Chapter 50 Chapter fifty

The Shu army advanced to Mianyang (now Mian County, Shaanxi).After arriving here, he confirmed the previously obtained information: "Wei Guo deployed elite troops from Kansai in Chang'an, and set up a base camp in Chang'an." The Shu army had just trudged through the Bashu plank road, which is known as Tianzhu in the world, and when they arrived in Mianyang, they were already exhausted. Therefore, as soon as Kong Ming arrived here, he ordered the army to take time to rest.He said to Ma Dai: "Here is the tomb of your dead brother Ma Chao. If he knows about it, he will think of the robes in the army in the past when he sees the Shu army coming to the Northern Expedition, and sigh for his inability to serve. We wait And go to pay homage to comfort his soul." So he ordered Ma Dai to mourn and went to sacrifice with him.

After a few days, Wei Yan made a suggestion: "Prime Minister, please give me five thousand horses, and within a few days, I can take Chang'an for you." "What's your plan?" "Between here and Chang'an, if you drive straight in, you can reach it in ten days. As long as I take five thousand troops, go east along the Qinling Mountains, cross the Ziwu Valley, and attack them by surprise, I can disrupt the enemy's position and take the opportunity to burn them. Its grain depot. The prime minister can drive troops and horses from the inclined valley to Xianyang. If such a two-sided attack, the generation of Xia Houmao in Wei State can be defeated in one fell swoop."

"This is not a perfect plan." Kong Ming smiled and shook his head, and replied calmly, "As long as there are people in the enemy army who understand the art of war, they will definitely send troops to cut off the key passes in the mountains. return." "However, if we attack from the main road, how can we ensure that the army of Wei State will be severely damaged?" Kong Ming nodded, agreeing with his analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of the frontal attack, but he still dispatched troops according to his own plan, taking a frontal attack along the Longyou Road.

This offensive formation was exactly the opposite of Wei Jun's expectations.They knew that Kong Ming was resourceful, and believed that he would avoid the main road and advance in a detour in order to win by surprise. Therefore, they divided their troops into several roads in advance and guarded all the small roads tightly, waiting for the Shu army to come and attack.Unexpectedly, Kong Ming led the army and drove straight along the road in an upright manner. "Looks like it's better to let the Xiqiang soldiers go to find out the truth first." Xia Houmao immediately summoned Hande.Han De led 80,000 Qiang soldiers from Xiliang. This time, in order to make contributions, he came to serve after the Wei army set up the Chang'an camp.

"You go to Fengming Mountain to face the vanguard of the Shu army. This is the first battle between the Wei and Shu armies, and it will affect the morale of the future. You must defeat the enemy and make meritorious deeds!" Xia Houmao's encouragement made Han De full of energy.He has four sons, named Han Ying, Han Yao, Han Qiong, and Han Qi. "With my 80,000 strong soldiers and four tigers, it is enough to make the Shu army run away in fright!" Hande rushed to the battlefield confidently, unaware that this was Xia Houmao's wishful thinking, and he was asked to resist the vanguard of the Shu army, just to avoid the casualties of the Wei army.

Han De fulfilled his wish and fought against the vanguard of the Shu army at the foot of Fengming Mountain. Hearing the eldest son Han Ying's report that Zhao Yun was the general in battle, Han De rushed forward with his four sons, intending to take off Zhao Yun's head to make meritorious service, but Zhao Yun turned his horse's head and shouted angrily, "Zhuzi! Are you here to die?" After less than three rounds of fighting, Han Ying was stabbed to death under the horse with one shot. "Don't leave, old thief!" Han Yao, Han Qiong, and Han Qi said that they were attacking from three sides, Zhao Yun fought alone against the three generals, and Han Qiong and Han Qi also died under his gun one after another when he was young.

