China knows everything for 5000 years

Chapter 23

So, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei took gifts to Longzhong (in today's Hubei) Wollongang to ask Zhuge Liang to come out and help him with things.It happened that Zhuge Liang went out that day, so Liu Bei had to turn back disappointed.Soon, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei braved the storm to invite him for the second time.Unexpectedly, Zhuge Liang went out to wander again.Liu Bei had no choice but to leave a letter expressing his admiration for Zhuge Liang and asking him to come out to help him.After some time, Liu Bei ate vegetarian for three days, and visited Zhuge Liang for the third time.When he arrived, Zhuge Liang was sleeping.Liu Bei didn't dare to disturb him, and stood until Zhuge Liang woke up by himself.Zhuge Liang was deeply moved by Liu Bei's love for talents, and immediately presented the famous "Longzhong Countermeasure".

Zhuge Liang proposed to Liu Bei the strategy of unifying the country, "Unite Sun Wu in the east, occupy Jingyi in the west, fight with Yiyue in the south, and resist Cao Cao in the north".Zhuge Liang talked freely about the future situation of the three pillars of the world, and suggested that Liu Bei take the opportunity to seize Jingzhou and Yizhou, use these two places as his foundation, occupy the dangerous terrain, and then form a good relationship with Sun Quan in the east of the Jiang, live in harmony with the ethnic minorities in the southwest, and establish laws and regulations in the country and rectify the army , Develop production, accumulate food and grass widely, enrich local strength, and wait and see the changes in the current situation.Once the time is right, immediately go north to fight against Cao Cao, unify the country, and complete the hegemony.This is the famous "Longzhong Pair".

Liu Bei was overjoyed when he heard the words, so he asked Zhuge Liang to come out of the mountain to help him.From then on, Liu Bei valued Zhuge Liang very much, and Zhuge Liang also devoted himself to Liu Bei.Zhuge Liang became a pivotal figure in Liu Bei's group and made great contributions to the Shu regime.And "Longzhong Dui" has become the program guiding the struggle of Liu Bei's group.In 212 AD, Zhuge Liang assisted Liu Bei to occupy Yizhou, and eventually Liu, Sun, and Cao were three pillars.This is what later generations said, "before a fledgling, one-third of the world".

●Zhuge Liang unites Wu against Cao
After Cao Cao pacified the north, he led an army southward in 208 AD to attack Liu Biao.Before his troops arrived in Jingzhou, Liu Biao had already died of illness.His son Liu Cong was frightened when he heard Cao Jun's momentum, and sent someone to beg for surrender first.At this time, Liu Bei was stationed in Fancheng (now Xiangfan, Hubei).When he heard that Cao Cao's army was going south, he decided to retreat to Jiangling (now Jiangling, Hubei).The people in Jingzhou heard that Liu Bei treated people well, and they would rather retreat with him.

When Cao Cao rushed to Xiangyang, he heard that Liu Bei was retreating to Jiangling, and that Liu Biao had accumulated a large amount of military rations in Jiangling. He was afraid that Liu Bei would take it, so he personally led 10,000 light cavalry to chase Liu Bei.Liu Bei's men brought weapons and equipment, and 300+ people followed him, and they could only march a dozen miles a day.Cao Cao's cavalry drove more than [-] miles a day and one night, and soon caught up with Liu Bei at Changbanpo in Dangyang (now northeast of Dangyang, Hubei).Liu Bei's men and horses were smashed by Cao Cao's cavalry, and thanks to Zhang Fei's resistance at Changbanpo for a while.Only then did Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang get rid of the pursuers with a small number of troops.However, the road to Jiangling had been cut off by Cao Jun, so he had to divert and retreat to Xiakou (in today's Wuhan, Hubei).

Cao Cao occupied Jiangling and continued to march eastward along the river, and soon he would reach Xiakou.Zhuge Liang said to Liu Bei: "The situation is urgent, and we have only one way to ask Sun Quan for help." It happened that Sun Quan was afraid that Jingzhou would be occupied by Cao Cao, so he sent Lu Su to find out Liu Bei's truth.Zhuge Liang and Lu Su went to Chaisang (now southeast of Jiujiang, Jiangxi) to meet Sun Quan.Zhuge Liang met Sun Quan and said: "Now that Cao Cao has captured Jingzhou, he is about to attack Soochow. If the general is determined to resist, he should sever ties with Cao Cao as soon as possible and resist with us; otherwise, simply surrender to them. If you hesitate, it will be too late when disaster strikes." Sun Quan asked back, "Then, why didn't General Liu surrender to Cao Cao?" Zhuge Liang said solemnly, "General Liu is a descendant of the royal family, so he can surpass the world. How could he humbly surrender to Cao Cao? When Sun Quan heard what Zhuge Liang said, he also said excitedly, "I can't give away the Jiangdong land and 10 people for nothing. However, General Liu has just lost the battle, so how can he resist Cao's army?"

