My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 811: The one who understood Liu Bei's reform the most was Cao Cao

"Has Liu Bei finally become emperor? He can't avoid this day after all. It seems that Mianchi can't be defended for a few more days. When Liu Bei's army comes to attack, if the frontline defenders can't hold on, they should withdraw to Hangu Pass in an orderly manner."

On the third day after Liu Bei proclaimed himself emperor, Cao Cao, who was stationed at Hangu Pass, more than 200 miles west of Luoyang, heard the news and gave the following instructions.

More than a month ago, when Luoyang had not yet fallen, he was personally stationed in Mianchi, but today, he has retreated to Hangu Pass.

Cao Cao knew very well that with the fall of Luoyang, Liu Bei was preparing to become emperor, and he would still take military action even if it was freezing cold. So Cao Cao did not dare to guard Mianchi himself and could only retreat to Hangu Pass.

"Father, do you think that Liu Bei will take advantage of his power after becoming emperor and go against the taboo of military strategists to launch an offensive in the cold winter?" The one who asked this question was Cao Cao's second son, Cao Zhang, who is still alive.

Cao Zhang was originally stationed in Dai County, but as Cao Cao proclaimed himself emperor and Xiahou Dun withdrew from Yecheng to Bingzhou, Cao Cao transferred Cao Zhang back from the northern border to his side. At the same time, Cao Cao also gradually transferred the original central government troops under the personal control of Cao Cao to Cao Zhang's control, so that he could understand the generals and the soldiers, and gradually get used to it.

As for Dai County, let Xiahou Dun worry about it and coordinate the defense with the rest of Bingzhou to ensure that the Taihang Mountain defense line can still hold.

Cao Cao knew very well that if he only relied on Cao Pi as his son, when the day came when he could no longer hold on, Cao Pi himself would not be able to take over all of his power, and by then the power within the Cao family would surely fall apart again.

It’s not that he would split into five parts and then support his own sons, but that after splitting into five parts, several of them would directly surrender to Liu Bei.

Cao Pi's military talent was too weak, and at most he only learned some of his political skills.

Cao Zhang did learn a lot of military skills.

Cao Zhi learned a considerable amount of literary literacy.

The combined strength of the three sons Cao Pi, Cao Zhang and Cao Zhi is barely 70% of that of the complete Cao Cao. If they are separated individually, they are not good enough.

If it were normal, having multiple sons share power would definitely lead to chaos after death, just like when Yuan Shao did not handle his affairs well after his death, Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang had a civil war, Liu Biao did not handle his affairs well after his death, and Liu Qi and Liu Cong each recognized a different master.

Cao Cao was very aware of these examples that were before his eyes, but he also knew that he had no other choice but to use poison to quench his thirst and do something special.

If both sons were not given great power at the same time, outsiders would be able to tear the Cao family apart.

At this moment, facing his son's questions, Cao Cao still felt a little disappointed - this kid was growing too slowly. After two months of being with him, his military skills were okay, but his political vision did not improve at all.

Cao Cao had no choice but to teach him earnestly: "Raising a large army in the cold winter is indeed a taboo in military strategy, but did I say that Liu Bei would raise a large army after he became emperor? He doesn't need to mobilize a large army at all. In these two months, he only needs to make a slight move to completely capture the counties outside Hangu Pass such as Mianchi.

Because Hangu Pass is also one of the eight passes in Luoyang. Although Liu Bei now has a strong army, he will never allow any direction of his capital to be directly exposed to the threat of enemy forces that can attack or defend at any time.

Although Mianchi is not one of the eight passes in Luoyang, it is the eastern starting point of the Xiaoshan Valley Road. Starting from Mianchi, the Xiaoshan Valley Road becomes narrower and narrower all the way west, reaching its narrowest at Hangu Pass, which is suitable for building a majestic pass.

