Due to the different locations of the soldiers and horses, the roads to Jiangxia were naturally different.

Zhang Ren's soldiers and horses were now located in the eastern part of Nanyang on the border with Jiangxia County of Wei, and he only had to wait for Deng Ai to send cavalry to arrive, and walk a few steps south to reach the territory of Jiangxia County in the Han Dynasty.

And the 20,000 soldiers and horses brought by Huo Jun from Shangyong are now stationed in Xiangfan, and if they want to go to Jiangxia, the most convenient way is naturally to go down the Han River.

As for Zhuge Liang is now in Jiangling, it is most convenient to go down the Yangtze River to Jiangxia.

Zhuge Liang thought for a while, and then called Huo Jun: "Oh, by the way, in order to prevent things like the last Wenpin sneak attack on Jingzhou, General Huo Jun, after you arrived in Xiangfan, you left 5,000 soldiers and horses to guard Xiangfan in case of accidents." ”

"The last general commands!"

All the generals departed and prepared for the expedition.

Zhuge Liang looked at Ma Liang and Pan Jun again, and said, "Chengming, you stay in Jiangling and be responsible for the allocation of grain and grass." Ji Chang, I have appointed you to join the army with me on the expedition. ”

"No!"

Huo Jun's father and son set off to Xiangyang on the same day, and the next day, Zhuge Liang also set off from Jiangling with a group of civil and military officers and took a warship down the Yangtze River.

Of these three teams, Huo Jun had to go to Xiangyang by land first, and Zhang Ren had to wait for the cavalry to arrive, while Zhuge Liang didn't have to wait or detour, he was definitely the first to arrive in Jiangxia.

It is now the end of August, the south is rainy, and the flow of the Yangtze River has become more turbulent, which has boosted the speed of Zhuge Liang's march, but in three days, Zhuge Liang arrived at Xiakou with a group of civil and military forces.

Under the castle of Xiakou.

"The last general, Ma Tan, has seen Da Sima!"

Knowing that Zhuge Liang was coming, Ma Wei personally led the city's Chinese martial arts to meet him.

In history, Ma Jian and Zhuge Liang are also teachers and friends, like father and son, and the story of Zhuge Liang tearing down Ma Jian can be said to be a household name.

And in this time and space, Ma Tan was scolded by Liu Chan in his early years, and resolutely abandoned Wen Congwu, and has been a general in Jingzhou all these years, and has not been by Zhuge Liang's side. However, Zhuge Liang and Ma Tan also had a friendship in their early years, and the two had not seen each other for more than ten years.

Ma Tan is a general of the navy, and he is on the river all the year round, so he has dark skin, looking at Ma Tan Zhuge Liang and sighing: "It's been eighteen years, you were only in your early twenties, and now you have entered middle age, and you have become so dark, I almost can't recognize it." ”

Ma Yan said with a smile: "Eighteen years have passed, Da Sima, you have not changed much, it is almost the same as the impression of the last general, you are still so young, you can't see that you are over fifty years old, it seems that you will live a long life of 100 years, it is really the blessing of my Han Dynasty." ”

Zhuge Liang was born in 181 A.D., exactly 50 years old this year, in the original history, Zhuge Liang would die of illness in Wuzhangyuan three years later, at the age of 54.

The reason why Zhuge Liang died so early in history was entirely because of the accumulation of hard work, and the affairs of the Shu Han country were all pressed on him, and he worked hard every day until he became ill.

In addition to the reason for Zhuge Liang's early death, there is also a reason for worry.

Worried about the country and the people, worried about the Northern Expedition, worried about the Han Dynasty, the repeated failures of the Northern Expedition to Zhuge Liang's blow can be imagined, perennial sorrow under the birth of heart disease, in this state of mind is to want to rest and can not rest, not so much to die of illness due to hard work, but to die of worry.

