"The Tiger Prison Pass is garrisoned by Cao Ren, a general under Cao Ying, Cao Renjing is good at defending the city, and he is Cao Ying's clan brother, and he is loyal to Cao Ying, but I am afraid that the Tiger Prison Pass will be difficult to capture!"

In Wancheng City, Chen Gong pointed to the sand table on the table and talked eloquently. In three days at most, Liu Bei's army of 300,000 will be assembled. Excluding the Yizhou Army and the Xiliang Army, which were powerless in this battle, Liu Bei was able to mobilize only more than 400,000 troops. Now he has invested 300,000 yuan in one go, which can be said to be a full capital. The northward movement of this battle was completely to destroy the withering and decaying momentum, first annex all the parts south of the Yellow River that Cao Ying left in Henan and Hongnong County, and then move his army westward or northward to fight to the death with Cao Ying.

"Gongtai rest assured, this Northern Expedition, Tong has already prepared a generous gift for Cao Ren of Tiger Prison. He wants to rely on the Tiger Prison to stop our army, but he is afraid that he has miscalculated! Pang Tong on the side listened to Chen Gong's words, but he was full of confidence. As soon as these words came out, Liu Bei and Zhang Fei couldn't help but glance at each other. They who participated in the battle against Dong Zhuo back then naturally knew how dangerous the Tiger Prison Pass was. Now that Pang Tong said it so lightly, they all didn't believe it.

"Having said that, I'm afraid you still need to be careful in everything!" Liu Bei knew that Pang Tong was resourceful, and since he was so confident, he would not damage his morale.

"Don't worry, the lord has his own measure!" Pang Tong said with a grin. At the same time in Yecheng, Cao Ying also hurriedly convened everyone to discuss after seeing the military report that was recently delivered.

"Three hundred thousand? In addition to the fact that Xichuan's army cannot be called, Liu Bei has also invested enough money this time. It seems that in this battle, he is determined to seize the land of Henan, and then go north to fight to the death with us! Looking at the detailed military report in front of him, Cao Ying also smiled.

"General Guan Zixiao has an army of 40,000 stationed in Guancheng, and Liu Bei is attacking with all his strength, and it is difficult to take Henan for a while. First use the Tiger Prison Pass to consume Liu Bei's morale, and after he has worked hard to win the Tiger Prison Pass, and then enter Luoyang, he can lure him into the middle in one fell swoop, so that he and his 300,000 army will all be wiped out in an instant! Cheng Yu on the side said with a smile. So far, everything has been expected by Cheng Yu. And the preparations were all made a year ago.

"Yes, but Liu Bei is extremely cautious, and there is no shortage of resourceful people around him, for the sake of safety, I still personally lead the army to make sure that everything is safe! Inform Gongming of Liyang to lead his army west to Hanoi and join us! Cao Ying immediately arranged, and after thinking about it, Cao Ying said again: "Now Liu Bei's army is exhausted to attack Si Li." The lands of Yanzhou and Qingzhou are inevitably under-garrisoned, so inform the Yuan Rang of the Plains and let him act at the opportunity! ”

"No!" Since someone has gone to inform me, I will not mention it. Cao Yingzheng was complacent, but when he saw that among the others, only Jia Xu had a slight trace of worry on his face, and hurriedly asked: "Wenhe, do you think there is anything that has not been completed?" ”

"I don't dare to say anything, this time it is carefully designed by Zhongde, and with the support of the prime minister, it is not hindered. It's just that now General Xiahou and Zhao Botao are facing each other in Guanzhong, although General Xiahou is brave, but at the moment Zhongde is not in Guanzhong, there are no wise people around him to assist, and Zhao Botao has always been scheming, in case something happens, wouldn't it be a big deal? Jia Xu said with some concern.

"It doesn't matter, now that Zhao Yun and Ma Chao are trapped in Xiliang, Zhao Botao has only tens of thousands of horses under his command, how can they set off a storm? Maybe soon, Miaocai has already captured Hanzhong and pointed to Chengdu! Cao Ying said with a smile, completely ignoring the obvious melancholy on Jia Xu's face on the side.

