Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 289: Relying on Distance to Obey
"Father! The white map is thousands of miles away from us. Why should we let others underestimate us? Gan Ning dared to be so rude. Why don't we..."
At this time, Gan Ning had just left the table, and Gongsun Du's eldest son, Gongsun Kang, immediately expressed his dissatisfaction to his father.
"Shut up, you act so impulsively. How can I, your father, be confident in handing Liaodong over to you in the future?" Gongsun Du said dissatisfiedly.
During the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, the Gongsun clan of Liaodong always took "relying on the distance and refusing to submit" as their guiding ideology...
From Gongsun Du to Gongsun Kang, Gongsun Gong and Gongsun Yuan, they were always ambivalent about the northern regime. Whether they surrendered or rebelled, their ultimate goal was to rely on the geographical advantages of Liaodong to become their own local tyrants.
After all, many strategists in the Central Plains have a serious lack of understanding of "Liaodong", and think that it is a barren land with few people and cold weather.
But in reality... Liaodong at that time was not just Liaodong County. The Chaohai Seafood Peninsula to the west, the northeast region... the territories of the Goguryeo people, Buyeo people, and the Three Han people all had room for intervention.
For example, Gongsun Kang, who would succeed him in the future, could only beg for mercy from the northern overlords Yuan and Cao, but the first defeat of Goguryeo, which had just experienced its first stage of expansion and development, was thanks to Gongsun Kang, and he also opened up a county...
At this time, Gongsun Du's body was already a little weak due to old age, but in the face of his father's scolding, Gongsun Kang still lowered his head and said, "Father is right." But it is not known how much he actually listened to it.
Seeing this, Gongsun Du sighed and said, "Alas, Yuan Shao is now so powerful that Cao Cao may be hard to stop. Once the Central Plains is completely occupied, Yuan Shao will sooner or later come to trouble us. If we, the Gongsun clan, want to be king in Liaodong, we must first unite internally, secondly, we must not let the princes in the south go all out to deal with us, and thirdly... we must control the barbarians as much as possible!"
Although Gongsun Du's judgment on the battle between Yuan and Cao seems ridiculous to people in later generations, it makes sense to people today.
Even among Cao Cao's civil and military officials, few dared to pat their chests and say: We have a greater chance of winning!
Historically, it was during the battle between Yuan and Cao that Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao in one fell swoop and then allowed Yuan Shao's sons to fight among themselves, causing the Central Plains and Hebei to pay little attention to Liaodong in the past few years, giving Gongsun Kang the opportunity to expand his power and consolidate his position.
"Father, according to Gan Ning, the General's Mansion has stationed troops in Zhouhu. Will it pose a threat to us?" Gongsun Gong, the second son of Gongsun Du, said in a thin voice.
The reason why his thin voice makes people feel awkward is not because of the voice change period, but because Gongsun Gong was ill when he was young and his third leg was amputated...
Hearing his second son's words, Gongsun Du's eyes flashed with regret... and deep disgust - Gongsun Gong had been quite smart when he was young, but now Gongsun Du no longer had to consider whether he was smart or not!
Especially afterwards, Gongsun Gong showed a rather conservative character, which Gongsun Du considered to be "weak", and for this reason he disliked him even more.
"Don't worry, second brother. Father was only pretending to be friendly with him before! The Zhouhu people are not far from the Three Han countries, but it will take more than a month to sail to Liaodong. What's more, they are small southerners. Are they going to travel a long distance to fight with us? Are they just asking for their lives?" Gongsun Kang said with a smile.
Gongsun Du nodded in satisfaction and said, "Yes, General Bai is far away from us, and General Yuan is our trouble now. Since they can come from afar to trade, it is most important for us to take this opportunity to strengthen ourselves. We can tolerate the generals' arrogance... but it is not worth making too big a concession!"
"Too big a concession" refers to Gan Ning's previous proposal to "assist" Lelang County in expanding Andongjin and stationing a fleet there.
