In the southern part of Xiangyang, Jingzhou, that is, the area around Jiangling, the original capital of Jingzhou, the original Jingzhou army had about tens of thousands of horses.

The southern area of Xiangyang, the governor of Jingzhou, referred to here, is not the southern part of Jingzhou as mentioned in history, in fact, the real southern Jingzhou is bigger, including the area south of Jiangxia, and the entire Dongting Lake, Changsha and other cities are classified as the southern part of Jingzhou.

This refers only to the area along the Xiangjiang River to the southeast, and refers to the area between the Yangtze River and the Xiangjiang River. This area, in fact, is quite vast, with a radius of thousands of miles, including the main cities of Jiangling City, Dangyang, Xiling, Yiling, Chuyang, Hanyang, Wulin and so on. Because when the New Han army attacked Jingzhou, Liu Biao had already transferred the Jingzhou army in this area to the north, so there were not too many Jingzhou troops left in the cities in this area. Tens of thousands of military horses can still be left, which is mainly to guard against the new Han army from Dongting Lake from attacking from these areas.

In fact, Liu Biao is indeed stupid. At that time, the general trend of the world was very clear, even if Cao Cao really sent troops to attack the New Han Dynasty, he should not ally with Cao Cao, he may be for the little ambition in his heart, that little unwilling mentality, and finally played with his own life, the funny thing is that he died, but not the attack of the New Han Army, but died in some internal conspiracy. Just imagine, the New Han Dynasty had already established a foothold in Dongting Lake in the southwest of Jingzhou long before he took office as the pastor of Jingzhou, which was equivalent to inserting a knife in Liu Biao's heart, how could he only look at the war in the north and not consider the situation in the south? The strength of the New Han Army and the naval army in Dongting Lake is not unexperienced by Liu Biao. If the New Han Army and the Navy attack Jiangling directly, the troops from Xiangjiang will come to Xiangyang City. What can he do with Liu Biao? Put hope on Cao Cao?

But that's all for later. If you fart after the horse. Perhaps, Liu Biao at that time, considering that he also had hundreds of thousands of troops, and there were many naval troops, the most unfortunate, could resist the attack of the New Han Army, and then, with Cao Cao's elite army, launched an attack on the New Han Dynasty, he still had the opportunity to be with Cao Cao. Kill Luoyang and destroy the New Han Dynasty. And judging from the situation at that time, it seems that he did have a chance, because the New Han Dynasty opened so many battlefields at once, and the main force of the New Han Army was indeed not in Luoyang, if he joined forces with Cao Cao, he could break through the defense line of the New Han Dynasty. Then, the victory may belong to him and Cao Cao.

Now, Liu Biao has turned into a cup of loess, and it is useless to say this.

These Jingzhou troops were left by Liu Biao to guard in the southern area of Xiangyang. When Zhang Fei swept through these areas, most of them were in despair, and most of them became captives.

Right now. They have all been organized into the new army of the New Han Army, altogether. Let Zhang Fei reorganize the three armies. Zhang Fei led the most elite army of the first army, while the other army remained in Jiangling. The other army, in Xiling, Yiling and other places, has a total of about 75,000 people.

In fact, the military horses in these areas have reached a state of saturation, and it is impossible to recruit young and strong people to join the army locally. Gangneung, and a number of cities that are not considered major towns, have a limited population base. Among them, a large number of them were recruited by Liu Biao and transferred to the north to defend the Xinhan army, so Zhang Fei worked hard to reorganize the three armies.

Now, to launch an attack on Yizhou, Zhang Fei can mobilize two military horses at most, a total of about 50,000 people. However, if Zhang Fei is appointed as the 50,000 horses, it should be impossible to really enter Yizhou. This is no longer a question of the number of military horses, but the passes into the Sichuan are too steep, and many passes are indeed beyond the reach of manpower.

The New Han Dynasty has never stopped investigating the route into Sichuan, so Liu Yi also knew very well that it was indeed extremely difficult to forcibly attack Sichuan. The sentence that it is difficult to enter Shu and difficult to go to the blue sky is really not a joke, it is a matter of objective existence.

Just imagine, that area, all of them are lofty mountains, there is no way to go up at all, the only feasible is along the banks of the Yangtze River, and the mountains on both sides of the river are needless to say, the birds are sad. The Yizhou army only needs to send a certain number of military horses, which is enough to make it difficult for the Xinhan army to move an inch.

