"I didn't want to fight, the inconspicuous border general of the Shu army actually made our town army general suffer a lot of losses! It's a pity that the opportunity has been lost, and the Shu army can't move at this moment. Situ Liang sighed with a little pity.

"King, since the Shu army in the north of Yizhou is not much, even if the Shu army in the north is resisting, it is not our opponent, why not increase the troops in Yizhou, so that the military strength of the east and west lines is equal, even if the Shu army in the north of Yizhou is resisting, it cannot take care of the east and west." Someone suggested.

Zhao Xun smiled, rejected these proposals, and said: "There is no need for that now, if the northern defense line of Yizhou can be broken at the beginning of the operation and killed to the north of Chengdu Mansion, then naturally we can continue to increase troops." But now, if we continue to increase our troops, we can only add one more strong enemy, and even let the Shu army in Hanzhong join forces with the Han army to flank our army in the north of Yizhou. In addition, Hanzhong Buke, only from the south of Liangzhou to the south, is not the best place to attack Yizhou. ”

"Now, there is already a dispute between the Shu army and the Han army in the land of Hanzhong, what we need is the internal struggle between them, so that the so-called alliance of southern princes will completely collapse, and it will also be conducive to our actions in the land of Qi and Jingzhou."

In addition, Zhao Xun did not say that the battle line is now too large, and it is almost a full-scale war with the southern princes. The logistical pressure borne by Zhao Guo is really not small, and Zhao Xun is also worried that there will be some major drought or heavy rain weather in this summer, which will cause a catastrophe in Zhao Guo and affect the entire occupation.

The land under the jurisdiction of Zhao now extends to Qingxu in the east, Liaozhou and the Turkic steppe in the north, the two states in the Western Regions in the west, and the Central Plains in the south. The area is vast, and the scope affected by the weather is also very large, and it is not impossible for the east, west, north and south, and the severe drought and heavy rain to occur at the same time. Now is the feudal era, there is a catastrophe, and treatment is not a simple thing at first sight.

"Then the northern part of Yizhou doesn't care about it? Shall not the occupied territory be returned? ”

"Of course not, we won't continue the offensive, and the territory we occupy will be regarded as our front-line borders. The defense of these areas is more precipitous than the land occupied by our army in Liangzhou, and the Yizhou Shu army is also more suitable. ”

Situ Liang saw that some generals were a little puzzled, and said with a smile: "In the past, the Shu army was unprepared, and our army went south, and it was possible to directly enter the north of Chengdu Prefecture, so that these dangerous places in the northwest of Yizhou would become the places under our jurisdiction, so that the Shu army would also be under our military authority, so that he would always be wary of us, and dare not easily send reinforcements to support us when we attack other princes." But now that we have not been able to complete the battle in one battle, the northern part of the Shu army is not so easy to fight, after this battle, the northern part of the Shu army will inevitably strengthen its defense, and the reinforcements will definitely increase as we continue to attack. If we act too much, the Shu army in the land of Hanzhong will eliminate the contradiction with the Han army, and even join forces to attack the flank of our army's Liangzhou Division. ”

"In that case, the third town will be flanked from the south and east. In addition, we will also pull the Shu army into the battlefield because of this, so that we can add another enemy and tens of thousands of troops. As a result, the King of Shu would form a deeper alliance with the King of Hanzhong, making the Southern Alliance even closer. If Situ Che, the king of Shu, is angry because of this and agitates all his strength to fight a decisive battle with us, it will not be a good thing for us. ”

Zhao Xun nodded and smiled: "That's right, what Situ Aiqing said is very much in line with my heart!" Although the Liangzhou army operation failed to continue southward and win the southern checkpoint, it did not exceed our expectations. As it stands, the Third Town occupies the land it occupies now, which is just right. If we don't continue to attack, the King of Shu will not go north in a big way because of us. In addition, our action is also a warning to him, so that he will not dare to send a large army to support others easily, because we can go south at any time and attack Yizhou, and our own interests are higher than those of other princes, aren't we? ”

"Secondly, if we stop acting, the confrontation between the Shu army and the Han army in the land of Hanzhong will continue to deepen, so that the king of Shu can think about Hanzhong, at the very least, let the alliance between them break down."

"Our top priority now is to annex Xiyongzhou now, eat the rice bite by bite, gradually swallow the southern princes, and don't rush to start a war with the whole front."

Having said that, it is indeed difficult to attack Yizhou from Liangzhou to the south. The northern part of Yizhou is easy to defend and difficult to attack, the terrain is dangerous, and it is extremely difficult for the Zhao army to go south. In addition, Hanzhong is still in the hands of the Han army, and if you want to enter Yizhou, it is only right that Hanzhong breaks first. Of course, for Zhao Xun, it is more appropriate to attack Yizhou and attack from Jingzhou and Hanzhong.

