Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 522 Extreme Pressure
As the sun sets in the west, the Ba River sparkles and the sunset glows in the sky, which is very gorgeous.

On the bank of Ba River, the Han camp was set up near the water. Infantry and cavalry soldiers shuttled through the camp, and smoke curled up from the cooking pots.

In the big tent, Liu Bei put his hands behind his back, pacing and meditating.

Fazheng's strategy of taking Long was a bit dangerous in Liu Bei's opinion. If it was not done properly, it might provoke Ma Chao to betray him, or even be used by Cao Wei.

But it has to be said that if the plan succeeds and can capture Yinping and Wudu counties without falling out with Ma Chao, the results of this Northern Expedition will be maximized.

"Uncle Bin, what do you think of filial piety and uprightness?" Liu Bei asked.

Binbo, named after Fei Guan, was a native of Jiangxia County, Fei Yi's clan uncle, and Liu Zhang's son-in-law.

However, although Fei Guan was Fei Yi's uncle, he was actually not very old, only in his early thirties, and was younger than Zhuge, Fazheng, Huo Jun and others.

When Xiguan and Zhang attacked Shu, Fei Guan joined the army and Li Yan served as a guard. The two led their troops to surrender to the Southern Han Dynasty and helped Guan Yu capture Jiangzhou City.

After Shuping, Fei Guan was worshiped as a partial general and led as the prefect of Yuzhang. Due to his outstanding political achievements, he was promoted to Wuhan and was highly regarded by Liu Bei.

Liu Bei stopped and said: "If you follow the policy of filial piety and uprightness, the words of the guest and uncle, and the non-eloquent and heroic people, are not enough to form an alliance between the two families."

In the Longnan mountainous area, there are two counties, Wudu and Yinping; in the Longxi plateau, there are four counties, Tianshui, Nan'an and Guangwei.

During the Northern Expedition, Fei Guan joined the army and held the post of Nanyang Prefect, and accompanied the army on the expedition.

Liu Bei hesitated and said: "The policy of filial piety and uprightness can bring benefits to the country, but if you plan to use two counties, causing Ma Chao to turn his back on the Han and join the bandits, this will be a small loss at the expense of a big one!"

Taking the broad Longyou region as a geographical unit for analysis, it can actually be divided into the Hehuang Valley, Longxi Plateau, Longnan Mountainous Area and Hexi Corridor.

The reason why Liu Bei is hesitant now is not that he does not agree with Fa Zheng's strategy, but that he is thinking about the feasibility of the strategy. If something goes wrong during the execution, they are afraid of angering Ma Chao and allowing Cao Wei to benefit alone.

As for why Fazheng was confident that Ma Chao would hand over Wudu and Yinping counties, it was judged based on the current situation.

Of course, this is only the unilateral thinking of Fa Zheng. When it is truly implemented, it places very high demands on the executors, especially the ability to control the intensity of the situation.

"That's not the case!"

Moreover, given the current situation of the Southern Han Dynasty, it was unable to compete with Cao Wei for Longyou. The Southern Han Dynasty would allow Ma Chao to seize Longyou, but would never allow Cao Weixin to seize Longyou.

The big Han can take advantage of the situation and use force to exert maximum pressure, pretending to attack Ma Chao, and force him to hand over the two counties of Longnan.

Fei Guan pondered for a while and said: "Your Majesty, the policy proposed by the decree is exactly in line with the current situation. Ma Chao has ambitions and is not an ignorant person. If the bandit army intends to attack Longyou, Ma Chao will not dare to To fight with our army, the only option is to cede territory and seek alliance.”

In ancient times, the west was the right, so the area west of Longshan was called both Longxi and Longyou. Longyou in a broad sense does not only refer to the four counties of Longyou, but also includes the Hehuang Valley and the Hexi Corridor area.

Fei Guan corrected him and said: "Your Majesty, Ma Chao accepted the invitation and presented his horse as a tribute to Your Majesty. It is not because Ma Chao is loyal to Your Majesty, but because Ma Chao is afraid that after our army retreats, Cao Pi will attack Longyou. He is capricious and abandons his relatives. Wouldn't you betray your Majesty if you could get some benefits?"

But don't forget that between Ma Chao and Nan Han, there are two counties in Longnan as a buffer zone for both sides. Even if the Southern Han Dynasty occupied the Longnan Mountains, it would be difficult to extend its power deep into the Longyou Plateau because of the Qishan Fort.

