After leaving behind the pampered drag of the princess of ten thousand years, there were no accidents worth mentioning on the journey back to Hanzhong.

Li Su took 4,500 troops and 300 carts and set off from Chang'an on the 10th of September, arrived at Chencang on the 14th, and arrived at Nanzheng on the 28th. The distance between these two sections is actually about the same, but the second half is the Qinling Mountain Road, so it is three or four times slower than the Weihe Waterway.

Cai Yong and Cai Yan's father and daughter are all entering Shu for the first time, and after seeing the scenery of the Qinling Mountains, they couldn't help but sigh a few words, "The land of Nanzheng, it is really a heavenly prison", and then the poems were flourishing, saying something and writing poems.

Li Su also followed with a few sentences of "Oh, the danger is high, the difficulty of the Shu Road is difficult to go to the blue sky" to respond to the situation - don't think how elegant the ancients said this, these interjections are actually vulgar words, which are basically equivalent to later generations saying "!" That's so high! ”

Basically, there was no need to bring military rations along the way, and they all relied on the imperial court's edicts to eat wherever they went, only on the 200-mile mountain road between Chencang and Hechi, the troops had to bring military rations for seven days to prepare, because there was no supply point on the way.

And in the second half of the mountainous area between Hechi and Weiyang, when Liu Bei had just entered Hanzhong, although there were not many people. But fortunately, Liu Bei had already recovered these places before the early spring ploughing.

Lu Su learned from the experience of Liaodong and organized the displaced people in the north who escaped the Qiang Rebellion and the war to reclaim the barren land on the spot. Nowadays, some mountain villages have been organized every dozen miles. Although irrigation in mountainous areas is difficult and high-yield grain crops cannot be grown, the people can still survive by subsidizing mountain goods by exempting the people in the mountainous areas from taxes for the first five years.

It was only the end of May when Li Su left, and it was not yet the harvest season, and now it was September, and he was out on the road and doing errands for four whole months, and saw that the harvest of those tuntian points was good along the way, and Li Su also followed Liu Bei's law to spend money to ask these people to buy supplies and military supplies, or exchange salt with the people, and try not to exploit these people living in the villages around the mountain road.

It's just that the military rations exchanged for are not serious grains and rice, but mountain goods such as chestnuts, yams, radish, and various wild fruits, which can only be bought and eaten now, and cannot be hoarded.

Li Su also found that in these valleys, as long as it is not winter, radishes can account for nearly half of the people's rations, which is not easy, but who allows radishes to be planted on slopes. It is no wonder that in the mountainous countries of Japan in history, white rice was supplied to the daimyos, and farmers almost relied on radishes to solve most of their livelihoods.

When Cai Yong saw this scene, he was very surprised and couldn't help but be in awe:

"Liu Fujun is really even a benevolent gentleman, who loves the people like a son. These people were exempted from taxes and forced labor, and even if the army crossed the border, they did not levy grain for free, but only used salt and iron money to buy grain. In this way, how does Liu Fujun raise military supplies? ”

Li Su smiled and explained: "In the Shu Road, it is not compared to other places, and the transportation loss is far better than the income from expropriation, so we should try to rest with the people and reduce the transportation of forced labor." In the Hanzhong Basin, four Hu grains were grown, and only one Hu was left to be transported to Chang'an. Therefore, the value of a grain on the way is actually far more than that of a grain in Nanzheng County.

In the future, if along the valley of the Western Han River, on the slopes of these originally uncultivated hills, the method of 'terraces' is opened, and the army can solve part of the military needs by 'eating wherever it goes', and it is not better to collect it than to go to great lengths to make money? Therefore, even if the tax exemption encourages reclamation along the river valley and finally spends money to buy it back, the imperial court will not suffer. ”

Cai Yong was already considered to be better at mathematics among the literati in the late Han Dynasty, and after following Li Su's train of thought, he found that it was really reasonable, and he couldn't help but praise:

"The virtuous son-in-law is really a talent for governing the world, and when the old man arrives in Ba County, he must also try to learn from it and benefit the people. I heard that only Jiangzhou, Yong'an and other counties along the river in Ba County are relatively civilized, and there are more barbarians in Brazil than Han people. Those barbarians are not tolerant of taxes, and if they can come up with a wonderful way to use the barbarian power without taxing, they will surely be of great merit. ”

Li Su casually nodded: "What's so difficult about this?" Let their fathers, sons, and brothers, draw one of the five to serve as a soldier all year round, and the remaining four Zhengding will be exempted from taxes, and the military service of their relatives will be used to offset taxes, and let them help support the wives and children of their relatives who are soldiers.

