Volume 4 is in the ascendant Chapter 478: Creating Something Out of Nothing
Liu Zhang felt very innocent.
It was April in Chengdu, but Liu Zhang did not feel any warmth. It was unusual that he did not order people to get ice from the ice storage every day to cool off.
Originally, during the New Year's Day of the first month of the third year of Xingshun, Liu Zhang received news from the court that the court had finally reprimanded Zhang Lu and ordered him to stop attacking Yizhou; and that Ba County's blockade of the caravans heading to Chu had begun to show results, and the price of Sichuan salt had steadily risen...
Although Liu Zhang knew that Zhang Lu would not so easily obey the court's reprimand, he still felt secretly happy when he thought that Zhang Lu's request to establish a country was rejected.
After blocking the exchanges between Ba County and the State of Chu, the price of Sichuan salt indeed rebounded - the reason why Liu Zhang had "boycotted Chu goods" before was, to a certain extent, because Chu salt was too fierce.
Not only is the quality high, but... when it is transported from the coast to Ba County, the price is actually very competitive, making the salt merchants in Xichuan want to vomit blood!
In fact, it is not surprising that the price is so low - the cost of Chu salt is very low, only the "salt tax" collected by the salt convoy and salt imports is high, and the exported salt is tax-free.
Selling salt domestically is part of the tax revenue, and selling salt to foreign countries is an additional plunder of the outside world. Bai Tu can naturally calculate this account...
Even though Liu Zhang did not understand that "salt" was actually a "tax", he knew that his annual income had been greatly affected because of Chu salt.
Even though Liu Zhang could not completely control the salt in Yizhou, the impact on Yizhou Prefecture was not small, so Liu Zhang joined forces with several Xichuan families and began to block the inflow of Chu goods.
Even under the advice of Zheng Hou Zhang Yan, the horses and other items in Yizhou were blocked and no longer flowed to Chu.
Now that Zhang Lu's offer of being made a marquis was rejected and the influence of Chu on him was gradually disappearing, he should have been doubly happy. However, at this time, shocking news came from Chu!
In the territory of Chu, people are terrified when talking about Shu recently. It seems... the people of Chu are starting to fear me?
Liu Zhang initially thought that this was three times the joy - it must be because my previous strategy of keeping a low profile had been exposed, and everyone had discovered that I was so wise and powerful that even the enemy was trembling with fear...
Therefore, Liu Zhang ignored Zhang Song's warning at the time and resolutely decided to cooperate with the propaganda of this trend in Yizhou!
Let those stupid nobles know that I, Liu Zhang, am the one that terrifies the State of Chu and makes the King of Chu live in constant fear. Don't make trouble, and don't say behind my back that I am incompetent and cowardly. That only shows that you have no vision!
Liu Zhang himself wanted to read the rumors about him from the State of Chu every day, and even... he took the initiative to order people to collect the news from the State of Chu with great interest.
Sometimes Liu Zhang himself wondered - Do I really have 100,000 cavalry?
However, it didn't take long for the situation to change further. The fear of Chu State gradually turned into hatred and even the will to fight...
Liu Zhang's proactive attention turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as it enabled him to receive the news in a more timely manner.
More than a month after the New Year, Liu Zhang heard that the people of Jinling had stopped Bai Tu's carriage and requested that Chu go to war with Yizhou. Bai Tu kowtowed three times to the people and finally beheaded his own carriage and vowed to march west. The whole Chu state was united and the military and civilians were vying for war.
Liu Zhang: ???
Liu Zhang was completely confused.
Aren't you afraid?
Why should the weak fight? If you don't fight, you won't die. Don't you understand?
Liu Zhang was completely unable to understand the Chu people's train of thought, and felt vaguely panicked - the direction of things seemed to be beyond his control!
It was precisely because of the delay in this news that when Liu Zhang heard about this, Zhao Yun and Huang Zhong had already met in Yiling and began to pass through Xiling Gorge and approach Zigui County.
