Chapter 59: Choose a Road to Qishan

In the first year of Zhangwu in Shu Han, General Guan Yu submitted a report to Emperor Zhaolie of Shu Han, Liu Bei, who requested to attack Wei, and agreed to accept it. He then recruited Ma Chao and Wei Yan returned to Chengdu to discuss the plan to attack Wei.

After receiving Liu Bei's edict, Ma Chao and Wei Yan immediately left Hanzhong and returned to Chengdu with a quick horse.

In front of Chengdu City Gate.

On the city gate tower, Guan Pingyao looked into the distance and saw rolling smoke and dust rising from the official road in the distance. At a glance, he knew that a large group of people had come.

"Take my big knife!" Guan Ping shouted softly, and the junior school beside him immediately lifted Guan Ping's big knife over.

Guan Ping took a knife and walked down the city tower, walked out of the city gate, raised his eyes to the distance, and Guan Ping found that all the people coming were Shu troops. On a large flag, a big word "Wei" fluttered in the wind.

"It seems that General Wei Yan is coming!" Guan Ping said, put away his knife. After a while, Wei Yan had already arrived at the city gate.

"General Wei Yan!" Guan Ping immediately met.

"It's Major General Guan! I didn't expect that Major General Guan would come to greet him!" Wei Yan said.

"General Wei, let's go to the city to rest first. Now General Ma Chao has not arrived in Chengdu yet, so it is estimated that this court will take a few days to discuss the attack on Wei."

Wei Yan was stationed in loyalty, while Ma Chao was stationed in Yangping Pass. Compared to this, Wei Yan was closer to Chengdu, so Wei Yan would return to Chengdu first before Ma Chao.

A ray of thundering sun shone on the towering city wall in Chengdu. Guan Ping saw that the sky was getting late, so he ordered: "It's getting late. It seems that General Ma can't come today. Send the order to close the city gate!"

"General, look at where!" The school next to him pointed to the distance, and saw a team of cavalry appearing in the distance, and arrived in Chengdu like lightning. The leader was Ma Chao.

"It's General Ma Chao! It's coming so fast..."

It is logical that Ma Chao and Wei Yan are at least one day away. However, Ma Chao and Cao Cao had a grudge against him to kill his father, so they had long been eager to attack Wei. Now that they heard that Liu Bei was going to attack Wei, they immediately came to Chengdu day and night, so they followed him to Chengdu not long after Wei Yan came to Chengdu.

The second day.

There was no arrangement for morning court today, but early in the morning, many officials still gathered in the court.

There were not many people coming, only a dozen, but these dozen people were all core figures under Liu Bei's command. Today, what everyone is discussing is the plan to attack Wei.

The attack on Wei is very involved, and it is not possible to send troops by sending troops. For example, the number of troops sent, the logistics and food guarantee, who will send to guard the rear base camp, etc., and the most important thing is which route to attack Wei.

This time, Liu Bei sent about 200,000 troops. The large number of troops left Shu is different from the scattered people left Shu. If there are too many people, the first thing to consider is the supply of food and grass. So of course we have to choose a big road. There are only two big roads to enter and exit Shu. One is to leave Qishan and enter Longxi through the upper valley, which is the road that Zhuge Liang chose for the first Northern Expedition; and the second is to go out to Sanguan to attack Chencang, which was the road that Emperor Gaozu built a plank road and secretly crossed Chencang. These two sets of roads were relatively wide and gentle, suitable for large groups of people to march.

Although the other roads, Xigu Road can also be marched, it is far less easy to walk than the previous two roads. Moreover, Xigu is greatly affected by the weather. If it encounters rainy days, it may be trapped on the road for days, which is easy to miss the opportunity to fight. Not to mention Ziwu Valley, the road is dangerous and difficult to move, and there are many mountains and steep mountains. If more than 100,000 troops walk through Ziwu Valley, the food and grass alone will not be supplied.

Regarding the issue of road selection, there were differences again. Zhuge Liang's proposal was still the same as in history. He installed the Xigu in detail to mobilize the main force of Cao's army. Instead, the army went out of Qishanxi, first occupied Tianshui, calmed down and Nan'an, cut off the connection between Yongzhou and Liangzhou, and then fought steadily and slowly advanced eastward, and finally occupied Chang'an, firmly securing the front line at Chang'an.

Guan Yu believed that he should follow the example of Emperor Gaozu and go out of Sanguan, enter Chencang, divide Yongzhou into two, and then take Chang'an directly, first take Chang'an, and then return to the army to capture Tianshui and Longxi and other places. At that time, because the road was blocked, the reinforcements in the Central Plains could not support Guanzhong, and Tianshui and other places in Longxi would inevitably collapse without fighting without reinforcements.

Pang Tong supported Zhuge Liang's opinion. Although Pang Tong liked to take odd steps, this battle was the first battle after Liu Bei became emperor, and it was related to the future national destiny of Shu. Pang Tong knew that most of the food and supplies consumed in this battle came from Hanzhong. If Shu did not achieve certain results in this battle, it would be difficult for him to be able to send troops to the north in the next five or six years. Therefore, Pang Tong also agreed to be more stable.

In comparison, although Guan Yu's method is effective quickly, it is also dangerous and is easily attacked from both sides. If the number of soldiers is not superior, Pang Tong might support Guan Yu, but now Liu Bei can mobilize a real 200,000 troops to the Northern Expedition and 200,000 troops, which may not be considered a big deal when the troubled times first broke out thirty years ago, but now, the 200,000 troops are enough to make it difficult for any side of the Three Kingdoms to resist.

