Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 303 Discussion in the meeting hall
In the spring of 17 AD, the 212th year of Jian'an.

Cao Cao's horses surpassed Guanzhong, Liu Bei sent generals to attack Yizhou, Huo Jun attacked Hefei from the north, and Sun Quan aided Hefei from the south.

There were wars in the southeast, northwest, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses were fighting at the same time.The general planned the military strategy in his tent, while the civil servants worked on the documents in the rear.

It was just after noon. Because he had been too busy with paperwork recently and got up early today, Zhuge Liang was very sleepy.Yawning and holding his head with his hands, Zhuge Liang couldn't help but want to close his eyelids, and his head was slowly drooping.

Liao Li was holding the bamboo slips. Seeing how tired Zhuge Liang was, he wanted to disturb him but couldn't bear to disturb him.

"Lord!"

At this time, there were footsteps outside the hall. Liao Li turned around and saw Liu Bei, calling softly.

Liu Bei saw that Zhuge Liang seemed to be dozing off and asked in a low voice: "Who is the military advisor?"

"The military advisor was busy until the middle of the night last night. I got up early today. I'm afraid I'm too tired," Liao Li said.

Liu Bei waved his hand and signaled Liao Li to retreat, and whispered: "Put the papers on the desk and then retreat. Don't disturb the military advisor."

"promise!"

With soft footsteps, Liu Bei walked to Zhuge Liang's side, took off his embroidered dragon and phoenix robe, and gently put it on Zhuge Liang's shoulders.

Fearing that Zhuge Liang would wake up, Liu Bei slowly withdrew again.

After leaving the study hall, Liu Bei sighed and said: "To raise the troops from east to west to fight, for Wu Chu, he had to give up everything. He relied on Kong Ming to make sure that there was no shortage of supplies."

Wang Can, who was serving on the left and right, said: "We have to fight now. Cao Cao enters Guanzhong from the west and fights for the northwest. The Central Plains is empty. If we don't go north to Jianghuai and capture Bashu from the west. When Cao Cao decides on the northwest, he will fight with his lord for Bashu. This is a matter of concern. To build the foundation of a country, we must fight.”

The endless wars for years made Liu Bei hesitate to start a war with both the East and the West at the same time.But as Wang Can said, the two wars in the east and west are related to his hegemony.

If he wins both the east and west battles, he will be able to complete Huo Jun's plan of dividing the north and the south, and then he can think about proclaiming himself king and founding a country.Then he spent several years in-depth governance of the south and completely brought Jiaozhou under his control.

As for the great cause of the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains and the restoration of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bei was ready to leave it to his successor.After all, he is already in his fifties this year, half the age of being buried.For Liu Bei, the three-pronged man has more than enough ambition but not enough power.

"After years of fighting, the people are exhausted. It will take a few years to recover after taking down Bashu."

While they were talking, Liu Bei and Wang Can were inspecting the work of government officials and found Ma Su dozing off in the side hall.Except for Ma Su, all the pen officials on the left and right were immersed in their papers. No one dared to raise their heads or be distracted by Liu Bei's inspection.

"Who is the sleeping man?"

Liu Bei looked dissatisfied, pointed at Ma Su in the side hall, and asked.

"My Lord, Ma Jichang's younger brother, Ma Youchang!" Wang Can said.

"Wake it up." Liu Bei said coldly.

"promise!"

Wang Can walked over and knocked on the table with his hand.The crisp sound of knocking on the case woke up Ma Su who was dozing off.

When the clerks on the left and right saw Ma Su being arrested, they snickered a few times.They were very jealous of Ma Su, who was highly regarded by military advisors.

Seeing that it was Wang Can and Liu Bei, Ma Su suddenly dispersed his sleepiness, and quickly stood up to accuse him, saying: "My lord, I was busy with the military advisor until the third watch last night, and I am mentally exhausted. I hope my lord will punish me."

Liu Bei glanced at Ma Su, looked around at the pen clerks in the side hall, and said calmly: "The sergeants in the front are fighting fiercely with the enemy invaders. You and others in the capital must not slack off."

"promise!"

After saying that, Liu Bei walked out of the side hall in the eyes of everyone, letting everyone breathe a sigh of relief.

"My lord, the military advisor is awake and looking for my lord!"

The attendant trotted over and reported to Liu Bei.

