The Cao Wei bureaucracy was formed, and its operational efficiency was more than a step worse than that of Shu Han, who still retained the form of a military government - of course, the advantage of the bureaucracy was that it was convenient to govern a wider area of land and monitor more complex subordinate institutions.

Although Liu Bei also calls himself the Son of Heaven, his organizational structure is relatively primitive and simple, and except for one Xu Jing, no one under his command cares about all kinds of false shelves. Fa Zheng once said: "When Your Majesty deletes the great difficulty, in order to return the old capital, all the rituals can be prepared, and now if Qi Xiang is in Ju, why bother?" "In addition, Liu Bei already had a complete plan to attack Yongzhou, Pang Tong just came out of the Meridian Valley, and he was already fortunate to drive Hanzhong, so Cao Cao left Luoyang, and Liu Bei had already arrived in Yongzhou.

Liu Bei entered Guanzhong through the Baochuan Road and followed Guan Yu's ass - because this road starts from Baozhong in the south, and is closest to Zheng, the south of Hanzhong County, and some materials can also be transported through Baoshui in the early section - and then stationed in Yi County. At this time, Guan Yu had already led his troops to the west, surrounding Zhang He and Xu Huang in Chencang, while Zhang Fei went east to capture Maoling, Pingling and other cities, and confronted Lejin near Anling.

In other words, Zhang Yide is really sensitive, if he goes east as soon as he comes out of Fu Luo, Guan Yu may not be able to kill the Bao Chuan Road, it is estimated that like Wu Yi who has gone away from the Guanguo Road, he will have to be forced back, so the Shu army has much less room for maneuver, and it is impossible to send too many troops to the Guanzhong area in a short period of time. Based on the backwardness of Wu Yi's communication level, the cooperation with the other two roads is not tacit. If you wait for Guan Yu to go west. Attack Chencang again. It is estimated that Zhang He may not be able to stop him.

After all, General Guan and Zhang Erjun followed Liu Bei to raise troops at the beginning, and fought side by side for many years.

At this time, there were two choices in front of Liu Bei, one was to concentrate on breaking through Chen Cang, so as to seize the western part of Fufeng County, and strive to connect with Ma Chao, who sent troops to the military capital. In this way, they can occupy Longshang, and then release all their strength - logistics and transportation are relatively more guaranteed. The second is to concentrate on breaking Lejin in the east, joining forces with Pang Tong and Zhao Yun who are holding Chang'an, and building a defensive line to resist the inevitable arrival of Cao Wei's eastern reinforcements.

Protector Huang Quan proposed: "When the west also." "Leave Pang Tong alone for now. If the whole division advances eastward, we will be caught between the main forces of Cao Wei and his Yong and Liang armies, and the situation will still be precarious, and there will be little room for maneuver; It is better to make every effort to open up the west road and firmly occupy the Longxi area, which will directly eliminate the threat to Hanzhong. Cao Wei came to the aid in a big way. will also fight against us in Longxi, and General Arima will connect with Qianghu. It may be possible to recruit a lot of Hu cavalry, and it can also greatly make up for the shortcomings of our Great Plains operations.

In the imperial history, Cheng Xu Shu was anxious on the spot: "You want to kill the Taiwei?!" "If you don't fight on the Western Front now, there will be a chance to fight in the future, but if you don't save Pang Tong now, how many people will he have? Lejin is temporarily stumped and unable to attack the city, but Cao Wei's reinforcements are coming, can he hold Chang'an City? When the time comes, Pang Tong and Zhao Yun will all have to give a pot to the end, and none of them will be able to run!

Xu Shu said: "The autumn harvest is imminent, if the army has to enter Chang'an to defend it, and the grain is enough to supply, even if Cao Cao comes in person, there is nothing to do, then the west of Chang'an can be determined in one fell swoop." Liangzhou ringworm scabies, Yongzhou is the enemy, why abandon the heart of the Central Plains and go to the border? ”

If it wasn't Huang Quan, but Xu Shu proposed a plan to go west, maybe Liu Bei would have obeyed directly. It's not that he favors Xu Shu above Huang Quan, the problem is that Huang Gongheng is a native of Langzhong, Brazil, Liu Zhang's former minister, and after subordinating to Liu Bei, he naturally became a peripheral force of the Dongzhou faction, so Liu Bei suspected that Huang Quan's plan might harm Pang Tong. In addition, Pang Shiyuan is his arm, and Zhao Zilong is an old minister from Long, so how can he not save him? If I really make this decision, how will the hundreds of bureaucrats and even the people of the world think of me? I will be a cold gentleman who does not care about the lives of his courtiers!

immediately dismissed Huang Quan, and then ordered Huang Quan to go outside Chencang City, replace Guan Yu to monitor Zhang He and Xu Huang, transfer back Guan Yu and his core troops, and work with Zhang Fei to fight Lejin. And Liu Bei himself also marched east from Yixian to Maoling, ready to reinforce at any time.

At this time, after Le Wenqian's hard work, he had repelled the Shu general Fu Wei and regained control of Weiqiao. But then Zhang Fei came from the west, and Le Jin was forced to set a fire, burning all the nearby bridges, and then retreating to Anling. At the same time, Lian sent fast horses to the east to ask Cao De for help.

Cao De and others were stationed in Xinfeng, Xiahou Nan and Liang Xi came to ask for guilt, Cao De ordered them to be loaded into the car, and escorted back to Luoyang to hand over to Cao Cao. Immediately Le Jin's letter for help was delivered, Cao Zhen knew that if Le Jin was defeated and retreated, the main force of the enemy army could reach Chang'an, as long as he stuffed twenty or thirty thousand people into that city, and then there was someone who could defend it instead of Xiahou Nan, even if the Son of Heaven personally led the whole country's troops, it would not be easy to attack. So he suggested to Cao De that his troops and horses be moved forward to Baling, and even under the city of Chang'an, in order to deal with various changes in the situation on the front line.

