The middle Fu Luo Road is about 420 miles, the shortest of the three roads, although this road is the shortest, but the road condition is the worst, and the section of Fu Luo Road without water source is the longest, this road is rarely walked, but Cao Shuang's two goods chose this road to cut down Shu.

As a result, after the Wei army came in, because of the lack of water, a large number of cattle, horses, mules, donkeys and other pack animals responsible for transportation died of thirst, Cao Shuang had to recruit tens of thousands of servants to transport grain and grass for the coolies, many of them also died of thirst, the morale of the Wei army plummeted, and finally suffered heavy casualties and fled back to Guanzhong.

Zhuge Liang was dedicated to the Northern Expedition that year, and after the last Northern Expedition went out from the mouth of the Xiegu Valley on the west side, he garrisoned Wuzhangyuan, confronted the Wei army, and then died in Wuzhangyuan.

Now Qu Neng is also facing such a choice.

The king of Han asked him to attack Xi'an next year, which way to get out? With such an experienced veteran as Song Sheng, where will he defend?

"None of these three paths are easy to follow." At this time, his son Qu Yu said: "Father, is there any other way to enter Guanzhong?" ”

"I'm thinking about it." Qu Neng looked into the distance: "There are several roads in the pass, but if you want to fight Xi'an, these three are the closest." ”

In addition to these three Kaqi Mountain Roads, there is also a road to walk.

It is the Dasanguan Chencang Road, this road is relatively gentle, suitable for the army, can transport artillery, the disadvantage is that it is farther, more than 100 miles more than the farthest Xiegu Road, Song Sheng's soldiers and horses are from this side to Hanzhong, and they will definitely guard against Qu Neng from this side out of Hanzhong.

Moreover, Song Sheng led troops from the northwest of Shaanxi, which was considered a way, and Qu Neng wanted to fight Xi'an from here, going farther and walking hundreds of miles.

The longer the march, the more food you need to bring, and the more dangerous it is.

The key is that the current Dasanguan is not the Dasanguan during the Three Kingdoms, and the Ming army has been operating for many years and has become a dangerous fortress.

Where to go? Qu Neng pondered again, and his mind also recalled the words of King Han.

"Sichuan, you are the main general, don't think about the Huguang battlefield, you can fight how you want, no matter whether you win or lose, it has nothing to do with you, you must ensure your own safety." The more King Han said this, the more Qu Neng wanted to win.

——

Sian.

Song Sheng was also looking at the map at the command yamen of Xi'anwei.

After the defeat of Sichuan, Song Sheng retreated to Guanzhong with 30,000 cavalry of the official army, and he entered Hanzhong from Dasan Pass along Chencang Road, and also retreated from Chencang Road, because it was more difficult for his cavalry to take other roads.

After arriving at the Dasanguan, he commanded Wang Hai, the commander of Shaanxi, to lead 5,000 elite cavalry to garrison the Dasanguan.

He also ordered Wang Hai to recruit craftsmen and men to build fortifications in Dasanguan to prevent the rebel army from coming from Chencang Road.

Dasanguan is the four major gateways of Guanzhong since ancient times, with the throat of Sichuan and Shaanxi, the name of the place where soldiers must fight, and now it is under the control of the Shaanxi Dusi, so Song Sheng gave up Hanzhong at the price, brought out 30,000 elites, and immediately occupied Dasanguan first.

And he knew that after the defeat of Sichuan, there would definitely be officials and troops fleeing back to Guanzhong one after another, so he ordered Wang Hai to collect the defeated soldiers here, and asked to find out the details.

While Wang Hai was building fortifications here, sure enough, some infantry battalions fled back one after another, and many officers and soldiers must have jumped into the river at that time, and some officers and soldiers fled elsewhere.

In less than two months, Wang Hai had tens of thousands of horses in his hands, firmly guarding the Dasan Pass.

The Dasanguan was originally built in the hands of the Ming army, and it was similar to the Xiongguan, and Wang Hai is now working overtime to repair it, which is even more solid.

When Wang Hai stayed behind in Dasanguan, Song Sheng returned all the way back to Xi'an and immediately summoned the officers and soldiers of the Shaanxi Guard Station as a general and chief military officer of Pingqiang.

In fact, there are a lot of soldiers and horses in Shaanxi, and Shaanxi will have two divisions, the capital division and the line capital division, which are the same as the Beiping capital division and the northern parallel division before Beiping (the northern parallel capital division was later changed to the Daning Xingdu Division).

