April 2, 13th year of Jian'an.

After noon, the white morning fog floating on the river had already dissipated.

On the mighty Yangtze River, a large ship travels from east to west on the rolling waves.

Sailing against the current, the speed of the boat is not fast, but there are few boats on the wide river, except for the fishing boats of some fishermen on the shore.

So the rowing soldiers riveted their strength and sailed hard, and the big ship rode the wind and waves, all the way to the southwest.

Shen Chen stood on the boat and looked at the hills on the south bank and the forests on the north bank, the hills were tall and the forests were vast and boundless.

The wide Yangtze River channel is stormy, and there is a wide lake mouth in the northwest direction, and after the lake mouth is Yunmengze, which is as endless as the ocean.

"This is Chibi?"

Shen Chen asked Qu Kang, the deputy general beside him, who had never been here before.

Because he used to go from Jingzhou to Jiangxia by Hanshui directly to Shaxian Xiakou, and this place is hundreds of miles from Shaxian Xiakou to the river, and then to Dongting Lake in the south, so this is his first time here.

Qu Dang said with a smile: "This place is indeed called Chibi, from Puqi along the river one hundred and sixty miles south bank for Chibi, the north bank is called Wulin, Wulin has a lake mouth into Yunmengze, along the Chibi south, then to Qingcao Lake, Qingcao Lake is also known as Baqiu Lake, close to Baqiu Mountain, since then the south is Jingnan. ”

"Jing Nan?"

Shen Chen looked at the south, if this was the case, then Qingcao Lake seemed to be Dongting Lake, past Dongting Lake.

Dongting Lake:

Further south, it's my hometown.

Just as he was thinking about it, the fleet had already turned its rudder to the right, entered Yunmengze along the mouth of the lake, and headed northwest.

Yun Mengze is boundless like a vast ocean, Shen Chen observed around and determined that this place should be the battlefield of the Battle of Chibi at the end of this year in history, because only here can it accommodate the battle between Cao Jun and tens of thousands of ships in Jiangdong.

Wulin is a long and narrow land on the north shore, it can also be said to be a huge island between the lake and the river, and the north of Wulin is Yunmengze, and the whole land is sandwiched between the Yangtze River and Yunmengze.

Cao's army was probably stationed on the shore of Wulin at that time, and the ships were anchored here, while the Sun-Liu coalition army was stationed at Chibi on the southeast bank of the Yangtze River.

A fire caused Cao Cao to flee north in embarrassment.

So strictly speaking, this battle should be called the Burning of Ulin, or the Battle of Yunmengze.

It is inaccessible, and although Ulin is a long and narrow island, the land is actually very large, and it is afraid that there are hundreds of square kilometers.

Many villages have been established along the islands, and although there are no administrative areas planned as towns, it has clearly become a paradise for human beings to thrive.

After the fleet entered Yunmengze, that is, the area of Honghu Lake in the later world, it continued to the west. Shen Chen estimated that after Cao Cao's fiasco in Chibi, he fled to Huarong County in the northwest by boat.

However, they did not go to Huarong County, but went all the way to the west, to a place called Hongkou, which was probably located in the area of Zhuhe Town, southeast of Jianli City, Hubei Province.

At this time, this place is a rare continent, the north is the magnificent Yunmengze, the west is the Yangtze River, the south is Dongting Lake, belongs to the two large lakes and the Yangtze River in the middle of a place similar to an island, and then Yunmengze disappeared, only to become land.

In later generations, Jianli City, as well as Jianli City is forty or fifty kilometers to the north, more than 70 kilometers to Jiangling County in the northwest, and Honghu Lake in the east, which is now Yunmengze, that is to say, Jianli City in later generations is still soaking at the bottom of Yunmengze Lake to blow bubbles.

The fleet arrived at the Hongkou port, the shore was overgrown with reeds, and the weeds and basils were higher than people, because the Yangtze River in the Han Dynasty could be submerged every flood season, so there was hardly any human population in a radius of 100 miles.

