Luoshui flows endlessly, looking at Pingchuan in the west, Luoyang City is now on the horizon, majestic and majestic, such as tigers and leopards lying.

The sky was cloudless, the scorching sun was on his head, sweat was dripping down his cheeks, and the clothes behind him had already been soaked, but Guo Wei did not have the slightest intention of stopping to rest, he glanced back at the guards behind him, waved his horsewhip, and continued to march towards Luoyang.

"May 17th of the fourth year of Tiancheng, the summer solstice." Guo Wei looked up into the distance, and the sunlight was a little dazzling.

Guo Wei, the defense envoy of Wanzhou who was summoned to Beijing, was very clear about the reason why the imperial court wanted to summon him at this time. Some time ago, the Wuxin Army and the Baoyi Army were set up in Shuzhong one after another, and the news of the increase in troops in Mianzhou came out, and Shuzhong has set off an uproar.

The so-called two rivers both belong to Jiannan Road. Meng Zhixiang official worships Jiannan Xichuan Jiedu envoy, Dong Zhangguan worships Jiannan Dongchuan Jiedu deputy envoy and Zhijiedu affairs, the former governs Yizhou, that is, Chengdu, and the latter governs Zizhou, located in the upper reaches of the Peijiang River. Zizhou is located in the northeast of Chengdu, two or three hundred miles apart.

From the topography point of view, Lang and Guo are located in the middle reaches of the Jialing River, and Suizhou is located in the middle and lower reaches of the Fujiang River; From the relative position, Langzhou is in the northeast of Zizhou, gathering three or four hundred miles, Guozhou is in the southeast of Zizhou, gathering about three hundred miles, and Suizhou is located in the southeast of Zizhou (more south than Guozhou), southeast of Chengdu, and the distance is three or four hundred miles.

From the perspective of the sphere of influence, including Mianzhou, which is located in the north of Zizhou, the two are very close to each other, and all the states basically belong to Dongchuan. The Suizhou of the Wuxin Army, the Langzhou and Guozhou of the Baoyi Army, and the Mianzhou have actually formed an encirclement of Zizhou, and not only that, but also isolate Zizhou from other states in Dongchuan.

It can be seen that if the imperial court is to cut down Shu, it must first take Dongchuan and then march into Xichuan.

When Guo Wei entered the palace to see Li Siyuan, he saw that King Qin was also there, not only King Qin was there, but Li Shaocheng, who had not been seen for a long time, was also there.

Li Shaocheng was originally the deputy marshal of the Hundred Battles Army, and in the first year of Tiancheng, he was awarded the envoy of the Jingyan Army Festival, and went out of the town of Pizhou, and Guo Wei had not seen him for three or four years. I haven't seen it for three or four years, and the scar on Li Shaocheng's face that I don't know when has not changed much, but his bearing is more calm and sophisticated, and he has grown a little scum.

Seeing Li Shaocheng, Guo Wei's layout of the route of the imperial court with troops in Liangchuan was roughly clear in his chest.

"Since ancient times, the use of troops to Shu is nothing more than two routes, one north and one east." A huge map was spread out in front of everyone, and everyone looked down in front of the map, Li Congjing held a long pole and pointed to the direction on the map, "The north is the land road, the plank road, and the east is the waterway, the river road." Let's talk about the north first, if you enter from Hanzhong, you will pass through Jinniu Road and Micang Road, and if you enter from Longshang, you will pass through Yinping Road, and no matter where you take the road, you need to go through a dangerous pass."

The long pole in Li Congjing's hand nodded on the map, and his tone was a little heavier, "Sword Pavilion!" That is, the sword gate! ”

He continued: "In the past, Zhuge Liang Xiang Shu, chiseled the stone and drove the air for the Feiliang Pavilion Road, in order to pass the brigade, set up the sword gate pass here, and then Zhuge Liang led the Shu army out of Qishan Mountain, the northern expedition to Cao Wei, and had stored grain, garrisoned the army, and trained troops here. Later, Wei Zhonghui led 100,000 elite soldiers to enter Hanzhong, approaching Jianmen Pass to seize Shu, Shu Jiangwei led 30,000 soldiers and horses to retreat to Jianmen Pass, resisting Zhonghui's 100,000 troops outside Jianmen Pass. ”

Since then, Jianmen Pass has been a Xiongguan moat, and countless famous generals who have entered Shu have been fearful. Taibai has a poem: The Sword Pavilion is magnificent and Cui Wei, one husband is a pass, and ten thousand people are not open. Lao Du also said: A husband is angry, and millions are not enough. Because Jianmen is the gateway to the north of Shu, it is like getting two rivers. ”

Li Siyuan habitually folded his sleeves with both hands, looked at Yutu and smiled: "In the past, Guo Gong cut down Shu, which was the Shu who passed through Chen Cang, passed through the Sanguan, and buckled the sword gate, and entered from here. Speaking of this, looking up at the palace outside the door that was bright and dazzling by the sun, I couldn't help but sigh a little, "The army was sent on September 18, the army passed through the pass on October 18, and on November 27, Shu was pacified." The autumn wind sweeps away the leaves, and it won't be faster than this, Guo Gong's feat is really unprecedented and unprecedented, which makes people infinitely awe-inspiring! ”

"Guo Gong's former demeanor is indeed heartbreaking." Thinking of Guo Chongtao, Li Congjing also has some bad feelings in his heart, as for the Pingshu before March, he does not respect it much, at that time Shu was basically "looking at the wind and descending", Wang Shi actually did not fight any big battles, just let alone the evil battle, as the so-called this time and that time, the past and today are no longer the same.