Zhuge Liang said: "Don't worry, although General Liu was defeated for a while, he still has 2 navy troops. Although Cao Cao has many soldiers and horses, his soldiers are exhausted after chasing them from a long distance. Besides, the northerners are not used to water warfare. The people of Jingzhou refused to accept them. As long as we work together, we will surely defeat Cao Jun." Sun Quan was very happy after hearing Zhuge Liang's analysis, and immediately summoned his generals to discuss ways to resist Cao Cao.Afterwards, Zhuge Liang fought against the Confucians with his tongue, skillfully dealt with it, and finally reached a strategic alliance of Sun and Liu to jointly fight against Cao.

●Heroes Association Jiang Qianzhong
After Sun and Liu united against Cao Cao, Cao Jun and Zhou Yu's troops faced off across the river.Cao Cao wanted to persuade Zhou Yu to surrender. He summoned all the civil and military officials and said, "Zhou Yu is a general of the Eastern Wu. If he can be surrendered, the Eastern Wu army will be defeated without a fight. Who can persuade Zhou Yu to surrender?" The man named Jiang Gan stood up and said: "Prime Minister, Zhou Yu and I grew up together and have a very good relationship. I can go and persuade him to surrender!" Cao Cao then sent Jiang Gan to persuade Zhou Yu to surrender.

As soon as Zhou Yu heard that Jiang Gan was coming, he knew that he was a lobbyist, so he made arrangements with his subordinates and only waited for Jiang Gan to fall into the trap.

Zhou Yu greeted Jiang Gan in person. As soon as we met, Zhou Yu said, "You and I have not seen each other for many years. Today, we have traveled a long distance to Jiangdong. You must persuade me to surrender for Cao Cao, right?"

When Jiang Gan heard this, he was startled, but he immediately calmed down and said, "Dudu Zhou, I've been away from you. You and I have been close friends since we were young. I came to visit today, just to catch up and have nothing else to do!" Zhou Yu smiled, Said: "That's great, we must get drunk today, please come inside!" Zhou Yu had already made arrangements, and all the good generals and elites of Soochow were summoned together to treat Jiang Gan warmly.Zhou Yu said: "These are all heroes from Jiangdong. They gathered here today to seek a great cause together. This can be called the 'Heroes' Meeting'."

Zhou Yu said to everyone: "Although Jiang Gan is Cao Cao's subordinate, he and I, Zhou Yu, are classmates and friends. This time, I came here to reminisce about the old days, not to be a lobbyist for Cao Cao. Anyone who wants to bring up war matters must Don't forgive me, it's really rare for us to get together today, let's all drink to our heart's content, and get drunk." Jiang Gan secretly groaned in his heart when he heard Zhou Yu's words, but he couldn't say anything, so he had to calm down to drink and wait for the opportunity.

The civil and military officials of the Eastern Wu Dynasty treated Jiang Gan very politely and toasted him in turn.Jiang Gan had no intention of drinking, but in order not to spoil Zhou Yu's interest, he had no choice but to hold on.Zhou Yu said: "Since I led the army, I have never drunk alcohol. Today, my old friend came here. We will not stop until we are drunk, and we will serve you with songs and dances!" Singing and dancing, the atmosphere is very lively. Kind of drunk.After drinking for a long time, the banquet was withdrawn. Zhou Yu took Jiang Gan's hand very kindly, and said to Jiang Gan, "We haven't seen each other for many years. Today we come to sleep together in my room."

Jiang Gan thought to himself: I can finally get along with Zhou Yu alone, and I can use this opportunity to persuade him to surrender.He followed Zhou Yu to the room, and before he could speak, Zhou Yu fell asleep on the bed without taking off his clothes, and then vomited profusely, several times in a row, and finally fell into a deep sleep.

