Li Mao returned to Jianzhou, it was the middle of summer, the vegetation in the mountains was good, the weather was only a little hot at noon, and it was cool in the morning and evening, but Li Mao still found a battalion full of wounded soldiers, and asked the reason to know, Shu was hot and humid in summer, and the soldiers in the north could not bear the humidity in the south, and they fell ill one after another.

Gao Chongwen was overjoyed to see Li Mao coming back, and told him about his worries, Li Mao asked: "Why don't you send military doctors and herbs to the imperial court?" Gao Chongwen said: "Liu Bi has many eyes and ears in the DPRK, and I am afraid that the news will leak and harm me." Moreover, the Northland soldiers could not tolerate the dampness and heat here, and even the arrival of a doctor would not help. ”

Li Mao also had nothing to do, Gao Chongwen's Ministry of Culture could not fight due to illness, which cast a shadow on a great prospect, for fear of being peeped out by Liu Pi, Gao Chongwen, Li Mao and Yan Li After discussion, they decided to take a risky move: Yan Li lent 700 troops to Liu Wu, and Liu Wu rushed to Zizhou - not only to contain Liu Pi from the side, but also to break the rumor that the soldiers in the north were infected and could not fight.

Gao Chongwen took the initiative to give up Zizhou, making Zizhou an empty city again, as Li Mao expected, Liu Pi was unwilling to send troops here, and he was not even interested in sending an assassin. Liu Wu suddenly approached the city, thinking that the city was within reach, but he didn't want to be attacked by the Zizhou People's Army.

Liu Wu was hit by an arrow in his arm, fell off his horse, and was dragged by the war horse for more than ten zhang, grinding off a large piece of meat on his left shoulder. Liu Congzhi was furious, attacked the city shirtless, broke the city, and killed 3,500 people. lied that he had killed 5,000 Xichuan soldiers.

Li Mao was deeply shocked when he heard the truth, but at this moment, it was not the time to investigate Liu Cong's indiscriminate killing, the most important thing at the moment was to quickly cure the person. Restore the combat effectiveness of the three armed forces.

During this time, Li Mao did three things, one was to light a fire in Liu Bi's backyard, forcing Liu Pi to return the children of the Fifth Courtyard, who were good at ambush guerrilla warfare, to the hinterland area, reducing the pressure on the transportation line.

This plan was taken up by the Zuo Longxiang army that had adapted to the operation in the mountainous and dense forest areas, Li Mao only sent 500 people, and turned into 20 squads after being divided into zero, creating a lot of panic in Liu Bi's rear, as a countermeasure, Liu Pi ordered the Fifth Academy Army to come back to help, the Fifth Academy Army was arrogant and arrogant, and was unpopular in Xichuan, although it was an internal battle, there was no geographical advantage, not to mention strangling the Zuo Longxiang Army, but it was defeated and lost in repeated encounters.

Liu Pi had no choice but to use his son-in-law Su Jiang as the envoy of the Fifth Academy, but Su Jiang was unwilling to wade into this troubled water and stayed in Lutou Pass.

The second thing Li Mao did was to work closely with the Right Longxiang Army to clear the Shannan area, and the goal was the spies set up by Liu Pi and Tubo, with the aim of building a stable rear for the Southern Expeditionary Army, and taking advantage of the situation to spread the Longshou Mountain intelligence network to the area south of Zhongnan Mountain. This matter is also good and bad for Lin Ying, and he is happy to cooperate.

The third thing Li Mao did was to coordinate the transfer of military doctors and herbs to central Sichuan.

After Li Shigu's death, Jiminsheng Medical College disappeared from the vision of the Yunzhou government, Li Shidao did not realize the importance of this thing, under the continuous slander of the favored family medical officer Huang Dasin, Jiminsheng Hospital gradually lost the market in the government and the army, which instead became the industry that Li Mao worked hard to operate - to cure the people, serve the civilians, and the Jiminsheng Hospital sprung up in the land of Heshuo.

Because the imperial court wanted to use troops against Xichuan, Li Mao, who was familiar with medical science, judged early on that there might be epidemics of malaria and other diseases in the army, so he sent a special letter to the Ge couple to ask for support. Ge and his wife did not care about politics, but they were very concerned about the large-scale epidemic of diseases in the army, and immediately sent their proud disciple Wang Nianfu to Chang'an to obey orders.

