Zhuge Liang finally returned to Yuzhang.

The double-line operation of Guangling and Yuzhang, the timeline has finally been bridged.

Part of the surprise brought back by the second brother was expected by Zhuge Jin. But there are also some that clearly belong to the "true. Surprise".

For example, he was able to be named Danyang Taishou and Pingyue Zhonglang General, which was obviously beyond Zhuge Jin's plan.

With a bigger reputation, Zhuge Jin's follow-up layout will be more open-handed.

After motivating Gan Ning, Zhuge Jin closed the door and chatted with the second brother privately for more details in order to adjust the next stage of the operation plan for Zu Lang.

Zhuge Jin poured a new cup of tea for the second brother with his own hands, and Zhuge Liang also took a sip respectfully.

Yuzhang originally did not produce tea, but with the smooth entry of the Zhuge family, Zhuge Jin paid great attention to various farming plans to improve people's livelihood.

At the beginning of spring this year, the merchant fleet he sent to Jingzhou to inquire about the news obtained some tea seeds at a high price from the Yizhou merchants who also went to Jingzhou to do business. It is planned to promote tea cultivation in the mountainous slopes that are not suitable for growing grain in the future, and it will also facilitate the transformation of the production methods of the Shanyue people in the future.

Of course, at the moment, what he and Zhuge Liang drink is still directly bought - it takes at least a few years to grow tea trees to produce tea when they grow by themselves, not so fast.

Zhuge Jin just asked his family to explore the method of stir-frying, which is not good at present, still with astringency, and then drank according to the brewing method of later generations, omitting onions, ginger and salt.

Zhuge Liang has been out for a few months, and it is the first time he has drunk this kind of tea, although the taste is not good, but he believes that the things promoted by the eldest brother must be reasonable, and maybe it can maintain health.

It's a big deal to let the little lady of the Huang family also learn how to fry tea with the step girl, maybe she can be good at summarizing the rules.

Zhuge Jin and the other younger brothers got used to the bitterness, and then asked: "I didn't expect that this time I would be able to receive Liu Yangzhou's forces so thoroughly, and even let Sun Wei go to Xu Du to ask for an official in the name of Liu Xuan."

Ah Liang, your performance has really exceeded my expectations. Since Sun Wei is willing to serve, then Tai Shici should be even more so, right? I remember that he and Xuande Gong still have an old relationship. ”

Zhuge Liang: "He also came with me, but the dispatch of the army is not lighter than mine to deliver letters, so after a day of transit in Chaisang, Chen Heng, who stayed in Chaisang, also needs to be handed over for inspection, and he will not let foreign soldiers enter the country casually." ”

Zhuge Jin: "Since this is the case, when the time comes, let Tai Shici also lead an army and flank Zulang." He doesn't have to fight Yi County and She County with us, he can expand his territory along the Yangtze River, expand his territory from Chungu County to the surrounding areas, and he can also directly play the banner of Liu Xuan. ”

Chungu County is roughly equivalent to the two prefecture-level cities of Chizhou and Tongling, the southernmost part of Anhui in later generations. Tongling, this place, listen to the name to know that it is also a copper mine, is the largest copper mine in Anhui, as early as the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, has been in the local large-scale mining, and set up copper officials.

Once Tai Shi Ci implemented Zhuge Jin's plan, the spring valley was in Jing County, west of Xuancheng; Yi County and She County are south of Jing County and Xuancheng. The officers and troops will attack Zulang's core territory from the southwest and two directions.

However, the plan is a plan, and Zhuge Jin is not in a hurry to implement it. Tai Shi Ci is far away, he should also meet with him in person, give the other party a pick-up, and then assign the task.

can't save time and distance in order to save time, so let Tai Shici fight back directly in Spring Valley.

So, Zhuge Jin instructed Gan Ning to rest for a day or two, not to rush to fight again, and to take the wind for Tai Shici before leaving.

……

The next day, the Zhuge brothers and Gan Ning came to Chaisang from Poyang together to meet with Tai Shici.

In the future, Zhuge Jin also planned to personally stay in Chaisang, control the overall situation remotely, and no longer rush to Poyang County to station - when the army was originally only related to Yu Ganning, Poyang was closer to the front line and could communicate with the front-line troops along Poshui.

