But Zheng Du felt that this matter could no longer be hesitated and a decision must be made immediately.

He said seriously: "My lord, you should make a decision at this time, otherwise once Liu Bei sends his troops south, the people and food along the way will become Liu Bei's supplies!"

When Liu Zhang heard this, he was not angry at Zheng Du's eagerness. Instead, he smiled and said: "How could I not know what the son-in-law said! But now it is a little late to order the people to relocate, and the war has not started yet.

Moving the people first will undoubtedly give people the illusion that we cannot resist Liu Bei's invasion!"

He paused for a moment and said solemnly: "Such an illusion must not be spread in the land of Sichuan!"

Hearing this, Zheng Du looked at Liu Zhang helplessly. He really did not expect that at this time, Liu Zhang's first consideration was not to do everything possible to trap the enemy, but to consider his prestige and "face" in Yizhou.

Zheng Du wondered: "If this is the case, then how can the lord prevent Liu Bei from copying the people along the way?"

Liu Zhang said seriously: "Now Liu Bei doesn't know that I have discovered his conspiracy. As long as he orders more troops at the passes to prevent Liu Bei from passing through, there is nothing he can do! There are countless passes and cities from Jiameng Pass to Chengdu, no matter where they are.

None of them can pass easily. Liu Bei has only a few soldiers, so our army will definitely be able to defeat him."

In his opinion, if Liu Bei wants to capture Chengdu directly from Jiameng Pass, even Zitong County may not be able to capture it quickly. As soon as his army arrives, Liu Bei will have to switch from offense to defense, or even

He was captured without hesitation.

But Zheng Du didn't see it that way. He believed that troops are unpredictable. Even if Liu Bei's army is not strong now, once Liu Bei gets supplements of food and grass from the people in the counties and counties along the way, it can quickly increase its strength.

Moreover, with Liu Bei's many years of war experience, how many people were the opponents of Liu Bei and his generals on the way south?

Liu Zhang's idea was undoubtedly naive.

Under the current circumstances, even relocating people is a huge effort and may even be thankless.

But as long as this can put Liu Bei into a desperate situation, it will have made a great contribution to this defense.

Zheng Du suddenly decided to retreat and do the next best thing and said: "Since my lord believes that large-scale migration of people is a costly and labor-intensive move, we might as well move the people in Zitong County to the interior of Sichuan for the time being."

If Liu Bei wants to go south, there are only two ways. One is to go down the Langshui River, from Brazil County to Ba County, first capture Sanba, connect it with Jingzhou, and then attack Chengdu westward along the Yangtze River.

The second is to go south by land from Zitong County, first to Fucheng, and then to Chengdu via Guanghan County.

This Brazilian County is guarded by Pang Xi. Although there are rumors that Liu Bei and Pang Xi have been linked together, there is still a lack of evidence and no conclusion can be made.

If they were really linked together, Liu Bei would no longer have the need to seize Brazil County, Ba County and Badong County.

If they did not collude to seize Yizhou as rumored, then Liu Bei would have faced several big problems by seizing Brazil County first instead of going far away.

First, he led his army down from Langshui. Pang Xi's defensive army could attack Liu Bei's southward army along Langshui. There are nearly a thousand miles of waterways along Langshui. I don't know how many defensive checkpoints can be set up. I don't know how many defensive checkpoints can be set up for Liu Bei.

What trouble the march caused.

Secondly, what Liu Bei brought this time was not a navy that was good at water warfare, but an army that only fought on land. Once they were besieged in Langshui, they could be said to have no power to fight back. This is even more so.

A huge hidden danger.

Finally, if Liu Bei chooses to go south from Langshui, the pressure on Zitong County will be drastically reduced. Liu Zhang can even send troops from Zitong County to attack Jiameng Pass directly and attack Liu Bei's rear.

Under such considerations, the probability of Liu Bei going south from Zitong is almost 10%.

Therefore, the scope of relocation of people suggested by Zheng Du was slightly reduced.

It is not impossible to move only the people of Zitong County.

Liu Zhang saw that Zheng Du seemed to be very insistent on this strategy of relocating people, and he felt a little dissatisfied.

However, he did not argue with Zheng Du, but smiled and said: "I will seriously consider what Zi Chang said."

After that, he looked at Zheng Du's somewhat disappointed look and said: "Today it is clear that Liu Bei is plotting to benefit the state, so I should go and issue some orders to prepare the various generals in the state.

"

What he meant was to ask Zheng Du to leave wisely.

Zheng Du also understood what Liu Zhang meant, and immediately said: "What my lord said is that we are at a critical moment that determines success or failure. I would like to ask my lord to take your time and energy. My subordinates also have some important things to do, so I will leave first."

He also reminded Liu Zhang in his words, hoping that he would pay attention to this critical period of whether to start a war or not.

…

Liu Zhang and Zheng Du were discussing how to deal with Liu Bei who "had not yet raised an army" in the Governor's Mansion, while Sun Qian and Jian Yong were leading the army at a rapid march towards Jiameng.

However, with four thousand old and weak soldiers and ten thousand bushels of military rations, they could not move very fast in this land in the middle of Shu.

Starting from Chengdu in the morning, in the evening, we had only walked fifty or sixty miles, and we had to start preparing to bury the pot and make rice.

However, he didn't know that Zhang Renzheng was coming from Chengdu with a thousand fine cavalry, and they were already less than ten miles away from where they stopped.

At this time, Sun Qian and Jian Yong came to a deserted corner and were discussing matters in a low voice.

"Liu Zhang only took so many soldiers and food. Has he discovered something?"

"It seems that the rumors that the young master spread to Chengdu have already made Liu Zhang hesitant!"

"I don't know if my lord has received the letter we sent this morning."

"With this messenger bird delivering messages, I guess there will be a reply tonight!"

…

"Tap tap tap... tap tap tap..."

Just as they continued to discuss what to do next, suddenly there was an increasingly obvious sound of horse hooves coming from the distance.

When Sun Qian and Jian Yong heard the news, they were very surprised and returned to the place where they were stationed, and then ordered the army to be on alert.

After a while, a soldier came towards the two of them with Zhang Ren.

"Are you Sun Qian and Jian Yong?"

Zhang Ren was wearing armor, with a long sword on his waist, holding the reins in one hand, riding on the horse, and pointing at Sun Qian and Jian Yong with the other hand.

As soon as he finished speaking, the faces of the soldiers leading the way, as well as Sun Qian and Jian Yong standing in front of Zhang Ren, all changed.

In this day and age, calling someone by their first name is extremely disrespectful.

Even if ordinary people meet, they still have to say a small number, let alone people with official positions like Sun Qian and Jian Yong.
Chapter completed!