The revival of the Han Dynasty must start with Dong Zhuo

Chapter 215: Defense of Chengdu

"You shouldn't have killed Zhao Wei!"

Zhao Wei had just said that he had recalled the Zi Tong army and had joined forces with Zhang Wei to march towards Chengdu.

but……

Who could endure what had just happened?
Liu Bei himself was thinking that if he suddenly heard the news of Guan Yu or Zhang Fei's death, his reaction would probably be even stronger.

Therefore, Liu Zhang only killed Zhao Wei, which was not really a crime.

Liu Zhang threw away his sword at this moment, and stood there like a child who had done something wrong, bewildered and asked Liu Bei for forgiveness: "Uncle, I didn't think much at the time, please punish me."

Liu Bei sighed.

"Ji Yu is honest and sincere. This is just my nature. How can I punish you?"

"When the emperor bestowed the axe on me, he told me to be wary of the scholars in Shu. At that time, I thought the emperor was just worrying about nothing, but I didn't expect that Zhao Wei really had other plans. He openly disobeyed the court and killed Liu Mao..."

The emperor’s former teachings are still ringing in my ears, but in the end such a tragedy still happened.

Liu Bei blamed no one but himself for being too soft-hearted. He thought these Shu scholars really wanted to surrender and were his own people. So he did not take precautions, which gave Zhao Wei an opportunity to take advantage of.

With mixed feelings, Liu Bei put away the axe and looked at Wang Shang and others beside him.

Wang Shang and other Yizhou scholars suddenly became silent and began to worry about their own fate.

"Since you all know the truth, there is nothing more to say now."

This time, Liu Bei finally stopped having any hope for these people. He directly ordered the detention of all the scholars from Shu and discussed countermeasures with Wu Yi.

"The most urgent task right now is to defend Chengdu!"

Zhao Wei had already informed the Zi Tong defenders and Zhang Wei of Liu Bei's strengths and weaknesses, which meant that the troops of both sides would surely rush to Chengdu without stopping to swallow this huge peach in one gulp.

Liu Bei took the lead in inquiring about the situation of the Zi Tong garrison.

Wu Yi replied: "There are more than 30,000 people in total, led by Liu Gui, Ling Bao, Zhang Ren, and Deng Xian. These four are from Shu, known as the Four Generals of Xichuan, and are all known for their good fighting skills... It would be unwise to forcefully confront them."

"Can we persuade them to surrender?"

Wu Yi glanced at Liu Mao lying in a pool of blood and Liu Zhang who was still sad, and had a rough strategy in mind.

"Liu Gui, Zhang Ren and others have all received great favors from the Liu family. Especially Zhang Ren, who came from a humble family and was promoted by Liu Yan. He is a loyal general."

"If we bring Master Zhang to them and tell them the truth about Zhao Wei killing Liu Mao, they will probably surrender to the court."

"good."

Even if the troops from Zi Tong refused to surrender, we could rely on the solid defense of Fucheng to prevent them from entering the Chengdu Plain.

What really worried Liu Bei was Zhang Wei and others who were coming to attack from Baozhong.

From Baozhong, you can directly enter the Chengdu Plain, and there are basically no strategic locations to defend on the road.

Zhang Wei had attracted a large number of followers to the Five Pecks of Rice Sect, and it was very likely that he could capture Chengdu directly with his numerical advantage.

Right now, all Liu Bei can do is to strengthen the city defenses and hope that Wu Yi can persuade Zhang Ren and other generals to surrender to the court, vacate the Jinniu Road, and allow reinforcements from Hanzhong to flow into Shu continuously, thus completely consolidating the fruits of this war.

Liu Bei came to the city wall of Chengdu, patted the rammed bricks on the wall, and seemed to be talking to himself -

"Chengdu, oh Chengdu, whether the Han Dynasty can prosper and whether the people can live in peace and security really all depends on you."

Once Chengdu is lost, not only will Liu Bei's army be wiped out, but the situation in Yizhou will also develop in the worst direction, that is, this place will be occupied by the enemy Zhang Wei.

Although the imperial court had Hanzhong in its hands and did not have to worry too much about Zhang Wei, it was inevitable that part of its military forces would be tied up and it would not be able to focus on dealing with Yuan Shao and Cao Cao who occupied Guandong in the future.

And the most crucial thing is that if the imperial court cannot occupy Shu, it will lose a large amount of financial income.

Fighting a war means spending money.

Without the support of Shu, how could they, relying only on the impoverished Liang Province and the Guanzhong affected by natural disasters, confront Yuan Shao and Cao Cao who occupied the fertile lands of Hebei and the Central Plains?
Is it possible that the imperial court really has to retreat to Guanzhong for a dozen years or even dozens of years, slowly accumulating enough money and food before starting to march eastward?

The importance of Shu does not lie in the fact that without it the imperial court would be in danger of life and death.

The importance of Shu lies in its ability to provide the imperial court with the source of power, enabling it to be qualified to support future wars.

That's why Liu Xie did not hesitate to propose such a bad idea as "sneaking across Yinping" to let Liu Bei enter Shu.

Now that we have finally gone through countless hardships and obstacles, and even have taken Chengdu, how can we fail at this moment!
Liu Bei first mobilized the few hundred war horses in Chengdu City and gave them all to Zhao Yun, letting Zhao Yun lead the cavalry to harass and block Zhang Wei's army in the Chengdu Plain.

