Chapter 78: Surprise Attack on Chang'an

Gao Ding learned that Lu Xun had been defeated and had retreated to Jingzhou, and immediately made a new judgment on the current situation.

Originally, Lu Xun from Jiangdong and Meng Huo from the Southern Barbarians were the biggest reliances of Gao Ding Yong Kai and others. Gao Ding did not expect that he and Yong Kai's coalition could capture Chengdu. Originally, Gao Ding planned to take advantage of Lu Xun and the Southern Barbarians to attack Shu and take advantage of the situation to raise an army and take advantage of the troubled waters, but now Lu Xun has withdrawn, and the Shu army only needs to face pressure from Nanzhong. Meng Huo's troops have not yet been assembled and cannot pose a threat to the Shu army. It can be expected that the Shu army will definitely attack itself first.

Instead of being beaten by the Shu army, it is better to take advantage of the fact that there are still some troops in your hands to surrender. In this way, you can still find a job with the capital you have. It is better than being a loser in the end.

Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons, he decided to surrender to the Shu army immediately.

What A Dou valued was not Gao Ding, but the power in Gao Ding's hands. Gao Ding still had tens of thousands of troops in his hands and controlled the entire Yueli people, so Gao Ding's surrender saved A Dou a lot of trouble. Gao Ding's surrender also made Yue Ding's three counties connected together, and because Yong Kai died in battle, the Yong family's general was unable to survive. After Gao Ding stationed his troops, the remnants of Yong King's army also retreated to Yongchang. Halfway through the Shu army, most of which were injured, only 10,000 people fled back to Yongchang at night. Then the Shu army continued to work hard and sent troops to Jianning. At that time, Yong King did not leave many people in Jianning to defend. Now Yong King was defeated and died, and the trees fell and the money was scattered. As soon as the Shu army arrived, Jianning immediately opened cities to surrender. In just a few days, the Shu army recaptured the entire Jianning territory.

At the same time, Adou also got a very important news from Gao Ding, that is, the army of Meng Huo, the southern barbarians, is still gathering. According to Gao Ding's calculations, it will take at least half a year for Meng Huo to complete the assembly.

Adou believes that Meng Huo has not yet completed the assembly of his troops, which is the best time to attack Meng Huo. After Meng Huo assembles the barbarians, it will be much more difficult to conquer the southern barbarians.

However, the southern expedition to Menghuo is not a simple matter. The so-called three armies will go ahead before they move their food and grass. The barbarians usually stay in the mountains and forests. The terrain is complex and there are no roads in many places. If the Shu army wants to attack the southern barbarians, they must first build roads. It is very likely that the roads must be built wherever they go, so that the logistics food and grass can be replenished in time.

Fortunately, Lu Kai knew the geography of the barbarian land very well and also presented a book called "Pingman's Map". With Lu Kai there, the Shu army would not get lost. Moreover, it was much easier to build roads in the Three Kingdoms era than now. Tens of thousands of people walked over and stepped on a road. The supply troops behind only need to march along the roads that the army in front stepped on.

In order to ensure logistics supply, A Dou collected 100,000 civilians in Nanzhong to help the Shu army transport food and grass. With the local snake, this local tyrant is not a very difficult task.

Because the road to the Southern Barbarians is difficult to move, A Dou brought all the troops proficient in infantry warfare this time. Shamoke's 30,000 Wuxi barbarians naturally had to be brought with them. In addition, 30,000 elite troops were selected from Gao Ding's command and Zhu Bao's remnants. In addition, 30,000 Shu troops, a total of 90,000 people were attacked to conquer Meng Huo.

In December of the first year of Zhangwu in the Han Dynasty, Prince Liu Chan led 90,000 troops to fight against Meng Huo, the Southern Barbarians.

Yongzhou.

Liu Bei's army advanced rapidly and soon occupied most of Yongzhou. After the Western Qiang retreated, Liu Bei immediately continued to advance eastward and finally arrived at Chen Cang.

Chen Cang was an important town in Yongzhou, especially after Emperor Gaozu built a plank road and secretly crossed Chen Cang, the importance of Chen Cang's geographical location was highlighted. After the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Hanzhong was occupied by Zhang Lu. During the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao was worried that Zhang Lu would go out of Sanguan to attack Yongzhou, so he deliberately managed Chen Cang into a fortress. After years of reinforcement, Chen Cang is now easier to defend and difficult to attack. Even if the Shu army had an army of 200,000, it would be difficult to capture Chen Cang for a while.

