Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 678 Liu's Worry and Sun's Sorrow
Muling Pass, Wei Village.

Inside the big tent, the envoy Xun Ya, carrying Cao Rui's imperial edict, read it to Sun Quan and Liu Ye.

"...Jing Wan was defeated, and the troops retreated to Yushui...There are no soldiers left. The General of Chariots and Cavalry is loyal to the country, so he should rely on the strategic location and hold his ground to resist the battle; the military advisor Liu Ye's strategy is wrong..."

Listening to the messenger reading out Cao Rui's edict, Sun and Liu looked at each other and both saw a bad look on each other's faces.

"Your servant Sun Quan/Liu Ye will obey the imperial edict!" Sun Quan and Liu Ye bowed and said.

Sun Quan accepted the imperial edict and tried to build a good relationship with Xun Ya, saying, "I am very sorry for the trouble you have made. I will host a banquet tonight. I hope you will come to the banquet!"

"No need!"

Xun Ya sighed slightly and said, "How dare Ya disturb Sun Cheqi when we are in the middle of a great battle."

As he spoke, Xun Ya handed the brocade bag in his sleeve to Sun Quan and said, "Ya left the capital, and before leaving, the Concubine Dowager asked Ya to deliver this letter."

"Thank you, Envoy Xun!"

Xun Ya hesitated for a moment and said, "The war is not going well now. General Zhang cannot come to the east to help. Sun's cavalry must not be lost. Your Majesty said before he left that there are no soldiers available at the moment. Muling needs to be defended until next year. We don't ask for victory over the enemy, but only hope to defend the dangerous pass."

"As for the affairs of the court, I think the Dowager Queen has mentioned everything in her letter, so I can't speak about it explicitly. I hope Sun Cheqi and Liu Junshi will take care of themselves. Defending Muling is the top priority now."

"Thank you, Envoy Xun!"

"Don't dare!"

Xun Ma was the second son of Xun Yu. After Xun Yu's death, and because Cao Pi hated Xun Yu's eldest son Xun Yun, the Xun family no longer had the prosperity they once had, and they barely held a position in the court by relying on the merits of their ancestors.

In order to expand his network, Sun Quan had a good relationship with the Xun family in Beijing. Xun Ya was biased towards the Sun family, otherwise he would not have helped Sun Ying to deliver the letter to Sun Quan.

After Xun Ya left, Liu Ye looked unhappy and said worriedly, "I made a mistake in offering advice and selecting generals, and Your Majesty has warned me. If it weren't for the time when you need people, I'm afraid Your Majesty would have punished me long ago!"

Because of Tian Ji's horse racing strategy and Zhang He's failure in using troops, Cao Rui no longer valued Liu Ye as much as before. In the imperial edict issued, Cao Rui slightly reprimanded Liu Ye and asked Liu Ye to continue working hard and not let him down.

Cao Rui's original intention might be to warn Liu Ye and make him keep working hard. But in the sensitive heart of Liu Ye, he was already wondering if Cao Rui blamed him and was worried if he had lost Cao Rui's favor.

Sun Quan understood Liu Ye's mentality and tried to comfort him by saying, "You have many brilliant strategies. The only strong military commander in the country, apart from the Grand Marshal and the General of the Cavalry, is the General Zhang He. If you don't recommend Zhang He, then maybe you should recommend Xiahou Mao?"

"Zhuge Liang is a rookie, and even with the combined strength of Sima Yi and Zhang He, they still can't defeat him. What does this have to do with you?"

When praising a strategist, words are often used as saying that he has planned everything perfectly, but where can we find a strategist in the world who has planned everything perfectly?
As strong as Zhang Liang was, what was he doing when Liu Bang was defeated in Pengcheng and besieged in Xingyang?
Sun Quan was well aware that historians often glorify their subjects in biographies. Since Zhang Liang was unable to make every possible plan, why didn't Liu Bang blame his adviser Zhang Liang?
Because Liu Bang knew that counselors were there to make suggestions, and that the monarch needed to adopt the strategies directly. If the monarch made mistakes in using the strategies, it would be his own fault. On the contrary, in order to win the hearts of the people, if the counselors made successful suggestions, they should not mention their own achievements and brag about them in front of everyone.

