Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 200: Nanyang Military Situation
In the military camp, Bai Tu exchanged greetings with each general representative in turn.
The highest rank of these grassroots generals was Sima of a separate department or a general, and most of them were colonels.
Three and a half years ago... Bai Tu was actually just a captain, but a little before that he was quite a big shot - he could write papers for others, paying 500 yuan for each.
But fate is so magical...
Giving people opportunities also gives them responsibilities.
When he arrived in front of Deng Dang, Bai Tu specifically said to a young man behind him who looked fierce and smart, "Hmm? This is Lü Meng, the man who sought tiger cubs and explored tiger dens, right?"
When Lu Meng saw that Bai Tu actually recognized him, he immediately became excited.
After all, even his brother-in-law was only a colonel at that time. It was said that... after the Chinese New Year, he would be promoted to a general and could just lead another unit on his own. However, when Lu Meng was assigned to the General of Chariots and Cavalry's Mansion, he became an even more unknown person.
"I am Lu Meng, the humble general, and I am here to meet you, my lord!" Lu Meng said.
"It's just nonsense from a child. Don't take it seriously, don't take it seriously." Deng Dang immediately said modestly.
"General Deng, there is no need to be like this. It is a good thing to have ambitions... Ziming, you also read some books when you were young, right?" After Bai Tu comforted Deng Dang, he continued to talk to Lu Meng.
Ziming is Lu Meng's courtesy name.
Seeing that Bai Tu actually knew his courtesy name, Lu Meng became even more excited and said, "I have read it, but unfortunately... I only awakened the military token from Cheng Ji, and I also wanted to join the army and make a career, so I begged my brother-in-law to take me to join the army. After that, I was busy with military affairs and neglected my studies." He said this with a regretful expression.
Deng Dang glared at him when he heard this - Are you the only one who is busy with military affairs? It's because you don't like studying that you made up this excuse!
"Don't you need to read books when leading troops? This is not to ask you to get rid of all the nonsense, but to ask you to read more principles in books, as well as military strategies and history. Huo Qubing, the champion marquis of our Han Dynasty, became a master of military strategies and a victorious general without reading military books. However, the champion marquis just didn't read military books. He never stopped thinking when he deployed troops and combined his own experience, so that his troops' marching and fighting were in line with the military strategies, but at the same time he was not bound by the military strategies. You are still young, so you should read more books when you have time." Bai Tu advised.
It seems that although the Lu family is not rich, at least their ancestors must have been wealthy, otherwise they would not have received any education.
It’s not that Bai Tu is nagging, but judging from Lu Meng’s rise to fame, he was a general who was good at learning.
Before the Battle of Chibi, when Lu Meng led the army alone, he could only fight against the Shanyue. In large-scale battles, he could only be a vanguard at most and did not have the aura of a commander-in-chief of an army at all.
Later, it was Sun Quan who persuaded him to study. When Zhou Yu died of illness and Lu Su became the commander-in-chief, only two years had passed, and Lu Meng surprised Lu Su.
Originally, in Lu Su's impression, Lu Meng was still the reckless man he was two years ago, but Lu Meng talked to him in a different way during a drinking party. Although Lu Meng and Lu Su had completely opposite strategies in dealing with Jingzhou and Liu Bei, Lu Su sighed that Lu Meng was "no longer the same A'mon from Wu."
This is also the origin of the saying "When a scholar has been away for three days, he should be treated with new eyes"...
Therefore, Bai Tu is now giving Lu Meng some advice in advance.
When Lü Meng heard this, he turned his eyes and said, "My lord, I actually like reading the most, but... I don't have access to books like the Art of War and historical anthologies."
Military strategies and history books were popular books that were banned and monopolized, just like how in later generations one cannot easily search for the production methods of explosive and dangerous items, and in the Eastern Han Dynasty... there was no such thing as the Internet.
Although Confucianism and Taoism are prevalent today, if one really had to choose, the aristocratic families would first give up their monopoly on the words of the saints, and the ones they would want to treasure the most would be these more practical "banned books".
