Ji Han Liu Zhang

Chapter 211 The rain is coming

Outside Yangping Pass.

Zhang Ren, who had a serious look on his face, lowered his eyebrows and looked at the mess in front of him.

On the green grass, a dozen cavalrymen who had been seriously injured and seemed to have lost their life fell to the ground in confusion. The faces of these dead cavalrymen still showed the fear of death before they died. Like a photo, their expressions were frozen in one moment.

And the horses ridden by these fallen cavalrymen, after the masters on their backs fell to the ground, lost their command, and they were trampling on the spot, dazed and confused. Several horses were riding on the same back. The horses behind their master's emotions came to the body of their master, tilted their heads and lowered their heads, arching the master's body on the ground, trying to wake up the master lying on the ground, hoping that the master would get on the horse's back and gallop again.

"These Hanzhong cavalrymen really don't know how to live or die. Don't they know that my school captain is famous for being a man worth a thousand in the battle of Liangping in Ba County... With their riding skills, when they see my school captain, Instead of hiding or evading, they stepped forward with their guns drawn. Is this the courage Tianshi Tao gave them?" A chief under Zhang Ren's account spat at the Hanzhong cavalry on the ground and cursed in a sarcastic tone.

As soon as Shi Chang's words came out, there was a burst of response.

"What Zhang Shichang said is absolutely true. As for the equestrian skills of the Hanzhong cavalry, they need to practice for another twenty years before they can compete with the captain like us."

"Twenty years is not enough. Li Liu, you haven't seen the Hanzhong cavalrymen swaying on the horse. They can't even sit firmly on the horse. Such equestrian skills, even if they have been practiced for forty years, are not enough." of."

Zhang Ren looked at the horses on the ground that had lost their owners and had no idea where they were going. He spoke: "Don't say too much. Hold these horses. As for the corpses of the Hanzhong cavalry, pile them up and leave them for the defenders at Yangping Pass to collect them."

"promise."

"promise."

As soon as Zhang Renfu, who had gained great authority in the army with his unparalleled riding skills in Shu, opened his mouth, the chattering group of cavalrymen under him shut their mouths tightly, and each of them nodded or agreed.

Zhang Ren did not stay where he was. He rode towards a hill on horseback. When he reached the hill, he cupped his hands on his horse and said, "Master Huang, fortunately you have fulfilled your duty. I have killed the cavalry sent by Yangpingguan." I picked up a group, and the rest rushed back to Yangping Pass... I was afraid that if the army in the city sent troops to support them, it would be unsightly if they were damaged, so I did not pursue death and chase north."

"Thank you Captain Zhang." Huang Quan nodded with a smile.

Huang Quan, who had the power of holiday, after arriving at Baishui Pass, after a period of getting to know each other, made a plan to attack Yangping Pass before the summer harvest and disrupt the summer harvest in Hanzhong.

Therefore, Huang Quan commanded four thousand men and horses and stationed his camp at Yangping Pass far away. Today, under Zhang Ren's protection, a group of more than a hundred riders came to Yangping Pass, preparing to conduct a thorough investigation of the old and new Yangping Pass.

Zhang Wei, who was in Yangpingguan City, saw Huang Quan's troops from a distance at the top of the city. He was dissatisfied with Huang Quan's approach and ignored him. Feeling humiliated, Zhang Wei sent his subordinates. More than two hundred cavalry rushed out of Yangping Pass. With the idea of ​​​​defeating the few with more, they killed the group of cavalry led by Huang Quan and boosted the morale in Yangping Pass.

It is a pity that the battle between cavalry and soldiers depends not on the strength of the number, but more on the riding skills, archery, and marksmanship of the cavalry on horseback, not to mention the hundreds of cavalry surrounding Huang Quan. The personal guards carefully selected by Zhang Ren all have excellent riding skills and marksmanship on horseback.

