After capturing Meizhou and Pengshan, the Perak Army immediately reported the situation of the battle to Yu Xing. Although Yu Xing led his army to fight in the direction of Chongqing, this urgent document would soon be delivered to him from Jiading Prefecture. The reason why people were sent to deliver the message immediately was because the war in Chongqing was stalemate. Retaking the two cities this time could boost morale and at least make some Song troops give up their thoughts of surrender. As for whether the imperial court would reward the Perak Army for this battle, he didn't care. In fact, the imperial court's rewards are often lip service but not real, and the Pili Army is not uncommon. The only thing Ouyang Xuan was interested in was the official position. This was not because he was a fan of officials, but because he had a reputation and could better integrate the places taken back from the Mongols.
In this letter of report of merit, Ouyang Xuan ordered his people to introduce the situation of the plague in detail. The purpose of doing so was to dispel Yu Xing's idea of taking back Pengshan City. The geographical location of Pengshan City is too important. Even if there is a plague, even if Yu Xing wants to go back, the Pili Army will never give up. But as a last resort, Ouyang Xuan didn't want to fall out with Yu Xing, so he planned to return Meizhou City to Yu Xing in exchange for Yu Xing's acknowledgment that Pengshan would belong to the Pili Army.
In fact, there are objections to the return of Meizhou within the Perak Army. According to the opponents, the Meizhou city was captured from the Mongols by the soldiers with bloodshed, so why should it be returned to Yu Xing. For this reason, Ouyang Xuan did a lot of persuasion work before suppressing his objections. In his opinion, Meizhou was too close to Jiading, and Yu Xing would obviously not agree if it was occupied by the Perak Army. Although Yu Xing had nothing to do with the Pili Army militarily, as Ouyang Xuan's nominal superior, he would make many underhanded tricks and cut off the Pili Army's southward trade channel. The people's livelihood in Meizhou City has long been in ruins under the rule of the Mongols. Falling out with them over the gains and losses of this city is not worth the loss, both from a political and economic point of view.
Another reason why Ouyang Xuan did this was to obtain Yu Xing's support and obtain the power of Sichuan affairs. Although Yu Xing actually controlled only Jiading Prefecture, he served as the Deputy Envoy of Sichuan and the Deputy Envoy of Chengdu. He was also nominally responsible for the affairs of Jidizhou and Yifan areas as far north as Weimao and as far south as Diao and Yan. It's just that over the years, he has been tired of dealing with the Mongolian army and has no energy to manage Sichuan affairs. Although these Yi and Fan areas were poor, their geographical location was quite important, as evidenced by the fact that the Mongolian army repeatedly invaded western Sichuan from Yi and Fan areas such as Songzhou Grassland.
In Yu Xing's view, Sichuan affairs are a chore. The folk customs in the Yifan area were fierce, and the affairs on the Jisi River were not only a waste of money and food, but also the barbarians had to be prevented from causing chaos at all times, so he regarded this matter as a hot potato and was eager to throw it away. The Yifan affairs in Diao and Yanzhou were not good, but he forced them to Cao Zhizhou of Yazhou. However, he hesitated to leave the affairs of Wei-Mao and Weizhou to the Perak Army, because the Perak Army had always listened to orders but not propaganda. After Ouyang Xuan was appointed as the Zhijun of Yongkang, he also wrote a letter to test the situation, but Ouyang Xuan made a request in his reply: if the Pili Army was to handle Sichuan affairs, it must include Diao, Yanzhou and Weimao. All Yifan affairs within the house, otherwise I will not be able to obey my orders.
Yu Xing had not responded to Ouyang Xuan's request, but unexpectedly Cao Zhizhou refused. On the one hand, Cao Zhizhou already regarded Ouyang Xuan as his enemy in his heart. Based on what the Pili Army did, he must oppose it and never miss any opportunity to disgust Ouyang Xuan. On the other hand, if Ouyang Xuan obtains the right to do business on the Sichuan border, the Pili army will be able to do business in the Yifan area more unimpeded, and they will be able to pass through the Yazhou boundary in a legitimate manner. Cao Zhizhou obviously cannot tolerate it. For this reason, Cao Zhizhou also wrote to Yu Xing, requesting that the entire Sichuan border affairs be delegated to him. He wanted to treat others the way they were treated, which made Ouyang Xuan sick and disgusted.
