My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 596 The Struggle for Military Power
Upon hearing this, Cao Ang suddenly realized what was happening.

Sima Yi stroked his long beard, looked at Cao Ang, and said slowly, "In the current situation, Zhang Lu is on tenterhooks, while we remain calm and composed. With Baima Pass now in our hands, the matter is no longer Zhang Lu's decision. They are like fish in a pot, while our lord holds the reins of victory. Furthermore, the elite troops of Hanzhong have all fallen into Shu territory. Without our army providing support from the center, they would be caught in a dilemma, let alone be able to conquer the Three Shu regions. Even if Zhang Gongqi remains obstinate..."

At this point, he suddenly sneered: "There will always be those who know what's good for them and will act as our advocates."

Upon hearing this, the officers on both sides all looked enlightened, and Cao Ang's face also showed admiration and appreciation.

Sima Yi suggested that Cao Ang need not respond, but simply sit comfortably, and Cao Ang gladly agreed.

After everyone dispersed, Cao Ang dismissed his attendants, then took out a green brocade pouch from his personal treasure chest and carefully opened it.

Two words were clearly written on the brocade pouch: "Military Power".

Cao Ang suddenly realized what his father meant.

Clearly, his father and Sima Yi had the same idea: to take advantage of the critical situation in Hanzhong and consolidate control of the Hanzhong army.

While this calculation certainly reflects a distrust of the Hanzhong army's combat strength and command capabilities, the deeper intention is to first seize control of the Hanzhong military, then delve into political affairs, and ultimately completely sideline Zhang Lu, thus naturally swallowing up the Hanzhong Commandery.

In the days that followed, Cao Ang became a prominent figure in the official circles of Nanzheng.

Zhang Lu treated Cao Ang with utmost sincerity, hosting a grand banquet every three days and a small banquet every day, showering him with gold and silver as gifts. If his daughter hadn't been so young, he would have even considered marrying her off to Cao Ang.

However, Cao Ang's performance greatly disappointed Zhang Lu. Cao Ang accepted all the benefits, but when it came to sending troops, he would evade the issue and make many different demands.

If it were just simple food and goods, it wouldn't be a problem. But Cao Ang's overt and covert demands for unified command of the front lines have left Zhang Lu in a bind.

Despite Zhang Lu's seemingly weak demeanor, he and Liu Zhang were actually cut from the same cloth. Though outwardly indecisive, they were decisive in crucial moments. Liu Zhang killed Zhang Lu's mother and brother without batting an eye, and both later surrendered to Liu Bei and Cao Cao respectively without hesitation.

Moreover, Zhang Lu himself rose to power through military means. He gained his first fortune by currying favor with Liu Yan, acquiring a retinue of several thousand men and a pretext to attack Hanzhong. Later, he directly killed Liu Yan's staunch supporter and seized all the spoils of Hanzhong.

Zhang Lu was not ignorant of military affairs, nor was he a warlord who did not understand the importance of military power.

Whether by instinct or by waiting for the right price, he did not want to relinquish military power.

Now, almost two-thirds of his main force is concentrated on the front line in Shu. If he were to hand it over to Cao Ang, it would probably not be long before Hanzhong would no longer belong to Zhang Lu.

One insisted on giving it, while the other refused.

Cao Ang and Zhang Lu were locked in a stalemate for a time.

At this moment, news of a victory suddenly came from the front lines: Zhang Wei and Yan Pu had successfully captured Fucheng.

Fucheng still had a thousand troops stationed there, but their morale had completely collapsed. Even the commander-in-chief, Zhao Wei, was surrounded and defeated by the Shu army. Luocheng had three or four thousand troops, but Huang Quan had managed to break through their defenses from within and without. What use were these few men?

Previously, they had been sticking together to guard the city and observe the situation. After Huang Quan recaptured Luocheng, he was only focused on dealing with the possible counterattack from Zhao Wei and had no time to pay attention to the situation in Fucheng. Therefore, Fucheng was temporarily stable.

