The Jagged Cavalry of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 663 Chapter 662
Led by Leng Bao, a group of people soon came to the outside of Baishuiguan. Zhang Fei and others were walking when the troops in front stopped suddenly. Leng Bao rode a fast horse and Yan Yan arrived together. Beside Zhang Fei, first bowed to Zhang Fei respectfully, and then Leng Bao said: "My lord, we will reach Baishui Pass in three miles ahead. The last general came to ask the lord, I don't know how to attack Baishui close?"

Zhang Fei said: "The army is on standby. You and General Yan will go with me to Baishuiguan to see what happened."

"Here!"

With an order, Zhang Fei put the army on standby, and he took Yan Yan, Fazheng, Peng Tuo, Leng Bao and others to Baishuiguan.

The terrain of Baishuiguan is dangerous, surrounded by mountains and rivers. The Guancheng was built on the alluvial zone between the West Han River and Baishui. This Guancheng is named Baishuiguan because it belongs to Baishui County.

Baishuiguan is the only place to pass through from Hanzhong to Shu, with West Hanshui in the east and Baishui in the west. Baishuiguan is sandwiched between these two rivers, like a nail, firmly inserted here.

However, due to the rising water level of the Baishui River in recent years, the area around Baishuiguan has gradually shrunk, and Baishuiguan can no longer accommodate so many troops, and it has gradually become an abandoned pass.

However, the location of this pass is very dangerous, and it has to be defended. Therefore, since Leng Bao became the governor of Baishui, he has always used Baishui Pass as an outpost, mainly responsible for conveying the enemy's information, and has basically lost its defensive role.

Under the leadership of Leng Bao, Zhang Fei and others came to the bank of Baishui River. It was evening and it was almost dusk. The city was brightly lit, and there were crowds of people on the walls. Zhang Lu's army walked back and forth from time to time, looking very heavily guarded.

However, Baishuiguan is like an isolated island in the sea, floating on the sea, not connected to the surroundings.

Yan Yan looked around, and couldn't help frowning, turned her face and asked Leng Bao: "Where's the pontoon bridge leading to Baishui Pass?"

Leng Bao smiled wryly and said: "The old general doesn't know something. The water level of the Baishui River has risen in recent years. The pontoon bridge that the old general built has already been destroyed by the flood, and the water here has become relatively turbulent. It is no longer difficult to build. The pontoon is gone, and to go to Baishuiguan, we can only take a boat."

Yan Yan said with emotion: "Oh! What an important pass Baishui Pass was in the past. I didn't expect it to become so desolate after a few years!"

Zhang Fei said: "General Leng, what do you mean, if you want to go to Baishuiguan, you can only take a boat?"

"Well." Leng Bao nodded, and continued, "Because of this, Baishuiguan lost its original defensive significance. Not only the water level of Baishui River has risen, but the water level of Hanshui River to the east of Baishuiguan has also risen. The pass was originally built on the fan-shaped area impacted by two rivers. If the ground of Baishuiguan was not rocks but mud, Baishuiguan would have been destroyed by floods. Even so, the current Baishuiguan is still in danger. When there is a heavy rain, the water levels of Baishui River and Hanshui River rise, and if a flood occurs, Baishuiguan may be destroyed by the flood at any time. Therefore, the last general has always used this place as an outpost, mainly responsible for delivering news."

"I see. From this point of view, although there are people in Baishuiguan, Zhang Lu's army will definitely not be stationed there. It must be stationed somewhere nearby." Zhang Fei said.

Leng Bao said: "I have already sent scouts to investigate. Zhang Lu's army is stationed on the bank of the Hanshui River. There are only 500 people in Baishuiguan, responsible for guarding the prisoners."

Zhang Fei said: "Let's go, take a detour by the Hanshui River to see what happened. I want to see how powerful Zhang Lu's army is."

"Shouldn't you save the captives in Baishui Pass first?" Leng Bao asked hastily.