In this way, the management cost of the barbarian can be greatly reduced, and the complex loss of tax first and then military salary can be saved. Barbarians only need to stutter and wear clothes in the army, and they don't need to reward money for winning battles, and they can't spend much money outside anyway, just reward them with wine and meat. ”

Normally, the benevolent monarch recruits one soldier from ten households, and even draws one ding from twenty households with a light endowment. Li Su's suggestion of "five dings draw one soldier", strictly speaking, the proportion is very high.

But we should also see a difference: the other princes' ten households and one soldier were based on the principle that "only those who served as soldiers were exempt from tax and forced service", but the other nine families who did not send troops still had to pay taxes and serve in forced service.

Although the levy ratio proposed by Li Su has been increased several times, it has benefited other relatives and neighbors who have even become a Baojia, and their taxes have been completely exempted, so the entire tax collection team can be saved and the administrative cost can be minimized. This ratio is simple and crude to manage, and it is also in line with the temperament of the barbarian who is not good at mathematics and does not like to calculate, and it should have a good governance effect.

Cai Yong listened thoughtfully, but then realized some problems: "Let the barbarians replace taxes and conscription with military service, doesn't that mean that they will never be able to subsidize the local government and the imperial court with money and grain?" There is an edict from the Son of Heaven to let Liu Yan return to Beijing, and Shuzhong will definitely pass it on, why does the virtuous son-in-law feel that there are still many wars to fight in the future? What to do in a year when the soldiers have nothing to do, isn't it a waste of manpower? ”

Li Su shook his head, it seems that his father-in-law, the prospective father-in-law, still thinks about the problem simply.

He really thought that with He Jin's holy decree when he assisted the young emperor, Liu Yan would obediently wait to be killed?

Jingguan is accustomed to the logic of court officialdom, and lacks the thinking of the logic of fighting for hegemony in troubled times, so his brain can't switch for a while.

In Li Su's view, the greatest value of the young emperor's will is not in the stage of military action, but in the stage of gathering people's hearts and governing the rule after the war in the future.

At least, Liu Bei in the original history, after entering Sichuan, was subject to a lot of internal administrative efficiency constraints, as well as the slackness of people's morale, which led to Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang having to operate Shu Han into a military government, diverting contradictions and attention through the Northern Expedition.

That's all because Liu Bei lost too much righteous name when he begged Liu Zhang in history, and more or less bore the notoriety of "seizing the foundation of the same sect", and he was internally detached from morality.

And in this life, there is a clear edict from the Son of Heaven to please the minister, and after taking it down, it is completely justified, and the internal friction can be pressed to the minimum.

However, the battle still has to be fought.

It's just that Li Su doesn't have to argue with Cai Yong directly about these words, and when he sees Liu Bei, he personally takes everyone to the front line to inspect it, and everything is naturally clear at a glance.

……

Before Li Su's army arrived, a messenger first reported on the horse.

Liu Bei knew two days in advance that Li Su had finally returned, and he also heard that Cai Yong, who was originally planned to serve as a waiter, and Wu Kuang, who was originally a general of Zuo Zhonglang, came to help complete the mission of dealing with Liu Yan.

Liu Bei couldn't help but be overjoyed when he heard the news, and attached great importance to it, and took Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Lu Su Zhuge Jin to welcome him from the suburbs of Nanzheng and west for 200 miles——

In history, Yuan Shao welcomed Liu Bei in the suburbs of 200 miles, but he was directly welcomed from Yecheng to Liyangdu by the Yellow River. And Liu Bei greeted Cai Yong and Wu Kuang in the 200-mile suburbs this time, but it was not enough to go directly out of Yangping Pass, and he also followed the water to meet Fu County.

