When Lu Bu led his army to attack Chang'an, Dong Zhao's secret message had just arrived in Mianzhu, and Yizhou's troops had just been assembled. When they led the army north along the Jinniu Road and arrived at Jiange, the leader of the army, Sili Colonel Liu Fan, immediately received the news that Chang'an had fallen.
His younger brother Liu Dan was accompanying Jing Zhaoyin. When he heard the news, he couldn't help but be overjoyed and congratulated his eldest brother: "I thought I was going to travel thousands of miles and fight the dragon head hard, but I didn't expect Lu Fenwu to have such courage and win in one battle." Ke Chang'an! It seems that your lord is right, my family is blessed by God, and now my brother can seize the title without a fight and enjoy great wealth."
While Liu Fan was thinking about it, seeing how naive his brother was, he couldn't help but laugh. He shook his head and said, "How can it be so easy? Is Lu Bu a selfless person?" Seeing that Liu Dan was still puzzled, he explained in detail: According to the original According to the plan, the two states of Liang and Yi would join forces and march toward Guanzhong with nearly 200,000 troops. It would be like Mount Tai pressing down on top. No matter how hard Chen Chong fought, he would be defeated. But now Lu Bu doesn't act according to the plan, probably because he wants to monopolize the victory.
Liu Dan was greatly disappointed, and with some hesitation, he asked: "Then shall we go north?" Their original plan was to go to Hanzhong via Jinniu Road, then enter Chencang from Qishan Road, and then join the Liang army in Chencang. Then they attacked Xijing together. But now that Xijing has been defeated, if we go north again, we may not face the empty Guanzhong, but the heavily prepared Liang army.
Liu Fan didn't look worried at all. He rolled his eyes and then said with a smile: "Since we have led the troops on an expedition, there is no reason to return without success? At least we have to go to Hanzhong. Let the Taoist surnamed Zhang know first. How can a mangy dog who only guards my father's door turn into a tiger if he loosens his reins?"
This refers to the Five Pecks of Rice Taoist Master, Sima Zhanglu, who is now entrenched in Hanzhong and Brazil. He is the grandson of Zhang Ling, the "Celestial Master" who was left behind by Zhang Liang, and is quite famous in Shu. At the beginning of Liu Yan's tenure as the shepherd of Yizhou, he heard that Zhang Lu's mother was good at raising beauty and had the ability to communicate with ghosts and gods, so he secretly became fond of practicing with her. Therefore, Zhang Lu became Liu Yan's fake son.
After Dong Zhuo was assassinated, Liu Yan sent Zhang Lu and Zhang Xiu with 40,000 troops to attack Hanzhong. After the incident was completed, Zhang Lu killed Zhang Xiu, pretended to be self-reliant, separated the main roads, and closed the north gate of Yizhou, but in fact he still listened to Yizhou's command. It's just that time has passed. As Liu Yan grew older and had less correspondence with Zhang Lu, Zhang Lu's behavior became increasingly domineering, showing signs of separatist rule under a pseudonym. Liu Fan went north this time, also intending to deal with Zhang Lu along the way.
So the army continued to go north along the Golden Bull Road, and set foot on the narrowest and most difficult pass on the Golden Bull Road. From Jiange to the north and to the south of Mianyang, as far as you can see, there are mountains and clouds, and hundreds of walls. The roads are deep and deep, with only room for one person and one rider. There are jagged rocks in the middle, the cold wind is howling, and streams can be seen everywhere. Ice edges formed by water and snow covering the mountain tops. On a road of more than two hundred miles, they could only travel twenty miles in one day, and after walking for a full ten days, one morning, they saw the end of the Daba Mountains in the Hanzhong Basin, but this was not the end. They stood on Zouma Ridge and looked out, and found that farther north, the more majestic Qinling Mountains were showing its more majestic and solemn face. This scene made Liu Fan sigh in his heart, and he occasionally got a poem in his heart. He immediately named it "Rizhao Qinling Song" and read:
"The bright moon rises above the white water, among the vast sea of clouds.
