Ji Han Liu Zhang

"Sowing discord?" Liu Zhang reacted quickly after hearing Jia Xu's words. He guessed that Jia Xu would use the same strategy as in history.

In history, Han Sui, Ma Chao and other generals in Guanzhong joined forces to fight against Cao Cao. With the advice of Jia Xu, Cao Cao sent a tampered letter to Han Sui, thereby making the leaders of the Guanzhong coalition suspicious of each other, and then defeated them in one fell swoop.

"Yes, that's exactly what it means to sow discord." Jia Xu affirmed, and under the gaze of everyone, he began to talk freely.

When it comes to understanding Li Jue, Guo Si and the generals in Guanzhong, the counselors in the account, such as the chief clerk and military advisor General Xun You, the military advisor Jia Xu, the military officer Peng Ying, and the military officer Zheng Du, are all not as good as Jia Xu. After all, Jia Xu has worked with Li Jue and Guo Si for many years and knows their personalities and habits very well.

Here Jia Xu analyzed for everyone in the tent: "There are three forces in Chang'an City. One is Li Jue and Guo Si. They are the strongest and the most determined to fight with you. After all, you clearly stated in your letter that you must kill Li Jue and Guo Si on this trip. There is no way these two will surrender."

"The other two groups." Jia Xu paused and continued, "One group is Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and other generals from Guanzhong, and the other group is the Qiang and Hu tribes recruited by Li Jue and Guo Si, including Shao He, Dang Jian and other Qiang tribes."

"The Qiang and Hu people have always been untrustworthy. They abandon their loyalty when they see profit and flee when they see danger. Now that Li Jue and Guo Si are at a disadvantage, I think Shao He, Dang Jian and other Qiang tribes are hesitant and want to leave. There is no need to worry about this force."

Upon hearing this, Bing Cao Peng Ying nodded. In his opinion, as Jia Xu said, most of the Qiang, Hu and Liangzhou people had no trustworthiness, as well as those who lived with the Qiang and Hu and were influenced by the barbarian customs.

"Even if it's about alienation, the Qiang and Hu don't need to be considered, but the responsibility will fall on Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and other generals in Guanzhong?" Peng Ying interrupted, expressing his doubts: "But these people are used to ruling their own territories and acting tyrannically. I'm afraid they are unwilling to submit to you and obey your orders."

"They are just like hungry wolves in the wild. If you want them to become dogs one day, they may not be willing to do so, nor be able to do so." Military officer Zheng Du half-closed his eyes. He had some understanding of human nature.

Jia Xu smiled calmly, "What you said is true. If we want to change the mentality of the generals in Guanzhong and make them serve under you, they may not be willing to do so. However, in today's incident, Li Kan accepted our attack, while Li Jue and Guo Si just sat and watched, without sending a single soldier to rescue him... There is already a rift between the generals in Guanzhong and Li Jue and Guo Si, and they cannot trust each other. Perhaps they can work together in the battle of defending the city, but if it is a field battle, the generals in Guanzhong will not trust Li Jue and Guo Si to back them up."

"Field battle?" Fa Zheng shook his head. "Li Jue, Guo Si and the other generals in Guanzhong are not united. Besides, they are in a weak position. How can they fight with us in the field? If it is not a field battle, we will not have the opportunity to attack and kill Li Jue and Guo Si... I think Li Jue and Guo Si will continue to defend the city."

When Fa Zheng said this, his eyes sparkled and he said tentatively, "Mr. Jia, do you have a plan to sow discord between Li Jue, Guo Si and the generals in Guanzhong in Chang'an so that the two sides can fight in the city. In this way, Chang'an will be easy to capture."

"That's right." Jia Xu smiled and nodded. He cupped his hands and said to Liu Zhang, "Let's not consider the Qiang and Hu. Now that we are in Chang'an, we can sow dissension between Li Jue, Guo Si and the generals of Liangzhou, and even cause civil unrest in Chang'an. In this way, Guanzhong can be stabilized and the three prefectures can be safe."

"Where's the plan?" Liu Zhang asked calmly, and started asking about the actual operation.

Jia Xu's face was serious as he slowly told everyone his plan, and everyone in the tent also spoke up to improve Jia Xu's plan. The meeting to discuss military intelligence lasted until late at night.

Day two.

Liu Zhang heard the magpie calling on the big banner early in the morning, and he knew that good things were coming. Just as he expected, after his personal guards informed him, General Ningji Duan Wei sent an envoy from Huayin to meet him.

"This is how the superior party is treated." After hearing the report from his personal guards, Liu Zhang secretly sighed. Whether it was the elders in Guanzhong, or the powerful families in the Three Auxiliary Regions, or the old generals in Liangzhou such as Duan Wei and Zhang Ji who were on good terms with Li Jue and Guo Si, most of them changed their attitudes according to the situation, either joining him, submitting to him, or sending envoys to pay their respects, just like the water of rivers flowing into the sea.

