Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 361: Changes in Nanjun
Upon seeing the news that Kuai Yue was personally leading his troops north, Bai Tu's first reaction was that Liu Biao must have been unable to govern the country, and even... had basically lost control of Jingzhou Prefecture!
For Jingzhou Prefecture, the goal of sending troops to Wancheng at this time was very clear - it wanted to unite with the Fu Han forces.
If we ignore the fact that there are still warlords of the old Xiliang fighting each other in Guanzhong and even the entire Sili, and the fact that the Xudu area is still nominally under the control of Cao Cao, the forces that are now "assisting the court" have almost become a line.
Starting from Liangzhou in the west, passing Guanzhong and Luoyang, to Xuzhou in the east, there is only the area around Xu County in the middle, which was once Cao Cao’s base camp. It is blocking the east and west ends, and... it is likely that it will not be blocked for too long!
As long as the Xu County area is connected, the Fu Han forces will be like a huge "dumbbell". The middle section is a bit thinner, but the east and west can be connected.
To use a popular term from 500 years ago, during the Warring States Period, this could be considered a perfect “lianheng”…
"Hezong" means uniting the weak to resist the strong Qin, and "Lianheng" means uniting the strong to swallow the weak. These were the two major forces on the battlefield among diplomats in the pre-Qin period.
During the Warring States Period, Qin was in Guanzhong and later annexed Bashu, always in the west. Qi was in the east along the coast, which was the Qingzhou area during the Eastern Han Dynasty. Chu was based in present-day Jingbei and occupied the south after annexing Wuyue. In the middle, from top to bottom, or from Hebei to the Central Plains, there were the Three Jins - Zhao, Wei, and Han. Yan was far away in present-day Youzhou, including part of Liaodong...
The Qin State wanted to unify the world, and its foreign policy was "Heng Lian". When it first started to move eastward, it did not directly shout "I can beat six", but focused on making friends with one or two of them - mainly Qi. This is the origin of "making friends with distant countries and attacking nearby countries".
Between Qin and Qi, there are the Three Jins, so naturally they should be the first to attack...
Moreover, during the Warring States Period, Qi State relied on its fish and salt resources to basically remain the "richest" country for a long time. Only by letting Qi State stand idly by could Qin State's eastward advance proceed smoothly. By the time Qi State reacted, it was already too late.
Today, even though Xuzhou Prefecture has lost Guangling County in Huainan, it still has almost all of Qi's territory, and a lot of Chu's territory. "Si Li + Liangzhou + Yizhou" has an additional Hexi Corridor compared to when Qin conquered Bashu and gained Hedong. It's just that Zhang Lu in Hanzhong is very troublesome and has separated Yizhou...
Therefore, to a certain extent, the Fu Han forces are now more confident, and they do have their reasons.
Of course, it is no longer possible to copy the situation in the pre-Qin period today.
Although Xuzhou Prefecture was large, it was far less wealthy than Qi State. Sili no longer had the foundation of Qin State at that time, and Guanzhong was even in ruins.
Yizhou is far more prosperous than the original Bashu, and its population is incomparable, but... there is still Hanzhong standing in the way.
The same goes for Jingzhou and Yangzhou. The south in a broad sense has advanced from "Bashan and Chushui, a barren land" to "somewhat desolate" in the past four hundred years. In the past decade, after the chaos in the Central Plains and the restoring of the general's mansion, it has further developed into "although there are more miasma, the land is not bad."
Chu? The Chu State in the pre-Qin period only looked big, and there were no people in the south. But now the population of Jingyang is far more than that of "Sili + Xuzhou + Qingzhou", especially if Nanyang County is included. Even if the auxiliary Han forces include Yizhou, it is still not enough.
However, if Jingzhou Prefecture was really allowed to open up the front line from Xinye to Wancheng, it would be difficult for Bai Tu - he might even have to consider completely turning against the imperial court in order to take back Xiangfan!
However, this move of going north to assist Han was definitely not the work of Liu Biao. In all likelihood... Liu Biao was not aware of it.