However, when the fleet landed, everyone saw wolf smoke rising from a small hill in the distance.

The small hill is located on the river where the Yangtze River connects to Yunmengze.

"Over there!"

Qu Dan pointed in the direction of the small hill and said.

Shen Chen nodded: "Get off the boat, Qu dare you stay here." ”

"Yui."

Qu dared to get the order and shouted, "Get off the boat." ”

The soldiers on the side of the boat lowered the boat with ropes, and Shen Chen and several rowers rowed into the mouth of the river in this scout flying boat.

Soon the hill was getting closer and closer, and from a distance, you could already see the boats and soldiers stationed on the river below the hill.

"Little Mister!"

As soon as the ship docked, there were already people shouting on the shore.

Shen Chen looked over, a pavilion was temporarily built under the forest not far from the river, and several people were waiting outside the pavilion, and when they saw the boat coming, they greeted them one after another.

"Xuande Gong!"

"Mr. Kenhe."

"Mr. Gongyu."

"Brother Kong Ming!"

Shen Chen saluted one by one, these people were Liu Bei, Jian Yong, Sun Qian, and Zhuge Liang.

A few days ago, he received news that Liu Bei asked him to meet here today to discuss the strategy of dealing with Liu Cong.

In history, Liu Biao was still good to Liu Bei, although he was also secretly suspicious, and even happened that Cai Mao and Kuai Yue wanted to murder him.

But in the end, Liu Biao did not substantially persecute Liu Bei, so Liu Bei was very grateful to Liu Biao.

According to the "Book of Wei", Liu Biao even wanted to give Jingzhou to Liu Bei before he died, but Liu Bei repeatedly resigned, which finally led to Jingzhou being obtained by Liu Cong.

Later, when Cao Cao attacked Nanyang, and when Xinye fled south and passed through Xiangyang, many families in the city were willing to defect to Liu Bei, open Xiangyang City and let him in, but Liu Bei couldn't bear to attack Liu Cong and gave up.

But now because Liu Biao is the emperor, Liu Bei, who is dedicated to the Han Emperor Liu Xie, is furious, although he has not made enemies with him, but he no longer has a sense of gratitude to Liu Biao.

After all, no matter what, Liu Biao came to be the emperor and lost his righteousness. Second, he helped Liu Biao work, and he didn't owe Liu Biao anything.

So after Liu Biao's death, Liu Bei decided to help Liu Qiping destroy Liu Cong.

Because Liu Qi has always been a person who has always resolutely opposed Liu Biao's claim to be the emperor, he himself has no intention of inheriting Liu Biao's so-called "Emperor of the Han Dynasty", and even strongly persuaded Liu Biao to respect Emperor Chendu, so Liu Bei still has a good impression of him at this point.

At this time, Liu Bei went to Hongkou in person, Liu Qi asked Shen Chen to come over, and Zhuge Liang also arrived here from Jingnan. This is the intersection of the three places, west of Jiangling and Yiling of Nanjun, east of Jiangxia Shaxian and Xiakou, south of Changsha Luo County and Linxiang.

The most important thing is that it is deserted, almost a wasteland. Although there was also a garrison in Xiangyang around Jiangling, which was Cai Mao's Yangtze River Naval Division, it rarely inspected the boats on the river, so it was very hidden.

At this moment, after Shen Chen got off the boat, he greeted Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang and others one by one, and saw that Liu Bei was only with Jian Yong and Sun Qian, and said curiously: "Xuande Gong, is the Zigui army in charge of Uncle Yide?" ”

"How dare you."

Liu Bei smiled bitterly: "Yide is good at wine and easy to make mistakes, so I will let Yuan Zhi be the commander and Zizhong as the deputy, hoping to take care of Yide and don't let him make trouble." ”

Shen Chen said with a smile: "Although Uncle Yide is good at wine, he is thick and fine, I used to be afraid that he would make a mistake and have a discord with him, but later I found out that if it was for the great cause of Xuande Gong, Uncle Yide would not spare his life, so this is a critical moment, I believe he will not be like this." ”

"Hmm."

