My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 609: Yan Yan wavers, and the chain of persuasion

Zhang Fei and Wei Yan only attacked Fucheng for three days.

Fa Zheng cleverly found a way out for Ling Bao, Deng Xian and other defending generals, and also broke their mentality, so that they finally followed him and surrendered to Liu Bei's army.

Moreover, although Fa Zheng and others suffered certain casualties after resisting for a while, they also gained two extra benefits.

The first benefit is that Fa Zheng’s personality was at least maintained temporarily.

During the days of the fierce attack, Zhang Fei constantly sent people into the city to shout, curse, shoot manifestos, and persuade the enemy to surrender.

Fa Zheng hesitated for several days, read the manifesto, and pondered it over and over again. Finally, he "suddenly realized" and surrendered. This greatly cleared the suspicion that he had long been colluding with Liu Bei's army.

Fa Zheng's personal reputation is a minor matter, but the demonstration effect of "Fa Zheng, a loyal and righteous man, abandoned Liu Zhang" can be very large. Therefore, this operation of Liu Bei's army is not only for Fa Zheng himself, but also for the subsequent long-term development.

This brings us to the second additional benefit: because Fa Zheng seemed to have been persuaded to surrender by Zhuge Jin's manifesto, people would inevitably think that Zhuge Jin's manifesto was truly powerful and touched the hearts of the knowledgeable people in Yizhou based on rumors.

Later, those scholars who read the manifesto would inevitably interpret it more carefully. Those who originally could not understand it would also redouble their efforts to understand it.

In this way, more and more people will follow suit and invest, and everyone can find a way out for each other, forming an avalanche of pressure.

I believe that when the detailed news of Fa Zheng’s surrender is transmitted back to Chengdu, it will greatly shock Liu Zhang.

Not only did he get shocked by the result, but also Liu Zhang had to be afraid of the enemy's powerful ability to attack others' minds.

However, Liu Zhang had no time to feel sad or shocked about Fa Zheng's surrender.

Because he is destined to suffer misfortunes one after another.

While Zhang Fei and Wei Yan were attacking Fucheng, Liu Bei's eastern and naval forces, led by Gan Ning, launched a siege on Jiangzhou.

Zhang Song and Yan Yan in Jiangzhou City are in the same precarious situation, and it is very likely that major changes will occur in the short term.

……

Along the Jiangzhou route, Gan Ning, Lu Yi and others took action almost at the same time as Zhang Fei and Wei Yan in the west.

Moreover, because the two sides were very close to each other before the battle, Gan Ning's troops reached the outskirts of Jiangzhou on the first day of the battle, two days faster than Zhang Fei.

Zhang Fei's attack base was in Zitong, and his first target was Fucheng. There was a distance of more than a hundred miles between Fucheng and Zitong, and he had to cross the Zitong River and the Fu River in between.

In contrast, in Jiangzhou, Liu Bei’s army built the new city of Jiangbei on the opposite bank two years ago.

In order to meet the needs of military transportation and civilian trade in the Jialing River Basin, Zhuge Liang built the Ciqikou Wharf on the south bank of the Jialing River and west of the old city of Jiangzhou. Now a port town has been formed there, with a supporting water fortress.

Previously, when the two armies were in harmony, Yan Yan did not care about Zhuge Liang's construction. Even when Zhuge Liang used the method of collecting exemption money from the people under his rule and hiring the people from Yan Yan and Zhang Song to work, Yan Yan did not interfere.

So when the two armies started fighting, Gan Ning immediately ordered Han Dang to lead a separate army to land directly at the Ciqikou Water Fort, and then cut through to the south to separate the peninsula where Jiangzhou City was located from the vast plain area to the west, in fact cutting off the retreat route of the Jiangzhou defenders from the land route.

(Note: If you don’t know the topography of Chongqing, you can look at Baidu Maps. That place is a peninsula extending from west to east, with the Jialing River on the north bank and the Yangtze River on the south bank. The easternmost tip of the peninsula is Chaotianmen Wharf. So if you cut off the peninsula along the west of Chongqing, you can complete the land encirclement.)
Yan Yan was in the city, and of course he knew that with his 10,000-plus defenders, it was impossible for them to go out of the city to fight in the field or break through the land blockade.

So he did not choose to struggle from the beginning, but to defend the city. Fortunately, there was enough food in Jiangzhou City. This was a key frontier, and there was enough food to last until next year, so he was not afraid that the enemy would use the method of blockade and food cut-off to force him to land.

After issuing the order to defend the city with all his might, Yan Yan felt some pain in his heart during the first three or four days.

His situation is different from that of Ling Bao and Deng Xian on the western front.

Ling Bao and Deng Xian on the western front had never fought alongside Liu Bei's army, and were only responsible for guarding against Liu Bei's army, so there was no old friendship between them. If Zhang Fei wanted to force Ling Bao and Deng Xian to surrender, he had to show his muscles and hit the enemy a few times just enough to hurt them, and then he could persuade them to surrender with the help of Fa Zheng.

Yan Yan was once on the front line against Cao Cao. During the most critical period two years ago, Xiahou Yuan had penetrated Baxi County, followed the Jialing River all the way down, and reached Diaoyucheng in Dianjiang County.

Before Liu Bei's army arrived and reinforced Liu Zhang, Yan Yan had fought against Xiahou Yuan's troops, but he was not strong enough and was defeated in Baxi, and finally retreated to Jiangzhou.

Later, Liu Bei's army relied on Zhang Fei and Wei Yan to turn the tide and beat Xiahou Yuan back 800 miles, and Yan Yan also sent people to help. During the days of fighting side by side that year, Yan Yan had a deep friendship with Liu Bei's army, not to mention that Liu Bei himself treated him with great courtesy at that time.

