I will be the master of Xuande

Chapter 750 Who uses whom?

Liu Jian's generals all had their own opinions on Huang Gai's surrender. Some of them felt that Huang Gai's surrender came from the bottom of his heart, while others felt that it might not be credible and needed careful consideration. .

But except for a few generals headed by Zhang Fei, most of the generals felt that Huang Gai had no reason to surrender. In addition to the reason that their own forces were strong, they really couldn't think of Huang Gai even using the bitter meat trick and the fake surrender trick. , what methods will you use to defeat your own army!
Liu Jian remained silent. He just listened to the opinions of his subordinates.

Everyone said something to each other and expressed their opinions.

Even Han Sui's son-in-law Yan Xing stood up and expressed his opinions.

"Prime Minister, I will consider my own situation and feel that there is really no need for Huang Gai to deceive us!"

"To be honest, when I was under the command of General Han in Liangzhou, facing the elite soldiers and generals of Zhang Dadu and the pressure from the imperial court, I was really afraid and felt that I had no hope for my future. !”

"It wasn't until my father-in-law brought us under the Prime Minister's command that the Liangzhou soldiers and I felt that we had a future, and our minds suddenly broadened!"

After hearing what Yan Xing said, Liu Jian nodded immediately.

Yes, with their current momentum, this is indeed what they have in mind to conquer these forces.

However, compared to other Liangzhou generals who surrendered, this man was very cautious. He usually spoke little and did not express himself too much in front of Liu Jian.

This man's name is Pang De, and he is a young brave general under Ma Teng. He was a well-known person among the Liangzhou rebels in the past. He has been following Ma Teng since he was young.

Everyone once again expressed their opinions, but according to Liu Jian, most people felt that Huang Gai truly surrendered!
Finally, Liu Jian set his sights on a Liangzhou captain.

Afterwards, everyone left Liu Jian's handsome tent.

Pound was a little uncomfortable at first. He didn't expect Liu Jian to call out his cousin all at once, so it took him a long time to react.

"Here!"

Xun You first said: "There are many doubts about Huang Gai's surrender. I hope the prime minister will consider it carefully."

Liu Jian's words are really touching.

Pang De hurriedly came to the middle of the commander's tent, raised his hands in a military salute and said: "The official is a humble man from the border county. He is not good at strategy. I can't guess whether Huang Gai's surrender is true or false."

Liu Jian said: "Tell me more specifically, what can't you figure out?"

Liu Jian laughed loudly and said, "Ling Ming is too modest!"

No way, this is reality.

In fact, they had never thought about whether Huang Gai was really surrendering or pretending to surrender. This was quite doubtful, but they did not rule out that the other party was really surrendering.

There were only three people left in the tent, Xun You, Jia Xu, and Jushou.

"Ling Ming, all the generals have something to say, but you are the only one hiding aside and saying nothing. What's the point?"

Liu Jian said seriously: "Huang Gai is pretending to surrender, it's a cruel trick!"

Pang De was the last general to answer, so Liu Jian said to everyone: "I know what you have said, and I will consider this matter carefully. The generals should return to their respective camps to settle down the soldiers. I will make my own arrangements the next day. !”

"The official, the official...is here!"

If it were Yuan Shao, the fourth generation and the third prince, his appeal might be able to calm the hearts of his men to a certain extent, but from a common sense perspective, a figure like Sun Ce would have no ability to rally the hearts of his men.

The reason why Liu Jian allowed everyone to speak was to broaden the generals' channels of speech, exercise their thinking ability, and prevent them from becoming his ideological vassals.

"A certain person has just said that everyone can speak about the matters discussed today and express their own opinions. Even if they say something wrong, they will not be blamed. If it is true or false, even if they find a corps commander, they can say it in front of a certain person. , What's more, you are also a warrior who has been fighting for many years, so you don't have to worry about your identity, you can speak out!"

After all the generals in the tent had finished expressing their opinions, Pang De didn't even say anything.

Liu Jian was not in a hurry. He looked at the people present one by one and said, "If you have any ideas, tell us. Let's discuss them together! Speak freely!"

"At least, you have to wait until the prime minister has attacked Yangping Pass for a few times and knows that Shu Pass is difficult to conquer. Only then can you submit to him to gain the greatest benefits for yourself..."

"What Ling Ming said is good and worthy of commendation."

In order for the power of the Han Dynasty to reach its peak, in addition to having a strong economic foundation, it must also have strong military strength.

However, he did not show it excessively.

Pang De said: "Although Huang Gai is not a famous general, he is rich in combat experience. Yangping Pass is the most powerful pass in the world. As long as it is properly guarded, it can withstand a hundred thousand soldiers. Although our army is strong, we can easily take it." Don’t go down to Yangping Pass!”

