My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 109: Terrifying Huainan
An hour later, the sky gradually darkened.

The surface of the Yangtze River between Ruxukou and Chungu County was illuminated by the setting sun like blood. The river was littered with scattered wreckage of warships and drifting broken flags, and occasionally there were the cries of drowning Yuan soldiers.

Gan Ning, Taishi Ci and Guan Yu each gathered their troops and returned with full loads.

Guan Yu's army towed back at least a dozen warships that had been pierced by iron spikes and planking. All of them were Yuan soldiers who had surrendered. Gan Ning and Taishi Ci also captured some spoils. In total, they captured more than 3,000 prisoners.

But don't underestimate the number of 3,000 people. This is a naval battle on the river. It is much more difficult to capture warships than to capture soldiers on land. Moreover, Liu Xun was still upstream. The Han army needed to sail upstream to pursue him after the victory.

The casualties of Yuan’s army must have far exceeded three thousand. It’s a pity that it is impossible to fully count them, and most of the enemy’s bodies were pulled back by the warships.

Only those whose entire ship was killed or surrendered could be counted, and among these alone, there were nearly two thousand bodies, and thousands more missing.

The so-called missing in a naval battle is the number of living people and corpses on a boat counted after the war, which is less than the quota before the war. To put it bluntly, no body is left in the Yangtze River. But it does not rule out that a few good swimmers can swim back.

The number of wounded soldiers was generally greater than the sum of the dead and missing. Therefore, Liu Xun's navy had lost at least half of its combat power.

As the troops of each division were withdrawn and the results of the battle were counted, the generals became more and more excited. When they saw Zhuge Jin, they all rushed forward to pay their respects and announce the good news.

Taishi Ci: "Zhonglang has great plans and is feared by the people of Huainan! I only hope that in the future I will listen to Zhonglang's teachings and help him achieve great deeds!"

Guan Yu did not dare to take any credit for it: "Sir, your idea of using porcelain clay to put out the fire and iron spikes to nail down the enemy ships, one shield and one spear, both showed great power. These two are the main credit for today's victory!"

Among the three generals, Gan Ning was the most outspoken. After hearing all the compliments from his comrades, he began to envision his fantasy:
"After this battle, Liu Xun will not dare to look directly at Jiangnan—Oh no, it should be said that Yuan Shu will not dare to look directly at Jiangnan! Most of his navy was destroyed, and he can only rely on the land army to fight. What can he use to go downstream? Haha, it really makes people happy."

Zhuge Jin kept a calm smile and only nodded slightly in response to the three generals' praise. After everyone had finished speaking, he said a few words calmly and modestly:
"The credit for this battle mainly goes to the generals who fought hard and risked their lives. I just made some auxiliary items before the battle. It's not worth mentioning."

The three generals all praised Zhuge Jin for being too modest. After a while, Gan Ning, who was the most anxious, asked about future plans first: "Zhonglang, should our army take advantage of the situation to pursue and counterattack Lujiang? After all, Liu Xun was defeated so badly, and Lujiang is more empty than ever before."

Faced with such arrogance and recklessness, Zhuge Jin must of course pour some cold water on them just right to prevent them from overheating.

He smiled and commented: "We have achieved so much, but you are still not satisfied? The more than 3,000 prisoners we captured are probably all Chaohu thieves, right? The veterans under Liu Xun should not be able to carry out such a dangerous mission of charging and burning ships.

These pirates are just poorly disciplined, but they are brave and good at fighting. Xingba, you need to train and reorganize them well, slowly eat away these gains, and turn them into combat-ready soldiers for our army.

Our army has just occupied Wuhu and the six counties of Zulang, and has seized so much military rations, warships, and prisoners. Our expansion is already fast enough. If we covet Lujiang at this time, our internal troubles will only accumulate, and our soldiers will be exhausted. "

After hearing this, Guan Yu took the lead in persuading Gan Ning that haste makes waste, and now is the time to digest the fruits of victory and to relax and work harder.

