My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 196 Liu Biao took the initiative to give us the city, and he has to thank us
After all, Liu Qi is an honest and cowardly person. What's more, he is only in his twenties and has not experienced any storms or struggles. His political vision and acumen are still relatively immature.

Hearing his nominal uncle Cai Mao criticize Liu Bei so bitterly, Liu Qi was at a loss and could only ask in a panic:

"Isn't it a good thing to release the captives? Why do you have to say that it is a malicious act? Lord Xuande would not be so bad, would he?"

Cai Mao sighed in a tone of regret, "My Lord, you really don't know enough about the cunning and sinister people in the world! You must be on guard against others!"

Liu Qi had no choice but to ask: "If that is the case, how should we deal with it?"

Cai Mao thought for a moment and said, "I am not a man of wisdom and strategy. I have to go back and ask Yidu for specific solutions. But I will say two things: many of Su Fei's generals have surrendered to Liu Bei, and Su Fei himself was released by the enemy as a so-called 'righteous release'. This kind of person's intentions can no longer be trusted.

Therefore, in order not to discourage people, we cannot openly deprive Su Fei of his official title. We can only report this to the lord after returning, and ask him to find another reason to praise Su Fei on the surface, but actually demote him in secret, strip him of his military power, and let him take up a civilian or sinecure position to become a rich man.

Then, he will screen his officers and remove those who are suspected of sympathizing with Liu Bei, giving him an excuse to be a rich man. I think these two thousand elite soldiers can be handed over to Zhang Yun, the eldest son's cousin. Zhang Yun has just taken charge of the military power and is still short of elite soldiers. He is also related to the lord, so he is naturally more loyal and reliable than Su Fei.

Finally, the lord must hint to Su Fei when he promotes him, telling him to keep his mouth shut in the future and not to tell anyone that he was released by Guan Yu. Even if someone asks, he can only say that he broke through on his own! In short, he must cover up everything and not let Liu Bei win the heart of this man and the reputation of being trustworthy and faithful. "

After listening to this, Liu Qi felt that there was some truth in it.

If we don't say that Su Fei was released after being captured, but only say that he broke through on his own, it will not give Liu Bei's army a good reputation, and it will also highlight Su Fei's "unswerving determination".

It's just that this kind of thing is definitely not easy to conceal, and it's easy to leak over time. But even if it leaks, only high-ranking people who are well-informed will know about it, and ordinary soldiers in other troops will not know about it because they don't have such information channels.

Cai Mao's move was helpful in preventing Liu Bei from winning over the hearts of the lower-level soldiers in Jingzhou, but it might have the opposite effect on the loyalty of a small group of well-informed people, who might see through Liu Biao and think he was hypocritical.

The specific choice depends on the ratio of pros and cons. Cai Mao cannot help Liu Biao make decisions. It all depends on what Liu Biao thinks.

As for Zhang Yun mentioned by Cai Mao, he is only in his early thirties now, only three or four years older than Liu Qi, and is still a rising star in the Jingzhou army.

Zhang Yun was Liu Biao's nephew, which means his mother was Liu Biao's sister. In history, it was not until seven or eight years later, when Liu Biao was about to die, that Zhang Yun climbed to a high position and became Cai Mao's right-hand man when he surrendered to Cao.

Now Cai Mao took advantage of the opportunity to be on guard against Su Fei and cultivate Zhang Yun, which was a convenient move.

Liu Qi had no doubts and could only ask his father about this when he returned.

……

On the other hand, Liu Qi was manipulated by Cai Mao and temporarily accepted the elite troops of Su Fei's army. Then he returned to Xiangyang to ask for orders. The whole thing would probably take seven or eight days.

As early as three days before Liu Qi sent out his troops, Su Fei had already been captured, and Guan Yu and Zhuge Jin had already set up camp by Liangzi Lake in the southeast of Shaxian City, preparing for a strong attack.

After these days of preparation, the twin cities of Shaxian and Xiakou have been firmly surrounded by Guan Yu's army. Huang Zu and his son Huang She are naturally determined to defend their positions to the death, and have prepared many strong bows and crossbows, and they dare not relax.

Huang Zu originally claimed to have an army of 40,000, of which nearly 10,000 were Yuan Shu's surrendered troops.

