My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 579 Internal and external conflicts
The essence of this strategy was to force the Dongzhou soldiers to fight Zhao Wei to the death.

If they agree to support it, wouldn't that be tantamount to forcing the Dongzhou soldiers to fight Zhao Wei to the death? For the Dongzhou soldiers, that would be tantamount to betrayal.
If they lose this battle, Zhao Wei will have to sacrifice them as a sacrifice. If they win this battle, will the Dongzhou soldiers, who feel betrayed by them, continue to support them?
Without the support of the Dongzhou soldiers, can the Dongzhou faction leaders still be so domineering?
Therefore, the local faction did not want to speak up, wanting to see the Dongzhou faction make a fool of themselves, while the other faction could not speak up, wanting to wait for the local faction to agree.

For a moment, the hall was silent.

Liu Zhang frowned. Were his questions really that useless?

There wasn't a single reply.

However, Liu Zhang was good-tempered, and he did not get angry, but instead called out names.

"Ziyuan, you speak."

Wu Yi, courtesy name Ziyuan, now commands all the Dongzhou soldiers recruited in Chengdu and those withdrawn from other places. In addition, with the more than a thousand elite troops under the command of the Wu Yi and Wu Ban brothers, he has become half of the city's power.

After Liu Zhang called his name, Wu Yi could no longer remain silent.

He pondered for a moment before speaking, "The Dongzhou army has suffered repeated defeats, which has indeed dealt a heavy blow to morale. However, in my opinion, it shouldn't have reached the point where they would collapse at the sight of the enemy. Moreover, Pang Xi lost Fucheng just over half a month ago, yet his troops retreated safely to Mianzhu. After losing Mianzhu as well, his troops still retreated to Luocheng, showing no signs of disintegration. This is truly strange."

Zhang Song glanced at Wu Yi and thought to himself, "What a cunning scoundrel! He's truly as treacherous as oil."

Although Wu Yi looked puzzled and rambled on about things everyone already knew, the intelligent people in the hall had already figured out that he clearly agreed with Huang Gongheng's view.

Despite suffering repeated defeats and losing cities and territory, they managed to retreat in perfect order and preserve their territory intact.

This is clearly cowardice.

Just as Huang Quan said, these Dongzhou soldiers dared not fight, did not want to fight, and were unwilling to fight.

This mentality is dangerous, and it cannot be easily resolved with rewards or incentives.

On the contrary, Huang Quan's countermeasure was brilliant, a truly targeted strategy.

Wu Yi's words were practically an expression of his strong support for Huang Quan, but as the bigwig of Dongzhou, he couldn't very well personally force his own faction's troops to fight Zhao Wei to the death, could he?

Even if he could defeat Zhao Wei, how would Wu Yi lead his troops in the future?
Therefore, Wu Yi could only say these words, laying out the problem of the Dongzhou soldiers and echoing Huang Quan's plan.

As for whether I agree or not, I, Wu Yi, don't know. It has nothing to do with me. I'm just worried about the Dongzhou soldiers.

There weren't many fools in the room to begin with, and Zhang Song, Wang Shang, Zheng Du, Wang Lei, and even Fei Guan immediately realized what was going on.

Although Liu Zhang was weak and incompetent, he was quite intelligent. He could naturally understand the implication in Wu Yi's words, comprehend Wu Yi's intentions, and understand the other party's predicament.

Liu Zhang nodded, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, but continued to ask Zhang Song questions.

"Yongnian, you speak."

Zhang Song sighed inwardly, then a hint of dissatisfaction rose within him.

At this crucial moment, instead of targeting the Dongzhou faction leaders, Liu Zhang singled himself out, clearly intending for him to be the villain. This shows that in Liu Zhang's mind, at the most critical moment, he still favored the Dongzhou people, rather than the locals of Yizhou.

Despite his sighs, Zhang Song still spoke up, saying, "In my humble opinion, Gongheng's plan hits the nail on the head and can be used. However, after the Dongzhou troops have withdrawn, they need to be properly appeased to stabilize morale."

Although Zhang Song and the Dongzhou faction were at odds, it did not mean that he and his faction had a good relationship with Zhao Wei.

In fact, their relationship with Zhao Wei was just as bad.

Zhang Song, Qin Mi, and Yang Hong were known as the Three Heroes of Shu. This Shu did not refer to the entire Yizhou or the entire Sichuan province, but rather to the three Shu regions of Shu Commandery, Jianwei Commandery, and Guanghan Commandery.

The Zhang family, to which Zhang Song belonged alone, owned thousands of hectares of land on the Chengdu Plain. Hundreds of weavers in the clan worked day and night to weave Shu brocade for the Zhang family. Even the Jin Palace City, which was officially managed by the Yizhou government to produce Shu brocade, was influenced by the Zhang family.

The Yang family in Jianwei was also quite powerful, controlling a large number of iron smelting workshops and iron mines, and also maintaining an elite retinue, making them a first-class powerful family. Moreover, the Yang family of Jianwei had a significant connection with the Hongnong Yang clan of the Ji surname throughout the country, and were a verifiable branch of the clan.

