In January 192 AD, half a year had passed since the Mianzhu War.
After Zhang Lu's power disappeared, the situation in Yizhou became clear. It became a confrontation between Liu Zhang, Jia Long, Ren Qi and Zhao Wei.
Liu Zhang used Guanghan County, Hanzhong County, the Guanghan vassal state, and several cities in Ba County to overwhelm the other three. He also forced Jia Long, Ren Qi, and Zhao Wei to form an alliance again, and agreed to advance and retreat together.
However, since Jia Xu annihilated Jia Long and Ren Qi's 45,000 troops under Mianzhu City, these two men were also seriously injured.
Now Jia Long has gathered heavy troops to garrison Chengdu, and Ren Qi has gathered his troops to defend Wuyang. The two have already announced that they will never leave the city to fight even if Liu Zhang comes to attack.
Zhao Wei from Bajun was in more pain. Ever since Huang Yin died and Brazil was all owned by Liu Zhang, Zhao Wei had not had a good night's sleep. I was afraid that Liu Zhang would suddenly arrive in Jiangzhou one day.
Zhang Lu's defeat stimulated Zhao Wei even more, and he completely gave up the idea of facing Liu Zhang head-on.
Zhao Wei has united all the big and small families in Bajun. He has mobilized heavy troops to garrison Anhan and Dangqu in an attempt to stop Liu Zhang from going south.
Six months ago, a letter accusing Jia Long, Ren Qi, and Zhao Wei was popular in Shu County, Qianwei County and Ba County, and the people of Yizhou began to complain about these three people.
The unification of Yizhou and the support for Liu Zhang among the people are getting louder and louder. This makes Jia Long and the other two more cautious and completely avoid the idea of war.
Jia Long and the other two people held on tight and had no intention of leaving the city. This left Liu Zhang's group helpless.
In the battle half a year ago, Liu Zhang lost at least about 15,000 people!
In particular, Taishi Ci's Wufeng camp was the most deadly, and the losses of more than 3,000 people were extremely difficult to make up for.
Yizhou does not produce horses, and there are even fewer soldiers who can ride horses.
Taishi Ci struggled to replenish his soldiers, but if he wanted to restore his previous combat strength, it would be very difficult in a short time.
The losses of soldiers and horses in other battalions were not small, but fortunately they were all infantry, and half a year was enough for them to complete their replenishment.
After this three-way deployment of troops, Liu Zhang felt deeply constrained by insufficient troops.
Finally, after Jia Long and the other two men showed that they could not hold on, Liu Zhang began to expand his army again.
The county troops commanded by Yang Lin in Hanzhong were expanded to 10,000 men, and Xiahoulan's troops were expanded to 5,000 men.
Zhang Ren of Langzhong was promoted to captain of Pojun by Liu Zhang, and 10,000 Langzhong soldiers were selected from the surrendered Langzhong soldiers to form a new Pojun camp.
Dian Wei returned to Mianzhu with the Wuwei camp. Wu Yi and Wu Lan respectively led their troops to support Langzhong and expanded their troops to 5,000 men respectively.
The troops and horses in Bazhong have not changed. Zhang Liao and Xu Huang still command their troops and horses respectively, and each maintains a strength of ten thousand people.
The changes in Guanghan County are not big. Huang Zhong, Taishi Ci, Dian Wei, and Zhao Yun each commanded 10,000 troops. Pan Feng and Lei Tie each recruited 5,000 troops. Gao Shun's trap formation is more special and still maintains the same An establishment of three thousand people.
Even so, Liu Zhang's troops have reached 112,000! If you include the soldiers from various counties and counties in Guanghan County, the number of soldiers is close to 120,000!
With a population of over 1.4 million under Liu Zhang's command, he forcibly raised more than 100,000 troops, which could be considered an act of militarism. This decision was strongly opposed by ministers such as Qin Xun, Wang Shang, and Dong He.