Liu Bei looked ashamed and said, "Why don't Kong Ming sleep a little longer? Could it be that Gu made a noise with Kong Ming?"

After a while, Liu Bei led Wang Can into Director Zhuge Liang's study hall.

"Liang neglects official duties, please punish me, my lord!"

Seeing Liu Bei enter, Zhuge Liang held Liu Bei's outer robe with both hands and said, "The king and his ministers have a relationship, and Liang does not dare to accept this gift."

Liu Bei helped Zhuge Liang up and said: "Kong Ming has worked hard for the country, so why should he neglect official duties? You and I, the emperor and the minister, are one, how can we distinguish ourselves."

After saying that, Liu Bei took Zhuge Liang and sat down, and asked: "Kong Ming, how is the distribution of the baggage now?" Zhuge Liang sat on the couch and said: "My lord, Wu and Chu have a vast territory and few people. Now we can travel thousands of miles to help things, thank you so much." Rivers flow vertically and horizontally, and boats and boats are used for transportation. For example, the grain from Changsha travels along the Xiang River to the river, and then up the river to the army advancing westward; or the grain from Wu County travels along the Dantu River, enters Chaohu Lake, and is sent to the army of the Northern Expedition. ."

When Cao Cao conquered Guanzhong, he needed to rely on the supply of grain and grass from Hedong, and he also had to recruit civilians to transport grain.Although Wu and Chu are vast and sparsely populated, the level of development is not as good as in the north.But Wu Chu has the biggest advantage, that is, it has the advantage of water transportation.

There are many rivers in Wu and Chu, extending in all directions. Their tributaries converge into rivers, and the rivers merge into rivers.Counties and villages built near rivers often transported grain and grass to Jindu and brought them together as quickly as possible.Then, under the coordination of Wuhan, the expedition boatmen transported food to the front line.

In this way, compared with the north where people need to carry horses on horseback to deliver grain and grass to the front line, the supply of grain and grass in the south is more convenient.

This is why Sun Quan can often raise [-] troops to attack Hefei, while Cao Wei and Shu Han often suffer from food shortages. The core is that Wu Chu has a natural logistics buff of water transportation.

As he spoke, Zhuge Liang pointed to the map recording the military supplies and said: "Now that I have received the Dharma from Xiaozhi and Mencius, I have gained the natural barrier of the Three Gorges and the fortified city of Baidi. Now the army has conquered Linjiang, Zhixian and other cities and is approaching." Jiangzhou. Liang has asked Zishan to garrison military rations at Baidi. If Jiangzhou is defeated, he can move the generals' rations to Jiangzhou and supply them to the Shu army."

"As for the Northern Expedition army, all the food and grass were stationed in Moling. They went directly from Yuan Dynasty to Jiangdong to handle the military food dispatch for Zhongmiao."

The two ends of the country were at war at the same time. Zhuge Liang had to manage political affairs and provide food and grass, and he was really busy.Therefore, at Zhuge Liang's suggestion, Xu Shu was asked to travel east to Moling to allocate Wuyue resources and provide food for Huo Jun.

As he spoke, Zhuge Liang sighed and said: "It's just that we have been fighting for many years, the taxes are heavy, the soldiers have little rest, and the people are resentful. The method of wheat and rice rotation proposed by Zhongmiao was also delayed by the war, making it difficult to implement it." "

"The document just sent by Gong Yuan talked about the local civil unrest. Fortunately, it was just harassment by the township pavilion and severe punishment of the relevant people, and it has been calmed down."

Liu Bei poured a cup of tea for Zhuge Liang and said: "Zhongmiao said that during the rainy season in the Jianghuai River, Hefei can be taken. After the war in Jiangbei is over, Wu Yue can also share in the food and grass for the Shu army."

Zhuge Liang shook his head and said, "Master, this is wrong!"

"In Liang's opinion, perhaps there is not enough food in Jiangbei, and there is even more food and grass to hoard."

"Oh?"

Liu Bei looked puzzled and asked, "It's been a long time since we conquered Bashu and the war in Jiangbei was short. Why can't we speak like this?"

Zhuge Liang stroked his feather fan gently and said: "My lord, the Jianghuai River has been a prosperous land in China since ancient times. However, it was destroyed by Yuan Shu, and the soldiers were rampant. The Huai people fled south, and the people's livelihood was in ruins. There is no human habitation for ten miles, and there is no cockcrow for a hundred miles."

