In early summer, the grass is abundant, the jungle is lush, the streams are murmuring, and the mountains and rivers are beautiful.

When the situation in Yizhou changed abruptly, the weather also changed, and a long-lost wind and rain plummeted overnight, enveloping thousands of miles of mountains and rivers.

Hanzhong County, Nanzheng County Shoufu.

After the rainstorm, the eaves are still ticking with bean-sized raindrops, falling drop by drop, and at first glance the raindrops are connected in a line, but in fact they are scattered intermittently. Drops of rain fell on the stone steps, splashed and scattered, smashed on the loess next to the stone steps, and chiseled out a large puddle at the mouth of the bowl, and the splashed droplets carried the dim mud.

In the lobby, which is more than ten steps away from the stone steps, there are many generals of the Xiliang Army gathered at this moment, as well as the three county guards of Jincheng County, Fufeng County and Wudu County, as well as a group of subordinates under the jurisdiction of Hanzhong.

At this time, there was a person sitting on the upper steps of the lobby, and it was self-evident that he was the chief general of the more than 100,000 Xiliang army secretly assembled in Hanzhong County, and he was also the highest military commander of the army in Yizhou. But he is not Li Li, nor is he Li Xuan, Li Ru or Jia Xu and other important ministers of the humerus, but the Pingnan general Zhou Yu and Zhou Gongjin, who were frustrated in the Battle of Yecheng last year.

By this time, exactly one year had passed since the Battle of Yecheng. After a year, Li Li once again appointed Zhou Yu to take charge of the army, restored him to the post of general of Annan, and was promoted to the governor of Hanzhong, led the Hanzhong army, and took command of the Yizhou expedition. And this is also the opportunity for Zhou Yu to finally wait for the opportunity to take charge of the military again after a year of hibernation, and it is also an excellent time for him to regroup and make a name for himself.

In fact, when Li Li decided to send troops to Yizhou, it was not that there were no generals available, on the contrary, there were many generals to choose from, and there were not a few generals who could be qualified for the post of chief generals of the three armies. Among them, the most impactful candidates are Li Xian, the general of Zhengnan, Zhuge Liang, the military advisor, the Tai Fa Zheng of Hanzhong, and Ma Chao, the commander of the Longxiang battalion. The rest of the Qin Gong Battalion Commander Huang Zhong, the Peerless Iron Cavalry Commander Zhao Yun and Fufeng Taishou Ma Teng are also popular candidates. Therefore, when the matter of going to Yizhou was put on the agenda, especially after learning that Li Li was about to go to the hinterland of Yizhou. Who is in charge of the Hanzhong army has become the focus of attention of the generals, and there are many discussions in private, all speculating who Li Li will eventually put in charge of the army.

Until the eve before Li Li's departure, the undecided choice of coach was finally revealed, and the answer was revealed. But the result was unexpected by everyone, but it was reasonable, this is Zhou Yu, who has been in charge of the Chinese army many times.

At the same time as the chief commander is formalized. Li Xian, the general of Zhengnan, served as the deputy commander of the army, and Zhuge Liang and Fa Zheng were also entrusted with important tasks, serving as the left army division and the right army division of the army respectively. Furthermore. Four battalions of soldiers and horses, including the Longxiang Battalion, the Wushuang Iron Cavalry, the Eagle Guard and the Qin Gong Battalion, accompanied the army and were equipped with 30,000 heavy infantry troops. It was the Xiliang Army that went out to Yizhou this time to have a strong front, consisting of 60,000 infantry troops and 90,000 war cavalry, a total of 150,000 infantry cavalry.

It is worth mentioning. These 150,000 troops are all elite soldiers. It can be called the most elite army of the Western Liang Army after the Battle of Jizhou.

The first to bear the brunt is the Longxiang Battalion, the team that Li Li started. This is a prestigious division of 100 battles, and it is also one of the top three war horses in the Xiliang Army; The leader of this elite iron cavalry is the "Shenwei Tian General" Ma Chao and Ma Mengqi.