Everyone's opposition could not shake Liu Zhang's determination. He knew that unifying Yizhou could not do without the support of soldiers and horses, so he fought against everyone's opinions and implemented the matter thoroughly.
Fortunately, Hanzhong County had nearly 50,000 captives from Shu County and Qianwei County working as field soldiers, and Guoyuan also promoted the strategy of military and civilian garrisoning in Hanzhong. This prevented the grain and grass economy of Liu Zhang's three counties from collapsing.
"Wenhe, another new year has passed. It can be said that time flies..."
Liu Zhang and Jia Xu were warming themselves by the fire in their room, and couldn't help but lament that time passed so fast.
"Yeah, it's been three years since Chuping in the blink of an eye."
Jia Xu also echoed softly, lamenting the passage of time in his heart.
In the first year of Chuping, Jia Xu was still in charge of Hanzhong affairs, and Liu Zhang was also having a headache how to face his father Liu Yan.
Now in the third year of Chuping, only one and a half years have passed, and everything has been solved.
"It took us nearly two years to capture Guanghan County. I really don't know when we will be able to capture the entire Yizhou..."
Thinking that it took Cao Cao eight years to pacify the four prefectures in Hebei, but that it took him only one year to conquer Guanghan County, Liu Zhang couldn't help but feel a little sad.
At this rate, Liu Zhang won't be able to capture Yizhou when the Battle of Guandu begins!
"My lord, there is no need to be anxious. At this moment, Jia Long, Ren Qi, and Zhao Wei are all trapped in a battle! Especially Jia Long and Ren Qi, they have invested too much in Zhang Lu."
"According to my research in the next six months, Jia Long can only muster 30,000 troops in Shu County, and Ren Qi can barely gather 20,000!"
This news shocked Liu Zhang. Fifty thousand people were enough for him to see a glimmer of hope in conquering Shu County and Qianwei County.
In previous battles with Zhang Lu, he was defeated every time, but after a while, Zhang Lu could always raise a team of tens of thousands of people again, which gave Liu Zhang the feeling that he had endless enemies to defeat.
If the total number of 50,000 soldiers and horses of Jia Long and Ren Qi is confirmed this time, then there will be less pressure to conquer Shu County.
"Wenhe, where is Jia Long now? Where are the soldiers and horses from Shu County concentrated?"
Jia Xu stood up and walked to the map behind him.
"My lord, Jia Long is governing Chengdu in Shu County. Most of Shu County's soldiers and horses are concentrated in Chengdu. According to the latest news, there are at least 20,000 troops in Chengdu."
Liu Zhang frowned slightly and couldn't help but lament that he had missed the best opportunity to attack after six months of training.
Jia Long gathered a large number of troops in Chengdu, obviously intending to fight to the end.
"Wen He, the city of Chengdu is tall and easy to defend but difficult to attack. If Jia Long has enough food and defends the city, we may not be able to capture Chengdu in a short time..."
Liu Zhang felt that he had been speaking nicely in this short period of time. If there were no miracles, I am afraid it would last more than a year!
The Art of War says: if you are ten, besiege it; if you are five, attack it!
If you want to break through Chengdu, which is garrisoned by 20,000 troops, you will theoretically need at least 100,000 troops.
Liu Zhang had an army of 100,000, but an army of 100,000 was equivalent to emptying the troops of three counties!
"Haha, don't worry, my lord, Jia Long is smart but his cleverness has fooled him! I didn't attack Shu County in one go just to make Jia Long prepared!"
"What's Wen He's clever plan?"
Seeing Jia Xu's confident look, Liu Zhang knew that he must have a plan to defeat the enemy.
"Lord, it is reported that Jia Long once asked Ren Qi to borrow troops, but was rejected. So we only need to face 30,000 people in Shu County."
"Shu County has a total of eight counties and three roads. Jia Long has deployed 20,000 troops in Chengdu, Pixian County and Guangdu each deployed 5,000 troops, and the defenses in the remaining counties are ineffective."
