mtl008 Chapter 672 The Succubus Attribute of the Liu Family
Chapter 672 The Succubus Attribute of the Liu Family
Liu Bei strongly agreed with the plan to send people to Cao Wei to establish a base behind enemy lines, because the benefits outweighed the drawbacks. If successful, it would greatly help the Northern Expedition; if it failed, it would only result in the loss of some guerrilla fighters and would not affect the court's grand plan for the Northern Expedition.
Success brings profits, failure brings no losses—anyone would do such a good business.
However, the premise was that Guan Xing could not go. Although Guan Xing had rich experience in guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines and a high reputation, he could quickly connect various base areas by infiltrating behind enemy lines and might even create an iron army that dared to confront the Wei army head-on. However, Liu Bei still did not want Guan Xing to go because the risk was too great.
That was, after all, the heartland of Cao Wei. Once discovered, it would face ten or even a hundred times the encirclement and suppression, and the hope of surviving and growing stronger would be too slim.
Moreover, given Liu Bei's current resources, there was no need for Guan Xing to take such a risk. Back then, when he infiltrated behind enemy lines in Eastern Wu, he was desperate and had no choice but to gamble everything with the idea of mutual destruction, hoping to tear a piece of flesh from Eastern Wu before he died, thus providing some convenience for Liu Bei to launch the Battle of Yiling.
But times have changed. Liu Bei has unified Jiangnan and taken Longxi, and can now confront Cao Wei head-on. Naturally, he cannot let his nephew, on whom he has placed so much hope, take such a risk.
Liu Bei was preparing to groom Guan Xing as Zhuge Liang's successor, so how could he let Guan Xing take such a risk?
Another important point is that Guan Xing's reputation is now too great, making him unsuitable for guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines. If he were to actually go into Cao Wei's heartland and Cao Wei found out, the Cao Wei rulers and ministers would probably be overjoyed and immediately mobilize ten or even a hundred times the number of troops to besiege and annihilate Guan Xing at all costs.
If Guan Xing manages to escape successfully, that would be fine, but if he is unfortunately killed in battle or captured, it would be a fatal blow to the Han Dynasty, which is currently at its zenith.
The loss of Guan Xing, a contemporary Huo Qubing, before the Han army even launched its northern expedition will undoubtedly cause a significant drop in the morale of the Han army and a surge in the morale of the Wei army.
To give a simple example, before Emperor Wu of Han launched the decisive battle against the Xiongnu in the northern desert, Huo Qubing, the Marquis of Champion, was killed by the Xiongnu. Would the subsequent battle in the northern desert have gone so smoothly?
Therefore, once a person's status and fame reach a certain level, they are really not suitable for taking risks, because the gains from a successful risk are negligible, while the losses from failure can be fatal.
Given the above two points, Liu Bei would never allow Guan Xing to risk his life behind enemy lines.
Guan Xing understood this as well, and clasped his hands in a fist and smiled, "Your Majesty, rest assured, my child hasn't even been born yet, how could I possibly run behind enemy lines at a time like this?"
Upon hearing this, Liu Bei breathed a sigh of relief, stroked his beard, and smiled, "That's excellent. Then let's send the guerrillas there as soon as possible. Once they've arrived and settled in, we'll announce to the gentry of the Central Plains that helping the guerrillas is helping the court. If the Northern Expedition succeeds, the court will reward them for their contributions. But if we persecute or attack the guerrillas, the court will surely settle scores with us after the Northern Expedition succeeds."
"Then so be it. Go and bring Chen Yu here. I'll give him a few more words of advice to appease him."
Guan Xing bowed and took his leave. Liu Bei watched his retreating figure and said leisurely, "Establishing a base behind enemy lines and using the people of Cao Wei to form an army to attack the Wei army is similar to using the surrendered soldiers of Wu to attack the Wu army. If successful, it will save the court a lot of trouble."
Zhuge Liang waved his fan and said, "It is indeed a brilliant idea, but it requires the cooperation of the court. The court needs to hold back the main force of the Wei army on the front lines, so that the Wei army has no energy to suppress bandits. Only in this way can we create more space for the guerrillas to survive and allow them to develop rapidly."
