Since being brought to the CD Prime Minister's Mansion by Liao Hua and Ma Su, Sima Zhao has been treated with courtesy from Zhuge Liang. He did not restrict Sima Zhao's personal freedom and allowed him to go around in and out of the Prime Minister's Mansion, but he always sent Liao Hua or Ma Su to follow him, surveillance in the name of protection, and at the same time strictly prevented Sima Zhao from having too much contact with anyone.

At that time, Yongqiu and other local barbarian leaders raised an army to rebel against Shu, killing Zheng Ang, the prefect of Jianning County, surrendered to Sun Quan of Eastern Wu. Sun Quan appointed him as the prefect of Yongchang, which formed a resistance to the Wushu alliance that was gradually heating up. Later, Zhuge Liang wrote a handwritten letter to send envoy Deng Zhi to Wuchang, questioning why Sun Quan had surrendered and rebelled and betrayed the alliance.

Under pressure, Sun Quan had to make a public statement, no longer admitting that Yong Kai was a minister of Eastern Wu, nor would he interfere with Shu's punishment of his rebellious ministers, and abandoning Yong Kai in exchange for peace between Wu and Shu.

Soon Lu Xun suggested that Sun Quan take the initiative to propose a strategic plan to form an alliance with Shu Han to attack Cao Wei separately. Zhuge Liang accepted this proposal, but at the same time stated that the rebellion in the south urgently needed to be quelled, and the division of troops could only be implemented after the rebellion was quelled.

At present, everything is developing towards Sima Yi's prediction...

The Yongqi rebelled and separatisted the Southern Central Army for more than a year. Zhuge Liang was reluctant to take action because he wanted to stabilize the CD-centered country and was worried that the large-scale expedition would lead to an empty rear.

However, the situation in Nanzhong cannot be ignored, and Zhuge Liang could not indulge Yong Kai, Meng Huo and others to continue to be arrogant for a long time. For this reason, he specially found Ma Su, who he believed in strategy, to discuss the matter.

Just as they were discussing whether they should send troops immediately and what problems they might face in sending troops, Zhuge Liang suddenly stopped discussing and looked out the door: "Come out, don't hide anymore..."

Seeing that Zhuge Liang had discovered himself, Sima Zhao, who had been hiding outside the door, immediately turned around and prepared to escape, but when he turned around, he put it in Liao Hua's arms. Looking at Liao Hua's extremely serious gaze, Sima Zhao suddenly felt something was wrong.

Liao Hua, who didn't listen to his explanation, directly reached out and picked up his collar, and carried it into the house like a chicken.

"Let me go! I just happened to pass by!"

Zhuge Liang had long thought that the person who eavesdropped would be Sima Zhao, so he was not surprised at all. Looking at Sima Zhao who was fluttering around with his feet, Zhuge Liang waved to Liao Hua, so Liao Hua put Sima Zhao down.

"Since you can't listen in vain. Let's talk about it. What suggestions do you have for Nanzheng?"

Now Liao Hua and Ma Su's eyes were gathered on Sima Zhao. After tidying up his clothes, he replied:

"The Prime Minister wants to lead his army south to Jianning, and his biggest concern at this time is that Cao Wei will take advantage of the situation. Although Sun Quan of the Eastern Wu re-established a alliance with your country, the alliance will continue to change according to the current situation. At that time, it is difficult to guarantee that Lu Xun will not lead his army to attack Ba County. Although Bashu has natural geographical advantages, even the Prime Minister may not be able to resist the attack on both sides, right?"

When Liao Hua heard that Sima Zhao dared to sarcasm and mocked Zhuge Liang, he wanted to reach out to hit him in a hurry, but Zhuge Liang stopped him. Seeing Sima Zhao's eyes began to shine:

“Speak…”

"In fact, it is very simple to avoid this trap. The Prime Minister can secretly send an envoy to Eastern Wu and carry a letter written by you to Lu Xun. The letter must mention the joint forces of Wu and Shu, and deliberately let the generals of Cao's army stationed in Xiangyang discover that Cao Pi will attach great importance to this content from your letter and will inevitably send troops to Wu to stop the Wu and Shu alliance."