"Fortunately, Liu Fu had deep control over the Jianghuai River and many people attached to it. However, when Cao Cao went south and my lord went north, there were many wars. The people fled south and moved north, and there was no chance of survival. Therefore, the Jianghuai River was a place of war, and there was no human habitation for hundreds of miles in between."

"I dare to ask my lord, when Hefei was captured, Zhongmiao's troops entered the Huaihe River and transported grain and grass for hundreds of miles, costing hundreds of millions. Without supplies from the east of the Yangtze River, the soldiers stationed in the Jianghuai River would have no food!"

Regardless of military geographical factors, Huo Jun's attack on the Jianghuai River was a loss-making business purely from the perspective of input and output.After all, to capture Hefei, we had to send troops to the Huaihe River.

However, the hundreds of miles of no-man's land between Jiangdong and Jianghuai is a complete supply nightmare. They rely on Jiangdong for supplies all year round, and the sergeants also need Jiangdong soldiers to garrison them.Moreover, the Huaihe River Basin is close to the core area of ​​the Central Plains, which is conducive to Cao Cao's mobilization of troops and horses, but not conducive to Liu Bei's mobilization of troops and grain.

After conquering Hefei and approaching the Huaihe River, Liu Bei would have to deploy no less than [-] troops along the Huaihe River to perhaps defend the Jianghuai River.

Zhuge Liang showed a wry smile and said: "On the contrary, if we can capture Jiangzhou and send troops into Bashu and surrender all the counties, we can mobilize the grain and army of the counties in Shu to attack the enemy. We will send people to cultivate Bashu deeply to benefit. The wealth of the state should help me, Wu Chu, become rich and strong."

Liu Bei understood the details and sighed: "It is easy to take Jianghuai, but difficult to defend Jianghuai!"

After a pause, Liu Bei asked: "In Kong Ming's opinion, is it easy to take Yizhou this time?"

Zhuge Liang pondered for a long time and said: "Although Liu Zhang is weak, he has been kind to Bashu for many years, and many wise men have devoted themselves to their service. General Zhang raised troops to attack Bashu on the grounds of cutting off the road, which is not credible. However, even so, the prince and the emperor's family , famous in the world, competing with Cao Cao in Wu Chu, many people in Shu want to seek enlightenment."

Shaking his feather fan gently, Zhuge Liang said: "Liu Zhang's eldest son Liu Xun is very popular with people because he cares about wealth but loves righteousness. His generals Zhang Ren and Liu Quan are both trustworthy people. The mountain city in Jiangzhou is extremely dangerous and dangerous. Liu Xun is guarding it now. It is not short-term." Times can change.”

"However, once Jiangzhou is defeated, Liu Xun's army is defeated. He raises three armies and enters Bashu. The counties and counties should surrender upon hearing the lord's reputation. When the three armies gather in Shu, Liu Zhang from Chengdu has no way to go, so he can only return and surrender to the lord!"

Liu Bei hugged his knees and muttered, and said: "The troops defeated Jiangzhou, and they were so powerful that Bashu will surrender in large numbers. Yi De has a rough temperament, and Yun Chang is arrogant and indulgent. He is not a man who can comfort people's hearts. After Jiangzhou is defeated at that time, Kong Mingxi may have troubles. Enter Bashu, care for the people on behalf of the orphans, and mobilize the three armies."

"good!"

Zhuge Liang was a little worried and said: "The three generals Guan, Zhang, and Gan are all brave enough to fight, and they are capable of conquering and fighting. Xiaozhi and Shiyuan are also wise men. They have good plans in their chests and good soldiers." Talent. However, Liang is afraid that the generals will rush to Jiangzhou and use troops in a hurry, abandoning the slow strategy, resulting in the death of many soldiers."

"Xiaozhi and Shiyuan, as the military advisor said, are both wise and resourceful men. There should be no serious disaster if they are alone." Liu Bei said.

Zhuge Liang looked melancholy and said, "I'm afraid these two are also eager to seek success!"

"Kong Ming and Gu Tong wrote a divorce letter to the generals to let everyone enter the map slowly and not to be too eager to achieve success, so as not to hurt the soldiers more." Liu Bei said.

Zhuge Liang pursed his lips and said, "I'll give you a few words of advice. I'm afraid it will be counterproductive."

　The state is not good. Please change the content and restore the state.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)