In early November, Daojiang County, Shu County, here is where Dujiangyan is located, the night is deep, the distance is covered by the fog Qingcheng Mountain, faintly only one outline, Zhu stood on the city wall of Daojiang County, expressionlessly watching the endless army from the front of the galloping in front of him, this is his main force, a total of 140,000 people, they came from the south of Chengdu to take advantage of the night, the target is Deyang County in the northeast.

Since the imperial army entered Shu, it has fought with the Zhu army five times, and Zhu has been defeated repeatedly, and has been eaten by Cui Qinggong's army of 30,000 troops, and was defeated by the army of Wei Ge of the West Road 20,000.

Two days ago, Cui Qinggong defeated Zhu Tao again in Xiaoshui County, north of Chengdu, and led the main force of 30,000, and the high-spirited Cui Qinggong pointed at Chengdu, and at this moment the battle lines of Cui, Pei, and Wei had been opened, and Zhang Guangsheng, the chief general of the Pei army, was stationed in Nanchong County, while Cui Qinggong and Wei Ge were rapidly marching into Chengdu.

According to the latest spy report, Cui Qinggong's army has reached Mengyang County, which is less than 100 miles from Chengdu, and Wei Ge's army has also rushed to Deyang County, northeast of Chengdu, which is less than 200 miles from Chengdu.

At this time, whoever occupies Chengdu first is the first hero to pacify the Zhu bandits, Cui and Wei are scrambling to be the first, both trying to grab a great success, as for Zhu, they no longer take it to heart, bandits are bandits, although the number is large but vulnerable, the record of repeated battles and victories has made them completely lose their vigilance, countless scouts who have returned from Chengdu have unanimously reported that Chengdu has no soldiers to garrison, and Zhu bandits have fled south. The victory in front of them made Cui Qinggong and Wei Ge no longer wait for more detailed reports, they marched day and night, racing against time, and this moment was the opportunity for Zhu to wait for a long time.

"Big brother, is it a little risky for us to retreat step by step, if Cui Qinggong doesn't eat the bait of Chengdu, then we will be in a dangerous situation of being attacked on our backs." Zhu Tao looked a little worried.

Zhu patted his brother's shoulder and said with a slight smile: "Although you are smarter than your eldest brother, your experience is a little worse." I've followed Cui Qinggong for so many years, don't I know him yet? Don't say that Wei Ge has a deep enmity with him, even if the army of the Wang family who is married to his son comes, he will not come to the rescue, you can't see it all the way, he and Wei Ge you fight for me. When have you ever cooperated? If it weren't for Pei Jun's army, the two of them would even fight themselves, so don't worry, we won't lose so many battles in vain, it's time for us to harvest the land, and I'll take it back with interest. ”

Speaking of this, Zhu's eyes looked coldly at the dark north of the night, and the corners of his mouth slowly showed a cruel smile, "Clean them up." Let's go to Chang'an for the first night. ”

"Tell the brethren to speed up again, and be quick! If you want to sleep, go to Chengdu, and I will pick a thousand women to sleep with you! Wei Ge rode on the horse, his eyes were red, hoarse voice personally cheered up the soldiers, the sky was already dark, after a night of rapid march Wei Ge's army was less than one hundred and forty miles away from Chengdu, and the spies reported that Cui Qinggong only walked twenty miles last night, about eighty miles away from Chengdu, which made Wei Ge's hope suddenly become bigger.

Cui Qinggong fought for a while, and then marched continuously, which was already at the end of the strong crossbow, and Wei Ge had already thrown off more than 10,000 sick and weak troops, and personally led 20,000 elites to Chengdu, and they went to Pingchuan. Therefore, the speed is much faster than Cui Qinggong, and at this progress, it is not yet known who will kill the deer.

At this time, a horse in front of him came galloping, and the person on the horse was Wei Zhi, the nephew of Wei Ge, that is, the son of Wei Du, he was about twenty years old, and he was also a captain of Longyou Academy, and the newborn calf was not afraid of tigers.

He rushed forward and hugged his fists and said, "Commander, I am willing to lead 3,000 cavalry to seize Chengdu!" ”

Wei Ge nodded, since he would send scouts to check on Cui Qinggong. And Cui Qinggong will also send scouts to check on him, seeing that his progress is speeding up, he is also very likely to send cavalry to take the first step.

"Good! You take 3,000 cavalry as the vanguard, give me to seize Chengdu, remember. Once the city is captured. Close the city gate immediately, no matter how provocative Cui Qinggong is, you are not allowed to open the city gate! ”

"Obey!" Wei Zhi is a longitudinal horse. Led three thousand cavalry to gallop away.

