Wenshan County, Du'an, the source of the water, is in a very remote mountain village.

Sitting on the dirt platform at the entrance of the village, rubbing the big bag stung by bees on his forehead. Lin Xiao looked aggrieved and looked at the road back to the village with a eager look, hoping that his father would suddenly appear so that he could tell his father about the pitiful pain of being stung by bees, and asked his father to avenge him, and quickly taste the delicious food his father said he would definitely bring back.

My father and the fourth uncle went to Chengdu to put rafts more than half a month ago. I heard that the nanmu produced here in Duan is very valuable now in Chengdu. Not only can it be sold at a good price, but it can also be exchanged for many very delicious foods. My uncle, who used to be a clerk in the caravan, urged his father to put rafts with him to go to Chengdu to exchange for money. My father, who had never entered the city several times in his life, could not bear the temptation, so he mustered up the courage to cut some nanmu with the villagers in the village, tied them into rafts and put them into the river, and transported them to Chengdu by water to try his luck.

During this period, the third uncle and the elderly in the village also urged him, asking his father and fourth uncle not to listen to rumors outside, saying that when they were young, they had let the wood rafts go to Chengdu, but the wood that Duanan could not be sold at all in Chengdu, and they could not even make the round trip fee. My father was hesitant and planned to give up. It was the fourth uncle who forced him to take his father on the way. At the same time, his father also took away the only copper coins in the family.

"The child is obedient at home. Dad goes to sell the wooden steaks and buy delicious food for you to eat."

This is what my father said before leaving. For more than half a month, Lin Xiao has always kept this in mind. At the same time, he constantly fantasized about what delicious food his father could bring to him, is it sour and sweet fruit? Or is it a malt sugar made from wheat? Or is it a dried jerky marinated with sauce? If it is really jerky, it would be great.

"Lin Xiao, what's wrong with your head?"

The third uncle, who was gray-haired and gray, appeared on the way back to the village with a hoe. He also saw the big bag on Lin Xiao’s forehead at a glance. Lin Xiaoze replied aggrievedly: “I was stinged by the bees on the mountain behind the village and it hurts to death.”

"I deserve it, who told you to dig out the honeycomb? It's the same as your father when he was a child." The third uncle cursed and asked again: "How about it, have your father and your fourth uncle come back?"

Lin Xiao shook his head, and the third uncle was talking, saying, "I don't listen to good things. I can't sell it for the price. But I don't believe it. The fragrant nanmu is everywhere in us. When we can't finish firewood, who wants it to be transported to Chengdu? At that time, wouldn't it be better to weed the fields, add more fertilizer, and collect more grain?"

Lin Xiao didn't say anything, and the third uncle said kindly again: "Hurry, it's getting late, it's time to go home. The sun is setting, and it's going to be dark soon. Your father shouldn't come back today."

It seemed as if it was to slap the third uncle in the face, just at this moment, several figures suddenly appeared on the road back to the village. Lin Xiao looked around hard and vaguely saw his father being among them. Lin Xiaozhu immediately forgot the pain on his forehead and cheered to meet the visitor, "Dad——!"

"Children—!"

The father, carrying a heavy basket, opened his arms and quickly welcomed Lin Xiao, hugged Lin Xiao and shook it around in the air, laughing and said, "Stir, the sun has set and has not returned home yet. Is it because my father is back?"

Lin Xiaodali nodded and asked quickly: "Dad, have you said you would bring me something delicious? Have you brought me with you? Where?"

The father laughed loudly, first put his son on the ground, then took out a colorful thing from his arms and quickly peeled it off, took out a white piece and handed it to Lin Xiao, and ordered: "Open your mouth, Dad, feed you."

Lin Xiao opened his mouth well, and the white piece with body temperature quickly stuffed it into Lin Xiao's mouth. At first, there was no smell. Lin Xiao was a little strange, but after crushing it with his tongue, as the saliva melted, a strong and sweet taste soon filled Lin Xiao's mouth. When Lin Xiao continued to taste it in surprise, in addition to tasting it, he not only tasted the sweet taste that was much sweeter than honey, but also smelled a unique milky smell. It was so delicious that Lin Xiao had tasted it, but he had never thought about it.

"How about it? Is it delicious?"

The father asked with a smile, Lin Xiao nodded desperately, and asked with ecstasy face: "Dad, what is this? It's so sweet and delicious."

"Stir, this thing is called Big White Rabbit Milk Candy. It was specially brought back to you from Chengdu." The father replied with a smile and asked again: "How is it? Do you want it?"

"I want it! Dad, I want it! I want it!"

"Stinky, don't rob it, come, leave some for you, don't eat it all!"

