Looking back at the situation of the Han army, if possible, Zhang Zhi really wanted to replicate the tactics at Yang'an Pass, lead his army to the battlefield of Golden City, and catch Yang Hu off guard, and strive to kill one of his most feared opponents.

However, it is a pity that various objective reasons doomed Zhang Zhi to succeed. First of all, the distance is too far. Secondly, the Han army was too tired after two consecutive battles, with a large number of wounded soldiers, and urgently needed rest. Third, Yang Hu was too cunning, and he was extremely likely to see the flaws by using tricks to lure him into battle, and he had the counterproductive effect. If he drove directly to the battlefield of Golden City without tricks, with Yang Hu's cautious and cunning, he would definitely choose to retreat immediately and would not stay stupidly and wait for death.

This is true. After taking a break at Yang'an Pass and expelled the Jin army prisoners who had chosen to leave to Wuxing, the Han army had just retreated west to the vicinity of Nanzheng, Zhao Quan sent an urgent report saying that Yang Hu had already retreated to Shangyong with his army. It was obvious that Sima You's messenger had contacted Yang Hu, letting Yang Hu know the news of the defeat of the Jin army in the middle, so he decisively chose to withdraw his troops.

Although Zhang Zhi was extremely regretful about this, he had no choice but to let the army rest on site in Nanzheng, and at the same time shrink his troops, and consider leading the army back to Yizhou.

Zhang Zhi also had to return to Yizhou. Since the fifth year of Yanxing, Zhang Zhi has not returned to Yizhou for two years. Although Zhang Zhi left a mountain of military canned food in Chengdu before leaving, after two years of consumption, Chengdu's canned food has been stored less than 20%. He has been forced to suspend the purchase of high-end wood. In addition, it is necessary to stabilize the people's hearts and handle military and political affairs, and to exchange high-end wood for junk food. Of course, Zhang Zhi has to return to Chengdu for any reason.

Another very important purpose of Zhang Zhi returning to Chengdu was to calm the emotions of the veterans. Since the reunification of the sacred road, the families of the Han army soldiers have been constantly moving to Chengdu. Of course, the Han army soldiers also missed these families who had not seen for several years. Therefore, Zhang Zhi had to take the veterans from Nanzhong back to reunite with their families for a period of time to alleviate their homesickness and create people by the way.

Logically speaking, when Taurus Road was still controlled by the Jin army, Zhang Zhi should have gone to Chengdu on the Micang Road. However, with the golden finger that did not need to transport grain, Zhang Zhi decided to go directly to Sichuan on the Taurus Road. There are two purposes for this: save time, and the other is to tell Jinting that even if they are controlled by them, he can come and go freely, further prompting the Jinting to take the initiative to give up the Taurus Road, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Fortunately, under the deliberate training, Zhang Zhi now has two capable generals, Cuan Gu and Zhao Quan, who can stand alone. In addition, the three defeats of the Jin army suffered heavy losses, so it is difficult to threaten Hanzhong's security in a short period of time. Therefore, Zhang Zhi quickly decided to let Cuan Gu lead 30,000 troops to stay in Hanzhong, and lead 30,000 Han troops, mostly veterans, to return to Chengdu. At the same time, he decided to let Cuan Gu's family go north to reunite with Cuan Gu, and settle in Hanzhong from then on.

You can see your family without going back to Chengdu, and you have gained Zhang Zhi's trust and heavy use. Of course, Cuan Gu accepted the task of staying in Hanzhong very happily, and asked Zhang Zhi: "Hou General, you plan to withdraw to Chengdu this time. Are you planning to attack the passes along the Taurus Road?"

"First go to Guancheng, then take the small road and go directly to Jiameng Pass, and then go to Jiange to return to Sichuan." Zhang Zhishun replied, and said, "As for whether to attack the passes along the way, we will see the situation when we arrive at Guancheng. If you are sure, you will fight down and increase the difficulty of transporting grain for the Jin thieves. If you don't have the chance, go around the pass, and consider whether to recover the Taurus Road by force when you come back."

"It's a pity that the bandit army will definitely concentrate its forces to guard Baishui Pass." Cuan Gu said regretfully: "Otherwise, as long as Baishui Pass is captured and the food route of Jiameng Pass is cut off, the bandit army in Jiameng Pass will have to abandon the city and flee."

"Who is such a good thing in the world?" Zhang Zhi smiled and said, "Baishui Pass is the gate of good fortune and fortune in Yizhou. Even if the thief army abandons Jiameng Pass and Guancheng, they will not give up Baishui Pass. Is it so easy to fight?"