After Guan Yu retreated from Xiegu, Cao Zhen also knew that Guan Yu was just suspicious of his troops, so he immediately led his troops westward to Chencang, and then built a line of defense with the Wei River and Chencang to stalemate with the Shu army.

At this time, Sima Yi offered Cao Zhen a suggestion that Shu soldiers had a large number of people and consumed a lot of food and grass. The two times of the Shu army were transported from Hanzhong. The 200,000 people consumed a lot of food and grass every day, so they only needed to deploy layers of defense, and could not leave, and consumed it with the Shu army. When the Shu army was not as good as food and grass, they would inevitably retreat.

Cao Zhen agreed with Sima Yi's view, so he relied on Chen Cangcheng and Weishui to lay out a line of defense.

Although the Shu army had more than 200,000, after seeing Cao's army taking a defensive posture, Pang Tong still suggested that Liu Bei not attack rashly. Because he could only go to Chang'an from Chen Cang to the east and Ji County. Faced with Cao Zhen's layer by layer of defense, Pang Tong did not hope to lose overwhelming troops when he attacked Chang'an, so the Shu army could not lose too much troops in Chen Cang.

However, if the Shu army and Cao army continue to consume this, the supply of food and grass from Shu army will become a big problem. Not only is the long journey from Hanzhong to Chencang, the road is still very difficult, which is much more difficult than transporting grain from Xudu to Chencang. Long-term consumption will inevitably be very unfavorable to the Shu army.

The force of the attack was consumed too much, and the Shu army could not afford it after it was still, but Cao Zhen could not come out to fight with the Shu army, which made Liu Bei feel like he was unable to start.

Liu Bei asked Pang Tong for advice. Pang Tong suggested to Liu Bei that he would send Ma Chao to Liangzhou to slowly wipe out the remaining Cao army in Liangzhou, and at the same time, he would farm on both sides of the Wei River, and put on a long-term battle posture to paralyze Cao Zhen.

On the other hand, Pang Tong hoped that Wei Yan would walk through Ziwu Valley for 5,000 people. Now the main force of Cao's army was restrained on the Chencang line, and Chang'an was empty behind. If Wei Yan could successfully attack Chang'an through Ziwu Valley at this time and Cao's army lost the fundamental strategic location of Chang'an, then the battle of Yongzhou would be over.

As long as Wei Yan can successfully attack Chang'an, Chen Cang's main force of the Shu army can definitely afford it. As long as Pang Tong can numb the Cao army at present, everything is worth it.

Inside the valley of Ziwu.

A team of Shu troops were walking on the rugged Ziwu Valley Mountain Road.

A Shu soldier stopped, sat on the bluestone on the side of the road, took off the straw sandals on his feet, then took out a pair of new straw sandals from his backpack and put them on his feet, muttering constantly in his mouth: "Hey! This is the last pair."

Wei Yan just passed by, looked at the pair of damaged straw sandals thrown to the side, and sighed slightly.

The roads in Ziwu Valley are much harder to walk than Wei Yan imagined, especially after thirty or forty miles deep into Ziwu Valley, the roads are rugged and uneven. In order to maintain the speed of the march, Wei Yan had to throw away a lot of unnecessary supplies, lightly equipped and simple to reduce the pressure of the march. However, even so, the roads in Ziwu Valley still made Wei Yan feel extremely difficult.

"General, you have already found out clearly. It is about forty miles away from the entrance of the valley!" The scout hurried over and said to Wei Yan.

Upon hearing this news, Wei Yan let out a long sigh. The 660-mile Ziwu Valley was finally almost finished!

"Send the order to stay, and the entire army will rest for two days and accumulate strength. We will march directly to Chang'an!"

Two days later, Wei Yan threw away all his supplies, each of them carried only three days of food and grass, and began to move towards the entrance of Ziwu Valley.

At night that day, Wei Yan arrived at the mouth of Ziwu Valley and then easily captured the mouth of Ziwu Valley. Later, Wei Yan did not stop. After an hour of rest, he rushed to Chang'an City overnight.

Xiahou Wei was the son of Xiahou Dun, and he also took Cao Cao's daughter Princess Qinghe. Moreover, Xiahou Wei had an extraordinary relationship with Cao Pi. After Cao Pi ascended the throne, he ordered Xiahou Wei to take charge of Chang'an and governor Guanzhong. Now that Liu Bei is in the northern expedition, Cao army in Yongzhou, except for the great governor Cao Zhen, he counted Xiahou Wei's official title.

