Volume 4 is in the ascendant Chapter 488 Chubadong County
Regarding the overnight withdrawal of more than 10,000 defenders in Linjiang, the Chu State also had a "tacit understanding" and did not pursue further...
Due to the obstruction of Tongluo Mountain, it is not easy to march directly from Badong to Brazil. Generally speaking, one has to go south to Jiangzhou first, and then go north from Jiangzhou, the center of Ba County, to the Brazil area.
However, the Jiangzhou army was willing to march slower and consume more physical energy, so they were able to cross mountains and ridges, while the Chu army... was really not good in this aspect!
In fact, it is not just the Jiangzhou Army, but the entire Yizhou Army is like this. This is a characteristic of the army that originates from the special characteristics of the population in the source area.
This is also another reason why Yizhou is easy to defend but difficult to attack!
Unless, like Deng Ai in history, he "smuggled" directly to Mianzhu - there is a road leading directly to Chengdu without any mountains.
Otherwise, it would not be the case that after entering Yizhou, the geographical advantages of Yizhou would disappear. In fact, the geographical advantages would become more obvious.
Because after breaking through those real "dead ends" and entering Yizhou, some small hills and ridges made it difficult for foreign troops to march, while the local troops only had "inconvenience in marching"!
Originally, it was easy to defend but difficult to attack. But after entering, if you choose a bad position and are attacked by the enemy in the mountains and forests, then it will be difficult for you to attack and defend...
However, with Fa Zheng, Guo Huai and other advisers around, they obviously would not give Yan Yan this opportunity.
During the previous "attack", Fa Zheng's strategies made major generals such as Zhao Yun and Huang Zhong recognize his abilities.
Fa Zheng's strategy in Linjiang was not just "bluffing" or "luring the tiger away from the mountain", but a chain of tactics that took into account all of Yan Yan's considerations!
If Yan Yan had pursued the two regiments that stayed behind in the camp and escorted the baggage, the Chu army ambushed in the mountains would have rushed out directly to attack from both sides. The reason why the cattle and horses used to scare away the birds in the mountains were discovered later was also the result of deliberately leaving clues to hint at the enemy scouts.
Yan Yan's only chance is to remain unmoved and hold out for about ten days. The Chu army will have no choice but to come out of the mountains - after all... there is really no road!
The reason why he was able to succeed was, firstly, that Fa Zheng was well versed in the principle of "being as unpredictable as the dark" and was best at using this kind of false and real strategy; secondly... it was also because the compressed military rations of the Chu State were strong enough.
The amount of dry food that the Chu army could carry with them was definitely much longer than Yan Yan had imagined. In Yan Yan's common sense, without a baggage train and relying on individual soldiers to carry food, two or three days of rations would be the limit. The compressed rations of the Chu army were made by mixing and pressing sugar, oil, salt, and powdered grains.
Although it only contains calories but no nutrition, and cannot support long-term training or cultivation, it can satisfy your hunger for a short period of time and is very convenient to carry.
As long as there is water, the amount of food that a single soldier of the Chu army carries is enough to sustain for half a month...
After Yan Yan retreated, in the stage of consolidating the results of the battle, Guo Huai also performed well. Although he had only arrived in Badong not long ago, he quickly used sand table simulation to accurately determine suitable positions to defend - in several of them, when the Chu army went there, they discovered hidden military camps that were temporarily abandoned by the Jiangzhou army!
It can be seen that Guo Huai's judgment is highly consistent with Ba County's long-term judgment, and... is more suitable for the Chu army.
The quickly deployed defense line effectively resisted several small-scale exploratory counterattacks by the Jiangzhou army, forcing Yan Yan, who already had a low desire to attack, to completely switch to a defensive position.
Afterwards, the Xinye 1st Division turned around and headed southeast and captured Fuling!
After three months of fierce fighting in Ba County, the Chu army finally occupied Yufu, Qunin, Linjiang, Pingdu, and Fuling in the southeast, which were five counties in the eastern part of Ba County.
Unfortunately, Qu Ren did not have the military supplies as imagined - Wen Pin was so angry that he wrote an anonymous letter to Jiangzhou to report it.
Moreover, although Pingdu and Fuling did not completely clear the land, they did harvest the immature rice ears. We cannot rely on them to provide military supplies this year. Fortunately, the people of Ba County are generally well-off, so they will not be as miserable as Huainan, which was once harmed by Yuan Shu.
Zhao Yun issued an order to pacify the people, promote Chu learning, clarify the military regulations of the Chu army, and even encouraged reporting of violations of discipline in the army. At the same time, he began to organize in Yufu, Quren, and Linjiang counties to exchange sugar, salt, dried meat, salted fish, Jiangdong brocade, etc. for food and grass...
The people of Ba County did have some wealth. Sugar, salt, dried meat, etc. were very popular among ordinary people. After all, the prices of meat and salt were quite reasonable. More importantly... the people originally thought that the Chu army would directly plunder, after all, the Yizhou government had often slandered the Chu State.
However, now that they saw that the Chu army was only trading at a clearly marked price, ordinary clans were also organized, and when they had enough food in stock, they gritted their teeth and ate meat once or twice - this was called "being sensible".
But ordinary people can’t afford Jiangdong Brocade or something like that, or...there’s no reason to buy it!
Yizhou is originally the hometown of brocade. Why should ordinary people pay a lot of grain for better-looking brocade?
Zhao Yun and others had anticipated this, as these were mainly marketed to the great aristocratic families - ordinary people all knew what "being sensible" meant, and these great aristocratic families were the ancestors of "being sensible".
