Chapter 425 Three County Arrangements
On the Jianshan plank road, more than a thousand people were leading horses and slowly moving southward.

Su Ze mingled among them with the help of a rattan stick, and when he found a corner where he could rest, he would stand there and catch his breath.

For various reasons, he was never able to intercept the black bear.

Every time I want to give up, there is always news of some shocking victory.

From the great victory in Yuzhong to the forced landing in Hanzhong, the next step was to cross the Shu Road to seize Yizhou.

Originally, he planned to manage Guanlong in five years, take Hanzhong in another five years, and then weaken Yizhou, finally taking Yizhou within twenty years.

But this road of steadily expanding the empire over twenty years was completed in just two months.

Su Ze was shocked and felt unprecedented fear.

So many people were afraid to meet the black bear, for fear that they would be unlucky and encounter the black bear exploding in a raging fire.

But later news came that the Black Bear garrison in Mianzhu was not moving, which strengthened Su Ze's determination to move south.

At Jianshan Mansion, auxiliary soldiers had already set up bamboo tubes to divert water.

After the water is heated, it becomes hot soup for the new officers and soldiers to bathe; along with the hot soup, there are also brand new military uniforms, shoes and socks.

After receiving the transfer order, Cheng Yi and Cheng Yin each led 300 cavalrymen and set off immediately. With them came a battalion of old Tiger Tooth soldiers who had joined the sect.

Cheng Yi, Cheng Yin and the military officers of all ranks took a bath and changed into new military uniforms. Instead of wearing the iron armor they brought with them, they put on the loose leather armor prepared in Jiange.

Black Bear held a banquet in the gatehouse of his mansion, and Yang Fu served wine to Cheng Yi and the other man.

After a brief celebration, Black Bear said, "We have just acquired Yizhou, a large province in the southwest. The people of Shu are rich and arrogant. I am afraid that ordinary people cannot control them, so I summoned you two."

After a few drinks, Cheng Yi and Cheng Yin looked at each other subconsciously and said, "I am willing to die for you, Your Majesty."

Yang Fu on the side also became nervous. Previously, he had sent the genius doctor Li Feng to be the governor of Yizhou. Now that the state had been reorganized, it was the turn of the core counties.

The southern part of Yizhou was too remote, and only now did these county governors and powerful families send envoys to express their submission.

Black Bear didn't want to cause trouble for the South Central Region, so he just tried to appease them with kind words. After accepting the gift, he said that he would not make any changes within five years.

But the core large counties in the north of Yizhou must be firmly controlled. Now the only ones in our hands who are trustworthy, ruthless and notorious are the remaining generals from the ten tribes in Guanzhong.

There are four important counties in the northern part of Yizhou: Hanzhong County, Guanghan County where Mianzhu and Luocheng are located, Shu County where Chengdu is located, and Ba County which was divided into three by Liu Zhang.

From then on, Hanzhong County was separated from Yizhou and incorporated into Sizhou.

The Shu Plain was too fertile, so it was divided into two parts by Guanghan County and Shu County. In order to suppress the local separatist consciousness of the Shu people, the northern region where the throat of the Shu Road was located was named Guanghan County.

In the Han River Basin alone, there are Hanyang County, Hanzhong County and Guanghan County. Hanyang County is Tianshui County, and Tianshui is another name for the Han River.

So what needs to be adjusted now are the governors of Guanghan, Shujun and Bajun, especially Pang Xi of Bajun, who was originally the governor of Bajun. In order to suppress this person, Liu Zhang divided Bajun into three parts and placed Pang Xi in Baxi County, letting Pang Xi guard Langzhong and block Zhang Lu's offensive.

At this time, Black Bear was not going to give any face to the Dongzhou soldiers.

The people of Shu lack awareness of the gap in combat effectiveness between the Northern Soldiers, Dongzhou Soldiers, Hanzhong Soldiers and the Shu Soldiers, and they also need a benchmark figure to fight with so that they can clearly define the combat power ladder.

Therefore, Pang Xi's ruling power was deprived, and this man and his troops were summoned to Mianzhu.

It’s best if you agree. If you don’t agree, use Pang Xi as the new unit of measurement for combat effectiveness.

Of the three counties, one was given to Yang Fu; Yang Fu did not know which one it was. Shu County had Chengdu, which was right under the nose of Li Fengzhou's army. The Shu County governor had the greatest authority in the western mountainous area and lacked influence in the prosperous areas around Chengdu.

If you want to achieve something, you must avoid Shu County.