The cavalry had gone, Wei Ge was slightly relieved, and he began to look at the surrounding terrain, which was a gentle hilly area, with large forests distributed on both sides of the official road, and the forests were scattered with the undulations of the terrain, and the line of sight could only be two miles away, and there was not a single village in sight. Wei Wei couldn't help frowning, this is the best place to fight an ambush, he only cares about hurrying, but a little careless, he looked back at the soldiers, and saw that everyone was exhausted after a night of driving, so he said to the guards beside him: "Pass the order, rest on the spot for half an hour." ”

At the sound of the order, tens of thousands of people sat down on the spot, some of them fell asleep, while others drank water and ate dry food, stretching for miles.

At this time, Wei Ge said to the lieutenant general: "Order the scouts to go around and investigate, don't be ambushed." ”

As soon as he finished speaking, suddenly the drums beat loudly, rumbling through the heavens and the earth, and I saw countless ambush soldiers rushing out of the surrounding forests, they shouted loudly, brandished swords and guns, and shouted to kill the heavens.

The Longyou army on the official road was frightened, they stood up in a panic, and before they could arrange their formation, the sharp cavalry had already rushed into the Longyou army, swords and guns, and the cry suddenly sounded.

Wei Ge was so frightened that his hands and feet were cold, and at this moment, Wei Zhi, who had taken the first step, led less than a thousand people to flee back desperately, and when he saw Wei Ge, he cried loudly: "Dashuai, the brothers have been ambushed in front and suffered heavy losses, and the fifty or sixty thousand Zhu bandit army is killing this side." ”

"Big marshal, tens of thousands of bandits are coming two miles away."

"Dashuai, the brothers are physically exhausted, and they really can't stand it, please make a decision quickly!"

One news after another made Wei Ge's heart seem to sink into the abyss, and he suddenly roared, "Break through to the north!" ”

Shouting, he whipped his horse, under the desperate protection of thousands of people, he opened a bloody road, and fled back to Deyang County to the north, this time in an ambush battle, more than 10,000 people were killed and wounded in the Longyou army, and the morale was low.

But Zhu didn't stop there, he personally led an army of more than 100,000 to attack Deyang, Wei Ge urgently asked Cui Qinggong for help, but Cui Qinggong ignored it. He led the army to occupy Chengdu, Wei Ge was helpless, and sent people to Zhang Guangsheng, the chief general of the Pei family army in Nanchong County, for help.

Unfortunately, most of the Deyang City was damaged during the battle between Cui and Zhu, and Wei Ge held out for less than two days before being defeated by Zhu. The Longyou army was defeated, and was pursued by Zhu Tao with 10,000 elite soldiers day and night, and countless surrenderers surrendered, and finally fled to Zitong County, when the 60,000 Longyou army was only more than 10,000 people left, Wei Ge hated Cui Qinggong deeply, and returned to Hanzhong with the remnants of the army.

But the unfavorable situation in Shuzhong did not stop there, Zhu ignored Cui Qinggong, he concentrated more than 100,000 troops and attacked Nanchong County. At this time, Cui Qinggong realized the seriousness of the problem, and ordered the general Bai Sheng to defend the city, and he personally led 50,000 people to rescue Zhang Guangsheng.

On the second day of the winter solstice, that is, on the same day that the Xiliang army attacked Huijun, the Zhu brothers led an army of 180,000 to meet the 100,000 combined forces of Cui and Pei outside Nanchong City, which was a battle that was later known as Winter Blood. The two sides invested nearly 200,000 troops to fight, the casualties were heavy, the blood flowed like a river, after five days of meat grinder-like fighting, the battle killed more than 100,000 people, and finally ended with the defeat of the Cui and Pei coalition forces, the general Zhang Guangsheng was killed, Cui Qinggong was defeated, after the war, Zhu Yifu slaughtered more than 30,000 people in Nanchong County. As a result, he gained a reputation for slaughtering land.

Wugong County, here is the junction of Jingzhao Mansion and Fengxiang Mansion, on the flat and wide official road, a thousand cavalry is escorting several carriages and chariots, and in the carriage is Cui Yuan, the right minister of the Tang Dynasty, who went to Kaiyang County to solve some of the remaining problems of the Wei family, that is, to persuade Zhang Huan to let Kaiyang County go.

Of course, before he set off, he had already received the flying pigeon express from the Fengxiang guard, and the Wei family gave up Kaiyang County. Nearly 10,000 people arrived in Fengxiang, Zhang Huan had already occupied Kaiyang County, and there was actually no point in going to Kaiyang County, but Cui Yuan still set off as planned, Wei Ge was there. He always had to give an account.

