Soldiers come to the world

In Liu Jing's strategic plan for Bashu, Xiling County is suspected to be the first fulcrum, but it is only a starting point, not the kind of strategic key point that pulls the overall situation, and this strategic key point is not far from Xiling County. A hundred miles away, it is Zigui County.

Zigui County is an extremely important county in the Three Gorges. It was once the place where Qu Yuan was exiled. It is the throat of the entire Three Gorges and the first Yangtze River ferry after leaving the Three Gorges. If Liu Bei's army wants to support Wucheng, or even march into Bashu, they will It can only cross the river north from Zigui County, so taking Zigui County also cut off Liu Beijun's westward passage.

Due to the terrain, Zigui County is not wide, with a circumference of about [-] miles. Although Zigui County is not big, it is built on the side of the mountain. It is very tall and strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack. Husband Mo Kai potential.

At present, Zigui County is under the control of Liu Bei’s army. General Mi Fang led 2000 people to garrison Zigui County. The county has a population of about [-] people. Apart from farming, it mainly relies on transit trade as its economic pillar.

Because Zigui County is located in an important transportation hub, its transit trade is very prosperous, and a large number of goods are collected from Jingnan and Nanjun to Zigui, and then transported to Bashu. [

At the same time, the materials transported from Bashu were also diverted in Zigui, or crossed the river to Jingnan, or continued eastward to Jiangling and Xiangyang, and even boarded a ship in Xiling County, and transported to the more distant Jiangdong.

Every day, dozens of caravans and nearly a thousand people come in and out of Zigui County, making the inns, taverns and even brothels in Zigui County prosperous.

In addition, there are dozens of commercial firms resident in the county seat, such as Yan’s Commercial Firm in Berkshire, Chang’s Commercial Firm in Badong, Luo’s Commercial Firm in Chengdu, and so on. Wu's firm, Tian's firm in Xiangyang, and Dow's firm in Chaisang also had warehouses and shops in Zigui county.

For example, the largest warehouse in Zigui County is the charcoal warehouse established by Dow Trading Company, which covers an area of ​​nearly [-] mu. It transports a large amount of high-quality charcoal from Berkshire to Jiangxia, ensuring the casting of ironware in Jiangxia County.

The prosperity of commerce gave the people at the bottom of Zigui County the opportunity to support their families. They were either employed by various commercial firms as men, or sold their physical strength as porters on the wharf.

Although Liu Bei's army occupied Zigui County, the army did not block the trade between Bashu and the outside world. Liu Bei was still playing a friendly role at this time, to help Bashu, not to seek Bashu. Cao Cao's large-scale southern expedition was temporarily deserted, but it soon became lively again with Cao Jun's northward retreat.

At noon that day, a caravan came from the east. Generally, the animal power of the caravan was mainly green mules, but this caravan was actually driving hundreds of healthy cattle besides the full-loaded green mules. There are also goods on their backs, but anyone with a discerning eye can see that the Jian Niu is actually the goods of this caravan.

The mule cart headed by this caravan had a pennant "Wu" written on the pennant, which meant that they came from Wu's firm in Jiangling. Wu's firm was the largest firm in Jiangling. Jingzhou as a whole can only rank third, second to Xiangyang's Tian's firm, and far inferior to Chaisang's Dow's firm.

However, on the Jingshu business road, Wu's firm has the widest network of contacts. Unlike Dow's firm, they only do coal and grain business. They involve hundreds of kinds of goods, such as tea, salt, pig iron, silk, tools, livestock, etc. , even slaves are involved in trafficking, doing almost anything to make money.

There are not many people in this caravan in front of us. There are only a dozen people in total. The head steward is named Huo Ping. Everyone calls him Papa Huo. He is an old businessman around 60 years old. The deep wrinkles on his face draw Full of vicissitudes of life.

He has been on the Jingshu commercial road for 40 years. Every plant on the commercial road knows him, and he has rich experience in entering and leaving the Shu road.

Most of the dozen or so guys in the back had followed him for many years, but three of them had a serious face, serious faces, and seeing that they were approaching Zigui County, Father Huo turned around from time to time to secretly look at these three guys, and he was full of apprehension.

The real identities of these three men are of course Jiang Xia’s army, but they are not ordinary soldiers. The leading man is Sima Xiangchong, who is the deputy general of Huo Jun, the governor of Jiangling. The county's internal response bears a heavy responsibility on its shoulders.

Xiang Chong was originally only 26 years old, but after putting on makeup, he had a long beard stuck under his jaw, his eyebrows became thicker, and his complexion was burnt yellow. He looked ten years older, and even acquaintances could hardly recognize him. Looking at him, Xiang Chong looks quite like a swordsman from Nanjun, with long beard and yellow skin, the resemblance is even more striking.

Since Zigui County is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and there are [-] troops stationed there, an army of at least [-] people is needed to attack Zigui County.

It is almost a replica of Jiangdong Army's capture of Chaisang. Li Yan also discovered the defense loophole in Zigui County, that is, Liu Bei did not ban merchants.

Maybe Liu Bei was not ready, or maybe Liu Bei didn't realize that Jiang Xia's army would take action, or maybe Liu Bei was worried that banning merchants would arouse Liu Zhang's suspicion, but one of the consequences of not banning merchants is that there will be loopholes in defense.

Wu's caravan finally arrived in front of the city gate, and immediately dozens of soldiers greeted them, and a chief of the village laughed from a distance, "Father Huo, are you here to reward the army with so many cattle?"