Although the Qin family was not as wealthy as the Zhang family, nor as military as the Yang family, the Qin family was a genuine family of scholars, and their status in Sichuan was even higher than that of the Zhang and Yang families.

Qin Mi himself was a great Confucian scholar in Shu, known for his erudition and eloquence. He once engaged in the famous "Debate on Heaven" with Zhang Wen, an envoy from Eastern Wu, discussing metaphysical issues such as "Heaven has a head, ears, and feet," which impressed Zhang Wen.

The Qin family has two brothers in this generation: Qin An and Qin Mi. Qin An served Liu Zhang and is currently the Prefect of Guanghan Commandery, while Qin Mi declined the offer of office and chose to live in seclusion and study.

The true nature of the Zhang, Yang, and Qin families reveals that they represent the interests of the Three Shu Group in Shu, and are not aligned with Zhao Wei, who represents the interests of Ba Commandery.

Leaving aside how Zhao Wei would exploit these powerful families of Shu after gaining power, his rampage of burning, killing, and looting in Guanghan and Shu County alone had already eroded their already sliver of goodwill.

Therefore, even though Zhang Song was at odds with the Dongzhou faction, when faced with Zhao Wei, a common enemy, he still prioritized the overall situation, took the initiative to assume responsibility, and affirmed the feasibility of Huang Quan's plan.

Wu Yi felt guilty in the face of Zhang Song taking responsibility.

Despite their fierce rhetoric, Wu Yi and Wu Ban, like Xu Jing, are actually doves within the Dongzhou faction. Although they are at odds with Zhang Song and other local factions on political matters, they do not hold grudges against each other in private.

To put it bluntly, the main reason was that the Wu brothers, Yi and Ban, lacked ambition. As relatives of Liu Zhang, their current status was practically at its peak; any higher and their cousin would become suspicious. Rather than that, they preferred to preserve their current wealth and status.

Therefore, Wu Yi spoke up at the opportune moment, saying, "Yongnian's words are insightful and to the point. My lord should take them into consideration."

Seeing that the leaders of the two major factions had nodded in agreement, Liu Zhang, who also thought Huang Quan's plan was excellent, made a decision: "Since everyone thinks so, then this matter is settled. Order Huang Quan to abandon Luocheng and not linger in Xindu. He should simply withdraw directly to Chengdu."

"Here."

Everyone agreed in unison.

Then, Wang Shang added, "My lord, you may remind Huang Gongcao that this retreat should not be rushed, and the priority should be to preserve our strength."

Liu Zhang nodded, knowing that Wang Shang was worried that a hasty withdrawal from the front lines would cause chaos and give Zhao Wei an opportunity to exploit: "We will follow Wang Qing's suggestion."

Finally, Liu Zhang said to Wu Yi and Zhang Ren, "I would like to trouble you two to conduct more inspections, check for omissions and make up for deficiencies. If there are any deficiencies in the city's defenses, whether in terms of manpower or material resources, you can immediately report to the Prefect and obtain what is needed."

Wu Yi and Zhang Ren quickly bowed their heads and replied, "Rest assured, my lord, we will do our utmost."
After the meeting, Wang Shang went directly to Zhang Song.

"Insufficient reserves?"

Zhang Song opened his mouth in surprise.

Zhang Song was not one to show his emotions easily, so his surprise had another reason.

There are two reasons. First, as the Chief Administrator, Wang Shang was in charge of finance and the treasury. Zhang Song, as the Prefect, although he had the authority to supervise all government affairs, was merely a deputy when Liu Zhang was around. Unless Liu Zhang asked him to, he would not easily interfere in sensitive matters such as finance.

Secondly, Chengdu's treasury was exceptionally wealthy. Even though Liu Yan squandered much of it, after Liu Zhang succeeded to the throne, although he did not build grand palaces, he rewarded the soldiers of Dongzhou, quelled the rebellion in Shu, and sent troops to attack Zhang Lu. These things were all extremely expensive, no less so than building palaces.

Even so, according to Zhang Song, the Chengdu prefecture, county, and county government warehouses still contained at least two hundred million coins and thousands of kilograms of gold ingots. In addition, there were also priceless hard currencies such as Shu brocade and tea.

Even Xuzhou's specialties—frost sugar and snow salt—were in quantities of over a hundred bushels, not to mention other silks, linens, and lacquerware in countless quantities.

How could we suddenly be out of money?
Seeing Zhang Song's shocked expression, Wang Shang smiled bitterly to himself. Who would have thought that two or three hundred million yuan would be spent in just six months?

Aside from gold and silver, which remained untouched, even some Shu brocade and tea were used, and more than four thousand bolts of cloth were used.

The reason for such a large expenditure was not that Liu Zhang was spending money recklessly, but rather that the sound of cannons could cost a fortune.

Although there were no cannons in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the cost of building them was no less.

