Plan to cut off the nine states

"Where else is Mr. Xu going?" Ma Wei's tone was cold, but in his heart he urged himself to make up his mind.

"No, I just think Jizhou is too dangerous. Going anywhere is safer than going north."

Gao Shengze couldn't help but said: "It is precisely because of the danger that we have to..."

Ma Wei smiled and said to the old eunuch: "You don't understand the way counselors talk. Mr. Xu has something to say to me."

Gao Shengze hummed, obviously not appreciating this way of speaking.

Ma Wei looked at Xu Chu, "It's hard for you to endure it for so many days."

Xu Chu smiled and said: "You have to choose the best time."

"Well, Bao Dun needs three days to recruit troops. There is no need to surrender. He must come out of the city to see me before dark. Otherwise, Liang Jun will still attack the city. This is just a training exercise. Gao Shengze, go and pass on my order." Wei wrote a military order in his own hand, stamped it and gave it to the old eunuch.

Gao Shengze took the order and hurried out of the tent.

Ma Wei then said to the guard at the door: "Go out and guard. No one is allowed to come in without my order."

The guard took the order, and Ma Wei said to Xu Chu: "I will give you a better opportunity."

There was no one else in the tent, Xu Chu said with a smile: "Thank you very much. When Liang Wang enters Jizhou from the north, does he still want to occupy Yecheng?"

"certainly."

"Before sending troops, we must first establish an emperor, right?"

"Um."

"Who is King Liang going to appoint?"

"You can guess."

"King Jibei, he is the father of Emperor Yuyang, and he is just ahead of him."

"That's right."

"After capturing Yecheng, we have to continue heading north to Yuyang."

"Exactly."

"How long will it take King Liang to prepare to conquer Yecheng and Yuyang?"

"Yecheng is empty and Yuyang has few soldiers. All of them should be in my hands within a month."

“Early winter is here, and after January it’s already snowing heavily.”

"I just want to take this risk and seize the big city of Jizhou and various checkpoints before the heavy snow blocks the road, so that the He Rong people have no time to rush to rescue."

"What if the snow comes early?"

"I would be in a dilemma."

"What if He Rongren has another surprise attack?"

"I'm going to be a total failure."

"What if the He Rong people attack Jizhou first next spring?"

“I’ll be a flash in the pan.”

"It turns out that Prince Liang has thought of it."

Ma Wei smiled and said: "You told Bao Dun that you must have ambition to survive in troubled times. I agree very much, but the road to ambition is not smooth. You must dare to take risks and be good at taking risks. I have been thinking about attacking Jizhou for a long time: On the weather and time , I asked many people who are good at observing the sky, and they all said that winter will come later this year, which is convenient for the Liang army to fight; in terms of geographical advantages, He Rong's army is far away in Qinzhou, eyeing Han and Jing, and the Bingzhou army is trapped in Xiangyang, and Huaizhou is prosperous The family only wants to protect themselves. King Ning of Jiangdong is interested in Jiangnan, and no one can save Jizhou. When it comes to human relations, it is the weakest part. You brought me a good idea. Choose a new emperor and send him back. Yecheng, summon Emperor Yuyang to come and pay homage to my father - everything will fall into place."

"When Shanyu hears the news, he will definitely save Jizhou first." Xu Chu said.

Ma Wei nodded, "We must save him, but for Qinzhou's He Rong cavalry, Jizhou is far away and Dongdu is close. If my guess is correct, Shanyu will definitely send troops to surround Dongdu and force me to return to defense."

"Will Prince Liang come back?"

Ma Wei couldn't help but smile proudly, "This is the core of the whole plan. Everyone thinks I care about Dongdu, but in fact it is just a bait. If Dongdu can be held, of course it would be great, but if not, it doesn't matter to me too much." Big loss.”

"There are many people from Luozhou among Liang Jun, right?"

"Bingzhou people and Luozhou people each account for 30 to 40%. It doesn't matter. When I establish myself in Jizhou, sooner or later I will take them back to Luozhou to seize the Eastern Capital and avenge the unfortunate casualties of my family."

