My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 195 Cai Mao: I didn't expect Liu Bei to be so vicious and win people's hearts

After hearing that Liu Biao had sent Liu Qi and Cai Mao to stab Huang Zu in the back, the morale of Su Fei's troops completely collapsed.

Even if Su Fei continued to choose to resist, it would only cause more casualties to the Jiangxia army and cause Guan Yu to capture fewer prisoners and obtain less spoils.

But it can no longer cause any damage to Guan Yu's current combat troops.

Morale has plummeted to the ground, what else can we use to fight?

However, Su Fei and the others still had one last thorn in their hearts. They felt that they were not traitors, but loyal and righteous men. Huang Zu was the only one guilty, Liu Biao and Liu Qi were fine, and the entire Jingzhou army should not be humiliated because of Huang Zu.

He worked hard for a day and two nights and traveled a distance of 150 to 160 miles just to gain the reputation of "returning to Liu Biao". He did not want to become a despised traitor.

(Note: In the previous chapter, Su Fei thought about "going to Shaxian County if necessary", but please note that this is the worst-case scenario when "the water escape route is cut off and it is impossible to cross the river". It is a backup option when necessary, not his first choice.

So stop arguing about "why Su Fei was so loyal to Huang Zu". He just wanted to run away if he could. I think this is normal. If he didn't even try his best to run away and just surrendered, that would be stupid. There is no cost to running away, so why not try every possible way.)
After all, it was only the fourth year of Jian'an, and most of the loyal and righteous people still had their dignity. They felt that Liu Bei was only the governor of Yangzhou, and it was okay for him to cross the border to suppress the rebellion, but he should not force the people of Jingzhou to surrender to him.

Killing Huang Zu and taking away the territory is already the limit.

Liu Bei had never been to Jingzhou in this life, and had no popular support. The scholars in Jingzhou did not know Liu Bei's benevolence and righteousness. This was very different from the situation in history when Liu Bei won the hearts of the people in Jingzhou.

Historically, Liu Bei had been in Jingzhou to defend Liu Biao against the northern enemies for six or seven years, which won him great popularity, and many heroes in Jingzhou came to him on their own initiative. But now Liu Bei was just an outsider who had just invaded.

The support of the people needs to be cultivated slowly, not dropped from the sky. Liu Biao is in Jingzhou, and now he is considered to have "won the hearts of scholars". There are countless exiled northern scholars who come to surrender. If an official/military general abandons Liu Biao for no reason, he will be despised by the scholars.

Su Fei hesitated for a long time, but finally decided to make a tentative offer to Meng Jian:
"Meng Congshi, our army has repented and should not have risked their lives for Huang Zu. This time, I can also promise that we will never go to Xiakou and Shaxian to defend the city for Huang Zu again. But we are Jingzhou people after all. We have been supported by the people of Jingzhou for many years and received salaries from Liu Jingzhou. It is not something that a righteous man can agree to if we surrender to Yangzhou without a fight!
If you are willing to open a way for me, I am willing to accept the supervision of your army and cross the river to join the eldest prince directly. As long as the land west of E County is guarded by me, I can hand it over to your army without a fight. I can also keep the food, fodder, bags, warships and weapons.

If you don't agree, our army will have no choice but to fight. By then, your army still won't be able to capture many prisoners, and it will only increase casualties on both sides. What's the point? We just want to leave, not to defend or fight."

However, Su Fei's condition was directly rejected by Meng Jian: "General Su! General Fubo had already predicted your words. But General Fubo also said that if you had been so kind in discussing things in Fankou, he might have been able to talk to you about morality.

But you deceived our army at Fankou, pretending to consider surrendering, but actually stalling for time to withdraw and escape! If it weren't for General Fubo's brilliant plan to block the west estuary of Liangzi Lake in advance, you would have entered Shaxian City and joined forces with Huang She!

If our army agrees to your conditions for escape now, wouldn't that mean that those who cheat and commit injustice will not be punished at all? This is simply a foolish dream!
However, considering that you still have some integrity, General Fu Bo also gave you additional instructions. If you want to cross the river, you must let the entire army lay down their weapons and surrender to our army. Then our army will identify and allow those who insist on crossing the river to be escorted across the river on a voluntary basis! This is the treatment that those who have to surrender after the trick is exposed should receive!"

Su Fei heard this, his eyes showed some resentment and resentment, but he could do nothing about it.

His five fingers were bent, tightly grasping his thighs, tightening and loosening them several times, before he sighed: "General Fubo, can you keep your promise? Once we lay down our weapons, won't we be at the mercy of others? How can we guarantee that your army will keep its promise and allow those who are willing to surrender to Liu Jingzhou to leave on their own?"