Li Mao arranged for some medical staff to travel with Li Xianyi's department and Li Guangyan's department, and when the epidemic disease in the army was prevalent, the medical officer accompanying the team promptly started to contain it, and Liu Wubu also had medical officers accompanying him, but when he passed by Xingyuan Mansion, he was left behind by Liu Cong's advice, which caused the army to be helpless after the epidemic epidemic, and because of the old and weak in the army, the casualties were very serious.

Wang Nianfu divided the 20 medical officers assembled in Chang'an into six teams, and Li Mao sent six lieutenants to escort them along the way and rushed to the Fifth Army separately. The most people were assigned to the Gao Chong Ministry of Culture, with a total of nine medical officers, followed by Liu Wubu, which had the most serious epidemic, but it was not the main force going south. Yan Li and Yin Mu were the least, Shu soldiers and Shannan soldiers adapted to the climate in Shuzhong, and there was no epidemic, and Li Mao sent two people each to take preventive measures.

The medical officers selected by Ge Rixiu and his wife are all experienced, and Wang Nianfu, the leader of the team, is even known as a "miracle doctor".

Even so, before leaving, the Ge couple still gave key guidance on some common diseases that are prone to occur in the army, and everyone came prepared. Rao is so, diagnosing the symptoms, prescribing the right medicine, plus clinical trials, still consumes some time.

The epidemic situation in the army has been effectively controlled, the damaged grain routes have been gradually restored, and after a large number of Xichuan and Tubo spies lurking in Shannan West Road have been cleared, the grain supply lines in the rear have been effectively guaranteed.

In order to alleviate the pressure on transportation and use the people's power as much as possible, at Li Mao's suggestion, the DPRK and China set up military grain purchasing points in Jianzhou and Langzhou to purchase local military grain at a high price, and sold the military grain transported from Guanzhong at low prices in Xingyuanfu, Fengzhou, Xingzhou, and other places.

What's more, this move made the children of the Five Courtyards lose their foothold in Shannan West Road, and in the face of interests, the local natives regard Xichuan outsiders as enemies, and no one is willing to cooperate with Xichuan people anymore.

From there, the rear was determined, and the grain and grass rushed to the Guanzhong area to the south one after another, and the supply of military supplies was sufficient and guaranteed. By the end of the summer and the beginning of the autumn of the second year of Yuanhe, the combat strength of the three armies gradually recovered.

Gao Chongwen and Yan Li advocated an immediate attack, breaking Chengdu before the winter came, and all the soldiers had a stable and peaceful year in Shu.

Li Mao said: "Look at the two generals, the dragon is fierce and fierce, and the younger brother still has a plan to do, this plan may be used to confuse Liu Pi and reduce obstacles." ”

As soon as the strategy was said, the two were overjoyed and urged Li Mao to hurry up and implement it, Li Mao's strategy was very simple, that is, to poke out the information about the outbreak of the epidemic in the army that he had tried his best to conceal.

Announced directly, Liu Bi was bound to be suspicious, Li Mao wanted to cover it up and let Liu Pi find it himself.

Liu Wu was seriously injured, Liu Cong took his place, Li Mao sent someone to send Liu Wu back to Chang'an to raise soldiers, on the way deliberately walked the news that Liu Wu was infected with malaria and returned to Beijing to raise soldiers, Liu Pi's ears and eyes found the news, if he got the treasure, he immediately went south to return.

In addition, Li Mao sent people to secretly recruit Langzhong in Chang'an to serve as a military doctor, and purchased a large number of medicinal materials, causing the prices of several medicinal materials in Chang'an City to rise again and again, and they were even out of stock. Someone with a heart compared these medicinal materials together, and suddenly found that Li Mao purchased the medicinal materials used to treat the epidemic in the army.

As soon as the information obtained from different channels corroborated each other, Liu Pi slapped his forehead violently and said regretfully: "If I knew this, I should have marched in the middle of summer and defeated the official army in one fell swoop." ”

If Lu Wenruo didn't dare to speak up, when it was rumored that there was an epidemic of disease in the Gao Chongwen Department, Liu Bi advocated taking the initiative to attack, and it was he who persuaded Liu Bi not to act rashly in the name of safety, and now he has something to say.

Seeing that Lu Wenruo was silent, Liu Pi became even more complacent, and generously stated: "The traitorous ministers are in charge, coaxing the Son of Heaven to slaughter Xichuan, and I swear to lead 100,000 Sichuan Shuerlang to fight the righteous banner out of the side of the Qing monarch." ”

Liu Pi openly played the banner of "Qingjun's side", claiming to eradicate the three traitorous ministers Du Huangshang, Li Mao, and Gao Chongwen who were lurking around the Son of Heaven.

