Yizhou has a large area. It governs most of the three modern provinces of Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan, Shaanxi, Hubei, part of Gansu, and part of Myanmar. It has a vast territory.
But the population size is confusing.
The Eastern Han Dynasty recorded 12 counties, 118 towns, 1.52 million households and 7.24 million people.
During the Shu-Han period, 27 counties and 170 counties were established. When the later master Liu Chan surrendered to the Wei Dynasty, it was recorded that there were 280,000 households, 900,000 men and women, 102,000 armored soldiers, and 40,000 officials.
There was a difference of more than 6 million people in the past few decades. Both of these data are obviously wrong.
The essence of Yizhou is actually only the four counties of Hanzhong, Guanghan, Shujun, and Qianwei, with a combined population of 1.6 million.
However, Ba County, which is dominated by Banlu Man, Sou and other ethnic minorities, has a population of 1.08 million. The southernmost Yongchang County, which is modern western Yunnan, is a typical old, young, border and poor area. During the late Han Dynasty,
It governs eight counties and has a recorded population of 1.89 million.
How is it possible?
Where did so many people come from these two places?
Especially Yongchang County, which is adjacent to Ailao Kingdom, has a population greater than the counties in the mainland. How could a primitive tribe like Ailao County have more than a million people? Count the chickens, ducks, geese, dogs, pigs, cattle and sheep of their tribes.
, there may not be so many gasping for breath.
In modern times, that place was called Baoshan, and it had only two million people. How could there be such a large population in the Han Dynasty more than 1,800 years ago.
Liu Xiang didn’t believe it anyway.
Regardless of the specific population of Yizhou, he felt that the area under Liu Yan's control definitely did not exceed two million people, and it was possible that it was only a million or so.
After all, Hanzhong is his own territory, Ba County also loves him, and the seven counties in Nanzhong were pacified only during the Zhuge Liang period, so Liu Yan can only control three counties.
If Liu Xiang planned to enter Shu, Liu Yan would be under great psychological pressure, which would leave room for fraud.
How about cutting off his son's head and sending it over to scare him?
He had four sons in total, the eldest son Liu Fan, the second son Liu Dan, the third son Liu Mao and the youngest son Liu Zhang. Except for the third son Liu Mao who was with him in Mianzhu, the other three sons were all in Chang'an.
Of course, talking about killing his son was just a joke, as a living person would have more threat value.
"Liangzhou is about to be pacified, and the construction of trade roads is a grinding effort. Now, it's time to capture Yizhou. Fengxiao and Wenhe, are there any good strategies?" Liu Xiang summoned Guo Jia and Jia Xu in Beigong.
"Yizhou is steep, so we should focus on attacking the heart." Guo Jia looked confident, obviously he had already thought about this matter.
"What's the plan?"
Guo Fengxiao answered confidently: "We went south from Hanzhong in two ways, took the West Han River to attack Baishui Pass, and took the Micang Road to capture Bajun. The old man has people's hearts towards the lord, so it is not difficult to capture Bajun."
Then he sent an envoy to contact the vassal state of Guanghan, where the Shenlang Qiang and Baima Qiang were the main ones. With the reputation of the lord, it would not be difficult to recruit him to surrender. In this way, Guanghan and Shu County would be attacked from the east and west, and Liu Yan would be nothing more than a turtle in a urn.
Is there any reason not to obey the call?"
Liu Xiang thought for a moment and felt that it was very feasible. He turned to ask Jia Xu: "What do Wen He think?"
"Filial piety, wisdom and planning are excellent, and I deeply admire them."
This guy is hiding his clumsiness again, and Liu Xiang doesn't want to point it out. Everyone has their own personality and way of doing things. He can understand it, and he can tolerate it as long as it can be used by me.
"Then we will act according to Fengxiao's plan and order Xu Huang to lead his troops south to Baishui Pass, and I will lead the Chinese army south to Micang Road."
As soon as he said this, Jia Xu was no longer calm, and he didn't care about hiding his clumsiness or keeping a low profile. He hurriedly tried to dissuade him: "My lord, why would you risk it yourself? Micang Mountain is difficult to travel, and Bashan is smoky and ferocious. I hope your lord will think twice."
