"Your Majesty, I think we should send troops. Hanzhong is an important place connected with Yizhou. Losing Hanzhong is equivalent to losing Yizhou." Dong Cheng, the uncle of the country, stood up.
After Wang Ding made a special trip to visit him last time, the relationship between Dong Cheng and Wang Ding is now on the rise.
Yizhou is a land of abundance. Before the Han Dynasty, Yizhou accounted for the majority of the annual taxes.
Dong Cheng is not a short-sighted person, and the benefits of taking back Hanzhong are self-evident.
And the one who stood up to oppose it was Zuo Zhonglang General Liu Fan.
Wang Ding didn't know Liu Fan's identity, so how could Dong Cheng not know that Liu Fan was the eldest son of Liu Yan, the shepherd of Yizhou.
Zhang Lu was Liu Yan's subordinate before, but he suddenly killed Su Gu, the prefect of Hanzhong, and then cut off the Xiegu Road that communicated with the imperial court. Dong Cheng didn't believe it if there was nothing fishy about it.
Wang Ding was a little surprised. He didn't expect Dong Cheng to be on his side.
Dong Cheng is the uncle of the country, and he is definitely the staunchest supporter of Liu Xie.
If Liu Xie falls, he, the uncle of the country, will be nothing.
Wang Ding knew that those in the DPRK who opposed him sending troops to Hanzhong this time did not fail to see the interests of Hanzhong.
It’s just that I don’t want Wang Ding to make any more military exploits.
As Wang Ding made more military exploits, Wang Ding's authority became more important and his reputation became higher. It is true that he will no longer be able to suppress Wang Ding in the future.
The last time Wang Ding led his army to conquer the Qiang people in Hetao, no one thought that Wang Ding would succeed before going there, and it was a great victory.
Even if the Qiang people are not strong enough, they cannot be defeated so easily.
But the facts are already before them.
This time, even if Hanzhong is dangerous and difficult to defend, no one can guarantee that Wang Ding will definitely fail.
To be on the safe side, it’s better not to let Wang Ding attack Hanzhong.
But they did not understand that the army was now in the hands of Wang Ding. They actually disagreed and could not influence Wang Ding at all.
If Wang Ding really wants to send troops, what can they do to stop them? The most they can do is read a copy of Wang Ding in front of Liu Xie.
Not even a hair on Wang Ding's body can be moved.
As Dong Cheng spoke, Liu Xie, who was sitting on the dragon throne, finally knew what to choose.
Dong Cheng is the uncle of the state and is undoubtedly the person Liu Xie trusts most now.
Since Dong Cheng said that he could send troops to conquer Hanzhong, Liu Xie didn't think too much about what the outcome would be.
He cleared his throat, and then said: "There is a bandit named Zhang Lu in Hanzhong who attacked and killed the prefect. I have ordered the right general to take charge of the expedition. In the event of a war, the right general will handle it with full authority."
Compared with Wang Ding, Liu Xie knew nothing about marching and fighting.
No one taught him.
"Wei Chen takes the edict." Wang Dingdao.
After the dispersion of the dynasty, Wang Ding came to Jia Xu and said: "I have remembered all those who opposed it before."
Jia Xu nodded and said: "The first one is Zuo Zhonglang General Liu Fan, who is the eldest son of Yizhou Mu Liu Yan. In addition, there is Liu Dan, the censor of the book, who is the second son of Liu Yan."
Wang Ding was surprised and said: "Liu Yan wanted to establish a kingdom in Yizhou, but he actually left his eldest son and second son in Chang'an."
Jia Xu said: "I had a son before, but some time ago, Liu Yan summoned him back to Yizhou on the grounds of illness."
Wang Dingdao: "Liu Yan is a clan member of the Han Dynasty. Now he doesn't want to serve the Han Dynasty, but he is also spying on the throne."