Now it is necessary to take into account the advancement of the two roads of Poshui and the Yangtze River, or to set up the base camp in Chaisang, which is more convenient to take into account.

As soon as the two sides met, although Tai Shi Ci was a guest general, he also respectfully took the initiative to salute: "The last general, Tai Shi Ci, meet the prince." ”

Zhuge Jin hurriedly stepped forward to help: "Ziyi is a hero in the world, why be polite." At the beginning, Xuande Gong was in danger in Guangling, every time he mentioned Ziyi, he promised a thousand gold, and he would repay his kindness, and he was faithful, and I listened to it leisurely and fascinated, and I wanted to make friends for a long time. ”

Tai Shi Ci still insisted on saluting, only said: "Respect and humility can not be abolished, Ci is just a miscellaneous number of Du Wei, the prince of the palace has been named Danyang Taishou by the imperial court, in the national law, Cizi should obey the order under the account." ”

Zhuge Jin was stunned for a moment, and then remembered that although Tai Shici was very prestigious, when he was under Liu Xuan, his official position was actually not high. In the end, Liu Miao's other generals withered away and there was no one available, so Tai Shici was promoted to the miscellaneous lieutenant, in order to hold Dantu and survive.

Each county and checkpoint in the Han system can set up a captain, in addition to this, there is also a miscellaneous captain, Tai Shici, a miscellaneous captain, has no specific defense area responsibilities, but he originally defended Danyang County, so he can also be regarded as a Danyang captain.

Now Zhuge Jin is the Taishou of Danyang, and it is normal for him to be temporarily dispatched by Zhuge Jin. Of course, when Liu Bei becomes the pastor of Yangzhou, Tai Shici will definitely be promoted, and he will still be directly subordinate to Liu Bei at that time, and he is only temporarily seconded at present.

There is a record in the "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms" that Liu Xuan personally commented: "If I use Ziyi, Xu Zijiang (Xu Shao) should not laugh at me evil?" It is enough to show that Tai Shici's official position was low when he was under Liu Xuan.

It was only because Xu Shao also went south to Liu Xuan to escape the war, and then came with Zhu Hao to Yuzhang, and finally died of poverty and illness at the hands of Zhu Rong.

Thinking of this, Zhuge Jin couldn't help sighing: No wonder Liu Miao can't do much, and he looks too much at his background, how is this different from Yuan Shao and Liu Biao? It can even be said that it is inferior to Yuan Shao.

However, since Tai Shici had already come to vote, Zhuge Jin also said it to his face, and deliberately tried to say:

"After I broke down, I got Xu Zi's family in Nanchang, and I heard that his son relayed that Liu Zhengli had said back then, 'If I use Ziyi, Xu Zi will not laugh at me for being evil?' , is there something going on? Is Zhengli Gong in good health now? ”

Tai Shici originally heard these words that caused his officialdom to be frustrated, and he would definitely be unhappy in his heart, and he would also feel that someone was instigating his relationship with Liu Xuan. But Zhuge Jin said in a frank tone, and naturally recalled the words of Xu Shao's family, and the feeling was completely different.

Tai Shi Ci would only feel that Zhuge Jin was caring about him, and he didn't mean anything else. So he also frankly admitted:

"Zhengli public servants pay attention to righteousness and imperial edicts. Ci was an outlaw, and Zhengli Gong also had his difficulties. He is now sick and weak, and I am afraid that it may happen at any time...... Alas. ”

This is the first time Zhuge Jin has heard anyone mention Liu Xuan's recent condition, and Zhuge Liang didn't tell him before. He couldn't help but feel a pang in his heart, feeling that his previous plan seemed to be a bit excessive.

Even so, Zhuge Jin is happy to be a favor, and by the way, he also shows his openness:

"That being the case, there are some words that you should know and I know, so as not to spread them and cause the aggravation of Zhengligong's illness - I saved Xu Zijiang from being orphaned a month ago, and I heard that Xu Zijiang will leave his last words,

said that if it weren't for the fact that the public knowledge of the people was not clear, he was obsessed with his reputation, and he did not entrust the military power with the talents of a famous general like Ziyi, but he trusted a thief like Zhenrong, how could he be implicated and died?