The road construction project has been underway for nearly three years, and the speed of troop movement within Chu has been greatly improved...
Yiling is not considered the border of Jingzhou. The area that can truly be considered the "border" should be Zigui County, which Bai Tu visited during his western tour - that is, Zigui where Li Yan previously served as the county magistrate.
Historically, the reason why Lu Xun fought against Liu Bei in Yiling was because Zigui and Yidao west of Yiling were strategically abandoned by Lu Xun, and no major war broke out, as Liu Bei crushed them all the way.
From Yidao to Zigui, it is already in the "Xiling Gorge", the easternmost of the Three Gorges. When Bai Tu was driving on the way to Zigui County, he was delayed for a long time.
To the east of Zigui is the more dangerous and narrow Wu Gorge, as well as the Qutang Gorge. The western entrance of Qutang Gorge is the Qutang Pass, also known as Kuimen, which is the pass from Jing to Yi.
To the west of Kuimen, there is a mountain city called Baidi City, which was built by utilizing the dangerous terrain at the foot of Kuimen Mountain and echoes Qutang Pass in the distance.
After the Battle of Yiling, not only was Liu Bei's army burned down by Lu Xun, but even his retreat route through Kuimen was cut off by Sun Huan. He had no choice but to retreat back to Kuimen over mountains and ridges, and died of depression and illness in Baidi City.
When Liu Bei took Yizhou, Zhuge Liang led Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun to break through Qutang Pass, and then he won many battles along the way...
In comparison, the terrain of Xiling Gorge is better, and it is also the territory of Chu State, and the road has been barely repaired. After Zhao Yun and Huang Zhong met up, they quickly began to move towards Zigui.
By the time Liu Zhang heard that the Chu army was really showing signs of gathering, Zhao Yun and Huang Zhong had already marched out of Zigui, crossed the Wu Gorge and Qutang Gorge, and were "knocking on the door" outside Kuimen.
Liu Zhang, who realized it later, ordered Ba County to guard it strictly after being reminded by Zhang Song!
"The governor of Ba County is General Yan... General Yan is still strong and vigorous, and can be compared with Huang Zhong, the fierce general of Jingzhou. Wu Lan and Lei Tong are both outstanding young people, and are not inferior to Sun Ce and Zhou Yu of Jiangdong.
Yes, immediately let Wu Lan and Lei Tong lead the troops to Jiangzhou and intercept the Chu army!" Liu Zhang muttered .
Zhang Song: ...
Zhang Song was somewhat suspicious. This fellow had already developed some hysteria. However, it could also be seen that deep down in Liu Zhang's heart, he should have known that he was making something out of nothing, sneaking into Chencang, imagining things out of thin air, and fabricating things out of thin air...
So after all the talk, the final order was to "hold on", rather than to actually go down the river and destroy Jing and Chu.
Zhang Song also silently told himself in his heart: I am a national hero, I am Yan Zi, you are Duke Ling, Duke Zhuang, Duke Jing, I can also assist you, I am not afraid of being pitted, I am not afraid of being pitted, I am not afraid of being pitted...
One could faintly hear that when Zhang Song was ordered to leave to pass on the message, Liu Zhang was still mumbling about the "rumors" of the Chu State, comparing them one by one to convince himself to stay calm!
The civil and military officials under Liu Zhang's command were definitely not comparable to those of the State of Chu. Bai Tu and Xiahou Juan had been racking their brains all night long to make up this 50-50 ratio, which was by no means comparable to that of Chu and Wei.
However, the configuration of Yizhou Prefecture at this time was indeed not weak. Even before Bai Tu, it had intercepted countless talents who should have flowed into Xichuan and retained them in Chu. It was still stronger than Jingzhou Prefecture in its heyday.
He can even be compared with Liu Bei, the Marquis of Qi. Even if he is slightly inferior, he is better than other people like the Marquis of Yong, the Marquis of Sai, Gongsun Kang, and Zhang Lu...
