Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 427: Nothing but death

AD 218, May.

Seeing that Cao Ren still had no specific letter, Meng Da felt anxious and wanted to write a letter to urge Cao Ren to raise troops. However, after Lu Xun learned about it, he wrote a letter to persuade Mengda to meditate.

Lu Xun stated in the letter that Meng Da was a surrendered person and that he was urging Cao Ren to send troops now, which might arouse Cao Cao's suspicion. Why not rely on your identity, use the control of three counties and nine counties as a bargaining chip, and ask for officials and titles in letters to appease Cao Cao.

Then, the letter added that since the Lord of Xiaguan returned to Wuhan for the first time in the name of recuperating his illness, it was not appropriate to rush into military action. After a few months, Cao Ren was eager to lure him to send troops to attack Fangling.

Lu Xun was good at guessing the enemy's intentions. Under his guidance, Meng Da was not in a hurry to communicate with Cao Ren, but instead worried about Cao Ren. There are letters from Cao Ren in everything, and Meng Dado is bargaining, showing his philistine side.

In fact, what Lu Xun pointed out was correct. With Meng Da's cooperation, Fan Cao Ren raised his troops to the west, and the three counties and nine counties would surrender without fighting. As a powerful party, Meng Da was naturally qualified to bargain with Cao Ren.

In May, Meng Da maintained correspondence with Cao Ren, but in order not to arouse doubts, he did not urge Cao Ren to march.

Not to mention the exchange of letters between Meng Da and Cao Ren. After Cao Cao entered Xuchang, he played a trick with Liu Xie of three requests and three concessions. In the end, he could not resist the kindness of Liu Xie, the virtuous king, and Cao Cao finally accepted Liu Xie's concession.

After the officials carefully selected the date, Cao Cao decided to ascend the throne in July and temporarily set up an altar in Xuchang, the capital of Wei State, to worship heaven and earth.

As for the location of the capital, there may be discussions on Yecheng or Luoyang. Although Cao Cao wanted to make Luoyang his capital, due to Luoyang's decline and the early construction of the Wei Dynasty, he had to temporarily use Yecheng as the temporary capital.

In June, news of Liu Xie's abdication spread throughout Wei and soon reached Wuhan, the capital of the Southern Han Dynasty.

Wuhan, Han Palace.

In the side hall, Liu Bei and Guan Yu were having a drink and talking about their brotherhood.

Liu Bei was holding the wine bottle and saw Guan Yu's gray hair on his temples. He sighed and said, "Brother and Yun Chang met in Zhuo County. In the past, Yun Chang was brave and heroic. But now, both Yun Chang and my brother are white-haired men. They are both old." !”

Looking at the wrinkles growing on Liu Bei's face, Guan Yu felt deeply and said: "Xianhe and Gongyou died of illness one after another, and friends gradually died. Thinking about it now, there are many people gathering together to laugh while recalling the past."

After saying that, Guan Yu asked: "The king and his younger brother are gathered in Wuhan, but now I don't know how Wing De is. I haven't seen you for several years, so I miss you a lot."

Liu Bei shook his head and smiled bitterly, and said: "Yide is just like in the past. He often drinks alcohol and whips the soldiers. Boyan and Chengming are far away in their respective offices, and the officers and soldiers under his command are unable to persuade them. Even though his brother writes letters to persuade him, Yide often refuses to listen to advice. .”

Guan Yu sighed helplessly and said: "Yide is far away in Jiangzhou leading troops, and no one is listening to warn him. Ge Duo is a little indulgent."

The mountains are high and the emperor is far away, and letters of advice are of no use. Zhang Fei is going to fight now. Because he is the commander-in-chief, he is afraid of delaying the military affairs and does not dare to drink too much. However, when stationing troops in Jiangzhou, without military operations, Zhang Fei let himself go, and his bad habits were difficult to correct.

Liu Bei picked up the wine spoon to pour wine for Guan Yu and said with a smile: "When the host slave gets married and Yide returns to Wuhan, I will scold him severely to make him restrain his temper."

Guan Yu stopped Liu Bei's move and said: "My brother is the King of Han, how can I condescend to pour wine for my younger brother?"

Liu Bei pretended to be displeased and said: "You and I have been brothers for decades, even though we have been divided between monarch and minister, it is difficult to change the affection between you and me. Brother pours wine for younger brother, what's wrong?"

