On the second day after the Shan envoys sent people back to Shan, Wang Xu personally came to Sikong Mansion to see the frustrated ministers.

As soon as they met, he asked straight to the point: "Gonghe, do you think the matter of the Shan country can be done?" What should we do to prepare? ”

Frustration replied: "Back to Your Majesty, if there is no accident, the Shan royal family should agree, since the last time its envoys came, Honglu Temple has sent people to investigate it comprehensively, its situation is really bad, facing the danger of destroying the country and extinction, if they do not accept, they can only hold out for another year at most." At the same time, although the conditions proposed by the lord made the royal family give up their rights, they were fully recognized. ”

"The Shan royal family can not only continue to exist, but also continue to enjoy the esteemed status and wealth, it must be known that in that small country, it is good that the royal family can extract one layer of tax revenue every year, and after the right to manage belongs to the imperial court, the Shan royal family will take three layers for nothing, which can be said to be more comfortable. Yichen reasoned that in the current situation, the Shan royal family would not refuse, but would only bargain over the privileges of the royal family. ”

"Yes!" Wang Xu nodded, frowned and thought for a moment, and asked, "Then do you think I should give in?" ”

Frustrated, he saluted respectfully.

"Forgive the minister's courage, if it is a matter of privilege, the minister thinks that His Majesty should give in!"

"Why?"

"The Shan country has the culture and customs of the Shan country, and they are now more accustomed to living in that environment, which can be described as the desire of the people, and the reform will touch the interests of too many people, and it will be chaotic. Then it can be logical. For example, if slavery in the Shan country were abolished now. Then it is tantamount to depriving them of what they consider to be dignity and glory. It will irritate the people of the Shan country! ”

"You mean, everything is gradual, adapted to local conditions, and allowed to influence and develop slowly?"

"Exactly!"

After receiving the frustrated answer, Wang Xu took a deep breath, and then said worriedly: "But in this case, the Shan State is still a self-contained system, how can our Metropolitan Protectorate ensure that it will not change its original intention in the future." How did the imperial court manage and restrict the successive protectors? If you don't pay attention, there is a good chance that the future Metropolitan will become the new king there. ”

Frustrated with a smile, he shook his head calmly and said: "Your Majesty, don't worry too much, as long as the court of Chu does not decline, then it can be avoided, if the court declines, then no matter whether the Shan country has an independent system or not, there is still a danger of splitting, just like the Han Dynasty!" ”

"How to avoid it?" Wang Xu continued to ask.

"Back to Your Majesty, although the local management system of the Shan State is still using the old system. It was improved step by step, but the official system of the Metropolitan Protectorate must be formed according to the program of the Chu State. It can set up left and right protectors, one person in charge of the army, one person in charge of the government, under the jurisdiction of the internal affairs system and the military system, and return to Beijing every two years to report on their work, and regularly send people to inspect. The Metropolitan Protectorate is equivalent to replacing the Shan king with a single unit, and although the old system is still used under it, the Metropolitan Protectorate operates as a whole, not a single person. ”

Wang Xu was instantly relieved, and said happily: "This is very good, in the future, you will have to work hard in Sikong Mansion and Honglu Temple, and be sure to draft their details clearly, and all officials in the Metropolitan Protectorate must also obey the decrees and laws of the Chu State, and do not apply to the policies and laws of the Shan State." ”

"Your Majesty is at ease, when the specific details and measures are set, the minister will be submitted to Zhuge as soon as possible for review, and then it will be discussed with Shangshutai!"

"Yes!" Wang Xu smiled and said: "Gonghe, now that the Chu State is basically stable, you don't have to work too hard, you have to rest a lot on weekdays, and if there are some unimportant things, just leave them to your subordinates!" ”

"Thank you Your Majesty for your concern, the minister will try his best to arrange affairs properly!"

"That's good!"

Wang Xu then left Nangong Sikong Mansion, and after this exchange, he also had a bottom about the affairs of Shan and really settled down.

More than two months later, the Shan envoys asked for a meeting again, and a reply from the Shan royal family came. As expected, he agreed to the request due to the critical situation, but still made some efforts to fight for the privileges that his royal family should have.