"Liu Fan and Liu Dan are in Chang'an, and he will be used as a hostage in the future to blackmail Liu Yan. This time he conquered Hanzhong, so Liu Yan did not dare to support him."
Everyone knows that Zhang Lu is Liu Yan's man, but he cooperated with Liu Yan in this play.
The biggest difficulty in conquering Hanzhong this time is the geographical location of Hanzhong. There are Qinling Mountains in the north, Minshan Mountain in the west, Wudang Mountain in the east, most of the mountains in the south, and the Han River running through it in the middle.
As long as there is a small amount of troops to guard Xiegu Road, Yangping Pass, and Wudu, the imperial troops and horses can be kept out.
The second thing is to worry about Liu Yan supporting Zhang Lu.
Without Liu Yan, Wang Ding could still fight a war of attrition with Zhang Lu to see who couldn't support him first.
But with Liu Yan's support, the longer this war lasts, the greater the pressure on Wang Ding's side.
After all, transporting grain and grass is too inconvenient.
It is all mountainous, making it difficult for cavalry to move, and even more difficult for grain trucks. In many places, civilians need to carry their hands on their shoulders to transport grain and grass.
Gao Shun is already preparing, and the five thousand soldiers trapped in the camp can set off at any time.
But the same problem remains. Before the soldiers and horses are moved, food and grass go first.
The Xiegu Road cannot be walked for the time being, so the grain and grass can only be transported to Chencang first.
Fortunately, it is still easy for grain trucks to pass from Chang'an to Chencang.
Wang Ding did not need to recruit civilian husbands and directly let his soldiers transport them.
The matter of food and grass should be left to Fan Chou.
During this period, people were sent to Hanzhong to investigate the situation.
Wang will leave it to Sima Lang to take charge of this matter.
Wang Ding himself remained in Chang'an.
The rice fields outside the city have become a little golden.
Even if he wants to conquer Zhang Lu, Wang Ding cannot affect the autumn harvest.
The heavy grain cannot be left to be harvested by too many people, and end up rotting in the fields.
No matter what happens, nothing is as important as food.
Yang Xiu, who was in charge of farming in Luoyang, also returned to Chang'an.
He did not forget that Wang Ding gave him another task at the beginning of spring.
After returning to Chang'an, Yang Xiu immediately went to find those old farmers.
"Lao Zhang, how much grain is expected to be harvested from your field this year?" Yang Xiu asked.
After not seeing Yang Xiu for more than half a year, Lao Zhang still remembered Yang Xiu's appearance and said with a smile: "I took a look at my family's fields this year. It is said that one acre can produce four stones of grain."
At the beginning of spring, Lao Zhang was also cruel and rented an ox from the government. This year, his family planted fifteen acres of fertile farmland.
Even if 50% of the grain had to be confiscated according to previous years, he would still have thirty dan left, enough for his family to live on.
What's more, at the beginning of spring, Wang Ding had already said that this year's grain collection would only be 30% to 40%, and he could still have more left.
Maybe you can sell some to grain merchants and buy a thicker quilt for your family.
This winter will be better than previous years.
Just thinking about it makes Old Farmer Zhang feel that life is wonderful.
Maybe I can change some clothes next year.
Even he himself doesn’t know how many years he has worn this one. It seems that he has been wearing it since he got married.
Over the past twenty years, it has been broken and repaired, repaired and broken again, and I have never dared to throw it away.
Yang Xiu was busy from spring plowing to autumn harvest, and he was not the young man who didn't know the grain last year.
He knows better than some veteran farmers how much the yield per mu of various crops is considered normal.
The yield of four stones per mu was definitely a bumper harvest even in previous years.
Yang Xiu went to meet several other old farmers, and then followed several old farmers to observe the rice and wheat that were about to mature in the fields.
Wheat matures earlier than rice and can be harvested in a few days.
The golden wheat ears hang heavily on the wheat stalks, swaying gently in the breeze.
Several scarecrows were erected on the field ridges to scare the birds that came to eat the wheat.