When the two armies went to war this time, Yan Yan was very confused for a while.

The reason why he chose to defend Jiangzhou City to the death was not only because he knew that the siege could not be broken in a field battle, but also because Yan Yan did not want to take the initiative to fight against Liu Bei's army, and he had not yet figured out how to deal with it.

However, he also felt uneasy guarding the city. Deep down, he actually hoped that Gan Ning would not come to attack. It would be best if both sides could live in peace and he would not have to commit more killings.

After the first two days of defense, he found that apart from sending Han Dang to cut off the land connection between the peninsula and the outside world in the west of the city, Liu Bei's army did not take any further actions and had no intention of forcing an attack.

This made Yan Yan feel a little better, and his thoughts and emotions calmed down. That evening, he had just finished inspecting the city defense with great concern, and suddenly saw Zhang Song coming up to the city to inspect. He took the opportunity to chat with Zhang Song on the city wall for a while, hoping to get his doubts resolved:
"Zhang Biejia, there is something I don't understand. Please teach me."

Zhang Song was waiting for Yan Yan to doubt his life, and he was very eager: "General Yan, please tell me what you want to say. I will tell you everything I know."

Yan Yan pointed to Han Dang's camp and the newly built trenches to the west and asked:
"Han Qian arrived at the west of the city yesterday and went south from Ciqikou to cut off our land route. But he built tunnels and trenches, which didn't seem like he was going to attack the city. His camp was also too far away from the city. I wonder what his intention was? Is there another conspiracy?"

Zhang Song pretended to think for a while, and analyzed in a sincere tone: "That should be because Han Dang received the order from Gan Ning, or even Zhuge Lingjun, to just surround and not attack. Perhaps Zhuge Lingjun also felt that he had some friendship with us over the past two years and couldn't bear to fight."

Yan Yan: "They don't plan to take Jiangzhou? Then how exactly do Gan Ning's troops plan to proceed?"

Zhang Song pretended to put himself in the other's shoes and thought about it, then said in a tone that he dared not confirm: "Jiangzhou is the throat where two rivers meet. If we don't remove it and bypass the city, there will inevitably be trouble.

However, perhaps Zhuge Lingjun had confidence in the troops that were left behind. Perhaps they thought that leaving 10,000 men to keep an eye on the general and the remaining 30,000 elite troops to go directly up the river and plunder the upstream hinterland where our army was short of manpower would be more than enough.

It is also possible that the Grand Commandant or Zhuge Lingjun felt that if they treated the general with sincerity and did not fight with him, the general would certainly stick to his faith and not fight with them. "

Yan Yan was awakened by these words and instantly realized two things:
If Gan Ning's main force was still near Jiangzhou, then with his limited military strength, as long as he went out of the city to meet the enemy, he would definitely not be a match for Liu Bei's army, whether by land or water.

However, if Gan Ning saw after a few days of siege that the Jiangzhou army was not moving and seemed to have no hostility, he would relax his vigilance and pull his main force upstream, and the size of Liu Bei's army near Jiangzhou would become empty.

Then, Yan Yan still had a chance to leave the city and cut off Gan Ning's grain route - perhaps he couldn't break into Han Dang's camp by land, but he thought he could still go out to the river from Chaotianmen Wharf and burn or even intercept some grain ships that lacked heavy protection on the Yangtze River.

Moreover, he could have done a thorough pre-war reconnaissance and acted after careful planning. If he found that the grain fleet was well escorted and well prepared, he would have let them pass.

Since ancient times, there are only thieves who can steal for a thousand days, but there is no such thing as guarding against thieves for a thousand days. As Gan Ning advanced further and further, the frequency of grain transportation became higher and higher, and there was always a time when they were negligent in defense.

Then, it will be Yan Yan's time to be loyal to Liu Zhang...

However, Zhuge Liang gave him a break and Ning Yuan did not come to attack Jiangzhou City. If he did this at that time, would it be considered "betrayal"?

Yan Yan was caught in a painful dilemma.

"Zhang Beijia, why did the Grand Marshal and the lord get to the point where they had to fight? Wasn't it a good thing for them to join forces to fight against Cao and support the Han Dynasty?" Yan Yan couldn't help but ask Zhang Song for the answer.

Zhang Song didn't want to appear to have already figured it out, so he could only answer him temporarily:

"I can't figure it out for the moment. Perhaps, I can get a glimpse of the clues by thinking about Zhuge Situ's declaration of war, or by listening to what Zhuge Lingjun says when he sends someone to persuade us to surrender next time."

Yan Yan was depressed for a while when he saw that Zhang Song didn't know the answer either, but he didn't doubt Zhang Song.

He felt that Zhang Song was just like him, in that they both admired a benevolent and righteous leader like the Taiwei, so he was struggling in his heart.

He only caught a hint from Zhang Song's answer, so he asked again: "Do you think that Lord Zhuge might send someone to persuade us to surrender?"

Zhang Song: "That's not surprising. If they besiege without attacking, they will eventually waste money and food and tie up troops. Perhaps Lord Zhuge feels that their sincerity has been demonstrated. After besieging for a while, they will probably try to persuade them."

Zhang Song was also waiting for Zhuge Liang to send someone to persuade him. He wanted to be an insider like Fa Zheng, and he also needed an opportunity.

On Fa Zheng's side, Zhang Fei and Wei Yan's feint attack and pressure were an opportunity. On Zhang Song's side, since he didn't have a military opportunity, he must arrange a literary opportunity.

(End of this chapter)