In order to recover the situation in Jinling and Dingding as soon as possible, Emperor Yang Yuanpu of Yanyou made peace with his brother Yang Yuanpu, the king of Xin, and authorized him to establish the Huaidong Domain according to the five states of Chu, Haisi, Yangtai, but insisted that the Huaidong Salt Works be returned to the direct jurisdiction of the Chu court.

On the one hand, the people in Jiangdong, southern Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Huxiang and other places use sea salt produced in Huaidong for eight or nine times out of ten.

On the other hand, the production, collection, transportation, and sales of Huaidong Haiyan under the control of the Salt and Iron Transshipment Department can provide the central government with more than 600,000 yuan of net salt tax revenue every year, which is an indispensable part of the financial resources for maintaining the operation of the military and political system of the Great Chu Dynasty.

In comparison, the population of Shu is only one-third of that of Great Chu, and the annual income of more than 400,000 yuan of salt tax accounts for a more significant proportion and importance in the treasury of Great Shu.

At this time, the forbidden army of Shu had more than 100,000 soldiers and horses, and almost one-third of the army's funds depended on salt tax revenue.

The reason why the southern Sichuan bureaucrats became a major disaster in Shu was that in addition to the fierce and difficult to tame the bureaucrats and a direct threat to the plains along the Yangtze River in southern Sichuan, there was also another reason, and it was also the key reason why the southern Sichuan bureaucrats decided to adopt a strategy of suppression and attack after Wang Jian, the lord of Shu, after he founded the Shu Kingdom, instead of appeasing and appeasement, that is, the southern Sichuan bureaucrats trafficked illicit salt from Banan and flowed into the hinterland of Sichuan and Shu, seriously threatening the salt administration system of Sichuan and Shu.

On the one hand, Wang Jian, the lord of Shu, did not want the power and personal prestige of the prince Qingjiang to be too strong, and no one else among the sons could check and balance, and the other more direct reason was that the illegal salt trafficked by the southern Sichuan bureaucrats mainly came from Banan.

Recovering and controlling the Banan region can directly solve the threat of salt smuggling to the salt political system and salt tax revenue of Shu State, and on the other hand, it will cut off the private salt income of the mountain bureaucracy forces and weaken their resistance to the rule of the Shu army.

At present, Shu has excavated more than 380 salt wells, of which more than 60 are located in the Banan area, and most of the salt wells in the Banan area are located between the Qianjiang River valley and the mountains in the north of Wuchuan County, and there are only two salt wells in Wuchuan County at present.

This is also the key reason why Wang Yong, the Marquis of Changxiang, and most of the courtiers of Shu advocated that the border between Siyu and Chongqing should be divided by the village in the north of Wuchuan County.

When the world's concept of land is far less strict and attached to the later generations, far from reaching the point where every inch of land must be contested, the main thing is to pay more attention to the control of costs, income and the convenience of customs and defense.

The two salt wells in Wuchuan County have an annual output of more than 1,000 quintals of salt from wells, compared with the total output of 340,000 quintals of salt in Sichuan and Shu every year, accounting for a very small proportion, even if the salt tax is sufficient, it will be more than 2,000 yuan of salt profits every year.

In addition to the low level of salt profits, the mountains on both sides of the middle reaches of the Qianjiang River are steep, and the vast majority of Wu people have fled into the deep mountains and old forests to refuse to accept the rule, and they are still full of strong hatred.

Yuzhou really wants to be greedy to control Wuchuan County under its command, not to mention the entanglement of interests with Chu and Sizhou, the defense line must be advanced along the Qianjiang River to the south for 120 miles, and it is necessary to guard against the possibility of the Wu bureaucrats from killing out of the deep mountains and old forests on both sides of the river at any time - and even consider the collusion between the Wu bureaucrats and the southern Sichuan mountain bureaucrats - it is necessary to invest a large number of elite soldiers and horses in order to maintain the smooth flow of the Qianjiang waterway and the subsequent naturalization, and the annual consumption of military funds and food may not be able to stop with 20,000 yuan.

