Since Fa Zheng and Wang Lei returned from Jingzhou's mission, Liu Zhang further believed that Liu Jing would not easily march into Bashu, at least he had no time or power to advance westward. However, in recent times, discussions about the expansion of Jingzhou's army in the west have become increasingly rampant, and various news spread throughout the city.

The strength of the Jingzhou Army is here. As long as the time is ripe, the Jingzhou Army will still expand westward. Both the Bashu local faction and the Dongzhou scholars have reached a consensus.

The only debate is when the westward expansion of the Jingzhou army began. So far, there are two views on the Bashu government and the opposition. One is that three years later, when Jingzhou recovers its vitality and Liu Jing unifies Jingzhou, and it will take at least three years to completely eliminate the pressure from Cao Cao and Sun Quan.

There is another radical view that a year later, the reason is that Liu Jing cannot wait until Cao Cao recovers his strength before expanding westward. As long as the internal situation in Jingzhou is slightly stable, the Jingzhou army will immediately advance westward.

However, for Liu Zhang, no matter one or three years, he would not affect his ideas. He had only one thought, that is, the Jingzhou army would never go west to Bashu, and let Bashu become the kingdom of him and his descendants forever.

For this purpose, Liu Zhang did not hesitate to please Cao Cao when Cao Cao was going south in great force, nor did hesitate to proactively propose to recognize Liu Jing as his younger brother when Jingzhou was once again strong. All his purpose was to protect his possession of Bashu.

Liu Zhang was like a person living in a bottle. He only looked at the bottle mouth on his head, without asking whether the bottle was surrounded by strong enemies. This bottle mouth that brought him a glimmer of hope was the plan proposed by Liu Jing, asking Liu Zhang to support Jingzhou to take Guanzhong.

Liu Zhang was thus lucky. Liu Jing's goal was Guanzhong, and his opponent was Cao Cao, and he would not capture Bashu. At the same time, Liu Zhang also received news that Liu Jing and Ma Chao had secretly formed an alliance, which made him feel relieved.

In the corridor of the back house of the provincial capital, Liu Zhang's eldest son Liu Xun was pleading for Pang Xi to his father. Liu Xun was Pang Xi's son-in-law. A few days ago, he went to inspect Zitong County and happened to miss Deng Zhi. However, when he saw Deng Zhi's letter, he realized that his father-in-law was in a bad situation.

"Father, the existence of Dongzhou scholars allows us to balance the local Bashu system. Once the power of Dongzhou scholars is weakened and they are dominated by the local Bashu system, I am afraid that the Zhao Qi Rebellion will repeat that year."

Liu Zhang was standing in front of the parrot stand to feed his beloved parrot, and after a while, he asked lightly: "Did Pang Xi ask you to come?"

"It was not because my father-in-law asked the child to come. The child just heard some rumors, so he was a little worried."

"What rumors have you heard?" Liu Zhang asked slowly.

Liu Xun hesitated and said, "Boy... I heard that some people are dissatisfied with the Zhang Song case and want to use the Jingzhou army to expand westward to attack the Dongzhou soldiers."

"Have the Jingzhou army attacked Bashu?" Liu Zhang turned around and looked at his son coldly.

Liu Xun lowered his head, and he felt very conflicted. On the one hand, he wanted to save his father-in-law Pang Xi, but on the other hand, he also believed that Jingzhou would expand westward and wanted to convince his father to give up his luck and mobilize comprehensively to prepare for the war.

"The boy is just worried that the Jingzhou Army will do this."

"Hmph!" Liu Zhang snorted heavily and said in great dissatisfaction: "Why should Liu Jing attack Bashu? Did he receive the emperor's order or was appointed as the governor of Yizhou? You are still the eldest son. You don't even understand this principle. You follow the crowd all the time. Do you have any brains?"

Liu Xun was so scared that he lowered his head and did not dare to speak. He said for a while: "But we should also actively prepare for the war and be prepared to deal with the Jingzhou army's advance westward."

"fart!"

Liu Zhang was furious and pointed at his son and scolded: "You idiot, get out with me! Get out!"

