Chapter 738: Marching East
How to treat a person?
Not to see how upright and lofty he is in court, nor to see him reciting a few lines of poetry or singing to express his aspirations. The only way to see a person clearly is through time and privacy.
Time can iron out the wrinkles on the outside, leaving only the most essential things about a person. And this essence emerged in this person's heart countless times when he was in his private room.
This is what Liu Bei is like.
When he was a young man, he wore fine clothes and angered his horse. When he was young, his country was ruined and his family was ruined. He had played many identities, but only he understood that he was still that young man, the young man who was determined to sit upright under the big mulberry tree that was as lush as a pavilion.
At this time, Liu Bei clearly felt something was wrong.
Zhao Yunzhijun's behavior brought him deep uneasiness. The enemy army obviously wanted to mobilize his and Guo Si's armies to draw them to Xin'an City.
The military report sent by Guo Si also verified this conjecture.
Previously, Guo Si's troops had sent out the Iron Gate garrison, and the pursuit all the way could be described as a spring breeze. But after arriving at Xin'an City, they ran into walls one after another, and even their camp was robbed by Zhao Yun at night, so that he asked for help in embarrassment.
In such an uncertain environment, Liu Bei had already advised Guo Si countless times before, but he still refused to listen and insisted on going his own way.
Therefore, Liu Bei had enough reasons to reject Guo Si at this time. Originally, the two of them were on the same level and had no subordinate relationship. Even if Liu Bei ignored him, Dong Zhuo would not make a fuss about it.
But Liu Bei thought for a long time in his private room. When he finally came out, the first thing he said to Chang Shi Wei Zhen was:
"Prepare ten days of food and send troops to Xin'an."
Then the second sentence Liu Bei said was:
"Call all the ministers in the palace over here, and let's discuss the details of sending troops."
Finally Liu Bei said the third sentence:
"The risk is particularly high when we go to Xin'an. Chang Shi, don't go there. Guard the iron gate for me and be our army's retreat."
After saying three sentences, Liu Bei said no more.
As the second most powerful person in the army after Liu Bei, what doesn’t Wei Zhen know? So when he heard that Liu Bei was still going to the Xin'an front line at the risk, he sighed and went down to prepare.
After communicating with Wei Zhen, Liu Bei sat on the table waiting for the arrival of his subordinates and generals.
Soon, more than ten important staff and assistants from the Zhengbei Shogunate arrived one after another. Everyone looked solemn, and they had obviously learned Liu Bei's thoughts from Wei Zhen.
Liu Bei's northern expedition shogunate is not an empty frame. It can be roughly divided into three types of people, namely Guanlongshi, Yuancongshi and Hanshi sect.
Among the dozen or so staff members, the short scholar who walked at the front was none other than Chen Bao, the representative of the Hanshi Sect.
What is Hanshi? In fact, they are local powerful factions but have no global influence.
Chen Bao, who came from the natives of Brazil County, is such a poor scholar. Because of the relationship between Tianshi Dao and Liu Bei, the Ba people are a very important part of Liu Bei's army and shogunate.
Bashan is a hilly area where the Ba people lived in the past. Although it is one county, it is actually often divided into three regions: east, middle and west due to geographical division, which is the origin of Sanba.
Therefore, this is also the reason why the Ba people account for a large proportion in Liu Bei's shogunate but failed to form the so-called Ba people faction. Without him, they would not be able to identify with each other.
To put it simply, most areas of Bajun are full of miscellaneous people. There are not only Han people, but also Pu people, Ji people, Ju people, Gong people, Nu people, Yi people, Yi people, and Shu people. Living in mountainous and hilly areas with difficult conditions, one can imagine the competitive state of life.
Therefore, this place has been an area producing elite soldiers and generals since ancient times. Since ancient times, there has been a tradition of "Ba has generals and Shu has prime ministers". For example, when Emperor Gaozu came out of Hanzhong to establish the Han Dynasty, Banzhen from Ba was his vanguard.
But among the Three Basques, Brazil is different. This place not only produces generals, but also cultural talents. It can be said to be a beautiful place.
And this Chen Bao is from Brazil and is the head of the four major families in the country.
But Chen Bao has such a background, and in the eyes of Kansai scholars, he is just a figure from a humble place. Although this family has also produced a first-class imperial censor, he is not shabby compared with those wealthy families with a birth of two thousand koku. What is it?
Chen Bao also understood this and always regarded himself as a poor scholar. In addition, he was well-informed and well versed in Zuo's biography of the Spring and Autumn Period. He was very outspoken, so he naturally became a famous scholar.
But precisely because Chen Bao was born in Brazil, he lacked a lot of experience and knowledge, and he was too obsessed with reading scriptures, so he was inevitably pedantic.
But this is not his biggest shortcoming. His biggest shortcoming is that he is "very outspoken".
