In March of the sixteenth year of Jian'an (211), Cao Cao sent Zhong Xuan to send troops to attack Zhang Lu in Hanzhong.

Guanzhong Ma Chao, Han Sui and other ten departments panicked, thinking that this was Cao Cao's false plan to destroy Yu, nominally raising troops to attack Zhang Lu, but in fact attacking himself.

Ma Chao, Han Sui, Cheng Yin, Yang Qiu and other ten troops joined forces to take Tongguan together. In July, Cao Cao personally marched to Tongguan to engage the ten allied forces.

At the time of the first battle, the soldiers and horses of all the troops in Guanzhong came from the bitter cold land, and they were all strong and strong people, good at using spears, all riding big horses, and they were extremely brave. Occupy Tongguan.

Ma Chao is the world's fierce general, known as "Jin Ma Chao, Xiao Lu Bu", and Cao Cao was defeated. After retreating, seeing that Tongguan was controlled by Guanzhong soldiers and horses, it was difficult to break through, so he secretly sent generals Xu Huang and Zhu Ling to lead 4,000 soldiers and horses to smuggle across the Yellow River from Pubanjin at night, break into Guanzhong, and break through it.

Xu Huang successfully entered Guanzhong, set up a large camp, responded to the main force of Cao Cao's army, crossed the river from Pubanjin to attack, Ma Chao went to block Cao Cao's crossing of the river, and almost put Cao ** into a desperate situation.

Ma Chao failed to block the attack, and saw that Cao Jun had already gained a firm foothold in Hexi. He retreated to the Weikou area to fortify and held Cao Cao.

After Cao Cao marched into the west of the river, "even the car tree fence" for the road, along the river to the west, along the way to set up more suspicious soldiers, take advantage of the enemy's slackness, secretly use the boat to cross the elite into Wei to set up a pontoon bridge, overnight led the troops to cross the river.

Ma Chao robbed the camp at night and was defeated by Cao Cao, and after Cao's army crossed the Wei River, he camped in Weinan to confront Ma Chao and others.

In September, the Guanzhong ministries were afraid of Cao Cao's prestige, and the Guanzhong ministries lacked food and grass to fight each other for a long time, so they sent an envoy to see Cao Cao and asked him to cut the land and send protons to sue for peace, and Cao Cao pretended to agree.

secretly obeyed Jia Xu's plan, skillfully used the divisive plan, wiped the book and sent it to Han Sui, Ma Chao became suspicious after seeing it, and successfully separated the relationship between Ma Chao and Han Sui, the most powerful of the ten departments in Guanzhong.

After the discord plan worked, Cao Cao immediately marched into the army to fight with Ma Chao and Han Sui, and Ma Chao and Han Sui also concentrated their troops and horses to fight.

Cao Cao first fought with Xu Huang, Cao Hong and others against the Guanzhong coalition army, and Cao Cao ordered that as long as it was Han Sui's soldiers and horses, he would not fight too fiercely. Once it was Ma Chao's subordinates, they attacked it together, and as a result, the pressure on Ma Chao doubled, and Han Sui clearly saw that Cao Jun released water, and the rest of the eight departments in Guanzhong were also dizzy by Cao Cao's counter-strategy, and they were suspicious, for fear that their strength would be too seriously damaged, and they refused to contribute.

Cao Cao saw that the fighter had arrived, so he ordered the tiger and leopard to ride out and attack the Guanzhong coalition army, and the ten coalition forces were defeated, Xu Huang killed Cheng Yi, and Cao Hong beheaded Li Kan.

Han Sui, Ma Chao, and Liang Xing fled to Liangzhou, Yang Qiu fled back to Anding, and Cheng Yin and Hou Xuan went south to Hanzhong to seek refuge with Zhang Lu. Cao Cao took advantage of the victory to march into the army, besieged and settled in October, and Yang Qiu led the remnants to surrender. Guanzhong all fell into the hands of Cao Cao.

When Liu Zhang of Yizhou heard that Cao Cao had defeated the Guanzhong coalition army and was preparing to conquer Zhang Lu, he couldn't help but worry that once Cao Cao pacified Hanzhong and won Longwangshu, how could he enjoy the country of abundance! However, after several months of fighting, Cao Cao's soldiers and horses were tired, so he only left Xiahou Yuan to guard Guanzhong and returned to Xuchang by himself, so Liu Zhang breathed a sigh of relief.

As a result, Padang Taishou Pang Yi sent people to report Zhang Lu's entry into the Kou. It turned out that due to the battle in Guanzhong, tens of thousands of families fled into Hanzhong, Zhang Lu accepted them all, all the soldiers and taxes were available, and the strength increased greatly.

