On the first day of February in 212 AD, the westward expedition, which had been brewing for nearly three years, finally kicked off.

The three major legions stationed near Xiangyang, including the two major guards legions and the Southern Legion, almost all followed Wang Xu to the west. Only the deputy general of the Southern Army, Feng Xi, the general of the Southern Army, and Fu Tong, the general of the rebellion, led half of the officers and soldiers of the Southern Army to stay behind and listen to the dispatch of the minister Zhuge Liang.

Zhendong General Lu Xun was ordered to command the water army to control the Yangtze River along the Yuzhang generation, and assist the generals Xu Huang, Huang Xu, and Meng Shu of the Suzaku Army who guarded Yuzhang to jointly defend Jiangdong.

The commander of the Jiaozhou Army, the general Huang Quan, the general of Jianwen, Wu Ban, and the newly promoted generals Ma Zhong and Zhang Yi were ordered to increase their troops and rely on the three major dangerous passes that had been newly built in recent years to strictly guard against Jiangdong.

Zhang He, the general of Zhengdong, Li Yan, the general of Wenzhi, and Huo Jun, the general of Yingyang, were ordered to lead the Qinglong Army to shrink their forces in Nanyang, abandon the garrison of the marginal county town, and concentrate on the core areas to defend against Cao Cao's possible invasion.

After solving Jingzhou's worries, Wang Xu ordered the new lieutenant Xu Shu to go to Hongnong in person to assist Ju Yi, Leng Bao, Yang Huai and other generals of the Eastern Army to guard Hangu Pass, Luhun Pass and along the Yellow River in the north, and be sure to do a good job in the defense of Yongzhou.

This expedition, starting from Xiangyang, the army totaled more than 200,000, the troops were divided into three routes, one route was led by Zhang Liao, the general of the cavalry, and the southern army Han Meng commanded 40,000 people, passing through the two counties of Shangyong and Hanzhong, and arrived at Wudu, converging with Wang Ling, Wang Xiong, Zhang Wei and other generals of the Western Legion stationed in Wudu, totaling 120,000 people, under the unified command of Zhang Liao. Attack Xiliang from the south.

One route was led by Wang Xu himself. Commander hussar general Zhao Yun. A total of 120,000 people from the Guards Legion Yan Liang, Dian Wei, Chen Zhi and other units went out of Wuguan, entered Hongnong, and went straight to Fufeng, and joined forces with Wei Yan, Gan Ning, and Liao Hua of the White Tiger Legion stationed here, totaling more than 200,000 people.

The last road was led by Gao Shun, and the 40,000 people of the Xu Sheng Department of the Guards Legion followed Wang Xu and also went out of the military pass. But then went north, and the 60,000 people of the Northern Army stationed in Chang'an joined with it, a total of 100,000 troops, and marched into Feng Yi in the north, under the unified command and dispatch of Gao Shun, and attacked Xiliang from the north.

In addition, because this was an attack rather than a garrison, many garrisons of the Western Army and the Northern Army of the border guards were quite idle, so Wang Xu asked Zhou Zhi to draw from them to form an elite border army of more than 30,000 people. Zhou Zhi and Zhang Jing are in command themselves, and the two of them act cheaply.

As for the 80,000 Xuanwu Legion, which was already responsible for the defense of Feng Yi and other northern Xinjiang. For the time being, he did not move, mainly in case of Cao Wei, but if necessary, he was still at the disposal of Wang Xu or Gao Shun at any time.

Deng Zhi led the remaining 20,000 soldiers of the Northern Army in Chang'an to stay behind as a countermeasure to respond to the changes!

As a result, the number of troops attacking Xiliang has reached more than 450,000 troops, which is not counting the reserve forces that can still be mobilized if necessary.

Such a majestic force, but Xiliang was overwhelmed, even if all its people can be soldiers, but their economic and logistical supply can not supply such a huge number of soldiers at the same time, if it is said that the troops, Ma Teng has a hundreds of thousands of troops is not a problem, but he understands in his heart that the Chu State has been preparing for so many years, and it must be the idea of fighting a protracted war at such a large scale at the expense of national strength.