"Good question! These will not be a problem in the future. Grassroots military officers must come to Jinling for further training before being promoted or appointed, and they will also be assessed... In addition to the required content, the Wanshi Wenguan will also have the content you need." Bai Tu said.
Lu Meng was stunned when he heard this. Originally, he wanted to be clever and ask his lord for a military book, but he didn't expect... this was going to be open to everyone?
"My lord, if everyone reads the military books, what difference does it make whether they read them or not?" Lu Meng wondered.
"Military books are not for you to recite and use as a trump card, but to teach you how to employ troops and generals. All Confucian scholars in the world have read the Analects, so why is it that only great sages like Kong Jijiu understand Confucius the best? Some people have read the Five Classics for decades, so why don't they understand principles as well as Wang Su?" Bai Tu gave two excellent examples, which made Lu Meng suddenly enlightened.
Deng Dang, who was standing by, had an idea - what did the lord just say? To send troops... "to send generals"?
Deng Dang saw the white map and saw that he seemed to be very optimistic about his brother-in-law. He was just thinking of taking this opportunity to recommend Lu Meng to the army directly under the General of Chariots and Cavalry, where he would have more opportunities to make achievements. Suddenly, he heard someone report: "My lord, there is important military information from Nanyang!"
Seeing the messenger, the horse slid to the side, stopped in a drifting side position, and then hurriedly got off to deliver the message to Bai Tu. Deng Dang had to swallow his words back. At the same time, he became worried. He didn't know whether Bai Tu would still think of Lu Meng, a nobody, after missing this opportunity.
When Bai Tu heard the military intelligence from Nanyang, he immediately understood that it must be the news from Zhu Zhi.
After all, Bai Tu did not send troops to Nanyang at this time, and even if Nanyang miraculously took the initiative to attack Yiyang, it should be Chen Dao who sent the military intelligence from Yiyang.
There was only one piece of military intelligence that could come from Nanyang - Bai Tu sent Zhu Zhi to Nanyang a month ago to lobby Zhang Xiu!
After the Battle of Wancheng, Zhang Xiu made Cao Cao realize that being obsessed with wives would not end well, and nominally he returned to the rule of Liu Biao. However... Liu Biao's control over Zhang Xiu in the Wancheng area was getting weaker and weaker.
Bai Tu originally wanted to persuade Zhang Xiu to switch to him. In this way, Jingzhou would be wide open to Bai Tu and half of it would be in the hands of the General of Chariots and Cavalry, which would make Cao Cao even more uncomfortable.
Therefore, Zhu Zhi was sent as the envoy. Zhu Zhi was a descendant of the Danyang Zhu family, one of the four major families in Jiangdong. He had a close relationship with the Sun family and it was he who recommended Sun Quan as a filial and honest official.
At this time, he had already joined the General of Chariots and Cavalry's office. Bai Tu heard that he was a good debater, so he entrusted him with the task of lobbying Zhang Xiu .
However, Zhu Zhi sent someone to report back that Cao Cao and Yuan Shao had both sent people to Wancheng, saying that Zhang Xiu was waiting for a price.
Although Zhang Xiu's strength was not first- or second-tier from the perspective of the princes, he was stationed in the central and northern parts of Nanyang, Wancheng and Rangcheng areas, which were actually strategic locations and the gateways to the north and south, and he also had the capital to be sold at a good price.
Regarding the matter of Wancheng, Bai Tu allowed Zhu Zhi to use the military intelligence channel, but... it was not urgent military intelligence, it could only be considered "important". However, it was also delivered quickly by the combination of fast horses and signal towers, which was faster than transmitting directly from Cheng Ji's Mansion.
At this time, Zhu Zhi wanted to ask Bai Tu whether he could raise the previous "price" a little bit more to try to get Zhang Xiu to side with the General of Chariots and Cavalry's Mansion.
