Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 658: Before the Expedition
Time is like a river, rushing forward without stopping. In late spring, it is already midsummer in the blink of an eye.

In late July, there was only half a month left before Huo Jun moved his troops to Nanjing to prepare for the Northern Expedition.

In the cabinet, Wang Xiang, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Personnel, reported to Huo Jun about the investigation of spies.

"Mingsir, I have sent people to check all those who went south after Cao Rui ascended the throne, and there is nothing unusual." Wang Xiang said: "Among them, Zhuge Fan is sociable and has close exchanges with scholars in the capital, but he never asks about confidential matters."

"Nothing suspicious?" Huo Jun asked back.

"Sorry, I am incompetent!"

Wang Xiang bowed his hands and apologized, saying: "Although Zhuge Fan has no relatives, he has often asked his attendants to ask about marriage since he came south. Judging from his behavior, he has the idea of ​​starting a family in the south!"

As a school official, Zhuge Fan had the corresponding anti-detection means. After being temporarily appointed to an official position, he felt a sense of uneasiness. In order to make up for his shortcomings, Zhuge Fan decided to marry and start a family in Southern Han in order to cover up his suspicion.

The idea of ​​marrying a wife and starting a family did make Wang Xiang, who was in charge of the investigation, feel a little relieved. After all, in the eyes of normal people, it was inevitable for a big man from Nantou to get married after becoming an official and gradually building a family business, especially since Zhuge Fan was all alone.

Huo Jun pondered for a moment and said, "If a spy can sacrifice his own life, why can't he sacrifice his wife's life? Marrying a wife is not enough to trust a man!"

Huo Jun was not only a spy himself, but he also sent his trusted confidant Huo Yuan to lurk for more than ten years in order to capture Shouchun. Zhuge Fan's behavior might seem reasonable to normal people, but it was not enough for Huo Jun to believe it.

Wang Xiang said helplessly: "Zhuge Fan is not suspected of being a spy. If you really doubt him, why not find a crime and have the court officer send someone to arrest him and let someone who is good at torture him..."

"No!"

Huo Jun glanced at Wang Xiang, a man with thick eyebrows and big eyes. He didn't expect that Wang Xiang, who was lying on the ice to catch a carp, actually wanted to use criminal law to torture and convict him.

"Although Zhuge Fan is suspected of being a spy, he is not actually a spy. He has a reputation for talent, and if he is punished without reason, it may make the surrendered people feel insecure." Huo Jun objected.

"What do you think, sir?" Wang Xiang asked, at a loss.

Huo Jun stood up and paced for a while, then asked, "I remember that some days ago, Li Yan, the governor of Guanghai, submitted a request to establish Dan'er County?"

"Exactly!"

Wang Xiang nodded and said, "Li Guanghai led his troops across the sea to Qiongya Island, conquered the barbarians on the island, and gathered more than a thousand households of Han and barbarian men and women. He wanted to establish Dan'er County. So he asked someone to go to the capital to submit a memorial and report the vacancies."

"Because the island is remote, full of snakes and insects, the weather is hot, and the people are sparse, it is called a county, but in reality it is a county. Few people want to be officials there, so the Ministry of Personnel is still discussing the candidates for the positions."

Although Li Yan was pushed out to Guangdong as the governor, responsible for the task of opening up the frontier, Li Yan still had some backbone and worked diligently according to the government orders.

After he took office, Li Yan first established Zhuya County in Xuwen County, and then Qiong sent people to Hainan to learn about the barbarians on the island. After half a year of preparation, Li Yan crossed the sea and went ashore, cleared out several barbarian tribes on the island, relocated the barbarians to the old place of Dan'er County, and requested to restore Dan'er County.

Hainan Island was a wilderness in the late Han Dynasty, and being an official in Hainan Island was undoubtedly exile. If we promote a county official to be the county magistrate in Hainan Island today, he would probably rather resign than take up the post.

After all, resigning can save one's life. If one does not resign but takes up the post, he may live a few more years if he is lucky, but he may be killed by the barbarians if he is unlucky. Although the number of county governors and county magistrates being killed by barbarians is rare in Southern Han, it does not mean that there are none.

Although the Southern Han ruled a vast territory, most of it was inhabited by barbarians. Dealing with barbarians for many years, it was inevitable that county governors and county magistrates would be killed.

Huo Jun stopped and said with a smile: "Zhuge Fan has not yet taken office, so why not appoint him as the governor of Dan'er County, sail across the sea to Qiongyazhou to take office and govern the barbarians for the Han Dynasty!"

"Sail to Qiongyazhou to serve as an official?"

Wang Xiang looked thoughtful and said, "Letting Zhuge Fan take the post of governor of Dan'er County is a feasible move just from the point of view of appointment."

