Ji Han Liu Zhang

Outside Chang'an City.

Accompanied by his personal guards, Liu Zhang entered the camp of Li Kan, the general of Guanzhong. He learned the details of the battle from the messenger. After the front camp was broken, Li Kan fled to the rear camp in a panic, hoping to take advantage of the opportunity to escape, but was shot and killed by Lou Fa, the captain who was attacking the rear camp.

Now, the camp set up by Li Jue and Guo Si outside the city, which was defended by the military leader Li Kan, has been captured and the military leader Li Kan has surrendered. Today's battle can be said to be a complete success without any flaws.

However, Liu Zhang still had some regrets in his heart. He regretted that Li Jue and Guo Si were able to sit still in the city and did not care about Li Kan's life or death. From the beginning to the end of the battle to attack the camp outside the city, there was no news at all.

He originally planned to attack the camp guarded by Li Kan and force Li Jue and Guo Si in the city to go out to fight. With superior military strength, he was confident that he could fight a decisive battle with Li Jue and Guo Si while attacking the camp outside the city and decide the outcome of Guanzhong in one battle.

However, Li Jue and Guo Si remained silent. Until the camp was broken and Li Kan surrendered, not a single soldier was sent out from Chang'an City, leaving Liu Zhang no chance to defeat the enemy in the field, which inevitably made Liu Zhang a little disappointed.

After all, although Liu Zhang had siege weapons like the Thunderbolt Chariot, it was still not enough when facing the Han Empire's Western Capital Chang'an City. Especially after Li Jue and Guo Si found a way to deal with the Thunderbolt Chariot, they hung felt cloth on the city walls to offset the impact of flying stones.

Therefore, it is not easy to take Chang'an City.

"Li Jue and Guo Si have been in the army for a long time. They are veterans, not mediocre people." Liu Zhang did not despise Li Jue and Guo Si because of his temporary advantage. In the battle with Li Jue and Guo Si, he found out the depth of Li Jue and Guo Si's talents.

When Liu Zhang entered Li Kan's camp, he saw Gan Ning and Lou Fa coming forward.

After the assistant general of the Han Dynasty, Gan Ning, bowed and saluted, he said loudly: "I have lived up to your trust. The camp has been taken down and Li Kan has surrendered. Today's battle is enough to terrify Li Jue and Guo Si in Chang'an."

"Great." Liu Zhang spread his hands, holding Gan Ning in one hand and Lou Fa in the other. He never hesitated to praise him: "In today's battle, Xingba was the first to break into the camp, which is the first merit. Zichu shot and killed Li Kan, which is the second merit. Let's have a drink in this camp to celebrate their merits."

The nails of Li Jue and Guo Si outside the city of Chang'an were removed, and the sphere of influence of Li Jue and Guo Si was restricted to Chang'an, leaving Li Jue and Guo Si with only one isolated city. This was a great progress in the war.

Although he failed to force Li Jue and Guo Si to fight, the results of today's battle were also extremely great. Liu Zhang put aside the regrets in his heart and focused on the matter at hand.

into the night.

Li Jue and Guo Si did not rest. They stood on the top of the city wall, enjoying the night breeze and looking out at the camp outside the city. The camp previously guarded by Li Kan was now occupied by the Shu army and was a brightly lit scene. It goes without saying that Liu Zhang, the governor of Yizhou, was setting a banquet to celebrate his victory.

Occasionally, the sound of stringed instruments reached the ears of Li Jue and Guo Si, which made them feel uncomfortable. After all, no one wanted to see the enemy happy.

Here Li Jue regretted.

Li Jue regretted not sending out troops earlier. He wished Li Kan was so incompetent that he could not even delay for half an incense stick of time, allowing the Shu army to break into the camp and even lose his own life. If he had known this earlier...

Eh... When Li Jue thought of this, he knew that things had come to this point and could no longer be reversed, so he could only sigh in his heart.

Li Jue regretted it, but his companion Guo Si had no regrets at all. All he felt was disdain for the military leader Li Kan. He was extremely angry with Li Kan for losing his life, and thought that Li Kan was extremely incompetent. It was such a big camp, but he couldn't even keep it stable for half a quarter of an hour. Even a pig would not be so incompetent.

The regret in Li Jue's heart was like a gust of wind, which swept away in a moment or two. He raised his head and looked at the dark starry sky. The moon was not bright today, and only a few stars were shining. Therefore, under the cover of night, in the darkness, the lights in the Shu army camp were so conspicuous, letting him know that the Shu army was feasting and celebrating.

