The revival of the Han Dynasty must start with Dong Zhuo

Chapter 204 Volume I have a plan

"Your Majesty, do you really have to prepare for war so quickly?"

Liu Bei had just witnessed Liu Xie being crowned as an adult, and it was at that time that Liu Bei realized that the current emperor had only just come of age.

What was Liu Bei doing when he was Liu Xie's age?
Playing with dogs, having fun, and comparing with others whose clothes are more luxurious. (Note 1)

Now that Liu Xie has just come of age, he has not even had time to carefully prepare for his marriage and has to focus on the war. Even Liu Bei saw this and felt that it was too tiring for the emperor and he should take a short rest.

Dong Zhuo also looked at Liu Xie, his concern was self-evident.

"No matter how hard I work, how can it be compared to the hardship of the people who are being exploited and oppressed?"

"If I can restore the Han Dynasty and restore order to the Red Land one day earlier, I will be satisfied."

"Besides, if we send out troops at this time, we will definitely be able to catch the enemy off guard!"

"Speed ​​is the essence of war, because it is to gain the upper hand."

"It would be truly foolish to wait until the enemy is fully prepared before attacking."

"The Art of War by Sun Tzu" -

"An army must strive for a quick victory in battle. If the battle lasts for a long time, the army will inevitably become tired and its morale will be frustrated. Attacking a city by force will cause a large loss of troops. Long-term battles abroad will inevitably put a heavy burden on the country's financial resources. If the army is tired, its morale will be frustrated, its troops will be reduced, and its military funds will be exhausted, then other vassal states will take advantage of the situation to rob it. At that time, even the most resourceful people will be unable to save the crisis."

"In actual combat, I have only heard of generals who lacked clever tactics and could not win quickly, but I have never seen a general who was good at commanding and was good at protracted warfare. There has never been a case of a protracted war that was beneficial to the country. Therefore, those who do not fully understand the disadvantages of using troops will not be able to truly understand the advantages of using troops."

Liu Xie had only one request for the war in Yizhou:

Quick victory!

Unlike the battle in Jincheng, the goal in Jincheng was to fight a war of annihilation and destroy the enemy's vitality as much as possible. Therefore, Liu Xie could ignore the cost and even overdraw the potential of Guanzhong to support the army to continue fighting for three months, striving to perfectly suppress the Qiang disaster.

As for the Battle of Hanzhong, it was purely a gamble. If you won, you would make a lot of money, but if you lost, it wouldn't be a big loss.

But the battle of Yizhou was different.

Yizhou is huge. If it is held up, the court's strength will be wasted in vain, which will only make Yuan Shao and Cao Cao think that the court is empty and then begin to covet the Guanzhong area.

If Yuan Shao and Cao Cao decided to attack Taiyuan and Hedong at that time, the court would inevitably fall into the embarrassing situation of fighting on two fronts.

That was why Liu Xie wanted to use his wedding as a pretext to confuse the enemy and buy time to mobilize the army in order to ensure a smooth battle to enter Shu.

In front of the generals was still a huge sand table.

Since the last war in Liangzhou, these central officials have fallen in love with this way of presentation.

Intuitive and detailed.

The only pity is that none of these generals are from Shu, so the terrain of Shu cannot be completely restored. They can only copy it one by one according to the old maps and the information sent by Xun You.

However, even so, the generals present all felt the difficulty of the battle to enter Shu.

Compared with the flat Liangzhou, Shu is like a hedgehog!
The sand used to make the Shu sand table alone is several times more than that of the Liangzhou sand table. This shows that the road there is really difficult as hell!

Although Shu itself is a huge basin, the mountains surrounding it rise and fall one after another, almost blocking all the army's routes of advance.

In fact, the best route to attack Shu is to go upstream along the Yangtze River from Jingzhou, capture Ba County in one fell swoop, and then control the entire Bashu.

But now, the noble families in Jingzhou would definitely not allow the imperial army to pass through their territory. And the imperial court was obviously not confident in letting its army pass through the land controlled by others, and leaving the life and death of its army completely in the hands of others.

Therefore, we must eventually invade Shu from Hanzhong.

There is also a huge Daba Mountain Range between Hanzhong and Bashu. Mi Cang Mountain, just south of Hanzhong, is also a dangerous place where even the Yellow Crane cannot fly over and even monkeys have trouble climbing to cross.

Fortunately, just like the Qinling Mountains, the ancient Chinese sages used their own great strength to open up two routes into Shu.

One of them is called Jinniu Road.

The so-called "Stone ox dung gold, five strong men clear the way", it is said that King Huiwen of Qin told the King of Shu that there was a stone ox in Qin, whose dung was gold. The King of Shu wanted the stone ox, but King Huiwen of Qin said that the road was difficult and it could not be transported. So the King of Shu sent five strong men to dig the mountain to open a road. Although "the ground collapsed, the mountains were crushed and the strong men died", they really opened up a road, which is the origin of the Golden Bull Road.

The Jinniu Road is rugged, and there are important towns such as Zitong and the famous passes of Baishui and Jiameng that can be relied upon by the defenders, but it can directly reach the heart of Yizhou - Chengdu.

The other road is called Micang Road.

As the name suggests, this road was built by our ancestors who cut through the mountains and rocks and directly penetrated the Micang Mountain, and can directly reach the Baozhong area.

