Super Cultivation System of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1134: Fengshan Trip
Xiangyang, the General’s Mansion.

"Great! Zhongda is extremely wise and has great plans. With this good plan, Hanzhong will be mine!"

Sun Ce was overjoyed when he read the letter.

"Why is Bofu so happy?"

Zhou Yu just walked in, and seeing Sun Ce's excited look, he couldn't help but ask with a smile.

Sun Ce handed the letter to Zhou Yu: "Zhongda is very wise. He knows the character of old Shi Xie very well. He will not send troops to help us fight against the bandits with all his heart. Now it is true. The reinforcements sent by the old bandit are slow to act and delay the military opportunity. They were beheaded by Zhongda's army. The deputy general rebelled on the battlefield and led the army to escape back to Cangwu County. Now Zhongda rebuked Shi Xie and ordered him to hand over these generals and the 8,000 soldiers and make compensation, otherwise he will regard his family as traitors."

Zhou Yu took a quick look at the letter and said, "If Shi Xie does as he is told, the loss of 8,000 soldiers will be a minor issue, but the soldiers in Jiaozhou will be disheartened by his family. If he refuses to comply, he will be convicted of treason, and our army's attack on Jiaozhou will be in line with justice."

"That's right. Not only that, take a look at the next page. That's the core of Zhongda's plan."

Sun Ce seemed very happy, which made Zhou Yu curious, so he turned to the second page of the letter and started reading.

However, when Sun Ce saw that Zhou Yu had been looking at him for a long time, not only did he not look happy, but his brows were getting tighter and tighter, he could not help but feel extremely surprised.

"Gongjin, what's wrong? Is there something wrong with Zhongda's plan?"

Zhou Yu shook his head and said, "No, Sima Yi's strategy is really brilliant, and it is beyond my expectation. I am afraid Liu He could not have predicted it either."

This strategy consisted of only a few hundred words on paper, but it shocked even Zhou Yu, one of the world's top generals.

Sima Yi predicted that after the 8,000 Jiaozhou soldiers fled back to Cangwu County, Shi Xie would neither hand them over for disposal as requested, nor openly break off relations with Sima Yi. Instead, he would choose to delay the war against Sima Yi, and then send the leading generals directly to Sun Ce in Xiangyang. At the same time, he would prepare generous gifts and go among the major clans in Jing and Yang, asking them to persuade and admonish Sun Ce, in an effort to gain Sun Ce's forgiveness on the matter.

Sima Yi had already secretly contacted Meng Huo and other barbarian tribes in the south. At that time, he would lead 50,000 barbarian soldiers to raid Jiaozhi County from the mountains and tie down the elite troops directly under Shi Xie.

Then the leaders of the two Shanyue strongholds that had just been conquered, pretending to be fleeing after being defeated by Sima Yi, directly invaded Cangwu County and burned, killed and looted, attracting the troops that Shi Xie had just deployed in Cangwu, Hepu and other places not long ago.

Sima Yi himself led his elite troops to pursue and kill the Shanyue bandits in the name of capturing them. The two village chiefs surrendered in front of the battle, and then the army attacked them from both sides and killed these "rebels" in Jiaozhou.

In this way, the four counties of Yulin, Hepu, Cangwu and Nanhai can be under control. Then the army can be integrated to attack Shi Xie's headquarters together with Meng Huo. In this way, the battle of Jiaozhou can be decided.

But this strategy does not stop there. Sima Yi's ultimate goal is not Jiaozhou, but Yizhou.

Yizhou is now actually led by the eldest prince Liu He, Liu Zheng. He is young and full of vigor. Seeing that the best troops of the southern barbarians have been dispatched, he knows that he has no future troubles. When Sun Ce's army attacks Hanzhong, Liu Zheng will definitely lead the troops himself, even out of all the troops, vowing to capture Sun Ce and Zhou Yu alive in one fell swoop.

In this way, Yizhou was left empty. Meng Huo and Shamoke's barbarian soldiers walked along the mountain road as if they were walking on flat ground, turned their horses back to Yizhou and attacked Chengdu directly, making it impossible for Liu Zheng to take care of both ends.

Sima Yi then instigated some local wealthy and powerful families in Yizhou who were not completely convinced of Liu He to rebel, and cooperated internally and externally.

In this way, not only can Hanzhong be easily captured, but the entire Yizhou will no longer belong to Liu He.

In Sun Ce's view, although this strategy was not comprehensive, it did not have too many loopholes from a strategic perspective and was highly feasible. Sun Ce believed that it had at least a 60 to 70 percent chance of success. Even if it did not succeed completely, taking Jiaozhou and Hanzhong was almost a sure thing.