Therefore, Liu Yi once considered whether to attack Zhanglu in Hanzhong first, and then enter Sichuan from Hanzhong. But the problem is almost the same, when you enter Hanzhong, you can only go along the upper reaches of the Xiangjiang River, and those areas will not be much lighter than those in Sichuan. In particular, Zhang Lujun is more difficult than Liu Zhangjun, and if he is in a hurry, Zhang Lu will definitely have a comprehensive alliance with Liu Zhang and cooperate in depth. In addition, from Hanzhong to Yizhou, along the way, there are also many passes that are easy to defend and difficult to attack. If this is the case, I really don't know when we will be able to really solve the problem of the recovery of Yizhou and Hanzhong.

Here, let's talk about the situation of Liu Bei's entry into Sichuan in history, Liu Bei's entry into Sichuan was not directly attacked and killed, but took advantage of the tense relationship between Liu Zhang and Zhang Lu, and there was an internal response, so that Liu Zhang took the initiative to invite Liu Bei to enter Sichuan, from Zigui to Sichuan, along the Yangtze River waterway, through Ba County, to Fucheng, where he was warmly welcomed by Liu Zhang, and then stationed at Jiameng Pass. At that time, Liu Bei only led 30,000 horses into Sichuan. Of course, because of Pang Tong's greed, he prepared to attack Chengdu without waiting for the arrival of the follow-up military horses, exposing Liu Bei's intentions, causing Pang Tong's surprise army to be attacked, and Pang Tong also fell. And you must know that Liu Bei at that time, in fact, had already entered the central region of central Sichuan, which was very close to Chengdu. After the failure of the attack on Chengdu, Liu Bei vaguely became a lone soldier in Shu. However, he can be stationed at Jiameng Pass to develop and gain a firm foothold. After he gained a firm foothold, Zhuge Liang and Zhang Fei fought into Sichuan again, and finally forced Liu Zhang.

It can be said that Liu Bei was really very fortunate to capture Xichuan, with Liu Bei's strength at that time, even if there were Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong and four of the five tiger generals, if they really wanted to force them into Yizhou, it was really unknown whether they would succeed in the end.

In the face of a place that is fundamentally not something that can be attacked by manpower, no matter how good a good strategy is, and how brave it is, I am afraid it will be difficult to enter Xichuan in a dignified manner. That, or rather, later Zhuge Liang and Zhang flew into Sichuan. Zhang Fei is a pioneer, not all the way. Killed in Xichuan? That, but it's not something to be confused with. To know. At that time, Liu Bei developed in Jiamengguan in central Sichuan for a year and gained a firm foothold, and Liu Zhang in Yizhou couldn't help Liu Bei at all, so that the soldiers in central Sichuan were fundamentally shaken, or in other words, they were completely desperate for Liu Zhang's cowardice, and most of them surrendered to Zhang Fei after only a little resistance. Many passes were not directly knocked down by Zhang Fei at all, but went to pick up and surrender.

It can be said that after Liu Bei entered Sichuan, Liu Bei's seizure of Yizhou has become an inevitable issue. Liu Zhang's account, with the exception of a small part of the army of advisers who would resolutely resist for their own rights and interests, was already emotionally inclined to Liu Bei's rule of Yizhou. No one likes a cowardly incompetent. and not to give them the Lord, who has a bright future.

How to say it, under Liu Zhang's account, he can indeed be called a strategist such as Lin Meng, a general like a cloud, and a large number of soldiers. On the strength of forces. Looking at the princes of the world, I am afraid that they can also be ranked fifth. Well, that. He doesn't want to make progress, and he doesn't want to get involved in the world's disputes. However, he can't do it even if he is allowed to keep it. Just one Zhang Lu. made Liu Zhang so frightened that he had no master, and he actually asked Liu Bei, who was far inferior to him, to resist Zhang Lu for him, which was obviously an act of luring a wolf into the house. And Liu Bei, the military horse that entered Sichuan, is only 30,000 horses, what about Liu Zhang? How can you say that you can mobilize an army of 200,000, right? Even if Liu Zhang can't completely eliminate Liu Bei, at least he can limit Liu Bei's development and make it difficult for him to gain a foothold in Sichuan, at least he can drive Liu Bei out of Sichuan, right?