But now it's different, in addition to Zhuge Liang, the Han also has Xu Shu, Pang Tong, Fa Zheng and other great talents, who share the heavy government affairs for Zhuge Liang. And every time there is a war, Liu Chan mostly drives the expedition in person, just to do more while he is young, so as not to let those old ministers work hard and break their bodies.

In terms of government affairs, Pang Tong, Fa Zheng, Xu Shu and others share, as for the mood, Zhuge Liang has no worries at all, in recent years, the military Han soldiers and horses have won a hundred battles, and they have regained lost ground one after another, and the people of the Han Dynasty are getting better and better in terms of people's livelihood, and Zhuge Liang is trying to worry about it.

Zhuge Liang, who is over fifty years old, except that his beard is longer than when he first came out of the mountain, and his face has a sense of vicissitudes compared with when he first came out of the mountain, there is not much difference between him and the appearance of twenty-seven or eighteen years old when he first came out of the mountain, and he can't see that he is over fifty years old at all.

Seeing that Ma Jian and Zhuge Liang were still talking, Ma Liang stepped forward and said, "Okay, the weather is so hot, a few generals are still waiting, let's go to the city first." ”

Ma Tan slapped his forehead and said apologetically: "Look at my memory, come, Da Sima, please, brother, generals, let's go into the city in Syria." ”

Ma Tan welcomed everyone into the city, but Zhuge Liang did not enter the city, but walked on the city wall.

Zhuge Liang looked to the east and muttered, "How far is Lu Xun's camp from here?" Have you ever retired from the army? ”

Ma Tan replied: "Lu Xun's camp is twenty miles away from here, and the troops have not yet retreated. ”

Zhuge Liang bowed slightly, turned his gaze to the north, pointed to the water village on the Han River in the north, and said: "Wen Ping's sneak attack on Jingzhou was used to take a boat, but Wei State does not have such a large number of boats, it must be a gift from the Jiangdong naval army." I guess Lu Xun sent the boat into Hanshui from the shallow water area in the north, right? ”

Ma Jian nodded and said, "Yes, the last general didn't notice it for a while, and he thought it was foolproof when he set up a dark pile in the deep water area." Who would have thought that Lu Xun would actually come up with such a plan, if it weren't for my dereliction of duty, which led to Wen Ping's sneak attack on Jingzhou, the general would not have ......"

Zhuge Liang waved his hand and said, "This matter has nothing to do with you, who would have thought that Wen Ping would be so bold?" But is the shallow water there ever fortified? ”

Although Zhuge Liang has left people in Xiangyang, it is difficult to guarantee that Lu Xun will not come up with other methods, so the defense on Xiakou's side must be perfect.

Ma Jian nodded and said, "I have divided my troops of 5,000 troops to the north shore to fully control Hanshui, and it is impossible for Lu Xun to repeat his old tricks." ”

Zhuge Liang acted resolutely, and when he heard the words, he said: "Take me to see!" ”

"Da Sima, please!" Ma Tan knew Zhuge Liang's temperament, and immediately took him to inspect the water village.

The north bank of the Han River is actually the territory of the Wei State, which is why Ma Tan did not fully control the Han River at the beginning, but after something went wrong, Ma Tan could only risk sending 5,000 soldiers and horses to the north bank to set up camp and control the Han River, eliminating the possibility of Lu Xun's old tricks repeated.

Fortunately, Wen Ping was dead, the strength of Wei Jiangxia County was insufficient, and Lu Xun did not dare to rashly attack this camp and increase casualties, so although this camp was based on the territory of Wei State, it was not attacked.

Zhuge Liang inspected and saw that Ma Jian had already made the defense watertight, so he relieved himself and returned to the city to discuss the next step of the march.

In the city of Xiakou, the palace hall.

Everyone was full of food and drink, and Ma Tan asked Zhuge Liang: "Da Sima, you didn't go to Wancheng in the north, but went east to Jiangxia, do you want to change the strategy of entering the army and attack Jiangxia of Wei?" ”