"In the twenty-first year, General Wang Ben defeated the state of Chu and captured Huaiyang. In the twenty-second year, Wang Ben flooded the Great Liang with an army of 200,000 and destroyed the Wei State. In twenty-five years, he seized Liaodong, destroyed the Yan Kingdom, and returned to his mentorship to replace Wang Jia. In the twenty-sixth year, he went south again, destroyed the Qi State, and was named the Marquis of Tongwu......"

"Four wars to destroy the four countries, never without a target, just look at the number of destroyed countries, even more than his father, so after the death of the old general Wang Qian, the people of the time often praised Wang Ben as the first general in the world!"

Dongting County has been down, and at the celebration banquet, Qu Ji, who had just been appointed as the "Dongting Shou", drank some wine and talked eloquently, but for some reason, he praised Wang Ben in front of Zhao Tuo.

Zhao Tuo was anxious and began to belittle Wang Ben:

"Go to the disease, you are growing up with other people's morale to destroy your own prestige. In my opinion, although Wang Ben destroyed many countries, but in terms of real wars, only Wei was destroyed, and the rest mostly relied on the strength of the Qin state, which was stronger than the strength of the soldiers, and rarely relied on the art of war to win. It's not that I belittle Wang Ben, I just think that whoever is the commander of the attack on Wei, Yan, Dai, and Qi can also win a big victory, without him, the general trend of the enemy country has been deaf ......"

Wu Zhonghou is different, although he is often modest, saying that his method of using troops is inherited from the old general Wang Qian, and he wins by taking advantage of the situation. But whether it is the battle of Kuiyang, or the battle of taking Anlu and capturing Jiangling, it is to defeat the strong with the weak, in the command of hundreds of thousands of troops to fight, but also rely on a group of newly defeated pawns, in less than two years to sweep away Baiyue, if you want to talk about the world's first general, it must be the Marquis of Wuzhong, so the Northern Expeditionary Army will win! ”

Seeing that Zhao Tuo was so trying his best to defend Heifu, and even did not hesitate to put the title of "No. 1 General" on his brother's head, he couldn't help but laugh, just from the conversation, he couldn't see the little abacus in Zhao Tuo's heart.

So he continued: "This is natural, but what I just said means is that Wang Ben marched with troops, fought steadily and steadily, and liked to win with momentum, so since he left Wuguan last month, he was not in a hurry to attack the south, so he set up the shogunate in Wancheng, and sent troops everywhere, and now he has gathered more than 100,000 troops and arranged them in Hanzhong, Nanyang, and Chenjun. ”

"Since the marching troops of the prince and the marquis are also sent by the Wang family, our army also avoids fighting, and only guards dangerous places, and the two sides only have skirmishes with scouts, and a big war has not yet broken out."

He smiled: "Don't forget, when General Wang Jian fought the Chu State, how long did they hold each other?" It's only been two months now, and the war has just begun! ”

After capturing Nanjun in April and controlling Yan, Suixian, and Shen'e in May, the Northern Expeditionary Army did not rush to march north, and ran headlong into the trap set by Wang Ben in Nanyang, but built a high wall, accumulated grain, and waited in the south to collect grain for the winter.

Today, the main forces of the Northern Expeditionary Army are concentrated in the north, among which Yan County, which is the core of the defense line, is dominated by Han Xin, with the Gong Lieutenant as the deputy and 30,000 troops stationed.

The three passes of the underworld were presided over by Dongmen Leopard and Licang, with 20,000 troops stationed.

Suixian was presided over by Ji Ying and Zhou Chang, with 10,000 soldiers.

In addition, Heifu led 10,000 short soldiers to sit in Anlu, and 80,000 Northern Expeditionary Army, confronting an enemy twice his size, and he couldn't move at all - against a strong enemy like Wang Ben, Heifu couldn't help but go all out!

But seeing that both sides are mainly based on Gou and do not do it easily, it is difficult to see the difference between the northern front, so Heifu and his staff formulated the third plan after "first taking Jingzhou as their home, and then seizing the danger pass as a stopper":

"Occupy the corner!"

