Wang Ping, the governor of Hanzhong, as a general who had followed Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition for a long time, has been active on the battlefield of the Northern Expedition.

During the battle of the street pavilion, Wang Ping guarded the street pavilion together as Ma Tan's deputy general, Ma Tan Sheshui went uphill, the behavior was inappropriate, Wang Ping repeatedly advised Ma Tan, Ma Tan did not listen, and was cut off from the water source by Wei general Zhang He, and then Ma Tan's army was defeated, and the soldiers were scattered.

Only the more than 1,000 soldiers led by Wang Ping beat the drums to control themselves, and Zhang He suspected that Wang Ping had ambush soldiers and did not dare to attack. So Wang Ping unified the soldiers of the battalion and led them back safely.

In the ninth year of Jianxing, Zhuge Liang surrounded Qishan and sent Wang Ping to garrison Nanwei. Sima Yi led a large army to attack Zhuge Liang and sent Zhang He to attack Wang Ping, but Wang Ping held on and Zhang He could not win.

Several times he was able to achieve results at critical moments, and Wang Ping's status in the Han army became higher and higher.

Originally, the position of the governor of Hanzhong has always belonged to Wei Yan, but after Zhuge Liang died, Yang Yi and Wei Yan had a quarrel, if it wasn't for Jiang Wei's mediation, Wei Yan would have already fallen to the ground, so Liu Chan no longer used Wei Yan to guard Hanzhong.

This gave Wang Ping a chance, a chance to become the most important town since the Li Kingdom of Shu Han and the governor of Hanzhong.

Now, Liu Chan, the son of Shu Han, issued a holy decree to make a comprehensive northern expedition, which is the seventh national northern expedition after Zhuge Liang's six out of Qishan, Wang Ping received Jiang Wei's military order early, so that he led the soldiers and horses of Hanzhong as a sheep attack force, and made a posture of attacking Chang'an, so as to contain the garrison of Chang'an and create favorable conditions for the Yongzhou battlefield.

Out of the Hanzhong Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, in the middle of which lies the continuous Qinling Mountains, there are several naturally formed valleys in the mountains, thus forming a number of passages, the most famous of which are four passages from west to east.

The first is Chencang Road, which is also Zhuge Liang's favorite passage, because it connects a large area of land in the west of Yongzhou, leading to Tianshui and Longxi, Zhuge Liang's second northern expedition led the army to besiege Chencang through Chencang Road, because the Wei army held on, the siege failed to break the city for more than 20 days. Later, Zhuge Liang used a trick to lure the Wei army to attack, and set up an ambush to kill the Wei general Wang Shuang.

The second is the Slope Valley Road, whose south entrance is called Bao Valley, and the north entrance is called Slope Valley, hence the name. The valley of the inclined valley is deep and dangerous, the cliff wall stands, the passage is extremely difficult, and the plank road is repaired in the past dynasties. Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition to unify the army took the Qishan Road, and ordered Zhao Yun to lead the division out of the valley as a suspicious soldier. Zhuge Liang's last northern expedition was to lead a large army out of the valley and hold on to Sima Yi in Wuzhang Plain.

The third is Luogu Road, whose south entrance is called Fu Valley, and the north entrance is named Luo Valley, hence the name. Its road is the most twisting and turning, the march is not easy, and Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition has never been walked.

The fourth is the Meridian Road, also known as the Meridian Valley, which is the march route suggested by Wei Yan before the First Northern Expedition, which is the shortest in terms of distance, but the traffic conditions are not easy, and it is more difficult to walk than the Luogu Road, so Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition has not been considered.

Now there seem to be four channels to choose from in front of Wang Ping, but in fact, Wang Ping knows very well in his heart that in order to achieve the goal of attacking Chang'an, and at the same time ensure that the logistics supply is not a major problem, then he actually has only one way to choose, and that is Xiegu Road.

Because the Xiegu Road can approach the Guanzhong Plain, after leaving the Xiegu Road, it is very close to Tongguan, and when it approaches Tongguan, Chang'an will inevitably shake, so as to achieve the strategic goal of sheep attack.

At that time, Zhuge Liang's strategic thinking of the Northern Expedition was not to directly cross the Qinling Mountains to attack Guanzhong, except for one out of Chencang Road and one out of Xiegu Road, the other three times were in Qishan.

