What Ma Liang said makes sense. Although the Shi family has intimidated the Baiyue barbarians with its many years of prestige, the more reason is its own hard power.
If the Shi family were to send troops and the Baiyue barbarians rebelled, they would have to send troops from Jingchu. The Shi family had surrendered, and Jiaozhou also belonged to Liu Cong's territory. Liu Cong could not just watch the chaos in Jiaozhou.
Jiang Wan continued, "My lord, I think that we can mobilize 10,000 troops from Jingchu, and then ask the scholar family to send 10,000 people to assist. In this way, we can take care of both sides."
Ma Liang continued to object, "Although there are only 20,000 people, going from Jiaozhou to Nanzhong will cost a lot of money and food."
Jiang Wan ignored him and said to Liu Cong, "My lord, do you still remember when Liu Bei went from Jiaozhou to Shuzhong?"
Liu Cong didn't answer, he couldn't say this. When Liu Bei went to Cangwu to seek refuge with Wu Ju, he didn't stop there and went directly to Jiaozhou.
His thousands of remnants and defeated generals had no food and grass, and Cangwu did not have so much money and food to support these thousands of people. Liu Bei snatched them from Jiaozhou along the way!
Baiyue, Baiyue. There are no less than a million barbarians in Jiaozhou, but there are no less than a hundred tribes. How could they resist Liu Bei?
This was also the reason why the Shi family expelled him. The Shi family had great prestige in Baiyue, and many barbarian leaders in Baiyue asked the Shi family for help. This was the reason why the Shi family's 30,000 men were defeated by Liu Bei's 5,000 men.
After taking a deep breath, Liu Cong said to Huang Quan, "Gong Heng, please go to the post house to rest first, and I will discuss it with Wen Wu. Uncle Ji (Yi Ji), you go make arrangements, don't neglect Gong Heng."
"promise."
"Thank you, Lord Chu."
After Huang Quan left, Liu Cong said to Wen Wu, "Tell me, what do you think about this?"
Ma Liang immediately raised his hands and said, "My lord, what Jiang Gongyan said is ridiculous. Liu Bei can rob the barbarians, but can my lord do this? Jiaozhou is my lord's territory, can my lord rob his own people on his own territory?"
Although the Baiyue barbarians were foreigners, most of them submitted to the scholar family. Submitting to the scholar family naturally meant submitting to Liu Cong.
"Fourth brother, it's not like Jingchu is so big and doesn't even have the money and food to support 20,000 people?" The person who spoke was Ma Di, Minister of Industry.
His younger brother disagreed with him, and Ma Liang became even more angry, "What do you know? It is better for Jingchu to clean up Jiaozhou himself than to go on an expedition to help Liu Xun unify Nanzhong. In addition to constraining Liu Bei, what role does Liu Xun have?"
Fei Yi, the Minister of Punishment, said to Liu Cong, "My lord, I do not agree with sending troops to assist Liu Xun. We have just pacified Jiangdong, Shanyue also needs to be suppressed and cleared, and we have to use troops against Huainan. It is really not appropriate to spread our strength."
Kuai Yue, the Minister of Rites, objected, "With only 20,000 troops, even if we have to go on an expedition, how much strength can we disperse? How much food will we consume? My lord, I agree to support Liu Xun!"
"I object." Fei Shi, Minister of Rites.
"I object." Li Hui, Minister of War.
"I agree!" Police Commissioner Xiang Lang.
"I agree!" Deputy Director Wen Ji.
…
Most of the civil and military officials were opposed. Liu Cong had a headache when he saw this scene. His original intention was to support Liu Xun. But with so many people opposed, it was hard for him to be arbitrary.
When you are acting arbitrarily for others, you must be sure that this matter has a high probability of success. If it causes bad consequences, it will cause a blow to your own prestige.
Liu Cong was not sure whether supporting Liu Xun from such a long distance would be effective, let alone whether it was worth it. If Liu Xun was greedy for comfort and was unwilling to send troops after reunifying Nanzhong, or he was unwilling to follow Liu Cong's instructions
etc. These are all inestimable.