Zhao Yun stabbed three generals in a row, then retreated leisurely.Han Yao refused to give up, so she chased after her alone, and slashed at Zhao Yun with her saber.Zhao Yun turned sideways, grabbed him and put him on the saddle, "Hey! I'm too lazy to kill you!" After saying that, he captured Han Yao alive and brought him back to the camp. Hande lost his four sons in the first battle, and fled back to Chang'an in despair. The Shu army celebrated their victory in the first battle. Deng Zhi praised Zhao Yun and said: "The old general is over 70 years old and fought on the battlefield. Today he stabbed three young enemy generals off his horse and captured a general alive. We are beyond the reach of the middle-aged. I am amazed. No wonder. Before you leave Chengdu, you will be dissatisfied with the prime minister and let you stay in the city."

Zhao Yun smiled happily: "Where! The old man is indeed still able to fight, today is just a small trial. What kind of credit is it for beating these Qiang generals? Let's see how Zhao Yun will show his skills in the future!" Deng Zhi wrote down the battle situation of the day in detail, and sent someone to send the victory report of the first battle to Kong Ming in the base camp. On the contrary, Wei Jun was terrified by this battle.In order to boost morale, the governor Xia Houmao had no choice but to lead the army to leave the Chang'an base camp and arrive at Fengming Mountain.

"Hande suffered a complete defeat because he underestimated the enemy. If the vanguard of the Shu army is not defeated now, it will fuel the enemy's arrogance even more." Xia Houmao was riding a beautiful white horse, with a dazzling golden helmet on his head. The sister-in-law of Emperor Wei looked like a nobleman.Every day he stood under the commander-in-chief's banner and looked at the battlefield. Seeing Zhao Yun galloping freely, he couldn't help boasting: "Okay, tomorrow I will personally lead the troops into battle, and I will kill that old thief for you to see!"

Hande said from behind: "It's not easy! That is Changshan Zhao Zilong who killed my four sons in a row. How can he easily submit in front of the commander?" "You said he killed your four sons? As a father, how could you allow him to succeed in front of you?" Han De bowed his head in shame and murmured: "Just wait for the time to come, and I will avenge the murder of my son." On the battlefield the next day, Hande swung an axe and charged east and west. When he met Zhao Yun, he declared his name and challenged him. Unexpectedly, within ten rounds, he fell under Zhao Yun's spear.

