Tubo and the Tang Dynasty have been fighting for nearly a hundred years, it mainly fought fierce battles with the Tang army on four battlefields, the most important frontal battlefield is Longyou, with Hehuang as the center, attacking the Helong area of the Tang Dynasty; The second battlefield is the Western Regions, mainly to attack Anxi and compete with the Tang Dynasty for the big and small Bolu; The third battlefield was to attack Wenshan County, Tonghua County, and Jiaochuan County in Jiannan, which is today's Aba and Wenchuan area; And the fourth battlefield is to fight with the Tang Dynasty in the south for control of Nanzhao.

After the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion, the Tubo invaded the Tang Dynasty, not only occupying Anxi, Hexi, and Hehuang, but also attached to Jiannan's Wenshan, Tonghua, Jiaochuan and other Qiang counties also belonged to Tubo, and the nearest Tonghua County was only more than 300 miles away from Chengdu.

Jiaochuan, Tonghua and other counties have always been the Qiang people's settlements, where the mountains are steep, the big rivers are rushing, hundreds of miles to the west are barren and inhabited, one day at the end of September, a Tang army of 50,000 people after a thousand miles of trekking, from the Jiuqu area arrived in a canyon thirty miles west of Yishui County.

This is naturally the main force of Zhang Huan's southern expedition, since the beginning of the month and Wang Siyu broke up in Jiuqu, Zhang Huan led 70,000 troops to the southwest, he ordered Lin Jiuhan to lead 3,000 cavalry as the vanguard to open the way in front, and ordered 15,000 people to supply logistics, and he personally led 50,000 elite soldiers to Shuzhong.

The army rested in Jiaochuan County for two days, and then then went south, in front of Yishui County, occupied by the Tubo army, the army was stationed at the mouth of the canyon, Zhang Huan climbed to the top of the mountain under the leadership of the guide, and looked into the distance, the mountains in the distance were reckless, shrouded in a mist. At the foot of the mountain, a large river winds its way through the mountains. Wandering southeast.

The guide pointed to a majestic mountain in the distance and said: "Did the general see it, go south along Wenshui, and then cross the mountain in front of you is Yishui County, where hundreds of Tibetan soldiers are generally stationed. ”

Zhang Huan's guide is an old man of the Qiang nationality who is about 60 years old, who collects medicine for a living, and has often gone to Chengdu to sell medicinal materials since he was young, so he can speak fluent Chinese and travel all the way. The terrain is complex and the roads are dangerous, and the Tang army has successively changed more than a dozen guides to arrive here.

Zhang Huan took a curtain to look into the distance for a moment and asked, "How long does it take to get from Yishui County to Chengdu?" ”

The guide thought for a while and said: "After Yishui County and then go south is Maochuan County of Tonghua County, and it is not far from Chengdu when you arrive at Maochuan County. It took only two days to march from Chengdu. ”

Zhang Huan looked at the distance again. And he returned to the camp. As soon as he arrived at the tent, a personal soldier greeted him, and he handed Zhang Huan two orange pigeon letters, "Dudu, this is a letter just sent by the logistics messenger from Jiuqu." ”

Zhang Huan took the pigeon letter and walked back to the tent quickly, these are two letters from different places, one was signed ten days ago. Transferred from Chengdu. It is a map of Chengdu's city defense, indicating that 20,000 people were stationed; And the other letter was sent by Hu Yong, who stayed in Longyou. It has been confirmed that Zhu's 200,000-strong army is stationed in Jiangyou, and Li Na in Hanzhong is also ready to move, and there is a great momentum to take advantage of the fire to loot the land, and the letter mentions that the imperial court has an ambiguous attitude, and hopes that Zhang Huan will attack Zhu's attack on Longyou before attacking, so as to win the support of the people.

Zhang Huan held back the excitement in his heart, paced back and forth in the room with his hands, everything happened according to his expectations, but the more so, the more he couldn't be impatient, he kept hinting that he wanted to calm down, after lunch, Zhang Huan simply found a book, sat on the mountain stone and read it carefully, time passed little by little, and at dusk, he had completely calmed down from the excitement of receiving the news for the first time.

As soon as it was dark, a personal soldier came in and reported: "Governor, the scout who went to Yishui City has returned, and he is waiting to see him outside the tent!" ”

"Order him in!"

