Chapter 152: Planning for Chen State and luring the snake out of its hole Qin Zhen did not have a very deep impression of Liu Chong. Because Liu Chong did not accomplish much in the late Han Dynasty, and as a prince, he was not even as good as Liu Yao and others. Generally speaking, history records four major events. The first was that during the reign of Emperor Ling of Han, Chen State Prime Minister Shi Qian reported to the emperor that Liu Chong and Wei Yin had offered sacrifices to the gods together, which was a crime of high treason. But because Liu Hong had just dealt with the King of Bohai, he pardoned him. The second was the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Liu Chong relied on thousands of powerful crossbows to protect the country and the people. With the efforts of his prime minister Luo Jun, he took in hundreds of thousands of refugees. The third is that when the heroes were fighting against Dong Zhuo, Liu Chong led his troops to station in Yangxia and proclaimed himself the General Assisting Han. Finally, in 197 AD, Yuan Shu asked the State of Chen for food and fodder, but was rejected by Luo Jun. Yuan Shu was furious and sent Zhang Kai as an assassin, who pretended to pass by the State of Chen for personal matters and took the opportunity to kill Luo Jun and Liu Chong. This was also the fuse that led to Cao Cao's attack on Yuan Shu!

However, due to his change, Yuan Shu did not even have the opportunity to set his sights on the State of Chen. This is why Liu Chong is still alive today. Originally, Qin Zhen thought that Yuan Shu had been defeated and was hiding in the cities in the northeast of Runan, and Liu Chong's fate might also change, so he did not interfere for the time being. But now Liu Ye's letter reminded him that the wheel of history has inertia. Sometimes, even if the overall situation changes, some small things will still happen according to historical inertia. Although Yuan Shu had been defeated, he was not a man who would sit still. He would never accept defeat and would definitely find ways to make a comeback. Judging from the current situation, the only way for Yuan Shu to rise again is to annex the State of Chen! Because although the State of Chen was not big, it was a densely populated place. According to statistics from the end of the Han Dynasty, the State of Chen had only twelve counties, but as many as 120,000 households and a population of over million. Although there was the Yellow Turban Rebellion later, the people did not suffer much harm. Even at this point in time, the State of Chen has a population of over a million. In addition, Liu Chong had tens of thousands of soldiers, and even if they were poorly trained, they were still an army of tens of thousands. Once the State of Chen was annexed, Yuan Shu would be able to once again own the rich land and recruit soldiers. In other words, on this timeline, there is still a great possibility that Liu Chong will repeat the same mistake and be killed by Yuan Shu! In a sense, this is not a bad thing for them, but it is not a good thing either! Once Liu Chong died, they could take advantage of the situation to annex the fat piece of meat of Chen State. However, without Liu Chong as a buffer, they will have to face the pressure from Lao Cao in the future. If Cao Cao took advantage of the situation when they went south to seize Jiangdong, they might also be defeated! Therefore, whether to increase the number of troops now and how to increase the troops made him fall into deep thought. This is not a simple diplomatic issue, but a strategic decision-making issue.

