As soon as the siege of Xicheng was resolved, Shen Zhong quickly sent people to deliver the news to Shangyong. Ma Chao and Wang Ping returned to Xicheng to rest for a while, and sent Meng Da and Xiahou Shang to Hanzhong for detention. Then they sent their troops eastward to Shangyong and Liu Chan meets up.
Xu Huang, who was blocking the east bank of the Shui River, also began to withdraw his troops.
The upper reaches of the blocked water are blocked by mountains, and are now in the hands of Liu Chan. Xu Huang cannot take the route of Xiahou Shang and Huan Jie, and now he has no choice but to go east.
Staring at the map in front of him, he seemed a little sad and depressed. When he took the mountain road to the west, it was rugged and difficult to travel without the Shu army blocking him along the way.
Now these small groups of troops hiding in the mountains are always worried about being harassed. If they go this way, they may face harassment along the way. But at this time, it is obvious that they are unable to advance westward. If they do not withdraw, they will only lose more.
The reason for the long delay was that he wanted to wait for the scout to report back.
Xu Huang has sent three groups of scouts successively to inquire about the situation on the withdrawal route and the situation of Fangling in the rear. However, they have all disappeared and have not returned yet.
"I am afraid that the scouts sent out have been intercepted and killed by the Shu army... The morale of the army is getting lower and lower day by day. We can't wait any longer."
As for Mengda heading to Xicheng, no matter whether he succeeds or fails, it has lost its meaning now.
Even if Xicheng is captured, the Shu army can easily recapture it as long as they send reinforcements from Hanzhong.
Mengda can only wish for happiness.
After walking out of the camp, Xu Huang said to his soldiers: "Send me the general's order to cook some food. The whole army will withdraw half an hour after the meal."
"yes."
Xu Huang looked at the lifeless military camp and exhaled.
I thought I was coming to help Xiahou Shang to gain military exploits, but I didn't expect that strong winds and waves came, and now I lost my troops and generals in this small Xiaosan County surrounded by mountains.
And he has a bigger worry. Liu Chan has achieved such great results but has not taken advantage of the situation to move eastward.
There is only one possibility. He does not have enough troops to defend the city, but he is not sure that he can attack his own troops by force.
It would be fine if he went west to flank Mengda, but what if... thinking of his opponent who also used the same trick to lure the enemy, what if Liu Chan went north to Mianshui and also sent a large number of troops to Fangling behind him?
Thinking of Faang Ling, who had been unable to get any information, Xu Huang frowned deeply.
I'm afraid it won't be easy for me to escape from here.
…
The Shu army in the mountains was also suffering.
Li Er, Chai Rong, Ding Feng and others led 500 Red Star troops and 1,000 tribal troops to sneak across and block the water to the east bank.
The time of stowaway was when Liu Chan launched a battle to lure the enemy.
The only thing Cao Jun was guarding was the blocked river bank east of Shangyong, because only here there was a flat piece of land to land on, and there was a road to the east.
There are mountains to the north and south, and there is no way to go.
But the road in Xu Huang's eyes was a good road that could be used by grain carts and horses.
However, in the eyes of bandits, Li Er and others who came from mountain tribes, as long as it is not a steep cliff, it is just a road...
There was a water blockage surrounding Shangyong in the east and south directions. Li Er and others crossed the river southward at the same time Liu Chan initiated the action, chose a gentle slope to enter the mountain, and took a circuitous route eastward.
Going into the mountains was not the same as going back home, but it was similar. And having tribal soldiers who were familiar with the local environment as their guides made them feel more at home.
These tribesmen, although they had spent a lot of time learning to advance and retreat from Ma Chao and fighting in battle formations, they could understand the fighting methods taught by Li Er as soon as they heard and taught them.
Isn't this just a safari in the mountains? We are familiar with this job!
The tribal troops who no longer marched in large groups were more comfortable, and hunted Cao's troops every day as wild deer, tigers and leopards who dared to leave the camp.
These tribal mountain people are very good at dealing with tigers and leopards and other animals with extremely sensitive sense of smell, and are good at concealing their whereabouts and smell, not to mention Cao Bing, who is not familiar with mountain warfare.
First, the scouts and spies sent out were attacked by the Central Government, and then came the small team of Cao soldiers who went out to patrol the camp.
In the end, Cao Jun became more vigilant, but you always have to get water and go to the toilet, right?
The tribal troops may have some martial virtues, but the main reason is that their eyesight at night is also very poor.
The Red Star Army, whose nutrition far exceeded the average for the same period, and whose prince was so insane that he paid attention to vitamin balance, specifically chose the last dim moments before nightfall and early morning to attack.
The timing of his sneak attack and the tricky angle were so outrageous that fetching water for Cao's army later became the highest-risk activity for the entire army.
