chu State has powerful naval forces on the Yangtze River and Huaihe River.

It is no exaggeration to say that Chu State’s naval strength on the Yangtze River, Huaihe River and Han River is absolutely unparalleled in the world. The shipbuilding industry has also experienced unprecedented development. It can reach Yizhou and Danzhou across the straits, and has even sent troops to capture the entire Yizhou.

At that time, Yuan Shao did not need to attack Jiangdong at all. As long as he captured Jiujiang County and Lujiang County from Dongcheng and cut off the transportation between Jingzhou and Jiangdong, he could capture Jiangdong without any blood.

There is also a record in "Foreign Pictures": Danzhou traveled thousands of miles to Langya.

Yizhou is the Taiwan of later generations; Danzhou is the Japanese island of later generations.

The reason why Zhou Jin has only blocked the Huaihe River and has not sent troops to capture Guangling County and the four cities of Huailing, Gaoshan, Xutai, and Dongcheng is because he does not want to follow the truth and form a grudge with Liu Bei.

According to the "Historical Records: The Chronicles of Qin Shihuang": Wanzhou is located in the East China Sea. Qin Shihuang sent Xu Fu to send boys and girls into the sea to seek immortals, and stopped on this island. There were tens of thousands of families on the island. Some of the people on the island came to Kuaiji City to trade.

By passing Guangling County, one can indeed ignore the Huaihe and Yangtze Rivers and attack Jiujiang County directly from Dongcheng. However, it is a two-way street to defend without danger. Chu State can also attack the entire Guangling County through Dongcheng.

In recent years, the Chu State has spent a lot of money, food, manpower and materials in order to develop its navy. Otherwise, with the strength of the Chu State, when the battle with Yuan's army occurred in Fancheng, even if the troops were dispersed, they would not have only this few troops.

It's just that Chu State is obviously determined to win these territories.

Zhou Qi knew the importance of Huailing, Gaoshan, Xutai, and Dongcheng to the entire Chu State. Therefore, after Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu went to Xiangyang hand in hand and expressed their guesses, Zhou Qi did not hesitate to give the order to Zhou Jin. He led Jiang Qin, Ding Feng and the Huaihe navy to always pay attention to the movements of Xiapi County.

But once Xuzhou is acquired by Yuan Shao, and Xiapi County and Guangling County fall into Yuan Shao's hands, then the entire Yangzhou will become a flaw in Chu State.

Just as Zhuge Jin said, even if Liu Bei really retreats to Guangling County, what will happen?

When Zhuge Liang proposed a plan to Zhuge Jin, he nominally asked Liu Bei to lead Xuzhou's civil and military forces to retreat to Guangling County. In fact, he was implicitly reminding Zhuge Jin that the Huaihe River had been occupied by the navy led by Zhou Jin, and Xuzhou was located to the south of the Huaihe River. Everyone should think carefully about who owns the land.

If Liu Bei realizes this and cedes all of Xuzhou's territory south of the Huaihe River to Zhou Qi, then the Chu State will have an excuse to send troops to rescue Xuzhou.

Otherwise, the Chu State could sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight.

Langya County is located in Xuzhou close to the East China Sea, thousands of miles east of Japan Island.

Don't think that Zhou Qi has used a cheat again, and don't underestimate the wisdom and ability of the ancients. It's like there were videos promoting Hanfu in later generations. Many people said in the comment area that the belt and buttons are too modern and simply look like modern ones. product.

In fact, the ancients were just ancients, not stupid people. They also had a strong sense of aesthetics. The belts and buttons of that period, and even many luxury goods used by the nobility, can still lead fashion even in the trend circle of the 21st century.

The historical relics displayed in museums in many places will be exclaimed by future generations when they see them, and they are incredible, thinking that they are in a luxury display cabinet in a large shopping mall.

During the Three Kingdoms period, Sun Quan had the ambition to expand his territory. However, Wei could not defeat him, and Shu was an ally. When he was struggling to expand his territory, he heard Zhuge Zhi telling how Xu Fu led boys and girls out to sea to seek the elixir of immortality for Qin Shihuang. Deeds.

