Three Kingdoms: I, Liu Feng, do not want to die

Chapter 115: Hanzhong Wangwei, Liu Bei proposes to use Lianying
In Zigui City.

Meng Dazheng talked about how to deal with the current situation.

Meng Da was deprived of power by Liu Feng in Shangyong and was driven to Zigui by Liu Feng. If he swore that he had no complaints, he would be deceiving himself.

Meng Da is also a person who can endure things.

In front of Liu Bei, Meng Da would never speak ill of Liu Feng.

Especially after Liu Feng sent Kou Anguo to deliver the battle report, Meng Da would not be so stupid as to slander Liu Feng in front of Liu Bei.

Not only that, Meng Da also shamelessly claimed that he readily handed over the military power to Liu Feng because he was impressed by Liu Feng's righteousness.

On the surface, he was praising Liu Feng, but in fact he was praising himself: I, Meng Da, am a man who understands the big picture and is loyal to you, the king. I will give you 4,000 soldiers without even blinking an eye.

have to say.

Meng Da is quite good at scheming and is also extremely good at establishing his own persona.

For example, historical records show that Meng Da defected to Wei because he was clearly afraid that Liu Bei would punish him and blame him for not saving Guan Yu. However, Meng Da wrote a letter of resignation to Liu Bei.

The general idea is: first, Liu Bei is praised for his ability to build on the achievements of Yi Yin and Lu Shang, and to achieve the status of Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin in the future; then he belittles himself by saying that he has neither the talent to be an assistant internally nor the ability to be a general externally, and that he is unworthy of being listed among the meritorious officials.

He also cited the fates of Fan Li, Shen Sheng, Wu Zixu, Meng Tian, Yue Yi and others as reasons for his resignation, and even claimed that all the civil and military officials of Jingzhou had defected and he was the only one who persisted in Fangling Shangyong.

Finally, he added, "I know I am a villain, please let me go, Your Majesty."

In short: A bunch of talented civil and military officials in Jingzhou have defected. I, a talentless man, have defended Fangling Shangyong for so long and am still being punished by you, Your Majesty. I can only leave as a villain.

Meng Da can say whatever he wants, good or bad.

And now.

With the merit of defending Zigui and the help of Fa Zheng, Meng Da successfully washed away the bad impression left by "Kuai Qi's death in the rebellion" in front of Liu Bei.

Meng Da's response strategy was also quite to Liu Bei's liking.

The general idea is: People like Sun Quan are used to being villains. If they are not beaten for three days, they will tear off the tiles and beat you up before negotiating.

Liu Bei leaned against the table, closed his eyes and listened quietly.

His weather-beaten face looks older than his peers.

Liu Bei's long-term status as a superior also made him exude an aura of majesty without even getting angry.

Wait until Meng Da finishes speaking.

Only then did Liu Bei open his deep and sharp eyes.

"What Zijing said is exactly what I want. Sun Quan is a young man with a low moral character. He took away my three counties in the past, and I have not yet settled accounts with him. Now he has taken away my Southern County, so how can I let him go easily?

Now Tanzhi has also sent 5,000 soldiers to Zigui. I am planning to march eastward to first kill Sun Ce's son-in-law Lu Xun, and then go to Jiangling City to question Sun Quan's son."

Meng Da was overjoyed when he heard this, and offered his services: "Your Majesty, if you want to march east, I am willing to be the vanguard!"

Meng Da wants to make progress so much.

If Liu Feng had not been there, Meng Da's achievement in defending Zigui would have been considered a great achievement.

But with Liu Feng around, Meng Da's achievement in defending Zigui seemed overshadowed.

Look what Liu Feng did?
After pacifying Shangyong and Xicheng, the powerful people in the three counties either respected or feared Liu Feng.

A large number of defensive fortifications were built in Fangling. Guan Ping was able to block Xiahou Shang's sneak attack some time ago because of the defensive fortifications built by Liu Feng.

He subdued the various tribes in Jingshan and formed the Jingshan Volunteer Army.

Before the fall of Jiangling City, he rescued Guan Yu's family in advance and sent letters to Pan Jun, Mi Fang and Xi Zhen to remind them.

After the fall of Jiangling City, he proposed a plan to divide the troops to Guan Yu.

What followed was Liu Feng's personal show: he cleverly defeated Yu Jin, defeated Ding Feng, Xu Sheng, and Ma Zhong, captured Quan Cong and Pan Zhang, attacked Jiangjinkou three times and killed Han Dang, seized a boat and crossed the river to join forces with the heroes of southern Jing to fight against Sun Quan.

And what Meng Da didn't know: Liu Feng attacked Jiangjinkou four times, broke into the enemy's battle line and killed the general, went in and out seven times, assassinated Sun Quan at the foot of the city, and defeated Xu Sheng in Maicheng.