"Who does King Liang plan to send to guard the Eastern Capital?"

Ma Wei sighed softly, "It must be Pan Kai to convince the heroes that I still care about Dongdu. Not only that, the princess and others must also stay."

For Ma Wei, his wife and children are all external possessions. He will not take them with him when he flees, but he will be put in danger when he lures the enemy.

Xu Chu knew all about this, so he had nothing to advise.

"Master Xu, what else do you want to ask?"

Xu Chu shook his head.

"What else do you want to persuade?"

Xu Chu nodded.

"What, you still think my plan is not thorough enough?"

"It has been very thorough, but there are too few people, too many geographical advantages, and the weather is unpredictable. Liang Jun will rely on luck 80% to 90% of the time in this battle."

Ma Wei said coldly: "If Daliang's luck has not been exhausted, God's will will provide for it. If it has been exhausted, I will accept my fate after this battle. What's more, since it is an adventure, there is no guarantee of success. Mr. Xu is wanted by Shan Yu." , but being able to move around, I’m afraid you have a lot of luck, right?”

"It's quite a lot, but you have to do your best first, and then try to luck out, so you don't regret it too late."

“What do you think there’s still ‘people stuff’ to do?”

"There are really a few. The first is the Sheng family in Huaizhou. King Liang cannot rely solely on King Ning to contain him, and needs to take more precautions."

"What else can the Sheng family do?"

"The Sheng family can accept Yuyang's win over. One has the strength of the military and the other has the reputation of being the emperor. They can complement each other. If you say that Yuyang has done nothing about this, I don't believe it."

"Hey." Ma Wei's face changed slightly, and then he smiled again, "These few words Mr. Xu said make me believe that you really have my best interests in mind."

"Whoever I am in front of, I have my best interests at heart. If the other party doesn't listen or believe me, I will use tricks."

"Haha, you never need to use tricks in front of me." Ma Wei thought for a while, "Do you think I need to negotiate peace with the Sheng family?"

"When the Liang army enters Ji, all the other powers are far away, and only the Sheng family is close. This is a great danger. We must negotiate peace and offer them a big bet to keep them in place."

"Well, this is the first point, what about the second point?"

"Jizhou is weak, and most of the Liang army's soldiers are not native to the area. Even if they can successfully capture it, they only have one winter to consolidate it, and it is difficult to see results."

"What if we can convince the Sheng family to stay put and use Dongdu as bait? Can they be defeated by Jizhou's weakness?"

"Luo and Huai are stable, and only one wing of Jizhou is safe, and the other wing is still a big loophole."

Ma Wei showed a surprised expression, "You mean to take Bingzhou too?"

"The Chanyu has recruited soldiers and civilians from the north, and Jizhou is empty, Bingzhou is also empty, and there are many Bingzhou people in the Liang army, so why can't they attack?"

"The Liang army has few troops, so it is not appropriate to divide them, let alone seize How to defend Bingzhou after taking it?"

"What the King of Liang wants to defend is Jizhou, not Bingzhou."

Ma Wei seemed to have realized something, but was still worried that dividing the troops would weaken his own strength, "Let me think about it. Is there a third one?"

"Third, the biggest enemy of the Liang army in taking Ji is He Rong's troops. If you want to trap He Rong's cavalry firmly on the battlefields of Han and Jing, the King of Liang needs to do more "personnel work." "

Ma Wei understood quickly this time and smiled, "You still haven't forgotten the original purpose and still want to send an "emperor" to Xiangyang."

"The King of Liang wants to establish the King of Jibei, so why keep the King of Xiangdong?"

"If you establish another one, the Zhang family will have three emperors. The King of Ning may also establish one in Jiangdong. What virtue and ability does the Zhang family have to have four emperors at the same time?"

"The more emperors the Zhang family has, the less threat it poses to the King of Liang, isn't it?"

"But The value of the emperor is also lower. "

"Weighing the pros and cons, it is better to establish more. "

"There is no fourth one, right?"