Although it did not require much damage, it could at least delay Zhang Wei for a few days, giving him more time to build up Chengdu's defenses.

Afterwards, Liu Bei and Wang Ping recruited the people of Chengdu and started to strengthen the city walls and repair fortifications together.

The people of Chengdu who were conscripted without reason had complaints in their hearts.

But when they saw that Liu Bei, a relative of the Han royal family, actually ate and slept with them and had no arrogance at all, they had a significant change of opinion of Liu Bei and began to help him repair the city.

Some of the people who had personally communicated with Liu Bei even took down their door panels and handed them over to Liu Bei, allowing his soldiers to serve as shields.

Liu Bei initially declined, saying, "To defend the city and allow cold winds to blow into the homes of ordinary people is not what a qualified leader does!"

But the people said, "If we can't even defend the city, what's the point of defending our own houses?"

Liu Bei was not only kind and righteous, but his soldiers were also strictly disciplined. They almost never touched the people and never oppressed the common people. This undoubtedly changed the people of Chengdu's view of Liu Bei again.

On the contrary, Zhang Wei's troops were getting closer and closer.

Zhang Wei relied on the terrifying appeal of the Five Pecks of Rice Sect, and the team along the way became larger and larger. When they approached Chengdu, there were already 100,000 people! The momentum was really amazing!
But these 100,000 people are living people after all, not tireless strongmen.

At the beginning, Zhang Wei adhered to the teachings of the Five Pecks of Rice Sect and distributed food to believers.

But Baozhong is not as rich in money and grain as Hanzhong.

After just a few days, Zhang Wei's troops were running low on food and fodder, so he simply ordered his men to loot the surrounding villages.

For a time, the east side of the Chengdu Plain became a living hell, and a large number of people fled to Chengdu with their families.

Liu Bei would not stand by and watch these people die, and he properly resettled them.

If he met civilians with military experience, Liu Bei would simply recruit them into the army and defend Chengdu together.

Within just a few days, the garrison in Chengdu was expanded to 10,000 people.

However, 10,000 defenders were still too few compared to Zhang Wei's 100,000-strong army.

Don't talk about others.

Even Liu Bei, a veteran of many battles, saw for the first time what a scene of an army of 100,000 looked like.

The camp stretched from the easternmost to the westernmost part, with no end in sight.

The flags blocked out the sun, and coupled with the cumulus clouds that had accumulated over the years in Shu, just one glance would make one feel upset.

With Zhang Wei's troops, he threw his whip into the river, which was enough to stop the flow of the river!
If it were an ordinary general, when he saw these 100,000 enemy troops, he would probably not even have the courage to resist and would simply lay down his arms and surrender.

Liu Bei stood on the wall, took a deep breath, and suppressed all the fear in his heart.

"choke!"

The Han sword is unsheathed!

Liu Bei held up his sword, and Zhao Yun and Wang Ping stood on both sides of Liu Bei.

"Defend the city for ten days!"

"After ten days, reinforcements will arrive!"

In fact, Liu Bei didn't know what the situation in the north would be like ten days later.

But he always had to give his soldiers something to think about.

Ten days!

Just ten days!
At least make it through these ten days!
Liu Bei placed his hand on his chest.

Even through the armor, he could still feel the shape of the axe.

In addition to Wu Yi, Liu Bei also placed his hopes on the emperor!
All the experiences along the way made Liu Bei believe that the emperor was really able to plan and win battles thousands of miles away!

Although he didn't know what the emperor, who was thousands of miles away, could do at this time, Liu Bei always felt that the emperor would never give up on him!
Outside the city gate, a melodious horn sounded slowly.

Countless followers of the Five Pecks of Rice Sect seemed to have really become rice bugs, clinging densely to the city walls of Chengdu.

Their faces were full of enthusiasm and excitement.

"Climb up!"

"Attack Chengdu!"

"Everything in Chengdu belongs to us!"

"..."

The looting along the way has caused these believers to lose their innocence and kindness, and they have fallen into madness without knowing it.

You can eat delicious meat without working hard!
You don’t have to save money diligently to sleep with the daughter of a wealthy family!

Compared with the pleasure of plundering, all the previous hard work seemed to have become a complete joke!

Their words spread into Chengdu city, causing panic among the people of Chengdu again.

Because these people knew that the meat they wanted to loot was actually the flesh and blood of their own families; the women they wanted to humiliate were actually their own wives and daughters.

More and more people spontaneously came to the foot of the city wall to carry stones and boil gold juice for the defenders on the wall.

If there are any injured people, they will take them directly to their homes to recuperate.

Whenever the city was attacked at noon, the people would spontaneously deliver some hot food to the soldiers on the city wall.

Although Liu Bei's army had just arrived in Chengdu, they got along extremely harmoniously with the people of Chengdu, just like fish and water.

But Liu Bei's expression became more and more ugly.

Because it’s already the ninth day!
And in the past nine days, there has been no news from the north!
There was not a single soldier, scout, or even a carrier pigeon!
Although the atmosphere in Chengdu is still harmonious, if no reinforcements appear...

The fall of the city is only a matter of time!
(End of this chapter)