Three Kingdoms: Prosper Han from the beginning of brushing favorability

Chapter 325 Encirclement of Qishan

With the capture of Xiaben, the only plain in Wudu was in the hands of the Han army.

As for other small counties, they were all in disgrace. When they learned that Yang Fu, the governor of Wudu, was dead, they all surrendered.

In less than 20 days, Ma Chaojun captured Wudu, with negligible casualties. Instead, he gathered more than a thousand people from the remaining Qiang and Hu tribes in Wudu to help in the battle.

After entering the city, Ma Chaojun fulfilled his promise and did not carry out massacres and purges.

Even Yang Fu's family members spared their lives... Of course, those who served in Wudu were all replaced.

After leaving enough food for them to live on, the other confiscated property was confiscated and used as military supplies. The land was taken back to the government, and their tribesmen were ordered to work as farmers for the government.

The people in the camp were miserable, but they survived in the end. For Ma Chao, whose wife and children died at the hands of his enemies and who wanted revenge, it was a miraculous act of kindness.

The deputy general will be left to take charge of Wudu affairs first, and Liu Bei will make personnel arrangements later.

The deputy general also left more than a thousand troops to guard Xiabian and Hechi. In order to stabilize the rear, Ma Chao left only Han troops and took with him all the Qiang and Hu troops who had surrendered.

After arranging the rear, Ma Chao immediately led his troops north to join the main force.

The progress on the Yinping side was even smoother, and even the competition was smoother. It was Zhang Yi who led the team to Yinping.

Zhang Yi, who was transferred from the prefect of Zitong to the prefect of Guanghan, was transferred to the prefect of Shu County again after Lao Liu ascended the throne.

This series of transfers may seem like smooth transfers, but they are getting closer and closer to the central government, not to mention Shu County, where Chengdu is located.

This young man from a native Yizhou family is indeed very ambitious. He actively cooperates with the central policies of Zhuge Liang and Fazheng in his local work, and can achieve some political achievements wherever he goes.

In this Northern Expedition, he also led the troops as a model for the local Yizhou family.

After several battles in Jingzhou, Dongsanjun, and Nanzhong, the local families in Yizhou all saw the hope of Liu Han's rise.

Who wouldn’t want a share of something beneficial?What's more, with Liu Chan's intentional actions, the economic interests of the Yizhou family and Liu Han are now deeply tied.

Politically, Lao Liu is also gradually improving their status and voice.

But if we want to completely unite the local scholars in Yizhou with the central government, this Northern Expedition is crucial.

Liu Chan has seen clearly in Yizhou for many years that the people of Yizhou are not unwilling to do the Northern Expedition, but they are unwilling to do unprofitable things.

This is human nature. If following you in the Northern Expedition is not as good as me living in Yizhou, then why should I invest resources in supporting the Northern Expedition?

He now thinks about Ji Han in history. It was only after the Northern Expedition suffered successive defeats and Prime Minister Zhuge died that the war-weariness of the local families in Yizhou increased.

And later on, not only the local families in Yizhou, but also scholars from other factions began to oppose the Northern Expedition.

But it is different now. After several victories, it coincided with Cao Pi's attack on Wu. Generally speaking, there are only two factions in Liu Han today.

Radicals and Conservatives.

The radicals were naturally staunch supporters of the Northern Expedition and were willing to invest resources for the Northern Expedition, such as Zhuge Liang, Fazheng and others, as well as most local officials in Yizhou.

Conservatives, on the other hand, believe that radicals are still too conservative... such as Zhang Fei, Guan Yu and other elders, as well as middle-level generals who all hope to be promoted through military exploits.

"To completely get the Yizhou family to be of one mind with us, we must get results from this Northern Expedition - that is, territory." Liu Chan was writing and drawing with a few pieces of paper and a piece of charcoal in his hand.

Since the Northern Expedition, Lao Liu has liked to "chat" with his son whenever the army is stationed, and of course they talk about military and national affairs.

The more they chatted, the more he was surprised to realize that he still knew so little about his son. The more he chatted, the more he discovered that his son always had a lot of wild ideas in his head, but they made sense when he thought about it carefully.

Lao Liu is like a miner who discovered gold and never tires of it.

"That's natural." Old Liu twisted his beard and said with a smile, "Otherwise there would be no territory, no official positions to reward, and no output to support."

"And the most important thing is that we must give them the confidence to resolutely conduct the Northern Expedition." Liu Chan added, "This territory may not be very rich, it may not be very prosperous for the time being, but it will definitely be able to hold it for a long time."

Ji Han, who had lost Jingzhou and suffered repeated defeats in the Northern Expedition, cut and divided a piece of Yizhou and created a lot of official positions. Isn't it because the cake was not divided enough?

But it is only reasonable that the bureaucracy becomes redundant and complex, management and support costs rise, and administrative efficiency begins to become low. In the end, the burden on the people increases year after year.

Historically, it was only more than twenty years after Zhuge Liang's death that the people went from having enough food and clothing to having many things to eat.

In order to appease the people's grievances and stabilize their rule, they had to grant amnesty to the country many times. As a result, the original high degree of law and order was gone forever, and public security began to become chaotic.

This, in turn, once again increases management costs and reduces production efficiency, thus entering a vicious cycle.

As long as the Northern Expedition fails, Ji Han's collapse will happen sooner or later.

