According to common sense, as the commander-in-chief of the entire army and the prime minister of the Han Dynasty, Chen Chong should no longer risk his own life, but should sit in Chencang and make arrangements from the center, commanding the two armies remotely to achieve the purpose of the campaign. Even if you are not worried about the frontline war, you should still sit in the right army and be responsible for the main attack on Yangping Pass. No matter how you look at it, personally leading the Left Route Army to attack the hinterland of Hanzhong was too risky for Chen Chong, who was already in his fifties.
Therefore, when Chen Chong made this decision, it aroused unanimous opposition from the generals. Duan Xu used the example of the ancient Qin and Wei battles in Hexi to ask Chen Chong for help, saying: "Back then, Shang Yang lured and captured the young master Yan, leaving the Wei army without a commander and the soldiers panicking. As a result, they were defeated in the first battle and abandoned the land. They became the sixth emperor of the Western Qin Dynasty. If the prime minister is in trouble, what will happen to the soldiers of Naixi Mansion?"
But Chen Chong was determined and slowly shook his head and said: "Captain, there is no need to persuade me. I have made such arrangements after careful consideration. You are flying my flag high along the way. With the bad reputation I have gained over the past few decades, the Shu Army You must not dare to relax. Most of the troops will probably be attracted around Yangping Pass, so you cannot act rashly. You stand firm first, and when I lead the troops around to the enemy's rear, I raise the flag, and most of the Shu army will mobilize to surround me. At that time, you It will be much easier to attack Yangping Pass again."
Duan Yan knew that he could no longer persuade him, so he asked Ma Chao's first division and Yin Feng's troops, the most elite in the government, to be transferred to the left army. He privately told Ma Chao: "I am old and I am afraid I won't be able to work for a few more years. But Meng Qi, you are young and very talented. As long as you can protect the Prime Minister on this expedition with the Prime Minister, it will be a great achievement. When I return to my hometown to serve as an official in the future, I will definitely recommend you to sit in this position." Ma Chao was overjoyed when he heard this, Naturally, there is a corresponding response.
When he returned to Chen Chong's command, it was not the first time that Chen Chong met him, but it was the first time they were alone together. On the day when the troops were divided, Chen Chong saw him riding a fast yellow horse, and several horses were running ahead to join him. Ma Chao was dressed in gray hunting clothes, with a bow on his back and a sword on his waist. Although it was not very flashy, But matching Ma Chao's thin and muscular face, he has a solemn and gloomy temperament.
When he came closer, his riders all reined back their horses, letting the excited horses slowly calm down. Only Ma Chao, after approaching Chen Chong, once reined in the horse, the horse stopped and only stepped on the ground several times, as if it was nailed. Chen Chong casually praised it and said: "What a good horse!"
Unexpectedly, Ma Chao said: "Since the Prime Minister likes it, how about giving it to the Prime Minister?"
Chen Chong was stunned when he heard this, shook his head and said with a smile: "This is a war horse that is used to fight in person. Although I am leading a surprise attack from the left, I am not planning to fight. Meng Qi might as well ride it to achieve meritorious deeds!"
Ma Chao was still a little disappointed when the gift failed, but he immediately cheered up and bowed to Chen Chong: "I am very proficient in writing. Although I still have some fighting skills, I am far inferior to the Prime Minister. This time I go south, I will ask the Prime Minister for advice." That's right." Chen Chong saw that he was so humble, so naturally he was kind to him, and replied: "There's nothing to coach. It's just a matter of careful consideration beforehand, and calculating the odds with more and less with less."
In the next few days, Chen Chong organized his army and waited in Lanmeiyuan as planned, and gradually became familiar with Ma Chao. As the eldest son of a famous family, Ma Chao was quite extravagant in food and clothing, but probably due to the influence of the folk customs in Longshang, he was not very noble yet, and he was quite friendly in conversation with the soldiers, but he was a bit withdrawn and often spent time alone in his spare time. .