Cao De brought out of Luoyang City, but only 2,000 soldiers and horses, but Cao Wei had long planned to take Hanzhong through Yongzhou to the south, and it was estimated that more than 100,000 soldiers and horses would be gathered in Chang'an and its surrounding areas, so the garrisons in various places were still transported to the west according to the original plan, and more than 30,000 troops had been gathered in Xinfeng County at this time. Cao Zhen asked Cao Degu for advice, but Cao De did not dare to advance, and finally sent Cao Zhen as the main general, with Lü Meng as the deputy general, leading an army of 20,000 to Baling.

Baling is less than fifty miles away from Chang'an City, after the army entered the city, Lu Ziming asked for an order to lead three thousand cavalry to patrol to Chang'an City, look at it from afar, but see the banner fluttering on the city, almost every battlement behind the Shu soldiers. So he returned to Baling to report to Cao Zhen, and Cao Zhen asked him: "According to what Ziming saw, are there many thieves and soldiers in the city?" ”

Lu Meng said that I estimate that there are only a few thousand people, and the large army is still west of Anling. Why? Just because there are so many people displayed in the city, just look at it, and it will be no less than 30,000 or 50,000. However, the way of using soldiers, the people have always shown their outnumber, and the outnumbered people have shown the public, so as to deceive the enemy, if there are really 30,000 or 50,000 people, there is no reason to put them all on the city. Besides, I have just made a tour to the bottom of the city, and I am not attacking in a big way, is it necessary for them to put so many troops on the city? "They will mix with straw men to confuse me."

Cao Zhen nodded and said that what Ziming said was reasonable, so what countermeasures do you have? "I have 20,000 people today, can I attack Chang'an?"

Lu Meng shook his head, saying that the smaller the number of enemy troops, the more extraordinary they could actually be seen - if more than 100,000 people took Chang'an City, it would not be strange; Only a few thousand people were able to capture the city overnight, although it was caused by Xiahou Nan's cowardice and Liang Xi's incompetence, it was enough to see the opponent's ability to use troops. I think that even if we attack regardless of casualties, we will not be able to take Chang'an City in ten days and half a month, and if the enemy breaks through General Le's headquarters and enters Chang'an, the situation will be dangerous.

"Meng has three plans, waiting for the general to decide."

The next strategy is to still garrison Baling and wait for the Son of Heaven to make a decision - although it is useless, it is certainly not faulty. The middle strategy is to advance to the city of Chang'an, but don't launch an attack, wait for the enemy's reinforcements to arrive, and when you want to wade across Weishui, you may be able to make a contribution, or at least delay the time for the opponent to join forces. As for the best policy, send a group of soldiers and horses to cross the Weishui and go to Rendezvous with General Hele to stop the enemy's reinforcements.

The problem is this best policy - "If you send a small army, I am afraid that it will not be enough; If there are many troops, Baling may be in danger. ”

Cao Zhen said that even if Baling is lost, what can it do? There is still Xinfeng behind Baling, and the army led by the Son of Heaven is about to arrive in Guanzhong, Chang'an is a little thief army, do you dare to go deep into the east? "Baling is not guarded, I will go to the aid of General Le!"

So he led the army straight to the north of Chang'an City and came to the shore of Weishui. All the nearby bridges were burned down by Lejin, but there were still ferries available—the Shu army had been keeping these ferries so that they could cross the river with reinforcements in the future—Lü Meng rushed into battle first, dispersed the enemy troops, seized the ferries, and then crossed the Weishui River to the north one after another.

When the news reached Chang'an City, Zhao Yun asked for an order to surprise the enemy and try to attack halfway. Pang Tong shook his head again and again, saying that according to the Tanmalai report, the number of enemy troops is several times that of our army, and the main general Cao Zhen is not comparable to Xiahou Nan, and the difficulty factor is too great to use the assault to stumble their footsteps to cross north. Zhao Yunnai said: "Yun also knows that it is very difficult, but if this is not the case, I am afraid that the enemy will cross to the north, and we will have fun and then block the army in the west of Anling." If the army can't come together, Cao Cao will enter the customs every day, and Chang'an may not be able to defend it. ”

Pang Tong said that if you can't keep it, you can't keep it-"I have sent a letter to Your Majesty, don't worry about us, and if you wave your army to break Zhang He first, and then set Liangzhou, the situation will change, and you can hold Cao Cao for a long time." If you come to help Chang'an immediately, you will be in a cage - Chang'an is my place of death, please Zilong and Tong die together! Then he sighed lightly: "I didn't burn the boat in front of me, because the soldiers were frightened and frightened, and now I have made the enemy cross, mistakenly, how can I see Your Majesty again......"

When Zhao Yun heard this, he couldn't help but smile bitterly, and said Taiwei, since you have this awareness, then I won't say anything more, anyway, if you benefit the country, why don't you regret this? However, not everyone is a loyal and brave man like Zhao Zilong, and it is said that there is a general under the command of General Liao Chun, named Shiren, who heard what Pang Tong said next to him, and panicked on the spot - shrimp, you all have the determination to die? Why didn't you tell me earlier? Although I know that the plan to steal the meridian is in danger, I still hold on to the hope of what happens, and now you refuse to leave me with the slightest hope! Lord Liu treats me well, I am willing to charge for him, but it doesn't mean that he lets me die, I must die with a smile!

What's more, this is not Liu Bei's order, but your Pang Tong's inexplicable persistence......

So that night, he sent his henchmen to sneak out of the city and go to Xinfeng to contact Cao De...... (To be continued.) )