Liu Xun was so scared that he quickly stepped back. After walking a few steps, Liu Zhang restrained his anger and shouted: "Come back!"

Liu Xun came to his father again, lowered his head deeply, and did not dare to speak a word. Liu Zhang said for a while: "Even Cao Cao's hundreds of thousands of troops were defeated by Liu Jing. Will I be Liu Jing's opponent even if I recruit troops? If I prepare for a lot of war and dispatch troops, Liu Jing happened to say that I would attack Jingzhou and then send heavy troops to confront me. What if he uses a conspiracy to say that my army will attack Jingzhou, kill his people, and burn his house, how do you explain?"

Only then did Liu Xun understand his father's intentions. It was not that his father was not worried about the expansion of Jingzhou army in the west, but that he bet that Liu Jing could not find an excuse to move west, and then shrank his head and became a turtle, making Liu Jing unable to start. Although there was some reason, this was too passive. Liu Xun's lips moved, but he still dared not refute his father.

Liu Zhang continued: "Liu Jing and Ma Chao have colluded. He obviously wanted to go north to Guanzhong. If he couldn't find an excuse to march into Bashu, would he keep waiting? Cao Cao didn't have so much time for him to wait. He would definitely let Bashu temporarily and continue to go north. But once he seized Guanzhong, do you think he still has the opportunity and energy to attack my Bashu?"

Liu Xun sighed secretly. His father took it for granted, but he didn't dare to object anymore, so he had to bow his head and said, "I understand!"

When Liu Zhang saw his son awakening, he turned anger into joy and patted him on the shoulder and said, "If you don't have enough strength, you must learn to show weakness. It's no problem to lower your posture. You must learn from your father."

Liu Zhang's tone slowed down, and he stopped for a moment and said, "I have a sense of my own affairs. Although I will not treat him like Zhang Song, he has been in Badong County for too long."

"Yes! The child is leaving."

Liu Xun was about to leave, but Liu Zhang suddenly remembered something and told him again: "I heard that Sima Yi is here again and will be in Chengdu soon. You can greet him for me. Remember, lower your posture."

"Boy remembered it."

.........

In the afternoon, Sima Yi arrived in Chengdu again under the escort of one hundred soldiers. He came to negotiate and meet with Liu Zhang as an envoy of Liu Jing. This was the consensus reached between the two sides last time, including Jingzhou officially returning Jianping County and Yidu County to Yizhou. Of course, these things cannot be done just by saying that they can be done. They require consultation between the two sides and many details need to be implemented.

Sima Yi entered Chengdu with Liu Xun's warm welcome, and Liu Xun had a preliminary conversation with Sima Yi on behalf of his father.

"My father is very grateful to the Jingzhou Army for expelling Liu Bei, so that we no longer worry about the danger of being invaded by Liu Bei's army. Please allow me to express my most sincere thanks to the Jingzhou Army again."

Although Liu Xun did not agree with his father's turtle strategy, he did not need his father to worry about diplomatic etiquette and beautiful words. He was very familiar with the cultivation that a state patriarch's heir should have.

Sima Yi smiled and said, "Young Master Xun is polite. Exiting Liu Bei's army is not only related to the interests of Yizhou, but also to the vital interests of Jingzhou. This is the plan we negotiated last time and it is also the promise of my lord to Yizhou."

Sima Yi's smile disappeared, and he pondered for a while and said, "I came here this time, mainly because there are three things that need to be discussed with Yizhou. This is related to whether Jingzhou's northbound strategy can be realized, and also to the long-term stability of Yizhou. I hope Yizhou can cooperate with Jingzhou's actions."

Liu Xun nodded, "I would like to hear it clearly!"

...........

In another room, Liu Zhang was listening to the retelling of his eldest son Liu Xun about three things Sima Yi proposed.

"Sima Yi said that the Jingzhou army will be ready to formally use troops in Hanzhong in the spring of the following year, hoping that the Yizhou army can cooperate on the other side. In return, Jingzhou will return Jianping County and Yidu County to Yizhou."