Ma Su disagreed with Sima Zhao's words, and he retorted:

"According to you, compared with the power of Wu and Shu at this time, our strength and the controlled area are relatively weak, and Cao Pi is also likely to hit us first. Isn't this arousing the fire?"

Sima Zhao explained:

"When Cao Pi became emperor, he wanted to establish his authority by conquering other countries. If he thought that Hanzhong would be the first choice to attack Yizhou, there would be no previous two southern conquests against Wu. I had heard of my father before..."

When Sima Yi had to be mentioned in his words, Sima Zhao had a deliberate pause and quickly circumvented Sima Yi:

"Previously, the shock and rebellion in the middle of the central government and the rebellion in the southern middle of the Shu Han Dynasty were caused by the collapse of Emperor Zhaolie Liu Bei. On the surface, it was indeed a good choice to attack Yizhou, but Cao Pi naturally thought that if he attacked Yizhou, then Sun Quan would likely take advantage of the situation to attack Huainan. The terrain of Yizhou is complex, easy to defend but difficult to attack. In this way, the Wei army is likely to fall into a passive situation of fighting on both sides."

At this time, Zhuge Liang took over Sima Zhao's words:

"And the attack on Jiangdong is completely different, because now I am already unable to deal with the rebellion in Nanzhong just by dealing with the Nanzhong rebellion. How could I have the strength to go north to Yongliang or to support Sun Quan in the east? In this way, he had only one way to break up the Wushu alliance, that is, the third expedition to the Eastern Wu, and the day when Cao Zihuan raised troops to attack Sun Quan was the time when I led my army to pacify Nanzhong."

Seeing that before he finished speaking, Zhuge Liang had already guessed everything behind him. Sima Zhao nodded and complained in a low voice:

"Since you all know why you still ask me..."

Zhuge Liang smiled, then turned around and said to Ma Su:

"Young Chang, I will report to Your Majesty to personally lead the army to the south. You can prepare."

After saying that, Zhuge Liang looked at Sima Zhao who still turned his face and ignored him:

"Okay, okay, don't be angry, why not do this, this time you go to Nanzhong with me."

Sima Zhao, who had always been very interested in the military, heard that Zhuge Liang wanted to take him to the south to march, not to mention that he had never been to Nanzhong when he grew up. He was curious about the field until then, and his displeasure on his face instantly disappeared and he became extremely happy:

"What you said is true?"

After receiving Zhuge Liang's affirmative answer, Sima Zhao ran out happily to prepare to pack up his things.

Shortly after Sima Zhao left, Liao Hua raised his concerns about Zhuge Liang's involvement in military affairs:

"Prime Minister, Sima Zhao is Sima Yi's son after all, so he has brought too much contact with your military and political plans, which is probably..."

Zhuge Liang reached out and picked up the feather fan on the table and placed it gently on his chest and shook it, his eyes looking deep and mysterious:

"There is an inseparable blood relationship between Sima Zhao and Sima Yi, but because Zhang Chunhua has gradually become a barrier between their father and son. If this gap becomes larger and larger, then this blood relationship will become an obstacle in front of Sima Yi."

Ma Su also agreed with Zhuge Liang's idea of ​​leaving Sima Zhao to Nanzhong together:

"Indeed, my spies deployed on the border between Hanzhong and Yongzhou for this period have discovered that Jia Mu and Guo Huai are separately inquiring about Sima Zhao's whereabouts. At this time, bringing Sima Zhao to Nanzhong can also avoid their eyes and ears."

In March 225 AD (the third year of Jianxing in Shu and the sixth year of Huangchu in Wei), just after Cao Pi's army crossed the anti-eld canal and headed for Sun Quan to reach CD, Zhuge Liang was also ready to fight the rebellion in the southern expedition.

In the same month, Zhuge Liang wrote a letter to Emperor Liu Chan of Shu, requesting to lead a large army south to fight against rebels such as Yongkai and Meng Huo.

