The Northern Expedition is approaching, and everyone is thinking hard about it, but no one goes to bed so early.
Pang Tong and Fazheng were still analyzing intelligence all night, and Huang Quan was also sorting out Hanzhong government affairs and coordinating the logistics of the Northern Expedition. Everyone was very busy.
Therefore, when Zhang Xi's entourage came to visit and said that Zhang Xi invited the three of them to discuss strategy secretly, the three of them went directly without saying a word.
After arriving at Zhuge Liang's temporary residence in Hanzhong, the six of them sat together, and Liu Ba first told about the situation in Mei County.
Liu Ba believed that he was sure that he could persuade the Mei County garrison to surrender, but he could persuade the Meixian family to join Liu Bei. He could still do it by opening the city gate to respond when the army approached the city.
Liu Ba's confidence came from his infiltration and economic warfare in Guanzhong.
The current economic situation in Guanzhong, under the control of Liu Ba, already looks like a money shortage. If it ferments for more than ten days, when the money shortage develops to a certain extent, most of the aristocratic families in Guanzhong will be affected.
The big family may be better off. After years of accumulation, the house has a lot of five baht coins, so it won't be unable to survive.
But some small and medium-sized aristocratic families may not have enough money to cope with this money shortage.
Of course, an aristocratic family is an aristocratic family after all, and it is unlikely that it will be unable to survive because of a money shortage. At most, it will only suffer a greater loss.
But the most important reason why an aristocratic family is an aristocratic family is that all members of the aristocratic family put family first.
Not all aristocratic families are happy and harmonious with each other, and they are mutually exclusive.
People these days believe in Confucianism and believe that there are countless wealth in the world. If one party gets more, then the other party will get less. So why do you have to eat and drink every day while I have to live a miserable life? !
Therefore, there are actually some conflicts between aristocratic families, and most of these conflicts are related to money and food.
Large aristocratic families, such as Taiyuan Wang family, Hongnong Yang family, Shuzhong Li family and other first-class families, may have to hide their faces, but among small and medium-sized aristocratic families, some things will be relatively straightforward.
Of course, this is also the reason why small and medium-sized aristocratic families have to rely on large aristocratic families for survival. The structure of small and medium-sized aristocratic families is there. With this kind of magnanimity and structure, how can it be so easy to achieve a status jump?
But these things are great things for Liu Ba.
Liu Ba needs to take advantage of the short-sightedness and greed of these small and medium-sized aristocratic families to penetrate into Guanzhong to carry out economic warfare. Now there is an additional advantage, and he can also strategically help the Han to retake Guanzhong.
Mei County has been a defensive barrier for the Sanfu area in Guanzhong in the early years, especially for Yongzhou and Liangzhou, playing a very important warning and defensive role.
Mei County in the Pre-Han Dynasty was not useful in this regard. After all, in the Pre-Han Dynasty, the Han's borders were to the north and west of Liangzhou. Mei County was a satellite city on the outskirts of the capital, so it was not particularly important.
But in the Later Han Dynasty, especially in the middle and late period of the Later Han Dynasty, with the rise of the Qiang people, Liangzhou has always been unstable, so the importance of Mei County was immediately reflected.
In addition, Dong Zhuo later rebelled and hijacked the emperor to move the capital to Chang'an, so he was running Mei County as his home base in Guanzhong.
After more than a hundred years of development, the strategic significance of Mei County today is far greater than its practical significance.
But the same problem is that Mei County now plays more of a strategic role than an economic role. In addition, Dong Zhuo once used Mei County as his hometown. This Xiliang man would not allow any large-scale family to extend its tentacles. From his own lair.
Therefore, in the early years, there were some big aristocratic families in Mei County. However, when Dong Zhuo came, all these so-called aristocratic families, no matter how big or small, were driven away by Dong Zhuo.
Later, after Dong Zhuo was executed by Wang Yun, the rebellion between Li Jue and Guo Si caused Guanzhong to fall into more than ten years of melee fighting among the Liangzhou princes. At this time, Chang'an was already in dilapidated condition. Which aristocratic family would regard Mei County as a place for development? Foundation? !
It was not until Cao Cao repelled the coalition forces of Ma Chao and Han Sui and regained Chang'an that the situation improved slightly.
But even so, the Guanzhong aristocratic families who have learned a lesson often settle their family properties in Chang'an. With the protection of Cao Jun's army, it will be safer.
As for Mei County, those are places where some second- and third-tier families are trying to expand.
There are not many large-scale aristocratic families in Mei County now, and there are not many knowledgeable people. The first place where Liu Ba's economic war will open up a gap is actually Mei County.
These Guanzhong aristocratic families have been driven back and forth for more than ten years, some have temporarily retreated to other places, and some have stayed under the shelter of others. No matter what means are used to preserve the family, the losses themselves will definitely be great.
It doesn't matter that the big aristocratic families are struggling. At this time, the small and medium-sized aristocratic families need money and food to make up for their losses.
Therefore, Mei County is actually the most important and critical node in the Guanzhong intelligence network established by Liu Ba through smuggling. The aristocratic families here are generally very dependent on Liu Ba's smuggling network.