What also surprised Zhao Yun was that in addition to brocade and gold and silver, Chu currency was also unexpectedly popular. Some noble families even accepted the IOUs Zhao Yun wrote in the name of the Wancheng Division.
Of course, Zhao Yun had no intention of not paying back his debts, but... transporting the Chu currency would require transportation capacity and time!
"The reason why they accept Chu currency is because these families believe that Chu can gain a foothold in Badong, or even in Ba County and Yizhou. Once trade routes are opened in the future, Chu currency will naturally be of great use... Now, when they trade with Chu currency, they are paying a premium," Fa Zheng reminded.
"The nobles of Ba County are so confident in our Great Chu? If all the nobles in Yizhou are like this, there is no need to worry about injustice in Yizhou!" Zhao Yun said happily, his face beaming with joy, and his feelings were indeed sincere.
After all, having seen the caution of the great noble families, it is inevitable to feel that the State of Chu has been "destined" upon hearing this good news.
However, after looking at Zhao Yun, Fa Zheng poured cold water on him: "What I just said is a normal way of thinking. The reason why they accept Chu currency is that 50% of it is indeed their confidence in Chu, but the other 50%... is also because they hope that 'we know that they have confidence in Chu'!"
What Fa Zheng said was a bit difficult to understand, but after Zhao Yun thought about it for a while, he understood what Fa Zheng meant - it was just a disguised form of surrender.
Accepting Chu currency means accepting the State of Chu and having confidence in it. This confidence is real, but it is more to show one's confidence in the State of Chu and even a sense of belonging - after all, Badong is now under the control of the State of Chu.
What's more, Chu currency is still very valuable.
Even if Yizhou prohibits trading with Chu, which of these great noble families doesn't have some ways of their own? If they really can't go to Chu, can they go to Guanxi or the Central Plains? Then the Chu currency can be spent naturally!
Even if Yizhou expels the Chu army in the future, they will not lose anything, and the Yizhou government will not be able to investigate their transactions during the period when the Chu army occupied the city...
If the common people of Badong can be considered to have "some wealth", then these local nobles can truly be described as "fat"!
Well, if you think about it carefully, Qu Ren’s treasure didn’t “disappear”... but was transferred to the homes of these nobles!
On the one hand, the grain was used to supply the military, and on the other hand, the Chu army "lent" part of the grain to Pingdu and Fuling, which had suffered from man-made disasters.
As for the collateral, it is naturally the grain tax for the next year.
Zhao Yun also used the "Jieyue" given to him by Bai Tu before the expedition, which was a symbol of the privileges of "governor-general in charge of military and political affairs after entering Yi", and announced the division of the five counties of Yufu, Quren, Linjiang, Pingdu and Fuling to establish the "Chu Badong County"!
Obviously, he didn't intend to just grab a fortune and leave, but really wanted to merge this place into the State of Chu and didn't intend to leave...
In theory, the treatment of the people of Badong County is naturally the same as that of other people in Chu State, except that... Badong County has been temporarily designated as a war preparation zone, and the grain tax has been increased to 10:3, instead of the common 15:1 in Chu State.
However, the company promised that the excess amount would be returned in the form of reductions and exemptions over several years after the war zone division was lifted.
Likewise, the “levy” on corvée labor was twice as heavy…
In addition, other aspects of control are also more stringent, and the allocation of corvée labor does not follow the "minimum infrastructure ratio" of the Chu State - the Chu State has requirements on the proportion of labor that should be used for local engineering construction after it is collected. However, in the war preparedness zone, it will definitely focus on auxiliary military supplies and will not rush for slow-yielding construction.
Another thing is that Badong must still be unstable. The Chu army has no intention of immediately sorting out the land and conducting a thorough investigation of the population here. At most, they will distribute some wasteland to the people who have too little land.
Although there was differential treatment, it did not cause any backlash.
After all, the original grain tax in Yizhou was 10%, but in order to maintain the number of troops, Ba County had to collect another 10%, and there were also various kinds of exorbitant taxes. On paper, the Chu army did not increase the grain tax much, and from the perspective of actual collection, because those messy taxes were cancelled, for ordinary people, there was actually no increase at all!
It is equivalent to not raising taxes but promising a sharp drop in the future. Even if the people do not believe in what will happen in the future, they will certainly not be too dissatisfied.
If I must say I am unhappy, it is because I know the real grain tax of the people of Chu State, and I feel unhappy out of envy, jealousy and hatred...
And although there is certainly no spare capacity for other large-scale local projects, the "Shennong Essence" is also being transported to Badong!
Transporting Shennong's Essence is more cost-effective than transporting grain - after all, Shennong's Essence can increase the per-acre yield in Badong, and with the already fertile land in Bashu, it can be "exchanged" for much more grain than Shennong's Essence.
In this way, there is basically no need to transport staple food into Badong, which greatly saves transportation capacity. Although more troops cannot be supported, it is more than enough to maintain the size of two divisions.
Especially after the Shennong Essence takes effect next year, in the hearts of the people, the Chu army will completely regard Badong as its home ground!
However, the defense line with Jiangzhou as the core did resist the further offensive of the Chu army. If the 20,000 Chu troops wanted to break through Jiangzhou, they certainly could not rely on a brute force attack. Moreover, if they really launched a brute force attack, military supplies would not be sufficient. They would either need to increase the number of troops, or... they would need to find an opportunity with the right time, place, and people.
