My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 506 Gongjin's Insight
Before leaving Jiangling, Liu Feng summoned Zhou Yu for a long talk, mainly to ask him about his views on the situation in the Central Plains and his opinions on sending troops to Hanoi.

Zhou Yu cautiously expressed his agreement with sending troops to Hanoi, and subtly suggested that if feasible, the scale should even be expanded.

Liu Feng was greatly surprised; Zhou Yu's opinion was quite unexpected.

Liu Feng had always felt that Zhou Yu was inferior to Lu Su in strategy, and far inferior to Xun You and Zhuge Liang, who were among the best strategic talents in the world.

However, Zhou Yu's viewpoint stemmed from a strategic perspective.

From a tactical perspective, this would be putting elite troops in a deadly situation. Unless there are extremely important strategic factors, it would undoubtedly be an incredibly foolish and disastrous move.

Liu Feng did not believe that Zhou Yu would be so foolish, so Zhou Yu must have had his own unique strategic insights.

"My lord, the general can be allied with, but not trusted."

Under Liu Feng's watchful gaze, Zhou Yu suppressed his eagerness and spoke eloquently: "Since our lord has already taken precautions against the General, then we must seize Hanoi into our hands even more."

"My lord, please take a look."

Zhou Yu stood up proudly and walked to the map of the thirteen states of the Han Dynasty hanging in the room: "Hanoi may seem isolated, but in fact it is only two or three hundred miles away from my Liang and Chen states by waterway."

"Gongjin's words make sense."

Liu Feng's eyes lit up. He had indeed overlooked this crucial point. He had only thought that Chenliu and Henan Yin were in Cao Cao's hands, and that his side was separated from Henan only by Yanzhou.

However, Yanzhou is geographically long and narrow from east to west. In reality, the distance between us, which is supposed to be separated by Yanzhou, is only Chenliu. Moreover, we can travel by water.

As long as it's not the frozen season, the journey from Suiyang in Liang State to the Yellow River via the Honggou and Yingou Rivers is only a little over 300 li, less than 400 li. If the navy is well-prepared, they can arrive within one or two days.

Even by land, it would only take five or six days. You should know that Chenliu is located in the Central Plains, a place with wide roads and flat plains, making the roads extremely convenient and smooth. It is even closer than going to Luoyang.

Hanoi may seem far away, but it's actually right here.

After being reminded by Zhou Yu, Liu Feng finally realized what was happening.

Liu Feng straightened up, cupped his hands in a respectful bow to Zhou Yu, and said solemnly, "Gongjin, please continue. Do you have any further words of wisdom to share with me?"

Zhou Yu was even more generous upon receiving such affirmation, and immediately continued, "My lord, although the General is now a friend, there will surely be a time when they turn against each other. If we can take Hanoi, there will be a great benefit."

Zhou Yu made a cut in the position of Hanoi: "In this way, the Grand Marshal and the General will not be able to work together, unless the General is willing to abandon Luozhong, Guanzhong and Nanyang Basin and go to Yanzhou."

"Of course not."

Liu Feng laughed. Even though the gentry of Yanzhou now bowed down to Cao Cao, they were already outwardly united but inwardly divided. The main cities that rebelled on a large scale during the Battle of Guandu were Yanzhou and Runan.

Although there is no record of it in official history, this conclusion can be reached with basic judgment. This is because if the rebellion had occurred in Yingchuan, Cao Cao wouldn't have been able to hold out at Guandu for so long.

Therefore, Liu Feng agreed with Zhou Yu's view that when Cao Cao was truly forced to choose, he would rather abandon Yanzhou than leave his core base of Luozhong, Guanzhong, Nanyang, and Yingchuan. Moreover, judging from the current arrangements, Cao Cao had actually anticipated and made some plans.

With the military rank of Lieutenant General, Cheng Yu was in charge of all affairs in Yanzhou. Wasn't he clearly a regional commander?
Even if contact is severed, as long as Cheng Yu remains loyal to Cao Cao, Yanzhou will always be saved.

Of course, Cao Cao's arrangement at this time was not aimed at Liu Feng, but at Yuan Shao, but the effect was the same.

After hearing Zhou Yu's words, Liu Feng's heart also warmed.

Drawing inferences from one instance, Liu Feng even thought of a benefit that Zhou Yu hadn't considered: the Hedong region.

The situation in Hedong is quite complex now, but the drought has passed and the area has become a fertile land again, producing not only salt ponds but also warhorses, grains, and other supplies.

If they could capture Hanoi, they could make contact with Hedong, and even take over parts of southeastern Hedong. This area is still under the control of Li Le and others, and is nominally the territory of the imperial court, but Cao Cao has not yet been able to intervene.