The second is the unparalleled iron cavalry led by Zhao Yun. This is also a long-tested division of a hundred battles, has experienced the battle of Sili, the battle of Youzhou and the battle of Jizhou, although the battle of Jizhou ended in failure, but the casualties of the unequaled iron cavalry are not large, after a little rest and replenishment, you can fight again.

Again. It is the only bow and crossbow battalion in the Xiliang Army that is fully staffed, and it is also an elite infantry army that is extremely good at mountain warfare. Its main general is Huang Zhong and Huang Hansheng, who are known as the "God of Arrows". Speaking of which, the Qin Gong Battalion has not had any outstanding achievements since its formation, and the only record that can be won is to follow Li Li to seize Hanzhong, and there are no other achievements. But this does not mean that the Qin Gong Battalion has low combat strength and is not of great use, but that it has never had the opportunity to show its edge, and has been staying in the rear for many years, guarding the ———Jiameng Pass, the gateway from Hanzhong to Yizhou. Therefore, this expedition to Yizhou can be described as an excellent opportunity for the Qin Gong Battalion to show their skills for a long time, and it is also the first battle for them to justify their name and make contributions. For this reason, the 30,000 soldiers of the Qin Gong Battalion from Huang Zhong and Cao Xing were all sharpening their swords, eager to try, full of ambition, and eagerly looking forward to the arrival of the attack order.

The last cavalry was the Eagle Guard under Li Li's brother Li Xian. This is a newly formed light cavalry, with a battalion of 30,000 horses, plus 5,000 auxiliary soldiers and horses composed of logistics baggage, scouts and personal guards, a total of 35,000 men. What is quite remarkable is that about seventy percent of the cavalry in the Eagle Guard Iron Cavalry are from the Wuhuan and Xianbei tribes, and the remaining thirty percent of the soldiers are Qiang and Xiliang people. It was precisely because of the complexity of the members of this cavalry that Li Li sent more than ten fierce generals in the army to supplement it, with Hu Che'er and Shi A as deputy generals, and specially dispatched Zhang Fei to come to Li Xian's tent to listen to the dispatch.

This qiē was carried out in secret, and no news was leaked from beginning to end, so that the princes of the towns were unaware of it. They all thought that Li Li's army had suffered a great loss after the defeat of Jizhou, so they had to shrink their forces and withdraw their cavalry battalion to the hinterland of Xiliang to replenish and recuperate. As everyone knows, this move is just a cover-up, but in fact it is of another great use, intended to shrink the force and seize Yizhou.

In the winter of last year, Zhuge Liang followed Li Li to take the lead and entered Yizhou in advance, and since then has been in close contact with Zhou Yu, Fa Zheng and others who are sitting in Hanzhong, and transmitted the information he found back to the Hanzhong camp in time.

In February of this year, Hanzhong Tai Shou Zheng set off again, secretly infiltrated Yizhou, and went to Chengdu to secretly contact some Yizhou families and scholars who were interested in switching to Li Li's command, including many high-powered Yizhou generals and ministers.

At the same time, Fazheng has another mission. This is that when he infiltrated Yizhou, he took an elite detachment composed of all rangers, although there were only 500 people, but they shouldered the heavy responsibility of cooperating with the main army to fight and waiting for an opportunity to seize the pass. It is the right army division that is based on Fazheng, which not only shoulders the mission of plotting against the Yizhou family and leading the ranger detachment to seize the pass, but also the think tank of the right army after entering Yizhou, responsible for assisting the main general of the right army to attack the city and pull out the village.

However, who is the commander of the right army and how to transfer the 150,000 troops in Hanzhong still needs to be decided by Zhou Yu, which is his right as the commander of the three armies.

In this regard, Li Li has always pursued the principle of "employing people without suspicion and without suspicion". As long as he chooses a candidate for the commander-in-chief of the army, he will fully delegate his power and give him the right to make arbitrary decisions at the right of opportunity. During the war, he would not dictate to the commander-in-chief, interfere in the middle of the battle, and still less change the battle plan without authorization.

