My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 676: Three Things About the Ban

Deng Zhi waited outside the city for a long time, and the guards around him were getting impatient. Yu Jin finally completed his series of showmanship and let Deng Zhi enter the city.

Deng Zhi himself had a calm expression throughout. Although he had been standing at the city gate for at least half an hour, he was able to maintain his posture. He did not look impatient at all, nor did he stagger like those weak scholars who stood for a long time.

When the defenders lowered the hanging basket, the guard officer beside Deng Zhi wanted to go up first to scout the way, but was stopped by the defenders on the top of the city wall: "Only envoys are allowed to enter the city! No one carrying weapons is allowed to enter the city!"

The guard officer glanced at Deng Zhi, who just smiled and ordered: "It doesn't matter. Since we have entered the enemy city, what difference does it make if we have more or less people? I will go by myself, and you can report to General Huang."

Then he stepped into the hanging basket leisurely and went up to the city calmly.

Yu Jin sent a general to lead Deng Zhi. After seeing Deng Zhi's performance, the general secretly respected his courage.

After entering the city, the general gave Deng Zhi a horse and asked him to ride to the former General Zhennan's Mansion, which was the shogunate left by Liu Biao.

While riding on horseback, the general was bored and tried to test Deng Zhi: "Sir, you are calm in the face of danger. You should be very useful to the princes. If you die in Xiangyang, won't it be a great loss to the princes?"

Upon hearing this, Deng Zhi actually burst out laughing. His laughter was not contemptuous, but at least it was extremely nonchalant.

"The staff and subordinates around the princes, such as Xu Yuanzhi, Liu Zichu and other wise men, can number more than ten.

As for people like me who serve at the front and back, I have no strategy or tactics, and I am only diligent and careful. I should not be sent in large numbers - otherwise the princes would not think twice and would be willing to send me into the city. "

Yu Jin's general was not good at talking, so he was speechless. He did not argue with Deng Zhi and just thought to himself:

"Humph, you are just a talker. Let's see how you will respond when you see swords, spears and oil pans!"

Soon, the group arrived at the Zhennan General's shogunate. As expected, there were two rows of halberd soldiers lined up at the door, and their weapons were polished to a bright shine.

At the end of the long spear formation, there was a large oil pot with bubbling oil bubbling inside.

Deng Zhi dismounted gracefully, without even holding the reins, but just threw it to the side and strode towards the halberd soldiers.

Anyway, the horse is not his, so he just rides it.

"Clang, clang!" There were several crisp sounds of weapons clashing. Deng Zhi had just walked past several soldiers with long spears when those behind him crossed their spears and dropped them, blocking his retreat.

It seems that Yu Jin did not intend to insult him, but just wanted to scare him. So he did not set up the halberd in advance and let Deng Zhi pass under it.

Now, Deng Zhi can walk the whole way with his head held high and chest out without bending over, but the psychological test on him is also more obvious.

Because the halberd would suddenly fall down after the person passed by, it was not held there fixedly all the time.

The urging effect of this action and sound will force a timid person to quicken his pace and rush in, and he will involuntarily worry that "if he walks too slowly, the halberd will fall directly on his head." If the messenger really does this, he will become cowardly in momentum.

Yu Jin's actions were enough to silence the public.

However, Deng Zhi was not in a hurry. His gait and speed remained unchanged, as if the "clang clang" sound behind him did not exist.

He walked calmly through the courtyard gate and came to the main hall, where he met Yu Jin and bowed to him in a neither humble nor arrogant manner.

"Deng Zhi, the Cao official of the Si Tu Mansion, greets General Yu."

Yu Jin looked Deng Zhi up and down and just sneered: "Zhuge Jin ordered Huang Zhong to surround but not attack, and ordered Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to abandon me and flee to Hanbei, hoping to persuade them to surrender and seize Xiangyang. This is really wishful thinking!

"I have followed Duke Wei for twenty years, and my loyalty is evident to all! I cannot be moved by words! If you dare to insult my loyalty today, I will ask you to taste the sword first and then the cauldron!"

After saying that, Yu Jin pointed his halberd at the oil pan outside the door as a warning to Deng Zhi.

Some of his generals who were loyal to Cao Cao also showed anger and were waiting to take action if Deng Zhi dared to be rude to them.