However, the Gongsun clan of Liaodong was obviously not comparable to the primitive small country like Tamra. Even if Gan Ning used the excuse of "supporting the Yuan bandits at any time", it was not attractive to Gongsun Du.
Although Gongsun Du said that he would consider it, he had no intention of letting Gan Ning get his wish.
Gongsun Kang heaved a sigh of relief after hearing what his father said. The trusted aides and generals in other tents also had arrogant smiles on their faces.
Only one person had a slight smile on his face. When Gongsun Du noticed this, his expression froze and he asked in annoyance, "Does Bofang have any good ideas? Why don't you share them with us?"
Bofang was Liang Mao's courtesy name, which meant he was nominally the governor of Lelang.
The prefect of Lelang was not conferred by Gongsun Du but was appointed by the imperial court. However, when passing through Liaodong, Liang Mao was detained by Gongsun Du.
The relationship between the two can be said to be close yet distant. Gongsun Du did not force him too much, and Liang Mao did not dare to provoke Gongsun Du too much. Although he did not call him "Lord", he would generally help Gongsun Du with some advice.
"Liaodong is a land of few people. The reason why General Gongsun has such a great reputation today is that he occupied the Xianbei in the north, resisted Goguryeo in the east, and pacified Buyeo in the south... He pacified these foreign tribes. It is true that the General's Office occupied Zhouhu and could not go on a long expedition to Liaodong, but if the General's Office really made up its mind to use Zhouhu as a barrier to conquer the Three Han...
By then, whether it is Baekje or Silla, how can they be the enemy of the General's Office? If the Three Han are pacified, then Goguryeo and Buyeo will be in the General's pocket. By then, will it matter whether General Gongsun can sit firmly in Liaodong? "Liang Mao smiled slightly.
The tone was kept at a level that would not make Gongsun Du angry, but at the same time make him feel his mockery!
Gongsun Du and Gongsun Kang, father and son, could not help but change their expressions upon hearing this...
That’s right, the basis of their “relying on being far away and refusing to submit” was not Liaodong County or Liaoxi County.
In the entire Youzhou, only the western Guangyang, Zhuojun, Shanggu, and Yuyang, which were ancient counties belonging to China during the pre-Qin period, have larger populations. However, these are all Yuan Shao's territories and have nothing to do with the Gongsun clan.
The second is Lelang in the northern part of the peninsula, which barely has 50,000 households.
As for western Liaoning and eastern Liaoning, the registered population was only 16,000 households, which added up to just over 30,000. The Xuantu County at the northern end of western Liaoning had less than 10,000 households - the larger counties in the Central Plains had more than 10,000 households!
However, population and resources are not the focus of Liaodong; the most important thing is its "location".
During the Battle of Chibi, Gongsun Kang was said to have more than 100,000 soldiers, almost half of the registered population of the four Han counties! Because a large part of them were foreign troops who were coerced and followed into battle, it shows his potential.
It was not until Gongsun Yuan openly rebelled against Wei and established himself as the emperor that the Liaodong regime was destroyed by Sima Yi's troops.
Because Liaodong and Liaoxi can be said to be the bridgeheads of the Central Plains dynasty, which controlled the Korean Peninsula and the Northeast region.
The Gongsun clan was inconspicuous among the princes of the Han Dynasty, but after occupying Liaodong, Liaoxi, Xuantu and Lelang as their bases, they were able to radiate their influence.
Especially during the Gongsun Kang period, it was equivalent to occupying half of Liao Province, but controlling a small half of Northeast Asia...
On the one hand, the territory of the Han Dynasty had already reached the limit of the transportation methods at that time. On the other hand, there was also the difference between working for the government and starting one's own business. During the Three Kingdoms period, when China was in turmoil, the influence of Chinese civilization in the Northeast and the Peninsula actually increased significantly, which was precisely due to the "contracting of the princes."
