The arrival of Jiang Wan has reduced Zhang Xi's work pressure a lot.

Jiang Wan's ability to govern does not need to be doubted, and later generations called Zhuge Liang, Jiang Wan, Fei Yi, and Dong Yun together as the four phases of Ji and Han, which itself proves Jiang Wan's ability.

Jiang Wan angered Liu Bei before, not because he was not capable, but purely because Jiang Wan's attitude was problematic.

The current Jiang Wan, after being a county magistrate in Badong County, a grassroots official in Chengdu, and receiving Zhuge Liang's training and inspection, at least in terms of attitude, is no longer the arrogant Jiang Wan at the beginning.

After having a correct attitude, Jiang Wan also let Liu Bei see his ability, and at the same time reversed Liu Bei's attitude towards himself.

There were so many changes in Nanzhong this time, Zhang Xi was obviously short of manpower, so Liu Bei sent Jiang Wan to Zhang Xi as his deputy, on the one hand, to train Jiang Wan, and on the other hand, to reduce Zhang Xi's government pressure.

Facts have proved that Jiang Wan's help to Zhang Xi is huge.

What's more, Jiang Wan didn't come alone, he also brought two helpers.

One is called Chen Yi and the other is Lu Yi.

Chen Yi was the one who assisted Jiang Wan in implementing the imperial examination system, while Lü Yi was the one who assisted Jiang Wan in managing the mines and building the cement plant in Qiqi County.

These two people have one thing to say, and they are both momentary talents.

Chen Yi is the grandson of Xu Jing, who is from a big family and is very knowledgeable, and later he is also the Shangshu order of Ji Han, helping Liu Chan manage the government and hold great power.

Moreover, Chen Yi is still a staunch Northern Expedition faction, and has always supported Jiang Wei's Northern Expedition, which is much stronger than Zhou Zhou, Zhang Yu, Zhou Qun and others.

And the only thing that Chen Yi is criticized for is probably because he and Huang Hao are each other's faces and give Huang Hao the opportunity to participate in court politics.

After all, in the Han Dynasty, the collusion between the scholars and the eunuchs is a very taboo thing in itself, and later Ji Han died in the country, Huang Hao also has a certain responsibility, so Chen Yi's reputation. Well, when Chen Shou wrote "Three Kingdoms", he didn't give him a biography, but just briefly mentioned a few sentences in other people's biographies.

But putting aside Huang Hao's matter, Chen Yi's ability is beyond doubt.

And now Chen Yi is still young, but in his early twenties, but he has good ability, is also knowledgeable, and is a descendant of a famous family, let him assist Jiang Wan in managing this imperial examination trial, which will not seem particularly grand, making people misunderstand that Liu Bei Group attaches great importance to this imperial examination, and can rely on Chen Yi's talent and learning to select a group of useful talents in the cold family.

As for Lu Yi, this person is not young anymore, he is almost forty this year.

Lu Yi came to Nanzhong on the recommendation of Wang Lian and specially sent by Liu Bei.

Lu Yi had been working under the Taishou Wang Lian of Zitong County before, and he was doing all the work in the salt and iron franchise, and he was very familiar with the affairs of mineral supervision, and he was a professional in the mineral franchise.

Now Nanzhong is developing minerals everywhere, and in addition to the cement factory to be established in Qiqi County, Liu Bei has no specialized talents in this area, so Wang Lian quickly recommended his right-hand man Lu Yi to Liu Bei, Liu Bei was overjoyed after inspecting Lu Yi's talent, and hurriedly stuffed it into Jiang Wan's southward team.

These two people, one is a potential stock talent, the other is a professional talent, after arriving in Nanzhong, in addition to being a little unsuitable for the climate of Nanzhong, they are clear in doing things, handling affairs carefully and prudently, showing quite good ability.

Coupled with Jiang Wan's overall management ability, now Zhang Xi has spare time to think about his wife and children.

After all, it has been a year since Zhang Xi went south to quell the rebellion.

