Chapter 300: The Road to Shu is Difficult

In the summer of the ninth year of Jian'an (196), Ma Yue submitted a letter to the court to the court to attack the Wudou Mi Cult entrenched in Hanzhong. The Han Prime Minister Cao Cao approved Ma Yue's letter to the emperor for the purpose of diverting the Liang army's troops and winning a breathing opportunity. Ma Yue then took Fang Yue as the main general, Zhang Xiu and Chen Dao as the deputy general, and raised an army of 25,000 to attack Zhang Lu.

Hanzhong County belongs to Yizhou and is a typical Shu area, surrounded by mountains on all sides, easy to defend but difficult to attack.

At that time, there were three roads to go from Guanzhong to Hanzhong.

From Sanguan to the south, pass through Xigu and directly to Hanzhong, it is the official road, but it is blocked by Yangping Pass; to the east is the Ziwu Valley path, which is winding and rugged and difficult to walk. You need to travel between the mountains and ridges for more than 800 miles before you can go straight to Hanzhong from Chang'an. There have always been only hunters and woodcutters who dare to walk; to the west is the Chencang Ancient Road, which is also steep and difficult to walk.

The 25,000 army was divided into three routes.

The five thousand people on the east road were led by Chen Dao, and set out from Chang'an through the Ziwu Valley Road (When Wei Yan suggested to Zhuge Liang to attack Chang'an in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the small path Wei Yan planned to take was the Ziwu Valley Road) and the five thousand people on the west road were led by Zhang Xiu, and set out from Wudu County, Liangzhou, and went straight to Mianyang through the Chencang Ancient Road, surrounded the side of Nanzheng (the capital of Hanzhong County). The army of 15,000 people on the middle road were led by Fang Yue and headed south through Xiegu to Yangping Pass.

According to the premeditation of the Ma Butcher and Jia Dushi, Fang Yue's army from the central route went south from the Xigu to attract Zhang Lu's attention. When the Hanzhong army gathered in Yangping Pass and confronted Fang Yue's army, Chen Da, Zhang Xiu's east and west surprises suddenly broke out from the side and the troops came to the city of Nanzheng.

Nanzheng, the prefect's office.

Zhang Wei, Yan Pu, Yang Song, Yang Ang, Yang Ren, Yang Bai and other Han Chinese civil and military confidants gathered together. The hall was already in chaos. The Liang army marched south in large numbers, and Hanzhong was in danger. Whether to fight or surrender, the civil and military confidants under Zhang Lu's command split into two factions with completely different opinions.

Zhang Wei, Yan Pu, Yang Ren, Yang Ang and others believed that Hanzhong was surrounded by mountains and was easy to defend but difficult to attack. As long as the general was condemned to defend Yangping Pass, even if the butcher Ma personally proposed a 100,000 army to attack, it would not be a concern. Yang Song and Yang Bo believed that the Liang army was powerful, and the butcher Ma was at its peak. He could only resist stubbornly, and only by surrendering can the family be kept small.

Zhang Wei left the line and said excitedly: "Brother, although Hanzhong is small, there are still 200,000 people, and there are 20,000 soldiers who can fight. The grain in the granaries is enough to last for three years and have a surplus. This is when he went south to Yizhou and fought for the world based on Xichuan. How could he give up his foundation to others?"

Zhang Wei is Zhang Lu's younger brother. Although this person is average in ability, he still has ambitions. Zhang Lu has five sons, but not one son is worthy of great use, and is not enough to inherit Zhang Lu's foundation. Therefore, Zhang Wei was eager to take over the rule of Hanzhong from Zhang Lu, so he naturally did not want Zhang Lu to surrender to Ma Yue.

"How dare you ask the second general how to compare himself to Lianghou?" Zhang Wei finished speaking, Yang Song had already stepped out to retort, "Although there are more than 200,000 people in Hanzhong and 20,000 armored people, Lianghou has tens of millions of people (Yang Song deliberately exaggerated the population under the rule of Ma Butcher, but due to the war in Guandong in recent years, a large number of refugees have poured into Guanzhong. The population under the rule of Ma Butcher has increased sharply, but four million is no more than 4 million.), and armored people can also be more than one million. If Lianghou carries a million tiger and wolf army to compete south, how should the second general resist?"

The chief minister Yan Pu turned his lips and said, "The butcher Ma was cruel and unkind, bloodthirsty, and he tried to usurp the Han Dynasty. He was a traitor. Even if there were millions of people, he was an unrighteous teacher. If the teacher was unrighteous, he would be powerless. If the teacher was unrighteous, he would be powerless. If the teacher was powerless, he would be powerless. Shijun (Zhang Lu called himself Shijun, and he also liked the civil and military commanders to call him Shijun) only needed to condemn a general and a team of elite troops to defend Yangping and the Hanzhong could rest assured."

"It's easy!" Yang Song's younger brother Yang Bai said coldly, "Who will guard Yangping? Fang Yue is a general under Lianghou. He once swept the desert with thousands of iron cavalry and broke through the Xianbei. Such a famous general, who can compete with Hanzhong? If the battle is not strong and Yangping Pass is lost, where should the Shijun go? Where should the 200,000 Hanzhong people go?"

"Not bad!" Yang Song took his brother's words and said loudly, "If you surrender to Lianghou, you can at least protect Shijun's life and the lives of the 200,000 people in Hanzhong."

