Because of the impact of Zhang Zhi's butterfly flapping his wings, the desolate luck that had been with the Sima family for a long time seemed to have come to an end. It was just the sixth year of Yanxing in Shu Han, and in the fourth year of Taishi in Jinting, all kinds of unlucky things came to Jinting one after another.

First of all, of course, the loss of Hanzhong, an important town on the western front. After taking over Nanzheng, the Hanzhong County capital, the Han army took advantage of the opportunity of the Jin army's rush to flee west to obtain food and successfully captured the Yang'an Pass, which had never been directly captured by others, and drove the main force of the Jin army to the west of Yang'an Pass. They continued to quickly divide their troops eastward, seized the small town of Chenggu and Nanxiang, and drove the remaining forces of the Jin army in the Hanzhong Basin out of the country, basically controlling the strategic Hanzhong Basin.

Then the three northern expeditions of the Eastern Wu. Sun Hao, who was known for his brutality, suddenly worked hard and resolutely dispatched three troops to attack Jiangxia, Xiangyang and Hefei, including three major cities, which posed a significant threat to the central and eastern fronts of the Jin army. It also forced the Jin army to open a new battlefield of the middle and eastern fronts before the Western Front War ended, making the Jin army's mobile forces even more stretched and the burden of money and grain became even greater. The civilians who were forced to requisition the border reached hundreds of thousands.

Not only that, during this period, floods and droughts in the Central Plains continued, and even plagues broke out. The epidemic spread everywhere with the mobilization of civilians and military forces, and quickly caused a spread, causing serious hidden dangers to the production and life of the people in the Central Plains, and also had a significant impact on the stable rule of the Jin court. (Historical facts, from "The Year of China Disasters")

Wei Guan, a famous minister of the Jin court who once killed the three great men in the late Three Kingdoms, led the new force that Sima Yan had finally squeezed out to Wuxing County, and took over the mess of the Jinniu Dao battlefield and replaced Sima Liang as the heavy responsibility of fighting against the Han army. Sima Liang, who lost Hanzhong, was mentally prepared for this. Not only was there no dissatisfaction, but on the contrary, he also warmly welcomed Wei Guan's arrival with a liberation mentality.

The first thing after the meeting was of course the power transfer. After successfully completing this, Wei Guan was of course anxious to learn about the current situation of the Jin army of Jin and Hanzhong Han army from Sima Liang. Sima Liang also told the truth, saying: "There are currently more than 84,000 soldiers on the battlefield of Jinniu Road, 10,000 troops in Jiameng Pass, 15,000 troops in Baishui, and the old general Shi led more than 28,000 troops in Guancheng, and the remaining 31,000 troops in Wuxing."

"The thief army is expanding its troops wildly. Our detailed investigations show that after the pseudo-Han thief army basically controlled the entire Hanzhong county, in addition to recruiting surrenders and rebels, they also desperately recruited soldiers. It is estimated that the force has reached nearly 50,000. Currently, there are about 15,000 people stationed in Yang'an Pass, led by the thief general Cuan Gu, and the rest are concentrated in Nanzheng training and reorganization, led by Zhang Zhi's rebel thief himself."

"How many? 50,000 thieves?" Wei Guan asked in surprise: "King Fufeng, is this number reliable? How big is Hanzhong? Just relying on a rice warehouse to transport grain and supply, will the thieves dare to station so many troops in Hanzhong?"

"Zhang Zhi's rebel traitor was crazy and implemented the policy of expanding the army of three Dings and one Ding in Hanzhong. Even if the 50,000 troops were not reached, the difference would probably not be too far." Sima Liang replied truthfully: "There are even more likely to be more, because the pseudo-Han traitor army did not suffer much casualties during the attack on Hanzhong, and it is also possible to replenish troops through the Mikang Road."