In the past two or three years, Zhang Xi really doesn't have enough time to get along with Sun Shangxiang and others.

Since the start of the Xiangfan Campaign, Zhang Xi has been living separately from Sun Shangxiang, and finally met in Hanzhong, and went to Chengdu together.

Nanzhong is really not a good place in this era, not to mention the hot and humid climate, and there are often miasma raging, Zhang Xi doesn't want his daughter-in-law and children to come to this place to suffer, so he has always let Sun Shangxiang and Xiaoba take Xiao Xuan'er and Xiao Zheng'er to live in Chengdu.

Therefore, although Zhang Xi misses his wife and children very much, in this case, Zhang Xi has no idea of taking his wife and children to live in Nanzhong.

It's Sun Shangxiang, a letter will come every two months, in addition to greeting Zhang Xi's diet and daily life, he also vaguely hinted at Zhang Xi in the letter, if he really can't hold it, he really wants to find a sister from Nanzhong to come back, and she also admits it.

After all, Zhang Xi went to Nanzhong this time to be the governor of the capital, and he didn't know how long his term of office would be. Zhang Xi didn't want Sun Shangxiang and others to go to Nanzhong to suffer, if he really wanted Zhang Xi to hold back like this, Sun Shangxiang felt that it didn't seem to be very humane.

But. To tell the truth, Zhang Xi was indeed tempted by this, but after going back to Nanzhong for a casual walk and coming back, Zhang Xi felt that he still had to endure it anymore, and when Nanzhong was more stable, he would take his wife and children over to live together.

Nanzhong women, even if they are the daughters of local wealthy families, are not the type that Zhang Xi likes.

Zhang Xi prefers the type of white skin and beauty, and is not very interested in the "wheat-colored" Nanzhong beauties in this year.

It's better to put your energy into your work now.

Well, originally Zhang Xi thought so, but. The world is unpredictable.

In late February of the twenty-fifth year of Jian'an, when Zhang Xi was lazy in the Governor's Mansion and spent almost two months of New Year's holiday, he was ready to go to work again. The envoy from Chengdu asked Zhang Xi to leave for Chengdu as soon as possible.

It's a really big deal.

In January of the twenty-fifth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao, the king of Wei in Yecheng, died of illness.

To a certain extent, with Cao Cao's death, the heroes and heroes who represent an era began to withdraw from the stage of history one after another.

The news was rushed through the northern fine work, and passed through Guan Yu in Xiangyang to Chengdu.

At the beginning of February, Liu Bei got the news and locked himself in his room for three days, and then immediately convened the civil and military ministers to discuss the matter.

Liu Bei wanted to go on a northern expedition.

Yes, Liu Bei wanted to take advantage of Cao Cao's death and Cao Pi's just succession to the throne to go on a northern expedition to support the Han Dynasty.

This idea was so abrupt that Zhuge Liang didn't react.

Indeed, according to the plan of "Longzhong Pair", once there is a change in the north, Liu Bei should send troops to Qinchuan, and at the same time order Guan Yu to attack Nanyang, attack on two fronts, and attack Cao Wei together.

Now that Cao Cao has died of illness, it can indeed be said that "there are changes in the north".

But. Before Cao Cao died of illness, he had almost cut off all the opposition forces that should be cut off in his sphere of influence.

The current Cao Pi is not a young successor, he is already in his thirties this year, and the transition of this regime should be said to be relatively smooth.

Therefore, Zhuge Liang once tactfully persuaded Liu Bei, but now is not the best opportunity for the Northern Expedition.

But Liu Bei privately told Zhuge Liang that he was also sixty years old this year.

Cao Cao died of illness at the age of sixty-six, and Liu Bei himself was not sure, he still had a few years to live If possible, Liu Bei really wanted to march into Xu Capital in his lifetime and see the emperor of the Han Dynasty again.

In fact, Liu Bei also knew that now was indeed not a good opportunity for the Northern Expedition, but. Time is really running out.

And the people who hold this view are not only Liu Bei, but also Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.