"So it is natural that Longyou must be captured. To capture Longyou, the main force of the enemy must be annihilated." Liu Chan continued to write and draw on the paper in his hand without raising his head.

"The terrain of Qishan Fort is dangerous. If the damage caused by the attack is too great, our army will be passive as soon as the reinforcements arrive and attack from inside and outside. Therefore, we must lead the army forward and go to Jieting to decisively fight the enemy reinforcements.

"If we can defeat it, we can also stop it. Without reinforcements for a long time, Qishan Fort is an isolated city and can surrender without a fight." Old Liu nodded and smiled, "That's the truth."

Lao Liu fully agreed with the importance of sending troops to the street pavilion.

Then he looked at the papers in Liu Chan's hand and asked curiously: "What kind of paper is this? It seems different from the past?"

"The bamboo paper I told my father before." Liu Chan just looked up at this moment, "The samples sent before the army set off. I saw that they were almost ready for use, so I brought some out."

Old Liu took the paper covered with "ghost painting symbols" and took a look. This paper was quite tough and indeed much stronger and more durable than the previous paper.

But I always feel that it is not as safe as bamboo slips to preserve.

"Why are you so keen on papermaking?" Old Liu put down the "doodles" on the paper and saw Liu Chan carefully rolling it up and putting it away.

"It's not that I'm passionate about paper, it's to make it easier for knowledge to spread." At this time, there were only father and son in the tent, Liu Chan whispered, "If you don't want the powerful people from all over the world to lose their tail, you can't let them monopolize talents."

"What is a monopoly?"

"It's just that all the talent is in their hands."

Old Liu nodded. Suppressing the powerful and local powerful families has always been something that every king who wants to consolidate his imperial power has done.

"The strong and powerful can only control the government, and they can only rely on talent - that is, knowledge and land." Liu Chan continued without thinking too much, "To suppress them, naturally we have to start here."

Then he shook the paper in his hand: "Although this thing is not as well preserved as bamboo slips, it is easy to mass-produce, carry, and spread. It only requires rags, rotten fishing nets, carpenter's scraps, bamboo, and water.

"If a large number of books can be brought to the market at low prices and distributed to the people, and eventually some peasants with a reasonable family background can support a scholar, and then the method of obtaining official positions can be reformed, it can be broken."

"But how easy is it to copy books?"

"This is simple." Liu Chan chuckled, "Carve the words on the stone slab, then cut them into small pieces, arrange them according to the required words, then apply ink and print on paper... This will save you the trouble of copying books. "

When Old Liu saw his son talking, it was obvious that this was not a temporary idea. Thinking back to the many preparations he had made before and the recent establishment of the Imperial College...

This kid's heart is bigger than he thought, and he can see further than he originally expected.

"These things were all taught to you by the Prime Minister?" Old Liu asked curiously.

Zhuge Liang never mentioned this to him.

"The Prime Minister taught me to read all the books. I will think about it every day and gain something at night." Liu Chan chuckled, "Isn't it normal?"

"That's normal!" Lao Liu scolded with a smile, "If everyone has your thoughts, then that's okay! By the way, knowledge has a way to solve it, but what about the land?"

"If we can't take down the Qishan Fort in front of us, no matter how much we say, it's useless." Liu Chan shook his head and stretched, "We'd better wait until Longyou is captured before we can discuss it with my father in detail."

"Hey, you brat, you still want to be a father!"

While the two were chatting, Zhuge Liang walked in: "Haha, what appetite has the prince got?"

Lao Liu had already given instructions that Zhuge Liang did not need to report when he entered the tent.

"Prime Minister is here, sit down quickly." But Old Liu looked at Zhuge Liang's somewhat stiff gait, frowned and asked, "Prime Minister, is this...?"

"Haha, it's okay. It's my first time to ride on an elephant, so I'm not used to it yet." Zhuge Liang waved his hands and smiled, "But riding on an elephant does have a much wider field of vision. There must be something wonderful about it when the two armies are facing each other and commanding the military formation."

This elephant was not bought by the caravan originally, but was later paid tribute by Nanzhong.

It is much stronger and more powerful than the original one, and it is also more tame. It was specially tamed by Pu Wang Citu for himself, and it is second only to his own white elephant.

These days' wooden-wheeled carriages are bumpy and difficult to move, and the road conditions are not good at all.

Not to mention using that kind of "four-wheeled giant baby stroller" to run on Qishan Road, it is really nonsense.

It just so happened that the soldiers in his family who had learned from the elephant driver were all very skilled and their loyalty was guaranteed, so Zhuge Liang changed his mount to an elephant at Liu Chan's suggestion.

It seems that Uncle Zhuge is quite satisfied.

"Your Majesty, Prince, our army has now controlled all the roads up and down the mountain from Qishan Fort, and I have dispatched officers and men to inform the people and prevent them from panic.

"Beacons have also been set up in the fort. To prevent changes, we should send troops to the street pavilion as soon as possible."

Liu Chan raised his eyebrows when he heard this. It was finally time to fight a tough battle.

Whether I, a big man, can break out of Jingyi, the fate of the country in the next few decades depends on this battle!

I just don’t know if the second uncle’s side is going well, and whether the third uncle can restrain himself from rushing forward and attacking...

(End of this chapter)