If he really reluctantly gathered too many troops, then Wang Xu would only use one move, and that was dragging!

If the reserve force of Xiliang is overloaded, then it will have to disperse in March or May at most, and it will collapse without a fight.

In the early years of the Xiliang melee, all parties seemed to have more soldiers and generals, and it seemed that he should have more troops after reunification, but in fact, in the early years of the internal melee in Xiliang, it was his own people who knew their own affairs, but whenever the war started, it was all a quick battle, and a few battles were fought to determine the winner, so he quickly dismantled the troops, and let the soldiers go home to herd cattle and horses, and be busy with their own planting and production. When they regained their strength, they gathered again to fight.

At that time, grabbing territory and population was the core purpose and way to win in Xiliang, and it was also for this reason that it was extremely difficult to unify within Xiliang, coupled with the powerful princes outside Xiliang, which made it difficult to calm down the Xiliang melee for many years.

Now, Xiliang is facing the state of Chu, Wang Xu, who has worked hard for more than 20 years, controls a vast area, a prosperous economy, a dense population, and sits on the three granaries of Yongzhou, Jingzhou and Yizhou.

This makes it difficult for Ma Teng to ride a tiger, if he has too many troops, Wang Xu will press forward step by step, but he will never fight head-on, and he will die alive in Xiliang. If his strength is maintained within a sustainable range, it will be stretched and difficult, after all, the strength of the Chu State is obvious to all!

……………………

Chencang, the most important strategic place in Fufeng County, is also the gateway to the western part of Guanzhong, where the main military strength of the White Tiger Legion is stationed on weekdays, maintaining the safety of the 800-mile Qinchuan River.

Because of its long history, successive dynasties have continuously repaired it, making it one of the most majestic fortified cities in the world, easy to defend and difficult to attack, even if there are many fortifications in the surrounding area.

In addition, Chencang is also a traffic artery, to the north through several counties, is the junction of Liangzhou Anding and Hanyang two counties, which is also one of the most important passages into Liangzhou, as for the other avenue in its southwest, it is directly through Sanguan, connecting Yizhou Wudu, which can be described as an important intersection of the three states.

Now, this is also the first gathering place of Wang Xu's Central Route Army, when he personally led the Chinese army to arrive here, he couldn't help but take a closer look at Chen Cang and the surroundings, and then recruited the generals to the Chinese army's big tent to discuss.

"Fengxiao, what is the current situation of the Ma family?"

Guo Jia has been sitting here for many years, of course, he is very familiar with the situation of the Ma family, and saluted without pause: "Back to my lord, Xiliang has gathered a total of about 270,000 troops so far, plus about 110,000 coalition troops of various ethnic groups in the border area, a total of more than 380,000 people, but only 200,000 of them are real regular elites, and most of them are temporarily assembled. ”

"Hmmm! I understand! Wang Xu nodded. So what is the approximate distribution? ”

"At present, its main forces are concentrated in the southern part of Beidi County, the southern border of Anding County, and Ji County, the capital of Hanyang County, because they are still frequently mobilized, so it is impossible to determine their exact strength and deployment. But according to intelligence. There were about 60,000 people in the Northland. It is mainly a coalition army of various ethnic groups, and there is no exact information on who the supreme commander is. Anding in the south is its main force, and Ma Teng, Ma Yi, Ma Chao and others are all here, with nearly 200,000 people. In addition, there are about 120,000 people in Hanyang County, and Pang De, the commander of Xiliang Meng. ”

After listening to these carefully, Wang Xu frowned, and after thinking for a long time, he shook his head and asked, "Fengxiao, Xiliang has always been mysterious. Even if the spy crew doesn't get much news from the Ma family, I don't know how much you know about fighting against it for so many years? ”

"If it is revealed in front of people, the lord must also know, but the minister has always felt that the Ma family still has a lot of good talents, but it is not so eye-catching! Over the years, Ma Jiaxue has hidden many generals, many of whom have never fought against their subordinates, and only have some hearsay as the basis, so it is not easy to make vain evaluations. ”

"Hmm!" Wang Xu was not very surprised by Guo Jia's words. The biggest variable in this expedition to the west is Ma Yi, who is a reincarnated person after all. Even if it is difficult for him to rise because he was born in the wrong place and made many mistakes in his early years, he is always prescient, and it is impossible not to hide some means.