According to Xun You's intelligence, Zhang Lu's brother Zhang Wei fled to Shu from Micang Road, and is now gathering followers of the Five Pecks of Rice Sect in the local area, planning to start an uprising.

So now the court needs to make a choice.

If you take the Jinniu Road, you will have to go through famous passes such as Baishui and Jiameng.

If you take the Mi Cang Road, perhaps the journey will be easier, but in the end you will find the Five Pecks of Rice Sect, which has the advantage of location and people, waiting for you there.

If they penetrate deep into the enemy's territory, relying on the influence of the Five Pecks of Rice Sect in Shu, it is very likely that no Han army will be able to escape and the entire army will be wiped out.

……

All the generals present were silent.

Even Lu Bu, known as the "Flying General", rubbed his rough face in melancholy - "I've heard that the road to Shu is difficult, but I never thought it would be so difficult!"

Even when Emperor Guangwu of Han defeated Gongsun Shu who occupied Shu, he used mainly water routes to overcome this tough challenge.

At that time, Liu Xiu ordered the Grand Marshal Wu Han to lead 60,000 soldiers and 5,000 horses from Jingzhou to meet Cen Peng in Jingmen, go west along the Yangtze River into Shu, and capture Wuyang and Guangdu along the way before getting close to Chengdu.

Moreover, Liu Xiu had already recovered all places except Shu and defeated all opponents at that time. It can be said that he used the power of the whole world to deal with Shu. Even so, Cen Peng, one of the twenty-eight generals of Yuntai, died, and the dynasty almost collapsed.

It is too difficult to conquer Shu from the north!

Even Lu Bu was so melancholy, not to mention others.

Dong Zhuo leaned forward slightly, his expression solemn.

Jia Xu stared at the sand table for a long time without moving, like a stone sculpture.

Not to mention Liu, Guan and Zhang, who were experiencing this level of war for the first time. The three of them were all at a loss, and had no idea how they could take over Shu, or even what they should do.

Perhaps in the pre-Qin period, the Qin general Sima Cuo could have conquered Shu.

But it is no exaggeration to describe Shu at that time as barbaric and uncivilized. How could its defensive fortifications be compared with those of today?

For a time, even though countless famous generals had gathered, they were still helpless against this hedgehog in Shu...

At this moment, the generals once again understood Liu Xie's urgency to attack Shu.

Fortunately, Shu is now internally divided and a unified force has not yet been formed.

If Shu was truly united, even if the imperial court had Hanzhong in its hands, it would probably have to sacrifice countless soldiers' lives and endless money and food before it could take over Shu.

It can be said that if the court did not seize Shu during this period, with Yuan Shao eyeing it covetously, it would be difficult for the court to think about Shu for several years.

The generals looked at the terrain of Shu on the sand table and felt more and more headache and annoyed.

What's more, His Majesty's request is a quick victory...

Faced with the terrain of Shu, even the military genius Han Xin would not dare to guarantee that he could win quickly, right?
Some generals refused to give up and wanted to force their way through.

The Xianzhen Camp under Gao Shun's command is most suitable for siege cities, but even if the Xianzhen Camp is sent to Jinniu Road, it will be difficult to capture Baishui and Jiameng Passes in a short time.

Some people also want to enter Sichuan from the Migang Road, which is slightly easier to travel.

Let Lu Bu lead his most elite soldiers to Baozhong to fight a decisive battle with Zhang Wei!

But this plan was quickly rejected.

Although Migang Road is easy to walk on, that is only relative to Jinniu Road.

When marching on such a mountain road, you can forget about large-scale weapons and strong war horses.

The war horses cannot be transported across, and Lu Bu is forced to fight on foot in the mountains. Isn't that clearly asking Lu Bu to die?
Not to mention Lu Bu alone, even if Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, and Zhang Liao were packed up and sent to Baozhong, they would not be able to withstand the vast ocean of the Five Pecks of Rice Sect and would be drowned in it sooner or later.

……

There is such a piece of fat meat right right before my mouth, but I just can't bite it.

With such torture, it is no wonder that these generals were scratching their heads, not knowing how to seize Shu.

Jia Xu even gave a direct advice:

"Your Majesty, give up on trying to seize Shu."

……

In fact, Jia Xu expressed the inner thoughts of all the generals present, but they were reluctant to speak out due to their dignity as military commanders.

Although it is difficult to capture Bashu, all of you here are famous generals and there will always be a way to take over Shu.

But if we add conditions such as "insufficient troops and food", "can only march from the north", and "quick victory" in front of it, it would be a bit too much to ask.

In this situation, if the emperor insisted on attacking Shu, it would actually damage the court's foundation in vain, which would be not cost-effective.

Anyway, the emperor is still young. As long as he can hold on in Guanzhong for a dozen years and gradually accumulate enough troops and food, he can easily conquer Shu...

But can Liu Xie wait that long?
……

Liu Xie's eyes moved slightly westward, looking at an empty space on the sand table where no route was drawn.

"In fact, I have a plan that may lead to a quick victory!"

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Note 1:

The First Lord was not particularly fond of reading, but rather of dogs, horses, music, and beautiful clothes.

　The update time may be delayed tomorrow because I have a doctor's appointment and I don't know how long it will take.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)