In Liu Jing’s strategic plan for Bashu, Xiling County is undoubtedly the first fulcrum, but it is just a starting point, not the kind of strategic key point that involves the overall situation. This strategic key point is not a hundred miles away from Xiling County, and it is Zigui County.

Zigui County is an extremely important county among the Three Gorges. It was once the place where Qu Yuan exiled. It was the throat of the entire Three Gorges and the first Yangtze River ferry after leaving the Three Gorges. If Liu Bei's army wanted to support Wucheng or even march into Bashu, they could only cross the river from Zigui County to go north. Therefore, taking Zigui County off Liu Bei's army's westward passage.

Due to the terrain, Zigui County is not wide, with a circumference of about fifteen miles. Although Zigui County is not big, it is built along the mountain and is very tall and strong, easy to defend but difficult to attack. It has a trend of one man being at the pass and ten thousand men not being able to open.

At present, Zigui County is controlled by Liu Bei's army, and two thousand people are led by general Mi Fang to guard Zigui County. The county has a population of about 10,000. In addition to farming, it mainly uses transit trade as its economic pillar.

Because Zigui County is located in an important transportation hub, its transit trade is very prosperous. A large amount of goods gathered from Jingnan and Nanjun to Zigui and then transported to Bashu.

At the same time, the materials transported from Bashu were also diverted from Zigui, crossing the river to Jingnan, or continuing eastward to Jiangling and Xiangyang, or even boarding a boat in Xiling County and transporting it to the farther Jiangdong.

Every day, dozens of caravans and nearly a thousand people entered and left Zigui County, making business prosperous in inns, taverns and even brothels in Zigui County.

In addition, dozens of business banks are stationed in the county, such as the Yan family business in Ba County, the Chang family business in Badong, the Luo family business in Chengdu, and the ten major business banks in Bashu have all built branch signs in Zigui County. At the same time, the Wu family business in Jiangling, the Tian family business in Xiangyang, and the Dow business in Chaisang also have warehouses and shops in Zigui County.

For example, the largest warehouse in Zigui County is the carbide warehouse established by the Dow Trading Company, covering an area of ​​nearly 20 acres. It transports large quantities of high-quality carbide produced in Ba County to Jiangxia, ensuring the casting of iron tools in Jiangxia County.

The prosperity of business has given the lower-class people in Zigui County the opportunity to support their families. They are either hired as partners by various businesses or sold their strength to be porters on the dock.

Although Liu Bei's army occupied Zigui County, the army did not intercept the trade between Bashu and the outside world. Liu Bei still played a friendly role at this time, in order to help Bashu, rather than seeking Bashu. Therefore, although Zigui's trade was temporarily deserted due to the large-scale southern expedition of Cao's army, it soon became lively again with the retreat of Cao's army to the north.

At noon that day, a caravan came from the east. Generally, the caravan's livestock was mainly green mules. In addition to the green mules loaded with goods, this caravan also drove hundreds of healthy cows, and the cows also carried goods on their backs. However, anyone with a discerning eye could see that the healthy cows were actually the goods of this caravan.

The mule cart led by this caravan was equipped with a pennant flag, and the word "Wu" was written on it, which means that they came from the Wu business in Jiangling. The Wu business is the largest business in Jiangling, but it can only rank third in Jingzhou, second only to the Tian business in Xiangyang, and far inferior to the Dow business in Chaisang.

However, on the Jingshu business road, the Wu business has the widest connections. Unlike the Dou business, they only do charcoal and grain business. They involve hundreds of goods, tea, salt, pig iron, silk, tools, livestock, etc., and even slaves participate in trafficking, and they do business almost whatever they make money.

There were not many people in the caravan in front of him, with only a dozen people in total. The headman was named Huo Ping. Everyone called him Dad Huo, an old businessman in his sixties. The deep wrinkles on his face were full of vicissitudes of life.

He has been in Jingshu Commercial Road for forty years. He knows him every plant on the commercial road and has rich experience in entering and leaving Shu.

Most of the dozen gangs behind him followed him for many years, but three of them had strange faces, serious and solemn expressions. Seeing that they were about to reach Zigui County, Dad Huo turned around from time to time to secretly look at the three gangs, and he was full of uneasiness.

The real identities of these three men are of course Jiangxia Army, but they are not ordinary soldiers. The man in charge is Sima Xiang Chong from another department. He is the deputy general of Jiangling Governor Huo Jun. This time, he was ordered by the prefect Li Yanzhi as the inner respondent to seize Zigui County and shouldered a great responsibility on his shoulders.

Xiang Chong was only twenty-six years old, but after putting on makeup, he had a pair of long beards under his jaw, his eyebrows became thicker and his skin turned yellow. He looked like a teenager. Even acquaintances were difficult to recognize him. Xiang Chong's eyebrows looked quite like a Nanjun swordsman, and with his long beard and yellow skin, he became even more similar.

Since Zigui County is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and there are two thousand troops stationed, it takes at least ten thousand troops to attack Zigui County. However, there is no battlefield for 10,000 people under Zigui County, so it can only rely on wisdom to take over.

Almost a copy of the Jiangdong Army's capture of Chaisang, Li Yan also discovered a defensive loophole in Zigui County, that is, Liu Bei did not ban merchants.

Perhaps Liu Bei was not ready yet, or perhaps Liu Bei did not realize that Jiangxia army would take action, or perhaps Liu Bei was worried that the ban on the chamber of ban would arouse Liu Zhang's suspicion, but one of the consequences of the ban on the merchant of ban was that there would be a loophole in defense.

The Wu caravan finally arrived in front of the city gate, and immediately dozens of soldiers came up to greet him. A garrison laughed loudly, "Dad Huo, are you here to reward the army?"

