Between the Qinling Mountains and the Ba Mountains, the meandering Han River flows forward along the river and rushes towards the river.

On both sides of the Han River in late autumn, except for a few evergreen trees, most of the leaves of the forest trees are falling, and the mountain scenery is seen from afar in the sunset, yellow, gray, and green.

A month after Cao Cao's defeat in Henan, three or four hundred miles northwest of Xiangyang, nearly a thousand ships gathered together on the wide river belonging to the upper reaches of the Han River, flying like locusts.

It was a makeshift fleet of fishing boats, ferries, and even leather boats (Note 1), each of which carried a limited number of people, but the number of boats increased, and the number of boats was considerable.

In the flotilla of the foregoing, some of the horses snorted uneasily in their respective bows, and occasionally neighed one or two softly, and were visibly frightened, but they did not add to the confusion - from the time they were forcibly pulled aboard, they looked at the flowing water around them, and did not dare to move their hooves, but remained honestly.

Now against the wind and against the current, the boat is very difficult, the sergeant will take turns to force the oars, but from Shunyang to Wudang County for three days and hundreds of miles of waterway, from Danshui to Hanshui, have long been tired.

There was also a ship in the middle of the fleet, which stood out among the small boats, and for most of the whole voyage, Liu Bei in the cabin gently rubbed his hands, and Sun Qian, Mi Zhu, and Meng Jian sat opposite him, all with solemn faces.

Guan Zhang, Chen Dao, Mi Fang and other generals were divided into the rest of the ships to suppress the soldiers, and there were only a few of them in the cabin.

In this tense and oppressive atmosphere, the fleet continued along the waterway, and finally traveled out of the boundary of Nanyang County, until it encountered a sandbar in the middle of the river. It is the entrance of another tributary, Yongshui (Note 2), into the Han River. Here we are. The fleet then turned to the water.

If you go up the mediocre water, you are mediocre.

Shangyong is not only the mediocre country in the Spring and Autumn Period, but also the mediocre country that disturbs itself.

Today's Shangyong still belongs to the county seat under the rule of Hanzhong, and it was only in the Cao Wei period that it was newly divided and divided into Shangyong County.

During the years under Zhang Lu's rule, Hanzhong was not monolithic. Shangyong, which served as a barrier to the eastern part of the Han Dynasty, and several nearby counties were all controlled by the local clan, the Shen clan.

Shen Tan, the patriarch of the Shen clan, is now nominally subordinate to Zhang Lu, with thousands of soldiers privately, and he still obeys orders on weekdays, but in fact he is more like Huang Zuzhi to Liu Biao, with great autonomy, Zhang Lu concentrates on teaching affairs, as long as he is obedient, and does not control it more.

In fact, Nanzheng, the Hanzhong Governance Office, is on the south bank of the Han River. If you want to take Hanzhong from Nanyang and travel along the Han River. You can go upriver all the way up the river to Nanzheng, and there is still a surprise effect, but Liu Bei's fleet is not a naval army, if you ignore the back road and rush into it and be trapped, there is only one dead end.

Therefore, if Liu Bei wants to take Hanzhong, he must first win the Yong.

Pang Zhen was unwilling to be only Deng Ji's vassal and cannon fodder, and in the face of the great benefits thrown by Yuan Shao, he immediately leaned in, which is not surprising, not only him, but Liu Bei was not willing to be only cannon fodder.

Because of this, after entering Wancheng, Liu Bei traveled more to Xiangyang instead of Luoyang, and married Liu Biao in private.

The stern of the main seat in this mighty fleet was given to Liu Bei by Liu Biaonian after he became friendly with Jingzhou, so that he could travel to and from Xiangyang.

Sizhou defeated Cao Cao, Liu Bei thought that he also had a credit, and he had repaid Deng Ji's kindness, and now it was time to plan for his own family.

Nanyang was originally the first county in the Han Dynasty, and the county had a large population, but Liu Bei occupied only more than 20 counties in the north of Wancheng, which had a population of more than one million, and after being lured by Deng Ji, there were 400,000 people who moved to Xiliang, and the plague was prevalent, and the poor people who fled north before and after, and the big clans in the south have also withered.