Deng Zhi glanced at the whole room, and recalled Zhuge Jin's brief instructions before coming here. He took a deep breath, and then calmly said a few words that would obviously anger the other party:
"How dare I not believe General Yu's warning? Unfortunately, I have a mission to fulfill and I have to say something.

Because what I want to say is the truth. Regardless of my personal life or death, Situ is destined to do so. Situ did not intend to discuss it with General Yu, but just asked me to inform General Yu. "

Deng Zhi's tone was very calm and emotionless, but the content was very oppressive, and carried a sense of coldness that "the operation of natural laws cannot be changed by human will."

If there was a modern person present and heard these words, he would definitely sigh, "How can a mouth with a temperature of 37 degrees say such inhuman words?"

Yu Jin and others couldn't help but be interested in Deng Zhi.

As the art of war says, knowing yourself and your enemy, you can fight a hundred battles without defeat. Of course, they wanted to know what Zhuge Jin was planning to do, even if it would be just to get a glimpse of the enemy's situation.

Yu Jin raised his eyebrows and asked naturally, "Oh? I'd like to know what Zhuge Jin plans to do if I refuse to surrender and kill you."

Deng Zhi: "General Yu should also know that Xiangyang City is now surrounded and completely cut off from all news. In addition, Cao Ren has blocked the mouth of the Baihe River with sunken ships, and the navy of Fancheng can no longer send ships to contact Xiangyang.

Therefore, regardless of whether General Yu surrendered or not, it was inevitable that Xiangyang would be captured by our army in the end.

The reason why Situ still had patience and asked General Huang to slow down the attack was simply because he was kind-hearted. He didn't want tens of thousands of soldiers from both armies to die, nor did he want the 200,000 people trapped in Xiangyang to be implicated.

And if General Yu insists on fighting to the death, after the city is captured in the future, Situ will be able to ensure that your determination to hold on and your actions will not be known to the outside world.

On the contrary, after quickly capturing Xiangyang, Situ cleverly spread the news that General Yu became resentful after hearing that Cao Ren had abandoned you, which led to the army's disintegration and eventual defeat without a fight.

General Yu, even if you can sacrifice your life for Cao, can you guarantee that after your death, your soldiers will not be afraid of danger? Will you really resist until the last man?
If not, then only the survivors will be qualified to recount what the deceased did before his death. By then, Situ will have plenty of ways to make Cao the thief believe that you are not dead.

It was only to prevent his family from being implicated that the general did not make a public appearance after being captured by our army. He only wanted to fake his death and leave a good reputation.

We will also spread rumors secretly, saying that the general has agreed with us that you will naturally show up again after our army has taken Wancheng and Xudu and rescued the families of the surrendered generals.

As long as Cao believes these rumors, the families of the Xiangyang soldiers will not have a good ending. If you die, they will think you surrendered, and there is no way to tell the difference - the dead cannot defend themselves. "

Before Deng Zhi could finish his words, several loyal Cao Cao generals standing beside Yu Jin flew into a rage.

The enemy intends to use the advantage of being able to block all internal and external information to throw dirty water on the heads of loyal and righteous people, so that even if they die, their families will not get a good reward! How vicious!

Two of them who had bad tempers directly drew out their knives and were about to put them on Deng Zhi's neck.

Deng Zhi did not dodge, but Yu Jin was shocked and quickly shouted: "Stop! Are you dissatisfied with your family members dying too slowly? Then do it!"

After being reprimanded by Yu Jin, the two impulsive men had no choice but to hold back for the time being. Yu Jin also took the opportunity to back down: "Let Mr. Deng finish his words, and then we can make a long-term plan! I am doing this for everyone's families!"

Yu Jin's last words were spoken to his own people, which could be considered as a fig leaf.

"Sir, please tell me, what does it take for Zhuge Jin to give up his evil plot to harm our military families?"

After Deng Zhi and other Cao generals calmed down, they bowed and said, "General Yu is indeed a loyal and righteous man. I have said so much, but he still remains loyal. It's a pity that his loyalty is used in the wrong place. He is not loyal to His Majesty or the Han Dynasty, but to Cao Cao.

Since General Yu wants to know, I might as well tell you directly. In fact, as long as General Yu is willing to give up the breakout and stop being an enemy of our army, and promises not to harm the people during the subsequent occupation of Xiangyang, and not to destroy or set fire to the city when it is captured, then Situ will naturally promise not to throw dirty water on your corpses after you die.

