The situation changes so quickly that it is dizzying.
In May of the 19th year of Jian'an, Sun Quan sent troops to attack Jingnan.
In June, Liu Bei heard the news and led his troops to Yufu. He joined Zhang Xi, Zhang Fei and others to rescue Jingnan.
In July, Sun Quan and Liu Bei each led their armies to confront each other in Xiangtan and Gong'an in southern Jingnan. The confrontation lasted for almost a month.
At the same time, Cao Cao led his troops out of Yecheng and entered Chang'an in early August.
In late August, Liu Bei and Sun Quan redrawn their boundaries, concluded an alliance agreement, and both sides withdrew their troops.
In mid-September, Liu Bei led his army back to Yufu, and in the same month, Cao Cao sent Xia Houyuan to officially march into Hanzhong.
Liu Bei received the news of Cao Cao's attack on Hanzhong in Yufu. On the one hand, he ordered Huo Jun to strictly guard Jiameng Pass. On the other hand, he wrote a letter to Zhang Lu personally, telling him that if he was defeated, he could retreat to the south of Hanzhong, with Yizhou at his back, and continue to hold on. .
Liu Bei also quickly led his troops on the march and returned to Chengdu in late October.
At this time, Zhang Lu had lost all important checkpoints and cities including Yangping Pass, leaving Xiahou Yuan to lead his army to besiege Nanzheng like making rice dumplings.
Liu Bei wrote to Zhang Lu for the second time, asking Zhang Lu to rely on Nanzheng to hold on, at least until next spring, so that Liu Bei would personally lead the army to Hanzhong to join Zhang Lu and fight Cao Cao.
After all, in Liu Bei's view, his army had just returned from Jingnan, so he couldn't lead his troops north without taking any rest.
Even if Liu Bei was in a hurry and used the army in this way, the army would mutiny.
Moreover, considering Nanzheng's city defense and Zhang Lu's popularity in Hanzhong, the opponent was not Cao Cao's personal visit. The Liangzhou legion led by Xia Houyuan was mainly based on cavalry and was not good at attacking the city. In Liu Bei's opinion, it held on for about half a year. It can be done.
Therefore, Liu Bei had to be patient, rest and recuperate in Chengdu, and prepare strategic materials for the northward campaign.
But after Zhang Lu received Liu Bei's letter, he immediately felt that Liu Bei was treacherous and left him alone in Nanzheng to resist Cao Cao, while Liu Bei was reaping the benefits from behind.
Zhang Lu originally looked down upon Liu Bei, thinking that he was just a lucky villain.
In addition, Liu Bei's previous attack on Yizhou was indeed not authentic enough. Zhang Lu had been worried that Liu Bei's so-called support for him was actually looking for an excuse to enter Hanzhong, and then he would make the same mistake as Liu Zhang.
Therefore, after much deliberation, Zhang Lu did not even think of retreating to Hannan. In December of the 19th year of Jian'an, Zhang Lu, who had held on for less than two months, surrendered under the persuasion of his subordinates Yang Song and Yan Pu. Cao Cao.
This time, Liu Bei was caught off guard, and he could only watch helplessly as Cao Cao marched from Chang'an to Hanzhong without any hindrance, and quickly occupied the entire territory of Hanzhong.
Liu Bei suddenly became anxious and summoned several counselors in Chengdu to discuss the response strategy.
Zhuge Liang's suggestion is to let all places guard the passes and wait and see what happens.
The reason is that Zhuge Liang always feels that it is unlikely that Cao Cao will actually lead troops into Yizhou. The bad debts after he called him "gong" have not been resolved. If he leaves Yecheng for too long, it will definitely explode.
And those who hold the same suggestion include Fa Zheng.
Fazheng also believed that Cao Cao was internally unstable and that his attack on Hanzhong was more for show of military exploits and to clear his name, rather than an all-out attack on Liu Bei.
As for Pang Tong, in fact, Pang Tong also recognized the analysis of Zhuge Liang and Fa Zheng.
But it was precisely because Pang Tong agreed with Zhuge Liang and Fazheng's analysis that he judged that Cao Cao could not stay in Hanzhong for a long time and would not easily lead his army into Sichuan. Therefore, he should send troops decisively at this time, taking advantage of the fact that Cao Cao could not fully and effectively control Hanzhong. At this time, we should gain some footholds in Hannan and prepare for the future attack on Hanzhong.
There is no need for Liu Bei to personally lead the army north to Hanzhong. He only needs to have a general and more than 10,000 troops to move north of Jiameng Pass and occupy part of the county.
Not to mention, Liu Bei was a little moved by Pang Tong's suggestion.
But neither Zhuge Liang nor Fazheng agreed.
If we don't mess with Cao Cao now, maybe Cao Cao will return with success, but if we really go north to attack Hanzhong, maybe Cao Cao will really stop leaving.
It's not like Cao Cao has never done this before, insisting on advancing troops at the end of a strong crossbow. What's more, Zhang Lu didn't cause any trouble to Cao Cao in this battle of Hanzhong.
Another thing is that Liu Bei has just conquered Chengdu less than a year ago, and the people are not attached to it. Although the treasury is temporarily full because of the direct money incident, there is an undercurrent surging under the table.