Unexpectedly, Luocheng in the southwest was too busy to pay attention to them, but Zitong in the northeast was captured by the Hanzhong army.

The garrison at Zitong was already small; if Zhao Wei hadn't been unwilling to waste his troops, it would have been captured long ago.

The Hanzhong army's easy capture of Zitong was not entirely unexpected. However, the garrison in Fucheng, spurred on, actually surrendered to the Hanzhong army. Not only did they surrender themselves, but they even offered to persuade the garrison in Mianzhu to surrender on behalf of the Hanzhong army.

Zhang Wei and Yan Pu were overjoyed; they hadn't expected such a good thing to happen.

While reporting the victory to Zhang Lu, he also sent troops to support Fucheng and advance on Mianzhu.

Zhang Lu was overjoyed upon receiving the news of the victory. Zitong, Fucheng, and Mianzhu meant that the Hanzhong army had truly entered the Shu Plain. This area was the most fertile part of Yizhou, accounting for more than 60% of the total population, 70% of the tax revenue, and 60% of the farmland.

But besides being happy, I also had a terrible headache.

Therefore, Zhang Wei and Yan Pu requested assistance again.

It's really not Zhang Wei and Yan Pu's fault. First of all, Jiameng Pass was not captured, and there were still three or four thousand Zuo Mu troops inside, constantly threatening the rear of the Hanzhong army.

The mere presence of Jiameng Pass rendered the three thousand troops at Baishui Pass, as well as the six or seven thousand troops at Jiameng County and Tianxiong Pass, immobile.

That adds up to tens of thousands of new troops.

After leaving Tianxiong Pass, even a strategically important military location like Jiange would need to leave behind one or two thousand soldiers.

Zitong and Fucheng are both large cities, and at least three or four thousand soldiers should be stationed there.

Don't be fooled by the fact that Zhao Wei's army and Shu County didn't leave many troops in Zitong and Fucheng; that's because the circumstances were different.

The Shu army in Zitong was strategically abandoned, while Zhao Wei's army in Fucheng was in the rear area, with no enemy threats in the surrounding area, so there was no need to station heavy troops for defense.

But the Hanzhong army is different.

Zitong and Fucheng are directly threatened by the Tongshui and Fushui waterways. Unless Guanghan is captured, it is impossible not to deploy heavy troops for defense.

After Zhang Wei and Yan Pu released 1,000 men at Jiange and 2,000 men at Zitong, they had only 10,000 soldiers left when they entered Fucheng.

After discussion, Zhang Wei left his subordinate Zhang Cheng with 2,000 troops to guard Fucheng, while the remaining 8,000 troops were divided into two groups. One group, led by Zhang Wei with 2,000 men and 1,000 surrendered soldiers, went to take over Mianzhu, while the other group, led by Yan Pu, personally attacked Guanghan.

The reason why so many troops were deployed to attack Guanghan, which was even more important than Mianzhu, was because of its waterways.

The Fu River converges with the Tong River, a tributary, ten miles north of Guanghan. Once Guanghan is captured, Zitong and Fucheng will become the rear base. Focusing on the defense of Guanghan alone will easily protect the supply lines of Fucheng, Zitong, and the Hanzhong army. The two cities behind can also rely on the waterway to reinforce Guanghan at any time, supplying it with military equipment, provisions, and other materials.

However, if Guanghan falls into the hands of the Left Army, then the Hanzhong Army will be put on the defensive.

The Left Army can freely depart from Guanghan and choose to attack Zitong or Fucheng. They can even use small groups of troops to bypass Zitong and harass and disrupt the Hanzhong Army's logistics supply lines.

This is the fundamental reason why, upon hearing that the Hanzhong army had captured Tianxiong Pass and penetrated deep into Shu, Liu Feng, even at the cost of leaving Jiangzhou undefended, immediately ordered Xu Chu to lead three thousand personal troops north to reinforce Guanghan.

