On October 25, the second year of Han Zhangwu, outside Chengdu.

Today is the day when Zhuge Liang swore to march south.

Because of the importance of today to the Han Dynasty, early this morning, many ministers gathered outside Chengdu.

At the end of October, it is already winter, and because the air is full of moisture, there is a kind of cold in Chengdu that is soaked in the bones.

But this kind of coldness did not stop the ministers in Chengdu, and even the crown prince Liu Chan, who lived in the palace in the past, came to the outside of the city to send Zhuge Liang off.

With Zhuge Liang's character of not admiring false fame, of course he would not have given an order for the ministers to send him outside the city today.

Many ministers and the crown prince Liu Chan gathered outside the city today to see off Zhuge Liang, which was their spontaneous action, which shows Zhuge Liang's status in their hearts.

It's just that although many ministers wanted to come to Zhuge Liang's side and say a few auspicious words in front of him, their purpose could not be completed for a while.

Because at present, Zhuge Liang is talking to the crown prince Liu Chan.

Liu Chan held Zhuge Liang's hand tightly, as if he had a thousand words to say.

For today's expedition, Zhuge Liang specially put on a suit of fine armor.

Zhuge Liang was already eight feet long, and his appearance was particularly magnificent, and when Zhuge Liang put on a fine armor, he looked even more heroic, like a god general who came down from the sky.

But even so, Liu Chan still couldn't hide his worries about Zhuge Liang.

Liu Chan gestured with a look, and Huang Hao, the chamberlain beside him, immediately took a sword and put it in front of the two of them.

Then Liu Chan temporarily let go of Zhuge Liang's hands, he took the sword from Huang Hao's hand, and handed him to Zhuge Liang's hand with a respectful face.

"The prime minister is about to go on an expedition, and there is no best way to help the prime minister succeed.

However, the sword is the weapon of the gentleman, only hope that the prime minister can accept Lone's personal sword, and Lone wishes the prime minister to be victorious and eliminate rebellion with a sword. ”

The sword had a very special meaning in the hearts of ancient scholars, because of its meaning, it was often given as a gift.

There is also a precedent in history for a king to present a sword to a minister for the purpose of wishing when he went on a campaign.

Therefore, Liu Chan's current actions fell in Zhuge Liang's eyes, making the corners of his mouth show a lot of smiles.

The prince's wisdom and scheming may be lacking, but his qualities are good.

In order not to worry Liu Chan, Zhuge Liang did not refuse Liu Chan's kindness.

After receiving the sword presented by Liu Chan with both hands, Zhuge Liang looked at Liu Chan with a sad face, and he said with relief:

"Don't worry, the prince has already arranged the internal affairs of the court and the central government a few days ago, and the prince only needs to listen to the advice of a group of virtuous ministers in the court, so there will be no mistakes in the government of the Han Dynasty."

Of course, Zhuge Liang knew what Liu Chan was worried about.

And after Liu Chan listened to Zhuge Liang's words, sure enough, the sadness on his face instantly eased a lot.

In fact, even if Zhuge Liang did not arrange it in advance before leaving Chengdu, there would be no big mistakes in the Han dynasty after he left.

Liu Bei was just sick.

But it was precisely this reason that made Liu Chan worried about Zhuge Liang's departure.

Zhuge Liang's presence means that there are still people who will cover him, but if Zhuge Liang leaves, the probability of him making mistakes will be greatly increased, and he will inevitably be reprimanded by Liu Bei at that time.......

I have to say that even if Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang taught Liu Chan in the past, Liu Chan is still a child who has not grown up, especially in his heart.

After comforting Liu Chan, Zhuge Liang saw that it was not early, so he bowed to Liu Chan and asked him to return to the city first.

And after Liu Chan got the answer that made him feel at ease, he obeyed Zhuge Liang's request and turned around and returned to Chengdu.

After Liu Chan returned to Chengdu, the other ministers gathered outside the city thought of stepping forward to say goodbye to Zhuge Liang one by one.

But how could Zhuge Liang let this kind of thing delay his expedition.

Therefore, before the ministers stepped forward, Zhuge Liang took the initiative to bow to the ministers in front of him, and after thanking them, he also let them go back to the city first.

The ministers also knew the reason why Zhuge Liang was like this, so even if they still had a lot to say to Zhuge Liang, they could only retire one by one in the end.

After all the ministers returned to Chengdu, Zhuge Liang took the sword given by Liu Chan and stepped into the chariot of the expedition.

The chariot that Zhuge Liang rode in was the six horses of the Son of Heaven.

This was given to Zhuge Liang by Liu Bei a few days ago and let him ride when he went south.