Meng Jian couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Commander Su, you think too highly of yourself! Although General Fubo is full of wisdom and has made every possible plan, a gentleman does what he should do and what he shouldn't do. When negotiating, he agreed to the other party's conditions, and General Fubo never broke his promise!
As for General Annan, he is a man of great integrity and always keeps his word. Since he has acquiesced, what do you have to worry about? Do you think that all people in the world are pigs and dogs like Zhang Yi? "

The Zhuge family, of course, has principles in doing things! When it comes to using strategies, it is okay to use any means of deception. That is the military and political level, and deception is the way it should be.

But in diplomacy and negotiations, how can one go back on the conditions agreed to? Asking such a question is simply an insult.

Su Fei hesitated for a moment, knowing that he was in the wrong. The other party was using tricks on the battlefield, while he was dishonest and made false promises during the negotiations. He pretended to agree to something but actually did not intend to do it. It was normal for the other party to increase the intensity of the punishment.

After all, scaring people and making the other party misjudge in negotiations are all based on their own skills and are psychological warfare techniques. However, what you promised must be done, or at least you cannot pretend to promise but actually have no intention of doing it. If you do that in the future, at least it will be considered "liability for breach of contract" and "liability for negligence in the contract" respectively.

Although these laws do not exist today, the principle is the same.

Since all the escape routes have been blocked, Su Fei finally chose to lay down his arms and surrender. He could only hope that Guan Yu and Zhuge Jin would keep their promise.

……

Half a day later, Su Fei's more than 10,000 Jiangxia troops were all disarmed by Guan Yu's troops, reorganized and counted, and the generals were selected and temporarily detained separately.

A military camp suddenly appeared out of nowhere on the shore of Liangzi Lake, where Guan Yu's army preparing to attack Xiakou and Shaxian was stationed, and where prisoners were detained.

After Su Fei laid down his weapon, he met with Guan Yu and Zhuge Jin, as well as several other key generals, and expressed his hope that Guan Yu would keep his promise as soon as possible.

Guan Yu thought that he was also a righteous man, so he advised him to surrender to Liu Bei directly and talked a lot about Liu Bei's benevolence, righteousness and tolerance.

But Su Fei still had some hesitation in his heart. Seeing this, Zhuge Jin stepped forward to persuade him:

"Yunchang, everyone has their own aspirations, and we don't need to force loyalty. I think General Su is worried that he is too embarrassed to surrender directly because he has been stubborn and has broken his promise in the negotiations, and he is afraid that we will settle accounts with him.

Then let him go back to show our loyalty to the military and civilians of Jingzhou, and let all the civil and military officials of Jingzhou know that the lord is trustworthy. As for the others, if they voluntarily stay, General Su should not interfere. Let everyone make their own decision, otherwise don't blame us for being rude.

However, this screening will take three or four days. General Su, please be patient. You can wait for a few days, right?"

Su Fei was helpless. He had already surrendered and had no military power at all. Zhuge Jin asked him to wait, so he could only wait.

So four days later, Su Fei finally brought only about two thousand of his trusted followers, as well as others who had families in the hinterland of Jingzhou and were really unwilling to stay. After being disarmed, Zhuge Jin sent boats to send them across the river.

The remaining troops of about 7,000 people all voluntarily chose to surrender to Guan Yu and accept reorganization.

The other naval commanders under Su Fei did not have such a heavy burden of loyalty, nor did they worry about being liquidated by Guan Yu and Zhuge Jin, so they all stayed - after all, it was Su Fei who had intended to deceive the negotiations, stabilize the situation first and then escape, but they did not have the responsibility of decision-makers, so they did not have to bear the name of fraud and injustice, and they surrendered with peace of mind.

Guan Yu was still a little unwilling to see Su Fei being sent across the river, and couldn't help but discuss the pros and cons of this move with Zhuge Jin: "Why don't you try to persuade him to stay?"

Zhuge Jin waved his folding fan and smiled lightly, "Our promise has been spread. Even if Su Fei agrees to stay voluntarily, will outsiders believe that he is willing? They will definitely think that he is forced. After all, Su Fei is the leader involved in this promise and a benchmark. The scholars and warriors of Jingzhou are all looking at this example.

Moreover, he was the decision maker of the previous tactical deception. It is only natural that he would be afraid that we would secretly trip him up in the future and that his career would not be smooth after he surrendered to us. In this case, he would definitely be willing to play the role of a loyal and righteous man who returned to Liu Biao.