?????? In the hall of the Hanzhong County Guard's Mansion, the pre-war deliberations had been going on for half an hour.

In addition to the coach Zhou Yu sitting on the upper steps, there are more than 100 civil and military generals related to the expedition to Yizhou on both sides of the hall. On the left side of the hall, Li Xian, the general of Zhengnan, was in the first place, followed by more than 70 generals such as Zhao Yun, Ma Chao, Huang Zhong, Xiahoulan and Cao Xing; Sitting in the first place on the right side is Fufeng Taishou Ma Teng, followed by Wudu Taishou Pei Qian, Jincheng Taishou Weikang and Jincheng County Cheng Yang Fu and other more than 40 civil officials.

At the beginning of the discussion, Zhou Yu conveyed the military order sent back by the lord Li Li from Shu County, and passed the letter to everyone to show his integrity. Immediately, Huang Zhong reported the latest news and the news sent back by the detailed work, so that everyone clearly understood that now is the best time to send troops, and the opportunity must not be lost, and the time will not come again.

At this point, after the initial military briefing, the deliberations entered the substantive stage, and it was also a critical moment for Zhou Yu to deploy troops.

"The army is about to go on the march, I don't know how the three Taishou are raising food and grass, can they fully supply the needs of our army for the war?" Just when everyone in the hall thought that Zhou Yu was about to give orders, but unexpectedly, Zhou Yu was calm and unhurriedly asked about the preparations for grain and grass. After speaking, he looked at Ma Teng on the right side of the hall with a smile on his face, because Ma Teng was the commander of the rear army for the supply of grain and grass in the rear of the army, that is, the quartermaster.

After Ma Teng heard this, he said without thinking: "The governor can rest assured." The first batch of 300,000 stone grain and grass has been transported to Nanzheng City, of which 200,000 stone grain and grass have arrived at Jiameng Pass the day before yesterday, which can be used by 100,000 troops for two months. The second batch of grain and grass is still 300,000 stones, all of which have been raised at present, and they were transported to Wudu County yesterday, and they can be sent to Hanzhong within ten days, which can fully supply the needs of the army for war. ”

Zhou Yu bowed his head when he heard this, and said with a smile: "This is very good, this time there is Huaili Hou sitting in Hanzhong, and it will be worry-free." Hehehe! While speaking, although Zhou Yu was full of smiles, he was actually secretly relieved.

And this is all because of Ma Teng's special identity, he himself is a general of Xiliang, he was once a powerful prince, and now he is under the command of Li Li, but he is still full of nobles and transcendent status. He is not only a county guard, but also the biological father of Ma Chao, a fierce general in the army, and the remaining three sons are all senior generals in the army, and most importantly, he is also Li Li's father-in-law. Because of this, even if Zhou Yugui is the governor of Hanzhong and the commander of the first army, he can't call him by his name, and he still needs to call Ma Teng "Huaili Hou". Therefore, if Ma Teng deliberately dragged out or obstructed him, then Zhou Yu would be in trouble.

Seeing that Zhou Yu was humble and polite, Ma Teng stroked his beard and said with a smile: "The governor does not need to be polite, this is the old man's duty, and he should serve his life." ”

Zhou Yu bowed his head to show his gratitude, then turned his gaze to Wei Kang, who was sitting at the head of Ma Teng, quickly restrained his smile, and said: "Wei Kang Taishou has made great contributions to raising food and grass for the army this time. At present, there is still one thing that the general is tired of being too guarded, I heard that Yang Fu of Jincheng County is quite strategic, and he is very wise, and this time the army is on the occasion of employing people, I don't know if Taishou can cut love? ”

After Wei Kang heard this, he was very surprised, turned his head to look at Yang Fu in the left rear, his eyes showed sincere joy, and then he said to Zhou Yu respectfully: "I don't dare to ask for it, and it is all up to the governor to dispatch!" ”

—————— to be continued———————————— (To be continued......

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