After reading it carefully, Wang Xu waved his hand and readily agreed.

The next day, he ordered Li Yan, the general of Zhenxi, and Deng Zhi, the general of Zhennan, to send 20,000 men from the Western Army and the Southern Army respectively, totaling 40,000 to assemble in Yongchang County.

In the order, Wang Xu also repeatedly told Li Yan and Deng Zhi to handle the affairs of the Shan State as required, and not to break the enemy first after entering the Shan State, but to defend first, and to collect the rights of the Shan State, and establish the Protectorate to control the entire Shan State, and then gradually reduce its army, absorb some of the strong, and set different private army limits for the royal family and nobles over there according to the actual situation.

Only by completing all this can Li Yan and Deng Zhi wait for the opportunity to send troops to defeat the Huren.

In fact, Li Yan and Deng Zhi had already learned about this, and although there was no formal order, they had already prepared in advance and knew very well what they needed to achieve.

This war to expand the territory spread among the people of Chu State, the people were excited, full of pride and honor for the strength of Chu State, and even later spread a little evil, this is exactly the effect that Wang Xu and Chu State Wenwu want to achieve, a new empire needs these to establish majesty and cohesion.

However, in essence, this was a small-scale military operation after all, and it had little impact on the general situation of the Chu state, and the Chu court did not even mention this matter in the subsequent court discussions, and all the energy was still focused on the further development of the Chu state and the struggle against Wei and Wu.

More than half a year later, in the spring of 216 AD, Li Yan and Deng Zhi reported to Xiangyang, saying that they had successfully completed the establishment of the Protectorate and completed the control of the Shan State, and asked the southern expedition to the Huren to solve the external threat of the Shan State as soon as possible.

Wang Xu played on the spot, and at the suggestion of Guo Jia, appointed Xiang Chong as the left protector of the Shan State and was in charge! Sentence support for the right capital of the Shan country, the main army! At the same time, dozens of talented officials from various counties in Nanzhong were exceptionally promoted, and they settled in the Metropolitan Protectorate with them, becoming the first team of the Metropolitan Protectorate.

Shortly thereafter, in the summer of 216 AD, the state of Chu launched its third northern expedition.

Wang Xu gathered the Blue Dragon Legion, the Yulin Army, the Royal Forest Army, the Southern Legion, the Western Legion, and the Iron Cavalry Legion, totaling 450,000. plus the generals themselves, the special guards totaled thirty or forty thousand. The total number of the main force of the whole army is nearly 500,000. Mightily slaughtered out of Nanyang and marched into the Central Plains.

At the same time, hundreds of thousands of medical officers, reserve soldiers, civilian husbands and other auxiliary personnel were recruited and transferred as the logistics support of the army's Northern Expedition.

The army was divided into five routes, Wang Xu personally hung the seal, and Zuo Shangshu ordered Guo Jia to be the chief of the army.

One route is the hussar general Zhao Yun as the commander, and the captain Xu Shu is with the army as a strategist.

The second route is the general Zhang He of the Eastern Expedition, and Shang Shu Dong and the army are strategists.

The third route was personally led by Wang Xu and was the fifth route of the Chinese army. Guo Jia planned all matters of the Northern Expedition.

The four routes were the commander of the Pingxi general Ma Chao, and Zongzheng Jiang Wan was with the army as a strategist.

The fifth route is the general of the town army, Zhou Zhi, as the commander, and the right Shangshu orders Pang Tong to follow the army as a strategist.

Xiangyang was handed over to Prime Minister Zhuge Liang, Sikong Fuzhu, and Situ Tianfeng, who acted as agents for the affairs of Chu during the war.

The first three routes of the five routes entered Yingchuan of the Wei State, and the last two routes attacked the Runan of the Wu State, and the momentum was like a bamboo, and the successive battles were victorious, conquering dozens of counties.

In order to avoid the advance of Chu, the combined forces of Wei and Wu adopted the strategy of lengthening the battle line, and fought and retreated. Not fighting for one city and one place, but in Yanzhou and the western part of Yuzhou with the state of Chu.

This strategy made it very uncomfortable for the state of Chu to fight. There is a feeling that there is no place to use power, and it can only be advanced gradually, especially the vastness and accessibility of the Central Plains, which provides enough strategic depth for Wei and Wu to limit the pace of Chu's army.

