【A gap exists between two rivers】
It is not completely impossible for the imperial court to wish to conquer both rivers. Whether it is Tang Zhaozong or Li Maozhen, the strategy of getting involved in the two rivers is always to defeat them one by one. We must sow discord between the two rivers and let the east and west rivers fight within themselves. Once the two Sichuan are united and open to the outside world, it will be difficult for a third party to intervene due to the easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack terrain of Bashu.
Today, the relationship between Xichuan Meng Zhixiang and Dongchuan Dong Zhang is not harmonious.
First, there is fierce market competition between the two companies. Armed conflicts continued to break out between the two sides as they competed for salt benefits. According to historical records, although Dongchuan is a small territory, there are 460 salt wells; while Xichuan, a vast territory, has only 13 salt wells. Dongchuan's salt output directly surpassed Xichuan's.
Dong Zhang, who had an absolute advantage in production, formulated a series of preferential policies to encourage traders to buy Dongchuan salt and then sell it to Xichuan, where he dumped salt.
Dong Zhang's actions severely damaged the economic order in the Xichuan region, and Xichuan's wealth continued to flow to Dongchuan.
The seriousness of the problem is not limited to the outflow of wealth. Salt is not an ordinary commodity. It is a national strategic resource. It is a necessity and consumable that no one can do without. It is related to people's livelihood and the lifeblood of the government. If Dongchuan controls Xichuan's salt market, it will be equivalent to holding Xichuan's lifeblood. In the future, any disturbance in salt in Dongchuan will trigger strong winds and waves in Xichuan.
"Two whites and one black" are enough to kill a regime. Dongchuan's use of salt to subvert Xichuan is not an alarmist statement.
Meng Zhixiang was troubled by this, so he thought of a way - local protection, setting up trade barriers, or simply: increasing taxes.
Meng Zhixiang set up layers of checkpoints at the customs and imposed heavy taxes on imported salt, directly eating away all the profits of the salt dealers. Within one year, 70,000 guan of salt tax was actually collected. Soon, because there was no profit, the merchants stopped going to Dongchuan to steal salt.
High tariffs are usually questioned and reviled by the people within the country. As everyone knows, imposing high tariffs on certain specific goods is not just a simple matter of protecting local national enterprises. Behind the intuitive tariffs is an invisible financial order and the true meaning of a regime. lifeblood.
If overseas capital has an absolute advantage in raw materials, production technology, financial services and other aspects, abandoning high tariffs would be tantamount to suicide. It's like pushing a person without any fighting training into the ring, and his opponent is Tyson.
The so-called "rules" must be based on the premise of information symmetry. Dongchuan, which has 460 salt wells, is unfair to Xichuan, which has only 13 salt wells, and is clamoring about market economy, freedom of buying and selling, and the removal of trade barriers.
Many public figures have previously criticized my country's high tariffs, especially using cars as an example. If these people are not ignorant, they have ulterior motives.
Raising tariffs significantly is a simple, crude and effective move. Meng Zhixiang quickly solved the huge hidden danger caused by salt to Xichuan.
When Wu Xin's army in Suizhou was free, Meng Zhixiang of Xichuan crossed the territory of Dongchuan again, snatching Dongchuan's meat and leaving Dongchuan Dong Zhang at the disadvantage.
With salt interests as the core and the hegemony of the two Sichuan regions, the conflict between Meng Zhixiang of Xichuan and Dong Zhang of Dongchuan has become increasingly irreconcilable. Border conflicts continue to escalate. The two sides are engaged in an arms race, and a life-and-death war may break out at any time.
The discord between the two Sichuan provinces was originally an excellent opportunity for the imperial court to intervene in the affairs of the two Sichuan provinces. It could use the tiger to drive the wolf away, defeat them one by one, and reap the benefits.
However, An Zhongjie, who was eager for instant success, was eager for success and planned to stew the two rivers in one spoonful. He treated the two rivers as imaginary enemies at the same time and carried out war deployments simultaneously.