The total of these accumulated achievements cannot be compared with Meng Da's defense of Zigui.

What's more, it was Liu Feng who arranged for Meng Da to guard Zigui. Liu Feng was afraid that Meng Da could not defend Zigui, so he specially asked Guan Yu for a handwritten order for Meng Da: ordering Meng Da to temporarily serve as the prefect of Yidu, supervising the military and political affairs of the four counties of Yidu, and allowing Meng Da the power to act according to circumstances.

In other words: Half of Meng Da's credit for defending Zigui should be given to Liu Feng!
Liu Bei did not immediately agree to Meng Da's request. After signaling Meng Da to stay calm, he looked at Fa Zheng who had been in deep thought.

"Xiaozhi, what do you think?"

Fa Zheng was Liu Bei's favorite strategist after Chen Deng, Xu Shu and Pang Tong.

It’s not that Liu Bei didn’t value Zhuge Liang, but in Liu Bei’s eyes: Zhuge Liang is Xiao He who can be left behind without any worries, and Fa Zheng is Zhang Liang who can be kept by his side at any time.

Zhuge Liang focused on the overall situation and neglected to consider Liu Bei's personal thoughts, while Fa Zheng was better able to understand Liu Bei's personal wishes.

One tends to be public-spirited, the other private-spirited.

Just like Xi Zhicai and Guo Jia who were by Cao Cao's side, they were not as talented as Xun Yu, but were not inferior to Xun Yu in terms of closeness.

Therefore.

Fa Zheng was nominally the Minister of the Chancellery, but in fact he was always by Liu Bei's side.

When Meng Da saw Liu Bei asking about Fa Zheng, he quickly winked at Fa Zheng.

There are not many opportunities to perform meritorious service in front of Liu Bei, and this can win Liu Bei's favor better than battle reports.

Fa Zheng pondered for a moment and said, “Yesterday Liao Hua came to Zigui and claimed that the deputy general had been killed by Sun Quan.

Although the battle report sent in advance by the deputy general dispelled Sun Quan's rumors, Guan Junhou of Wulin might not be able to tell the truth, and it was unknown whether Maicheng could be defended.

Now the king has mobilized another 5,000 soldiers from General Guan, and the defense of the three counties of Shangyong has become weak. If rumors of the death of the prince in battle spread to Fangling again, General Guan might lose his composure.

The battle reports about Nanjun that we have received now are all from half a month ago. A lot of changes can happen in more than half a month.

Yidu is a strategically located place with dangerous mountains and rivers, and the king has no navy in Zigui, so it will be difficult for him to break through Lu Xun's defenses in Yiling, Yidao and Jishan. If you rashly send troops eastward, Lu Xun will see through your strength.

Therefore, I think: we should continue to bluff, send more envoys, persuade Lu Xun with emotion and reason, and make him believe the king's sincerity in forming an alliance against Cao. And send an order to General Guan in Fangling: No matter what rumors you hear in Fangling, no matter who sends envoys for help, you must not leave Fangling without permission. Defend Fangling, and the three counties will be safe.

At the same time, we will send more envoys to Wuling to pacify the various tribes in Wuling and gather troops to invade Qishan and Yidao. This will not only divide Lu Xun's troops, but also help us find out the latest war situation in Nanjun."

Seeing that Fa Zheng had rejected the eastward advance, Meng Da said anxiously, "Xiaozhi, you are too cautious. Lu Xun stationed troops in Yiling, Yidao, and Jishan counties in order to block the king's eastward advance. He was buying time for Sun Quan in Nanjun.

If the king did not send troops eastward, how could he frighten Lu Xun? Sending more envoys would only give in to Lu Xun's desire to delay time.

If anything happens in Nanjun, it will be too late to regret.

My king, I am willing to issue a military order. If I cannot capture Yiling, I am willing to accept the punishment!"

Fa Zheng saw that Meng Da had even shouted out the military order, and he couldn't help but feel a headache: "Zijing, I know you are always brave, but Yiling is dangerous and difficult to take, and your old subordinates are not with you.

The 5,000 soldiers and horses sent by General Guan are not familiar with the terrain of Yiling, and have never seen your military tactics. You do not have the advantage of terrain or the support of the people, so it will be difficult to win if you use your troops reluctantly.

Zi Jing also knows military affairs, and he must know the art of using troops. If you don't move, you'll win. If you move, you'll win. How can you make a military order and make things difficult for the king? This is not the way of a minister."

When he said the last sentence, Fa Zheng's eyes and tone had become stern.

Military order?
Can it be set up casually?

Isn't this like roasting the king on the fire?

If the king doesn't let you go, he's afraid you'll be disappointed; if he lets you go, you may not necessarily win.

