223 was a difficult year for the Shu Han Empire.
Externally, Liu Bei was defeated by the famous Eastern Wu general Lu Xun at Yiling, not only completely losing Jingzhou, an important base of the Northern Expedition, but also losing most of his elite troops; internally, the three major political factions of Jingzhou, Yizhou, and Dongzhou were full of contradictions, especially the Yizhou people, who had been suppressed since Liu Bei entered Shu. As a result, many of Yizhou's powerful men were hostile to the nascent Shu Han Empire.
At the same time, the Southern Central region, which was remotely bound by the Shu Han Dynasty, also began to stir up trouble when it heard of Liu Bei's defeat, such as the Huang Yuan Rebellion and Gu Min's Rebellion in 223.
It is said that he is a dying orphan, but everyone knows that what Liu Bei left for Zhuge Liang was an uncompromising mess.
However, Zhuge Liang was not afraid at all, and calmly deployed at the time of life and death, and stabilized the situation in only 5 years.
Zhuge Liang's tongue fights confucianism
(1) Tie up Eastern Wu and appease the Shu people
After Zhuge Liang took charge of the military and political affairs of the Shu Han Dynasty, re-alleging with Eastern Wu was the first major thing he had to do.
Sun Quan also knew that in terms of population and the land occupied, even the sum of Shu Han and Eastern Wu could not match the Cao Wei family.
Therefore, when Eastern Wu won the Battle of Yiling, Sun Quan immediately ordered people to send back the captured Shu army soldiers and horses to show goodwill.
In December 222, Sun Quan also sent emissaries to the White Emperor's City to greet Liu Bei's illness.
Since we know each other well, re-alliance is a matter of pushing the boat along the water.
So in 223, Shu Han and Eastern Wu re-concluded the covenant.
At the same time as the friendship with Eastern Wu, there was also a personnel transfer of the Shu Han government.
During Liu Bei's lifetime, most of the high-ranking officials of the Shu Han Dynasty were the old departments he brought from Yuzhou and Jingzhou, and there were very few native officials in Yizhou.
After Zhuge Liang ascended to power, in order to ease the contradiction between the Haoqiang of Yizhou and the Shu Han regime, he sent many people to hire famous people from Yizhou to serve as officials in the dynasty and provide them with a way to enter the country.
According to the statistics of relevant scholars, there were 63 people who used Wenwu during Zhuge Liang's reign, and Yizhou accounted for 29 people, which was more than the Wenwu of Jingzhou.
For a time, the celebrities of the government and the public were all satisfied and convinced, and the Shu Han regime also showed an unprecedented harmonious situation.
Ancients Night Feast Map
(2) Retreat to the people and recuperate
The southern and central regions are mountainous, and as long as the main barriers are controlled, the safety of the Chengdu Plain can be ensured.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang did not pay attention to the rebellion in Nanzhong in the early days of Bingzheng, but single-mindedly recuperated.
As we all know, the Chengdu Plain has a water conservancy project that is the most ancient and modern, it is Dujiangyan.
Dujiangyan
To put it simply, Dujiangyan can irrigate most of the cultivated land in the Chengdu Plain, and can ensure harvest in drought and flood without relying on the sky to eat.
KeduJiangyan was built for the Warring States period, and it has been more than 500 years since the founding of the Shu Han Dynasty, and many years of war have led to the siltation of some rivers.
In this regard, Zhuge Liang specially set up a weir officer and dispatched more than a thousand soldiers to be responsible for the daily maintenance of Dujiangyan.
It didn't take long for the Shudi to have a thriving situation of "loose ditches, wrong frontiers, millet oil, and japonica rice Momo".
Chengdu Plain
After solving the problem of grain supply, Zhuge Liang began to deal with the problem of deficit in the state's treasury.
In ancient times, the most lucrative thing was the salt and iron trade, and Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty recruited the Xiongnu and did not lose money, relying on the monopoly of salt and iron business.
In fact, the policy of the Shudi Salt and Iron Official Camp was set in the second year of Liu Bei's entry into Sichuan, and Zhuge Liang just continued to move forward along the old road.
But Zhuge Liang worked hard, in order to make the financial income to a higher level, he specially ran to the well salt production base near Chengdu to see if he could improve the technology.
Under Zhuge Liang's painstaking research, the production technology of shrinking the wellhead and using natural gas as fuel came into being.
The production of well salt in the Shi zai Bashu region was one stove and five pots in the Han Dynasty, and after Zhuge Liang improved the stove, it soared to fourteen woks per stove.
