"Zhou Yu went upriver from the Yellow River and broke through our army camp, General Zhang Liao was killed in battle, and General Deng Ai was missing."

"Subsequently, Zhou Yu led Guan Yu, Tai Shici, and Zhang Heqi to attack Jiguan, and General Hao Zhao had already prepared to keep the city from losing."

"However, then Fu Zhu led the elite of the coalition army to storm the east gate of Jiguan head-on, and Zhou Yu led the army to storm the west gate of Jiguan."

"General Hao Zhao fought to the death for several days, and the city broke through and broke through."

After Guan Chinese Wu learned the latest battle report, his face was different, and many people even showed fear on their faces.

Zhang Liao died in battle, and Keiguan was broken, both of which were earth-shattering events, which shocked everyone inexplicably.

Yan Xing was the first to speak: "Since General Hao Zhao is on guard, why is he still being breached by Ji Pass?" ”

Zhao Yun knew that Yan Xing had lived in Liangzhou for a long time and didn't know much about Jiguan, so he immediately replied: "Jiguan is the gateway to the eastern border of Guandong, and the defense of the enemy army in the east naturally occupies a geographical advantage. ”

"However, if you want to defend against the enemy forces in the west, you will not be able to catch it."

Pang De was also anxious, and said: "If the Jiguan is broken, the coalition army can enter Hedong County from the Jiguan, and then drive straight to Chang'an." ”

"At this time, even if we continue to stick to Hangu Pass, it will lose its meaning."

Due to the occurrence of the major event of the loss of Keiguan, the news of Zhang Liao's death in battle is a little insignificant.

After all, Zhang Liao still has a little less reputation than Zhao Yun and others.

What's more, Zhang Liao has always led the troops outside and has not stayed in the center of power, and many generals who later defected to Chen Xu are not familiar with Zhang Liao.

As soon as Pound's words fell, everyone in the room began to discuss, and even a few of the strategists frowned.

This discussion lasted for a long time, but everyone did not discuss a countermeasure, Chen Xu was upset when he heard it, and finally announced the dismissal of the meeting, and then left Jia Xu and others behind.

It is unknown what several people secretly discussed in the house.

The current situation is very unfavorable for the Guanzhong army.

Losing Jiguan, the eastern barrier of Guanzhong, Chen Xu could only confront the coalition forces head-on in addition to retreating to Chang'an.

It's just that, according to the current comparison of the strength of the two sides, rashly fighting a decisive battle with the coalition forces is just asking for a dead end.

It must be known that in the past two years, the strength of the coalition army has not decreased, and Cao Cao, Sun Quan, and Yuan Tan have been recruiting troops in the territory.

To this day, even though the coalition army lost a lot of soldiers and horses in the process of attacking the city, the total strength still exceeds 500,000, and the momentum is extremely huge.

In desperation, Chen Xu finally conveyed the order on the second day, asking the soldiers to abandon Hangu Pass and retreat on all fronts.

At the same time, Zhang Xiu, who was stationed at Wuguan, also received an order, and Chen Xu asked him to abandon Wuguan and directly lead his troops back to Chang'an.

Because Chen Xu knew that after he abandoned Hangu Pass, the entire Hongnong County and most of Jingzhaoyin would quickly fall, and Wuguan would become a lonely city at that time.

The lonely city is difficult to defend, Chen Xu understands this truth very well, which will make Zhang Xiu abandon the pass and leave.

In this way, all forces can also be gathered in Chang'an to jointly resist the attack of the coalition forces.

In the blink of an eye, another few months have passed, Guanzhong has entered winter again, and Chen Xu has led the army to retreat to Chang'an.

In Chang'an City, Hao Zhao pleaded guilty to Chen Xu, but Chen Xu did not punish Hao Zhao, but encouraged him a few words.

After Chen Xu evacuated Hangu Pass, the coalition army was really like a split, and the troops successively captured Hongnong County, Hedong County, Zuo Fengyi, and most of Jingzhaoyin.

At this point, only Youfufeng was left in the entire Guanzhong, and some cities near Chang'an had not fallen.

For a while, the people in Chang'an City were panicked, and some officials in the court who were still loyal to the Han family were very excited.

In the palace of King Qin, the generals of Guanzhong gathered together.

Chen Xu's face sank like water, and he shouted: "We have now retreated to Chang'an, there is no way to retreat, and we must fight to the death with the coalition forces here!" ”

Among the generals in Guanzhong, many people were eager to try it immediately, but some of them looked worried.

Tian Feng seemed to see the worries in everyone's hearts, and immediately comforted: "You don't need to worry too much, the coalition forces have been sending troops for a long time, and the logistical pressure is getting bigger and bigger. ”

"Especially now that the coalition forces continue to advance westward, and the supply lines are getting longer and longer."