Soon, a lean and sturdy scout Guoyi lieutenant hurriedly walked in from outside the tent, he was the scout soldier Liu Shuai who fled from Hehuang back to report the news, and Li Guozhen, he also entered the military academy to study for a year, and after coming out, he was sent to Tubo, responsible for the production of sand table land in the Tubo area, and was promoted to the third scout battalion Guoyi lieutenant, this time he transferred to the southwest, and he was responsible for the reconnaissance of the enemy situation in front as the scout leader.

Liu Shuai led a hundred people to just come back from the front exploration, and when he entered the tent, he knelt down on one knee and said: "Liu Shuai, the commander of the third scout battalion, Guoyi, will see the governor." ”

"Get up?" Zhang Huan asked in a deep voice: "Tell me about the situation in Yishui County?" ”

"Back to the governor, the county seat of Yishui County is very dilapidated, there is not even a city gate, there are thousands of Qiang people living there, there are no Han people, and the Tubo garrison has more than 600 people, they have no defense against our arrival."

Six hundred people is not a big problem, the key is not to reveal the news, Zhang Huan nodded and asked: "Then Maochuan County can find out the information?" ”

"Back to the governor, the subordinates are coming back from Maochuan County, the road is more difficult, the infantry is faster than the cavalry, if you have enough rest along the day you can arrive, at present there is no Zhu garrison in Maochuan County, it is an empty city, the subordinates are afraid of revealing the news, so they led the brothers back, and did not dare to leave a person there."

Liu Shuai's caution obviously made Zhang Huan approve, and he said to Liu Shuai after a little hesitation: "Now collecting intelligence from Chengdu and Jiangyou is the first priority, I order you to temporarily lead the commander of the scout independent battalion, and be fully responsible for the intelligence collection in the Jiannan area, I allow you to make your own decisions according to the situation!" ”

"Subordinates obey!" Liu Shuai bowed deeply to Zhang Huan, turned around and strode away, seeing Liu Shuai walking away, Zhang Huan immediately ordered categorically: "Order the pioneer battalion Lin Jiuhan to take Jiaochuan County for me before dawn, if one escapes, let him come to see him!" ”

On the last day of September in the sixth year of Xuanren, the 50,000 vanguard troops of Zhudi arrived in Wenjun and launched a fierce attack on the 5,000 Xiliang army stationed in Qushui County, an important town in Wenjun, but the Xiliang army was obviously prepared, with sufficient grain and grass, and sharp arrows.

At the same time, the 10,000 vanguard army of Li Na in Hanzhong also launched an attack on Fengzhou County in the east, and was also attacked by the prepared Xiliang army, with more than half of them killed and wounded.

Then. Zhu Qin came with an army of 100,000. When he heard that the division was unfavorable, he was furious, beheaded the commander of the former army to show the public, and ordered the army to press on the whole line, but unexpectedly won easily, and it turned out that the Xiliang army in Qushui County saw that the enemy army had arrived, so it had already evacuated overnight.

When the day dawned, King Zhu Di was escorted by thousands of cavalry. Slowly drove into Qujiang County, beside his treasure car, the military advisor Qi Lu followed closely on horseback, and as soon as he entered the city gate, an officer stepped forward to report: "Report to the prince." There was no one left in the city. The Don army before the withdrawal. Burn all the grain! ”

"No one is the best, save me from cutting my knife dull, order the brethren to go into the city to bury the pot and cook, and set out in the afternoon!"

The officer promised to leave, but the military advisor Qi Lu stopped him again, "Pay attention to whether the well water is poisoned, and then remove all the things that ignite the fire in the house." ”

"Yes!" The officer agreed. Fast down.

"The military advisor is also thoughtful." Zhu smiled slightly in the carriage.

Qi Lu shook his head. He looked at the empty streets and alleys, and a trace of worry flashed in his eyes. "Lord Wang, I'm afraid something is not good."

"What's wrong, are you saying that Tang Jun was prepared first?" Zhu Leng snorted and said: "Of course, we have 200,000 troops in Jiangyou, how can the enemy not be vigilant?" ”

Qi Lu sighed, the key to attacking Longyou is the speed of the soldiers, but Zhu has been dispatching troops for too long, it is obvious that the other party has been fully prepared, and he is most worried that Zhang Huan, who is on an expedition, will rush back when he hears the news, and the matter will be troublesome, although he did not say it, but the worry on his face was fully expressed.