Xu Fu arrived in Quanzhou. Although he did not find the elixir of immortality, he found that it was like spring all year round, without ice and snow, and it was like a fairyland. He was worried that he would be executed after returning to Qin, so he stayed in Quanzhou.

After hearing this rumor, Sun Quan, who had always wanted to expand his territory, suddenly became ambitious. After planning for a long time, he planned to send generals Wei Wen and Zhuge Zhi to lead thousands of soldiers across the ocean to seek Yizhou and Danzhou.

With the national power of Soochow at that time, building more than 30 giant ships, plus carrying tens of thousands of people across the ocean, must have consumed a lot of national power.

Lu Xun and Quan Cong advised Sun Quan one after another, believing that Yizhou and Danzhou were just legends and difficult to find in the vast sea. Sending troops rashly to sea was like looking for a needle in a haystack and would only waste national power.

Sun Quan refused to listen and insisted on finding Yizhou and Danzhou.

Wei Wen and Zhuge Zhi finally found Yizhou and became the first people in Chinese history to have clear records of landing on Taiwan Island, and brought back thousands of Yizhou natives.

From this point on, it also marked that Yizhou was China's eternal and indivisible territory.

However, Ganzhou is too far away. Although Soochow's navy is powerful, there is still a big difference between navigation and inland shipping. Wei Wen and Zhuge Zhi lacked sailing experience, and their 10,000 troops wandered in the sea for a year, but failed to find Danzhou. Instead, nine out of ten soldiers died from scurvy and various illnesses during the voyage, and were eventually forced to return.

Seeing that Wei Wen and Zhuge Zhi not only failed to find Danzhou alone, but also lost so many soldiers, Sun Quan couldn't help but became furious. He didn't care that he had not listened to the advice and insisted on letting the two go to sea. Instead, he said " Wei Wen and Zhuge Zhi were imprisoned and executed on the grounds that they violated the edict, wasted money and harmed the people, and returned without success.

The huge loss of nearly ten thousand people, even if Sun Quan found Yizhou Island, was an unbearable pain for Soochow.

From then on, Sun Quan never dared to look for Quanzhou again.

Zhou Qi also knew these historical allusions, so when forming the naval army, he gave future generations experience in treating scurvy and pointed out the general direction of Danzhou.

Zhou Qi also knows that haste makes waste.

Therefore, after capturing Yizhou, some naval forces started to independently explore the surrounding waters with Yizhou as the center. They also accumulated navigation experience while drawing navigation charts.

Although the Chu State is not yet able to conduct large-scale voyages, it can barely do so by sending a small number of caravans to the Japanese islands. It also encourages aristocratic families to build their own merchant ships to explore the sea and conduct ocean-going trade.

For those families and fleets that discovered unknown and valuable islands, Zhou Qi did not hesitate to reward them with titles.

Even for those who have made outstanding contributions, if it is not convenient for Chu State to occupy and develop the island, it will even reward the island to the person who discovered the island.

As the saying goes, under heavy rewards, there must be brave men.

Once there is a profit motive, just like the European Age of Discovery in history, the navigation industry will inevitably flourish.

Although the Chu State has not yet reaped the dividends of the great voyage, as long as the policy encourages aristocratic families to sail far, driven by titles and huge profits, many aristocratic families will inevitably spend huge sums of money to explore the sea for the Chu State.

These people will definitely promote the vigorous development of the shipbuilding industry. The Chu State does not need to pay too much. It only needs to let the wealthy families find specific places, draw the sea charts, and then use their navigation experience to send troops to conquer. .

Of course, these are just words, there is still a long way to go from now.

Others only see China's three-thirds of an acre, but as a time traveler, Zhou Qi has a longer-term vision than others.

He is not worried that after a wealthy family goes out to find an island, they will privately take it as their own and then separate themselves.

