Zhang Lu looked up, but saw that the person who spoke was Gong Cao Yanpu, a strategist in his thirties, who was staring at Liu Bei's letter with a very distrustful gaze at the moment.

Zhang Lu said: "Liu Xuande's letter, that is, the wording is too humble, I heard that this person is an elder, and it is nothing to be humble, I don't know where Zimao's 'fraud' starts." ”

Yan Pu said: "This letter is suspicious because it is suspected that the words are too humble. The lord thinks about it, that Liu Xuande is the hero of the world recognized by Cao Gong, and now he not only sits on the two states of Jingzhou, but also defeated Sun Zhongmou of Eastern Wu not long ago, such a heroic character, but he is so humble to the lord, doesn't the lord feel that something is wrong? ”

Zhang Lu was a little disapproving, and said: "Even if this is the case, as you said, Liu Xuande is so good, but why bother to write such a letter, and say that he wants to share Brazil with me equally, is he teasing me." ”

Yan Pu frowned and said: "When the princes of today, which one is not fighting for an inch of land, then Liu Xuande borrowed Jingzhou from Dongwu before, but now he does not hesitate to breach the contract and fight with Sun Zhongmou for it, such a person, will he happily cut half of the Brazilian County that is already in his hands to the lord?" ”

In the face of Yan Pu's series of doubts, Zhang Lu was also a little assertive, so he said: "Then according to Zimao's opinion, what is the idea of this Liu Xuande in his heart?" ”

Yan Pu was silent for a long time, and said with a solemn expression: "According to Pu's opinion, this Liu Xuande wants to use this letter as a delaying tactic, but secretly wants to encroach on my Hanzhong. ”

As soon as Yan Pu's voice fell, one of the people sitting in the audience smiled and said: "Zimao is really worried, then Liu Zhang's father and son have been plotting against me in Hanzhong for more than ten years, which time is not in vain, if this Liu Xuande also wants to follow suit, it will be the same fate." ”

The person who spoke disdainfully was Zhang Lu's brother Zhang Wei, Yan Pu couldn't help but shake his head again and again when he heard his words, and said: "Zihu must not underestimate this Liu Xuande, this person started by weaving mats, but he has laid down the land of the two states today, and he can compete with Cao Ying, such a character, how can he be compared with a weak person like Liu Zhang." If this person really intends to attack Hanzhong, we must not take it lightly. ”

Zhang Wei sneered and said: "Yizhou's attack on Hanzhong is nothing more than taking the two roads of Golden Bull and Rice Warehouse, or Yangpingguan in the west. The first two valleys were tortuous and circulating, and it was extremely difficult to march, so our army only needed to set up camps in a few narrow openings and defend until the enemy army ran out of food and retreated. As for Yangping Pass, hehe, if Liu Bei dares to come, it would be better, so I asked my brother to give me 10,000 horses to guard, even if Liu Bei came with the troops of the two states, I also kept it and told him to look at the pass and sigh. ”

Zhang Wei's self-confidence is reasonable, since ancient times, Yangping natural danger is not blown out, whether it is Liu Yan or Liu Zhang, they have sent troops to attack Yangping Pass several times, all of them are gray and slippery, so Zhang Wei can confidently think that the lord of Yizhou surnamed Liu is the same, and he is full of floating clouds in front of his Yangping Pass.

As a result, Zhang Lu didn't take Yan Pu's worries too seriously, he ate and drank well to entertain Liu Bei's envoy, and did not forget to prepare a generous gift in return to Liu Bei when he sent him away. After sending off the envoy, Zhang Lu sent Liu Bei's handwritten letter to Yang Ang, the general of Bazhong, and asked him to contact Zhang Fei, who was guarding Ba County, about receiving the land of Ba County.

However, Zhang Lu waited and waited in Nanzheng, full of joy waiting for Liu Bei to spit out the bones in his mouth, but after waiting for seven days, he waited for a news that shocked him.

