Luoyang and Jingzhou 2

Until now, Sima Yi had not been the main axis of war.

In the wars of the Central Plains, he participated as an advisor, so he couldn’t coordinate the battlefield proactively.

The operations in which he participated with even partial military command were not in the Central Plains but on the periphery. Northern barbarian subjugation, attacks on Gongsun clan forces in Liaodong, or post-war cleanup in the Central Plains were about all.

This was because the command of the army was only allowed to the Cao clan, the Xiahou clan, and relatives.

Cao Pi, who had received Cao Cao’s consideration, ironically followed Cao Cao’s will regarding his imperial authority diligently while being careless about Cao Cao’s memorial services.

But now that’s old news.

Facing an unprecedented crisis, Cao Pi began to grant military authority based on ability rather than bloodline.

The tiger that had been holding its breath finally threw off its leash and was released onto the plains where it could freely flaunt its claws.

Among Zhang He, Xu Huang, and Sima Yi, Zhuge Liang and I were most wary of Sima Yi by far. I know Sima Yi’s fearsome nature through knowledge of the future, but I didn’t know Zhuge Liang would also be so alert to Sima Yi.

While I was wondering if this was a fateful intuition, Zhuge Liang explained step by step why we should be cautious of Sima Yi.

And the explanation I heard then was being repeated now.

“Your Majesty, you must not underestimate Sima Yi. The world considers Zhen Jun, who devised the Nine-rank System for Cao Pi’s son-in-law, to be the top, but when I discussed with Mingjing, indeed Sima Yi is worthy of being at the top.”

Zhuge Liang, who highly evaluated Sima Yi from the start, began to explain the reasons to Liu Bei, who still looked unconvinced.

“When Cao Cao occupied Hanzhong before, Sima Yi put forth a strategy to continue southward and attack Sichuan, and even just looking at the northern battles, we can well know his bold and matchless nature.”

“I remember that Gongsun Yuan acted up and was defeated by Sima Yi.”

Gongsun Gong, who bowed his head to Wei, was the younger brother of Gongsun Kang, the former leader of the Gongsun clan, but he ascended to the leadership position because Gongsun Yuan was young.

But taking advantage of Wei’s staggering, Gongsun Yuan plotted restoration with Kebineng, and Gongsun Gong seemed to be collapsing.

The one who stepped up then was Sima Yi.

While Tian Yu dealt with Kebineng, Sima Yi showed an unbelievable lightning maneuver and attacked Gongsun Yuan. Sima Yi, who defeated Gongsun Yuan at once with a reckless offensive, exterminated the Gongsun clan and made Liaodong completely Wei territory.

It was just when he finished the absorption work of Liaodong and returned to Ye that I was in Ye for condolences.

“Your Majesty, in my view too, Sima Yi is a fearsome person.”

“Yes. Mingjing, you said you saw Sima Yi directly in Ye.”

“Yes. It was also Sima Yi who came up with the strategy to urge Sun Quan’s betrayal and jointly attack Jingzhou, and the trick that troubled me was also Sima Yi’s strategy.”

“Hmm… but didn’t both of those fail?”

“The former was possible because our country was prepared for Sun Quan’s betrayal, but without the Grand Tutor, our country would have suffered greatly. Also, the latter was because Cao Pi’s nature couldn’t keep up with Sima Yi’s strategy, so it’s difficult to see it as Sima Yi’s shortcoming.”

It seems there was an internal problem in Cao Cao’s case when he retreated citing the Denglu Mangchu, so the opinions of Cao Cao and Sima Yi would be just a difference in stance.

However, in the original history, Sima Yi’s advocated attack on Jingzhou through the reversal of alliances ended in great success.

If Sima Yi has any shortcoming, it would probably be the almost unreasonable misfortune that there was someone who knew the future among the enemy.

With Zhuge Liang and I unanimously arguing that we should be wary of Sima Yi, Liu Bei muttered as if he had to acknowledge it even if he didn’t understand:

“Huh… so Sima Yi is to that extent.”

It’s not just Sima Yi who is a pressuring presence.

Xu Huang and Zhang He are no less formidable opponents.

Although there’s a sense of poor performance in recent records, that’s because the soldiers under him were either new recruits or few in number, not due to Xu Huang’s lack of ability.

In Guan Yu’s memorial requesting to attack Luoyang, Sima Yi and Zhang He are mentioned only in passing, but Xu Huang is written about in great detail.

The gist of Guan Yu’s memorial was that if we could just pass Wancheng guarded by Xu Huang, it would be a smooth road to Luoyang, and he explained how he would break through Xu Huang for that.

However, Liu Bei wrote his reply to Guan Yu worrying about Zhang He as much as Xu Huang.

During the time Liu Bei was under Cao Cao, Liu Bei had met Zhang He. And Liu Bei understood why Cao Cao was so cautious and careful when dealing with Zhang He.

“Zhang He is a hero. Not only can he command an army like Yunchang, but he has the capacity to rule over a region, so even for Yunchang, defeating both Xu Huang and Zhang He would be difficult.”

Liu Bei repeated his evaluation of Sima Yi, Xu Huang, and Zhang He as if to console his own regret.

To cut through Liu Bei’s anguish caught in conflict, Zhuge Liang drove in the final nail:

“Your Majesty, if we gain Jingzhou, it will become much easier to attack Sun Quan through amphibious operations of water and land routes via the Yangtze River. Moreover, it not only halves Sun Quan’s influence in Jiaozhi but also allows us to enter Jiaozhi from both north and west, so it’s like gaining a bridgehead for recovering Jiaozhi.”

