Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 626 Two Giants
Li Yan looked attentive, holding a wine bottle in his hand, and toasted to Huo Jun by calling him "Jiang Ling Gong".

"Jiang Linggong's reputation is so powerful that it is well known throughout the country that Yan lives in a remote village. In the future, Yan is deeply grateful to assist Jiangling Gong in governing the country!"

Facing Li Yan's overtures, Huo Jun's attitude was as usual and he said with a smile: "I'd like to ask Li Lingjun to take charge of the matter at the Chancellery."

"promise!"

Li Yan responded and said humbly: "Yan is very talented and has little knowledge. He dare not talk about the affairs of 'Tongli' minister. If there are any difficulties in the future, please ask Jiangling Gong for advice!"

"It's just a matter of national affairs!"

Huo Jun sounded polite and said with a smile: "If there are any difficult matters in the future, Li Lingjun can report them at any time."

"promise!"

Li Yan shamelessly chatted with Huo Jun for a few more words, and then toasted Zhuge Liang with a glass of wine before leaving.

Looking at Li Yan's figure, Zhuge Liang stroked his beard and smiled, saying: "Li Zhengfang is very proud of his humanity. Since he became the minister, he has been fearless in everything. Now it is rare to see Duke Jiangling bowing and being humble. !”

Huo Jun encouraged him and said: "The world is not at peace, so I and you should encourage me."

Huo Jun's prestige in the Han Dynasty was enough to intimidate the southern land. Maybe some people dare to disrespect Huo Jun in private, but no one dares to be rude in front of Huo Jun. Let alone Li Yan, even Guan Yu didn't dare to say anything in the past.

Under the operation of decentralization and centralization of power, the general political orders of the Southern Han Dynasty were almost promulgated and formulated by Huo and Ge. It can be said that the politics of the Southern Han Dynasty were handled by the two giants Huo and Ge. However, because Zhuge Liang was the prime minister, Zhuge Liang often formulated policies first, and then asked Huo Jun to propose revisions.

The reset Tingwei no longer obeys the orders of the Shangshu, but has similar functions to the Shangshu, sorting out trivial cases. In case of major cases, report them directly to the Secretary. Those who record ministerial affairs can designate relevant units to review together based on the circumstances of the case.

As time went by, everyone drank and enjoyed themselves, and it gradually came to an end.

When the Southern Han Dynasty was established, the Shangshutai was used to handle criminal matters, and Prime Minister Zhuge Liang was specifically responsible. After Liu Bei passed away, Shangshutai was still in charge of criminal cases.

If Liu Chan does not want to be a one-man emperor, he wants to continue to hand over power to his subordinates. Huo Jun may recommend candidates, but he will not interfere.

However, because Huo and Ge shouldered the responsibility of commanding troops in combat, in order to restrain Li Yan, the minister, Zhuge Liang decided to let Pan Jun return to Beijing as a court captain after communicating with Huo Jun.

During the period, Pan Jun, who was recalled to Wuhan from Yizhou, also toasted to Huo Jun and said hello. Huo Jun chatted for a long time with Pan Jun, who was serving as Tingwei, because they had not seen each other for many years.

Huo and Ge had a drink with each other. Due to their status, Zhuge Liang returned to the case and sat down. Afterwards, under the organization of Jiang Ji, the Jianghuai generals toasted to Liu Chan first, and then to Huo Jun, having a great time.

As he approaches fifty, Huo Jun occasionally thinks about his future life if Wei is destroyed. In order to ensure that he does not get into too many political disputes, Huo Jun will probably return the political power to Liu Chan.

At the banquet, Lu Xun was specially treated by Liu Chan because of his status, and they sat arm in arm with him. With the opportunity to get closer to Liu Chan, Lu Xun told Liu Chan his plan to defeat Longyou first.

At present, Cao Wei is not destroyed, and Huo Jun must keep military power in his hands in order to maintain the unity of his thoughts.

The former Ministry Cao in charge of criminal matters in the Shangshutai was renamed Xing Cao at Huo Jun's suggestion, and his powers and functions were changed. He was no longer responsible for preliminary cases, but was responsible for reexamination cases. That is, Tingwei hears and sentences cases, and Xingcao is responsible for reviewing cases to ensure mutual restraint.

However, the speaker was unintentional, but the listener was interested. Huo Jun sighed slightly and said: "The Wei Dynasty still controls the Central Plains, and the military and political affairs have to be unified. If the world is unified and the Han Dynasty is revived, I will return to the vassal and fish in the rivers and lakes in order to have no records. So tired!”

Zhuge Liang smiled and said: "If the world is peaceful, Liang should return to Longzhong to fish and farm."

"To Duke Jiangling!"

Tingwei is one of the nine ministers. However, because the power was vested in Taige, the Tingwei sometimes had to take orders from the minister when handling cases. When encountering major cases, Ting Wei and Shangshu jointly try the case.

After Pan Jun moved to Tingwei, the vacated governorship of Yizhou was transferred to Zhuge Jin, and the governor of Liangzhou was transferred to Jiang Wan.