Liu Bei also laughed: "Yide is indeed like this, Mr. Xiao is here, let's go to the pavilion and sit down." ”

Shen Chen said with some emotion as he walked: "Unconsciously, more than ten years have passed, and now that I have reached the crown, Xuande Gong still calls me as before." ”

"Don't you like it?"

Liu Bei said with a smile: "At the beginning, I also saw you talking in front of Gongzu Gong, like a little adult, and like a gentleman, so I called you like this, if Xiaoqing doesn't like it, I will call you the word." ”

"Not really."

Shen Chen shook his head and said, "It's just that time flies by in a hurry, and the years are like a shuttle, and I suddenly sigh with emotion." If Xuande Gong doesn't give up, you can call me as long as you want. ”

As they spoke, they had already arrived at the pavilion, where a few mats had been laid out, and there were many soldiers guarding outside.

After everyone sat down, Zhuge Liang said, "Xiaoqing, how is Xinye?" ”

They all knew that Cai Mao had gone north to attack Xinye a few days ago, but because Xinye was too far away from Jingnan and Jiangxia was relatively close, no one knew the current situation on Xinye's side.

Shen Chen's face was solemn and said: "It's not optimistic, although Gan Ning struggled to repel the enemy, the army's heart is not very stable, I'm afraid I will have to retreat to the Yellow Gate Pavilion." ”

"The army is unstable?"

On the side, Jian Yong wondered: "Why is it unstable." ”

Liu Bei said: "Presumably because the soldiers' families are all in the city, and they are fighting in the same room, and the soldiers in Jingzhou are fighting each other." ”

"yes."

Shen Chen nodded, it was indeed as Liu Bei had guessed.

The source of Gan Ning's army was not like Shen Chen, who took the Huangmen Pavilion clan as the backbone, and then recruited elite young people for training, but Liu Biao's army.

At that time, Liu Biao got a large number of people, so the Nanyang Basin prospered again, and the grain and grass gradually became sufficient, so more soldiers were recruited.

This means that Cai Mao's army and Gan Ning's army used to be essentially one team.

Now these two armies suddenly began to fight among themselves, fighting in the same room, and they were afraid that the city would be broken and their families would be harmed, so their fighting spirit was not high.

The good news is that Cai Mao's siege level is miserable, although Gan Ning is a general and has never commanded a large-scale battle in history, he is actually very talented in tactics.

In Sun Quan's several attacks on Huangzu, and later in the Battle of Nanjun, Zhou Yu defeated Cao Ren, he offered strategies to help Jiangdong capture Jiangxia and Nanjun.

Therefore, although the soldiers' fighting spirit is not high, in the face of Cai Mao's attack, Gan Ning is still at ease, repelling the incoming enemy several times, and shocking Xinye.

It's just that it's not a good thing to go on for so long, the military spirit has not risen, once Cai Mao sends more troops and horses to besiege it, I am afraid that the more than 10,000 Jingzhou soldiers in the city will choose to turn against the water, and it will not be good at that time.

So I had to think of something else.

Shen Chen continued: "I plan to send a detachment from Zhangling to the north, join forces with the soldiers of Huangmen Pavilion, and attack Cai Mao's rear. ”

"Do you want me to lead the troops to attack Xiangyang and surround Wei to save Zhao?"

Liu Bei asked.

Zhuge Liang said: "The lord must not be anxious, and he should slow down." ”

"Not bad."

Shen Chen also said: "It is true that you should first lay out the strategy, and then think of the tactics of sending troops." ”

Liu Bei was curious for a while: "What is strategy?" ”

Zhuge Liang explained: "It is the goal achieved through war, and war is the means to complete the strategy, for example, the plan I formulated for the lord to plot Bashu in the west and capture Jingzhou in the south is the strategy." ”

The word strategy came from the Tang Dynasty, and there was no strategy in the Han Dynasty, and Zhuge Liang only knew that strategy and tactics should be separated from Shen Chen after talking to Shen Chen before.