"Crazy, this thief is simply crazy." After cursing again, Wei Guan, who was very familiar with the situation in Shu, said with relief: "But for our Great Jin court, this may not be a good thing. The Hanzhong Plain is not very large. If there is no grain supply in Yizhou, the grain production can only be provided with 30,000 troops. The bandit army must transport grain through the rice warehouse road to support the additional 20,000 troops, which is definitely a huge burden for the bandit army."

Sima Liang nodded and asked again: "Boyu, what are you going to do this time?"

"The will of Your Majesty to me is to restore morale and boost the morale of the army as soon as possible. I also plan to carefully understand the situation of Hanzhong and Jinniu Road first, and then make a decision." Wei Guan replied, asking, "King Fufeng, can you tell me your personnel and affairs again so that I can have a clear mind."

Sima Liang agreed, and then introduced his main civil and military personnel to Wei Guan. Wei Guan continued to use Sima Liang's confidants with great face, and also took time to talk to these people one by one, understand and consult them about the situation of the enemy and us, and strive to know themselves and the enemy. During this period, Wang Jun, who was used by Sima Liang as the army, naturally had the opportunity to talk to Wei Guan alone.

The anxious Wang Jun also seized this opportunity to speak to Wei Guan. In addition to reporting the food and grass problems he found in the Han army, he also warned: "Governor Wei, please forgive me for your negligence. Our current military deployment has a big problem, that is, all the troops are concentrated on the Taurus Road, and Guanzhong is too empty. If the thief army takes advantage of their advantage of carrying large amounts of food and grass, and highlights the surprise troops into Guanzhong, our rear will inevitably be in a hurry, and the consequences will be unimaginable."

"Shizhi's words are too worrying, right?" Wei Guan smiled and said, "The thief army has only half of our strength at most. We must also guard the important land of Hanzhong. How dare you take advantage of the situation and enter Guanzhong?"

"But Yang'an Pass is in their hands." Wang Jun hurriedly warned: "Yang'an Pass is the first natural danger in Hanzhong, which is the easiest to defend but difficult to attack. However, as long as 20,000 troops are left to defend Yang'an Pass, it is enough to ensure the safety of Hanzhong. The remaining thief army can let go north. If we don't prepare for it early in Guanzhong, we will be afraid that the thief army will take advantage of it."

Wei Guan laughed loudly, and his evaluation of Wang Jun was reduced a little bit. He snorted coldly in his heart: "I am another person who was afraid of being beaten by the thief army. He was worried that the thief army would go north to Guanzhong regardless of the food route. He was simply afraid of the enemy like a tiger. Besides, Guanzhong is so large, even if all my mobile troops are transferred back to Guanzhong, how can I deploy defense?"

It was precisely because Wang Jun's warning was inappropriate for a while that after carefully understanding the situation between the enemy and us, Wei Guan devoted his main energy to how to boost morale and boost the morale of the army, and spent a lot of effort to solve the problem of the Jin army's fear of a head-on decisive battle with the Han army. At the same time, he changed the defense troops on a large scale, allowing the new force brought from Qingzhou to take on the important task of stationing in Wuxing to protect the food route, and transferred a large number of soldiers who were repeatedly captured by the Han army back to Xiabian Village. While resting and resting, he tried his best to solve some food and grass problems on his own.

In addition, given that the army spent a lot of money on the Jinniu Road for a long time and the Jin army's troops had obvious advantages, Wei Guan also planned to draw a snake out of the hole, which was to gather an advantageous force to attack Jiange, force the Han army to go out of Yang'an Pass to surround Wei and rescue Zhao, and then use the dangerous roads in the city to deal with the Han army, and gradually weaken the Han army, which is good at decisive battles.

…………

Wei Guan should actually pay attention to Wang Jun's warning, because after he replaced Sima Liang to take charge of the Jin army's Western Front Army, Zhang Zhi was most concerned about not his strategy and tactics, but his deployment and adjustments in the Guanzhong area. When the Han army carefully explored the accurate information and let Zhang Zhi know that Wei Guan had deployed all the 20,000 rear troops he brought from Qingzhou into the Jinniu Road battlefield, Zhang Zhi immediately laughed and clapped and said, "It's good that we didn't leave the new force in Guanzhong. This time, the road that the Prime Minister and the General have never finished in their lives. We finally have hope to finish it."