The long wind has passed thousands of miles, and it has returned to Huaiyin.
The Han Dynasty led to Chencang Road, and the Three Qin Dynasties led to Chang'an.
In the past, the land of Longxing was now restored to nature. "
A few miles further east, you can see a majestic pass standing between two mountains and one river in the north and south. To the north is the remnant of the Qinling Mountains, with several forts built on it, which is enough to overlook the pass; to the south of the road is the Han River. Because the Qinling Mountains block the north wind, the Han River is still surging in the winter months. The water is turbulent and difficult to navigate; the mountains farther south are covered with trees and there are no roads for people to pass. As a result, the road leading to and from the pass is only five feet wide, and can only accommodate more than 20 people walking side by side. The visitor looked over and saw that one man was in charge and no one could get past him.
When the Shu soldiers reached a place two miles away from the pass, the door suddenly opened, and a group of more than two or three people came out. They approached the Shu soldiers with red and black elk flags and asked them loudly: "Are you here?" Who is it?"
Liu Fan ordered people to fly a white unicorn flag, and led more than 20 people forward, announcing to them: "I am the eldest son of Yizhou Shepherd Liu Yan, Liu Fan, the great Han Zuo Zhonglang general. Now, on the order of my father, I also On the order of the Emperor, I led three hundred thousand people to the north of Guanzhong, King Qin. I came here to see Zhang Sima. I wonder if he is okay?"
When the people on the other side heard that Liu Fan was coming, they all looked embarrassed. Unexpectedly, Liu Fan rode his horse closer and laughed in a low voice: "Why are you so nervous? Zhang Sima and I are still fake brothers. I want to meet him now. Is it okay?" He looked up at Beishan and added He said: "If you are worried, I can have the soldiers stationed outside and only bring a few dozen people into the city, okay?"
Seeing that Liu Fan was so friendly, the visitor said: "Then please come to the pass and sit down for a while. Zhang Sima is in Nanzheng and is not here. The guard of the pass is always Zhang Erlang. We will report to him in about half an hour." Come back."
Therefore, Liu Fan went straight to Yangping Pass and sat in a room behind the pass to warm himself with the soldiers. Soon, a big man wearing leather armor led more than ten people to meet him. Liu Fan took one look and recognized him as Zhang Wei, Zhang Lu's second brother. As soon as Zhang Weifu met, before they had even exchanged greetings, he saw Liu Fan suddenly draw a sword, lift it to his neck, and cut his skin with the blade. When all the guards were stunned, Liu Fan and his party had captured Zhang Wei, took him as a hostage, and asked the guards to open the door.
Most of the guards were natives from Shu, but they also believed in the Five Dou Rice Way, so they were unwilling to betray Zhang Lu or start a war with the Shu army. As a result, they neither fought nor retreated for a while. Liu Fan then blocked Zhang Fan's mouth and promised everyone that as long as the door was opened, he would not only reward the person who opened the door with gold and silver, but he would also not hurt anyone on the road. If there are still people who seek death and disobey the king's orders, they will be punished by the nine clans. After this word came out, the guards immediately became birds and beasts and dispersed.
The few remaining people opened the door and let the Shu soldiers file in. When Liu Dan saw that his brother was taking such risks, he couldn't help complaining: "The son of a rich man cannot sit down in the palace. As the commander of an army, why should my brother take such risks?" Liu Fan only smiled indifferently and replied, "I have an army behind me to rely on. How can it be considered an adventure?”
Then he led his army eastward, entered Mianyang, and then surrounded Hanzhong County and governed Nanzheng. Zhang Lu was enjoying himself at home in this fashion. Unexpectedly, Liu Fan suddenly raised an army and was shocked. After hearing about his brother's capture and Liu Fan's promise, he had no choice but to leave the city alone in fox fur and go to Liu Fan's tent to express his allegiance. Liu Fan ignored the past suspicions and released Zhang Wei in public, and then held a banquet with several people. They poured wine and played music at the banquet, which was quite intimate, as if they had never had a grudge.