The carriage did not go fast. Cui Yuan was covered with a blanket and was sitting in the car with his eyes closed. His carriage was very large and comfortably furnished, like a house, with two braziers lit in it, so that the winter cold outside could not be felt at all, and two beautiful concubines were serving him wholeheartedly.

Cui Yuan was thinking back to his meeting with Pei Jun, although three days had passed, Pei Jun's words about the Longyou incident seemed to still echo in his mind.

"The change in Longyou was caused by the party members, and Cui Xiangguo should explain this situation to the hundred officials."

"The Helong dispute is a contradiction within the Tang Dynasty and can be resolved through negotiation, but the rebellion of the party members is related to the safety of the Tang Dynasty, and Cui Xiangguo especially wants to explain this to the hundred officials." At the beginning, Pei Xiangguo gave a guarantee to the Wei family, how did Pei Xiangguo explain to Wei Ge? ”

"The contract was signed by him Wei Ge himself and Zhang Huan, I am just a witness, how can it be a guarantee, and Cui Shilang also signed the contract on behalf of Xiang Guo, can he also make a guarantee?"

"The matter has come to this, let's not shirk responsibility, the key is to have a solution, what good advice does Pei Xiangguo have?"

"I thought that the top priority was to put pressure on Zhang Huan, don't let him hurt the heirs of the Wei family, as long as people are fine, everything is easy to say, if he really refuses to quit Longyou, I suggest that the Wei family find another place, such as Hanzhong County, what does Cui Xiangguo think?"

Cui Yuan couldn't help but smile bitterly when he thought of this, Pei Jun, the old fox, probably knew that Zhang Huan would definitely do it, but he pretended to be deaf and dumb, and used Zhang Huan's hand to get rid of the Wei family, in order to take revenge on the Wei family for taking refuge in himself.

Hanzhong County, thanks to him, why didn't he propose to place the Wei family in Dai County and Yunzhong County?

Suddenly, a rapid sound of horses' hooves woke Cui Yuan from his contemplation, and it seemed that someone was shouting from afar, Xiangguo stayed! He pulled the curtain and asked, "Who's shouting?" ”

"Xiangguo, it seems that the person who delivered the letter is chasing after him."

Cui Yuan looked back, only to see that there was dust behind him, and more than a dozen cavalrymen were running fast, as if he was in a hurry, and he immediately ordered: "Stop and wait!" In a moment, more than a dozen messengers rushed to the scene, and without waiting for the horses to stop, the messenger immediately rolled down and said urgently: "Xiangguo, the big thing is not good, there is urgent news from Shuzhong, the officers and soldiers have been defeated, and the whole army has been wiped out!" ”

"What!" Cui Yuan was terrified when he heard this. Suddenly his eyes went dark, and he knew nothing.

At the beginning of December of the second year of Xuanren, the news of the defeat of the officers and soldiers in Shuzhong came to Chang'an, and the government and the opposition were shaken. I couldn't afford to be sick, but the news that shocked the government and the opposition was not over, and soon the news came that Zhu had led an army of 200,000 to the north and occupied Yangping Pass, and its vanguard had arrived in Hanzhong, and he had already made a bid to ask the court to crown him as the king of Shu, and the thirty-six counties in Shuzhong would be given to him as a food town, otherwise. He will send troops to Chang'an to revive the dynasty.

The news of Zhu Bei's arrival made the court situation fall into a state of panic, Pei Jun immediately reached an agreement with Cui Yuan, who was seriously ill, with the Empress Dowager Cui Xiaofu coming forward, and the veteran Guo Ziyi, who was already eighty years old, as the generalissimo of the country, leading Qianniuwei, Jin Wuwei and nearly 10,000 Longyou troops who fled from Kaiyang to Guanzhong, a total of more than 70,000 people marched from the Meridian Valley to Hanzhong. He also urgently transferred regiments from all over the country to train troops into Beijing and Qinwang.

At this moment, Guanzhong is empty, and there are less than 10,000 people guarding the Beijing Division.

Jincheng County, Zhang Huan in the capture of the whole territory of Longyou, in ten days, has been the end of the whole army, including the Longyou army and a large number of newly recruited troops, he already has a strength of nearly 120,000 troops, he divided them into eight battalions, stationed in Hexi, Longyou places, and sent his own henchmen as Zhonglang generals. In charge of the battalions, among which he personally led 50,000 elite Xiliang troops to be stationed in Jincheng County, he officially designated Jincheng County as the location of Longyou and Hexi Jiedu.