Looking at the Shu army camp, which was the only bright one in the darkness, Li Jue had an idea. He wondered if he could take advantage of the Shu army's great victory today and lead his troops to attack the Shu army camp at night.

After all, as the saying goes: Arrogant soldiers will be defeated, and the Shu army is now an arrogant army.

However, the idea of ​​a night attack arose in Li Jue's mind, but soon subsided. He remembered that Guo Si had attacked the Shu army camp last night. Guo Si failed in the night attack and was defeated, and lost a fierce general, Gao Shuo.

He should be careful to learn from past mistakes.

But Li Jue changed his mind and suddenly felt that if he launched a night attack tonight, perhaps it might be possible.

He looked at the brightest stars in the sky, his mind in turmoil. First, the Shu army might not have expected that he would attack at night for two consecutive days. Second, the Shu army had won many victories in a row, so they were naturally slacking off and did not take them seriously.

Li Jue's expression changed with his thoughts, sometimes he frowned in thought, sometimes he relaxed, or he looked a little worried.

To raid at night, or not to raid at night?

After a few breaths, Li Jue made up his mind and gave up the idea of ​​a night attack. This was because there was a man in the Shu army who knew him very well - Jia Xu!

Li Jue has always been a little afraid of Jia Xu, the wise man from Liangzhou. After all, Jia Xu's wisdom and strategy were beyond his reach. He was worried that Jia Xu had guessed his plan and had already prepared for it, and had dug a trap and was waiting for him to jump into it.

"Laugh, laugh, little Liu Zhang, let's see how long you can laugh..."

Just as Li Jue was deep in thought, Guo Si, who was beside him, heard a faint cheer coming from the Shu army camp. His mentality suddenly exploded, as if his defenses were broken, and he let out an angry cry.

After this insult, Guo Si's face instantly sagged like a deflated ball. The situation was so unfavorable and his chances of winning were slim. What else could he do except to gain some pleasure from an argument?

Guo Si, feeling depressed and listless, stood on the top of the city wall, looking at the night sky with no moon and few stars, and sighed deeply.

After a long sigh, Guo Si said to Li Jue: "Zhiran, do you think we still have a chance to return to Liangzhou?" Guo Si, who was born in Zhangye County, talked about his hometown Liangzhou which he had not returned to for a long time.

When Li Jue heard Guo Si's discouraging words, he looked a little worried, but the current situation was critical. They only had the isolated city of Chang'an left, and now was the time to work together, so he couldn't refute Guo Si.

So Li Jue said, "As long as we defeat Liu Zhang, we can roam freely in Yongliang. We can return to Liangzhou anytime we want."

Guo Si smiled bitterly upon hearing this. After a series of setbacks, he no longer had the ambition he once had. "This Liu Yizhou really has some skills. He is different from the old Guandong coalition..."

Guo Si compared the Guandong coalition army with Liu Zhang: "In the past, we followed Prime Minister Dong to march to Luoyang. Those noble families were dissatisfied and the coalition army came to attack us. However, although the Guandong coalition army is powerful, they are not united and have serious internal strife. They can only use 30% of their strength on us. In addition, except for Sun Jian, the soldiers under their command are no match for us. Therefore, we can compete with the powerful Guandong coalition army."

"But now this Liu Yizhou." Guo Si looked depressed, and his tone was very low: "His military strength is better than ours, and his soldiers are as brave and good at fighting as us. His ability to seize opportunities and plan strategies is also far superior to us..."

"There is no need to worry about the people in Guanzhong. The elders and sons of Guanzhong have sent food to the Shu army. The whole Guanzhong area is cheering for the Shu army. We are not as good as them in terms of time and location."

Li Jue's brows were twisted into a knot. He was very unhappy with Guo Si's words, but what Guo Si said was probably the current facts and the difficulties they were facing. For a moment, he was unable to refute it.

Just as Li Jue was thinking about how to cheer up his companion, Guo Si moved closer to Li Jue and said in a low voice: "In addition, Zhiran, did you see that when the Shu army broke through the camp outside the city and displayed Li Kan's head under the city, Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, and Liang Xing had complicated expressions and glanced at us as if they were surprised."

"As for the way of getting along with people, I'm afraid we are far inferior to the Shu army. What I'm worried about is that Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and others might change." Guo Si shook his head. Li Kan surrendered. Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and others were worried. Unstable factors appeared within their group.

Li Jue nodded. Li Kan had a deep friendship with Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and others. Now Li Kan died because of their delay in sending troops. It was normal for Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and others to have some emotions.

