Ma Liang, one of the wise men in Jingxiang, was recommended to Liu Bei by Yiji before he served as Liu Bei. In order to deal with Liu Bei's policy of conserving Jingxiang, he gave his first countermeasure in his life.
Ma Liang's countermeasures can be divided into front and back parts: the first part is to deal with the immediate predicament and consolidate Liu Bei's seizure of Jingzhou, Nanjun, and Xiangyang. That is, he first places Liu Qi in Jingxiang to recuperate, and then recruits Liu Biao's old troops. ; Later, he recommended Liu Qi as the governor of Jingzhou to stabilize the people of Jingzhou; the latter part focused on long-term development and expanded Liu Bei's territory to dominate, that is, conquering the four counties in Jingnan to accumulate money and food and enhance his strength. "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" describes the second half of Ma Liang's first strategy like this, which is to conquer the four counties of Wuling, Changsha, Guiyang, and Lingling southward to accumulate money and food, which is the basis. This is a long-term plan.
To deal with Liu Bei's conservative plan in Jingxiang and Ma Liang's long-term plan, it can be summed up in the eight-character policy: conquer the four counties in the south and collect money and grain. Although this eight-character policy is easy to understand, it has profound meaning. It can be said that it was one of the three strategies Zhu Sheng submitted to Zhu Yuanzhang 1150 years later (November 1358 AD): "Build walls high, accumulate grain widely, and slowly become king." The most original version of the first two. "Conquering the four counties in the south" is similar to "building a wall high", and "accumulating money and grain" is equivalent to "accumulating grain widely". "Build walls high, accumulate grain widely, and slowly become king" is the flexible strategy for which Zhu Yuanzhang became famous. It changed Zhu Yuanzhang's life, changed China's development, and undoubtedly changed the pattern of the world in later generations. Similarly, "conquering four counties in the south and collecting money and grain" was Liu Bei's flexible strategy to strive for hegemony. It changed Liu Bei's life, changed China's development, and undoubtedly changed the pattern of the world in later generations.
Looking at the land of China in the thirteenth year of Jian'an (winter 208 AD), Ma Liang's flexible strategy can be said to be the right time and the right location. It is simply a phased plan tailor-made for Liu Bei. The details are as follows.
First, it conforms to the rules.
The development of anything will not be smooth sailing, nor can it be achieved overnight. The development of things is always ups and downs and twists and turns. The same is true for Liu Bei's life. Liu Bei went to Youzhou to join Liu Yan, to Xuzhou to rescue Xu Qian, and to Jingzhou to rely on Liu Biao. In the past twenty-five years, he had been running around and working hard, but he still accomplished nothing. There was not an inch of tiles above or an inch of land below. It was not until the Battle of Chibi that Liu Bei took advantage of his victory to seize the three places of Jingxiang and Xiang. He finally found a foothold and began to show a thriving trend. At this time, Liu Bei's most urgent task was to preserve the fruits of victory (protecting the three places of Jingxiang and Xiang) and expand the fruits of victory (conquering the four counties of Jingnan).
Second, combine it with reality.
Everything is based on reality. Liu Bei seized the three areas of Jingxiang and was surrounded by enemies on all sides. The situation was extremely unfavorable: Cao Cao in the north was unwilling to suffer defeat in the south and was likely to make a comeback; Sun Quan in the east was unwilling to lose his interests and was very willing to betray the alliance; Liu Yan in the west was unwilling to take the territory Encroaching, there is always a feeling of being watching. Only in the south, the four counties of Wuling, Changsha, Guiyang, and Lingling believed that the sky was high and the road was far away. They neither surrendered to Cao Cao nor relied on Sun Quan. They went their own way and were in a state of anarchy. Liu Qi was recommended as the governor of Jingzhou, and he used the name of the governor of Jingzhou to conquer, pacify and govern the four counties in Jingnan. It was justifiable.
Third, geographical advantage.
The so-called Jingnan counties of Wuling, Changsha, Guiyang, and Lingling have natural geographical advantages with the three areas of Jingxiang that Liu Bei occupied. Geographical advantage refers to a country or entity occupying a geographically close advantageous position. Historically, the four counties in Jingnan have been under the jurisdiction of Jingzhou since the Western Han Dynasty; politically, after the Battle of Chibi, Liu Bei appointed Liu Biao's eldest son Liu Qi as the governor of Jingzhou; geographically, the four counties in Jingnan are adjacent to Yuzhang County in Yangzhou to the east. He Luling County borders Xiangyang County and Jiangxia County in Jingzhou to the north, Nanhai County, Cangwu County and Guilin County in Jiaozhou to the south, and is separated from Badong County and Zangdao County in Yizhou to the west. For this reason, Liu Bei took advantage of the geographical advantages of Jingnan and Xiangzhou over the four counties of Jingnan, pacified and managed the four counties of Jingnan, and the time and place were favorable.
Ma Liang’s strategy of conserving Jing and Xiang not only follows the law of "step-by-step" development, but also conforms to the flexible strategy of "gradual progress leads to a circle"; it not only conforms to the ideas designed by Zhuge Liang in "Longzhong Dui", but also applies The internal and external environment in the early days of Liu Bei's struggle for supremacy. From then on, Ma Liang became one of the counselors Liu Bei relied on.