After all, everyone is of the same race. Since Zhou Qi is unable to occupy those huge territories overseas, what's the harm in using policies to stimulate the ambitious people in the country and let them take it for himself?

At least, the roots of the aristocratic family are still in the land of China.

Just like the empire on which the sun never sets in later generations, colonies spread all over the world, and British culture influenced the entire world. Even though various places later became independent, and Britain could only live on the islands in western Europe, many countries still bear the British brand.

It is precisely because Zhou Qi attaches great importance to the navy and navigation that he can forcefully break into Xuzhou's territory and blockade the entire Huaihe River with just the navy under Zhou Jin's command, preventing Yuan Jun from coveting the vast land south of the Huaihe River.

Zhuge Jin left after all, and did not even go to Xiangyang again. Instead, he took Sun Ce down the Han River smoothly and returned to Xuzhou disguised as a commoner after his death.

After Zhuge Liang sent his brother away, he also hurried to Xiangyang, fully informed him of his reception of Zhuge Jin and the contents of the conversation between the two, and apologized: "After all, Liang still took into account the brotherhood and did something detrimental to the interests of the Chu country. Please punish me, my lord!"

After Zhou Qi heard the details of what happened, he burst out laughing, then personally helped Zhuge Liang up and said, "I know Kong Ming's intentions alone, so you don't need to explain too much."

"Kong Ming's remarks, far from harming the interests of Chu State, actually made Liu Xuande realize the reality, which was a great achievement!"

Zhou Qi was naturally very satisfied with Zhuge Liang. After comforting him and sending him away, he couldn't help but laugh a few times when he thought of this incident.

He was still thinking about how to tactfully put forward Xuzhou's request for the territory south of the Huaihe River. Zhuge Liang gave himself a huge surprise.

In this way, even after Zhuge Jin returns to Xuzhou, everyone in Xuzhou will not be angry, and the fire will not burn Zhou Qi. Instead, everyone will point the finger at Zhuge Liang, thinking that the other party has made excessive demands.

Of course, it's not that they really think so, but that Xuzhou now seeks help from Chu. They dare not blame Zhou Qi and can only point the finger at Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Liang's move not only solved Zhou Qi's problem, but also showed his loyalty.

Even when Zhuge Jin returned to Xuzhou, Liu Bei would not blame him for failing to complete the task, but would instead comfort him.

At least, Zhuge Jin did his best and even asked his brother Zhuge Liang to show his absolute loyalty to Liu Bei.

As for the failure to get things done, we can only say that the two brothers are their own masters and have clear priorities. Others can't say anything.

When Zhuge Jin, Sun Ce and others finally returned to Tan County, they found that except for Donghai County, which was heavily guarded by troops, and the areas south of the Huaihe River, all other counties in Xuzhou had basically been lost and occupied by Yuan's army.

What made Liu Bei most uncomfortable was that Yuan Jun had harvested many crops in Xuzhou before, and many people in Xuzhou had just finished harvesting their food.

When Yuan Jun unexpectedly captured a large territory in Xuzhou, these grains became fodder to support Yuan Jun, which greatly eased Yuan Jun's logistical pressure and allowed Yuan Shao to send some grain transporters back to Hebei to collect grain and cultivate land.

Now Yuan Shao's troops are divided into three groups.

In the north, Yuan Tan led 50,000 troops and stationed himself at Jiqiu, a city in the south of Langya Kingdom. This place was not far from Tan County, which was governed by Xuzhou Prefecture, which put great pressure on Liu Bei.

Fortunately, there is a mountain between Jiqiu and Donghai County. Liu Bei sent Tai Shici to lead troops to garrison here. Relying on the geographical advantage, he was barely able to deal with the threat from the north.

Wen Chou and Gao Lan led 50,000 troops and stationed themselves at Liangcheng in Xiapi County, ready to go north and invade Donghai County at any time.

As for Yuan Shao himself, he led the main force of Yuan's army to gather in Peixian County, intending to use this place as a foundation to directly push the entire Donghai County eastward.

(End of this chapter)