Chapter 261: Southern Xinjiang Strategy
"Hanzhong is truly a paradise!" Liu Bei sighed from the bottom of his heart. Zhang Lu was indeed a capable man and the rumors were not credible.
When Zhang Lu heard Liu Bei's words, a smile appeared on his face. This was all the result of following the teachings of nature.
From having nothing to living and working in peace and contentment today, Hanzhong can truly be called the land of abundance.
With Zhang Lu's cooperation, the entire handover process of Hanzhong went extremely smoothly. This is the benefit of having the support of the imperial court.
Zhang Ren and Yan Yan explained various things along the way, so how could he not understand the difficulty of attacking Hanzhong.
Hanzhong is surrounded by dangerous mountains. If Liu Bei really wanted to attack it head-on, I don’t know how much manpower would be consumed.
But now, with just an imperial decree from the court, Liu Bei entered Hanzhong without bloodshed and dealt with the rebels that Liu Yan had reported to him countless times.
Liu Yan and his men are all dead, so some responsibilities are difficult to pursue, but Liu Bei did realize the significance of unification.
Everything is so legitimate and logical. As long as everyone is loyal to the court, the general direction will be the same. As for some hidden dangers, they can only be cleared up slowly later.
Liu Bei did not remove all the local officials in Hanzhong. Although he knew very well that these officials were absolutely not conducive to the rule of the court, for the sake of the people's peace and prosperity, Liu Bei could only lift them up high and let them go lightly. Except for taking down some officials with a long history of bad deeds, Liu Bei did not deal with any of the others.
Liu Bei had an important task ahead of him, but he did not have enough time to conquer every checkpoint one by one. He could only use the fastest and shortest effective method.
Liu Bei sent Guan Yu and others to continue their advance, while he himself stayed in Hanzhong to investigate the people's sentiments. After all, the people of Hanzhong had voluntarily surrendered to him, so his methods naturally could not be too drastic. In order to prevent accidents, he could only tour Hanzhong himself.
During Liu Bei's entire tour of Hanzhong, Zhang Lu actively cooperated and ran around lobbying, so that there was no chaos in Hanzhong and power was smoothly transferred to Liu Bei's hands.
"Thank you for your help these days, Gongqi! I would like to ask for credit on your behalf, but I wonder what you want?" Liu Bei was a little curious. From Zhang Lu's actions, he could tell that Zhang Lu definitely had something to ask for. However, he didn't know what this man wanted to pursue by giving up Hanzhong.
He could clearly see the demands of Mrs. Lu and Zhang Qiying who were traveling with him, but he could not see through Zhang Lu Zhang Gongqi at all.
Zhang Lu replied: "I am a man of the mountains and have never sought fame or fortune. I could not bear to see Dawn suffer, so I stepped forward. Now that the country is peaceful and the people are safe, I am naturally willing to hand over power. All I want is to follow nature's will."
Liu Bei's original smile froze. He seemed to know what Zhang Lu wanted. He thought that after escaping Luoyang, he would never encounter such nonsense as the Hundred Schools of Thought again. Unexpectedly, at his first stop, Hanzhong, he met the successor of Taoism.
Isn't Zhang Lu just trying to make Taoism appear in the world again? When the news gets back to Luoyang, Lu Zhi will probably break off relations with this unfilial son of his.
"You and the general will definitely get along well!" Liu Bei sighed, and then helplessly wrote a letter to Guo Hao to ask for credit from Zhang Lu.
He was 100% sure that Guo Hao would definitely agree. Pushing people out to challenge Confucianism was definitely something Guo Hao could do.
By then, Lu Zhi would be unable to do anything to the general and would definitely take it out on himself. He just hoped that Lu Zhi would not break off relations with him.
Liu Bei wrote the letter with a little stiffness and handed it to Zhang Lu. No wonder Zhang Lu was so cooperative. It seemed like he was waiting for him here.
To be honest, there was no malicious intent in this action, but it just so happened that Liu Bei had just been beaten by Lu Zhi for the same problem last time, and if this wave continued, things might be really bad.
Liu Bei watched the Zhang family leave. To be honest, he was really frightened. From the Zhang family, he could see the tip of the Taoist iceberg, and at the same time, he could also see the horror of Confucianism. It goes without saying how terrifying the Hundred Schools of Thought that Guo Hao had been promoting was.
Liu Bei didn't dare to imagine what kind of unrest would happen at that time, but Guo Hao's level was higher than his, and he didn't know how to refute Guo Hao. He could only silently hope that Guo Hao would not go too far. After all, the feeling of national unification was really good.
With Yan Yan and Zhang Ren as guides, Liu Bei's army was unstoppable. The garrisons wherever they went simply surrendered the city. Before the Chengdu side could react, Guan Yu brought his troops to Chengdu.
A group of noble families who wanted to create division saw that Guan Yu dared to provoke them with only 800 people, so they opened the city gate and rushed out with their troops without thinking.
Then, the Dao light, which was almost as heavy as a mountain, burst out with terrifying power, and at the same time, the force it brought formed a huge ring-shaped cloud in the sky.
The leading general didn't even utter his name as Guan Yu rode past on his horse, his sword flashing like wings hanging from the sky. He killed the leading general with one blow and left a huge crack in the wall of Chengdu.
The Chengdu defenders were instantly frightened and cried, and then surrendered immediately. Before the aristocratic families could react, Guan Yu had already taken over the city defense of Chengdu.
On the other side, Zhang Fei stabbed his opponent to death with a spear, and then roared loudly, scaring several soldiers on the city wall to death. Then Mianzhu opened the gate and surrendered directly. Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong, Qin Liangyu, and Chen Dao also made their own gains, and the process was similar to that of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.
The entire Yizhou fell in less than a month. To be honest, Yizhou itself was a place with both civil and military power. Although there were no top-notch generals, there were many second-rate generals like Yan Yan, Zhang Ren, Leng Bao, and Lei Tong. In addition, the natural defenses were there, making Yizhou a powerful vassal that could not be ignored along the way.
If Yizhou really gathered its strength to defend against Liu Bei, let alone counterattack, it would take Liu Bei at least a year and a half. As a result, after an imperial edict was issued, Yizhou directly split itself, and with Yan Yan and Zhang Ren as guides, it only took Liu Bei three months to take over the entire Yizhou.
Even most of the time was spent on traveling, leaving very little time for fighting.
Zhang Su, Zhang Song, Qin Mi, Wu Yi, Huang Quan and a large number of Yizhou civil officials gathered under Liu Bei to help him govern Yizhou. To be honest, Liu Bei was so successful that he even began to doubt his life.
It was as if his destiny was supposed to be in this place, and he was truly helped by God along the way. He even picked up a wild strategist on the road, the kind with spiritual talent.
"Hyoshinao, what should we do next?"
The person Liu Bei picked up on the road was his strategist Fa Zheng. Although Zhuge Liang was more famous in Shu Kingdom, Fa Zheng was indeed one of Liu Bei's important strategists.
"The Biography of the First Lord" says: Zhuge Liang was his supporter and Fa Zheng was his strategist, which is enough to show how important Fa Zheng was to Liu Bei.
"Of course, it is to pacify the southern border and recapture the southern barbarians!" Fa Zheng was still young, but he was very capable. He planned the next step for Liu Bei in no time.
Ever since he knew of Meng Huo's existence, he had been planning how to recover southern Xinjiang. After all, as long as there was no shortage of food, it would be easy to make these barbarians submit to the Han Dynasty as long as they were subdued. Within three generations, the Han Dynasty would be able to add millions or tens of millions of people. This was definitely a reliable and large-scale plan.
