Two months later, Liu Zhang led his troops from Luoyang via Chang'an and finally arrived at Nanzheng City in Hanzhong County.
On the road to Hanzhong, Liu Zhang struggled for a long time.
From Guanzhong to Hanzhong, due to the obstruction of the Qinling Mountains, there are only four connected roads. From east to west they are Ziwu Road, Tangluo Road, Baoxie Road and Chencang Road.
Ziwu Road, as its name suggests, is world-famous for Ziwu Valley. The environment on Ziwu Road is extremely harsh. The road is very narrow. It is not only narrow but also very dangerous. As long as there is someone blocking the road, no matter how many people there are, they will be stuck on the road!
There are almost no roads in many places. If you are unlucky and it rains, you will almost be stuck in a quagmire! Liu Zhang decisively gave up this path.
Tangluo Road has only one advantage among the four roads, and that is proximity! The closest road from Guanzhong to Hanzhong is the Tangluo Road, but it is even more dangerous than the Ziwu Road! There is a road that can be walked on Ziwu Road, but in many cases there is no road on Tangluo Road. If there are only a few people, they can climb mountains and cross rivers, but if there are large troops, it will be absolutely difficult to pass!
The Tangluo Road is named after Tang Valley and Luo Valley. Although the Luo Road has the advantage of being short and fast, the height of several mountains climbed on the way is much higher than other roads, making the road extremely difficult and dangerous. Liu Zhang had plenty of time, and he didn't want to take risks. Thirdly, it was almost meaningless to take the Tangluo Road. It would be difficult to use this road now or in the future, so he decisively gave up.
What troubled Liu Zhang the most was Bao Xiedao and Chen Cangdao. These two roads are very important to Liu Zhang, and they are the only way to go in the future.
Baoxie Road and Chencang Road were relatively famous in this era. At that time, Han Xin built a plank road to assassinate Chencang secretly, which refers to Baoxie Road and Chencang Road.
Baoxie Road is entered through Xie Valley. It was originally dug manually. This was the road Liu Bang took when he entered Hanzhong. The road environment is obviously better than that of Tangluo Road and Ziwu Road, but it does not mean that it is easy to pass. It is only better when comparing Tangluo Road and Ziwu Road, but in fact it is also very dangerous. Because it is manually excavated, the dangerous places are almost all plank roads. Once they are artificially destroyed, the Baoxie Road will be cut off directly!
Finally, there is Chencang Road. Chencang Road is the easiest of the four roads. Han Xin also took Chencang Road to finally defeat Zhang Han and then capture the land of Guanzhong.
Liu Zhang finally chose Chencangdao between Baoxiedao and Chencangdao.
First of all, Chencang Road will pass by Chencang City, which will soon be the starting point for Han Sui's attack on Guanzhong. Secondly, after entering Chencang Road from Chencang, it will also pass by Dashan Pass, one of the four fortresses in Guanzhong. The most important point is that Liu Zhang wanted to personally determine whether there was a river on Chencang Road.
Why did Han Xin dare to lead a large army to Chencang Road and never worry about the risk of insufficient food and grass? But will Zhuge Liang be restricted by food and grass if he takes the Chencang Road?
Liu Zhang knew that the main reason was the diversion of the Western Han River. Therefore, he wanted to take a real look at what Chen Cangdao was like, and also make preparations for his future deployment to Guanzhong.
But along the way, Liu Zhang was disappointed. Not to mention the Western Han River, he didn't even see the shadow of a river. There was only Mangmang Mountain Road, with only high mountains on both sides!
After experiencing Chen Cangdao personally this time, Liu Zhang also deeply understood Zhuge Liang's difficulties! No wonder Zhuge Liang only went to Chencang Road once among the five Northern Expeditions! Not only do you have to go through Dashanguan and Chencang City, but you also have to transport food across mountains and ridges!
No amount of emotion has any practical significance. Liu Zhang knew that from now on, the history of Sichuan and Shu would definitely change completely! Zhuge Liang will never again end up with several unsuccessful Northern Expeditions and finally die with hatred!
Liu Zhang led his troops out of Chencang Road smoothly. The end of Chencang Road intersected with Jinniu Road, and then reached the last pass of Hanzhong Plain, Yangping Pass.