In order to show our army's sincerity, Situ is even willing to give you some benefits first, so that you can prove your loyalty to Cao Cao and make your family's life easier in the future..."

Deng Zhi's words have taken the use of both kindness and severity to the extreme.

On the one hand, under the pretext of high-sounding slogans, the requirement for the ban is only to prohibit harming the people and causing destruction in the future.

Even if Yu Jin agreed to these words, it would not be considered a betrayal of Cao Cao, and he could still feel at ease with his conscience. Even if he had some diehard generals around him, they would not be able to stop him.

On the other hand, Deng Zhi extended an olive branch at the right time, offering them a chance to solve their biggest concerns.

Once this condition was put forward, it was impossible for Yu Jin and his side not to be tempted.

Yu Jin was indeed moved, and immediately asked seriously: "Oh? Si Tu can still give us a chance to prove our loyalty to the Prime Minister? This is a bit unrealistic, isn't it? How can such a thing be proved?"

Seeing that the other party had finally taken the bait, Deng Zhi smiled slightly, then without raising his head, pointed in the direction of the treasury.

He was very familiar with the situation in Xiangyang City. After all, he had worked under Liu Biao before the war, so he knew where the granary in Xiangyang City was without even looking.

While pointing, Deng Zhi said in a confident tone: "Ever since the general fell into the trap of the prime minister and the morale of the army was shaken, it seems that in the past five or six days, your army's will to defend the city is still firm, but the smoke from cooking in the city has increased and lasted longer.

Si Tu had long seen that General Yu was just showing off his skills in front of an expert, imitating his own tricks of singing songs and measuring sand and giving more food to the army in the past, in order to calm the soldiers' resentment.

Unfortunately, this move is like drinking poison to quench thirst. It can only save you temporarily, but not forever. Your army's rations are being consumed at an accelerated rate. Can the food that was originally enough to last until the spring famine last until the first month of the year?
If your army runs out of food and collapses prematurely, and the news reaches Cao Ren, wouldn't he think that you surrendered without a fight before you are in dire straits? What will happen to your families then?

But! Si Tu was kind and he also respected those who were determined and steadfast, so he was willing to give General Yu a chance and send an envoy to Hanbei to ask Cao Ren for help!
All the efforts that General Yu made to maintain morale in Xiangyang and the new difficulties he faced were conveyed to Cao Ren and Xu Huang through letters to let them know how difficult it was for the general to defend Xiangyang!

In this way, even if Cao Ren cannot send reinforcements, he will understand the general's difficulties. Even if the general is defeated in the future, Cao Cao will know that the general has tried his best, and the harm to your family will be less severe.

If it weren't for Situ's respect for righteous men, our army would never have given you this opportunity! So, don't miss it. If the general sends out a patrol boat for help today, Situ can order our warships to intercept it on the Han River! But this is the only chance!

When Deng Zhi relayed Zhuge Jin's plan, Yu Jin and other generals gasped.

Those who have worked in the workplace in later generations know that if a project ultimately fails, then all the efforts you have made will be worthless unless there is any evidence left, and you will not even be able to argue that "your workload has been saturated."

Xiangyang was destined to fall in the end. For Jin, what he needed most was not to defend Xiangyang, but to ensure that when Xiangyang was lost, the world would see how much effort he had made.

As the saying goes, "In a project that is doomed to fail, leaving a PPT report record is more important than actually doing anything."

And now, Zhuge Jin is giving him another opportunity to report the PPT to Cao Cao.

People who can only do things but not brag have no future.

This is especially true in organizations that are more susceptible to corporate disease. And the imperial court, which is already full of hypocrisy, pretense and empty talk, is undoubtedly the organization with the most serious "corporate disease" in the world.

Looking at the layers of harsh laws and punishments that the Cao family had in place to guard against rebellion among their own people, one can see how serious the internal deception and infighting among them were.

At present, Zhuge Jin can block Yu Jin's channels for speaking out. If he refuses to cooperate, Zhuge Jin has plenty of ways to make Yu Jin's work in vain.

After Yu Jin and his party figured this out, they finally had to have "limited cooperation" with Zhuge Jin first.

Yu Jin silently waved Deng Zhi away and had someone escort him downstairs to rest, without mentioning the matter of the halberd formation and the oil pan again.

