Large and small ships loaded with soldiers sailed down the river. Although the water was shallow in winter and the volume of water was far less than in summer, walking through the rocks on both sides of the bank, with the narrow sky above your head and the echoing sound of waves in your ears, was still frightening and unstoppable.
self.
Ma Su held the hem of his clothes in one hand and tightly grasped the railing with the other, and walked carefully to Zhuge Liang's cabin. He shook the hem of his clothes that were wetted by the waves, cupped his hands, and stood respectfully in front of the cabin door.
"Report to the Prime Minister, Ma Su asks for an audience."
In the cabin, next to the flickering light, Zhuge Liang was looking at the map at his desk. When he heard Ma Di's voice, his finger sliding on the map stopped for a moment, and his eyebrows furrowed slightly, as if he had been pricked by a needle. Ma Di's invitation to come in was
So strange, so harsh, heart-piercing.
After a moment, Zhuge Liang straightened up and winked at Yang Yi. Yang Yi quickly stood up and walked out, opened the hatch, pulled Ma Su in, and glared at him accusingly: "You Chang, you
What is this doing? Don’t you understand the Prime Minister’s difficulties?”
Ma Su cupped his hands and was about to say more when Zhuge Liang waved his hand and while flipping through the official documents beside the case, he said: "Youchang, come here, I have something to ask you."
Ma Di licked his chapped lips and sat silently in the seat Jiang Wei had just given up. However, he did not come to the case as usual. He just sat there silently with his head lowered, waiting for Zhuge Liang's inquiry.
.Zhuge Liang found the report on the tactical deduction of Wei Ba and Ma Di, and
After opening a page and just about to say something, he suddenly caught a glimpse of Ma Su's figure like a stone sculpture, and the movement of his hands suddenly stopped. Yang Yi saw it and quickly pushed Ma Su. Zhuge Liang shook his head, put down the report, and said softly: "
Lord Wei, Boyue, go and see where the ship has gone."
Yang Yi and Jiang Wei understood, got up and walked out. Jiang Wei walked last and closed the hatch.
Zhuge Liang and Ma Su sat across from each other, and the light shone on their faces. They were equally thin and haggard.
Zhuge Liang gently placed the report on the case and gently stroked the soft paper with his palm. "I have benefited a lot from reading this report."
Ma Su bowed slightly and said: "The Prime Minister is ridiculous. If it is beneficial, it is Wei Shenjun's suggestion. I still lost in the end."
"Young Chang, you can learn from the past and be the teacher of the latter. It is gratifying and congratulating that you can learn from the lessons and make progress." Zhuge Liang sighed softly, and then said: "I am the same."
The corner of Ma Su's mouth raised, and then he regained his composure.
Zhuge Liang continued: "You and I have known each other for thirty years. No one knows me better than you, and no one knows you better than me. I won't say much else. I came to you because I want to talk to you about this.
tactical deductions, as well as strategies on the larger battlefield.”
Ma Su raised his eyebrows, and his eyes gradually became more alert: "Is... Jiangdong is invading?"
"There is indeed an intention to invade, but Sun Quan has not made up his mind yet." Zhuge Liang turned around and pulled out an urgent report from the pile of official documents and handed it to Ma Di: "I think he is just a fisherman, taking the opportunity to blackmail."
Ma Su received the urgent report and quickly scanned it. This was the news Fei Yi sent back from Jiangling. Sun Quan had entered Jiangling, Lu Xun had commanded 50,000 troops, and the vanguard had arrived in Wu County. After Fei Yi arrived, Sun Quan was not seen for a long time.
Later, Fei Yi broke into the camp directly and met Sun Quan. Sun Quan made a request. As long as Zhuge Liang agreed to his request, he could withdraw his troops.
His request was that he should proclaim himself emperor and the Kingdom of Shu should recognize his throne.
Among the Three Kingdoms, needless to say, the Shu Han Dynasty inherited the Han Dynasty - although Liu Bei was a little anxious when he proclaimed himself emperor. After all, his surname was Liu and he had the title of imperial uncle. After the Han Emperor was forced to abdicate, he proclaimed himself emperor to inherit the throne.