Today, Guanghan is the location of strategic initiative.

However, Zhang Wei and Yan Pu also understood that Guanghan was so important that the Left Army could not afford to ignore it, much less give it up easily.

This is why Yan Pu led the main force to Guanghan, while Zhang Wei, as the commander-in-chief, led a detachment to Mianzhu. Yan Pu was worried that Zhang Wei might lose his composure; if Zhang Wei and the main force were to perish under the walls of Guanghan, it wouldn't be a matter that could be easily resolved by retreating to Hanzhong.

At the same time, Zhang Wei and Yan Pu also asked Zhang Lu for help. They knew that most of the main force in Hanzhong was already under their command, but it was still not enough.

In response, Yan Pu devised a plan: he hoped Zhang Lu would send an additional 5,000 to 10,000 instructors to relieve the main forces at Baima Pass, Baishui Pass, and even Jiameng County. In this way, at least 5,000 to 10,000 more usable troops would be available at the front. Although the instructors were weak in combat, they could still manage to defend cities.

Of course, the best-case scenario would be to persuade Cao Cao's army to march south.

Cao Cao's army was formidable, and the reinforcements were led by Cao Cao's eldest son, whose troops were undoubtedly the elite of Cao Cao's army.

With these 20,000 elite troops, we can really compete for this land of Yizhou. Even if we can't take Chengdu, it would be extremely worthwhile to occupy the area east of Luocheng, which is more than half of Guanghan County.

Hanzhong Commandery is famous throughout the world because of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but in reality, before Zhao Wei's rebellion at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Hanzhong Commandery was not as good as Guanghan Commandery.

According to the "Records of Prefectures and Kingdoms" in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty, in the fifth year of the Yonghe reign of Emperor Shun of the Eastern Han Dynasty (140 AD), Guanghan Prefecture had 140,000 households and a population of 530,000.

In addition, the Guanghan vassal state had 40,000 households and a population of 220,000.

Geographically speaking, as long as Zhang Lu controls Guanghan Commandery, the Guanghan Dependent State will be his for the taking.

Because the location of Guanghan State was west of Baishui Pass and north of Guanghan Commandery.

If the population of Guanghan State is also included in the relevant areas of Guanghan Commandery, the total population would be even more considerable, and the overall population size would be quite large.

In comparison, in the same year of Yonghe, Hanzhong Commandery had 60,000 households and 300,000 people.

In comparison, Hanzhong Commandery had far fewer households and a smaller population than Guanghan Commandery. More importantly, this data for Hanzhong Commandery includes the four counties of present-day Shangyong. If the four counties of Shangyong are removed, the overall figures for Hanzhong Commandery would be even weaker.

Although Zhang Lu actively gathered refugees from Guanzhong and barbarian tribes from Shu after entering Hanzhong, and at the same time reclaimed wasteland on the Hanzhong Plain, expanding the cultivated land area and greatly enhancing Hanzhong's strength, at best it was only comparable to Guanghan Commandery.

Although Guanghan Commandery has been partially ravaged by Zhao Wei's rebellion, if Zhang Lu could truly take over Guanghan Commandery and its vassal state, his strength would at least more than double.

After receiving reports of victory and requests for assistance from Zhang Wei, Yan Pu, and others, Zhang Lu was also very troubled.

In Hanzhong today, only Zhang Lu has 3,000 soldiers left. Even the soldiers from Nanzheng have been almost all drawn away, and some have even been drawn from Huangjin Garrison, which defends Shangyong to the west.

If we really need reinforcements, we'll probably have to allocate training troops.

While others might not know the combat capabilities of the trained soldiers, Zhang Lu certainly did.

After much hesitation, Cao Ang and Sima Yi took the initiative to visit him.

"My lord, we have just received a top-secret intelligence from the capital, and we have no choice but to make this unforeseen visit. Please forgive us."