Lieutenant General Deng Zhi also had a lot of victories. In just four days of fighting, Xia Houmao was beaten to the point where he almost lost the power to fight.In order to restore the decline, Xia Houmao had to order the whole army to retreat 20 miles. "Oh, it's really amazing!" Xia Houmao praised Zhao Yun's bravery at the military meeting, as if he forgot that he was his defeated general.All the generals could only be speechless after listening to the ambitious words of this royal family member. "Zhao Yun is really extraordinary. Although I have heard about this hero who shocked the world in Changbanpo back then, I thought he was over seventy years old and had gray hair. I thought he would be powerless. Who knew Han De The big ax in front of him is like a trifling matter, and it is indeed daunting. To defeat the vanguard of the Shu army, you must first use tricks to get rid of Zhao Yun." As a result, the military meeting heatedly discussed. After the strategy was drawn up, the Wei army advanced again.Zhao Yun yelled: "Look at me capturing the young Xia Houmao!" As he said that he was about to go to battle, Deng Zhi suspected that there was a fraud, and advised him: "The enemy army was defeated yesterday and left today, and it is strange to come back today." How could Zhao Yun listen to his words, he rushed out like a tiger. Wherever he went, it was as if he had entered the land of no one. Unexpectedly, when he looked back, he had already been cut off.It turned out that the Wei army sent two ambush soldiers on this day, Dong Xi, the general of Shenwu on the left, and Xue Ze, the general of the Western Expedition on the right, each with 20,000 troops in advance, waiting for Zhao Yun's arrival. Zhao Yun and his lieutenant Deng Zhi were dispersed, and his subordinates were also scattered. The battlefield was like rain of arrows, and the pursuers were like locusts. Zhao Yun fought until dark, but he still did not break out of the encirclement. It turned out that Xia Houmao's flag bearer was standing on the hill. Zhao Yun rushed west, and the flag pointed west. Zhao Yun rushed south, and the flag also pointed south. Zhao Yun was exhausted, so he finally dismounted and sat on a big rock at the bottom of a tree, watching the bright moon rise alone and weeping, "I'm not old yet! God, do you want Zhao Yun to die here?" Suddenly, stones flew like raindrops, and the big rocks on the mountain also made a loud noise, as if a landslide had occurred. "The enemy is coming again?" Zhao Yun didn't care about panting, and hastily drove the exhausted horse under his crotch to run forward. Suddenly, on the field under the moonlight, a group of soldiers and horses roared towards them. The leader, the general in white robes and white armor, Zhao Yun felt familiar, waved at him and shouted: "Hey! Is it Zhang Bao?" "The old general is the last general!" "How did you get here?" "I came here to help the war on the order of the prime minister. The prime minister concluded that the situation was critical when I received the news of success sent by Deng Zhi a few days ago, and ordered me to rush to the rescue." "Ah, the prime minister is really good at predicting things! Hey, whose head is that you are holding in your left hand?" "It's the head of Xue Ze, General of the Wei Army. I killed him for preventing me from coming here." Just when Zhang Bao held up Xue Ze's head and showed it to Zhao Yun with a smile under the moonlight, another soldier came galloping like thunder from the opposite direction. "Ah, is it Wei Jun?" "No, it must be Guan Xing." While talking, he saw Guan Xing leading a group of people rushing over.He is holding Guan Yu's Qinglong Yanyue Saber across his shoulders, and a human head is also hanging from the saddle. "The last general came to help the old general. He defeated the Wei soldiers who stood in his way, and cut off the head of Dong Xi, the general of the Wei army." "Why, you also killed a Wei general?" "Just like you!" The two looked at each other's captured enemy's head, and laughed against the moonlight. With tears in his eyes, Zhao Yun praised with emotion: "Good job! Good job! Since you killed the two generals Dong Xi and Xue Ze, the enemy army will be defeated immediately. My old bone is safe now, so don't worry about me Hurry up and kill the fleeing Wei army, and get Xia Houmao's head too!" "Then we'll take our leave." The two of them turned around and rushed towards Wei Jun with their respective soldiers and horses. Looking at their backs, Zhao Yun couldn't help sighing: "The tiger has grown up, and Zhang Fei and Guan Yu should be satisfied under the nine springs. These two are my nephews, and now it's their time. Think about it Blushing, I, the general of the five tigers and a veteran of the two dynasties, am actually too old to compare with them, and now I just want to die well." He jumped on his horse and whipped his whip, followed