The Han Dynasty had no moral problems at all
Yes. The throne of Cao Wei was forced to come, but after all, it was the Han Emperor who personally issued an edict to confer it, and he also had his own moral principles. Both Han and Wei were emperors, but the Wu Kingdom, which had one third of the world, was not an emperor.
It is the throne, and this throne was granted by Cao Wei.
Therefore, from a certain perspective, the State of Wu is a vassal state of Cao Wei, and Sun Quan is the vassal king of Cao Wei. When he fights against Cao Wei, he is using the vassal king to fight against the central government, even if the subordinates commit crimes. The throne cannot be on an equal footing with the emperor. He is invisible.
He was shorter than Han Emperor Liu Chan and Wei Emperor Cao Rui.
Although this was only a nominal matter, and the actual interests were not affected at all, Sun Quan felt uncomfortable after all. Since both Han and Wei were proclaimed emperors, of course he could not lag behind. He also wanted to proclaim himself emperor. Only by proclaiming himself emperor could he
On an equal footing with the Han and Wei dynasties, only his officials could be promoted to higher ranks. After all, the officials the emperor could grant were much more pleasant to the eyes than the officials a vassal king could grant.
But you cannot close your door to yourself when proclaiming the emperor. He is the King of Wu granted by the Wei State. If he wants to proclaim himself emperor, the Wei State will send troops to attack him regardless of whether it is true or false. The two sides are similar in strength, so the key lies in who the Shu State helps. It stands to reason.
It is said that the Kingdom of Shu and the Kingdom of Wu are
Allies, of course, should help the Wu State, but when Sun Quan became emperor, he did not recognize the Han Dynasty. Can the Shu Han Dynasty, which regarded itself as the authentic Han Dynasty, still regard him as an ally? If he also followed suit and raised troops to attack Wu, then Sun Quan, the emperor, would not be able to recognize the Han Dynasty.
I felt uncomfortable weighing myself.
Therefore, Sun Quan wanted to win the recognition of Shu, so that he would not be afraid of Wei's crusade, at least he would not fall into the dilemma of being attacked from both sides.
This was the starting point for him to take this opportunity to propose the emperor's request to the Shu Kingdom. The Shu Han Dynasty is now in the most dangerous period, and it is certain that he will not refuse his request.
This is of course a naked robbery.
It has to be said that Sun Quan picked this time very well. Shu Han didn't even have the capital to bargain. As long as you shake your head and express a little objection, the 50,000 troops led by Lu Xun will really take action.
"Sun Quan really knows how to choose the right moment." Ma Di smiled contemptuously.
Zhuge Liang nodded.
Ma Su raised his head and narrowed his eyes: "Prime Minister, are you ready to agree to him?"
Zhuge Liang did not answer him immediately. He pushed the official document aside and showed the map on the case. "Withdrawing troops from Guanzhong, it will take me one and a half months at the fastest to return to Hanzhong, and another month to return to Chengdu. Plus the New Year's Eve
All matters will be at least three months away when I arrive in Yong'an. If I don't agree to Sun Quan's request, I'm afraid Sun Quan will have already invaded Yizhou by then."
Ma Su was silent.
Zhuge Liang continued: "Not to mention that this Northern Expedition was very costly, even if the national strength can still sustain it, once we go to war with Sun Quan, it will be difficult to win in less than a year. In one year, we may not be able to sustain it. We need now
Time, it takes time to recover, it takes time to stabilize Guanzhong, it takes time to fight for Longyou and Liangzhou."
Ma Su nodded and followed Zhuge Liang's words: "Moreover, if we deal with Wei and Wu at the same time, it will be a defeat in the long run. If we want to breathe, we can only fight one by one together."
Zhuge Liang corrected Ma Di: "We united with Sun Wu to defeat Cao Wei."
"Prime Minister, are you talking about the present or the future?"
Zhuge Liang was stunned for a moment: "What is happening now, and what will happen in the future?"