In addition to the above-mentioned deployment for Dong Zhang in Dongchuan, An Chongjie also made similar deployments for Xichuan:
First, they used personnel transfers to drive wedges within the two rivers. For example, Wu Qianyu was appointed as the governor of Mianzhou, and An Chongjie arranged for his cronies to be assigned to the prefectures in Sichuan and Sichuan, including appointing Xia Ruqi as the governor of the Wuxin Army in Suizhou. Meng Zhixiang had previously appointed his generals After Li Jingzhou's stay, he really stayed behind, and the imperial court parachuted a military envoy;
On the one hand, these wedges are used to monitor the situation in both Sichuan. For example, Li Renju hated Dong Zhang so much that he did not hesitate to make false accusations and even made up some groundless accusations about the so-called "Dong Zhang's rebellion"; on the other hand, they were prepared to use force to conquer Sichuan. For example, after Xia Luqi took office, he immediately began to renovate Suizhou city fortifications, train soldiers, and manufacture weapons and armor;
As for the imperial army's infiltration, An Chongjie racked his brains even more. He prepared guard troops (Yajun) for his cronies who were sent to the two Sichuan provinces. Depending on the size of the Yajun in the prefectures and counties where they went, there would be as many as two or three thousand people, and as few as no less than 500 people. They were all carefully selected. Selected elite soldiers and brave generals. Use the identity of the "Tooth Army" as a cover to minimize the stimulation to both Sichuan and Sichuan.
An Zhongjiao's method of infiltrating troops into Liangchuan was similar to Yan Keqiu's infiltration into Qianzhou in Huainan. The only difference is that An Zhongjie is a "one-time molder", while Yan Keqiu is a "close-up magic".
The number of troops sent by Yan Keqiu every time was a reasonable number within the routine and routine, so the Qianzhou people naturally believed that they were normal defense changes and training rotations. The secret is that the number of people leaving is always smaller than the number of people coming, and a certain number of troops can be left behind every time. As time goes by, Yan Keqiu finally completes the assembly of a large army under the eyes of the soldiers and civilians of Qianzhou.
Compared to Yan Keqiu's nonchalant approach, An Zhongjie's approach can simply be said to be a joke, and there is no 300 taels of silver in this place.
The imperial court increased its military investment in the Sichuan and Sichuan areas, and also tried to squeeze out the war energy of the two Sichuan areas. For example, previously taking advantage of the war in Jingnan, Xichuan was ordered to be responsible for the supply of food and grass for the Kuizhou garrison. With the recovery of Kuizhou, Meng Zhixiang and Mao Chongwei on the front line performed a double act and withdrew the three thousand task force. However, in order to take into account the face of the court, the supply of food and grass continued.
At this time, Meng Zhixiang went to the imperial court and said, "The landlords have no surplus food." They could not afford the supply, and requested to stop blood transfusions to Kuizhou.
Not only did Li Siyuan fail to approve it, but he intensified his efforts to press for Xichuan.
Meng Zhixiang's approach was even more obvious, and he directly wrote a letter saying, "Sorry, no more, thank you." From then on, he openly disobeyed the order and never delivered a grain of grain to Kuizhou.
At this time, there was a rumor circulating that the imperial court planned to separate Mianzhou and Longzhou from the Dongchuan territory and build a new military town after the Langzhou Baoning Army. Today's Mianzhou Wu Qianyu, the governor of the state, will be the military commander of this military town...
After An Zhongjie's operations, both Sichuan and Sichuan felt an unprecedented sense of oppression: the imperial court was about to take action!
Previously, Meng Zhixiang and Dong Zhang had broken off diplomatic relations long ago, and the two sides were at war with each other. Under the huge pressure from external forces (the central government), the two finally had the possibility of dialogue.
An Zhongjie's tactics barely passed the test, but his strategy was appalling.
Dong Zhang sent an envoy, proposing an alliance between the two Sichuan provinces, formulating a joint battle plan, and jointly resisting the common enemy. He also asked the two Sichuan provinces to form a good relationship between the Qin and Jin Dynasties, and that Dong Zhang's son marry Meng Zhixiang's daughter.
Faced with the olive branch offered by Dong Zhang, Meng Zhixiang sneered, "Now that I think about my coming, what have I been doing? The court will beat you? You deserve to be beaten to death!"
In terms of overall strength, Xichuan is completely ahead of Dongchuan, so the previous "teaching assistant gift money" indicator given by the court was 1 million guan for Xichuan and 500,000 guan for Dongchuan.
The resentment and contempt for Dong Zhang in Dongchuan made Meng Zhixiang plan to ignore the situation and sit back and watch the court deal with Dongchuan. Maybe he could take advantage of the situation and make a fortune from Dong Zhang.