closely, and with his old body straightened out, he went into battle again. Lieutenant General Deng Zhi chased up from nowhere, and the soldiers who had been scattered just now also shouted to join in the pursuit and gathered around Zhao Yun again. Wei Jun retreated again and again from dawn, Xia Houmao could no longer hold on.He is very different from his father Xia Houyuan, now that he is a relative of the emperor, even when he flees, he has to bring more than a hundred generals to escort him.He finally fled to the city of Nan'an County with his guards, and regrouped the troops from all walks of life, relying on Nan'an's strong city wall to resist stubbornly.In less than a day, Zhao Yun, Guan Xing, Deng Zhi, and Zhang Bao came one after another, surrounded Nan'an and attacked day and night, but after more than ten days, they still could not break through a city wall. Kong Ming also arrived in Nan'an not long ago. He only brought the Chinese army with him on this trip. The other ministries have already divided troops into Mianyang, Yangping and Shicheng. "Fortunately, I led the Chinese army here. If you can't attack here for a long time, the Wei army will divide into two groups, one way will go straight to Hanzhong, and the other way will attack you behind. The army cut it off at the waist." Deng Zhi said: "The Prime Minister's words are reasonable. Thinking about Xiahou Maogui being the son-in-law of Wei, if he can be captured alive, it is better than capturing the other one or two hundred generals alive. I wonder if the Prime Minister has a clever plan?" Kong Ming said calmly: "Let's rest tonight, and we will not care about it until we see the terrain tomorrow." Nan'an is connected to Tianshui County in the west and Anding County in the north, and the terrain is extremely steep. Kong Ming carefully surveyed the terrain the next day, and then called Guan Xing and Zhang Bao into the tent to teach them strategies.He also selected capable people and asked them to act as envoys to teach him many rhetoric. After everything was ready, the Shu army began to attack Nan'an City again, and at the same time ordered people to shout loudly under the city: "Prepare firewood, nitrate, and burn Nan'an City into a sea of ​​flames." After hearing the defender's report, Xia Houmao was not afraid, and laughed loudly: "You all said that Kong Ming was deceitful, it seems that's just the case." In the city of Anding to the north of Nan'an, the troops of Cui Liang, the prefect of Anding County, were stationed.On this day, an envoy came to the gate of the city and shouted loudly: "Tell the prefect quickly that I am Pei Xu, a confidant general under the tent of Xia Houmao's son-in-law, and I have an urgent matter to convey." Cui Liang immediately called him in and asked, "What is the general doing here?" The emissary Pei Xu replied: "The battle in Nan'an City is critical. My son-in-law sent me to ask for help from Tianshui and Anding counties. Please immediately gather the troops in the counties and attack Kong Ming's back. Then you can join forces with the soldiers and horses in the city to attack the Shu army from inside and outside, please don't be negligent." "Understood. Do you have the warrant of Xiahou Consort?" "Of course the consort wrote it himself." As he spoke, Pei Xu took out the sweat-stained proclamation from his soaked underwear, handed it to Cui Liang, and said impatiently: "I'm going to see the prefect of Tianshui County right away, and urge him to send reinforcements quickly." After saying that, he declined. After serving food and wine, he rode away immediately. Cui Liang never dreamed that the person who came was a fake messenger, so he immediately gathered troops and prepared to go to Nan'an for reinforcements. Two days later, another envoy came to the gate of the city to send a message: "Ma Zunling, the prefect of Tianshui County, dispatched troops immediately, and they have gathered behind the Shu army. Why did Anding City hold back the troops for so long? Is the prefect going to disobey the order of Prince Xia?" The son-in-law is naturally a relative of the emperor. Hearing the news, Cui Liang was so frightened that he hurriedly led his troops and set off. After walking seventy miles out of the city, when night fell, he saw a raging fire ahead, burning half of the sky red. Cui Liang sent a team of scouts to reconnaissance, but the scout team never returned, but saw Shu general Guan Xing leading his army to attack. "Why did the enemy come so fast?" Cui Liang was so frightened that the leader retreated quickly, but Zhang Bao's troops surrounded him with shouts from behind.Cui Liang's soldiers and horses were beaten to pieces, and he took only a few subordinates and fled back to Anding City by taking a small path. "Ah! What's that flag?" Cui Liang looked up and saw that the Anding City was covered with Shu Army banners. General Wei Yan stood on the