With the capture of Xia Zhi, the only plain in Wudu was in the hands of the Han army.

As for the other small counties, all of them were not in the climate, and when they learned that Yang Fu, the Taishou of Wudu, was dead, they all looked forward to the wind.

In less than 20 days, Ma Chao's army defeated Wudu, and the casualties were basically negligible, but he also gathered more than 1,000 people from the remaining Qianghu tribe in Wudu to help in the battle.

After entering the city, Ma Chaojun really fulfilled his promise and did not carry out massacres and purges.

Even Yang Fu's family members spared their lives...... Of course, there were those who served in Wudu, and all of them were replaced.

After leaving enough food for them to eat, the other confiscated family property was confiscated for military funds, and the fields were returned to the government, and his people were ordered to be tuntians for the government.

The people of Tuntian were very bitter, but after all, they left their lives, which was miraculously merciful for Ma Chao, who had his wife and children killed by the enemy and wanted revenge.

The deputy general was left to take charge of the affairs of the Wudu first, and then Liu Bei appointed the personnel arrangements afterwards.

In order to stabilize the rear, Ma Chao left behind the Han army, and brought the attached Qianghu people and horses with him.

After arranging the rear, Ma Chao immediately led his troops north and went to join the main force.

And the progress on Yinping's side was even smoother than the competition, and it was Zhang Yi who led the team to Yinping.

Zhang Yi, who was transferred from Zitong Taishou to Guanghan Taishou, was transferred to Shu County Taishou again after Lao Liu ascended the throne.

This series of transfers seems to be a flat transfer, but it is getting closer and closer to the central government, not to mention Shu County, Chengdu is in Shu County.

This young man from a local family in Yizhou is indeed competitive, and he can actively cooperate with the central policies of Zhuge Liang and Fa Zheng in his local work, and he can make some political achievements wherever he goes.

In this Northern Expedition, he also led the troops as an example of the local family in Yizhou.

After several battles in Jingzhou, Dongsanjun, and Nanzhong, the local families in Yizhou all saw the hope of Liu Han's rise.

Who wouldn't want a piece of the pie? What's more, under the circumstance that Liu Chan intentionally did, the economic interests of the Yizhou family and Liu Han have been deeply bound.

Politically, Lao Liu is also gradually improving their status and discourse.

But in order to completely let the local scholars of Yizhou have one heart with the central government, this Northern Expedition is very important.

Liu Chan has seen very clearly in Yizhou for many years that the people of Yizhou are not unwilling to go on the Northern Expedition, but they are unwilling to do unprofitable things.

This is also human nature, if following you on the Northern Expedition is not as good as me living in Yizhou, then why should I invest resources to support the Northern Expedition?

He now thinks about Ji Han in history, and it was only after the successive defeats of the Northern Expedition and the death of Prime Minister Zhuge that the war-weariness of the local family in Yizhou rose.

And later, not only the local families in Yizhou, but even the scholars of other factions began to oppose the Northern Expedition.

But now it's different, after a few victories, it coincided with Cao Pi's attack on Wu, and now Liu Han is actually only two factions in general.

Radicals vs. Conservatives.

The radicals were naturally staunch supporters of the Northern Expedition and were willing to invest resources for the Northern Expedition, such as Zhuge Liang, Fa Zheng and others, as well as most of the local officials in Yizhou.

Conservatives, on the other hand, think that radicals are still too conservative...... For example, veterans such as Zhang Fei and Guan Yu, as well as middle-level generals who are looking forward to promotion by their military exploits.

"If we want to completely let the Yizhou family and us be of the same mind, this Northern Expedition must get results - that is, the territory." Liu Chan was holding a few pieces of paper in his hand and a piece of charcoal in his hand and was writing and drawing.

Since Lao Liu set out on the Northern Expedition, as long as the army is stationed, he likes to pull his son to "chat", of course, the conversation is also about military affairs.

The more he talked, the more he realized that he still knew too little about his son before, and the more he talked, the more he found that his son always had a lot of whimsical ideas in his head, but they made sense when he thought about it carefully.

Lao Liu is like a miner who has found gold, and he never gets tired of it.

"That's nature." Lao Liu said with a smile, "Otherwise, if there is no territory, there will be no official position to reward, and no output to support." ”

"And most importantly, we must give them the confidence to firm the Northern Expedition." Liu Chan added, "This territory may not be very rich, and it may not be very prosperous for the time being, but it will definitely be able to hold on for a long time." ”

The reason why Ji Han, who once lost Jingzhou and the Northern Expedition and failed again and again, cut and divided, divided and divided, and set up a large number of official positions is not the result of not enough cakes.

However, as a result, the bureaucracy is redundant and complex, the cost of management and support has risen, and administrative efficiency has begun to become low, which has finally led to the people's burden rising year after year.

In history, just over 20 years after Zhuge Liang's death, the people went from having food and clothing to having most of their food.

In order to appease the people's grievances and stabilize the rule, they had to grant amnesty to the world many times, resulting in the original high degree of rule of law and law and order began to become chaotic.

This, in turn, raises the cost of remediation again, reduces productivity, and enters a vicious circle.

As long as the Northern Expedition is not successful, the collapse of Ji Han will happen sooner or later.

"So Longyou naturally must be taken, and if you want to take Longyou, you need to destroy the enemy's main force." Liu Chan didn't raise his head, and continued to write and draw on the paper in his hand.

