My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 231 My Lord, you don’t think this is the end, do you? Our strategy must be at least six-pronged

After Liu Bei settled Xiang Lang, Wei Yan and others, he was in a very happy mood that night.

After returning, they continued to play music and dance, thinking that they had put their minds at ease. Liu Biao's plan to blockade talents should have completely failed at this point.

The next morning, because of a hangover, Liu Bei slept until noon. Little did he know that just after he had washed up and was about to have breakfast, Zhuge Liang came to ask for a meeting, saying that he had an important strategy to report.

Liu Bei was very surprised, but he didn't need to be polite with Zhuge Liang, so he met Zhuge Liang while having breakfast.

He also served Zhuge Liang a bowl of yogurt so that he could drink some yogurt to help digestion and nourish his stomach even after eating.

The lactic acid strains used in the yogurt that Liu Bei's army now drinks are of course the high-purity lactic acid bacteria and probiotics that were screened out by the Zhuge brothers through repeated strain screening experiments a few months ago.

In addition, before each processing of yogurt, it must first be cooked slowly at low temperature using the "Gerard sterilization method" (pasteurization method) to kill the native bacteria in the raw milk. Therefore, it is not easily disturbed by miscellaneous bacteria. After several months of production, the strain remains pure, and the more it is screened, the better the effect, which is even more stable than old dough.

The senior leaders of Liu Bei’s army quickly developed the habit of drinking yogurt, and they knew that this thing would definitely not cause diarrhea like the previous rotten milk.

Zhuge Liang did not bother to be polite with him and was led directly to the inner hall by the maid. Liu Bei gave him a look and Zhuge Liang leisurely crossed one leg and sat sideways opposite the food table. Without asking any questions, he picked up the celadon yogurt cup and took a sip.

The maid who brought Zhuge Liang in saw that Zhuge Liang was sitting sideways, and she very tactfully quickly brought a stool from the side. Just as Zhuge Liang was about to put down the celadon yogurt cup, the stool was placed under his elbow so that he could lean sideways more comfortably.

Zhuge Liang paid no attention to these details and went straight to the point: "My lord, you felt that the situation was settled last night, so you were able to enjoy singing and dancing in peace."

Liu Bei swallowed the chicken in his mouth and answered casually: "It can't be said that the overall situation has been decided, but at least a small matter has been resolved. I must not relax for a while."

Zhuge Liang laughed and said, "My lord, have you forgotten what I said about using the enemy's trick against theirs? Is this strategy just to make Cai Mao and Zhang Yun's slander backfire on us and ruin Liu Biao's reputation as a good man?

This is just the most insignificant of the several expected goals. Why is it so easy for the lord to be satisfied?"

Liu Bei was slightly stunned when he heard this, and then he remembered that a month ago, when he just heard that Liu Biao restricted the flow of talents and ordered the closure of the river, he hurriedly sought advice from Kong Ming.

Then Kong Ming calmly spoke out a bunch of countermeasures, saying that they just needed to do this and that and turn the tables on the enemy.

A lot of back-up plans were indeed mentioned at that time, but Liu Bei felt that he had to eat one bite at a time and did not dare to expect too much. He thought it would be good enough if he could achieve the first small goal.

Then a month passed in a flash, and there was no news of any new progress, so Liu Bei became lazy.

Last night I heard that the first small goal of turning the tables was achieved. It not only attracted more talents, but also damaged Liu Biao's reputation and discredited Cai Mao and Zhang Yun. He was satisfied and forgot about the rest.

After a long time, we really need a stabilizer like Zhuge Liang to remind us from time to time.

Liu Bei recalled it carefully for a long time before he said seriously:

"I remember that a month ago, when we were analyzing this, you did mention that we could use the excuse that 'Liu Biao blocked the river under the pretext of preventing Zhang Xiu from surrendering to Cao Cao and more spies from Xudu from infiltrating the south' to speed up the destruction of the relationship between Cao Cao and Liu Biao. What? Is there progress in this regard as well? That would be a double blessing."

