Chapter 6503 Wisdom

Chapter 6503 Wisdom
Originally, this secret report should not have been shown to Zhuge Liang. This kind of war zone-level stuff was basically not allowed to be seen by anyone except Guo Jia and Fa Zheng, who were in charge of war zone intelligence, and Chen Xi, who signed everything.

Zhuge Liang's position in the Executive Yuan has not yet reached the level of Lu Su's peak period, and he is still mainly responsible for internal affairs. Generally, Chen Xi will not let Zhuge Liang make comments on military matters, not because he looks down on Zhuge Liang's military level.

To be honest, Zhuge Liang's military ability is definitely the strongest among all the people in the Executive Yuan, but on the one hand, it is unnecessary, and on the other hand, battle reports are nothing good.

But what about the strategic plan sent by Kandahar this time? Chen Xi's first reaction after reading it was that this thing was exactly the same as the operation of the last expedition to Qishan. Then he handed it to Zhuge Liang like a conditioned reflex, wanting Zhuge Liang to comment on it.

Only after giving it to him did Chen Xi realize that he should not have shown this to Zhuge Liang. However, since he had already seen it, it didn’t matter since Zhuge Liang would not pass it on anyway.

"Zichuan, who came up with this plan?" Zhuge Liang's expression seemed a little gloomy, which was very different from his previous gentle expression.

"Who proposed it? Cao Mengde proposed it." Chen Xi thought for a moment and answered.

Zhuge Liang was stunned when he heard this, then he sneered, "It's not that I look down on Cao Mengde, if he had this ability, he wouldn't have dragged it on until now."

Cao Cao's strategies and tactics were actually not bad, but he lacked the kind of steady and solid strategies and tactics. Generally speaking, Cao Cao relied on various adventurous operations to achieve the final victory.

However, the operation in this secret report is completely inconsistent with Cao Cao's personality. It can be said that it is a strategy that Cao Cao would never use in his entire life.

To this end, Zhuge Liang carefully studied the topographic map of Beigui, looking for an effective plan to conquer Ardashir, and racked his brains to find a plan that would not fail throughout the process, advance the strategy steadily, and form a general trend, all for the purpose of comparison.

"Don't underestimate Cao Sikong. Apart from the fact that he is a bit rough in handling certain things and doesn't treat ordinary people as human beings, his ability is fine." Chen Xi thought about it, but still didn't realize the problem with this strategy.

Humane destruction does feel good, but there is no trace left after humane destruction. If there are only a few records in history books, it is estimated that no one will know about the disgusting things Cao Cao did hundreds of years later. Therefore, Cao Cao must be recorded in history books as a negative example.

Compared to destroying Cao Cao humanely, Zhuge Liang wanted to make Cao Cao infamous for all eternity.

As a result, Chen Gong, the teammate who made Zhuge Liang very angry, played some tricks to wake up Cao Cao. After Cao Cao returned, he came up with such a strategic plan and sent it to Chang'an. Zhuge Liang felt a little chest pain. It was nothing else, he was just angry and got angry!

For Zhuge Liang, he could quit the job of prime minister, but he must not miss the opportunity to put Cao Cao in the history books as a negative example. Moreover, in order to embarrass the other party permanently, he had to do an excellent job, to the point where there was no room for criticism.

Zhuge Liang was slightly stunned when he heard this, then he sat down and pressed his temple. He was sure that he had not discussed this with Chen Gong. Ever since he knew that he and Chen Gong were fake teammates, he had never mentioned any plan to Chen Gong on how to capture Kabul.

"Cao Mengde can't come up with such a strategy. Zichuan, think carefully. All of Cao Mengde's strategies and tactics are risky and radical. His ways of winning all involve gambling, and they are basically either big wins or big losses." Zhuge Liang shook his head and said, "He can't come up with such a cautious and prudent strategy."

In fact, this is the same reason why Zhuge Liang was able to use the Weishui military farming strategy while Jiang Wei could not during the last expedition to Qishan. This tactic looks simple, but it also depends on one's strength. In Zhuge Liang's view, Cao Cao's strategy completely regarded Ardashir, whom he had faced before, as his peak opponent.