Even so, the remaining four or five hundred thousand people deserve the word "dense" in this troubled era, Wancheng is also Kaohsiung, but it can't stand the three strong neighbors of Deng Ji, Cao Cao, and Liu Biao, no one can afford to provoke them, and their fate is difficult to be autonomous, and they can't have a long-term foundation.

Cao Cao was defeated in Sizhou, he could have taken advantage of the void, Yingchuan, Chenliu, Runan but more empty, Zhang Yang and other Taishou for several years, the imitation of the dock fort in the tuntian also gradually began to take shape.

And if they don't have a place like Yuan Shao's Wei County, Cao Cao's Dong County, Sun Ce's Danyang, Liu Biao's Nan County, and Deng Ji's Henan, it will only be for a while, and sooner or later it will be driven away.

Now that I think about it, in the first half of my life, it was a pity that in the land of Xu Yu Erzhou, I just got the help of the Chen family, the Mi family, etc., and just now I started to take root, and I was driven away by Cao Cao.

Thinking of the proposal given to him by the other party when he visited Zhuge Kongming, there is no chance in the north for the time being, and it seems that only Hanzhong is easy to defend and difficult to attack, if he can take it, he can also rely on the geographical advantage to give Liu Bei a few years to take root and do the foundation and start a business.

Everyone said that Liu Zhang was weak and unworthy of being the lord of Shu, and if he got to Hanzhong, he could take the road to Shu!

Hanzhong is the land of Gaozu Longxing, based on this place, and then take the land of Shu, or you can follow the footprints of the ancestors, step by step to dominate the world, for the Han royal family, the temptation is not small?

Moreover, Cao Cao's new defeat, Deng Ji was also tired, Liu Biao was busy guarding against Sun Ce, so when the heaven-given opportunity was good, the two families of Deng Ji and Liu Biao who had formed a good relationship before should not have much to do, and Nanyang would be able to keep it without soldiers, and it could be used as the exit of his own family into the Central Plains in the future.

When they occupy Hanzhong, they will also learn from Deng Mu'an and move the people of Nanyang to Hanzhong.

After that, Cao Cao or another lord of Yanzhou entered Wancheng, and he couldn't keep it, and he should have a few years to spare, and he could collect taxes for a few more years before.

Therefore, this time to send troops to Hanzhong, Liu Bei is to go out with all his strength, from Luyang defeated by the Cao army began to desperately expand the army, to now, hundreds of ships carrying nearly 20,000 soldiers, more than 300,000 stone military rations, is all his hope, Wancheng only left Jian Yong less than 3,000 soldiers to guard.

This time the troops were sent out, and there was no room for further failure, so Liu Bei and his ministers could not help but be nervous along the way.

Fortunately, along the Han River retrograde, until the diversion of Yongshui, and then dozens of miles, the whole army disembarked to reorganize the army, except for a few leather boats leaking and sinking, drowning more than a dozen sergeants, the rest were no major incident.

On the familiar land, Liu Bei finally stopped being so nervous, sent Guan Yu as the front, found a few local guides to guide the way, and went straight to Shangyong County.

Guan Yu's soldiers were mediocre, and within a day, Liu Bei's army also arrived, and the whole army besieged the city.

Nanyang and Shangyong are the former residences of the Shen family, and the power is particularly great near Shangyong, so they have to be used, Liu Bei ordered Shen Tan's brother Shen Yi to lead 2,000 troops to guard Shangyong, and the rest of Shen Tan entered the army to listen to the order, and the whole army rose again to attack Nanzheng, the center of Hanzhongzhi.

Hanzhong Plain is located between Qinling and Daba Mountain, the surrounding terrain is precipitous, Tianshui, Wudu, Sanfu, Shuzhong soldiers want to attack, there are only a few gorges, plank roads pass, the road is difficult and dangerous, and there is Yangping Pass and so on, it is not difficult to defend, only the east barrier is lost, and the few remaining passes are in the county, and there are many deficiencies in the past defense.