Liu Zhang was currently doing great things and had just stepped onto the stage of competing for world domination, so he adopted an attitude of courtesy and invited the envoy sent by General Ningji Duan Wei to the central military tent for a chat. He wanted to receive Duan Wei's envoy in person.

"Duan Yu, Duan Ningji's subordinate, greets you, sir."

As soon as he entered the Shu camp, Duan Yu was summoned. He showed great respect to Liu Zhang. As someone sent by Duan Wei to express his submission, he naturally could not be arrogant and disrespectful. After all, he had a request to make from Liu Yizhou.

"Duan Yu?" Liu Zhang laughed to himself. The name of this envoy was the same as that of the romantic wanderer in Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils. It was just unknown whether this envoy could use the Six Meridians Divine Sword. However, the emergence of Dali Kingdom had to wait until the Iron-blooded Song Dynasty, so it was unlikely that this envoy would be able to do so.

Liu Zhang cast aside all distracting thoughts in his mind and consoled Duan Yu: "Mr. Duan, you have come from a long way and must have had a hard time. Please take a seat quickly and have a glass of wine to comfort yourself."

"Thank you, Lord Ming." Duan Yu stood up in a serious manner, sat down with steady steps, and drank the glass of wine at Liu Zhang's gesture.

After a glass of wine, Liu Zhang spoke quickly and directly asked, "Mr. Duan, what is the matter with you?"

This question seemed a bit redundant. After all, Liu Zhang saw Duan Yu's behavior and the precious jades that Duan Yu brought with him. He could guess that the Ningji general Duan Wei must have sent Duan Yu to express his intention to surrender.

Duan Yu listened to Liu Zhang's question, he put down his wine glass, bowed his hands and said solemnly: "Mr. Ming has raised an army to fight against the enemy for the country and to defend the people. General Ning Ji is very loyal to you and wants to lend a helping hand to you. However, due to the road being blocked and the many things going on in Huayin, he cannot come in person... I am sent by Ning Ji to express my intention to submit to you. I hope you will accept my request."

"So that's right." Liu Zhang smiled and nodded. "General Ning Ji stationed troops in Huayin, settled the people, and persuaded them to grow mulberry trees and farm. He did not join forces with Li Jue, Guo Si and others. He is truly a loyal man of the country. Now that he is willing to surrender, I will accept him."

"Thank you very much, my lord." Upon hearing this, Duan Yu knelt down and kowtowed to express his gratitude. At first, he was worried that Liu Zhang would refuse Duan Wei's surrender because Duan Wei was Dong Zhuo's old general. However, he did not expect that Liu Zhang would be so sincere in his words and easily accept Duan Wei's request for surrender.

"It is true that only Li Jue and Guo Si were to be executed, and the rest of the surrendered were not to be questioned." Duan Yu sighed inexplicably at Liu Zhang's credibility.

After the matter of Duan Wei's surrender was settled, Liu Zhang urged Duan Yu to drink and entertained the envoy sent by Duan Wei well, making sure that Duan Yu did not feel treated badly.

While Liu Zhang was entertaining Duan Yu, Gan Ning, Lou Fa and others began to implement the plan drawn up by Jia Xu.

As the sun slowly sank into the west and the sky gradually darkened, with a faint crescent moon hanging in the sky, Gan Ning and Lou Fa led dozens of riders to the foot of Chang'an City and stopped at a safe distance.

Then Lou Fa drew his bow and shot an arrow to the top of the city wall. Only Lou Fa had the strength to shoot an arrow to the top of the city wall. As for the soldiers stationed on the city wall in the area where the arrow was shot, Gan Ning and Lou Fa had already inquired about it and knew that the people here were Hou Xuan's subordinates, not the soldiers under the command of Li Jue and Guo Si, and this was what Gan Ning and Lou Fa wanted.

In the dim light, after the soldiers under Hou Xuan heard the sound of arrows, they first shrank their heads alertly and hid their bodies behind the pheasant discs, and then they looked down at the city to see if there was any movement below the city, and whether the Shu army was taking advantage of the night to attack the city.

After taking a few peeks at the city, Hou Xuan's soldiers breathed a sigh of relief. There was no movement below the city, and the Shu army had no plans to attack the city at night, which was a good thing for them.

The sound of arrows whistling just now, plus the sound of arrows hitting the wooden pillars on their city wall, made them dare not relax. The soldiers under Hou Xuan began to search and search, trying to find out what had been shot onto the top of the city wall.

Soon, the soldiers under Hou Xuan found an arrow embedded in the wooden pillar of the city gate tower, and a piece of silk cloth tied to the arrow.