We only released Su Fei, but most of the veterans of Jiangxia Army stayed. What's the pity? Are we still short of famous generals for water warfare? Let Xingba and Ziyi train and reorganize them slowly. Sooner or later, they will become a strong army.

I am more optimistic about releasing Su Fei, and then sending out spies to fan the flames, so that the reputation of the lord's trustworthiness and commitment can be spread in Nanjun and Xiangyang. This is much more important than immediately recruiting another Su Fei. This is the fastest way to spread the lord's reputation for benevolence and righteousness in Jingzhou." After hearing this, Guan Yu nodded repeatedly, thinking that this is indeed the truth.

Some things are like yellow mud falling on your pants, either S or S. Even if Su Fei voluntarily stayed, outsiders would not believe that he did so voluntarily. It would be better to use it to exchange for Liu Bei's prestige and reputation, and just regard it as a thousand gold coins to set an example.

……

On the other hand, Su Fei and his two thousand trusted men who had to cross the river to join Liu Biao, after landing in the north of the Yangtze River, which was equivalent to Hanyang in later generations, quickly found the nearest county town and met the defending general Han Xi.

With Han Xi was Liu Qi, the eldest son of Jingzhou who had just arrived with his troops.

Cai Mao was not with Liu Qi. He was still in Jingling County, dealing with the matter of recruiting Gao Xiang.

When Su Fei saw Liu Qi, he bowed down in shame and said, "I am a sinning general who is incompetent. I can neither defend nor escape. I was actually surrounded and intercepted by the Yangzhou army. The whole army was in a desperate situation and had to surrender. In the end, I can only hope that Guan Yu and Zhuge Jin will keep their promise and let us, the soldiers who voluntarily returned to the lord, cross the river! 80% of the soldiers surrendered to Guan Yu. It's all my fault!"

Liu Qi was a coward, so of course he would not blame Su Fei. In his opinion, being able to get Su Fei back and make him his direct subordinate was already a pleasant surprise. Liu Biao and Liu Qi no longer considered the other direct troops of Huang Zu as their own.

Liu Qi even felt a little embarrassed, thinking that he was also "backstabbing Huang Zu" this time, so he said to Su Fei with a guilty look: "General Su, there is no need to be like this. I am already ashamed that General Su does not blame us for taking over the counties in Jiangbei.

We don't want to deal with Uncle Huang, but he has become a criminal of the court and it is impossible to save him. If we don't take action, the entire Jiangxia area will be completely taken by Liu Bei and Cao Cao, so we might as well take it ourselves."

Su Fei quickly said: "What the eldest master said is very true! How dare we blame the lord? The lord should come to take Jiangxia! Anyway, Huang Zu can no longer be saved! Now that I think about it, it would be better if the eldest master brought the troops earlier. Maybe our Jingzhou army can save more soldiers and counties."

At this point, the topic naturally turned to the schedule of Liu Qi and Cai Mao's expedition. Liu Qi casually mentioned that he had just arrived yesterday.

When Su Fei heard this, his expression changed slightly, but fortunately he didn't want Liu Qi to see the flaw, so he quickly returned to normal.

Su Fei had already realized that he had been hit by Zhuge Jin's smoke bomb again during the negotiation! When Zhuge Jin asked Meng Jian to scare him, there were still two or three days before Liu Qi arrived in Jingling and other places!
It was only after Su Fei had been in the prisoner-of-war camp for three days that Liu Qi arrived and stabbed him in the back!

But this is normal deception in war, and it is not "breaking the promise" in negotiation. It is just a smokescreen to lower the price in negotiation, so there is nothing to say. The other party crushed you with his IQ, so you can only admit defeat.

Moreover, why bother with these details? If Liu Qi had not come to backstab him, would he have fought Guan Yu to the death and sacrificed tens of thousands of soldiers' lives?
Zhuge Jin was able to use this strategy, first of all, it shows two points:
First, he knew Liu Qi and Liu Biao so well that he could even figure out what Liu Biao and Liu Qi wanted to do but hadn't done yet, and knew they would do it sooner or later, so he could create this time difference. If Liu Biao hadn't planned to do this from the beginning to the end, then Zhuge Jin would have been exposed.

Second, Zhuge Jin was confident that the fleet of fast boats that Guan Yu had sent out in advance would not be intercepted by the Jingzhou troops in the north of the Yangtze River when they took a detour along the waterway on the north bank of the Yangtze River and blocked the mouth of the river in advance. He calculated that the other Jingzhou troops on the north bank had already become cowardly and did not dare to come out to cause trouble.

