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Shangyong City is located at the confluence of the Qinling Mountains and the Wudang Mountain Range. This area has a complex terrain, with mountains and rivers rushing in the mountain streams, and it is easy to have dangerous passes. Shangyong City is located on the most important Hanyong Road, becoming the throat node from Xiangfan to Hanzhong.

For Jingzhou, Shangyong belongs to the northwest border, and it connects Hanzhong, which has a far less status than Shuzhong and Guanzhong.

When merchants go to Guanzhong, they usually follow the Nanxiang Pass Road, that is, from Nanyang to Neixiang, pass Wuguan and Shangluo to Chang'an, without having to go to the difficult Hanzhong Road, so Shangyong has little strategic significance to Jingzhou.

But Shangyong City is extraordinary for Hanzhong. The Qinling Mountains and Daba Mountains firmly surrounded Hanzhong one south and one north, and Wudang Mountain blocked it to the east. In this way, the Han River flowing through the northern foot of Wudang Mountain and the Hanyong Road along the southern foot of Wudang Mountain have become the two key roads for Hanzhong to advance eastward. It can be said that Shangyong is the eastern gate of Hanzhong.

But even such an important east gate was not in Zhang Lu's hands. It was occupied by Cao's army before. Zhang Lu did not dare to anger Cao Cao, and he was eager to Shangyong but could not get it. Now, Shangyong City was handed over by Cao Cao to Liu Jing. Relatively speaking, Liu Jing seemed to be a little bit easier to mess with than Cao Cao.

On the winding mountain road, an army of five thousand people was rapidly advancing southeast. This army was the Hanzhong Eastern Expedition Army led by Meng Da. They had bypassed Wuling County and Jianshi County, which had almost no garrison, and aimed directly at Shangyong City ten miles away.

At this time, they had entered Shangyong County. A beacon tower several miles ahead, called Wulingsui, which is the westmost beacon tower in Jingzhou and the outpost of Shangyong City. There were only a dozen troops stationed, but their role was very important.

The Hanzhong army came to a relatively wide valley, and a small stream flowed down the mountain stream. Seeing that it was suitable for camping, Meng Da waved his hand and said, "Stop moving forward, the army camped on the spot."

The soldiers sat down to rest, waiting for the arrival of the baggage team behind them to start camping and resting. At this time, two deputy generals Meng You and Li Fang surrounded Meng Da.

Meng You is Meng Da's younger brother, while Li Fang is Zhang Lu's confidant general. He was once one of Zhang Lu's personal guards. Zhang Lu asked him to follow Meng Da to go to Shangyong, which obviously meant to monitor, but this is also a common sense. Meng Da led 5,000 heavy troops to fight in the east and did not follow him, so how could Zhang Lu feel at ease?

"General Meng, should the beacon towers ahead be removed?" Li Fang asked.

Meng Da looked at the map and there were two north and south lines from here to east, converging in Shangyong City. The beacon tower was located just above this northern road, high on the foot of the north. It was very familiar with the situation on the northern road, but it had little impact on the southern road.

Meng Da thought for a moment and shook his head, saying to Meng You and Li Fang: "Don't alert the snake. There is no need to remove this beacon tower. Just walk the south road."

He looked up at Shichen and immediately ordered: "No rest, continue to march."

The soldiers were cursing and had to get up and continue the march, quickly heading up Yongcheng along the south road.

...........

The city wall of Shangyong is tall and strong. It is located at a high place. There are dangerous mountains on both sides. There are water blockages in front of it. It can be said that one man is at the pass and ten thousand men cannot open it. It is extremely difficult to capture this city. However, Jingzhou has no effort to get this city. He obtained this key city from Cao Cao in exchange.

Shangyong's commander was Wei Yan. As Wei Yan's identity, he should be in charge of Jiangxia or Nanjun, blocking his own side, but asked him to guard this border city. In the eyes of the soldiers of Jingzhou, this is the punishment for Wei Yan's loss of Chaisang City.

But Wei Yan knew it well that on the night he accepted the position of the garrison, Jia Xu told him in detail about the Hanzhong strategy, that he was actually implementing the major decision to expand the west of Jingzhou.

Above the city, Wei Yan was patrolling more than a dozen personal guards. Wei Yan had already received secret information sent by Meng Da last night. In the past two days, the Hanzhong army was about to launch an attack on Shangyong City. Wei Yan also knew the specific attack plan. The other party wanted to occupy Yongnan City on the other side first. He needed to cooperate with Meng Da and let the Hanzhong army occupy Shangyong.

Although he knew that this was the grand strategy of Bashu in Hanzhong and was related to the success or failure of the entire western expansion, Wei Yan still felt a little uncomfortable. After all, this was another lost city that was not allowed to win, and it had a great impact on his reputation.

If the matter is clarified afterwards, it may be possible to recover it, but if it is not clarified, he will take the blame to the end, and Wei Yan is very suspicious that the truth may not be announced in the future.

It was precisely because of this that Wei Yan was very depressed, but the military order was as high as a mountain, and he had to implement it. Moreover, this matter was related to Xi'an expansion strategy. One mistake made the whole plan lose. Thinking of this, Wei Yan had to swallow the depression in his heart.

At this time, the alarm bell at the east end of the city suddenly rang. The bell sounded rapidly. Wei Yan was shocked. This meant that something happened in the east of the city. When he had just taken a few steps, he immediately realized that it should be Yongnan City. Isn’t this Meng Da’s plan?