Therefore, Huang Quan, who felt that Zhang Ren was on his side and had something to rely on, just stood on the hill with seven or eight cavalry, and let Zhang Ren command the remaining cavalry to repel the cavalry sent by Zhang Wei in Yangping Pass.

After a lot of fighting, the result of the battle was just as Huang Quan had expected. The cavalry under Zhang Wei's tent were defeated and returned. They only wanted to sit down and the horses only had four legs instead of eight. They ran towards Yangping Pass and fled back to Yangping. Within the pass.

After saying something to trouble Zhang Ren, Huang Quan said appropriately: "With this small victory today, I'm afraid that even if we get to the downstairs of Yangpingguan City in the future, Zhang Dajiu in the city will not dare to easily send his soldiers out of the city. If we face a battle, most of us will only dare to rely on the fortified city to hold on."

"Zhang Lu's original intention was to rely on the dangerous fortress of Yangping Pass to resist our Shu soldiers, so he would not easily send out the masses to compete with us." Zhang Ren expressed his opinion.

After hearing this, Huang Quan put away his contented expression. He raised his eyes and looked up at Zouma Ridge on the side of Yangping Pass. He saw a series of camps on the mountain ridge, extending for more than ten miles based on the mountain. It was Zhang Lu's army Sima. Li Xiu built Xinyangping Pass.

Huang Quan couldn't help but frowned, and then relaxed his eyebrows. At this time, his eyebrows were like blades: "What Captain Zhang said is absolutely true. Zhang Lu's original intention was to rely on the dangers of mountains and rivers, otherwise he would not have gone into a big fight. The New Yangping Pass was built on the ridge... but the old Yangping Pass in front of us was already difficult to capture, and the New Yangping Pass on the Zouma Ridge was high on the ridge. Not to mention the dangerous terrain of the ridge and mountains, we attacked the New Yangping Pass. Attacking from below and attacking with one's back is a huge difficulty."

Zhang Ren's face darkened, and he felt a little helpless: "The two Yangping Passes are horns of each other. If we attack the new Yangping Pass, we have to worry about Zhang Wei sending troops in the old Yangping Pass. After attacking our army, if we attack the old Yangping Pass, we have to worry about the new Yangping Pass." After Yangpingguan's military commander Li Xiu sent troops to attack our army..."

"The power of the horn is indeed difficult to break." Huang Quan half-squinted his eyes, his eyes wandering, either looking at the new Yangping Pass on Zouma Ridge, or looking at the old Yangping Pass standing in front of the road. After a long time, Huang Quan continued to speak: " Speaking of which, Sima Li Xiu, the commander of the army at Zouma Ridge, did have some talents in civil engineering, and he was able to build the New Yangping Pass on Zouma Ridge within a few months. It is a pity that such a talent was hidden in the dark. The rice thief Zhang Lu serves under Zhang Lu, so it would be a blessing to be able to lure him to Ming Gong's tent."

Seeing that Huang Quan was thinking of sending an envoy to lure Li Xiu, Zhang Ren sighed: "I'm afraid it won't be easy. Although Zhang Lu trusted Li Xiu and appointed Li Xiu as army commander, he never forced Li Xiu to join the Tianshi Tao. , but the rice thief Zhang Lu had deep thoughts and placed all of Li Xiu's relatives to live in Nanzheng. In name, Zhang Lu said it was for convenience and kindness to Li Xiu's relatives, but in fact he was taking all of Li Xiu's relatives as hostages... In this case, if you send an envoy to lure Li Xiu, there is a [-]% chance that it will not succeed."

"Let's give it a try." Huang Quan said it was optional, intending to talk about it if there was no date left. Then Huang Quan looked at the sky. The sky was originally clear in the morning, but now the sun was hidden and its glory was no longer , ink-colored dark clouds gathered from all directions on the sky above his head, and the mountain rain was coming. "The storm is coming. Let's just stop here today. Let's go back to the camp first." According to the change of the sky, Huang Quan issued the order.