So why does Fazheng think Ma Chao will agree to Nan Han's conditions?
Without him, Ma Chao and Cao Wei were separated by Longshan as the boundary between the two sides. He would never allow Cao Wei to cross Longshan. Of course, Ma Chao would not allow the Southern Han Dynasty to penetrate deep into the Longyou Plateau, thus endangering his rule.

Seeing that Ma Chao was at odds with the Han and Wei sides, after careful consideration, he decided to sacrifice the small to protect the big, and signed a covenant with the Southern Han, using the two counties of Longnan as a condition in exchange for the Han's covenant to protect his independence.

Fazheng suggested that Liu Bei use extreme force to force Ma Chao to cede the Longnan mountainous area and only let him retain the Longxi Plateau.

Today, the territory occupied by Ma Chao includes the Longxi Plateau and the Longnan Mountains. The Hehuang Valley is mixed with Cao Wei and Qiang forces, while Hexi is completely within Cao Wei's sphere of influence.

The strategy proposed by Fazheng for planning Long was actually formulated based on the geographical pattern of Longyou and the diplomatic pattern of the three sides of Kansai.

After the Southern Han Dynasty retreats, Ma Chao, who is separatist in Longyou, will be targeted by Cao Wei for rebelling against Cao Wei. Cao Wei will definitely take the opportunity to send troops and seek revenge. Under such circumstances, Ma Chao must seek help from the Han Dynasty.

Fei Guan thought about the candidate and said: "Your Majesty, Li Hui from Jianning in Nanzhong is eloquent and courageous. Now it is better to let Li Hui be the envoy to assist Governor Lu and ask him to speak to Ma Chao and benefit the country. An alliance between the two families.”

Li Hui, whose courtesy name was De'ang, was the postal governor of Jianning County at first. Dong He, a native of Zhijiang, Nan County, was his head.

During the process of pacifying Shu, Li Hui surrendered to the Southern Han Dynasty. Later, due to Zhang Song's case, he was unfortunately falsely accused and imprisoned. Fortunately, Liu Bei saw clearly and found Li Hui innocent, and promoted him to minister. Now Liu Bei leads his army to Guanzhong, and Li Hui also goes with him.

"good!"

Liu Bei stroked his beard and thought, and said: "Li De'ang is thoughtful and well-versed in both civil and military affairs. He is a rare talent in the south. Now he is appointed as an envoy to join Lu Xun's army, participate in military discussions, and pass on imperial edicts."

After a pause, Liu Bei ordered his surroundings and said, "Invite the generals to come to the tent to discuss the withdrawal of troops."

"promise!"

Fa Zheng is in poor health and will not attend ordinary military meetings. Unless it was something Liu Bei couldn't solve, he would ask Fa Zheng for consultation.

Not to mention that Liu Bei wanted to lead his army to retreat, Li Hui had to obey Liu Bei's order, cross the Zhongnan Mountain trail, sneak to Luokou, and pass the imperial edict to Lu Xun. Luokou, Han military camp.

In the big tent, Lu Xun was sitting on the couch, and the Bashu generals were sitting on the left and right.

Li Hui submitted two letters to Lu Xun, saying: "To the Governor, because autumn is approaching, the river water is gradually slowing down, the Danhan waterway is inconvenient, and food and grass are not available. And the bandit army has reached the pass in large numbers, and there is no chance of victory. Therefore, Your Majesty I want to withdraw my troops and return to China so that I can return to China next year!”

Lu Xun opened the letters separately and read the contents. The first letter was for Liu Bei to order Lu Xun to withdraw his troops; the second letter was for Lu Xun to plan the affairs of Yinping and Wudu counties.

Holding the letter in his hand, Lu Xun invited Li Hui to take a seat and asked, "When does Your Majesty want to withdraw the troops? Have the arrangements been completed?"

Li Hui sat down and replied: "Your Majesty wants to withdraw his troops on July 26th. He ordered generals Fu Xu and Feng Xi to stay behind the scenes, leaving deputy generals to govern Shang County. Zhao Junhou led his troops to the west to support them."

During this Northern Expedition, Liu Bei obtained Shang Yu's land of 600 miles. In order to consolidate the fruits of victory and lay a solid foundation for the next Northern Expedition, he appointed Liu Feng as the governor of Sizhou and stayed in Shang Yu.

In order to prevent the Wei army from pursuing him, Liu Bei arranged for Fu Wei and Feng Xi to take the rear, and asked Zhao Yun to lead his infantry and cavalry westward against the Dan River to support him.

Seeing that Liu Bei had made arrangements to withdraw his troops, Lu Xun felt relieved and continued to ask: "Our army is retreating and most of the bandits are advancing eastward. How will General Huo deal with himself?"