Then, Yu Jin spoke frankly to his subordinates, saying that he hoped to seize this opportunity to be friendly with Zhuge Jinxu and at least try to get the immediate benefits first.

Yu Jin also repeatedly stated that he would not surrender. He just ate the sugar coating of Zhuge Jin's goodwill and spit out the poison inside.

The subordinates were also worried that their reputations would be tarnished after their death and that their families would be implicated, so they certainly did not dare to object at this time. As a result, this absurd decision was unanimously approved by the top leaders of the Xiangyang garrison.

That night, Yu Jin wrote two identical letters to Cao Cao expressing his loyalty and asking for help.

The letter said how he had worked hard to maintain the morale of the Xiangyang defenders in a desperate situation. It also said how vicious Zhuge Jin was, trying every means to attack the Xiangyang defenders' will, but he overcame all difficulties and broke through them one by one, and the losses were great. He himself didn't know how long he could hold out.

Therefore, I hope Cao Ren can make an exception and reinforce him and not abandon him.

At the end of the letter, Yu Jin also expressed that "even without external aid, he would fight to the last moment and live and die with the city of Xiangyang."

The reason why the letter was written in two copies was that he hoped to send them to Cao Ren and Xu Huang respectively.

The public reason for this arrangement was, of course, the fear that the messenger and the patrol boat would be intercepted and killed by the naval patrol boats of Liu Bei's camp, so sending two groups of people to deliver the letter for help would increase the chance of safe delivery.

In fact, he was also afraid that if he only sent it to Cao Ren, once Cao Ren did not report it, Yu Jin's painstaking efforts would not be able to reach Cao Cao's ears.

It is indeed possible that Cao Ren did so. Because Yu Jin's letter mentioned that "because Cao Ren sank his warships to block the Baihe River, this news was passed to Xiangyang by Zhuge Jin, which led to the low morale of the Xiangyang defenders."

If this news reached Cao Cao's ears, it would mean that Cao Cao would also judge that Cao Ren also had a certain proportion of responsibility for the reason that "Xiangyang became more difficult to defend."

Although Cao Ren was Cao Cao's brother and could not be held strictly accountable, Cao Ren certainly did not want his mistake to be known to his superiors, so he had a motive to conceal it.

Yu Jin was wary of this fact.

When Yu Jin's messengers boarded the patrol boat, left the north water gate of Xiangyang, crossed the Han River to Fancheng, they were all very nervous.

The Han River route has been cut off by the enemy for more than a day or two. Lu Yi and Han Dang have been searching the river closely recently, hoping to kill some of Cao's ships to establish their authority.

But this time, they managed to escape by luck. They took advantage of the cover of night and were not killed by Lu Yi.

These grassroots messengers are not qualified to know about the transactions among the top leaders, so they just think they are lucky.

After the letter for help was delivered to Cao Ren and Xu Huang, Cao Ren and others were indeed shocked and confused.

Cao Ren did not expect that Zhuge Jin was so vicious. Every move of his, as long as it was detrimental to the morale of the Xiangyang defenders, was magnified, designed and publicized by Zhuge Jin, and leaked to the soldiers in Xiangyang, resulting in the current passive situation.

Cao Ren himself has not had a good time recently.

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei had almost finished their preparations for the assault and launched several strong attacks. Cao Ren's defense was very difficult, and he fought bloody battles with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei every day.

In this situation, Yu Jin came to complain to him again and tried to shirk responsibility, which made Cao Ren really overwhelmed.

But Cao Ren still had to find ways to write back to appease Yu Jin and let him continue to hold on and wait for the situation to change.

He also said a lot of things in his reply, such as "The war situation in northern Han is evolving in a direction favorable to the court. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei have finally run out of tricks. Their fierce attacks are gradually becoming exhausted and their casualties are heavy." He painted a rosy picture for Yu Jin.

At the end of the letter, Cao Ren also stated that the court had seen all of Yu Jin's efforts, and he had already reported it to the court, with Xu Huang as a witness - to prove this, Cao Ren also asked Xu Huang to sign his name in the reply letter.

Then, Cao Ren sent another envoy to send his reply back to Xiangyang, and told Yu Jin to contact him again if there were any changes or if necessary.

However, none of this matters anymore.