My father and the fourth uncle not only brought back the sweet and sweet big white rabbit milk candy, but also brought back several canned foods that Lin Xiao had never seen before. After returning home, the outside of the yard of Lin Xiao’s house was immediately surrounded by neighbors watching the fun. My father proudly opened a can of canned lunch meat and asked his mother to cut it into small pieces with a knife and put it into rice porridge to cook. The meat was heated in the room, and the unique meat fragrance immediately filled the inside and outside of the yard, allowing Lin Xiao and his neighbors to swallow saliva together. The third uncle who was watching the situation also exclaimed: "What is so fragrant?"

"Uncle San, this is called lunch meat, I bought it in the official market in Chengdu."

"How much? Is it expensive?"

"Don't blame Uncle San, I'm really lucky to not listen to you this time. We all have nanmu. Now we can really sell high prices in Chengdu. You can buy a basket of lunch meat like this with just a nanmu. It's too much to carry, and you can also change sugar, instant noodles, and delicious coke and wine. Uncle San, you love drinking, come and taste the rice wine I brought back from Chengdu. Keep in mind that you have never drunk such a good wine in your life."

After drinking two sips of the rice wine my father brought back, the third uncle was so excited that his beard was trembling. After applauding, he quickly asked: "Children's father, is this thing really exchanged for Nanmu? We all have Nanmu, what is the price in Chengdu now?"

My father gave an answer that the third uncle and the neighbors couldn't believe, and it also made the third uncle and many neighbors beat their chests and stamped their feet and regretted not taking advantage of the slack farm. My father said again: "By the way, the officials in Chengdu asked us to bring us back, saying that the Han army had waived all the money for the children's tuition. In the future, anyone who collects tuition and pays money, just go to Chengdu to complain, and they will deal with the officials below."

"In addition, the officials in Chengdu also said that we all have the fragrance of nanmu that we produce. They buy as much as we buy, and they all have the sulfur we produce, and they also buy as much as we pay for a high price. In addition, our corvee labor has been exempted for three years. If the county will send us corve labor in these three years, we can also go to Chengdu to file a complaint..."

"Children, stop eating, keep it over."

"It's okay, let him eat it. The food price is low this year, and the nanmu can be sold at a high price. It's okay for him to eat whatever he wants. By the way, my goddamn, I want to discuss with you more carefully about having a few more children later."

Similar scenes and scenes can be seen everywhere in Du'an, not far from Cheng. When the golden nanmu and sulfur mines are abundant, Du'an people are undoubtedly the biggest beneficiary of the new Han army policy. No matter how poor the countryside, as long as the golden nanmu that can be seen everywhere on the mountain is cut, tied into wooden rafts and put them into the river, and transported to Chengdu by water, they can be immediately replaced with junk food or money that is too large to believe. Countless Du'an people get rid of poverty and become rich, and countless Du'an people live a good life that they never dared to imagine before.

The people of Yizhou in other places are also beneficiaries of the new Han army policy. The Han army rulers led by Zhang Zhi not only reduced the large amount of taxes to the people of Yizhou, but also exempted the people of Yizhou from labor service for three years. No matter what public welfare projects they mobilize the people to do, they will pay wages and provide food, giving the people of Yizhou the opportunity to make money by working and earning money, and no longer have to bring their own dry food to work for the government. At the same time, what is even more strange is that after the battle last year for half a year, the grain prices in Yizhou not only did not soar, but also had a downward trend, so many people also put the matter of having one or two children on the agenda.

The people benefited, and the aristocratic families in Yizhou also had benefits. With the full support of the Han army, the aristocratic families in Yizhou organized caravans to sell various junk food abroad. None of them could be sold at sky-high prices when transported out of Yizhou, and could make huge profits. At the same time, as the grain prices were steady and falling, the aristocratic families also had enough food to let the field slaves start mines and boil salt and make profits for sales. In addition, a large number of livestock such as pigs, cattle, horses, and sheep cultivated meat, and the growth of property was visible to the naked eye.

During this period, good news about the Han army has been going on. In addition to the rapid formality of various civil affairs measures, the isolated Yueli and the Jin army of Hanjia County had no choice but to accept Zhang Zhi's letters and persuade him to surrender, and actively change his flag to surrender the Han army. Not to mention the relatively flat and easy-to-go Jinniu Avenue was reopened, but the administrative plan to establish a new city in the Ya'an area, which is also rich in golden nanmu, was put into implementation, so that the golden nanmu produced in Ya'an could be transported to Nan'an (Leshan) by water, so that Zhang Zhi could be received at any time.

During this period, the Han army general Zhu Xiang also led his army to protect the Han army's family and came to Chengdu to live. The person who replaced Zhu Xiang in Nanzhong became Liu Ju, who made great contributions to the Han army in Jincheng, while Tang Pu continued to stay in Zhencheng and guarded the southern gate of Nanzhong for the Han army. In fact, it was the same if they were not seen. Without the concern of their family, even if the Han army really lost Nanzhong, which was short of people, it would be fine.

