The Three Kingdoms: Zhaolie, the strategist, and the rise of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 94 Going to Liaodong? Only a military advisor could come up with this idea! (Subscribe!)
Xuzhou, Xiapi.

When Liu Bei returned victoriously, he also received news that Xu Qiu had successfully persuaded Guo Gong to withdraw.

What surprised Liu Bei even more was that Xu Qiu not only persuaded Guo Gong to withdraw, but also made him willingly become his vassal.

In this way, Lao Liu's influence in Yuzhou was further expanded.

Liu Bei was surprised and delighted by this result:
"Mr. Meng Yu was able to accomplish this. Zi Yang is indeed very knowledgeable."

Liu Ye was happy to see that his plan worked immediately.

He was even more delighted that Liu Bei was able to decisively adopt his strategy at the beginning. Otherwise, what was the use even if he had planned everything?

"Ye's plan is just because he is from Huaiyang and knows Meng Yugong better."

"If it weren't for your resoluteness and courage, there would be no success today."

Yes, three armies attacked at the same time.

Anyone would be panicked at this time.

Guo Gong's troops placed their hopes on Xu Qiu alone.

How much determination does this require from decision makers?

Liu Bei rewarded Liu Ye handsomely and asked Li Yi for advice on how to deal with Guo Gong.

Should we bring him to Xuzhou?

Li Yi analyzed:
"Guo Gong is the governor of Yuzhou appointed by the imperial court. Now that he is willing to be a vassal of Xuzhou, why not keep him in Liang State?"

"If we really need to use our troops in Yuzhou in the future, it would be good to have someone to guide us."

"Besides, Liang is adjacent to Yanzhou and can also hold Cao Cao hostage."

"My lord, why don't you take some money and food and send it to Liang State, show kindness to Guo Gong, and win the hearts of the people."

Liu Bei trusted Li Yi unconditionally and agreed immediately.

Just as he was returning to Xuzhou, Yuan Tan sent someone to deliver the money and food that he had promised.

He ordered his men to count the money and grain and send it to Liang State.

Help Guo Gong overcome the difficulties.

Old Yuan's family is indeed well-off after an inventory.

This time, Yuan Tan sent a total of 20,000 hu of grain, 800,000 coins, 500 sets of armor, and 10 horses.

There were also more than 400 pieces of various linen and silks.

Liu Bei only left a small number of items, and sent the rest to Liang State as a token of his gratitude.

After dealing with the matter of Guo Gong, Liu Bei could not sit idle.

"I don't know how the war in Guangling is going..."

"Did Yuanlong and his men withstand the attack of Zhang Xun and Qiao Rui?"

Liu Bei said worriedly.

Li Yi said to comfort him:
"My Lord, rest assured. No news is good news."

Ok……

Liu Bei nodded, Zi Yu's words made sense.

If the fighting situation at the front becomes tense, Chen Deng and his men will definitely send a military report to report the situation.

But from the time Liu Bei went north to conquer Qingzhou until he returned to Xuzhou, he did not receive any military reports from Guangling.

This means that Yuan Shu has not yet mobilized his troops.

Could it be that he wanted to wait until Guo Gong and Yuan Tan sent out their troops and were fighting fiercely with him, and then take advantage of the chaos to disrupt the situation?

That would probably disappoint Yuan Gonglu.

Because Liu Bei had used lightning speed to quickly suppress these two armies.

"But it is a fact that Yuan Shu has deployed his troops in Guangling. We cannot just ignore it."

"We want to strike while the iron is hot and take it down in one fell swoop, and pacify the troops along this route."

"What do you think, sir?"

Anyway, Yuan Shu was the first target to be eliminated in Li Yi's strategy.

No matter what results are achieved during this march south, as long as it can weaken Yuan Shu's strength, it will be beneficial to Liu Bei.

"Yuan Shu in Huainan has a strong army and sufficient food. It will take more than one day to pacify him."

Li Yi analyzed in an orderly manner.

In fact, for Lao Liu, after the external threat is resolved, he can just focus on farming and development.

Yuan Shu will collapse on his own.

"But leaving Yuan Shu alone will not be conducive to the development of Xuzhou."

"It is imperative to send troops to Huainan."

"Before that, Yi thought we could do a few things first."

Liu Bei asked which ones they were.

"First, order Qian Zijing to train new soldiers as soon as possible and complete the revision of the military merit system and promote it to the entire army in Xuzhou."

"That's how it should be."

Liu Bei nodded, and the military merit system was already half implemented in Xuzhou.

Judging from the actual results, it’s not bad.

It just needs further improvement.

"Secondly, although we have already repaired the relationship with Qingzhou and started trade."

"But war horses are precious and difficult to obtain, so it is better to let people take the initiative to buy war horses."

Cavalry is far stronger than infantry, but the cost of forming a cavalry is extremely expensive.

The main problem is that horses are expensive. Many times, horses are out of stock and cannot be bought even if you want to.

But Liu Bei was different. He had two financial backers, Mi Zhu and Lu Su.