As Zhao Xun expected, the actions of the Zhao army did make the king of Shu worried, and it was because of this that he eagerly hoped that the Shu army in Hanzhong could quickly support the northern part of Yizhou. But at this moment, the Shu army in Hanzhong is opposed to the Han army, and even grain and grass are about to become a problem.

Hearing the news, the king of Shu Situ angrily scolded the king of Hanzhong and the injustice of the Han army, this king sent people to support you, you are good, kill my soldiers not to mention, but also ready to cut off the food of my army. However, because of the situation in Yizhou, Situ Che questioned the king of Hanzhong and asked Hanzhong to provide grain and grass for the Shu army in Hanzhong to support the army to counterattack the Zhao army. On the one hand, he was preparing to contact the Han army in Hanzhong, and when necessary, let the Shu army in Hanzhong bow to the Han army first, in order to solve the Yizhou problem first.

Of course, this is not to say that there are no complaints about the Han army in Hanzhong, but Yizhou is the most important. When the Yizhou problem is solved, the Han army in Hanzhong must look good.

However, just when Situ Che, the king of Shu, was about to send someone to make peace with the Han army in Hanzhong, and was even about to bow his head, he was rewarded by He Qingzhang, the general of Dingbei in the north, saying that the Zhao army had retreated and did not continue the attack. Situ Che, who learned of this situation, breathed a sigh of relief, but also dispelled the peace and bowing to the Han army. Of course, he still mobilized troops and began to gradually send troops north from the front line of Mianzhou, Mianyang, and Jiangyou to guard against the Zhao army.

After arranging these, Situ Che, the king of Shu, began to look at the land of Hanzhong, which made him gnash his teeth. More than 30,000 Shu troops were trapped in the western part of central Han, which made him very annoyed. Annoyed, Situ Che immediately cut off the logistical support for the Luo army sent by Jingzhou to Wuguan, and in addition, he also threatened to withdraw the reinforcements of the Zhao army attacking Xiyongzhou, and asked Situ Fei, the king of Hanzhong, to order the Han army to let the Shu army withdraw to Yizhou.

At this moment, Hanzhong Wang Situ Fei began to panic. The Luo army that supported Jingzhou had no great effect because of the fall of the Qingni Pass, and it could not be put aside. Under his command, if the coalition army attacking Henan Mansion in Xiyongzhou withdrew 10,000 Shu troops, it would not be good news for him.

The king of Hanzhong urgently ordered the land of Hanzhong to settle the dispute between Hanzhong, and at the same time appeased Situ Che and asked Situ Che to stop the withdrawal of troops. In addition, the king of Hanzhong hoped that Situ Che would continue to march Hanzhong's army north to support Xiyongzhou. After all, without the support of the Shu army, it would be difficult for Xiyongzhou to hold on.

…………

After Zhao Kang settled the defense of Luogu Pass, he led the army straight to Sanguan and Chencang. However, before he arrived, he had already learned that the Sixth Town of the Forbidden Army stationed in Liangzhou had taken Chencang on the north bank, but Sanguan on the south bank was unable to fight because the guards were vigilant and got the news. In addition, the Sanguan guards will gather the Han army in the surrounding counties and defend the city.

Because the city of Sanguan is steep, there is no earth-shaking thunder in the sixth town of the forbidden army, and there are not too many baggage teams traveling with the army, so there are not too many siege equipment, which makes the siege very difficult. In particular, the Sanguan guards knew that they were invincible, and deliberately defended the city without leaving, so that the sixth town of the forbidden army could not be attacked repeatedly.

It is difficult to overcome, and because most of the troops of the Sixth Town of the Forbidden Army are in the north of Chencang to contain the Sanfu Han Army, they are worried that the Han army in the east of Sanguan will come to help, and after Zhao Kang's department approached Sanguan, the Sixth Town of the Forbidden Army thought of a plan.

The sixth town sent a clever soldier into the city with a fake book, pretending to be reinforcements from the Han army, and had sent a general with more than 10,000 rescuers to the neighborhood under the order of Luo Dingyuan. In order not to let the besieging Zhao army know the situation, coupled with the reinforcements coming from afar, they could not fight with the Zhao army for a long time, and the armor and equipment were not as good as the Zhao army, so the defenders and reinforcements were asked to attack inside and outside to break the siege of the Zhao army.

