My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 344 Cao Cao: I want this, this, and more. I want them all!

Yuan Tan was defeated by Yuan Shang on the battlefield of Bohai County, leaving only the isolated city of Nanpi. This happened in July.

The chain of surrenders in the Youzhou battlefield, the loss of Dai County and Shanggu, were the latest results released in August. It was only a day or two before this news reached Xudu.

Yuan Tan in Qingzhou had only just learned of the bad news. Liu Bei's camp in the south didn't even know that Daijun and Shanggu had been lost until now.

To be honest, losing Dai County and Shanggu was indeed a blow to Liu Bei and Yuan Tan.

But if the time traveler Zhuge Jin were to make an assessment, he would feel that it was worth it to just lose Dai County and Shanggu to eliminate Jiao Chu, an unstable factor within Yuan Tan's camp.

Who made the forces under Yuan Tan's command have a weak foundation and unstable people's hearts? Jiao Chu is a fence-sitter with an unstable will. He has repeatedly defected to the other side in history. Staying in the camp is always a hidden danger. The sooner it is exposed and eliminated, the better.

Today, Jiao Chu surrendered to Yuan Shang without any hesitation because Yuan Tan was in a slightly unfavorable situation. Then in the future, if Cao Cao attacked Yuan Shang, as long as Yuan Shang was in a disadvantageous situation, Jiao Chu would also surrender to Cao immediately. This kind of person can surrender countless times if he surrenders once.

So from this perspective, the loss of Yuan Tan's camp is still acceptable. Moreover, Youzhou's territory is originally too narrow and long, covering thousands of miles from east to west, but much shorter from north to south.

If Yuan Tan wanted to defend the entire Youzhou for a long time, it would be a very heavy burden and would drag down Liu Bei's military strength in the future.

Especially the inland areas west of Yanshan Mountain, far from the sea. Yanshan Mountain blocked most of the rivers, and Haihe River and Yishui River could not flow to those places. Liu Bei's current military advantages could not be brought into play, and the supply routes could not be covered. It was completely a case of using one's own weaknesses to attack the enemy's strengths.

By temporarily giving those places to Yuan Shang for a few years, and possibly to Cao Cao in the future, it would be easier for Liu Bei to concentrate his forces, rely on the coastal areas, give full play to the advantages of his own camp, consolidate his defense and counterattack, and gradually strengthen himself.

It won't be too late to regain his position in the future when Liu Bei's infantry, cavalry, land and sea forces are fully developed and solid. You have to give up something to gain something.

……

Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang were so exhausted from fighting that Cao Cao saw all this, which prompted him and Xun Yu to adjust the rhythm of their troops on the northern and southern fronts.

Cao Cao knew very well that in the remaining months of this year, he could allow Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan to deepen their hatred and ensure that they would not be able to stop fighting when faced with external threats in the future.

But next year, Cao Cao will definitely focus on the northern front. This means that he will only have a few months of window to deploy troops in the autumn and winter of this year. No matter what the result is, he will have to stop when he sees the good results.

Because of the evaluation results of Cao Cao and Xun Yu, both believed that if Yuan Tan did not march north after the beginning of next spring and the main force of Cao's army continued to attack Liu Bei, then he might really be killed by Yuan Shang.

At least Nanpi City will definitely not be able to be defended in the spring and summer of next year. Yuan Tan’s land north of the Yellow River is likely to be eaten up or cut off by Yuan Shang.

If that time came, Yuan Shang would have a complete defense line along the Yellow River again, which was not what Cao Cao wanted to see. He had to strike a balance and make sure that when Yuan Tan was weak but not dead, he could turn against Yuan Shang again.

Even during these winter months this year, Cao Cao was wondering whether it was possible to slightly weaken Yuan Shang's power without scaring him or hindering him from fighting Yuan Tan.

For example, if Yuan Shang continued to attack in the east, while the west was gradually weakened, Yuan Shang could still stubbornly continue to move eastward, hoping to make up for the losses from the east.

This is the most ideal situation that Cao Cao hoped for, but it may not be realized in reality.

If it were really done, it would be like during the Warring States Period, when Gan Luo, the twelfth minister of Qin, was sent as an envoy to Zhao to persuade Zhao to cede land to Qin and submit, and at the same time induce Zhao to forget the grudge against Qin and make up for its losses from Yan.

Don't think this is unbelievable, it happened in history. Gan Luo found the King of Zhao and asked him to cede the five cities of Hejian to Qin. Then he persuaded the King of Zhao to attack the Shanggu area of Yan, seized thirty cities in the county, and gave a small part to Qin.

However, it would be much more difficult for Cao Cao to achieve a similar goal, and he also needed top strategists to help him design it from scratch.

……

Therefore, after determining the length of the time window for using troops in Xuzhou and when to go north again after the beginning of next spring, these two key time nodes,
Cao Cao tried to go a step further on this basis, to get more and fill more content into this timetable.

As for this kind of top-level planning and design, Cao Cao certainly did not bother two masters at once, and continued to steal strategies from top strategists like the two Xuns.