But Liu Zhang didn't, did nothing, in such a situation, as long as he is a person of insight, he can see Liu Zhang's cowardice and incompetence, who still has hope for him? Therefore, many Yizhou ministers and generals turned against the water and took refuge in Liu Bei.

Liu Bei obtained Yizhou, strictly speaking, basically did not fight a hard battle, and it was effortless.

But now, Liu Yi wants to fight Yizhou, but he can't talk about it with Liu Bei in history. Now Yizhou, since a few years, has been on guard against Jingzhou, and now at this tense moment, there are many more military horses to defend the Shu Road into Sichuan.

Liu Bei entered Sichuan in history, and along the way, the Yizhou army opened the door to convenience, and was warmly welcomed by the Yizhou army, so there was no need to fight at all. But now, every step the New Han Army takes, it has to go through a bloody battle before it is possible to take a step forward. And the key thing is that even if the New Han Army goes through a heroic and bloody battle, I am afraid that it may not be able to go further in the end.

When Zhang Fei received Liu Yi's order to attack Yizhou, Zhang Fei's heart was actually a little hairy. Fortunately, Liu Yi Mingyan just asked him to feint to attract Liu Zhang's attention in Yizhou and scare Liu Zhang, not to give him a death order, asking him to attack and kill in Sichuan.

Zhang Fei got a mention from Iraq, Zhang Fei first wrote a letter to Huang Zu, who was guarding Jiangxia, and asked him to lead a naval army west along the Yangtze River and arrive at Zigui County to join him. In addition, he also wrote a letter to the Dongting Lake side, asking the Dongting Lake side to also send a naval army to cooperate with his attack. Well, Jingzhou has just failed to recover, and everything is in ruins. Therefore, all the materials needed by the Jingzhou Army actually have to be provided by the Dongting Lake Xinzhou Base, such as more sophisticated armor, weapons and other equipment. For the time being, Dongting Lake is only equipped with the soldiers of the first army under Zhang Fei's account. The remaining two armies still use the weapons and equipment of the Jingzhou Army earlier.

After doing these things, Zhang Fei ordered Ma Zhongchang, the second eldest brother of the Ma family, to be his army commander Secretary Bo, and set off with him again.

Within a few days, Zhang Fei led the army to Zigui County.

From Gangneung to Zigui, two or three hundred miles, it took two days of marching time.

In fact, from Xiling and Yiling to Zigui County, along the Yangtze River to the west, there are still 70 or 80 miles, that is, these 70 or 80 miles of river gorges, Zhang Fei was able to fight down, I don't know how much effort he paid, and the soldiers also suffered a lot of casualties. Moreover, there must be a naval army sent by Dongting Lake, Zhang Feifang can kill Zigui County and capture it.

Zigui County, on the south and west banks of the river, is a slightly flat terrain. But it's not big, from the river to the mountains in the distance, that is, more than ten miles away. The county seat was built on this flat land.

In this section of the Yangtze River, the river is turbulent, and although it can be navigated, the speed of the boats going up the river is extremely slow.

The river surface is not narrow, and it is generally about a mile wide, but the problem is that the Yizhou army has set up a lot of passes on both sides of the river, and their sergeants' bows and arrows can completely control the surface of the Yangtze River. Originally. The Dongting Lake Navy planned to march directly from the river to Zigui County, but. The speed of a snail-like boat, on the surface of the river. It was simply difficult to pass the Suojiang arrow array and the rockets with fire that shot from both sides of the Yangtze River, and it happened to be the nemesis of the warships, and after losing many warships, Zhang Fei had to take the method of attacking step by step by land.

It was this distance of tens of miles, and with Zhang Fei's bravery, it would take three or more months to really get through and kill Zigui County. And then. Then the warships were used to transport some siege weapons to conquer Zigui County.

The current Zigui County is the offensive position at the forefront of the New Han Army's attack on Yizhou.

Zhang Fei, the commander who stayed in Zigui County, learned that Zhang Fei had led the army to come again, and hurriedly welcomed Zhang Fei into Zigui County.

From Zigui County along the upper reaches of the Yangtze River to the west, about 20 miles, it is another Yangtze River gorge, where the terrain. Majestic and dangerous. On both sides of the Yangtze River, there are beneficial state troops to guard, when Zhang Fei captured Zigui County, he still wanted to go west. However, seeing that the mouth of the Yangtze River gorge was so steep, I couldn't find a way to break through this pass for a while. Zhang Feicai had to suspend the attack and return to Jiangling for a temporary rest.