Zhang Fei said: "If Zhang Lu's army is not defeated first, once we attack Baishui Pass, Zhang Lu's army will definitely reinforce Baishui Pass, and the two sides will only be in a stalemate. And as far as I know, Zhang Lu's army It is far several times that of ours, if you fight recklessly, you may not be able to win, and it is also unwise."

Leng Bao didn't speak anymore, because what Zhang Fei said made a lot of sense.The reason why Zhang Lu was able to dominate Hanzhong for many years and invaded Yizhou many times was because of his large number of soldiers.Zhang Lu's army is a bit different from the general army. From top to bottom, Zhang Lu's army has some religious colors, and the five buckets of rice are used throughout the entire army.

The founder of Wudou Rice Road is Zhang Ling, also known as Zhang Daoling, and later generations call him Zhang Tianshi, so the Wudou Rice Road he founded is also called Tianshi Tao.The reason why there is a Five Dou of Rice Road is that everyone who enters the Tao needs to pay five Dou of rice, hence the name.

Zhang Lu is Zhang Ling's grandson. After Zhang Ling died, Zhang Lu's father inherited Zhang Ling's ancestral business and continued to preach. After Zhang Lu's father died, Zhang Lu inherited his father's business and became the leader of the Five Dou Rice Road.Zhang Lu's mother also believed in Taoism, and she was a witch who knew witchcraft. When Liu Yan captured Yizhou, he consulted Zhang Lu's mother and got some support from Wu Dou Mi Dao. Family friends.

Later, Liu Yan became the shepherd of Yizhou, appointed Zhang Lu as the governor and Sima, and together with Zhang Xiu, the other Sima, led troops to attack Su Gu, the prefect of Hanzhong.After Zhang Xiu killed Su Gu, Zhang Xiu wanted to take the credit for himself, and wanted to take the opportunity to kill Zhang Lu. Zhang Lu was alert, so he acted first, killed Zhang Xiu, captured Zhang Xiu's troops, and began to dominate Hanzhong.After Liu Yan knew about it, he had no choice but to think of a plan to kill with a knife, secretly instructing Zhang Lu to kill the envoy sent by the court, and cut off the road leading to the court.

Zhang Lu really did it, and then Liu Yan sent troops to attack Zhang Lu in the name of crusade against rebels in plain clothes.But what I didn't expect was that before Liu Yan's order was issued, he fell seriously ill and never recovered, so his plan to attack Zhang Lu in Hanzhong did not come true.On the contrary, Zhang Lu was like a fish in water in Hanzhong, and his power grew day by day. Over time, he became a headache for Liu Yan.

Before Liu Yan died, he called his son Liu Zhang to his side, and told Liu Zhang, "One mountain cannot tolerate two tigers. Zhang Lu is not a person who is willing to be subordinate to others. Moreover, the Five Dou of Rice Road has developed rapidly. All disciples of the Five Dou of Rice Road will obey the leader's words. Now On the surface, Zhang Lu behaved very obediently in Hanzhong, but if he is allowed to develop for a few more years, Zhang Lu is likely to ride on Liu Zhang's neck, and it will be very difficult to deal with Zhang Lu at that time, so it is better to act first Strong, get rid of Zhang Lu."

Liu Zhang kept Liu Yan's last words in mind. On the third day after Liu Yan's death, Liu Zhang ordered the arrest of Zhang Lu's mother who was still living on Qingcheng Mountain outside Chengdu, together with more than 1000 disciples of Wudou Midao, and all beheaded for public display. , and ordered that from now on in Yizhou, anyone who believes in Wudoumi Taoism will be killed.

In addition, Liu Zhang gathered troops and prepared to send troops to Hanzhong to attack Zhang Lu.

