The Duke of Shu Han began guarding Jingzhou in place of Guan Yu.

Chapter 335 Huainan made a big splash
In his letter, Zhuge Liang first described his recent situation in Guanzhong.

The sudden disturbance by the Xihu was indeed caused by the death of Ma Chao.

However, given the methods employed by Huang Quan and Wu Yi, it is unlikely that such a serious incident will occur.

So after quickly quelling the chaos, Zhuge Liang immediately investigated the cause of the incident, and the source eventually pointed to the two provinces of You and Bing, thousands of miles away.

Specifically, it is very likely related to Sima Yi, the Cao Wei general who had been in Youzhou for almost two years.

It's hard to say whether this is some kind of feint attack strategy.

But we certainly can't be careless.

However, Zhuge Liang was far away in Hexi at the moment, and could not reach them. He could only remind Mi Wei to be more vigilant.

As for personnel matters, after Ma Chao left, Chang'an did not plan to appoint the highly prestigious Governor of Liangzhou.

Therefore, Huang Quan, the General Who Guards the West and was appointed Prefect of Jincheng, was reassigned as Governor of Liangzhou and given the authority to act on behalf of the emperor.

He also appointed Cavalry Commandant Ma Dai as the Prefect of Jincheng, to continue to cooperate with Generals Huang Quan and Wu Yi in guarding the Qiang and Hu tribes in Liangzhou and maintaining the smooth flow of roads in the Western Regions.

In addition to the personnel in Guanzhong, Zhuge Liang also discussed the personnel in Heluo.

In this regard, he fully respected the opinions of Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Mi Fu, only listing those he considered suitable, analyzing their strengths and weaknesses, and then letting the three generals decide based on the situation.

After some discussion, Miwei and the other two decided to proceed.

The decision was made to recommend Jiang Wan, the Chief Clerk of the General of Chariots and Cavalry, as the Governor of Henan.

General Ma Zhong was appointed magistrate of Luoyang.

The selection of these two individuals was largely due to the fact that Zhang Fei would be stationed in Luoyang for an extended period of time.

In addition to his title of General of Chariots and Cavalry, Zhang Fei also held the official position of Commandant of the Capital Region.

After Chang'an was assigned to Yongzhou, Luoyang became the sole center of Sili.

Now that Luoyang has been recovered, and given Zhang Fei's high rank and relatively good health, he is the only suitable candidate to oversee Luoyang.

Fortunately, Jiang Wan and he have worked well together over the years.

Before falling into Miwei's clutches, Ma Zhong had already been the magistrate of Hanchang County under Zhang Fei's rule in Brazil.

It's suitable in all aspects.

With these three most important candidates decided, the rest of the arrangements follow naturally.

Having discussed internal affairs, let's move on to Eastern Wu.

However, Zhuge Liang did not write this matter directly in the letter.

Instead, they had Zhuge Qiao relay the message.

Mi Wei: "The Prime Minister believes that your cousin's concerns are not without merit, so he ordered you to go south to observe?"

Zhuge Qiao nodded and said:

“My cousin said that the internal affairs of Jiangdong have been relatively peaceful in recent years, but there is a general atmosphere of complacency among the people and a lack of military preparedness.”

"If an unforeseen event occurs, there is a risk of collapse."

Miwei thought for a moment and said:
“Jiangdong is strategically located and can be defended. As long as it is not neglected, it can maintain its dominance for decades.”

"From our perspective, the fact that the Wu rulers and ministers neglected military preparedness is not necessarily a bad thing."

"But the elite forces of Wei are still entrenched in Huainan. If they gain control of Jiangdong and the Jianghuai region, it will be detrimental to us in the future."

Having analyzed the situation, Miwei decided to make a trip to Ying and Ru first.

Once Luoyang is settled, Ying and Ru will also be gradually brought under its jurisdiction.

Fortunately, his former subordinates in Fangcheng had made progress in the past two years, and had recovered many cities, making his position as the governor of Yuzhou no longer a figurehead.

Secondly, as the governor of Yuzhou, it was only natural for him to travel to various prefectures within the prefecture, and this would not cause excessive disturbance to the rulers and ministers of Jiangdong.

It could cause unnecessary trouble.

If it is ultimately proven that Zhuge Ke's worries were unfounded, then Mi Wei can take the opportunity to use both civil and military means to win over the hearts and minds of the people in Yuzhou, so as to completely stabilize the Heluo region and make the necessary preparations for the future battle in Hebei.

After settling matters in Luoyang, Mi Wei bid farewell to Guan Yu and Zhang Fei and led his troops south to the Ru River line.

