Is Baishui Pass lost?"

In the Jiamengguan camp, Zhuge Liang's hands trembled and he almost lost his feather fan.

"How is it possible? There are nearly 10,000 soldiers and horses at Baishui Pass, and there are still 3,000 vine armor soldiers to assist. How can it be breached in just one day?"

"Returning to the military advisor, Cao Jun sent troops to attack shortly after Deng Guanwei took control of Baishui Pass.

Deng Hu was killed by Cao's general Huang Zhong when he was not on the battlefield. Later, King Zhiwu Dai attempted a sneak attack. He did not want to encounter a fire attack by Cao's army after crossing the Bailong River, and the three thousand Tengjia army was wiped out. Cao's army threatened with an arrow formation, and Bai Huwen approached the battle.

After defecting and killing Lieutenant Deng Guan, he raised the pass and surrendered. Now Cao Jun has occupied Baishui Pass."

"oops!"

Zhuge Liang couldn't help being furious.

Deng Tong was reminded again and again not to act rashly, let alone to take the initiative.

He needed time to set up a defense line at Jiameng Pass. Who knew that Deng Tong was so young and energetic that he wanted to sneak attack Cao Peng.

As everyone knows, Cao Peng is best at attacking by surprise!

How could someone like him be so unprepared?

As a result, the Jiameng Pass defense line has not yet been stabilized and will face an attack by Cao's army. Zhuge Liang is also quite worried.

"Explore again!"

After a long time, Zhuge Liang shouted in a deep voice.

No matter how nervous he was inside, he couldn't show any worry.

Otherwise, the morale of the 20,000-strong army at Jiameng Pass will be shaken. Fortunately, the defenses at Jiameng Pass have been properly arranged. As long as they hold on, Cao's army will not last long. After all, an army of more than 100,000 people consumes a lot of food and pay every day, and the road to Hanzhong is difficult to pass.

, once Yizhou is invaded, the grain road will definitely be in trouble. The most troublesome thing for Zhuge Liang now is the warehouse in Micang Mountain. Cao Jun stockpiled hundreds of thousands of grains and grass in Micang Mountain, and he must have been prepared.

And this arrangement was exactly made by Cao Peng.

It seems that Cao Peng had already started to deal with Yizhou when he evacuated Guanzhong two years ago.

Zhuge Liang was unconvinced, but he had to praise Cao Peng's foresight.

"Invite Meng Huo to come!"

"Here!"

Zhuge Liang now has no choice but to defend Jiameng Pass.

It will take some time for Liu Bei to arrange things in Chengdu. He can delay it as long as he can now, just take it one step at a time.

Meng Huo is from the Yi ethnic group.

The Meng family was in Jianning, so they were a common surname and were powerful in the area.

Meng Huo was a generous man and was respected by the local Han barbarians. After Liu Bei entered Nanzhong, he heard Meng Huo's name mentioned. He first recruited Meng Huo, then divided Yong Kai and collected them one by one.

Meng Huo was over 30 years old and had great martial arts skills. He was known as the best warrior in Nanzhong.

It was precisely because of Meng Huo that Liu Bei quickly established a foothold in Nanzhong. This time Zhuge Liang went out to control Jiameng Pass, and Meng Huo, as his deputy general, accompanied him.

Zhuge Liang sent Meng Huo to camp in the mountains and forests outside Jiameng Pass.

Meng Huo's men were mostly barbarians from the south and were good at mountain warfare. Outside Jiameng Pass, the mountains were rolling and there was only one road that could pass through. By then, Zhuge Liang and Meng Huo could echo each other and cooperate with each other.

Even if Cao Peng is powerful, it is not that easy to deal with Meng Huo in the mountains.

After planning, Zhuge Liang made up his mind.

After the 20,000-strong army got into position, they waited for Cao Peng to attack.

Unexpectedly, after waiting for three days, there was no movement from Cao Peng.

He reorganized his troops and horses at Baishui Pass, and arranged for local people to carry out spring plowing. At the same time, he mobilized manpower to build roads, and prepared to open a highway between Mianyang and Baishui Pass, which seemed to facilitate the transportation of grain in the future.

When Cao Peng made no movement, Zhuge Liang was a little unsure!

So Tan Ma kept going to Baishui Pass to investigate, and the news he got was that either Cao Peng was resting or building roads.

After another five or six days, Zhuge Liang couldn't sit still!

So he sent people to Baishui Pass to write a letter, intending to invite Cao Peng to fight.

But Cao Peng ignored him.

In fact, Cao Peng was not particularly interested in the war in Yizhou, and even felt a little disinterested.

After learning about Liu Bei's situation from Bai Huwen, Cao Peng discovered that this was simply an unequal war.

Regardless of military strength, equipment, or people's livelihood...

After Liu Bei took over the mess in Yizhou, he was also very anxious.

The people's hearts are unstable and their hearts are floating.

