Zhuge Liang went through several struggles in his heart, and finally chose his and Zhuge Jin's family relationship, and decided not to report this matter until he figured out Zhuge Jin's secret.

In the following days, Zhuge Liang officially took office on the one hand and began to actively prepare for the relocation of the capital, on the other hand, he sent people to secretly monitor Zhuge Jin's every move, hoping to find out any flaws from Zhuge Jin.

But since Zhuge Jin was accidentally discovered by Zhuge Liang, there has been no abnormal behavior, and it is very normal.

When Zhuge Liang got these reports, he felt that he might be too suspicious, so he gave up, and instead focused on dealing with the matter of moving the capital.

But what Zhuge Liang didn't know was that Chen Qun didn't take any action, but they couldn't come up with any good plan, and the whole country had not yet been unified, so they wanted to wait until the southwest was pacified, and then work together to realize the change of dynasty.

Time passed a full five days, and in five days, the war in the southwest was in full swing, although the armies of Ma Chao, Pang Tong, and Xu Huang took the Jiameng Pass, but they were never able to break through the layers of defense set up by Zhang Fei and Fa Zheng on the Shu Road.

At first, Ma Chao and Xu Huang's attack can be described as smooth, but when they advanced almost eight miles, the form of the war suddenly took a sharp turn, Zhang Fei set up a net here, not only the mountain road was arranged with heavy troops, but even the cliffs on both sides were also soldiers active, as long as Ma Chao and Xu Huang launched an attack, they would encounter stubborn resistance. And due to the narrow mountain road. Ma Chao, Xu Huang and others have all kinds of abilities. It can't be done here.

Due to the blockade here, the Han army tried several attacks, but because of the narrow road, they could not break through this place, but lost their troops.

In the past few days, the two armies have reached a stalemate.

But fortunately, Zhang Yan had already ordered Zhang Liao and Gan Ning of Jingzhou to lead an army to attack Yizhou.

According to Zhang Yan's instructions, Gan Ning served as the vanguard. Troops were sent directly from Wuling County, where Ganning was garrisoned, and marched towards Yizhou. Zhang Liao led the army up the Shuojiang River from Jiangling and attacked Yizhou by water through Zigui.

The two soldiers divided into two routes, one south and one north, advancing by land and water, and met in Jiangzhou City in Ba County.

Since Jingzhou was returned to the Han Dynasty, Sima Yi can be said to have made great contributions, and Zhang Yan also attached great importance to Sima Yi, and directly appointed Sima Yi as the assassin of Jingzhou and was responsible for the government affairs of the entire Jingzhou. Although Sima Yi is very young. is extremely talented, and he is also comfortable in politics. Instead of feeling a little strained, I felt very relaxed.

Who Sima Yi is, Zhang Yan will not know. Therefore, while Zhang Yan is reusing Sima Yi, he is also wary of Sima Yi. In Zhang Yan's opinion, Sima Yi can be in charge of the government affairs of the entire Jingzhou, but there is only one thing that must not be given to him, that is, the army.

Since returning from the southern expedition, Zhang Yan dispatched Zhang Liao to garrison Jiangling in Jingzhou, responsible for commanding all the soldiers and horses in Jingzhou, which is equivalent to taking Sima Yi's military power at once.

At the beginning, Zhang Liao came to Jingzhou single-handedly to take up his post, without bringing a single soldier with him, and he did not have a cronies to use. However, Zhang Liao was able to collect all the military power of Jingzhou into his own hands in a short period of time, and I have to say that Zhang Liao is not a simple person.

At least, in Sima Yi's opinion, Zhang Liao is not a reckless horseman, at least but from the fact that Zhang Liao was able to establish his prestige in Jingzhou in such a short period of time, and firmly held the military power in his own hands, it is not difficult to see that Zhang Liao is actually a person with great means.

Jingzhou, Nanjun, Jiangling.

In the barracks outside the city, Gan Ning, Huang Zhong, Wei Yan, Wen Ping, Li Tong and others were all sitting in Zhang Liao's big tent, quietly waiting for Zhang Liao's arrival.

Everyone present was once a part of the Jingzhou Army, even Gan Ning was no exception. In the battle with Zhang Liao, because Zhang Liao's subordinates killed Huang Zu's son Huang Shot, he also talked about Gan Ning, and finally under Zhang Liao's persuasion, Gan Ning surrendered to Zhang Yan and became a member of Zhang Liao's subordinates.

However, among the five people, the most famous is Huang Zhong, Huang Zhong is a veteran, in Jingzhou for more than ten years, outstanding martial arts, outstanding archery, is recognized as the first brave general in Jingzhou. It's a pity that Liu Biao was not reused at that time, and sent him to his nephew Liu Pan as a subordinate, but Liu Pan was killed by a stray arrow, and Huang Zhong was also implicated, and he has not been supported by Liu Biao for many years.

And Wei Yan, Wen Ping, and Li Tong are all rising stars, and they can't be compared with Huang Zhong or Gan Ning, but the three of them are the kind of people who are not afraid of tigers when they are newborns.