Zhu glanced at him and said coldly: "Could it be that the military advisor wants me to withdraw the army now?" ”

Without waiting for Qi Lu to answer, Zhu ordered sharply: "Order the army to rest for only one hour, give me an immediate march!" ”

An hour later, Zhu continued to lead more than 100,000 troops to the north, and one of his underground targets was the throat of Longyou - Wujun, and taking Wujun opened the door to Longyou, but here, Zhu encountered the most stubborn resistance of the 30,000 Xiliang army, which not only made him lose in attacking Fujin County, but also the grain fleet that went against the Qiang River was also attacked by the enemy, and all the 150,000 stone military rations were burned.

Zhu was thunderous, but he was helpless, he retreated to Wenjun on the one hand, and issued an 800-mile urgent warrant on the other hand, ordering Chengdu to stay in Zhu Fengge and quickly transport grain and grass to the front line.

Zhu Fengge, who guarded Chengdu, was the younger brother of the Zhu clan, since the outbreak of Li Nace's rebellion, Zhu realized that he and the court had irreconcilable contradictions, and under the weight of the rebellion, there would inevitably be other generals who would surrender to the court, in order to eliminate this possibility, Zhu decided to develop in the direction of the family. He from Xuanren five years, almost a year in the army to clean, after his several ** purge, some of the veterans with heavy troops were all he found a variety of excuses to eradicate one by one, Zhu then handed over the military power to some of his clan brothers, although this will reduce his strength, but the advantages are also obvious, the promoted Zhu children are absolutely loyal to him, this is exactly what Zhu needs the most.

Zhu Fengge was a small landowner in Shandong before Zhu made a fortune, and he had to rack his brains every year to seek more land rent, and after Zhu made a fortune in Chengdu, he was afraid that the people of other tribes would be connected, so he secretly sent people to take dozens of clans to Shu County, and Zhu Fengge became the marching Sima in charge of military food dispatch in Zhu's army.

With his stinginess and careful calculation, he is also qualified for this position, under his careful management, Zhu's military rations are more than out, and nearly one million stones have been accumulated in a few years, Zhu Fengge has also won Zhu's trust and attention, this time Zhu personally led the troops to the north, and ordered Zhu Fengge to stay in Chengdu and grasp the military and political power of Chengdu.

It is Zhu Fengge's nature to keep money, and good food management may not lead the soldiers well, and he has never fought a war, which Zhu also understands, but there will be no war in Shuzhong anyway, as long as Zhu Fengge firmly controls the army, everything will be fine, and Zhu Fengge's more important duty is to ensure the food and logistics supply of the northern army, so Zhu did not appoint any deputy to assist him when he left, and everything was completely controlled by him.

Therefore, after Zhu Bei's expedition, Zhu Fengge focused all his energy on the supply of food and materials, ensuring that grain and grass were continuously transported to Jiangyou every day, and his 20,000 remaining troops became a transport team, taking turns to escort grain and grass north.

this day. Zhu Fengge received Zhu 100,000's urgent order. Ordered him to immediately transport 200,000 stone of grain to Wenjun within five days, otherwise the military law would be engaged, and Zhu Fengge, who had always lived in leisure, was frightened by the order of the eldest brother, it would take two days from Chengdu to Jiangyoudi Flat Avenue, and how could it be done in Wenjun, where the road was difficult, in five days.

Afraid to be afraid, Zhu Fengge still ordered the soldiers to load the car overnight and set off overnight, and it was too late to arrest the people, so he asked 10,000 soldiers to act as the people to send 100,000 stone of grain to the north first.

Zhu Fengge kept sending the grain team away in fear. In a panic, he went around arresting people's husbands, collecting wagons, and preparing to transport the second batch of 100,000 stone grain.

Night gradually fell, and Zhu Fengge, who had been tired all night and day, finally couldn't hold back and went back to sleep, but the huge grain depot square was still full of people, and thousands of butter torches reflected the square brightly. Nearly 10,000 men captured from various counties in Chengdu are still wearily carrying grain bales to the wagons. More than a thousand soldiers kept a close watch on them. Prevent them from escaping.