……

In the spring of the fourth year of Jianxing in the Han Dynasty, and the third year of Taihe in the Wei Dynasty.

A momentous event has occurred in Huainan, shocking the world. Its impact surpasses even the recapture of Luoyang by the Han army a few months earlier.

Because the change of ownership of Luoyang was expected.

But this alliance was something most people hadn't anticipated.

Specifically, Wu King Sun Deng, Minister of the Imperial Secretariat and Governor of Yangzhou Lü Fan, Lü Kai (son of Lü Dai, Governor of Jiaozhou), Wei Marquis of Xiapi Cao Zhi, General of the Cavalry Cao Hong, General of the Rear Zhu Ling, Governor of Yangzhou Zang Ba, Governor of Yuzhou Wang Ling, and Jia Chong (son of Jia Kui, former Governor of Yuzhou) gathered together at the foot of Liyang Mountain in Guangling County and swore an oath of brotherhood by drinking blood.

Leaving aside Lü Fan, Lü Kai, Cao Zhi, Jia Chong, and others who were clearly just there to make up the numbers.

This matter was essentially an alliance between the Sun family regime in Jiangdong and the generals of Cao Wei in Huainan.

The contents of the covenant are also quite intriguing.

It was neither aimed at the Han Dynasty nor at the Wei Dynasty.

Instead, it was a mutual agreement that, regardless of who ultimately obtains the divine artifact between Han and Wei, all parties in the alliance must advance and retreat together and be crowned kings together.

They were either princes of the Han Dynasty or princes of the Wei Dynasty.

Undoubtedly, this kind of unilateral alliance was a betrayal to some extent for both monarchs.

Although the high-ranking officials in Chang'an and Yecheng had some prior knowledge of the matter through their respective channels.

But since it was just a rumor and there was no formal request for instructions—and of course it would be impossible to request instructions on such a matter—it certainly lacked procedural justice.

However, after the matter became public, neither Chang'an nor Yecheng immediately jumped out to condemn it.

Instead, they all maintained a certain degree of restraint and silence.

While the Liyang Alliance may be outrageous and shocking, it may not be entirely a bad thing from the perspective of the practical interests of both sides.

For Chang'an, as long as it abandons the principle that "no one other than a member of the Liu family can be enfeoffed as a king," then it can barely be considered to have unified the world and revived the Han Dynasty by focusing on defeating Cao Rui in Ye City.

When Emperor Taizu Gao established the country, he granted out much more land than this, but that didn't prevent him from being granted the title of emperor, did it?

Even if principles cannot be abandoned and there is no turning back, that "expedient measure" is enough to silence most of the opponents.

After all, even without this mess, wasn't Chang'an's original strategy to go north first and then south?
Being able to divide Cao Wei's northern and southern armies would certainly be beneficial militarily.

The same applies to Ye City.

Moreover, as the relatively weaker party, they have even less confidence to make accusations.

We can't really force those generals and herdsmen south of the river to rebel, can we?

At most, he would instruct Guanqiu Jian, the governor of Yanzhou, and Wang Su, who was observing mourning at home, to do some minor things.

But there was not a single explicit reprimand.

This level of silence was enough for all parties in the Alliance of Liyang to declare victory.

If there's any regret, it's probably that we couldn't bring together the Shi clan of Jiaozhou and the Gongsun clan of Liaodong at the same time.

The former is still at odds with the Wu Kingdom, while the latter is out of the public eye for the time being.

Otherwise, its influence could break free from the confines of the Jianghuai region and reach all corners of the country.

However, for Zhang Zhao, the Grand Tutor of Eastern Wu who presided over the alliance meeting, and Yu Fan, who seemed to have the potential to become the prime minister of six states like Su Qin, this was a different story.

This victorious alliance is something they can be proud of and boast about.

So, two months after the alliance ended, in early March of that year...

Accompanied by Zhang and Yu, King Sun Deng of Wu crossed the river again to the territory of Liyang, where he celebrated the Shangsi Festival with a group of Wei allies.

This will also serve as an opportunity to further expand the influence of the Liyang Alliance.

It is worth mentioning that.

Liyang County, to which Liyang Mountain belongs, was abandoned as early as the Jian'an period due to Cao Cao's large-scale relocation of people from Jiangbei.

Although things have recovered somewhat, they are still mainly managed in a militarized manner.

For example, at Dongpukou near Liyang, there is a crescent-shaped fortress built by the Eastern Wu.

Together with Niuzhuji (Caishiji) on the south bank of the Yangtze River, it forms a river defense system that guards both sides of the river.

The Wu rulers and their ministers chose to meet in Liyang precisely because of necessary security considerations.

It cannot be said that they were not cautious.

(End of this chapter)