Liu Bei's reward, on the one hand, reflects his love for Zhuge Liang, and on the other hand, it is also telling the world that Zhuge Liang's southern expedition is a personal expedition on behalf of the Son of Heaven.

This was important because it would allow Zhuge Liang to have the same power as the Son of Heaven during his southern expedition.

When the time comes, when the southern expedition is carried out, it will be punished or rewarded, or fought or made peace, which is enough for Zhuge Liang's personal strategy to be fully played.

As Zhuge Liang's figure entered the chariot, the five thousand Liang troops that had been prepared for a long time drove in the direction of Nanzhong under the command of Deng Ai.

This time, the only one who followed Zhuge Liang on his southern expedition outside Chengdu was the 5,000 Liang army commanded by Deng Ai for the time being.

This is not because Zhuge Liang is big, but because most of the field armies inside and outside Chengdu have already followed Zhao Yunnan at the beginning.

So Zhuge Liang only needs to lead the 5,000 Liang army and go all the way south to join Zhao Yun.

Of course, although most of Chengdu's field army was taken away by Zhao Yun, Chengdu still had some elites, and Zhuge Liang could have taken this part of the elite south.

The reason why Zhuge Liang didn't do this was that there was not much grain and grass in Yizhou at present.

In this case, Zhuge Liang could not bring too many soldiers and horses to the south for all reasons.

When Zhuge Liang entered the chariot, he saw a person sitting precariously waiting for him.

This person is the general of the Great Han Wei - Yu Ban.

After the end of the battle of public security, Yu Ban followed Liu Bei back to Chengdu.

After returning to Chengdu, even if Liu Bei rewarded the ban from time to time, Yu Ban was in his status as a general, so he always seemed to be very peaceful in Chengdu.

Because of this, even though there have been several major turmoil in Chengdu before, Yu Ban has never been seen.

But this time in the southern expedition, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang both thought of him.

Yu Ban's reputation is not very good, but he still has the ability, and it is a good idea to take him with him to counsel the military aircraft.

Besides, the wealth Liu Bei has never been stingy with the ban, so he can't raise an idler for nothing.

Even the three dukes like Xu Jing who only talk about the scriptures and the Tao, Liu Bei will often take him with him when he goes on the expedition, in order to squeeze out every trace of Xu Jing's value, not to mention a famous general like Yu Ban.

Liu Bei, who started from self-made, is a budget-conscious emperor.

After Yu Ban saw Zhuge Liang enter the chariot, some apprehension instantly appeared on his face.

It's not that he is worried that Zhuge Liang will be unfavorable to him, after all, in the past, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang were not thin on him.

The reason why Yu Ban was worried was that after seeing Zhuge Liang, he felt ashamed of himself.

Zhuge Liang has a great reputation in the world, known as "the world's ruler", Zhuge Liang's political ability, that even Cao Cao is full of praise.

Cao Cao has a problem, that is, he likes to praise whoever has suffered a loss.

So after the battle of Hanzhong, he almost praised Zhuge Liang and Fa Zheng to the sky.

And what Zhuge Liang admires most about the world is his unswerving character.

It is precisely this kind of character that makes Yu Ban feel irrepressibly ashamed of himself in his heart after seeing Zhuge Liang.

Yu Ban's unease couldn't hide Zhuge Liang's, and in the face of Ban's unease, Zhuge Liang just smiled at him gently.

Yu Ban was invited by him to get on the chariot, after all, with Yu Ban's nominal status, he is also worthy of riding with him.

Zhuge Liang's gentle smile calmed Yu Ban's anxious heart a lot.

After greeting each other with Yu Ban, Zhuge Liang came to a place in the chariot and sat down, and then picked up the map in front of him and looked at it.

Zhuge Liang was looking at a map of Nanzhong.

Nanzhong is a collective name for the southern part of Yizhou, which is divided into four counties according to political regions.

These four counties are: Yuewang County, Qike County, Yizhou County, and Yongchang County.

The total area of the four counties occupies almost half of Yizhou's territory.

However, due to the fact that the four counties of Nanzhong were still in an undeveloped state in the world, whether it was the father and son of the Yizhou Mu Liu family in the past, or Liu Bei, they adopted the means of appeasement to the four counties of Nanzhong.

Among the many means of pacification, one of the most important points is Liu Bei's recognition of "Nanren autonomy".

Nanren autonomy refers to the important positions in the four counties of Nanzhong, and even the position of Taishou, Liu Bei appointed the local Haoqiang in Nanzhong to hold it.

It is precisely because Liu Bei admitted this that the four counties in Nanzhong generally maintained a posture of obedience in the past.

The autonomy of the southern people was an expedient measure adopted by Liu Bei at the beginning, after all, Liu Bei's power was in the stage of outward expansion, and there was really no need to waste energy on the four counties of Nanzhong.

