It seems that there is really no need to rush into papermaking.
Although a suitable material ratio has not yet been found, the paper produced is still not resistant to writing. However, the flexibility has improved a lot, which at least ensures that Zhang Xi can use familiar toilet paper.
From then on, the toilet chip in Zhangxi Mansion was completely unemployed.
As for papermaking, Zhang Xi can only be patient and let the craftsmen try slowly. One day, they will be able to find the right material ratio and appropriate craftsmanship to create truly usable paper.
Prior to this, Zhang Xi temporarily put aside the promotion of the fish scale album and dealt with daily government affairs.
One day in mid-May, because of the hot weather, Zhang Xi was sitting in the study room of the prefect's mansion doing official business in light clothes, when he suddenly received an official document.
This official document was not sent by a subordinate, nor from Chengdu, but by Zhang Fei, the prefect of the next county.
Zhang Xi was still wondering why the third master communicated with him through official documents instead of private messages. But after reading the official documents, Zhang Xi suddenly became solemn and summoned Li Qiu, Yang Tai and Zhang Yi for a meeting.
The purpose of Zhang Fei's official document was to remind Zhang Xi that during the recent period, Cao Jun in Hanzhong often bypassed Jiameng Pass and Zitong County from the Hanzhong Mountain Road and entered the Bajun area from the east.
The purpose is to relocate the population.
After Cao Cao occupied Hanzhong, he moved part of Hanzhong's population to Yongliang Prefecture to supplement the population there and develop production.
After Hanzhong lost its population, Cao Cao's order to Xia Houyuan was to find ways to plunder the population from Yizhou and replenish Hanzhong.
On the one hand, it ensures the development of its own production, and on the other hand, it weakens Liu Bei's strength.
These days, population is a direct reflection of productivity. Once a large number of people are lost in Yizhou, Liu Bei will definitely be hit hard.
In the direction of Zitong County and Jiameng Pass, it is difficult for Xia Houyuan to attack because of the protection of the pass. However, the Dongsan County on the east side of Han Dynasty is still in Cao Cao's hands. Xiahou Yuan can completely bypass the obstruction of the pass through the passage between Dongsan County and Hanzhong. , reaching into the Berkshire area.
The first one to bear the brunt was Brazil County guarded by Zhang Fei, followed by Badong County.
Although Badong County is closer to the direction of the Three East Counties, as long as Xiahou Yuan occupies the northern part of Brazil County, Badong County will also be exposed to Xia Houyuan, not to mention that Xia Houyuan may unite with the Three East Counties to send troops to attack Badong from both sides. county.
Therefore, Zhang Fei specially sent an official document to Zhang Xi, hoping that Zhang Xi would be prepared.
Zhang Xi also had to be on guard. In the north of Badong County, there is Baoyuan Mountain, which is the largest salt-producing area in Badong County and the only salt-producing area in Yizhou that has resumed production.
Really, if possible, Zhang Xi would like to directly send troops to Dongsan County to defeat Dongsan County.
But unfortunately, I can only think about it.
Dongsan County is bordered by Xiangyang to the east and Hanzhong to the west. Even if Zhang Xi captured Dongsan County, he would be under attack from two sides by Cao Cao and could not defend it at all.
Therefore, the main purpose of Zhang Xi's gathering of his men was to discuss strengthening the defense of northern Badong County.
As for Brazil County, Zhang Fei is in charge. Unless Xia Houyuan personally leads his troops to plunder the population, there is really no need to worry too much.
And obviously, as the commander-in-chief of one side and the garrison of Hanzhong, it is impossible for Xia Houyuan to personally lead the troops to plunder the population, right? !
Don't tell me, Zhang Xi was a little vague. After all, Xia Houyuan could lead hundreds of people to repair deer antlers. He could do something like sending troops to plunder the population, which sounds more noble than repairing deer antlers.
Well, Zhang Xi wasn't sure, so he had to prepare for the worst.
On the one hand, Li Qiu was asked to recruit troops in Badong County, and on the other hand, Zhang Ni was asked to lead three thousand county soldiers to garrison Beijing County, ready to guard against enemies from the north at any time.