Now, in Sun Quan's eyes, Cao Rui's blaming Liu Ye for his wrong advice was fundamentally wrong. Liu Ye was only a counselor, not a commander or even a monarch. The responsibility of a monarch or a commander is to adopt suggestions and select people to implement them. How could he make a wrong decision and then blame the counselor for his incompetence?
Cao Rui should take the blame for the mistake in using Zhang He, or forcing Sima Yi to attack, instead of throwing it to his subordinates.

With Sun Quan's comfort, Liu Ye felt better and said, "Your Majesty doesn't trust me, but the General of Chariots and Cavalry trusts me. I should offer you advice to help you defeat the Han bandits."

Sun Quan patted Liu Ye on the shoulder and said, "Zi Yang, trust me, I will not let you down!"

As he spoke, Sun Quan glanced at the brocade bag in his hand and said, "The Concubine rarely asks someone to send a letter to me. This time, she asked Xun Ya to deliver the letter. I expect that there will be a lot of turmoil in the court!"

With a worried mood, Sun Quan opened the brocade bag. He saw that Sun Ying said in the letter that Sima Yi had taken full control of the troops in Jingwan because of Zhang He's defeat.

Moreover, Wu Zhi took advantage of the Zhang He incident and reported to Cao Rui that Zhang He was unable to support Qi and Lu, and Sun Quan's plan to defeat Huo Jun would no longer succeed. In order to be safe, it would be better to replace him to ensure that Qi and Lu would not be captured by Huo Jun.

After Wu Zhi's memorial, Cao Rui was slightly tempted to change his generals. Fortunately, Cao Rui was worried that changing generals before the battle would be disadvantageous to the war, and Sun Quan had not made any mistakes so far, so Cao Rui gave up the idea of ​​changing generals.

Looking at the arguments in the letter, Sun Quan's face darkened and he cursed: "How dare Wu Zhi, a man, deceive Your Majesty! This man should be killed!"

"What's the matter?" Liu Ye asked curiously when he saw Sun Quan's reaction.

Sun Quan did not shy away from the question and handed the letter to Liu Ye, saying, "Wu Zhi said that I have no talent for military strategy. In order to avoid the consequences of Zhang He's defeat, I request that Your Majesty summon me back to the capital and replace me with a great general."

Liu Ye read the contents of the letter and said bluntly: "The General of Chariots and Cavalry lacks military merits, so Wu Zhi slandered him!"

Sun Quan was a little upset and said, "There is a grudge between Wu Zhi and me. When I first entered Yecheng, I was on good terms with the late emperor, but Wu Zhi often slandered me, saying that I could not be trusted. Now, for more than ten years, I have been working hard for the Wei Dynasty, but Wu Zhi is still slandering me."

Then, in order to prove the credibility of his words, Sun Quan said: "Wu Zhi was on good terms with Sima Yi, and he often said that Sima Yi was loyal to the emperor and the country, and was a pillar of the country. He was on bad terms with Chen Qun, and he said that Chen Qun was a foolish man and not a talent for prime minister."

"Little do they know that Wu Zhi's greed for wealth and fame has led to a bad reputation, and his fellow villagers and friends don't want to be close to him." Sun Quan sighed and said with emotion: "He was a prisoner in the past, but now he is a guest. I am not a former minister of Wei, but because of my talent and virtue, I am deeply favored by the emperors and was able to rise to a high position. However, my prosperity has declined, and I have aroused jealousy. If I don't act carefully, I am afraid that I will be in trouble."

"Sad!"

Sun Quan looked up and said angrily, "I am a minister entrusted with the care of the emperor, but I was unable to stop Wu Zhi from misleading the emperor. This is my fault!"

Seeing Sun Quan worried about the country, Liu Ye comforted him: "The country is in a difficult situation now. The reason why Sima Yi is respected is because of his military achievements. If the general can achieve military merits, Wu Zhi will not be able to slander him!"

"Hey!"

Sun Quan sighed again and said, "I have the ambition to defeat the enemy, but I don't know how to start!"

Liu Ye pondered for a moment and said, "At dawn today, Chengyang reported that the bandits have a large amount of military rations in Yuzhou, and will deliver them to the camp soon. General, why don't you send elite cavalry to the south from Panghai Road to rob the bandits of their rations and make a contribution!"

