Volume 5: Overlord of the Sea Chapter 624: The Longyou Alliance
In the ninth year of the Chuli reign, not only did the Shuhou Mansion in Xichuan surrender, Yizhou apparently completely changed its ownership, and the two states of Qing and Xu also changed their flags one after another.
Taking advantage of the death of Liu Bei, the State of Wei went directly south to Qingzhou, while the State of Chu, relying on the fact that Liu Bei had survived, surrendered Xuzhou...
At the same time, the troops originally stationed on the eastern coast of Qingzhou, under the leadership of Lu Meng, assisted Guan Ping, who was left behind by the Qi army, to resist the invasion of Wei.
However, at the beginning, because of the poor information, Guan Ping naturally did not trust Lu Meng and did not cooperate with him from the beginning. Instead, many misunderstandings occurred, which allowed the State of Wei to take the initiative and actually invade Qingzhou. Guan Ping could only rely on Donglai controlled by the State of Chu to barely block the offensive of the State of Wei.
It was not only the military support from the two ports of Qingzhou that made the contribution.
The troops of "Marquis of An Wei" stationed in Nanpi, also under the leadership of Lu Bu, attacked Leling - not seeking to really take it down, but to prevent Wei from comfortably transferring troops to Qingzhou!
As a result of the delays, Wei State had not yet recovered half of Qingzhou when Chu State had already settled in Xuzhou.
Although the main force of the Chu army was basically in Guandu and the number of people in other battlefields was smaller, it was easy to slow down Wei's pace of recovering Qingzhou.
Not to mention, Lu Bu was extremely fierce, causing internal and external troubles in Jizhou...
On the other hand, Sun Ce led his army into Longyou in the spring, hoping that Ma Chao would continue to fulfill the agreement agreed with Zhuge Liang, but the target of his allegiance was changed to the State of Chu, and... the conditions were even more harsh!
Originally, if the conditions remained unchanged, Ma Chao would not mind too much. After all, Zhuge Liang had already said everything that needed to be said, and Ma Chao had already agreed to it once.
However, the problem was that the State of Chu did not want to agree to the conditions promised by Zhuge Liang - to be the king of Chu and to rule Hetao and Longyou? Just think about it!
The conditions that Chu offered to Ma Chao were the same as those for other surrendered princes: to be granted a title of nobility and hereditary succession, but only the income from the "agricultural tax" of the fiefdom belonged to the title holder.
Of course, this refers to Ma Chao's surrender as a vassal. In addition, Ma Chao, as a general, still controls the Longyou army after surrendering to Chu, and can be directly awarded the rank of deputy general...
But even so, Ma Chao would not be willing.
I even felt that Sun Ce was here to cause trouble!
Fortunately, Sun Ce did not leave Zhou Yu behind. Thanks to Zhou Yu's analysis of the pros and cons, Ma Chao did not have to go into battle directly with Sun Ce.
The logic that Zhou Yu wanted to sort out was actually very simple - this was no longer the time for the princes to fight for hegemony, and within a year, the world would be completely divided into the only two remaining parties, Chu and Wei.
As for Xichuan, it is estimated that it will not last for two or three months if the pseudo-Han cannot intervene. As for the pseudo-Han... it will definitely be divided up by the two quickly.
Xiliang Longyou?
Even if Ma Chao was really assisted by God and quickly recovered the Hetao area, he could not compare with Wei and Chu.
Moreover, whether it is Hetao or Longyou, considering the geographical location or the people's relationship, they do not have the capital to stand apart from Wei and Chu!
Firstly, the Han people account for a very small proportion of the population in the two places, and compared with the population in other regions, the number of Xiongnu and Qiang is not large either - as can be seen from productivity, with the same geographical resources, agricultural civilization can support far more people than nomadic civilization or fishing and hunting civilization.
However, in the era of cold weapons, the nomadic civilization had such a huge advantage in warfare that it could easily occupy large tracts of plains, making the agricultural civilization with the same population "vulnerable."
However, even if Ma Chao unified Xiliang and Hetao and continued to be the "divine general" of the Xiongnu and the Qiang, what would he do next? Would he go north to compete with the Xianbei for the desert grassland?
