Zhuge Liang went to Hanzhong, there are two ways to go, one is to go north to Yangping Pass by Jiange, and the other is to go to Nanzheng by Brazil.

The two roads are naturally more convenient from Brazil, but passing through Brazil, you will definitely pass through Langzhong, which is guarded by Zhang Fei.

Liu Chan simply didn't hide it from Zhang Fei, and asked Zhuge Liang to bring Zhang Fei with him on the Northern Expedition, so as not to complain about Zhang Fei.

Therefore, when passing through Langzhong, Zhuge Liang took Zhang Fei's father and son, as for the 20,000 soldiers and horses in Langzhong, they did not carry them, the military situation was urgent, and there was no time to rectify the grain and grass of the soldiers and horses.

By the beginning of August, the crowd had arrived in Hanzhong.

Zhang Renzao, the governor of Hanzhong, received a letter from Liu Chan and secretly connected Zhuge Liang and others to the government to discuss the plan of sending troops.

"I don't know how Da Sima plans to send troops this time?" Everyone sat down in the living room, Zhang Ren unfolded the hanging map and asked Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Liang waved his hand and asked, "I've been pretending to be sick for two months, is there any movement in Yongliang?" ”

Zhang Ren replied: "It is reported that Cao Pi has rumored that Cao Zhen, the governor of Yongliang, has entered Luoyang, but the defense everywhere is still as usual. ”

"It kind of had some effect." Zhuge Liang nodded and said: "Cao Pi and Cao Zhen have a very good relationship, Cao Zhen guarded Yongliang for several years and did not return to Luoyang, and now Cao Pi learned that I was seriously ill and could not go on the Northern Expedition, so Cao Zhen was recalled to Luoyang to reminisce about the old feelings."

It's a pity that there is not enough time, if it is longer, the defenders will be slack, but they have been sick for too long, and Cao Pi will see through this strategy again. ”

Zhang Fei said impatiently: "Oh, why should the military advisor pretend to be sick, with me Zhang Fei here, just do it with them with real knives and real guns, are you still afraid that you won't be able to take Yongliang, let's talk about the strategy of entering the army." ”

"You, you, you're still so frizzy when you're nearly sixty." Zhuge Liang shook his head, walked over to the map and groaned.

Zhang Ren asked on the side: "Is it still the same as last time, directly attack Guanzhong, if it is successful, Liangzhou can go down without a fight." ”

Zhuge Liang looked at the map for a while, shook his head and said: "Guanzhong is not so easy to conquer, now the puppet Wei has 100,000 troops in Yongliang, 40,000 in Liangzhou, and 60,000 in Guanzhong.

The reason why we attacked Guanzhong directly last time was because Cao Cao set up an ambush in Liangzhou, and Guanzhong was empty, so we almost took Guanzhong. But despite this, the Wei army quickly sent reinforcements, so that the Northern Expedition was a failure.

Now there are 60,000 soldiers and horses in the pass, and when they go to attack, the Wei army will soon notice and come to meet the battle, and the soldiers and horses of Si Li and Liangzhou will also come to support. How can this be successful? ”

Zhang Fei said: "So you are going to attack Liangzhou? ”

Zhuge Liang nodded and said: "Attack Liangzhou, as long as you hold the street pavilion, the Wei army will not be able to enter!" In this way, our army can annex Liangzhou. It's just that the effect is not as good as attacking Guanzhong, because after taking Liangzhou, you still need to attack Guanzhong. ”

Zhang Ren groaned: "My Hanzhong, Yangping Pass, and Wudu soldiers and horses are combined, and there are only 80,000 soldiers and horses, and I need to stay behind 10,000, so I can only use 70,000 soldiers and horses."

There is Qishan Fort in Liangzhou, which is difficult to overcome, and the pseudo-Wei now has 10,000 soldiers and horses in Qishan Fort, so our army needs to leave at least 10,000 soldiers and horses in Qishan Fort before it can go deep into Liangzhou. If Wei gets the news and quickly reinforces it, the street pavilion will not be easy to defend, and it is even possible that there will be garrisons stationed in the street pavilion. ”

Zhuge Liang nodded, looked at the map and said, "Then you need to divide the troops!" ”

Zhang Ren was puzzled: "Divide the troops? The number of troops is already insufficient, and if the troops are divided......"

"Bluff!" Zhuge Liang said with a smile: "General Zhang Ren, our troops are divided into two routes, I will lead 50,000 troops out of Qishan to attack Liangzhou, and you will lead 20,000 soldiers and horses out of the valley, bluffing, attracting the main force of the Wei army, and delaying the time for reinforcements." ”

When Zhang Ren heard this, he handed over his hand and received the order: "The last general will take the order!" ”

Zhuge Liang said with a smile: "You send troops first, I will go to Yangping Pass first, and join General Ma Chao to attack Liangzhou." ”

The soldiers and horses in Hanzhong have always been in a state of readiness, and the grain and grass are sufficient, Zhuge Liang ordered, and the next day, Zhang Ren went north to the valley.