"In addition, it is not easy to travel on the two sections of the Fenglingdu and Pingyin rivers, and the coalition forces are not familiar with the Yellow River, and they are sailing against the current, so there is no way to continue to transport grain and grass by water."

"If it continues to delay, the coalition forces will definitely be logistically weak, and it will only be a matter of time before they collapse."

In fact, one of the reasons why Chen Xu and others formulated a strategy and fought and retreated was to lengthen the supply line of the coalition army.

In the middle of the Yellow River, there are two sections that are difficult to navigate.

It will take several years for the Soochow Navy to overcome this difficulty and use water transportation to transport grain and grass.

Today, the two sides have been fighting for two and a half years, and according to the huge strength of the coalition forces, a lot of money and food have been consumed.

If Chen Xu can hold Chang'an and lose the coalition forces that are convenient for water transportation, it will only be a matter of time before they collapse.

It must be known that just providing more than 500,000 troops and transporting grain and grass by land is in the millions.

It's not just the coalition soldiers who are frantically consuming grain and grass, but those people are also consuming a lot of grain and grass.

Moreover, the large-scale conscription of the princes, as well as the large-scale conscription and conscription, caused a great damage to the productive forces in the territory.

Under the situation of eliminating the strengths of the other, if the coalition forces cannot break through Chang'an as soon as possible, they can only be defeated sooner or later.

Tian Feng explained the key to it to everyone in detail, and the generals of Guanzhong felt a little calmer, and their panicked emotions were slowly calmed down.

Subsequently, Cheng Yu also said: "Not only that, don't look at the coalition forces now, but the internal contradictions are becoming more and more intense. ”

"When the internal contradictions of the coalition army accumulate to a certain extent, it is the time when we break the coalition army."

The generals also have a deep understanding of these points.

On the battlefield, it is obvious that the armies under the command of some princes are doing their best, while the soldiers under the command of some princes are not very hard.

In addition, the soldiers under the command of the princes often looted the spoils of war, and many conflicts broke out for this.

Although they were later quelled by Zhuge Liang, the seeds of uneasiness have been planted, and sooner or later they will take root and sprout.

Many of the generals in Guanzhong who were present may not have much talent, but they are also battlefield generals, and they know that internal contradictions are more terrifying than powerful enemies.

Seeing that the morale of the generals was slowly rising, Chen Xu released a bombshell news.

"In the past two years or so, Bingzhou Mu and Yizhou Mu have each recruited 100,000 troops in Bingzhou and Yizhou, and have begun to attack Jizhou and Jingzhou."

Speaking of this, Chen Xu looked around at everyone with a smile on his face: "In this way, Jizhou and Jingzhou must be panicked, how can Yuan Tan and Liu Bei not withdraw their troops?" ”

When the generals heard this, their morale was greatly boosted.

Although the population under Chen Xu's command is less than that of the coalition forces combined, it will not be much less.

The coalition forces were able to gather 500,000 troops, and each left tens of thousands of troops in the territory to garrison, if Chen Xu did his best, how could the army recruited be less than them?

It's just that if Chen Xu recklessly recruits troops and merges the production of Zhou and Yizhou, it will be destroyed.

Therefore, Chen Xu gave an order to Chen Gong and Chen Zheng early on, asking them to each recruit 100,000 troops for military cantonment.

In this way, these soldiers can not only produce food in the fields, but also receive training in the spare time, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

At the beginning, the reason why Chen Xu did not let these troops participate in the war was because these people were new recruits and were not suitable for the battlefield at all.

The most important reason is that the time has not yet come.

At that time, it was only a plan to destroy the alliance of princes and attack Guanzhong, and it could not break the coalition army.

Even such a move does not necessarily lead to the collapse of the coalition forces.

After all, at that time, the alliance had not been formed for a long time, and the momentum was in full swing, and Jizhou was also very vigilant against Chen Gong and Jingzhou against Chen Zheng.

Moreover, the soldiers of the two states have not been recruited for a long time, and their combat effectiveness is very low, and rashly bringing them into the battlefield is just a way to kill themselves.

The most important reason is because at that time, Chen Xu was confident that he could block the attack of the coalition army with 200,000 troops, so he never launched it.

Today, but at this time and at that time.

The princes have strong ambitions and want to capture Guanzhong in one fell swoop, but why doesn't Chen Xu have the ambition to destroy the main force of the coalition army in a war?

As long as the main force of the coalition army can be broken, the princes will no longer have to fear, and the unification of the world will be just around the corner.

For this ambition, Chen Xu is willing to gamble.

Baling, located in the east of Chang'an, is only more than 100 miles away from Chang'an.

Zhuge Liang, Cao Cao and others led a large army to garrison here, but they did not continue to march westward to attack Chang'an.

Gain was now in the middle of winter, and his soldiers were too tired to continue their assault on the city.

There is another reason, that is, in the past few months, the coalition forces have advanced rapidly, the siege is unstoppable, and the forces are too scattered.