Like Song Sheng's garrison in Gansu, which belongs to the Shaanxi Xingdu Division, there are twelve guards here, four thousand households guarding the palace, and the soldiers are strong and strong.

Song Sheng basically brought this wave of soldiers and horses into Sichuan, he brought out more than 50,000 at that time, and only came back with more than 30,000.

There are also several horse farms such as the Ganzhou Herd Farm here, so Song Sheng has more cavalry, and all the cavalry he brought back is cavalry.

When He Fu was in Ningxia, it belonged to the Shaanxi Dusi.

Shaanxi Metropolitan Division Yamen in Xi'an, more soldiers and horses, there are 28 guards, 16 thousand households, in terms of military strength can be comparable with the Beiping Division.

When Song Sheng entered Sichuan, He Fu took the three guards of Ningxia and the rest of the guards, about 50,000 to join him.

After the defeat, most of these soldiers and horses were basically lost in Sichuan.

Song Sheng brought back 30,000 cavalry, and then ran back to about 20,000 infantry battalions one after another.

Therefore, the entire Shaanxi Liangdu Division, there will be 40 guards, 20 offices, and a total strength of about 230,000.

Sichuan lost about 50,000 or 60,000 in the First World War. (Because there were also Zhang Wu's people who ran back.) ）

After Song Sheng returned to Xi'an, there were still 170,000 officers and troops in Shaanxi.

Song Sheng immediately summoned Ni Kuan, the commander of the Shaanxi capital, and the commander of the Shaanxi Xingdu (Mongols), and assigned troops to defend Guanzhong.

Song Sheng was also afraid that the soldiers and horses of the King of Han would take advantage of the victory to enter the pass, so he immediately arranged it.

Within a few days, Zhang Wu fled back to Xi'an with a few hundred people.

After he crossed the river, he collected some defeated soldiers along the road, gathered hundreds of people around him, and fled back to Xi'an in embarrassment.

Of course, Zhang Wu was not convinced, and he did not dare to return to Beijing, he asked Song Sheng for 20,000 cavalry to garrison Fengxiang, because the rebel army wanted to enter the pass from Hanzhong, and his side could react as soon as possible.

Originally, Song Sheng had 170,000 people in his hands, and in addition to the 30% who stayed in Tuntian to raise horses, there were still 120,000 people available.

He only needed to defend the rebel army from Hanzhong, and the situation was the same as that of Wei during the Three Kingdoms, which was relatively easy.

10,000 were arranged in Dasanguan, 20,000 in Fengxiang Mansion, more than 10,000 in Baoji County (Chencang), and more than 10,000 elite soldiers in Qinzhouwei in the north of Qishan.

In addition, Ni Kuan led more than 10,000 to defend Wugong County, Shaanxi commanded Tongzhi Dai Ju to lead more than 10,000 to guard Fufeng, and Xingdu Division commanded Tongzhi Li Cheng to lead 10,000 officers and troops to guard Qishan.

The remaining more than 60,000 soldiers and horses guarded the vicinity of Xi'an.

At this point, the north of Weishui was garrisoned by officers and soldiers, and it would be very difficult for the rebel army to come out of the Qinling Mountains.

If you don't capture these cities and take Xi'an directly, the soldiers and horses in these cities will come out, and they will immediately cut off the back road of the rebel army.

If the city is attacked one by one, the casualties will definitely be huge.

Song Sheng arranged it very well, and he was confident that he would do his best to hold the way of the rebel army into the pass.

He is not demanding, he does not seek to defeat the rebel army, as long as he does not make mistakes and holds Guanzhong.

However, also in October, the imperial court had a decree to Shaanxi.

Zhu Di was recruiting troops everywhere to prepare for the decisive battle of Huguang, and when he heard that Shaanxi still had 170,000 soldiers and horses after the defeat, he immediately asked Shaanxi to recruit 50,000 troops into Huguang.

Song Sheng was very speechless at that time, but he did not hesitate, and ordered the Shaanxi Xingdu Sidu to command the capital to lead tens of thousands of cavalry, along the southeast out of Wuguan, from Yunyang into Huguang to support the Huguang battlefield.

In this way, the soldiers and horses in his hands are directly reduced by 50,000.