He quickly came to the east of the city. It was indeed Yongnan City. The beacon fire on the top of the city was lit, which indicated that there was an enemy situation. The soldiers were talking about it. Yongnan City was located in the hinterland, so how could there be an enemy? It was abandoned. There were only a dozen soldiers in the city. How long could this last?

Soon, a soldier ran up the city and reported, "Reported to General Wei, a group of bandits attacked Yongnan City, the brothers could not resist and were forced to retreat."

Wei Yan took a deep breath and ordered: "Tell me my order, all the troops gather immediately and take back Yongnan City with me."

Several generals ran away. At this time, Deputy General Lu Jin hurried over and advised Wei Yan: "General, our guards have only more than 1,000. If all of them go to capture Yongnan City, Shangyong will be empty. If this is the bandit's plan to lure the tiger away from the mountain, the consequences will be very serious."

Lu Jin and Wei Yan shared life and death in Xiazhi County. The two formed a deep friendship, and he also became Wei Yan's deputy general. Wei Yan pulled him aside and whispered: "It's not that simple. Just listen to my arrangements. I will lead a thousand troops to retake Xiazhi County. You will lead the remaining brothers to defend Shangyong. If the Guanzhong army attacks in a large scale, you don't have to defend the city and leave immediately. I will arrange ships for you to cross the river downstream. Remember, don't resist, don't make unnecessary sacrifices, and abandon the city immediately."

Lu Jin was very shocked, but he also understood a little, "I understand."

Wei Yan reminded him again: "This matter is very confidential. Only you and I know about it here, and we should not let the first person know about it again."

Lu Jin nodded, "I know what I know. I will pretend to be a little bit like and evacuate in a hurry."

"Go and order my troops."

A quarter of an hour later, Wei Yan led a thousand defenders to cross the river and cross the blockade, and rushed to Yongnan City on the other side, while the remaining troops in Shangyong City were left.

At this moment, in a forest about Shangyong City, Meng Da led thousands of soldiers to wait for the changes in Shangyong City. Meng You led the two of them to disguise themselves as bandits and sneak attack Yongnan City. How could Wei Yan give up and wait for them to wait for this opportunity.

Seeing Meng Da very nervous, his sweat was flowing down his forehead, Li Fang smiled and advised him, "General Meng, don't worry. If it really doesn't work, we will ask for more troops to attack the city by force. Anyway, there are only more than a thousand defenders in the city, so we can completely capture it."

Meng Da sighed, "If you ask for more troops, I'm afraid someone will not let me go."

Li Fang knew that he was referring to Zhang Wei, and smiled and comforted him, "With the lord supporting you, I don't think anyone dares to be against you."

Meng Da nodded, "Thank you General Li"

At this moment, an inquirer came quickly to report, "Report to General Meng, Wei Yan led a thousand troops across the river and went to Yongnan City to kill him."

Meng Da was overjoyed and said to Li Fang: "This is God's will."

"Haha, this is not God's will, it is the general's plan that succeeded."

Meng Da immediately ordered: "General Li can lead five crossbowmen to the Dushui Wharf to block Wei Yan's army from returning. I will be responsible for the siege."

"Abide by the order"

Li Fang waved his hand, "Come with me."

He led five crossbowmen around Shangyong and ran towards the pier one mile away from Shangyong City. Seeing that they had passed the city, Meng Da gave an order to "attack the city."

"Woo"

The horn sounded in the woods, and more than 4,000 Hanzhong troops rushed out of the woods, rushing towards Shangyongcheng against dozens of siege ladders.

The bells on the top of Shangyong City were yelling, and the defenders shouted and the beacon fire at the highest point on the city was lit. It was the blue smoke of the pillars, indicating that an army was attacking. On the top of the city, the defenders fired arrows and shot towards the Hanzhong army that was rushing like a tide. Lu Jin looked at the overwhelming enemy troops. They only had people, and even if they really defended, they could not defend the city.

At this time, a garrison leader rushed over and reported: "General Lu, the brothers are short of troops and cannot defend the city."

Lu Jin sighed for a while and ordered: "Abandon the city, the army evacuated north."

The soldiers opened the east gate and rushed out of the city under Lu Jin's leadership. Instead of going to the dock, they fled north along the blockade. Wei Yan arranged a ship for them ten miles north.

The result of this sneak attack made the Hanzhong army overjoyed. Without hurting a soldier, they successfully captured Shangyong City and captured the city that Zhang Lu had always dreamed of.

Meng Da immediately sent people to Hanzhong to report good news to Zhang Lu, and also reminded Zhang Lu that to prevent Jingzhou from counterattacking, not only should Shangyong's defense be strengthened, but also should prevent the Jingzhou army from attacking Hanzhong from the Han River.

...........

The news of the loss of Shangyong County shocked Xiangyang and Jingzhou. Military advisor Jia Xu immediately sent someone to Jiangling to report this emergency information to Liu Jing.

At this time, the Jingzhou army had occupied Gong'an County and was dividing troops to advance to Wuling County, Lingling County and Guiyang County. Liu Bei's army was forced to retreat south to Hengyang County, and set up a battle in Hengyang County, preparing to fight the Jingzhou army to the death.

At this critical moment, Liu Jing received the news that the Hanzhong army took advantage of the opportunity of Jingzhou army to seize Shangyong. In furious, Liu Jing immediately ordered Gan Ning to lead 20,000 naval troops to march towards Hanzhong on five warships. He also ordered Zhao Yun as the main general and led 15,000 troops to attack Shangyong from Lu. At the same time, Wei Yan was ordered to make meritorious contributions and atone for his sins and become deputy general of Zhao Yun.
Chapter completed!