Chapter 10 9. Eliminate dissidents

After Liu Yi and his henchmen were quickly wiped out, Zhuge Changmin was the only dissident who joined forces with Liu Yu to oppose Huan Xuan.Zhuge Changmin defended the capital during the Lu Xun Rebellion and made great contributions. At this time, he was appointed as the governor of the six counties of Yuzhou and Yangzhou, guarding the vicinity of the capital. Although Zhuge Changmin is also a veteran and important minister, he seems short-sighted in many aspects, and he doesn't know how to stand in a clear line, and he doesn't have the same heart with Liu Yu.When Lu Xun attacked Jiankang, Zhuge Changmin's proposition was consistent with that of Meng Chang mentioned above, and he demanded escort to move north.Liu Yu resolutely disagreed with moving to the north. Zhuge Changmin was a little smarter than Meng Chang, so he obeyed Liu Yu's dispatch and guarded Beiling with Liu Yi and others.When Lu Xun's rebellion subsided and Zhuge Changmin was promoted, he lost his memory and became complacent instead.

The two Lius fought, and in order to appease Zhuge Changmin, Liu Yu asked him to stay in the Taiwei's mansion to manage affairs, and he could bring fifty fully armed guards into the palace to prevent accidents.Without Liu Yu's strong pressure on Jiankang's side, Zhuge Changmin really thought he was great, and he didn't care about political affairs, but let his subordinates gather precious and beautiful women everywhere, and build a house for himself, which aroused the dissatisfaction of the common people. This good thing didn't last long.Liu Yi's power was extinguished, and the speed far exceeded the expectations of almost everyone, including Liu Yu himself.Only then did Zhuge Changmin wake up from a dream, and said to his cronies: "As the saying goes: 'In the past, Peng Yue was killed, and the year before last, Han Xin was killed'. Back then, Liu Bang killed the heroes one by one. I'm afraid it will be a big disaster. It's coming!"

He secretly probed Liu Yu's deputy, Liu Muzhi: "Many people in the folk say that the Taiwei (Liu Yu) is at odds with me. What's the reason?" Liu Muzhi responded: "The Taiwei went west and entrusted all the big and small things in the house to his feet, how can he say that he is at odds with you?" Only then did Zhuge Changmin feel relieved, but he was still afraid of Liu Yu and plotted against him secretly.His younger brother Zhuge Limin persuaded him to make early plans and launch a coup before Liu Yu returned to Beijing with the principle of "death lips and cold teeth". "When it is broken, it will be chaotic." Zhuge Changmin became "meticulous" when he became corrupt, but he became hesitant when his life was at stake, and said with emotion: "Hey, when you are poor and humble, you want to be rich. I am also afraid of the crisis, now I just want to be a small commoner in Dantu, why is it so difficult!"

After all, he didn't have confidence in his own strength, he didn't dare to do anything, but he was unwilling to reconcile, so he wrote a letter to Liu Jingxuan, wanting to join hands with him in the rebellion.This is really untrustworthy. Although Liu Jingxuan holds a heavy army, he is a "good boy" with no political ambitions. He is loyal to Liu Yu. When Liu Yi wanted to make trouble, he was accused of a secret by him once. He is more serious than Liu Yi. How can the weak Zhuge Changmin hope to make him defect? "Whistleblower" Liu Jingxuan sent someone to deliver the secret letter to Liu Yu who was on the Western Expedition. Liu Yu praised Liu Jingxuan for his loyalty, but he was not very worried. He only sent General Wang Dan to the capital to assist Liu Muzhi and others. people on guard.