top of the city and gave an order, and the city wall immediately fired arrows. "It's over!" Only then did Cui Liang realize that he had fallen into the enemy's trap, and he had nowhere to go, so he had to go desperately to Tianshui County.Walking halfway, a group of soldiers and horses accompanied by the sound of drums blocked his way. After a while, he saw a four-wheeled cart pushed out from a clump of trees. Kong Ming. Cui Liang felt his eyes go dark, immediately rolled off his horse, kowtowed on the ground and surrendered.After accepting the surrender, Kong Ming took him back to the camp and treated him as a guest. A few days later, Kong Ming recruited him, and asked with a pleasant face, "There is already Xia Houmao in charge of Nan'an City. I wonder how your relationship with the former prefect is?" "Because we are neighboring counties, we have a close relationship." "Who is the prefect of Nan'an?" "He is Yang Fu's younger brother, his name is Yang Ling, and he is like a brother to me." "Can he trust you?" "Of course you can trust me." "Then..." Kong Ming stepped forward and said solemnly, "Please go into the city and ask Yang Ling to show your interests and ask him to capture Xia Houmao alive. This is not only for yourself, but also for your good friend. " Cui Liang lowered his head, pondered for a long time with a solemn expression, and finally made up his mind, "I will definitely fulfill my mission." "Although this matter is not easy, after success, it will not only benefit oneself, but also benefit the community." "Prime Minister, could you please lift the siege outside Nan'an City first?" "Yes." Kong Ming immediately ordered the entire army to retreat twenty miles away. With a secret mission, Cui Liang went to the city to talk to Yang Ling, the prefect of Nan'an.The two were close friends, Cui Liang told the whole story of what Kong Ming had done, but Yang Ling shook his head and said: "Don't talk nonsense! I have received the great kindness of the King of Wei, how can I betray Wei and surrender to Shu now? Fortunately, you came here with a secret order from Kong Ming. We might as well use our tricks and lure Kong Ming to take the bait." In fact, Cui Liang also wanted the same in his heart, and the two hit it off immediately, so they went to report to Xia Houmao together. Xia Houmao listened to the details of the two people's details, repeatedly called for clever strategies, and asked how the Shu army could be fooled. Yang Ling said: "I must ask Cui Liang to go back to Kong Ming's formation. I said that after persuading him to surrender, Yang Ling was also eager to surrender to Shu. However, there are not many people in the city who can conspire with this great event. Xia Houmao's son-in-law is heavily guarded and cannot capture him alive. .” "Oh, that's it. And then?" "Then I suggested to Kong Ming that if he wants to succeed in one fell swoop, he should invite him to lead his own troops. I will open the city to meet him, and at the same time create disturbances in the city, and take advantage of the chaos. At that time, capturing the son-in-law will be like picking something out of a bag—as long as Introduce Kongming to the city, and when the time comes, he will be killed or cut, so I will listen to the son-in-law." "Wonderful! It really is a clever plan!" After the agreement was made, Cui Liang went out of the city and returned to Kong Ming's formation, all he wanted was to lure him into being fooled. Kong Ming seemed to have no doubts in him, and nodded to him frequently, "The more than one hundred soldiers who came from Anding with you can go with you. They are your subordinates, and they will go through fire and water for you." .” "It couldn't be better. It's just that the prime minister, why don't you also lead a team of strong soldiers and sneak into the city with me? Only in this way can we take down Xia Houmao in one fell swoop." "There is a saying, 'If you don't enter the tiger's lair, how can you catch tiger cubs', Kong Ming is definitely not without the courage. I want the two generals Guan Xing and Zhang Bao to mix with your subordinates, enter Nan'an City first, and then set up a fire to fight against you." No, I will go into the city to capture Xia Houmao myself." Cui Liang knew that it would be inconvenient to bring Guan Xing and Zhang Bao into the city together, he secretly complained in his heart, with a look of embarrassment on his face, but if he refused, it would arouse Kong Ming's suspicion.He calculated in his mind that if he wanted to achieve his goal, he had no choice but to get rid of Guan and Zhang after entering the city, and then lead Kong Ming into the city.So he agreed to act according to this, and agreed again with Kong Ming: "When the prime minister sees the fire, please lead someone to rush in through the open city gate immediately." After dark, a group of people came to the city of Nan'an.According to