The deputy general then realized...it seemed like they had fallen into a trap.
The most important thing is... before this, no one among them had connected this gathering of Jiang bandits with Cao Ang, whom Zhuge Liang had warned in every possible way.
After all, it's all about emotion and reason... How could Cao Ang be related to Jiang bandits, especially after bringing along a burdensome woman?
But it just happened.
So everyone was left staring at each other...no one knew what to do next.
"Kill them all to avoid future trouble."
As a result, Huo Jun just said this after being silent for a long time.
Immediately afterwards, the shrill screams of Niu Dazhuang and others came from the deck.
——
At the same time, when the river bandits were being surrounded by officers and soldiers, a small boat, taking advantage of the chaos, had already slowly sneaked out of the war zone along the Jiangbei River bank.
The people on the boat were none other than Yi Xiaotian.
Standing at the stern of the boat, Zhao Yun looked at the battle situation in the distance and quickly reported to Yi Xiaotianhui in the boat canopy:
"Sir...the Jiang bandits are about to be overwhelmed."
"The big ship seems to have been stopped by them."
"Don't worry...the boatmen we recruited earlier have already taken advantage of the chaos to escape. The only ones left are Niu Dazhuang and his group of river bandits."
Zhao Yun nodded, agreeing with Yi Xiaotian's view.
"Cao Ang, come with me to punt the boat. Let's speed up a little to avoid being caught up by the group of officers and soldiers."
"Um...ok!"
Cao Ang was still a little dumbfounded. This was the sequelae of memory loss...but...compared to losing his memory, he suddenly had such a person in front of him who told him what to do, and he felt extremely at ease and comfortable.
Even if you are doing hard work.
"Miss Fan, don't rush to light the fire. If there is smoke, it will easily expose you."
"Ah... I'm sorry... I didn't think of this -"
"Don't be nervous, I'm just reminding you that after passing this level, you will have to worry about preparing the next meals."
Yi Xiaotian saw that Fan was a little nervous and comforted him with a smile.
Zhao Yun on the side also said:
"You don't have to be so formal... Sir is very talkative, but I just want to make you follow us this time... You have to take care of the food for the three grown men... If you can't bear it, we will prepare more when we get to the next city.
Some dry food, bells... bells."
As a result, just as he said that there was no need to be cautious... Zhao Yun remembered his previous agreement with Fan...
He was already quite clumsy with his mouth, so he choked for a long time before he could say Fan's name.
Yes, in just one or two days, the restraint between the two of them from the beginning of their meeting quickly escalated. Before going to bed last night, Zhao Yun said that he wanted to make a good apology to Fan... and promised Fan anything that he wanted his help to do.
——Whether it’s gold, silver, jewelry, or house servants.
Or maybe Lu Lingqi once said before that Zhao Yun is just a dull idiot...
He obviously doesn't understand what girls want.
In the end, Fan only made one request.
That is…
"Hey, Brother Yun, can you call me a bell again?
I like listening to."
"Ah...this...ahem..."
Fan smiled and hid her shyness between the veil.
But Zhao Yun blushed with embarrassment for a moment. The eight-foot-tall man's face looked like a ripe apple, as funny as he wanted.
Yi Xiaotian burst out laughing at this scene, and Cao Ang on the side also started to giggle.
In this atmosphere, the boat slowly sailed into the distance.
——
Yizhou, Chengdu.
In ancient times, Chengdu was named after the story of King Zhou moving to Qi. It was originally the capital of Shu, and its pronunciation was similar to Cheng. It gradually evolved into the word Chengdu.
In fact, at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, even in the generation of Liu Yan, Liu Zhang's father, the county seat of Yizhou was still in Luoxian County.
After becoming the shepherd of Yizhou, Liu Yan moved the administrative seat of Yizhou from Luo County to Chengdu.
Chengdu also developed rapidly in the following period and quickly became the most powerful city in Yizhou.
Of course, this is not only due to Liu Yan, Chengdu itself also has the natural capital to become the heroic city of Yizhou.
Chengdu, which tilts from northwest to southeast, sits on the plain area in the hinterland of the large terrain area of Shudi Basin.
This means that they can engage in farming operations that are not possible in most remote areas of Yizhou and Shu.
Although commerce was booming in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, Yizhou, which had always been relatively isolated, wanted to become rich and support more people and troops. The simplest and most direct way was to cultivate.
However, in recent years...especially after Liu Yan's death and under the rule of his son Liu Zhang, Yizhou became increasingly isolated and backward.
There are probably two reasons for this...
The first is that Liu Zhang himself was relatively indecisive, and he did not trust his capable ministers that much.
Without clear distinction between rewards and punishments, people in Yizhou gradually turned against him, and most of the capable ministers were alienated from him——
Without talents, it is naturally impossible to develop the strength of a region. This is one point.
The second point is mostly due to external factors.
Although it was surrounded by natural dangers and the mountains around Yizhou could withstand millions of troops, Liu Zhang had a "good neighbor" to the north.
Hanzhong under Zhang Lu's rule was another important factor that restricted the development of Liu Zhang's Yizhou over the years.
In fact, Liu Zhang relied on his father's foundation, which gave him an advantage compared to Zhang Lu.
But although Zhang Lu is a magician who caused some complaints among the people of Li, Zhang Lu is much better than Liu Zhang in terms of controlling core power.
So the situation is that Liu Zhangkong has an advantage, but he cannot use it at all.
After a few relatively humiliating defeats, Liu Zhang immediately put an end to Zhang Lu's affairs.
He left the mess to Pang Xi, his in-laws, and never took the initiative to provoke Zhang Lu again.
And Zhang Lu was sitting in Hanzhong, and his ambitions became bigger and bigger. However, when he took the last step out of Hanzhong and intercepted Chang'an, Yi Xiaotian's magic soldiers descended from the sky, destroying the advantage and situation he had worked hard to establish for so many years - Hanzhong.
So he changed his name.
Of course, after that, Liu Zhang still had the opportunity to get involved in Hanzhong——
After recharging his energy, he could have fully supported Liu Bei after receiving the news that Hanzhong was empty, quickly captured Hanzhong, and formed a solid alliance with Liu Bei.
——Of course, this can all be seen from his perspective.
However, due to a moment of suspicion, Liu Bei, who was also in a good situation at the time, was finally pinned to the Golden Bull Road by Jiang Wan, and was ultimately defeated.
The series of rebellions and feuds that followed greatly consumed the enthusiasm Liu Zhang had accumulated over the years.
Yes, after Liu Bei was driven out of Yizhou by his own hands, Liu Zhang became completely autistic.
Only in the past two years... because the economy was really sluggish, he had slightly relaxed his vigilance towards Hanzhong in the north. However, this small level of trade was not enough to solve the biggest problem facing Yizhou at this time -
Food shortage.
Yes, Yizhou was short of food. This extremely unlikely thing actually came true under Liu Zhang's hands.