Chapter 8 Chapter 3 The knife behind the tripartite confrontation

There are still ten years before Gongsun Yuan's rebellion, let us first turn our attention to Soochow in the south. In 219 AD, Guan Yu led the main Jingzhou army to attack Xiangfan and besieged the city to fight for aid. While besieging Cao Ren in Fancheng, he defeated Yu Jin and Pang De who came to rescue.Seeing that Liu Bei was powerful, Sun Quan immediately changed the strategy of uniting Liu against Cao since the Battle of Chibi, and instead formed an alliance with Cao Cao, sending the governor Lu Meng to send surprise troops to attack Jingzhou.Soon, Guan Yu was defeated by Xu Huang and Cao Ren, and was captured and killed by Wu Jun in Maicheng.Wu Jun captured Jingzhou and occupied a vast area in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.

In 220 AD, Cao Pi proclaimed himself emperor on behalf of the Han Dynasty, and at the same time canonized Sun Quan as King of Wu, General, and Shepherd of Jingzhou. In 221 AD, Liu Bei proclaimed himself emperor in Hanzhong and led an army to attack Soochow.Sun Quan decisively appointed the 39-year-old Lu Xun as the governor to meet Liu Bei. After a year of hard work, he finally defeated the Shu army with fire in Yiling. In 222 AD, Cao Pi saw that the Eastern Wu was powerful, so he sent troops to crusade in three directions. Cao Jun won first and then lost, and returned without success. In 223 AD, Liu Bei died of illness.The ministers of Eastern Wu persuaded Sun Quan to proclaim himself emperor for the first time, but Sun Quan refused.The State of Shu sent Deng Zhi as an envoy to Soochow.

In 224 AD, Sun Quan sent Zhang Wen to return to Shu, and the relationship between the two sides further eased. In 226 A.D., Cao Pi died of illness, the Wu army captured Jiangxia, and General Quan Cong begged Pingshanyue. In 228 AD, Zhou Fang feigned surrender, and Lu Xun defeated Cao Xiu in Shiting. In 229 A.D., Sun Quan proclaimed himself emperor in Wuchang (now Echeng, Hubei), the country was named Wu, and soon moved his capital to Jianye (now Nanjing, Jiangsu). From the king of Wei to the emperor, Cao Pi took less than a year; from the king of Hanzhong to Emperor Zhaolie, it took Liu Bei two years; and from the king of Wu to the emperor, Sun Quan took ten years.In these ten years, Soochow has flourished.After obtaining Jingzhou, Sun Quan realized that it was very difficult to continue to expand on land, so he set his sights on the vast sea.

In 229 A.D., Sun Quan did two major things: the first was to take advantage of Zhuge Liang's third Northern Expedition to hold back the main force of the Wei army to proclaim himself emperor, and then mobilized the army to operate in the Jianghuai area to echo the Shu army; plan at sea. Sun Quan's "Sea Plan" is divided into two parts: going south and going north: Going south, as we have learned in history textbooks, is to send generals Wei Wen and Zhuge Zhibang with 10,000 sailors and 200 warships to sail from Zhang'an (now southeast of Linhai, Zhejiang) to Yizhou (Taiwan), Danzhou marched.This "Southern Expedition" did not achieve much practical results. The number of barbarians captured was not as many as Wu Jun who died of illness, and the two generals were killed because of this.However, this voyage was a good test of Soochow's sea power and ocean-going navigation capabilities.

Going north means bypassing the tens of thousands of elite soldiers stationed in Huainan by the Wei State, instead of taking the land route, take the sea route instead, get in touch with Gongsun Yuan who is entrenched in Liaodong, and carry out a north-south attack on Wei State from the sea. Sun Quan’s plan seemed absurd at the time—Soochow and Liaodong were far apart, and the ports of Xuzhou, Qingzhou, and Bohai Sea were all under Wei’s control. For the unpredictable sea weather, it is almost an impossible task.However, according to the records of "Nanzhou Foreign Objects", the sea-going ships produced in Guangzhou of Soochow Wu "are more than 20 feet long, two or three feet above the water, look like a pavilion, carry six or seven hundred people, and have tens of thousands of dendrobium. Make four sails."