From this point of view, the concerns of Zhengli Gong at the beginning were really unnecessary. If Xu Zijiang's last words are spread, it will definitely be good for Ziyi's reputation, but it will embarrass Zhengli Gong, so I suppressed it. ”

Taishi Ci Zhengse arched his hand: "The prince of the mansion is righteous, and the Cidai Zhengli Gong has thanked him." Ci Ben doesn't want to rely on the evaluation of these celebrities to become famous, anyway, I have been with Xuande Gong and Fu Jun in this life, as long as a hero like Xuande Gong and a sage like Fu Jun know me, what does it matter if the rest of the world knows or not. ”

When the two sides speak thoroughly, there will be a basis for full cooperation and trust.

At the reception banquet, Zhuge Jin also introduced Gan Ning and Tai Shi Ci to each other, mentioning that "Gan Ning was officially canonized by the imperial court as the Captain of Yuzhang after following the Zhuge family", even if it is a temporary secondment, it will definitely make Tai Shi Ci receive a reward for his meritorious service, and he will not call people in vain.

Tai Shi Ci saw Gan Ning's encounter, and his heart was also excited, secretly thinking that he really had a future with Xuande Gong's faction.

……

Two days later, Gan Ning and Tai Shici each returned to the army and re-entered the battle.

Tai Shi Ci led 4,000 people along the Yangtze River all the way, and soon re-streamed down the Yangtze River, took the Tongguan Town of Tongling in later generations, occupied the Dahan copper mine that was stolen by the Shanyue people, and cut off one of Zulang's main sources of wealth.

Subsequently, two towns equivalent to Chizhou in later generations were occupied, and the momentum was like a bamboo, and those small tribes in the mountains were not opponents at all.

Moreover, Tai Shici also brought the order of the governor and the crusade of the imperial court. It made those weak tribes who were not strong-willed, originally just wanted to stand on their own and avoid paying taxes and serve, but never really thought about fighting against the Han Dynasty, directly voted. Zu Lang's wings in the direction of Chungu County were cut off more than half at once.

Gan Ning's journey, after several days of marching, successfully joined Guan Yu's division, and once again swept away the scattered remnants of the enemy in the Poshui basin - mainly when Chen Fu fled before, some of the routed troops who broke up on their own and didn't know where to flee and fell into this Poshui valley.

Gan Ning came back this time, just to recapture these guys and take them prisoners, so as not to threaten Guan Yu's Poshui Grain Road.

However, after the two armies met, the attack on Lin Lishan did not go well.

After Chen Fu returned to Lin Lishan, he occupied a dangerous terrain, and the Han army was not familiar with the steepness of Huangshan for a while, and suffered a slight setback when exploring the road.

Guan Yu improvised and discussed with Gan Ningyi, preparing to besiege and wait and see first, and prepare to defend the outside and the inside, to see if Zu Lang would bring the main force of Shanyue to reinforce.

If you come, then surround the point and send reinforcements first. When the victory is won, it is not too late to attack the mountain with the power of a big victory, and when the time comes, the news that "the reinforcements have been broken" can be used to hit the morale of the enemy troops defending the mountain, and the result will be twice the result with half the effort.

……

On the other hand, since Guan Yu took Yixian County and began to besiege Lin Lishan, he put Zushan back early and asked him to talk to Zulang about the conditions.

Anyway, Lin Lishan was besieged, and Zushan couldn't find a way back to the tribe, so he could only go to his brother.

On the day of April 26, after a continuous trek, Zushan finally arrived at Jing County, his brother's lair, and then reported to Zu Lang what happened to the Shanyue tribes in Yi County and She County, and also said 1510 words about Guan Yu's persuasion to surrender.

When Zu Lang heard this, he was so angry that he directly kicked his clan brother to the ground: "It's all the trouble you caused!" Originally, as long as the various departments of our Jing County did not offend each other, they could live in peace for a long time, but now they are forced to surrender to one of them! ”

Zu Shan didn't dare to dodge, but just kowtowed and stated: "Big brother, this is Chen Fu's greed first, I'm just following the red!" And those Han people are really despicable, they deliberately let the group of traitors in the Le'an Department seduce them first.

