Thousand-year-old family: its rise began with Shang Yang’s reforms

Chapter 389: The Brilliance of Red Cliff

Chapter 389: The Brilliance of Red Cliff (Part )

In historical records, few people would use the word "bright stars" to describe a war.

But if we have to use one word to describe the "Battle of Red Cliffs", then the word "a galaxy of stars" is the most appropriate.

This was a cross-era war in which more than 80 percent, or even almost all, of the famous generals of that era participated. There was not much planning in this war; it was just the most common and ordinary method of warfare.

But just as all martial arts and skills in this world will eventually "return to their original nature", all the skills of war will eventually disappear and become the simplest "strangulation".

Number of people collided.

This is the bloody reality.

At the end of the fifth year of Yuan'an, people all over the world felt a strange calm.

But they could feel the undercurrent. Everyone knew that this might be a war that would determine the next thirty years, and every talented person wanted to take part in it.

So, in the spring of the sixth year of Yuan'an, most of the generals and strategists came to this small Chibi.

The specific circumstances of that year are no longer traceable. Even the Chen family, who preserved the most complete information, does not have detailed information about this battle. The ancient battlefield of Chibi has experienced thousands of years of wind and rain erosion, and very little can be found out.

The following records are found in historical books.

"At the end of the fifth year of Yuan'an, the Prime Minister came to Chibi, and the three armies joined together, intending to fight Cao and Liu."

"At that time, Cao and Liu made an alliance, and called for a million-strong army to march south to attack us at Chibi."

"In the sixth year of Yuan'an, the great generals of Cao and Liu arrived, and their counselors were as numerous as clouds and as brilliant as stars." - "Records of the Grand Historian: Book of Han"

However, this is how it is recorded in "Guan Han Ji".

"In the 22nd year of Jian'an, the Prime Minister attacked the rebels and conspired with Bei to do so."

"When the army of one million arrived at Chibi, the great generals gathered, including Dun, Jin, Jin, He, Liao, Yuan, Zhu and others, and those who followed the prime minister were Jia, Zhicai, Yu, You, Yu and others."

"The Prime Minister composed a poem, saying that he had defeated Dayu and wiped out the enemy army in just over a month."

"It was composed by singing at the Bronze Sparrow Tower."

The following records can be found in "Han Shu".

"In the 22nd year of Chengtai, the rebels had been in rebellion for a long time, and the emperor issued an edict to destroy the rebels."

"The Prime Minister is Xuande, the pillar of the country. If he is loyal to the country, he will be in league with Cao. So the two of them will unite to fight against the enemy."

"The emperor said: Regardless of Liu and Cao, they are all Han ministers. Even Zhang Jiao, the Yellow Turban rebel, betrayed the Golden Sword Alliance of Emperor Gao, and the emperor ordered the whole country to attack him."

"Cao and Liu's troops numbered one million, and they reached Red Cliff."

"At that time, many people followed Xuande, including Liang, Tong, Yong, Zheng, Liang, Yi, and Yun. The generals of the army at that time were like ministers crossing the river. They were too numerous to count, and they were as bright as the stars. What about the unknown ones? The generals with good names were Yu, Fei, Chao, Yan, and Zhong, and they were collectively known as the Five Tiger Generals." - "Book of Han"

Chibi
The two sides were facing each other across the river, and there was no point in blocking the area where the army was stationed.

Dayu Military Camp
Zu Tianshi was sitting there, and one could tell at a glance that he was the highest commander of Dayu in this battle.

Unlike Chang'an and Langya, the ones from Chang'an and Langya did not seem to be the nominal supreme leaders, but everyone in the world knew that the two emperors were just "puppets", and in the end it was Cao Cao and Liu Bei who could control the overall situation.

However, the emperor of Dayu was a genuine "emperor with real power".

But those sitting in this big tent who are qualified to question the existence of this person all know who this "Ancestor Heavenly Master" sitting in the center is.

There is no need to talk about Dong Zhuo, who was almost entirely arranged to come here by his adviser "Jia Xu".

Zhao Yun and Lu Bu also followed the arrangement of "Chen Zexi" and came to join Dayu. They naturally knew the identity of Zu Tianshi.

"Cough-cough-"

Zu Tianshi coughed lightly, then glanced at everyone, his voice a little low.

"Everyone, this battle is inevitable."

"If we can win this battle, then Chang'an and Langya will have nothing to hinder us in Dayu."

He whispered, "This is the key to success or failure."

