This attack on Zigui by Shu was personally commanded by Liu Bei, the lord of Shu, with the aim of breaking through the blockade of Wu and opening up territory for the advance into the Central Plains.

For this operation, the whole Shu State prepared for three years, and the vanguard was composed of nearly 30,000 people led by Wu Ban and Feng Xi, as well as Shamoke and other Wuxi barbarian troops as backup.

Wu Ban ordered Zhang Nan and Chen Shi to lead 5,000 men as the vanguard of the vanguard team, and with the assistance of 32 ships, to clear all the posts on both sides of the Yangtze River, clearing the way for the follow-up troops to advance.

As a result, due to the birth of Wei Minsheng's Huaxia Villa, Shengsheng took nearly eighty percent of Li Yan's soldiers and horses in the city.

Under the combined effect of the serious shortage of troops and the psychology of deliberately trying to test the details of this Huaxia Villa, Li Yan withdrew all the checkpoints originally arranged on both sides of the Yangtze River.

That Zhang Nan led the army to quietly search for those secret posts on both sides of the Yangtze River, but he didn't see a single sentry of Wu for a day, and only found a few abandoned sentry posts that had not been used for more than a day.

Zhang Nan felt that this matter was too abnormal, so he returned to the boat and told Chen Shi, the general of the navy, about the matter.

Chen Shi also felt that this matter was not normal, if it wasn't for Ziguishou's trickery with Li Yan, it must have happened to Ziguicheng, causing Li Yan to not even be able to send out sentinels.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that must not be missed.

So Chen Shi filled these more than 30 baggage boats with Zhang Nan's troops, a total of more than 1,000 people rushed directly down the Yangtze River to Ziguicheng Wharf, and the other 3,000 people led by Zhang Nan continued to march along both sides of the Yangtze River to Zigui.

When he saw the Ziguicheng wharf, as soon as Chen Shi was ready to attack, several defenders on the wharf dispersed in a hurry, and the ferries that had been docked at the wharf also ran away.

Chen Shi and a group of soldiers looked at the closed city gate not far away, and they looked like monks like Zhanger, puzzled.

Is this a trap? But there is only such a large city in this Zigui City, even if it is full of ambushes, there should be some abnormalities.

The birds on the tower of the city had just been disturbed by their own soldiers, and if there were a large number of soldiers and horses in the city, these birds would have been hiding far away, and it was impossible for them to fly around and frolic on the roof so leisurely.

Even the birds didn't feel a trace of abnormal breath, what the hell is Li Yan doing?

Judging from the information obtained before, only Li Yan with more than 500 soldiers and horses in this Zigui City, and the more than 1,000 people he brought to attack the dock are okay, but it is not enough to use it to attack the city.

Now this dock was taken down without a single knife or arrow, and in the face of the quiet Zigui City, Chen Shi did not dare to attack rashly, so he camped around the dock, released some scouts around Zigui City, and then waited for the arrival of more than 3,000 follow-up troops in Zhang Nan.

An hour later, Zhang Nan led his troops to appear on the nearest mountain beam, looking at the neat camp of the Shu army around the dock, and there was no trace of the war.

If it weren't for the big "Chen" written on the flag outside the camp tent, Zhang Nan almost thought that he had run in front of the Chen-style fleet.

With full of doubts, Zhang Nan led his troops into Chen Shi's camp, and Chen Shi had already seen Zhang Nan's arrival and welcomed Zhang Nan to the big tent.

Zhang Nan took the pottery bowl and drank a bowl of water, wiped the water stains on the side of his mouth, and said to Chen Shi: "General Chen, why is it so quiet here, and there is no sign of fighting?" ”

Chen Shi said: "I led the people down the river by boat, and I saw from a distance that there were still some people on the wharf who were about to lead the army to raid, but those people fled in all directions, and the boats went downstream, and some people on the wharf fled into Zigui City.

Now the gate of Zigui City is closed, the situation is strange, more than 1,000 people of mine are naval troops, not good at attacking the city, and do not dare to act rashly, so I have to set up camp, first release some scouts, and find out the situation clearly. ”

Zhang Nan looked at the closed gate of Zigui City, and there was a strange feeling in his heart that he couldn't explain: This Zigui City now knows the arrival of our army, and it should be ready to face the battle, but there is no atmosphere of battle on the empty city wall.

I have been in the army for more than ten years and have experienced countless battles large and small, but I have never encountered such a strange thing.

As the most important fortress on the Yangtze River in the west of Yiling County of Wu State, this Ziguicheng firmly choked the waterway of Shu to the east, and for many years Shu could only bend between the poor mountains and bad waters, and developed with difficulty.

This time, the lord of the country personally led a large army, ready to completely pull out this nail, and then send troops to raze the tomb.

Only by taking Yiling into his hands, with the support of the fertile land, large population and excellent terrain of Yiling County, can Shu have the qualifications to win the Central Plains.

But now, which has always been regarded as a thorn in the side, suddenly turned from a tiger to a docile kitten, and this sudden change in psychology is really unacceptable for a while.

Zhang Nan did not dare to rashly attack the city when he couldn't figure out the details of Zigui City, seeing that the sun was already setting in the west, it was not a good time to attack the city, so he simply took a rest in the camp and waited for the scouts to bring back information before making plans.

It didn't take long for several scouts to bring back the news: not long ago, the south gate of Zigui City was opened, and more than 100 people went straight to the direction of Yiling, and there were only a dozen old, weak, sick and disabled people left in the city.

Zhang Nan and Chen Shi were stunned by the news brought back by the scout, and looked at each other for a long time before coming back to their senses, Zhang Nan grabbed the scout's shirt and said, "Have you found out clearly?" This Zigui City is the gateway to Yiling County, and there are no soldiers and horses in it, so you are here to entertain us. ”

The placket of the scout's clothes was carried by Zhang Nan, and he said tremblingly: "General, how dare you report such a major event, we didn't believe it before, and I went to the city with a few brothers to confirm, and I really didn't find anything abnormal, so I came to return to my life." ”

Zhang Nan muttered to Chen Shi: "What they mean is that now this Ziguicheng is waiting for us to receive it, why do we feel a little unreal?" ”

Chen Shi said: "It seems that this is the meaning, it is better for General Chen to send someone in to have a look first, and open the north gate on the dock by the way." If there is no problem, we will live in the city today? ”

Chen Shi is suspicious by nature, and he should be familiar with water warfare, and such a situation is out of his understanding, so he proposed such a way to enter the city. If these people can pass through the city unharmed and open the gate here, it basically means that there is indeed no threat to this Zigui City, it is just an empty city, and they can enter the city with confidence.

Zhang Nan also felt that this method was good, and it was not bad to send some people to try the truth, so he sent a few chiefs according to Chen's method, and brought dozens of soldiers into the city from the south gate and opened the city gate.