In fact, Guan Yu and Gan Ning had already laid an ambush for the men and horses, ready to counterattack us at any time. Even if we don't provoke it, the Zhuge family will hit us sooner or later. ”

Zu Lang continued to slap Zu Shan fiercely, grabbed him by the placket and asked, "Then you want me to send troops to rescue Lin Lishan and relieve the siege of Yi and She?" ”

Zu Shan's eyes dodged: "Little brother doesn't dare!" This matter is all up to the eldest brother. However, after this battle, the younger brother also knew that Guan Yu and Gan Ning were not easy to mess with, and Zhuge Jin was even known to have immortal skills and could turn iron into gold, which is why so many clansmen were willing to be traitors and serve the Han people......"

When Zu Lang heard this, his expression was also a little depressed: "Isn't it really easy to deal with...... But if we don't fight back at all, where will the prestige of my co-leaders go! ”

Zu Shan was still a little incomprehensible: "Big brother, then what do you mean ......?"

Zu Lang gritted his teeth: "Gather the chiefs of the various ministries, make the tricks of the Han people public, and see what everyone wants, if the ministries are unwilling to fight, I can also be regarded as obedient to the will of the people, talk to the Han people about the conditions, and see if I can give up some benefits and end this matter." That will not detract from my prestige.

If the ministries are unwilling to pay the price, I have no choice but to take everyone to try it, and it is not too late to make a decision when all the ministries see the strength of the enemy situation clearly. ”

After Zu Lang finished speaking, he was also very helpless in his heart.

The barbarians have always respected the strong, and Zulang's current status is that since the end of Zhongping, he has been blindly tough, fighting for more territory for Shanyue as a whole, and forcing the Han government to come to the Shanyue control area to recruit troops and collect taxes, so that he was respected and promoted by various ministries.

If he directly admits cowardice today, then his dominance will be in jeopardy, and if he wants to admit it, he must be unanimously admitted by all the ministries of Shanyue, otherwise he will carry this weak pot, and there will be a guy behind him who eats inside and outside to attack him, saying "If I am the co-leader of all departments, I will definitely not let everyone live so cowardly", then the situation will be troublesome.

After some tugging, Zu Lang convened the heads of the surrounding departments in just three days, and then told the situation, and the Han people made excuses to provoke before cheating, and these were also said.

Many of the various departments of Shanyue are uninformed, and the geography is closed. Many tribes are far away from Yixian and Shexian, and they have not heard of Zhuge Jin's immortal arts, and when they learned that the Han people came to provoke, they were immediately furious, and they asked for more spoils after winning.

Especially when I heard that the Han people were actually besieging the precipitous Lin Lishan, the reckless men in the various departments felt more and more hopeful of winning.

"What? Han people are so ignorant of life and death? The surrounding area of Lin Lishan is extremely rugged, how can the Han people be the opponent of our Shanyue warriors in this kind of battlefield? King, let's fight! It doesn't matter what Guan Yu does or not.

Even if he defeated Chen Fu once, it would be intentional or unintentional! When it came to such a dangerous place as Huangshan, everyone set up a hard battle, and they could kill the Han people in one day! ”

Zu Lang was arched by the crowd, his eyes wandered, and he thought about it again and again, feeling that he could indeed gamble, otherwise he would have a weak reputation on his own, and those people might not necessarily miss him well. If you can win, then your prestige will be completely free for the rest of your life.

……

After Zu Lang made up his mind, he selected the Shanyue warriors from Jing County, Wanling (Xuancheng), Guxiang (Guangde), and Anji counties, totaling more than 40,000 young and strong people, bringing their own food, and going south to Yixian.

The Shanyue people defended and fought on their own, and the scale of the troops was still very huge, just because the barbarians were good at all the soldiers, and even the military rations did not need to be solved by Zulang, but by each tribe itself.

All of a sudden, the momentum was magnificent, and there were more than 10,000 young people on Lin Li Mountain, and there were also 20,000 young people in Jinqi and Maogan in Shexian County next door.