Zhang Lu felt that he could resist Cao Cao as a Hanzhong County, and when Cao Cao came again, he would inevitably be destroyed. Therefore, Zhang Lu, who had his hands free, immediately turned his gun and began to attack Liu Zhang, as long as he slowly annexed Liu Zhang, sat on the entire Yizhou, and relied on Shu to be dangerous, he did not worry about not being able to divide one side.

Zhang Song knew Liu Zhang's worries, and in order to show his talents, he came to see Liu Zhang and said: "Recently, I saw that the lord was depressed, but what is the trouble? ”

Liu Zhang said: "I'm worried, Zhang Lu in Hanzhong, Cao Cao in Xuchang!" ”

Zhang Song said: "The lord doesn't have to worry, Song is willing to go to Xuchang in the name of the tributary son of heaven to persuade Cao Cao to attack Zhang Lu, the two of them are fighting, so naturally they have no time to take care of my Yizhou." ”

Liu Zhang was overjoyed, and he didn't want to think about it, who is Cao Cao? Zhang Lu is finished, he is him. At that moment, he prepared a generous gift and ordered Zhang Song to go to Xuchang.

Cao Cao didn't like Zhang Song's appearance, he was lukewarm to him, he ignored him, Yang Xiu received Zhang Song, and Zhang Song showed his unforgettable talent.

Yang Xiu was shocked that he could recommend it to Cao Cao, Cao Cao was deterred by the might of his soldiers, Zhang Song did not care, sarcastically mocked Cao Cao, provoked Cao Cao to be angry, and drove out with a stick.

Zhang Song returned to Jingzhou, Liu Bei treated him as a national soldier, Zhang Song thanked Liu Bei for his kindness, presented a topographic map of Xichuan, and persuaded Liu Bei to enter Sichuan.

After seeing Liu Zhang, he persuaded Liu Zhang: "If there is a turmoil today, Yizhou was originally a country of abundance, and there is a lot to be done, but Zhang Lu rebelled and seized Hanzhong and annexed Ba County. Now it is like this on all sides, if you can get the help of Liu Yuzhou, you can break the situation, the lord can invite him to enter Shu to attack Zhang Lu, Zhang Lu is destroyed, you can recover the military power of Pang Yi and others, the lord only needs to fight the soldiers and horses, and subdue Nanzhong, then you can attack Chang'an with Liu Yuzhou, take Luoyang, recover the two capitals, and rejuvenate the Han. Otherwise, there will be a strong enemy outside Yizhou, and the people will be in turmoil inside, and they will inevitably be defeated. ”

Liu Zhang frowned after being overjoyed and said, "Is Liu Yuzhou willing to help?" ”

Zhang Song said: "The lord can rest assured, Liu Yuzhou is a benevolent and righteous person, the lord sincerely invites, how can he not come, the lord can send someone to bring a generous gift to show his sincerity, and inform Liu Yuzhou that the grain, grass, equipment, and baggage will be borne by us, and Liu Yuzhou will definitely come." ”

Liu Zhang listened to Zhang Song's words and immediately sent Fa Zheng to bring generous gifts to Liu Bei.

When Huang Quan, the chief bookkeeper of Liu Zhang's account, learned about it, he hurriedly came to dissuade him, saying: "Liu Bei, this person will not live under others, come here now and treat him with a trilogy, he will not be reconciled; Treat him as a guest, a country does not tolerate two masters, and it is easy to oppose guests, Jizhou Han Fu lost Jizhou in this way, and the lord must think twice. ”

Liu Zhang said angrily: "Liu Yuzhou is comparable to Yuan Shao, no matter how much you dare to say, I will not spare you." ”

Liu Ba also came to admonish, but Liu Zhang did not listen. Engaged in Wang Lei's death advice, Liu Zhang ignored it.

After Fa Zheng arrived in Jingzhou, Liu Bei treated him extremely politely, and Fa Zheng also tried his best to plan for it, persuading Liu Bei to take the opportunity to enter Yizhou, take advantage of the situation, and achieve hegemony. Liu Bei hesitated again and again because of this matter, which damaged his reputation for benevolence and righteousness, and could not make a decision.