There are a total of 13,000 soldiers stationed in Badong County, but only 3,000 of them are soldiers of Badong County. Zhang Xi has no authority to command the remaining 10,000 people.
They are the white soldiers who belong directly to Liu Bei.
Zhang Xi can borrow troops from Chen Dao, but he cannot command Chen Dao. There is no subordinate relationship between the two.
But who made Zhang Xi and Chen Dao have a good relationship?
So, when Zhang Yi led 3,000 troops to the north and Li Qiu was still recruiting new troops, Zhang Xi wanted to borrow 2,000 white soldiers from Chen Dao to serve as a reserve force in case something unexpected happened at this time, and Zhang Xi had no troops available.
In this way, the time came to early June, and Zhang Xi received an urgent report from Zhang Ni.
Xia Houyuan personally led Zhang He and Xu Huang out of Hanzhong. They have already captured the northern part of Brazil County and are about to approach the northern part of Badong County.
After Zhang Xi learned of this, he immediately ordered Li Qiu to lead two thousand newly recruited soldiers northward to Beijing County to support Zhang Ni and take over the defense of Beijing County.
He himself borrowed three thousand white-collared soldiers from Chen Dao and went to station in Hanfeng County.
As for Chen Dao, he informed Chengdu and Brazil County and waited for Liu Bei's orders. On the other hand, he also made preparations to lead all the Baiji troops northward.
It's not that Chen Dao didn't go north with Zhang Xi, it's actually that the Baijie soldiers were Liu Bei's private soldiers.
The defense of Badong County is in charge of the soldiers of Badong County. Chen Dao's duty is to guard Yuwei County and the Yangtze River Waterway. Without Liu Bei's order, Chen Dao will not easily leave the station and obey Zhang Xi's command.
Being able to lend Zhang Xi three thousand people was already taking a lot of risk.
The priorities here must be clearly distinguished, otherwise Chen Dao would not be able to master the Baijie soldiers.
Therefore, Zhang Xi led his troops to Hanfeng County in mid-June and met with the county magistrate Jiang Wan, and the two discussed the deployment of defense together.
The geographical location of Badong County is more towards the east, far away from Hanzhong and relatively close to Dongsan County.
But since Xia Houyuan personally led the army to the expedition, the three eastern counties may also respond. Therefore, the current situation in Badong County is not optimistic at all.
If Xia Houyuan led troops to attack Badong County from the west, and the three eastern counties sent troops to attack from the north, it would be difficult for Badong County to defend the north of the Yangtze River under the two-pronged attack.
Therefore, on the Beijing County side, Li Qiu and Zhang Yi had to guard against the soldiers and horses of Dongsan County, while on the Hanfeng County side, they might have to face Xia Houyuan's main army.
With only three thousand men, even the white soldiers, Zhang Xi felt that it was quite dangerous. Therefore, Zhang Xi quickly wrote to Zhang Fei and asked Zhang Fei to send troops to support him quickly. Otherwise, Zhang Xi really had no confidence that he could stop Xia Houyuan's main army.
At this time, Zhang Fei was actually facing greater pressure than Zhang Xi.
No one expected that this time Xia Houyuan led the Hanzhong army to the east, he was actually a front man. He had been staying in the northern part of Brazil County and the western part of Badong County, but he sent Zhang He to lead a partial division of about 10,000 people. , went deep into the hinterland of Brazil County, and beat him until he was covered with hair and in the Dangshi area.
This place is less than 300 kilometers away from Chengdu, which can be said to be very close. If Zhang He grits his teeth, he may really hit Chengdu directly.
Zhang Fei is now under great pressure. Not only must he intercept Zhang He on the way, but he must also defeat Zhang He. Otherwise, Zhang He can threaten Chengdu if he advances, and can also move the population of Brazil County to Hanzhong if he retreats, making a sure profit without losing anything.
Therefore, Zhang Fei had no way to send troops to support Zhang Xi. On the contrary, Zhang Fei hoped that Zhang Xi would take the initiative to attack and help him contain Xia Houyuan so that Xia Houyuan could not assist Zhang He in time.