Do you want me to watch you being beheaded by the king?

Meng Da wanted to say something but stopped himself, then lowered his head in submission under Fa Zheng's stern gaze.

Although he was a good friend of Fa Zheng, when Fa Zheng got angry, he would really not recognize anyone as his own. Meng Da really didn't dare to disobey Fa Zheng when he got angry.

"Xiaozhi, why get angry? Zijing is also eager to get rid of the bandits. Although he is not thoughtful enough, his original intention is just to retake Nanjun as soon as possible. You two are old friends and close friends. You must not hurt the harmony because of this." Liu Bei's faint voice of reconciliation sounded in Fa Zheng's ears.

Fa Zheng and Meng Da quickly bowed and apologized to Liu Bei.

Liu Bei leaned against the table, looking at the map on the left, and said, "I now have more than 10,000 soldiers in Zigui and 5,000 soldiers in Baidi City.

In terms of numbers alone, the soldiers I can use are far more than Lu Xun; however, in reality, the only soldiers I can use for the attack are the 5,000 soldiers sent by Tan Zhi from Fangling. The rest are mostly county soldiers and barbarian soldiers, and it is difficult to use them for a big job.

When I wanted to attack Hanzhong again, I used the strategy of setting up camps and advancing step by step to Yiling first.

The plan proposed by Xiaozhi can also be implemented simultaneously."

Although history records that Liu Bei's camps were burned down by Lu Xun, there was nothing wrong with the plan of connecting camps at first.

The combat-capable soldiers under Liu Bei were not familiar with the terrain of Yidu, nor did they know that the Wu soldiers had any small, treacherous, or side roads that they were not aware of to bypass the rear.

Therefore, when imitating Hanzhong, we used the most stupid method, which was to advance step by step and set up many outposts to prevent being outflanked. This in itself was not a problem.

When the army encounters unknown terrain, caution is the first priority.

The surprise soldier sounds cool, but his death is also tragic.

Liu Bei advanced step by step, like a turtle shell, with the intention of luring Lu Xun to attack, and if Lu Xun did not come, he would continue to advance.

This style of play is actually very rogue.

It’s just consumption.

If you come, I will ambush you with a trick. If you don’t come, I won’t bite you. I will just stay here and wait for you to retreat. If you retreat, I will suppress you step by step.

It depends on who can keep calm.

If the opponent was not Lu Xun, Liu Bei's rogue style of play would be difficult to break.

That's the bad part.

Lu Xun is not a good person either.

Liu Bei wanted to advance step by step, so Lu Xun stretched out the battle line.

Want to move cautiously?
I will let you go deeper and deeper. I want to see how long you can stretch your company and camp, and whether the supplies in your rear can support it.

Liu Bei didn't expect this either.

Lu Xun actually managed to convince a group of Jiangdong officers who wanted to confront Liu Bei head-on to retreat together!
You have to know that the Jiangdong generals had just defeated Guan Yu at that time. They were all extremely arrogant and didn't take Liu Bei seriously at all.

So much so that in the later period, Liu Bei fell deeper and deeper into trouble.

Liu Bei also wanted to take the opportunity to mislead Cao Pi: Look! Although I lost Jingzhou, Sun Quan is no match for me. You see Lu Xun is losing ground. I will march into Jiangling soon. Aren’t you going to take a share of the spoils?
However, Cao Pi also had many wise men under his command, and they were not fooled at all.

In other words:
During the Battle of Yiling, Liu Bei was not ignorant of military affairs.

Whether it was taking every step carefully to force Lu Xun to take the initiative or showing off military power to lure Cao Pi to his death, there was nothing wrong with the tactics.

However, on the battlefield, victory is not guaranteed just by knowing the soldiers.

Unless the opponent's military operations are at a very low level, most of the time he will be affected by the combined influence of factors such as time, place, people and other aspects.

Just like Yuan Shao's defeat at Guandu and Cao Cao's defeat at Chibi, there are too many factors that affect victory or defeat, and no one person can decide.

And now.

Although it was the same strategy of connecting camps, Liu Bei had Fa Zheng by his side to fill in the gaps.

In the discussion room.

Someone reported that Ma Liang was outside seeking to see someone.

Liu Bei frowned upon hearing this, and summoned Ma Liang to come in and asked, "Ji Chang came to Zigui, but has something happened in Chengdu?"

Ma Liang shook his head, took out a letter and handed it to Liu Bei, saying, "Here is a letter from the military advisor."

Let’s see how Liu Bei gained trust.

The gist of the letter was: Ma Liang was friendly with the Yi people in southern Jing, so he might be useful; he also said that Yizhou was exhausted, with little food and tired soldiers, and if things in Jingzhou went wrong, it would be best to provoke Cao Cao and Sun Quan to fight.

(End of this chapter)