But now, the person who came to surrender was Huang Gai, and the person who sent Huang Gai's letter was Lu Meng. Liu Jian knew who these two people were.

With such a figure and the power in his hands, who wouldn't want to serve on the battlefield for him?
Just listen to Pang De say: "Prime Minister, I think it is common sense for Huang Gai to submit to the Prime Minister. After all, with the current situation of the Prime Minister and the current situation in Hanzhong, it is not enough for Huang Gai to find a way out for himself." It’s strange... but now that I have surrendered like this without fighting, I still feel like there is something I can’t figure out!”

Today, let all the generals express their opinions, let them participate, let them brainstorm, and make a good start for their future growth. This is what Liu Jian wants most.

Liu Jian was very satisfied with Pound's answer.

Xun You and the other three people did not expect Liu Jian to make such a definite conclusion.

"If it were the junior official in Huang Gai's position, in this case, the junior official would not submit, because the prime minister has not been hindered at Yangping Pass and has not personally experienced the pain of Yangping Pass being difficult to conquer!"

In fact, this person has always been someone Liu Jian pays more attention to.

How could Liu Jian be so sure that he was faking surrender?

And cultivating many usable generals who are both civil and military is also accumulating resources for the Han Dynasty.

In fact, if it had been someone else, Liu Jian might have hesitated a bit.

This shows his sincerity in treating the generals. It can also be seen that he does not treat these rebel generals who have just surrendered to the imperial court. At least on the surface, they can be said to be treated equally.

He doesn't have enough power, and his background is not outstanding.

Liu Jian pointed at Pang De and said, "Ling Ming!!"

Cao Cao and Guan Yu in their heyday in history fell into the hands of these two people.

Now I am just like Cao Cao in his heyday...

However, I cannot use this reason to explain to my three cronies.

He had to change his perspective.

"Three of you, let's think about it. For Huang Gai, although it is the best destination for him to surrender to our great Han Dynasty, you need to know that he has followed Sun Jian in the war for nearly ten years. Not only has he made great achievements under Sun Jian's command, he himself has always been on good terms with Sun Jian. !”

"Huang Gai's feelings for Sun Jian are probably no less than those of Sun Ce!"

"Although Sun Jian died in the hands of Xu Huang, Xu Rong, and Zhang He, I am the biggest enemy to Sun Ce and Huang Gai!"

"Now that I personally lead my troops to Yangping Pass, they may never have the chance to kill me again in their lifetime!"

"Perhaps this is the only chance for revenge."

After hearing this, Xun You, Ju Shou and others understood a little bit.

"So, the Prime Minister thinks that the master-slave relationship between Huang Gai and Sun Jian is enough for him to sacrifice his life for Sun Jian?"

Liu Jian nodded and said, "That's enough!" Xun You said, "If this is true, then Huang Gai pretended to surrender just to take the Prime Minister's life!"

Liu Jian said: "That's right, but this also gives us a godsend opportunity to capture Yangping Pass!"

Jia Xu said with a smile: "If it is as the prime minister said, Sun Ce and others stick to Yangping Pass and rely on the danger of Yangping Pass, we are afraid that it will be difficult to conquer. Even if we conquer by force, we will have to lose most of the soldiers, which can be said to be a serious loss of vitality. !”

"Now Sun Ce, Huang Gai and others intend to plot against the Prime Minister for revenge. No matter what method they use to retaliate against the Prime Minister, the result will be that they will definitely escape from seclusion. As long as they come out of seclusion, we will have a chance to deal with them! This is very important to our army. Words are of great help!”

Liu Jian said solemnly: "That's exactly it!"

……

……

After Lu Meng returned to Yangping Pass, he immediately reported his interview with Liu Jian to Sun Ce, Huang Gai and others.

After listening, Huang Gai immediately said: "Ziming said that Liu Jian believed in someone's surrender. In your opinion, can Liu Jian fully believe this?"

Lu Meng said seriously: "To be honest, from the official's point of view, Liu Jian's belief or disbelief is secondary. The key is that he is very confident. He feels that General Huang's true surrender or false surrender will not harm him at all!"

"What do you mean by that?"

Lu Meng then repeated what Liu Jian told him to bring back to Sun Ce, Huang Gai and others.

After hearing this, Sun Ce's face turned blue.

"Hmph! Liu Deran is so arrogant and arrogant. It seems that he may not take public prosecutions into consideration!"

Huang Gai said: "It's not that it's not necessarily, but it's true that I haven't taken it seriously."

"After all, Liu Deran is now very popular and has a lot of talk in the court. Even the emperor has to call him uncle when he sees him, so he behaves properly,"

"He has all the troops and horses in the world under his control, not to mention how much prestige he has established in the Han Dynasty and the center of the Liu family over the years."

"Since the founding of the Han Dynasty, which powerful official of any dynasty can compare with him?"

