Chapter 420: Infiltration into Hanzhong
In Hanzhong, after receiving Liu Fan's reminder letter, Zhang Lu threw it aside with disdain.
"A mere guard dog dares to bark like that!"
Although Liu Fan was not the cowardly Liu Zhang in history, he had great talents and could be considered a qualified prince, even better than his father Liu Yan.
But that depends on who you compare with.
Compared with Liu Biao, he is naturally on par with Liu Biao, but what kind of people are the princes in the world now?
In comparison with Yuan Benchu, the role model of the world, Cao Cao, the hero in troubled times, Liu Bei, the unparalleled benevolence and righteousness, and Sun Ce, the reincarnation of the overlord, Liu Fan is far inferior and not much better than him.
Although he was weak, he was not a prince and just wanted to preach. What qualifications did Liu Fan have to compare with him?
Therefore, the one at the bottom among the princes of the world is Liu Fanle, who seems to be pretty good.
This is also one of the reasons why Zhang Lu despised him.
"My lord, Liu Fan has Huang Quan, Zhang Song and others in civil affairs, and Zhang Ren, Yan Yan and others in military affairs. They also have ambitions to rule the world, so we must be on guard against them!" Yan Pu advised when he saw this.
Zhang Lu snorted disdainfully.
"Aiming to rule the world? If he has such an ambition, I can only say that he is overestimating his own capabilities. If he wants to revive the Han Dynasty, he might as well join Liu Bei. In this way, I can still respect him a little bit."
"Now, you want to conquer the world, but you don't have the ability. You can only defend Yizhou. What future do you have for such a rat?"
Listening to Zhang Lu's words, Yan Pu frowned slightly.
He and Yang Song looked at each other and both saw each other's confusion.
There seems to be something wrong with what the lord said! Why do you seem to want to surrender to Tian Ze?
As soon as Zhang Lu finished speaking, he realized that he had said too much. He looked at his subordinates, coughed and said, "Liu Fan is too timid. I have the strategic location of Qishan Mountain and tens of thousands of soldiers. A mere field and marshland are not worth mentioning."
Upon hearing this, the civil and military officials below were all silent.
You really dare to say that.
After making some arrangements for the defense of Hanzhong, Zhang Lu waved his hand and asked his civil and military officials to disperse.
After returning to the inner house, Zhang Lu happily lit a stick of incense.
"Ancestors, the day when our Zhengyi Sect will flourish is not far away!"
Quite similar to Zhang Lu, after his important ministers left, they all began to do their own things in secret.
Yang Song was in a house next to his own mansion, looking at the room full of gold and silver, his eyes full of greed.
"Mr. Yang, I wonder if you are satisfied?" A figure hidden in the darkness asked in a low voice.
"Satisfied! Satisfied!" Yang Song nodded repeatedly.
"Please report to Mr. Wenhe that as soon as your majesty's army arrives, Song will immediately persuade the lord to surrender to our Great Qi!"
Seeing Yang Song's flattering look, the man in the darkness nodded slightly, but he was very disdainful in his heart.
When Your Majesty takes Hanzhong, you will die.
There is nothing wrong with a wise bird choosing the right tree to roost in.
The overall situation now depends on Your Majesty, and it seems that Yang Song is an unknown person who has secretly surrendered to you.
But unlike others, Yang Song was too greedy and short-sighted. He had no loyalty or respect for Zhang Lu at all. Such a person would be a disaster if he were alive.
Commander Jia had already told him that once Hanzhong was captured, they would secretly wipe out all traces of this man.
At the same time, a scholar had already been waiting at Yan Pu's home.
"Mr. Yan." The scholar said respectfully.
Although the two parties now belong to different groups, it does not hinder his respect for Yan Pu.
This was a wise and virtuous man. The reason why he was loyal to the Great Qi was simply that he saw the general trend of the world and wanted to avoid unnecessary wars.
Even if he contacted them, he was still trying to gain benefits for Zhang Lu. "Have you arranged for someone to contact the lord?" Yan Pu asked.
The scholar shook his head gently: "I don't know. My order is only to contact you, Mr. Yan."
As Tian Ze's power continued to expand, the intelligence organization under Jia Xu became increasingly large. To this end, Jia Xu established a strict management system, and many spies were connected through single lines.
He didn't even know what his boss looked like, and they rarely met during their daily communications. Naturally, he had no idea whether anyone had contacted Zhang Lu.
Yan Pu looked at the scholar deeply.
Then he smiled bitterly and said, "I'm afraid that Hanzhong has been infiltrated by you like a sieve. Liu Fan thought this place was impregnable."
In fact, it is just as Yan Pu said.
Jia Xu, who has always been cautious, had already made many arrangements to ensure that the surrender to Hanzhong would be foolproof.
Because Shu was too easy to defend and difficult to attack.
After carefully looking through the map of Shu and the various marching routes, even Jia Xu felt a headache.
The logistics alone of attacking Hanzhong would drive them crazy.
Even with Tian Ze's logistics level, according to Jia Xu's estimation, it can only last for half a year at most. If the war still continues after half a year, then the troops will have to be withdrawn.
But looking at the many natural fortresses around Hanzhong, as long as the soldiers defending the city are not too weak and have a strong will, it will take a lot of effort for them to take it even if they want to.
This is just Hanzhong. The difficulty of attacking Chengdu, which is farther away, will be several levels higher.
A strong attack is not a good strategy unless the vitality of Yizhou is depleted to a certain extent.
The best way is to attack people's hearts.
No matter how strong the natural pass is, as long as people's hearts are scattered, it will still be a mess.
This is how Shu Han fell.
Liu Bei attacked Chengdu for a long time, but when he reached Liu Chan, he had no choice but to open the city and surrender.
The reason was that the local forces in Yizhou no longer wanted to fight.
Jia Xu was aware of Tian Ze's plan. Although he seemed to be calm, he was actually very eager to take over Yizhou.
Therefore, Hanzhong must not become an obstacle.
We must take it directly, and then quickly break into Chengdu and take Yizhou while Liu Fan and Liu Bei are unable to react.
After all, when Tian Ze attacked Yizhou, the enemies he faced were not only Liu Fan, but also Liu Bei.
Although Liu Fan is not Liu Yan, he has a close relationship with Liu Bei and has a certain sense of the overall situation.
Once he knew that the situation was impossible, he would most likely let Liu Bei go to Shu for support, or even hand over Yizhou.
After all, they all belong to the Liu family. Even if they invest, the meat will rot in their own pot, so it’s not too much of a loss.
This is also the reason why Tian Ze did not dare to push too hard before, and even did not dare to reveal that Hanzhong had been secretly infiltrated by them.
We must not push Liu Fan too hard, otherwise if Liu Fan joins Liu Bei, we will be in big trouble.
The difficulty of attacking Yizhou when it was in Liu Fan's hands was completely incomparable with that when it was in Liu Bei's hands.
Once it comes to that, relying on the natural barriers of Yizhou and the defense systems of Nanyang and Jianghuai, it might be quite difficult for Tian Ze to smoothly go south and unify the world.
Just refer to the Three Kingdoms in history and it will become clear.
The characteristics of the powerful families in Yangzhou are that they are extremely tenacious in defensive battles, but extremely weak in offensive battles.
Zhang Liao was a powerful figure in Jiangdong, but Cao Wei still failed to break through the natural barrier of the Yangtze River.
With natural barriers to rely on, the defenders have a huge advantage.
(End of this chapter)