Now Yuan Shu's surrendered troops in Qichun were destroyed, Zhang Hu in Zhu County was killed, Su Fei and other generals were frightened and forced to surrender, the troops in the Jiangbei and Hannan areas returned to Liu Biao's direct command, and Huang Zu had lost about two-thirds of his troops.

In the end, there were only about 14,000 people, defending the twin cities of Shaxian and Xiakou, as well as Xiling County to the northeast of Xiakou. There were only these three strongholds left in the entire Jiangxia County.

In comparison, Guan Yu's army had only 20,000 men when it went into battle, but they captured the surrender of 1,000 to 2,000 men in Qichun, and another 4,000 to 5,000 in Zhu County. The forced surrender of Su Fei increased the army's strength by 7,000 to 8,000 men at one time.

Even though there were hundreds to thousands of casualties in the first two battles, after the two were offset, the total force strength increased by 12,000 people, and now has reached 32,000 people.

Of course, the newly surrendered soldiers had not yet completely won over, and Guan Yu did not dare to use them too heavily. He had to slowly train them in actual combat, conduct daily inspections to boost morale and rally the troops. This required a long process of adjustment.

Everyone else in Jiangxia might surrender, but Huang's grandfather and his son could not. They knew very well that they were labeled as traitors who killed the angels of the court. Even if they surrendered, their entire family would be wiped out, so they had no choice but to fight to the death.

The twin cities of Shaxian and Xiakou are indeed strong. After all, they are the fortified cities that have supported the defense of Jiangdong for three generations for fifteen years in history. They are no small matter.

Therefore, even with the counterweight trebuchets, it would be considered fast if the siege lasted for one or two months. Even with Zhuge Jin's wisdom, he did not dare to expect to break through the city quickly.

Apart from anything else, the moats outside these two fortresses alone are extremely deep, dredged and wide. The water from the Yangtze River is directly diverted into the moats, and it would take a long time to fill the rivers.

After dividing and encircling the twin cities, on the morning of April 25, Guan Yu went out of the camp and inspected a circle. Suddenly, he thought of a problem and asked Zhuge Jin to discuss it: "Zi Yu, Huang Zu still has three strongholds in Shaxian, Xiakou, and Xiling. Shaxian and Xiakou have been surrounded, and Xiling, not far from Xiakou in the north of the Yangtze River, has not yet been completely surrounded.

I think Xiling is not that strong, why not take it first? This will further damage the morale of the direct lineage of Grandfather Huang and his descendants, and also relieve the worries of the rear. "

When Zhuge Jin heard this question, he smiled slightly and was not in a hurry to answer.

In this battle against Jiangxia, most of the strategies to intimidate the enemy and cause them to misjudge were completed by Pang Tong, and the rest were done by Zhuge Jin who took a bird's-eye view and filled in the gaps.

For the integrity and inheritance of strategic thinking, Zhuge Jin had no need to steal the credit of his subordinates, so after listening to Guan Yu's question, Zhuge Jin just asked him to be patient, and then asked someone to invite Pang Tong over to discuss whether there was any possibility of continuing the attack on Guan Yu's heart.

When Pang Tong heard the news, he rushed over quickly and saluted Guan Yu and Zhuge Jin as soon as he entered the tent.

Zhuge Jin said directly: "Shiyuan, Yunchang wants to take Xiling in Jiangbei first to cut off the last wings of Grandfather Huang and his descendants, but our army has not yet completely surrounded Xiling. Do you think we should completely encircle it?"

Pang Tong did not even think about it and responded immediately: "General Guan, I think our army should not encircle and attack Xiling. The key to Jiangxia is Xiakou and Shaxian. If we take Xiakou and Shaxian, Xiling will naturally surrender.

Moreover, Xiling is not on the route of our army to attack Xiakou and Shaxian, nor does it threaten our food supply and retreat routes. It is just a dead fruit on a withered vine. In the past, Xiling's greatest significance to Jiangxia was that it blocked a secondary valley northeast of Xiakou and crossed the Tongbai Mountain. It had no other use."

After hearing this, Guan Yu couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

It is indeed not necessary to capture every county by force in a war. It is better to open the city without bloodshed. After taking Shaxian Xiakou, this place can be surrendered directly. Why waste lives?