As soon as the two sides met, Liu Bei personally gave Cai Yong and Wu Kuang a cup and asked Zhang Fei to pour wine next to him.

After chatting with Li Su for a while, and understanding the inside story of why Cai Yong and Wu Kuang came, Liu Bei looked upright: "It turned out that the general originally planned to stay in Ba County and change his position to serve in the middle of the country, but he was prepared to recover Ba County, so that this edict could be served."

This is also fortunate, and it is also the misfortune of Cai Gong. The mistake of preparing for the yin and yang makes Cai Gong not be allowed to serve as a nobleman, please forgive me. Cai Gong was a great sage in the world, and his mentor Lu Gong was ranked in the East, and he had been admired for a long time, and now he has been enlightened. ”

Cai Yong was a little embarrassed: "General Zhengxi doesn't have to be polite, in the past two years, the imperial court has been guarding the law of Ba County too much, and the officials have been suddenly moved to a dozen, but only to the old man, the sky has reported that Hanzhong has been leveled, and the Shu Road has been passed, which is the will of heaven."

And after the old man left Beijing, he heard that there was a lot of chaos in Beijing, Dong Zhuo and Yuan and other three princes discussed the abolition of the Son of Heaven, and also discussed that the Empress Dowager He forced the Empress Dowager Dong to cause her to die of sorrow and the crime of violating filial piety against her aunt, I am afraid that the Jingshi will have no peace in the future. The old man was able to go to the outer world of Ba County, govern the people and give lectures, and educate one side to avoid trouble, all thanks to the protection of General Zhengxi. ”

This is the first time Liu Bei heard that the emperor was deposed and the queen mother was asked about the unfilial crime of forcing the empress dowager to death, and he was shocked.

He was a little overwhelmed and wanted to denounce it, but he didn't know what the public attitude of the Manchu ministers was.

"This ...... Dong Zhuo's proposal to abolish the establishment was passed by the three public councils? Since the beginning of the year, when the first emperor was still in Beijing, I don't know when the empress dowager will drive, and I don't know how to judge everything in Beijing......"

This can't blame Liu Bei's steady attitude, it's really been too long since the news was closed, before Li Su left, Liu Bei only knew that Emperor Han Ling was dead, and after coming back in four months, he brought him so much news, he even heard that the Empress Dowager Dong was forced to death by the Empress Dowager He on the first day, of course, he didn't know who was right and who was wrong.

In addition, as an aside, after Dong Zhuo deposed the Young Emperor, he did not kill the Young Emperor immediately as Romance said. The young emperor lived until the second year, after the princes began to fight against Dong, Dong Zhuo was afraid that the young emperor would become a banner to be used, so he stepped up his poisoning.

But Empress Dowager He was questioned, and in the romance, it was said that she and the young emperor were killed at the same time, but they were separated in the official history, and there were several months in between. Because Empress He did have bad debts and was not clean, and he was accused of forcing his mother-in-law to death, Dong Zhuo forcibly climbed relatives and falsely claimed that he was related to the Empress Dowager Dong (in fact, there was no relationship, it was two unrelated Dong clans, Dong Zhuo strongly admitted), once he took power, of course, revenge and guilt could not be stopped, and the three princes of the court and the central government also accompanied Dong Zhuo through the full set of court discussion procedures.

Liu Bei didn't know how to express his position, so he could only sigh: "Okay, the matter of the DPRK and China, wait and see for a few more months, and see the reactions of other ministers and local towns."

We are in Hanzhong and are in danger of the mountains, so it is better to only ride the general and the horse. The general of the Che Cavalry guarded Sanfu, controlled the passage into Sichuan, and was loyal to the imperial court for many years, so he would not be mistaken. ”

As soon as Liu Bei made such a gesture, he put himself in a position that would never be wrong - I have a long way to go, and I don't know what happened in the capital, so I will look at Huangfu Song's attitude.

Huangfu Song and Lu Zhi's colleagues, leading the army to level thieves for many years, are the No. 1 loyal and righteous general of the Han Dynasty, and Huang Fu Song will beat whoever he Liu Bei beats, which is absolutely just.