"I see."

Liu Bei thought about it, if he planned it like this, it would indeed make people's minds much clearer.

"So what are our strategic goals?"

Shen Chen asked.

Liu Bei said without hesitation: "Naturally, it is Kuang Fu Han Room." ”

"It's a grand strategy."

Shen Chen said: "Right now, we are going to implement a small strategy in Jingzhou, such as getting Jingzhou or Yizhou. ”

Zhuge Liang said with a smile: "Defeat Cai Mao Kuaiyue, abolish Liu Cong's puppet emperor, support the eldest son, govern Jingzhou with the eldest son, and then take Bashu in the west, Jiangdong in the east, and then go north to win the world." ”

"Not bad."

Shen Chen nodded and said, "Then we should think about how to implement it, what does my brother think?" ”

Zhuge Liang pondered: "Jingnan Liu Pan has been obtained for us, and then the Taishou and county soldiers of the four counties of Jingnan belong to Xiangyang. ”

"Take the four counties of Jingnan first?"

"Yes."

"Yes, yes, but the alliance between Xuande Gong and the eldest son must be led."

Shen Chen put forward his opinion.

If a serpent has no head, who will call the shots when there will be wars in the future?

Therefore, although it is a joint army, it must have a unified command, otherwise it will not be subordinate to each other, but it will be harmful.

Zhuge Liang smiled: "Didn't Xiaoqing convince the eldest son? ”

Shen Chen also laughed: "There must be a situation, the eldest son has indeed agreed, and I have already brought the covenant, and then Xuande Gong can sign it." ”

"That's up to me?"

Liu Bei asked tentatively.

"Yes."

Shen Chen nodded: "This battle of Jiangxia will inevitably become the main attack of Cai Mao and Kuaiyue and others, so Xuande Gong naturally cannot be restrained." ”

Zhuge Liang shook the feather fan lightly and continued: "In this way, the lord is the leader of the alliance, we will first take the four counties of Jingnan to solve our worries, and then we will immediately go north and take Xiangyang directly from Jiangling!" ”

"It's really the right tactical direction."

Shen Chen frowned: "I will find a way to solve it over there Gan Ning, it's a big deal to retreat to the Huangmen Pavilion and let Xinye out, now the only thing I'm worried about is somewhere else." ”

"Koto."

Zhuge Liang said with a smile: "Xiaoqing is afraid that when we take Nanjun, Xiangyang will attack Jiangxia on a large scale, and Jiangdong will take the opportunity to attack. ”

"yes."

Shen Chen sighed and said, "Sun Quan will not let go of this opportunity. ”

Zhuge Liang said: "Therefore, Jiangdong can only come to their aid, Jingzhou has a lot of soldiers and horses, Sun Quan will also be afraid, even if he wants to attack, he must come when the eldest son and Liu Cong are both defeated, so first conclude an alliance with them to prevent them from attacking Jiangxia at a critical moment." ”

Shen Chen's tightly knit brows became even more solemn: "Jiangdong is the most untrustworthy, and if you make an alliance with them, wouldn't it be a plot with a tiger?" What's more, Sun Quan is eyeing Jiangxia, how can he form an alliance with us and abandon Jiangxia? ”

"No, it won't."

Zhuge Liang shook his head and said: "If they shouldn't go down, it's a big deal that the eldest son retreats to Jingnan and governs across the river from Xiangyang, and then Jiangdong will face the more than 100,000 Jingzhou troops currently led by Cai Mao and others, they won't be so stupid." ”

Shen Chen was silent.

Be.

Sun Quan does have a high probability of forming an alliance.

Because the forces on the Xiangyang side are very strong at least on paper, there are 50,000 people in Nanyang, of which 40,000 finally chose to support Xiangyang.