Even the cities that were taken by the coalition forces were not necessarily very secure.

Out of various considerations, Zhuge Liang immediately issued an order to start resting in Baling City, preparing to attack Chang'an after the spring of the next year.

On this day, after Zhuge Liang finished discussing with the princes, Yuan Tan immediately said: "The war lasted for more than two years, and Jizhou transported a lot of grain and grass to Guanzhong, and there was already some lack of succession. ”

"If we can't break through Chang'an as soon as possible, I'm afraid Jizhou will no longer be able to continue to support grain and grass."

This is not that Yuan Tan is shirking, but this is indeed the case.

Although Jizhou is rich, since Yuan Shao, Jizhou has not had any outstanding internal affairs talents.

Moreover, Yuan Shao fought with Chen Xu many times, consumed countless money and food, and was also cheated by Chen Xu several times, and he did not get any benefits at all.

After Yuan Tan inherited the foundation of Jizhou, although he had the intention to develop internal affairs, Yuan Shang rebelled, which led to the war in Jizhou.

Chen Xu's original act of plundering Yanzhou made Yuan Tan even worse, and his national strength seriously declined.

After the war, Yuan Tan had not had time to develop internal affairs, so he had to recruit a large army again, respond to Zhuge Liang's call, and attack Guanzhong with the princes.

Therefore, there was a shortage of grain and grass in Jizhou at this time, and it was reasonable to be unable to supply the coalition forces to continue fighting.

When Zhuge Liang heard this, his heart sank.

Although he understood that Yuan Tan was a little distressed, he also knew that this was definitely not a good phenomenon, and the slightest carelessness would cause the coalition forces to fall apart.

After all, food and grass are the most important thing, and if the coalition forces lack food and grass, they will be defeated in an instant.

Although the rest of the princes can also continue to supply the allied army with food and grass, the ancients said: There is no widowhood, only unevenness.

If the major princes continue to supply grain and grass, everyone will not do anything, but once one party is unable to supply grain and grass, the rest of the princes will inevitably have a grudge.

Zhuge Liang pondered for a while, and was about to speak when he heard Cao Cao's voice.

"In fact, not only Jizhou, but also Xuzhou has not much grain stockpiled."

Cao Cao also had a hint of worry on his face, and continued: "If the army is still east of Luoyang, there is nothing that can transport grain and grass by water. ”

"However, after passing Luoyang, it is almost impossible to transport grain and grass on the Yellow River, and now it is winter, even the Yellow River east of Luoyang cannot be sailed."

"As a result, the amount of money and grain consumed for each transportation of grain and grass will increase several times, and the pressure on logistics is very huge."

"Especially in some areas, the roads are very difficult to drive, and it often rains, making it even more difficult to transport grain and grass."

"And I'm waiting for now, continuing to push a long way west, which makes it even more difficult to transport grain and grass."

Cao Cao is not prevaricating, although Xuzhou has Xun Yu, the king of the talent, to keep the territory in order.

It's just that, compared with the rest of the princes, don't look at Cao Cao's territory, but the population in the territory is not dominant.

It must be known that during the Yellow Turban Uprising, Qingzhou was the hardest hit area, and many people died in the war.

Later, Guan Hai led a million Yellow Turban Army to Bingzhou to defect to Chen Xu, which made the population of Qingzhou wither.

Although Xuzhou is a rich region, when Cao Cao attacked Xuzhou, he slaughtered too many people, which greatly damaged Xuzhou's vitality.

Later, after Cao Cao occupied Xuzhou, many people were afraid of Cao Cao's murderous name and fled from Xuzhou.

Therefore, even after so many years, Xun Yu worked hard to develop internal affairs and increase the population base in the territory, the foundation still seems a little weak.

Cao Cao's words made Yuan Tan resonate, and he immediately nodded fiercely.

Then, he said with some complaints: "Xuzhou is better, Jizhou and Youzhou are farther away from Guanzhong, and there is no waterway to transport grain, so more grain and grass are consumed on the way." ”

"Therefore, it is not that we are unwilling to provide food and grass, but we are really more than willing to provide and not enough."

Seeing this, Sun Quan also said: "Although there is a lot of grain in Eastern Wu, it is the farthest away from Guanzhong, even if there is a waterway to transport grain, it also costs a lot. ”

"If it continues like this, Soochow will not be able to support it sooner or later."

As Sun Quan said, Eastern Wu was the farthest prince from the Guan, and although there were ships to help transport grain and grass, they had to transport grain and grass to the Huai River first.

Subsequently, it is necessary to use boats to carry grain and grass, and then enter other rivers from the Huai River, and the whole territory is upstream, and it is very difficult to sail.

When Zhuge Liang heard this, his heart sank, but he didn't show it.

Among the major princes, only Liu Bei never said a word.