“Would Cao Cao just sit and watch that? If our country attacks Jingzhou, they too will raise an army.”

The idea that they share the same fate was no longer applicable only to Han and Wu.

If Han rises, Wei and Wu will join hands to stop it.

If Wei tries to recover, Han and Wu will join hands to hold it back.

It’s said that Wu is showing active expansionism by increasing its power this time, but if we seem about to occupy Jingzhou, Wei will stop the war and attack us.

“The symbolism of Luoyang will become their shackles this time.”

They won’t be able to move because of Luoyang.

Because its value is too great, they can’t allow a gap to form in Luoyang’s defense by rashly raising an army.

“If the Grand Tutor and the General Who Steadies Distant Lands aim for Luoyang from Guanzhong, and the General Who Manifests Firmness gathers the barbarians of Hato to pressure Cao Cao’s Bingzhou, they won’t be able to act rashly.”

The judgment to use Luoyang not as a target to occupy but as a means to tie down Wei’s army.

Zhuge Liang prioritized a more stable and certain method rather than adventure.

“Raise an army this time to recover Jingzhou, and lead Shi She’s allegiance to embrace Jiaozhi. If you then entrust the armies of three routes – Jingzhou water route, Jingzhou land route, and Jiaozhi land route – to the General-in-Chief, the General Who Steadies Distant Lands, and the General of the Guards respectively, Sun Quan will not dare to withstand.”

The situation of dividing the world into three as spoken of at Longzhong has been successfully established. So Zhuge Liang prepared for the next step.

“Soon it will be the plan to divide the world into two.”

Jingzhou, Yizhou, Yongzhou, Liangzhou, Jiaozhi, Yangzhou, Guanzhong.

If we occupy more than half of the land under heaven, then time will be on Han’s side.

From then on, time will smile upon Han, so if we just keep moving forward one step at a time without retreating, we will reach the great cause of unifying the world.

“Dividing the world into three, dividing the world into two, and then unifying the world.”

Liu Bei muttered as if entranced.

The magic of unifying the world shakes people’s hearts far more profoundly than that of Luoyang.

However, Liu Bei soon broke free from that enchantment and said:

“No matter how many times Sun Quan has betrayed our country, and no matter how great the value Jingzhou holds compared to Luoyang, would the world truly acknowledge that? Our mortal enemy is Cao Cao, who dared to oppress the Filial and Benevolent Emperor and usurp the throne.”

Justification.

Righteousness.

That was Liu Bei’s root and his most powerful weapon.

Only the deaths of brothers he loved more than blood relatives could make Liu Bei disregard justification.

Attacking Wu first instead of Wei.

Prioritizing Jingzhou over Luoyang.

Liu Bei wanted a justification that could convince the masses of the legitimacy of that choice.

Without hesitation, Zhuge Liang answered immediately:

“That is what we must do.”

§

Click.

As the reminiscence ended, the Go game also concluded.

It was a crushing victory for White without even needing to count territory. Fei Yi, whose skills had improved from facing future techniques, had now become almost equal to me and our games often ended with a difference of one point. But since I had given a three-stone handicap, this was the natural result.

Fei Yi, having seen and heard the Go game result showing the difficulty of capturing Luoyang and Zhuge Liang’s policy proposal to Liu Bei after Longzhong, fell into thought for a moment.

Befitting a master of multitasking, his hands were still moving the Go stones to count territory while thinking.

I too helped move the stones while saying:

“Of course, this is just the overall framework. We’ll have to think about ways to prevent Sun Quan from surrendering to Cao Pi entirely, and to block Cao Cao’s intervention in this process, and so on.”

If the Longzhong Plan was premised on allying with Sun Quan to attack Wei,

This new grand plan, proposed at the Zhang family estate so let’s tentatively call it the Zhang Family Plan, was premised on absorbing Wu based on the division between Sun Quan and Cao Pi.

Actually, both Zhuge Liang’s Longzhong Plan and the Zhang Family Plan were surprisingly lacking in complex details.

However, the reason I agreed with Zhuge Liang’s Zhang Family Plan was that I already knew solutions that would more than fill those gaps.

‘Cao Pi’s death.’

Following the original history, in just a few years from now, Cao Pi dies.

Of course, I’m not certain things will flow exactly that way.

However, even if the flow of history seems coincidental, there is verisimilitude in the process of reaching that coincidence.

I saw that Cao Pi still liked indulging in women and alcohol, and I heard that he went south on a personal campaign to deal with Sun Quan, just like in the original history.

Wasn’t Cao Pi’s cause of death said to be illness? The possibility of Cao Pi living a long and healthy life this time is not very high.

‘But this is just an assumption, so I shouldn’t rely on this alone.’

I prayed earnestly for Cao Pi’s death.

While I was praying, Fei Yi seemed to have finished organizing his thoughts and opened his mouth:

“Then, was the operation you carried out on Zhuge Ke for the justification you mentioned?”

“That’s right.”

“Hmm…”

To Fei Yi, who still seemed doubtful whether this would really work, I shrugged my shoulders and said:

“I’m not certain this will definitely work either. The Chancellor said he’s making separate preparations too. The more contingencies, the better, right?”

But even while saying this, I believed Zhuge Ke would act as I hoped.

I believed in his arrogance.

‘Hang in there, Zhuge Ke.’

Don’t lose to Zhuge Jin.