It's just that it's useless to speculate now, and soon he put aside his doubts for the time being, and his eyes swept over the generals sitting in the tent one by one.

In the end, his gaze stayed firmly on Wei Yan's resolute face, revealing a slight smile.

"Wen Chang, what do you think the Ma family's intentions are in this arrangement?"

As the saying goes, circumstances determine people, and people affect circumstances, this Wei Yan has been killed by Wang Xu fiercely to get rid of his arrogance, and after his words were realized, he finally made up his mind to die behind closed doors, because he was still young at that time, and his personality had not really been shaped, so he changed greatly and changed his inferior nature.

Now that he has been honed on the battlefield for many years, he has long lost his personality in history, and has become calm and introverted, truly wise and brave.

At this time, in the face of Wang Xu's inquiry, he was not arrogant or impatient, and replied respectfully but briefly: "Return to the lord, he wants to fight quickly!" Judging from the experience of the last general in fighting the Ma family for many years, the most likely thing is that he wants to fight a decisive battle with the main force of our army in stability. ”

"Oh? How could he be so confident that his main army on the southern border of Anding was only 200,000 men, which was the same number as our middle army? Wang Xu asked.

Wei Yan turned his head to look at Guo Jia, who was smiling and silent, and a smile appeared on his face: "Because Ma Yi always likes to use soldiers like the master, but he always can't learn well!" ”

"Learn from me?"

"Exactly!" Wei Yan looked at Wang Xu with a smile and said seriously: "Ma Yi is the same as the lord, and he likes to use the way of reality and reality, but it is far from the way of the lord!" ”

"How?" Wang Xu was interested, and listened attentively with some curiosity.

To put it simply, he is in charge of his shape but not his god, every time he uses this way, he can not always follow the trend like the lord, seamlessly. For example, now, he has three points of troops, and it seems that he wants to defend the danger and wait for the battle, but in fact, his move is bound to be a void, and the 120,000 people in Hanyang in the south are definitely a fictitious camp, and the actual strength is at most 60,000 or 70,000 people! ”

Wang Xu had already understood when he heard this, and he had an inference in his heart, but he didn't want to say it, but asked with a smile: "Then how are you so sure?" ”

"Back to the lord, Xiliang itself is now at a strategic disadvantage, how can he hold on to the division of troops and refuse to defend for a long time? It can only guarantee the use of 200,000 regular soldiers at most, but now that the number of people gathered has doubled, if the troops are really divided, will they not fall into the place of death? The only way is to concentrate superior forces, use the bravery of its iron cavalry, and the sharpness of field battles to break through the three armies of our Chu State! This is already obvious, but I don't know why, that Ma Yi always likes to draw snakes to add to his feet, why bother to make that virtual and real way? ”

"The way of the lord is hidden in the political strategy, used outside the battle array, taking advantage of the situation, seamless, endless, it is difficult to guess, but Ma Yi uses troops like this, although it is extremely difficult to find, but it is completely useless, as long as you know a little strategy, you can be invincible, compared with the two, it is really a world of difference!"

"Hahaha......" Wang Xu instantly laughed.

"Wen Chang's words are flattering, you don't want to elevate me like this, if Ma Yi did it intentionally, borrowed the stupidity of the past, and carefully planned for many years, so that I would make a miscalculation this time? Have you ever thought about this possibility? “

In the face of doubts, Wei Yan was not panicked, and explained unhurriedly: "What the lord said is extremely true, and the last general has also thought about it like this, but no matter what, he has already exposed the target by gathering so many troops, that is, it will definitely be quickly resolved, and the method of concentrating forces to destroy them one by one." In this way, our Chu State only needs to garrison heavy troops in various important places, and then attack and test with a small number of troops and horses, and defeat a few battles if necessary, then it will be completely exposed. At that time, where its main force was located along the way, we shrank our forces, contained the danger and defended it, and attacked from the other two roads, improvised, how could it be undefeated? (To be continued......)