Zhang Ren nodded and called to the scattered cavalry. Everyone gathered together and ran towards the camp where the army was stationed.

Standing on the tower of Yangpingguan, Zhang Wei, who was holding a high position and offering sacrifices to wine, saw from a distance a group of Huang Quan's men returning from the battle.

Zhang Wei secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but his heart was filled with uncontrollable anger. He glanced at the cavalry commander who had just left the city to face the defeat and returned. After his face changed several times, he finally suppressed his anger and said gently: "You go down first so that you can treat the injured ghost soldiers. Although it is a small setback today, you will be able to avenge your shame in the future."

"No." The cavalry commander, who originally thought he was about to face a disaster, now felt lucky to have escaped death. As soon as Zhang Wei, the chief minister in front of him, finished speaking, he immediately accepted the order and walked down, then said goodbye and stepped forward. He walked down the tower slowly.

"Hey." When the cavalry commander came down from the city entrance, Zhang Wei sighed heavily. Although he was very dissatisfied with the fact that the cavalry commander had twice the enemy's force, but in the end he was defeated. Satisfied, he also knew through observation on the city tower that among the cavalrymen who came to investigate today, the white-robed general had really good riding skills, which was not something that his cavalrymen could handle, so he generously forgave him. After defeating the cavalry who returned from defeat, he was the commander of the garrison.

This is also the tenet of Tianshi Dao that Zhang Wei believes in. Offenders will have three opportunities to be forgiven. After three times, if they commit another offense, they will be punished.

"Ding ding ding dong."

A crisp sound of wind chimes sounded, and Zhang Wei's attention was attracted. He looked at the wind chimes on the eaves of the tower that were swaying in the wind, and stretched out his hands to feel the moist mountain breeze.

"The rain is coming." Zhang Wei said meaningfully.
-

Jingzhou, Xiangyang.

The life of Liu Biao, the herdsman of Jingzhou, has been very happy this year. He was appointed the governor of Jingzhou in the first year of Chuping. He faced a situation where clan thieves were very popular in the south of the Yangtze River. Su Dai, a Wu man, became the prefect of Changsha, and Bei Yu became the governor of Huarong. As the county magistrate, each branch dominated the local area. He could not even take office directly. He had to rush to Jingzhou anonymously and alone before he could take office in Jingzhou.

In the second year of Chuping, Yuan Shu, who was stationed in Nanyang, coveted Jingzhou and sent Sun Jian, the fierce tiger from the east of the Yangtze River, to attack Jingzhou. In the third year of Chuping, Liu Yan, the herdsman of Yizhou, made a chariot and served more than a thousand chariots, so Liu Biao went to the imperial court with him. Liu Yan was at odds with each other, and there was no harmony between Yizhou and Jingzhou up and down the river.

In the first year of Xingping, due to Liu He's insistence on going his own way and going deep into Badi to incite rebellion among the people, there was a risk of war between Jingzhou and Yizhou.

It can be said that every year is difficult, but this year, the second year of Xingping, the surrounding areas of Jingzhou suddenly became calm. An alliance was formed with Yizhou in the west, and Yanyu in the north and Jiangdong in the east were no big deal. The power worried Liu Biao, and he was finally able to sit in Xiangyang to observe the changes of the times, love the people and nourish the scholars, and protect himself calmly without worrying or panicking.

But despite this, as a qualified warlord, Liu Biao has always maintained a cautious attitude. He looked at the northwest and east sides of Jingzhou with suspicion, in case something happened on the three sides and disaster befell Jingzhou. Jiaozhou to the south here The Provincial Governor's Department was not within Liu Biao's concern. After all, in his mind, Jiaozhou was out of place and there would be no major problems.

Therefore, when Liu Zhang of Yizhou made some moves to raise troops in Hanzhong, Liu Biao gathered the important ministers of the Prefectural Mufu and held a discussion.