Li Yan, the guru who learned about this, believed that the southern expedition was a good opportunity to establish his prestige and could not be stolen by Zhuge Liang. So he hurried back to the CD in Yong'an, guarding the garrison. He asked Liu Chan to lead the army to the south on the grounds that the Prime Minister Zhuge Liang should stay and take care of the court. As a person in charge of the internal and external military affairs, he should lead the troops to quell the rebellion.

But Liu Chan transferred Li Yan's memorial to Zhuge Liang and handed the matter over to him.

Zhuge Liang saw Li Yan's purpose, and he severely accused Li Yan of being responsible for defending the eastern part of Yizhou. He left his post without being summoned by the court, so he publicly ordered Li Yan to return to Yong'an, so he did not need to interfere in the southern expedition.

In the end, Li Yan had to return to Yong'an in shame with great dissatisfaction and resentment.

Through this incident, Li Yan completely understood the iron-like facts:

Zhuge Liang's dominance in the court is unshakable to himself now, and forcing power to fight for it is tantamount to hitting a stone with an egg.

After all obstacles were eliminated, Zhuge Liang led 50,000 elite troops to march towards the south. During the march, Zhuge Liang asked Sima Zhao who was riding in the same car as him and said:

"Do you have any good ideas for this southern expedition?"

Sima Zhao, who is good at thinking and analysis, thought for a while and said:

"The rebellion in the South Central China is very large, but after careful consideration, it is not difficult to find that their tribes have many clusters. Although they are headed by Yong Kai on the surface, they actually have their own ulterior motives. Moreover, the five-featured official Lu Kai still led the rest of his troops to defend in Yongchang, and he was not defeated by Yong Kai for two years. This is enough to gradually decline Yong Kai's prestige. I think they won't be long before Yong Kai will die."

In July of the same year, when the southern expedition army arrived at Yueli, it was true that Yongchang had heard that Yongqiu was killed by the allies Gao Ding. Gao Ding's troops were stationed in Yunnan. So Zhuge Liang took advantage of the rebels' attacks on each other and attacked Gao Ding's troops in several ways, conquering Suijiu one after another. Gu Refused, crossing south and flooded to Yunnan. Finally, Liao Hua led his army to break through Yunnan City and killed Gao Ding.

Zhuge Liang recovered the entire territory of Yunnan with one move, which made the tribe forces entrenched in Yongchang, led by Meng Huo, very panicked. In order to resist Zhuge Liang, Meng Huo gathered the remaining troops of Yongkai and the Gaoding remnants who were defeated by the Shu army to flee to Yongchang, killing Lu Kai, who was about to go to Yunnan to serve as prefect. With the support of the remaining tribes, he formed a head-on confrontation with Zhuge Liang.

Faced with the collective resistance of the Southern Barbarian tribes, Liao Hua believed that it was easy to wipe them out, so he volunteered to lead his troops to attack Yongchang. However, at this time, Ma Su, the army officer, put forward a different view:

"Nanzhong is very far from CD. Even if we defeat them this time, we may still rebel again after we leave. This will not be a long-term solution."

Zhuge Liang has always admired Ma Su's talent very much and taught him as his apprentice. This time Ma Su's argument once again aroused his interest:

"Young people often have words but can speak bluntly."

Ma Su further elaborated on his views:

"The situation in Nanzhong is very complicated, and there are many barbarian tribes. If you use ordinary methods of suppressing rebellion and simply and roughly suppress them with strong troops, then you can relieve the future troubles in one fell swoop unless you completely kill them and uproot them. However, this method is too difficult and costly. Your Majesty and the Prime Minister have always used lenient policies to appease the hearts of the people in the country. This will cause shocks in the hearts of the people in the country, which is not what kind of kindness do. I believe that the eight-character key to "siege the city as the best, attack the heart as the best" should be adopted when dealing with rebellions in the Southern Barbarians. As long as the tribes of the Southern Barbarians can feel our kindness and kindness towards them and no longer fear and anxiety about us, then they will not let their days of peace, but they will start a rebellion again."

Sima Zhao, who was listening quietly, remembered the words "siege the city as the best, attack the heart as the best" in Ma Su's heart.