Speaking of which, Liu Bei agreed with Guan Yu's idea in his heart. But Liu Bei himself knew that there are more than 300,000 people in Shu now. If he made an Northern Expedition, he naturally needed to leave people to guard Bashu and guard against Sun Quan. In addition, the logistics supply of food and grass, 200,000 people were close to the limit of sending troops to the Northern Expedition. These 200,000 people were Liu Bei's own family foundation. Liu Bei worked hard for decades to accumulate this little man and must not make any mistakes, so Liu Bei felt that it would be better to be more stable. Finally, Liu Bei agreed to Zhuge Liang's opinion.

At this time, Wei Yan stood up again and offered to give himself five thousand soldiers and horses, and went to Ziwu Valley to attack Chang'an.

At this time, Xiahou Shi was still the guardian of Chang'an. Xiahou Shi was the son of Xiahou Dun and had a good relationship with Cao Pi. Xiahou Dun died of illness before the New Year, and Cao Pi appointed Xiahou Shi as General Anxi, and held the throne, and the governor of Guanzhong after Xiahou Yuan and stationed in Chang'an.

Although Guo Huai was the governor of Yongzhou at this time, his power was not as good as Xiahou Yan. Xiahou Yan's governor Guanzhong was equivalent to controlling an independent corps. Guo Huai was only the leader of a state, and his real power was still not as good as Xiahou Yan. After all, this governor Guanzhong's army was of great importance, and Cao Pi was still worried when he was placed in the hands of a foreigner Guo Huai. The Xiahou family was also a relative of the Cao family, so even though Cao Pi knew that Xiahou Yan was not as capable as Guo Huai, he still handed over the military power to Xiahou Yan.

Wei Yan believed that Xiahou Wei was able to reach his current position entirely by his father Xiahou Dun's achievements and good relations with Cao Pi. Liu Bei's army went out of Qishan and attacked Longxi, and would inevitably mobilize Cao Pi's main force to the west, and Chang'an in the east would be empty. At this time, if all the troops were sent to follow the light troops and go to Ziwu Valley to raid Chang'an, as long as Chang'an was captured, the battle in Yongzhou would be basically over. Without Chang'an, the Cao Wei army would face the problem of unsupply of food and grass. At that time, maybe there would be a chance to wipe out the Cao army in Yongzhou.

Zhuge Liang immediately proposed that the method Wei Yan said was too dangerous. However, Zhuge Liang did not express his opposition clearly, but just expressed his lack of support. Unlike Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition in history, Liu Bei did not pass through Yiling's defeat, so Liu Bei's family was still very rich at this time, and Liu Bei could afford the loss of 5,000 troops.

In comparison, the returns brought by the investment of these 5,000 troops were extremely generous. If they could really beat Chang'an, it would be enough to change the battle situation in the entire Yongzhou. If Chang'an was lost, the Cao soldiers in Yongzhou would be unable to survive. If Cao's army did not withdraw from Guanzhong at that time, they would inevitably be wiped out by Liu Bei. Using 5,000 troops to bet on the entire Guanzhong is absolutely worth it for Liu Bei now.

Zhuge Liang knew that Liu Bei could definitely afford the loss of 5,000 troops now, and Zhuge Liang also knew that although Wei Yan's proposal was risky, the rate of return was extremely large, so Zhuge Liang did not express his support, but did not express his objection.

Pang Tong was very supportive of Wei Yan's proposal. Pang Tong was not as steady as Zhuge Liang in doing things, and liked to win by curious soldiers. Pang Tong felt that even if he could not conquer Chang'an by sending 5,000 troops, he could still play a role in restraining Cao's army. If Cao's army brought all the troops to Longxi and Chang'an was attacked at this time, Cao's army would definitely go back to Chang'an, and this was a god-given opportunity for the Shu army that was attacking Longxi. The Shu army could take this opportunity to advance the front line.

Zhuge Liang, two of Liu Bei's two major advisers, did not object, and Pang Tong expressed his support. The matter was settled. Wei Yan led 5,000 troops to Ziwu Valley and raided Chang'an City. Because the Ziwu Valley trail was difficult to walk, the first five thousand wooden ox and flowing horses were also first made by Wei Yan to use.

The problem of the route of sending troops has been solved, and next we will discuss the issue of how many troops to take to the expedition.

The biggest test for Liu Bei when the Northern Expedition of Wei was the logistics supply. Although Yizhou produces a lot of grain, the Shu Road was difficult. Even with the assistance of wooden ox and horses, the logistics pressure was still very high. A wooden ox could transport a soldier for one month's food and grass. Apart from the time spent on the road, it would take half a month to transport grain and grass from Hanzhong to the front line. In other words, a wooden ox and horse can only supply half a month's food and grass for half a month.

Fortunately, Chengdu to Hanzhong can take the water route from Yizhou, such as Tuojiang River and Dianjiang River, and Yongzhou is a plain. As long as the grain arrives in Yongzhou, large trucks can be used to transport grain, so wooden oxen and horses only need to go to and from Sichuan to block the road. However, even so, after preliminary estimates, if Liu Bei raised 200,000 troops to the Northern Expedition, he would need to recruit at least the same number of civilians to ensure the supply of food and grass.
Chapter completed!