Sometimes, bad strategic decisions will lead to being passive everywhere and losing everything. As a strategic decision maker, he naturally needs to think carefully. Liu Bei was originally in a quite relaxed mood. After all, in his opinion, most of their goals had been achieved. The next issue was the attack on Lujiang. In contrast, whether or not to send more troops to the State of Chen was secondary. But he didn't expect that after he finished speaking, Qin Zhen would actually show such a thoughtful look. His heart tightened for a moment and he said: "Why is the military advisor like this? Could it be that there is a deeper meaning to Liu Chong's matter?" His question woke Qin Zhen up. Seeing Liu Bei's worried expression, he nodded and said: "That's right. Liu Chong's matter is far more complicated than it seems. Because Chen State is currently located at the junction of the three states, if Liu Chong neglects to take precautions, Cao Cao and Yuan Shu will take advantage of the situation." "Cao Cao has the imperial court behind him, so he won't take the initiative to send troops. But Yuan Shu is hiding in Runan, so he might attack Liu Chong." "If he wants to, he can just send troops to Chen State. Once Yuan Shu makes a move, Cao Cao will also make a move, and the two countries will fight again." "Yuan Shu's troops are no match for Cao Cao, and the State of Chen will surely be captured by Cao Cao." "Although our army is now bordering Cao Cao, we have Liu Chong as a buffer in the middle, so it is difficult for Cao Cao to launch a full-scale offensive against our army!" "But if Cao Cao seizes Chen, he can attack our army from Runan, Chen, Liang, Shanyang and other places." "Based on our current military strength, we are no match for Cao's army!" "Similarly, even if Cao Cao does not attack our army, most of our troops will be tied down by Cao Cao, making it impossible for us to fully march south to Jiangdong." "Although the situation in Jiangdong is chaotic right now, Sun Ce is not someone who can be easily dealt with." "If our army is pinned down by Cao Cao, it will be impossible to capture Jiangdong!" "So if something happens to Liu Chong, it will definitely not be a good thing for our army at the moment." Listening to Qin Zhen's words, Liu Bei frowned. He had never really thought about this kind of strategic issue. Now, after listening to Qin Zhen's analysis, he realized that Liu Ye's proposal did not seem to be a sudden whim, but was based on the same concerns. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but say to Qin Zhen: "If our army writes a letter now to remind Liu Chong to be on guard, I wonder if this matter can be resolved?" "If I go to revise the book now, I'm afraid it will be of little use!" Qin Zhen shook his head and said: "The key to the current problem does not lie with Liu Chong, but with Yuan Shu!" "Because our army and Liu Chong are at best friends, not allies. Even if we remind Liu Chong to be on guard, there is no guarantee that Yuan Shu will come up with a trick!" "There is no need to mobilize troops. He only needs to send an assassin to kill Liu Chong and Luo Jun, and the State of Chen will be in chaos!" "But this is just my speculation. Even if I tell Liu Chong, I'm afraid he won't be able to guard against it!" Their difficulty now lies in the fact that Yuan Shu did not use any obvious tricks to kill Liu Chong, but instead sent assassins! Although he knew that Yuan Shu might send assassins, he had no factual basis for this.

You can't just go and tell Liu Chong that you're going to be assassinated with empty hands at this time! Not to mention whether Liu Chong would believe it, even if he did, what would happen? After all, how could Yuan Shu be sure that Zhang Kai could kill Liu Chong in the original process? And while assassinating Liu Chong, he could also assassinate Luo Jun? Judging from various signs, this assassination was not a simple assassination by sending someone to kill, but a premeditated assassination. There may even be traitors under Liu Chong's command. There is no detailed historical record of this matter, so there are many variables. Yuan Shu cannot be assassinated directly, and there are various emergencies. After all, it is still the same old saying, there is only a thief who can steal for a thousand days, but there is no such thing as a thief on guard for a thousand days. This is not a script, Yuan Shu may not necessarily take the same approach as in the original history! Facing Qin Zhen's speculation, Liu Bei naturally became solemn and said: "Then according to the military advisor, what should our army do about this?" Seeing Liu Bei asking for advice, Qin Zhen turned his eyes to Liu Ye's letter. Liu Ye's solution to this problem was to increase troops on the border of Chen State, which could indeed achieve the fastest response. But there is no way to deal with the assassination of Liu Chong! Because Liu Chong's death would cause a very complicated chain reaction. No matter how many troops they sent, they would not have an advantage over Cao and Yuan in terms of military strength! The only way was to leave Liu Ye in Chen State as an insider, and after Yuan Shu took action and before Cao Cao could react, take over all the troops of Chen State and defeat Yuan Shu at the same time. Only in this way can a new line of defense be established with the help of Chen, Runan and Pei before Cao Cao launches a battle. Thinking of this, Qin Zhen's thoughts became active, and he looked up and asked Liu Bei: "May I ask, sir, where did Zi Yang send this letter from?" "After sending this letter, where is Zi Yang?" Seeing this, Liu Bei stroked his chin and said: "Zi Yang is still in Chen State because he is worried about the affairs of Chen State!" "It's been about ten days since I sent this letter from Chen State. I guess Zi Yang is still in Chen State now!" "In this case, our army won't have to worry!" Hearing that Liu Ye was still in Chen State, Qin Zhen nodded and said: "The difficulty lies in the fact that Yuan Shu suddenly launched an attack, and our army has difficulty responding!" "Thanks to Zi Yang's reminder, our troops can now make arrangements in advance," "Since Ziyang has not yet returned, why not keep him in the territory of Chen State to assist him under the pretext of buying food and military equipment?" "At the same time, we should immediately send more spies to Yuan Shu's army, especially to Song State, to carefully investigate Yuan Shu's army's movements to ensure that our army receives timely information on Yuan Shu's movements." “As for the matter of increasing the troops, you can order Chen Dao to lead 10,000 troops to guard against Yuan Shu, station them in Dan County in the north, and transfer them back to Yuan Zhi’s command!” "Also, send a message to General Guan to divide the troops to Gushi. If Yuan Shu makes any unusual moves, we can march forward to threaten Yuan Shu's flank." "In this way, with Zi Yang here, even if Yuan Shu launches a surprise attack, our army will be able to receive the news in advance." At this point, he thought for a while and said:

