The reason why Cao Chong was so shocked was naturally because of the content of the bamboo slips in Cao Chong's hand.

There is only one official document from Yizhou that reported to Cao Cao, but it is very long.

The bamboo slips in Cao Chong's hand were heavy, and there were two cloths full of words in the bamboo slips.

The content of this bamboo slip and two cloths reported to Cao Cao was the change of Yizhou.

Moreover, the situation is not optimistic.

Zhang Song and Huang Quan gathered soldiers from Dongzhou near Chengdu, intending to break away from Cao Cao's control.

When Cao Chong saw this information, he couldn't believe it.

"Father, but Liu Zhang was in Yecheng at that time, why dared he give such an order?"

Cao Cao smiled and said, "That's because Liu Zhang had a plan to escape. Do you think Liu Zhang was indulging in his mansion all day long? No, if you go to the inner hall of Liu's mansion and in a dark room, you will find a secret tunnel, and this tunnel leads directly to the outskirts of Yecheng."

Is this still the case?

Cao Chong looked at Cao Cao blankly at this moment, and suddenly felt that this might not have been done by Cao Pi.

This is more like Cao Cao did...

Could it be that the murderer whom I have been investigating is standing in front of me?

Cao Chong's mind was a little confused, so he quickly shook his head.

But even though Boss Cao did these things, Cao Chong still had many doubts in his heart.

Even though Zhang Song and Huang Quan were intending to rebel, Cao Chong felt that Cao Cao should not be so reckless and killed Liu Zhang directly.

The real reason why Zhang Song was still in opposition to Cao Cao at this time was that Zhang Song had a grudge with Cao Cao.

In the 13th year of Jian'an, Zhang Song was a member of the Yizhou Governor Liu Zhang and was sent to Cao Cao's place without recording it, so he felt resentful.

Huang Quan was one of the few loyal people in Yizhou who were loyal to Liu Zhang. When Fa Zheng and others advised Liu Zhang to welcome Liu Bei, Huang Quan advised Liu Zhang not to welcome Liu Bei, but was released by Liu Zhang as the county magistrate of Guanghan.

Later, when Liu Zhang was defeated, Huang Quan surrendered to Liu Bei and was appointed as a general.

Although these two people can cause some storm, it is impossible to shake the foundation of Yizhou.

The reason why Cao Chong dared to say such words is naturally based on it.

To understand Yizhou, Cao Chong chose an entry point, which was that in later generations, Liu Zhang was obviously stronger than Zhang Lu, so why did he ask Liu Bei, who was weaker than him, to enter Shu to fight Zhang Lu? Why was he defeated by Liu Bei, who was weaker than him, later?

Yizhou has been a country of Tianfu since ancient times. With the irrigation of Dujiangyan and the protection of mountains and rivers, Yizhou has made the food and grass rich, easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Since ancient times, there has been a saying that the road to Shu is difficult. In the middle and late Three Kingdoms, Sima Yi took a defensive move against Shu for many years, and it was precisely because the road to Shu is difficult to break.

Liu Zhang and his son were in Yizhou for many years and were very kind. After Liu Bei entered Sichuan, they had intrigues with each other for three years.

In 214 AD, both sides officially opened fire.

Liu Bei did not have many soldiers at that time. The troops brought from Jingzhou and the troops who surrendered were only ten thousand.

Moreover, Liu Bei's army was fighting alone and had no support. Once Liu Zhang cut off his retreat, it would be impossible for Liu Bei to win.

However, Liu Zhang gradually ruined his good situation again and again. When Liu Bei attracted his horse and wandered under the city of Yizhou, Liu Zhang felt as if he was ashamed.

At that time, there were 30,000 elite soldiers in Yizhou City, and the food and grass were enough to support for a year. Many generals vowed to be loyal to Liu Zhang and survive and die with Chengdu. Liu Zhang's subordinates also guarded various checkpoints and strictly prevented the troops from coming to rescue in Jingzhou.

It can be said that as long as Liu Zhang made up his mind, Yizhou may not be lost, at least it will not be lost easily.

Later, Liu Zhang would not say, "The father and son have been in the state for more than 20 years, and have no kindness to gain the people. The people have been fighting for three years, and they have been so smearing the grass and wild, because Zhang is the one who is so happy!" After this sentence, he surrendered to Liu Bei.

But is this the truth?

Did Liu Zhang really surrender because he was incompetent?

No!

Liu Zhang was obviously not an ordinary shrimp soldier and crab general who could turn from a puppet into a warlord who held power.

Liu Zhang's final surrender was not because he was incompetent, but because he was powerless.

The so-called wealth of Yizhou is actually a misunderstanding.

Due to inconvenient transportation, Yizhou had fewer connections with the Central Plains. It was not until Qin State eliminated Shu State and sent officials to govern it that it began to gradually open.

At that time, Yizhou looked at it from the map, including today's Sichuan, Chongqing, Guangxi and Yunnan, but in fact, even the opening of Sichuan was not completed. A large number of mountainous areas were gathered by ethnic minorities, outside the effective management of the court.

After four hundred years of the Han Dynasty, Yizhou's opening was not sufficient. The one with a relatively high degree of opening was mainly the Chengdu Plain. More other places were in a barbaric state and occupied by ethnic minorities.

The ethnic minorities in these places do not pay taxes or assume obligations to the state, and as long as there is no rebellion, it is already thankful.

In fact, rebellions in the southwest region were ongoing. The Han Dynasty could not be effectively managed in schools. Rebellions were often born. The court and local garrisons also quelled these rebellions, constantly eliminating relatively powerful ethnic minority tribes and included them in the unified national management system.

Even so, this process was not completed until the end of the Han Dynasty.