In particular, Mi Zhu also runs a refined salt business and has a large fortune in Xuzhou, so he can help Liu Bei to continue to recover.

Since we are not short of money, of course we must purchase war horses in advance.

Xuzhou has many plains, so when there are more horses in the future, they can be raised together.

Then you need to form a cavalry and select horses when you go to the battlefield.

Let’s pile up the quantity now, no matter whether we can run or not, we will buy enough first.

Zhao Yun, Tian Yu, and Qian Zhao were all talented people who raised horses and trained cavalry.

What Lao Liu lacks now is not people, but horses!

"Yan and Zhao have many war horses, but this place is in chaos. If we rashly send a caravan to purchase a large number of war horses, it may cause trouble."

"If you buy too little, it will be troublesome to go back and forth."

Liu Bei expressed his concerns.

"This is an easy thing to do."

Li Yi had already planned for this in advance.

"There are many war horses in Liaodong. The horses there are fat and strong."

"Why not have Mi Zizhong organize a caravan, ferry from the East China Sea, and take the sea route to Liaodong?"

"Spend a lot of money to buy horses from Liaodong Governor Gongsun Du."

Well?
And this kind of operation?

Liu Bei secretly sighed, wondering where Li Yi got so many fantastic ideas.

Whenever his thinking was stuck in a routine, Li Yi was always able to break it in time.

Liu Bei just wanted to follow the rules and buy horses honestly from the north.

Little did people know that by departing from Xuzhou and taking the sea route, they could not only buy war horses in Liaodong.

It even takes much less time than going to the north to buy horses.

Of course, this can’t be blamed on Lao Liu.

After all, Lao Liu has lived in the north all year round, dealing with horses all day long, and rarely travels by water.

Not to mention the thought of going out to sea.

But the water route is really convenient.

"There are many seafarers in Donghai and Guangling. We can recruit sailors with seagoing experience locally."

"Also, when General Taishi Ci attacked Qingzhou from the sea, he brought a lot of soldiers with him."

"You can select those soldiers who are good at swimming and have high talent from among these soldiers and take them out to sea together."

The sea journey is long, so people who go to sea must be able to adapt to the long-term bumps on the sea.

And a dirty and messy environment.

"The military advisor has a very broad knowledge..."

Liu Bei praised Li Yi highly.

In fact,
It is not uncommon to go to Liaodong to buy war horses.

Sun Shiwan once suffered from the shortage of horses in the south of the Yangtze River, so he organized a large merchant caravan, sailed from Yangzhou to Liaodong to purchase war horses.

This was a big move by Sun Shiwan, who formed a fleet of nearly 10,000 people.

A naval fleet of this size was epoch-making at the time, and it is no exaggeration to say that it was rampant in East Asia.

However, the Eastern Wu delegation, led by the leader at that time, did not go ashore in full force for precautionary reasons.

He only allowed Zhang Mi to take 400 people to Xiangping to buy horses from Gongsun Yuan.

Unexpectedly, Gongsun Yuan had his eyes on the envoys and killed all 400 people for money and lives. Then he wanted to trick the rest of the Dongwu envoys to come ashore and catch them all in one fell swoop.

After some twists and turns, the Eastern Wu delegation finally went to Korea by accident and met the King of Goguryeo at that time.

From then on, Sun Quan strengthened his ties with Goguryeo.

It is also a very legendary story.

"This trip is a long one, and it will take at least half a year to go back and forth."

"As for the attitude of the people of Liaodong towards Xuzhou, it is still unknown."

"I'm afraid the delegation we sent out will never return."

Liu Bei also realized this problem. Since Gongsun Du went to Liaodong in the sixth year of Zhongping, he almost cut off his ties with the Central Plains.

It seems like he wants to establish himself as king.

This is indeed the case, ever since the princes began to fight against Dong Zhuo.

Gongsun Du realized that the Han Dynasty was in decline and that many warlords were in power.

He simply established himself as a king in Liaodong.

Not only did he send his subordinates across the Bohai Sea to attack the Shandong Peninsula, he also set up his own Yingzhou governor.

His ambition is obvious.

"Gongsun Du rose from Liaodong and was a great man of his time."

"We can prepare refined salt in the merchant ship, and then use the refined salt to exchange for Liaodong horses."

"Purchase some more silks and satins and send them to Liaodong to make friends with Gongsun Du and establish a connection between Liaodong and Xuzhou."

“We can also help each other in the future.”

Li Yi put forward his own suggestion that purchasing war horses was secondary, and the key point was to establish diplomacy and form an alliance with Gongsun Du.

Regardless of whether this alliance can play a role in the future, as long as it can trade horses stably, it is very worthwhile.

Will Gongsun Du accept the olive branch offered by Xuzhou?

In Li Yi's opinion, it would.

Because Gongsun Du is not Gongsun Yuan, he is a very ambitious person.

It was precisely because he was ambitious that he disdained to rob the property on a merchant ship.

From the princes' campaign against Dong Zhuo to the separatist wars among various warlords, the princes in the Central Plains were fighting fiercely.