Cao Ying has been on the battlefield for a long time, and he is a soldier in the world. However, what he didn't expect was that Xiahou Yuan's assault on Hanzhong would be so unsmooth. With more than two to one troops, he attacked Hanzhong through the Xiegu Road, Xiahou Yuan thought that he could easily take it, but the result surprised him.

Xiahou Yuan never expected that the valley road in the Qinling Mountains would be so rugged and difficult. After Tanma was convinced that Zhao Yun had taken away almost the entire cavalry in Sichuan, he originally relied on the 40,000 Guanzhong elite cavalry under his command the most. But in this rugged and difficult valley road, the cavalry did not say that they charged, and it was very difficult to advance in unison. The Yizhou army only needs to set up a few large villages in dangerous passes, and when their army arrives, they will throw some stones and shoot a few arrows, which is enough to make it difficult for their army to move an inch.

That's right, Zhao Feng followed the routine of Wei Yan and Wang Ping when they guarded Hanzhong in history, set up camps in dangerous places on various valley roads, and took 500 elite soldiers as a part to take turns to guard against Hanzhong. These thousands of people were scattered, and Xiahou Yuan suddenly couldn't move an inch. Then he will lead a large army ready to meet everywhere at any time, so as to be in order. Under such strict precautions, even Xiahou Yuan, who was known for his combat bravery, was helpless.

Xiahou Yuan was depressed in his heart, if he was on the Guanzhong Plain, he would rely on his 100,000 elite soldiers, and a surprise attack could kill these tens of thousands of Sichuan army infantry. But now, in the face of this natural danger, his clever plans have become floating clouds. A few disgusting valley roads made their army helpless. It has been nearly a month since the war began, and Zhao Feng was stunned that he did not take the initiative to attack, and he was in a stubborn posture.

"Uncle, I just counted the grain and grass, and it's enough for about ten days. However, General Jiang Qi is about to escort the grain and grass, and he will be able to arrive in five days at most. After the routine patrol of the camp on this day, Xiahou Yuan's nephew, Captain Pingkou Xiahou Enyu, reported.

"I see!" A trace of worry flashed in Xiahou Yuan's eyes. Although Jiang Qi was still able to transport grain to arrive after a few days, what the Qinling Valley Road brought was not only the natural advantage of the other party's easy to defend and difficult to attack, but also the inconvenience of transporting grain that was difficult to explain. Just yesterday, more than 100 people who were in charge of transporting grain secretly ran away. Even if Xiahou Yuan is confident, he is now a little struggling. Therefore, a quick solution is the best policy.

"En'er, you go and select five thousand elite soldiers, and then send people to the nearby mountains to find some hunters who are familiar with the local mountain roads, don't frighten them, take them to the army with me, I will be useful!" Xiahou Yuan thought for a long time, and suddenly spoke.

"No!" Xia Houen went to select people without mentioning it. As soon as Xiahou En left, Xiahou Lan, the Yongzhou Zhonglang general on the side, listened to Xiahou Yuan's words, his brows couldn't help frowning a little, and then asked: "The general wants to find a way to bypass these passes from the local hunting account and reach Hanzhong?" ”

"Not bad!" Xiahou Yuan nodded. Thinking about it, Xiahou Yuan also felt that if he wanted to break through the pass in Hanzhong by attacking, it was indeed difficult for some strong people, and he could only take advantage of it. Xia Houlan heard this, but she was noncommittal. After a long time, he cautiously reminded: "General, what if I can't find such a path?" ”

"If that's the case, I'll go back to the army and attack Chencang." Xiahou Yuan said disapprerovingly. As soon as these words came out, Xiahou Lan also secretly breathed a sigh of relief, he was afraid that once Xiahou Yuan fought for a long time without success, the bull temper would attack and attack, and the army would be passive.

Although Xiahou Lan is also surnamed Xiahou, he is a person from Changshan, Hebei, and is not the same as the Xiahou clan in Qian County. Moreover, he is even a fellow villager and friend of Zhao Yun, but when he joined the army, he was Yuan Shao. Later, after the fall of the Yuan family, he switched to Cao Ying. As a friend of Zhao Yun, this battle in Hanzhong was somewhat embarrassing. A lot of times it's a little inconvenient to talk. Now seeing that Xiahou Yuan's mind was still calm, he was also slightly relieved.