Guo Jia persuaded: "Just send a general. My lord does everything personally. How can I ask the generals under my command to perform meritorious service and be crowned with titles? It is better to wait for the good news in Chang'an."
Liu Xiang rolled his eyes, what a mess, he just didn't want him to come to the battlefield in person, he even mentioned the generals' meritorious service and knighthood, I personally led the troops, and the generals under his command were also rewarded.
He said angrily: "Fengxiao is extremely intelligent and resourceful, so why can't he come up with a better excuse?"
"I heard that my lord is going to take an adventure. I am so panicked. How can I calmly think?" Guo Jia laughed and pretended to straighten his clothes: "My lord, sit down and let me think of a good excuse!"
"Okay, stop being weird, are you so afraid of my own expedition? I have been leading troops in combat for more than nine years, do you need to be so nervous?"
Guo Jia smiled and said nothing. He actually didn't care, but his friend Xun Wenruo repeatedly warned him not to risk his lord during military discussions.
Jia Xu gave earnest advice: "My lord now has nine states, and thousands of officials and people are connected to him. The safety of the people cannot be ignored."
Liu Xiang stared at him and asked, "Is it just for safety?"
"The junior officials only worry about the safety of their lord." Jia Xu's words are interesting. He didn't say anything but seemed to say a lot.
Liu Xiang knew that no one from top to bottom wanted him to come to the battle in person. Some were really worried about his safety, some were thinking about Conglong, some wanted to divide the power in the army, and some wanted to guide him.
He became a wise king and holy lord who ruled from the top down.
The attitude shown is the same, but the thoughts are different.
The military power opened a hole in Cao Cao and Sun Jian, and some people started to have thoughts that they shouldn't have.
However, Cao Mengde and Sun Wentai brought their own troops to defect to him. Liu Xiang could integrate their troops into the army, but he could not completely relinquish their military power. Then who would defect to him in the future?
He also thought that someone could bring territory and troops to surrender.
Moreover, if you want to open up the Silk Road, you must control the Western Region. The Western Region is too far away, how could you not give the generals the right to lead the army? Remotely controlled puppets cannot achieve great things.
Now Lao Cao and Sun Jian have been arranged by him to stay in Liangzhou. The two of them share the right to conquer the Western Army, which is to keep them in check and prevent one family from becoming dominant and having inappropriate thoughts.
They knew this very well and accepted it.
But those nobles are different. If they want to get their hands into the army, they are seeking death.
Liu Xiang wanted to see who would jump out. He had killed not only 10,000 but also 8,000 nobles, and he didn't mind killing a few more.
Just wait and see, he touched the beard on his chin and decided to use some patience to see who was a human and who was a ghost.
Now, let’s capture Yizhou first.
"Send an order to Xu Huang to lead the right army south to Hanzhong, increase the Hanzhong garrison by 10,000 people, appoint Hu as his deputy general, and Ju as his military adviser. They will go out of Micang Road to capture Bajun."
"Tan Fufu was ordered to lead the Han Chinese army of 5,000 men, with Yuan as deputy general, pretending to attack Baishui Pass, contact the Qiang people of the Guanghan vassal state, and jointly send troops.
Tell those barbarians, old people, Zhi people, and Qiang people that as long as they surrender to me, they will be exempted from hard labor and reduce taxes. I will also send people to teach them farming, medical treatment, literacy, and those who intend to join the army or politics. I will treat them equally and serve me.
Those who farm, herd, and fight can join the Han nationality and become true Han people."
"Send an order to Sun Jian to divide five thousand troops and reinforce Tan Fufu."
"Call to Liu Yan that I have no heirs and would like to recognize his eldest grandson as his adopted son, who can inherit the ancestral hall."
"In the name of the imperial court, an edict was issued to summon Liu Yan to Chang'an to serve as Sikong."
After a pause, Liu Xiang said in a deep voice: "If he doesn't obey, he will destroy Yizhou and the Yi tribe."