Chapter 243: Hiding Troops, Military Orders Entering the Mountains Yuzhang County was located in Jiangxi Province in later generations, with its seat in Nanchang. It was the largest county in Jiangdong. The "big" here does not refer to the large area, but the huge population. At its peak, the population exceeded million. It has always been a place that all the princes must fight for. The original governor was Zhou Shu. After Zhou Shu died, Liu Biao appointed Zhuge Xuan, Zhuge Liang's uncle, as the governor of Yuzhang. However, because he was not appointed by the court, Zhu Hao, who was eventually appointed by the court, used the power of Liu Yao's general Zuo Rong to expel him. Later, Zuo Rong killed Zhu Hao, and Liu Yao killed Zuo Rong again, so by accident, the post of Yuzhang prefect fell to Hua Xin. Hua Xin himself was also badly portrayed in the novel. He was originally a pure and virtuous person, but was portrayed as a sinister villain. When he was in office in Yuzhang, he governed the country in a clean and honest manner. After Liu Yao's death, the people of Yuzhang recommended him as the governor of Yangzhou several times. Hua Xin refused to appoint any of them, even though the people begged him to do so for several months.

In the original process, after Sun Ce captured Jiangdong, he asked Yu Fan to come and persuade Hua Xin to surrender without a fight. But in this timeline, Sun Ce had not yet captured Jiangdong, and the position of Governor of Yangzhou was taken away by Liu Bei. After taking the position, Liu Bei followed Qin Zhen's strategy and first sent Jiang Gan to persuade Taishi Ci, and then asked Jiang Gan to contact Zu Lang and enter Yuzhang County. After reading Liu Bei's handwritten letter, Hua Xin knew that Yangzhou would be taken by Liu Bei sooner or later, so he gladly accepted the order. Later, when Taishi Ci was defeated and retreated to Yuzhang, Hua Xin asked Taishi Ci to gather more than 10,000 of Liu Yao's former subordinates and temporarily appointed him as the commander of Yuzhang. So as soon as Zhuge Liang arrived in Yuzhang and showed Liu Bei's military order, he immediately met Hua Xin and Taishi Ci. Hua Xin was about forty years old, in the prime of his life, with a serious appearance. Although Taishi Ci suffered a military defeat, he was in good spirits because he had hope for the future. When Taishi Ci saw that Liu Bei had sent Taishi Xiang back, he was overjoyed and immediately took Taishi Xiang aside to ask about his well-being. Taishi Xiang was pulled by him and immediately told about his experience in Shouchun, praising Liu Bei and Qin Zhen in his words: "Father, you don't know that after I went north, I met the envoy. He is indeed a hero." "You have treated me very well over the past few months. Now that you are heading south to fight Sun Ce, I have specially ordered Mr. Zhuge to come with me!" "I hope father will dispatch troops quickly to fight against Sun Ce together with you!" After hearing these words, Taishi Ci stroked his beard and smiled: "Father has been waiting here for a long time. Now I heard that you are heading south and have already intended to mobilize troops." "However, I did not dare to go there without your order. Now that I have received your order, I will dispatch the troops!" After saying this, he looked at Zhuge Liang, who was not much older than Jiang Gan: "I wonder where you, my Lord, have asked me to come here to send my troops?" When Zhuge Liang heard this, he bowed to Taishi Ci and said: "Because Sun Ce is now dividing his troops to guard various strategic locations, the military advisor has decided to defeat his army first and then divide the troops." "So the Lord ordered General Taishi to go north by water and launch a surprise attack on Chungu!"