The greater role of Liaoxi and Liaodong is that they are corridors leading to the Northeast and the Chaohai Peninsula.
Without this corridor, you can't enter any house, no matter how nice it is...
At the end of the Western Jin Dynasty, when the Central Plains was in chaos, Goguryeo first seized Liaodong and Liaoxi, and directly made Lelang, Daifang and other counties in the Chaohai Peninsula enclaves, and the climate was quickly annexed by Goguryeo.
However, Liang Mao pointed out another opposite point at this time - if the General's Mansion is provoked, then they will change their mindset and no longer focus on Liaodong, but turn to the Seafood Peninsula... Will it make any difference whether Liaodong is strong or not by then?
It's like someone burned down the house, and he still wants to sell the "common area" separately?
Zhouhu is far away from Liaodong, but... very close to the Three Han.
"Would the General's Mansion leave the Central Plains alone and instead covet this bitter and cold land?" Gongsun Du questioned.
Although it is called the Black Soil and the Northern Granary in later generations, for the people of the Eastern Han Dynasty, it is not wrong to say that the Northeast is a bitter and cold place. Even western Liaoning and eastern Liaoning are much colder than other places.
In terms of latitude alone, the Northeast is actually okay, as London and Chicago are also at similar latitudes. However... the Siberian breeze just happens to blow towards this area in winter, making the temperature more than ten degrees lower than areas at the same latitude.
It was still better during the Western Han Dynasty, but now it is a cold period again. In the absence of cheap means of keeping warm, this place is not very popular in agricultural civilization.
And it was far from the coldest time. By the Eastern Jin Dynasty, almost the entire Bohai Bay was frozen, and people could march on foot on the sea from Qinhuangdao to Yingkou...
In response to Gongsun Du's self-deprecating question, Liang Mao simply said, "I am not Lord Bai, and I don't know what Lord Bai means. Maybe he will, maybe he won't, but one thing is clear... Lord Bai is different from ordinary princes, otherwise he wouldn't have found Yizhou before, let alone come to Liaodong by sea.
Moreover, Governor Gan Ning seems to have the power to mobilize the navy, and his personality is... weird. I can only say that it would not be surprising if they really started with the Three Kingdoms of Korea. "
Gongsun Du and Gongsun Kang, father and son, fell silent after hearing this.
They naturally knew that Liang Mao was not on the same page as them, but... what he said did not sound unreasonable.
"Then what does Bofang think we should do?" Gongsun Du said, staring at Liang Mao with burning eyes.
Seeing Gongsun Du's eyes, Liang Mao's scalp tingled a little, and he restrained himself a little and said, "Andongjin is far away in Lelang. Even if they station a few thousand people, they can't launch a surprise attack on Liaodong. Instead, the people in the general's mansion are under the surveillance of General Gongsun. Gan Ning will probably no longer look down on the Three Han if he gets Andongjin."
Liang Mao and the Gongsun clan have never been of the same mind. Historically, in the early stage of the Battle of Chibi, Gongsun Kang wanted to take the opportunity to launch a surprise attack on Yecheng, but was stopped by Liang Mao. Liang Mao even claimed that opposing Cao was opposing Han, and reminded Gongsun Kang that it was safe to wait for a good price with an army of more than 100,000 in Liaodong while the Central Plains was in chaos. However, to march towards Hebei and the Central Plains with these hundreds of thousands of troops and Liaodong would be courting his own destruction.
In the end, Gongsun Kang gave up the idea...
Taishi Ci, Bing Yuan and others all knew something about the relationship between Liang Mao and Gongsun clan, and naturally told Gan Ning.
In fact, Gan Ning and Liang Mao had met privately before...
Gongsun Du heard this, stared at Liang Mao for a while and then laughed, "Haha, if Bo Fang, the genuine governor of Lelang, agrees, how can I stop him?"
When Gongsun Du mentioned the "Lelang governor", not only did Liang Mao feel MMP in his heart, but the atmosphere in the tent also became cold for a moment...