On the day of departure, Chen Chong led his army to officially enter Luo Valley. Because it was a surprise attack by separate routes, it was unrealistic to expect that the food road transportation could keep up with the cavalry. Therefore, after those on the left carried a month's worth of dry food on their horses, they had to rely entirely on themselves on the mountain road that followed. Before leaving, looking at the mountains and forest barriers to the south, Chen Chong asked Ma Chao with a smile: "Can Meng Qi endure the hardship?" Ma Chao replied: "If it's for meritorious service, it's all for nothing!"
But after actually walking into the Tangluo Road, everyone realized that the road was far more dangerous than they imagined. Although the Tangluo Road is named after Tanggu and Luogu, the two valleys are not directly connected. It passes through the Xiluogushui, Heishui, Shuishui, Youshui, Tangshui and other river valleys, and crosses the gap between Xiluogushui and Heishui. There are four or five large mountain ridges, including Shibapanling between Heishui and Sishui, the main ridge of Qinling between Heishui and Sishui, Xinglongling between Sishui and Youshui, Niuling and Guanlingliang between Youshui and Tangshui. , so in terms of danger, the Tangluo Road is slightly better than the Ziwu Road. Only because the road is fast, it will not be abandoned.
Chen Chong, Ma Chao and his party walked for three or four days in a row. When they looked up and down, they saw almost endless desolate forests and mountains.
. Since the last large-scale operation was more than ten years ago, many thorns and awns still inevitably grew on the valley road. In addition, summer nights were the season when mosquitoes breed. Everyone walked extremely hard along the way. There were scratches on their faces, and some even had a bunch of red rashes. One night it rained, and when the cold water hit them, many people fell ill naturally. But fortunately, before the trip, they had already anticipated a similar situation, so the army brought a lot of herbal medicine to treat cold malaria. So although the journey was difficult, not many people were left behind.
Of course, it's not all bad along the way. Probably on the seventh day, when everyone walked to the Sealed Ridge, they suddenly found many crows flying overhead. After the sound of flapping wings, they immediately witnessed a strange scene: there were about a thousand elk. Just like a brown-red river running through the mountain roads, they were not afraid when they saw the sergeants. They ran down the side of the rocks on their own. Then they jumped like elves and disappeared on the other side of the mountains and deep forests.
When Chen Chong saw this scene, he stood at the front unconsciously. As he hesitated, he suddenly heard the roar of a deer and saw a white figure jumping up and standing on the opposite rock. He looked carefully. Look, it's a white deer. It was much larger than an ordinary deer, almost as big as an ordinary horse. Chen Chong saw the white deer staring at them, and under the boulder where the white deer stood, there were dots of orchids growing in the stream.
[In view of the general environment,
He suddenly thought of Qu Yuan's "Mrs. Xiang", thought for a moment, and read:
"Under the purple altar of Yunmeng, the trees and leaves in the world are clear. Deer are everywhere in the mountains, and trampling hoof orchids are growing on the curtains."
"It is only beneficial to the hard work of elixir, and it can add splendor and invention. Fighting wars will spread all over the world, and the fragrance will visit the western camp of the country."
When I looked up again, the white deer had disappeared.
The sight of the white deer boosted the morale of the whole army. They originally planned to catch a few deer to satisfy their greed, but they all gave up after meeting the white deer. They privately said that the white deer is a rare auspicious thing in the world. Now that it appears in front of everyone for no reason, it is obviously to protect our army from victory.
So on the twelfth day, the soldiers bypassed Tiewa Mountain and walked west for about twenty miles. Suddenly they saw an old locust tree about seven or eight feet high at the mouth of the valley. When they walked under the tree, they I found that the surrounding mountains suddenly dropped like a waterfall. You can vaguely see the houses and cooking smoke at the foot of the mountain, and both sides of the street are full of rapeseed flowers that have passed their flowering period. They are lush and green, making people feel full of vitality and boosting their spirits.