At this time, he was afraid that Qu Neng in Sichuan would attack him when he got the news.

Song Sheng had no choice but to transfer all the regular troops of the Shaanxi Liangdu Division.

The matter of tuntian and horse herding was handed over to the military remnants and their families, and all the regular troops in Shaanxi were put into the battlefield.

The Ming Dynasty guards were usually three into the tuntian, seven into the city, when fighting, the expedition was also about the same.

However, in order to increase the number of troops, both sides drew 80 percent, 90 percent, or even all of them.

Now Song Sheng was forced to draw them all.

And at this time, Song Sheng was still very confident in holding Guanzhong, and the only thing he was worried about was grain and grass.

A large number of Tuntian soldiers were recruited, which was a test for the autumn grain in the second half of the year.

At the beginning of October, Song Sheng looked at the map in Xi'an, thinking to himself that it would be best if the rebels attacked after the summer sowing next year, and it would be better for him to fight again after the summer sowing.

Song Sheng transferred all the regular army, there were no garrisons, and all agricultural work relied on the surplus army and their families.

Now that the rebels have not yet attacked, Song Sheng has already ordered some of the regular troops to go back to help near Xi'an.

The rebels will not attack for several months, and when their summer sowing is over, it will of course be beneficial to Song Sheng.

But Song Sheng now knew that the lord on the other side would be Qu Neng.

With Qu Neng's ability and level, either he will not fight, and if he wants to fight, he may attack when he sows in the summer next year.

But I just don't know which way Qu Neng will go?

Qu Neng is definitely not as good as Zhuge Liang, but Song Shengjue's self is no worse than Sima Yi, he has experienced hundreds of battles in his life, participated in hundreds of large and small wars, and has much more experience than Sima Yi.

There were only two people standing next to him, one in his thirties and the other looking less than twenty.

The older of these two people is called Song Changbao, who is his nephew, and Song Changbao's father is the son of Song Sheng's second brother Song Guoxing and Song Changfeng's younger brother.

Song Guoxing followed Zhu Yuanzhang in his early years, and became the chief manager, and later died on the battlefield.

After Song Guoxing's death, his nephews Song Changbao and Song Changfeng followed Song Sheng.

In the first battle of Zhongjiang in Sichuan, after Song Changfeng led 20,000 steps of the battalion, he bought time for Song Sheng and retreated with cavalry.

It is said that after the war, he was lost in battle, and it is still unknown whether he lived or died.

The other is called Song Jing.

Song Jing is his grandson, the son of Song Xuan, Song Sheng's second son.

When Song Xuan was in Jingnan, he was the commander of the right guard of the Jingshi Army, and followed He Fu to participate in the Battle of Jingnan, and died in the Lingbi.

Of Song Sheng's six sons, only Song Xuan participated in the Battle of Jingyan and died in battle.

But it was so strange in ancient times, there were many relatives in different camps, and of course, this is also the case in modern times.

Song Shengjing was slowly swallowed on the road, and before he arrived at the scene after the fight, he must be counted in Zhu Di's camp.

After Zhu Di ascended the throne, he did not treat him badly, and his two daughters married his fourth and sixth sons respectively.

At this time, Song Jing and Song Changbao were watching each other from behind.

Song Sheng was preparing for the war in Xi'an, but his uncle and nephew seemed to feel very strange.

The imperial court has been defeated in a row, and the provinces have been defeated, for the Song family to be rich for a hundred years, shouldn't the uncle (grandfather) make plans early?

"Grandpa." Song Jing spoke at this time.

"Hmm." Song Sheng turned his head and his loving gaze was focused on his grandson.

He had several grandsons, most of whom were in Beijing, and only Song Jing was in the camp.

"Grandpa thinks Qu Neng will attack in? It's not easy to fight from Hanzhong, and Zhuge Liang didn't do anything. ”

Song Sheng was scolding his mother in his heart, if he hadn't been forced by Ping An that day, he would have guarded Hanzhong, and Qu Neng would be a fart.

Song Sheng thought for a while and said slowly: "Since Zhu Gaoxu raised his army, I have found that the King of Han is more cunning-——

"He has no rules for using soldiers, and he doesn't follow routines, he prefers to -—— Yin people on the battlefield" Speaking of the word Yin people, thinking of his fiasco in Sichuan, Song Sheng gritted his teeth.

(End of chapter)