According to the current calculation, Soochow's sea captain is more than 60 meters long, 6-9 meters high, has 4 sails, can carry more than 600 people, and can also carry 100 tons of cargo. The technology is also more mature and sophisticated, coupled with the experience of going south to Yizhou, Nanzhou, Nanyang and other places, the Soochow fleet can navigate northward by itself without having to dock for supplies. With the experience of ocean sailing and technical support, Sun Quan became more courageous and decided to implement the "Go North" plan. In May of 229 AD, Sun Quan sent people to Liaodong by sea to make tentative contacts with Gongsun Yuan.However, Sun Quan's enthusiasm was exchanged for Gongsun Yuangen's indifference.Gongsun Yuan also had his own difficulties: just one year after he won the power of Liaodong, Gongsun Gong's people had to be purged, the common people had to be appeased, and his own people had to be put down. Go and flirt with Sun Quan.Of course, for an ambitious person like Gongsun Yuan, Sun Quan's "secret glances" is undoubtedly a strong signal-it seems that Lao Tzu is still very well-known internationally, and even the awesome Sun Quan took the initiative to please him. It's time to do some preparation.

With this contact, Gongsun Yuan's mind became active—there was no need to focus on mixing with Wei Guo. Now Liaodong is no longer a wild land on the frontier, but an important weight that influences the overall situation of the world. Just like Han Xin is to Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, whichever side he stands on, he can win the world!Moreover, Gongsun Yuan strongly believes that Han Xin is too stupid—no matter which side he takes refuge in, he will inevitably end up being killed in the end. Of course, it's not time to start an incident yet, so Gongsun Yuan decided to let Sun Quan air for a while to see his reaction.

In fact, long before Sun Quan sent people to Liaodong, there had been non-governmental trade between Jiangnan and Liaodong.Liaodong is rich in fur, medicine, and wood, while Jiangnan is rich in silk, tea, and porcelain. The two places are strongly complementary in trade.As a result, mink fur and ginseng medicinal materials from Liaodong were continuously transported to the southeast coast by sea, and silk, tea and other daily necessities produced in Soochow were also loved by Liaodong scholars.The economic complementarity has also laid a solid foundation for further cooperation between the two parties.

Three years later, Sun Quan sent Zhou He and others to Liaodong again.This time the mission is at a higher level and on a larger scale. Sun Quan's positive attitude finally waited for Gongsun Yuan's response.In the winter of this year, Gongsun Yuan sent someone to visit Soochow, and also sent Sun Quan a big gift—paying tribute to Soochow as a minister.Sun Quan was overjoyed.For a long time, Soochow professed ministers to Wei State, and Gongsun Yuan also professed ministers to Wei State. The political status of the two seemed to be equal.But now, Gongsun Yuan actually took the initiative to proclaim himself a minister, what does this mean?It shows that in the eyes of the world, Soochow has been able to sit on an equal footing with Wei Guoping!

Sun Quan was too happy.It can be said that Gongsun's consistent strategy is to pay tribute and profess ministers. When Wei Guo sends envoys, he professes ministers to Wei Guo; when Wu Guo sends envoys, he proclaims ministers to Wu Guo. checks and balances among them to strive for strategic space. Sun Quan, who was eager to dominate the sea, misunderstood Gongsun Yuan's meaning. He felt that Liaodong had fallen to Soochow in terms of position, and could not do without Soochow economically. It was time to implement the grand "maritime plan"! In the spring of the next year, regardless of the objections of his officials, Sun Quan resolutely sent Taichang Zhang Mi, Zhijinwu Xu Yan, General He Da and others to Liaodong with 10,000 sailors and a large number of treasures, and planned to make Gongsun Yuan King of Yan.