Liu Yu led half of the army back from Jiangling to the east along the river. At the beginning, they walked with their luggage at a very slow speed.Zhuge Changmin took the court ministers and waited in Xinting every day, but there was no sign of the army for a long time.When he was approaching the capital, Liu Yu suddenly drove a light boat and led a small army to rush into the East Mansion of the Taiwei Mansion overnight. At daybreak, Zhuge Changmin heard that Liu Yu had returned to the mansion, and was shocked. In desperation, he had to go to see Liu Yu in person.Liu Yu didn't make much fanfare, and quietly ambushed a warrior named Ding Yi behind the scenes, and then met Zhuge Changmin in the hall.Liu Yu took Zhuge Changmin's hand, and the parents had a short chat.Zhuge Changmin, who was unresponsive, laughed cheerfully. Ding Yi, who was holding a sharp knife, jumped out of his back. Liu Yu's face changed suddenly. .Liu Yu also ordered Zhuge Changmin's younger brothers to be arrested. Although Zhuge Limin was brave, he couldn't stop the captors from being so powerful, and he died fighting.Zhuge Changmin's younger brother, Zhuge Youmin, fled to the mountains, but was eventually found out and killed. After Liu Yi, Zhuge's family also became victims of political struggle.

Let's talk about the other half of Liu Yu's army.After Liu Yu captured Jiangling, he deliberately made persistent efforts to attack the Shu land that Qiao Zong was defending.As mentioned earlier, Qiao Zong's separatist forces were a "by-product" of Huanxuan proclaiming himself emperor. It has been eight years since then, during which Liu Jingxuan tried to attack once in the third year of Yixi (AD 407), but failed. Come back with success.All the generals felt that the land of Shu was difficult and dangerous. If Liu Yu did not conquer it himself, it might still be difficult to succeed. However, the land of Shu was too far away from Jiankang. ).The selection of the marshal of the Shu army became a big problem.

Liu Yu not only knows war, but also knows people.Liu Yi's subordinate Mao Xiuzhi surrendered to Liu Yu after Liu Yi's defeat.Mao Xiuzhi was the nephew of the former governor of Yizhou, Mao Wei. During the mutiny in Sichuan, Mao Xiuzhi and Mao Xiuzhi’s father, Mao Jin’s family, were killed by Qiao Zong. Mao Xiuzhi happened to be working in Jiangling and escaped. From then on, he swore an oath revenge.He asked Liu Yu several times to lead troops to march west.Liu Yu was worried that when he went to Shu, he would avenge his personal revenge and kill local soldiers; the soldiers in Shu were afraid of Mao Xiuzhi, and would stick to their death, which was not conducive to "stability and unity", and was also not conducive to attacking cities and villages.

After several considerations, Liu Yu proposed to let Zhu Lingshi, who is not well-known but very talented, take up this important position, which was beyond everyone's expectations.Liu Yu gave Zhu Lingshi 20,000 people, and asked his brother-in-law Zang Xi, Kuai En, Liu Zhong and others to be Zhu Lingshi's deputy, which shows his trust in him. (Liu Yu's expedition to the west, in addition to completing the set goals, also showed his strategic vision. Through the baptism of war, he promoted and trained a group of capable generals who can be used by him, such as Wang Zhen'e and Zhu Lingshi , Laid a solid foundation for the future victory in the Northern Expedition and absolute military dominance.)

Liu Yu conspired with Zhu Lingshi to attack the route. He said: "The last time Liu Jingxuan attacked from Huanghu (now on the southeast side of the Fujiang River in Mianyang, Sichuan Province) via the inner water (referring to today's Fujiang River and its downstream Jialing River), it failed. According to Rightly, we should make another attempt via the outer water (referring to today's Chengdu City Fu River and its downstream Minjiang River). The enemy may think that we will be surprised and still attack from the inner water. In this way, they will definitely defend Fucheng with heavy troops ( Mianyang East of today’s Sichuan Province) to prevent internal water. So if we go from the yellow tiger again, we must hit the target. I think we might as well deploy a small number of suspicious soldiers to take the internal water, and use a large army to take Chengdu directly from the external water, and we will be able to win by surprise.” In order to Confidentiality, the content of the discussion is kept secret, and Zhu Lingshi's western expedition army does not know what the marching plan is.Liu Yu handed Zhu Lingshi another secret letter, with the words "Zhi Baidi will open" on the side of the envelope (Zhuge Liang's tricks are fake, but Liu Yu's tricks are true. In history, like this, you are true and I am false. stories, too many to count).