"Food robbery?"

Sun Quan paced back and forth and asked, "Last month, we were driven away by the enemy army when we robbed our grain. How can we be unprepared this month?"

Liu Ye followed closely beside Sun Quan and said, "Although our army was defeated by the enemy last month, we can rob them of their food supplies this month. We can first attack them with a small number of cavalry. If the enemy strikes back, we can retreat. The enemy will see that our army is small and retreating, so they will be arrogant and less prepared."

"Our army will gather a large number of troops there. When the enemy is resting, our army will send out elite cavalry to attack. The enemy army will be defeated and flee. If their food and baggage cannot be taken away, burn them on the spot."

After a pause, Liu Ye smiled and said, "General, you have accomplished great feats in robbing grain and beheading thousands of people. How can this not please Your Majesty?"

Sun Quan's eyes lit up and he smiled, "This is a good plan. If we use the military advisor's strategy, we will surely achieve something."

Then, Sun Quan changed the subject and asked in confusion: "How can a single army that transports food behead thousands of people?"

Liu Ye smiled and said, "Your Majesty is ambitious, and the generals are greedy for gain. Since Emperor Wu started his army, the generals have often exaggerated their achievements by taking one out of ten, one to boost the morale of the army, and two to show off their achievements."

"Now that the general has no new achievements, it is better to rob food and kill the enemy as an achievement, and then report it to Your Majesty with good words. Your Majesty will be encouraged and happy, and the general will also gain military merit, so why not do it!"

False reporting of military achievements was a common practice in the ancient military. Generals would often overreport their achievements for their own merits and the rewards for their soldiers. This was the case when Cao Cao was just starting out, not to mention that false reporting of military achievements became more frequent after Cao Cao incorporated more troops.

As Liu Ye said, falsely reporting military achievements is not only beneficial to generals, but also helpful in deterring civilians and thieves.

Early history books were also like this. In order to attract those who did not know the details, they often exaggerated the descriptions. For example, when Liu and Xiang fought in the Battle of Pengcheng, the Chu army killed more than 300,000 enemies. However, it is interesting that two years after the Battle of Pengcheng, the Han army dispatched more than 500,000 troops to besiege Xiang Yu.

In the decades between the conquest of the six states by the Qin Dynasty and the founding of the Western Han Dynasty, if we count the number of soldiers and horses in the battles launched according to the historical records, even if the number was less than 10 million, it would have exceeded 5 million. After all, the Han and Xiongnu contributed 700,000 to 800,000 soldiers in the siege of Baideng alone.

There were honest children. For example, Yang Guang led a million troops to conquer Goguryeo, but claimed to have two million troops. However, Cao Cao and Huo Jun dared to claim to have four million troops.

After hearing Liu Ye's words, Sun Quan put aside his worries.

It's not that Sun Quan didn't know to lie about military achievements, but he had never done it before, so it was inevitable that he was a little uncomfortable. With Liu Ye's comfort, Sun Quan dared to do it!

Stopping, Sun Quan asked, "In your opinion, Zi Yang, how many troops would be needed to carry out this grain robbery?"

Sun Quan said with some concern: "Huo Jun is different from others, we need to be careful!"

"Don't worry, General!"

Liu Ye smiled and said, "In the past, Lord Cheng'an failed to defend Jingxing Pass and was eventually defeated by Han Xin; Zhao Kuo failed to defend Changping and was eventually killed by Bai Qi. Although Huo Jun is a strong soldier, he has been blocked by Muling Pass. Therefore, the weather and people are not as good as the terrain. The fundamental strategy is to block Daxian."

"I will not lose Muling Pass, but will send out light cavalry to raid. If we succeed, the enemy will lose their food supplies. If we fail, we can retreat to Chengyang."

After a little consideration, Liu Ye said, "In Ye's opinion, the general can order Dai Ling to lead 5,000 infantry and cavalry south to plunder the enemy's army for food."

"it is good!"

With Liu Ye's words, Sun Quan was completely relieved and said, "Order Dai Ling to lead 5,000 infantry and cavalry to go south through the sea route to plunder the enemy's food and grass."

"The general is wise!"

ps: The third update is late, 9k words.

(End of this chapter)