Ma Di smiled slightly: "At present, the only choice is to unite with Sun Wu to defeat Cao Wei. If Cao Wei loses Guanzhong, it will definitely not give up. In addition, the Han and traitors are not at odds with each other, so uniting with Cao Wei will inevitably cause criticism."
Zhuge Liang thought for a moment and said thoughtfully: "What about the future?"
"When I gain a foothold in Guanzhong, there is no hope for Cao Wei to recapture it, so I can only admit the reality. By that time, I, the Han Dynasty, will occupy half of the country. If I want to sweep the Central Plains and unify the world, I must base my decision on who to join forces with and who to attack first. If so,
If you send troops from Chengdu and capture Jianghan first, you will of course unite with Cao Wei. If you send troops from Guanzhong and capture Luoyang first, you will of course unite with Sun Quan. All of these are based on the situation at the time. How can we generalize?"
Zhuge Liang nodded repeatedly and smiled happily: "Youchang is still as far-sighted and insightful as ever."
In the past, Ma Su would have smiled proudly at this time, but today, he just smiled bitterly. Because he knew that this plan looked grand, but in its implementation, there were a lot of things to pay attention to. And that was all.
What happens next will not help solve the immediate difficulties. Sun Quan wants to proclaim himself emperor
, if the Shu Han does not agree, there will of course be many crises, and if it agrees, it will also not be easy. Among the three kingdoms, Shu is the weakest, and its only strong point is morality. If Sun Quan is recognized as emperor, then this moral advantage will be lost.
, we can only sit on an equal footing with Wei and Wu, each competing for the world based on strength, and no one is more moral than the other.
Obviously, this will face a more intense debate, which is probably what Zhuge Liang is worried about.
"We cannot agree to the alliance under the city." Ma Di shook his head and firmly rejected Zhuge Liang's opinion.
Zhuge Liang was stunned, with a bit of surprise in his eyes. The reason why he got along well with Ma Su was not only because they had known each other for many years, but also because they looked at problems in a very similar way. On many issues, Ma Su's opinions would be different from his.
The opinions were unanimous. In his opinion, there was no better way except to agree to Sun Quan's threat. Ma Su must have agreed with his opinion as before. Unexpectedly, Ma Su actually rejected it outright.
"Why?"
"Sun Quan is cunning and untrustworthy. If we agree to him like this, there is no guarantee that he will withdraw his troops. Instead, he may push his troops to the limit and proclaim himself emperor while returning his troops, making it impossible for us to deal with Cao Wei with all our strength. When we and Cao Wei both lose, he will choose an opportunity.
It's his choice to attack Han and Wei, so what can we do to him?"
Zhuge Liang took a long breath and nodded secretly. He also had this worry, but he couldn't think of any way to solve this problem, so he had to take it one step at a time.
"Then...what do you think it should be?"
"We can't agree now, but we can use this as a condition to induce him to help us defeat Cao Wei first. As long as he helps us defeat Cao Wei, we will recognize his throne."
Zhuge Liang smiled bitterly: "Do we still have the capital to negotiate?"
"Of course." Ma Su nodded lightly: "He can delay, and we can delay. As long as it lasts for two or three months, when Cao Wei despairs of Guanzhong, we won't have to fight on both sides. By that time, Sun Quan will have broken his promise.
How can you dare to defeat your alliance with me in Wei?"
Zhuge Liang nodded repeatedly: "How to delay?"
"Melee." Ma Su stretched out his finger and tapped lightly on the map. Zhuge Liang's eyes tightened, he pondered for a moment, and suddenly realized. He couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Youchang, your melee plan is really clever.
"
Ma Su smiled ashamedly: "Prime Minister, this was also what Wei Ba and I conducted during the deduction, but it was just not written into the report."
Zhuge Liang's expression was stagnant, but then he smiled and said: "I see. That's great. He is really missing in this matter."
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Three things.
First: At this point, the first volume "The Strange Soldiers Out of Ziwu" ends, and the second volume "The War of the Three Kingdoms Continues" begins. The war between the Three Kingdoms has begun. I hope all book friends will continue to support it.
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