After a few days, Xia Houen took the five thousand elite soldiers selected by himself, and under the leadership of several guides from Orion, he followed a mountain road that was said to be very remote, and went to Hanzhong to kill. At the same time, Xiahou Yuan personally led the army and attacked the position of the Hanzhong army at the end of the Xiegu Road.

"General, it seems that Xiahou Yuan is annoyed and angry, attacking so fiercely, he simply doesn't care about his own casualties!" Looking at the corpses piled up at the slope valley crossing, Ma Jian was also speechless. For several days, Xiahou Yuan's subordinates were killed and wounded by more than 1,000 people. The Sichuan army guarding the pass suffered no more than 100 casualties.

Zhao Feng knew that the solidity of a fortress could be reflected by the proportion of casualties between the attacking and defending sides. Generally, the casualty ratio can reach more than 1:3 in the city pass, which is more dangerous. And like Tongguan, Jiameng Pass, and even Jianmen Pass, Tiger Prison Pass, such world-famous Xiongguan Pass, can reach a casualty ratio of nearly 1:10. Now that he is so guarded, he is already very advantageous.

"General, I see something strange!" Lu Xun suddenly spoke. Ignoring the somewhat confused eyes of most people, Lu Xun said to himself: "Xiahou Yuan and the general have been confronting each other here for nearly a month. Now that he is suddenly attacking with such force, I'm afraid that he has another plan! ”

"Xiahou Yuan's surname has always been impatient, and now it is not surprising that he is angry, Bo Yan, are you a little too high in your opinion of him?" Ma Jian said disapprovingly. When everyone heard this, they immediately had different opinions, until they found that Zhao Feng had been noncommittal, so they all stopped talking and watched Zhao Feng listen to him.

"Yesterday, the Wuqian Fei Army had already sent a military report, saying that a few days ago, an enemy army of several thousand people left Xiahou Yuan's barracks, and then disappeared. Counting the period, it was just then that Xiahou Yuan began to attack. I think there must be an intrinsic connection between the two! Zhao Feng looked at everyone and said something that almost all of them expected.

"It turns out that the general asked Duke Wei to replace Yifeng to garrison Yangping Pass, in order to let Yifeng and the prince lead the Wuqian Flying Army to deal with the enemy?" Ma Yan's eyes lit up when he heard this. That's right, Zhao Feng just wanted to take advantage of his unadvanced flying army to climb mountains and mountains like walking on flat ground, and Wang Ping's advantage of being familiar with the geography of Hanzhong, ready to launch an all-round attack on Xiahou Yuan's army anytime and anywhere. At first, it was just to harass Xiahou Yuan's grain route, but now he is also in charge of reconnoitring the enemy. Originally, this kind of thing was enough for Wang Ping, but I didn't want Wang Ping to be illiterate, and the former Feijun was born in the southern and central barbarian tribes, and they were all illiterate. As a last resort, Yang Yi was used to replace Zhu Ran, the guard general of Yangping, and let Zhu Ran, who had been mixed with the Wudang Flying Army, go to fight with the army.

"Exactly, I think the reason why Xiahou Yuan dared to attack head-on was to attract the attention of us and others, so that the enemy army that sneaked up on this way could take advantage of it!" Zhao Feng said with a smile. When everyone was sighing to themselves, it happened that Liu Bei sent a messenger to read Liu Bei's royal order in front of the Taoist army, and Zhao Feng was transferred from the marquis of Jiangdu County to the marquis of Wuxiang County, and 200 households were added to the food. A civil and military official in Sichuan, in addition to 500 catties of gold and 1,000 catties of silver, officials of all sizes in Sichuan were rewarded. After Zhao Feng and the others thanked them, they were all beaming.

"The lord has personally led an army of 300,000 troops, waved the army north, and took Luoyang directly!" After the envoy finished the briefing, he broke another shocking news. After everyone heard this, there were those who were amazed and those who were stunned. Only Zhao Feng and Lu Xun glanced at each other, and they both saw a trace of worry in each other's eyes.

(To be continued)