Actual. Zhang Fei also planned to report the difficulties he was facing to the above, but. Liu Yi's order followed, and he did not report to the imperial court again.

The white waves are surging, the cliffs on both sides, especially on the north bank of the Yangtze River, outside the mouth of the gorge, down the Yangtze River, all the way down for miles, there is no way to go at all. It is impossible for the New Han Army to attack the mouth of the Yangtze River from the north bank. What's more, on the steep mountain gorge on the north bank, there are still beneficial state troops guarding it?

The only thing that could be attacked was to march west along the south bank, but it was only a narrow mountain road along the river, along the bottom of the cliff, and it was impossible to ride a horse, so you could only lead the horse slowly. Want to go straight over the mountain and kill it? Don't even think about it, there is no road on the mountain, there are cliffs everywhere, or, individual soldiers of the mountain and forest special forces can climb over like this, but it is definitely not an easy task. After entering the mountains, those places where there are no human tracks at all, primeval forests, people get into them, I am afraid that they will really not be able to find the north.

What's more, a small number of soldiers, even if they can turn over, will not play a major role.

Zhang Fei is really not at all able to take this Yangtze River Pass now.

Now, Huang Zu has not yet come, and the soldiers of the water army in Dongting Lake have not come, Zhang Fei marched by land, faster than their waterway march, not to mention that Zhang Fei came after sending them a letter, after they received the letter, and then they moved, and it was a little slower here.

Zhang Fei first settled the military horses, went to the county office of Zigui County, and listened to the information obtained by the deputy for a period of time.

"Third general, the Yizhou army seems to have increased its troops again. Earlier, our spies found out that originally, the defenders of this Yangtze River gorge, well, this gorge, according to the people of Zigui County, was called Jiuwanxi Pass. In the pass, there are about 2,000 men and horses, and its lord will be Leng Bao, we attacked all the way from Yiling, and killed Zigui County, and the soldiers of the Yizhou Army who were defeated by us fled part of it to the Jiuqixi Pass, making it nearly 3,000 people at the pass. Two days ago, another Yizhou army of about two or three thousand men was transferred. I heard that its lord will be called Lei Copper. ”

"Cold pack, thunder copper?" Zhang Fei didn't care, and said: "I haven't heard of it, it's just a nameless person." ”

"No, the third general, according to the Yizhou soldiers we captured, there are two generals, Leng Bao and Lei Tong, but the generals under Liu Zhang's account, especially that Lei Tong, make a spear, and have some real kung fu in his hands, and in Liu Zhang's army, few people are his enemies." Zhang Fei's lieutenant reminded Zhang Feidao.

"Oh? Got it. I don't know if they dare to fight Zhang. Alas, not to mention how many of their military horses, who are the generals, you tell me, do we have a way to break the level? Zhang Fei really didn't care much about who the guards of the Jiuwanxi Pass were, he knew that fighting in these terrains would not play much of a role.

"Third general, this is going to be difficult for the last general, the last general has personally gone to observe, and along the way, there is only one difficult mountain road to reach beyond the pass. What makes people feel even more helpless is that before the pass, there is no place for us to launch a strong attack, which is equivalent to a fortress, which suddenly appeared on the riverside. The river at the mouth of the river gorge is even more turbulent, and it is unlikely that the ships will sail directly into the pass. ”

"Forget it, I know that you all eat dry rice, all pig's heads, go down, if General Huang Zu comes, please come and see me immediately." Zhang Fei didn't have any ideas in his mind, and when he saw that the deputy general couldn't say a single one, he waved back impatiently.

Now, the most important thing is that the army can't be spread at all, how many military horses can a tactful mountain road hold? If you can't show your military horses to the Yizhou army, you can't let the Yizhou army feel the determination of the Xinhan army to attack Yizhou, and it will be difficult to achieve the suburban results of intimidating Liu Zhang.

Regardless of whether the mouth of the Yangtze River Gorge can be captured or not, as long as he can show his army in front of those Yizhou troops, let the Yizhou army see the powerful military formation of the New Han Army. In this way, the Yizhou army will immediately send someone back to Chengdu to report to Liu Zhang, and when Liu Zhang heard that the New Han Army had sent a large army to attack his Yizhou, he was not afraid? As soon as he was afraid, his military horses would definitely not dare to move. (To be continued......)