Because Lu Yi was told to only give Yu Jin one chance to appeal. And there was no need for Cao Ren's messengers to ensure that they arrived alive.

Even the envoy sent back by Cao Ren sneaked out of the city in the dark in the middle of the night and crossed the Han River, but he was still intercepted by a patrol boat on the river, and the boat was destroyed and the people on board died.

Lu Yi had the drowning victims identified and found the old man sent by Yu Jin. He had someone carry the old man who was choking on the water and rescue him. The rest were tied with stones and thrown back into the river.

Lu Yi and Zhuge Jin, who gave orders to Lu Yi, had the final say on who could report news and who could not on the Han River.

Doing this once is also a way to establish Yu Jin's authority and prevent him from harboring any hope of luck.

No matter what Yu Jin did, only Zhuge Jin could decide what Yu Jin could publicize to the outside world.

Without Zhuge Jin's approval, Yu Jin's actions would be in vain, and would not be recorded in history books or known to the world. However, as long as Zhuge Jin was willing, he could make history books record some things that Yu Jin did not do in his later years in the siege.

It’s up to you to decide how to deal with it.

……

Yu Jin's messenger returned to Fancheng alive and alone and explained the situation.

This time, Yu Jin's psychological defenses finally collapsed completely.

After a final painful struggle, Yu Jin summoned Deng Zhi privately the next afternoon - in a private setting with no one around him.

Yu Jin closed the door and discussed the specific conditions of surrender with Deng Zhi.

"Mr. Deng, I have already been convinced by Zhuge Situ's ability and dare not have any other thoughts. However, Cao Ren is still in Fancheng. If I surrender suddenly, Cao Ren will be able to find out some truth.

Therefore, I would like to ask the Prime Minister to extend the deadline - as long as your army breaks through Fancheng and expels Cao Ren, I am willing to surrender to your army immediately.

At the same time, I hope that after accepting our surrender, your army will not let our army participate in the battle against Cao Cao, and at the same time, publicize to the outside world that we have been exhausted and suffered heavy casualties, and that I died in the chaos.

My family is in Xudu. I don't want to show up until your army conquers Xudu. Please agree. Otherwise, for the sake of my family's life and death, I would rather die for my country than kneel down!"

Yu Jin's last words were just to sound high-sounding and try to extort as much benefit as possible. After all, he had no bargaining chips now and could only use his "useful body" as a bargaining chip.

Zhuge Jin knew that in history, Yu Jin did not refuse to surrender in order to avoid liquidation and implicate his family and clansmen.

However, Deng Zhi didn't know this at the moment, and he didn't need to know it.

After learning about the conditions offered by Yu Jin, Deng Zhi said that, considering that he should not frequently enter and leave Xiangyang City in the future, it would be better for both parties to agree on a secret code.

If he returns and Situ says he can promise Yu Jin's offer, then three days later, when Huang Zhong makes another feint attack, he will place flags of a certain color arrangement in front of the formation.

At that time, Yu Jin will come to look at the flags and read the map himself. If there is no problem, Yu Jin will also display flags corresponding to a certain color arrangement on the city wall.

Yu Jin nodded and agreed to this method of contact, but did not let Deng Zhi go immediately - his meeting with Deng Zhi this afternoon was private, and in order to shut up all his generals, he would have to summon all the generals tomorrow morning to negotiate publicly again as a formality.

Of course, none of the secret agreements would be mentioned in public, and the talks would end in a breakdown, with Deng Zhi being driven away.

Deng Zhi had no objection to this, saying that it was just one more scene and he could cooperate.

Deng Zhi stayed in Xiangyang City for another night.

The next morning, Yu Jin called him as planned, and the two sides had a heated debate, which seemed to end in failure.

However, Yu Jin, in keeping with the principle of "when two armies are fighting, do not kill envoys", scolded Deng Zhi a few words and then drove him out of the city.

Deng Zhi returned to Zhuge Jin and reported the results of three negotiations with Yu Jin, two open and one secret, in Xiangyang City over the past few days, and also stated Yu Jin's surrender conditions.

Zhuge Jin was not surprised. After listening, he waved his folding fan and said, "Just agree to it. You will be responsible for the specific contact and reply.

It's up to Yunchang and Yide to decide what to do next. Tell them another day that when Fancheng is captured, we can also get Xiangyang for free."

Deng Zhi wrote down everything and left.

(End of this chapter)