The so-called corner occupation is a term used in the game, which means the words in the four corners of the chessboard.

It is said that the famous "Yi Qiu" summed up that when playing a game, the corners are easier to obtain a basis than the sides and midbelly, so in general, the beginning of a game of chess often starts with the corners, that is, "taking the corners".

Occupying corners and expanding territory became the core of the Northern Expeditionary Army's operations in June and July. If the first-line troops cannot be mobilized, then the best group of second-line troops from the south and north of the Lingnan should be used.

I knew that Weiyang and Wu Rui had captured Huiji, and Anpu also attacked Yanjun with 5,000 men, and the two sides crossed the river with Huainan Chu thieves.

On Zhao Tuo's side, although it dragged on for two months, he finally managed to take Dongting, south of the river, and the Northern Expeditionary Army no longer had any worries - it seems so.

In May, Wu Chen was ordered by Heifu to set out from Yiling with 5,000 men, all the way to Lianke Zigui and Wuxian, but when he marched to Jiangguan, he was blocked by the county lieutenant of Ba County, and it was difficult to advance half a step......

"The prince wants to take Bashu?"

Zhao Tuo leaned forward, this news was very important to him.

Go and laughed: "As early as May, Lu Jia said that the prince and the marquis said, Bashu Liangzhou is also, its land is dangerous, fertile and thousands of miles, Qin wants to merge with the princes, then merge with Shu first, and Shu and Qin Yiqiang, rich and light princes." ”

"And today's north-south situation, and a hundred years ago Qin and Chu confrontation is very similar, Bashu lives in the upper reaches of Jingchu, in the past Qin Zhao Wang, Sima Co with a big boat to accumulate millet, starting from Wenshan, the floating river has been down, to Chu more than 3,000 miles."

"The boat carries the pawn, a boat carries fifty people and the food of March, goes into the water and floats, travels more than 300 miles a day, although the mileage is many, but it does not cost the power of cattle and horses, and it is not ten days away from the river pass. Jiangguan is not owned by Chu, and then Yiling fell, when Wu Anjun raised his armor out of Wuguan, and cut down in the south, Yancheng has been broken, Jiangling can not be defended, the king of Chu is running eastward, and Qianwu is not Chu's ......"

"Therefore, Xiao He, Han Xin, and Lu Jia all thought that if they didn't want to repeat the mistakes of King Chu Qingxiang, Bashu must fight! Rather than being made by the enemy's tricks, it is better for the Northern Expeditionary Army to take it first! ”

However, Jiangguan (Fengjie, Chongqing, the city of the White Emperor in later generations) became a hurdle that was difficult for the Northern Expeditionary Army to cross.

More than ten years ago, before Zhao Tuo knew Heifu, he was a small official of the building boat, and went to Bashu to transport grain for Wei Tu Sui, and had the experience of going in and out of the Three Gorges and Jiangguan. I know that there are mountains on both sides of the strait in that area, and there is no place for it. Heavy rocks are stacked, the sky is hidden, and the moon is not seen at midnight in the non-pavilion.

He then said: "I have heard that two hundred years ago, Bachu attacked and fell, so the Jiangguan was placed, as the boundary of Bachu, this place controls the Three Gorges, is limited to the five streams, according to the upper reaches of Jingchu, for the throat of Bashu, this place is not only high and deep, there are many cliffs, and it is difficult for apes to cross. And the water is turbulent, if there is no slender man against the current, it is impossible to go upstream, it is really a master, it is difficult to open a hundred people, Ba County Lieutenant with thousands of people to garrison, no wonder Wu Chen can not attack......"

Go to the head of the jaw: "If it is a strong attack, Jiangguan is indeed difficult to enter, so the prince wants General Zhao to take another way, bypass Jiangguan, and go deep into Ba County!" ”

Zhao Tuo was surprised: "Take another way?" Does the prince want me to take the Bayan Road? ”

The so-called Ba Yan Road is the small road that Heifu and Ba Zhong set off from Yidao (Yidu, Hubei) with Ba Zhong when they encountered the Ba rebellion ten years ago.