Huo Ping, the leader of the caravan, laughed, "General Ma really knows how to joke. This year's spring farming is insufficient, and the price has risen sharply. One cow can be sold for five taels of gold. How could my master let go of such a good deal? These twenty cows are just the first. batch, in two days there will be hundreds of cows arriving.” [

"Since it's so profitable, then brothers can't afford less money for tea and wine, right?" the head of the village asked with a smile.

"That's natural. I'll ask my buddy to deliver it to General Ma later."

Liu Bei has control of Jianping County, so he naturally has the power to levy taxes, but the dispute between Zigui and Wucheng for taxation power has never subsided. Considering the importance of Wucheng, Liu Bei finally handed over the taxation power to Wucheng.

This is obviously unfair to Zigui County, which is more prosperous in business. In order to calm the psychological imbalance of the soldiers, the chief general Mi Fang acquiesced in the soldiers' tea and wine money. Don't hesitate to ask the merchants for money according to the value of the goods.

However, it is one thing to ask for money, and another thing to strictly interrogate. Ma Tunchang got the promise, with a straight face, he waved his hand and said: "Search!"

Dozens of soldiers rushed forward and searched the caravan thoroughly. Except for the long sword for self-defense, the caravan was not allowed to possess any long or short weapons.

Ma Tunchang slowly walked up to Xiang Chong, looked him up and down, felt that he looked familiar, and saw that he was tall and strong, with slender and powerful arms, and said: "This brother should be a martial arts practitioner!"

Huo Ping hurried forward to smooth things over, "This is the guard I hired, please forgive me, Chief Ma Tun!"

"is it?"

Chief Ma Tun suddenly realized that Xiang Chong's sword was absolutely extraordinary, it was a high-quality sword, and it was definitely not something that an ordinary guard could afford. people?"

Xiang Chong's hand was as fast as lightning, he held the back of the knife with his left hand, and lightly tapped Tun Zhang's wrist with the fingers of his right hand. Tun Zhang felt the pain in his bones, and the knife in his hand came out. He looked at Xiang Chong angrily, his lips were trembling, and he couldn't say a word.

Xiang Chong handed him the knife, "Let's try again!"

Chief Ma took the knife and stared at Xiang Chong again with lingering fear, "Who are you?"

Xiang Chong smiled lightly and said, "I'm Huarong Yang Jin, has this general heard of it?"

Yang Jin is a well-known swordsman in Huarong County. Liu Bei's army commander is stationed in Nanjun. Almost everyone knows him. Because of his chivalry, his complexion is burnt like gold, and his mother is extremely filial. , Chief Ma heard that he was Yang Jin, a well-known swordsman in South County, and immediately remembered, no wonder he looked familiar, he had seen this person the year before last.

Ma Tunchang thought of his brilliant tactics just now, he couldn't help but respect and fear, put away the knife and cupped his hands and said: "So it's Yang Jianshi, I'm sorry!"

Next to him, Huo Ping stuffed a heavy purse into Chief Ma's arms in time, and said with dry smiles: "Jianke Yang is a good friend of my proprietor, he doesn't want to reveal his real identity, please forgive me, Chief Ma! "

At this time, Xiang Chong asked coldly again: "Do I have any questions?"

Xiang Chong's cold and arrogant temperament made Chief Ma dare not underestimate him, and there seemed to be only two or three people on the other side, so the problem was not serious. At this time, a soldier stepped forward and reported: "Chief Qi, the search has been completed, there is no problem!"

Ma Tunchang felt the weight of the purse again, it was not too much, he took a deep look at Xiang Chong, and ignored the embarrassment just now, he waved his hand, "Let go!"

A smile finally appeared on Huo Ping's face, and he quickly ordered his subordinates to drive the cattle and mules full of goods into Zigui City.

At the same moment when Xiang Chong entered the city, on the Yangtze River, a ferry carrying a messenger soldier was slowly heading towards Zigui Wharf. [

The messenger cavalry crossed the Yangtze River, got on their horses, and galloped all the way, and soon rushed into Zigui County. They didn't rein in their horses until they were in front of the Yamen in Zigui County. He asked loudly: "Uncle Huang has an urgent letter. exist?"

"I am here!"

Mi Fang's voice came from behind. When the messenger turned his head, he realized that Mi Fang was leading a dozen soldiers behind him. He hurriedly got off his horse and knelt down on one knee to salute, "See General Mi!"

"Get up! Uncle Huang, do you have any urgent letter for me?"

The messenger soldier stood up, took out a letter and presented it to Mi Fang, Mi Fang took the letter and glanced at it, it was Liu Bei's handwritten letter.He quickly opened the letter and read it carefully.

The letter said that Jiang Xia's army had occupied Xiling County, and Liu went to inspect it personally, most likely because he was preparing to seize Bashu. The letter ordered Mi Fang to strengthen his guard to prevent Jiang Xia's army from raiding Zigui.

Mi Fang was a little stunned. He had known about Jiang Xia's army occupying Xiling County for a long time, but he was not worried that Jiang Xia's army would sneak attack Zigui.

This is because there is still Xinling County between Zigui County and Xiling County. If Jiang Xia's army wants to take Zigui, there must be movement in Xinling County, and the beacon will be lit, but so far there has been no movement in Xinling County.

Mi Fang thought about it carefully, she seemed to have not received a safety report from Xinling County for several days, usually every three days, the defenders of Xinling County would send a safety letter, but now it is the fourth day However, there was no news from Xinling County, which made Mi Fang feel a little uneasy.

"Take a few brothers to Xinling County to find out the news!" Mi Fang immediately turned around and ordered an officer, and the officer took the order and ran away quickly.

The more Mi Fang thought about it, the more worried she became. He also realized that the warning in the letter from the emperor's uncle was not superfluous, so Mi Fang ordered another soldier: "Let the officer on duty at the city gate come to see me quickly!"

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