Sending officials who would endanger the Han Dynasty to serve as officials in the barbarians was a political tactic of Huo Jun. First, Li Yan was exiled to Guangdong to serve as a governor, and then he planned to send Zhuge Fan, who was suspected of being a spy, to Hainan Island to serve as a county governor.

Li Yan and Zhuge Fan are indeed talented people, and it would be a pity if they were not used easily. Under the concept of making the best use of talents, it is undoubtedly a good idea to let them open up borders for the Han Dynasty and domesticate the barbarians.

If Zhuge Fan was really a dead spy, he was thrown into Hainan Island as an official. Given the distance between Wuhan and Hainan Island, the long and difficult road and the delayed information, he could not do anything. Even if Huo Jun's troops destroyed Cao Wei, Zhuge Fan might have to wait for one or two years to know, not to mention his contact with Cao Wei's spies.

If Zhuge Fan was not a dead spy, but was truly loyal to the Han Dynasty, it would not be too late to transfer him back to the central government or promote him to a prefecture or county official after he made contributions in governing Hainan Island. If he unfortunately died of illness, it can only be said that Zhuge Fan was not lucky enough to serve the Han Dynasty.

After thinking for a while, Wang Xiang said, "If Zhuge Fan is to be appointed as the governor of Dan'er County, I'm afraid the Prime Minister's consent is needed!"

"rest assured!"

Huo Jun smiled and said, "Just submit the list of candidates for the recruitment, and I will take care of the rest."

"Yes!" Wang Xiang took the order and retreated, responding.

When Huo Jun was about to draft the "Northern Expedition Memorial", Zhuge Liang came with a military report from the northern border.

"Da Sima!"

"Prime Minister!"

Huo Jun put down his pen, stood up and greeted Zhuge Liang in person, saying with a smile: "Today's government affairs are very busy, and the Prime Minister can spare the time to come here. Is there something important to talk to me about?"

"Yes!" Zhuge Liang sat on the couch and immediately took out Deng Zhi's letter and said, "Bo Miao sent a letter from Wanli saying that Ke Bineng invaded Bingzhou but was defeated by Zhang He!"

"Ok?"

Huo Jun opened the letter and read it, only to see that Deng Zhi reported on the recent situation of the Xianbei in the letter.

After inducing Budugen to rebel, Kebi Neng, having tasted the sweetness, ignored Deng Zhi's advice and ordered Budugen to persuade Xieguini to rebel against Cao Wei.

Cao Rui had anticipated Budugen's plan to instigate Xie Guini's rebellion, so he ordered Xie Guini to pretend to surrender to the Xianbei, and then sent Zhang He to attack Bingzhou.

Ke Bineng was unaware of the plan and led 20,000 cavalrymen deep into Bingzhou, intending to support Xie Guini. Unexpectedly, Zhang He set an ambush in the north of Xing, and Tian Yu and Qian Zhao led their troops to fight together. Due to the narrow terrain, the Xianbei cavalry could not deploy and were defeated by the Wei army.

Kebi Neng lost most of his 20,000 cavalrymen and fled back to the south of the desert in a panic. He was furious and wanted to execute Budugen. Fortunately, Deng Zhi persuaded Kebi Neng to calm down.

After the defeat, Kebi Neng decided to use his troops to attack Putou in Hexi in order to unify the south of the desert, rather than getting too involved in the affairs of Hebei. This made Deng Zhi worried that Kebi Neng would not send troops to harass Hebei for the Han Dynasty because of the defeat, so he reported the incident to Zhuge Liang.

Seeing the contents of the letter, Huo Jun asked, "Ke Bineng was defeated in Taiyuan and decided to take Putou instead. What is Kong Ming's opinion?"

Zhuge Liang stroked his feather fan, frowned and said, "To prevent Kebi Neng from changing his mind, we need to let Bo Miao stay for a few more months so that he can persuade Kebi Neng to send troops when necessary. Or we can write a letter to Kebi Neng and ask him to strictly abide by the alliance."

Deng Zhi's early plans for Kebi Neng were ill-intentioned. Deng Zhi asked Kebi Neng to seduce Budugen and Xiegui Ni to rebel, in fact, he wanted to cause a long-term war between Xianbei and Cao Wei.

At the moment, Deng Zhi was worried that Kebi Neng would be frightened by Cao Wei after the defeat in Xingbei and would not dare to attack Cao Wei in the short term.

Huo Jun pondered for a moment and said, "The situation in the south of the desert is still dominated by Kebi Neng. Although he has lost tens of thousands of cavalry, his muscles and bones are not injured. The reason why Kebi Neng is focusing on Pu Tou is that Pu Tou is behind him, making it difficult for him to completely control the western part."