Zhang Fei of Ba County not only refused to hand over the land, but instead killed Yang Ang's envoy, and came to Ben Bazhong with all the troops of Ba County. At the same time, the guards in the area of Yangping Pass also sent an urgent report, saying that Liu Bei personally led an army of 200,000 and was coming from Baishui Pass to kill Yangping.

Hearing this news, Zhang Lu was both angry and shocked, angry that Liu Bei's kid breached the contract, and raised a large army to attack Hanzhong, and was surprised that Liu Bei's army was 200,000, which was already an astronomical amount for Zhang Lu, who had few people and few soldiers.

On the same day, Zhang Lu urgently summoned everyone to discuss the countermeasures.

"Big brother, don't worry, I said earlier, as long as Liu Bei dares to attack Yangping Pass, I will ask him to look at the pass and sigh." Zhang Wei still patted his chest and said big words, not taking Liu Bei in his eyes at all.

But Zhang Lu said worriedly: "Although Yangping Pass is dangerous, but Liu Bei has led an army of 200,000 this time, even if there is a danger in Xiongguan, I am afraid that it will be difficult to deal with it." ”

At this time, Yan Pu smiled and said: "Don't be frightened by Liu Bei's bluff, even if he Liu Bei brings all the soldiers from Jingyi Erzhou, at most there will be more than 100,000, not to mention that he still has to leave soldiers and horses to guard the rear, Pu estimates that Liu Bei's soldiers and horses this time are at most 70,000 or 80,000, and 200,000 people are just claims." ”

Zhang Lu is not Liu Zhang's kind of goods, after the initial shock, when his spirit stabilized at this moment, his thinking returned to normal.

Therefore, he immediately sent Zhang Wei with 20,000 horses to reinforce Yangping Pass, and at the same time sent 10,000 men and horses to Yang Angjia in Bazhong to resist the attack of Zhang Fei's troops, and he himself sat in Nanzheng and transferred grain and grass to the southwest.

When his army entered from Baishui Pass to Yangping Pass, Zhang Wei's 20,000 Hanzhong troops had arrived at Yangping Pass in advance, and built a city in a narrow section of less than ten miles between the north and south mountains in front of the pass.

Liu Beijun was encamped on the north bank of the river, more than ten miles away from Yangping Pass, on this day, Liu Bei and Fa Zheng, Fang Shao and others personally came to observe the terrain in front of Yangping Pass.

When Liu Bei witnessed the terrain of Yangping Pass with his own eyes, he realized that it was a bit redundant to bring so many troops to come this time, because the terrain in front of the pass was so wide, and sending two or three thousand people up would block the road. Moreover, the pass is four or five meters above the ground in front of the pass, and his men and horses are still attacking from the back, plus the north and south mountains of the pass can reach the sky, and it is very unfavorable to climb, not to mention the detour from both wings.

"I didn't expect Yangping Pass to come to this point, which is really a bit unexpected to me." Before the battle was fought, Liu Bei was really looking at Guan Xing and sighing.

"The terrain is dangerous, but as long as you can break through this level, there is a smooth road ahead, let's try to attack a few formations first."

At this time, the ambitious Fa Zheng before the expedition was also a little empty, because he found that the cities built by the enemy's Hengshan were all built of solid stones, and they were connected from west to east, and there were three or four lines of defense near, and each of them was a cut higher than the previous one, so condescending, if you defend it with a strong bow and a hard crossbow, I am afraid that even if you have a divine cannon, it will not be easy to overcome.

Pang Tong said: "The other party is built of solid stones, and eighty percent is afraid that we will attack with fire, and there will still be a few times to defend the city." I, Kong Ling, am in favor of fighting too, and try the power of the Shenwei Cannon and the ability of the opponent. ”

The two heavyweight strategists said so, and Liu Bei ordered that after the whole army was full in the afternoon, the first wave of tentative attacks began.

