Li Siye stood on the tower of the city and looked at the city, it stands to reason that after stabilizing the situation in Hanzhong, it is time to go back and continue to attack Youyan on the northern front battlefield and eliminate Shi Siming. But there is a very fat cake nearby, that is, Shuzhong, the ancient Yizhou, which is known as the country of abundance, with fertile fields for thousands of miles, the terrain is victorious, easy to defend and difficult to attack. In ancient times, Shu can be in a corner of peace, of course, there must be such a strategic depth as Hanzhong.

In the past, after Liu Bei won Sichuan, he immediately seized Hanzhong from Zhang Lu's hands, creating a stable strategic rear for Shu, Emperor Guangwu used to get Longlong and look at Shu, and now he not only got Longdi but also Hanzhong, naturally he wanted to get Shu to seize the entire southwest in his hands, and then he had more strategic resources, and Shi Siming, who occupied the Central Plains, was more handy.

It's just that the three roads leading to Shuzhong are very difficult, and naturally they can't march with a large army, so the supply of grain and grass alone is a great problem. He decided to reduce 40,000 men from the army that had invaded Hanzhong, and each of them had a camel and a horse to transport provisions.

I heard that a merchant from Shu said that in order to prevent the Hexi army from entering Sichuan, Li Jian, the envoy of Jiannan Jiedu in Sichuan, had ordered people to set fire to all the plank roads on the three main passages, in an attempt to block Li Siye with the danger of mountains and rivers.

The road into Shu is indeed difficult and difficult, just like a section of the Wudingguan Canyon of the Golden Bull Road, the cliff can only be passed by one person, and the foot is an abyss.

After learning the news, Li Siye did not give up the attack on Shuzhong, and he temporarily decided to transfer 4,000 people from the people of Hanzhong as stonemasons to repair the dangerous and difficult road section that was destroyed by the Tang army on the way.

The army set out from Hanzhong, marched to Baoshui, then turned to Mianxian County, went to Wuding Gorge after passing through Jinduipu, and encountered the first checkpoint of this trip was Wuding Pass.

The plank road on the Wuding Gorge has been completely demolished, and the caravan travelers have to tie their belts to each other and carefully stick to the stone wall to move slowly, such a road is about five or six miles long, and walking down is a great challenge to the physical strength of the soldiers.

When they arrived at Wuding Pass, it was raining lightly, and the stone path was slippery and impassable, so Li Siye ordered everyone to rest for a day and wait until the weather was dry the next day.

Fortunately, the sky was clear the next morning, and Li Siye ordered the mountain-opening stonemasons to open the road in front, and when they encountered a seriously damaged stone road, they dug out the road surface on the cliff.

The green cover of the mountains is dense, and from time to time there are strange cries of apes, and five or six echoes are folded between the cliffs, and below the stone wall is a deep ditch, and the timid soldiers who are afraid of heights are sweating profusely and are terrified, and they almost move forward little by little with their backs against the stone wall.

One of the soldiers was on the march when he suddenly looked up and saw a snake scurrying out from the shade of the tree above, which frightened him into drawing his sword and leaning forward, sliding down the valley in an instant. But his belt was tied to his teammates on a hemp rope, and he dragged all four or five people down one after another, hanging like sugar gourds on the cliff.

The team in the middle was quick to draw their horizontal knives and pierce them across the rock wall, holding on to the ropes with the other hand to prevent them from falling. He shouted to those behind him: "Quick, hold on like me, pull them up!" ”

The soldiers held the rope tightly, poked the knife on the stone wall and pulled the rope upward, and finally pulled up the four or five people hanging on the rock wall one by one.

The man hanging at the bottom had his palms bled out and leaned limply against the stone wall, his condition bringing the entire army to a standstill. Li Siye leaned on the rock wall and scolded the general in charge of this battalion: "If something like this happens again, Lao Tzu will throw you off the cliff!" ”

The general reprimanded the captain under his command, the captain reprimanded the brigade commander, and the brigade commander reprimanded the team, and the same sentence was transferred three or four times in different mouths, and finally the team came to the paralyzed soldiers, and said with a calm face: "You stabbed the big basket, and even the lord was angry, and almost threw General Zhang from the mountain." Remember to me, don't say there are snakes on the top of your head, even if there is a big python, you can't scare me, otherwise I will cut your rope directly and fall into the ravine to feed the snake! ”

This tortuous march cost five or six soldiers, and the Wuding Pass was already close at hand, so Li Siye ordered the army to hold off and ordered a few scouts to come forward to investigate the situation by pretending to be chopping wood.