Jiang Gan couldn't fall asleep after tossing and turning, so he peeked at the letters on the table, and there was a letter at the bottom, which said "Cai Mao and Zhang Yun sincerely seal it".Jiang Gan peeked quickly, and wrote in the letter: "We didn't want to surrender Cao Cao, but we had no choice but to join General Zhou. In order to show our sincerity, we found an opportunity to kill the old thief Cao Cao and dedicated his head to Zhou. General." Jiang Gan was shocked and lay on the bed, unable to fall asleep.It was almost dawn when someone came in and asked, "Is Governor Zhou awake?" Zhou Yu deliberately pretended to wake up from a dream, and suddenly asked, "Who is sleeping on the bed?" "Captain, that's not yours." What is your friend Jiang doing? You drank too much yesterday, didn't you ask Jiang Gan to sleep with you?" Zhou Yu said: "I drank a few more glasses yesterday, I don't know if I made a mistake." The man said: "Someone from Jiangbei... Zhou Yu said, "Hold down."

He called Jiang Gan a few more times, and Jiang Gan quickly pretended to be asleep.Zhou Yu and the man went outside the tent, Jiang Gan followed quietly.The man said: "The two governors, Zhang and Cai, didn't have time to start." Hearing this, Jiang Gan hurried back to bed.After Zhou Yu returned to the room, he called Jiang Gan a few more times, but Jiang Gan didn't respond.

At dawn, Jiang Gan got up and left immediately. After seeing Cao Cao, he explained the situation and presented the letter.Cao Cao was furious and immediately killed Cai and Zhang.As soon as he killed the two, Cao Cao immediately understood that he had fallen into Zhou Yu's trick.Cao Cao had no choice but to appoint inexperienced Mao Jie and Yu Jin as the commanders of the navy to continue training the navy.

●Zhuge Liang Borrows Arrows from a Straw Boat
Zhou Yu, the governor of Soochow, was a famous general, but he was narrow-minded, very jealous of Zhuge Liang's talent, and always wanted to take the opportunity to get rid of him.Zhuge Liang understood Zhou Yu's thoughts very well, but in order to take the overall situation into consideration, he had no choice but to work with Zhou Yu.

Once, Zhou Yu wanted to make things difficult for Zhuge Liang because of the need for fighting in the water, and asked him to make [-] arrows within ten days.Unexpectedly, Zhuge Liang accepted the task of making arrows and issued a military order. He would not hand over [-] arrows by then, and he was willing to accept any punishment.

Zhou Yu was secretly happy, as he expected that Zhuge Liang would not be able to complete this task, and he would be able to get rid of him without any effort at that time.Zhou Yu also secretly ordered the fletcher to deliberately delay the time and not prepare enough materials for Zhuge Liang.However, Zhuge Liang has a well-thought-out plan and has his own clever plan.He privately borrowed 100 fast boats from Lu Su, a general of the Eastern Wu Dynasty. Each boat was equipped with [-] soldiers, and green cloth was used as tents on the boats, and more than [-] straw figures were tied on each boat.

Two days passed, and Zhuge Liang didn't move at all.Zhou Yu believed that Zhuge Liang must die this time.Unexpectedly, in the early morning of the third day, Zhuge Liang took advantage of the heavy fog on the river and ordered the grass boat to approach Cao Jun's water village.While drinking with Lu Su in the boat, he ordered the soldiers to beat drums and shout on the boat, pretending to attack Cao Jun.

Cao Cao was resting when he suddenly heard the sound of drums and shouts on the river. He thought that the enemy army was coming to attack the water village in the thick fog, so he hurriedly ordered Cao Jun not to attack, but to shoot at them with arrows.In an instant, more than 1 archers from Cao Cao's water and land armies shot arrows into the river together.Not long after, many arrows were stuck in the straw man's body.

After the sun rose and the fog cleared, Zhuge Liang ordered the boats to sail back quickly.At this time, the bodies of the 20 straw men on the clippers were already filled with arrows, and the number far exceeded [-].Zhuge Liang asked the soldiers on all ships to shout "Thank you, Prime Minister, for the arrow".When Cao Cao understood the truth, Zhuge Liang's boat had already sailed for more than [-] miles, and it was impossible to catch up.Cao Cao regretted it unceasingly.

After Lu Su told Zhou Yu the story of Zhuge Liang borrowing the arrow from the grass boat, Zhou Yu was taken aback and sighed deeply: "Zhuge Liang has a clever plan, I am indeed not as good as him."