To prepare for the unexpected, the group of people mounted their horses, quickly descended the mountain in a queue, and then went to the countryside below to ask for directions. The local villagers were extremely frightened when they discovered that the Liang people had suddenly appeared, and hurriedly sent out a local five-peck rice wine sacrificer to contact him. While Chen Chong was waiting, he ordered his men to formally raise the flag and post the prepared memorandum to impeach Shu around. Only then did the villagers realize that the scribes in front of them were the prime ministers of the northern court. Chen Chongdan did not dare to neglect the rice and wine offerings. Chen Chongdan asked questions and answered them all.
It turned out that the Left Route Army had arrived at Yangping Pass as promised ten days ago. Zhang Lu and Pan Jun heard that Chen Chong was personally conquering Hanzhong, and they quickly recruited the strong men in the county. Except for the troops from Shangyong and Fangling, almost all the other soldiers were recruited. We have already prepared for war in the area from Nanzheng to Mianyang. Now, the area from Longting to Chenggu where Chen Chong is located is almost completely empty.
Chen Chong looked at the people in the village and found that there were indeed not many young men, and he was convinced that the rice religion's wine sacrifice was not a lie. Immediately, Ma Chao, Yin Feng and others were summoned to discuss the next step.
To be honest, even Chen Chong himself did not expect that his name would have such great pressure. It went so far as to allow the enemy to empty all other roads in order to guard the Yangping Pass. Looking at it this way, the original bold plan now seems a bit conservative. There is currently a large gap in the Shu people's defense line, which is their own advantage. If they attack according to the plan, they will not get much benefit.
After Ma Chao heard the news, he was extremely excited, as if a huge treasure had been delivered to him. He quickly asked Chen Chong for help and said: "Prime Minister, I heard that Yangpingguan Pass is too small to accommodate tens of thousands of troops. The remaining I am afraid that all the soldiers are scattered around Guancheng. Now that they are defenseless, we can attack their camp from their backs at night. The enemy
People have no way to escape, so they must surrender to us! "
Chen Chong also agreed with him, so he temporarily changed his plan and walked along the deep mountains of Mianbei day and night, from Longting to the north of Nanzheng. The local garrison built a camp in the north of the city to rest. When Chen Chong sent people to investigate, he found that the rice festival was being held in the enemy's camp, and there were no secret sentries or scouts outside the city. After receiving the report, Chen Chong ordered the entire army to mount their horses and move slowly. When the enemy camp was about four miles away, they suddenly launched an attack.
For a moment, the horses neighed like a tide, and the Western knights kept whipping their whips, rushing into the Shu camp like thunder. The Mido believers were caught off guard and saw countless swords and swords flashing out from the fire. They were so frightened that they had no will to resist. They only thought about taking advantage of the chaos to escape. As a result, they huddled together in a chaotic mess and finally found the camp when they reached the back door. The front and rear exits of the camp were blocked by the enemy, and there was no way to escape. They could only let the enemy rush back and forth in the camp.
That night, Zhang Lu, a teacher with five buckets of rice, was captured by Ma Chao and kidnapped and sent to Chen Chong's banner. After Chen Chong gave the order, Zhang Lu did not dare to disobey, and personally asked the followers to give up resistance, and ordered the Nanzheng City Gate to open and surrender. The land that had been the foundation for twenty years fell into Chen Chong's hands instantly. Pan Jun, who was originally guarding Yangping Pass, was greatly frightened after learning the news of Nanzheng's surrender. The front and rear passages were cut off and there was no way out, so he surrendered to Duan Xuan in front of the pass.
At this point, Chen Chong almost took over the Hanzhong natural barrier as if he were searching for something. The whole process was so smooth that even the generals of the Xifu found it incredible. Immediately afterwards, a new question posed in front of Chen Chong and the generals: Hanzhong has been conquered, and the northern gate of Bashu has been lost. Should we go to Longwang Shu and take advantage of the situation to directly attack Jiange?