Hearing that Liu Pi sent troops, Gao Chongwen was overjoyed, set up an ambush outside Lutou Pass, and won eight battles and eight victories. Liu Pi was defeated and lost, and the turtle shrank in the deer's head and did not move. Gao Chongwen led the army south, and broke the Xichuan army under the city of Mianzhou.

Yan Li was not far behind, and sent the general Yan Qin to Mianzhou, and Liu Pi's general Zhou Chizhong fought in Shipai Valley, won a complete victory, and beheaded 130 generals below Zhou Chizhong. Yan Qin took advantage of the victory to pursue, and broke Liu Pi in Shenquan Pass.

In order to rush to the aid of Mianzhou, Liu Piqiang ordered the general Xin Zhongyang to lead his troops to help, and Gao Chongwen set up an ambush in the Xuanwu Valley to capture Xin Zhongyang in a battle.

At this point, Liu Pi's arrogance disappeared, and he honestly started to be a turtle with a shrunken head.

Although several battles were won, Lutou Pass was still as solid as a rock and could not be attacked for a long time. Qiu Liangfu, who was stationed at Lutou Pass, was cautious and good at using soldiers, especially good at defending the city, and Liu Wenyue, the general outside the city of Mianzhou, was a horn and cooperated tacitly.

Gao Chongwen seduced him several times, but neither of them would be fooled. Attacked, and repeatedly suffered defeats.

Gao Chongwen said to Li Mao: "Our troops are too small to gnaw on Lutou Pass, Yan Shuai was entangled by Liu Wenyue, and the battle situation has become a stalemate. ”

Li Mao exclaimed: "Dispatch troops, Gao Shuai can decide alone, why discuss with me." ”

Gao Chongwen hehehaha, hehehahaha, after two sounds, he said awkwardly: "The Hedong Army has been tortured by malaria this time, and the sergeants have suffered a lot of losses, how can I be embarrassed to be strong." ”

Gao Chongwen doesn't know how to tell lies, as soon as he said a few lies, his face turned red, Li Mao was inconvenient to expose it in person, and turned around to ask the reason, it turned out that after Gao Chongwen formulated the "Poison Raising and Removing Sores Plan", in order to keep it secret, he did not inform Li Xianyi and Li Guangyan, Li Xianyi was very dissatisfied after learning about it, and he refused to go south. After Li Guangyan learned of Gao Chongwen's plan from elsewhere, he was also extremely dissatisfied, and once threatened to withdraw his troops back to Hedong.

Gao Chongwen was afraid that he would not be able to mobilize Li Xianyi and Li Guangyan, so he said this.

Li Mao said to Qin Mo: "Geng is as upright as a handsome, and there are times when he is cautious, as far as I know, Li Xianyi and General Li Guangyan are not people with small bellies. Qin Mo said: "You are a full man who doesn't know how hungry you are, you are a person who can reach the sky, they are afraid of you, they are afraid of you, they will naturally show obedience in front of you." Gao Shuai doesn't have your ability, there was originally Du Xianggong in the court to support him, and now Du Xianggong has depreciated himself to Luoyang, where did you let him get the confidence? ”

Gao Chongwen's original status was not high, and his qualifications were not even as good as Yan Li, he used to have Du Huangshang behind his back, plus the newborn calf was not afraid of tigers, with a sharp spirit, he could still get hard, and now the calf has become an old fox, and the backer is gone, how can he still have confidence?

Li Mao asked Gao Chongwen to give Li Xianyi and Li Guangyan a military order each, ordering them to arrive at the designated place within a time limit and to engage in military law within the time limit.

Gao Chongwen was overjoyed, with Li Mao's support, his waist was straight.

Qin Mo persuaded Li Mao: "You are careful to provoke those two donkeys." ”

Li Mao snorted: "You can't get used to these arrogant generals. Military law is like a mountain, if you dare not obey orders, I will cut off his head. Don't talk to me about brotherhood, this is a war, not a family, and the law is not merciful. ”

Li Mao's tough attitude reached Li Xianyi's ears, and Li Xianyi scolded twice at the south, and then ordered to immediately pull out the camp and go south. When it reached the Hedong Army camp, everyone immediately blew up the nest and shouted: "Gao Chongwen is a dog with human power, and Li Mao is a bully, and he oppresses us like this, and we will not accept this military order." ”

Li Guangyan shouted: "Talking nonsense, without military orders, are they all rushing to rebel?" ”

He immediately ordered the camp to go south. Although the military order was issued, there was something wrong in my heart, and I didn't care about it when I stopped on the road.