Zhang Lu is usually delayed in teaching affairs, and militarily only guards against Liu Zhang in Shuzhong, Liu Bei's army came suddenly, and the pass was missed in a few days, and after Chenggu County, Liu Jun entered the Hanzhong Plain, and there was no danger.

Sent Zhang Wei, Yang Ren, and Yang Ang to fight several times, but they were all unable to defeat Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Chen Dao, Yang Ren died in battle, only more than ten days of effort, and Liu Bei's army had besieged Nanzheng.

The situation is critical, Yan Pu suggested asking for help from Deng Ji, but Yang Ang blocked: "Deng Mu'an governs Luoyang, and he is far away, the messenger has not arrived, and I am afraid that the city has fallen!" And we sought to teach together, Taiping Dao has been denied, Liu Xuande was originally allied with Sizhou, how can he help now? Liu Gong is known as a benevolent name, and it is better to surrender as a teacher, so that the whole clan can be preserved, and the Mi Sect may also be complete! ”

Zhang Lu was still hesitating, and suddenly one day, Yang Ang offered himself the city gate and begged Liu Bei to surrender.

Zhang Lu had no choice but to lead the subordinate troops to surrender.

The army had to enter the city, although the Yang family was a big clan in Hanzhong, for the heart of the people of the Wudoumi Sect, Liu Bei also angrily accused Yang Ang of betraying the lord for glory, and ordered him to be killed.

Liu Bei recruited almost all the ships under his rule, and went to attack Hanzhong, such a big event could not hide from Sizhou to explore the horse, and when the news was sent to Luoyang, Deng Ji was furious: "I sent Wancheng with him, it is to prevent Cao Cao and Liu Biao, but he took Hanzhong from himself, just like Pang Shuangji, and then he is still willing to defend the land with his death?" ”

Before, I was afraid that Pang Zhen would completely vote for Yuan Shao, Deng Ji would not be completely at odds with Bingzhou, and still made rumors to recruit Montenegrin thieves to go south as revenge, but now Liu Bei is like this, how can he be willing to just watch from the sidelines?

There is Yuan Shao behind Pang Shuangji, and there is no one behind Liu Bei! And Hanzhong is the next strategic goal set by Tian Feng, Jia Xu, and Xu Shu, Liu Bei is going to die and block his own way to Shu, how can he not ask for it?

I only hate that the planned New Ma Army and the Infantry Army have not yet been formed, and the Liangzhou Han Sui has not been pacified, and the remaining Dangkou and Weilie armies have suffered heavy injuries, and it is not easy to attack for a while.

When asking people, Tian Feng said: "Before us, we borrowed Nanyang and Liu Bei, because they were poor and helpless, and Mu An was kind and righteous!" Now that Xuande has taken Hanzhong from himself, the foundation is already there, and he is just sending an envoy to return Nanyang! ”

Xu Shu thought for a while and nodded: "We want to take Hanzhong, Tianshui, Wudu, and Sanfu are not conducive to the travel of the army. ”

Even if Xiliang Hansui was pacified and a new army was formed, it would not be easy for Deng Ji to seek to capture Hanzhong: if he sent troops from Sanfu, there would only be a few plank roads and canyons that were not conducive to the passage of the army, such as Meridian Road, Bao Chuan Road, and Chen Cang Road; Troops from Tianshui (Hanyang) County need to attack Guanyang Pingguan; Since the military capital sent troops, there are many dangerous roads.

No matter where the troops are sent from, the damage is predictably heavy, and if you want to take Hanzhong, the road with the least casualties is for Liu Bei to enter this, so Tian Feng and Xu Shu both suggested that Wancheng should be brought back first, so that they could send troops in the future.

Although the two armies of Dangkou and Weilie suffered great losses, Liu Bei should no longer be able to defend Nanyang at this time, and if he can't do it, he can also attack hard, so as not to say that the world is not enough to take Sizhou, and he can only defend himself after the big victory.

Note 1: Leather boat, the ancient name of a raft.

Note 2: Yongshui, now known as the river block. (To be continued.) )