After a few casual words, Zhang Zhi quickly decided to set off for Yizhou on September 16th. After the news spread, the Han army soldiers who had long left their wife and children soon cheered like thunder, hoping to leave as soon as possible. After Zhang Zhi saw this, he had to consider imitating Emperor Wu of Han to set up a female musician in the army so that the Han army soldiers could leave home for a long time in the future.

On September 16th, 30,000 Han troops, led by Zhang Zhi, officially set off and returned to Yizhou through Yang'an Pass. As a result, Zhang Zhi was surprised that the army had just passed Yang'an Pass and had not gone far, Cuan Gu sent someone to send news that Sima Yan sent Shan Tao, one of the seven sages of the bamboo forest, to Hanzhong, as an envoy, to contact and negotiate with the Han army, and demanded to start a ceasefire negotiation with the Han army. At the same time, Cuan Gu also attached the conditions for ceasefire proposed by the Jin court and asked Zhang Zhi to make a decision.

In terms of strategy, as talented as military. After learning about Sima Yan's ceasefire conditions, Zhang Zhi just thought about it carefully and immediately understood the vicious intentions of Jin Ting. He immediately sneered: "For a vicious plan, we will confer our Majesty as King of Shu, and our Majesty's second son, Liu Yao, the Prince of Anding, and let King Anding return to Chengdu to supervise the country. If I don't agree, I will think that my uprising and restoring the country is a hidden evil intention, and attempt to replace Your Majesty. If I agree, it will be a lot of trouble. First of all, Eastern Wu will have to turn against us. One arrow will kill us. It is indeed amazing."

"Hou General, what are you going to do?" Yan Yu asked very carefully: "Your Majesty's prince has already died for his country. King Anding is logically the new prince of our great Han. If we flatly refuse and miss this opportunity to welcome King Anding back, I am afraid that General Huo, Luo Xian, and the old ministers of the great Han will have opinions."

"It's not just them, but also the Shu family." Zhang Zhi said with a gloomy face: "The Shu family has always been looking forward to the closed door and live a peaceful life. The Jin thieves agreed to return the Taurus Road and offered to truce with us. Yang Ding, Huang Wo and my father-in-law Chang Hong will definitely welcome you with both hands. If I refuse, they will be unhappy."

Yan Yu nodded and said, "So this matter must be handled carefully, otherwise there will be endless troubles."

The matter is too important. Zhang Zhi calculated for more than ten minutes this time and deduced multiple consequences in his heart. Then he gradually got an idea. He had to be glad that he had been keeping a move since the rebellion, which could play a role in turning the tables in one fell swoop at a critical moment. Then Zhang Zhi said: "Send an order to Cuan Gu and ask him to send someone to send Shan Tao to meet me immediately. We took Shan Tao back to Chengdu with us, and when we arrived in Chengdu, we met General Huo and the others before making a decision."

Yan Yu agreed, and after Zhang Zhi also sent an envoy to contact Cuan Gu, Zhang Zhi reconsidered the details of his response methods. Then Zhang Zhi suddenly had an idea and said happily: "Why am I so stubborn? Why didn't I expect to use the Jin thief's poisonous plan to take over the tricks and take back the two natural dangers of Baishui Pass and Jiameng Pass on the way back?"

"On the way back, you can take back Baishui Pass and Jiameng Pass?" Yan Yu opened his mouth wide and said in surprise: "Hou General, are you kidding? You may still have hope of fighting the city of Guancheng, but Baishui Pass and Jiameng Pass are so strong and difficult to attack. Are we confident to take it?"

"Just take down Baishui Pass." Zhang Zhi smiled and said, "If we take down Baishui Pass, we will cut off the grain route of Jiameng Pass. The thieves in Jiameng Pass will definitely abandon the pass and leave, and they will be able to be recaptured without fighting."

After saying that, Zhang Zhi immediately ordered: "I ordered the entire army to continue moving forward. I clearly told our soldiers that when they arrived in Guancheng, they went around the pass and went straight to Baishui Pass. After taking Baishui Pass, we would go home directly!"

It was still after arriving at Guancheng that Zhang Zhicai learned through the scout that the remnants of Shi Bao led by Shi Chong and Tang Bin had already withdrawn from Baishui and grain early. There were only 5,000 Jin troops stationed in Guancheng. When the Han army approached, they immediately closed the city and stopped leaving. At the same time, Shan Tao, who was escorting the Han army with light chariot, had already caught up with the main force of the Han army under the escort of the Han army. Zhang Zhi also immediately received Shan Tao, accepted the letter of the Jin court, and agreed to go to Chengdu to reply to Shan Tao, and treat Shan Tao with courtesy.