He didn't know how many times he had offended Liu Bei and told him to behave as a minister and abide by the etiquette of being a minister. Even if Liu Bei's actions were not biased and even overly loyal, he was still the same person.
The famous saying goes: "If there is something, change it; if it doesn't exist, encourage it."
In fact, what Chen Bao said was right, but the mistake was that he didn't know his identity? He is not from Liu Bei's old family, nor does he have a noble family to rely on, and he does not even have a good reputation. Liu Bei is not annoyed by his behavior, nor are the wealthy Guanlong families?
Brother, you have taken the way of the brothers.
Therefore, Chen Bao was repeatedly ostracized by his peers in the shogunate. Everyone stayed away from him except for a few humble scholars who also made suspicions around him.
But Chen Bao didn't care, and regarded himself as a lonely minister, and still did not change his teachings to Liu Bei.
But it's strange that Liu Bei really listened.
At this moment, as soon as Chen Bao came in, he bowed rigidly to Liu Bei:
"My lord, it is righteousness to save friendly troops from danger; it is loyalty to take the overall situation of the public house into account. With this loyalty and righteousness, my subordinates do not know which army cannot be broken and which thief cannot be destroyed."
Chen Bao's words made Wu Yi, who had already entered the scene waiting, couldn't help curling his lips and secretly scolding him for being pedantic:
"This kind of people rarely go to the battlefield and don't know how powerful weapons are. Can they destroy thieves just by talking about loyalty? Then wouldn't the Yellow Turban Moth thieves have long been remembered to death?"
This is what Wu Yi here means. How could Liu Bei, the leader, not know the absurdity of this statement?
But Liu Bei agreed very much with Chen Baodao:
"Mr. Chen's words are very kind. When Bei was ignorant and endured his life on the battlefield, he had dismissed these words and even thought of them as the pedantry of scholars. But as Bei traveled far and wide, he grew older and experienced many things. Sorry, when I looked back at this sentence, I realized that it was a wise saying. ”
Seeing that some generals present were disapproving, Liu Bei sighed and said this:
"In the past, I was in Hebei, and I followed Master Lu to fight for the Yellow Turbans. At that time, our army was fierce and fierce at Liujia. What did those Yellow Turbans have? They cut down trees to become soldiers, but what was the result? The scribes only cared about their own interests and ignored the public, and the generals were beggar-thy-neighbors. , the friendly troops are in trouble, and they all want to gain military glory, so that the army moves to Hebei, otherwise why would the world be like this?
Speaking of this, Liu Bei really had a deep understanding and sighed and said this:
"If civil servants can be loyal to their official duties and military officers can uphold justice, the world will not be in chaos."
Liu Bei's words were from the bottom of his heart. Why did he propose reforms to Liu Xie after returning from Yizhou? It is precisely because he believes that the shortcomings of the world lie here.
Why do coups occur frequently in Kanto and Kansai? Why do careerists come to power one after another? In Liu Bei's view, this world has reached the end of morality, and the children of aristocratic families who represent the world's intellectual morality no longer adhere to Confucian ideals.
In other words, there are no ideals or morals that these elites can truly believe in, and the entire society has slipped into despicability and vulgarity.
Therefore, Liu Bei believed that the heart of a reformer was the best way to save the world, and he wanted to be such a preacher.
Just like a person like Duke Zhou! So Liu Bei also asked himself this. He could completely abandon Guo Si or even lead his troops back, but once he did so, the ideal career and image he insisted on would collapse.
This was something Liu Bei absolutely could not accept, and it was also the essential reason why he was willing to take risks and march eastward to support Guo Si.
Liu Bei said this from the bottom of his heart. Do the staff present understand it?
That must be understood.
When Liu Bei finished speaking, Liu Ai, who was a visitor at the time, couldn't help but sigh with emotion:
"The princes are really virtuous ministers in ancient times. I originally thought that pacifying the world was a matter for the warriors, but I didn't expect that if we really want to help the Han Dynasty, we need to rise up."
After saying that, Liu Ai gave Liu Bei a heavy bow.
Liu Ai is a visitor in the army, which is actually equivalent to the role of supervising the army. Then who sent this supervisor? It's Dong Zhuo.
Yes, Liu Ai is a clan member of the Han Dynasty, but he is also a member of Dong Zhuo's shogunate, and the two even have a very good relationship. In fact, Liu Ai's phenomenon shows that the concrete relationship between individuals is always more decisive than the abstract relationship between groups.
If you are unable to realize this and just speculate on individual choices based on group identity, you will suffer a big loss.
Therefore, Liu Ai was sent to Liu Bei's army by Dong Zhuo to supervise Liu Bei and worry that he would not be under control.
This time the Battle of Kyoto, or to be precise, the Battle of Encirclement and Suppression of Kyoto, was a war of unprecedented scale.
Both Yuan Shao and the Taishan Army mobilized about 200,000 troops, not counting the Qingyan battlefield and the Weihan battlefield.