"I ask my lord to send troops to support Liu Xun!" At this moment, Lu Meng spoke.
"My lord, I believe that the strategic significance of supporting Liu Xun is greater than the money and food we have to pay. In the short term, he can restrain Liu Bei, and in the far term, he can develop the south for us first."
Seeing this handsome man speaking, Liu Cong became interested and said, "Ziming, please tell me more details."
Lu Meng continued, "Please think about it, my lord, if Liu Bei is destroyed in the future, will Liu Xun dare to confront the lord? He doesn't dare! Moreover, the lord still has a favor for him, so Nanzhong will definitely spread the word!"
"Therefore, I think it is not a bad idea to let him develop Nanzhong first. Furthermore, Liu Bei ignored Liu Zhang's feelings of taking him in and usurped Liu Zhang's foundation. This is unjust. Sending troops to assist Liu Xun can also demonstrate the lord's virtue to the people of the world, thus
Improve the lord’s prestige!”
"Hahaha……"
Liu Cong laughed and said, "Ziming said it well. I have made up my mind to support Liu Xun. There is no need to discuss this matter anymore."
Jiang Wan raised his hands and asked, "In that case, who will my lord plan to send as the commander?"
Liu Cong smiled and looked at Lu Meng and said, "Ziming, are you willing to make contributions to Gu?"
"The general will not give up until he dies!"
"Okay!" Liu Cong stood up and ordered, "Take Lu Meng as the commander-in-chief and Quan Cong as the deputy commander-in-chief. Lu Dai, Zhong Limu, He Qi, and Fu Tong will be the generals and lead an army of 10,000 to march to Nanzhong!"
Fu Tong is this year's top pick in martial arts. Quan Cong should have avoided changing Liu Cong's name. However, Liu Cong didn't care about it. In order to win people's hearts, Quan Cong specifically told Quan Cong not to change his name.
"After you take Gu's order and go to Jiaozhou, you can ask Shi Xie for ten thousand people."
"I obey your orders."
After the meeting, Liu Cong specially called a few people to the study room and said, "Sit down, everyone. This is not a formal occasion, so you don't need to be polite."
"Thank you, Lord."
After everyone sat down, Liu Cong said, "Ziming, according to the Jinyiwei's investigation, the strength of the governors and leaders in various places in Nanzhong cannot be underestimated. You should take a look at this report first."
With that said, Liu Cong threw the report on the table to Lu Meng. Lu Meng opened it and was slightly shocked.
Gaoding, a barbarian in Yueqi County, had 20,000 troops, Yongkai in Yizhou County had 16,000 troops, and Meng Huo of Yongchang had 5,000 troops.
Different from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Meng Huo in reality is just a minor character. He is just a prominent one among the various tribes of the Southern Barbarians. However, according to the investigation of the Jin Yiwei, Meng Huo and Yong Kai are on good terms. Among the various tribes in the South, there are
Very high prestige.
Further south, there are tribes such as Ailao, Pu, Minpu, Jiuliao, and Liyue. The larger of these tribes have three to five thousand soldiers, and the smaller ones have more than a thousand soldiers.
Only Ailao was unusual, with 20,000 troops! In the Ailao Kingdom, in 69 AD, Ailao King Liu Mao led 50,000 households, more than 550,000 people, to join the Han family, and the court established Yongchang County here.
During the Tang Dynasty, one of the small states in Ailao, "Mengshe", conquered surrounding small states and tribes. They entered the Erhai Basin and established the Nanzhao Kingdom!
This shows that these tribes in Nanzhong also have some strength.
After Lu Meng read it, Liu Cong asked, "If you go to Nanzhong, how will you use your troops?"
Lu Meng thought for a while and said, "I will help Liu Xun to attack and destroy Yongkai, Gaoding, Meng Huo and other forces, allowing him to unify Nanzhong."
Liu Cong shook his head and sighed, "That would be a bit strenuous."
"What do you mean, lord?"
"Conquer Yong Kai, Gaoding, conquer Meng Huo, and help Liu Xun open up southern Xinjiang!"