arranged the vanguard and internal affairs, and then Liu Cong ordered Pang Tong to be the military advisor of the army, Zhao Yun as the commander of the guard battalion naturally followed the Chinese army, and Huang Jie was ordered to be responsible for raising grain and grass with Li Yan, because Li Yan was also the Taishou of Nanjun, and the matter of escorting grain and grass fell on Huang Jie.

Huang Zhong was transferred to the Gangneung battalion to continue recruiting and training soldiers.

Liu Cong took out 20,000 soldiers from the Jiangling camp and the Xiangyang camp respectively and entered Shu.

And Fa Zheng and Meng Da also arrived in Jiangling in mid-October, goodbye Fa Zheng, Liu Cong was naturally overjoyed, once met in Shuzhong, but he didn't expect Liu Zhang to give the two such a good opportunity. Liu Cong knew that Zhang Song had put a lot of effort into this.

And for Meng Da, who is similar to the smell of the prison army, Liu Cong is a little embarrassed, first, he has more than 2,000 horses in his hands, if he is allowed to accompany him, what he has done along the way will not be known to Liu Zhang one by one, and it is not easy to show his identity when he comes to Fazheng.

I didn't expect this for a long time, and since the last time I returned to Chengdu from Xiangyang, I was sent to Ba County to garrison Ba County with Meng Da and Yan Yan.

It was at that time that the political commissar of Fa Zheng began to do Meng Da's ideological work.

Along the way, Fa Zheng did not bother to speak, and Meng Da was suspicious when he heard it. When Meng Da saw Liu Cong, this doubt was completely gone. The so-called good birds choose trees to perch, and Meng Da obeyed Fazheng's persuasion and obeyed Liu Cong's orders.

Liu Cong was naturally happy about the unexpected harvest, and then left Meng Da in the Jiangling camp and went to Shuzhong with his own Fazheng.

On the route to Shu, everyone had disagreements, and Fa Zheng thought that he was already very familiar with the road this way, and Liu Cong could enter Shu the same way.

Pang Tong and Wei Yan also agreed, only Yu Ban was silent, and he could see that Liu Cong had other ideas.

There is no obstacle to entering Shu the same way, but Liu Cong is not here to help Liu Zhang, the purpose Pang Tong knows, Wei Yan and Yu Ban know, presumably Fa Zheng will also persuade him to turn against him at that time.

Then it is very dangerous to go into Shu alone! Once Yan Yan cut off the connection between Jingzhou and Shuzhong, Liu Cong was facing enemies on all sides, so Liu Cong set his eyes on another channel - Shangyong!

The importance of a place depends first of all on its political and economic role or military status. From such a point of view, it is difficult to talk about the economic and political role of "Shangyong" because it is a mountain county with a sparse population. Then the role of economics and politics is not prominent.

But its military status can not be ignored, Liu Cong is a traverser, familiar with the history of the Three Kingdoms, in fact, in the entire Three Kingdoms era, "Shangyong" was not too important at first, including Liu Biao in Jingzhou in the early days. Liu Cong's well-known Three Kingdoms New City "includes the original Shangyong, Fangling, and Xicheng counties, and it is also what Cao Pi did in the later period, mainly to win over a special figure in the Three Kingdoms era - Meng Da.

Then the fate of this Meng Da is also closely related to the fate of Shangyong City. So when we say "mediocrity", we have to say "Mengda" its person.

In the sixteenth year of Jian'an, Liu Zhang sent Fa Zheng and Meng Da to Jingzhou to meet Liu Bei. Liu Bei immediately asked Meng Da and his subordinates to stay in Jiangling in Jingzhou to help Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun and others defend Jingzhou, and Meng Da officially attached himself to Liu Bei.

In the nineteenth year of Jian'an, after Liu Bei captured Shu, Meng Da served as the Taishou of Yidu.

In the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an, Liu Bei ordered Meng Da to send troops from Zigui to attack Fangling, and Meng Da occupied Fangling after killing Fangling Taishou Kuaiqi in battle. After that, "the general attacked the mediocrity, and the first lord Yin was afraid that it would be difficult to be alone, so he was sent from Hanzhong to take the underwater command of the Da army, and the Da army would be yong."

Shangyong Taishou Shen delayed the surrender of the people, and sent his wife and clan to Chengdu. (Preparation) moved to the rank of deputy general". At this time, Liu Bei's Hanzhong, Shangyong, and Jingzhou (Jiangling) were connected, echoing each other, and the momentum reached its peak.

At this point, the name "Shangyong" has really entered people's eyes, and we can also get a glimpse of the military strategic significance of the place "Shangyong". In fact, Shangyong's geographical location has a characteristic, with mountains on both sides (Qinling Mountains and Micang Mountain in the west, and Daba Mountain in the south); The other two directions are almost "smooth" compared to each other.