As Liu Bei recalled and retold the story, he still couldn't believe it.

Zhuge Liang replied, "Of course it's not such a coincidence, but after I settled Ju Da and Wen Chang, I remembered this matter. This morning I went to Chang Xu (Sun Shao) and Zi Yu (Shi Yi) to review the situation and inquire about the latest situation. The hidden maneuver in the north has indeed made some progress.

It is estimated that in half a month, or at most a month, there will definitely be some progress. Zi Yu did not dare to announce the good news in advance because the progress was not big enough and not certain enough. "

It turns out that a month ago, when Zhuge Liang said to Liu Bei, "We should do this and that, and use the same strategy against him," he also offered another half-strategy, which was a useless move. Specifically, it was as follows:

Didn’t Liu Biao use Cao Cao as an excuse to close the river?
But Zhuge Liang guessed that Liu Biao would definitely not dare to offend Cao Cao openly, so this excuse would probably only be publicized within Jingzhou. It is even possible that he would not dare to publicize it actively, but only use it passively in Jingling and Hanyang, the two port counties that blocked the river.

The so-called "passive use" means not actively publicizing it. Only when the blocked and intercepted merchants complain and want an explanation, they will use Cao Cao as a shield to make things worse. If no one asks, or even if the person who asks is not qualified, then they will just block the river without explaining.

Zhuge Liang was sure that Liu Biao must also know that this excuse would spread sooner or later, and it might also spread to Cao Cao's direct territory in the north. But as long as it is kept low-key, not actively publicized, and only a little bit of movement is made, then the spread of this rumor will be slow.

If the information was deliberately publicized, it would take half a month for the information to reach Cao Cao's territory, and another ten days for it to be collected, noticed, and heard by Cao Cao himself in Xudu. If the information was passive and low-key, it might not be spread for two months, and it might take three months for it to reach Cao Cao's ears.

By that time, Yuan and Cao might have already fallen out, and the opportunity would have been lost. Cao Cao would not care about the outdated news when he heard it.

Intelligence without timeliness is not intelligence, and diplomatic stimulus without timeliness is not worthy of being called diplomatic stimulus.

Unfortunately, Liu Biao wanted to keep a low profile, thinking that as long as he kept a low profile and delayed, it would not matter. But Zhuge Liang could help Liu Biao keep a high profile, and he would also find out Liu Biao's true thoughts, so he had a backup plan.

After Liu Bei sorted out the cause and effect, he immediately asked eagerly: "So, in this month, Ziyu found out that Liu Biao was indeed passively using Cao Cao as a shield? He didn't intend to publicize it? But Changxu successfully passed this information to Runan?"

Zhuge Liang finally smiled triumphantly: "Yes, that's right. I asked Ziyu to gather information, search and analyze the reactions and intelligence of civilian merchants and travelers to confirm that my inference about Liu Biao that day was indeed accurate! All of Liu Biao's actions were consistent with my expectations!
Changxu, on the other hand, made use of the connections he had made during his many missions to Xudu to visit the court. He made another visit this month, but he did not go to Xudu. At least he spread the news we wanted to spread. I believe Cao Cao has noticed Liu Biao's fear of him."

As Zhuge Liang spoke, he gave a detailed report on the work that Sun Shao and Shi Yi had done according to his requirements in the past month.

Sun Shao was a Yangzhou Beijia under Liu Yao. Historically, he was recruited by Sun Quan. Finally, when Sun Quan became emperor, in order to suppress Zhang Zhao, he let Sun Shao become the first prime minister of Wu, and was later replaced by Gu Yong.

Although Sun Shao in history was a mascot of power transition, his ability to become prime minister at least shows that he had a very deep understanding of how to gain the trust of his new lord after he replaced him. He knew what kind of dirty work the new lord needed him to do and had a clear understanding of his own position.