In response to such a situation, Guo Jia wanted to concentrate his forces to break through to the north several times, hoping to open a gap and directly threaten Hebei, but Cao Cao always personally sat in the north and dealt with it cautiously, making it difficult for the Chu army to find a breakthrough. At the same time, when the state of Chu concentrated its forces, other places were inevitably weakened, and the state of Wu instantly launched a fierce attack, seizing the weak points of the state of Chu to seek a breakthrough.

This situation put the state of Chu in a dilemma, it was impossible to pass through the north, the front was too long to advance eastward, and the strategic role was not great, and it was meaningless to go south to Yuzhou.

In this dilemma, the Chu army fought with the combined forces of Wei and Wu for more than four months.

Although the western part of the Central Plains, whether it was Yingchuan, Chenliu, and Chenjun in Yanzhou of Wei, or Runan in Yuzhou of Wu, they seemed to have already made up their minds to abandon these places, and completely regarded this large area as a battlefield that could be consumed.

With the arrival of winter, the Northern Expedition, which lasted for several months, became a bit of a chicken rib, although the Chu State had quite a success, but it was a tasteless food, and it was a pity to abandon it!

The weather soon became colder and colder, the Chu army showed fatigue, and the consumption of logistics supplies for the army became more and more huge.

On the seventh day of the lunar month, after half a month of careful thinking, Guo Jia finally made an admonition to withdraw his troops, and pointed out sharply that in the current situation, the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains was a strategic mistake at all, and Wei and Wu were one north and one south, and regarded the western part of the Central Plains as a battlefield to resist Chu, so that Chu could not threaten the core of the two countries at all.

This is no longer the core of the world, but a quagmire set up by Wei and Wu, tempting Chu to make mistakes here!

Such a suggestion was like a heavy blow, hitting the hearts of the high-level officials of the Chu State.

Because of preconceived reasons, the strategic goal of Chu's Northern Expedition to the Central Plains has lasted for many years, and the price paid is also very great, and the first two Northern Expeditions have achieved fruitful results, so everyone almost did not reflect on whether this strategy is still correct in today's situation, especially the strength of Chu has also paralyzed everyone.

At this time, Guo Jia put forward this judgment, which soon caused Wang Xu and Zhong Wenwu to reflect.

A few days later, the commanders and generals of the various armies, as well as many important ministers of the DPRK and China, all agreed with this judgment.

Wang Xu, who had already had the intention of retreating, no longer hesitated, and quickly made a retreat deployment!

The Third Northern Expedition came to an abrupt end, and the combined forces of Wei and Wu took advantage of the victory to attack when the Chu State retreated, inflicting great losses on the Chu Army, and won the final victory.

Wang Xu's class returned to the court, and Taiwei Xu Shu, Prime Minister Zhuge Liang, and Right Shangshu ordered Guo Jia to play at the same time, and asked for self-depreciation in the name of poor planning.

The lieutenant is the supreme executor of the military strategy, the prime minister is the supreme coordinator of the military strategy, and the right Shangshu Ling is the supreme decision-maker of the military strategy.

Among them, Guo Jia served as the right Shangshu Ling, assumed the main responsibility as the highest decision-maker, demoted the official to three levels, cut 300 households, and fined him for two years, but still acted as the agent of Shangshutai affairs.

Zhuge Liang served as the prime minister, as the supreme coordinator, demoted the official by two levels, fined him for one year, and cut down 200 households, but he still acted as the prime minister's affairs.

Xu Shu served as a lieutenant, and as the highest executor, he was demoted to a higher rank, fined for half a year, and cut 100 households, but he still acted as an agent for the affairs of the lieutenant.

Because the failure of the Third Northern Expedition was not a crime of war, but a mistake of the strategy itself, the leading generals had many partial victories, which could be said to have taken advantage of the advantage, so their merits were not small, not only were they not punished, but they were all rewarded.

A month later, Wang Xu convened the ministers of Shangshutai to discuss the transfer of strategic goals in the future, and launched the prospect and preparation arrangements for the Fourth Northern Expedition...... (To be continued......)