On the other hand, Guan Yu was the most cautious of the three generals. He came to Yuzhang to help his elder brother eliminate the threat on the southern line. As long as the navy of Lujiang was destroyed or severely damaged and could not threaten the southern wing of Guangling, Guan Yu did not care whether Lujiang could be quickly conquered.

He also hoped that after the threat was eliminated, Zhuge Jin would immediately let him return to Guangling to reunite with his elder brother.

Gan Ning also knew that these words made sense, but he still felt a little unwilling to accept it. He always felt that "the emptiness of Lujiang is now at a new historical low, and it would be a pity to miss it."

As for this point, Zhuge Jin analyzed it for him in detail and also told Taishi Ci and others about it.

"Although our army has won two battles in a row, how can Lujiang be empty? Even if it is empty, it is only the navy that is empty, not the army. Yuan Shu is in Lianghuai, with sufficient military supplies and more than 100,000 troops. If it is a life-and-death situation, it is not impossible to raise 200,000 or 300,000 troops if we exhaust all resources and increase the conscription.

You should know that our Yuzhang County originally had only over 600,000 people, and Guangling County directly under the General of the Southern Expedition had 400,000 people. The seven newly occupied counties in the southern part of Danyang added up to over 200,000 people, and the total population of our territory was only 1.3 million, and the other hidden households and Shanyue had not yet been incorporated.

Yuan Shu controlled two counties in Yangzhou, four counties in Yuzhou, and several counties in Xuzhou and Jingzhou. They were originally rich and densely populated. During the Guanghe period of Emperor Ling, the population of Yuzhou alone was 5 million. Now, despite repeated wars and transfers, and the loss of Yingchuan, there are less than 3 million people left. But with Yuan Shu's Yangzhou and several counties in Jingzhou and Xuzhou, the total population under his rule is still between 4 and 5 million.

We have a population of 1.3 million and 40,000 soldiers against a population of nearly 5 million and more than 100,000 or 200,000 soldiers. How can we say that the enemy is already exhausted and tired?
Now that Yuan Shu has just proclaimed himself emperor, he will inevitably be attacked by the whole world, but his foundation has not been damaged after all. If we attack Lujiang, he can at least withdraw tens of thousands of ground forces to reinforce us. Our army will then become a vital force to help Cao Cao attract the enemy and fight against Yuan Shu.

Have you forgotten that the overall plan our army had previously set for the General of the Southern Expedition was to 'destroy Yuan Shu's navy and preserve Yuan Shu's land army', so that he would realize that he could no longer go downstream to take the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers, and could only go north to compete with Cao Cao for victory?

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could force his remaining army of more than 100,000 to fight Cao Cao first, while we collect the spoils of victory, improve internal governance, prepare to accept refugees from Huainan who are avoiding the war, and strengthen Yuzhang, Danyang, and Guangling?

I didn't say we won't attack Lujiang in the future, but we have to wait until Yuan Shu's main force is almost exhausted by Cao Cao, and when Cao Cao needs us more and has to give us higher positions and more favorable conditions, we can make a move. Isn't it more cost-effective than a fierce attack now?"

Zhuge Jin had originally said this to Liu Bei through his second brother Zhuge Liang.

However, the level of these people was too low, so there was no need to inform them of the long-term strategy too early. Now that the strategic goal of the first phase had been achieved and the next phase was about to begin, Zhuge Jin temporarily unified his thoughts with them.

These profound words convinced all the generals, and even Gan Ning stopped seeking credit.

Indeed, after defeating Yuan Shu's navy, you still rush to attack the army. Isn't that a thankless task! The court doesn't even recognize your merits and won't give you a promotion.

It is better to lead the enemies to fight each other and consume each other's manpower.

Anyway, Cao Cao couldn't possibly reach Lujiang County. In the long run, in the process of dismembering Yuan Shu, Lujiang County would definitely be divided among Liu Bei's forces. No matter whether Liu Bei attacked first or later, it would be difficult for Cao Cao to get Huainan, and it would be unlikely for Liu Bei to get Huaibei.

