My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 487: Reject Xiahou first, then pacify Bajun

When Zhuge Liang threw out the incredible and great news of "sharing Linyi rice seeds and related planting techniques with the people of Yizhou", the outcome of the meeting between the two Lius was already doomed to be a foregone conclusion.

Liu Zhang's side no longer had the position to speak, whether he wanted to limit the size of Liu Bei's army entering Sichuan or urge Liu Bei's army to repel Cao Cao as soon as possible.

From now on, Liu Bei could bring as many people as he wanted, and could stay as long as he wanted - your food is not in vain, I have "brought my own food", and I have also given you long-term wealth, what else can you be dissatisfied with?

Liu Zhang himself was not a very politically astute person. When he first heard Zhuge Liang's suggestion, he did not think much about it. He was completely immersed in his selfless admiration for Brother Xuande and Mr. Kong Ming. He toasted the two of them repeatedly and praised their great virtues.

The whole banquet ended successfully in an extremely harmonious atmosphere.

On the way back to the city, Liu Zhang kept sighing: I have really met a man of great virtue, with a magnanimous mind, the only one I have ever seen in my life.

Huang Quan, Zhang Ren, and Yan Yan were all silent, not daring to remind them of anything. They knew very well that it would be inappropriate to say anything suspicious or depressing at this time, and would be standing against the people of Yizhou.

……

After the meeting, Liu Zhang naturally could not stay in Jiangzhou for long. After only three days of banqueting, he returned to Chengdu with Huang Quan and Zhang Ren.

Leaving only Zhang Song to stay in Jiangzhou would make it easier for him to contact Liu Bei, provide the materials needed by Liu Bei's army, and dispatch corvée labor for building the city.

At the same time, Liu Zhang also told Yan Yan to follow Zhang Song's orders in everything, and to cooperate with Zhang Song as long as it was not a matter of military defense. After all, it was not easy for Zhang Song, a civil official, to levy corvée, and he would always need the cooperation of the garrison.

Liu Zhang had spoken in person, so Yan Yan certainly could not disobey. In this way, Liu Bei's army's subsequent actions in Jiangzhou would be more convenient.

It can be said that as long as Liu Bei did not think of taking over the defense of Jiangzhou City by force, Yan Yan would not be able to stop any other actions outside Jiangzhou City, even large-scale construction and expansion of trade.

Liu Bei was also very satisfied with the result. As soon as Liu Zhang left, Liu Bei discussed his subsequent actions and schedule with Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong.

This day was September 15th, about two days after Liu Zhang left.

Liu Bei inspected the construction of Jiangbei New City early in the morning. After the inspection, he took the opportunity to chat with Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong during lunch.

"Our army has finally gained a foothold in Ba County. General Yan has been persuaded by Ziqiao. There should be no obstacles to building a city in Jiangbei. Next, how should we deploy and distribute our 30,000 troops? How should we advance the rear construction and win the hearts of the people in Ba County?"

Zhuge Liang has been busy planning internal affairs and winning the hearts of the people recently. After all, the promotion of Linyi rice in Jiangnan has always been in charge of Zhuge Liang himself, and he is best suited to encouraging farmers, so he has not paid much attention to military deployments recently.

Pang Tong was also aware of this, and when he saw his lord asking about it, he quickly seized the opportunity to explain his military plan: "Now that General Yan is willing to cooperate, there is no need for us to leave too many troops behind Jiangbei.

For now, we can leave 10,000 soldiers to station in the north of the Yangtze River and in Yufu, Wuxian and other places along the route to Sichuan to consolidate the local areas. We can also send another 10,000 soldiers to the north to Dianjiang County to guard the pass where the three rivers meet to prevent Xiahou Yuan from going south.

When Liu Jiyu came to keep the appointment, he mentioned that Langzhong and Dangqu were successively conquered by Xiahou Yuan. Counting the days, it has been five days since Liu Jiyu said this. Langzhong is 300 miles away from Dianjiang, separated only by a small county called Anhan.

Dangqu is closer to Dianjiang, only about 200 miles away. There is no county town along the way, mostly inhabited by Bandun Man and Qiang tribes, with only Mengtou and Dangshi villages.

It is definitely too late for our army to rescue Anhan, Mengtou, and Dangshi. There is no point in rushing to rescue them, as it will only disperse our forces. It is better to wait in Dianjiang for Xiahou Yuan's army to attack us.

Thus, 20,000 of my 30,000 troops have been deployed. For the remaining 10,000, we can select those who are good at water warfare and lead them under General Gan to patrol and defend between Jiangbei County and Dianjiang County to prevent Cao's army from infiltrating by water. We will also send a part of our troops to control the key points of the Yangtze River Three Gorges waterway."

After listening to this, Liu Bei nodded frequently. Pang Tong's military deployment and dispatch were still very well organized and he could just follow his instructions directly.

Liu Bei thought about it for a while and accepted the plan. "In this case, Yide will lead 10,000 troops to garrison Jiangbei County, facing General Yan across the river. Xingba will lead 10,000 naval forces to patrol between Dianjiang, Jiangbei and Yufu. Wenchang will lead 10,000 troops to garrison Dianjiang County. By the way, if only 10,000 people are left in Dianjiang County, can they resist Xiahou Yuan? Cao's army had 50,000 or 60,000 troops when they entered Hanzhong. Now that they have destroyed Zhang Lu and forced Zhang Lu's old subordinates to surrender, they can get tens of thousands of mobs. In addition, they have been coerced all the way in Baxi. If he gives up attacking Ma Mingge Road defended by the Yizhou army and moves the main force to Baxi, Wenchang will probably have to fight with a small number of troops against a large number, and the disparity in military strength will be huge."