"This autumn and winter, or even before the snow melts in early spring next year, are there other ways to cooperate with the current grand strategy that will not overly anger or irritate Yuan Shang, so as not to make him stop attacking Yuan Tan, but can also weaken Yuan Shang moderately and legitimately? I hope you can plan carefully.

I know this request is excessive, but I want to weaken Yuan Shang while not allowing him to bear grudges and retaliate."

After discussing the previous strategic issue, it was natural for Cao Cao to continue to put pressure on the two Xuns, hoping to squeeze out some brilliant ideas.

I don't feel at all that being the Party A who wants "this and this and this" is being excessive.

Xun Yu and Xun You's first reaction was naturally to be stunned and smile bitterly.

Sikong's request is too high! How can such a thing be possible?

After pondering for a long time, Xun Yu and Xun You could only sigh and imply that this was really too much to ask.

However, Cao Cao was unwilling to give up. He felt that there was always a way to solve the problem, so he tried his best to encourage his men, asking them to think boldly, and he also told the two Xun brothers historical stories to encourage them.

First, the story of Gan Luo, who was promoted to the position of Shangqing at the age of twelve and was sent as an envoy to the State of Zhao to deceive the King of Zhao who was crippled, was told.

He also said, "Even if we don't look at the ancients, but only look at the present world, two years ago, Liu Bei took advantage of the stalemate between me and Benchu at Guandu to seize Liu Biao's four counties in southern Jing. Liu Biao did not break off relations with Liu Bei, but instead had to accept his favor.

Zhuge Jin and Zhuge Liang were able to help Liu Bei plan "to swallow up other people's land without being hated by others". Are the Xun family's outstanding plans inferior to those of the Zhuge family? "

Xun Yu and Xun You were inspired by the examples of Zhuge Jin and Zhuge Liang, and they also developed a bit of arrogance as wise men. They racked their brains to save the face of the Xun family. Unfortunately, this kind of thing can't be inspired in a short time. IQ is a thing that is not good, just like math problems. No matter how angry you are, you can only write a solution for the problem you can't solve.

After being provoked, Er Xun could only go back and think of a strategy behind closed doors for the time being, and review Zhuge Jin and Zhuge Liang's strategies to see if there was anything they could learn from.

A few days later, Xun You came up with a plan, half through hard thinking and half through reference. He hurried back to Cao Cao to offer his advice:

"Your Excellency, I have come up with a brilliant plan that may help you weaken Yuan Shang this winter without angering him to the point of a truce with Yuan Tan."

Cao Cao was overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately took the seat to receive the teachings: "Gongda really lives up to the reputation of the Xun family! Please teach me more!"

Xun You then explained sincerely: "It is a shame to say that this strategy is also based on Zhuge's strategy of destroying Zhang Xian without angering Liu Biao.

My lord, you should still remember that in early summer, when we had just negotiated with Yuan Shang and forced him to submit to the court, we exchanged the entire Hedong territory and the five counties of Henei for the withdrawal of the imperial army from the four counties of Hejian.

From then on, Yuan Shang restored the defense line east of Taihang Mountain and the northern bank of the lower reaches of the Yellow River. However, in the middle reaches of the Yellow River west of Taihang Mountain, a gap was left for the imperial army to wedge into Hebei.

Moreover, after Yuan Shang nominally submitted to the court, the court also issued another edict to confirm his official position as Governor of Jizhou and granted him the title of general, without retaining the general position that Yuan Shao had held during his lifetime.

Therefore, although Yuan Shang actually still controlled the land of Jizhou except Nanpi City, plus the entire Bingzhou, and the two westernmost counties of Youzhou that he had recently captured.

But his power was not completely legitimate. Only the control over the land of Jizhou was worthy of the name. The rest of the land was "real but not in name". When Yuan Shang surrendered to the court, the court also issued another decree to grant Yuan Shao's nephew Gao Gan the title of governor of Bingzhou. At that time, Yuan Shang did not think much about it, thinking that Gao Gan was his cousin and obeyed his orders, so it didn't matter whether he was given the title of governor or not.

However, when the court needs to find charges and punish criminals, these loopholes can be used. We can completely not target Yuan Shang, but only target Gao Gan, or even Gao Gan's subordinates, to find evidence of his disloyalty and illegality, and then take advantage of the opportunity when the heavy snow in winter blocks Taihang and the transportation between Ji and Bing is inconvenient, and send troops to Gao Gan alone, first reduce Bingzhou and cut off Yuan Shang's arm!
If we can really eliminate Gao Gan this winter and before the snow in Taihang Mountains melts in the spring of next year, or at least weaken him decisively, then even if Yuan Shang gains more land, population and troops from Yuan Tan in You and Ji, we can still ensure that Yuan Shang does not become too powerful to be eliminated.

In this way, we can chase Yuan Shang to the east to make up for the loss in the west, and eventually weaken the two Yuans at the same time until they perish! In this way, our army's plan to exchange the four counties of Hejian for the one and a half counties of Hedong and Henei in early summer this year can be fully utilized.