Among the busy people like ant colonies, there are more than 100 sturdy men who are different, they are strong and vigorous, they are caught from the suburbs of Chengdu, time is pressing, no one cares about their origins, as long as they are healthy. It doesn't matter if they're robbers. Otherwise, no one can be caught, and the soldiers can only act as civilian husbands themselves.

in this group. The person at the head was a lean little man, who seemed very shrewd, and while carrying grain and grass, he kept an eye on the surrounding situation, needless to say, he was naturally the scout general Liu Shuai.

Suddenly, when! While! The gong sounded, and it was time to eat, of course, not the people, but the soldiers who were guarding around it, and the hungry and tired soldiers couldn't wait for the change of guard and ran to the other side of the square.

At this moment, Liu Shuai saw that the opportunity had come, and he immediately waved his hand and ordered in a low voice: "Go!" More than 100 of his men seemed to have the same heart, and they ran away, and they were as fast as they flew, and in an instant they disappeared into the thick night, and some of the people around them also wanted to run, but they were afraid, and when they hesitated left and right, the soldiers of the changing of the guard had already lined up and ran to keep them under close control again.

It is said that Liu Shuai led more than 100 people to run along the small streets and alleys, and soon left the grain depot square.

Since the war in the north, the people of Chengdu generally no longer go out at night, every house is closed, lest they get into trouble, and the major restaurants are also closed early, and Wangjiang Restaurant is no exception, it is not only a light business, but also a dozen guys were arrested and half of them were arrested, so that it can only close its doors.

At this moment, the light in the lobby of the restaurant is faint, and the money shopkeeper is restlessly registering the account books, after the war in Longyou started, he was more worried than ordinary people, and he didn't know if Longyou could be prepared.

Suddenly, the door slammed! Bang! The ground was knocked, anxious and fast, the money shopkeeper was startled, and blew out the ***, and then tiptoed to the door, poked open a window hole, and quietly looked out, only to see more than a dozen people standing under the eaves, and they looked around vigilantly while knocking on the door.

"Who is it?" The money shopkeeper asked in a low voice.

"We're looking for a money shopkeeper!"

"What are you looking for him?"

There was suddenly no movement outside the door, and after a while, someone whispered: "There is an immortal mountain in the north, and the winter wind sent me." ”

The money shopkeeper's heart fell to the ground, he immediately opened the door, only to see a lean man standing at the door, so he took out a waist card and shook it in front of his eyes, "I am the money shopkeeper, may I ask who you are?" ”

Liu Shuai smiled and arched his hand to him: "We are scouts of the Xiliang Army, and the governor sent us to Chengdu first." ”

"Xiliang Army?" The money shopkeeper was taken aback, how could Xiliangjun appear in Chengdu, he didn't have time to think about it, and hurriedly let more than a dozen people in, Liu Shuai turned around and whistled, only to see countless black shadows rushing out from the surrounding alleys and under the bridge, rushing into the lobby together, and in a moment, the lobby was full.

One hundred and eleven people, one is not less. Liu Shuai put his mind at ease, turned around and smiled apologetically at the stunned money shopkeeper: "There are a lot of people, I'm sorry!" ”

"Might as well be! Might as well! Please come inside. The money shopkeeper hurriedly invited them to the back room, but Liu Shuai stopped him and asked, "I heard that the money shopkeeper has a lot of guys hidden here, I don't know if they are still there?" ”

"Yes! Yes! The money shopkeeper replied in a panic: "There are weapons in the cellar that the owner has privately hidden, which is enough for you to use." ”

He took everyone to the cellar, the cellar was well ventilated, it looked dry and cold, lit the oil lamp on the wall, a cloud of dim light spread in the cellar, this is the Wangjiang Restaurant to store wine and some sundries, things are placed in a mess, making it difficult for people to get down, but the money shopkeeper is familiar with the road to a big wine barrel, push it away, behind the barrel is a black square hole, the length and width are five feet, he pointed to the inside and said: "The weapons are in the box inside, very heavy, you can take it yourself!" ”

As soon as Liu Shuai shook his head, three or four big men immediately came up, dragged out four large boxes from the stone cave, opened them, and they were really full of military weapons, mainly horizontal knives and crossbow arrows, and there were more than two hundred pieces.

Liu Shuai nodded, looked at the money shopkeeper and smiled slightly: "Finally, ask the money shopkeeper, where are the Zhu Fengge mansion and the military camp?" What path do you have to take, can you give us a map? ”