Since Zhang Liao grasped the power of Jingzhou, he took over more than 100,000 Jingzhou troops, and the navy and army were under his control. After Zhang Liao took over all the Jingzhou army, he made some statistics on the army in Jingzhou, because Jingzhou was taken by Zhang Yanbing without blood, and during the southern expedition, Jingzhou's army was not the main force, and the losses were very small, so the number of troops in Jingzhou was still relatively large, according to Zhang Liao's recount, there were 80,000 naval troops and 60,000 army troops, a total of 140,000.

Zhang Liao reported this fact to the Ministry of War, and then the Ministry of War played it to Zhang Yan, who only felt that there were too many soldiers and horses in Jingzhou, and ordered Zhang Liao to dismantle the soldiers and horses in Jingzhou and control them within 70,000 people.

This also means that Zhang Liao wants to dismiss half of the Jingzhou soldiers, and for this reason, Zhang Liao also feels distressed, because if this matter is not handled well, it is likely to cause a mutiny. Therefore, Zhang Liao did not rush to dismantle the army, but asked Zhang Yan for a grace period of one year.

Zhang Yan was not too tough, agreed to Zhang Liao's request, and gave Zhang Liao a year.

This letter came and went, delayed a lot of time on the road, in a blink of an eye, more than a month has passed, more than a month, Zhang Liao did not do anything, until three days ago received Zhang Yan's reply, he summoned Gan Ning, Huang Zhong, Wei Yan, Wen Ping, Li Tong and others to come to Jiangling to discuss how to dismantle the army.

However, things came very suddenly, and before the matter of dismantling the army was discussed with everyone in a hurry, a holy decree ordering Zhang Liao to lead the army to attack Yizhou was disrupted.

Gan Ning, Huang Zhong, Wei Yan, Wen Ping, Li Tong and others have been waiting for a stick of incense in the big tent for almost a while, and they haven't seen Zhang Liao come out, and everyone's faces can't help but show some displeasure.

It was at this moment that Zhang Liao wore a suit of armor and walked in from outside the big tent, as soon as he entered the big tent, the five people in the big tent, Gan Ning, Huang Zhong, Wei Yan, Wen Ping, and Li Tong, immediately stood up, and bowed to Zhang Liao in unison: "See General Zhang!" ”

Zhang Liao waved his hand and said, "No courtesy, everyone, sit down." ”

While speaking, Zhang Liao had already walked to the top position of the big tent, sat down, glanced at everyone, opened his mouth and said: "I invite you generals to come today, there are two things, the first is about the dismantling of the army, and the second is about sending troops to fight, which one do you want to listen to first?" ”

Zhang Liao went straight to the point, spoke crisply and neatly, did not beat around the bush, was straightforward, and had a sense of vigorous and resolute action.

After Gan Ning, Huang Zhong, Wei Yan, Wen Ping, and Li Tong listened to Zhang Liao's words, their ears were as if they heard a muffled thunder, whether it was the removal of the army or the dispatch of troops to fight, it was a major event. The dismantling of the army, in particular, sounded to them inconceivable.

So, almost everyone said in unison: "General Zhang, what's the matter with the reduction of the army?" ”

Zhang Liao immediately took out a document issued by the Ministry of War, lit it up directly in front of everyone, and said loudly: "This is an official document from the Ministry of War, which has been issued, and the regent has also signed it, and it is also stamped with a jade seal, ordering me to reduce the army of Jingzhou to less than 70,000 within a year!" ”

"Within 70,000?" After everyone heard this, they couldn't help but be surprised, you know, now there are 140,000 soldiers and horses in Jingzhou, and if you want to reduce the army to less than 70,000, wouldn't it be necessary to withdraw half of the army?

"Why do you want to dismantle the army?" Huang Zhong frowned and asked cautiously.

Zhang Liao said: "I only obey orders, but I don't know why I want to dismantle the army." ”

Actually, Zhang Liao didn't know, but he didn't want to say it. Jingzhou has 140,000 troops, plus the 10,000 troops brought by Gan Ning, the entire Jingzhou has a total of 150,000 troops.

You know, after the southern expedition in Yangzhou, there are only 50,000 people, Guangzhou is only 20,000, Jiaozhou has the least army, only 10,000 people, the army of these three states together, it is only 80,000 troops, but Jingzhou has 150,000 troops in one state, such a huge number, no matter who it is, you will feel afraid.

Therefore, Zhang Yan asked Zhang Liao to withdraw the army and control the army in Jingzhou within 70,000.

Huang Zhong saw that Zhang Liao didn't answer his question, and he didn't ask anymore, because no matter how much he asked, it would be useless, and what Zhang Liao didn't want to say, he would never say.

"General Zhang, if you want to control all the troops in Jingzhou within 70,000, then wouldn't you want to eliminate half of the people? So how should these laid-off personnel survive in peace? Wen Ping asked.

"And what's the deal with sending troops to war?" Wei Yan suddenly diverted the topic.

Zhang Liao unhurriedly took out a holy decree, lit it up in front of everyone, and said loudly: "This is a holy decree, ordering me to lead an army of 50,000 to take the waterway, go up the Shuojiang River, and attack Yizhou, and also ordered Tai Shici to lead the soldiers and horses of the headquarters as the vanguard to attack Yizhou by land." (To be continued......)