Shangyong is located at the upstream head of Xiangfan, if it goes down the river, it is a great threat to Xiangyang; If Guan Er had been able to succeed in Xiangfan (in fact, he still had a good chance of succeeding), then Xiangfan would not have become a geographical salient and be attacked from many sides (that is, he could become a "horn of each other" with Shangyong).

This is an ideal layout of "attacking and retreating", which is very likely to be a potential reason why Guan Er was in a hurry to launch the "Xiangfan Campaign" (it is said that the urgency was due to Guan Yu's lack of adequate preparations at that time, as evidenced by the lack of troops).

The "Battle of Xiangfan" was also launched in July of the 24th year of Jian'an, which happened to be the time when Liu Feng and Meng Da laid down the top. Although this "latent reason" is a conjecture, even if it is unintentional, it can also see the strategic position of the mediocre.

That is, after Liu Bei captured Hanzhong, he was able to connect Jingzhou and Hanzhong as a line; The three-point and one-line formation turned the place of "Shangyong" from a "poor country" at that time into a strategic hub; If Guan Yu captures Xiangfan again, what will be placed in front of Liu Bei of Shu Han is a more beautiful political and military picture than the "Longzhong Pair".

When the military planning of "Longzhong Pair" is implemented, it can be supplemented as "an army out of Hanzhong; An army will go out of Jingzhou, and the army of the upper mediocre can provide assistance to the left and right according to the situation." This is not only determined by the geographical location of the "mediocre", but also by his topography.

"Shangyong" to the west and south are all foothills, which is the natural barrier of Shu and Hanzhong; However, the other two directions are "smooth roads", the north can reach Chang'an (the meridian valley is also under the jurisdiction of "Shangyong-Xincheng"), and the east directly supports the troops of Jingzhou, which can reach Wanluo, and it is "down the river".

If history can really come to this point, it is estimated that Cao Apu will not only move the capital, but even shout "help" to Soochow "regardless of face". It's a pity that history didn't go this way, and the "Battle of Xiangfan" also ended in a dramatic ending. The outcome of the "Battle of Xiangfan" was: Liu Bei lost Jingzhou; The general (Guan Yu) died, and the "Longzhong pair" between him and Zhuge Liang was no longer possible.

Throughout the later period of the Xiangfan campaign, another place name and personal name was seen: Shangyong and Mengda.

The incident is to say: Guan Er attacked Xiangfan until he lost Jingzhou later, Liu Feng and Meng Da have not made any moves, "with the initial attachment of Shanjun, the people's hearts are undecided, and it is difficult to send troops". Guan Erbing was defeated and died, Meng Da was afraid that Liu Bei would add guilt, and he had a contradiction with Liu Feng (as for what contradictions, I will talk about them when I have time), so he surrendered to Wei.

Shen Tan and Shen Yi rebelled, and Liu Feng fled back to Chengdu. Liu Bei reprimanded Liu Feng for invading Meng Da and not saving Guan Yu. Zhuge Liang was afraid that "it will be difficult to control after the change of world" because of Liu Feng's fierceness, so he persuaded Liu Bei to get rid of him. As a result, Liu Feng was given death. After Meng Da descended to Wei, Cao Pi Hefangling, Xicheng (Weixing County), and Shangyong became a large county and was renamed Xincheng County. And also began to pay attention to this site.

Jingzhou is lost, in fact, "Shangyong-Xincheng" has become an "enclave" with a prominent geographical location. For Shu Han, he couldn't hold it without Jingzhou; For Cao Wei, it can echo Xiangyang, but it is not a good starting point for attacking Shu Han, which is of course determined by the geography and topography of "Shangyong-Xincheng".

Therefore, at this time, the "Shangyong-Xincheng", as a combination point between Chang'an and Xiangyang, has strategic significance, but it is not a good point of attack.

Later, Meng Da was squeezed out by Sima and wanted to join Shu Han again, Sima Yi heard the news and immediately transferred troops to attack, and in only eight days, he rushed from Nanyang Wancheng to Shangyong City. Originally, due to the high and deep pool of the Shangyong city wall, coupled with the fact that it is surrounded by water on three sides, it is easy to defend and difficult to attack, according to Meng Da's ability, it should be able to survive until Zhuge Liang's reinforcements arrive.

However, the guards Deng Xian (or Meng Da's nephew), Li Fu and others "opened the door and surrendered" at the critical moment (see Jin Shu Xuan Emperor Ji), Meng Da only defended for half a month, and then he was defeated and died. The above is the famous "Zhongda Rush Soldier Breaks Mengda", and it is also a famous example of "Rush Attack" in the military.

Liu Cong wants to seize Yizhou, he must open up the passage between Jingzhou and Yizhou, at present, there is only the Yangtze River, which is restricted, and since Shangyong is so important, Liu Cong naturally does not want to have no way out after entering Shu, and he cannot contact Jingzhou.

In addition, Shangyong originally belonged to Hanzhong, and if he could win Shangyong before entering Shu, it could be regarded as expressing his sincerity to Liu Zhang.