"Gongjin, in your opinion, how many troops should be mobilized?"

Liu Feng considered carefully and said, "Now that the war in Jiaozhou has begun, we can only mobilize about 100,000 troops, but we certainly cannot mobilize them all."

The only troops that can be mobilized now are the 60,000 men under Taishi Ci and Zhao Yun, plus some troops that can be drawn from Jia Kui and Zhou Yu's forces.

Currently, the main military force in Jingzhou consists of Jia Kui and Zhou Yu.

Jia Kui resided in Xiangyang, on the front line against Cao Cao, while Zhou Yu was stationed in Jiangling, on the front line against Liu (Zhang).

Because Cao Cao was still an ally for the time being, and Liu Zhang had never shown any signs or precedent of expanding eastward, Jia Kui and Zhou Yu were not under much pressure, and the two sides could support each other and respond to each other from afar.

Jia Kui's troops numbered nearly 40,000, and Zhou Yu's troops numbered 20,000. Of these 60,000 troops, at least 10,000 could be drawn from the force, and at most 20,000.

In addition to Zhou Tai's navy and the local troops from prefectures and counties, there were approximately 100,000 men available for deployment.

However, if all of them are mobilized, the defense of Runan will be entirely entrusted to Liu Bei's army, and Liu Feng will lose all strategic mobility.

Upon hearing Liu Feng's question, Zhou Yu also fell silent.

The reason is simple: Hanoi is too easy to attack and difficult to defend, especially facing Yuan Shao's direction.

Hanoi is like a trumpet, with mountains to the west and north, treacherous roads, and the Yellow River to the south.

But to the east lies a vast plain that connects directly to the North China Plain.

To defend Hanoi, you need at least 50,000 troops, and those troops must be elite soldiers capable of field battles.

Otherwise, they could only watch as Yuan's army destroyed city after city. Not all cities were as strategically important as Wu County, Linxiang, Xiangyang, and Shouchun; many counties had only earthen walls a few feet high.

Therefore, this issue carries considerable weight, and may even jeopardize the future of Zhou Yu and the entire Zhou family.

**
Cao Ang is gone.

On his way back to Luoyang, Cao Ang was so excited that he wished he could grow wings and fly straight back to Luoyang.

The reason is that the results obtained from this mission were simply too great.

Liu Feng agreed to all three requests, in exchange for the two waterways. The two waterways referred to the Yingou River and the Honggou River, and what Liu Feng sought were the cities along these two waterways.

These two waterways connect to the Yellow River in northeastern Henan, then pass through Chenliu and reach the Liang Kingdom. By controlling these two waterways, Liu Feng could directly reach the Yellow River and reinforce Henan at any time.

At the same time, the price Cao Cao had to pay was only six or seven cities, most of which were located in Chenliu.

Due to the war, Henan Yin and Chenliu County had long been abandoned. Although Cao Cao had made great efforts to gather refugees and develop military farms in the past two years, the main investment was in northern Yingchuan and around Luoyang.

Chenliu is still quite dilapidated. The only problem is that if this is done, Cao Cao's territory will be divided in two.

However, in reality, Liu Feng only controlled two ditches, which were only ten or twenty miles wide. Unless Cao Cao and Liu Bei turned against each other and a war broke out, this would not really have the effect of dividing the territory.

Therefore, Cao Cao could refuse Liu Feng's request, but he could not use it as an excuse, otherwise he would be considered to have ulterior motives.

Cao Ang was quite satisfied with the result, and he felt that Cao Cao would most likely agree, which was why he was so happy.

After seeing Cao Ang off, Liu Feng continued his travels through the counties, inspecting the three prefectures north of the Yangtze River and pacifying the local gentry and powerful families.

Liu Feng would tolerate anyone who surrendered, as long as they guaranteed tax revenue, did not oppress the local people, did not conceal their population, and did not engage in market manipulation. If they genuinely supported him and abided by the law, such powerful clans would be rewarded and recognized by Liu Feng, and he would recruit their clan members into his staff.

With Huan Jie, Liu Pan, Liu Ba, Pan Ren, Jiang Xin, and others in Jingnan, the entire Jingzhou region immediately stabilized. If another year or two passed, Liu Feng was confident that the people of Jingzhou would completely forget about Liu Biao.

After completing all this, Liu Feng boarded a ship in Zhucheng County, Jiangxia Commandery, and began his return to Yangzhou.

At this time, in Jiaozhi County of Jiaozhou to the south, three groups of people arrived at the county government one after another.

These three groups of people were none other than Shi Xie's three younger brothers, who were appointed as governors of various prefectures in Jiaozhou.