Liu Bei has just led his troops to conquer Jingnan and returned. If he wants to use force at this time, then Liu Bei will be at the end of his true crossbow.
Therefore, Fazheng and Zhuge Liang persuaded Liu Bei to rest and recuperate temporarily, and then go north to Hanzhong after sorting out the situation in Yizhou.
As long as Cao Cao leaves Hanzhong and only Xia Houyuan is there to guard him, there really is no need to worry too much.
Liu Bei was unwilling to give in after all, especially the geographical location of Hanzhong. If Liu Bei didn't have it in his hands, he wouldn't be able to sleep well.
But Liu Bei is well aware of the specific difficulties he is facing now, and he also knows that he is not as big as Cao Cao's family, and Chibilang can still clean up the mess once he returns.
Therefore, although he was unwilling to do so, Liu Bei still issued an order for all passes to be strictly guarded against the invasion of Cao's army and to recuperate internally.
Of course, we must not forget to write a letter to Guan Yu, asking him to postpone the attack on Xiangyang.
Don't look back and don't attack Hanzhong. Guan Yu attacks Xiangyang instead, which makes Cao Cao alert. That would be bad.
In fact, Cao Cao's purpose of attacking Hanzhong this time was really not for Liu Bei.
When Cao Cao entered the army this time, he never thought about fighting a big war. He just found a reason to leave Yecheng and see if any monsters would jump out to oppose him.
But the timing of Cao Cao's dispatch of troops was just perfect. Before leaving Yecheng, he received news that the Sun and Liu families were facing each other in Jingnan. Cao Cao saw that there was such a good thing, so he would be a bastard if he didn't take advantage of it. Egg.
Originally, Cao Cao's plan was to lead his army to Huainan for a walk to see what the reaction was inside Yecheng. If there were any problems, he would come back quickly to deal with the restless guys.
But now he found that neither Sun nor Liu stayed on their own base, so Cao Cao changed his mind.
There were two paths before Cao Cao.
One is to march into Huainan according to the original plan.
At this time, Sun Quan's main force is in Jingnan, and Huainan's defense must be very empty. If you go to Huainan at this time, you can capture some places, not to mention completely driving Sun Quan's forces out of Jiangbei. At least you can have a considerable advantage.
But the Battle of Chibi and the First Battle of Ruxu told Cao Cao that without a strong naval force, even if he occupied the land north of the Yangtze River, he would not be able to occupy the east of the Yangtze River if he could not break through the Yangtze River.
The other one is to change the plan and take advantage of Liu Bei's absence in Yizhou to take Hanzhong directly.
First, Hanzhong is a barrier to defend Chengdu. Once Hanzhong is captured, there will be a platform to enter Yizhou at any time.
Secondly, Zhang Lu of Hanzhong has a good way of doing things, and his governance level is not bad, but his military level is really not good, so he is an easier opponent to fight.
Thirdly, Hanzhong was hardly affected by the war, and many people from Yongliang and Liangzhous fled to Hanzhong. The land in Hanzhong was also very fertile and suitable for farming.
In such a standard place where there is food, people and territory, the lord is still a weakling. Does Cao Cao even think about it? !
Therefore, Cao Cao directly marched into Chang'an, took a peek at Hanzhong, and even recalled Xia Houyuan, who wanted to pacify the Qiang and Hu people around Xiliang, and attacked Hanzhong first.
As Cao Cao expected, Zhang Lu of Hanzhong only resisted for three months. After Nanzheng was besieged, he did not think about retreating south and surrendering directly.
As for Cao Cao, after harvesting Hanzhong, he had no intention of continuing into Xichuan. Instead, he led his army back to Yecheng.
The purpose of Cao Cao's leaving Yecheng this time was to fish, and the fish he caught was quite effective - there were many people who were dissatisfied with his rule and jumped out to make trouble again. Cao Cao wanted to go back and deal with these ungrateful people.
On the other hand, with this great victory over Zhang Lu and the capture of Hanzhong, Cao Cao planned to "take another step forward."
He plans to become king.
If calling him "gong" before had the meaning of temptation, calling him "king" this time simply meant putting all his thoughts on the table.
This sentence has been completely broken by Cao Cao until now.
If we say that in the 15th year of Jian'an, when Cao Cao wrote the "Order to Make the County Self-Ming", he may not have such great ambitions and just wanted to be a general in the Western Conquest.
But by the first month of the 20th year of Jian'an, when Cao Cao officially ascended the throne as King of Wei, Cao Cao was already a usurper and traitor.
This cannot be washed off.
As for Liu Bei? !
It's not that Cao Cao looked down upon him, it was actually that although Liu Bei had developed very smoothly in recent years, there were also many hidden dangers, and Cao Cao saw these clearly.
Furthermore, Liu Bei has always been Cao Cao's defeated general, and Cao Cao has an absolute psychological advantage over Liu Bei.
In Cao Cao's eyes, what if Liu Bei occupied some states and counties? When Liu Bei occupied Xuzhou and was quite popular, it was better to let him fight.
So, although Liu Bei occupied Yizhou, Cao Cao felt that as long as Hanzhong was in his hands, he could attack Liu Bei and recapture Yizhou whenever he wanted.
What is really important is something related to the Cao family's foundation for hundreds of years to come - to usurp the Han Dynasty and establish itself.
(End of chapter)