But Liu Bei only needs to capture Mianchi, and then build a little in Mianchi to form a camp corridor, completely cut off the exit of the Xiaoshan Valley Road, and then he can confront Hangu Pass and ensure that our army can no longer break out of the Xiaohan Road, and his Luoyang will be safe. "

After hearing this, Cao Zhang suddenly realized that what Liu Bei wanted was just to tell the world that "after he becomes emperor, Luoyang will be absolutely safe, and there will not even be the slightest theoretical possibility that Cao Cao will break out of the Yaoshan Road and threaten Luoyang."

Even if Cao's army dared to attack through the Qiaohan Pass, Liu Bei was not afraid at all militarily, because he had the absolute strength to annihilate Cao's army.

But Liu Bei had now become emperor, and he could not afford to lose this person politically.

Even if he could slap someone back five or ten times as hard after being slapped at this moment, he was unwilling to bear the humiliation of being slapped first.

Becoming an emperor, while bringing huge prestige, will also bring you a heavy political burden. It is a double-edged sword, and from now on you can no longer easily embarrass yourself.

After hearing this, Cao Zhang suddenly realized that he had not even thought of this before and was too naive in politics.

This life experience is all about military affairs.

After hearing what his father said, Cao Zhang realized that his father was also protecting him.

Let his second elder brother become the crown prince, and he will bear this heavy responsibility in the future and cannot retreat. However, he himself is only responsible for leading the troops and does not have such heavy political ambitions.

If the day ever comes when the Cao family can no longer hold on, I can still find a way out, but my second brother cannot run away.

There is no emperor in the world who would escape.

Thinking of this, Cao Zhang's eyes couldn't help but become moist. His blood boiled and he volunteered to fight:

"Father, I am willing to fight to the death at the front line of Mianchi, even if it means holding out for another month or two. It is the coldest time of the year, and Liu Bei has committed a major military taboo. It will not be easy for him to take Mianchi quickly. With the right weather, I am confident that I can hold out for the New Year!"

"It's unnecessary. Liu Bei can't swallow this anger. Why kill more people in a few small counties? If you give him this face, he will stop temporarily after he succeeds." Cao Cao said indifferently,
"I heard that after he entered Luoyang and proclaimed himself emperor, Zhuge Jin began to have people promote the 'Yangjia Old System'. This was meant to overturn the old recommendation system. I think after the New Year, he will temporarily focus on that and wipe out the accumulated malpractices in the Han Dynasty's personnel administration over the past hundred years.

I, your father, was watching him closely at Hangu Pass, but he used me as a weapon. He had difficulty in implementing reforms that would affect the interests of all parties, but now he can save a lot of trouble by just saying "this is all for the great cause of suppressing rebellion"!

Brother Zhuge, you are so good at pulling the flag and sneaking in, but this time, I was used to my heart's content. This is good, at least we can stay safe until next year's "Spring Examination". Ha, why did Zhuge Jin think of this word. "

Of course, a political idiot like Cao Zhang could not understand what Cao Cao mentioned about the "old system of Yangjia" and was completely confused.

But in fact, this was a system during the reign of Emperor Shun of Han. It was implemented in the first year of Yangjia in the reign of Emperor Shun of Han, which was 132 AD, fifty-two years before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and eighty years ago.

The reform of Emperor Shun of Han Dynasty was to organize examinations for the candidates who were recommended by the emperor, which was the initial prototype of the imperial examination in later generations. It was first proposed by Zuo Xiong, the minister of the imperial court during the reign of Emperor Shun of Han Dynasty, and then approved by the emperor.

However, the old examination system during the reign of Emperor Shun of Han was still very different from the imperial examination. One of the most important problems was that Emperor Shun of Han did not require a differential examination, that is, as long as you passed the basic skills test, all the candidate officials recommended would pass, and there was no regulation on how many people should be dismissed or what the proportion should be.

Unlike the imperial examination, it was agreed that after the provincial examination, there might be thousands or even tens of thousands of people eligible to participate in the joint examination, but only a few hundred people were allowed to pass, and they had to squeeze through a single-plank bridge.