No matter how the battle went, the difference in the distribution of territory would not be big, but the difference in the loss of manpower would be huge. Guo Jia and Xun Yu used so many tricks of "driving tigers to devour wolves" and "two tigers competing for food", didn't they just want Liu Bei to be responsible for resisting damage and consuming losses? If he really rushed forward, wouldn't it be a pity for his relatives and a joy for his enemies, and he would have run into Guo Jia and Xun Yu's tricks for nothing.

Therefore, you cannot rush to attack during the damage-resistance phase. You should wait until the time comes to grab the kill.

And don’t underestimate the fact that Liu Bei’s army won two small victories against Ji Ling’s army in Xuyi (Zhuge Jin has not received the victory report yet, because the two sides started fighting almost at the same time, and it takes time to transmit information. Liu Bei also doesn’t know about the great victory of Chungu-Ruxu here.)
Zhuge Jin also defeated Liu Xun twice in Ruxu and Chungu.

But if we really count the number of battle results, Zhao Yun and Tian Yu on Liu Bei's side only annihilated a total of 5,000 to 6,000 Yuan soldiers, plus more than 1,000 prisoners captured when Xuyi City was finally captured, the total number does not exceed 7,000.

Zhuge Jin's first battle was a night raid on the camp, killing and wounding only about 2,000 people. Today's battle was quite fierce, with a total of more than 10,000 casualties.

Therefore, the number of Yuan Shu's active forces destroyed on the Huaihe and Yangtze River fronts was less than 20,000. Compared with Yuan Shu's current total force, only 10% was destroyed.

However, Yuan Shu had enemies on all sides and could not bring all his forces to deal with Liu Bei, so he could only use a small force to attack. Yuan Shu also knew that if he brought his main force to deal with Liu Bei regardless of the consequences, Cao Cao would have already entered his lair.

……

Zhuge Jin's penetrating and cold words finally made all his subordinates unify their thoughts.

However, after accepting this setting, Gan Ning still wanted to get more out of the limited scope, and couldn't help asking:
"Since we cannot attack Lujiang immediately, is there any way for us to continue to benefit from Yuan Shu's siege during the short truce that follows? Moreover, even if we stop here, Liu Xun and Yuan Shu may not understand it, right?

"General Zhengnan is a model of loyalty and righteousness. He can't send an envoy to tell Yuan Shu, 'As long as you stop attacking our army, our army will also stop attacking you temporarily.' That would give him a handle. If he doesn't send an envoy, how will Yuan Shu know? What if Yuan Shu continues to attack and delays the fight with Cao Cao?"

After hearing Gan Ning's question, Guan Yu quickly said that this second point was also of concern to him. He also wanted to know how to ensure that Yuan Shu quickly and completely gave up attacking Liu Bei.

Zhuge Jin did not intend to answer all of them, because some details involving negotiation skills were not what the generals needed to know. When the time comes, he would naturally let his second brother go to Liu Bei again and talk to Liu Bei directly.

However, the other two of the three questions can be answered.

Zhuge Jin: "It is easy to gain benefits during the truce. We only need to strengthen the river defense patrols, suppress Yuan Shu's navy, and make him give up the right to control the river. Then we can spread rumors to lure the people in Huainan to escape the war and migrate to Yuzhang and Danyang, or move down the Huai River to Guangling.

If we can get their population, it will be a huge gain. Even if we don't expand the land, we can strengthen our strength invisibly. In today's chaotic times, the population of the country has been nearly halved compared to the Zhongping years, and the South was originally underdeveloped, with vast land and sparse population. So the key is to get population, not land. With population, the potential for development in the South is too great.

Yuan Shu is under siege by the whole country, and in the next few years, a large number of people under his rule will inevitably leave. If the battle with Cao Cao continues in the north, but the south is unable to fight because we can firmly defend the Jianghuai water defense line, then do you think Yuan Shu's people will tend to flee north or south?
As for your last question, how to force Yuan Shu to recognize the situation and give up attacking our army, it is actually very simple. Now his naval combat power has been reduced by at least 70% to 80%, with only 20% to 30% left. Even if he wants to gamble, he can't do anything fancy.