But the downside of this is obvious.

Nanzhong Haoqiang already has a strong influence in this county.

And now the important right positions of the four counties in Nanzhong are all in the hands of the heroes of the county, which has led to the transformation of the heroes of the four counties in the south and central counties into the princes of the separating side.

The four counties of Nanzhong are still nominally the territory of the Han Dynasty, but in fact the Han Dynasty has very little control over those four counties.

In this case, Zhuge Liang knew that once the news of his southern expedition reached the four counties of Nanzhong, then in order to protect himself, the local heroes of the four counties of Nanzhong would definitely rebel against the county.

Zhuge Liang had already expected this, so after reading the map of the four counties in Nanzhong, he began to think about the corresponding coping strategies.

The strength of the four counties in Nanzhong is not strong in a single county, but if the four counties are united, then the total strength of the rebels in Nanzhong is very likely to reach about 20,000.

And Zhuge Liang knew that even if he gathered Zhao Yun's army, the total number of troops he used to quell the rebellion was probably about 20,000.

However, although the number of large armies is about the same, the Nanzhong rebels occupy a favorable position, and in this case, the advantage of the Nanzhong rebels will be very great.

When Zhuge Liang was thinking about it, he remembered the strategy that Mi Yang had offered him in his letter before.

Mi Yang suggested that Zhuge Liang should divide the four counties of Nanzhong and try not to let them unite as one, so that they can be broken individually.

It can be said that Mi Yang's strategy coincides with what Zhuge Liang planned in his heart before.

But how to do this, it depends on Zhuge Liang's strategy, after all, Mi Yang did not come to the battlefield in Nanzhong.

When Zhuge Liang was thinking, he noticed that Yu Ban began to fidget again, so he asked Yu Ban gently:

"Wen Ze has been in battle for a long time, he is called a famous general, and now our army is about to march south, I don't know what Wen Ze taught me?"

Zhuge Liang's sudden inquiry startled Yu Ban, who was already apprehensive.

But Zhuge Liang's attitude was gentle, which made Yu Ban's mood calm again.

Compared with Mi Yang's original means of asking him to offer advice, Zhuge Liang's question was very humble.

After his emotions stabilized, Yu Ban couldn't answer Zhuge Liang's inquiry for a while.

Of course, Yu Ban knew Zhuge Liang's purpose of taking him with him, and as early as today, Yu Ban made up some relevant information about Nanzhong.

However, after having some understanding of Nanzhong, Yu Ban felt that the battle of the Southern Expedition was not easy to fight.

Although in terms of strength and the fear of the world, the rebels in Nanzhong are not to mention comparable to the Wei army, and even the Wu army is far inferior.

But as a general, Yu Ban knows a truth, that is, attacking a remote enemy is sometimes more tricky than attacking a powerful enemy.

If you will attack a powerful enemy, then you must be prepared accordingly, but sometimes this is not the case when attacking a remote enemy.

Take this battle of the Southern Expedition as an example, on the surface, the total strength of the rebels in Nanzhong is about 20,000, which does not seem to be much.

But the 20,000 rebels were scattered among the mountains of Nanzhong, relying on the steep terrain.

In this case, the four counties of Nanzhong are like a bottomless quagmire, even if their own army raises their hard fists and fights towards the quagmire, what effect can this get?

Just like the Shanyue in Jiangdong, they almost never won against the Wu army in a head-on battle.

But they have always been a big problem for the Wu army, because Shanyue dragged the Wu army into the quagmire they found in.

In this way, the more the Wu army fought, the more tired it became, while the more Shan Yue fought, the more tenacious he became.

Yu Ban is a good general, but Wu Jun once had famous generals like Sun Ce, Zhou Yu, Lu Su, etc., and they didn't solve the problem, and Yu Ban really didn't have a good way for a while.

After thinking about it in every way, Yu Ban could only sigh and say ashamedly to Zhuge Liang: "Ban is incompetent, and there is no clever plan to help the prime minister." ”

In the face of Ban's accusation, Zhuge Liang just smiled and waved his hand so that Yu Ban didn't have to care too much.

The reason why he asked Yu Ban was indeed because he wanted Yu Ban to come up with a good plan for him, but if Yu Ban couldn't think of it, then Zhuge Liang wouldn't be so disappointed.

All he wants is to fill in the gaps.

Yu Ban can't think of it, it doesn't mean that he doesn't have a plan in his heart.

Although Zicheng's strategy is good, there are still shortcomings.

Thinking of this, eight words gradually appeared in Zhuge Liang's heart, and those eight words were:

"Divide and dissolve, gather and annihilate."