●Huang Gaiyi offers a bitter trick
After Cao Cao killed Cai Mao and Zhang Yun by mistake, Xun You suggested that Cao Cao send Cai Zhong and Cai He, Cai Mao's two younger brothers, to Dongwu to feign surrender.Cao Cao immediately summoned Cai Zhong and Cai He, who were willing to feign surrender and came to Soochow in a small boat.When the two saw Zhou Yu, they cried, "My elder brother Cai Mao was not wrong at all, but the old traitor Cao Cao was incompetent and killed my elder brother. We wanted to avenge our elder brother, so we came here to seek refuge with Governor Zhou. I hope you can take us in. We are so grateful." I have the opportunity to avenge my elder brother and kill the old thief Cao Cao." Zhou Yu nodded in agreement with the two, rewarded them with a lot of money, and placed them under Gan Ning's subordinates.Zhou Yu said to Gan Ning, "These two people did not bring any family members, so they are clearly here to feign surrender. We will plan accordingly, but you must always pay attention to their actions!"

There is a veteran of Soochow, named Huang Gai, who is loyal, courageous and resourceful.Seeing that there were so many Cao troops, he sent someone to pretend to surrender, thinking: Why don't we follow the plan and pretend to surrender?So Huang Gai asked to see Zhou Yu, and Zhou Yu saw the old general begging to see him, so he got up to meet him.Huang Gai was a straightforward man. When he saw Zhou Yu, he said, "Commander Zhou, Cao's army is superior. Why don't we attack with fire?" Zhou Yu said, "The old general thinks the same as me. I discussed this with Zhuge Liang just now. We all think that fire attack can defeat Cao Jun, but no one in our army can cheat and surrender?" Huang Gai said: "I am willing!" Zhou Yu shook his head and sighed: "Old general, Cao Cao is very treacherous, no He won't believe it if he suffers. The old general is so old, I am afraid that the general will not be able to bear it?" Huang Gai said: "Commander Zhou, I, Huang Gai, have experienced hundreds of battles. I am not afraid of life and death, but I am afraid of suffering? The lord respects me very much, for the sake of the lord, I would rather not have this old life!" Zhou Yu was greatly moved, and the two discussed how to perform this "drama".

the next day.Zhou Yu summoned all civil and military officials, and Gan Ning's subordinates Cai Zhong and Cai He also attended.Huang Gai provoked Zhou Yu deliberately, and Zhou Yu was about to behead Huang Gai in public.The generals knelt down to Huang Gai to intercede, and Zhou Yu waved his hands and said, "For the sake of everyone's sake, I will spare you from death for the time being. However, the death penalty is forgiven, and the crime of living is inevitable. Come here, give me a 100-day blow." plate!"

Huang Gai was beaten until his skin was torn apart and blood flowed out. Everyone complained that Zhou Yu was too cruel.Zhou Yu was also very sad, but in order to defeat Cao Cao, he had to do so.Chan Ze is Huang Gai's close friend, he is eloquent and resourceful, he has long seen that this is a bitter plan.He visited Huang Gai, and the two chatted until late at night. Huang Gai sent his friend to Cao Ying to send a letter of false surrender.

Kan Ze was able to speak well, and Cao Cao believed his words.But Cao Cao was suspicious by nature, so he sent someone to question Cai Zhong and Cai He.Gan Ning deliberately asked the two to send out the message, and the two of them told Cao Cao that Huang Gai had indeed fallen out with Zhou Yu, and that Huang Gai had also been tortured.Therefore, Cao Cao was convinced of this matter. He never thought that this was Huang Gai's bitter trick.

●Zhuge Liang cleverly borrowed the east wind

In 219 AD, Sun Quan and Cao Cao's army confronted each other across the river, and a fierce battle began near Beiyan of Chibi.Zhuge Liang, as Liu Bei's military representative, was invited by Soochow to participate in the joint combat deployment against Cao's army with Zhou Yu as the commander in chief.

Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang discussed how to set fire to Cao Ying, but at that time it was midwinter, and the north wind was howling all day long. To burn the fire to Cao Ying, there must be an east wind to help, but this is not the time for the east wind to blow. Where can we call the east wind?For this matter, Zhou Yu was helpless and restless.Because there is no Dongfeng, everything he has done before will be in vain.As a last resort, Zhou Yu pretended to be sick, and hid in the big tent, thinking hard to break Cao's plan.The battle was imminent, but the commander-in-chief fell ill. This has seriously damaged the generals at all levels in Soochow.Lu Su, the counselor, was even more anxious.