When this huge fleet composed of hundreds of warships came to the sea of ​​Liaodong, Gongsun Yuan panicked.He obviously didn't expect that Sun Quanzhen would send a large army to Liaodong to implement the so-called plan of "flanking Wei".In his view, the trade envoy was only out of economic and strategic considerations, and to gain more benefits, but Sun Quan, a fool, really felt that he planned to turn his face against Wei Guo! They come, the security.Gongsun Yuan thought so.Dad Gongsun Kang didn't take in Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang brothers in the same way, but now he takes in a navy sent to his door, why not do it.Sun Quan regarded Gongsun Yuan as a trustworthy and close comrade-in-arms, but Gongsun Yuan regarded the Wu fleet as a hearty lunch—these were hundreds of the most advanced warships at that time! After the Wu fleet docked, Gongsun Yuan greeted them personally, warmly invited Zhang Mi, Xu Yan, He Da and others to come ashore, and then held a large banquet to treat these "lambs" who came to the door.What follows is the scene that often appears in TV dramas: after three rounds of wine, five tastes of food, endless singing and dancing, and the guests and hosts having a good time... Just when Zhang Mi, Xu Yan, He Da and others were so drunk that they were about to fall over , the singing stopped, and the woman who was pouring wine disappeared. Gongsun Yuan, who was originally full of joy, let out a roar, and the knife and ax hands lying in ambush on both sides rushed forward with lightning speed, and flashed the shining steel knife. These Wu people who threw themselves into the net were chopped into meat. Gongsun Yuan's goal is not to kill a few people, but the Wu Kingdom fleet docked by the sea!After killing Zhang Mi, Xu Yan, He Da and others, Gongsun Yuan immediately dispatched a large army to surround and disarm the leaderless Wu army, and incorporated this huge fleet that came across the sea.This was not enough, Gongsun Yuan also sent envoys to Luoyang to ask Wei Mingdi for his merits. If you say turn your back, turn your face, and do things so terribly, Gongsun Yuan is much more ruthless than his grandfather and father. When Gongsun Yuan did this, he also had his own considerations: First, at that time, some people in Wei State had already realized that Liaodong, which was gradually becoming stronger, was a potential threat to Wei State. Gongsun Yuan also knew that the time to turn against Wei State had not yet come. Standing - Liaodong is on the side of Wei. Second, Gongsun Yuan has ambitions, but Liaodong's population is limited, so it is impossible to quickly increase its military strength, especially the maritime strength necessary to dominate Northeast Asia. The idea is just to incorporate it. Third, Soochow is stronger than Liaodong. This incident of dispatching troops shows that Sun Quan has already regarded Liaodong as his own territory, which Gongsun Yuan can't bear; now it is Sun Quan who needs Liaodong as a strategic ally, and it is Sun Quan who is begging for himself. It’s necessary to give him a little color when he’s doing business——Liaodong is so far away from Soochow, if you dare to send a large army to recruit me, I’ll fall to Wei, and you’ll be able to walk around without food! Gongsun Yuan's back-and-forth made Sun Quan furious.Leaders want face. Sun Quan didn't feel sorry for the 10,000 expeditionary army, but Gongsun Yuan made himself too embarrassed to step down.You must know that he carried out the sea plan despite the opposition from all over the country of Wu. After such a toss, not to mention the loss of troops, I don’t know how many people laughed behind his back for the inhumanity he entrusted, and his poor vision! However, as a mature politician, Sun Quan quickly calmed down and did not let his anger go to his head.Gongsun Yuan's actions made him realize that the plan of attacking Wei from behind was not feasible - Liaodong bordered Wei and only echoed Wu from a distance, so it was obvious who Gongsun Yuan was more afraid of.Therefore, he held back his breath and did not rashly send troops to attack Gongsun Yuan. Although Sun Quan's plan did not succeed, it scared Wei Guo into a cold sweat.According to the "Three Kingdoms · Book of Wei": "Zhuge Liang talked about martial arts, while Sun Quan was in charge of Ma Liaodong." That is to say, in the eyes of Wei Guojun and ministers, Sun Quan's plan can be compared with Zhuge Liang's threat to Wei Guo.Since then, although Wu Jun did not launch large-scale ocean-going operations, he harassed Wei's border from the sea many times. It can be seen that Sun Quan's yearning for the sea did not fade because of this gangster incident, but became more intense.