For example, in the first Northern Expedition, which had the greatest results in the early stage, he clearly vetoed Wei Yan's "Meridian Valley" strategy, and instead formulated a strategy for the unified army to take the Qishan Road to seize Longxi first, and then from west to east, condescending to seize Guanzhong.

And at the same time, it can march from Hanzhong to the north along Xiegu Road and Chencang Road, forming a favorable situation of attacking Guanzhong in the west and south directions.

The first, third, and fourth Northern Expeditions were all out of Qishan, except for the first defeat of Jieting, the other two were great victories over the Wei army. Zhuge Liang's strategy is very clear, that is, to find a way to gain a foothold in Longxi first, and then encroach on the Guanzhong region step by step, gradually depleting the military strength of Wei.

And it is difficult to succeed in a strategy like Wei Yan's direct attack, the march is difficult, and the city is strong, not to mention. Even if the city is captured by luck, if the Wei army comes to support, how long can it hold on?

Because it was easy for the Wei army to come to support from the east, it was not easy for the Han army to support Guanzhong from Hanzhong. Obviously, Zhuge Liang's strategy was more likely to be realized in the actual situation at that time.

Therefore, Jiang Wei's attack on Yongliang, from the perspective of overall strategy, is still the strategy of "from west to east, condescending" set by Zhuge Liang. Wang Ping agrees with this strategy in his heart.

This time, Jiang Wei asked Wang Pingyang to attack Chang'an, and he must make a sufficient posture and make a posture of seizing Chang'an in one fell swoop, forcing the defenders of Chang'an not to attack.

Wang Ping's command now has a total of 80,000 troops, of which at least 20,000 must be set aside to defend against the Wei army, although with the victory of Wu's Northern Expedition, Wei's Shangyong Taishou Shen Tan should only focus on rescuing the Jingzhou battlefield crisis, and he will not be able to attack Hanzhong for a while, but Wang Ping does not dare to take this risk.

Under Wang Ping's command, there were originally many generals, but now the veteran generals Wu Yi and Liao Hua have gone to the Yongzhou battlefield, and now among the generals in Hanzhong, Wang Ping is more important to the following people: Zhongdian Army, Chengyang Pavilion Hou Hu Ji, former leader Zhang Yi, Zuo General Jufu, and Jiang Bin, the protector.

In addition to the above-mentioned generals, there is also a capable official: Shang Shufu shoots Dong Que. At that time, the late Prime Minister Zhuge Liang opened the mansion to govern affairs, and Dong Ju successively served as the prime minister's order history and the prime minister's chief book. When Dong Ju served as the Prime Minister's Commander, Zhuge Liang once praised Dong Ju and said: "Dong Lingshi is a talented person. Every time I talk to him, I think it out well and appropriately. ”

Dong Que's status in Hanzhong is the same as Yang Yi's status in Yongliang, and he is also the first person to be stable among civil officials.

After some careful consideration, Wang Ping finally made up his mind that on this expedition, he would personally lead Zhang Yi, Jufu, Jiang Bin and other generals to go on the expedition, leaving Hu Ji and Dong Que to guard Hanzhong.

The number of troops sent was set at 60,000, known as 100,000 troops to the outside world, led by Wang Ping, through the Xiegu Road over the Qinling Mountains to the north, straight to the Guanzhong Plain.

Because of the lack of horses in Hanzhong, the soldiers and horses in Hanzhong are almost all infantry, after the army attacked, the march was relatively slow, the Xiegu Road was already considered a better road condition, but the road was not wide, so after the army went out, it took a total of five days to arrive at the final location of Zhuge Liang's sixth Northern Expedition: Wuzhangyuan.

Two years have passed, the Han army finally reached the shore of Weishui again, overlooking the vast and flat Guanzhong Plain, Wang Ping couldn't help but shed tears in the corners of his eyes, he looked up at the clouds in the sky, and sighed secretly in his heart:

"Prime Minister, the mighty division of my Han Dynasty, once again came to the bank of Weishui, your lifelong Northern Expedition ambition, we will inherit it, this Northern Expedition, the situation is very good, your disciple Jiang Boyao has steadily occupied Longxi, and I will also lead the army to Chang'an, if everything goes well, my Han will recover Chang'an this year, at that time, the end will be personally memorial, tell you the good news."