Chapter 46 Longzhong Countermeasures

Asking questions is a science. From the content of the question, we can know the level and level of the questioner.A high-level questioner can directly hit the core of the issue, and the answer required must be the key to the entire issue, that is, the "eye of the question".Low-level questioners either ask stupid questions or have no questions. At that time, Liu Bei asked: "Now that the Han Dynasty is in decline, the treacherous minister Cao Cao is in power, and the imperial power has been emptied. I, Liu Bei, hope to uphold justice for the world. Unfortunately, people are so clumsy that they are in such a mess today. Although I haven't completely given up hope, I don't know what to do in the future. Do it, I hope you can give me some hints."

That's roughly what it means.Perhaps we can compare Liu Bei's question to Zhuge Liang with Sun Ce's question to Zhang Hong back then. When Sun Jian died in battle, Sun Ce was only sixteen years old. He had no reputation, no power, not even a single soldier. He ran to see Zhang Hong, a famous scholar in Guangling, and asked straightforwardly: "Nowadays the world is in chaos, and everyone is self-respecting. No one can stand up to help the crisis. Although I am young, I want to inherit my father's ambition. I want to go to Yuan Shu to get back my father's troops, and then Go to Danyang to seek refuge with Uncle Wu Jing, collect the tribe, then go east to occupy Wujun and Kuaiji counties, avenge your father, and finally become a foreign vassal, what do you think?"

Zhang Hong patted Sun Ce's head and said, "Since you can inherit your father's martial prowess, advance to Danyang, occupy Wu and Hui, you should continue to develop, unify Jing and Yang, occupy the Yangtze River, and assist the court. Duke Huan and Duke Wen of Jin have the same accomplishments, how can a foreign feudal vassal compare? Don't underestimate yourself!" From the above records, it can be found that Liu Bei, who is 46 years old, is far inferior to Sun Ce, who was only 16 years old in his observation of the general trend of the world. At that time, although Sun Ce hadn't even grown hair, he was able to accurately assess the bargaining chips in his hand (the strength of his father's old army and uncle Wu Jing in Danyang), and locked on the first enemy (the separatist forces of Wujun and Kuaiji). And make a long-term goal (court outside the vassal).

But Liu Bei, on the other hand, has no idea about the future development policy. He can only say in general, "I want to believe in the righteousness of the world." Come. This is a question of hierarchy.Of course, it is not ruled out that Liu Bei deliberately did not speak clearly, and deliberately tested the junior in front of him. However, Zhuge Liang just liked Liu Bei's tone, he smiled slightly, and started the long speech that left his name in history: "Since Dong Zhuo, the world has been in chaos. Compared with Yuan Shao, Cao Cao had a low reputation and power. Now Cao Cao can eliminate Yuan Shao and overcome the strong with the weak. There are millions of people, and it is impossible to directly confront the princes with the emperor. The Sun family of the East has been in charge of Jiangdong for three generations, and the common people and local gentry have been used by them. Therefore, they can only be regarded as allies and not enemies. Jingzhou is located in Hanshui Between Yizhou, Jiangdong, and Bashu, it is a strategically important place, but its owner cannot defend the land. It is a gift from heaven to the general. Yizhou in the west is rich and dangerous, but the ruler Liu Zhang is weak and incompetent, and Hanzhong in the north is oppressed by Zhang Lu The wise men in the state must be eager to be led by the Lord. The general has royal blood, the name of faith is known to the world, and heroes from all over the world gather under his command. If he can occupy the two states of Jing and Yi and link up the forces of Xirong, Nanman, and Sun Quan, once Cao Cao in the north If there is a change in the situation of dominance, you can send an army from Jingzhou to Nanyang and Luoyang, and the general will lead the elite from Yizhou to conquer the Guanzhong area. At that time, the people will definitely welcome them. prosper!"

There are many discussions about "Longzhong Dui" in later generations. Traditionally, this dialogue is believed to be Zhuge Liang's great insight. He knew the three points of the world before he was a fledgling, and formulated a general program for the long-term development of Liu Bei Group. However, some commentators believe that "Longzhong is right" is actually nothing special. Lu Su has already told Sun Quan about the strategy of crossing Jingyi and confronting Cao Cao. Two sites, it is only a matter of course to propose "Longzhong pair". Of course, in terms of content, Zhuge Liang's "Longzhong Dui" is indeed similar to Lu Su's "Couch on the Couch", but it is undoubtedly in hindsight to say that the content of "Longzhong Dui" is "natural".