"But I have come from afar, and I wonder how many soldiers and horses you have at your disposal?" "As far as our army knows, there are no less than 5,000 troops stationed in Chungu. Even if we launch a surprise attack, it will be difficult with so few soldiers!" As soon as he finished speaking, Taishi Ci stroked his beard with pride and said: "Don't mention that he has 5,000 soldiers and horses. Even if he has 10,000, I am not afraid!" "Sir, you have come from afar, but you may not know that my Yuzhang army has more than 25,000 soldiers and horses!" "But even if we send out half of our troops, it would be enough to break through the enemy's rear!" As soon as these words came out, Zhuge Liang's expression changed and he said in surprise: "How come the general has so many soldiers? Before I came here, I only knew that the general had only over 10,000 soldiers under his command!" While he was wondering, Hua Xin smiled and explained: "This is also something Kong Ming does not know, because there are many clan thieves in my Yuzhang area." "Xin was not good at military affairs and could only appease the people. But when Ziyi arrived, he saw that they were oppressing the people, so he led his troops to attack them, and thus gained more than 10,000 soldiers." It turns out that while Liu Bei was fighting wars in the south and the north during this six months, Taishi Ci was also not idle. The population of Yuzhang County was indeed large, but there were also many Shanyue people and clan people, each of whom built fortresses to defend their own areas. All successive governors adopted a conciliatory policy, which resulted in these clan bandits becoming increasingly powerful. But Taishi Ci was not someone to be trifled with. After recruiting Liu Yao's former subordinates, he saw that Yuzhang County had a population of one million but little food and grass supply, and he realized that the clan bandits were causing trouble. Afterwards, he joined forces with Zu Lang in the name of training troops to divide the enemy internally and then went on expeditions along the way. In just half a year, more than 40 bandit tribes in the surrounding areas were wiped out, and more than 70,000 to 80,000 people were captured. In addition, there were a large number of captives, so the strong ones were sent to the army and the weak ones were registered as households. As a result, the number of captives expanded to more than 20,000. Therefore, when Taishi Ci heard that Liu Bei wanted him to launch a surprise attack on Chungu where there were only 5,000 men, he didn't care at all. But when Zhuge Liang heard this, he was pleasantly surprised, thinking that it was a good thing that Qin Zhen only wanted to use Taishi Ci as a branch. It seems that if given a few more years, Taishi Ci's troops alone would be enough to compete with Sun Ce. No wonder Liu Bei respected Taishi Ci so much and must have asked him to bring gifts before he came. He thought for a while, then bowed to Taishi Ci and said with a smile: "The general is indeed a hero of the time. No wonder the lord is full of praise for him!" "Even if the general has so many troops, there is no need to act rashly. Hide half of them here and use them as a surprise force!" "How about you split up your forces and go north with me, and then we can figure it out?" Seeing that he advised him to hide half of his troops first, Taishi Ci narrowed his eyes and said: "I am short-sighted, but I didn't expect you to be a good planner." "But I don't know what kind of relationship you have with Qin Zixuan. How dare you make the decision on your own?" As for the strategy of hiding troops, he actually agreed with it, but now Qin Zhen was advocating to mobilize troops to break through. Who was Zhuge Liang to dare to take the initiative to advise him to hide the troops? But as soon as he finished speaking, Zhuge Liang shook his head and smiled, and directly stated: "Mr. Qin is a friend of my brother Zhuge Jin, and also my senior brother. Liang is currently learning from Mr. Qin."

"I am not making this decision on my own, I am hiding my troops for you because I know what you mean!" Taishi Ci's doubts were finally dispelled after hearing this explanation. He originally thought that Zhuge Liang wanted to use him to gain credit, but since he was Qin Zhen's man, it didn't matter! Anyway, Qin Zhen is the one making the plans now, and sending Zhuge Liang is obviously to cooperate with the overall strategy! After thinking for a while, he couldn't help but secretly blame himself for being too suspicious. He ordered people to prepare a banquet to entertain Zhuge Liang. The next day, he mobilized his troops to follow Zhuge Liang north. At the same time, as Liu Bei's main force arrived in Fanchang, the messenger also arrived in Lingyang City. Lingyang City was originally the place where Zulang, the leader of the Shanyue clan, started his career and is located among the mountains. Since Zhao Yun and Xu Sheng went south that day, they went into the mountains and settled in Lingyang City under the banner of Taishi Ci. This place is backed by Jiuhua Mountain in the north and Taiping Lake in the south. It is a first-class place that is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Originally, according to Liu Ye's original plan, Zhao Yun and others went south first to gain a foothold. Therefore, after entering the mountains, Zhao Yun and Xu Sheng wanted to find an opportunity to seize Jing County. As a result, this strategy collided with Zhou Yu's plan to mobilize troops. As soon as they arrived here, they found out that Sun Ce had ordered Sun Ben to station in Jingxian City. This made Zhao