A month later, the bitter cold in Hanzhong passed, and the weather began to warm up. Three thousand Nanyang elite crossbowmen, under the leadership of a tiger general, arrived in Hanzhong City.

"The last general Xu Chu, see General Fenwei!" Xu Shu guessed a lot of characters, but he didn't expect He Xian to send his own personal guard general to him.

"The lieutenant general of the army will hurry up!" Xu Shu hurriedly helped Xu Chu up and introduced Xu Chu to Huang Zhong, Zhang Ren and Yan Pu one by one. As nominally the supreme leader of Hanzhong, neither Zhang Lu nor Liu Zhang came forward. Since the last time Zhang Lu listened to Yang Song's slander and joined Liu Zhang to recall Xu Shu from Jiamengguan for trumped-up reasons, Zhang Lu and Liu Zhang were deeply ashamed and simply handed over all the military affairs of Hanzhong to the four people in front of them to make decisions. Zhang Lu concentrates on spreading his five buckets of rice, while Liu Zhang enjoys his royal life.

"Why is the lord willing to send Zhong Kang over? You're the Lord's Guard's Adjutant General! After the ceremony, Xu Shu asked Xu Chu in disbelief.

Xu Chu replied angrily: "The lord said that the Nanyang Army will not go out for the time being, and it is useless to keep me by my side. On the other hand, General Fenwei is in danger. Liu Bei's two righteous brothers, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, are all enemies. The lord asked me to personally guard the general, and if something went wrong, I would go to see him. ”

Everyone laughed, the "words of the head" was just a joke, but it could be heard from it that the general He Xian valued Xu Shu very much.

"With Zhongkang's escort, I am more confident in this trip to Yizhou! Three days later, we departed. I led 3,000 Nanyang troops, only with swords, axes and ropes to open the way at the front, and Xu Chu led 3,000 crossbowmen and 7,000 Nanyang sword and shield men to guard the land three miles behind me. General Zhang Ren led 20,000 soldiers and horses by himself, and set off three days after we left. I wonder what you think? ”

Everyone had no objections, and arranged according to Xu Shu's plan. Three days later, Xu Shu and Xu Chu led 13,000 Nanyang troops to lead the expedition. Among them, Xu Shu personally led 3,000 pioneers, not wearing armor, not carrying weapons, only carrying axes and ropes, opening roads in the mountains and building bridges in the water. Three days later, Zhang Ren personally led 20,000 Yizhou elite soldiers, along the road widened by Xu Shu, and embarked on the journey into Shu. At the same time, Huang Zhong and Yan Pu once again entered Jiameng Pass and launched a ferocious attack. Zhang Fei was short of troops and urgently appealed to Liu Bei, who was stationed in Zitong, and asked for reinforcements.

Between Zhang Ren and Xu Shu, there was a three-day journey.

However, because Xu Shu and the others needed to open the road, they moved slowly. After entering the mountain, the trail of the road fades and fades, and many times, there are only the marks left by the footsteps of the Orion. Fortunately, Xu Shu made a lot of preparations in advance, and also invited more than a dozen of the most experienced local mountain people to come to the guide, plus the compass produced in Nanyang as a support, at least there is no need to worry about getting lost. Every thirty or forty miles of marching the vanguard army set up a small camp for rest. After the opening of the second day, the camp did not move to facilitate the rest of the rear army led by Zhang Ren. In this way, I traveled for about 30 days and advanced more than 500 miles. Most of the more than 500 miles of Shuzhong Mountain Road are in places where there is no one to see. Xu Shu and the Nanyang army were purely in the reckless mountains, relying on a little experience passed down by the mountain people and the lives of the soldiers, they opened up a mountain road that could be used for the difficult march of the army.

The army continued to advance, but the 3,000 pioneers who opened the way were reduced from 3,000 to 2,000, and then from 2,000 to more than 1,000. Even if Xu Shu's heart is as hard as a rock, he sometimes doubts whether the decision he made is right or wrong. But when he thought of the towering city walls of Jiameng Pass, Xu Shu felt that the casualties were worth it. If Jiameng Pass and Sword Pavilion are stormed, the casualties of the Nanyang army will definitely be even greater.

On this day, the general in charge of pathfinding suddenly came back with a sad face and reported: "There is no way ahead!" ”

Xu Shu was furious when he heard this: "What do you mean that there is no way out? If there is no road, a road will be opened, and if there is no bridge, a bridge will be erected, and along the way, don't we all pass like this? ”

"Not so, General! This time it was different, after crossing this mountain, all the cliffs in front of it could not be excavated. The guide also said that there is no road to the Yinping Ancient Road here. ”

Xu Shu hurriedly asked Tun General to lead the way, and he wanted to go and see the situation in person. Seeing that Jiang You is in front of you, how can you stop now? Once stopped, not to mention the previous achievements, tens of thousands of troops have lost the belief in victory, and trapped in this reckless mountains, there will definitely be big problems.

Xu Shu followed the general all the way to climb over the mountain in a hurry, and there was a steep cliff in front of him. With the help of the sergeant, Xu Shu tried to step on it. The rocks are very slippery, making it difficult to gain a foothold on them.

Xu Shu asked the guide, "What's the name of this place?" ”

The guide replied: "This place is called Motianling, and from this down the mountain is the Tangjia River, from the Tangjia River to Jiangyou, but a hundred miles, the army can arrive in two days!" ”

Xu Shu looked at the steep mountain and pondered quietly: if you want to climb down the mountain step by step, it must be impossible. Not to mention the danger, the speed is too slow, how many tens of thousands of people have to climb to what year? Nowadays, the only way to use the smoothness of the mountain rock is to slide down the mountain by grabbing ropes, rattans and other things!

Xu Shu made up his mind and ordered Tun to connect all the ropes he had taken end to end.

Tun Jiang smiled bitterly: "I can't reach the bottom of the mountain even if all the ropes are connected!" ”

"If the rope is not enough, make up for it with rattan! Leave some of the soldiers to tie ropes here, and the rest go to cut the rattan! ”

Three hours later, Xu Chu led 10,000 people and escorted a small number of military rations and baggage to Motianling.

Xu Shu chose a high place and shouted at all the sergeants: "I waited for the order of the general to crusade against the traitors, and we went through a lot of hardships all the way, traveled more than 600 miles, and sacrificed the lives of thousands of brothers to arrive here...... Now, Jiangyou is ahead, victory is ahead, don't say it's this small skyscraper, even if it's a mountain of swords and a sea of fire, you can't stop me at all! Now, everyone, line up and throw all the weapons, armor, food and other things on your body down the Sky Ridge, and then take advantage of the rope to go down! ”

The mountain road is narrow, and the procession of tens of thousands of people is stretched for miles. But the mountains have their own amplification effect, and most people can hear Xu Shu's call and order clearly.

Xu Shu ordered 500 people, and kept a pair of equipment and food to garrison on the Motian Ridge to meet Zhang Ren's army behind. The remaining more than 10,000 Nanyang soldiers, under the leadership of their respective colonels, threw all the weapons, armor and food and other baggage down the Sky Ridge according to Xu Shu's requirements.

Xu Shu ordered someone to take some rattan wrapped around him, covered with a felt shirt, and shouted: "I am willing to be the first to go down, who dares to go with me?" ”

Xu Chu came out of the column and said loudly: "How can I stop the pace of my Nanyang army's advance!" General Fenwei, the last general is willing to follow! ”