The Dongzhou soldiers at the front need to be rewarded, the defense of Chengdu needs money, recruiting new soldiers needs money, arming soldiers needs money, and gathering food needs money.

What Liu Zhang needs now are elite troops capable of fighting, not just a number of soldiers to make up the numbers.

He prioritized recruiting wandering knights from the three counties of Shu. Most of these men had a skill (fighting, brawling, and killing), and many were even skilled with bows and crossbows, making them readily available reserve soldiers.

Moreover, the Eastern Han Dynasty still retained some of the spirit of the Qin and Han Dynasties. At this time, chivalrous knights-errant were guided by integrity and loyalty, emphasizing keeping their promises and disregarding life and death. They also formed close-knit groups.

Although not as loyal and diligent as those from respectable families, they were still considered excellent soldiers, far superior to the scoundrels who would later become their counterparts.

Similarly, recruiting wandering knights is much more expensive than recruiting peasant soldiers. These people not only band together, but their leaders are also likely to have connections with the powerful and wealthy, and have done things for them in the past.

Take Dian Wei, for example. He once accepted money from a powerful local magistrate to kill a retired county magistrate in another county. Later, the magistrate hid him in his home until everything was settled before he resurfaced.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the cost of living in Chengdu is now enormous.

Another reason is that Sichuan is wealthy, unlike the Central Plains.

The Central Plains provinces of Yanzhou, Xuzhou, Yuzhou, and Sili were not only ravaged by war, but also suffered from severe drought. The price of grain had risen to hundreds of thousands of coins per shi. At this time, recruiting soldiers was simply giving the people a chance to survive. How could there be any other demands?
However, the situation in Shu was completely different. Under Liu Yan's rule, although there were many problems, Shu was truly peaceful for more than ten years.

When Liu Zhang first ascended the throne, fine rice in Shu cost only a few thousand coins per shi (a unit of dry measure), and coarse grains were even cheaper. Rice with husks cost only 1,200 or 1,300 coins per shi. Under such circumstances, conscripting soldiers would cost a lot of money.

This could be considered a dark joke.

Immediately afterwards, Zhang Song realized a new problem.

The treasury is empty, so why is Wang Shang coming to me instead of Liu Zhang?
Zhang Song's face immediately darkened, and his already dark complexion became even darker.

He had already realized what Wang Shang meant: the prefecture was short of money, and the Zhang family was a prominent family in Shu County, a first-class aristocratic family, and a top-tier powerful clan.

Wang Shang is forcing donations; he might even want the Zhang family to play the villain and beg for donations from other families.

Zhang Song's face was extremely ugly, and Wang Shang's face was not much better.

When he went to see Liu Zhang before, Liu Zhang remained silent for a long time before actually instructing him to find Zhang Song. Wang Shang knew then that he was in trouble.

As expected, anger flashed in Zhang Song's eyes, mixed with a hint of hatred. Although his main target was Liu Zhang, Wang Shang in front of him was also among them.

This wasn't the first time Liu Zhang had done this.

Even though Shu was a wealthy region, Liu Zhang had been waging war year after year, yet he still managed to accumulate five or six hundred million in wealth in his treasury. Wasn't that all thanks to exploiting these local powerful families?
Otherwise, relying solely on tax revenue wouldn't be enough to withstand Liu Zhang's extravagance.

“My lord, now is the time for us to stand together through thick and thin. Besides, this money is for recruiting soldiers, purchasing armor and weapons, and strengthening the city’s defenses.”

Wang Shang forced a smile and explained, "If Chengdu falls, everything will be destroyed, and there will be no one to escape unscathed."

That makes sense, but Zhang Song was still furious. Not to mention that although he was the Prefect, he was not the eldest son of the main wife, nor was he the head of the Zhang family. The current head of the Zhang family was his elder brother, Zhang Su, who was originally the Prefect of Guanghan.

Now that Liu Zhang has suffered repeated defeats, he is ready to abandon Luocheng in Guanghan. Zhang Su is naturally not going to share the fate of Luocheng, and will obviously be returning soon.

This not only failed to alleviate Zhang Song's situation, but actually made it even more difficult for him.

Zhang Su is currently in Luocheng. Although Liu Zhang has already agreed to withdraw his troops, he certainly cannot run away first. He must retreat with Huang Quan, Pang Xi, and the others.

In that case, it's highly likely they won't be able to return to Chengdu for at least ten days to two weeks.

Liu Zhang's purpose in speaking to Zhang Song now is definitely to reward the defeated Dongzhou soldiers handsomely. The money must be prepared before the Dongzhou soldiers return to Chengdu.

In this way, Zhang Song didn't even have a chance to discuss it with his brother.

Even if his elder brother could understand, he would still blame him to some extent.

Thinking of this, and recalling the past when the other party refused to listen to his words and follow his plans, Zhang Song became even more resentful of Liu Zhang.

However, circumstances are beyond human control, and Wang Shang was right when he said that now is the time to work together. If Zhao Wei were to enter Chengdu, they would have to pay a much higher price than Liu Zhang is asking for now.

(End of this chapter)