Seeing what Liu Bei said, Guan Yu smiled and said: "My brother is not the King of Han, but he is also an elder. When my brother is young, I should pour wine for him."

"No need!"

Liu Bei slapped Guan Yu's outstretched hand, poured him wine, and said with a smile: "Brother, I vaguely remember when I was living in Xiaopei. The weather was cold at that time. You and I were warming up by the fire and drinking, discussing the matter of resurrecting. Yide was drinking beside him. water."

Guan Yu looked reminiscing and said: "If my memory is correct, Yide fell to Xiapi. My brother and I wandered in the East China Sea. We were rescued by Mi Zizhong and then settled in Xiaopei. In the cold winter of that year, Yide regretted that he lost his place after being drunk. City, no drinking water for several months.”

"That day, my brother saw that Yide was feeling remorseful, so he called him to pour some wine and let him have a few sips. Unexpectedly, Yide drank until he was drunk, and his brother scolded him before he stopped. Yide is addicted to alcohol, and he will never drink without alcohol. joyous."

Before Liu Bei said anything, he saw Wang Canchu walking into the hall, his footsteps hurried, as if there was something urgent.

"Your Majesty!"

"Zhongxuan, why are you so anxious?" Liu Bei asked.

Wang Can stopped and saluted, and said: "Your Majesty, according to rumors in Xuchang, Cao Cao forced the emperor to abdicate the throne to him in the manner of three generations. Nowadays, most people in the Central Plains know that Cao Cao may usurp the throne and ascend to the throne soon."

"what?"

Even though he was prepared, Liu Bei was very angry when he learned the news.

Liu Bei smacked the case angrily and said angrily: "After the Cao thief became an eunuch, he received favors from the Han in his life, so he can have the glory of the Cao family. After killing him, he became the king, and now he has usurped the throne and ascended the throne. This can be tolerated, but who can't tolerate it?"

Guan Yu said with anger on his face: "In the past when I was hunting in Xuchang, if Yu Ruo shot Cao Cao to death with one arrow, there would be no such thing as Cao Cao usurping the throne." Liu Bei raised his head and sighed, saying: "At this time, Cao Cao is a blessing to the country. It's easy to do it. Now Cao Cao has become a disaster for the country. The blessings and misfortunes are like the clouds and clears of the sky, which are beyond my control."

At that time, Cao Cao, who was hunting in Xu Tian, ​​had not long welcomed the emperor Liu Xie. At that time, the two parties were at the end of the honeymoon period and had not yet fallen out.

At that time, Liu Bei surrendered to Cao Cao because of Cao Cao's banner of supporting the emperor. Later, although he recognized Cao Cao's face, he did not dare to take action directly.

At that time, Liu Bei asked Guan Yu to attack Cao Cao, whether he would succeed or not. Even if they succeed, Liu Bei and Guan Yu may not be able to escape death, and they will definitely be benefited by Yuan Shao.

The hope of the world is Yuan Benchu. These are not words that ordinary people are boasting about, but words that are true.

Therefore, Liu Bei said that Cao Cao at that time was a blessing to the country, and there was probably a reason.

Guan Yu felt helpless and said: "If Cao Cao usurps the throne, the only hope for the prosperity of the Han Dynasty is his brother. I wonder when will my brother take over the throne and establish the Han Dynasty again?"

Liu Bei frowned and sighed slightly, and said: "There is no urgency to proclaim the emperor. We may wait until Yunchang's northern expedition to Xiangyang before discussing it."

Guan Yu pondered for a while and then said: "Brother, please rest assured. If Meng Da's plan to fake surrender is successful, and Cao Ren dares to send troops to the west, Yu will definitely make a contribution to his brother, destroy his division and defeat his army."

With that said, Guan Yu bowed his hands to Liu Bei and said in a deep voice: "I will not stop until I die in Xiangfan."

Wang Can's expression moved slightly and he said: "Your Majesty, it's important to say that you will die!"

Hearing this, Guan Yu looked slightly serious and said: "Soldiers are inherently evil. If you don't talk about death, why don't you talk about life? If you are afraid of fighting and retreat, don't you think about progress?"

Liu Bei interrupted and said: "Zhong Xuan did not have this intention. His heart was to consider Yun Chang. As a general and governor, how can Yun Chang say 'die' so lightly?"