Traveling west along the narrow Yishui River Valley, you must first pass through Wuluo Zhongli Mountain, the earliest stronghold of the Ba people, and then Yanyang (Enshi, Hubei) and other places. Until the source of Yishui, Yicheng (Chongqing Lichuan), one or two thousand years ago, the Ba people entered Badong along this road, and then scattered and multiplied, it is a secluded path into Ba County, out of the ancient road, it arrived at the river west of Jiangguan, and it is not far from Ba's old nest Tong County.

Zhao Tuo, who had just come out of the steep mountains of Dongting, was a little hesitant: "But this road is dangerous, you can't drive, you can only rely on mules and horses to walk with people, it is difficult to walk side by side, and there are Ba tribes along the way, if it is attacked, I am afraid it will ruin the great affairs of the prince and marquis......"

The task of going to Ji this time was to persuade Zhao Tuo, because Heifu needed to fight against Wang Ben's 200,000 troops, and there were no extra troops at hand, so the Guilin soldiers in Zhao Tuo's hands became extremely important and were the first choice to attack Bashu......

He then said: "General Zhao, don't worry, Lu Jia has already taken a step ahead and went to Ba County along the Bayan Road, spreading heavy money along the way, bribing the Ba people along the way, and ensuring the safety of the general's march. Now the land should have arrived in Tong County. This time, he traveled west, not only shouldering the responsibility of welcoming back the prince's wife and heirs, but also wanted to lobby Ba Shi to defect to the Northern Expeditionary Army! ”

"Ba Shi is the head of the old clan of Ba Zhongjun, one of the richest people in the world, with thousands of gold and thousands of servants, once he is willing to respond, General Zhao will take Ba Land, it will be easy!"

"So good, very good." Zhao Tuo seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, but there were mostly reluctant elements in his heart.

Seeing this, he said in his heart: "As the prince expected, Zhao Tuo didn't know the victory or defeat of the Northern Expeditionary Army and the Qin Court, and he always felt that the south was inferior, so he hesitated. ”

So he smiled and said, "By the way, there is one more thing." ”

"At the end of April, didn't the prince change the name of the Southern Expeditionary Army?"

Zhao Tuo bowed: "I already know that the whole army has changed its banner now......"

"It's more than that."

Go and say: "The prince also built the generalissimo shogunate in Gangneung, which is the generalissimo of the Northern Expeditionary Army, and from now on, we should no longer call him a general, but a general!" ”

The title of marshal has existed as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, and Jin Wengong once "sought marshal", that is, considered the candidate for the commander of the Chinese army, but it was only the title of "the commander of the general", not an official name, and Heifu was the first to take the title of "marshal".

Zhao Tuo secretly said in his heart: "Captain Dashuai? It's a fresh name. ”

But I didn't want to, the front foot just finished complaining, and I pulled out the long-prepared Ren form from my sleeve.

"Zhao Jun, the generalissimo has an order!"

Although it was not to welcome the emperor's edict, Zhao Tuo still made a sufficient gesture, a spirit, and fell to the ground!

Qu Ji hurriedly helped him up, and coughed lightly: "Zhao Jun wants to be ashamed to kill Qu Ji?" These words were conveyed to me by the prince. ”

"The prince said that there were three generals in the Southern Expeditionary Army before, and the remaining two generals Yin Tong and Xin Yi were both at both ends, so after the prince built the Northern Expeditionary Army, he had cut his post as a general."

"Only Zhao Jun is different, he is the righteous brother of the prince and the marquis, the right-hand man, and he is conscientious, taking the cave court for the prince and the marquis, and now he has to go deep into Ba County in danger, not only merit, but also hard work, so this title is only promoted, not lowered!"

These words seem to be encouraging, but in Zhao Tuo's ears, they are like Heifu's warning to him!

But after the beating, it was the turn of the dates to eat, and he smiled and congratulated Zhao Tuo:

"Therefore, the prince has appointed Zhao Jun as the deputy commander!"