"But for the sake of being proper, I will personally write a letter and give it to Zi Yang and Yuan Zhi to warn you of the relevant details!" Their main problem now is that they are afraid that they will not be able to react in time if Yuan Shu takes action. But if Liu Ye were left in the State of Chen, most of the problems would be solved! In terms of ability, Liu Ye is definitely no problem, and with the addition of Xu Shu, they can basically prevent general emergencies. As long as they are free, even if Liu Chong is stabbed to death, it won't be a big problem. It's just a matter of Hui army fighting against Cao. At that time, it's not certain who will be afraid of whom. But in this case, Liu Ye, a strategic talent, will have to remain idle for a while! Although it is a bit of a pity, if we can conquer the State of Chen, everything will be worth it. After he said this, Liu Bei felt relieved and said with a smile: "If we have a military advisor to plan, then we won't have to worry about anything!" "However, I read in Zi Yang's letter that Cao Cao wanted to recommend Sun Ce as the governor of Yangzhou. I wonder what that means?" Qin Zhen heard this and said without thinking: "This is a strategy of two tigers competing for food. Cao Cao must be trying to use Sun Ce to contain our army!" "He's acting this way, I'm afraid his next move is to attack Zhang Xiu or Yongliang!" "This is not a bad thing for our army. We should take advantage of the fact that Cao Cao is unable to march east and march south to Jiangdong first!" "But to take Jiangdong, we must first seize Lujiang!" When Liu Bei heard this, he squinted his eyes and smiled: "If we follow what the military advisor said, does that mean our army should march to Lujiang?" "Of course! Now is the time to send troops!" Qin Zhen was standing up, and said seriously: "It is better to seize Lujiang sooner rather than later. Spring is about to arrive, and Taishi Ci has deployed his troops in Wanling!" "It can be said that we have the right time, right place, and right people. Now is the right time to send troops!" "If we can capture Lujiang before March, our army may be able to capture Jiangdong before this autumn." "If we wait until the autumn harvest arrives, next year will be the time for our army to show its might." Seeing Qin Zhen's approval of the plan to seize Lujiang, Liu Bei was shocked and asked: "But I wonder if the military advisor has any plan to capture Lujiang?" Qin Zhen heard this and nodded: "As for the strategy to seize Lujiang, in fact, Zijing and I have already discussed it before. It is nothing more than luring the snake out of its hole!" "But we should worry that the snakes are afraid of our army's strength and will not send out troops!" "So, depending on your advice, our army may as well go out first to attack Chen Ce and other bandits, so that Liu Xun will not know our army's true intentions."

"In this way, we can lure the snake out of its hole and succeed!" Chen Ce was a big bandit entrenched in the northwest of Lujiang River. He had tens of thousands of people under his command and was entrenched in the west of Huoshan Mountain. In the original story, it was after Yuan Shu's death that Liu Ye's strategy was defeated by Cao Cao. In this timeline, Chen Ce is still entrenched in Lujiang. This could be used as a tactic to make a feint to the east and attack in the west, thus relaxing Liu Xun's vigilance. Liu Bei nodded repeatedly after hearing this proposal, but then he became worried: "However, our army currently has less than 30,000 troops available. I wonder how many troops the military advisor plans to send?" After Qin Zhen thought for a moment, he said: "We don't need too many soldiers and horses, and the lord should not accompany the army this time." "You can order Zhao Yun and Qiao Rui to lead 20,000 troops to go with me." "In this way, we can seize the entire Lujiang region in a month at most!" Upon hearing this, Liu Bei had no objection, and immediately ordered people to call Zhao Yun, Qiao Rui and others to prepare for the military expedition. ps: My cervical spondylosis has recurred. I spent the whole day in the hospital for examination and physical therapy. I owe you one chapter now and will make up for it tomorrow. (End of this chapter)