Seeing Guan Yu's hesitation, Pang Tong suddenly changed the subject and mentioned a supplementary plan: "If General Guan insists on taking Xiling, I'm afraid there will be more troubles if the night is long. For example, we can let Cao's army enter the country in the future. In fact, our army has been spreading rumors a few days ago to help us take Xiling without bloodshed.

Now that Shaxian and Xiakou have been completely surrounded, and Xiling can no longer receive instructions from Huang Zu himself, this strategy can be fully implemented."

Guan Yu's eyes lit up, and he quickly grabbed Pang Tong's hand and patted it: "Oh? Please tell me in detail, Shiyuan!"

Pang Tong smiled proudly and said, "A few days ago, I had the spies in the army spread rumors about Yuan and Cao entering Xiangyang, which forced Liu Biao to send Liu Qi to take over the counties north of the Yangtze River and south of the Han River.

In fact, there were more rumors spread by our army at that time. I later asked someone to add some details, which was nothing more than emphasizing

'The vanguard of Cao's army has already crossed the Tongbai Valley from the north of Xiling and headed south, but because the valley is steep and difficult to travel, it is impossible to carry supplies, so only a small group of troops went ahead. The Xiling defenders were panic-stricken and had no intention of fighting. Faced with the bluffing of Cao's army, they were already considering surrendering to Cao.'

Once this news reaches Xiangyang, what will Liu Biao think? He is destined to lose the southern part of Jiangxia, and Qichun, Zhuxian and other places in the northern part of Han have been taken by us one after another. Now for Liu Biao, only the future ownership of Xiling County is undecided.

Things have come to this point, and Liu Biao is of the opinion that less trouble is worse than more. Would he, for the sake of a county, simultaneously bear the pressure from our army and take the risk of "directly bordering Cao Cao in the future"?
Think about it, in the direction of Nanyang County, in order to avoid directly bordering the territory directly under the imperial court controlled by Cao Cao, Liu Biao did not kill Zhang Xiu even when Zhang Ji was killed and Zhang Xiu fell into despair. Instead, he supported Zhang Xiu as a puppet to help him block the imperial court's contact in the north.

Now in Xiling, is he willing to border directly with Cao Cao just to argue over a county? No matter how important Xiling is, can it be more important than Wancheng?"

Pang Tong's penetrating analysis of the interests of the princes suddenly enlightened Guan Yu.

Yes, given Liu Biao’s personality, he was very reluctant to have direct borders with Cao Cao. For this purpose, what did it matter if he gave up a few counties?
However, Guan Yu still didn't think of how this could help him capture Xiling. He thought about it again and again, and finally asked Pang Tong to tell him directly: "Then how should our army use this specifically?"

Pang Tong smiled confidently: "I think as long as Liu Biao confirms the news that Shaxian and Xiakou have been besieged and confirms that Huang Zu can no longer give orders to Xiling, then, combined with the above-mentioned rumors, Liu Biao will definitely send messengers in panic to give direct orders to the Xiling garrison commanders, asking them to surrender directly to our army when they are besieged by our army - this will prevent the Xiling garrison commanders from surrendering to Cao Cao.

Liu Biao already knew that he was doomed to fail in taking Xiling. In his eyes, this was just a way to use his status and prestige as the governor of Jingzhou to decide whether Xiling would belong to us or Cao Cao. In a few days, Liu Biao's envoy will definitely arrive!"

Guan Yu was stunned: "How can you be so sure? Well, I will wait for another two or three days. Anyway, Cao's army has not really crossed Tongbai Mountain yet, so we can still wait.

However, the rumor here has been so rampant. It has been spread since April 13 that Yuan Shu's vanguard has entered the country. Now twelve days have passed. Even though Tongbai Mountain is steep and the transmission of news is slow, Cao Cao must have known about it by now.

Given Cao Cao's caution, he might really send troops to cross Tongbai Mountain and head south to confirm and ensure that all of Yuan Shu's escape routes are blocked. We don't have much time left.

As long as we find that Cao's army really appears, if Liu Biao's envoy has not come to help us persuade Xiling to surrender, we must also attack and take Xiling! Our army must not allow Cao's army to gain a stable foothold in the southern foothills of Tongbai Mountain!"

Guan Yu analyzed the situation and said that he would only give Pang Tong three days, the same as last time, to see if Pang Tong's strategy of winning over people's hearts and minds was really that amazing.

(End of this chapter)