Plotting the world is not playing video games. It is impossible for Liu Bei or Zhuge Liang to know that Sun Quan is surrounded by a group of geniuses with an IQ of over 90, while Liu Zhang is surrounded by idiots who are not even 70. .Under the same background, any rational staff member may make a statement such as "Jiangdong's master is less suspicious, and this is the opportunity for the Eastern Expedition", or "Cao Cao has fought for many years, and his troops are exhausted, so the Northern Expedition will surely win" Wrong advice. The author believes that the direction suggested by the "Longzhong Dui" is exactly the opposite of what Liu Bei or most Jingzhou people thought at the time. To put it more simply, this is the development planner Zhuge Liang tailor-made for Liu Bei, a VIP customer. planning.

First of all, regarding Cao Cao, he is a character who will not die for a day, and Liu Bei will not be able to sleep peacefully for a day.At the beginning of the twelfth year of Jian'an, Liu Bei tried his best to cooperate with Liu Biao in the Northern Expedition. Even though the success fell short, he still told Liu Biao that there would be opportunities in the future.It can be seen that at the end of the twelfth year of Jian'an, Liu Bei still took "joint forces with Jingzhou in the Northern Expedition" as his priority goal. Facing Liu Bei's ambition, Zhuge Liang opened the door and poured cold water on it. He told Liu Bei: Cao Cao is not something you can move now, and it will not be in the future. You have to wait until "the world changes" before you start the Northern Expedition. Chance.

What is "the world has changed" time?It may be that Cao Cao died, or the Cao family engaged in internal strife, or it may be that Soochow attacked Cao Cao. In short, that is a matter of the future, and we will not discuss it here. Secondly, with regard to Sun Quan, the Sun family in Jiangdong and Liu Biao in Jingzhou have been feuding for three generations. Among them, Dongjin seems to have a broader market than Northjin. Although Liu Bei did not directly participate in the war between Liu Biao and the Sun family, after staying in Jingzhou for a long time, he would more or less regard the Sun family as the second enemy, so Zhuge Liang reminded in the second paragraph of "Longzhong vs. Liu Bei: You don’t need to think about Jiangdong’s Sun family. There are so many strong people here, you can’t covet them, but the good thing is that my brother is there as a secret, so if you hire me as your adviser, you will have the opportunity to be with me. Jiang Dong pulled up the relationship.

As for Yizhou in the west, it has been in a situation of "making a fortune in silence" so far.Liu Yan, the former Yizhou shepherd, came to Yizhou three years earlier than Liu Biao came to Jingzhou. In the early days, there were some festivals between the two families, but after Liu Bei came to Jingzhou, the two sides did not have much contact. Liu Bei stared at Cao Cao, probably never thinking about Bashu, so Zhuge Liang reminded him: According to the "Roadside Society", the power structure in Yizhou is quite complicated, and there are many powerful speculators who are ready to fight for Cao Cao. Fight for the best interests for yourself, if the general can get on line with them, there will be unlimited possibilities in the future.

The most important point in "Longzhong Dui" is that Zhuge highlighted Liu Bei's special status as "the emperor's man". This is an idea that Liu Bei has struggled for most of his life without carefully thinking about it.Although it is unknown how much the royal lineage still has selling points at this time, and Liu Bei's so-called "clan lineage" can be traced back too far, it can almost be classified as "fake and shoddy", but this is at least a strategy that will not deduct points. There are also some positive benefits in image building. Generally speaking, the development policy of "retreat to the north, harmonize the east, and advance to the west" in the "Longzhong Pair" is completely opposite to the policy of "advance to the north, defense to the east, and ignore the west" formulated by Liu Bei in Jingzhou for many years. It also highlights Zhuge Ming's superior insight compared to other Jingzhou scholars.As for whether Zhuge Liang borrowed Lu Su's homework to copy, this cannot be explained by historical data.