Jia Xu, who was sitting on the side, said with a smile: "We all understand the importance of this battle, so there is no need for Master Zu to say more."

Although his words seemed a little "disrespectful", everyone could hear the "closeness" in them. So many people in the tent who didn't know the identity of Zu Tianshi all knew that Jia Xu and Zu Tianshi had a very good relationship.

Li Ru also said in a low voice: "We all obey the arrangements of the Grandmaster."

"According to the strategy of the Grandmaster, breaking the Cao-Liu alliance will be a piece of cake."

After Li Ru expressed his opinion, everyone looked a little strange.

They looked at Dong Zhuo, who just closed his eyes.

Li Ru and Jia Xu were the two top advisers under Dong Zhuo, and their attitudes represented Dong Zhuo's attitude.

Some people started beating drums in their hearts.

These people are "spies" or "spies". They do not want Dayu to win the war, so they are ready to sow discord between the three generals and Zu Tianshi.

But now Dong Zhuo's decisive statement made their plans somewhat frustrated.

Just as they were preparing to find another way out, the other two also expressed their opinions.

For example, Lu Bu.

His words were extremely respectful, and one could even hear a hint of humility in them. He did not seem like the "Supreme General Lei Wushuang of the Eight Desolate Gods and Demons" who was bestowed upon him by the Emperor.

"Bu is a man without any strategy, the only warrior under him. The movement of his subordinates depends entirely on the Prime Minister."

Before everyone could place their last hope on Zhao Yun, Zhao Yun also spoke up: "Yun also doesn't understand these strategies, he only knows how to kill the enemy."

The three generals all expressed their attitudes, and Zu Tianshi's attitude was even clearer.

"it is good."

He did not give the others a chance to refute: "War is not a joke. Today's battle between Dayu and Cao and Liu is crucial. A slight mistake may lead to all the previous efforts being wasted."

The Master Tianshi smiled slightly, "Before coming to Chibi, His Majesty gave me a list. This list was investigated by His Majesty's personal "Taoist Soldiers". Some of the people sitting in the military tent at this moment have already colluded with the Cao-Liu coalition."

Some people's expressions changed drastically.

Without waiting for them to explain, Zu Tianshi began to recite their names one by one.

Every time a name was recited, a "Taoist soldier" would appear outside the big tent and arrest him. After reciting more than ten names in a row, Zu Tianshi stopped.

He stood up, walked out of the tent, and stood by the river.

Everyone followed Zu Tianshi to the outside of the big tent and looked at the water of Chibi. The river was vast and surging, and the flags of Dayu were flying on countless ships.

After Master Zu Tianshi sighed, he said calmly: "Today the army is stationed, and we need to sacrifice blood to the flag."

"Then offer their blood to God."

After he finished speaking, the "Daoist soldier" behind him raised his sword and slashed it down, simply and decisively. Blood instantly fell on the river bank, and some of it seeped into the vast Red Water. But how could the clear Red Water be dyed red by just a little bit of blood?

For a moment, the red water in the river remained clear.

The Grand Master just stood with his hands behind his back and said: "Everything is ready, now we just need the east wind."

Cao Liu's allied forces

Sometimes having too many people is not a good thing. After all, most of the time, scholars still look down on each other, unless there is a powerful person who can stand up and overwhelm everyone with his or her talent.

But unfortunately, there is no such person in the Cao-Liu alliance today.

Whether it is Zhuge Liang, Fa Zheng, Guo Jia or Xun Yu, they are all top strategists among top strategists. Among them, Zhuge Liang is known as "Wolong" and has talent in playing wind instruments. Fa Zheng became famous at a young age and there are very few people who can suppress him. Guo Jia is known as a "ghost genius", and Xun Yu is even known by the world as a "talent who can assist the king."

Such top figures naturally have their own ideas about war strategies.

And these are just civil officials.

Not to mention the military generals.

In the past half month since the alliance between Cao and Liu, the generals of the two camps have fought countless times. If you defeat me today, I will ask my brother to come tomorrow, because he is stronger than me. If you take revenge and win today, I will ask my brother to come tomorrow, because he is more brave.

After fighting for a long time, neither of them was convinced.

Their leaders "Cao Cao" and "Liu Bei" were even more helpless.

In this situation, they had no choice. After all, the strength of the two was almost equal. If one of them was slightly stronger, he would be able to overwhelm the others.

Why did the Sun-Liu alliance take shape in history?

One reason is that Shu Han only had one strategist, Zhuge Liang, and one general, Zhao Yun - Zhao Yun existed to protect Zhuge Liang.