In the entire battlefield of Yixian, in a short period of time, 70,000 strong men from Shanyue gathered, and the number was eight times that of the combined forces of Guan Yu and Ganning.

It's just that the Shanyue soldiers are generally poorly armed, and these people are no better than the professional Danyang soldiers, who don't wear armor at all, or at most only wear animal skin soft armor.

In terms of weapons, the chain head knife is not enough, because the ring head knife still uses too much steel.

More than half of the Shanyue soldiers used short spears or one-handed maces, accompanied by hardwood round shields. The short spear has only a little bit of metal at the head of the spear, while the mace is made of wood, with only a few iron nails stuck in the head of the club, which is very economical with iron.

Zu Lang's dispatch of troops, of course, did not hide from Guan Yu's ears and eyes, and Guan Yu already knew his movements before the enemy army arrived.

Guan Yu immediately discussed with Gan Ning: "Although Shanyue is numerous, it is divided into three parts after all, Chen Servant on Lin Li Mountain is in the middle, and Zu Lang is from the north, in Lin Li Shanxi. Jin Qi and Mao Gan are in the east, and they have to climb over Lin Lishan to get to the main battlefield.

It is better for our army to withdraw from the encirclement and take the initiative to meet Zulang in the northwest. Chen Servant on Lin Li Mountain has become a frightened bird, and he must suspect fraud and dare not go down the mountain rashly. And Jin Qi and Mao Gan couldn't get over the mountain, and they didn't have time to reinforce it.

In this way, although the enemy army has nearly 100,000 people, we only need to deal with Zulang first in the decisive battle, and we can also choose the battlefield to meet by our army. As long as one is broken, the other two will naturally not dare to fight again.

Moreover, our army still has the latest will of the imperial court, and has crowned Ziyu as the Taishou of Danyang, and also sent an edict to beg for thieves, which Zu Lang does not know, and when the time comes, we will use this to boost morale, or we may be able to win more advantages in the decisive battle. ”

Guan Yu didn't know how many soldiers Zu Lang had brought, so he expected the enemy to be lenient according to the total number of "nearly 100,000 people".

Gan Ning thought about this for a while, and felt that it made sense, and pointed to the map and added:

"Yixian is surrounded by reckless mountains, and if we insist on staying in Poshuiyuan, I am afraid that there will be nowhere to move. If you want to take the initiative to attack, you must bring at least a few days of dry food, and then climb over the watershed around Yixian County, and go north into the Jingshui River Valley, so that you can go down the river to meet Zulang——

Zu Lang came from Jing County, and he must have gone upriver along Jing Shui. Only by setting up a decisive battle with the Shanyue people along the river valley can we make a little use of our strengths and avoid our weaknesses, so that the Shanyue people will not be able to give full play to their advantages of climbing mountains and mountains. ”

The Jingshui in Ganning's mouth is the Qingyi River in southern Anhui in later generations, which originates in the northwest of Yixian County, and finally flows into the Yangtze River in Wuhu through Jing County.

Yixian is the source of the three rivers of Poshui, Zhejiang and Qingyi River, and the three directions of the east and west of the Yellow Mountain, the largest rivers in eastern Jiangxi, western Zhejiang, and southern Anhui were born respectively, which shows that this place is high and dangerous.

Guan Yu listened to this supplementary plan, his brows furrowed slightly, but he felt that he could still control the situation, so he made a decision:

"In that case, this method is indeed conducive to the selection of a decisive battle on the battlefield. However, I am afraid that Zu Lang knows how to be resourceful, if he finds that we have crossed the mountains and arrived in the Jingshui River Valley to meet the attack, but the high base and deep ditch do not fight, and even divide the troops to use the Shanyue people to be good at climbing and cutting off our grain road.

Then my army may have to abandon Yixian and temporarily forcibly retreat back to Poshui - so in this battle, we must bring more rations, and each soldier must bring at least ten days' rations, and if there is no battle within three or four days, we must immediately retreat over the mountain, so as not to give the enemy a chance to take a detour. ”

The plan was set, and Guan Yu immediately began to dispatch troops and went to Jingshui to meet Zu Lang.