Not to mention more, at least three medium-sized aristocratic families, when engaging in official "smuggling" activities with Liu Ba, all use the method of shipping first and paying later to reduce risks.
For these three aristocratic families, as long as Liu Ba maliciously cuts off the payment or directly calls for payment, these aristocratic families will suffer heavy losses due to the break in the supply chain. In more serious cases, they may also offend some large aristocratic families in the Central Plains and Hebei, causing their own There is a big crisis in the family.
After all, these days, most of the Sichuan brocade, paper and other things are consumed by the numerous large aristocratic families. Although these small and medium-sized aristocratic families have some channels, they are generally just middlemen, or to be more direct, they are just white people under the big aristocratic families. Just gloves.
The big aristocratic families will not care about the life and death of these small and medium-sized aristocratic families, but for the small and medium-sized aristocratic families, this is all they have.
For these three medium-sized aristocratic families in Mei County, Liu Ba is sure that through some appropriate coercion, they will choose to side with the Han. After all, these aristocratic families have no concept of the country. They don't care at all whether the emperor's surname is Cao or Liu. They just I care about whether my family can pass on the legacy.
And with these three medium-sized aristocratic families connecting them, although there won't be any big commotion on weekdays, in Mei County, especially at critical moments, it may really have a considerable impact.
As for the general of Mei County, the general of Mei County is called Wang Sheng.
Hmm. A name that seemed quite unfamiliar to the six people present, but it was said that this person was Cao Zhen's confidant. Cao Zhen left this person in charge of defense in Mei County, which shows that Cao Zhen did not take Mei County seriously.
It was unlikely that this person could persuade him to surrender, so Pang Tong carefully asked Liu Ba about his relationship with the Meixian family.
However, Liu Ba said that in the intelligence network he established, he had also inquired about this Wang Sheng with the Mei County aristocratic families, but he did not gain much information.
There are two possibilities for this. One is that Wang Sheng has a strong heart and is always on guard against the Mei County aristocratic family.
The other way is that the people from the Meixian family did not take this Wang Sheng seriously and thought that this person was not worth mentioning.
Pang Tong and others exchanged opinions and felt that the first possibility was unlikely, but the second possibility was not small.
Nowadays, Cao Wei and Ji Han are enemy countries. Although there are no clear checkpoints and dividing lines in this era, and there is no customs agency, if Shuzhong wants to "smuggle" Shu brocade to Cao Wei, paper with clear geographical identification There is no way around the inspection of the local guards.
And Liu Ba could not only establish a sufficient intelligence network in Mei County, but also transport Shu brocade and paper to Guanzhong and even the Central Plains through Mei County. If you want to say that the Mei County guard general has no knowledge at all, that is simply impossible.
But Wang Shengming knew that this kind of thing was beneficial to the big man, but he didn't react at all, which in itself showed some problems.
First, Wang Sheng's status in Mei County was actually not high, or he simply had no way to fully control Mei County and prevent the circulation of Shu brocade and paper in Shu.
Secondly, Wang Sheng is not the kind of general who can take responsibility, and he does not want to offend these noble families too much.
After all, these days, those who can use Shu Brocade and those who can use paper are basically either from aristocratic families or nobles, and among them may be his immediate boss Cao Zhen.
Wang Sheng didn't have the courage to strictly control the situation, and he couldn't completely control the aristocratic families in Mei County, so naturally he could only turn a blind eye to this kind of thing.
However, for the sake of safety, Zhang Xi still suggested Liu Ba to launch the intelligence network and detailed operations in Guanzhong to comprehensively collect information about Wang Sheng and find out whether Wang Sheng was incapable. Don't go back and let people pretend to be pigs and eat tigers. .
For no other reason, Zhang Xi just thought that Wang Sheng's name was a bit like the male protagonist of "Liao Zhai", and he seemed to have some impression of it. But he couldn't remember it for a while.
Most of the people who can make an impression on Zhang Xi are not fuel-efficient lamps. Only a small number are trash like Xia Houmao, Cao Shuang, and He Yan.
Zhang Xi thought it was better to be cautious.
Regarding this point, Pang Tong felt that Zhang Xi was a little worried, but Zhuge Liang sided with Zhang Xi this time.
It's not to block Pang Tong's plan again, it's just to do it as carefully as possible.
In fact, as long as Liu Ba was sure to incite the Meixian family to create unrest when the Han Dynasty's Northern Expedition approached Mei County, it would be enough for the Han army to attack Mei County in a surprise attack.
As long as this Wang Sheng does not have the ability to lead an army like Guo Huai and Zhang He, it is impossible for him to deal with both internal and external threats at the same time.
The purpose of investigating Wang Sheng's abilities is just to increase the success rate.
If you have time to worry about Wang Sheng's problem, you might as well think about how to implement this plan. Chen Cangdao is still a big problem.
If you can't break through Chencang Road quickly, you won't even have a chance to reach Mei County.
So this Chen Cang Dao is the most important.
But this point, Liu Ba said, is actually not important at all.
Chencangdao was an important channel for Liu Ba's official "smuggling". Chencangdao's guard, Xiahou Mao, was Liu Ba's best "smuggling" partner during this period!
(End of chapter)