Not to mention the difficult and dangerous defensive environment, which is a blow to the morale of the generals.

In this case, the Marquis of Changxiang advocated that Wuchuan should be demarcated to Sizhou, and the Marquis of Qingjiang wanted to jump out to make trouble, or the Marquis of Changxiang wanted to make trouble, and he would fall into isolation above the court of Dashu.

If large-scale salt brine resources are discovered underground in Wuchuan, and it is possible for Wuchuan to dig dozens of salt wells at the expected time, the situation will be completely different.

If Sizhou has the ability to hold Wuchuan, the problem will be smaller, for Shu at most, it will lose tens of thousands of dollars every year, but if the Sizhou Yang clan is hit by this civil unrest and its vitality is greatly damaged, and Wuchuan County falls back into the hands of the Wu bureaucrats, it even means that the strategic intention of Dashu Jingluo Banan is bankrupt.

And by then, the national border has been decided, and Shu will lose the excuse to directly send out to clear Wuchuan.

Therefore, as long as this false news reaches the ears of the Marquis of Qingjiang, so that he is convinced that there is something to do, and makes him believe that the Marquis of Changxiang intends to conceal this news, and is eager to promote an alliance between the two countries, so that he can use the power of Chu to fight for the throne in the future, and the next drama will be completed.

As for how to convey this false news to the ears of the Marquis of Qingjiang, Feng Yu believed that the Marquis of Changxiang, who had the official Jing Qiongwen secretly helping in the Shu Palace, and at the same time mastered the residual power of the Sichuan Shu Shenling Division, had his own methods, and he did not need any effort from Xuzhou.

What he wants to determine on this trip is whether Changxiang Marquis Wang Yong and Cao Gan and others are determined to secretly form an alliance with Xuzhou, and whether they are determined to help Xuzhou annex Sizhou.

Wang Yong, the Marquis of Changxiang, looked at Cao Gan.

Even if Qingyang sent back her opinion, even if Feng Yichang clarified Xuzhou's position and intentions, and even pointed out the strategy to be used, the stakes were so high that it was still difficult for him to make a decision.

However, it was difficult for Changxiang Marquis Wang Yong to decide, and Cao Gan could say anything, and asked in a low voice: "Maybe I will go to see Jing Gong in person?" ”

Cao Gan's name of coming back was to come back to ask for a decree, so it was appropriate for him to go to Shudu to meet Jing Qiongwen to discuss this matter.

Changxiang Marquis Wang Yong asked with concern: "Can you afford it?" ”

From Yuzhou to Shudu, there are galloping roads to connect with each other, thousands of miles away, theoretically five hundred miles of fast horses, four days can run a round trip, but Cao Gan is also almost fifty years old.

He rushed back to Yuzhou from Jinling non-stop before, even if he insisted on staying up all these years, and then ran down like this, Changxiang Marquis Wang Yong was worried about whether his body could bear it.

"After a few more days of hard work, the lord of the country will make a decision, and let someone else go to Jinling to meet Lord Wei." Cao Gan said. Although Cao Gan also felt that it was hard, this kind of thing had to be communicated secretly with Jing Qiongwen by someone who knew enough about the inside story, and there was no other suitable person besides him.

As for the Marquis of Changxiang, Wang Yong, don't say that you can't easily return to Shudu without an edict, even if the lord has an edict, you have to think about it before you can decide whether to return to Shudu or not.

"Alright then, it's better to make a trip yourself." Changxiang Hou Wang Yong said.

From the initial cooperation with Han Qian to the disagreement, and then to the cooperation, this moment must be more tightly bound, so he will not hesitate.

And Han Qian is good at using tricks and tricks, Feng Mi's words must have a part to conceal, but how much to conceal, whether Xuzhou's true intentions are really as Feng Mi said, Changxiang Marquis Wang Yong has doubts in his heart.