But then again, in the face of this 180-degree turn of the policy program, is there a way for Liu Bei to accept it immediately? I don't think so, at least not in the short term. After Liu Bei listened to Zhuge Liang's wonderful speech, although he said "yes" on the spot, he was still hesitating in his heart.Although these words sound quite reasonable, Liu Bei will probably think: "Is this crazy boy really reliable? Instead of fighting Cao Cao, you can think of such an ungrateful idea! You think you can get one Does the state just plant its own military flag on that state on the map? I think you don’t even know how to get to Yizhou, so you dare to boast about attacking Yizhou?” In other words, Liu Bei didn't take this so-called "Longzhong Dui" seriously at first, at least he was full of doubts. So Liu Bei returned to Fancheng with a stomach full of question marks.Facing Liu Biao in Xiangyang, he was not ready to attack, and facing Cao Cao in the north, he felt helpless, so he could only hold symposiums and parties in Fancheng every day, and invite local people to see if he could come from Find some inspiration in the discussion. Let's talk about Zhuge Liang. From Liu Bei's expression when he left that day, he probably also saw that Liu Bei didn't really believe him. He knew that for a practical person like Liu Bei, the content of "Longzhong Pair" was too unrealistic, too much like talking on paper. At most, it would give him a little impression, but he still couldn't light up all the five lamps in his mind. At that time, the time series had entered the thirteenth year of Jian'an, and news came from the north that Cao Cao was digging Xuanwu Pond in Yecheng to train sailors. Zhuge Liang knew that time was running out, and he could no longer stay in Longzhong and wait for Liu Bei's next visit. He decided to take the initiative Go out and teach Uncle Liu, who is half-timed, a good lesson. It was probably also a symposium that day, presided over by Liu Bei himself, and Zhuge Liang signed up to participate, but he didn't even get a VIP seat, so he had to sit and listen quietly among the many guests. After the meeting, I didn't know who was so owed, so I gave Liu Bei a yak tail, which just aroused Liu Bei's childhood memories of weaving straw sandals.So Liu Bei immersed himself in it and braided the oxtail on his own, not even knowing that there was still one person on the scene. Zhuge Liang, who didn't leave, and Liu Bei, who was immersed in the pleasure of hand-knitting, became deadlocked.Finally, Zhuge Liang broke the deadlock and said to Liu Bei: "General Liu came to the humble house last time and told me that you have great ambitions, so you are weaving oxtails!" Liu Bei was stunned for a moment, looked up and saw that it was Zhuge Liang, quickly threw the oxtail aside, and said with an embarrassed smile: "What did you say, I just use this to relieve the pressure in my heart." Zhuge Liang also smiled, and asked Liu Bei straight to the point: "General, do you think Liu Biao, General Zhennan, is comparable to Cao Cao?" Liu Bei shook his head: "Of course not." Zhuge Liang asked again: "Then how does the general himself compare with Cao Cao?" Liu Bei replied honestly: "It's still not as good as it is." Zhuge Liang slapped his thigh: "That's right! Since you can't compare to Cao Cao, but the general is trying to prepare for war with an army of thousands of people, can't you think of other ways?" Liu Bei gave a "tsk" and asked, "I'm also very troubled, what's your solution?" The corners of Zhuge Liang's mouth curled up into a strange arc: "Actually, Jingzhou has a large population, but most of them are immigrants from other places. There are too few people with household registration. Therefore, if only conscription is based on household registration, it will definitely cause public resentment, and the number is limited. The general may wish to suggest Liu Biao, order the wandering households in Jingzhou to report their household registration by themselves, so as to increase the source of soldiers and strengthen their strength." This pragmatic and immediate "conclusion policy" is actually more in line with Zhuge Liang's future governance style, and this is what Liu Bei needs most right now. After that, Liu Bei followed suit, and it didn't take long for him to add a lot of troops.It was only then that he realized that the young man in front of him was not an "on paper" generation, but a capable person with quite solid administrative concepts and methods, and this was what the Liu Bei Group had lacked for a long time. Therefore, Liu Bei immediately took Zhuge Liang into his tent as a VIP, and the two of them, the old and the young, were tired of whispering together all day long. As a result, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, who were always inseparable from him, became jealous and said something to Zhuge Liang. Pretty disrespectful words. Liu Bei solemnly warned Guan and Zhang: "I have Kong Ming by my side, just like a fish has water. You'd better stop talking about it." "Longzhong Dui" and "Jie Wu Ce" are respectively recorded in "Three Kingdoms Zhuge Liang Biography" and "Wei Lue" written by Jin Renyu Huan. The two records conflict with each other, and even Pei Songzhi finds it inconceivable. Nevertheless, from the end of the twelfth year of Jian'an to the beginning of the thirteenth year, the young Zhuge Liang started his political career under Liu Bei's tent, which also added a sense of rationality and stability to the originally brave and masculine camp of Liu Bei. Taking Zhuge Liang's joining as a watershed, the Liu Bei Group has since transformed from a combat team into a political team, and Liu Bei's legend has thus launched a second half chapter that is completely different from the past.