"What does the latter general mean?" Yan Yu next to him asked curiously: "The road that the prime minister and the general have never finished in their entire lives? What road?"

Zhang Zhi smiled and replied, "Of course it's the road from Hanzhong to Chang'an."

"The road from Hanzhong to Chang'an?" After listening to the obedient voice, Yan Yu immediately heard Zhang Zhi's intention and said in surprise: "Hou General, do you want to take advantage of the opportunity to fight Chang'an?"

"Isn't it possible?" Zhang Zhi asked back: "All 100,000 Jin thieves were stationed in Jinniu Road and Chencang Road. Guanzhong was empty, and there were only a few thousand county guards in Chang'an City at most. We had no burden of food and grass. We could use this advantage to attack Chang'an and fulfill the lifelong dreams of the Prime Minister and the General?"

"But the problem is that even if we can win Chang'an without transporting food and grass, how can we defend after taking Chang'an?" Yan Yu said in confusion: "At present, we have not even cleared the Taurus Road, and Hanzhong and Shuzhong have not been completely integrated, how can we still open and close the battlefield? We can't leave an army in Chang'an after taking Chang'an, right? Our current troops will never be able to do this?"

"Who said we were going to guard Chang'an?" Zhang Zhi replied with a smile: "General Yan, think about it, if we took advantage of the situation and burned the Jin thieves' food in Chang'an City with fire? Will the burden of transporting grain from Jin thieves increase by several times or ten times?"

"It turns out that you want to speed up the bloodshed of the Jin thieves."

Yan Yu breathed a sigh of relief and then understood what Zhang Zhi meant. Zhang Zhize nodded calmly and said, "Yes, the national strength of the Jin thieves is far better than that of us. If we want to conquer the food on the Taurus Road, it will inevitably be slow to take effect. Moreover, we are far away from the rear. Once Yizhou changes, returning to aid will be a huge problem. Therefore, the best way is to highlight the surprise troops, suddenly send troops to Chang'an, and take down the largest granary of the bandit army in Guanzhong. In this way, the burden on the Jin thieves' court will be doubled and it will be easier for us to drag down."

"Which road is the general going to take to attack Chang'an?" Yan Yu asked tentatively.

"Of course it is the nearest Ziwu Valley!" Zhang Zhi answered very directly, saying: "Wei Yan asked troops to leave Ziwu Valley more than once, but was restricted by food and grass. In addition, Wei Yan proposed a strategy to capture Chang'an instead of harassing, so the Prime Minister flatly refused every time. We are different. We have no burden of food and grass, and the purpose is not to occupy Chang'an, so we can take this road north with confidence and boldness to get rid of the Guanzhong granary of the Jin thief as quickly as possible."

After careful calculation and deduction, he found that the adventure plan proposed by Zhang Zhi was very executable. Yan Yu nodded and said, "Later General, if you have made up this decision, I suggest that we should send troops in mid-July. Because the grain and grass harvest in Guanzhong were harvested in early August. After we suddenly came to Chang'an City in early August, we could also prevent the Jin bandits from harvesting the grain and grass from the military camp into the warehouse, which would seriously reduce the grain production in Guanzhong this year, and also make the money and grain burden of the Jin bandits' court heavier."

"The clever plan should be seized!" Zhang Zhi shouted loudly and said, "But this tactical plan must not be announced now. Just let Zhao Quan, Yang Ji and Cuan Gu know about it, and we must ensure the suddenness of our surprise attack. In addition, we must also release the wind, saying that we are going to send troops to pass the city after the autumn harvest, forcibly clear the Jin thieves, so that our virtuality and reality will be difficult to understand the situation of ours!"