Zhang Wei finally lost his composure and asked Liu Fan: "How dare the young master go into danger alone? Aren't you afraid that my brother will risk his life and die with the young master?"
When Liu Fan heard this, he couldn't help but smile and said with a snap of his fingers: "I have exchanged letters with Zhang Sima a lot, and I have always known Sima's character: Although Sima is ambitious, he has no determination. The reason why he can guard the pass is because Erlang is the brave one. So I see an opportunity. If you can capture Erlang, just use this move. If Sima loses his courage, how can he still fight with me?"
After Er Zhang heard this, he immediately said sincerely, "Young master's wisdom is like a gift from heaven." Then he asked Liu Fan about matters related to the Northern Expedition. Liu Fan waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, I'm still waiting for someone. If he comes, everything from now on will not be difficult."
Others didn't understand what he said, but Liu Fan just drank indifferently and didn't explain much. It wasn't until Dong Zhao visited the camp two days later that everyone suddenly realized.
Dong Zhao's trip had many twists and turns. After discovering that something was wrong with the situation in the capital, he immediately fled out of the capital to prevent being captured alive by the Sili Mansion. He originally planned to rush to Liangzhou immediately, wait for the soldiers from the two states to reunite, and then directly follow the army to fight back to Chang'an. Unexpectedly, just as they arrived at Wu Gong, they received news that the Liang army had made a surprise attack on Chang'an and that Lu Bu had been granted the title of general. This made Dong Zhao so shocked that he had to stay in the local countryside for a while and keep asking about the changes in the situation in Xijing. After fully understanding the details of the Chang'an coup, he realized that the overall situation he had worked hard to plan for several years was completely for Jia Jia. Xu made a wedding dress, but he got nothing.
Full of anger, Dong Zhao immediately changed his path. Instead of going to Liangzhou, he entered Xiegu from Yi County and took the Baoxie Road to Hanzhong, specially coming to seek refuge with the capital of Yizhou. When Liu Fan saw him, he was only wearing linen and sheep fur, riding a green ox, and only a Confucian crown on his head could still show his identity as a Confucian scholar.
After Dong Zhao sat down, he asked Liu Fan, "Does the young master have great ambitions?"
Liu Fan immediately laughed, waved his hand and said, "Sir, why do you need to make such pretentious remarks? Now that our army is here, will it return without success? Sir, just tell me what the situation is in Guanzhong and what arrangements the Liang people have. I You will decide on your own."
Seeing Liu Fan's smile, Dong Zhao's eyes were full of indifference and calmness, and he couldn't help but feel calm in his heart. So he rolled his eyes for a while and said in a slow tone: "Now Lu Bu is attacking the Hedong and Hongnong areas. There is no large army in Guanzhong. Master, Why not march north quickly and march out of Guanlong? Once Xijing is captured, what will the world have to worry about?"
After Liu Fan heard this, he still shook his head and said: "Sir, you are joking. Where can the fast horses come from in the middle of Sichuan? We can only walk northward on the Baoxie Road. I am afraid that our whereabouts will be known less than half way. Where can we find it?" Can you attack Chang'an?" He quite disagreed with what Dong Zhao said.
When Dong Zhao was anxious and wanted to continue persuading, Liu Fan stretched out his hand to stop him, then stood up and said: "However, what I am worried about is that the Liang people noticed it in advance and refused to allow me to enter the mountain road. But now it seems that they are too late." . When they withdraw from Hongnong, Hedong, we will be able to walk out of the mountain road. By then, I am afraid we will have to confront each other in Yi County."
He pondered for a moment and said to everyone: "Pack your luggage and set off tomorrow." After giving instructions on all the trivial matters, he suddenly smiled casually at the generals and said: "This trip is going to thousands of mountains and rivers. It must be famous all over the world, so I will not say goodbye." What a hard work!”
From this, Liu Fan led 120,000 Shu troops northward from Baoshui River and entered Baoxie Road.
