Six days later, Li Mu led his army of 150,000 to Nanzheng City.

"What about Zhao Kuo?" When Li Mu saw the empty Nanzheng City and the five hundred lords of the Zhao army in front of him, the look on his face couldn't help but be a little strange.

You must know that at the beginning, Li Mu gave Zhao Kuo the task of letting him take Hanzhong, and in the current situation, it is obvious that Zhao Kuo has done this very beautifully, and took down the southern Zheng capital of Hanzhong.

In other words, Zhao Kuo has now successfully completed the task assigned to him by Li Mu, and he should appear in front of Li Mu to receive the reward.

But Zhao Kuo was not there.

The five hundred lords standing in front of Li Mu looked quite nervous, and said with some trepidation: "Grand Duke, that's the case. After General Zhao Kuo learned that the Qin army was retreating to the south, he had already led a large army south to pursue the Qin army. ”

"Pursuing the Qin army?" Li Mu opened his mouth slightly, shook his head for a while, and complained a little speechlessly: "It's just nonsense!" ”

Zhao Kuo didn't know the number of Qin troops, but Li Muke knew it very well.

Hu Yiwei relied on the cover of Lü Buwei to take root in the Qin State for many years, although he was severely hit by the death of the head of Hu Yiwei's Xianyang branch not long ago, but some of them still escaped, and successfully took advantage of the chaos in this war to get in touch with the Zhao State again.

It is precisely because of this that there is actually a spy of Hu Yiwei in the Qin State Army today.

And in a chaotic situation like the current Qin people, Hu Yiwei, who was mixed in it, wanted to pass on some information, which was much easier than before.

Therefore, even though he had just arrived in Nanzheng City, Li Mu had already learned how many people Qin Wang Chu had taken with him when he was completely embarrassed through the information that Hu Yiwei had left here in advance.

It's not just the 50,000 people that Zhao Kuo learned, but the 80,000 people after the entire Nanzheng and even most of the strong men in Hanzhong were forcibly requisitioned!

Although the combat effectiveness of these 80,000 people is actually quite doubtful, considering the fact that the Qin army only needs to defend the pass, the 5,000 Zhao army led by Zhao Kuo is outnumbered and it is quite difficult to win.

Fortunately, in the next moment, the words of this Zhao Jun's five hundred masters made Li Mu feel a little relieved.

"Governor Dadu, in fact, General Zhao Kuo did not take the Golden Bull Road, but the Rice Cang Road......"

"Yonekura Road?" Li Mu was stunned again.

At this time, there are generally two routes from Hanzhong to Shu.

The first one is the Golden Bull Road, which has been expanded several times before and after the destruction of Shu by the Qin State, and is now the most important traffic artery between Bashu and Hanzhong, and it is also one of the most important channels for transporting troops and grain from Bashu over the years.

In addition, on the southernmost side of the Golden Bull Road, there is the famous Bashu Xiongguan - Jiameng Pass.

As long as the people of the Qin State guard the Jiameng Pass, then no matter how many troops and horses the Zhao army has, unless they can grow wings, they will definitely not be able to pass through here

This passage is also the closest to Nanzheng City, so you don't have to think about it to know that if the Qin people retreat towards Nanzheng, then they will definitely retreat along the Golden Bull Road.

It was precisely because of this that when Li Mu heard the news that Zhao Kuo was pursuing the Qin army, he subconsciously thought that Zhao Kuo was heading towards the Golden Bull Road.

Not really.

In addition to the Golden Bull Road, there is also a sheep intestine road that leads from the southeast of Hanzhong to the northeast of Bashu, and this path is the Micang Road.

This Micang Road, like the Meridian Road that Zhao Kuo had just walked, was a very steep and difficult road that was not suitable for the army to pass.

Li Mu was a little speechless after thinking about this.

This Zhao Kuo, is he really addicted to walking these paths...... You must know that a path like this, if you don't walk it well, it will really kill you.

Li Mu sent away five hundred masters.

Pang Xuan on the side suddenly interjected and said, "Governor Dadu, in fact, I think that this move of General Zhao Kuo is not a clever move. When he set off, the Qin army had just withdrawn into the Golden Bull Road, and the exit of the Golden Bull Road and the Micang Road was hundreds of miles away, so General Zhao Kuo had enough time to cross the Micang Road and enter Bashu. With the ability of General Zhao Kuo and the strength of the five thousand elites under his command, as long as he can enter Bashu, then maybe he will be able to join forces with the army and break through the Jiameng Pass together. “

Li Mu shrugged his shoulders and said, "I hope so, but even so, I still have to punish him for the crime of disobeying military orders." ”

According to Li Mu's previous order, Zhao Kuo should be in Nanzheng City now, instead of running to some rice warehouse road to climb over the mountains.

Pang Xuan said with a smile: "It is understandable that young people are eager to make meritorious contributions. Besides, General Zhao Kuo was able to take down the entire Hanzhong, which is also a very unexpected thing for the general, right? With this merit, it should also be able to atone for sins. ”

The corners of Li Mu's mouth twitched slightly, knowing that Pang Xuan was deliberately excusing Zhao Kuo.

However, this is also a very normal thing, after all, Pang Xuan belongs to the Gong clan faction in the Zhao Kingdom, and Zhao Kuo's father Zhao Hao was also one of the giants of the Gong clan faction back then, and he also teamed up with Zhao Sheng, the king of the plains, to firmly suppress the golden combination of Lian Po Lin and Xiangru for several years.

The current Zhao Kuo belongs to the object of vigorous cultivation by the Gong faction, and at the same time, many people in the Zhao State are regarded as candidates for the future Zhao Guolongtai important ministers, so Pang Xuan naturally wants to protect him.

Li Mu's eyes turned slightly, and a trace of coldness flashed in the deepest part of his eyes.

It seemed that Li Mu didn't intend to continue to dwell on this matter, so he said to Pang Xuan: "Since this is the case, then I think that our army should not stay too much in Nanzheng City, but should continue to pursue the Qin people in the south, I don't know what Pang Qing thinks?" ”

Pang Xuan said with a smile: "The Metropolitan Governor is right. Since the Qin people fled south in a hurry when they heard that the governor of Dadu was coming, they should go south and attack Bashu in one go, so that the entire Qin state would be under the rule of the king, and we would be able to go back to the king as soon as possible. To tell the Governor, the climate in Hanzhong is really hot and sultry, and I feel quite uncomfortable after only a few days here, which is really strange. “

What Pang Xuan didn't know was that in the geography of China in later generations, the Qinling-Huai River line was usually used as the dividing line between north and south of China, so although Guanzhong and Hanzhong belonged to Shaanxi Province in later generations, Guanzhong, which is located north of the Qinling Mountains, belongs to northern China, and Hanzhong, which is located south of the Qinling Mountains, belongs to southern China.

Li Mu nodded and said with a smile: "Since this is the case, then go south as soon as possible, strive to break through the Jiameng Pass as soon as possible, and enter the land of Bashu to destroy the Qin State." ”