Liu Zhang hesitated while looking at the letter. The waiter outside the door suddenly brought in a piece of paper. It was the Changjiang Newspaper produced by the Lingling Publishing House and brought by businessmen traveling between Yizhou and Jingzhou.
Since the second issue of the Yangtze River News, Lantian has taken the initiative to spread it to various places. Since ancient times, Yizhou has been closed off and it is difficult to get news in and out. It is rare to have such a thing that informs the world.
People who are able to talk eloquently are mostly knowledgeable scholars. The power of rhetoric comes from the reserve of knowledge.
Liu Zhang was born in a Han clan and was well off. He was not a studious, studious person who liked reading. Due to his lack of knowledge, most of the time when he talked to people, he was just a listener until the Changjiang Newspaper appeared.
The newspaper covers comprehensive information. With this knowledge channel, Liu Zhang increased his unique conversational skills and became more confident in chatting with his officials and friends. To this end, Liu Zhang paid heavily to bribe newspaper delivery merchants and requested that each issue of the Yangtze River News be delivered to Chengdu as soon as possible after it was released.
Even weak people need to be respected. Liu Zhang bought out all the newspapers in Shu, preparing to monopolize this source of knowledge and establish himself as a learned king in front of his officials.
Because staff from the Publications and Newspapers Administration were deployed to make statistics on the disaster, and new content from the Yangtze River Commentary was added, the fourth issue was not released until late August. Liu Zhang, who is 'studious' and wants to press for an update, has been feeling flustered recently.
Liu Zhang sat in front of the case and browsed the newspaper leisurely, and seemed to understand why Liu Bei wanted to save Sun Quan. Jiangdong General Lu Meng's 20,000 men were defeated by Lai Gong's thousands of men. Such fighting power was indeed no match for Cao Cao.
Liu Zhang's expression changed when he saw the locust plague. He had seen the horror of this kind of famine in the capital. At that time, Li Jue and Guo Si caused trouble in Chang'an. In addition, the locust plague in Guanzhong had no harvest. Under the trend of the desire for survival, , hungry people eat grass roots, tree bark, loess and even people.
During the day, a roll of straw mat was sent to the mass grave for starvation, and at night someone would secretly carry it home, and some even waited at a neighbor's house to help collect the body. They appeared to be helpful, but in fact they just wanted to have a good meal.
The victims who are about to starve to death are no longer human beings. They are indifferent animals and two-legged sheep. They trade their bodies for food and dry their human bones for firewood. They are very common among the homeless.
At that time, the refugees from Sanfu fled with their families, and many people chose Yizhou in the south. Along the way, there were fewer and fewer people accompanying the elderly and the young.
Liu Zhang was escorted into Yizhou by Yilang Pang Xi at the same time. He saw too many miserable scenes on the way. Perhaps Liu Zhang's cowardly character was related to this journey. He understood the horror of famine better than most Yizhou people.
White bones are exposed in the wild, there are no roosters crowing for thousands of miles, and people are just meat in a bowl, not to mention chickens and dogs?
In ancient times, as long as there were no famines and wars, the world was prosperous, and that was it.
Fortunately, there were no borer disasters in Yizhou, at least during Liu Zhang's term. I finally understood why Liu Bei wanted to seize Yizhou's troops and food. It turned out that Jingzhou was the cause of the disaster.
Although Liu Zhang did not meet all of Pang Tong's requirements, he gave him four thousand soldiers and half of the listed military supplies, because Liu Bei came to help from afar and it was easier to get together and disperse.
It was necessary to prepare troops, money and food to send Liu Bei back to Jingzhou. The news was soon known to Zhang Song, the internal agent in Chengdu. Zhang Song couldn't help but write a letter to persuade Liu Bei not to leave.
While waiting for Liu Bei's reply, the fifth issue of the Yangtze River News published in October was secretly sent to Chengdu by a businessman.
Liao Li, a famous scholar from Jingxiang and Xiangyang, wrote in the Yangtze River Commentary: My master is fighting powerful enemies for Yizhou. His masters and disciples are hardworking and hoarding money but stingy with rewards. Why do they make the scholar-bureaucrats fight to the death? Liu Yizhou is shameless and is worthy of being a guard dog.