Li Hui pondered for a while and then replied: "Your Majesty said that Huo Du used water to replace his troops. It will be clear in the near future that he wants water to defeat Xiapi. After our army withdrew, the bandit army marched eastward. It took as little as one month and as many as two months. At that time, Huo Du may have succeeded and left, or he may have failed.”

After a pause, Li Hui asked: "May I ask the governor if the two counties of Longnan are profitable?"

Lu Xun put the letter on the table and thought about it and said: "As Lord Ling said, the two counties of Longnan are definitely worth pursuing. But with Ma Chao's temperament, we must not give up the two counties easily, I am afraid it will take a lot of effort."

Li Hui looked at the generals in the tent and saw that most of them were core high-ranking officials. He boldly asked: "Is this the opinion of the governor?"

Lu Xun paced and thought, and said: "Ma Chao thinks very highly of himself. He is a man who can be easily dismissed without words. He needs to use force first and talk about benefits later, so that we can become friends with him."

"I'm afraid this will be difficult!"

Li Hui frowned and said: "If we start a war with Ma Chao, I'm afraid the thieves will benefit. If the thieves stand still, what should we do?"

"What's so scary about Ma Chao?"

Wei Yan stood up from the table and said: "In the past, the governor did not accept the plan of Yan Ziwu Valley, so the troops and horses were trapped in Luokou. Now Yan invites five thousand more elite soldiers to attack Wudu. The city has already been conquered, and the governor raises his troops and goes back. When the enemy arrives, the ship is already finished, even if the horse and the troops arrive, it will be difficult to change the overall situation!"

"And if Ma Chao is incompetent, the governor and I can defeat him together, and Shi Longyou can also seek to capture it. If we can't seize the county with military force, how can we let Ma Chao cede the territory with just words?"

Wei Yan had a lot of resentment towards the Ziwu Valley policy. In his opinion, if Lu Xun had listened to him, he would have been able to enter Chang'an long ago, and the situation would not be like this.

Of course, Wei Yan never knew that Ma Chao had already sold them all when he raised his army. Whether he was taking the Ziwu Valley or the Tangluo Road, Cao Zhen could raise his troops and deploy them properly. If he led his troops out of Ziwu Valley, he might be ambushed halfway and be defeated.

Regarding Wei Yan's words, Lu Xun looked calm, neither annoyed nor impatient.

In his eyes, although Wei Yan has a strong temperament, his bravery is really extraordinary. He is a sharp claw. How can he cut off his own claws just because of trivial matters?

Lu Xun stroked his beard under his chin and said, "I think it's a long sentence!"

"If you want to capture the two counties of Longnan now, you must first gain access to the dangerous city walls of the two counties. At that time, our army was in Longnan and the rebel army was in Longdong. Ma Chao was afraid of the difficulties and knew how to retreat. Only then could he agree with his words and form an alliance between the two families."

It is not easy to come up with the strategy for the two counties in Longnan, and it is even more difficult to implement it. As Lu Xun said, Ma Chao had a strong temperament and would never agree to cede territory unless there was nothing he could do. Not to mention that after the cession of territory, they still maintained friendly relations with the Southern Han Dynasty.

"Could it be that the governor wanted to send troops to the two counties of Longnan, and then use his troops to occupy Ma Chao and divide the territory by treaty?" Li Hui asked.

"Ran Ye"

Lu Xun smiled, looked at the generals in the tent, and asked, "Where are Wei Yan and Wang Ping?"

"The general is here!" The two came out.

"I order you two to take five thousand soldiers and horses each, and rush back to Hanzhong to replenish the sergeants on the spot. Then divide your troops to capture Yinping and Wudu counties. If Ma Chao raises his troops to seize them, you must hold on for more than a month. When my troops arrive, Then his troops will retreat!" Lu Xun said.

"promise!"

Wei Yan stepped forward to receive the military order and retired happily; Wang Ping looked serious and checked the details with Lu Xun before leading the military order and retreating.

After the two generals left, Lu Xun sneered a few times and said, "When our army retreats, Cao Zhen will definitely come to pursue us. At that time, I will let Cao Zhen get the letter about the attack on Longyou, so that he can help me."

"color!"

Hearing this, Li Hui fully understood the meaning of Lu Xun's arrangement and couldn't help but applaud and cheer.

Lu Xun's army alone, and Ma Chao's troops to march south to resist, were not enough to make him surrender. But it would be different if there was help from Cao Wei. Cao Wei had the intention to completely annihilate Ma Chao. At that time, the Southern Han Dynasty was able to force Ma Chao to sign an alliance on the condition of the two counties of Longnan.

(End of this chapter)