This is difficult, but who can make him Zhuge Liang?

So after careful research, comparing the enemy's and our own combat power, as well as the psychological conditions of the Northern Nobles and the Han family, Zhuge Liang finally found an effective strategic plan. He just waited for Cao Cao to not wake up, and then Cao Ang would be beaten up, and then he would stand up and take over Kandahar.

"It's a very good plan, and very feasible. But if we rely on Cao Mengde, there is a possibility of losing. It's not that the strategy is incorrect, but that Cao Mengde is not strong enough." Zhuge Liang directly pointed out the Achilles' heel of this strategy. He, Zhuge Liang, dared to play it this way because he was sure that he could face Ardashir head-on. Are you worthy of Cao Cao playing this way?
Zhuge Liang had actually been a teammate of Ardashir, so he knew very well what kind of talent Ardashir had. On the battlefield, Zhuge Liang only had to think about that guy taking the last step out of an impossible situation, and he knew that if they really risked their lives, Cao Cao would most likely not be able to hold on.

After hearing what Zhuge Liang said, Chen Xi was thoughtful. Indeed, Cao Cao was not a cautious person. All the things this guy did were really based on his adventurous spirit.

What kind of dream is this? From Zhuge Liang's current perspective, Ardashir's overall strategy is to maintain the balance, expand the size of the army, and then take Kandahar in one fell swoop. Only in this way can it be considered a complete resurrection. Before that, the better the performance, the more fearful Cao Cao's forces will be, and then they will further strengthen their defense.

Chen Xi's obstruction was more of a political consideration, but as long as Zhuge Liang dared to issue a military order, Chen Xi would most likely approve it. After all, Zhuge Liang was really young, less than 30 years old. It would not be a big problem for him to go to Kandahar, crush Ardashir and come back to continue to be the prime minister.

As for whether he can take over, that is not a problem. As long as Cao Cao cannot wake up and Cao Ang has lost many soldiers and generals, Zhuge Liang does not need anyone else to step up and make an effort. He can take over Kandahar himself. The only person who may be able to stop this is Chen Xi. Others, including the Central Asian families, would probably be happy to see it.

"That was probably something Xun Wenruo and the others came up with last year." Chen Xi thought for a moment and said, "What does Kong Ming think?"

But he didn't expect that a year later, not only he thought of this, but others also thought of this. This is really damn it. No, no, no, I should say that we really shouldn't underestimate the people in the world.

"Do you think that even if Cao Mengde can gain a foothold at the pass and no longer have the logistical pressure, he still won't be able to defeat Ardashir?" Chen Xi thought thoughtfully. This strategy looked very familiar to him because it had been used at least twice in history, once by Zhuge Liang, who was about to succeed, and once by the Northern and Southern Dynasties, who were truly successful. Therefore, there was no doubt about the feasibility of the entire strategy, and the success rate was extremely high.

Zhuge Liang was embarrassed to say that he was the first to come up with this idea. Since the year before last when Cao Cao seemed to be about to fall, Zhuge Liang began to think about replacing him.

There's no waste of time. He can just deal with Ardashir and give Cao Cao a good beating before coming back to be the prime minister. This way, his mentality might be better. With great satisfaction, he might even become stronger. This is worth the gamble for Chen Xi.

However, considering that Jiang Wei was unable to carry out this plan, and in the official history, when Zhuge Liang went out to Qishan for the last time, he dispatched a legion of Meng Yan to cross the river first, but Sima Yi still had to wait until the Wei River flooded before he dared to send out his entire army to encircle and suppress Meng Yan. Even so, he was unable to defeat the five or six thousand people that Meng Yan had crossed the river. This is enough to show the gap between the two sides in actual combat.

Sure enough, no matter how amazing the strategy is, it ultimately has to be supported by tactical strength.

"Let me see." Li You heard the conversation between the two and suddenly spoke to Chen Xi.

"Ah, this kind of stuff should not be shown to you. Although this is the first time that Cao Sikong has submitted a strategic plan to Chang'an, according to the division of military regions, this kind of intelligence can only be seen by Lord Xuande and me, as well as Fengxiao and Xiaozhi who are in charge of external intelligence." Chen Xi explained to Li You.