In such a big war, no matter which side participates in the war, no loss can be tolerated. Although in this battle, Kansai was strategically on the active side because of its geographical relationship.
But for Dong Zhuo, Liu Bei was still a factor of instability.
Because Liu Bei was at the forefront and had an opportunity to fight, Dong Zhuo was very worried that Liu Bei would leave alone. If they lose, it will definitely affect the defense of the entire east, and if they win, it will be even worse.
When the time comes when Liu Bei, with his great victory and great achievements, wants to seize Dong Zhuo's power from him, he will be in trouble.
That's why Dong Zhuo asked Liu Ai, whom he trusted, to serve as an audience member in Liu Bei's army.
At the beginning, Liu Ai brought an edict to Liu Bei and conveyed the edict of the "Emperor":
"Defense with heavy troops, choose advantage with light troops."
At the same time, he privately delivered an oral message to Liu Bei:
"Soldiers should not move lightly, but should be in uniform."
Such an edict and military order came from the rear. What could Liu Bei do? Coupled with his initial disappointment with Liu Xie and Dong Zhuo, Liu Bei was very disappointed on the front line.
But later when he went to chase Du Ji, the two had a conversation.
At that time, after Du Ji understood Liu Bei's psychology and his fatigue and disappointment, he asked this sentence:
"The one you want to support is the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty for all people in the world? What does it have to do with Dong Zhuo and His Majesty?"
One sentence made Liu Bei enlightened.
Perhaps because he was on the front line, he understood the significance of this battle better than Dong Zhuo and Liu Xie in the rear.
In Dong Zhuo's view, this battle may be dispensable, and it would even be a good thing to sit back and watch Zhang Chong and Yuan Shao both lose. However, Liu Bei understood that the decisive battle between them and the Taishan Army was actually coming.
In this battle, Yuan Shao devoted all his power to fight against the Taishan Army. The outcome of this battle directly affected the ownership of the Central Plains.
Once Yuan Shao lost, Zhang Chong would not just take the Central Plains, but take the world in advance.
This is not because of the size of the territory, but because of a fundamental reversal in strength.
In fact, at this stage of the war, the Taishan Army occupied the entire north and had the momentum to dominate the world. And there are only three and a half people in the world who stand in the way of Zhang Chong becoming a man of the world.
Among them, the strongest one and the one who can best compete with the Taishan Army is Yuan Shao who occupies the entire Central Plains and part of the Yangtze River and Huaihe River, then they are in Guanxi, and finally Cao Cao in Qingzhou.
As for the other half, Sun Jian was fighting against Yangzhou, but it was a pity that he started too late, and there were not many Dingkou in Yangzhou. Even though he has integrated Yangzhou now, it is still only half.
During these three and a half years, Yuan Shao, not to mention, was already engaged in a decisive battle with the Taishan Army. Kansai's current plan is to recuperate and recuperate on the one hand, and to profit from the situation on the other.
But this passive attitude made Liu Bei very uneasy. He had never heard that the third child could still survive after the boss killed the second child. If he didn't help the second child at a critical period, then the day the second child died would be the day the third child died. time?
How could Dong Zhuo not understand such a simple truth?
Liu Bei didn't believe it.
So when Guo Si went eastward, Liu Bei only warned him to be careful, but never asked him to retreat. Because in terms of taking the initiative to attack, he and Guo Si have the same goal.
And now? Liu Bei initially persuaded Wei Zhen and other Guanlong soldiers, and then Hanshi also supported his actions, and even Liu Ai did not block his advance.
In the end, it was the Yuancong faction in his heart, so Liu Bei turned his attention to his wife and brother Yang Xiu.
Yang Xiu's attitude was very abnormal. He had lowered his head since he entered the tent. It was not until Liu Bei looked at him that he raised his head and said:
"Junhou, everyone knows your meaning and attitude, but has Junhou ever thought about such a thing?"
As he spoke, Yang Xiu stared at Liu Bei and said word by word:
"Our army has been marching eastwards for several days. Why haven't we seen a piece of military order from Duan Shuai? Could it be that when we have no order to march eastwards, Duan Shuai just lets it go? This is too abnormal."
Liu Bei frowned and took the initiative to explain:
"Actually, I have asked someone to reply to Duan Shuai and ask him to send troops. In this decisive battle, Guo Si and I will definitely not be enough. And now that I think about it, reinforcements should be on the way."
Yang Xiu shook his head. He instinctively felt that something was wrong, but he did not have the information, so he could only remain silent.
In this way, Liu Bei unified the ideas of his staff, and a group of warriors had long been eager to participate in the battle of 200,000 people on both sides. Therefore, the strategy of marching eastward to support Guo Si was determined.
The next day, in the morning, Liu Bei's 11,000 Northern Army troops and 6,000 civilian men marched towards Xin'an in the east with their chariots and horses.