Shan Tao thanked Zhang Zhi for the hospitality and asked carefully: "Hou General, since you have agreed to consider accepting our ceasefire conditions, then for the sake of our soldiers and our future friendly relationship, you should not be able to fight this city, right?"

"If you don't fight, of course you won't fight." Zhang Zhi agreed happily, and said, "But I just promised not to attack the city, and did not agree not to attack other city passes. After all, we have not had a formal truce, right?"

Hearing Zhang Zhi's words, Shan Tao wanted to ask, but Zhang Zhi directly ordered: "Come here, arrange a carriage for the Shan Shizhong to take, and let the Shan Shizhong follow the army. Also, he ordered the entire army to immediately bypass the Guancheng and go to the direction of Baishuiguan."

…………

Here I will briefly introduce the situation of Baishui Pass. The reason why Baishui Pass is called the gate of good fortune and fortune in Yizhou is because its geographical location is extremely important. It is the main intersection of Jinniu Road. It is connected to Guancheng in the east, Yinping Bridgehead in the west, and Wudu Xiabian in the north. At the same time, the food and supplies of Jiameng Pass must also pass through Baishui Pass, which is the most important among the major passes of Jinniu Road. It has been a place that military strategists must compete for since ancient times. When Liu Zhang and Hu asked Liu Huangshu to station Jinniu Road to resist Zhang Lu, he would rather let Liu Huangshu station at Jiameng Pass, which is closer to Chengdu than to hand over Baishui Pass to Liu Huangshu station.

It is precisely because of this that the remaining Shi Bao led by Shi Bao and Tang Bin could not defend Wuxing and chose to withdraw to Baishui for food, with the purpose of preventing the Han army from taking advantage of the situation to capture Baishui Pass, cut off the connection between Jiameng Pass and the rear, and protect the main intersection of Jinniu Road.

Such an important military fortress was of course built extremely strongly. At the same time, after receiving the remnants of Shibao, the number of defenders in Baishui Pass reached 14,000, which basically ensured the safety of Baishui Pass. Therefore, after receiving the news that the Han army bypassed the pass and took Baishui directly, Shi Chong, Tang Bin and the prefect of Jinting Zitong, Huangfu Yan, also unanimously believed that the Han army would not really attack Baishui, and would definitely bypass Baishui south or westward like before. They were not very panicked.

However, Shi Chong, Tang Bin and Huangfu Yan soon discovered that they were wrong. After the Han army arrived near Baishui Pass, they not only did not go around the city, but also established a very solid camp outside the city. At the same time, they also distributed people to go up the mountain to log wood and rush to build various siege weapons. Huangfu Yan was also panicked when he heard the news and shouted: "Does the thief army really want to attack Baishui Pass? They don't know that the remnants of General Shi's old army have retreated to Baishui Pass. Their troops do not have much advantage?"

"Come on." Shi Chong, who was wearing mourning, gritted his teeth and said, "It is best for the thief army to come to attack the city. We can kill more thief soldiers in the battle to avenge my father and brother."

"We must prepare to defend the city immediately and ask for help from the King of Qi." Tang Bin was very calm and said, "Also, birds are headless, we must also recommend a commander as soon as possible to lead the entire army. Major General, Huangfu is the prefect of Zitong and the garrison of Baishui Pass. All our food, grass and military supplies must rely on him for their supply. How can we listen to his orders and command together?"

Although he was not very happy to hand over the military power, considering that his prestige was difficult to convince the public and had no right to control the Baishui defenders and control the distribution of food and grass, the arrogant Shi Chong nodded reluctantly and agreed to command the overall situation with Huangfu Yan as the commander. But at this moment, Huangfu Yan's personal soldiers came to report outside the gate and reported: "Report to the prefect, there is a man who claims to be the attendant of our Grand Jin court, who came to the gate to call the city under the escort of the soldiers of the thief, and asked to enter the city to meet you."

"Shan Tao?" Huangfu Yan was stunned when he heard this and said in surprise: "The soldiers of the bandits escorted the Shan Shizhong to the city to call the city? How could the Shan Shizhong be in the bandits escort the Shan Shizhong?"

Shi Chong and Tang Bin also looked at each other, not understanding why Shan Tao was in the Han army. Then out of curiosity, Huangfu Yan agreed to let Shan Tao enter the city to meet. Then, Shan Tao, dressed in casual clothes, was taken to Huangfu Yan and others. Huangfu Yan and Shi Chong, who had worked in Luoyang for a long time, immediately recognized the person and shouted: "Shan Shizhong? Why is it really you? Why did you come here?"