"Cao Mengde doesn't follow the rules, so how can we?" Li You said with a sneer. He wanted to know what surprising move Cao Cao had made to make Chen Xi and Zhuge Liang so serious. "Well, don't, that's not good." Chen Xi refused. The rules still had to be followed.

Seeing Chen Xi's refusal, Zhuge Liang flipped left and right, then searched everywhere, and soon found a booklet. He handed the booklet to Chen Xi and said, "Take a look at this. You can show this to Master Li."

Chen Xi was confused, so he took the booklet, opened it, read the beginning, closed it, looked at Zhuge Liang, opened the booklet again, closed it again, picked up Cao Cao's secret report beside him, and his first reaction was that who would dare to steal things from the State Council?
But then Chen Xi gave up this idea. Only he and Liu Bei occasionally took things from the State Council without permission. Others didn't dare to take things from here casually. It would really be fatal. Even Chen Gong and Cao Cao would never do such a thing.

"Sure enough, is human wisdom interconnected?" Chen Xi looked at Zhuge Liang with some emotion. He basically understood what Zhuge Liang wanted to do, but unfortunately Cao Cao had already started.

But since it was Zhuge Liang who came up with it himself, it doesn't matter. We are not discussing Cao Cao's strategic plan. We are discussing whether Zhuge Liang's plan is feasible.

He handed Zhuge Liang's booklet to Li You, "Wenru, look at this, look at this, you will understand after reading it. By the way, you can also evaluate this strategic plan. Everyone can circulate it."

Chen Xi did not take Cao Cao as a human being at all. Anyway, what was circulated was not Cao Cao's strategies and tactics, but Zhuge Liang's ideas about a certain region. It was just that this idea happened to overlap with Cao Cao's strategies and tactics. Oh, no, it was Cao Cao's strategies and tactics that overlapped with Zhuge Liang's ideas.

"This plan..." Li You had never been to Beigui, but Li You also had some terrain videos of the Beigui mountain area recorded by immortals, so he was clear about the general situation. Therefore, Li You could actually understand why Cao Cao was stuck in Kandahar, unable to advance or retreat. But after reading Zhuge Liang's plan, Li You somewhat thought that it was mainly because Cao Cao was relatively incompetent.

"It's highly feasible." Li You was silent for a while and gave his evaluation. "At least from my perspective, I haven't found many problems. As long as we can gain a firm foothold at the pass and take advantage of Ardashir's grain collection time to successfully deploy our forces to the outskirts of Kabul and unite the local northern nobles, we will basically become local residents. It will be difficult for Ardashir to clean them up."

"Indeed, even I can see that as long as they can sit still, the longer they delay, the less hope Ardashir will have." Mi Zhu had to find Chen Xi for something today, so he came to the State Council rarely. Then he took a look at the documents when they were circulated, and after reading them, he was full of admiration. This group of people is indeed excellent.

"It is true that the longer it drags on, the weaker Ardashir will become." Fa Zheng nodded. "From a strategic point of view, there is no problem at all."

"However, the problem is that Cao Sikong seriously underestimated Ardashir. The Ardashir he saw was severely weakened, and the Ardashir he saw in Kabul was probably the most powerful Ardashir, who Cao Sikong could not defend at all." Zhuge Liang stated bluntly. Although he hoped that Cao Cao would die soon so that he could take over, there are some things that cannot be considered in this way from a national level, because it was not just Cao Cao who died.

"Barak is probably stronger than the current Sikong Cao. With mutual cooperation, there should be no problem in taking the pass. But Barak and Sikong Cao together may not be able to stop Ardashir's attack. The unfinished fortress is the same as the fortress that Sikong Cao built in the upper reaches of the Helmand River. They are all baits." Zhuge Liang said with some fatigue.

Zhuge Liang had analyzed these things long ago. Of course, Zhuge Liang also believed that Xun Yu and others had also analyzed them and knew that the fortress before the Kabul Valley was a bait. But with Cao Cao and Barak around, it didn't matter whether it was a bait or not. As long as they rushed up and destroyed the fortress, and then extended inward and became a local resident, it wouldn't matter what effect Ardashir's bait had.

