Chapter 401: Opportunity for unification, invincible conspiracy [Subscription required]

The sky was a bit gloomy, with sparse snowflakes floating in the air.

Jia Xu, who was sitting on the wing of the car, also took out a booklet from his sleeve.

Sometimes he would extract information from various parties to facilitate reporting to Cao Cao.

Along the northwest to western side of Yizhou, there are tribes such as Linqiang, Baima Qiang, the southward-migrated Shaodang Qiang, and Cizhi Qiang, also known as the Western Qiang.

South of Yizhou, there is Meng Huo, the King of Nanzhong.

The forces under his command bordered seven places in Yizhou, namely Zangke, Yuexi, Zhuti, Jianning, Yongchang, Nanyun and Xinggu, and were intricately intertwined.

The area controlled by Meng Huo was close to a small provincial capital.

At this time, he had just become the King of South China and was full of ambition.

There are many other tribal forces, large and small, around Yizhou.

Jia Xu marked in the book which tribes had been wiped out by Liu Bei and which ones he was currently conquering.

"Big Ear has worked hard. In a few months, he has conquered many small and medium-sized tribes, and has formed an alliance with more than ten tribes?"

Jia Xu: "That's why I said his feet were rubbed so hard that sparks appeared.

He has spent most of his time in the past few months running around the western border of Yizhou."

"For Liu Xuande, integrating the surrounding areas of Yizhou is a matter of life and death, so he has no choice but to do his best."

"If I were him, I would have surrendered to Wei. Yizhou is far inferior to Wei, and there is no hope of victory."

Cao Cao laughed dumbly.

There are countless examples of disparity between the strong and the weak in history.

Some things don’t seem to be so disparate that the weaker party will give in.

Looking back, Emperor Taizu Liu Xiu's strength at that time was far inferior to that of the enemy.

Why didn't he surrender?
Including the Battle of Chibi in history, the gap was equally astonishingly large. Why didn't Jiangdong surrender?
In some cases, from the perspective of the parties involved, the situation has developed to that point. How can they make him surrender without a real confrontation, just based on his apparent strength?

Including in later generations, there are countless similar contrasts between the strong and the weak, and it is rare for one to surrender without a fight.

Jia Xu was just trying to please Cao Cao and said it casually.

If we can really distinguish the strong from the weak by comparing the strengths on the surface, then what is the point of war?
With Jia Xu's insight into people's hearts, he would definitely see the underlying reason.

Cao Cao: "Did Kong Ming take action?"

Jia Xu pointed to a place on the booklet.

The name of Nanzhong Menghuo is written there.

Meng Huo was the largest force south of Yizhou.

Conquering Meng Huo was the main task that Cao Cao 'assigned' to Liu Bei.

Jia Xu meant that Zhuge Liang had gone to the south of Yizhou to deal with Meng Huo.

Big Ear was really anxious... Cao Cao thought to himself: Liu Bei had no choice but to entrust Zhuge Liang to go to the south of Yizhou at this time.

"How about Jiangdong and Jingzhou?"

“Steady.”

Over the past few months, Cao Ying has been taking a multi-pronged approach in Jiangdong, redistributing land to the people and adjusting the population in and out.

Without the source of unrest, some people saw the benefits and were divided and diverted from the main contradiction.

Jiangdong, Jingzhou and other places have gradually stabilized.

During the discussion between Cao Cao and Jia Xu, an idea emerged one after another, that is, the time to unify the world was coming.

At this moment, Cao Cao felt something, lifted the curtain of the car and looked up at the sky.

An eagle landed from the snowy sky.

Cao Cao personally took out a small leather scroll from under its claws.

"Any news about the giant salamander?"

Given that it was difficult to plant spies within the Xianbei, the methods used by giant salamanders and catfish to transmit messages became increasingly covert.

Sometimes Cao Cao would split his spirit and soul, control a falcon, and personally go to obtain news from the Xianbei direction.

He looked down at the leather scroll, which read: Internal strife among the Xianbei.

The other tribes of the Eight Great Kings were very dissatisfied with the defeat of Tuoba Jiefen and Yiloutuo when they marched south.