So what was Gongsun Du doing at this time?
The answer is that he was ruling Liaodong with an iron fist.

Attack Goguryeo in the east and Wuhuan in the west.

He suppressed the Xianbei, Buyeo and other tribes and exerted his power overseas.

Not only did it occupy the entire Liaodong Peninsula, it also penetrated deep into North Korea and gained the support of the minority regimes in Northeast China.

The true King of Northeast China.

The entire Gongsun family is not a good group of people.

During the reign of Gongsun Du's son Gongsun Kang, he faced several invasions from Goguryeo.

They directly captured the capital of Goguryeo and forced Goguryeo to move its capital and surrender.

The Gongsun family has always been mediocre in all the previous Romance of the Three Kingdoms games.

However, three generations of his family have considerable strength.

"Who should we send as an envoy to Liaodong?"

After listening to Li Yi's analysis, Liu Bei also believed that Gongsun Du was a potential stock and worth interacting with.

"Taishi Ziyi has experience in sailing, and he is also the one who is most familiar with Liaodong among the generals in Xuzhou."

"He can go to Liaodong as an envoy to meet Gongsun Du."

"It is said that Xuzhou wants to form an alliance with Qin and Jin."

As mentioned before, Taishi Ci once used his own strength to help the county government suppress the state government.

What happened to Taishi Ci later?

The answer is that the Qingzhou officials at that time became a laughing stock and wanted to take revenge on Taishi Ci.

So Taishi Ci simply went out to sea and fled to Liaodong to avoid disaster.

However, this incident did help Taishi Ci become famous.

And reputation was almost the best resume in the workplace in that era, so it was not too bad.

"Well, then I'll have to trouble Ziyi again and choose a good day to go out to sea."

Liu Bei stroked his beard and asked, "What about the third thing?"

"Of course it's the ship."

Li Yi thought without hesitation, "Although Zijing bought a lot of warships from Yangzhou, the number is still insufficient for a large state."

"As for the shipwrights we recruited, they have been working day and night to build the ship."

"But the fastest batch of ships may not be launched until next year."

"So what I mean is that we might as well send Zijing to Jingzhou to purchase a batch of warships."

"Liu Jingsheng of Jingzhou is a relative of the Han Emperor like my lord. I believe he will not make enemies with my lord on the warship."

This is true...

Liu Biao has thousands of warships in Jingzhou, so selling a few of them should not be a problem.

Let’s not discuss whether Liu Bei and Liu Biao are from the same clan.

Just to say that I am the governor of a state, as long as there is no grudge between the two sides, I have to give this little face.

I went to Yangzhou to buy a boat because I needed it urgently.

Now that we have a boat that can last for a while, we can go to Jingzhou and buy one.

Liu Bei suddenly looked Li Yi up and down.

Li Yi smiled and said:

"My Lord, why do you look at me like this?"

Liu Bei shook his head and smiled:

"I just think that the military advisor sent Zijing to Jingzhou to purchase warships for more than just buying ships."

Li Yi laughed when he heard this:
"It turns out that the lord can also see into people's hearts and predict human affairs."

Hearing Li Yi's ridicule, Liu Bei also grinned:
"I've been with Li Yi for a long time, and I should be able to understand your thoughts."

"……good."

Li Yi nodded and took out two documents.

"Since Zi Jing is going to Jingzhou, let him go to Jingzhou to recruit two talents."

"It would also be good to add another wing to the lord."

Oh?
To recruit talents?

Liu Bei stroked his beard and said:

"I guess these two people are not local people in Jingzhou."

Exactly.

Li Yi nodded.

The reason is very simple. The talents in the Han Dynasty were almost monopolized by the aristocratic families.

And these aristocratic families will follow whoever controls their hometown.

Few people would abandon their homes and careers to follow you to start a business somewhere else.

That is why Liu Bei dared to assert that the talents that Lu Su was going to recruit in Jingzhou should not be locals.

"I wish to hear his name."

When it comes to talents, Liu Bei immediately becomes interested.

"One is from Linjiang, Ba County. His surname is Gan, his name is Ning, and his courtesy name is Xingba."

"This man has little strength, and he kills people lightly."

"If you are walking, you should display your chariots and horses; if you are traveling by water, you should connect your boats."

"The attendants were dressed in splendid clothes, and wherever they went, there was splendor."

"Because they often used brocade to tie their boats together, and when they left, they would cut them off and throw them away, so they were called 'brocade sail thieves'."

"This person often interacts with local officials. If he is given a grand reception, he will become close friends with them and go through fire and water for them."

"If they fail to show proper etiquette, they will be allowed to plunder their property."

Well.

I don't want to be a person of temperament.

"After that, Gan Ning stopped attacking others and instead read the works of various philosophers and entered the official career."

"He became the prefect of Shu."

Able to do both civil and military work...

Liu Bei sighed that the talents recommended by Li Yi were indeed extraordinary.

It is obvious that Gan Ning is a talent in naval warfare.

It is truly remarkable that he was able to become an official in Shu County after only studying for a few years.

"What about the other one?" Liu Bei asked again.

(End of this chapter)