Yun very anxious. Seeing that Sun Ben in Jing County had more than 10,000 troops, he complained: "We were ordered by our lord to go south, but were first captured by Zhou Yu and then stopped by Sun Ben." "Now that the lord has arrived and the autumn harvest is over, we are trapped in the mountains. What can we do?" Since Xu Sheng joined Liu Bei's army, he has often served as a deputy general. He was previously Zhang Fei's deputy general, and now he is Zhao Yun's deputy general. But he was a man who could go with the flow and although he was a deputy general, he worked hard and was never complaining. Seeing Zhao Yun complaining, he thought for a while and then smiled at Zhao Yun: "General, please don't be impatient. We were stopped here out of helplessness. Even if the lord knows, he should not blame us." But Zhao Yun shook his head and said with a worried look on his face: "It's not that we are worried that going south will be fruitless, but we are worried that we can accept the important task from our lord." "Now I have neither helped the lord to capture cities and plunder lands, nor have I disrupted Sun Ce's deployment." "Now we are wasting food and grass here, what benefit will it bring to the country?" When Xu Sheng saw this, he realized that Zhao Yun was a loyal and brave man, and he suggested: "In that case, let's not delay here." "We are not familiar with the terrain here. We might as well find a guide to lead us along the small road and first go to Jing County to observe the situation." "As soon as the enemy moves, our army will take it and help the lord!" Zhao Yun listened and felt that this was the only way now, so he went to find a mountain hunter in the city to ask. Then I learned that there was a large lake in the south, which could be reached directly to the back of Jing County by water. Seeing this, the two were overjoyed. After a brief discussion, they left 500 soldiers here to garrison and led more than 7,000 people over the mountains and across the rivers to Taiping Lake. After another two days of fighting, they reached the plain behind Jingxian City. As mentioned earlier, Jing County is surrounded by mountains on all sides, with only one entrance and exit on the east and west sides. The place where Zhao Yun and others arrived was in the southwest of Jing County.

After landing, the road was flat and they could head straight to Jing County. Unfortunately, there were too many soldiers in Jing County and the two men did not dare to act rashly. After waiting for several days, they suddenly saw a large number of soldiers and horses marching out of Jingxian City, as many as six or seven thousand. When the two saw this, they were both surprised and happy, and said that he was sleepy and was being given a pillow. They were worried that Jing County was difficult to capture due to the large number of troops, but the troops just left Jing County. Most of the more than 10,000 soldiers and horses had already gone, so they launched a surprise attack and effectively defeated them in one fell swoop. At that moment, the two of them waited for night to come and prepared to capture Jing County first. Unexpectedly, before they could take action, they received a military order from Liu Bei in the evening, ordering the two of them to go around to the rear of Fanchang and raid Sun Ce's main camp. Faced with this order, Xu Sheng couldn't help but frown, somewhat reluctant to let the credit fly away. "It is because I am a general in the field that I cannot obey the king's orders. Now Jing County is empty. We will take Jing County. How can we miss the opportunity to fight?" "Why not capture this city first, and then attack it, it will definitely not be too late!" But when Zhao Yun heard this, he knew what he meant and rejected it directly: "The military advisor always says that military orders must not be violated. Although there is a fighting opportunity now, we must obey orders!" "If my own selfish interests ruin the great cause, I don't want to do it." "We are already in Jing County. From here we can go north to Fanchang. We must not disobey your orders!" Xu Sheng was very upset to see how rigid he was, and tried to persuade him, but Zhao Yun refused and led his troops north. In desperation, Xu Sheng had to follow Zhao Yun northward. After traveling for several days, they arrived at the mountain pass and saw Sun Ben's troops, who had left Jing County earlier, heading towards Fanchang. Looking at this situation, Zhao Yun and Xu Sheng were both shocked. They were thinking about where to send reinforcements, but they didn't expect it to be Fanchang. If they attacked Jing County, their surprise attack would instantly become ineffective. After thinking it over, Xu Sheng said with some fear: "Thank goodness the general followed orders. If we had launched a surprise attack on Jing County, our army's plan would have been ruined!" He thought Zhao Yun would laugh at him, but Zhao Yun laughed when he heard it: "I don't know who is right or wrong, I just know that military orders are as heavy as a mountain and must not be violated!" "I know that Wen Xiang has the talent to be a general, but he must put orders first, so as not to violate our responsibilities." After hearing his words, Xu Sheng admired Zhao Yun even more. He said no more and followed Zhao Yun northward. After more than ten days of climbing over mountains and crossing rivers, they finally arrived at Fanchang. As for this place, seeing that Sun Ce's camp was right in front of them, the two of them sent the message in the direction of Liu Bei's army camp. PS: I accidentally wrote the wrong title again, sorry (End of this chapter)