Pang Tong saw that Fa Zheng was coming, and he had already guessed a few points of intention, and seeing that Liu Bei had not made a decision for a long time, he went to see Liu Bei in private and said: "Lord, Fa Zheng came to let the lord enter Yizhou, and the camera took it." ”

Liu Bei said: "I really can't hide anything from Shiyuan, exactly." ”

Pang Tong said: "What is there to hesitate about, Jingzhou has been fighting for two years, the people have been lost, barren and ruined, and the wise men have been scattered and lost. Moreover, there is Sun Quan in the east, plotting against him, and Cao Cao in the north, who is eyeing each other, how can he succeed if he is controlled left and right. Yizhou household registration millions, fertile land, abundant products, because of the war to avoid disasters of the famous people and virtuous people are countless, if you can seize this place, as the foundation, the people inside, recruit talents, outside the attack, pointing to the Central Plains, why worry about not achieving the great cause. ”

Liu Bei said: "Although Shiyuan's words are reasonable, but now Cao Cao is our great enemy, Cao Cao is urgent, I will be generous, Cao Cao is tyrannical, I will be merciful, Cao Cao is cunning, I will be loyal." All things that are contrary to him are what we have today. Now for the benefit of the state, the dishonesty in the world is unwise?"

Pang Tong said: "Now that we are in chaos, we can't stick to the rules in everything, and it is the best policy to change the party randomly." Moreover, annexing the weak, attacking the dark, taking obedience and obedience, and repaying righteousness are exactly what the ancients valued. It is natural that benevolence and righteousness can recover people's hearts, but it is also necessary to rely on strength to compete with others. What's more, after the big things are settled, he will return a piece of land, and his descendants will be rich and noble, who else can say that the lord has a negative faith? If you don't take advantage of the current attack on Yizhou, Cao Cao will take the lead. Cao Cao has now broken Ma Chao, Han Sui and others, and there is one less constraint in the world, Cao Cao licked his wounds after the war and did not free his hands, which is a good opportunity for us to expand our strength. Otherwise, why should we compete with Cao Cao for the world in the future. Jiangdong Sun Quan, Zhou Yu wanted to take Yizhou before, it can be seen that Jiangdong is also worried about Yizhou. Now that we have such a good opportunity to enter Yizhou, and with Zhang Song and Fa Zheng as the internal response, how can the lord still be so inactive. Could it be that the lord has given up on his ambitions? ”

Liu Bei lowered his head and pondered for a while and said, "Never, be ambitious, never give up." What Shi Yuan said is true, okay, let's enter Yizhou. ”

The next day, Liu Bei first entertained Fa Zheng, saying that he would not enter Yizhou in the future, and Fa Zheng was overjoyed and said: "Yizhou Junjie will definitely welcome Yuzhou." ”

Then everyone agreed on the period, Fa Zheng rushed back to Yizhou, Liu Bei personally sent each other, and before breaking up, Fa Zheng said: "The envoy should come earlier, and there are many people in Yizhou who oppose the envoy to enter Yizhou, so that the monarch can enter Sichuan as soon as possible, so as to prevent changes later." ”

Liu Bei said: "Liu Bei understands that there is a lot of trouble with Lao Ziqiao and Xiaozhi. ”

Fa Zheng bowed goodbye. After Liu Bei returned to Jiangling, he consulted with Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong, Guan Yu and other generals, and Liu Bei said: "Although we have decided to enter Sichuan, we must not lose the important land in Jingzhou. We should do a good job of all measures, what do the two military advisors think? ”

Zhuge Liang said: "The lord doesn't have to worry, one of me and Shiyuan is responsible for guarding against Jingzhou, and the other follows the lord into Sichuan and gives advice with the army." ”

Liu Bei said: "That's what I mean. ”

Zhuge Liang said: "Liang is a person who is unwilling to run, so the lord will let Liang stay in Jingzhou!" ”

Liu Bei and Pang Tong both laughed, and Pang Tong said: "Are you Zhuge Liang a person who is afraid of running around, when did you raise grain and grass, you almost went to the equipment in person, and it was really a waste of sleep and food when you worked every day, but I Pang Shiyuan didn't do any work, didn't take any road." ”

Zhuge Liang said: "I haven't finished my words yet, lord, I, a person who doesn't want to run around, stays here, and another person who doesn't run around on weekdays will let him run around and exercise." ”

Pang Tong laughed and said: "Kong Ming, you see that I am lazy and unconvinced, okay, this time I will do activities." ”

Liu Bei said: "Okay, I decided to defend Jingzhou with heavy troops and enter Yizhou with light troops, after all, our banner is to help people attack and rebel, and we can't bring too many men and horses, so as not to arouse suspicion." Then ask Kong Ming to stay in Jingzhou with my second brother, third brother, Zilong, and Xingba. And I entered the river with Shiyuan. ”

Then, Liu Bei instructed again, and everyone agreed. Liu Bei took Pang Tong as his military advisor, Chen Zhi and Fu Wei as his guards, and Huang Zhong, Wei Yan, Kou Feng, Feng Xi and others led 30,000 troops and horses into Sichuan.