Ma Teng and Han Sui raised 50,000 troops and sent them to Xiaoguan.
Cao Cao led an army of 100,000 men and sent a letter to Gu Pass.
At the same time, Cao Cao appointed Zhang Lu as a general to slay the bandits, and went north to unite and march into Guanzhong, forming a three-sided pincer attack on Zhang Xiu.
After Zhang Xiu returned to Chang'an with Li Ru and others, he received news of the invasion from three sides. Now that Guanzhong has just been settled and has not yet been fully digested, it is most difficult to use troops. The best way is to resolve the crisis without using a single soldier.
But the enemy is coming fiercely, how can it be easily resolved?
Beat drums to gather generals.
Zhang Xiu said bluntly: "The war in Guanzhong has just calmed down, and the autumn harvest has not yet ended. It is not appropriate to mobilize troops. Now Cao Cao joins Zhang Lu in Hanzhong, and Ma Teng and Han Sui in Xiliang are attacking. What can you do?"
Zhuge Liang analyzed it and said: "Zhang Lu is a man who has become a defender of the land. He will definitely not be willing to die when he comes here. Besides, Guanzhong and Hanzhong are neighbors of each other. I am afraid he will not dare to offend us too deeply to avoid worries later."
Everyone nodded.
Zhang Xiu said: "Although Zhang Lu is not afraid, Cao Cao, Ma Teng, and Han Sui's coalition forces have to deal with it carefully."
As he spoke, he turned his attention to Li Ru.
Now that Li Ru had just joined the account and had not yet had time to take over, he was faced with the problem of being attacked from three sides. He wanted to see what Li Ru, a top strategist, could do to deal with such a situation.
Li Ru smiled slightly in his heart.
Only hard battles can reflect the value of generals. Similarly, how to exchange the smallest losses for the greatest benefits in hard battles reflects the value of counselors.
Zhang Xiu's purpose was to ask Li Ru to find a way, preferably to persuade these three groups of soldiers to retreat without using any troops.
When the others saw Zhang Xiu looking at Li Ru next to him, they also focused on Li Ru's face.
In fact, Ma Teng and Han Sui can say that the most difficult thing is Cao Cao's 100,000-strong army. Cao Cao's coming this time must be inevitable, and he will never retreat easily. Moreover, it is already the end of October, and when Cao Cao reaches Han It was almost early November when we reached Guguan. If we retreated, the next attack would have to wait until April next year.
But as long as Cao Cao retreats, then Zhang Lu, Ma Teng, and Han Sui will naturally retreat.
So the key to this battle is Cao Cao.
Cao Cao's shortcomings are very clear. Li Ru said with a confident smile: "Cao Cao is suspicious by nature. Now Xu Du is internally unstable. After Xu Tian hunted him, the officials dared not speak out about Cao Cao's transgression. At this time, if Cao Cao goes on an expedition, Someone reported to Cao Cao that many ministers secretly conspired to rebel..." When he said this, Li Ru laughed.
Zhang Xiu immediately thought of Dong Cheng, Wang Zifu and others who wore the imperial edict.
According to later records, Liu Xie's belt edict was particularly involved. It forced Liu Bei to have no way to escape and finally defected to Yuan Shao. He was almost killed by Yuan Shao because of this belt edict.
No one has tipped off Cao Cao yet, so Cao Cao naturally doesn't know about the clothing and belt edict. If he knows about the clothing and belt edict when he is out on an expedition, how can he go out with peace of mind? I'm afraid he will be homeless after his expedition is completed.
This is the end of the Han Dynasty, not the Three Kingdoms, and Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty has not yet abdicated. Don't underestimate the influence of the emperor.
Cao Cao brought Wang Zha to Xudu, not only to enjoy the huge benefits Wang Zha brought, but also to guard against the huge threat this Wang Zha brought to him. Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty raised his arms and shouted, I am afraid that the entire Yuzhou, Yanzhou and even many powerful noble families in the world will respond. By then, Cao Cao's lair will be in danger of being kidnapped.
Li Ru's plan was almost a sure blow to Cao Cao.
It was also the persecution of Liu Xie.
After Cao Cao finds out about this matter, it will inevitably cause a series of reactions. How serious the consequences will be, Zhang Xiu already knows from the records of later generations. Even Liu Xie's Dong Guiren was killed.