Zhang Lu's expression changed slightly, and Yang Song's words hit him in the vital light.

As the leader of the Five Dou Rice Sect, Zhang Lu was in the shackles of saving the world and helping the people. He must first consider the life and death of the Five Dou Rice Sect and the people in everything. He can be regarded as the most kind warlord among all warlords in the late Han Dynasty! Ma Butcher treated the people of the Han Dynasty very well strategically, but he seemed extremely rough at the strategic level, far less kind than Zhang Lu.

For example, the butcher Ma forced himself to drive away Guanzhong with a sabre twice, and the people of Guandong traveled thousands of miles, resulting in a large number of people dying. This move can be said to be a harm to the heavens and cruelty and unkind. If it were Zhang Lu, he would not have done such a defiance of heaven and reason.

Zhang Lu was first the leader of the Wudou Rice Sect, and then the prefect of Hanzhong.

If you can choose, Zhang Lu is of course unwilling to rely on Ma Yue's command. Who doesn't want to be the boss himself?

But the problem is that Zhang Lu has no choice now. If he wants to continue to be the boss, he has to go to war with the horse butcher. If he wins, he will probably take his anger on the Hanzhong people. If the Hanzhong people are baptized by the horse butcher, then the Five Dogs of Rice Sect, which relies on the Hanzhong people, will be severely damaged. This is what Zhang Lu cannot tolerate.

When the survival right of the Five Dogs of Rice Cult conflicts with the autonomy of Hanzhong, Zhang Lu obviously tends to preserve the Five Dogs of Rice Cult and sacrifices Hanzhong's autonomy. However, Zhang Lu is also a warlord who is separatist in the end. If he can own the foundation of Hanzhong, he will naturally have his own extraordinary points, so he will naturally not make a decision to surrender easily.

After his thoughts were settled, Zhang Lu slowly stood up.

The quarrel in the hall immediately calmed down, and everyone's eyes gathered on Zhang Lu.

Zhang Lu's eyes swept across the faces of Zhang Wei, Yang Song and others, and said slowly: "For the people of Hanzhong and the great cause of five dou of rice to teach them for thousands of years, the Hanzhong army should be launched. At Yangping Pass, the Ma rebels will fight to the death. I have decided. You can rest your own life and prepare for the battle quickly!"

When Yang Song was about to leave with his sleeves, Zhang Lu suddenly said, "You can leave by yourself, and Bonian (Yang Song's name is written as a preface) is left."

After everyone was gone, Zhang Lucai said to Yang Song: "Does Bo Nian think that my master ignored the 200,000 Hanzhong people for his own selfishness?"

Yang Song said: "How dare you?"

Zhang Lu sighed and said, "Bonian didn't know anything. My master also intended to surrender, but was afraid that the Liang Hou would see it. This was the reason why he condemned the army to guard Yangping to prove to Liang Hou that I was not alone in Hanzhong. The reason why my master turned north was not afraid of the Liang army's military advance, but was actually for the plan of the 200,000 people in Hanzhong."

Yang Song suddenly realized and bowed to the ground and said, "The official is ignorant, I almost blamed Shi Jun for his mistake."

Zhang Lu stepped forward and stroked Yang Song's arm, sighed: "In the Battle of Yangping Pass, I hope Bonian will help you!"

Yang Song's face flushed and replied excitedly: "Don't worry, Shi Jun, even if the subordinates have spent all their wealth, they will help Shi Jun win the battle at Yangping Pass."

Zhang Lu said happily: "With Bo Nian's words, my master will feel at ease."

Yang Song clasped his fists and said, "It's not time to go, so the official said goodbye and went back to the mansion to prepare money and food."

“Not giving.”

“Stay.”

When Yang Song's figure left, Zhang Wei's figure suddenly flashed out of the side door like a ghost and said to Zhang Lu: "Brother, he is scheming. If it weren't for this, how could Yang Song, the greedy iron cockerel who was afraid of death, pays money and food to support the battle at Yangping Pass?"

Zhang Lu smiled faintly and said nothing. What he said to Yang Song just now is true and false. Since Zhang Wei understood this way, he was unwilling to explain. After all, the battle of Yangping Pass still relies on Zhang Wei to lead the troops. Although Yang Ren and Yang Ang are good at fighting, they are not Zhang Lu's confidants after all. Only Zhang Wei leads the army can Zhang Lu feel at ease.

On the slim valley road, Fang Yuezheng led a large army to move forward slowly towards Yangping Pass.

It was midsummer in June, mosquitoes and flies in the mountains, snakes and insects were walking around, and soldiers of the Liang army were bitten every day, and they were all suffering from pain. Because the heat in the mountains was not as dry as the north, there were countless people suffering from diseases (heat stroke). The army was slow and traveled less than 30 miles a day. Fortunately, the army was just a feint attack, so Fang Yue was not in a hurry.

Compared with the Xigu Road, Ziwu Road and Chencang Road are more steep and difficult to walk on.

Especially the Ziwu Path is winding for more than 800 miles, with deep valleys and cliffs, and quiet streams and streams crisscrossing. It is truly a dangerous obstacle. At times, a plank road is disrepaired for a long time. Soldiers step on it and fall into the abyss, and the corpses are gone. Because the mountain road is wet and slippery, the soldiers' feet are slippery, and some are lost and die.
Chapter completed!