Zhang Xi was immediately dumbfounded. Three thousand people went to attack Xia Houyuan's army of more than 20,000. Are you kidding? !
This is Xiahou Yuan, the Xiahou Yuan who has just pacified Liangzhou and defeated the Qiang and barbarians of Liangzhou who dare not look south. This is not the Xiahou Dun who can only defend the place and fight against the bandits and rebels.
But the current situation is here. If Zhang Xi does not attack Xiahou Yuan, let Xia Houyuan assist Zhang He, or Xiahou Yuan directly abandons Badong County, attacks Brazil County with all his strength, and then intimidates Chengdu. Well, there is no need for Xiao Deng Ai Went to sneak into Yinping.
Although Chengdu was not that easy to fight at this time, Zhang Xi certainly couldn't just watch Xia Houyuan do this.
After much thought, Zhang Xi decided to mobilize his troops.
Abandoning the defense of Beijing County at the expense of Baoyuan Mountain, he bet that the three eastern counties would not send troops, and then transferred 5,000 soldiers from Beijing County to Hanfeng County to strengthen the defense. At the same time, he urged Chen Lao to come to reinforcements quickly and be sure to drag Xiahou Yuan's army with him.
Xiahou Yuan, who had stationed troops in the western part of Badong County and the northern part of Basi County, also had a strange reaction.
He stayed where he was, motionless, watching Zhang Xi mobilizing troops, watching Zhang He and Zhang Fei confront each other in the Dangshi area, without any response.
In mid-July, Zhang Xi waited for reinforcements led by Li Qiu and Zhang Ni, and at the same time waited for the news that Chen Dao led Baijie troops to support Hanfeng County.
After all, Liu Bei is much stronger than Liu Chan and Liu Zhang, and he has a very clear grasp of the current situation. He knows that he can directly delay or even defeat Xia Houyuan's army. Then Zhang He will be alone along the way. As long as his tail is cut off, he can kill Zhang He in Brazil County. .
Therefore, Liu Bei urgently ordered Chen Dao to lead his army to support Zhang Xi. At the same time, he ordered Zhang Xi to look for fighters and try to hold off Xia Houyuan. If possible, it would be best to repel Xia Houyuan and imprison Zhang He in Bajun.
Liu Bei really had high hopes for Zhang Xi. He asked him to fight against the world-famous general Xia Houyuan, and asked him to repel Zhang Xi, which suddenly made him feel dizzy.
With the current strength of the army, if Xia Houyuan takes the initiative to attack Badong County and Zhang Xi is responsible for the defense, then Zhang Xi can set up defenses layer by layer, and there is hope that he can hold off Xia Houyuan.
But letting Zhang Xi take the initiative to attack Xia Houyuan, Zhang Xi really didn't have the confidence.
But the military order had been issued, and Zhang Xi could not just watch Xia Houyuan plundering people everywhere in northern Bajun and sending them to Hanzhong. Therefore, Zhang Xi decided to make a tentative attack to test the quality of Xia Houyuan, a famous general.
Although Xia Houyuan was later beheaded by the veteran Huang Zhong at the foot of Dingjun Mountain, if this guy had a clear head and didn't repair the antlers himself, he would probably not be so unlucky.
Therefore, Zhang Xi did not dare to be careless with Xia Houyuan at all. In his first tentative attack, he asked Chen Dao to lead the Bai Jie soldiers on the field.
Chen Dao did not take all the Baijie soldiers at once. Instead, he only led 3,000 men and launched a surprise attack on a camp of Xiahou Yuan's army, demolishing two camps of Xiahou Yuan's army.
Then Xia Houyuan turned his attention and led his army to Badong County.
When Zhang Xi saw this posture, he immediately understood what Xia Houyuan meant.
This is to defeat the defenders of Badong County and then occupy all of Badong County.
But that’s fine too.
With the army in Zhang Xi's hands, it was really unreasonable for him to take the initiative to attack Xia Houyuan.
But if we take advantage of the terrain and set up layers of defenses to defend Xiahou Yuan's offensive and delay the movements of Xiahou Yuan's army, then it is not without hope.
Because, Badong County is really a good place.
It is full of mountains.
(End of chapter)
