Zhuge Liang and Zhang Xi nominally came to Hanzhong to inspect the place, but in fact, they came to Hanzhong to make various preparations in advance for the second Northern Expedition that Liu Bei was about to launch.
After coming to Hanzhong this time, Zhuge Liang and Zhang Xi had no plans to return to Chengdu.
Zhang Xi and Zhuge Liang do not need to worry about the mobilization of soldiers and food reserves for the Northern Expedition. There is a group of people in Chengdu who are responsible for this matter. As long as Liu Bei officially issues the order for the Northern Expedition, then food, grass and soldiers will continue to be transported to Hanzhong.
As for strategic planning, Pang Tong and Fa Zheng also made suggestions to Liu Bei. Zhuge Liang and Zhang Xi did not need to worry too much. In terms of military level alone, those two were better than Zhuge Liang and Zhang Xi.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang and Zhang Xi temporarily put aside their court affairs and came to Hanzhong in advance to make preparations.
Zhuge Liang, Zhang Xi, and Huang Quan discussed together for a long time. Under Huang Quan's detailed introduction, Zhuge Liang and Zhang Xi basically understood the current military and political situation in Hanzhong, and then conducted a simple division of labor.
Huang Quan was still the prefect of Hanzhong, and he still had to preside over the daily government affairs of Hanzhong. He just needed to adjust the focus of his work and coordinate the counties in Hanzhong to cooperate with Zhuge Liang in preparing for the Northern Expedition.
Zhuge Liang officially became the top leader of Hanzhong as Zhongshu Ling. He was fully responsible for Hanzhong's preparations for the Northern Expedition. He concentrated on preparing for the dispatch and collection of logistical supplies. He also coordinated with Chengdu's government orders and made timely adjustments according to changes in Chengdu's government orders. , be prepared to welcome the coming Northern Expedition.
Zhang Xi is mainly responsible for military affairs.
One is to build a large enough military camp in Hanzhong to prepare for the army to enter Hanzhong.
The other is to inspect the city defense repair situation in various parts of Hanzhong, the speed of the replacement of ordnance in each county, the recruitment and training of county soldiers, etc.
The first thing is relatively simple. Now there is a Preparation Department in Hanzhong. Zhang Xi directly handed this matter to Yang Yi and asked Yang Yi to make a plan. Then he would stamp it with the seal of the Ministry of War, and Zhuge Liang would stamp it with the Order of Zhongshu. After sealing, it was sent directly to Chengdu for approval by Emperor Liu Bei. As long as Liu Bei approved it, the Shangshu Province could directly coordinate the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Industry to allocate funds and mobilize civilian labor to build military camps.
In other words, it only takes less than a month to come back and forth.
The second thing is the most important.
Hanzhong now has a total of 23,000 registered soldiers, of which 13,000 are stationed in the fortress at Baoxie Road to protect Baoxie Road. The remaining 10,000 are county soldiers and are basically placed in Counties now need to gather together and conduct training.
The arsenal ordnance in Hanzhong was also a focus of Zhang Xi's inspection.
After the end of the last Northern Expedition, due to the special nature of Hanzhong as the base for the advance of the Northern Expedition, the weapons and armor in the Hanzhong arsenal were not brought back to Chengdu when the troops retreated.
Now that two years have passed, Zhang Xi must take stock and inspect these armors and ordnance to find out how many ordnance and armor there are, and how many of them are no longer usable and have to be replaced.
These two things may not seem too difficult, but they are very cumbersome.
Needless to say about the arsenal, even if Zhang Xi is assigned thirty assistants to count the weapons and armor in the arsenal, it will take at least more than a month to complete the inventory, not to mention finding out the defective ones that cannot be used. Replacing ordnance armor is a job that requires patience.
And it is quite troublesome to summon the county soldiers to Nanzheng for training.
Recruiting soldiers is just a matter of military orders, but once these soldiers are gathered together, Zhang Xi needs to supervise the training of soldiers every day, formulate training plans for soldiers, and observe the training effects. Now there is only one person in Hanzhong who can help Zhang Xi share these tasks. No.
Zhuge Liang and Huang Quan both have this ability, but the problem is that they are too busy with their own affairs, so how can they have time to help Zhang Xi train soldiers.
Therefore, after much deliberation, Zhang Xi decided to do the third thing first.
The third thing was to inspect the Baoxie crossing where Chen Dao was stationed to obtain first-hand strategic intelligence for the Northern Expedition.
During the last Northern Expedition, Liu Bei's army took control of the camp at Baoxie Pass and established a temporary defense. It was clear that he wanted to use this passage to reach Guanzhong.
And Cao Wei is not a fool. The entrance to Baoxie Road has been opened. As long as he is not stupid, he will definitely take strict precautions against Baoxie Road.
As the Minister of the Ministry of War, Zhang Xi saw many documents passed by Chen Dao, describing the situation at Baoxie Pass. When Cao Ren was presiding over the military affairs of Chang'an, under Chen Dao's nose, he saw the mountains and rivers outside the Baoxie Pass. Many camps and forts were built on the plains.
Cao Ren's idea was probably to block Baoxie Road with a large number of forts and camps. Once Liu Bei's army came out of Baoxie Road, these camps and forts could serve as a warning and buy a certain amount of time for Cao's army to assemble.
It serves as a warning.
But this information was only passed to Zhang Xi by Chen Dao through documents, and Zhang Xi only learned about the real situation. Zhang Xi was really worried if he didn't go and see it on the spot.