"So, in Jun's opinion, we should persuade Ke Bineng to capture Putou as soon as possible. When Ke Bineng completely controls the southern part of the desert, he will see that Cao Wei is weak, and given his character, he will lead his troops to help us."

With the information Deng Zhi had gathered for the Han Dynasty, Huo Jun could roughly understand Kebi Neng's ambitions and ideas. Kebi Neng was eager to restore the glory of Tan Shihuai, so he wanted to unify the south and north of the desert.

The key to unifying the south and north of the desert lies in unifying the south of the desert. For Kebi Neng, the south of the desert is only missing the Xianbei tribes in Hexi. The key to unifying the Xianbei in Hexi is to resolve the problem of Putou, the great man in the west.

The people under Putou's command numbered between 50,000 and 60,000 households, and they could send out tens of thousands of cavalry for battle. If their power were to unite with that of Cao Wei, it would be enough to prevent Kebineng from unifying Hexi.

At present, everything Kebi Neng did was to unify the Xianbei. Now that his attempt to induce them to surrender failed, the only way out was to attack Putou. If Putou was taken, Kebi Neng would naturally turn his attention to Cao Wei and would certainly avenge the defeat in Xingbei.

"It will not be easy for Ke Bi to capture Putou. Cao Wei will definitely send troops to contain him!" Zhuge Liang sighed worriedly.

Zhuge Liang changed the subject and said, "Unless Ke Bi can take advantage of our army's northern expedition to mobilize troops, so that Cao Wei has no time to worry about the affairs south of the desert, there will be a chance to defeat Putou."

Huo Jun smiled and said, "I guess Ke Bineng also thinks so. Our army uses the power of Xianbei to attack Wei, while he wants to use the power of Han to unify the grassland!"

The alliance between Han and Xianbei was essentially a mutual exploitation, with each side having its own calculations. Han wanted Xianbei to harass Hebei and disperse Cao Wei's forces; while Xianbei wanted to take advantage of Han's northern expedition to unify the southern desert.

Zhuge Liang stroked his fan and chanted, saying: "It seems that in the early stage of our Northern Expedition, Kebi Neng will not send troops to help us. We will have to wait until Kebi Neng has completely captured Putou before he will send troops to harass Hebei!"

"That's probably it!"

Huo Jun said truthfully: "We should fight in the spring and summer of next year and gain some gains. In the autumn and winter, we should stay in the camp and wait for news of Xianbei attacks. We should wait until the spring of next year, when the Wei army is exhausted, and then fight."

The Han Dynasty's Northern Expedition next year is destined to be a long-term war due to limitations of time, water conditions, climate, food and other related factors.

Huo Jun's initial plan was to march and fight for half a year, and try to gain victory before the river dried up. After autumn and winter, Huo Jun's troops would be stationed on the spot, replenishing food and weapons. In the spring of the following year, he would continue the Northern Expedition.

According to the current situation, Kebi Neng is temporarily unable to send troops to Cao Wei. So the best time for Kebi Neng to send troops is in the autumn or winter of next year to harass Cao Wei's Hebei.

"Then write a letter to Deng Zhi, asking him to help Ke Bineng capture Putou as soon as possible. Then try your best to persuade Ke Bineng to send troops to attack Hebei in the autumn and winter of next year, as a strategy to tire out Wei." Zhuge Liang said.

"good!"

Huo Jun nodded, thinking about something, and smiled, "Has Kong Ming completed the memorial for the departure of the army?"

"I have so many political affairs to attend to, and I haven't even started writing my memorial to the emperor yet!" Zhuge Liang asked, "How is Zhongmiao?"

Huo Jun covered the beginning of the "Northern Expedition Memorial" and said awkwardly: "The memorial is rough and still needs to be revised!"

On the eve of the Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang wanted to write "The Memorial to the Emperor on Departure" and Huo Jun also prepared to write a memorial to the Emperor. However, Huo Jun was not good at writing. In order not to be too inferior to Zhuge Liang, Huo Jun had planned to ask Wang Can to polish it.

"Before Kong Ming entered the palace, Wang Xiang, the Minister of Personnel, wanted to recommend Zhuge Fan to be the governor of Dan'er County. I wonder what Kong Ming meant by that?"

Huo Jun said: "Although Zhuge Fan has great talent, he is still young and has just surrendered to the Han Dynasty. It is against the old system to let him stay in the Secretariat, and it is not conducive to honing his talents. So it is better to let him serve as a county governor. Observe what he does, and then promote him to a new position."

"Liang thinks it's feasible!"

Zhuge Liang pondered for a moment and said, "I summoned Zhuge Fan in the past. Because I saw that he was well-mannered and had great talent, I promoted him and appointed him to the Ministry of Justice. Now there is a vacancy for the governor of Dan'er County. You can follow your advice and let him serve in other places to hone his talents!"

(End of this chapter)