Solving technical problems does not mean solving financial problems.
At that time, natural gas boiled salt was mainly promoted in the Chengdu area, and the production of well salt in the slightly remote area was still very primitive due to the inability of Shu Hanli to reach.
In order to further increase his income, Zhuge Liang could only find another way.
Fortunately, the Chengdu area has had a tradition of producing colored cotton since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
This kind of color cotton is exquisite in craftsmanship and excellent in texture, and has always been favored by dignitaries and nobles.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang vigorously developed the production of Shu brocade.
Later, relying on the rich income brought by the sale of Shu Jin, Shu Han not only got rid of the dilemma of insufficient finances, but also took out a large surplus to carry out the Northern Expedition.
Hu Wang leads camel brocade textiles
(3) Put down the rebellion in South Central and train the New Army
In 225, under zhuge Liang's meticulous governance, Shu Han finally got rid of the dilemma of internal and external troubles.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang issued an order to recruit the rebels in The South Central.
Most of the rebels in Nanzhong were rabble-rousers who did not understand the art of war, so Zhuge Liang fought quite easily in this counterinsurgency war as a whole.
Shi Zai Zhuge Liang led a large army out of Chengdu in March, and in the autumn he suppressed the rebels, counting the triumph at the end of the previous year, the whole journey lasted half a year.
As Ma Mo said, "attacking the heart is the best", it is not difficult to suppress the rebellion, but how to ensure that after he leaves, South Central will not rebel?
To this end, Zhuge Liang thought of three ways, recruiting young and strong people in Nanzhong as soldiers, recruiting local heroes and strong people to enter the dynasty as officials, and splitting the four counties of Nanzhong into seven.
Zhuge Liang 3rd Road Pingnan Middle
The relocation of more than 10,000 young and strong people in the south central region has enriched the source of soldiers and reduced the unstable factors in the south central region, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone. (This unit grew up in the mountains since childhood, wading through mountains and wading on the ground, and later under the tutelage of Zhuge Liang, they became the ace units of mountain combat, known as the "Flying Army of Wudang"))
The elites in the south central region were transferred, and even if there was another rebellion, the faction could be put down.
The division of the four counties of Nanzhong into seven counties weakened the power of Southwest Yi even if the central government strengthened its management.
Since then, although the rebellion in the south and central regions has not completely subsided, there have been no large-scale rebellions.
The southern central region before and after Zhuge Liang's southern expedition
(4) Adjust personnel and prepare for the Northern Expedition
In the spring of 227, after more than a year of zhuge liang's army training, the Shu army became strong and strong.
Therefore, Zhuge Liangnai planned the Northern Expedition.
Historical records record that when Zhuge Liang was intensively preparing for the Northern Expedition, Li Yan, who was stationed in Jiangzhou, wrote a letter to Zhuge Liang.
In the letter, Li Yan not only persuaded Zhuge Liang to ask the imperial court for nine tins, but also encouraged Zhuge Liang to become king.
Li Yan statue
This Li Yan, like Zhuge Liang, was Liu Beituo's lonely vassal, according to the Ming Dynasty, Zhuge Liang was the first assistant, and Li Yan was the second assistant.
Previously, because of the need to defend Eastern Wu, Li Yan had been leading troops to garrison the White Emperor City.
Later, relations between Shu Han and Eastern Wu eased, and Li Yan was transferred to Jiangzhou.
Probably not allowed to participate in the central affairs for a long time, Li Yan was quite resentful of Zhuge Liang, and before this letter, Li Yan had also written to the imperial court to set up Bazhou in five counties in eastern Sichuan and have him serve as an assassin.
After being rejected, Li Yan wrote to the imperial court to request that the government be opened.
This series of abnormal actions of Li Yan aroused the vigilance of Zhuge Liang, who did not deal with Li Yan considering that the Northern Expedition was imminent.
But he grew an eye for it, and he began to pay attention to whether there were people like Li Yan who were in important positions and dissatisfied with the status quo.
Soon, Zhuge Liang discovered that The Tiger Ben Zhonglang, who commanded the palace guards, belonged to this person, so he ordered Future Min to be transferred to the Northern Expeditionary Army.
His position was handed over to the rising star Dong Yun.
Then, Zhuge Liang made a selection of the remaining personnel of the Chao Xiang Mansion, and he must ensure that he was out on expeditions and that unpredictable changes would not occur in the DPRK.
Finally, Zhuge Liang gave the later lord Liu Chan a "Table of Departures" and led his army into Hanzhong, starting the journey of the Northern Expedition.