In this way, after quickly settled the tactical plan to raid Chang'an during the autumn harvest period, the Han army not only tried hard to prepare for the war, but also spread rumors everywhere that their army was preparing to leave Yang'an Pass after the autumn harvest. Then, let alone the news, the Jin army was able to find out in detail, and it was quickly reported to Wei Guan.

Common sense tricked people. Considering that the Han army needed food and grass supplies, after receiving the detailed investigation, Wei Guan really believed that the Han army was preparing to send troops to recover Guancheng after the autumn harvest. In order to seize the initiative and disrupt the tactical plan of the Han army, Wei Guan quickly made up his mind and let the Jin army make noises everywhere, saying that he was preparing to launch a large-scale attack on Jiange before the autumn harvest, in order to tempt the Han army to send troops in advance and disrupt the Han army's grain harvest plan in Hanzhong.

Not only to let the Han army know that it was definitely not bluffing, in late June, Wei Guan really ordered Shi Bao to send 10,000 troops from Guancheng, and go south with the mobile troops from Baishui and Jiameng Pass and other places, and put on an attitude of preparing to attack Jiange. The mobilization of the Jin army was reported to the decision-making level of the Han army. Yan Yu, Zhao Quan, Yang Ji and others were inevitably extremely worried and warned Zhang Zhi: "Subordinate General, should we send troops to attack Guancheng and force the Jin bandits to retreat, otherwise, once Jiange is lost, our rear will be in trouble."

"It's okay, we must trust Mao Jing and Zhu Xiang." Zhang Zhi replied: "After the Eastern Wu launched a large-scale northern expedition, the pressure on our eastern front was greatly reduced. Zhu Xiang had already moved our mobile troops to Fu County to station. After receiving the news that the Jin thieves were heading south, Zhu Xiang would definitely go north to reinforce Jiange immediately. He and Mao Jing's army combined with 20,000 people, which was enough to defend Jiange for a long time and buy time for us to suddenly go north. Then when the news of our sudden troops from Chang'an reached Wei Guan, Wei Guan would definitely panic, give up attacking Jiange, and choose to go north to rescue Chang'an with all his might. At that time, the crisis of Jiange will be resolved without fighting."

"The latter general means that we will fight each other and see who can't stand it first?"

Zhao Quan understood what Zhang Zhi meant, Zhang Zhi nodded and said with a smile: "I definitely trust Zhu Xiang and Mao Jing. As for whether Wei Guan dares to trust Qing Sheng, the governor of Yongzhou who was the thief of Jin, it depends on his own."

Having said that, in order to be cautious, Zhang Zhi immediately sent someone to send a letter to Zhu Xiang and Mao Jing through the Mikura Road, allowing them to retreat to Luocheng when Jiange could not stand, exchange space for time, and give the main force of the Han army the time to surround Wei and rescue Zhao and force the Jin army to retreat.

On July 15th, the sixth year of Yanxing, after careful preparation, Zhang Zhi left 25,000 troops to guard Hanzhong and Yang'an Pass for Cuan Gu, and led 26,000 troops to advance from Nanzheng East. Under the banner of seizing the Xicheng, he ran straight to the southern entrance of Ziwu Valley with only a few military supplies. Before leaving, Zhang Zhi deliberately prayed in front of Zhuge Villageman and Jiang Wei's spirit, and said sincerely:

"Prime Minister, General, the five-hour drive of the Growth Expressway in the future has made you never finished your journey. You have also made you die before you succeed. It has made the heroes cry, and the younger generation has always regretted you. But don't worry, the younger generation will definitely finish your journey this time."

Because the Han army had blocked the roads of all sizes before sending troops, Zhang Zhi's troops on July 15th were not until July 23rd eight days later that Wei Guan, who was stationed in Wuxing, received the news through the meticulous work of crossing mountains and ridges. What is very funny is that he learned that the Han army was advancing east under the banner of sending troops to the West City, and at the same time confirmed that the Han army did not carry too much food, grass and military supplies. Wei Guan, who was constrained by military knowledge, not only did not suspect that the Han army was preparing to attack Chang'an, but also had such thoughts...
Chapter completed!