Chapter 349: Self-Proof Trap, Go Straight to Jiangling In Jingnan, Wuling County, when Liu Bei was marching eastward, Qin Zhen's main force finally arrived in Wuling. The reason for gathering the troops here was because Liu Pan did not go north after his defeat. His troops remained stationed in Chanling to prevent Qin Zhen in the south from continuing to advance northward. At this point, Qin Zhen was not in a hurry to continue his advance, but only ordered Taishi Ci to garrison Zuotang. He himself stayed in Linyuan and appointed Zhang Ji to search various places to prevent the recurrence of the plague. At the same time, he ordered officials from all over the country to save lives and heal the wounded and win the hearts of the people in southern Jing. It took more than twenty days to finally stabilize the situation in Wuling County. After Wuling was initially stabilized, Qin Zhen recruited scholars from southern Jing to serve in the government. As a result, talented people such as Jiang Wan, Liao Li, and Liu Ba were successively invited to come out to help, assist in pacifying the people in various places.

It is worth mentioning that in the original history, Liu Ba once refused to serve Liu Bei. After the Battle of Chibi, most of the scholars in Jingzhou defected to Liu Bei, only Liu Ba fled directly to Jiaozhou. Later, Liu Ba served Liu Zhang, but Liu Zhang was defeated by Liu Ba, which made Liu Ba willing to surrender. But in this timeline, Liu Ba did not refuse Qin Zhen's call. When he heard that Qin Zhen asked him to be an official, he hurried over to help. Qin Zhen was naturally curious about what this brother was thinking, so he asked privately: "I heard that Liu Jingsheng summoned Zichu to serve in the government many times, but you refused to go." "Why did Zichu immediately accept the order and serve in our army as soon as our army arrived?" Liu Ba was about twenty-five or twenty-six years old, with a handsome appearance. Upon hearing this, he said frankly: "Because Liu Jingsheng is a jealous person with malicious intentions, Ba is unwilling to follow orders." It turned out that Liu Ba and Liu Biao had a personal grudge against each other because Liu Ba came from a family of officials. His grandfather Liu Yao was the prefect of Cangwu County, and his father Liu Xiang was the prefect of Jiangxia. When Liu Ba was young, his father was good friends with Sun Jian, but was later implicated and killed by Sun Jian. But Liu Biao hated his father, so he detained Liu Ba and prepared to wipe out the root of the problem, and lured him into committing a crime. However, Liu Ba remained unmoved, and finally managed to survive Liu Biao's hands. Because of this relationship, after he came of age, Liu Ba secretly hated Liu Biao and repeatedly refused to be recruited. Originally in history, Liu Bei and Liu Biao were brothers, and naturally Liu Ba were also enemies. That's why Liu Ba refused to be recruited in various ways and even went north to join Cao Cao. In this timeline, Qin Zhen immediately seized Jingnan from Liu Biao. Based on the principle that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, Liu Ba naturally had no reason to refuse to serve as an official. Moreover, Liu Ba is eager for unification, and now Liu Bei is fully qualified to unify the world.