Unexpectedly, when Liu Zhang was arresting a follower of Wudou Mi Dao in Qingcheng Mountain, a fish slipped through the net. The man flew to Hanzhong and told Zhang Lu everything.As soon as Zhang Lu heard that his mother and more than 1000 disciples were killed by Liu Zhang, he was naturally filled with righteous indignation. Now, under the banner of revenge, he drove the disciples of Wudou Midao to lead the army to attack Yizhou, and sent people into Yizhou. The believers who instigated the five buckets of rice responded one after another.

Liu Zhang frightened the snake, and the layout failed, but he was caught off guard by Zhang Lu. If Yan Yan hadn't led an army to garrison in Baishui County at that time, blocking Zhang Lu's front, Zhang Lu might have broken through Baishui Pass and entered Yizhou.

After Yan Yan repelled Zhang Lu's army and learned the truth about Zhang Lu's rebellion, he was very angry at Liu Zhang's excessive behavior. However, at this time, Yan Yan still put the overall situation first. A number of passes, large and small, have been built in Baishui County to make them closely connected, so that even if they suffer a sudden attack, they can come and go for rescue.And on the basis of the original three major passes, it has been repaired again, making it a new pass that can accommodate more troops and is more defensive.

After Zhang Lu's army retreated, Wudou Rice Road in Yizhou began to gather crowds to make trouble one after another, captured the state capital, burned, killed and looted.Liu Zhang had to dispatch Yan Yan to Yizhou to suppress the rebellion.Later, the rebellion was quelled, and Yan Yan contributed the most. Liu Zhang summoned Yan Yan and wanted to reward Yan Yan well, but Yan Yan accused Liu Zhang of his actions in front of everyone, which made Liu Zhang very embarrassed.Coupled with Zhang Ren fanning the flames from the sidelines, Liu Zhang began to alienate Yan Yan in a rage, and released Yan Yan as the prefect of Berkshire. In the following years, Yan Yan's military power was continuously weakened.

Led by Leng Bao, a group of people detoured to the bank of the West Han River, hid in a reed marsh far away and looked into the distance, but saw Zhang Lu's army stationed on the bank, the camp was huge and there were many people, The lights are bright, and there are clusters of bonfires on the sides of the tents. A group of people sit around the bonfires, talking and laughing, and there are pieces of delicious food baked on the bonfires.

At first glance, Zhang Lu's army did not come to fight, but to participate in the bonfire party, which was very lively.

However, everyone has also noticed that Zhang Lu's army is different from any other army. What they wear is not military uniforms, but Taoist uniforms. Each of the Taoist uniforms is printed with a distinctive symbol representing the five buckets of rice—the Eight Diagrams .

In addition, there is no weapon in sight.

Seeing such an army for the first time, Zhang Fei couldn't help asking: "If such an army starts fighting, how would they fight?"

Leng Bao said: "Zhang Lu's army knows sorcery, they don't use weapons at all in war, as long as they do whatever they want, they can form an army, and thousands of troops will come to help them."

Zhang Fei said in surprise: "There is such a witchcraft in the world? I don't believe it."

Leng Bao said: "My lord, if you don't believe me, the general will lead troops to attack them in the daytime tomorrow, and my lord will watch from a distance. At that time, I can't help my lord not to believe me!"

Zhang Feidao: "When the Taiping Dao rebelled, it also advertised that there were gods to help them, saying that they were invulnerable to swords and guns, and that they had some fairy protection. But I saw them, and I stabbed them casually, and they still had a big hole in their bodies. Presumably the five buckets of rice road It's also playing tricks, pretending to be a ghost."

"My lord, whether Wu Dou Mi Dao is pretending to be a ghost or not, the lord will know at a glance tomorrow!" Leng Bao said.

"If you want to know whether Wu Dou Mi Dao is pretending to be a ghost, why wait until tomorrow, you can do it today!" Zhang Fei said.

"My lord, what do you mean..." Leng Bao asked.

"Night attack!" Zhang Fei said.

(End of this chapter)