As a small leader of Quchang, when he saw the silk cloth tied on the arrow, he looked down at the city again, but found that it was quiet and silent. He thought for a while, took off the silk cloth, went down the city wall from the horse path, and went to the central army tent of Houxuan's troops stationed against the city wall.

However, the movements of this captain were closely watched by several spies planted by Li Jue in Houxuan's army. As the captain went downstairs, one of the spies, under the cover of his companions, disappeared silently on the city wall and headed towards Li Jue's location.

The candidate’s central military tent.

"Enemy attack?" The candidate, who had just fallen asleep and was awakened, said in panic. Since the death of his good friend Li Kan, he has not been able to sleep or eat well. He has been in fear all day, fearing that he would follow in Li Kan's footsteps.

Therefore, when he heard the report from his personal guards that Qu Chang, who was stationed on the city wall, wanted to see him, he was very nervous.

But soon, Hou Xuan's panic disappeared. He learned from Qu Chang who came into the tent that it was not a night attack by the Shu army, but that the Shu army inexplicably shot an arrow at the city wall. The arrow carried a silk letter, which he could not open and read, so he handed it to Hou Xuan.

"It's good that the Shu army didn't attack at night." Taking the silk cloth from Qu Chang, Hou Xuan heaved a sigh of relief and his tense expression relaxed.

While Hou Xuan was spreading out the letter shot at the top of the city wall by the Shu army, he began to guess the content of the letter. He guessed that it was almost certain that the letter contained words persuading him to surrender, as well as the surrender conditions given by Liu Yizhou.

Not surprisingly, Hou Xuan saw the words he had guessed on the silk cloth shot by the Shu army. Liu Yizhou was indeed willing to surrender. He would not be asked about his previous crimes and would be rewarded handsomely.

Here the candidate frowned. He looked at the black spots one after another in some parts of the silk cloth, and there were many places where they were erased and modified. He was a little puzzled. How could the clerks under him be so poor in writing that they had to erase and modify them to complete a document?

"If it was my subordinate, I would not give him thirty or fifty strokes of the cane for a letter like this. "Hou Xuan looked down on the Shu army clerk who wrote the document.

Putting the bad Shu army clerk out of his mind, Hou Xuan pondered secretly that if he surrendered to Yizhou Mu Liu Zhang, he would naturally lose his power and would not be able to do whatever he wanted as before. However, he could also rest assured, unlike the past few days when he was worried and anxious, always afraid of following in Li Kan's footsteps.

Faced with a dilemma, the candidates find it difficult to make a decision.

"Go, call Generals Cheng Yin and Liang Xing." Hou Xuan decided to take advantage of the late night when no one was noticing and go and ask Cheng Yin and Liang Xing to discuss the matter.

Hou Xuan stood up and thought, and sent someone to invite Cheng Yin and Liang Xing. At the same time, the spies planted by Li Jue in Hou Xuan's army reported to Li Jue and Guo Si that the Shu army had shot a letter to the city wall.

"You mean, the Shu army shot a letter to the top of the city wall, and it happened to be the part of the city wall guarded by Hou Xuan." Guo Si had a bad look on his face, and asked in detail as he got closer.

Seeing Guo Si approaching and even showing signs of interrogating him, the spy immediately reported back: "It is absolutely true. The Shu army shot a letter onto the tower. I saw it with my own eyes."

"Where is the letter?" Guo Si asked.

"It was taken away by Qu Chang, and it seems that he was passed on to Hou Xuan." Jian Xi asked and answered Guo Si's questions without hesitation.

"You have done a good job. As a reward, I will give you fifty gold coins." Li Jue pulled back Guo Si, who was approaching the spy to question him, and he smiled and comforted the spy.

"Thank you, General. Thank you, General."

As the spy kept knocking to thank him, Li Jue looked at his personal guards and asked them to take the spy down to receive the reward.

"It's a good thing that you, Zhiran, bribed some candidate soldiers earlier, otherwise we would have no way of knowing about this matter... I was always dissatisfied with you before, but now I, Guo Aduo, am convinced." After the spies left the tent, Guo Si expressed his relief. He admired Li Jue's foresight very much.

Whether it was persuading the generals in Guanzhong to settle their families in Chang'an City earlier, or planting spies among the generals in Guanzhong in advance, all of the things Li Jue did played a huge role.

"What's the point of saying you admire me now? What you should worry about is the letter and its contents." Li Jue rolled his eyes in annoyance. He was speechless about Guo Si, but he had to speak kindly to him. He could only say it in his heart. After all, he and Guo Si were grasshoppers on the same rope, and they would rise and fall together.

"Zhiran, what do you think the content of the letter will be?" Guo Si said in admiration, and then asked Li Jue.

Li Jue curled his lips and sighed, "What else could it be? It's nothing more than persuading Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and others to give up our heads in exchange for power and wealth." (End of this chapter)