At the end of the banquet, Zhuge Liang asked Huo Jun to move to the side hall and inquire about state affairs.

"Respect Ge Xiang!"

In the side hall, Huo and Ge were sitting opposite each other, and the maid had already cooked a pot of sobering tea for them.

Zhuge Liang poured a cup of tea for Huo Jun and said, "After the battles of Zhongli and Shouchun, Wei's vitality was severely damaged. I wonder what Zhongmiao's plan is?"

Huo Jun blew the hot air on the tea noodles and asked calmly: "I don't know Kong Ming, what do you think?"

Zhuge Liang pondered for a while and said: "There are no two days in the sky, and there are no two masters in the earth. The king of Cao Wei has died, and the new master has ascended the throne. It is better to send troops to the Central Plains, and it is better to be hasty than slow."

"Of course!"

Huo Jun put down the tea cup and said worriedly: "Kong Ming and Gu Zhi have the same view. Wei has a prosperous population and a vast territory, which is half of that of Han. However, the reason why we were able to defeat it in the past was due to the danger of the river and the decline of the Central Plains."

"Now after the two battles of Zhongli and Shouchun, all the Wei soldiers were wiped out, and the survivors have not yet grown up. It is the time when the thieves are weak and young. Cao Pi was defeated and died, and his son Rui was still weak and could not control it alone. The government should take advantage of its weakness to restore the Central Plains."

"If the Northern Expedition cannot be conquered, the population of thieves will breed, the country will have sufficient troops, the sieges will be fortified and well-prepared, the generals and soldiers will gradually become old, and those who come after them will not succeed. We can only use the dangers of Jianghuai and Jianghan to pass down to the world, and then look at the situation in the Central Plains before using troops. "Although the troops used in this battle caused a lot of casualties to Cao Wei, they also captured Shouchun. But Huo Jun is not overly optimistic, and is even worried about the current Northern Expedition.

As long as the three states of Yu, Hebei and Si are present, Cao Wei's population will always be larger than that of Southern Han. The population is larger than that of Southern Han, so why does Southern Han have an advantage?
In addition to the political organization system, it is also related to the working-age population. Although Cao Wei experienced three defeats at Jinkou, Hanzhong, and Xiangfan before, and suffered a lot of losses in troops and horses, the reason why Cao Wei was still able to maintain a certain degree of mobile troops was mainly because after unifying the Central Plains, Cao Wei had a sufficient population of suitable age.

In order to avenge his previous humiliation, Cao Pi led his veterans and new recruits to march south, but was defeated miserably in Jianghuai. After the defeat of Jianghuai, because Cao Wei had just recruited troops not long ago, there were not many people of suitable age for military service in Cao Wei, and the young ones were not old enough.

After years of fighting, the Southern Han Dynasty had more victories than fewer defeats. In addition to accumulating a group of elites, it also had a sufficient population of suitable age. With one increase and one decrease, the current Han and Wei Dynasties have formed a strange situation. In terms of total population, the Northern Wei Dynasty has more people than the Southern Han Dynasty. But in terms of military personnel and population, the Southern Han Dynasty had more troops than the Northern Wei Dynasty.

On his way back to Beijing recently, Huo Jun re-analyzed the advantages between the enemy and ourselves and found that the current advantage lies with Han, not Wei. If they want to destroy Wei, the Southern Han Dynasty must seize the moment when Cao Wei is weak and strike a fatal blow.

Once this opportunity to destroy Wei is missed, Cao Wei will have a chance to breathe, and the number of domestic soldiers and horses will gradually return to normal. By then, the Northern Expedition will be in a stalemate.

And as young and middle-aged generals such as Huo Jun, Zhuge Liang, Jiang Ji, Pang Tong, etc. grow old, it will be difficult for the Southern Han Dynasty to integrate their superiors and subordinates and make a concerted expedition to the north.

During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, why did the Southern Dynasty fall short of success many times? In addition to the difficulties from a military perspective, it was also because the Southern Dynasty would fall into internal strife.

Ancestor Di managed Huaisi, and the emperors and ministers of the Eastern Jin Dynasty were busy changing generations and had no time to worry about the Central Plains.

Huan Wen's Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, and the Ming Dynasty's Northern Expedition to restore the Jin Dynasty, were actually for his own benefit.

Liu Yu attacked Guanzhong for the second time. Although he regained Guanzhong, it was captured by the Xiongnu due to civil strife.

Now Zhuge Liang unites the Bashu people, Huo Jun controls the Huaisi group, and the Chu people surround Huo and Ge respectively. The two formed a yin and yang magnet, attracting and complementing each other, and Fang reluctantly integrated all the forces in the south.

If one of the two falls, the other may be able to take charge of the court, but trying to unite everyone for the Northern Expedition is almost a fool's errand. The Jiangdong forces that are now dispersed will inevitably seek development upwards.