However, Xiahou Wei was not as good as his father Xiahou Dun. In terms of military strategy, Xiahou Wei was only a rookie, and his martial arts were not as one-tenth of Xiahou Dun's. However, Xiahou Wei was not useless, at least in the management area, Xiahou Wei was quite successful.

Cao Zhen also knew that Xiahou Qi had little ability in war, so he ordered Xiahou Qi to stay in the rear and guard Chang'an. In Cao Zhen's opinion, the main force of the Shu army is now being restrained by him on the front line, so there should be no problem with Chang'an in the rear.

Chang'an is still hundreds of miles away from Chencang, and there are also places such as Mei County and Xianyang in the middle, so even if the war is underway in Chencang, the people in Chang'an City still do whatever they should do and are not greatly affected.

Since the early years of Jian'an, Chang'an City has changed hands several times. Dong Zhuo, Lu Bu, Li Jue, Guo Si, Zhang Ji, Cao Cao, Ma Chao and others have occupied Chang'an one after another. Therefore, the people of Chang'an City have become accustomed to this kind of change of hands during wars. Even if the enemy has been besieged, the people in Chang'an City will not be too worried about the future.

Chang'an City is the western capital of the Han Dynasty, so it is naturally extremely prosperous. There are hundreds of families in the city. Merchants who come and go to Panheng in Chang'an City for a few days to do some business. So every morning, Chang'an City opens the city gate very on time, and in the evening, Chang'an City will close the city gate very on time. Even if the war ahead is urgent, Chang'an City will still maintain this.

After noon, the sun gradually turned westward, and the sun shone on the city wall west of Chang'an, dyeing the tall and majestic city walls a golden color.

Several county soldiers stood at the city gate, basking in the sun, and napping listlessly against their weapons.

Because walking west is a battlefield, there are not many people entering and leaving Chang'an City in the past few days, and these soldiers guarding the gate are happy to be idle.

Afar, several people dressed as farmers came over. The men were wearing cloth clothes and covered with mud. The people in front were carrying things, and two people behind were pushing a big cart, which was covered with firewood.

The leader was nine feet tall and quite strong, with a face like a winter date, his beard was squirming around his mouth, and he was carrying a big sack on his shoulder.

Several people walked towards the city gate, raised their heads to look at the group of people for the head gate, and then lowered their heads, mumbled in their mouths: "A bunch of poor mud legs, not much oil..."

Then, the city gate official pointed to the two behind him and curled his lips: "You two go and collect the money!"

The two soldiers walked forward reluctantly, reached out from a distance, and said, "Get the city to pay the city's lijin quickly, one person has a big money! And that car, five big money."

"Sir, you see, our car is full of firewood, and it can't be sold for a lot of money. You can't collect so much at once, so you can't afford it!"

"What nonsense is it? If you ask me to hand it over!" The soldier was about to turn against him as he said.

"Yes, yes, I'm calling." The man dressed in a farmer hurriedly reached into his arms to pay for it. At the moment when his hand was stretched out, something as big as a golden thumb fell out and rolled to the ground.

"It's gold!" When several city gate guards saw this golden thing, they pounced on them like wolves who had been hungry for several days and saw meat.

"What are you trying to squeeze!" The city gate guard walked forward, separated the crowd, snatched the gold from one of the soldiers, weighed it, and then said, "Well, it's really gold, and it's not light."

The guard hurriedly hid the gold in his arms. Suddenly, the guards realized a problem. Where did these poor and jingling farmers get this gold?

When the guard general turned around, the red-faced man grabbed the city gate official's neck, then twisted it hard, and with a "click", the city gate official's neck was twisted.

At the same time, the people dressed by farmers behind them pulled out weapons from the chariot and chopped the Cao army around them. Cao army was caught off guard and several people were chopped down.

The arrow flew into the sky with a finger, and smoke and dust gradually rose from the distance, and the shouts of killing slowly came.

The red-faced man reached his hand into the arms of the city gate official's body, groped for a long time, found the piece of gold, and then put it back in his arms, and said fiercely: "Boy, I want to pay for the money from my Wei Yan, you are still more tender..."

