However, it is said that the general of the Northern Army, Yin Zhang Jingda of Jingzhao Mansion led his division to attack Hanzhong, and Li Yanwei, the defense envoy of Yanmen, led more than 10,000 Jinyang troops, and the Suide Army trained Suo Zitong, Yaozhou Yisheng Army Jiedu made Yao Yanchou and Suining Jiedu make Mao Zhang lead his troops to follow.

Fengzhou is the jurisdiction of Fengxiang Military Town, Li Jiyan's territory, Fengxiang Army guards Chencang Valley Road, but it saves the Northern Army a lot of trouble. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to capture just a large scattered pass.

Hua Wenqi and Tang Jingsi, the envoy of Qinzhou Jiedu, were both officials appointed by Li Qi after Pingshu, Hua Wenqi was a general of Liang State, originally a general of Zhu Youqian, and in the third year of Tongguang, he was transferred from Yaozhou to Qinzhou, and Zhuangzong was also generous to him. And Tang Jingsi was a former Shu general, and this Xingzhou assassin was appointed by Li Qibao and the imperial court at that time.

Surrender is a matter of habit after a few times. Tang Jingsi saw that the northern army was coming from Fengzhou along the Jialing River, and directly opened the city gate to surrender, and did not put up any resistance at all. After Tang Jingsi surrendered, Hua Wenqi, the envoy of the Wuxiong Army of Qinzhou, also sent an envoy to express his submission and begged for Zhishi.

Without a single battle, the Northern Army took Xingzhou and Qinzhou and other four prefectures under its command, and expanded its power to Longyou.

After the Qinling Mountains, the terrain and climate are completely different from those in the north.

The mountains are steep, rocky, and the mountains are wooded, the roads are slippery, and the fog rises between the mountains and forests, and this hot and humid weather makes the soldiers of the Northland very uncomfortable.

Xingzhou went down without a fight, and among the mountains around the state city, the military camp of the Northern Army stretched, and the red flag was unfurled, and there was no end in sight.

At this time, the Xingzhou Office has been changed to the military office of Zhang Jingda, the southwest envoy of the Northern Army, and the generals of the various armies in the expedition to Hanzhong have basically gathered in the main hall of this military office.

A huge map depicting the topography of Hanzhong was hung on the wall, and it was Shi Kuangyi, the defense envoy of Tonghua, who was responsible for explaining it. He is the eldest son of Shi Jianjiao, a famous general of the Jin Army, but he likes to read, and he is one of the few generals from the Jin Army who is both civil and military. Compared with his father's brave and fierce personality, he was thoughtful and calm, and was more trusted by the Son of Heaven.

"I read from the textbooks of Jinyang Academy that military operations should be subordinated to political and economic goals, and I deeply believe this sentence. The main purpose of the Son of Heaven ordering us to conquer Hanzhong this time is to open up a transportation channel with Shu, of course, being able to take Hanzhong all is the best result. However, judging from the current intelligence, Li Congke's army has arrived in Jinzhou, Zhang Yun has concentrated the main force in Yangpingguan, Xixian County, and the opportunity for our army to capture Hanzhong has been lost. ”

Speaking of this, Shi Kuangyi picked up the wooden pole, walked to the large map hanging on the wall, pointed to the map with the wooden pole and continued: "In view of this, after a few days of thinking and discussion, the marshal decided to temporarily abandon the previous strategy of attacking Yangping Pass. In the next step, the focus of our army's action is to attack Yang'an Pass and Jinniu Town to the south, and completely control the Jinniu Ancient Road, and in addition, the other part will go east from Fengzhou and capture the Wuxiu Pass of Baochuan Road, so as to eliminate the enemy's threat to Chencang Valley Road. The big war is coming, and I ask you to act in accordance with military law, and do not exceed the rules. ”

Due to the lack of troops, Zhang Yun concentrated his main forces in the area of Yangping Pass in Xixian County, and made every effort to defend Xingyuan Mansion, and he couldn't take care of the defense of the other two Guancheng.

This is also an opportunity for the Northern Army.