Tuoba Jiefen was in a high position, but he could not lead the tribe to grow stronger and also brought great losses. Naturally, it was difficult for him to win the support of the people.

It's normal for someone to take the opportunity to replace him.

The leather scroll also contained secret information such as the coming out of the mountains of the Daxi tribe's chief priest and the number of shaman troops.

There is also a simple geographical location map of the Daxi tribe, including some other information.

After reading it, Cao Cao handed it to Jia Xu.

The two also discussed how to deal with the subsequent situation of the Xianbei.

Cao Cao's carriage headed south and entered Henei County from Bingzhou.

The wives and concubines set out for the east in September and have now returned to Yecheng.

Cao Cao's carriage turned east and arrived at the bank of the Yellow River at the junction of Yanzhou and Jizhou.

Diao Chan and Yao Jing are waiting here to meet up with Cao Cao.

The team did not return to Yecheng, but continued to move eastward towards the mouth of the Bohai Sea.

Lu Su was also in the team.

Half a year ago, Cao Cao gave him a task, asking him to formulate a strategy to capture Jinhan and Mahan, and then use them as a springboard to plot against Japan.

Because of the war with the Xianbei, there was some delay.

Lu Su submitted the relevant strategic plan not long ago.

Cao Cao was preparing to make another trip to the coast to see the completed Da Wei and to personally try out the effect of the Xiantai seal on the Da Wei.

Late November.

Yizhou.

Over the past few months, Zhang Fei and Wei Yan have been using troops to deal with the surrounding tribes, and have seen some results.

However, there were numerous tribes surrounding Yizhou, which had been regarded as a chronic problem by all dynasties, which shows how difficult it was to control them.

At the beginning, Zhang Fei relied on his bravery and strength to win many victories and captured several tribal castles.

But soon these tribes took advantage of the terrain and dealt with the Shu army. They attacked and I retreated, and no longer engaged in direct combat with Zhang Fei.

When it was Zhang Fei's turn, he was unable to attack for a long time and suffered a lot of losses. He was at a loss for what to do.

At this time, Zhuge Liang gave Liu Bei a plan: if the strong attack failed, he might as well take it by force. The surrounding mountain people, tribes, Qiang and Di people, etc., wandered in the mountains and were short of supplies.

They have always been envious of the richness of the central plains of Yizhou.

This is also the main reason for the constant conflicts between them and Yizhou.

During the Qin and Han dynasties, the common means of dealing with the southern barbarians were suppression and killing.

But the effect is not good.

Due to the special geographical location of Yizhou, the southern barbarians took root here and were difficult to eliminate.

Zhuge Liang summed up the experience of his predecessors. Since the minority tribes near Yizhou had demands for Yizhou’s land, he could change his approach and offer inducements.

Lure them out, and change from suppression to making them part of Yizhou and a community of interests.

Zhuge Liang in history also used a similar method.

The specific method was to take out Zitong County, which was located on the north side of Yizhou and adjacent to Ba County, and distribute land to people from surrounding ethnic groups.

The food supplies obtained will be distributed among these tribes in proportion.

Zitong County is located in the northwest corner of Yizhou.

Switching from strong attack to inducement can first reduce losses and consumption.

When Liu Bei first took control of Yizhou, he had not yet formed deep hatred with the surrounding tribes. By giving away land, he did have a chance to persuade some ethnic groups to join him.

To a certain extent, Zhuge Liang's proposal was based on Cao Cao's method of cultivating land by having people help him farm.

This is somewhat similar to land reform and is an invincible conspiracy that has been verified by later generations.

In almost all disputes, the core interests are population and land.

Using land to win people's hearts has always worked.

The land Liu Bei gave away was a huge benefit to these tribes.

To the north of Zitong County is Hanzhong.

Lure the surrounding tribes out and give them a large amount of land in Zi Tong County.

Once Cao's army attacks from Hanzhong, the tribes that have obtained the land will be the first to bear the brunt. In order to defend the land, they will be the first to confront Cao's army.

This is what Zhuge Liang meant by common interests and transforming contradictions.