In this life, Sun Shao surrendered to Liu Bei after Liu Yao's death. Liu Bei respected him in name. After all, Sun Shao was the deputy governor of a state and had been sent to Xudu to contact the court the most times, more than Jian Yong and Sun Qian. He was very experienced in doing these things. But Sun Shao knew very well that he came late, and in terms of Liu Bei's trust, he was far less than Jian Yong and Sun Qian. In fact, whenever Liu Bei wanted to send someone to Xudu, if the mission was secret and not dangerous, he would tend to let Jian Yong or Sun Qian go. Only when it was not secret and dangerous would Sun Shao go.

Sun Shao knew what was going on, but he didn't complain. He just let him go.

This time, Zhuge Liang asked him to hang around for a while and asked his followers to find an opportunity to spread some news, so he went to spread it.

In contrast, Shiyi was an intelligence analyst who joined Sun Quan after Liu Yao's death. In this life, he continued to do his old job with Liu Bei. Zhuge Liang asked him to send people to pretend to be normal business travelers to contact Liu Biao's Fengjiang navy last month, and then give money to get through customs to get information, and to get the other party's attitude without overly provoking the other party, and verify some situations.

Verify with one hand and spread with the other, the two-pronged approach will naturally produce extraordinary results.

Liu Bei had no time to care about these details, because they had not yet produced any results, and he would not personally care about these ongoing trivial matters. After listening to Zhuge Liang's summary, he happily asked:

"In that case, has Cao Cao been misled by our deliberate dissemination and stepped up his vigilance against Liu Biao?"

Zhuge Liang: "According to the latest news, Zhang Xiu's troops seem to have been moved away from the Wancheng defense zone by Cao Cao. Cao Cao then spent a lot of money to reward Zhang Xiu with gold and silver, and promised to increase his fiefdom by several hundred households. Then he moved Zhang Xiu's troops to Chenliu and incorporated them into the rest of the troops guarding against Yuan Shao.

But Wancheng or Nanyang County could not be left undefended. I guess Cao Cao would soon select his best soldiers from the garrison in Xudu to go south to replace Zhang Xiu and keep an eye on Liu Biao. And I guess, with Cao Cao's temper, he might not have completely given up the hope of winning over Liu Biao, but after this incident, he must have been desperate.

Knowing that he could not win over Liu Biao, Cao Cao's possibility of tripping Liu Biao would be greatly increased. If he heard that Liu Biao had blocked the river and prevented merchants from passing through, he would definitely not dare to use the Yangtze River waterway to contact those unstable governors in southern Jing.

In this case, given Cao Cao's cunning and suspicious nature, he is likely to send secret envoys to go south from the Jiangxia County under our control, via Changsha to Wuling and Lingling - if Cao Cao is really sure of winning over certain prefects in southern Jing to contain Liu Biao.

What we need to do now is to relax the search and vigilance against Cao's secret envoys and spies crossing the Tongbai Mountain and Xinyang Road from Runan to the south. We should secretly monitor and investigate them. Of course, we will still kill those who are not good for us, but if they are only bad for Liu Biao, we can follow them and confirm and then let them pass through secretly..."

Liu Bei couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart as he listened to Zhuge Liang so calmly speak of such a meticulous plan.

How come Kong Ming's wisdom and strength seem to have improved again? It seems that only a few months have passed since the last time I felt this way!

On the one hand, he destroyed Liu Biao's reputation as a good man.

On the one hand, they created hatred for Cai Mao and Zhang Yun and discredited them,

While trying to find out whether Liu Biao dared not to openly announce the blockade of Cao Cao's envoys,

At the same time, he went to Cao Cao to spread the news of Liu Biao's behavior.

Finally, if Cao Cao reacted unfavorably to Liu Biao, he would have to secretly monitor and allow him to cross the border...

How many parallel operations are there?