Even the civil service examinations of later generations required a recruitment ratio of at least three to one for each position. There must be enough people in the running. If there are not enough people to bid, some positions will remain unsold.

In other words, the key reason why Emperor Shun of Han carried out the Yangjia Reform was that the knowledge of the selected talents was too poor, and many of them could not even pass the qualifying exam. Therefore, in the first year when Shangshu Ling Zuo Xiong launched the intensive examination, many talents failed.

In the first year of the examination, more than 200 people were nominated from all counties across the country to take the exam, but only about 30 of them passed the exam and were appointed as officials. The other 180 were rejected. This was clearly recorded in the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty. Biography of Zuo Xiong". However, the reform promoted by Zuo Xiong was very effective in retrospect, because among the 30 or so people who passed the first exam in the first year of Yangjia, there were later famous officials such as Li Ying, Chen Fan, and Chen Qiu. This success rate can be said to be very high. When these names were put into the later Party and Faction Persecution, each of them was a well-known big shot.

Moreover, in the examinations during the reign of Emperor Shun of Han, only the two subjects of "Maocai" and "Boxue Hongru" tested classics, and the subjects of "Xianliang Fangzheng" tested memorials. The most common subject was "Xiaolian", because filial piety and moral character could not be reflected in the examination papers, so it was not tested.

This led to more and more attention being paid to the filial and honest examination, because it was the only examination that could be used to cheat people with connections and whose identities could never be exposed. The talented, erudite, and virtuous people became increasingly marginalized. Ultimately, Emperor Shun of Han's reforms came to nothing after his death, when several young emperors and even incompetent rulers like Huan and Ling came to power.

Unexpectedly, this time, after Liu Bei entered Luoyang, he wanted to take advantage of the tail end of the campaign to suppress the rebellion and carry out the personnel and official selection reform to the end.

The scholars under his command actually dug up the old Yangjia system during the reign of Emperor Shun of Han from the historical archives. Throughout November, the new court in Luoyang publicized this matter to build momentum for subsequent reforms.

I swear to God, this old system of Yangjia was not found by Zhuge Jin - Zhuge Jin was a practical man, and he was not concerned about finding historical basis for what he wanted to do in a pile of old papers.

He is only responsible for setting the goal. How to beautify this goal is the job of those erudite scholars who are well-read and specialize in studying piles of old papers.

The Prime Minister set a goal for His Majesty, and the great scholars tried their best to find excuses for him by quoting scriptures.

And what a coincidence! Emperor Shun of Han's son was Emperor Chong of Han, who died young. Emperor Zhi of Han, who was from the same generation as Han and was promoted to the same clan, was also poisoned to death by General Liang Ji at the age of eight.

When Liu Bei joined the big clan from the minor clan, he was said to have skipped the four chaotic generations of Chong, Zhi, Huan and Ling. Emperor Ling was of the same generation as Liu Bei, and so were Emperors Chong, Zhi and Huan, all of whom were considered Liu Bei's uncles. So when Liu Bei joined the big clan, he recognized Emperor Shun of Han as his grandfather.

The reforms that my grandfather used were interrupted because my uncles succeeded to the throne at a young age after my grandfather's death and the government was controlled by powerful officials. Therefore, the good laws that my grandfather had used for more than ten years were interrupted. Is there anything wrong with me picking them up again now?

(Note: The examination system reformed by Yangjia was used until the death of Emperor Shun of Han, which was in 144 AD. It lasted for years. The last year was only years away from the Yellow Turban Rebellion.)
When the learned scholars who spoke for Liu Bei and Zhuge Jin brought up the reason of filial piety which was a coincidence, the effect was surprisingly good.

Those officials who had originally wanted to find excuses to oppose the comprehensive examination were all silenced and could only watch Liu Bei and Zhuge Jin do whatever they wanted.

"This is His Majesty showing that he is serious about recognizing Emperor Shun as his ancestor. It is not a joke. Who among you wants to hinder His Majesty's filial piety?"