These two are also nearly sixty years old, Zhang Fei is better, in his early fifties, but Guan Yu is also fifty-eight years old this year.

If they don't go on a northern expedition, then when they get old in the future, I'm afraid they won't have a chance to fight back to the Central Plains and welcome back the Han Emperor.

This is the common wish of the people of their time, so this time, Liu Bei hopes that Zhuge Liang can understand his feelings and approve of his Northern Expedition strategy.

Zhuge Liang had nothing to say about this.

After leaving the Hanzhong Palace, Zhuge Liang began to formulate a formal strategy for the Northern Expedition.

Although it is said that the Northern Expedition is not the best time at this time, it does not mean that there is no chance at all.

Cao Cao died and Cao Pi succeeded to the throne, and it is unlikely that the hinterland of the Central Plains and Hebei will be unstable, but in the Yongliang region, it is not without articles to do.

Cao Cao's recovery of Yongzhou is only a matter of the last five or six years, the foundation of his rule is not stable, and in Yongzhou, there is also Chang'an, a city of great symbolic significance, if Chang'an can be conquered, it is also of great significance to Liu Bei.

As for Liangzhou, this place has been a direct departure from the central court since a hundred years ago.

The cause really can't be blamed on Liangzhou, it was Liangzhou that the imperial court gave up first, so that the Han Haoqiang in Liangzhou confronted the Xiqiang and the Hu people in the Western Regions without any support, so whether Liangzhou is Haoqiang or the people, they don't have a sense of identity with the central court itself.

The connection between Liangzhou and Yongzhou is actually very narrow, which is the location of Longshan.

If this Northern Expedition takes the Qishan Road, with the goal of occupying Longshan and realizing the broken Long, recovering Liangzhou and peeking at Yongzhou, if possible, it is not impossible to take Chang'an.

This is the Northern Expedition strategy formulated by Zhuge Liang for Liu Bei.

But Liu Bei was not very satisfied.

Liu Bei didn't think about Liangzhou.

Liangzhou is a place that has no benefits except for war horses, once it occupies Liangzhou, it will have to constantly subsidize Liangzhou, and at the same time, it will have to guard against the invasion of the Xiqiang and Hu people, which involves a lot of energy.

And Liu Bei doesn't have so much energy to involve each other with Liangzhou's Haoqiang and Hu people, his purpose is to ignore Liangzhou's reaction, and he doesn't need to occupy any Longshan, but directly take Chencang Road to enter the Guanzhong Plain and attack Chang'an.

Then he used Chang'an as a base, planned for Guan Yu of Xiangfan to attack Xudu, led his troops to attack Luoyang, recovered the two capitals, welcomed back the Son of Heaven, and restored the Han Dynasty.

In the final analysis, there are strategic differences between Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Liang's strategic purpose was to use the connection between Liangzhou and the Central Plains step by step, recover Liangzhou first, and then march into Yongzhou and occupy Chang'an after digesting Liangzhou and obtaining Liangzhou war horses.

But Liu Bei can't wait, he wants to occupy Yongzhou and Chang'an first, so that he can peek into the hinterland of the Central Plains and cooperate with Guan Yu to form an effective threat to the Central Plains.

As for Liangzhou, let's talk about it after rescuing the Son of Heaven.

One thing to say, Liu Bei's steps are a little too big.

Yes, doing so is indeed the fastest way to revive the Han Dynasty, and if it succeeds, Liu Bei will definitely fulfill his long-cherished wish and live for generations.

But once it fails, it may cause the Yizhou soldiers to be trapped in the Yongliang area, unable to advance or retreat, and finally fail miserably, and there is no place to run.

Even Xiangfan may have been implicated and suffered heavy losses.

In this case, Zhuge Liang had to consider it.

Therefore, Zhuge Liang repeatedly persuaded Liu Bei to think twice about this strategy, although there is also a possibility of success, but the risk is too great.

Yongzhou is not a dead land or an enclave, on the contrary, it is a very important strategic place.

(End of chapter)