Ji Han Liu Zhang

Chapter 73
After talking about the difficulties in money and food, Wang Shang elaborated on the situation in the south of Yizhou: "There are rebellions in Nanzhong. There are riots by the barbarians in Yuexi County, Jianwei County, Xangda County, Yizhou County, etc., but their troops are not strong. , It’s just a ragtag group of people, it requires few soldiers, and it can be dealt with in terms of money and food.”

"We may consider pacifying Nanzhong first, and then plan for Hanzhong next year."

'hiss. Liu Zhang felt a little headache when he heard what Wang Shang said as Xiao Hezhiren.

Although Yizhou is known as the land of abundance, it is a paradise in troubled times.

But it is only relative. Yizhou is called a paradise because it is compared to the Central Plains, which has been devastated for many years. Yizhou is slightly more stable than the Central Plains.

But in these troubled times, Yizhou can be spared.

Take the period when Liu Yan served as the shepherd of Yizhou, for example. When Liu Yan entered Shu, the Yellow Turban Rebellion caused by Ma Xiang was breaking out in Yizhou, affecting the three major counties of Shu, Guanghan and Qianwei where Yizhou's population was concentrated.

After Jia Long, the governor of other prefectures, defeated Ma Xiang, Liu Yan was able to successfully take office as the shepherd of Yizhou. However, Liu Yan relied on massacring the powerful people of Shu to establish his authority, which led to the Qianwei governor Jia Long joining forces with the prefecture governor Jia Long to rebel, and the war spread to Chengdu. Yixia.

After pacifying Jia Long, Liu Yan interfered with the affairs of the Chang'an court and sent [-] old soldiers to conspire with General Ma Teng to attack Chang'an. The result was a failure, and the [-] old soldiers, equipment, money and food were all lost.

After these things happened one after another, although the Shu land was rich, its vitality was also seriously damaged.

Furthermore, when Liu Zhang succeeded Yizhou as the shepherd, it was very similar to the unexpected death of Sun Ce. When Sun Quan was just supported by Zhang Zhao, he said: "However, the dangerous land is still not exhausted, and the heroes of the world are spread in the prefectures and counties, and the guests are staying." Just thinking about getting rid of the danger, there is no solid foundation for the monarch and his ministers. '

On the surface, he succeeded Yizhou Mu, but the entire Yizhou was really in his hands, but only Shu County, Guanghan, Qianwei, Zitong and other counties.

Many wealthy families in Bajun were estranged from Liu Yan because they had been massacred by him. The rebellion triggered by Liu He is clear evidence of this.

Needless to say, the land of Hanzhong was semi-independent in the hands of the rice thief Zhang Lu, and now it seems to be completely independent.

Nanzhong Land, on the other hand, has no idea what he is doing and has not listened to him anyway.

If he hadn't acted quickly enough this time to pacify Bajun, his north, east, and south sides would have been in a state of rebellion and chaos. He would have been almost trapped by a half-moon-shaped rebel encirclement. The remaining counties of Shu, Guanghan, Jianwei, and Zitong, as well as the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to the west, are his loyal partners.

Although Bajun is now pacified, he is still in the predicament of being attacked from both sides by Hanzhong and Nanzhong.

As Wang Shang said, due to the continuous battles in Shu, the treasury was overwhelmed and could not deploy a large army to attack Hanzhong at this time.

We can only appease Zhang Lu, a rice thief, first, but we still need to unify someone's views on this matter - and the views of Zhao Wei, the German general.

When the ministers were sitting in line, they asked Zhao Wei. I believed that Zhao Wei would not ignore the situation and yell at Zhang Lu to kill him. I guess Zhao Wei's face would not look good, but he would still nod and agree to appease Zhang Lu. decision making.

Liu Zhang first said slowly to Wang Shang, who suggested that Zhang Lu needed to be appeased: "The current situation is difficult, so we have no choice but to do this."

Then he said with some reluctance: "Let this rice thief continue to be arrogant for a day or two, and his head will be hanged on the top of the Chengdu city one day."

After saying these foreshadowing words, he turned to look at Zhao Wei, the leader of the military attachés on the other side: "Zhao Qing, Colonel Pang and Lieutenant Li have all been under your command for a long time. Now they are attacked by the rice thief Zhang Lu for no reason. I But I can't avenge Colonel Pang and Li, I really hate them."