Moreover, Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and others did not have an attack on the spot, which made Li Jue feel worried. He believed that there must be something wrong when things go against the grain. To be honest, he was not very confident about Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and others at the moment.

However, Li Jue still held an attitude of trust towards Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and others. After all, Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and others were used to being domineering in their own area, and most likely they were unwilling to serve Liu Zhang and be dogs. Although Li Kan gave them the leadership, Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and others were somewhat uneasy, but he did not quite believe that Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and others would rebel.

As for why Li Jue had such confidence, a crucial point was that the wives and children of Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and others were all under his control.

Earlier, he took advantage of the dangerous military situation and discussed with Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and others to gather their wives and children together, and have his cousins ​​Li Ying and Li Huan look after them. This was his trump card to control Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and others.

Therefore, Li Jue shook his head and retorted to Guo Si: "Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and their wives and children are still in our hands. Besides, being a dog for Liu Zhang is not as satisfying as being powerful and self-reliant."

"But we still have to be careful. I will order people to strengthen the control over their wives and children and not let them walk around freely." Although Li Jue trusted Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and others 70% in his heart, he still had 30% doubt in them. He decided to do something to be prepared.

On this side, Li Jue and Guo Si discussed Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and others, while on the other side, Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and others also gathered together to discuss Li Jue and Guo Si.

After dismissing the attendants and having his trusted men guard outside the tent, Hou Xuan was the first to speak. He clenched his fist with one hand and hammered the table vigorously, angrily saying: "It is really hateful that Li Kan was attacked, but Li and Guo made excuses for other things and did not send troops to rescue him in time, which led to Li Kan's death."

"Li Jue and Guo Si cannot shirk their responsibility for Li Kan's death." Hou Xuan blamed Li Jue and Guo Si for the reason why Li Kan surrendered.

"Who said it wasn't?" Cheng Yin looked unhappy. Or rather, he had been looking unhappy ever since the Shu army announced Li Kan's head. "Li Kan is stationed outside the city, forming a pincer attack with Chang'an City. But Li Kan is under attack, while Li Guo is sitting back and watching. What kind of pincer attack is this? What kind of force is this?"

Liang Xing was more prudent. He said, "Li Kan's death was closely related to Li and Guo, but it was also because Li Kan failed to defend the camp. At that time, Li Jue agreed to send troops, but the camp was destroyed and Li Kan was dead."

"Humph." Hou Xuan, who had a good relationship with Li Kan, snorted coldly. He said in a very angry tone: "In the final analysis, it was because Li and Guo did not send out troops earlier to harass the Shu army. Otherwise, why would the Shu army attack Li Kan with all their heart and soul, and why would the camp be breached so early, and why would Li Kan die because of it."

At this point, Hou Xuan's words became more frank: "This time, Li Jue and Guo Si stood by and watched, causing the death of Li Kan. Who knows, it will be our turn next time... It is better to join Liu Yizhou than to help such unrighteous people as Li Jue and Guo Si..."

Cheng Yin's eyes lit up when he heard this. He was about to speak, but Liang Xing spoke first.

"Be careful with your words." Liang Xing lowered his voice and glanced around, "Don't forget that my wife and children are still in Li Jue's hands. We have to take them back before we can make other plans."

Hou Xuan lowered his voice, but his tone was still agitated. He speculated about Li Jue and Guo Si with the most sinister thoughts: "No wonder Li Jue said earlier that the war was dangerous and asked us to place our wives and children in Chang'an City and let him send elite soldiers to protect them. We thought he had good intentions, but it turns out he was waiting for us here..."

"That's not true." Cheng Yin said, and he used facts to refute: "Although my wife and children are protected by Li Jue's elite soldiers, they also come and go and cannot be stopped from walking."

"That was before. Now it's really terrible." Liang Xing shook his head, as if he saw through everything.

In the Shu army camp outside the city, a banquet has ended. It was just a simple meal and two glasses of wine. No one drank to their heart's content, after all, they were in the middle of a war.

After the banquet, Liu Zhang left a group of advisers to discuss military affairs.

"Nothing happened tonight. It seems that Li Jue and Guo Si have learned a lesson." Military officer Peng Ying said with a smile, but he felt a little disappointed.

"Li Jue and Guo Si are not mediocre generals." Liu Zhang nodded, and then he asked Jia Xu: "Li Jue and Guo Si will not come out, Chang'an will not be easy to take. Jia Xu, do you have any countermeasures to help me capture Chang'an as soon as possible?"

"The current plan is to try to sow discord." Jia Xu replied in an unfathomable way. (End of this chapter)