Before they make a decision, they must weigh the pros and cons more deeply and carefully, and look at the overall situation, so as to avoid the possibility of being affected by others in the future.

"Master Feng, take a trip to Shudu with me?" Cao Gan looked at Feng Yi and asked.

"Feng can stay in the Hou Mansion, but I don't dare to compare with General Cao." Feng Yu said that he didn't want to see Jing Qiongwen, on the one hand, he was worried that he would leak his whereabouts, and on the other hand, he really couldn't bear it.

He crossed the Wuling Mountains and rushed to Yuzhou under the escort of Hu, and walked on a treacherous mountain road for nearly a month, and one of them stumbled and fell off the cliff - almost all of them were carried into Yuzhou City by people in the next few days.

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Bidding farewell to the Changxiang Marquis, Cao Gan took his son Cao Zhe and other cadres to cross the river with a fast horse, and went north along the galloping road.

Cao Gan first sent someone to communicate with Yousi, and while he was waiting for the summons, he met with Jing Qiongwen in private.

After hearing a lot of inside information, Jing Qiongwen pondered for a long time and said: "The situation between the DPRK and China has changed slightly, and the only way to do it now may be to conspire with the Marquis of Qianyang......"

"What's the matter, what's changed in the DPRK?" Cao Gan was slightly startled and said, "I just rushed back to Yuzhou, but I didn't hear any news at all?" ”

"It was also the day before yesterday, the lord of the country summoned the privy deputy envoy to discuss the situation in Shu and Chu, and the privy deputy envoy said that Chu and Shu were allied, and the southeast affairs were closed, and there was no need to worry about anything else in a short time, so it was recommended that the Hou Ye be transferred to Liangzhou," Jing Qiongwen said, "I was about to send someone to Yuzhou to talk about this, and you rushed to Shudu." ”

"......" Cao Gan gasped, feeling that the situation in the DPRK and China was much more serious than he expected, and the prince had already begun to stumble on them.

Liangzhou is also Hanzhong, and the Guanzhong area controlled by Liang State, there are Chencang Road, Baochuan Road, Fu Luo Road, Meridian Road, Yugu Road and other roads through the Qinling Mountains.

If Liang wants to seek Shu land, he must first attack Liangzhou, and then he can attack Shu through Liangzhou.

Now that they are transferred to defend Liangzhou, they must first withstand the first wave of the Liang army's offensive.

Even if it can barely hold on, it will inevitably be a tragic victory with serious casualties, and the main general will not have any credit, and will even be held accountable, just like Du Chongtao, the main general of the Chu State who was responsible for guarding Xiangzhou in the Battle of Jingxiang.

Not to mention that they have to give up Yuzhou, which has just started to improve and has a solid foundation, and the Shizi's idea is nothing more than that they don't want them to have a firm foundation in Yuzhou.

Now they can't get into the trap, and they can only conspire with Xuzhou to "create" trouble in Banan.

"Without further ado, I'm afraid we can't delay any longer?" Cao Gan looked at Jing Qiongwen inquiringly and asked.

Cao Gan wanted to stay in Shudu and wait for the meeting, and there was no way to leave to rush back to Yuzhou immediately, but even if he sent his son Cao Zhe to Yuzhou to meet the Changxiang Marquis to face the matter, after receiving the instructions of the Changxiang Marquis, they would act according to the plan, and it would be four days later at the earliest.

And during these four days, perhaps the lord of the country will directly make a final decision on the matter of the border without consulting the advice of the marquis of Changxiang.

In that case, it would be quite bad for them.

"......" Jing Qiongwen nodded, and decided to send Cao Zhe to Yuzhou to meet the Changxiang Marquis, and at the same time, they first passed through the dark line and handed over the fake news to the ministers of the Qingjiang Marquis, so as to alarm them first.