Shi Kuangyi drew two routes on the map, and the intention of the Northern Army was to control the Jinniu Ancient Road and the Chencang Road, as well as the waterway of the Jialing River.

Zhang Jingda's troops are less than 50,000, and there is still more than enough to deal with Zhang Yun, but if Li Congke's 50,000 troops come over, it will not be enough, but it will be defense-oriented. If the two sides occupy a key pass, it will not be easy for anyone to attack whom, and it will eventually become a protracted confrontation.

Before adjusting the battle plan, Zhang Jingda, Shi Kuangyi and other generals had watched the young recruits from Jinyang Academy several times, around a huge sand table, making various deductions on the battle plan. Zhang Jingda was disappointed by the results, because most of them believed that if Yangping Pass was stormed, there was a high probability of defeat, and the worst result would be that his tens of thousands of troops would be driven out of the north of Chencang Road.

This result is something that Zhang Jingda cannot afford.

Because before the expedition, when he met the Son of Heaven, the emperor had clearly told him that the main purpose of this expedition was to open up the communication with Shu, not to capture Xingyuan. Although the army has always been under the banner of crusading against Xingyuan when it went out, it was only a fool.

After being disappointed, Zhang Jingda still accepted the advice of these "joining the army": after capturing Yang'an Pass and Wuxiu Pass, switch from attack to defense.

This is the best solution at the moment.

Joining the army in the camp is equivalent to a staff advisory body - before the staff system matured, Li Qi did not want these soldiers to interfere in the decision-making of the main generals, so he did not give these "joining the army" more powers. The staff system itself was created to restrain the power of the generals, and if it is implemented now, it will cause great turmoil.

However, some things are being implemented, such as equipment and logistics, including the distribution of food and salaries, which have begun to slowly be taken away from the hands of the commander-in-chief. In the army, everything from equipment to money and food is decided by the commanders and generals, which is the most fundamental reason for the five generations of martial artists in the late Tang Dynasty.

When a soldier receives a salary, whose food he eats, he naturally has to die for whom.

After Shi Kuangyi reported the military situation, Zhang Jingda immediately ordered Suo Zitong and Tang Jingsi to lead the army south along the Jialing River to attack Yang'an Pass and Jinniu Town.

Zhang Jingda led the army to Yangping Pass, saw that the southern army was well defended, and had already prepared, so he retreated more than 30 miles, set up camp at the mouth of the Fu River, and began to build a military city, preparing for a long-term confrontation with the southern army.

Zhang Yun personally guarded Xixian, but when he heard that Yang'an Pass and Wuxiu Pass were in an emergency, he had no choice but to have more than 10,000 soldiers and horses in his hands, but he was restrained by Zhang Jingda and had no time to send troops to rescue him. When Li Congke and his troops arrived, the Wuxiu Pass and Yang'an Pass were all captured by the Northern Army.

When Li Congke arrived in Xixian, he led his army to attack the northern army's military village. Zhang Jingda ordered all the troops to hold the camp tightly and not engage in battle. Li Congke tried to attack a few times, but when he saw that General Zhang Jingda's city was very strong, he was helpless. He was originally a cavalry general, and he had no experience in fighting in the mountains and forests of Shudi, and he was afraid of huge losses.

Since then, the two sides have rejected each other, and there has been no fighting, and they have been facing each other like this.

After the northern army took control of the road to Shu, Li Qi, who was in Wei, heard the news and immediately ordered Meng Yifan to lead a caravan into Shu to sell cloth, cattle and sheep to Shu in exchange for silk tea and other goods. Due to Dong Zhang's weakness, he secretly sold weapons, armor and iron tools to Dongchuan to enhance Dongchuan's military strength and contain the expansion of Meng Zhixiang's power.

Meng Yifan was no longer very valued by Meng Zhixiang, and now he has become an envoy of the imperial court in Chengdu. Meng Zhixiang was cautious by nature, and he did not openly oppose the court, but paid attention to his eldest son again, so that when something happened, he could turn around for himself in the middle of the Son of Heaven......