The three arrived at almost the same time. The soldier from Jiuzhen County was the closest, but he received the imperial order the latest. The soldier from Nanhai County was the furthest away, but because Panyu was a port city, he could take a boat directly to Jiaozhi and travel by sea. He was also the first to receive the order, so his arrival in Jiaozhi was no slower than his brothers'.

Shi Yi, the governor of Hepu, was the last to arrive in Jiaozhi. When he arrived, his elder brother Shi Xie led his two younger brothers out of the mansion to greet him.

Shi Yi hurriedly dismounted, threw the riding whip to his attendant, strode up to Shi Xie, bowed and said, "Yi greets elder brother."

"Okay, okay, it's good that you're safe."

Shi Xie smiled and helped the other person up, looking him up and down: "Was the journey smooth?"

Shi Yi replied respectfully, "It went very smoothly."

After Shi Xie and Shi Yi greeted him, his two younger brothers, Shi and Shi Wu, hurriedly stepped forward to bow and pay their respects.

Just like Shi Xie, Shi Yi quickly helped his two younger brothers up and offered them kind words of comfort.

Seeing his brothers' harmonious relationship, Shi Xie nodded in satisfaction, then took Shi Yi and returned to the mansion with his other two brothers.

Back at the mansion, the three of them sat down at separate tables.

Shi Yi was the first to speak, "Brother, what should we do about this?"

The matter Shi Yi mentioned was naturally the order issued by Liu Feng, in the name of an imperial edict, ordering the Shi brothers to move.

Except for Shi Xie, whose position as prefect was unchanged, the other three prefects were all reassigned and promoted.

Jiaozhou was a very low-ranking prefecture, established even later than Bingzhou, and its political status was even inferior to Liangzhou. It's important to understand that Bingzhou's political status was quite high, surpassing Xu and Yangzhou by a significant margin.

This shows how low the status of Jiaozhou was. The transfer from the governor of Jiaozhou to the governor of another prefecture was a clear promotion. Politically speaking, unless the Shi family was determined to rebel, they could not refuse it under any circumstances.

"General Zuo is a skilled and courageous general. Within half a year, he swept through Jingzhou and even captured Kuai Yue and Huang Zu alive."

Shi Wu couldn't help but say, "The troops of Jiaozhou are weak and I'm afraid they will have difficulty resisting the Left General's elite army."

Shi Xie glanced at Shi Yi and Shi Wu, but instead of calling for a response, he asked Shi, who had been silent earlier.

"Second brother, you heard what the eldest and third brothers said, so what's your attitude?"

After hearing his elder brother's question, Shi hesitated for a moment before saying somewhat tentatively, "What my eldest and third brothers said makes a lot of sense, but..."

Under Shi Xie's encouraging gaze, Shi continued, "But General Zuo did not touch my elder brother, which makes me a little worried."

"worry about what?"

Before Shi Xie could speak, a young man standing behind him eagerly interrupted.

This man was qualified to stand behind Shi Xie and dared to speak first in the hall, all because of his identity. He was Shi Hui, Shi Xie's eldest son, the nephew of the other three, and the future heir to Jiaozhou.

His words prevented Shi from continuing, and instead drew the attention of everyone in the hall.

Shi Xie glanced at his son and sighed, "When will you ever learn to control your temper? You're so impatient and impetuous; what great things can you accomplish?"

Shi Hui's face flushed red after being reprimanded by his father. Although he was still unconvinced, he bowed to Shi and apologized, saying, "Uncle, please don't be offended. I was just a little impatient."

Shi naturally wouldn't hold it against Shi Hui, and even went so far as to offer him a few words of comfort.

Then, getting back to the main point, he continued, "I'm worried that General Zuo might want to eliminate my family's supporters first before targeting my brother."

Upon hearing this, everyone in the hall changed color, especially Shi Hui, whose eyes gleamed with excitement and self-satisfaction, as if he couldn't wait to proclaim his uncanny foresight.

However, upon seeing Shi Xie in the main seat in front of him, he had to suppress his expression.

It's no wonder Shi Xie had such suspicions. When Shi Xie recommended his three younger brothers to serve as governors of various prefectures in Jiaozhou, his intention was precisely to increase his influence.

Shi Yi was appointed Prefect of Jiuzhen. Jiuzhen Commandery was located below Jiaozhi Commandery, which not only served as Jiaozhi's rear guard but also helped Jiaozhi suppress Rinan Commandery in the far south. Hepu Commandery and Nanhai Commandery were both connected to Jiaozhi by sea, making travel convenient and allowing them to be linked together by sea.

However, Yulin County, which is next to Jiaozhi County, is different. This area is mostly mountainous, and the border through Jiaozhi is blocked by mountains. Although it is adjacent, the transportation is not convenient, and it is not as convenient as Hepu and Namhae.

(End of this chapter)