The Liang-Han War was fought from July to September in the sixth year of Zhide, and the two sides were still deadlocked in Lizhou, at this time the Liang Dynasty army began to divide its troops to expand eastward, recovering nearby states and counties, and at the same time Shu Han Liu Xun also strengthened the defense and control of some states and counties, and now the two countries each occupy half of Hanzhong, and it is almost the autumn harvest season, and the two sides may have reached a tacit understanding to collect their own land.

But at this time, Ma Bufang, the governor of Liang, said to the marshal Tang Xiao: "Surprise the army and burn the enemy's grain fields." ”

This proposal was immediately rejected by Tang Xiao, and he said: "This is too damaging to Yin morality, as soon as the grain fields are burned, millions of people in the southern part of Hanzhong will all starve to death, and I, Tang Xiao, can't make such a decision." ”

Ma Bufang said: "I don't know if the people can starve to death, but in this way, Liu Xun of Shu Han must withdraw his troops, if we take back Hanzhong and provide disaster relief in time, we can still save the people." ”

Cao Sheng seconded Ma Bufang's words.

General Staff General Zhang Zhikui seconded the motion.

The four giants of the crusading army had an overwhelming result of three to one, and Tang Xiao could only start to arrange a plan to burn grain, and ordered Bai Ke, Tang Yuan, and Zhang Yunlong to march into the southeast and south of the Han Dynasty from three aspects, and there was no other task, which was to burn.

Tang Yuan said: "You can't burn them all, you can cut back some half-cooked ones properly, it's a pity to burn them." ”

Tang Xiao said: "You look at it." ”

Tang Yuan led his troops to the east, all the way to Fangzhou, he ran far enough, and when he came here, he didn't talk nonsense with the enemy army, while blocking the enemy's attack, while setting fire, and grabbing grain.

The people were unlucky, crying for their father and mother to save their food.

Tang Yuan ordered the soldiers not to hurt the people as much as possible, but if the people couldn't understand it, there was no way, they couldn't let the soldiers be killed by the people.

It's nothing short of a catastrophe.

Liu Xun saw Tang Xiao burning his grain, and he also became angry, and began to send troops to the north to burn the grain in the northern part of Hanzhong.

For a time, the two sides burned the entire Hanzhong.

At the same time, the scattered troops of the two armies can always bump into each other, and when they meet, it is a chaotic battle, and Hanzhong has become a pot of porridge.

When the news reached Luoyang, Emperor Zhao Ce was furious and scolded Tang Xiao for being too inhumane, and later carefully read the dossier, only to find that this decision was proposed by Ma Bufang, Cao Sheng, and Zhang Zhikui, and Tang Xiao refused at first.

The emperor was furious, and wanted to remove Ma Bufang's post, but was stopped by the queen mother, the queen mother said, it has been burned, and it has also been effective, why should he be removed from his post, now there is no food in Hanzhong, and it is very difficult for the Shu army to transport food, even if Liu Xun is not beaten now, Liu Xun must withdraw his troops. Taking a step back, even if Tang Xiao withdrew his troops, Liu Xun would not be able to stay in Hanzhong, because he had no food to help the people, and the people would inevitably rebel.

Sure enough, in November, the food supply of Shu Han could not be increased, and Emperor Liu Xun sent an envoy to negotiate peace with Tang Xiao, hoping to divide Hanzhong equally.

Tang Xiao decisively refused.

In fact, at the time of the negotiations, Liu Xun had already begun to withdraw his troops, and after the negotiations were over, his main force had retreated to Jiameng Pass.

Hundreds of thousands of people starved to death in November, and in December, grain from Henan Province was transported to Hanzhong to provide relief to the victims.

In January of the following year, Shandong Province grain was sent to Hanzhong, and the food crisis in Hanzhong was lifted.

Although Hanzhong was recaptured, but after this war, the people of Hanzhong shrank by more than half, and Lin Chongyang was not happy to recapture it again, he wanted to raise 60,000 soldiers here, I am afraid he can't afford it. So he discussed with the emperor that either the troops should be reduced, or Luoyang would support the grain.