Perhaps Yuan Shu could gather enough ships to cross the Yangtze River or advance eastward along the Huai River, but as long as his army was stationed under a strong city, he would have to transport military supplies for a long time. The cost of land transportation was at least twenty times that of water transportation, so he had to transport food by water.

As long as we seize the control of the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers, go deep into the rear of Yuan Shu's main attacking force, and seize his grain fleet, his front attacking force will inevitably run out of food and retreat. By then, he will know that he must attack a prince who has no naval combat power and cannot use warships to penetrate deep into the enemy's rear to cut off his water grain route. Otherwise, he will not only lose the naval battle, but also the land battle due to lack of food - then he can only fight Cao Cao.

And Xingba, what I want you to do is to do a good job of guarding the Yangtze River. If Yuan Shu's navy dares to show up in the Yangtze River, we will destroy it! If Yuan Shu's people want to cross the river to escape south, we will escort them! After Yuan's army sneaks across the river, we will keep a close eye on them and intercept all their subsequent grain fleets!

After Yunchang returned to Guangling, he had to do the same thing. He had to take the troops that had trained their water warfare skills here to the Huai River to cut off Yuan Shu's food supply and to support the refugees who were going east along the Huai River. If he did all this well, it wouldn't take long for Yuan Shu to see through him completely. "

Gan Ning and Guan Yu were finally convinced, and the three generals also figured out their subsequent defense areas:

In the future, Gan Ning will be responsible for patrolling and intercepting the enemy on the river in Yuzhang County, and Taishi Ci will be in charge of patrolling and intercepting the enemy on the river in Danyang County. As for the defense of the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River in Guangling County, Liu Bei will naturally assign them after Guan Yu returns, and it will not be Zhuge Jin's turn to take over.

Guan Yu saw hope in Zhuge Jin's plan to return to his elder brother immediately, so he quickly asked, "Sir, can I return to Guangling as soon as possible?"

He has been "overserving" for more than two months longer than Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Jin knew that he was anxious, so he didn't stop him. He just said suggestively:
"Yun Chang is in a hurry to leave, how could I stop him? But I suggest you stay for another ten days or half a month, reform the captives captured in the previous battles, and bring them back to Guangling, so as to leave some naval seeds in Guangling.

Otherwise, if you go back alone, or only take a few trusted followers with you, you won’t be able to shoulder the burden of a naval battle even if you return to Guangling.”

When the Zhuge family occupied Yuzhang, they asked Liu Bei to borrow 4,300 soldiers. Zhuge Liang had already paid back 5,000 of them including the principal and interest, so now the accounts of both armies are clear.

Theoretically, Guan Yu could only bring a few hundred or nearly a thousand guards with him this time, and it was impossible for him to bring more soldiers. Zhuge Jin was very friendly to allow him to "sharpen the prisoners you captured before the battle, rectify the discipline, and make sure they will not escape halfway, and then you can take them away."

Guan Yu thought it made sense, so he was not in a hurry for the next ten days or half a month. Of course, he did not expect to train all the captured Jiang and Danyang bandits into elite soldiers after returning to Wuhu. He just wanted to temporarily control the morale of the army and make sure that fewer people would escape during the march. That was enough.

The remaining detailed training can be carried out after returning to Guangling.

It is now late June. Guan Yu calculated the schedule and prepared to return in early July. He should be able to see his elder brother in mid-month.

After arranging the tasks for each unit, Zhuge Jin did not expect that his deployment would soon come in handy -

After the two major naval battles at Ruxukou and Chungu, Yuan Shu's army was defeated. Some well-informed and knowledgeable people in Lujiang County realized that Yuan Shu's rule would not last long, and began to plan to escape Yuan Shu's control and flee to the south of the Yangtze River. These people will be the first to abandon the dark and join the light.

Of course, their original intention might not necessarily be to surrender to Zhuge Jin, but they might also be to surrender to Sun Ce. After all, many people in Lujiang have old ties with Sun Ce.

(End of this chapter)