At the same time, Liu Ye, a clan member of the Han Dynasty, naturally understood the viciousness of Li Ru's plan, and even the emperor of the Han Dynasty was involved in it.
He almost opened his mouth to stop him, but suddenly realized that he had no better plan to neutralize the fierce force of the army. Guanzhong has just calmed down and needs to recuperate. Troops have been mobilized since April this year. The soldiers are war-weary, and the consumption of food and grass is also huge. Although Li Ru's plan was poisonous, it did indeed solve the immediate military crisis. In the end, he opened his mouth without making a sound.
Zhang Xiu, who was sitting high up, naturally saw Liu Ye's actions, sighed in his heart, and chose to ignore it.
In troubled times, we must not have the heart of the Holy Mother.
Then he said: "According to Wenyou's plan, my uncle will hand over the full power of the Shadow Guard to Wenyou."
"Here!" they both said in unison.
…
Hanzhong.
Zhang Lu is the grandson of Zhang Ling and a Taoist master of Wu Dou Rice. After Zhang Ling's death, Zhang Lu's father Zhang Heng continued his path. After Zhang Heng's death, Zhang Lu succeeded him as the leader. After occupying Hanzhong, Zhang Lu separatized Hanzhong, educated the people with the Five Pecks of Rice religion, and established a political and religious regime.
Nowadays, there are hundreds of thousands of households in Hanchuan, with abundant wealth, fertile land, and dangerous terrain on all sides. He can guard the key passes, concentrate on teachings and educate the people, and does not want to participate in external disputes at all.
But it backfired.
Cao Cao named him Zhongyi Zhonglang General and led the prefect of Hanning County, ordering him to send troops to conquer the rebel Zhang Xiu.
Looking at the letter in his hand, Zhang Lu said worriedly: "Cao Cao recognized me as Zhongyi Zhonglang General and ordered me to send troops to join forces with Ma Teng and Han Sui to go north to threaten Zhang Xiu in Guanzhong. What does Zi Mao think this should be like?"
Yan Pu, courtesy name Zimao.
Yan Pu thought for a while and said: "Cao Cao coerced the emperor to command the princes, which shows that his ambition is not small. If we break through Guanzhong from the north, then I, Hanzhong, will be exposed to Cao Cao's troops, which is not advisable."
Zhang Lu nodded, looked at the letter in his hand, and said awkwardly: "Now that His Majesty has issued an order for me to send troops, do you dare to disobey him?"
Yan Pu said with a smile: "Don't worry, my lord, you can order General Yang Ren to lead an army of ten thousand men and go north to Xiegu Road to threaten Yi County. Just pretend to be pretentious. In this way, we will obey your Majesty's orders and we will not offend Zhang Xiu."
Zhang Lu nodded.
Yang Song immediately came out to object and said: "My lord, you can't! Zi Mao's words are trapping my lord into disloyalty."
Yan Pu's eyes widened.
Zhang Lu asked: "What do you mean by this?"
"Lord!" Yang Song said, "Your Majesty has ordered us to send troops north to attack the traitor Zhang Xiu. Zhang Xiu's attack on Guanzhong regardless of the reason is an act of treason. We should send troops to fight against him. Besides, we are obedient to your Majesty's edict. To violate Yang is to deceive the king."
Yan Pu sneered: "Yang Song! You are a bad guy, how dare you make suggestions here? I ask you, if Cao Cao is unfavorable in this battle and gets himself into trouble, Zhang Xiu comes from Nanyang to the west and Guanzhong from the north to join Liu Zhang in the south. Can we stop him? ?”
"Hmph!" Yang Song said disdainfully, "Three armies attack, how can we defeat it?"
Yan Pu asked: "If we lose this battle, how about killing your entire Yang Song clan first? Do you dare to bet?"
"You..." Yang Song glared at Yan Pu.
If Zhang Xiu didn't have a record of defeating Cao Cao twice, he would have dared to make a guarantee, but now he doesn't dare. Besides, he didn't want to speak for Cao Cao, but he was given too much.
I didn't expect that Yan Pu would be so disrespectful and would argue with him.
Zhang Lu knew a little bit about Yang Song's character. He waved his hand to stop their quarrel and said, "As Zi Mao said, let General Yang prepare quickly."
"Here!"
Yan Puyun, turned around and saw Yang Song, glared sideways, rolled his sleeves and snorted before going out.
Angry Yang Song gritted his teeth.