After all, in terms of power, the General of Chariots and Cavalry's Mansion is not as good as Yuan Shao's. In terms of geographical location, the areas of Wancheng and Rangcheng in the northern and central parts of Huainan and Nanyang County are separated by several counties in the upper reaches of the Huai River, all of which are stationed by Yuan Shu's former subordinates. It is not as good as Cao Cao's control area and directly borders Zhang Xiu.
Bai Tu looked at the letter in his hand directly in front of all the soldiers - no one thought that the lord was neglecting them. These were all grassroots generals on the front line. No one wanted Bai Tu to ignore military orders. Instead, they thought that the more sensitive Bai Tu was, the better, which meant that when they asked for help in the future, Bai Tu would respond faster.
When the letter was delivered, the ink was not even dry yet - because it was a signal tower outside Jinling and had just been copied.
He also understood what Zhu Zhi meant. He hoped that Bai Tu would give him higher authority so that he would have more room to guarantee Zhang Xiu. Otherwise, he would not be competitive enough in front of the envoys of Cao Cao and Yuan Shao.
"Ziming, how about I give you a task?" Bai Tu said after a moment of hesitation.
"Ah! My lord, Ziming is still a child..." Deng Dang was shocked, thinking that Bai Tu had some important military affairs to entrust to his brother-in-law, fearing that he would cause trouble.
Although I hope Lu Meng can have better development, I can't force him to grow too fast, right?
"Haha, don't worry... I just want Ziming to go to Wancheng, Nanyang to deliver a letter to Zhu Zhubu there." Bai Tu said with a smile.
Deng Dang was relieved when he heard this, but he was also a little confused. If it was just to deliver a letter, why did he ask Ziming to go? Wasn't this a bit too weird to show his appreciation?
But Bai Tu didn't know that what he was thinking in his heart was that the role that Lu Meng could play in this matter was indeed just to deliver the letter at the very least, but the upper limit... maybe there would be a surprise.
Even though he was still "Amon of Wu" at that time, Lu Meng should have his strengths. In this regard... Bai Tu was more confident than Deng Dang, his brother-in-law.
"My lord, if that's the case, I'll set off now!" Lu Meng looked as if the military situation was urgent.
"No rush. I still need to consider this letter. Also... I need to invite one more person to go with you. You go find him first." Bai Tu said.
"Please give your instructions, my lord!" Lu Meng looked very motivated.
At this time, Lu Meng looked like a very energetic young man. Not only did he not have the composure of Zhou Yu and Lu Su, he was even worse than young Lu Xun in this respect.
Bai Tu also gave Lu Meng a "private" military order, asking him to find someone to go to Wancheng with him.
Originally, Lu Meng thought it would be someone from the General of Chariots and Cavalry's Mansion, and he was a little confused as to why he was asked to go and invite him instead of the lord sending a direct order. However, he just thought it was a test from the lord...
However, when he heard the man's identity, Lu Meng was stunned in disbelief, and even looked at Bai Tu rudely for two seconds. After that, he reacted and hurriedly took the order and left.
"Looking for the General of Chariots and Cavalry's mansion... Steward Wang of the Internal Affairs Department... Steward Li who is in charge of firewood supply... and the contact woodcutter?" Lu Meng even suspected that he was too nervous today and had hallucinations.
But Bai Tu knew that he was right and that he was talking about... that nameless person!
After the malaria incident in Shouchun was resolved, Wuming was determined to leave. Not only was he unwilling to join the army, he also rejected Bai Tu's suggestion to recommend him as a civil servant...
Bai Tu also knew that Wuming's knot was not yet resolved, and wanted to put it aside for the time being, as the meat was rotten in the pot anyway - Wuming had already agreed that he would move to Jinling in the future and deliver firewood to the General of Chariots and Cavalry's Mansion.
However, when Bai Tu casually asked Lu Bu about Zhang Xiu, he did not avoid Wuming who was about to leave. At this time, Lu Bu mentioned the phrase "Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear", which attracted Wuming's attention.
Wuming even specifically asked Baitu to let him know if the surrender was unsuccessful...