Seeing that it was the military order of the commander of the reinforcements in Hanzhong, and there was a secret order from Luo Dingyuan on it, the general of the Sanguan guard naturally believed what this soldier said. He didn't know that the fake book in the soldier's hand was obtained by the Zhao army after conquering the cities around Chang'an, and with the cooperation of some generals, there was naturally no omission.

The military order agreed that the reinforcements would attack the Zhao army camp in the east outside the city, and the defenders would immediately send troops to meet the Zhao army after seeing the fire in the eastern Zhao army camp and attack the Zhao army. The guards of the middle plan were naturally overjoyed, and decided to follow the plan and let the soldiers reply to the contract.

As a result, the sixth town handed over the task of cooperating with the operation to Zhao Kang's first town of the forbidden army. Zhao Kang naturally didn't have any opinions, and decided to cooperate with the Sixth Town's action.

A day later, at night, the Sixth Town Army first set up an ambush outside the city and sent people to contact the First Town Army to take corresponding action. Zhao Kang's operation, in order to achieve good results, deliberately let the cavalry under his command cooperate with the sixth town. After the cavalry got the signal of the first town, they immediately began to pretend to attack the Zhao army camp in the east of Sanguan, and set fire to the camp, which also caused a shout of killing and a riot in the camp. , and also attracted the defenders of the city to attack.

Seeing the riot of the Zhao army outside the city, he immediately rectified the army and personally led the army out of the city, all the way to the Zhao army camp in the east of the city, but was killed by the cavalry of the Zhao army. Seeing that he had been decided, the Han army was suddenly in chaos, and the Han army defender immediately commanded the army to retreat. However, at this moment, their retreat was full of soldiers from the first town of the Zhao army.

As a result, the five thousand and the Han defenders were surrounded by the Zhao army on all sides. And at this moment, Zhao Jun also sent a partial division all the way to Sanguan. At this moment, most of the defenders in the city went out of the city to meet the battle, and almost all of the main generals went out of the city. The defenders had no generals, and when the Zhao army outside the city shouted that the main general of the Han army was dead, Sanguan was quickly lost.

When the guards of Sanguan will fight to the death and kill hundreds of people to the city of Sanguan, the lights above Sanguan are bright, but what is erected above the city is not the banner of the Han army, but the flame qilin flag of the Zhao army. As a last resort, the remnants of the Han army deserved to surrender to the Zhao army. At this point, the connection between the land of Hanzhong and Xiyongzhou was completely severed.

Because Sanguan is located in the northwest of Hanzhong and the southwest of Xiyongzhou, it is the link between Hanzhong and the west of Xiyongzhou. Therefore, after taking Sanguan, the army returning to the division, under the suggestion of Yang Wangqing, immediately began to take action in Huaili, Maoling, Pingling, Juxian and other counties under the banner of reinforcements from central and western Han.

These county towns, some of which are in a hostile state of the sixth town of the Zhao army, saw that reinforcements arrived at this moment, and they could still take care of the careful investigation, coupled with the testimony of the guards of the scattered passes, the result was that the Zhao army was put into the city in a daze, making these cities easily conquered by the Zhao army.

As these cities were conquered by the Zhao army, and with the convergence of the various armies of the Zhao army, the three western provinces of Chang'an soon gradually fell into the hands of the Zhao army. Among them, some of them were conquered by the Zhao army, and some of them were conquered by the Han army defenders, who found it difficult to resist the offensive of the Zhao army, and surrendered the city. In addition, some of them saw that the occupation of Xiyongzhou by the Zhao army had become a foregone conclusion, and there were no foreign reinforcements, so they directly contacted the Zhao army and attached themselves to the Zhao army.

By the end of June, there were only two big cities left in Xiyongzhou, Xianyang and Chang'an. In addition, the armies of the Han army, in addition to surrendering to Zhao, also retreated to this place.

In a short period of time, the western prefectures and counties of Xiyongzhou fell one after another, and the speed was so fast that even Zhao Xun was a little surprised. However, after learning that many of these prefectures and counties surrendered because they took the initiative to surrender, and even directly contacted Zhao Jun to surrender to Zhao, Zhao Xun understood that this was the general trend.

Compared with the smooth Zhao army in Western Yongzhou, the actions of the King of Hanzhong in Eastern Yongzhou are not worth mentioning. I have to say that although the original plan of the king of Hanzhong was good, besiege Wei to rescue Zhao, and pull back the Zhao army of Dongyongzhou that advanced west by attacking Dongyongzhou and even Luoyang, so that Xiyongzhou could be relieved of the danger.

However, it is a pity that the army under his command is difficult to be hostile to the Zhao army. Of the 50,000 or 60,000 people under his command, except for 30,000 soldiers who were his own Han army, the remaining 20,000 were 10,000 reinforcements from the Shu army and the Qi army. Although the king of Hanzhong was the commander, it was difficult for him to order these 20,000 reinforcements.