Huo Ping, the leader of the caravan, smiled, "General Ma is really good at joking. This spring farming capacity is insufficient, and the price has risen sharply. A cow can be sold for five taels of gold. How could my owner let go of such a good deal? These twenty are just the first batch, and hundreds of cows will come in two days."

"Since you are so profitable, the brothers' money for tea and wine cannot be reduced, right?" Tun Chang asked with a smile.

"That's natural. I'll ask my friend to send it to General Ma."

When Liu Bei held Jianping County, he naturally had the power to collect taxes, but the dispute over taxation rights between Zigui and Wucheng had never been calmed. Considering the importance of Wucheng, Liu Bei finally handed over the taxation rights to Wucheng.

This is obviously unfair to Zigui County, where the business is more prosperous. In order to calm the imbalance of the soldiers' mentality, the main general Mi Fang acquiesced the soldiers' gray income - money for tea and wine, which is actually money for buying roads. This is an open secret. The soldiers did not hesitate to ask merchants for money according to the value of the goods.

However, asking for money is one thing, and strictly checking is another. Chief Ma Tun got the promise, looked down on his face, waved his hand and said, "Search!"

Dozens of soldiers rushed forward and conducted a thorough search of the caravan. Except for allowing a long and defensive sword, the caravan could not possess any long and short weapons.

Ma Tunchang slowly walked to Xiang Chong, looked him up and down, feeling that he looked familiar. When he saw that he was tall and slender and powerful, he said, "This brother should be a martial arts practitioner!"

Huo Ping hurried forward to smooth things over, "This is the guard I invited, please forgive me, Chief Matun! "

"Yeah?"

Ma Tun Chief suddenly discovered that Xiang Chong's sword was of extraordinary quality, and it was a good famous sword, and it was definitely not something that an ordinary guard could afford. He drew a knife and held Xiang Chong's throat and asked viciously: "Who are you?"

Xiang Chong's hand was as fast as lightning. He pinched the back of the knife with his left hand and gently tapped Tunchang's wrist with his right hand. Ma Tunchang felt the pain was broken, and the knife in his hand came out. He shouted, took a few steps back, and looked at Xiang Chong in shock and angrily, his lips trembling, and he couldn't say a word.

Xiang Chong handed him the knife, "You have to try again!"

Chief Ma Tun took the knife and stared at Xiang Chong again with lingering fear, "Who are you?"

Xiang Chong smiled faintly and said, "I am Yang Jin in Huarong. Have you heard of this general?"

Yang Jin is a famous swordsman in Huarong County. The commander of Liu Bei's army stationed in Nanjun is almost everyone knows. Because of his chivalrous and his face is as yellow as gold, his mother is extremely filial, and he has the nickname of "Disease Master". When Ma Tun Chief heard that he was Yang Jin, a famous swordsman in Nanjun, he immediately remembered it. No wonder he looked familiar. He had seen this person two years ago.

Chief Ma Tun thought of his brilliant methods just now, and couldn't help but be respectful and afraid. He put his sword away and bowed, "So it's Sword Yang, I'm disrespectful!"

Huo Ping next to him put a heavy purse into Matun Chief's arms in time and said with a dry smile: "Yang Jianke is the friend of my boss. He does not want to reveal his true identity. Please forgive me!"

At this time, Xiang Chong asked coldly again: "Do I have any questions?"

Xiang Chong's cold and arrogant temperament made Chief Ma Tun dare not underestimate it, and the other party seemed to have only two or three people, so there was no big problem. At this time, a soldier stepped forward to report: "Chibition Chief Qi Bian, the search has been completed, there is no problem!"

Chief Ma Tun felt the weight of his wallet again, which was only more or less. He looked at Xiang Chong deeply, and did not care about the loss of face just now. He waved his hand and said, "Let it go!"

Huo Ping finally showed a smile on his face, and he quickly ordered his men to drive the cattle and mules full of goods to enter Zigui City.

At the same time as Xiang Chong entered the city, a ferry was slowly sailing towards Zigui Wharf on the Yangtze River.

The cavalry sent a letter to cross the Yangtze River, turned over the horses, ran all the way, and rushed into Zigui County, and finally stopped the war horses until the front of Zigui County. He asked loudly: "Is the emperor's letter urgently? Can General Mi be there?"

"I'm here!"

Mi Fang's voice came from behind. When the sending soldiers turned around, they found Mi Fang with more than a dozen soldiers behind him. He hurriedly dismounted and knelt down on one knee to salute, "See General Mi!"

"Get up! Is there any urgent letter to me?"

The sender stood up and took out a letter and presented it to Mi Fang. Mi Fang took it and glanced at it. It was Liu Bei's handwritten letter. He quickly opened the letter and read it carefully.

The letter said that the Jiangxia army occupied Xiling County, and Liu Jing went to inspect it himself, most likely to be preparing to seize Bashu. The letter ordered Mi Fang to strengthen his vigilance and prevent the Jiangxia army from raiding Zigui.

Mi Fang was a little stunned. He had known about the Jiangxia army's occupation of Xiling County for a long time, but he was not worried that the Jiangxia army would attack Zigui.

This is because there is still a Xinling County between Zigui County and Xiling County. If the Jiangxia army wants to take Zigui, there will inevitably be movement in Xinling County, and the beacon will also be ignited, but there has been no movement in Xinling County so far.

Mi Fang thought about it carefully and it seemed that she had not received a message from Xinling County for several days. Usually, every three days, the defenders of Xinling County would send a message of peace, but now it was the fourth day, but there was no news in Xinling County. Then Mi Fang felt a little uneasy.

"Take a few brothers to Xinling County to find out the news!" Mi Fang immediately turned around and ordered an officer. The officer took the order and ran away quickly.
Chapter completed!