Cao Ang immediately captured Zhang Lu's attention with his opening remarks.

Zhang Lu temporarily set aside the matter of military power and instead expressed his gratitude, saying, "I am truly grateful for Lord Cao's righteousness and will remember it forever."

Yang Song, who was serving nearby, quickly smiled obsequiously and said, "I wonder if General Cao has any good news to tell us?"

Cao Ang glanced at Sima Yi but did not speak.

The latter sighed and shook his head, saying, "This is not good news; it is military intelligence."

Under the watchful eyes of Zhang Lu, Yang Song, Yang Bai, and others, Sima Yi finally revealed: "Our sources in Jingzhou have reported that 20,000 elite troops from the Left Guard Army have marched north from Jiangling, passing through Zhonglu and entering the Jing Mountains. They may have already infiltrated Shangyong."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Lu and Yang Song were immediately shocked.

Even those who don't understand military affairs can tell that this Left Army must be heading for Hanzhong.

Zhang Lu's heart sank. Twenty thousand elite troops, all from the Left Guard Army. Thinking that only five thousand Nanzheng soldiers and five thousand instructors from the Golden Garrison had been transferred away, cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

The elite troops Cao Cao referred to in this intelligence report were naturally the troops under Gao Shun who had marched north.

Although Gao Shun's troops followed Liu Feng's orders and marched very secretly, they might have been able to hide from Cao Cao in the past, but not now.

Cao Cao gained the allegiance of Liu Biao, Cai Mao, and others. One had been managing Jingzhou for ten years, and the other was one of the top three powerful clans in Jingzhou. Although Liu Feng had a very high reputation, it would be difficult for him to completely eliminate Liu Biao and Cai Mao's connections, relationships, influence, and intelligence network in Jingzhou in a short period of time.

Therefore, in the past two years, Cao Cao has obtained a lot of intelligence about Liu Feng in Jingzhou, and Liu Feng was actually aware of this situation.

When Liu Feng sent Gao Shun north, he was prepared for the possibility of a leak. It wasn't that Liu Feng couldn't conceal the whereabouts of Gao Shun's troops, but rather that the price to pay was too high and not worth the gains.

Furthermore, even if their whereabouts were leaked, firstly, Cao Cao might not tell Zhang Lu, and secondly, even if Zhang Lu knew, he could still mobilize the troops in Hanzhong.

Regardless of whether Zhang Lu knew or not, or what decision he made, Liu Feng had already gained something.

Just as Liu Feng had predicted, Zhang Lu was both shocked and worried, wondering what to do.

Yang Song, however, after his initial shock, beamed with joy: "Liu Zisheng is incredibly audacious, daring to launch a sneak attack on our Hanzhong region. Little does he know that General Cao's heavenly army has already arrived in Nanzheng. This time, we will surely teach him a lesson..."

Before Yang Song could finish speaking, everyone in the hall had already focused their attention on him.

Cao Ang was somewhat shocked, unsure whether Yang Song was telling the truth or lying.

Zhang Lu's heart stirred, and he began to speculate on other thoughts.

As for Sima Yi, he actually followed Yang Song's words and said, "Our army is here to aid you, my lord, on the orders of the Emperor and the Grand General, for the sake of the peace and security of Hanzhong. Now that the Left General has started a military uprising, we naturally cannot sit idly by."

Sima Yi's words immediately drew the attention of Cao Ang and Zhang Lu. The former was surprised and puzzled, wondering why Sima Yi had suddenly become so agreeable. Before coming here, they had discussed using this intelligence to force Zhang Lu to make a decision sooner.

Zhang Lu was also filled with doubt and suspicion. His first reaction after hearing the military intelligence was that Cao Ang and Sima Yi probably wanted to use this to force him.

Unexpectedly, Sima Yi was surprisingly easy to talk to at this moment.

(End of this chapter)