Liu Bei nodded and said, "That may be true, but the guerrillas' living conditions are much better than when Anguo was in Eastern Wu. Back then, we were busy with the Northern Expedition and did not provide any assistance to my second brother and Anguo, but this time, we must not stand aside."
After finishing his work, Liu Bei returned to his desk and rummaged through his belongings for a long time before finally finding the memorial Guan Xing had submitted before the new year, which concerned sending people deep into Cao Wei's territory to establish a base. He and Zhuge Liang read and analyzed it again to prepare for improvement.
At the same time, Guan Xing arrived at the East Palace with a swagger. Upon entering, he found Liu Shan and Chen Yu chatting happily. Liu Shan said something that made Chen Yu burst into laughter.
Seeing this, Guan Xing couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration for Liu Shan. Liu Shan might not be good at other things, but he had a kind of affability that was hard for ordinary people to match when it came to dealing with people. He could chat with anyone and make people feel close and trust him instantly.
This can be seen from Xiahou Ba's surrender to Shu. Historically, Xiahou Ba fled to Bashu to escape persecution by the Sima family. Before fleeing to Bashu, Xiahou Ba had concerns, after all, his father was killed by the Shu general Huang Zhong. Who knows what the attitude of the Shu people towards him was?
However, after Xiahou Ba entered Shu, Liu Shan dispelled his concerns with just a few words and turned him into a general who would follow Jiang Wei and serve the Shu Kingdom wholeheartedly in the Northern Expedition. His ability to win people over was no less than that of his ancestor Liu Bang.
This shows that the succubus attribute in the Liu family is definitely hereditary.
Guan Xing entered the hall, bowed, and then asked curiously, "Your Highness, what are you chatting about with Young Master Chen that makes you so happy?"
Liu Shan gave him a knowing look and smiled, "What else could we talk about? Of course, we'd talk about which is prettier, the beauties of Jingzhou or Xuzhou. What brings you here?"
Guan Xing: "..."
Can't you think of anything else? So I overestimated you earlier.
"His Majesty has summoned Young Master Chen Yu for an audience and instructed me to inform him. Young Master Chen, please come quickly and do not keep His Majesty waiting."
Chen Yu rose and bowed, then quickly left with Jiang Wei. Liu Shan called out to his retreating figure, "Young Master Chen, go ahead and attend to your business. Come back when you're done and we can continue our conversation."
After saying that, he put his arm around Guan Xing's shoulder and laughed, "Now we're done, let's go play some mahjong."
Having this much energy after a long day in the fields, I have to say young people are really healthy.
Soon, the crisp sound of mahjong tiles being shuffled echoed from the back room, continuing until nightfall. Guan Xing, who had won several strings of cash in a single round, finally left satisfied.
After resting at home for a night, Liu Chan, Guan Xing, Zhang Bao, Xia Tong, Jiang Wei, and others regrouped at dawn and rode fast horses, lightly equipped, straight to the training camp outside the city.
The main camp was located next to the brick and tile factory that had been built for the construction of the city. It was specifically managed by Shu Ma Zhong. While studying, the students also helped with the work at the brick and tile factory, and even cultivated a piece of farmland themselves.
These trainees were to go deep behind enemy lines. Once there, they had to be self-reliant and self-sufficient. Therefore, it was impossible for them to study full-time like university students in later generations. While studying, they also had to learn various survival skills, combining theory with practice.
Normally, Guan Xing would come to the camp every three days to give the trainees two lessons and then let them digest and absorb the information on their own. Now that he was preparing to use this batch of trainees, Guan Xing thought he would stay in the camp for a period of time to conduct some intensive training.
Such an important matter naturally required Zhang Bao, Jiang Wei, and Xia Tong to be included, but Liu Shan objected, saying, "If you all leave, who will play with me?"
So Liu Shan came along too.
The five men quickly arrived at the military camp on horseback. The instructor in charge of the trainees, Shu Ma Zhong, and the special forces captain, Zhou Shan, immediately came out to greet them. They trotted up to the five men, bowed, and said, "Your subject Ma Zhong (Zhou Shan) greets Your Highness the Crown Prince, greets Marquis Shence, greets..."
Liu Shan reached out to help the two up and said with a smile, "Let's go into the camp. You've been training for so long, it's time to put you to the test. So, Marquis Shence has found you some work to do. We'll talk more once we're in the camp."