Guan Yu sighed slightly and said: "Xiangfan is so steep that it is rare in the world. If we have Xiangfan, we can look at Wanluo to the north, Guanzhong to the west, and Ru and Ying to the east. The reason why the strategy of conquering the north proposed by the military strategist cannot be accomplished is nothing more than Xiangyang is not in the hands of our army. If Xiangfan is captured and the three armies respond with troops, Cao Cao will be in panic all day long."

"Ever since Yu was entrusted by his elder brother to guard Nanjun, he wished he could go to Xiangfan and think that his elder brother would revive the Han Dynasty. Looking at the situation in the world in the past, I feared that he would not be able to fulfill the entrustment of his elder brother in his lifetime. Now there is a good opportunity to help Xiang, and Yu How can we not take it with death?"

The Bo Wang pair provided by Huo Jun is the limit of territory that Liu Bei can possess. It wasn't because of lack of ability, but because Cao Cao was too powerful at the time.

No matter how strong Zhuge Liang and Lu Su's strategic vision was, they could not break free from the constraints of the situation. In this case, Zhuge Liang tried to propose a strategy of attacking the north from the south based on Huo Jun's strategy.

Taking the middle road as Jingzhou as the fulcrum, passing through Fangcheng Xia Road and Wuguan Road, we can leverage the situation in Xuhuai and Guanzhong. But now that the north and south are separated, why can't Zhuge Liang's strategy be realized?

There is no other reason!

Just like in the previous life, the Jingzhou in Liu Bei's hands was not a complete Jingzhou, but a Jingzhou lacking Jingbei.

This is also the reason why Liu Bei changed his name to Shouchun during the last Northern Expedition. He tried to change the general strategy of the Northern Expedition and captured Shouchun to compete for the Central Plains.

Therefore, it can be said that once the Southern Han Dynasty breaks through Shouchun or Xiangfan, the shackles of its competition with Cao Wei for the Central Plains will be broken off. Both fell into the hands of the Southern Han Dynasty, and the Southern Han Dynasty took the initiative during the Northern Expedition.

In such a vast front line, Xiangfan is the only place that has the ability to change the situation of the battle. With Xiangfan, the Southern Han Dynasty could complete Zhuge Liang's strategy on the river.

Such an important strategic stronghold really tied up the dream of reviving the Han Dynasty.

In Guan Yu's opinion, even if he died, it would be enough if he could capture Xiangfan for Liu Bei!

Liu Bei held Guan Yu's hand and persuaded him: "How can I not know Yun Chang's heart? But victory or defeat is a common thing for military officers. Don't be too eager to look at Yun Chang."

"Brother, please don't worry!"

Guan Yu cupped his hands and said, "My elder brother and the princes have been planning for my brother for a long time. In order to prevent Cao's thieves from being prepared, Zhong Miao went from Gannan to Jiaoling. I should work hard to do it."

After Lu Dai and Bu Zhao captured Yulin and Hepu counties, they sent a letter asking for help to Liu Bei according to their previous words.

In order to confuse Cao Cao, he pretended that the war in Jiaozhou was anxious and showed that he had no intention of the Northern Expedition. Liu Bei appointed Huo Jun, the governor of Jiaozhou and Guangzhou, to be responsible for pacifying Shixie. Therefore, after Huo Jun and Guan Yu met in Wuhan, they led their sergeants southward and rushed to Jiaoling to put down the rebellion.

It can be said that in order to lure Cao Renxi into Fangling, almost everyone was mobilized to participate in this strategic deception.

For example, Liu Feng and Meng Da sang in harmony, and Lu Xun wrote letters to give advice in Hanzhong; Huo Jun pretended to be jealous of Liu Bei by borrowing the King of Huainan's affairs; Bu Zhi and Lu Dai slowed down the pace of attacking Jiaoling and asked for help from Wuhan; Guan Yu adopted Lu Meng's plan and returned to Wuhan to recuperate due to illness. .

It can be said that in order to create the impression that Liu Bei had no intention of the Northern Expedition, the three counties of Fangling, Shangyong, and Xicheng were easily conquered, and most of the senior officials of the Southern Han Dynasty joined in.

Guan Yu's Northern Expedition to Xiangyang was not a one-man expedition, but it affected the hearts of the informed and senior officials in the south. The goal is to defeat Jingzhou's troops so that they can attack Xiangfan later.

(End of this chapter)