The areas where the governor of Yizhou sent by the imperial court were really more effectively controlled were Shu County and Hanzhong. The main residents in other areas were ethnic minorities and were outside the effective management of the state. The population of Han residents that the state could control was not large.

The real large-scale opening of Yizhou was actually the Three Kingdoms period in the late Han Dynasty.

Because of large-scale wars in the Central Plains and Guanzhong areas at the end of the Han Dynasty, some residents in the Central Plains began to migrate with their clans and enter Yizhou, and the population of Yizhou increased significantly.

After a long-term development and development from Liu Zhang to Shu Han, to the demise of Shu Han, the population was only one million. When Liu Bei entered Yizhou, the maximum population was about 60% to 70% of this number.

Moreover, after experiencing large-scale land annexation in the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty, the population was dependent on local tyrants, which was actually equivalent to breaking away from the control of the state.

The state must use powerful landlords to turn the dependent population on the land they occupy into a population that can be used by the state. This means that the state must be cooperated and supported by powerful landlords to maintain its rule.

This is also the institutional basis for the troops formed in the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period.

When Liu Zhang's father Liu Yan arrived in Yizhou, Yizhou had just experienced the impact of the Yellow Turban Rebellion. It was pacified under the leadership of local bureaucrats before the political order was restored.

However, in order to establish his prestige in Yizhou and establish personal rule, Liu Yan killed a group of powerful local landlords with relatively powerful forces. The main ones he relied on to fight against these local tyrants were the soldiers of the Dongzhou, that is, the people of the Central Plains who migrated from Nanyang and Guanzhong.

After Liu Yan's death, Liu Zhang succeeded to the throne with the support of Liu Yan's old minister, local officials Zhao Wei and others. The main reason why they supported Liu Zhang did not choose to support Liu Mao, who was older than Liu Zhang, was that Liu Zhang was relatively cowardly, which was the so-called "Wen Ren" in the Three Kingdoms, which facilitated their control and acted as puppets.

But Liu Zhang was unwilling to act completely as a puppet.

Shortly after he succeeded to the throne, he broke up with Zhang Lu, killing all the families who remained in Yizhou, and forming a mortal hatred with Zhang Lu.

In order to resist Zhang Lu, Liu Zhang sent Liu Yan's old minister Pang Xi to serve as the prefect of Brazil to defend Zhang Lu. As a result, Pang Xi flirted with Zhang Lu after taking office.

After all, Pang Xi had not yet broken up with Liu Zhang, so Zhao Wei directly broke up with him and rebelled.

Because Gan Ning and others rebelled in the eastern part of Yizhou, they received support from Liu Biao, and Liu Zhang sent Zhao Wei to lead his troops to quell the rebellion.

After Zhao Wei arrived at the front line, he first quelled the rebellion and drove Gan Ning to Liu Biao's jurisdiction.

However, Zhao Wei made a private peace and ceasefire with Liu Biao. With the support of local tyrants in Yizhou, he returned to Chengdu and almost overthrew Liu Zhang.

However, the Dongzhou soldiers knew that if Liu Zhang failed this time, they would all die, so they fought to the death to defeat Zhao Wei's army and Liu Zhang's rule in Yizhou was preserved.

Therefore, Liu Zhang actually had an army, with more numbers than Liu Bei when he first entered Sichuan.

When Liu Bei entered Sichuan, there were only about 10,000 troops, and Liu Zhang led the troops to meet Liu Bei on his behalf, and there were 30,000 troops.

Of course, Liu Zhang must have some troops stationed in various areas of his jurisdiction and stayed in Chengdu, with a total number of more than 30,000.

From this perspective, there is no need for Liu Zhang to invite Liu Bei to Sichuan, but the matter is not as simple as it seems.

Because these armies were protected by Liu Zhang and were also used to suppress local tyrants. These armies must be controlled by him and his rule in Yizhou can only be maintained, otherwise he will be overthrown by local tyrants.

Therefore, these armies must always be with him, using self-defense, and not for foreign warfare.

This means that Liu Zhang's rule in Yizhou was actually unstable. He himself relied on the suppression of the Dongzhou soldiers to maintain his rule in Yizhou.

The local tyrants in Yizhou did not support Liu Zhang, and they could even be said to be opposed by Liu Zhang. They either accumulated their strength to raise an army to oppose it, or there were external forces opposing Liu Zhang, and they supported it.

Liu Bei played this role. After entering Sichuan for a year, Liu Bei did not fight with Zhang Lu, but instead bought people's hearts everywhere. He mainly made friends with local tyrants and understood the actual political, economic and military situation of Yizhou.

Afterwards, Liu Bei and Liu Zhang turned against each other. What Liu Zhang used to fight against Liu Bei was actually mainly the Dongzhou soldiers and some ethnic minority armies. When these troops were all eliminated by Liu Bei, he had to surrender.

From this perspective, although it is a misunderstanding to say that Yizhou’s wealth itself is a misunderstanding, from another perspective, the so-called wealth is actually mainly a powerful landlord.

The wealth of powerful landlords can prove in turn that Liu Zhang, as a local regime, was unable to effectively draw wealth and strength from these powerful landlords, and could not transform the local wealth and strength of Yizhou into the strength of his own rule. Therefore, there was a situation where Yizhou was indeed rich on the surface, but Liu Zhang was not strong.

After Cao Cao unified the world, the powerful people in Yizhou had actually relied on Boss Cao, and Liu Zhang dared not stop this, nor could he stop it.

Therefore.

Even if the Dongzhou soldiers want to overthrow Yizhou, there is a greater possibility that they will not succeed.

Because the powerful people in Yizhou would not unify Liu Zhangfu's restoration.

Cao Chong understood this, and he believed that Cao Cao also understood it.

In fact, Cao Cao also understood.

However, Liu Zhang and Ma Teng still have to die!
Chapter completed!