Perhaps in terms of military strength, no one under Liu Zhang could defeat Ma Chao, the son of Ma Teng, and in terms of wisdom, no one could defeat Sima Yi, the strategist of Zhang Yan.
However, it was a rare state in which both civil and military talents were fully equipped, from generals who had an overall view of the overall situation and commanded the three armies to grassroots county officials, Yizhou had no shortage of them and was very stable as a whole.
Although it was precisely because of the stability that Liu Zhang's transformation into a warlord was not thorough, and his control over the counties under his rule was weak, this was not the main reason for Yizhou's weakness. The most prominent problem was that Liu Zhang was incompetent, which dragged down the civil and military officials of Yizhou...
For example, Yan Yan, the governor of Ba County at that time, said that he could fight Huang Zhong on equal terms. Of course, it was nonsense, but being old and strong was not just talk!
Yan Yan was also good at defending himself, but because there had not been much defense before, Yan Yan was still stationed in Jiangzhou City, the capital of Ba County.
Although in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, after Zhang Fei and Zhuge Liang broke through Kuimen and split their troops into two groups, it seemed that they arrived in Jiangzhou the next day and fought with Yan Yan.
In fact, “going up the Shuojiang River and conquering Badong” is not as simple as it sounds.
From Qutang Pass to Jiangzhou, even if it is a straight line between the two points, the shortest distance must pass through five counties: Yufu, Quren, Linjiang, Pingdu, and Zhixian...
Whether in history or now, if Ba County had defended itself strictly from the beginning, it would have been difficult for the Jingzhou army to enter.
However, there is no "if" either in history or now - when Yan Yan received the urgent report from Qutang Pass, the order from Chengdu had not yet reached Jiangzhou!
In fact, since the Chu State occupied Jingzhou, Yan Yan had repeatedly requested to be allowed to expand his army in Ba County, especially to increase troops in Qutang Pass.
However, neither Liu Zhang nor the nobles of Yizhou cared about this matter. The Yizhou government was unwilling to increase the expenditure, and the nobles of Ba County were even more opposed to Yan Yan transferring the troops of Jiangzhou to Qutang Pass - after all, the richest area of Ba County was Jiangzhou, which was their foundation.
The reason why Qu Tang Pass is now more guarded than the Qu Tang Pass attacked by Zhuge Liang and Zhang Fei in history is mainly because we have to be wary of caravans secretly trading between Ba County and the State of Chu!
Quren County is a major salt-producing county - it produces well salt, and due to technical reasons, its cost is much higher than the sea salt of the Chu State.
Therefore, the powerful and wealthy families in Badong themselves supported the "boycott of Chu goods".
Even Gan, who was still in Ba County, did not dare to offend the public. After being suppressed twice, he no longer had any intention of doing so.
In contrast, the Shu County nobles hated Jiangdong brocade even more - similarly, this brocade, which was not only of higher quality but also of extremely low cost, dealt a heavy blow to Shu brocade.
The Gan family... was even more afraid to speak in this regard. After all, when Jiangdong Brocade was just starting out, the Gan family sent a lot of weavers to Gan Ning.
It was precisely because the quality of Jiangdong brocade was so high that no one suspected that the Gan family was colluding with the enemy. After all, the Gan family themselves did not have that kind of technology. As a wealthy family in Badong, the Gan family's skills in weaving brocade were not even top-notch in Yizhou!
As for establishing a branch family in Jiangdong, it was a common thing among the aristocratic families, and no one was obsessed with it.
"Boycott Chu Goods" did cut off the financial resources of some people, but overall, it was in line with the interests of most of the aristocratic families in Yizhou, so it was implemented so efficiently in Yizhou.
However... it is obviously a pipe dream to want to stop the attack of Zhao Yun and Huang Zhong with only these anti-smuggling troops!
