That night, Xiahou Xuan and Xiahou Mao, in a desperate determination, took advantage of the night to quietly lead the army to turn southward, and the army rolled towards the Meridian Valley.

A day after leaving the flat and vast Guanzhong Plain, the Wei army under his command entered the vast Qinling mountains.

The Meridian Road is indeed the closest road connecting Hanzhong and Chang'an, and it runs along the valley of the Meridian Valley all the way to the south, almost straight to Hanzhong.

But the Meridian Valley is also the most difficult passage among the many passages in the Qinling Mountains, the road is very narrow and rugged, and many places are so steep that plank roads need to be laid. Therefore, normally, it would take at least seven days to reach Hanzhong from the Meridian Valley of Chang'an, but fortunately, Xiahou Nan prepared 30 days of military rations.

In terms of grain and grass baggage, it is absolutely enough to ensure that the army fights to Hanzhong, but the problem is that the grain and grass baggage often need to be consigned by horse-drawn carriages, and once the carriages enter the Qinling Mountains, the problem arises, and it is basically impassable at all.

Xiahou Nan was a little anxious, looking at the baggage congested in the mountain road, and said to Xiahou Xuan: "It's not a way to go on like this, the baggage convoy can't reach Hanzhong through the Meridian Valley, I'm afraid it will have to be carried by the soldiers themselves." ”

Xiahou Xuan shook his head and said: "If you rely on the soldiers to carry their own food, at most ten days of food a day, I am afraid that as soon as they pass through the Meridian Valley, they will run out of food." ”

Xiahou Mao also sighed helplessly: "Then what else can I do, if I take the convoy away, I'm afraid I have to reorganize the road and widen the plank road, otherwise the chariot will not be able to pass." ”

Xiahou Xuan suddenly thought of a compromise solution, so he said to Xiahou Mao:

"Brother Zilin, we can do this, withdraw all the horses that tow the wagon from the chariot, and use all the cavalry's horses to carry the baggage, so that at least half of the baggage can be carried more, so as to ensure that the army can have military rations for 15 days, and the war horses can carry military rations."

Xiahou Nan felt that Xiahou Xuan's idea was great, and hurriedly said: "This is reasonable, anyway, in the Meridian Valley, the cavalry is not useful, it is better to let the horses carry more baggage!" In this way, it also eliminates the need to rest the plank road. ”

So the two hurriedly ordered all the horses in the team to be used for carrying the baggage, and after the preparation was completed, the army continued to march south.

After two days, new problems appeared, because the road in the Meridian Valley was too narrow and rugged, and every day there were war horses who accidentally fell into the deep valley and died, and even the soldiers fell into the deep valley and died, so that the Wei soldiers were like frightened birds, for fear that they would die inexplicably if they stepped on the air.

Therefore, everyone marched with extreme caution, which caused the speed of the march to become slower and slower, and the army of 30,000 walked in the narrow meridian valley, and the line stretched for ten miles.

Originally, it was planned to arrive in Hanzhong in seven days, but at this rate, Xiahou Xuan estimated that it would take at least 14 days, so even if there were war horses to transport military rations, there would still be an embarrassing situation of lack of food when they arrived in Hanzhong.

Xiahou Mao couldn't help but scolded loudly: "Damn, they all say that Shu Dao is difficult, it seems that it is really fucking difficult!" ”

Xiahou Xuan also sighed with emotion: "Yes, I finally understand why Zhuge Liang often retired because of lack of food, if the roads leading to Yizhou are like this, it would be strange if there was no shortage of food!" ”

The two of them were sighing, and suddenly a scout came to report from the front, saying that two miles ahead, a large number of Shu troops had been discovered.

Xiahou Nan and Xiahou Xuan glanced at each other, and they both felt incredible, how could there be a large number of Shu troops in the Meridian Valley? Meridian Valley is just a difficult road, and it is not an important pass, so it stands to reason that the Shu army will not garrison it?

If it was the soldiers and horses of Hanzhong, they should have arrived in the Guanzhong Plain a long time ago, how could they appear in the Meridian Valley?

With full suspicions, Xiahou Nan sent scouts to continue to investigate, and it was necessary to find out which Shu army was in the Meridian Valley all the way, and how many people came.

After a while, the scout reported that he had climbed to a high place and saw that the Shu army in the valley was dragging on for a long time, and he could not see the end at a glance, and he could not estimate how many men and horses there were, but at least there were more than 5,000 people.

The banner of the team is "Dahan Yong'an Governor Wei." ”

"Wei Yan!"

Xiahou Xuan and Xiahou Nan both reacted immediately, especially Xiahou Nan, who had already fought with Wei Yan many times, and even Wei Yan was the most prestigious general in Shu Han except Jiang Wei today.

According to the intelligence, shouldn't Wei Yan be in Yong'an to defend against Eastern Wu? How did it end up in the Meridian Valley?

Both of them felt that this matter was a little strange, on the one hand, the two of them took advantage of the night to turn sharply to the south, and they should not have leaked any news, even if the news was leaked, it was impossible for the Shu army to react so quickly and send troops to intercept themselves in the Meridian Valley.

On the other hand, if Shu Han even transferred Yong'an soldiers and horses to the north to defend the front line of Eastern Wu, then to a certain extent, Shu Han was going to break the cauldron this time and attack Cao Wei with all his might, so in terms of the total strength of Shu State, I am afraid that the military strength invested in the Yongzhou battlefield will exceed 120,000.

Thinking of this, both of them couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

Xiahou Nan muttered: "There is another possibility, that is, Wei Yan was sent north by Shu Han to support the Yongzhou battlefield, but he just happened to bump into our army by taking the meridian road." ”

Xiahou Xuan thought for a while and said: "Whether Wei Yan intentionally came to intercept our army, or inadvertently bumped into our army, in short, we must defeat Wei Yan, even if we can't attack Hanzhong, we must not let Wei Yan go north to Chang'an!" ”

Xiahou Nan also had the same idea and nodded solemnly.

So the two ordered the whole army to stop advancing and prepare for battle.

And almost at the same time, Wei Yan's army also discovered the Wei army.

Wei Yan, who was marching in the Meridian Valley, also had a puzzled face, why so many Wei troops appeared in the Meridian Valley. Suspecting that his partial division's plan to attack Meridian Valley was exposed in advance.

But when the scouts found out that the commanders of the Wei army were Xiahou Nan and Xiahou Xuan through repeated investigations, Wei Yan keenly judged that the battle of Chang'an had been won, Chang'an had been recovered, and the Wei army that appeared in the Meridian Valley was a rout, otherwise the Chang'an guard Xiahou Nan would not have appeared in the Meridian Valley.

This made Wei Yan both disappointed and excited, disappointed that he still failed to catch up with the battle of Chang'an City after all, and excited that he had encountered Xiahou Nan and Xiahou Xuan in Meridian Valley, if he won the two, maybe he could capture the two alive.

So Wei Yan ordered the whole army to stop advancing and began to form a formation to prepare for the attack.

He loudly inspired the officers and men of the army.

"Brothers, we can't catch up with the battle in Chang'an, Jiang Weidudu must have led an army of 120,000 to break through Chang'an City. But now, we met Xiahou Nan, the guard general of Chang'an, in the Meridian Valley, and Xiahou Xuan, the governor of Yongliang of Wei, this is a chance for God to give us, a chance to prove ourselves! ”

So he drew his sword and shouted:

"When the narrow road meets, the brave wins, brothers, follow me and defeat the Wei army!"