In the two cities of Yiyang and Lushi in Dongyongzhou, King Situ Fei of Hanzhong attacked continuously, but failed to break the city. Not only that, in order to let the 20,000 reinforcements under his command obey the order, when attacking the city, he mostly used his own Han soldiers and horses to act. After half a month of onslaught, Situ Fei, the king of Hanzhong, understood the Zhao army's ability to defend the city. In particular, these cities were even taller and more difficult to attack under the reinforcement of the Zhao army's iron bars and concrete, and with the sharp armor and equipment of the Zhao army, the 30,000 Han troops lost more than 13,000 people, so that the soldiers under their command suffered a lot of losses.

Because of the repeated sieges and great losses, the soldiers of the Han army under his command were also a little war-weary. Of course, these soldiers did not dare to easily express their war-weariness to the king of Hanzhong. However, at the time of the siege, their current actions were far less than at the beginning of the war.

What made the king of Hanzhong even more annoyed was that his command suffered heavy losses, but he did not command 20,000 reinforcements. In particular, the grain and grass materials of these 20,000 reinforcements are still supported by the King of Qi and the King of Shu. Of course, this is not to say that the 20,000 reinforcements have not acted at all. They also lost more than 3,000 people each in the siege, but it was also because of these losses and the effect of the siege that the 20,000 reinforcements did not have hope of continuing the siege.

Especially because of the outbreak of the Hanzhong problem, the Shu army began to refuse to carry out the military orders of the king of Hanzhong, and almost withdrew directly. In this regard, the king of Hanzhong was angry and helpless.

The reason why the siege is so difficult is that in addition to the sharp defense of the Zhao army and the lack of siege equipment of the Han army, it is also related to the fact that the Zhao army won the hearts of the people in Dongyongzhou. This Eastern Yongzhou is also the jurisdiction of the former King of Luoyang, and even earlier, this is the jurisdiction of the King of Yong. However, this Dongyongzhou only fell into the Zhao army for one year, and the system and policies of the Zhao army were widely welcomed by the people and businessmen. Except for a very small number of wealthy gentry, basically Zhao Jun has won the hearts of all the people in Dongyongzhou and has their support.

Therefore, the Han army attacked the city, and the place it went to had already been cleared by the Zhao army, and the people also assisted in defending the city, so that the strength of the Zhao army to defend the city was no longer a problem for them. The internal can't be hearted, the soldiers have no intention of fighting, but the Zhao army that wants to attack is very strong, and the comparison between the advantages and disadvantages of the two sides is obvious.

Now the king of Hanzhong did not know much about the situation in Xiyongzhou, but he had begun to feel hopeless about recovering Xiyongzhou. His own operation in Dongyongzhou was not successful, and the Zhao army that advanced westward in Dongyongzhou did not return to the division at all. It was the king of Zhao who also personally led a large army from Bingzhou to Xiyongzhou to join the Zhao army that advanced westward from Dongyongzhou.

The second two reinforcements, the first reinforcement was the Hanzhong reinforcement, and now it is unknown that it is deep in Xiyongzhou, and from the follow-up information, this reinforcement has not been able to save the situation in Xiyongzhou, at most delaying the time when Xiyongzhou was occupied by the Zhao army.

Not to mention the second reinforcement, two-way reinforcements. The east road is the Luo army sending troops, and the Qi army and the Shu army sending grain and grass materials. However, the Qingni Pass north of Wuguan and its surrounding checkpoints were occupied by the Zhao army, making it impossible for reinforcements to go north smoothly and were blocked in the north of Danshui. Especially the last rainstorm, which made the logistics of the army also a problem. After the king of Shu stopped supporting the reinforcements along the way due to the Hanzhong dispute, they had to start retreating.

The west road is naturally the reinforcements of the Shu army, but now it seems, can you count on it? No drama at all. Not only is there no play, but this Shu army is now adding trouble to itself in the land of Hanzhong, making its head as big as a fight.

The reinforcements from the east and west failed to enter Xiyongzhou smoothly, and they couldn't open the situation here. Judging from the current actions of the local garrisons of the Zhao army in Yanzhou and Yuzhou, even if they open up the residents, the Zhao army in Dongyongzhou will not withdraw, but will face a counterattack from the local Zhao army in the eastern states.

Without reinforcements, Xiyongzhou itself could not resist, the Zhao army arrived, and Situ Fei, the king of Hanzhong, was very worried about the situation in Xiyongzhou, and even began to lose hope......