Yuan Shang wanted to take advantage of the imperial army, but he would eventually find that no advantage is easy to take. Every opportunity that seems to be a temporary advantage will sooner or later have to pay a much greater price! "

After listening to Xun You's plan, Cao Cao's eyes finally lit up:

"Gongda's plan is indeed brilliant! He drove west and east, forcing Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan to be reluctant to give up the benefits that were about to be obtained, and finally strangled each other to death! If this can be achieved, it will be worth the strategy of changing places and moving in early summer.

But, can we find enough evidence and excuses to deceive Yuan Shang again, and make him think, "We just want to beat Gao Gan, and we will stop after beating him, and we won't turn against him"? "

Xun You cupped his hands in a sinister manner and said, “These details still need to be worked out, but you can think about it. Liu Bei annexed Liu Biao’s four counties because he took advantage of Zhang Xian’s crime of disloyalty.

Although Yuan Shang's trust in Gao Gan was certainly greater than Liu Biao's trust in Zhang Xian, if we can't find any crime against Gao Gan, can we also find no crime against Gao Gan's rebellious generals? As long as we pay attention, we can always find a pretext to accuse him.

Secondly, recently Liu Bei and our army have used the method of using the banners of other princes to control the scale of the war. This strategy can actually be further explored.

When Liu Bei came to support Yuan Tan, he fought under Yuan Tan's banner. When our army attacked Langya, it also fought under the banner of attacking Yuan Tan. Now Miao Cai wants to invade the East China Sea under the banner of the Taishan bandits, which is an improvement of the above strategy.

Since Miaocai can make such improvements, why can't we go further? Now Guanzhong and Longxi are slightly stable, and all the generals are nominally subject to the court and dare not act rashly. But I looked carefully and found that there were many contradictions between Han Sui and Ma Teng. Ma Teng's power was slightly weaker and he needed more help from the court.

In this case, why didn't the court give Ma Teng an imperial decree, give him a higher rank, and order him to lead the troops from the northern part of Guanzhong, that is, Beidi and Shangjun, to cross the Yellow River to attack Bingzhou? At that time, the main force of the war against Bingzhou could actually be the court's army, but in name only, it would be under the banner of Ma Teng to serve as a decoy.

Yuan Shang could only hate Ma Teng in such a hurry. Even if he reacted, it would be after the snow melted in the spring of next year. Before the snow melted in Taihang Mountain, Ji and Bing would have difficulty in supporting each other, so Yuan Shang could only turn a blind eye.

After Xun You said this, Cao Cao finally understood everything and suddenly saw the light.

"Gongda's plan is really great! I have Wenruo and Gongda working for me wholeheartedly, so there is no need to worry about the instability of the world! If we can conquer Bingzhou in the future, Gongda will be the first to make the contribution!" Cao Cao laughed happily, stroking his beard with excitement.

This is the ultimate application of the proxy war invented by Zhuge Liang, and it has been thoroughly developed and promoted.

不就是要既揍人又要求不拉到仇恨值吗？那就找个白手套来揍呗！
When the high-ranking officials are found guilty, Ma Teng will be using the banner of speaking out for the court but actually trying to seize territory. You, Yuan Shang, will go and hate whoever you want!
Moreover, in history, when Cao Cao finally conquered Gaogan in Bingzhou, Ma Teng sent his general Pang De to assist the imperial army. It was Pang De who defeated Guo Yuan, a general under Gaogan, and helped the imperial army to quickly flatten Bingzhou.

So it was not too outrageous that Xun You could come up with this strategy. Half of it was due to the inertia of history, and half was due to the butterfly effect of the "proxy war" strategy invented by Zhuge.

Xun You combined his own strategy in the original time and space with the inspiration from Zhuge's advanced experience in this time and space, and came up with this upgraded strategy.

Cao Cao adopted this strategy without hesitation. He immediately drafted an edict and sent it to Zhong Yao in Chang'an.

He then ordered Zhong Yao to send Zhang Ji as an envoy to immediately contact Ma Teng, promote Ma Teng, and express the court's support for Ma Teng's suppression of Han Sui.

Cao Cao knew very well that before using white gloves, he had to first give them promotions and benefits, and in this regard, Cao Cao was always generous.

Just like before Xiahou Yuan wanted to borrow the skin of the Taishan bandits, Cao Cao had to promote Zang Basun Guan Changxi.

So this time, Cao Cao very generously promoted Ma Teng to the rank of General of the Western Expedition and added the title of Governor of Liang Province.

He promoted his son Ma Chao to Lieutenant General.
Even Pang De was given the title of Captain of the Qiang Army.

Ma Teng's other sons and nephews, such as Ma Tie and Ma Dai, also held the rank of imperial son-in-law commander, imperial carriage commander, and cavalry commander respectively.

Ma Teng was overjoyed when he received the imperial decree of promotion from the court, and said that he would obey the court's orders in the future.

(End of this chapter)