If it is a smooth transition, Shu County and Guanghan County are both good choices. Guanghan County will have a large army stationed there in the future, so it is the most stable place.

There are also problems, that is, it is necessary to coordinate the relationship with the garrison; it is also necessary to do a good job in the declaration, storage, transportation and supervision of materials between the state department and the garrison.

In other words, the prefect of Guanghan County also served as the military guard and military supervisor of the various armies in Mianzhu.

But it is hard to say. Another person may be appointed to be the guard general, who will be in charge of military affairs and will not be involved in civil affairs and local governance.

The Ba County was a vast area, and the Ba people and mountain dwellers in various mountainous areas would have fanatical and active Taiping Dao and Tianshi Dao Taoists to preach armedly.

The biggest hidden danger for Ba County in the future is the joint resistance of the conservative, traditional and conservative Ba people and mountain people.

If you don't handle it well, you will lose your head.

Yang Fu already had some answers in his mind. If they wanted him to supervise the troops in Mianzhu, then the prefect of Guanghan County would most likely be him. If not, then it would be the prefect of Shu County.

As for Ba County, Yang Fu wanted to go there, but he always felt that it was impossible for his own Grand Marshal to allow Cheng Yi and Cheng Yin to jointly control the Shu region.

Cheng Yi and the others were also secretly guessing when they heard Black Bear say, "Doctor Li is now in charge of Yizhou Prefecture. I am worried about the instability in Shu in the future, so I want you two to take charge of Guanghan and Shu Prefecture. Do you two have any ideas?"

Seeing Cheng Yin was silent, Cheng Yi said, "Your Majesty, when the mountain barbarians are in turmoil, is it more important to resist them or to suppress and eliminate them?"

"If you can pacify, pacify. If you can't pacify, then suppress. If you need to mobilize more than 3,000 troops, just resist."

Black Bear also knew the concerns of these two people, so he said: "I want a relatively stable Shuzhong. There are many things outside Shuzhong that I need to deal with. The most taboo thing is to fight on two fronts and be transferred back and forth. So I don't want any tax increases. I have three requirements for the two of you. The first is to maintain the stability of Shuzhong; the second is to defend the three cities of Chengdu, Luocheng, and Mianzhu; the last is to defend Mianzhu!"

"You don't need to worry about the affairs of Ba County. If there is a conflict between the Tianshi Dao and the Taiping Dao, you don't have to pay attention to it. I have also repeatedly told Doctor Li that the key to governing Yizhou in the future is stability."

At this time, Black Bear turned his head to look at Yang Fu who was waiting beside him and said, "Yishan, Ba County is now handed over to you. If there is any change in Jingzhou in the future, no matter how it changes, you must defend Yufu City to the death. Keep the enemy out. Given the situation in Shu, they can't turn the tables."

Yang Fu was surprised, and took a few steps forward, imitating Cheng Yi and the others and kneeling, and asked with his hands clasped: "Do I support the Taoists in destroying the mountains and temples?"

"Don't pay any attention to it. The Heavenly Master Dao can tolerate it if it can, but it won't let it go to Nanzhong and Jiaozhou. The world is vast, if Zhang Tianshi has lofty ambitions, he may really be able to enter the paradise of the West and claim to be the ancestor of the sect."

Black Bear couldn't help but laugh as he spoke. There was already a trade route from Shuzhong to Sindhu in the southwest.

Merchants could cross mountains and ridges for the sake of profit; fanatical followers of Tianshidao could also cross the hundreds of thousands of mountains in the southwest by destroying mountains, cutting down temples and capturing slaves along the way.

But when the words "Western Paradise" came out of the black bear's mouth, Yang Fu, Cheng Yi and Cheng Yin had other thoughts.

As for whether the Tianshi Dao could defeat the Taiping Dao controlled by Li Feng, the three of them had no doubt.

The Tianshi Dao is indeed developing rapidly and is also in its rising period.

However, the rise of Tianshi Dao has a traceable pattern, which is understandable to ordinary people; and the Taiping Dao that they supported was no longer the same as the Yellow Turban Army, and its rapid development and growth was unimaginable.

It is estimated that Zhang Tianshi will only be able to take away the most fanatical Tianshidao backbones and believers, and the other chief priests, Taoists and believers will be absorbed by Taipingdao.

When peace is restored to the people of the mountains of Ba County, and then the big families in Shu are given the opportunity to rebel, how many of these people dare to rebel?
The mountain people of Ba County will be the absolute main force to suppress Shuzhong in the future.

(End of this chapter)