Historically, Zhong Hui attacked Shu Han, and Western Wei Wei Chi took Liang Yizhou, including the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty, and the Mongol attack on the Southern Song Dynasty, all of which marched from the north.

"Compared with Guanzhong, Liangchuan, the terrain of Helong is obviously high, from Guanzhong, Liangchuan is difficult to attack Helong, and from Longxi to attack the two rivers is easier, so the Central Plains in the two rivers when using troops, rather than has been fighting for the north and south of the Qinling Mountains for a short time, it is better to take the distance to fight for Longxi, to obtain a geographical advantage. In that year, the Northern Expedition of Shu Han was more out of Qishan, which was out of this line of thought. ”

Li Congjing said, "It's just that with today's scene, it is extremely laborious to fight for Longxi - I just said the north, and then look at the east" Li Congjing's long pole moved up and down on the map, and the top fell on the river, and the sunlight outside the house spilled in, illuminating the map, and also imprinted the shadow of the long pole on the map.

In fact, there is one more route into Shu from the north, which is out of the slope valley, that is, the meridian valley, the Baoxiao valley, and the Fu Luo valley. However, all three passages are extremely dangerous, which is not conducive to the large-scale passage of manpower and material resources. Cao Cao sighed many times after arguing with Liu Bei for the disadvantage of Hanzhong, "Nanzheng is a heavenly prison, and the middle slope valley road is a five-hundred-mile stone cave", and the soldiers of the past dynasties easily did not dare to come out of this.

"From the east into Shu, the soldiers are sent from Kuizhou, through Wushan, through the Three Gorges, can go straight to Fuzhou (Chongqing). The dangerous place of this road, which is also the gateway to Kuizhou, is the Qutang Pass (also known as the Jiangguan Pass, the Hanguan) here, which is the place where the difficulty of breaking through is not conceded by the Jianmen. Li Congjing continued.

When Liu Bei went out of Shu to attack Wu, after being defeated by Lu Xun in Yiling, he retreated in embarrassment, that is, he defended the pass, and with the strength of the Wu army's naval division back then, he was helpless.

Li Congjing said with a smile: "And now, Kuizhou is in the hands of my Tang Dynasty, and defending the pass has become an internal pass, from the river to Shu, a horse and a flat river, and there is almost no danger to defend the two rivers, and Wang Shi has since entered Shu, which can be described as taking the lead!" "In the past, Li Congjing worked hard to plot against Jingnan and seize all the benefits of Kuizhou Prefecture for the empire, and now it is reflected.

Speaking of this, Li Congjing glanced at Guo Wei intentionally or unintentionally.

Guo Wei has been fighting hard in Wanzhou in the past two years, and what he is planning is how to enter Shu, so he is very clear about the route of the army, and he came as soon as he opened his mouth: "Although the eastern Sichuan region takes Kuizhou as the gateway, the weight of its situation is attributed to Fuzhou. Up and down the Three Gorges, both sides of the river are lofty mountains and mountains, and the great river waterway is like a slender bottleneck in this area, east out of Yiling, west out of Fuzhou. ”

"From the Three Gorges into Sichuan, after arriving in Fuzhou, it can be divided into several directions to Chengdu: follow the Fujiang River to the north, you can go to Mianzhou and out of the north of Chengdu, Hezhou is its important town; From Fuzhou to the big river, the Min River upstream, can go out of the south of Chengdu, Jiazhou is its important town; In addition, it goes west from Fuzhou, and then goes north from Tuojiang River to Chengdu, and Huzhou is its important town. Therefore, to march from Wanzhou, we must first strengthen the defense of Fuzhou, Luzhou, and Mianzhou, and seek opportunities to quickly conquer Hezhou and Jiazhou. ”

As for Guo Wei's military dispatch to Liangchuan, which route to choose to march on, on the one hand, it depends on the decision of the imperial court, and on the other hand, it also depends on the actual situation at that time.