The scouts hid in the trees halfway up the hill and looked out, only to see the pass hidden in the greenery, the city wall hung clothes poles and drying racks, on which there was no lack of women's red belly pockets and green skirts, cooking smoke wafting on all sides, the mountain stream gurgling, and the laughter of men and women. It's a picture of life in the mountains in autumn, but it doesn't have the security that a military fortress should have.

The scouts hurriedly came back and reported to Li Siye: "Lord, the red men and green women over there in Wuding Pass are so lively, they have a good life at the pass, and the Jiannan Army is unguarded, and they just went over to wipe them out. ”

Li Siye glanced at Wuding Pass again, this pass is located on the cliff at the end of the valley, the terrain behind is slightly gentle, the front is steep and abnormal, there is only one way to reach the front of the pass, it can be said that it is a husband and a man who can not open it.

He thought to himself that it was better to be safe, the terrain of this Wuding Pass was more difficult to attack than the stone castle, if the Jiannan army was a little vigilant and defended the city, they might not be able to attack it even if they lost the lives of 10,000 people.

Li Siye then ordered a group of people to pretend to be a traveling journey, hide the bladed bow and crossbow, and lead the camel and horse to the front of the pass.

Standing on the city wall, there were only six or seven soldiers, and when they saw the merchants, they asked in a loud voice, "Where did you come from?" ”

"Master Mingjian, we are businessmen from Hanzhong, and we have come to Shu to sell some brocade."

The soldier didn't doubt him, but just smiled: "You traders are not afraid of death, don't you know that the plank road in front of this pass has been burned?" The Taurus Dodge is dangerous and difficult, aren't you afraid of falling off the cliff and dying? ”

"It is precisely because of this that the goods in Shuzhong are becoming more and more expensive, and the wealth is in danger, and we are going back this time, enough for the family to eat and drink for two or three years."

"When you come to Shu, can you bring special mountain goods to honor you military masters?"

"Yes, yes, yes, the wine brewed from Hanzhong rice millet and the filaments of dry soup cakes are delicious."

The soldiers hurriedly went down and opened the gates of the city, and welcomed the caravans in. After they entered the pass, they found that there were nearly 500 soldiers guarding the pass, and the defense facilities on the city wall were complete.

But now most of these soldiers are not wearing armor, and in this hot summer, they cover their bodies with brown pants, ** upper body, and when they see the vendors, they all squeeze over with the women.

"What's good! Mountain goods and wine! Take out some of them, and the military master will exempt you from customs duties. ”

The leader of the traders was dressed as a general of the Hexi Army, and he motioned with his eyes to three or four merchants to stay at the city gate, ready to kill and seize the gate at any time. He took out the wine, took out the wine bowl and poured one for each military master, and said with a smile while wiping his sweat: "Wait a minute, you military masters, I have better souvenirs to offer." ”

"Hurry up, bring it out for us!"

The leader of the vendors turned back, and the rest of the vendors tensed their muscles and stood nervously in front of their animals. The guards had not yet noticed anything unusual, thinking that the vendors were just afraid of the soldiers.

Who knew that the leader of the trader grabbed a horizontal knife from under the belly of the animal, took off the scabbard and put it on the neck of one of the guards of the pass, so frightened that this person's hair stood up, and his lips trembled: "Thief, no, hero, we are here in the Wuding Pass of the imperial court, and attacking the pass is a big crime to punish the three clans." ”

The leader of the traders took off his head, revealing the red forehead scarf on his forehead, and opened his right hand to reveal the armor and the bamboo plaque hanging on his chest: "Lao Tzu is a general of the Hexi Army, and he came to capture Shuzhong on the order of King Yong, and Wuding Pass is just the first dish we want to take!" Take down the gates! ”