"I was sent by His Majesty."

Shan Tao replied with a wry smile, and then told Huangfu Yan and others why he came here, and said, "Zhang Zhi's rebels asked me to come to the city, so he asked me to give you two words. The first is that Baishui Pass is too important to him, so even if he considers accepting the peace talks from our Great Jin court, he must take Baishui Pass to prevent it."

"The second sentence is to bring it to you, Major General." Shan Tao turned to Shi Chong again and said, "Zhang Zhi's thief said that although he killed General Shi on the formation, he did this for state affairs and had no selfless grudges with General Shi. So after he found General Shi's corpse on the battlefield, he had already buried General Shi in the coffin and buried on the mountain northwest of Yang'anguan. Major General, if you are willing, you can send someone to worship at any time, or you can move General Shi's remains back to your ancestral home for burial. He will never stop him."

"Fake benevolence and righteousness!" Shi Chong said angrily: "This ordinary man, one day I will chop off his dog's head with my own hands to avenge my father and brother!"

To everyone's surprise, at this moment, another personal soldier came to report outside the gate and submitted a letter saying: "Report to the prefect, the thief army sent another envoy to the city to call the city, saying that there were important letters forgotten, and asked the soldiers in our city to pass them on their behalf to you. He also said that after reading the letter, the prefect, you will hand the letter to the mountain servant and take it back to him. After the general Wang, who guarded the east gate, received the letter, he found that it was a letter written by our Great Jin court to the thief army, so he sent someone to send it over quickly."

"What?" Shan Tao was shocked and stood up and said, "How could Zhang Zhi rebel, how could he send our Majesty's letter of nationality? What did he want to do?"

Huangfu Yan, Shi Chong, Tang Bin and others were also surprised. They quickly took the letter and opened it for a closer look. They immediately found that the letter was indeed a letter written by the Jin court to the Han army, with Sima Yan's jade seal on it. Then when Huangfu Yan, Shi Chong and others looked at the content of the letter again, they soon discovered an important detail, and they all turned to Shan Tao and asked: "What does this mean? We worked hard to defend Baishui Pass, and the court actually returned the Taurus Road to the pseudo-Han thief army? Then what is the meaning of our persistence?"

Shan Tao was sweating profusely, and the young and energetic Shi Chong asked angrily: "Shan Shizhong, is this national letter real? Is the court really going to hand over the passes of the Jinniu Road to the pseudo-Han thief army?"

"This..., this..." Shan Tao hesitated and answered helplessly for a long time: "This is Your Majesty's decision, and I am also following the order."

Shi Chong's face suddenly turned gloomy, Tang Bin's expressionless face, Huangfu Yan shook his head and sighed, and then he realized that even if he had kept Baishui Pass this time, his position as the prefect would still be unsecured, and he would not know when he would get a real position in the future.

"This is Zhang Zhi's trick!" Shan Tao suddenly understood Zhang Zhi's vicious intention and shouted: "He deliberately asked me to enter the city to bring a message, and deliberately sent the letter of state during my entry into the city. The purpose is to prove that this letter of state is true and to disperse your military morale. Huangfu Prefect, Major General, and General Tang, you must not be fooled, you must stick to Baishui Pass with all your strength!"

"What about you?" Shi Chong asked bluntly: "Shan Shizhong, what should you do during our guards? Should you go back to the thief army camp to eat instant noodles, lunch and meat, or stay and live and die with us and Baishui Pass?"

Shan Tao was speechless, and after a while he replied weakly: "Major General, I am responsible for my crimes, and I must return to the thief army camp."

Shi Chong didn't say anything anymore, but just roared in his heart: "Then you have another ball? Anyway, this Baishui Pass will be given away by the court!"

"What else can I beat? I'm going to give it to someone anyway." This is what Huangfu Yan and Tang Bin said in his heart.

Finally, Shan Tao did not drink a drink with Huangfu Yan and others, and went out of the city with a sad face and returned to the Han military camp. During this period, in order to complete his mission, Shan Tao also shamelessly asked for the letter of nationality sent by Zhang Zhi. Then when he met Zhang Zhi, Shan Tao said to Zhang Zhi almost gritted his teeth, "The latter general is very skillful, admire him, admire him."

"Each, each other." Zhang Zhi replied with a smile: "Why did Your Majesty, the Emperor of your country, take the initiative to ask for peace talks? What is the purpose? With the wisdom and wisdom of the Shan Shizhong, can't you really see it?"
Chapter completed!