"And after Yuan Shao's defeat in the Battle of Nanyang, and after Ma Teng and Han Sui from Liangzhou surrendered, Liu Jian became even more high-spirited and ambitious, and regarded the world's heroes as if they were nothing."

"If it were me in his place, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to put a small yellow cap in my eyes."

Sun Ce said: "If this is true, then Liu Deran will be in big trouble this time!"

"Huang Gong, what should we do next?"

Huang Gai then said: "It would be a bit too artificial if I immediately gathered people in the pass to surrender to him as soon as he agreed to surrender to me, and it would be easy for Liu Deran to see the problem."

"According to Huang's point of view, Lu Ziming should be sent to Liu Jian's camp again and tell him that I have no good chance to leave the customs to join him at the moment. I will temporarily gather people in the customs who want to surrender to Liu Jian. When I do, I will When the time comes, come out of Yangping Pass and surrender to him."

"Of course, if you can bring some of the baggage from Yangping Pass to surrender, Liu Jian will be even happier."

When Sun Ce heard this, he nodded immediately and said, "What is the true meaning of Gong Fu's actions?"

Huang Gai then said: "General Sun, Liu Deran is a shrewd person, and his eyes are higher than his head."

"I will delay inside the pass for a while and let Liu Deran lead his troops to attack the pass first. We will guard Yangping Pass closely and prevent him from crossing the barrier even half a step."

"Yang Ping Pass is so dangerous that it can be won overnight."

"Liu Deran's attack on Yangping Pass failed, so he must be anxious, and he must re-examine the soldiers in Yangping Pass!"

"When the time comes, when I lead the people to surrender to him, it will mean that Liu Jian has received support in his time of hardship. By then, his attitude towards me will be different."

"In this way, Huang can better avenge General Sun's father in his camp!"

After hearing Huang Gai's words, Sun Ce hit the palm of his right hand hard with his left hand.

"The public response is true, then let's have a good fight with Liu Jian at Yangping Pass!"

Two days later, Huang Gai secretly sent Lu Meng as an envoy to quietly leave the country to find Liu Jian.

Lu Meng relayed Huang Gai's words to Liu Jian.

After listening to Lu Meng's words, Liu Jian immediately said to Lu Meng: "The war at Yangping Pass is imminent. It is indeed very difficult to get a large group of troops to come out."

"But if you can't get out of Yangping Pass for a while, it's not a big deal."

"Looking back, I will create an opportunity for Huang Gongfu. He is in the pass now. He just needs to contact the people well."

After hearing this, Lu Meng immediately clasped his fists and asked, "I wonder how the prime minister plans to create opportunities for General Huang?"

Liu Jian smiled and said: "I am leading my troops to attack key problems. Isn't this creating opportunities for General Huang?"

Lu Meng heard this and said: "If this is the case, I can go back and explain to General Huang, so that the general can cooperate with the outside world to help the prime minister win the pass."

Liu Jian shook his head and said: "How can it be so easy? Yizhou soldiers have been operating in the pass for so many years. Especially when it comes to battle, the pass is tightly fortified. How can they just come out and lead the crowd to cause trouble inside?"

"I will attack the key point first to plunge the Yangping Pass into chaos and lower the morale of the soldiers in the pass. Then your general Huang will be able to contact more people who want to submit to the imperial court in the pass. If he surrenders the next day, wouldn't the momentum be even greater? ?”

"In this way, we can better control the spirit of Shu!"

The plan of Lu Meng and others was naturally not to directly assist Liu Jian within the pass, and to cooperate with the outside world. He just said this just because he wanted to test Liu Jian's attitude.

Seeing Liu Jian actually saying this, Lu Meng immediately felt relieved.

"In that case, I will convey the Prime Minister's intention to General Huang, and ask General Huang to cooperate with the Prime Minister to understand the Prime Minister's intention more, so that we can get out of the mud as soon as possible."

"So good."

……

……

After resting for a few days, Liu Jian began to order his garrison to launch a large-scale attack on Yangping Pass.

Of course Liu Jian was not responding to Huang Gai and creating some so-called bullshit opportunity for him.

He just wanted to test the strength of Yangping Pass.

But it turns out that Yangping Pass is indeed very difficult to fight.

Liu Jian's troops were divided into five groups and were given unified command by General Zhang Fei to attack the key points, but they never climbed the pass.

The number of soldiers killed and injured was very high, and it was really not an easy place to fight.

No wonder people in Western Shu can rely on the mountains and rivers, and the terrain is relatively peaceful. This pass does have its merits.

If you want to capture Yangping Pass and occupy Hanzhong without damaging your vitality, it seems you have to make use of Huang Gai.

In other words, in the end, it all depends on who can take advantage of whom among Liu Jian, Huang Gai, and Sun Ce.

(End of this chapter)