"No."

"Hey, your circle is too big, I have to suspect that you have ulterior motives."

"As I said just now, I offer advice with my heart, but I am often not trusted."

"Mr. Xu, ask yourself, is it reasonable that everyone does not trust you?"

"Thinking about what I did in the past, it is reasonable for them not to believe in me, so I don't complain or force it, I just change to another one."

"You can't leave this time." Ma Wei murmured, and suddenly raised his eyes, "I have kept all the three points you said in mind, and I need to think carefully."

"This is not something that needs to be decided immediately."

"Xu Chu said goodbye, and just turned around, Ma Wei said again: "You used to be a king, and now you are a counselor. Tell me the truth, what is the difference between the two that you will not regret until now?"

Xu Chu turned around, "Counselors can make mistakes, but kings cannot."

Ma Wei laughed, "Of course, if a counselor makes a mistake, the king will bear all the consequences. The counselor can change a new master. If the king makes a mistake--" Ma Wei's smile gradually disappeared, "You can only bear it yourself. If you can't bear it, you will die. But no matter how many times I am given a choice, I will be king. There is no other reason. I am a descendant of the Daliang Emperor and I am destined to take this dangerous road. If I succeed, I will rule the world. If I fail, I will die and my reputation will be destroyed."

Ma Wei leaned forward, his expression extremely serious, "You must stay. Only after I die and my reputation is destroyed can you change a new master."

Xu Chu smiled and left the tent without any explanation.

Gao Shengze was waiting outside anxiously. When he saw Xu Chu coming out, he jumped in immediately without even saying hello.

Xu Chu returned to his tent, feeling very tired, and immediately sat on the bunk to rest.

Chang Yanzhi brought hot tea, "Sir, have you heard? There was news just from Xiangyang that the defenders were defeated and the Bingzhou army is about to capture the city."

Xu Chu was shocked, "So fast?"

"The Bingzhou army is strong and the Xiangyang defenders are half-hearted... To be honest, it's amazing that they dare to resist."

Xu Chu sighed.

"Sir, have you convinced the King of Liang?"

Xu Chu shook his head. Ma Wei deliberately dismissed everyone, which meant that not a word of the conversation could be leaked. Xu Chu's heart moved and he found that for the first time he regarded the King of Liang as a target to assist.

Chang Yanzhi misunderstood his meaning, "Sir, you have tried your best. Anyway, it's too late, let's forget about it. Are you going to... somewhere else?"

Chang Yanzhi was particularly concerned about whether Xu Chu was going to join the King of Ning.

"If you go, go to Huaizhou." Xu Chu smiled.

"Because you haven't been there yet?"

"Wait." Xu Chu lay down without explaining.

Before dark, Bao Dun really went out of the city to see King Liang, alone, without any followers. When he arrived at the tent, he knelt before King Liang, performed the etiquette of a subject, and called himself a simple man from Runan, very humble.

Ma Wei was very surprised, and Xu Chu, who was called to be a witness, was also a little surprised. When Bao Dun stood up and drank with King Liang as a guest, Xu Chu realized that Bao Dun was not a vain reputation as a great man in Runan. In terms of worldly affairs, he was much more mature than him and Ma Wei.

Ma Wei originally wanted to give the Lord of Runan a show of strength, but after the banquet, he officially conferred Bao Dun several titles such as the Governor of Runan and the General of the Left Guard, which seemed to be a sign of his right-hand man.

Bao Dun returned to the city overnight. Ma Wei said to Xu Chu: "I thought we would only get 8,000 soldiers, but now it seems that we may get an important official."

"Congratulations, King Liang."

"You recommended Bao Dun, so you have made a contribution. Why don't you make another contribution?"

"Does King Liang need me to persuade someone?"

"I have thought carefully about the three points you mentioned. I will think about the last two points again, but one point must be implemented immediately - you will go to Huaizhou as my envoy. Whether it succeeds or not, if you come back, I will trust you completely from now on. If you don't come back, you should never come to see me again."