How many distractions does your brain need to handle?
Liu Bei was stunned and took a few deep breaths. "Sir, is this how you draw inferences from one example to another, and take full advantage of Liu Biao's unintentional move to block the river? Are these all the countermeasures you came up with on your own? Do you have anything else to add?"

When asked about this, Zhuge Liang put away his usual wisdom and told the truth with a little embarrassment: "It is not entirely my personal strategy. In the past month, after I made the initial deployment, I also contacted my eldest brother in Wuhu by letter, hoping to ask him to confirm whether what I did was appropriate.

My eldest brother also wrote back. He reminded me of this point in his reply: "If Cao Cao was suspicious of Liu Biao, he might contact some governors in southern Jing to oppose Liu Biao and try to contain him, such as Zhang Xian." The other three points were my own thoughts, and the last point was perfected after discussion between my eldest brother and me.

The five strategies are closely linked. I contributed two-thirds of them, and Big Brother contributed one-third. This strategy is the combined efforts of the two of us brothers.

Finally, my elder brother reminded me in his reply, "If you find that Cao Cao has completely given up on winning over Liu Biao and is choosing another local governor to contain Liu Biao, write to him immediately to inform him."
Because he felt that Cao Cao's actions to win over Zhang Xian and Sun Ce might happen at the same time. This meant that our army might really have to prepare for a two-front war.

My eldest brother also said in the letter that if we really find that Cao Cao has drawn troops from the elite troops in Xudu to take over the defense of Zhang Xiu in Wancheng in advance, it means that Xudu will be temporarily empty, and there may even be some people in Xudu who are dissatisfied with Cao Cao who will jump out. This also requires our army to pay attention to it in time and be prepared to respond, just in case we can respond flexibly and make more money. "

After Zhuge Liang finished speaking, he took out a letter from his sleeve. It was the letter that Zhuge Jin had sent back from Wuhu more than ten days ago.

Zhuge Liang wrote the first letter to Zhuge Jin to seek advice after he had just heard that Liu Biao had sealed off the river and conducted a few days of investigation.

Letters traveling downstream along the Yangtze River travel relatively quickly, and a fast boat with sails and oars can reach Wuhu in six or seven days. Returning from Wuhu is upstream, and takes at least ten days, unless in wartime, when express horses are used to relay the message, and the Yangtze River route is no longer used.

Liu Bei read Zhuge Jin's reply carefully, and combined it with Zhuge Liang's retelling. Only then did he understand what was going on and was no longer as surprised as before.

Of the five linked strategies mentioned above, only three and a half were contributed by Zhuge Liang, and the remaining one and a half were remotely thought of by Zhuge Jin who was thousands of miles away. In addition, Zhuge Jin also independently thought of a possible follow-up deduction and reminded -

Of course, Liu Bei would never know that among Zhuge Jin's points, one point was directly copied by the time traveler (Zhang Xian would rebel against Liu Biao), and the subsequent possible deductions were also copied from the historical answer (the belt edict). In fact, there was only a little bit that was completely thought out by Zhuge Jin's IQ without any historical predictions.

After Liu Bei sorted out his thoughts, he couldn't help but sigh: "This seems much more normal. There are a total of six insights. Kong Ming contributed three and a half points, and Zi Yu contributed two and a half points.

But he is planning from a thousand miles away, unlike you who are right in front of him, which is much more difficult. It seems that Ziyu is still half a step ahead of you in terms of figuring out the movements and strategies of the princes of the world.

However, your rapid progress is beyond my expectation. It seems that in two years at most, you will be able to catch up with your brother in all areas except leading troops in battle. This is really a cause for celebration and a blessing for the Han Dynasty.

By the way, didn’t Tzuyu ask me to write back immediately if I have any news? So, we should quickly collect the latest intelligence here and send it to Wuhu by express boat day and night, so that Tzuyu can also prepare for the battle! "

(End of this chapter)