The first wave of attack troops was 10,000 soldiers and horses led by Huang Zhong, these 10,000 people experienced the victory of Jingzhou, this time the morale was high, and the soldiers had the actual combat experience of making Shenwei artillery, so Liu Bei sent them to the field in the first battle.

In the early afternoon, the battle officially began.

According to Fang Shao's design, the effective strike range of the Shenwei cannon was one hundred paces, and this distance had obviously entered the range of the condescending enemy crossbowmen.

Therefore, in order to protect the Shenwei cannon from entering the effective firing range safely, Huang Zhong ordered 2,000 shield men to take the lead, and 2,000 crossbowmen followed, covering more than 100 Shenwei cannons to slowly drive towards Yangping Pass, followed by 3,000 of the most elite siege troops.

At this moment, Zhang Wei was already at the head of the city, and when he saw the more than 100 strange machines in Liu Beijun's army, he couldn't help but be surprised.

I think that although this Zhang Wei is the second person in Hanzhong, but like his brother Zhang Lu, since he entered Hanzhong more than ten years ago, he has never taken a step out of the Qinling Mountains, and Hanzhong, a ghost place, is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Of course, when Liu Bei, who fought all the way from the Central Plains to Yizhou, put on such a fresh position as soon as he made a move, Zhang Wei, a mountain baby, was a little blindsided on the spot.

Despite this, Zhang Wei in line with the idea of not caring about thirty-seven twenty-one, when the enemy army entered his range, he ordered the crossbowmen above Gaocheng to shoot Lao Tzu fiercely.

As soon as the drum sounded, the arrows rained down on Yangping's close.

It was a real drop from the sky, the high momentum, so that the arrows shot down not only increased the range, but also increased the power, only pressed Liu Beijun to the point that he couldn't even breathe, the enemy shot ten arrows, and the two thousand crossbowmen could only barely shoot one or two arrows back from the gap in the shield array, and there was no accuracy at all, therefore, in the first battle, Liu Beijun's long-range firepower was comprehensively hit.

After losing a few hundred people, the Shenwei cannon finally entered the attack distance, and the gunners were under the cover of the shield soldiers, and the reloading and counterweight were difficult, and then, with a command, the first wave of more than 100 stone shells rose into the sky and roared up to Yangping Pass.

The moment the stone bullet took off into the air, it was like a downpour suddenly stopped, and the dense rain of arrows stopped instantly. There was no other reason, but the Hanzhong army in the city was stunned by the flying stone bullets at that moment, and forgot the bow and crossbow in their hands.

A few seconds later, boom boom!

The stone bullet hit accurately, and for a moment the stone chips splashed, and the roar was like thunder.

Although the momentum of the Shenwei cannon is huge, but the effect is not good, those who were killed on the spot by the stone projectile, but only a dozen people, and the stone bullet hit the thick city wall, although the sound is very great, but the destructive power is really limited, except for the blast of a few edges and corners, there is no substantial impact on the city wall.

However, the Hanzhong army was frightened by the momentum of the Shenwei cannon, and the defenders shrank under the female wall and did not dare to show their heads, and taking advantage of this opportunity, Liu Beijun's crossbowmen could straighten their waists and calmly carry out arrow attacks on the city. For a while, arrows and artillery were fired, and this time it was the turn of the Hanzhong army to be so pressed that they couldn't raise their heads.

After this time, Fa Zheng, who was watching the battle in the Chinese army, keenly spotted the fighter plane, and said excitedly: "Hansheng, the time has come, quickly order the siege army to dispatch." ”

So Huang Zhong immediately ordered, and the 3,000 attacking troops rushed towards Yangping Pass, embracing the ladders and rushing cars.

Fang Shao, who was also watching the battle, looked at the battle situation in front of him, and suddenly remembered the offensive and defensive battle in the Holy Helmet Valley in the movie "The Lord of the Rings", and it was a little embarrassing that his position seemed to be more like the orc army on the evil side.

(To be continued)