Liu Biao, who was the shepherd of Jingzhou, was the first to speak: "Liu Jiyu first sent a message to Hanzhong, and then sent Huang Quan and Wu Yi to send troops to Hanzhong. It seemed that he had the idea of ​​​​raising troops to attack Zhang Lu of Hanzhong. Qing and others thought it was true or false."

"This must be true. The land of Hanzhong chokes the throat of Shu. Without Hanzhong, there is no Shu. Secondly, Zhang Lu was disobedient many times. First, he led troops to attack and kill Pang Le and Li Yi, the captains of Liu Yizhou's tent. Later, he sent troops to Mi Cangdao's attack on Brazil County... Thinking about it, if Liu Yizhou didn't take Hanzhong and attack Zhang Lu, how could he avenge his humiliation." Don't drive Liu Xian to speak first.

"What Biejia said is true." Liu Biao's plotter Kuai Yue agreed, and then said to Liu Biao: "Your Majesty, if Zhang Lu is not eliminated in one day, Hanzhong cannot be taken in one day. Liu Yizhou will have no time to look outside. Yizhou The soldiers must have no intention of marching eastward... In addition, even if Liu Yizhou's operation is to confuse us and think of marching eastward to attack Jingzhou, once Jingzhou and Yizhou form an alliance, betraying the alliance and attacking their allies, it is for the sake of the world. What he despises is that there is injustice in Hanzhong, and Liu Yizhou needs to put in some effort to deal with Zhang Lu. He is attacked from both sides, and he is helpless on both sides, so he cannot be a big threat."

Liu Biao nodded slowly in agreement, and spoke calmly: "My thoughts are the same as those of the two gentlemen. If Zhang Lu is not eliminated, Yizhou has no time to look outside Jingzhou... However, Yizhou has made some moves. As an ally, I will take it as an ally." To help Liu Jiyu, I intend to take this opportunity to send troops to Shangyong and Xicheng to intimidate Zhang Lu's east side in Hanzhong so that Zhang Lu does not dare to go east. I have sent a document to Yizhou regarding this matter."

Hearing this, Liu Xian looked a little surprised. He was completely unaware of the documents Liu Biao said were sent to Yizhou. He didn't know until today when Liu Biao revealed that he couldn't help but glanced at Kuai Yue beside him. There was no look of surprise on his face, he was extremely calm.

Liu Xian suddenly realized that this matter was probably the work of Kuai Yue. It was Kuai Yue who advised Liu Biao to send troops to assist Liu Zhang, but the matter was not that simple. After some thinking, Liu Xian realized it. Liu Biao sent troops to Xicheng and Shangyong, apparently to intimidate the east side of Hanzhong for Liu Zhang. This place earned Liu Zhang a favor for nothing. Privately, Xicheng and Shangyong, as the county towns of Hanzhong County, were not under the control of Zhang Lu of Hanzhong and were terra incognita. With the excuse of aiding Liu Zhang, Jingzhou annexed Xicheng and Shangyong. In the future, Liu Zhang would even capture Hanzhong. , and was too embarrassed to ask for Xicheng and Shangyong, which belonged to Hanzhong.

Liu Xian half-squinted his eyes. There is probably another very important reason for this. Fangling, which borders Xicheng and Shangyong, happened to be in the hands of Kuai Qi, a descendant of the Kuai family. He attacked Xicheng and Shangyong and garrisoned Fangling. Kuai Qi can't help but participate in it, and Kuai Qi can certainly make contributions.

‘Thoughtful and wise. ’ Liu Xian secretly praised Kuai Yue. Kuai Yue’s strategy was thoughtful in every aspect. It could not only open up Jingzhou’s territory and expand its territory, but also find a career for Kuai’s children.

After secretly praising Kuai Yue's resourcefulness, Liu Xian attended and said: "Your Majesty, we have formed an alliance with Yizhou. The affairs of Yizhou are the affairs of Jingzhou. Now Liu Yizhou is sending troops to Hanzhong. No matter what, I, Jingzhou, will help. .”

(End of this chapter)