Prices soared and materials were in short supply... Li Ru spent nearly eight years making Xichuan so miserable that the people were in dire straits and almost collapsed. When Liu Zhang was alive, Huang Quan, Liu Ba and others were able to stabilize the situation, but if he wanted to

Recovery is not an easy task. In fact, Liu Zhang has been in contact with Cao Cao since the beginning of last year, trying to introduce Jian'an Chongbao and abolish the five-baht coin to stabilize the soaring prices in Xichuan.

This involves a currency issue.

Jian'an Chongbao, for this era, is no different from the U.S. dollar and pound in later generations, which is a hard currency.

The five-baht coin, after the impact of Li Ru's bad coins, has become difficult to circulate in the market.

Liu Zhang once issued a hundred and five baht, but the effect was not obvious.

Xichuan's credit has been shattered, and even issuing currency cannot restore the situation. The best way is to introduce Jian'an Chongbao to stabilize the economic situation. But the problem is that once Jian'an Chongbao flows into Xichuan, Xichuan will inevitably come under Cao Cao's control, and it will only be under the control of Cao Cao.

Sooner or later, Liu Zhang himself was hesitant and difficult to make up his mind. In this case, he sent someone to ask Liu Bei to come to discuss countermeasures, but he didn't want to...

After Liu Zhang died, Liu Bei took over Chengdu.

This further destabilized the situation in Yizhou, and the newly stable economy and people's livelihood were completely thrown into chaos.

Under such circumstances, there was no big obstacle for Cao Peng to attack Yizhou.

Even if Zhuge Liang is extremely capable, it will be difficult to save Yizhou from its current crisis.

It is only a matter of time before Yizhou is conquered.

After Cao Peng understood the situation, he lost interest in competing with Zhuge Liang. Everyone was not on the same level. Xichuan was now in chaos, and contending with Cao Jun was tantamount to hitting an egg with a stone. If Liu Bei had no other choice, he probably would not have fought with Cao Jun.

Fight hard. In other words, no matter how tough Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang are, they are just trapped beasts still fighting. They will be destroyed sooner or later, so Cao Peng is not worried.

All he had to do was drag Zhuge Liang to Jiameng Pass to ensure that Cao Zhang could achieve his first success.

"Father, why don't we work together to capture Yizhou?"

Sun Shao couldn't help but asked Cao Peng.

After the initial discomfort, Sun Shao had become accustomed to Cao Peng's new identity. In addition, he had no objection to Cao Peng, so it was natural for him to become Cao Peng's son.

Cao Peng climbed to the top of Baishui Pass and smiled slightly.

"Now Baishui is in my hands, and the door to Yizhou has been opened.

Although Jiameng Pass is strong, it can be broken easily. Before I came to Xichuan, an elder said to me: When the water is full, it will overflow.

Now that I think about it, I have a general understanding.

This battle is not about me, nor is the main purpose of attacking Xichuan. This battle is a battle to establish the prestige of Prince Zhang! I have a general understanding of the king's thoughts, and now I am afraid that he is more interested in Prince Zhang.

But Prince Zhang’s military exploits are not enough to deter the world, so the king asked me to cooperate.

As long as Crown Prince Zhang can take one step ahead of me and invade Chengdu, it means that his ability is higher than mine. For him, it will be logical for him to take over the throne in the future. What I did today is to help Prince Wen establish his authority."

In other words, the real role of Cao Peng's battle is to serve as a reference.

Everyone knows that Cao Peng is good at fighting and has been victorious in all battles since he was born. You see, Cao Zhang had a long journey, but in the end he captured Chengdu before Cao Peng. Doesn't it mean that Cao Zhang is brave and not inferior to Cao Peng?

Cao Cao wanted Cao Peng to be Cao Zhang's stepping stone.

Of course Cao Peng didn’t refuse!

In his heart, of course he hoped that Cao Zhang would succeed to the throne... Besides, Cao Zhang's son passed from Cao Peng. Cao Peng would not mind whether it was public or private, just being a stepping stone for Cao Zhang.

"However, it would not be good for Zhuge Liang to be too leisurely at Jiameng Pass."

Cao Peng pondered for a moment and suddenly said to Sun Shao: "Bo Wen, are you interested in playing a few games with this great guy?"

"ah?"

Sun Shao was startled at first, then became excited.

The next day, Cao Peng ordered Guo Huai as the chief general, Deng Aisun Shao Qinlang as the deputy general, and then Hao Zhao as the rear army to launch an attack on Jiameng Pass.

Cao Peng wanted to borrow Zhuge Liang's hands to train a new generation.

Not only for Cao Zhang, but also for Cao Rui to polish these future famous generals into talents.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

In March of the 16th year of Jian'an, the war at Jiamengguan broke out.

At the beginning, Zhuge Liang won several battles in a row, which also doubled his confidence. But as the war progressed, by May, Zhuge Liang found that the opponents on the opposite side were becoming more and more difficult to deal with. Meng Huo's attacks could no longer have an effect, and even several times
To be continued...