Liu Biao's identity as a clan member made him very embarrassed when facing the imperial court.
The princes of other surnames can directly treat the imperial court as a group of tools, but... as princes of the Liu surname, lowering the prestige of the imperial court is to deny their own legitimacy.
Of course, if he had both enough virtue (boxing) and talent (head), he could just kick Liu Xie out and form his own court, which would be more legitimate than other princes of other surnames. However... if he did not have enough virtue and talent, he would definitely become the target of public criticism.
The current Liu Biao, Liu Zhang, and Liu Bei combined do not have this kind of "virtue and talent", so the princes with the surname Liu would probably be unwilling to get involved with the court for their own reasons.
Cao Cao had fallen into this misunderstanding before, and was tricked by Liu Bei...
Not to mention Liu Zhang of Yizhou, he is now a mortal enemy of Zhang Lu in Hanzhong, but it was his father Liu Yan who specially supported Zhang Lu and cut off the connection between the court and Yizhou in Hanzhong!
Bai Tu really didn't believe it. Liu Biao suddenly had a sudden realization. Not only did he go against his previous strategic thinking centered on "defending the territory", but he also began to actively approach the court...
On the contrary, doing so is actually more beneficial to the Nanjun gentry, or in other words... it is more in line with their previous logic of action!
Due to geographical reasons, Xiangfan, or the northern part of Nanjun, was destined to be a major battlefield between the Central Plains and the South, and it was a plain battlefield. From the perspective of "Southern ships and Northern horses", the Southern Army going north would definitely prefer to go through Huainan, which has a rich water system, while the Northern Army going south would be more convenient to go through Nanjun.
Therefore, in the hands of the northern regime, Nanjun will be the backup for transportation and storage of materials, and will not have to worry too much about being directly attacked, and will even have more development opportunities. In the hands of the southern regime, it will be a meat shield facing the north directly, just waiting to be tossed around...
As the nobles of Nanjun, they would of course prefer to throw themselves into the arms of the north, no matter if it is Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, or the imperial court... whoever is in power can be considered!
What will happen if the General’s Mansion successfully moves north in the future?
Not to mention that in their judgment, the outcome would not be determined in a short period of time, and the general's mansion should go north along the Huainan route to the Central Plains.
By then, the North will be more defensive and focus on the Central Plains, and they will be more comfortable.
When Xuzhou and Yuzhou can no longer hold on, they will turn around and surrender to the General's Mansion...
At most they will be marginalized. No one will sacrifice them to heaven just because they did not surrender in time!
Being a "backup" is much better than being a "meat shield"... It can only be said that compared to gambling, the Nanjun gentry would rather be more "stable".
This is also the point of divergence of interests between the Nanjun gentry and Liu Biao!
Lu Su, Huang Chengyan and others had already analyzed this principle clearly for Bai Tu, so Bai Tu realized the content behind this battle report at the first moment.
As a student of Jia Xu, even though Zhang Chunhua did not immediately realize that something was wrong with Liu Biao, she understood the importance of Wancheng to the General's Mansion.
Taking advantage of the fact that Lei Xu and Zhang Xian truly trusted Zhang Chunhua because of the previous ambush, Zhang Chunhua also explained this principle to the two generals.
That is to tell them that the General's Mansion will never allow Wancheng to fall, and to inspire their confidence in defending it to the death!
"Don't worry, Master Zhang! The imperial court... We brothers from Liangzhou won't believe a single word of their lies. The food and grass in Wancheng are enough for three months. It won't be easy for the weaklings from Jingzhou to get in!" Lei Xu promised, patting his chest.
"I have also learned some military tactics from my teacher, and I hope I can help the two generals." Zhang Chunhua felt that this was a great opportunity to make a contribution and show off her reputation. She had understood Jia Xu's meaning and took a gamble.
In other places, she, as a "chief clerk of the Ministry of Revenue", would have no chance to intervene in military affairs. However, in Wancheng, she had already mentioned her "teacher", so Generals Lei and Zhang naturally agreed and even consciously acted as if they were following Zhang Chunhua's lead...