Liu Bei then began to change his approach, forming alliances between the vertical and horizontal factions and sending his civil officials on diplomatic missions to persuade the surrounding tribes to accept their gifts of land.

At first, the tribes thought it was a ploy to lure them out and did not respond.

However, a small number of tribes that were conquered by Zhang Fei and captured by Liu Bei in the early stage were the first to enter Zitong County and began to farm.

After several months, Liu Bei treated them with great kindness. He distributed the income from planting according to the agreement and did not take more.

Someone set an example, and the news spread, proving that the land was really donated.

This suddenly increased the temptation to the surrounding tribes.

Some tribes, hesitantly, tried to come out of the mountains one after another.

They remained vigilant enough and only some of them came out, while the rest stayed in the mountains.

If you find that you have been cheated, you can return the money and you won’t be fooled.

As for the land Liu Bei gave them, it was adjacent to Hanzhong and might be attacked by the Wei army from Hanzhong that moved south.

The minority tribes around Yizhou don't care about this. It doesn't matter who they fight.

If you can’t win, just run away. Get the benefits first.

As a result, the situation in Yizhou changed quietly.

Some tribes came out of the mountains and entered Zitong County.

As the harvest from farming increased, they gradually began to support Liu Bei. After all, it was Liu Bei who gave them the good farmland.

Liu Bei's reputation in Yizhou quickly rose.

Another benefit of Zhuge Liang's suggestion was that by appeasing the tribes on the west side of Yizhou, he could concentrate his forces and launch a full-scale attack on Meng Huo in the south.

This is another form of making friends with distant people and attacking those nearby.

Zhuge Liang improved his status in Yizhou through this plan and gained Liu Bei's support.

Liu Bei also reaped great rewards from this plan, stabilizing Yizhou and strengthening himself.

But Zhuge Liang had a hidden intention, which he did not tell Liu Bei.

Zhuge Liang and Pang Degong had already vaguely realized that Cao Cao wanted to use Liu Bei to integrate Yizhou.

Zhuge Liang's suggestion took this factor into consideration and took Cao Cao's requests into account.

Cao Cao wanted to use Liu Bei to regulate the area around Yizhou and reduce the unrest after conquering Yizhou.

Zhuge Liang suggested gathering these tribes in Zitong County. If Cao Wei raised an army, these tribes that were brought into Yizhou by their land would be reluctant to give up their land and would confront Cao Wei head-on.

They were gathered together, no longer hiding, and eliminated by Cao Wei, thus achieving Cao Cao's goal.

This is a strategy that caters to the interests of multiple parties, and the beauty of it is that all parties feel they benefit.

Apart from Zhuge Liang, it would be difficult for anyone else to come up with such a strategy that takes multiple aspects into consideration.

The hidden tricks make people marvel at his wisdom.

The situation in Yizhou is progressing steadily.

According to the current trend, by the time Liu Bei concentrates his forces and captures Meng Huo, the integration of Yizhou will be more than half completed.

For Cao Cao, the opportunity to unify the country came with the recovery of Yizhou.

On the coast of the East China Sea, Cao Cao boarded the Great Wei that afternoon.

After transporting Zhang Liao and Gao Shun and the Xianzhen Camp to Liaoxi last time, the Da Wei turned back south and returned to the dock.

Now, several months later, the Dawei has been completed.

This largest ship in the world, like an island, floats on the sea, which is extremely spectacular.

Cao Cao came to the inner cabin and the same scene as last time appeared before his eyes.

In the core cabin of the entire ship, the keel was engraved with complex spell patterns from the Sendai Seal, flickering faintly.

“During this rainy season, these spells once again showed the ability to absorb lightning.

The whole ship feels like it is...accumulating a kind of power, but we don't know how to use it." said the shipbuilder.

Cao Cao looked at the core position where the spell patterns intersected, then took out the Xiantai Seal and placed it on it!
At this moment, the Sendai pattern on the boat suddenly lit up.

Ps: I will post a separate chapter later, talking about the pictures and the extra chapters, and briefly talking about Xianbei.

(End of this chapter)