Therefore, after thinking deeply, Huo Jun believed that if he wanted to destroy Wei, he must achieve results within the next five years and embed the territory of the Southern Han Dynasty into the Central Plains. Fortunately, not only Huo Jun had such a macro-strategy, Zhuge Liang also judged that the Northern Expedition should be fast rather than slow.

"Jiang Linggong is far-sighted and I admire him deeply!"

Zhuge Liang bowed his hands to Huo Jun and asked, "Now that we are planning to expedition to the north, I wonder what your strategy is?"

"Hmm~"

Huo Jun hesitated for a moment and said, "I heard that Kong Ming once offered a strategy for conquering the north to the late emperor. I would like to hear Kong Ming's opinion first!"

Although Huo Jun is the military leader, it does not mean that he can act arbitrarily. Sometimes he needs to adopt the opinions of everyone.

Zhuge Liang chanted while stroking his fan, and said: "When Liang was advising your majesty, Guanxi was in chaos, the men and horses were scattered, and the heroes were divided. The Central Plains had not been controlled for a long time, so Liang wanted to let the soldiers from the Western Territory capture Guanxi. It was difficult for the soldiers and horses from Guanxi to assist those from the east. At this time, Jing and Huai troops advanced together to capture Henan."

"Currently, Guanxi is divided into three parts. Liang, Wei, and Han have mutual advantages. If done properly, they can shield the troops of Guanxi. Jiangling Gong's military strategy is superior. He sends troops to Runan, with Liang as the flank. Together with Yingchuan, he can control Luoyang. Forced the invaders to move the capital and divided Henan."

After a pause, Zhuge Liang said: "Now that He Qi has died of illness, we should let Boyan return to the west, and then send generals to assist him and order him to send troops to Guanxi."

Huo Jun played with the celadon tea cup in his hand and corrected him: "Xu and Luo are the most important people of the Wei State. The household registrations of Yu and Si Prefectures, and the elite soldiers of Henan are all gathered here, so they want to take Xu and Luo Fei by force. Qing and Xu As Wei is a weak state, we must first conquer the weak and then overcome the difficulties."

There was a slight conflict between Huo Jun and Zhuge Liang regarding the use of troops in the Central Plains. Zhuge Liang wanted to take Xu and Luo first and then Henan, similar to Yue Fei's style of play. Huo Jun planned to be weak first and then difficult, imitating Liu Yu and take Qing and Xu first, and then take Henan.

In fact, there is no distinction between the superior and inferior routes of the Northern Expedition between Yue Fei and Liu Yu. If Yue Fei's Northern Expedition takes the route, once the Wei army is penetrated, Henan will surrender; while Liu Yu's Northern Expedition takes Qingxu first. Then cooperate with Jianghan soldiers and horses to conquer Henan.

With that said, Huo Jun analyzed and said: "Gu Yu wants to hand over the troops in Huaixi to Shi Yuan's command. Let him send troops to Rushui, thinking that he will contain Man Chong. Gu Yu leads the troops out of Surabaya, first takes Pengcheng as his base, and then waits and sees the situation to make his choice. On the way to the army."

Pengcheng was the Xuzhou of later generations, and as the place where military strategists won and lost, whoever occupied Pengcheng could dominate the situation in the Central Plains. If Pengcheng can be captured, the Southern Han Dynasty's chess in the Central Plains will be revitalized. From the north, they can enter the Yellow River through the Lotus River, or go west and enter the chasm through the Bian River, or cross the Taishan hills to Qi.

Zhuge Liang thought for a long time and said: "Jianghuai has been the place where Duke Jiangling has been commanding for a long time. Now the troops for the Northern Expedition can be used according to Duke Jiangling's strategy. But when it comes to using troops in Guanxi, I wonder what Duke Jiangling has in mind?"

Zhuge Liang knew that Huo Jun could not easily change the strategy of the Northern Expedition. For the sake of the overall situation, Zhuge Liang decided to abandon his Northern Expedition route and chose to support Huo Jun's strategy to keep the two on the same page.

"What does Kong Ming mean?" Huo Jun asked.

"At the banquet, Boyan talked to Your Majesty and talked about taking Ma Chao first and then sending troops to Guanzhong. Your Majesty did not dare to speak lightly and asked Liang to discuss the matter with Duke Jiangling!" Zhuge Liang said.

Huo Jun frowned slightly and said: "I want Ma Chao to contain the Hexi soldiers, and then order Boyan to leave Guanzhong. If I follow Boyan's strategy, I'm afraid the situation in Guanxi will be beneficial to the thieves but not me!"

Zhuge Liang hesitated for a while and said: "Bo Yan is an old minister of your majesty's Tuogu and a distinguished scholar from Jiangdong. Now that he is entrusted with Western affairs, it is better to listen to his advice. For example, Boyan can not only go to Longyou, but also contain the Kansai army. Wei Jun may not be able to let him try!"

"Then let Boyan submit his strategy. If the Kwantung military can be kept safe, we can allow it to use troops!" With Zhuge Liang's words, Huo Jun said calmly.

"good!"

(End of this chapter)