Veterans such as Zhuge Liang, Zhang Fei, Jian Yong, Sun Qian, and Chen Dao followed Liu Bei for many years, conquering the south and the north, and experienced countless hardships.
Dongzhou sects such as Fazheng and Zhang Song played a great role in Liu Bei's entry into Shu.
So after proclaiming himself emperor, Liu Bei placed great emphasis on both the Elder Faction and the Dongzhou Faction and rewarded them generously.
As for the Yizhou faction, they were not reused by Liu Bei at all.
There are sixteen important positions in the Shuhan Central Committee, almost all of which are occupied by the Elder Faction and the Dongzhou Faction, but there is no one from the Yizhou Faction!
The reason why Liu Bei suppressed the Yizhou faction is also very simple.
Long before he entered Shu, Yizhou had suffered from social unrest due to the local powerful people doing whatever they wanted.
In addition, the Yizhou nobles were quite resentful of Liu Bei because of their damaged interests.
Because of this, Liu Bei suppressed the local forces in Yizhou!
But this will only deepen the resentment of the Yizhou nobles against him.
For example, Liu Bei issued a strict order prohibiting any contact with Cao Wei.
But Qiao Zhou still took risks and traded with Deng Ai and others.
In the end, he just resented Liu Bei and didn't take him seriously!
After hearing this, Deng Ai and the other three looked at each other and could see each other's secret joy.
Despite his young age, Qiao Zhou was born in Yizhou and had a good relationship with the local gentry.
From his words, it is not difficult to tell that the Yizhou party has quite a lot of complaints against Liu Bei.
If we could establish a relationship with the Yizhou faction through him, wouldn't it be easy to take over Shu in the future?
Thinking of this, Deng Ai winked at Jiang Wei.
Jiang Wei immediately nodded knowingly, smiled and said to Qiao Zhou,
"After hearing what happened to Mr. Yunnan and the Yizhou nobles, I really feel unfair for you!"
"But don't worry, soon you won't have to be angry with the big-eared thief anymore!"
Qiao Zhou was stunned for a moment, and then he understood.
"Could it be that the Wei Dynasty is preparing to send troops to attack Yizhou?"
"good!"
Jiang Wei nodded in agreement and laughed,
"When Yizhou returns to the jurisdiction of the imperial court, you will have a good life by then!"
"That's really great!"
When Qiao Zhou heard this, his spirits suddenly lifted!
"It's just that...Sichuan has natural dangers. It's not that easy to...take it."
Deng Ai sighed as he spoke.
Qiao Zhou's heart moved, he heard the hidden meaning of Deng Ai's words, and tentatively said,
"It's just a pity that I have little talent and little knowledge, so I really can't help Wei!"
"Young Master is so polite. I, the Great Wei, can be of use to you, but I don't know if you are willing to do so."
"Well..."
Qiao Zhou looked hesitant.
Although the local gentry in Yizhou, led by him, admired Wei's attack on Yizhou and overthrew Liu Bei, they did not want to take part in it.
After all, Yizhou is currently in charge of Liu Bei, and these local factions have neither real power nor military strength.
If you rush to serve Cao Wei, your family may be ruined!
Seeing Qiao Zhou's worry, Jiang Wei comforted him and said,
"Don't worry, sir, we are not asking you to openly resist Liu Bei, we are just asking you to help secretly..."
He told Qiao Zhou for help in detail.
After Qiao Zhou heard this, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief, but he did not immediately agree.
"This matter is not trivial. I need to go back and discuss it."
Qiao Zhou is still young and has not yet become the leader of the Yizhou faction.
Jiang Wei naturally understood, nodded and said,
"It's easy to say, but this is confidential, don't let it out!"
"Please don't worry, Master!"
Qiao Zhou solemnly bowed to Deng Ai, Jiang Wei, and Guanqiu Jian, then stood up and left.
After he left, the three brothers also returned to Nanzheng, wrote the matter into a letter, and sent it back to Luoyang overnight.
…
In Luoyang city.
After reading the letter sent back by Deng Ai and others, Yang Ling couldn't help but feel elated.
"I wonder what makes King Qi so happy?"
Pang Tong on the side saw Yang Ling smiling and said curiously.
"Well, you can see for yourself."
Yang Ling said and handed the letter in his hand to Pang Tong.
Pang Tong took the letter and took turns reading it with Gao Rou, Xu Shu and others beside him.
"How can King Qi be so sure that Qiao Zhou and other Yizhou native factions will agree to cooperate with us?"
Pang Tong stroked his beard and said.
"Yes, even if they agree, how can King Qi be sure that they can really help us?"
Xu Shu also raised his own questions.
When Yang Ling heard this, he couldn't help but laugh.
If others don't know, how can he not know Qiao Zhou?
The famous surrender faction of the Shu Kingdom in history wrote the "On Revenge of the Country" which vigorously promoted capitulationism and defeatism. His negative remarks had an extremely bad impact on Jiang Wei's Northern Expedition.
The public opinion position of Shu was captured by him, and people's hearts were incited by him.
So when Cao Wei's troops came to the city, there was no fighting spirit in Chengdu.
Qiao Zhou himself even personally persuaded Liu Chan to surrender in Kaicheng!
It is no exaggeration to say that Qiao Zhou was Wang Jingwei during the Three Kingdoms period.
With Qiao Zhou helping him, does Yang Ling need to worry that the Yizhou native faction is unwilling to cooperate and his economic war cannot be carried out smoothly?
"Don't worry, this matter will be a success!"
Yang Ling smiled.
Seeing that he was so confident, although everyone was curious, they said nothing.
…
At the same time, Yizhou Chengdu.
After parting ways with Deng Ai and others, Qiao Zhou carefully avoided the Shu Han army and finally returned to Chengdu with the grain obtained from the transaction.
Without taking a breath, he came to Huang Quan's house in person.
Huang Quan had a generous temperament, was elegant and thoughtful, and was highly respected by the Yizhou faction. Therefore, most of the Yizhou gentry liked to come to his residence to chat.
At this time, in addition to Huang Quan, there were Ma Zhong, Li Hui and others in the hall of his residence.
Seeing Qiao Zhou return, Huang Quan immediately invited him to sit down and asked,
"Yun Nan, how is the food issue?"
"Reporting to uncle, everything went well. The food purchased has been placed in the farm outside the city."
Qiao Zhou replied.
Hearing this, Huang Quan and others present breathed a sigh of relief.
Since Liu Bei launched his army to attack Hanzhong, the price of food has skyrocketed.
After he returned from the defeat, his strength increased to a terrifying level.
This made Huang Quan and other nobles quite unable to bear it.
Because of this, they asked Qiao Zhou to come forward to do business with Cao Wei and purchase some grain and grass in case of emergency.
"Thank you for your hard work this time, Yunnan. Please go back and rest quickly."
Huang Quan smiled.
But Qiao Zhou did not set off immediately. Instead, he hesitated for a moment and then said,
"My nephew has something to report to his uncle."
"But it doesn't matter!"
"The people who traded grain with my nephew are Yang Ling's two disciples, Deng Ai and Jiang Wei!"
When all the nobles heard this, their expressions changed!
They never imagined that Yang Ling, who was in a high position in Cao Wei, would be involved in a simple smuggling of grain!
Huang Quan frowned slightly and muttered,
"Did they say anything to you?"