By joining Liu Bei, he could also quell the chaos as soon as possible and fulfill his ambition of clearing up the chaos as quickly as possible. After hearing this reason, Qin Zhen smiled and thought that Liu Biao had indeed done many evil things! The entire Jingzhou is full of enemies. If they just advance steadily, how long can Liu Biao hold out? This is the case of "the righteous have many supporters, while the unrighteous have few supporters". He immediately said to Liu Ba with a smile: "Since a man as talented as Zichu was not put to good use, it is clear that Liu Jingsheng will not live long." Afterwards, he no longer had any doubts and let Huan Jie take charge of the affairs in Jingnan, with Liu Ba, Jiang Wan and others assisting him. At this point, he was able to extricate himself from the political affairs of Jingnan and had the basis to go north again. Unexpectedly, at this time, a rumor began to spread quietly in Jingzhou. The content of the rumor was very simple, that is, Qin Zhen was proud of his great achievements and intended to use Jingnan to establish himself. This rumor first spread in Changsha, but gradually spread to the four southern counties. There are even nursery rhymes, such as "It was Qin that destroyed the Han Dynasty" and "Spring brings plenty of crops to the world. Save food for drought and tide over famine." Each nursery rhyme was almost directed at Qin Zhen, and some even stopped short of using the word "flattery to death". These rumors also made the soldiers under Qin Zhen's command uneasy and unable to calm down. After all, it is true that Qin Zhen is their commander, but a considerable number of these soldiers' families are in Jiangdong and Jiaozhou. Once Qin Zhen rebelled, these soldiers would have no choice but to stay here and find it difficult to return home. Faced with this situation, everyone advised Qin Zhen to stop the rumors as soon as possible and not to arouse Liu Bei's suspicion. But Qin Zhen turned a deaf ear to this and led his troops north to prepare for a decisive battle with Liu Pan. Lu Xun and Liao Li were puzzled by Qin Zhen's decision and went to Qin Zhen's tent again to persuade him. Liao Li, who was about twenty years old, stood in front of Qin Zhen and said: "My Lord, right now there are rumors all over Jingzhou and the army is in turmoil. This is not the time to fight!" "Even if you are unwilling to stop the rumors, you should make it known to the emperor to show your determination." "Otherwise, if you let it go like this, you will be harmed by this plot sooner or later!" Speaking of Liao Li, he was also one of the geniuses of Jingzhou and was as famous as Pang Tong in history. It's a pity that this man was arrogant. After Liu Bei's death, he was impeached by Zhuge Liang for discussing Liu Bei's military measures. He was exiled to Wenshan and died in depression. Because of his shortcomings such as deserting the battlefield and disrespecting Liu Bei, he did not even appear in the novel. But in Qin Zhen's opinion, although Liao Li has shortcomings, he is qualified to be employed. After all, in the original process, as soon as Liu Bei captured Jingnan, Liao Li was appointed as the prefect of Changsha. After that, he remained in the local area until Liu Bei's death, and even served as Shizhong and Changshui Cavalry Captain. His comments on the mistakes of Liu Bei and others were quite appropriate, but Zhuge Liang exiled him in order to stabilize the overall situation.

When he read his biography in his previous life, he often felt deeply regretful and sorry for it. So after arriving in Linyuan, he met Liao Li and appointed him as a soldier under his command. At this time, Liao Li said, and Lu Xun naturally hurriedly agreed, hoping that Qin Zhen would change his mind. Since ancient times, nursery rhymes have been extremely destructive, and sometimes a nursery rhyme can even cause a storm. But Qin Zhen is in such a special position now. What will Liu Bei think if he ignores him? Therefore, the best solution for Qin Zhen now is to immediately stop marching northward. Take some time to stop the rumors from spreading, and quickly send a letter to Liu Bei to report the matter! However, facing the dissuasion of the two, Qin Zhen didn't care at all, shook his head and smiled: "This is a plot by the enemy to sow discord. No matter how you prove yourself, it will be difficult to prove your innocence. Why worry about it?" "Besides, I know you, and you know me, so why would we need proof if we don't have any doubts about each other?" "The most urgent matter is not to pay attention to the words of a few children. The clear will be clear, and the turbid will be turbid." "Let them continue talking, let us first think about how to capture Jingzhou!" Of course he knew the rumors about Jingnan, but he had no intention of proving them. To put it bluntly, this is actually a question of whether to eat one bowl of noodles or two bowls of noodles. The current rumor is that he ate two bowls of noodles. How can he prove his innocence? Is he really going to take out a knife and cut open his stomach for the other person to see? Is it really possible to stop the rumors now? Of course not. The more we try to stop them, the more it looks like a cover-up. Would it be feasible to send a letter to Liu Bei to explain? It was also not feasible, as writing a letter would be like covering up. This is a self-proving trap. No matter how you prove it, you cannot be cleared of innocence. The only way is to catch the person who spread the rumors and make him admit it himself. Only this method can solve the opponent's divisive plot from the root. As for where the root of the problem lies, Qin Zhen inferred that it was most likely in Xiangyang, because he now posed a great threat to Liu Biao! Only Liu Biao would spread such rumors in this situation, preventing him from continuing to advance northward. So he now had only one idea, to defeat Liu Pan as soon as possible and go north to Xiangyang to capture the culprit. When the two saw Qin Zhen being so calm, they naturally admired Qin Zhen's mentality. If it were them, they would probably be like ants on a hot pan. Since Qin Zhen was not anxious, they naturally had no reason to be anxious. Liao Li pondered for a moment and said: "Well, since the governor is not afraid of this matter, we should not be afraid either!" "But please forgive me for being blunt, but it is extremely difficult for the governor to continue heading north now!" "Because Jiangling City is the seat of Nanjun, it is also the gateway to Nanjun." "To the west of here, Huarong is located in Yunmeng Lake. The terrain is complex and easy to defend but difficult to attack." "To the east of this place, the river is very fast and it is difficult to navigate the floating bridge. Only boats can be used to cross."