Zhu Lingshi's army went up the river, and in June of the ninth year of Yixi (AD 413), they arrived at Baidi City (now east of Fengjie, Sichuan).Zhu Lingshi opened Liu Yu's secret letter, and there were only three sentences written on it: "The main force of the whole army attacked Chengdu from the outer water; Shehongnan, Sichuan); and sent old and weak soldiers on a dozen tall ships to attack Huanghu from the inland water." (The only regret is that this kit lacks a little surprise, Zhu Lingshi must Having digested the essence of Liu Yu's strategic thinking, this letter is just a reasonable arrangement of personnel. But Liu Yu wrote this letter in his own name, which can prevent everyone from , The phenomenon of not following general orders, so as to promote the comprehensive implementation of strategic thinking.)

Zhu Lingshi got the kit, so he arranged it, and the army did both.As expected, Wang Qiaozong of Chengdu was counted by Liu Yu. After he got the information, he determined that the suspected soldiers in Neishui were the main force of the Jin army, and ordered Qiao Daofu to guard Fucheng with heavy troops to prevent the Jin army from attacking from Neishui.In this way, Zhu Lingshi's main marching route almost became an undefended area for the Shu soldiers, and the army soon arrived at Pengmo (now the east bank of the Minjiang River in the southeast of Pengshan Mountain, Sichuan), only 200 miles away from Chengdu.Qiao Zongcai ordered Hou Hui and Qiao Shen to lead ten thousand soldiers and horses to station at Pengmo, and to build fortifications across the outer waters to defend them. It was midsummer, and Zhu Lingshi wanted to wait for work with leisure, so as to slow down the opportunity to attack the city.The general Liu Zhong said: "This is impossible. We attack the inner water with empty soldiers, and Qiao Daofu will not dare to move. Now that the soldiers suddenly come, the Shu soldiers are already frightened. The reason why they guard the dangerous place is because they are afraid. Us. If we attack with elites now, we will win a complete victory. If we slow down, the Shu soldiers will understand that our army is here, and when Qiao Daofu returns from Fucheng, we will be difficult to deal with." Zhu Lingshi obeyed the suggestion, led Kuai En and Liu Zhong to attack Peng Mo, conquered the precipitous and difficult north city of Peng Mo, beheaded Hou Hui and Qiao Shen, turned to attack the south city, and took them together.At the same time, Zang Xi and Zhu Mei also defeated Shu generals Qiao Fuzhi and Qiao Xiaogou (very interesting names), and captured Guanghan. Zhu Lingshi ordered to abandon the ships and advance with infantry. Qiao Zong's soldiers were all scattered by the wind.The King Qiaozong of Chengdu who has no kingly demeanor (when the generals pushed him to be the master, he insisted on refusing to do so, and even tried to escape by diving. Such a person without courage can become the king of a separate party, which shows that the world is in chaos and it is close to the extreme) Abandoned City escape.His daughter, who was more sensible than him, persuaded him, "It's hard to escape now, and you're just asking yourself to be humiliated. It's better to wait to die in the city, and you can die in front of the ancestor's tomb." Qiao Zong refused to listen, and went to Qiao Daofu who came to rescue him, but was despised by Qiao Daofu.Qiao Daofu scolded him and said: "The man has made such a great achievement but gave up. Where else do you want to go? Since ancient times, no one has died. What is there to be afraid of?" Qiao Zong had no choice but to flee to a secluded place and hang himself by pulling on his belt (About Qiao Zong's death, there is another theory that he was killed by a local named Wang Zhi in Fucheng. The former can be seen in "Book of Jin" and "Book of Song", and the latter can be found in "Book of Song" and "Southern History". No matter how he dies, this king who is afraid of death will not end well in the end).Qiao Daofu still wanted to fight with the crowd, but the soldiers didn't want to obey his command anymore, so they divided up their belongings and dispersed. Qiao Daofu went to the Liaoren tribe in Guanghan, but was also caught by the locals and sent to the Jin army to behead. . Liu Yu's two battles in the west fully explored the handsome talents of Wang Zhen'e and Zhu Lingshi, and successfully eliminated dissidents, regained Jingzhou, Yizhou and other places, killing birds with one stone.At this time, Liu Yu was not only an excellent military strategist, but also a very promising politician.After this series of victories, Liu Yu's ambitions swelled sharply, and he was unwilling to let go of Sima Xiuzhi, the Eastern Jin clan who succeeded Jingzhou governor.