This is indeed an idea, but everyone knows that no matter whether it is Wei or Chu, as long as they unify China, what they need to do next is to take back Xiliang and Hetao...
Ma Chao's choice was to help Chu suppress the Hetao Xiongnu and Qiang people instigated by Wei, or to join forces with Wei... and be liquidated together with Chu!
In Zhou Yu's words, even if Ma Chao chose the latter, Chu would not have a headache...
Where can Longyou attack?
Either Guanzhong, Hanzhong, or Hetao - what would happen if Ma Chao defected to Wei? Attack Hanzhong?
When Zhang Lu was in Hanzhong before, Ma Chao couldn’t conquer him, so there is no chance now!
Enter Guanzhong? Sun Ce was confident that he could stop him in Chencang. Moreover, Guanzhong was no longer the main battlefield of the struggle between Chu and Wei. Chu was only thinking of "not letting the 800-li Qinchuan become a support area for Wei" in Guanzhong. It didn't matter if they couldn't occupy it. As long as the war was going on, the 800-li Qinchuan would not be of any help to Wei.
Sima Yi's strategy of cutting off the source of the problem also tightened the strategic rhythm of the Chu State.
I would rather expand the war than "quickly defeat" the State of Wei!
After all, without the buffer of the Han Dynasty, Chu and Wei could only fight head-on, and the chaos among the Wei gentry also made Bai Tu not want to delay any longer!
Ma Chao's entry into Guanzhong only made the "pot of porridge" taste more like that of Wei, but still no one could drink it.
For Ma Chao, the only meaningful thing is to enter the Hetao map...
However, the Xiongnu and Qiang people in Hetao are now allies of Wei!
In Zhou Yu's words, Ma Chao can only choose Chu now, that is, accept the Chu officials to enter Liang Province. After that, when Ma Chao conquers Hetao, not only will Sun Ce's troops provide support, but there will also be a steady supply from Hanzhong.
Ma Chao accepted Zhou Yu's opinion and...rejected him!
If one only considers the pros and cons, Ma Chao can only "temporarily surrender to Chu". Unless Chu unexpectedly loses to Wei in the North-South dispute in the future and turns to a completely defensive position, Ma Chao will have the possibility of regaining his independence.
However, Ma Chao did not judge based on pros and cons alone...
As a warrior, Ma Chao has a strong desire for power, otherwise Ma Teng would not be sidelined and provided for in retirement now. However, as a prince, Ma Chao is also very emotional!
This is somewhat similar to Sun Ce back then...
Even if the pros and cons are clearly explained, Ma Chao still maintains the attitude of "my fate is in my own hands".
However, he did accept Zhou Yu's analysis and set his target on Hetao. His target could only be Hetao. Could he attack the Western Regions? The Hexi Corridor was too long and there were no supplies along the way. Even the poorer central dynasties could not afford to support the Western Regions Protectorate, let alone Ma Chao.
On the contrary, as long as the State of Chu cooperates, both the Western Regions and Hexi can be taken into the arms of the State of Chu in a few years or even decades.
Without Sun Ce's help, Ma Chao changed the agreement. He would not surrender to Chu, but would accept Chu's "supervision". During this period, he would go north to fight. At the same time... Chu would also have to pay military salaries and military supplies!
Sun Ce didn't want to agree at first, but under Ma Chao's provocation, he changed to another agreement...
The Chu army left, but Sun Ce could stay. Ma Chao and Sun Ce would fight once a month. If Ma Chao won, the Chu State would have to pay one month's military supplies. If it was a draw, neither side owed the other anything. If Ma Chao lost... he would immediately agree to Zhou Yu's conditions!
Zhou Yu, who truly mastered the decision-making power given by Bai Tu, finally agreed to Ma Chao's conditions. After all, these were based on the premise that Ma Chao was indeed attacking Hetao or Hexi.
Sun Ce was very moved, but he didn't know... Zhou Yu's calculation was that before the outcome of the Battle of Guandu was decided, even if Sun Ce kept losing, it would not be considered a loss!
And Ma Chao's character, as well as the current situation in Longyou, made Zhou Yu not worry that Ma Chao would directly break the contract and take Sun Ce as a hostage...