By giving this reason, the obstructionist can be killed with justification.

The imperial examination reform envisioned by Zhuge Jin once again made a big step forward.

Cao Cao, who was in Hangu Pass, saw the situation more clearly than the court officials around Liu Bei.

Cao Cao, who had already withdrawn from the power circle of Luoyang and now became a bystander, suddenly became more alert. Perhaps this was related to the fact that he had fought with Liu Bei and Zhuge Jin for most of his life, and he knew his opponents too well.

Therefore, he was certain that Liu Bei would not take any major military actions during this period and would stop when he had gained enough face.

……

Based on Cao Cao's prediction, the response strategy of Cao Cao's camp in the last two months of the 18th year of Jian'an became obvious.

After all, Cao Zhang did not invest too much of his family fortune in small counties like Mianchi.

Half a month after Liu Bei ascended the throne, in mid-November, Liu Bei's army sent a group of troops to Mianchi to capture the city and block the western exit of the Gushan Valley Road.

Because Cao's army had no worries and was not afraid of being unable to retreat, they resisted firmly for a while, allowing Liu Bei's army to see that Cao's army was defeated again and again, and when they encountered a battlefield where they did not have to worry about retreat, they were also determined to hold on.

Liu Bei's army was not doing well in the first battle. Relying on the small number of troops, they failed to capture the city after fighting for more than ten days. So they reported the matter to the higher authorities, took it seriously, dispatched reinforcements, and prepared heavy siege weapons.

In late November, Liu Bei's army launched another round of attacks, this time using Ge Gongche and catapults to attack the city. As expected, Mianchi was breached within three days.

But the defending Cao army was not completely annihilated, because there was no way around the valley of the Yao River, and Liu Bei's army could not cut off the retreat of the enemy defending the city. They could only kill as many enemies as they could on the battlefield, and they could not surround and annihilate the enemy who wanted to retreat, so they could only kill them for a while and try to maximize the results of the battle.

At the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, Cao's army retreated completely to Hangu Pass, and all the counties and towns east of Hangu Pass were cleared out by Liu Bei's army.

After Liu Bei's army saw Cao's determination to hold their ground along the long valley, they did not dare to act rashly again.

After discussing with Liu Bei and other important officials including the Zhuge brothers, they decided that even if they wanted to attack Guanzhong again in the future, they should not focus on the Xiaohan Road, as the 600-li long road was full of dangerous mountainous areas and was not worth the effort.

In the future, we should focus on attacking the Chenguan Pass between Henei and Hedong, break through the Zhongtiao Mountain defense line north of the Yellow River, enter Hedong, and then follow the big river from Guan Yu’s hometown to merge into the Yellow River from Pubanjin and cross into Guanzhong.

Cao Cao should defend Hangu Pass to the death. It is difficult to attack from the front. We will cut off your retreat and then surround you from the front and back, thus isolating the entire 600-li mountain road.

However, for the time being, Liu Bei still temporarily rebuilt a pass in Mianchi County as Cao Cao expected.

Here in Mianchi, the width of the valley road in the Xiaoshan Pass is much wider than that of the Hangu Pass, so the cost of building the pass wall is naturally high.

But Liu Bei did not expect to build a very durable wall. He just had people use rammed earth and wooden fences to completely block off the valley. After a year or two, when Cao Cao was defeated, the wall would be completely useless.

It would be a waste if temporary buildings were built too well.

After doing all this, Liu Bei's army ensured that Cao Cao no longer had even the theoretical possibility of a counterattack, and time quietly came to the end of the year.

As the wheel of history entered the first year of Zhangwu, many of Liu Bei's drastic reforms were waiting to be fully implemented.

Liu Bei had to wait until this series of reforms were completed and the busy spring farming season was over before he could consider a new and final round of military advancement.

After this round of advancement, Cao Cao should no longer exist.

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PS: I have been rewriting the beginning of my new book these days. The first time it was written so badly and the perspective was so confusing that it failed to pass the review.

(End of this chapter)