Three Kingdoms: Wolong's brother-in-law, tricking Liu Bei into seizing Jingzhou

"Yu Jin, you have followed Cao Cao for more than ten years. You are known as the only general from outside Cao's camp. Cao Cao treats you like a general from the royal family. It can be said that he trusts you and treats you well."

"Are you really willing to abandon Cao Cao and surrender to the Han Dynasty?"

Liu Bei asked coldly, his tone did not show the joy of gaining a great general, but rather undisguised contempt.

Not every surrendered general would treat him with courtesy.

To put it in an exaggerated way, Yu Jin to Cao Cao is like Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to him.

They were my brothers and sisters who had followed me since I started my business.

What does the brotherhood represent?
It means that anyone can betray you except your brothers and sisters.

Liu Bei believed that just as he firmly believed that Guan and Zhang would never betray him, Cao Cao must also firmly believe that Yu Jin would never betray him.

But the reality is that a minister whom Cao Cao regarded as a brother actually betrayed Cao Cao.

Even though they were enemies, Liu Bei was angry with Cao Cao.

"My title of the best general outside the family is just an empty title."

"Although I surrendered to Lord Cao very early, the people Lord Cao truly trusted were always the brothers of the Cao and Xiahou clans."

"This time when Lord Cao retreated south to Yizhou, Xiahou Dun originally volunteered to stay behind to guard Jicheng as a cover, but Lord Cao was afraid that Xiahou Dun might fail, so he deliberately used provocation to force me to step forward and replace Xiahou Dun as the cover."

"Lord Cao has actually already regarded me as a discarded pawn."

"Now that I have fought until Jicheng fell and there is no way out, I have finally surrendered to Han. I have done my best as a loyal subject and I am worthy of Cao Gong's kindness to me over the past ten years."

"I have fulfilled my duties and now submit to Your Majesty, just to follow the will of heaven. I have not failed Cao Gong."

Yu Jin kowtowed to the ground and defended his rebellion against Cao in a sad tone.

This defense naturally contains some elements of self-glorification, but it also contains some words that come from the heart.

Obviously, during the military meeting that day, Yu Jin was well aware of Cao Cao's intention of letting him replace Xiahou Dun to guard Jicheng and cover the rear.

Yu Jin also knew clearly who were outsiders and who were brothers.

People are all made of flesh and blood. It is impossible to say that he doesn't have any concerns in his heart.

At that time, he still had 30,000 troops at his disposal, and had not yet fallen into the current situation of being a prisoner. Naturally, he had to hide his concerns in his heart, and could only pretend to be ignorant in front of the world.

It's different now.

An army of 30,000 was destroyed in an instant, and he was alone and defeated and captured, becoming a prisoner.

The first general of a foreign family, the left general of the Qin Dynasty, all the glory, wealth, fame and fortune, were all wiped out.

Yu Jin was no longer worried about any constraints, his only wish was to survive and save his life.

In order to save their lives, they can naturally act without restraint and vent all the resentment suppressed in their hearts.

After hearing Yu Jin's half-true and half-false explanation, the contempt in Liu Bei's eyes faded a little.

To be honest, if I treat Guan Yu and Zhang Fei the same way Cao Cao treated Jin, then if they betrayed me one day, there seems to be no reason to blame them for their disloyalty.

"Cao Mengde, I used to envy you for having a family as a shield, and having the support of the Cao and Xiahou families. Now it seems that your family is the reason for your success and failure..."

Liu Bei sighed with relief.

Then he stared at Yu Jin who was lying on the ground, lightly twirling his thin beard and pondering in silence.

Yu Jin's hands, which were supporting the ground, were trembling, and cold sweat was streaming down his forehead. He held his breath and dared not to breathe.

He knew that Liu Bei was thinking about how to deal with him.

Kill or keep?

Life and death depends on Liu Bei's one thought.

"Come here, take Yu Jin to the capital and imprison him, and let him live out his remaining life."

Liu Bei made the decision.