However, Zhou Yu shook his head slightly and said, "My lord, what do you think of Sima Yi?" Sun Ce thought that he would point out some shortcomings of this strategy, but he did not expect to hear such a question.

"Sima Zhongda? He is both wise and brave. He prepares food and fodder in the back and leads the troops in the front. He is a rare talent. Everyone thinks that Lingnan, Jiaozhou and other places are barren lands, but they didn't expect that under his governance, he now provides 30% of my army's food and fodder, and nearly 50% of my weapons. In addition, there are countless treasures stored in the treasury. Moreover, he is constantly making brilliant plans and is a master in military operations. In my army, he is second only to you, Gongjin."

Zhou Yu said, "My Lord, don't you think that Sima Yi's power is a little too great?"

Sun Ce was stunned when he heard this, then laughed it off: "Haha, Gongjin, are you worried that this person has bad intentions? I, Sun Ce, am not an incompetent man who can be deceived and slaughtered by others. Why should I be afraid of Sima Yi? His family is in Jingzhou, and many generals around him are also direct descendants of Jiangdong. Even if he has some rebellious intentions, what can he do?"

If someone else said this, Sun Ce would only suspect that he was jealous of talented people, but he and Zhou Yu had shared life and death, and their trust was unparalleled. But despite this, he did not think that Sima Yi had the ability to rebel against him.

Zhou Yu said sternly, "Sima Yi's methods are extraordinary. In a short period of time, he has established a very high prestige in the army and in Lingnan. Even the soldiers that you and I brought from Lujiang wrote to us and praised him highly, as if they had become his confidants."

"Also, the major Shanyue tribes are also on good terms with him, and the local nobles often have banquets with him. The wives that his fourth and fifth brothers recently married are the eldest daughters of a wealthy family in Lingnan."

"Now that Jiaozhou is about to be destroyed, the land of Jiaozhou will actually be controlled by him. Moreover, Shamoke and the Barbarian King Meng Huo have always been contacted by him. This man has the eyes of an eagle and the back of a wolf. I am afraid that he has great ambitions. Moreover, he has such strength. Even if he is loyal, we must be on guard."

Sun Ce nodded slightly and said, "Well, Gongjin, what you said does make some sense."

As he spoke, he paced back and forth in the room. When he came to a pillar, he suddenly punched it.

"Yes, Lu Zijing is honest and modest, and quite courageous. He is thoughtful and prudent. After Jiaozhou is taken, I will recommend him as the governor of Jiaozhou, transfer Sima Yi back to Xiangyang, promote him to General of Chariots and Cavalry, and make him Marquis of Gan, with a fief of 800 households, and concurrently the governor of Yangzhou, and let him garrison Danyang to deal with Liu Bei's Xuzhou navy."

"Bofu is very smart. This way we can commend his merits, prevent him from becoming too powerful in Lingnan, and continue to display his talents. It's a three-pronged approach. It's brilliant, brilliant."

"Haha, thanks to Gongjin for reminding me. This matter has been decided. Come, let's discuss the strategy of conquering Hanzhong..."

Liu He had originally planned to go to Mount Tai in March to hold the Fengshan Ceremony, but there was a slight delay due to the war. However, since the imperial order had been issued, it could not be changed at will. Therefore, at the end of March, Liu He led the civil and military officials of Luoyang and set off for Mount Tai County in Yanzhou along the newly built wide and flat official road.

Of course, everyone believed that the Fengshan Ceremony itself was secondary. His Majesty intended to use this Fengshan ceremony to intimidate those nobles in Qing and Xu who felt that they were far away from the emperor and therefore attempted to pretend to obey but actually disobey the Equal Field Order after it was promulgated; and of course, there was also Yuzhou, which had just been recaptured from Sun Ce and where the court's rule was not yet very stable.

After all, the Equal Field Order was undoubtedly a huge blow to those local wealthy families who had annexed a large amount of land. However, after several turmoil in the court, the powerful families in the northern states were either completely conquered by Your Majesty and willing to submit completely, such as the Cui family, Xun family, and Yang family, or eliminated and weakened by Your Majesty one by one, such as the Chen family, Yuan family, and Wang family.

Therefore, the remaining aristocratic families were no longer strong enough to compete with the imperial court. It was impossible for them to change the decree. They could only put up some resistance and try to gain more benefits for their families under the decree.

As for the small and medium-sized families who were in collusion with Sun Ce, playing both sides, and were ready to be fence-sitters at any time, there were definitely quite a few of them.

Any sober-minded minister in the court understood that if they went to Mount Tai, they would probably see more heads falling down.

Just as Liu He's troops were marching towards Mount Tai in a mighty manner, the undercurrent that had been brewing in Shangyong City finally broke out.

I wish you all a happy Valentine's Day and a happy Lantern Festival tomorrow.



(End of this chapter)