It was not that no one around Liu Zhang reminded him about farming issues.
However, at that time, Liu Zhang was busy purging those close officials who seemed to be traitors around him, and he would not listen to anyone's words, even what veteran generals like Huang Quan Yanyan said. He did not take it to heart.
In short, more than half of the reason why Yizhou is in the current predicament is Liu Zhang's own doing.
However, just because Liu Zhang did it himself does not mean that the people have to pay for him, so people who really care about the people will still start to solve the food problem.
Among them, Cheng Ji and Zhang Ren played a crucial role.
Back then, when Liu Zhang urgently needed to distinguish between friends and foes, Cheng Ji played a vital role. He especially liked to go against Pang Xi, the governor of Brazil. Pang Xi had been fighting with Zhang Lu for so many years.
He earned a lot of benefits from his entanglement. It can be said that he is the biggest potential traitor around Liu Zhang who has not yet rebelled on the surface, but secretly.
It's not that Cheng Ji never mentioned this matter to Liu Zhang, but Liu Zhang didn't take it seriously because Pang Xi was a relative.
After realizing this, Cheng Ji could only handle the matter privately, but the relationship with Pang Xi became increasingly tense.
The energy that Pang Xi possessed in Yizhou was obviously not comparable to that of Cheng Ji, so Cheng Ji could only fall into the quagmire of constant entanglement with Pang Xi.
Cheng Ji, who wanted to escape, would naturally find a heavyweight who could speak to Liu Zhang around him.
That is Zhang Ren - the general Liu Zhang relies on most at the moment.
In fact, since he broke up with Liu Bei, Liu Zhang's group of relatives and friends has further shrunk.
Originally, he would also appoint some young generals and counselors recommended from below, but now his vision and gaze are completely limited to his own side.
However, this does not mean that there is no one available for him, such as Liu Huang, Lingbao, Deng Xian, Zhang Ren, and Yan Yan. These few people can barely support Yizhou's defense system, and Liu Zhang is the most powerful among them.
It is Zhang Ren who is both loyal and brave.
Yan Yan, Ling Bao, Liu Quan, and Deng Xian were all too mediocre. For example, his son Liu Xun was simply just waiting to die. It wasn't how outstanding Zhang Ren was, but Liu Zhang had no one around him anymore.
Talents worthy of reuse.
Cheng Ji found Zhang Ren and told him about the poor harvest in the past few years, and Yizhou was now facing a serious food shortage.
What made Cheng Ji overjoyed was that Zhang Ren was actually aware of it. After all, as a general, he could detect some abnormalities from the reports on military rations, transportation and other aspects.
For example, in the past few months, the high-quality rice originally provided to them by Chengdu has begun to be adulterated with some inferior millet. Of course, the impact is not huge. The biggest problem is still the shortage of quantity.
The delivery of military rations, which used to be very punctual, has begun to be delayed for no apparent reason in the past few months, and there has even been no news at all.
It's just that Zhang Ren, as an important general guarding Badong and preventing Liu Bei from invading, really didn't have the heart to investigate the responsibilities layer by layer... Although he left the matter to Lingbao, Lingbao seemed to have some reasons.
, the investigation was hindered, and no problem was found at all for a while.
The most uncomfortable thing is that you are obviously affected here, but looking back, you can't find the real reason.
In the end, Zhang Ren could only speculate that someone deliberately concealed the truth of the matter, and this problem was not something he could handle alone - everything depends on evidence, and he couldn't just accuse others without evidence, right?
At this time, Cheng Ji came to the door, which solved his urgent need. He urgently needed someone like Cheng Ji to help him investigate some things in Chengdu. As for Cheng Ji's request to have a breeze by Liu Zhang's side, this was very important to Zhang Ren.
It's not that difficult.
The two hit it off immediately and the plan was realized.
However, what they may not have expected is that with in-depth investigation, this matter would actually lead to a huge conspiracy related to the survival of Yizhou.
——
Shu has three passes. This is the most concise description of the fortifications of Shu since ancient times.
The three passes naturally refer to Yangping, Jiangguan and Baishui.
After Hanzhong was occupied by Cao Cao, Yangping Pass was no longer under Liu Zhang's control.
When Fazheng was still with Liu Zhang that year, he proposed that if he wanted to defend Shu, the two most important routes were: one along the river to the east to defend the city of Fengjie, and the other to the north where the white water blocked the key land route.
It's just that Liu Zhang didn't trust Fa Zheng very much and didn't take his words seriously.
Everyone knows that there are two passages in Shu that lead to the outside world, why do you need Fa Zheng to remind you?
But Liu Zhang did not understand the true intention of Fazheng at all - what he emphasized was actually the closely related connection between the two passes.
What he wanted to tell Liu Zhang most was that no matter whether these two passes faced enemy threats or not, they could not be neglected for a moment at any time. As the saying goes, the relationship between Baishui Pass and Fengjie is quite close. If
If one place is restricted and lost, the other place will also be threatened by the enemy... and if one place can be defended, then there will naturally be no problems in the other place.
The words were very simple, but Liu Zhang still didn't understand.
However, Fazheng's words came true, and now Yizhou is facing such a situation. On one side is Liu Bei, who is eyeing him with eagerness, and is always preparing to break through from Fengjie. Cao Cao doesn't know what he is considering at the moment. He heard rumors that starting from years ago
Cao Cao deliberately sent more troops to Hanzhong...Liu Zhang was naturally panicked when he was surrounded by enemies from both sides.
This is another point why he doesn't have the time to take care of the so-called farming issues. How can he have the time to take care of the so-called farming issues when war is about to begin? How can he still have the time to take care of the food that cannot be produced in a short period of time?
What does it have to do with him whether the people of Li starve to death or not?
If he can't survive the next round, the people will be meaningless to him.
Yes, Liu Zhang has this kind of mentality now - but this has given many people an opportunity to take advantage of him.
Pang Xi is one, Wu Yi is also one, and there is another guy named Xu Jing who is quietly making a fortune.
——
Under such circumstances, Baishui Pass recently welcomed a group of caravans from Hanzhong.
These people seemed to have reported in advance. Pang Xi's men had completely implemented the spirit of their boss. After a random check, the important thing was that the handling fee should not be less at all. After the caravan turned over a large amount of property, they guarded the city and guarded the pass.
The people can be said to have made the most money in recent times, and the caravan also entered the customs smoothly.