Most of the generals play supporting roles.

After all, Liu Bei’s strength at that time was not very strong.

The second reason is that they were all in the territory of Jiangdong, and of course they were led by Zhou Yu, the contemporary great talent of the Jiangdong Zhou family.

This is not the case with Cao and Liu today, so the alliance between them seems solid, but in fact it is rather loose.

The final result of the discussion was that the leaders of both sides - Cao Cao and Liu Bei - continued to confront each other at Chibi, while their respective forces took a part of their soldiers to "Jia Yu" and "Xianning" respectively, forming a siege on the "Dayu Army" at Chibi.

As for the civil officials, Zhuge Liang and Fa Zheng stayed with Liu Bei, Guo Jia and Xun Yu stayed with Cao Cao, and the rest followed the army to serve as military advisors.

As for military generals, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu stayed in Chibi, while Zhang Liao and Xu Chu stayed with Cao Cao.

The wind was blowing gently on the river.

Under the starry night, Xun Yu and Zhuge Liang stood together, both looking at the stars in the sky and trying to figure out something.

Xun Yu said softly: "Actually, it's useless for us to think so much, right?"

He guessed that Dayu would most likely use "fire attack". After all, Dayu had only a little over 300,000 soldiers this time, while the allied forces had more than 500,000 soldiers even if only the young and strong ones were counted.

Is it so easy to defeat the enemy with fewer troops?
Zhuge Liang nodded slightly and sighed: "In fact, what I am most worried about is that "Ancestor Heavenly Master"."

After a moment of silence, he asked, "Actually, Wen Ruo also has some guesses about that person's identity, right?"

Xun Yu was like green grass swaying in the wind: "Yes, that's why I'm so worried."

He laughed bitterly, "After all, that family has been standing firm for so many years, and there are many rumors coming from them, such as that people in their family have the means to control celestial phenomena. Some people even say that the meteorite that fell from the sky during the battle when Emperor Guangwu killed Wang Mang was the work of that family."

"At that time, wasn't that person's ancestor in Emperor Guangwu's army?"

"I have a record in my home, which was dictated by a soldier back then. He said that after he offered sacrifices to the gods that night, meteorites immediately fell from the sky."

Xun Yu looked at Zhuge Liang and said, "The embroidered robe envoy is not in the hands of the Emperor of Langya. I guess he should be in the hands of the one in Chang'an, right?"

"Didn't they find out that the Great Sage Master had traveled with King An? Even the "Essential Techniques of Great Peace" in the Great Sage Master's hand might have been passed down to him by King An."

"The information we found indicates that it shouldn't have rained on the day Zhang Jue started the uprising, but a heavy rain fell, washing away all sins and igniting the passion of those who followed him."

"It was also because of that rain that Zhang Jue's uprising was able to succeed."

"Today, if that person is really who we think he is, doesn't he have such means in his hands?"

"Do you believe it?"

Zhuge Liang remained silent: "Of course I don't believe it."

"But even if I don't believe it, what else can I do?"

He smiled bitterly: "We can only hope that the person will not use these mysterious and unpredictable methods."

Xun Yu just said indifferently: "Putting your hopes on the enemy is not like your style."

He and Zhuge Liang were old acquaintances. After all, Zhuge Liang was born in the "Langya Zhuge Family". He had been in Langya for many years. How could he not know Zhuge Liang?

Zhuge Liang shook his head: "It's not about pinning your hopes on the enemy, but about knowing his character."

"He may have some conspiracy, but he won't use this kind of trick at this time."

"The Chen family has always firmly believed that they are a family of 'people', not a family of gods. Otherwise, with their influence, how easy would it be to become a 'family of gods' that is above everyone else? If that were the case, I'm afraid none of the things that happened today would have happened."

Xun Yu nodded: "Indeed."

"However, we still need to think of appropriate measures."

He narrowed his eyes and said, "But for some reason, I always feel a little worried, as if something beyond your and my control is about to happen."

Zhuge Liang and Xun Yu looked at each other, and they began to quickly look for anything wrong, but they found nothing.

The sixth year of Yuan'an was the twenty-second year of Jian'an and Chengtai.

The weather was stormy and the war was about to begin.

The Emperor of Langya received a letter.

A letter from his nephew.

Liu Xie looked at the mysterious man in front of him with an inexplicable look on his face.

"Are you the leader of the contemporary Embroidered Clothes Envoys?"

He waved the secret letter in his hand.

"Is this what my nephew gave me?"