On this day, Zhang Huan was discussing the matter of Lingwu County with the new military counselor Du Mei and the judge of the Xiliang Army Pei Mingyuan, Du Mei suggested that Lingwu County be re-blocked, forcing Duan Xiushi to either surrender or return to the west to surrender the city, while Pei Mingyuan suggested taking the route of the Empress Dowager, asking the Empress Dowager to persuade Duan Xiushi to surrender, and at the same time cancel the food aid that the Wei family promised him. Hard and soft.

Zhang Huan was inclined to Pei Mingyuan's suggestion, however, the grain should be a little first in order to collect the hearts of the people of Lingwu County.

Just when the three of them reached an agreement on the countermeasures of Lingwu County, the urgent information about the defeat of Jiannan and the urgency of Hanzhong was sent by Chang'an Feige.

None of the three spoke for a moment. Zhang Huan stood in front of the window with his hands in his hands and stared at the sky for a long time. Although he had expected that the imperial court's expedition to the south would be defeated this time, he still did not expect that it would be defeated so badly. Especially Zhu's ambition was revealed, and he actually sent troops to Hanzhong to ask for a break in the territory and seal the territory, which was also a bit unexpected to him, he was too anxious, and he was going to rebel against the Tang Dynasty before the foundation of Shuzhong was stable, didn't he know that the people could be overthrown? It seems that he still thinks highly of him, and this chess piece has no effect on him now.

"Governor! Here's your chance. Du Mei's eyes were unusually bright, he stared at the pigeon letter in front of him, as if he had found a gold mine, and said excitedly: "Now the army of Guanzhong has been taken to Hanzhong by Guo Ziyi, Guanzhong is extremely empty, this is a golden opportunity for the governor, if you seize this opportunity, the governor can be the lord of Guanzhong, and you can restore the royal status and directly ascend to the throne as the ninety-five, and you can follow Cao Cao's example and coerce the Son of Heaven to order the princes." ”

"Don't do it!" Pei Mingyuan objected loudly, "The governor seized Longyou, and he can still explain to the people that it is to recover Hehuang and replace the Wei family with nothing, I think the people of the world can still understand, but the governor took advantage of the situation to march into the pass, and the meaning is completely different, so what is the difference between the governor and Na Zhu?" ”

"Mingyuan is ridiculous!" Du Mei shook his head lightly and said: "Why should those who have achieved great things need to think too much about the benevolence of women, you must know that history is written by kings, and Emperor Taizong killed his brother and forced his father, but he left an infamy in the history books?" Emperor Xuanzong forced his father and brother to take the throne, Emperor Suzong planned the change of Ma Weipo, and forced the Ming Emperor to mutiny, can it be recorded in the history books? As long as the governor works hard to restore the prosperity of the Kaiyuan Dynasty and restore the prestige of my Tang Dynasty Khan, a hundred years later, who will remember how the governor entered the customs from Longyou? ”

Zhang Huan was still silent, his gaze was extremely complicated, Du Mei's words made him very excited, and also made his blood boil, he knew that this was a shortcut to the sky, and he almost agreed without thinking, but a trace of reason in his mind told him that it couldn't be like this!

He tried his best to restrain the ** in his heart, and finally slowly calmed down, then turned around and patted Du Mei on the shoulder, and said to him sincerely: "I understand your loyalty, there are some things I can think about, but I can't do it, do you understand?" ”

Speaking of this, he opened the curtain on the wall, revealing a complete map of the Helong region, he pointed to Wenjun, the southernmost place of Longyou, and smiled slightly at the two: "Now Zhu is attacking Hanzhong, but it has given me a good opportunity to wash away the notoriety of forcibly occupying Longyou, Zhu led an army of 200,000 to the north, Shuzhong must be empty, why don't we send troops from Wenjun, along the Fushui River, copy his Zhu's old nest, so as to force him to retreat?" I think it is not far off to be so meritorious to the society and to get the post of envoy of Longyoujiedu. ”

At the beginning of December of the second year of Xuanren, when Zhu was preparing to divide his troops into three ways to attack Hanzhong and Chang'an, Zhang Huan of Longyou suddenly sent troops to Shuzhong, and the army of 50,000 troops under the personal leadership of Zhang Huan was like a bamboo, rushing to seize the pass, and its vanguard general Wang Siyu arrived in Jiangyou County, an important town in Bashu, in only ten days.

Zhu Wenxun was panicked, he withdrew his troops overnight and rushed back to Shuzhong, and at this time, Zhang Huan had withdrawn his troops and returned to Wenjun, so far, the crisis in Hanzhong has been resolved.