Zhuge Liang adopted Ma Su's policy of "being soft and being the main force, and swords and weapons as the auxiliary force". When ordering the army to advance towards Yongchang, he must not disturb the people along the way, and he must treat the local people well. Even if the people do not welcome or even hostile to the Shu army, they cannot take any revenge.

Seeing that the Shu army was ready to attack him, Meng Huo contacted all tribes to start a fight. Zhuge Liang adopted the method of division and siege, defeating the Southern Barbarian coalition in one fell swoop. Meng Huo himself was captured by Shu general Chen Shi.

After being captured, Zhuge Liang personally loosened his ties and took him to observe the military formation of the Shu army, and then asked Meng Huo:

"What's the situation of this military?"

Meng Huo was very dissatisfied and said that he was defeated this time because he did not know the truth and that after seeing it with his own eyes, he would definitely defeat the Shu army if he fought again. Zhuge Liang smiled faintly, and Sima Zhao, who was standing beside him, suddenly spoke:

"Since he is not convinced, let him go back."

"What are you talking about in every family?"

When he heard Sima Zhao's words, Chen Shi and other Shu Han generals showed displeasure, but Zhuge Liang waved his hand:

"Let him go..."

Since Zhuge Liang had already spoken, no matter how big the generals had, they had to implement it.

It was not only the generals of the Shu army who were surprised, but even Meng Huo himself did not expect that Zhuge Liang would actually let him go.

After Meng Huo was borrowed by his own clan soldiers, Zhuge Liang lowered his head and asked Sima Zhao and said:

"Guess, how many times do I have to let him go before he can truly surrender?"

Looking at Meng Huo who was riding a horse and flew away, Sima Zhao raised his head and was in his palms, revealing all fingers except the small thumb and ring finger of his left hand:

"Seven times!"

"oh?"

Zhuge Liang raised his eyebrows and smiled, "How could you be so sure?"

Sima Zhao replied: "Do you want to make a bet?"

Later, Meng Huo fought a decisive battle with Zhuge Liang six times, but was defeated by Zhuge Liang. After capturing Meng Huo alive, Zhuge Liang saw that he still had no intention of surrender, so he adopted a lenient policy to release him until the seventh time...

Seeing that Zhuge Liang still did not intend to kill him, but instead treated all the prisoners and the people well, Meng Huo was finally moved.

Zhuge Liang and Sima Zhao beside him were observing Meng Huo's every move:

This time, Meng Huo did not mean to leave again, but knelt on the ground and bowed to Zhuge Liang and said:

"The Prime Minister is really a god. Meng Huo is convinced! The Southern people will never betray you!"

The Battle of Pacification in the South Central took half a year. From March to September, Meng Huo and his leader Qu General surrendered. Zhuge Liang completely eliminated the hidden dangers in the south. In mid-September, Zhuge Liang came to Dianchi Lake with Meng Huo and accepted the surrender of all tribes. Out of admiration for Zhuge Liang's outstanding character, the local people handed over excellent materials such as gold, silver, elixir, lacquer, plowing ox and war horses to Zhuge Liang for national seclusion.

Zhuge Liang cleverly used the precious opportunity of the third war between Cao Wei and Sun Wu to quickly quell the rebellion of the four counties in Nanzhong that lasted for two years, completely eliminated the hidden dangers in the south, and provided very favorable conditions for his subsequent five northern expeditions.

After this war, Sima Zhao also discovered the unique charm of Zhuge Liang, which was as dazzling as his father Sima Yi, but it seemed to be completely different...

On the way to the post-war battle, Zhuge Liang looked out the window and stared blankly, then put down the official bamboo slips in his hand and asked:

"What? What are you thinking so trance?"

Sima Zhao, who was pulled out of his daze, replied to him:

"You and him said that the other party is a rare opponent in his life. I just wonder how different you are from him..."

Although Sima Zhao did not mention who "he" was in his words, Zhuge Liang knew very well that this person was his father Sima Yi. What Zhuge Liang cared even more was that Sima Zhao was actually thinking about this issue seriously:
Chapter completed!