"I hope you can forgive me."

"Ming Gong, how can Wei abandon his official duties because of a small grudge? I will follow whatever Ming Gong has to say." Zhao Wei showed a selfless look.

"Now, as Wang Biejia said, Zhang Lu needs to be appeased. Zhang Lu's mother and brother are now in Chengdu. Ming Gong can treat them kindly to correct Zhang Lu's heart."

"And this can be used to restrain Zhang Lu, or to influence one or two of him."

"Zhao Qing is really a good minister." Liu Zhang was a little surprised that Zhao Wei didn't yell at Zhang Lu to kill him. Although it might be because the officials were watching his situation, Zhao Wei was not reluctant at all.What's strange is that Pang Le and Li Yi went to Hanzhong to guard against Zhang Lu. There were some children of the Anhan Zhao family in the army, and most of them have lost news.

Zhao Wei wanted to treat Zhang Lu's mother and brother favorably, which seemed a bit too selfless.

But since Zhao Wei said so, the meeting should have come to a conclusion, and Liu Zhang read out the results to the ministers present.

"In this case, we should go south first and then north, and first easy things then hard things."

"After quelling the rebellion of the southern barbarians, we will take Zhang Lu."
-
"Ziqiao, please."

"Zirou, please."

As the envoy sent by Liu Zhang to Jingzhou to form an alliance, Zhang Song received warm hospitality from Jingzhou's aristocratic families.

The Jingzhou family really hated the war. Their original intention in supporting Liu Biao was to protect the country and the people. As for other intentions and ambitions, they had no other intentions.

If someone unified the north in the future and led troops south, they would not mind surrendering as long as they could keep their wealth.

Today, Zhang Song was invited as a guest to the house of the Kuai family, a wealthy family in Jingzhou. Sitting opposite him was Kuai Liang, while Kuai Yue was feeling a little unwell and could not meet the guests.

But Zhang Song probably guessed Kuai Yue's mentality. He criticized Kuai Yue in front of the officials in Jingzhou, and Kuai Yue was probably not very willing to come out to entertain him.

Seeing Zhang Song finish the wine in the glass in one gulp, Kuai Liang, who was sitting opposite him, picked up the wine pot, filled Zhang Song with another glass, and asked, "Ziqiao, the taste of the wine in Jingzhou is better than that in Yizhou." how."

He seemed to be asking Zhang Song about the taste of Jingzhou's wine, but there seemed to be some different meaning hidden in it.

Zhang Song picked up the wine glass and drank another glass. This time he did not swallow it in one gulp, but half-squinted his eyes to savor the taste of Jingzhou wine.

After a while, he answered Kuai Liang's question: "The wine in Jingzhou is fragrant and delicious, so it's certainly not bad."

"It's just that compared to Yizhou's wine, it lacks the local flavor. It's not as good as Yizhou's wine that goes into your throat and turns around a thousand times, making people feel more at ease."

"Overall, it's just one move away."

Kuai Liang smiled when he heard Zhang Song's joking words, and praised in reply: "Ziqiao is really a land-loving person."

Although he said this, he sighed in his heart. Some words were difficult to explain clearly, so he used metaphors to express them.

He asked Zhang Song about the taste of wine in Jingzhou, but he actually wanted to recruit Zhang Song for Liu Biao. Zhang Song had declared at the beginning that he was a white man, so of course he could just go, and he had no relationship with Liu Zhang as a monarch or a minister.

There are few scholars in the world who are as talented and upright as Zhang Song. Who would not want to recruit them to his subordinates?

After having another drink with Zhang Song, Kuai Liang started talking about the business: "Ziqiao, although Liu He's incident did not come from Liu Jingzhou's true intention, Liu Jingzhou still feels guilty in his heart. He is willing to give him [-] dendrobiums of grain." , five hundred gold were given to Liu Yizhou as a slight compensation."

This was something Liu Biao entrusted to him. Liu Biao would not lower his status to talk to Zhang Song, but would only let his subordinates handle it. This matter fell to Kuai Liang.

He had no problem with giving some money and food to make up for Liu He's mistakes. As long as there was no war, it would be a trivial matter to pay some money and food, so that he could live a peaceful life in Jingzhou studying and writing.

(End of this chapter)