Liu Bei had no objection to this division plan in principle. He also knew that if too many soldiers were left in Dianjiang County, Xiahou Yuan might be frightened and not dare to come to fight. He had to give the other side a glimmer of hope in order to lure the enemy into a difficult situation.

However, everyone is nervous. On the one hand, they want to seduce, but on the other hand, they are afraid that the iron plate is not hard enough. This is also human nature.

Fortunately, Pang Tong was very confident about this issue, and immediately comforted his lord with confidence: "Don't worry, lord! I have carefully read the "Western Shu Topographic Map" left by Ziqiao. It mentions that the terrain of Dianjiang County is extremely dangerous. It is the pass where the Dangqu, Fu River, and Xihan River (Jialing River) merge and pass through the mountains.

It is located on a peninsula shaped like a fishhook, with three rivers passing around the hook. Seven of the eight sides of the hook-shaped border of the peninsula are cliffs overlooking the river, and the water is turbulent. Only the side at the root of the fishhook is connected to the land. All that is needed is to build a wall there to defend it and stop the enemy from attacking the city.

Therefore, giving Wen Chang 10,000 men is definitely enough. Giving more might scare Xiahou Yuan away."

Liu Bei had never been to Dianjiang County, and he was not very fond of reading, so he did not find Zhang Song's maps intuitive. After listening to Pang Tong's explanation, Liu Bei felt relieved:
"In that case, I will give Wenchang 10,000 people to test his ability. If I have time in the next few days, I will go to Dianjiang County to see if it is really so dangerous. Only then can I feel completely at ease."

After completing the military deployment, Liu Bei turned to Zhuge Liang to consult on the next internal arrangements in Ba County, especially how to build cities, how to expand trade, and how to win the hearts of the people in Shu.

In this regard, Zhuge Liang had already sorted out a set of strategies, and he planned in an orderly manner: "We have also tried to probe General Yan. As long as our army does not enter Jiangzhou City, the land outside the south bank of the city is also at our disposal.

I have seen it in the past few days. There was originally a water fort wharf in the east of Jiangzhou City, which was the place where Liu Jiyu entertained the lord that day. It can be developed into a port for official trade between the two armies. Even if the Linyi rice seeds brought by our army are to be handed over to the Yizhou people, there should be a rule and no compromise.

I think it is a reasonable exchange to exchange one ship of good seeds for one hundred ships of ordinary military rations. If you feel reluctant, you can exchange one ship for thirty or fifty ships. Both parties will make the transaction at the dock, and we will not cheat anyone. The wood, stone, bricks and tiles and corvée labor costs needed by our army to build the city can also be included in the discount of seeds.

In this way, we can quickly publicize our benevolent policies to the local people of Ba County and even to the merchants from Shu. Although we have reached an agreement with Liu Jiyu to exchange good seeds for military rations, the civil servants around Liu Jiyu will probably not take the initiative to publicize this transaction in order to preserve Liu Jiyu's reputation as a people-loving person.

Therefore, we must break through the private transactions between the princes, make things clear, and make it public, so that the local people in Ba County, and even the merchants in Shu County and Guanghan, will help the lord to publicize this benevolent policy.

My idea was inspired by the "Border Market" that my brother set up in Youzhou last year. In Youzhou, my brother bought the cattle and sheep that the Hu people could not keep, exchanged them for pickled meat, and coordinated the livestock production of the Hu people. In just one year, he won the hearts of the Hu people and the Hu and Han people were at peace.

Although this border market in Jiangzhou is for internal trade between Han people, it is also a place where merchants under our army and Liu Jiyu can trade with each other. Sometimes, when one side implements a virtuous policy, it is necessary to let the merchants compare and see who is better. Over time, the hearts of the people in Shujun and Guanghan will inevitably lean towards the lord. "

In recent years, Zhuge Liang has also fallen in love with this strategy of relying on free trade to promote benevolent policies and win over the hearts of the people in the enemy's occupied areas.

This was certainly inspired by Zhuge Jin's Yuyang border city policy, but if we really want to trace the roots, it is more closely related to Liu Bei's successful experience in governing Jiangxia County and Liu Biao across the river when they were in Jingzhou.

Before Liu Bei entered Jingzhou, Xiangyang and Jiangling were much more important than Wuchang/Xiakou in economic importance. But since Liu Bei started to build Wuchang, he traded a lot with Hanyang City, which was newly built by Liu Qi on the other side of the river, and exported printed books and porcelain. The favorability of Jingzhou scholars towards Liu Bei immediately increased.

With such successful experience, how could Zhuge Liang not want to repeat it in Jiangzhou?
Later, in history books, whenever the reason why Wuhan became the most important city in the Jingchu region was mentioned, it was inseparable from the introduction of Zhuge Liang's trade policy and construction. When it came to why Chongqing became one of the top two important cities in the Yizhou region, it was also necessary to introduce Zhuge Liang's "border city" policy.

Before Zhuge Liang appeared, because the business was not developed enough and the original agricultural conditions of these two cities were not the best in the state, they could not compete for such a status in the world.

Of course, Zhuge Liang's plan to "win the hearts of the people of a state through commercial activities" must be very complicated, and there are many supporting details. But these are not important, and there is no need to go into details one by one.

Anyway, after Liu Bei heard the general idea, he decided to do exactly as Zhuge Liang planned.

"I will leave this matter entirely to you, sir. You don't need to report everything to me."

(End of this chapter)