Yang Huai and Gao Pei were obviously a little incredulous when he heard Liu Bei say that he wanted the two of them to go back to Liu Zhang to do internal response. However, they were soon overjoyed and vowed to make meritorious contributions to Liu Bei as a thank you for his grace not to kill.

Liu Bei and the two agreed that on the third watch day when Liu Zhang led the army to set up camp near our army, the two of them set fire to Liu Zhang's camp, and cooperated with our army to rob the village. In order for someone to cooperate with them, Liu Bei also specially asked the two of them to select five hundred people from the captives to reward them and let them cooperate with Yang Huai and Gao Pei to make meritorious contributions that night, and promised in front of all the captives that once they succeeded, these captives would be released immediately!

I looked at the thousands of captives, and Yang Huai and Gao Pei did not have any resentment that they were going to betray Liu Zhang, but on the contrary, I saw a longing, a desire to regain their freedom on them and the other five hundred captives. Many of them even knelt down to Yang Huai and Gao Pei, and Yang Huai and Gao Pei's faces were very unnatural, they just waved their hands weakly at them, and immediately got on their horses and led people away.

The reason why Pang Tong made up for the two was that the two fought desperately to get out of the encirclement that night, so they were able to return to Liu Zhang. I think this reason sucks, it's not very technical. But I can't think of a better reason, and these two guys will report us to Liu Zhang immediately when they go back anyway, so even if this reason is bad, it is actually insignificant.

In this way, when Liu Zhang's 30,000-strong army was about to approach our army, our army decisively abandoned the camps originally set up by Yang Huai and Gao Pei's garrisons in Henan, and all retreated to the large camp I had originally set up on the north side of the river against the West Mountain.

I don't know how Liu Zhang will feel when he sees the big camp that Yang Huai and Gao Pei have lost, and I don't know if Liu Zhang will believe what Yang Huai and Gao Pei said, and take strict precautions at night to prepare to deal with the robbery of our army's camp. In contrast, Zhang Lujun, who has never said anything about helping or returning to Yangping Pass, is now very suspicious, and Liu Bei, who has just been in the shadow of others, even asked Pang Tong if Zhang Lu would suddenly shadow us from behind when our army and Liu Zhang were fighting, I feel that after I and Pang Tong tried to persuade Liu Beiyin and Liu Zhang, Liu Bei has also become a skeptic. In the long run, this will definitely be very unfavorable to our side, and I am blamed for being in a hurry to help Liu Bei take Yizhou, not considering that the side effects of this matter will be so big.

But the arrow is on the string, I have to send it, if I can't find out Zhang Lu's true attitude, then the next action will be very dangerous, maybe our army will be wiped out first, and then it is likely that I will become Liu Zhang's prisoner, and Yang Huai and Gao Pei, who were fed up with the wimp before, may not have the right to do anything to Liu Bei at that time, but they will definitely not let go of this ruthless idea.

I had no choice but to go to Zhang Luzhai to find out the truth in person. Liu Bei said that this trip was dangerous and he wouldn't let me go, but I could see that it wasn't true, and I even wondered if I was a conspiracy theory now, because I had done something that violated morality, so I didn't look like a good person.

Of course, I can't say to Liu Bei that you don't want to be hypocritical here, in fact, you must wish I would go right now and bring you the good news you want from Zhang Lu. I simply let it go, and I was much more righteous, and when I thought of my uncertain future, a tragic emotion naturally arose.

I didn't expect Zhang Lu to welcome me very warmly, and Yang Song kept praising me in front of Zhang Lu, saying that I was a young hero and a rare general. Zhang Lu also kept asking me to mention that he apologized to Liu Bei, and once again emphasized in his words that because Cao Cao was likely to bring the army to the west soon, he could not go deep into Shu with our army.

Zhang Lu's attitude finally made my heart let go of a big stone, and I even came up with an idea, it is better to tell Zhang Lu that we have asked Yang Huai and Gao Pei to go back to do the internal business, and ask him to rob Liu Zhang's camp at the third watch, and our army only sends a small number of troops to make a show, and when Zhang Lu and Liu Zhang are tired of fighting, they will send troops to clean up the mess.

But I didn't do that after all, after the last strategy, Liu Bei's changes made me regret it a little, if it can be said that the use of allies can be said to be a last resort, then a short interval of time is likely to make Liu Bei's reputation completely ruined, then he is the king of benevolence and righteousness, I don't dare to think about what his personality will become. If he becomes a tyrant who is constantly suspicious of people because of this, even if I help him win the country, what will be the point?

And when the time comes, Zhang Lu, who is defeated and injured by Liu Zhang, will also be completely hostile to us, how can our army only have more than 10,000 people, and Zhang Lu and Liu Zhang's army together have 50,000 people, even if they are both defeated, it is almost impossible for our army to capture Zhang Lu alive, as long as he escapes back to Yangping Pass, and the remnants of the army and Liu Zhang's remnants will unite to surround our army on both sides, and then it will no longer be Liu Zhang but us who will fall into a desperate situation!

So in the end, I told Zhang Lu about our real plan, Zhang Lu listened to it again and again, and Yang Song was also in a gang to help, saying that once it succeeded, Zhang Lu's King Hanning would be just around the corner! Coaxed Zhang Shijun to be happy, and immediately made a decision, agreeing to join our army to storm Liu Zhang's camp at dawn.

When I went back, Yang Song sent me for Zhang Lu, I quietly asked him about the past, Yang Song told me that the reason why Zhang Lu had always refused to send troops to attack Liu Zhang with our army was because Ma Chao had been sitting firmly in Liangzhou at this time, and was actively contacting the Qiang and Zhang Lu to form a coalition to attack Chang'an again, and promised that as long as Chang'an was captured, he would not advance, and in the future, Chang'an would be built into a strong city, so that Cao Cao's forces would never be able to enter Yongzhou and Liangzhou.

Therefore, Yang Ang, the general who originally brought more than 10,000 people to help Ma Chao, wrote a letter back, asking Zhang Lu to send troops and horses and powerful generals to help. For Zhang Lu, no matter how attractive the title of King Hanning was, it was not as practical as completely eliminating Cao Cao's threat, so these days he ordered Yang Ang to continue to stay in Jicheng to assist Ma Chao, and on the other hand, he ordered his younger brother Zhang Wei to return to Yangping Pass and send 10,000 people to help. Because of this, in addition to the 20,000 troops here, there were no more than 10,000 soldiers left in Hanzhong, so Zhang Lu was reluctant to lead the army deep into Shu. But he was afraid that the withdrawal of the army would leave our army here and defeat Liu Zhang, so he did not advance or retreat, and planned to wait for the good news from Ma Chao's side to help Ma Chao's army and horses return to Yangping Pass, and then it was not too late to attack Liu Zhang.

In the end, Yang Song said to me with a flattering face: "General Zhuge has done everything possible for Uncle Liu Huang's affairs, and I hope you will return to your lord to say a lot of good things for me, and when Liu Zhang is broken tomorrow, don't forget the promise you made to me and my lord!" ”

I understood that Yang Song was referring to the 1,500 taels of gold before and after and the matter of helping Zhang Lu become the king of Hanning, and at this time I was about to rely on him to contribute, so I naturally promised that as long as it was done, everything would be indispensable to him, and he was so happy that his eyes were about to lose joy.