the prior agreement, Yang Ling leaned forward from the watchtower and asked, "Who is here?" Cui Liang hurriedly replied: "We are reinforcements from Anding, please refer to the call for details." After that, he shot an arrow he had prepared into the city. Yang Ling opened the letter sent up, and saw that it read: "Kong Ming is extremely cautious, and has sent two eyeliners, Guan Xing and Zhang Bao, to mix with my army. The original plan can only be carried out after killing these two people in the city. Please rest assured to open the city gate first." Yang Ling presented the letter to Xia Houmao for review, and Xiahoumao happily clapped his hands and said, "Kong Ming has caught the trick! Immediately prepare to kill those two eyeliners." Immediately, hundreds of elite soldiers were sent to ambush behind the tent with spears and swords in hand, waiting for Cui Liang to bring Guan Xing and Zhang Bao into the city. "Quick! Come in!" Yang Ling came to greet him at the gate, not far behind him was the Shuai Mansion in Xiahoumao City, and there were many tents set up in the open space in front of the Shuai Mansion. "I'm sorry, please step aside." Guan Xing said and walked in front of Cui Liang.Cui Liang hastily stepped aside, wanting to let Zhang Bao behind him go first, but Zhang Bao followed him alertly, "No, you go first." As he spoke, he suddenly pushed him forward, and shouted: "Cui Liang! Your play is over!" Before he finished speaking, he drew out his knife and slashed down. At the same time, Guan Xing also rushed towards Yang Ling who was walking in front, piercing his chest with a sword from behind. Guan Xing went on a rampage, fighting with all his might, shouting loudly: "Guan Xing, the son of Guan Yu, is here! Nan'an City has been destroyed, get out of the way!" Cui Liang brought more than a hundred old men who escorted him. In fact, they had already been influenced by Kong Ming in the Shu camp, and they had been rewarded with great rewards before they set off. , Take advantage of the chaos and set fire to it. Kong Ming had been waiting outside the city with his army, and when he saw the fire, he knew that Guan Xing and Zhang Bao had succeeded, and quickly rushed into the city through the open city gate. Seeing that the Wei army in the city suffered such a catastrophe, Xia Houmao had no choice but to escape from the south gate with a team of followers. Unexpectedly, outside the south gate, which he regarded as his way of life, was the pocket array laid down by Kong Ming.After a short time, a group of elite soldiers from the Shu army blocked the way. Amidst the thundering drums, there was only a loud shout: "General Wang Ping, General Yamen under Kong Ming's command, I will be waiting here for a long time!" In a blink of an eye, the deserters of the Wei army were surrounded, Xia Houmao's retinue and guards were all killed in battle, and he himself became a prisoner of the Shu army. When Kongming entered Nan'an City, he immediately went out to appease the people, put Xia Houmao in a prison cart, and called all the generals to gather together to commend everyone for their military exploits. At the celebration banquet, they raised their glasses to congratulate each other, Deng Zhi asked Kong Ming, "Why did the Prime Minister see that Cui Liang was cheating from the very beginning?" "Comparing your heart to your heart, it's not difficult to understand his intentions. Fortunately, I realized that this person didn't really surrender, so he just used his own way to treat his own body." "At that time, I also felt that Cui Liang's words and demeanor were weird. Seeing that the prime minister agreed with him and let him go to Nan'an City, everyone was really disturbed. Now after listening to the prime minister's advice, they suddenly realized." "Generally speaking, if the enemy designs to deceive us, it's easy to use their tricks, and nine out of ten can counter him. I think Cui Liang is obviously lying, so he deliberately let him enter the city. Seeing that he came back so quickly, you can tell The enemy has already set a trap in the city. He reluctantly had to take Guan Xing and Zhang Bao with him, which further proves that he has ulterior motives. My strategy is actually not very sophisticated. As long as Cui Liang believes that I have no doubts in him, I can follow the plan , taking advantage of the trend to take Nan'an City." Kong Ming then concluded: "There are still some shortcomings in this strategy. I also sent false messengers to Tianshui City to implement the strategy. For some reason, the prefect Ma Zun has not left the city so far. If we do not take advantage of the momentum to attack Tianshui, the Battle of the Three Counties will be over." It’s not a total victory.” He ordered Wu Yi to stay and defend Nan'an, and sent Liu Yan to Anding to replace Wei Yan. He reorganized the army and horses, and then sent his troops to Tianshui County.