After talking about the route of the march, Li Congjing turned to talk about the richness of the land of the two rivers, that is, the significance of conquering the two rivers to strengthen the national strength, "The land of the two rivers is fertile, there are rivers and fertile fields, mountains and forests, bamboo and trees, vegetables and food, and fruits. Not only that, the treasures of Shu are everywhere, there are wall jade, gold, silver, beads, blue, copper, iron, lead, tin, ochre, chalk, brocade, embroidery, rhinoceros, elephant, felt, yak, Danhuang, empty green, mulberry, lacquer, hemp, ramie. Moreover, there are many salt wells in Sichuan, which can obtain rich financial profits, and the thirteen salt prisons in Yun'an are famous all over the world. ”

"At the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Central Plains was hungry, and the Shu land was fertile for thousands of miles, the soil was plastered, the fruits were born, and there was no grain and full; The industry of women workers is the world of clothes; Famous bamboo, the rao of the instrument, can not be used; There are also the benefits of fish, salt, copper and iron, and the convenience of floating water. When Zhuge Liang Longzhong took countermeasures, he called Yizhou "the land of abundance" and "the wealth of the people". Since the Tang Dynasty, Yizhou has been rich and Yangzhou, and the tax is the most in the world. ”

In a word, Shu is not only rich in agricultural resources, but also has countless mineral resources, luxury resources, commercial resources, salt and iron and other resources. In short: the land of abundance!

Such a place, in any case, the empire is to be held in the hands.

In today's world, the Central Plains has been plagued by wars, people's livelihood has withered, and it has been developed for too many years, the land is barren, and there is little potential. Although the empire has been a bumper harvest in the past two years, in fact, on the land of the Central Plains, disasters are frequent, especially locust plagues, once they occur, there is often no food for thousands of miles, and the floods are particularly serious, but it is not easy to control.

The two rivers are different, Qin Shi is only seriously developed, it seems that the potential is still huge, if you can get the benefits of the two rivers, the empire is undoubtedly a big step forward, and Meng Zhixiang, Li Shaobin two heroes stand side by side, according to the two rivers and the time is not long, the power is not unbreakable, at this time to take Shu, it is really a gift from heaven.

This is also the reason why there are many people in the court who suggested attacking Huaisi first, but Li Siyuan's father and son did not consider it and insisted on taking Shu land first. At that time, the Qin Empire got Bashu, and its national strength increased greatly, so it was able to support the war to destroy the Six Kingdoms.

"The imperial court marched into Liangchuan, in addition to the forbidden army, it must be conscripted to help the strong army of the feudal town, and the Baoyi army and the national protection army (Hezhong Jiedu envoy) are tentatively set in the north, and the rest is your Jingyan army, speaking of which, you have been preparing in Pizhou for three or four years, how are you prepared?" Li Congjing asked Li Shaocheng with a smile, the reason why he suggested that Li Siyuan should grant Li Shaocheng as the envoy of the Jingyan Army Festival and sit in the west is for today.

Li Shaocheng bowed and saluted, his expression excited, "On the day of the destruction of Shu, please be the pioneer of the north!" ”

Li Siyuan laughed when he heard this, he was very happy, he looked at Guo Wei: "On that day, the king of Qin set Jingnan, and played Guo Qing as the defense envoy of Wanzhou, and rectified the army and horses, for this time, I wonder if Guo Qing will also be invited to be the vanguard of the east?" ”

Guo Wei hesitated, "The minister has a saying, I don't know whether to say it or not." ”

"Say it." Li Siyuan said.

Guo Wei raised his head with a resolute expression, "If you have to strike first, the minister dares to guarantee that Dongchuan will be set in January!" ”

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Note 1: Guozhou and Langzhou set up the Baoning Army, and Suizhou set up the Wuxin Army, etc.

Historically, Li Siyuan did just that, but it didn't make a difference. In fact, the strategy is generally a good strategy, but there are many problems in the implementation process, first of all, the improper use of people, Wu Qianyu, Li Renju is really a straw bag, secondly, when Meng Zhixiang and Dong Zhang officially rebelled, although Li Siyuan said that he was somewhat prepared, he actually dealt with it in a hurry, and there were also problems with the strategy of using troops, of course, more importantly, he did not have any cards in his hand.

Note 2: Strengthen the defense of Fuzhou, Luzhou and Mianzhou, and seek opportunities to quickly conquer Hezhou and Jiazhou.

The first thing Dong Zhang rebelled was, and he arrested Shi Wu Qianyu, the assassin of Mianzhou, and imprisoned him. Fuzhou and Luzhou seem to be the sphere of influence of the two Sichuan, but in fact, after Meng Zhixiang raised his troops, he immediately sent troops to attack Fuzhou, Luzhou, Kuizhou, and Qianzhou, which shows that Fuzhou and Luzhou should have been on the side of the imperial court at that time.

"Xin Si, the prelude to the Western Army, on the thirteenth day of this month, Wang Hongzhen, the assassin of Jiezhou, and Feng Hui, the assassin of Luzhou, fell outside the Jianmen Pass from the mountain road in Lizhou, killing more than 3,000 soldiers of Dong Zhang's guards and recovering Jianzhou." It is really strange that the history of the Luzhou assassin actually ran to the Jianmen Pass, when there is another reason.