"But Liu Pan now occupies the strategic location of Chanling, and it is difficult for ships to pass through here." "So if you want to go north, you must first capture Jiangling. If you want to capture Jiangling, you must first defeat Liu Pan!" "Liu Pan still has 20,000 troops, and our army will have no chance of defeating them." Listening to Liao Li's story, Qin Zhen looked at the map of Jingzhou and couldn't help but frowned: "That is to say, if our army is to march north now, we must either conquer Jiangxia first or conquer Jiangling first?" Having said this, he looked at Lu Xun who was silent on the side and said: "Did Ming Gong send our army information about the battle situation in Jiangxia?" Lu Xun is now his confidential secretary, and all documents are managed by Lu Xun. "The situation on the Lord's side is not very good either. Wen Pin has an army of 40,000!" Upon hearing this, Lu Xun shook his head and took out a document and said to Qin Zhen: "However, the military advisor Liu Ziyang did send a letter, intending to have the governor advance eastward." At this time, Qin Zhen did not know that Pang Tong had already defected to Liu Bei, nor did he know the situation in the east. When he saw Liu Ye sending a letter asking him to move eastward, he knew that it would be unlikely to break the situation by relying on Liu Bei! After thinking for a while, he looked at the map again, pointed to the west of Yunmeng Lake and said: "I see that this place is located east of Chanling and west of Huarong. I wonder if it is possible to gain a foothold?" Yunmengze is an ancient large lake located at the border of Hunan and Hubei. In later times, this area has become a fertile land, but now it is a huge swamp. The Huarong Road that Cao Cao took after his defeat at Chibi is located in the Yunmeng Lake. Their biggest problem now is that they have no foothold in Nanjun. If there is a place to set up camp west of Huarong, he can directly attack Jiangling. As a native of Linyuan, Wuling, Liao Li was naturally very familiar with the specific terrain of this generation. As soon as he asked the question, Liao Li nodded, but then he frowned and said; "Although we can make a living there, this place is covered with dense forests and it is difficult to live there for a long time." "I heard that Liu Biao appointed Cai Mao to guard Jiangling. This man is also an extraordinary warrior!" "If we are discovered by the enemy and they use fire attack, I'm afraid..." He didn't say the latter sentence, but Qin Zhen knew that most likely the entire army would be wiped out! After all, setting up camp in the forest is a big taboo, and Liu Bei’s defeat in Yiling originated from this. However, when he heard that it was Cai Mao who was stationed in Jiangling, he smiled and said: "That's fine. I have my own plan to capture the city. Since our army can go north, we can go straight to Jiangling!" "Liu Pan wants to be a coward, but I don't want to follow his wishes!" "You two should hurry up and prepare. Our army will move out today. Don't delay here." When the two heard this, they naturally stopped talking and bowed and went to get ready. Just as Qin Zhen set out, a dramatic change occurred in the direction of Jiangxia.

(End of this chapter)