"The terrain of Qishan Fort is dangerous, if the strong attack is too costly, as soon as the reinforcements arrive inside and outside, our army will be passive, so we must lead the army forward and go to the street pavilion to fight the enemy reinforcements.

"If it can be defeated, it may be blocked. Without reinforcements for a long time, Qishan Fort is a lonely city, and it can be surrendered without a fight. ”

Lao Liu nodded and smiled, "That's the reason." ”

Regarding the importance of the street pavilion, Lao Liu completely agreed.

Then he looked at the papers in Liu Chan's hand, and asked curiously: "What kind of paper is this, it seems to be different from the past?" ”

"The bamboo paper I told my father before." Liu Chan only raised his head at this time, "The samples sent by the army before they were opened, I saw that they were almost usable, so I brought some out." ”

Lao Liu took the paper full of "ghost drawings" and took a look, this paper is quite tough, and it is indeed much stronger and more durable than the previous paper.

But I always feel that it is not as safe as bamboo slips when preserved.

"Why are you so keen on papermaking?" Lao Liu put down the "scribbled" papers, but saw Liu Chan carefully roll them up and put them away.

"It's not about paper, it's about making it easy to disseminate knowledge." At this time, there were only father and son in the account, so Liu Chan said in a low voice, "If you don't want to let the powerful people in various places become big, you can't let them monopolize talents." ”

"What is a monopoly?"

"It's all in their hands."

Lao Liu nodded, in suppressing Haoqiang and local clans, it has always been something that every king who wants to stabilize the imperial power is doing.

"The strong tail is too big to lose, and in the end it controls the government, but it can't rely on talents—that is, knowledge, and land." Liu Chan didn't think too much about it and continued, "If you suppress them, you will naturally have to start here. ”

Then he shook the paper in his hand: "Although this thing is not as good as bamboo slips, it is easy to produce, carry, and spread in large quantities, and it is only used for rags, rotten fishing nets, carpenter's scraps, bamboo, and water."

"If a large number of books can flow into the market at a low price and flow to the people, and finally allow some yeoman farmers with reasonable family backgrounds to support a scholar, and then reform the method of taking talents, it can be broken."

"How easy is it to copy a book?"

"It's easy." Liu Chan chuckled, "Engrave the characters on the stone slab, then divide and cut them into small pieces, arrange them according to the required words, brush them with ink, and print them on the paper...... You can save the pain of copying books. ”

Lao Liu saw his son talking eloquently, this was obviously not a temporary idea, and then thought of the many preparations he had made before, as well as the recent establishment of Taixue......

This kid's heart is bigger than he thought, and he sees farther than he originally expected.

"These things were also taught to you by the prime minister?" Lao Liu said curiously.

Zhuge Liang didn't mention these things to him.

"The prime minister taught, read all the books, thought about it day and night." Liu Chan chuckled, "Isn't it normal?" ”

"Normal fart!" Lao Liu scolded with a smile, "If everyone has such a mind as you, then it's okay!" By the way, knowledge has a solution, but what about the land? ”

"If you can't take the Qishan Fort in front of you, it's useless to say more." Liu Chan shook his head and stretched his waist, "Let's wait for Longyou to be defeated, and then talk to my father in detail." ”

"Hey, you stinky boy, and you're still hanging up your appetite for your father!"

While the two were chatting, Zhuge Liang walked in: "Hehe, what kind of appetite does the prince have?" ”

Lao Liu had already instructed that Zhuge Liang did not need to be notified when he entered the account.

"The prime minister is here, sit down." It's just that Lao Liu looked at Zhuge Liang's somewhat stiff gait, frowned and asked, "Prime Minister, ...... this?" ”

"Hehe, it's okay, it's the first time I've taken an elephant, and I'm not used to it yet." Zhuge Liang waved his hand and smiled, "But this riding elephant, the field of vision is indeed a lot broader, and when the two armies are facing each other and commanding the military formation, there should be a wonderful." ”

This elephant was not bought by the caravan at the beginning, but the one that was later paid tribute by Nanzhong.

It is much stronger and more powerful than the original one, and it is also more tame, and it is the white elephant that King Pu specially cultivated for himself at the beginning, second only to himself.

In these years, the wooden-wheeled carriage was bumpy and difficult to travel, and the road conditions were not good.

Not to mention that it is nonsense to run Qishan Road with that kind of "four-wheeled giant stroller".

It happened that the soldiers who had studied with the elephant rider were also very skilled, and their loyalty was guaranteed, so Zhuge Liang replaced his mount with an elephant at Liu Chan's suggestion.

It seems that Uncle Zhuge is quite satisfied.

"Your Majesty, Prince, our army has now controlled all the roads up and down the mountain of Qishan Fort, and the ministers have assigned soldiers to go out to tell the people to calm the people, so as not to panic the people.

"The fort has also been lit with beacons, in order to prevent changes, we should send troops to the street pavilion as soon as possible."

Liu Chan raised his eyebrows when he heard this, and it was finally time to fight a tough battle.

Whether my Han can break out of Jingyi, the direction of the national fortunes in the next few decades will be bet on this battle!

It's just that I don't know if the second uncle's side is going well, and if the third uncle can restrain himself and not attack aggressively......

(End of chapter)