If any of these two points were not calculated correctly or were not sure, Zhuge Jin's strategy of forced landing and attacking the heart would not be effective.

My IQ was crushed, so I had to just accept it.

After Su Fei understood all these, he sighed in despair, and then he asked indirectly: "Young Master... I wonder when did the Lord decide to ask you and General Cai to go out? Or did he hear some rumors that motivated you to go out?"

Su Fei asked this question because he also wanted to know whether Liu Biao and Liu Qi were being manipulated by Zhuge Jin and others.

Liu Qi did not doubt him and directly disclosed his actions: "Our army has only heard that Huang Zu's army has firmly defended the key river defense pass of Zhu County and E County, and the Yangzhou army has been unable to pass, so we have not acted rashly.

But four days ago, a scout from Jiangbei sent a report saying that Zhu County had suddenly been lost, and that Yuan and Cao's armies were suspected to have entered the depths of Huoshan Mountain to the north of Zhu County. My father was extremely worried and ordered me and Cai Mao to lead the troops eastward to take over the counties overnight."

Su Fei calculated in his mind that today was April 22nd. In fact, Zhu County was attacked by Gan Ning on April 13th and fell on April 15th. Then on April 16th, Guan Yu moved his troops to the south bank of the Yangtze River and launched a deterrent offensive against E County and Fankou. He was intercepted in Liangzi Lake on the 18th.

Therefore, the news of the invasion of Yuan and Cao's troops from the direction of Zhu County should have spread westward on April 13, and the news of the fall of Zhu County should have spread at least on the 16th. Liu Qi said that he heard the news four days ago, that is, on April 18, and then Liu Biao sent light troops to rush in to take over the territory...

In just two or three days, the bad news reached Xiangyang. This was definitely not spread naturally by the defeated soldiers. There must be someone behind the scenes providing convenience, or even the enemy was actively spreading the news.

Maybe Zhuge Jin used rumors at the beginning, but he had the ability to turn the rumors he spread into reality through a chain of suspicion.

When Zhuge Jin told Liu Biao that Yuan Cao had arrived, he told Cao Cao that Yuan Shu had escaped.

Even if they haven't come yet, they will come sooner or later. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Huang Zu’s defeat was not unfair.

The only thing Su Fei didn't see through was that the self-fulfilling prophecy was not done by Zhuge Jin, but by Pang Tong. Zhuge Jin just arranged to intercept him in public.

However, what does it matter if he sees through all this? In Su Fei's current position, he can only pretend to be deaf and dumb.

Because the more he talked, the more he told the lord and the eldest son that "you were used again." This was not good for Su Fei, or even for Liu Biao and Liu Qi. It would only make them lose face.

The shame of being unable to recover actual losses is unnecessary shame.

……

Su Fei played dumb for two days without any constructive help, and his troops were controlled by Liu Qi himself.

Two days later, Cai Mao also hurried over from Jingling County, bringing more main combat troops. Hearing that most of the Jiangxia troops in Jiangnan had collapsed, only the twin cities of Shaxianxiakou and the defenders of Xiling were still struggling, and all other troops in the field were finished, Cai Mao was also very sad.

"If we had known that Huang Zu's troops were so demoralized, they would not die for him. We should have taken action earlier and recovered more losses!"

At this time, Liu Cong had not yet married Cai Mao's daughter (Liu Cong was not born to Cai, but later married Cai's niece), so Cai Mao did not favor Liu Qi and Liu Cong. Liu Biao asked him to cooperate with Liu Qi this time, and he had a good attitude.

After sighing, Cai Mao quickly thought of a question and asked Liu Qi privately: "Master, have you ever asked why Su Fei was released? Didn't he say that he was incompetent in commanding troops and that Guan Yu had surrounded him and asked him to surrender?"

Liu Qi was a loyal man, and he didn't think too much about it. He told the truth: "I asked, didn't Su Fei say that Guan Yu and Zhuge Jin made a three-point agreement with him, saying that as long as he surrendered, those soldiers who were loyal to his father would be allowed to return. That's why he led the army of tens of thousands to escape, but only two thousand people returned in the end."

After hearing this, Cai Mao felt so disappointed: "My dear, you are too loyal and honest! How could this be possible! If I were Guan Yu, I would be able to kill all the prisoners, and would I release your two thousand elite soldiers and several brave generals? I will definitely not release any of them!
So this must be a trick! Oh no! This is too despicable! This is Guan Yu and Zhuge Jin helping Liu Bei establish a reputation for being righteous and trustworthy! This is using Su Fei as an example to win over the hearts of our people in Jingzhou! How vicious! "

(End of this chapter)