The Shu army rushed into Chang'an City like a wolf or a tiger. The people in Chang'an City were in chaos. Some clever people quickly closed the doors and windows and hid at home. Most of them were running around the streets, looking for a place to hide.

Wei Yan ignored these people and went straight to Xiahou Wei's governor's office.

The chaotic shouts outside reached Xiahou Yan's Governor's Office. Xiahou Yan led people to the gate of the Governor's Office. They saw that the people were running around in scattered on the road, and the cries and footsteps of running away were intertwined.

"Go and investigate, what's going on?" Xiahou Qing hurriedly said to his subordinates. Before he could set off, a group of Cao troops came over from afar, and they were all injured.

When the Cao army saw Xiahou Wei, they immediately rushed to Xiahou Wei, and shouted loudly: "Sir, it's not good! The Shu army has attacked in!"

"Has the Shu army attacked?" Xiahou Wei took a breath, and the soldier immediately added: "Yes, sir, the Shu army has already attacked the city. There are so many Shu army that it is impossible to tell how many there are."

"Who led the troops?" Xiahou Qi asked hurriedly.

"I didn't see clearly, I saw a red-faced man, over nine feet tall, and holding a big knife in his hand."

When he heard that the man with a blushing face was over nine feet tall and was still using a big knife, the first thing Xiahou thought of was Guan Yu.

Xiahou's legs became weak and his butt sat on the ground, muttering, "What should I do if Guan Yu is here? What should I do!"

Speaking of which, Wei Yan and Guan Yu have similar figures, and both have red faces, and they use big swords. The difference between the two is that Guan Yu has a beautiful beard, but Wei Yan does not.

Guan Yu's fame was too great, and the soldier did not mention his beard when he described Wei Yan's appearance, so Xiahou Wei couldn't help but think of Wei Yan as Guan Yu.

Xiahou Wei was not good at military affairs, and now he even thought that Guan Yu had arrived. At this time, Xiahou Wei was scared by Guan Yu and had no will to resist at all.

"Why are you still standing there? Guan Yu is coming, let's run!" Xiahou Qing exclaimed, and ignoring the soldiers around her, they were the first to run towards the city gate to the east. When the soldiers behind Xiahou Qing heard Xiahou Qing say that Guan Yu was coming, they had already felt a desire to retreat in their hearts. Now, when they saw Xiahou Qing running away, they also started to run away.

"Kill me!" Wei Yan rushed into Xiahou Yan's Governor's Office with a knife, but at this time, except for a few elderly servants in the Governor's Office, all the others who could run had already run away.

"Governor Guan, please spare me!" Several old servants knelt on the ground, not even dared to raise their heads, only knowing to beg for mercy in silence.

"General Guan?" Wei Yan looked at the kneeling old servants in confusion, then touched his chin and asked the personal guard beside him: "Does my beard grow a lot?"

Wei Yan only brought 5,000 people, compared with Chang'an City, which covers a huge area, 5,000 people are not a large number.

If Xiahou Shi resisted a little, Wei Yan would not have captured Chang'an City so easily. However, Xiahou Shi had preconceived ideas and mistakenly regarded Wei Yan as Guan Yu and fled without fighting. Therefore, Wei Yan did not encounter much obstacle in this raid and captured Chang'an.

The news of Chang'an's loss quickly reached the Chencang front line.

After Cao Zhen learned that Chang'an was lost, he sighed to the sky: "Xiahou Wei, you have ruined my big trouble!"

Sima Yi next to him was much more sober than Cao Zhen. Sima Yi immediately said to Cao Zhen: "Governor, we will return to Chang'an immediately. If we can retake Chang'an, we can still defend the city. As long as Chang'an is in hand, we will not lose!"

"Zhongda is right, and he ordered the three armies to immediately decapitate the camp and we will attack Chang'an." Cao Zhen immediately ordered.

"Governor, be at ease, never pull out the camp!" Sima Yi hurriedly stopped him.

“Why?”

"Governor, if you deprive the camp, the Shu army on the opposite side will definitely know that we will return to the army, and we will also know that Wei Yan has succeeded. Liu Bei will inevitably lead troops immediately and then come, so we must not deprive the camp. This camp is here to confuse the Shu army. The army will bring a small amount of food and grass to return quickly and counterattack Chang'an day and night! But even so, the Shu army will find out quickly, so if it cannot capture Chang'an within three days, Liu Bei will inevitably lead the army to chase after him." Sima Yi said hurriedly.
Chapter completed!