Even to go to the toilet, you have to borrow armor first and then bring a shield before you can go...
But while the Shu army entering the mountains was happily harassing them, the biggest problem they faced was food.
Due to the landing route and the mode of raiding and harassing operations, they were unable to bring a large amount of food and grass.
Each person only carried a minimum supply of dry food for seven days.
Therefore, in addition to taking turns to attack Cao Jun, others had to spend a lot of time solving the food problem.
Fortunately, as the war progressed, the weather gradually became warmer. These Shu troops, who were accustomed to living in the mountains, had their own game, delicacies, and even snakes and rats as food supplements, which greatly extended their fighting time.
Although it is still impossible to entangle Cao Jun for a long time, it seems that Cao Jun is taking the first step.
The Han troops in the mountains, who had detected the movements of Cao's army, reconnected and regrouped through methods such as leaf whistles and imitating bird songs commonly used by the tribesmen.
The three people who had gained confidence gathered together again and discussed their plans to give the little mountain people from the Bashu region a shock to Cao Jun who was about to evacuate...
But they didn't expect that the shock might be a little bigger than they expected.
After Guan Xing stabilized the situation in Fangling with the help of the shadow guards, he left 500 Han troops under Liu Feng and 1,000 young men to guard the city. He personally led the remaining 1,500 men and 2,000 young men, totaling Thirty-five hundred men marched westward.
After Liu Chan received the news from Xicheng, he reunited with Wang Ping's army and Ma Chao's troops who rushed down the waterway to support them, and personally led the army across the river to launch the pursuit.
A big net is tightening in the mountains between Shangyong and Fangling.
Xu Huang, who was leading the trek with difficulty, still didn’t know what a desperate situation he was about to face...
…
Chengdu.
Lao Liu is concentrating on construction, and at the same time paying attention to the situation in the South and Central China. He only waits for those rebellious people to rise up, and then he can naturally send troops to pacify the South and prepare for the next Northern Expedition.
At present, the economic situation in Jingyi and Jingyi has recovered well after the war. Several families in Yizhou, led by the Zhang family in Jianwei County, fully cooperated and released their materials to stabilize prices, and at the same time exchanged a large amount of money.
They also used the direct money they received to pay the wine OEM fees of the Zhao Chamber of Commerce, and participated in the wine export business together to get a share of the pie. Although the best aged wines were in the hands of the Zhao Chamber of Commerce, the wines that followed the upper class route and were inflated prices were Still brought them considerable benefits.
Other local families in Yizhou have also actively or passively participated in the process of making the wine business bigger and stronger due to jealous interests. Today, there are many large and small winemaking workshops in northern Yizhou, and their output is increasing day by day.
Of course, when it comes to exporting the top product, it is naturally Sichuan brocade. Sichuan brocade + wine has now become almost synonymous with Bashu specialties and plays an irreplaceable role in the income composition of Lao Liu Group.
Zhuge Liang's development of the Quyuan Li went very smoothly, and all the key information was obtained from Liu Chan. The remaining technical problems faced by Wolong were just a "simple" process of practice, thinking, and improvement.
After several improvements were made to produce the first batch of finished products, they were first promoted and tried around Chengdu. With the official attention and the cooperation of wealthy families, the promotion work went very smoothly.
Farming, mulberry production, water conservancy, economy and people's livelihood are all progressing steadily. After the war, taxes were reduced and people's livelihood was improved. With the efforts of Fazheng, Liu Ba and other senior officials of the Shangshutai, as well as the military adviser Zhuge Liang, Yizhou was prosperous. There are fewer and fewer people who are thin and good-looking.
But Lao Liu never expected that at this time when everything was going well, something that would make him so troubled would still happen...
He received two letters one after another.
One letter was from his son. The letter said that Shen Dan had colluded with Cao Cao and intended to offer three counties to surrender to Cao Cao. He was about to go to the three counties to help his brother put down the rebellion.
Not many days later, I received another letter from Shen Dan. The letter said that Liu Feng was dissatisfied with the post-war rewards, usurped the superior's self-respect, and persecuted local families, which was tantamount to rebellion. He and Meng Da were about to start an army to put down the rebellion.
Lao Liu suddenly felt that his head was big.
Needless to say the authenticity of the letter, he naturally believed in his son.
Moreover, he naturally knew very well who the Shen brothers were.
He felt that he had a big headache because, how could his son cause trouble wherever he went? Before leaving, he swore that he was only going to train troops and would never cause trouble. As a result, chaos broke out in the three counties of Hanzhong.
Although it seemed that it was not his problem, Lao Liu couldn't calm down when he thought that he might be "forced to have trouble sleeping and eating" for a while...
(End of chapter)