Cao Cao commented that the gatekeeper dog was a hero when he was cooking wine. Later, for some reason, it spread to Liu Zhang of Yizhou. These four words became a taboo among officials in Shu.
"Asshole, Liao Lipifu bullied me too much."
Liu Zhang was so angry that he slapped the case several times. Hearing that there were thousands of copies of one issue of the Yangtze River News, how could he passively become famous like this? The waiter who came into the hall to report the news fell to his knees in shock.
"What's the matter with you?" Liu Zhang shouted angrily.
"My lord, Governor Zhang of Guanghan would like to see you..." the waiter replied tremblingly. Liu Zhang had been ecstatic when he saw that piece of paper before, but he didn't understand why he suddenly became ill today.
Liu Zhang frowned, why did this guy come to Chengdu? He folded the newspaper on the case and put it into his arms, and then called Zhang Su into the hall.
Zhang Su entered the palace with a solemn expression and knelt down, lying on the ground and confessing his guilt.
Liu Zhang looked confused, but his anger had not disappeared, so he asked in a deep voice: "Why is Jun Jiao like this?"
"Zi Qiao did this alone. Su really didn't know the inside story. Please forgive my family..." Zhang Su banged his head and made a loud bang.
"Zhang Junjiao, what are you talking about? What did Zhang Ziqiao do?" Liu Zhang's voice became louder.
"Master, don't you know? Then why were you angry just now?" Zhang Su raised his head in confusion, his forehead was covered with bruises, those few words just now were really sincere.
Liu Zhang didn't want the scandal to spread, so he frowned and asked coldly: "Why do I need to report to you when I'm angry? Tell me if you have anything to do quickly..."
Only then did Zhang Su realize that Liu Zhang was not angry because of Zhang Song. He then told about his brother's collusion with Liu Bei and repeatedly stated that he had no accomplices.
The Zhang family belongs to a wealthy family in Yizhou, and family interests outweigh everything else. The younger brother Zhang Song seeks risk and wants to go further for his own benefit, while the elder brother Zhang Su is worried about losing his original interests. Therefore, the two brothers are very similar in their behavior, one selling his master and the other selling his brother.
Liu Zhang almost dropped his jaw after hearing this. He was shocked that Zhang Biejia, who had given him the advice, had been plotting against Yizhou from the beginning. Liu Bei's true thoughts were also exposed.
Later, Zhang Song's family was arrested and executed. Liu Zhang also ordered the guards at all gates to guard and prevent Liu Bei from leaving the gates to return to Jingzhou, intending to eliminate him in Yizhou.
In November, news of Zhang Song's death reached Jiameng Pass, and Liu Bei, shocked, summoned his military advisor Pang Tong to discuss countermeasures.
"Military advisor, Liu Jiyu killed my spy, what should we do?"
"I have received news that Liu Zhang is secretly gathering troops to block the retreat to Jingzhou. He wants to besiege us in Yizhou. This is a tactic of closing the door and beating the dog..."
At this time, Liu Bei went deep into the hinterland of Xichuan. Although there were still 30,000 troops and horses on his side, Zhang Lu's troops were in front of him, and Liu Zhang was behind to beat the dogs. The most important food and grass could not be supplied. The extremely dangerous situation was no less dangerous than that of Guandu. war.
In his early years, Liu Bei wandered around, and if he failed, he would just change places. But now his mentality is different because he has a family background in Jingzhou.
Thinking of the difficult situation at hand, Liu Bei asked nervously: "The military commander is extremely resourceful, must he have a clever plan to break this dangerous situation?"
Pang Tong smiled bitterly, isn't this what you want? Liu Zhang is now delivering it to you. He blinked and said, "Since the lord is asking me, I have three strategies for you to choose from."
"Military advisor, please speak."
"The best strategy is to select elite troops to travel day and night, take small roads and directly attack Chengdu; the middle strategy is to return to Jingzhou to summon Yang Huai and Gao Pei to kill them, seize their troops, horses and food, and then march to capture Fucheng; the next strategy is to retreat to Baidi City and wait for the opportunity."
Liu Bei frowned and said: "The top strategy is too hasty, the bottom strategy is too slow, so we should take the middle strategy."
Pang Tong nodded, "I'll make arrangements right away."