And now that Cao Ren has died of illness, whether Cao Zhen, the newly appointed governor of Cao Wei and Yongliang, will still adopt this strategy requires Zhang Xi to conduct on-site observation before he can draw a conclusion.
Liu Bei's sudden Northern Expedition this time was actually not a very good time. It is difficult for this Northern Expedition to last for a year like the last time. The pressure on grain and grass logistics is too great and cannot be sustained at all.
Therefore, it is always good to have more information and learn more about Cao Jun's movements.
Based on this consideration, the first thing Zhang Xi did after dividing the work with Zhuge Liang was to cross Baoxie Road and go to Chen Dao to see the situation.
As soon as he arrived at the entrance to Baoxie Road in Hanzhong, Zhang Xi was a little dumbfounded.
The conditions on Baoxe Road seem to be a little different from what I thought.
Among the five roads that cross the Qinling Mountains, Baoxie Road is actually not the best road to take.
The best way to go is the Qishan Road, but the Qishan Road leads to Longyou. Strictly speaking, it bypasses the Qinling Mountains. Now that northern Yongzhou and Liangzhou have been captured, and even the Longshan Road has been occupied, then the Qishan Road It has lost its strategic role.
There are two roads left that are relatively easy to walk, one is Chencang Road and the other is Baoxie Road.
The reason why Chencang Road cannot be taken is that the pass of Chencang Road is still under the control of Cao Wei. That place is notoriously easy to defend and difficult to attack, and difficult to attack.
Therefore, under Liu Bei's control, the Baoxie Road, which although steep but still barely capable of transporting soldiers, grain, grass and ordnance, became Liu Bei's first choice when leaving the border.
For this reason, when Zhang Xi just took over the Ministry of War, he wrote a letter to the Zhongshu Province, requesting to strengthen the defense of the Baoxie Road entrance and the repair of the Baoxie Road. One of the very important items was-Tiao Zang Da The cement produced in the county is being used to repair the ramp.
Wouldn't it be a pity that cement, a weapon with both military and civilian uses, would not be used to build roads? !
Zhang Xi clearly remembered that for this matter, Zhuge Liang specifically discussed the construction details with Zhang Xi, and then personally approved it and handed it over to Liu Bei, who directly sent it to the Shangshu Province for execution.
This is military, and no one dares to be careless.
Therefore, when Zhang Xi came to the entrance of Baoxie Road, he originally thought he could see a newly widened Baoxie Road poured with cement, but in fact he did not.
What Zhang Xi saw was an ordinary rammed earth road.
It can be seen that this road has been repaired before, but the road surface has only been compacted and the plank road has been reinforced. The wide cement road that Zhang Xi thought has not appeared.
Zhang Xi can't understand this. These days, do people even dare to cut corners in military industrial facilities? !
But for this matter, Zhang Xi really couldn't find the person in charge for a while.
Zhang Xi asked the local county magistrate. The county magistrate said that he had indeed received a military order to repair the Baoxie Road. However, General Chen at the Baoxie Road entrance ordered to postpone the construction of the road again, and even used the money originally used to repair the Baoxie Road. All the cement was transferred to the intersection of Baoxie Road. Until now, the county magistrate has not received a new military order to repair Baoxie Road.
If it had been someone else, Zhang Xi would have been so angry that he wanted to kill someone. But with Chen Dao, Zhang Xi believed that the old general had his reasons for doing things.
Zhang Xi once worked with Chen Dao and knew that his character and conduct were not the kind of arrogant and domineering general who did not know the importance of matters.
Yang Xi evaluated Zhao Yun and Chen Dao in "Praise to the Fuchen of Ji Han" and used the comment "Conquering the south is heavy, conquering the west is loyal".
Chen Dao is the historical General of the Four Expeditions of Han Dynasty. However, in this time and space, Liu Bei has no intention of permanently appointing the General of the Four Expeditions. Even if he uses it, it is probably a temporary official position and is unlikely to be permanent. Therefore, the current Chen Dao is not the General of the Four Expeditions.
But Yang Xi is definitely right about Chen Dao's character. "Zhong Ke", "Zhong" refers to loyalty. Needless to say, Chen Dao was a music director in Liu Bei's department and one of the first people to follow Liu Bei. He Loyalty, no doubt.
And "ke" refers to defeating the enemy and winning. How can a general commanding an army be called "defeating the enemy" if he doesn't even carry out military orders? !
Therefore, when Zhang Xi heard that it was Chen Dao who requested this, he must have his reasons.
This reason can only be known after Zhang Xi passes Baoxie Road and reaches the exit of Baoxie Road in Guanzhong and sees Chen Dao.
Putting this doubt in his mind for the time being, Zhang Xi led the guards and continued on their way, passing through Baoxie Road, which was walkable but not easy to walk. After about ten days, they finally arrived at the entrance of Baoxie Road.
Then Zhang Xi was shocked.
Zhang Xi wondered if he had traveled through time again. He had traveled to medieval Europe.
Why are there castles everywhere on the surrounding mountaintops? !
Take a closer look. They are not European-style castles. The architectural styles are completely different. These stone castles built on mountains or beside important roads are completely Chinese-style camps.
However, these camps are all built with stones.
Now Zhang Xi understands why Chen Dao transferred all the cement to build the Baoxie Road. Is the joint author going to build a large-scale stone castle complex? !
But isn't this a little too much? !
We are not going to fight World War II, and Cao Wei on the opposite side does not have aircraft or artillery. Is it worth building a stone fortress? !
(End of chapter)