Seeing that the time was ripe, Zhuge Liang came to Zhou Yu's big tent in the name of visiting a sick man.Seeing Zhou Yu, Zhuge Liang said to him: "General Zhou's illness can be cured. As long as the general reads the prescription I prescribed, he will recover immediately!" After speaking, he wrote on his palm, "If you want to defeat Cao Jun, you must use fire." attack; everything is ready, only the east wind is owed" a few lines of small words.

After seeing it, Zhou Yu jumped out of bed excitedly and asked Zhuge Liang for help.Zhuge Liang said: "The general's business is my business, and it is my duty!"

Zhuge Liang is proficient in astronomy, and he has already measured that there must be an east wind in the near future.Relying on the east wind, Zhou Yu burned Cao Cao's army to countless casualties, and fled in embarrassment.

●Cao Cao was defeated in the Battle of Chibi
Cao Cao received the news that Huang Gai led a grain ship to surrender on the winter solstice. The tooth-shaped green dragon flag on the bow was a signal to surrender.I have been looking forward to this day for a long time. The winter solstice is coming, and the southeast wind is blowing when the sky is getting late.After a while, there was a row of sailboats on the river, sailing quickly to the north, with the tooth-shaped Qinglong flag on the bow. Cao Cao was overjoyed and said, "As soon as Huang Gai comes, I will be done!" How could he expect to be on Huang Gai's boat? , It is not grain and grass, but dry firewood and hay poured with oil, and the outside is covered with a curtain.Two miles away from Cao Jun's water village, Huang Gai looked back and saw that Zhou Yu on the south bank was ready. He only waited for him to light a fire here, and then led his troops to fight across the river; Liu Bei was also preparing to attack at Fankou at the same time.Huang Gai gave an order: "Set fire." The sailors were ready for a long time, and in a short time, several big boats turned into fire boats, drifting towards Cao Jun's water village like fire dragons.The sailors quickly jumped into the boat, drew their weapons, and rushed to Cao Ying.

Cao Ying's warships could not move, and the soldiers were frightened out of their wits by the fire dragons and fled one after another.It was too late, but soon, the fire boats had already ignited Cao Jun's warships one by one. The whistling southeast wind fueled the fire, and the flames on the river surged into the sky. Countless people died.Zhou Yu and Liu Bei's warships also took advantage of the momentum and sailed across the river, fighting with Cao's army.

Dozens of small boats behind Huang Gai's big boat quickly approached Cao Ying, firing rockets while looking for opportunities to kill the enemy.Veteran Huang Gai stared at Cao Cao's handsome boat sailing away, and he saw Cao Cao fleeing into a small boat. He raised his knife and shouted: "Cao Cao! Where are you running! Huang Gai is here!"

Cao Cao had already jumped into the boat that Zhang Liao came to rescue, and he didn't even dare to turn his head.Zhang Liao drew his bow and nocked an arrow, and shot Huang Gai in the shoulder.The old general plunged headlong into the icy water, and happened to be rescued by the boat of Han Dang, a veteran of Soochow. Huang Gai saved his life because of this, and Cao Cao took the opportunity to escape.

With thousands of remnants and defeated generals, Cao Cao got rid of the pursuit of Sun and Liu's coalition forces by water and land, and fled back to Xuchang by land. Since then, he has no strength to march south.

The Battle of Chibi came to an end with the victory of Sun Liu's coalition army and the defeat of Cao's army. This is a famous example in the history of our country's war that the weak defeated the strong.

●Huarong Road Guan Yu releases Cao
Zhuge Liang had clever calculations, knowing that Zhou Yu was narrow-minded and jealous of his own talents, so he left Soochow quickly after borrowing the east wind.Zhou Yu sent someone to arrest Zhuge Liang, who had already been taken to Xiakou by Zhao Yun.Zhuge Liang returned to Xiakou and immediately dispatched troops to intercept Cao Cao's remnants and defeated generals.Zhuge Liang is indeed very talented in military affairs, and he also knows Cao Cao's character well, so he can accurately judge the withdrawal route of Cao's army.

(End of this chapter)