The Yangping Pass at this time was still the ancient Yangping Pass, not the Yangping Pass of the Shu Han period. Yangping Pass is built on Zomaling, which can guard Chencang Road and Jinniu Road at the same time, thus facing the pressure from Guanzhong and Bashu at the same time.
After passing Yangping Pass, there will be no danger to defend, and you can go straight into the Hanzhong Plain and then directly to Nanzheng City.
When Liu Zhang and his troops arrived at Nanzheng City, Su Gu, the prefect of Hanzhong, was already waiting at the city gate to greet him. Liu Zhang had already sent his cavalry to inform him.
"Is this Prefect Su ahead?"
Liu Zhang sat on the horse and looked at the middle-aged scribe at the head.
"It's Su Gu, may I ask, but in front of General Hou?"
Liu Zhang got off his horse and walked up to Su Gu and bowed his hands in greeting.
"Excuse me, Governor Su, to welcome you here. Thank you!"
Su Gu knew Liu Zhang's status well and did not dare to neglect him, so he quickly bowed and saluted.
"The general is so polite, Su Gu is scared!"
Liu Zhang did not hesitate anymore and took out the imperial edict in his hand.
"Prefect Su, please accept the order."
Su Gu didn't hesitate at all and knelt down on the ground together with the others.
"The prefect of Hanzhong will be succeeded by the later general Liu Zhang from now on. The former prefect of Hanzhong Su Gu can return to Beijing and be used in other important positions. I appreciate this!"
"Your Majesty Su Gu, please accept the order and thank me!"
Su Gu once again knelt down and bowed to the imperial edict in Liu Zhang's hand, then stood up and took the edict.
"Su Taishou, it is not Liu Zhang's intention to be the Hanzhong Taishou. The situation in Liangzhou is actually corrupt and the imperial court has no spare power to attack him at the moment, so he asked me to guard this place."
Su Gu didn't expect Liu Zhang to explain to a little person like himself, and a look of panic suddenly appeared on his face.
"General Hou is so polite. Su Gu is a mediocre person. He has no kindness to the 300,000 soldiers and civilians of Hanzhong County. He has long felt guilty! The fact that General Hou can take over as the prefect of Hanzhong this time is really a blessing to the soldiers and people of Hanzhong!"
"You're welcome, Governor Su. The people of Hanzhong can live and work in peace and contentment all thanks to Governor Su!"
After all, he was taking someone else's position, so Liu Zhang still needed to be polite.
In fact, Liu Zhang did not need to be polite to Su Gu. Instead, Su Gu should thank Liu Zhang! If Su Gu is still in Hanzhong, Zhang Lu will go north from Yizhou in a few years, and then kill Su Gu and lead Hanzhong as the governor.
Liu Zhang is equivalent to saving Su Gu's life! Of course, Liu Zhang would not tell Su Gu about this, nor would Su Gu believe it, and would think that Liu Zhang was taking the opportunity to blackmail him!
"General Hou, the county governor has prepared a banquet specifically for the General Hou!"
Liu Zhang smiled and nodded, with a look of gratitude on his face.
"Wouldn't this cost Prefect Su a lot of money? Liu Zhang is so grateful!"
Liu Zhang was so polite that even Su Gu felt embarrassed.
"General Hou is truly worthy of his reputation. He is admirable both for his talent and his conduct!"
"This banquet is also attended by various officials and noble families from Hanzhong County, specifically to welcome the general!"
Su Gu's words aroused the interest of Liu Zhang, an official and aristocratic family member of Hanzhong County. He really needed to know these things.
Most of the officials still had to use these people. After all, Liu Zhang only had four scribes, so he couldn't send them all out to serve as county magistrates.
Secondly, there are the aristocratic families. The aristocratic families are always the ones Liu Zhang wants to win over and guard against. He also wants to see what kind of aristocratic families there are in Hanzhong.
"Gongda, Wenhe, and Wei Lai, the three of you will go with me to the banquet, while the rest of you will go and settle down the troops first!"
After giving the order, Liu Zhang and his three men followed Su Gu to the governor's mansion.