"Wait a minute!"

Liu Zhang heard the problem in his words, and asked anxiously: "Did Jingzhou return Jianping County and Yidu County to us after we sent troops to Hanzhong?"

Liu Xun nodded, "The child also asked Sima Yi specifically. He answered me clearly. This is what Liu Jing meant. Jingzhou could not return Jianping County and Yidu County to Yizhou for no reason. Sima Yi also said that once the Jingzhou army seized Hanzhong, Liu Jing would also make a written promise that Jingzhou would never attack Bashu within five years."

Liu Zhang was a little stunned. It turned out that things were not as simple as he thought. Liu Jing had the conditions to return the two counties to him, and actually asked him to send troops to help capture Hanzhong. Although this was more reasonable, Liu Zhang felt a little confused, completely different from what he imagined.

At this time, Liu Xun continued: "There is also the arrangement for the meeting between his father and Liu Jing. Jingzhou recommends that it be placed in Wucheng."

Liu Zhang waved his hand and sighed, "I'm very confused now, let me think about it again!"

Liu Xun retreated, and Liu Zhang walked back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back. He was in a mess. The reason why he was more at ease with the Jingzhou army was because Wucheng, Zigui and other strong cities were in his hands, so it would be difficult for Jingzhou army to invade Bashu, but now it is different. Jingzhou proposed the condition to return Jianping County and Yidu County, which was to assist them in capturing Hanzhong.

"Does Liu Jing really hide any unspeakable intentions?" Liu Zhang said to himself.

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The next morning, Liu Zhang met Sima Yi again in the prefecture yamen, including his eldest son Liu Xun, as well as important officials such as Zhang Ren, Wu Yi, Dong He, Huang Quan, and Wang Lei.

Liu Zhang didn't sleep well all night, his expression was a little haggard and his voice was not loud. He reluctantly asked Sima Yi with a smile: "I wonder if Chu Hou has any arrangements for the first half of next year? I'm considering meeting him next spring."

Sima Yi bowed and said, "Next year Jingzhou will mainly restore vitality. After two years of war, the people's hardships, the soldiers are also very tired. We will prepare for a year of rest next year. In addition, in the second half of next year, Jingzhou will prepare to take back Jingnan. If it is just a meeting, I think there will be no problem next spring."

At this time, Wu Yi asked, "What does Sima military advisor mean? Jingzhou is going to use troops against Liu Bei next year?"

Sima Yi nodded, "This is inevitable. If Liu Bei's worries are not solved, we will not be able to go north. Moreover, Jingnan itself is a part of Jingzhou, so we will take it back sooner or later."

"Sima Military Advisor will leak such an important matter of attacking Liu Bei, and the plan to attack the Northern Expedition in Jingzhou told us without reservation. It is really incredible!" Zhang Ren smiled in a sarcastic tone.

Sima Yi sneered slightly, "The struggle between the two armies is about planning, and the struggle between the two countries is about power. As the saying goes, heaven is normal, not for Yao, not for Jie, and Cao Cao wants to destroy Yuan Shao, everyone knows that Yuan Shao can resist it? The Chu Hou wants to recover Jingnan and unify Jingzhou, which is also the general trend. What plan does Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang have to stop it?"

After pausing, Sima Le looked at Zhang Ren coldly and said, "Today I told Yizhou about the deployment of Jingzhou. It is also my lord who wants to treat him sincerely. If Yizhou feels that there is an opportunity, I want to tell Zhang Lu and Liu Bei, it's fine! Just think that my lord has misunderstood the person."

Liu Zhang quickly explained: "Military advisor, please rest assured, Yizhou will never disclose Jingzhou's strategic plan."

He said to everyone sternly: "I have something to say first today. Who dares to reveal the secrets of Sima's military advisor telling us? I will definitely kill you."

Everyone was silent. At this time, Liu Zhang smiled at Sima Yi and said, "If I promise to send troops to help Jingzhou capture Hanzhong, can Jingzhou return Jianping County and Yidu County to Bashu first?"
Chapter completed!