Seeing how firmly Cao Zhizhou opposed it, Yu Xing hesitated for a while. Why didn't he know the reason for Cao Zhizhou's objection? Just as he knew before, Cao Zhizhou used Sichuan affairs as an excuse to bargain over money, food, taxes, and in fact made many Yi and Tibetan merchants lose money. Seeing that the Sichuan affairs power had become a hot commodity again, Yu Xing put the matter aside again. On the one hand, he was thinking of selling it at a price, preparing to take this opportunity to make another fortune; On the other hand, the power of Sichuan side affairs was originally the authority of Chengdu's deputy envoy to appease, and it was a violation to entrust others to handle it. Cao Zhizhou also has a backer in the court. If he uses this matter to interfere with Yu Xingben, it will really make him feel uncomfortable.
Ouyang Xuan was determined to get the Sichuan border affairs rights including the direction of Diaoyan Prefecture. From a military point of view, it was to prevent the Mongols from invading western Sichuan from Dajianlu. Zelang's few people will certainly not be able to stop the Mongolian invasion, and Yazhou cannot be relied on either. Let’s not talk about whether Cao Zhizhou, a wallflower, will fall to the Mongols. Even if he does not lead the wolf into the house, the low-powered Xiang army in Yazhou will never be a match for the Mongolian army. From an economic point of view, the Yifan District is currently the main trading target of the Perak Army. It not only provides the Perak Army with a large amount of profits, but also provides strategic resources such as fire, saltpeter, copper, mercury, and horses. It has even become an important source of troops. The soldiers recruited here have extraordinary physical strength, are hardworking and extremely tough. After rigorous training, they become elite warriors.
In addition to hinting in a letter to Yu Xing that he would exchange Meizhou City for the right to handle Sichuan affairs, Ouyang Xuan also sent people to Lin'an to inform Li Kaipeng, asking him to fully implement the matter. Of course it would cost Li Kaipeng a lot of money to facilitate this, but it wouldn't be too difficult if he thought about it. Because whether the Perak Army annihilated the Mongolian cavalry at Widow Cliff in Maozhou, or this time it severely damaged the Mongolian army and captured the cities of Yazhou and Pengshan, these were all heavy military achievements, and they were particularly bright in the eroded Sichuan battlefield. Eye. Ouyang Xuan also told Li Kaipeng that when explaining the reasons for this matter, he could imply that if the Perak Army obtained the right to handle the affairs of the Tibetan people on the Sichuan border, their morale would be greatly boosted, and they would then gradually pursue strategic locations such as Chengdu and Yunding City.
The journey to Lin'an was long and dangerous, so Ouyang Xuan asked Dong Hu to select ten people from the special forces as messengers. Although the Pili Army is currently fighting in Chongqing Prefecture between the Song and Mongolian armies, this section of the river is closed, but the lightly-armed messenger team can disembark from Luzhou, then take a detour to Fuzhou via a small road, and then take the boat south to Lin'an. If the Chongqing direction is really impassable, then from Luzhou direction, bypass Bozhou and Sizhou, enter Baojingzhou or Yuanzhou, Chenzhou on Hubei Road, and then follow the river to enter the Yangtze River. Some time ago, when the Perak Army caravan was exploring trade routes, they made a special trip to visit the Bozhou Yang family according to Ouyang Xuan's wishes, and the two companies had reached a trade agreement. It is not a problem to take advantage of Bozhou and ask them to send people to guide and protect them.
On the surface, Ouyang Xuan's exchange of Meizhou for Sichuan and Tibetan affairs was just to prevent the Mongolian army's "Hanfu" plot and to obtain commercial interests. In fact, it was for the sound operation of the Pili Army's fiscal and taxation system. At the beginning of the rise of Liuliba, the Perak Army used the slogan not to requisition grain in order to win the support of the people. Now in order to attract the population and restore agricultural production, they still adhere to this policy and have achieved excellent results. It's just that this policy has put great pressure on the Pili Army's fiscal and taxation system. Currently, the Perak Army relies on salt, iron and other industries and trade to obtain excess profits, and a large number of prisoners of war serve as free labor force to maintain daily operations. "One cannon blast brings ten thousand taels of gold." Once a large-scale attack occurs on the Pili Army's fiscal and taxation system, it will cause a huge deficit. Obtaining the rights to Sichuan affairs, and then through large-scale sales of industrial products, not only Diaoyan, Weimao and other Yifan areas, but also the entire western Sichuan including Yazhou, Meizhou, Jiading and even the Mongolian-occupied areas can be included in the Perak Army's control economic system, and thus obtain a steady stream of funds.