The four counties of Jingnan plus the Taishou and county soldiers from all over the country were about 20,000, and they had more than 40,000 people from Cai Mao's Yangtze River Naval Division and more than 30,000 Zhang Yun's Xiangyang garrisons, with a total strength of 1340,000 people.

And Liu Qi's troops, even with Liu Pan, are only 50,000, so without considering the factor of Liu Bei's foreign forces, Liu Qi actually has no chance of winning against Liu Cong.

If Liu Qi chooses to give up Jiangxia, then with the current total strength of only 40,000 or 50,000 troops in Jiangdong, and then deducting the troops left behind in the rear, there will only be 30,000 or 40,000 people who can attack Jiangxia, and in the face of Cai Mao, Kuaiyue and others' more than 100,000 troops, it will be difficult to barely defend Jiangdong, let alone take the initiative to attack.

Therefore, whoever is in Sun Quan's position will happily agree to form an alliance, so that he will choose to stand still, so that Liu Qi thinks that the rear is stable, and Sun Quan will not take the opportunity to attack him, so he can fight to the death with the soldiers and horses sent by Xiangyang wholeheartedly.

But here's the problem...

When you fight with Xiangyang, he won't attack.

And what about after the war?

When the time comes, both will lose, how can Sun Quan not come to pick up the bargain?

Therefore, Shen Chen was not optimistic about the alliance.

It's just that Zhuge Liang sighed: "I know what Qing is worried about, but at the moment, in order to stabilize the overall situation, it has to be so, if the Xiangyang soldiers and horses are repulsed, there will be a surplus army to stick to Jiangxia and guard against Jiangdong." ”

"I hope so."

Shen Chen was noncommittal, but he also had to admit that this was indeed a matter of no choice.

Zhuge Liang looked at Liu Bei again and said: "Lord, Sun Quan has a feud with General Huang, and he will never form an alliance with General Huang, so the Lord should send someone to Jiangdong to sign an alliance in the name of the Lord and the eldest son." ”

"Hmm."

Liu Bei said: "Okay, but who should I send?" ”

"I'll go."

Sun Qianmao then recommended himself: "Zhang Zhao Zhang Zibu is a native of Pengcheng, in the early years, he visited my master with Guangling Taishou Zhao Yu and Huiji Taishou Wang Lang, when I went to Jiangdong, I visited him first, and asked him to introduce Sun Quan for him. ”

Liu Bei was overjoyed and said: "Then there will be Lao Gongyou." ”

Shen Chen said: "In that case, then Mr. Gongyou will go to Jiangxia with me, and I will send someone to escort you to Jiangdong when the time comes." ”

"Okay."

Sun Qian nodded, his teacher was Zheng Xuan, a great Confucian in the late Han Dynasty, and Zhang Zhao was a native of Xuzhou, close to Beihai, Qingzhou, where Zheng Xuan was located, and he had visited him in his early years, so with this face, even if he couldn't talk about Sun Quan, he wouldn't do anything with him.

This is almost the end of the meeting, and there are three contents in total. First, the alliance of Liu Bei and Liu Qi was formally unified, and the dominant position with Liu Bei as the leader of the alliance was determined.

Second, in terms of strategic and tactical direction, it is to take Jingnan first, to prevent the Taishou in Jingnan from making trouble when attacking in the north, so as not to be attacked from front to back, and then attack Nanjun with Liu Qi's army, defeat Cai Mao and Kuai Yue, and completely pacify Jingzhou.

Third, in order to stabilize Jiangdong and prevent Jiangxia from being sandwiched between the two sides, he sent Sun Quan to envoy Sun Quan, hoping to conclude an alliance with him.

The meeting covered three major themes of politics, military affairs, and diplomacy, and was an important turning point for Liu Bei to seize Jingzhou as the foundation, and then follow the grand strategic goal of taking the south first and then the north to the Central Plains formulated by Shen Chen Zhuge Liang.

(End of chapter)