Li Yan could not make any tactics, and Zhang Lu soon tasted the bitter consequences.

Zhang Lu originally thought that Li Yan, who had captured Yangping Pass, would be dazzled by the victory and leave the pass without hesitation to engage in a decisive battle with him.

In order to defeat Li Yan in a decisive battle in the wilderness, Zhang Lu specially mobilized 7,000 elite cavalry from Liangzhou. These 7,000 cavalry were what he dared to fight with Li Yan in a decisive battle.

After Zhang Lu captured Liangzhou, he obtained the strong horses from Liangzhou, and the number of cavalry under his command increased dramatically.

If we purely talk about the number of troops, Zhang Lu does not have an advantage among the major princes. But he has a huge advantage in the quantity and quality of cavalry.

However, the land of Yizhou has steep mountains and rivers, which are not suitable for cavalry warfare, so Zhang Lu went to conquer Hanzhong and did not bring many cavalry into Sichuan.

But things are different now. After passing Yangping Pass and heading east, the Mianshui Plain is much more open than in central Sichuan, so the cavalry has a place to use it.

Because of this, Zhang Lu dared to lead his army into Hanzhong, hoping to use his cavalry advantage to defeat Li Yan in one fell swoop and regain Yangping Pass and other lost lands.

It's a pity that Zhang Lu's beautiful blueprint was shattered.

Li Yan did not, as he thought, be dazzled by the victory and blindly attack the battle. Instead, he closed the door tightly and could not get out.

In desperation, Zhang Lu could only send several generals in succession to Yangping Pass to challenge Li Yan, but Li Yan turned a blind eye to them.

This confrontation and stalemate lasted for nearly a month without realizing it.

Autumn is deep, the rain is constant, and mudflows occur frequently in Nanzheng. The already difficult valley road has become even more difficult to navigate. The Hanzhong Army's food road is often in an unfavorable state of being open and disconnected.

Due to lack of food and grass, the tens of thousands of Hanzhong Army soldiers in Hanzhong could only reduce the number of sergeants and personnel day by day. Within a few days, the lower ranks of the Hanzhong Army were complaining and their morale was gradually declining.

Zhang Lu, who had been full of confidence when he arrived, now lost all his energy and fell into melancholy.

The atmosphere in the Chinese military tent was gloomy.

"Tell me, how can I defeat the Chu army and recapture Yangping Pass?" Zhang Lu asked the civil and military officials with a straight face.

Everyone was silent, even Yan Pu remained silent at this time.

After all, he was the one who suggested Zhang Lu to dispatch the Xiliang cavalry south to Hanzhong to fight Li Yan to the death, but now Li Yan refuses to send troops out, which makes Zhang Lu completely passive.

I have a plan, but it’s hard to say it out at the moment.

In the silence, someone came out and said with cupped hands: "Your Majesty, the food road is not smooth now, the morale of the three armies is low, Yangping Pass and the dangerous Dingjun Mountain have been occupied by the Chu army, Hanzhong is difficult to regain."

Defending, the general believes that at this time, it is best to decisively abandon Hanzhong and withdraw our troops back to Guanzhong."

Zhang Lu raised his eyes and looked around, only to see that the person who spoke was none other than Yang Shu.

Yan Pu and other counselors secretly agreed, and almost stood up to express their agreement.

However, Zhang Lu's brows condensed and he said displeasedly: "The soldiers of the three armies worked hard to capture Hanzhong, but now you persuade me to hand over Hanzhong to the Chu army. You are making my generals cold and cold."

Our hearts?”

Such a question immediately left Yang Shu speechless and embarrassed, and he had no choice but to retreat.

Yan Pu was about to respond, but when the words came to his lips, he swallowed them back.

Yan Pu knew that Zhang Lu was afraid that abandoning Hanzhong and withdrawing to Chang'an in despair would hurt his face and destroy his prestige.

As a general who controls the north, if his prestige is lost, how can he subdue his ministers? Zhang Lu has no choice.

Even though Zhang Lu himself knew that Hanzhong was undefendable, for a moment he just couldn't turn this corner and couldn't let go of the face he would lose sooner or later.

Yan Pu, who knew Zhang Lu's heart well, could only sigh secretly in his heart.

This military meeting ended in this unharmonious atmosphere with nothing to gain.

The morale of the Hanzhong army became increasingly depressed.

…

Yangping Pass.

While Zhang Lu's camp was in a depressing environment, Li Yan was having a drinking party, and the soldiers of the three armies were not idle, eating three meals a day.

Yangping Pass was originally the place where the Hanzhong Army garrisoned grain. After Li Yan broke through the pass, the fleeing Hanzhong Army had no time to destroy the grain garrison. All the hundreds of thousands of dendrobium of grain and grass fell into Li Yan's hands.

Li Yan can be said to be a truly big owner of food in Yangpingguan.

So while the Hanzhong Army in Nanzhengkou was living a miserable life with limited food and drink, General Li Yan in Yangpingguan was eating and drinking every day.

No glory, no belief, all the beautiful slogans are far less beneficial than having a full meal.

Hundreds of thousands of officers and soldiers of the Chu army, who had eaten and drank enough, were grateful for the kindness of the King of Chu. Their high morale had nowhere to vent, and they generously asked for battle, intending to use all their strength to kill the Hanzhong army to repay Li Yan for his kindness to them.

Kindhearted.

Li Yan was well aware of the dilemma of the Hanzhong Army in Nanzheng, the high morale of his own army, and all the pros and cons.

Li Yan and his counselors all felt that the time had come to deal a fatal blow to Zhang Lu.

On the same day, Li Yan, Pang Tong, and the deputy generals reached a consensus, so they wrote a letter of war in their own handwriting and sent it to Zhang Lu in Nanzheng.