It was rainy in summer, and the rain washed away the road in one day, cutting off the way of the Hedong Army. Some of the generals advised Li Guangyan not to go to see Gao Chongwen, some persuaded him to leave his army and return to Hedong, and some persuaded him to go up the mountain to fight guerrillas.

Li Guangyan's heart was a mess, he felt sorry for himself, and he regretted it. Marching Sima He Yunzi persuaded: "In the past, the general had an old relationship with Li Mao, and now he is the only one who can be a noble master, so why not beg him." ”

Li Guangyan said: "I don't know how to ask him to be useful, but how can I wipe this face?" ”

He Yunzi said with a smile: "The big husband can bend and stretch, and he can take care of the small sections." ”

Li Guangyan had no choice but to find Li Mao and beg him for help in front of Gao Chongwen.

Li Mao groaned: "What I said at the beginning is very clear, disobeying the military order is a capital crime, the road to Jianzhou is not far away, and the time is very abundant, so why delay?" Li Guangyan said ashamedly: "I'm ashamed, I'm angry with Gao Shuai." ”

Li Guangyan was so frank, and Li Mao was deeply grateful. Now is the time to employ people, Gao Chongwen will not really want to kill Li Guangyan, but this arrogance of disobeying military orders must not be promoted.

After talking about Li Guangyan, Li Mao sighed and pointed out a clear way for him:

There is a sheep intestine trail between Lutouguan and Mianzhou that is not marked on the map, although the road is dangerous, but it is nothing for the mountain people who are good at walking the mountain road, and the grain, grass and supplies of Lutouguan are carried by the mountain people with baskets bit by bit.

"This place is called Flower Ridge, this is the goose intestine, stuck in these two places, it will kill the supply line of Lutou Pass."

After Li Mao finished speaking, he rolled up the newly drawn map and handed it to Li Guangyan: "Choosing eight hundred elites, raiding Huahualing, and cutting off the goose's intestines is a miracle work. ”

Li Guangyan was overjoyed and thanked him.

Qin Mo stopped doing it, and shouted repeatedly: "A great credit, how can you give it to him, even if you want to save people, let the brothers get a piece of the pie." That's good, it's all gone, how can I explain it to my brothers? Hey - I'm you off. ”

Lutou Pass is strong, and the life of the garrison is very nourishing, Li Mao suspected that there was a secret supply line, sent people to search around, and found this secret supply line for half a month.

When the matter came, he suddenly repented, no wonder he was angry.

Li Mao said with a smile: "Saving someone's life is better than building a seventh-level floating slaughter, what you need now is to recuperate." ”

Qin Mo glanced at Li Mao, and said angrily: "There is a fart to recuperate, and you have the opportunity to make contributions, don't you still give it to others, alas, don't say it, don't say it, I'll go to sleep." ”

Li Mao advised: "A small masturbation is pleasant, a big masturbation hurts the body, and a strong masturbation is gone." Be careful, be careful"

Qin Mo turned around, sneered, and slowly raised his middle finger towards Li Mao.

Li Guangyan lived up to his expectations and cut off Liu Pi's grain transportation trail in one fell swoop, and Qiu Liangfu, the general of Lutou Pass, and Liu Wenyue, the master of Mianzhou, were all helped, and had no choice but to tie up Liu Pi's son-in-law Su Jiang to surrender.

Gao Chongwen, Yan Li, and Li Guangyan attacked Mianzhou together, fought fiercely for a day and night, and the city was broken.

As soon as Mianzhou started, the door to Chengdu was completely opened.

When the generals fought under the city of Mianzhou, Li Mao was not idle, he interrogated Su Jiang, and learned the truth of Chengdu from his mouth, so when Gao Chongwen decided to rest in Mianzhou, Li Mao insisted on sending troops to Chengdu immediately and eliminated Liu Pi's base camp in one fell swoop.

Li Guangyan was inspired by Li Mao's life-saving grace and immediately agreed. Yan Li was very dissatisfied because Liu Wenyue and Qiu Liangfu had surrendered to Gao Chongwen and had worked in vain, and he was anxious to make new contributions, and agreed to march into Chengdu immediately.

Gao Chongwen was very respectful of Li Mao at this moment, so he no longer insisted on his own opinion. The three armies were ordered to rest overnight, and the morning immediately opened up, and the troops pointed directly at Chengdu.