Yu Jin and himself had no mortal hatred, and Yu Jin was not a mortal enemy who must be killed. Moreover, Yu Jin chose to dismount and surrender at the last moment.

Killing the surrendered is not his style.

Moreover, Yu Jin was a general of the Qin state, and if the news of his kneeling and surrendering spread, it would be a heavy blow to Cao Cao and the morale of the Qin people.

There is naturally no reason to kill such a person.

If you don't kill it, you can't use it either.

The best way is to imprison Yu Jin, provide him with plenty of food and drink, and let him fend for himself behind high walls.

"Your Majesty's political tactics are becoming more and more sophisticated..."

Xiao Fang on the side nodded slightly, secretly praising Liu Bei's proper handling of the matter.

Yu Jin, who was kneeling on the ground, breathed a sigh of relief.

While he felt relieved, he also felt mixed emotions, tinged with sadness.

His life was saved.

Unfortunately, Liu Bei was unwilling to accept his surrender and had no intention of making him a member of the court and serving the Han Dynasty. Instead, he wanted to treat him as a criminal and imprison him forever.

This means that although he saved his life, he will have to spend the rest of his life behind high walls.

"Your Majesty, thank you for not killing me!"

Yu Jin could only suppress the sadness in his heart and kowtow to Liu Bei silently.

Liu Bei didn't bother to say another word to him and just waved his hands in disgust.

The left and right Yulin guards came forward and dragged Yu Jin out of the hall.

"Prime Minister, now that Jicheng has been captured, how should I use the troops next? Does Prime Minister have any strategy?"

After dealing with Yu Jin, Liu Bei looked at Xiao Fang with a smile.

Xiao Fang had already made up his mind, so he said calmly:
"Now that Jicheng has been recovered, Tianshui, Nangan and other Longxi counties can be conquered by issuing an edict. The return of Longxi to the Han Dynasty is a foregone conclusion."

"As for Cao Cao, he must have passed Qishan and entered Hanzhong."

"Although Cao Cao only took 40,000 troops with him, he still had tens of thousands of troops in Hanzhong. The Qinling Mountains are the most dangerous in the world. Cao Cao's current military strength, plus the danger of the Qinling Mountains, is enough to offset the disadvantage in military strength."

"The dangers of the Qinling Mountains are not something we can easily overcome with 300,000 soldiers and horses."

"Moreover, the soldiers have been fighting for a long time, and now their mental and physical strength has been depleted by more than half. It is not easy for them to cross mountains and ridges and go deep into Shu to attack."

"So I think that we should stop our operations in the south."

After listening to Xiao Fang's analysis, Liu Bei kept nodding in agreement.

After a pause, Xiao Fang pointed his feather fan to the north:
"The deployment of troops to the south has come to an end, but we cannot stop the deployment to the north."

"Although Cao Cao retreated to Yizhou, his son Cao Zhang led tens of thousands of troops and occupied northern Liang, holding the five counties of Jincheng, Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, and Dunhuang."

"Although this bandit won't become a big deal, if he cooperates with Cao Cao to attack from the north and south in the future, he can pose a considerable threat to Longxi."

"Therefore, we must eradicate this thief, recapture the counties in northern Liang, and incorporate the entire Liang Province into the Han territory!"

After saying that, Xiao Xiang bowed to Liu Bei:

"To defeat Cao Zhang, there is no need to mobilize my 300,000-man army."

"I think that Your Majesty can lead 70,000 troops north to join forces with Yide. With a combined force of 100,000, it will be enough to defeat Cao Zhang in one fell swoop."

Liu Bei agreed with this, so he slowly stood up and said proudly:

"Pass on my order to take all the wine and meat from the Jicheng treasury to reward the soldiers of the three armies."

"Let's set out the celebratory wine. I want to get drunk with you all to celebrate the victory of recovering Longxi."

"Then follow the Prime Minister's advice, and all the generals will follow me to lead the army north, join Yide, destroy the remnants of the Cao family, and recapture Liangzhou in one fell swoop!" (End of this chapter)