"Is Ardashir so strong?" Li You frowned.

"It may be stronger than this. I compared it with the situation a few years ago and normal development, but I can't say how much he will improve. The idea is fine, but even I didn't intend to fight Ardashir head-on in the original plan." Zhuge Liang explained after hearing this. With this comparison, Li You roughly understood the approximate strength of Ardashir.

"In other words, you believe in the feasibility of this plan, but in Cao Sikong's hands, it is actually impossible to execute it." Chen Xi asked thoughtfully, "So it will be a great victory first, and then a great defeat, right? They will occupy the pass fortress, begin to extend inward, quickly gain the advantage of the battle, and then be defeated by Ardashir?"

"We won't be defeated. Barak should be able to cover the bottom line." Zhuge Liang thought for a while and said, "In the whole Cao Sikong's rule, the only variable is Barak. Others may have trump cards, but they can't change the overall situation when facing Ardashir."

"That would mean a big defeat." Chen Xi sighed, "Then I deny this."

Zhuge Liang was a little confused when he heard this. He knew how to break into the Kabul Valley and how to win by taking advantage of the chess pieces in Cao Cao's hands, but when he thought about Cao Cao, he didn't want to say it.

The problem is that Chen Xi just rejected it like that. Wasn't it a bit too much? He should at least let Liu Bei see it. Oh, Liu Bei took Xu Chu to Sichuan to meet Liu Zhang and Yuan Shu, and went to pick up Sun Qian. He let Chen Xi handle any matters himself.

"What's wrong, Kong Ming?" Chen Xi looked at Zhuge Liang's tangled expression and asked curiously, "Is there any problem?"

"In fact, there is a way to make Cao Sikong win." Zhuge Liang looked conflicted and even didn't want to speak, but this was not just Cao Cao's business after all.

"There is no problem with this strategy. The problem actually lies in the overall strength of Cao Sikong and the explosive power of Ardashir. As long as these can be resolved, this strategy can be implemented." Zhuge Liang sighed and said that he still thought about the problem from the national level and should not let personal grudges harm public affairs.

"It is a good time to attack during the summer grain harvest, but it is not the best time." Zhuge Liang suppressed the unnecessary thoughts in his mind and said to Chen Xi and others, "The best time should be when the flood occurs in Beigui."

"Wait, will there be a flood in Beigui?" Li You stared at Zhuge Liang in a daze and asked, "Isn't that a combination of arid desert and plateau mountains?"

Chen Xi was stunned when he heard this, and then his face showed a deep expression. Zhuge Liang's words reminded Chen Xi that floods would occur in the Beigui mountainous area, but the probability was extremely low, basically a once-in-a-century event. But precisely because it was a once-in-a-century event, it was not a too big flood, and its destructive power was invincible in the Beigui area.

"There will be a flood." Chen Xi answered on behalf of Zhuge Liang, "The probability is very low, but it is indeed possible."

"Last year, the use of the Blazing Ring caused climate change, snowstorms in the Central Plains, drought in Rome, and floods in the Kushan Empire. Climate disasters around the world will continue for one to two years." Chen Xi continued to explain, "So it is probably some hydrological condition that meets the speculation that there will be rainfall in the Beigui Mountain area, right?"

After saying that, Chen Xi looked at Zhuge Liang. Many abnormal weather conditions, if inferred based on hydrological data, are actually cyclical.

Therefore, Zhuge Liang dared to say this, presumably because he had found hydrological data for reference, and asked the Gan and Shi families to have the calculations done by Xu Yue and Xu Chao next door.

"Sure enough, Zichuan, you know everything." Zhuge Liang said with some admiration, "Around June this year, there is a possibility of rainfall in the northern Guishan area, and it will also affect Kandahar. The precipitation in Kabul will rise rapidly, and then form a flood."

"Can we defeat Ardashir in one fell swoop?" Chen Xi asked Zhuge Liang. He was thinking that if possible, he could send Zhuge Liang over.

I really don't want to get up on Saturday. I'm so tired.