It was a very arrogant and extremely provocative letter of challenge to Zhang Lu.

In his letter of war, Li Yan satirized Zhang Lu, who was called a general of the Han Dynasty, but was actually a traitor to the Han Dynasty. He ridiculed Zhang Lu in detail from beginning to end.

Finally, Li Yan directly ordered Zhang Lu to get out of Hanzhong as soon as possible, otherwise Li Yan would defeat the Hanzhong army and cut off Zhang Lu's head with his own hands.

The most "vulgar and rude" thing is that Li Yan also vowed to kill Zhang Lu and take all his wives and concubines, including his wife Bian, as his own after conquering Chang'an.

After reading this book, Zhang Lu felt so angry that his lungs almost exploded.

Having dominated the world for many years, Zhang Lu has never been scolded by any opponent. Even Yuan Shao once scolded him as a "castrated ugly man".

However, this was the first time that Li Yan openly claimed that he wanted to take possession of all Zhang Lu's wives and concubines.

Zhang Lu, who loved to snatch other people's wives and concubines most in his life, now faced the threat of having his own wives and concubines snatched away. Such humiliation made Zhang Lu even more resentful than calling him a castrate and ugly man.

"How dare the dog thief Li Yan be so embarrassed? Send the order. All three armies will come out tomorrow. I will fight to the death with this lowly common man!"

Zhang Lu was so angry that he tore Li Yan's letter of challenge to pieces and ordered a decisive battle.

All the civil and military officials were shocked by Zhang Lu's rage. They had followed Zhang Lu for so many years and had never seen Zhang Lu so angry. At this time, no one dared to say anything.

"Your Majesty, Li Yan refused to stand for a month without fighting, and now he challenges our army when the morale of our army is low. The general will think that if your Majesty accepts the challenge, he will be playing into Li Yan's hands." Yang Shu didn't know Zhang Lu's temperament, so he

Singing the opposite tune.

Zhang Lu glared at him and said angrily: "I have stationed troops in Nanzheng for many days in order to induce the Chu army to fight. Now he has taken the initiative to send him to the door, which is exactly what I want. If we don't fight now, what else will we do?"

hour."

"Your Majesty——"

Yang Shu wanted to persuade him again, but Zhang Lu suddenly changed his expression, waved his hand and shouted: "Yang Shu, you have repeatedly shaken the morale of the army, how can I tolerate you anymore? Come on, please put Yang Shu in the prison car and wait for the truth."

I will kill the Chu army before I deal with you."

Zhang Lu, who was stimulated by Li Yan, was already a little angry and dizzy. Yang Shu, who was not good at grasping the leader's thoughts, happened to be hit by the muzzle of the gun.

The soldiers on the left and right swarmed up and dragged Yang Shu out in a few strokes.

"Yang Shu's words are reasonable. Li Yan knew that our army's morale was low, so he took the initiative to call for war. With the current situation, even if our army has the advantage of cavalry, it has little chance of winning..."

Yan Pu sighed in his heart and wanted to give some advice, but seeing Zhang Lu's face full of anger and killing, he had no choice but to swallow his words.

Yan Pu did not dare to speak, let alone the civil and military officials in front of the tent. Everyone was afraid of offending Zhang Lu. Although Yang Shu felt that Yang Shu was a little unjust, no one dared to intercede for him.

Looking coldly at Yang Shu being dragged away, Zhang Lu said angrily: "The truth is that I have decided to fight. I will not stop fighting until I defeat the Chu army. Whoever dares to make false statements about retreating or shake the morale of the army will be treated with the same military laws as Yang Shu."

Discuss."

Under the power, everyone was terrified.

Suppressing the intention of all his ministers to retreat, Zhang Lu immediately ordered that all 50,000 troops would be mobilized tomorrow to fight Li Yan to the death. The autumn wind was howling, and the sky was about to turn bright.

The east gate of Yangping Pass opened wide, and tens of thousands of soldiers of the Chu army lined up neatly and marched out of Guancheng in an orderly manner with solid steps.

Flags cover the sky, and swords and guns are like a forest.

Under the sky, 50,000 infantry and cavalry soldiers formed large and small military formations that stretched for miles, and marched towards Nanzheng.

The huge red flag with the word "Chu" in it stood high and was clearly visible to the officers and soldiers of the three armies.

In front of the red flag, Li Yan was wearing black armor and carrying a green dragon sword. His eyes were as calm as a mountain.

On the left and right, deputy generals and Li Feng guarded the two sides, and fierce generals such as Gao Shun, Huang Zhong, Zhao Yun, Zhang Jia, etc. all came out of the formation, leading the soldiers and horses of the battalions to advance in a mighty manner.

Not long after the troops marched, a black wave rose slowly from the horizon ahead.

The sky full of flags, the fierce forest of swords, halberds and spears, and the countless Hanzhong soldiers slowly came into Li Yan's eyes...

The two armies advanced slowly and stopped advancing in a tacit understanding at a distance of a few miles.

Li Yan raised his eyes to observe the Hanzhong Army's formation. Although he could not see clearly, his keen perception allowed him to realize that although the Hanzhong Army's formation was still neat, its morale was not very high.

An obvious sign is that a large part of the densely packed flags are tilted.

If the flag is tilted, it means that the soldiers are not strong enough and their fighting spirit is not high.

"The report from the scout is indeed good. The army in Hanzhong is short of food and grass. The soldiers don't even have enough to eat. It's strange that they can have the energy to fight. Zhang Lu, do you really think that your soldiers are all iron men?" Li Yan sneered at the corner of his mouth.

"General, look quickly. There is dust rising behind the Hanzhong Army's formation. It seems that Zhang Lu has hidden his cavalry behind." The deputy general pointed to the enemy's formation from a distance.
Chapter completed!