Zhao Ce handed over this question to Tang Zhen, and Tang Zhen handed over the problem to Tang Xiao and asked Chang'an to support Hanzhong.

In January of the seventh year of Zhide, the large army of Liang was withdrawn, and many generals returned to Luoyang, when it was still very cold.

Tang Yuan took Meng Tao to Luo Jian to visit Meng Zong.

After more than half a year of prison life, Meng Zong looked a little haggard, and he was very stunned in prison, he was wrapped in a big quilt and did not move.

Meng Zong begged Tang Yuan to find a way outside to see if he could contact the wolf tooth, he was willing to write a letter to persuade the wolf tooth to return to the imperial court, the emperor was merciful, and he would definitely not speak, although after he surrendered, I might be secretly executed by the queen mother, but that was only a possibility, if I could get out of prison, I would rather take this risk.

Meng Zong also said that it costs money to do things, how much money does it cost, you go to the Qian family to ask for it, if her money is not enough, she will figure it out by herself.

Meng Tao was already twelve years old, and she was becoming more and more woman-like, and seeing that her father was so haggard, she also begged Tang Yuan for help.

Tang Yuan reluctantly agreed, saying that he could give it a try, but he was never guaranteed to do it.

In this Hanzhong War, Tang Yuan did not get too many rewards, or all the generals and colonels who participated in the Hanzhong War did not get any rewards, because Emperor Zhao Ce was very dissatisfied with this war, and he felt that the behavior of the crusading army seriously affected the image of the emperor. In the hearts of Hanzhong, the image of Emperor Zhide's benevolent monarch no longer exists.

When Tang Yuan came back from Hanzhong, he was not in a good mood, because this time he felt that his prestige had also suffered in the army. Now he has three divisions under his command, but in fact the emperor controls two, and he only has one left. Moreover, His Majesty the Emperor also asked Tang Yuan for Chen Bao, Tang Hu and several capable generals. Tang Yuan was embarrassed by this.

Is His Majesty the Emperor trying to empty me, or do you want to abolish this force?

So he went to Zhang Yunlong for a drink, hoping to get an answer from General Zhang.

After this Hanzhong War, Zhang Yunlong's health has not been very good, and he almost died because of the plague.

After returning, many old wounds on his body began to recur, and they were often painful, so that the old general did not want to go out.

Seeing Tang Yuan coming to find him, Zhang Yunlong scolded with a smile: "You kid took the initiative to come to me, you want to harm me." ”

Tang Yuan smiled bitterly: "There's no way, now I don't know who to ask except you." ”

"Are you distressed because His Majesty the Emperor wants to split your army?" Zhang Yunlong guessed.

"Exactly."

Zhang Yunlong waved his hand and said: "If the Empress Dowager Cao does not die, the emperor will never be able to get up, and Prime Minister Tang Zhen doesn't care about these idle things, he even hopes that the Empress Dowager Cao will usurp power." But Empress Dowager Cao has not been able to make up this determination, and now the emperor has begun to cultivate his own power, which is actually very dangerous. Before, he didn't have the strength to fight against the Queen Mother, but now if he wants to cultivate, it's too late, and the Queen Mother won't let him have this kind of power. Moreover, once he has this heart, he will be jealous of the Queen Mother. Hey, it's not easy to be an emperor, even his own mother has to guard against confrontation, to be honest, such an emperor is really aggrieved. ”。

Tang Yuan said: "Why does General Zhang always look at the Queen Mother like this? I have always felt that although the Queen Mother is strong, she knows self-cultivation and self-cultivation, if the mother and son are connected, wouldn't it be better for the country. ”

Zhang Yunlong waved his hand and said: "As a general, you can't consider whether it is possible, but you must consider 'there must be' or 'no'. As long as the Queen Mother controls the military power, everything can happen. ”