However, the development of the Han army was not smooth. During this period, with the large amount of junk food sold northwards, Sima Liang, the King of Fufeng of Jinting, who replaced Sima Wang and Shi Bao, was a little impatient. In order to make huge profits, he began to use the army to closely investigate the Shuzhong caravans from Bashu northwards. Once junk food was found, they were immediately confiscated and confiscated, and then transported it to the Central Plains to make huge profits. The wealthy families in Shu also suffered heavy losses and had to transfer junk food to the border to sell, and the profits dropped sharply.

Of course, this situation was reported to Zhang Zhi very quickly. After hearing this, Zhang Zhi not only had no worries at all, but also applauded and smiled: "I did a pretty job. At this moment, it was difficult for those rich families in Shu to support me in regaining Hanzhong as soon as possible."

After being imprisoned by Zhang Zhi for a while, when he could not bear it, the wealthy families in Shuzhong, led by Zhang Zhi's cheap father-in-law Chang Hong, collectively ran to Zhang Zhi to complain, telling them about the huge losses caused to Sima Liang's monopoly of trade routes. They also strongly encouraged Zhang Zhi to send troops north as soon as possible, regain Hanzhong, and reopened the trade route between Shu and the Central Plains and even the Western Regions.

"...Son-in-law, you know the situation. Sima Liang's old man was insatiable. In order to eat the huge profits of instant noodles and lunch meat, he refused to let our caravan pass through smoothly, forcing us to transport instant noodles and lunch meat to Baishui, and sold at a low price in Yang'anguan area, and he could not make a few small money at all. So, in order to clear the trade route, in order to allow us to sell these things to the Central Plains and the Western Regions through Shangyong and Longxi, and exchange various supplies for you, you must send troops to restore Hanzhong as soon as possible."

"Father-in-law, I know all the situations you said." Zhang Zhi smiled and replied, "But father-in-law, you also know that my army is still in the expansion stage and has not accumulated enough strength to launch the Northern Expedition. In addition, the army moves to a sea of ​​money, grain, and consumes tens of thousands of troops, weapons and supplies. In a short period of time, how can you start the Northern Expedition to restore Hanzhong?"

"Son-in-law, our wealthy families in Yizhou have already discussed it." Chang Hong replied immediately: "As long as you can send troops to the Northern Expedition as soon as possible and regain Hanzhong, no matter what we are asked to do, we know that you lack manpower now, so you can speak out as much as you need. Our land slaves can pay as much as you want, and we can also bear some of the costs for you, and we will give all of our materials, and we will do nothing else, just to regain Hanzhong, the gateway to Yizhou, and to keep our Shuzhong safe."

The wealthy families of aristocratic families brought a large amount of manpower to the door, and of course Zhang Zhi would not be polite. He borrowed a large amount of manpower from Chang Hong and other major families for military production on the spot, and asked the wealthy families of Yizhou to support the Han army's various military supplies such as iron, silk, hemp, wood and glue paint. Chang Hong and other Shu families also agreed immediately, and even patted their chests to ensure that they contributed money and efforts during the Northern Expedition of the Han army, helping the Han army transport military supplies to reduce the logistics burden, and actively tied them to the Han army's tanks tighter.

Then, after sending Chang Hong and other representatives of the aristocratic family away, Zhang Zhicai smiled at his authentic father-in-law Chen Can, "Did you see it? This is the nature of a wealthy family. If the Northern Expedition is not profitable to them, they will desperately restrain themselves, but if the Northern Expedition concerns their vital interests, they will be willing to give up everything."

Chen Can was quite kind and said with a smile: "Human nature is selfish, and they cannot be considered wrong. Also, during the Prime Minister and General, the Shu family was actually considered to be supporting the Northern Expedition. Otherwise, the Prime Minister would not dare to lead the army five Northern Expeditions himself, and the General would not have the feat of the Ninth Expedition to the Central Plains. However, every Northern Expedition was disappointed. These Shu family really could not bear it, so they changed their support to opposition."

Zhang Zhi nodded and admitted that the Shu family opposed the Northern Expedition in the later period, because Zhuge Villager and Jiang Wei returned empty-handed every Northern Expedition, which was too much of a blow to the enthusiasm of these families. Chen Can asked again: "Later General, since the Shu family has clearly set off a carriage and horse and firmly supported us in restoring Hanzhong, what are you going to do next? Should you send troops as soon as possible, or will you talk about it later?"

"Let's talk about it later." Zhang Zhi replied: "Our army is still in the expansion stage. The new recruits lack training and their combat effectiveness is still too poor. They must be strictly trained for a period of time before they can come in handy. In the second half of the year, after the autumn harvest in the second half of the year, we have completed military expansion and soldiers training, as well as overall deployment adjustments, and then we will consider sending troops to liberation Hanzhong."

After making this decision, Zhang Zhi added another sentence and said, "I hope Sima Liang will not adjust his current defense deployment. His current defense tactics to guard the siege are the most beneficial to us. As long as he continues this defense deployment, it will be easy for us to take Hanzhong."
Chapter completed!