In the north, there have been 20,000 soldiers and horses guarding the Xiegukou all the year round, led by the deputy governor Yang Ren, Zhang Ren does not need to carry soldiers and horses, directly to the Xiegukou, and then lead the troops to the north.

The wartime state was opened, and all the major roads had to be strictly guarded, and Cao Wei's scouts did not pass on the news.

Subsequently, Zhuge Liang led the remaining soldiers and horses in Hanzhong to Yangping Pass, joined Pang De to Wudu, and then joined Ma Chao to attack Liangzhou.

Zhang Ren led his troops out of the valley, with great fanfare, waving flags, covering the sky and the sun, and the news soon spread to Guanzhong.

Cao Wei was responsible for guarding Yongliang, with a total of six generals, namely Cao Zhen, Zhang He, Guo Huai, Sun Li, Cao Chun, and Xiahou Cheng.

Among them, Cao Zhen, Sun Li, Cao Chun, and Zhang He are in Guanzhong, and Guo Huai and Xiahou are in Liangzhou.

Knowing that Zhang Ren's army was coming, the soldiers and horses had arrived in Wuzhangyuan, Sun Li, who was stationed in Meixian County, immediately led his troops to Beiyuan to set up camp, and sent people to Beijing to inform Zhang He, as well as Zhang He, Cao Chun and other generals stationed in other fortresses.

On the other side, Zhuge Liang also joined Pang De and Ma Chao, and led 50,000 soldiers and horses out of Qishan.

Qishan Fort is the only way to enter Liangzhou from Wudu.

Qishan Fort is a lonely peak protruding on the broad Pingchuan, located in the north bank of the West Han River, dozens of zhang high, surrounded by Xu, such as cutting on all sides, high and strange.

The fortress is built around the mountain, and the camp fort only has a gate to the southwest to enter the castle, and then along the winding path, it turns up to the top of the mountain. The mountain is 3,000 square meters of flat land, and the cliffs below it are precipitous, and the cliffs are lonely and dangerous.

Zhuge Liang led the army to Qishan Fort, because Qishan Fort to the south, all of them were Yan and Han controlled areas, the road was narrow, Ma Chao was well guarded, and the Wei army scouts were not allowed to enter, it was Zhuge Liang who led the troops to arrive within the sphere of influence of Qishan Fort, and the defenders in the fort learned the news of the Han army's attack.

Guo Huai and Xiahou said that none of the two were stationed in Qishan Fort, after all, Qishan Fort is a bitter cold place, and only in wartime will they come, and the people stationed in Qishan Fort are just ordinary guards.

The garrison of Qishan Fort learned that Zhuge Liang had led the army to attack, so he led his troops to the top of the mountain to observe the enemy's situation.

I saw that under the fort, Zhuge Liang had led his troops to block the southwest gate.

The guard general saw the 50,000 Han troops under this fort, and said in surprise: "This Zhuge Liang really has the ability of ghosts and gods, obviously sick, and actually led his troops here." ”

But even in the face of Zhuge Liang, this guard is not worried at all.

Qishan Fort is too steep, it is like a cylinder rising from the ground, the fort wall is built around the mountain wall, the soldiers and horses can not attack at all, the ladder can not reach, if you want to attack, you can only attack the gate, but the gate is also very narrow, a man is not open, even if you have an army of 100,000, it is not open.

Therefore, in history, Zhuge Liang came out of Qishan, and in the face of Qishan Fort, he could only sigh and sigh, leaving a group of soldiers and horses to stare at Qishan Fort, in case the soldiers and horses in the fort cut off the grain route, and the army bypassed Qishan Fort to attack Liangzhou.

Zhuge Liang led the army to the fort, looked at the Qishan Fort with a lonely peak in front of him, and not only sighed: "I don't want to have this strange peak in the world, although our army has a return cannon that can break through the city wall, but it can't move the peak."

General Ma, I heard that His Majesty asked you and General Zhang Ren to form a team of soldiers who are good at climbing, which was reserved for the Northern Expedition, I don't know if this Qishan Fort may be taken? ”

Ma Chao shook his head and said: "This Qishan Fort is surrounded by cliffs, although I have trained this soldier, but there is no way to face Qishan Fort, it is too steep, and the hook can't be thrown up." ”

"In this way, we can only bypass Qishan Fort!" Zhuge Liang sighed and said: "Hey, if we can take this fort, our army's hope of conquering Liangzhou can increase by at least thirty percent!" ”