When Li Wen learned of the fall of Sichuan from Xi 'an, he was extremely shocked.
As an important source of food for Guanzhong and the four northwestern towns, Sichuan's importance was self-evident. Now, he was suddenly told that Sichuan was finished and completely occupied by Xiao Ruxun's rebel army. How could he accept this?
He had only learned of Xiao Ruxun's rebellion not long ago. The news from the capital was a little slow. By the time he learned of it, he learned that the Grand Canal had been occupied and blocked by Xiao Ruxun. The imperial court needed him to send a group of people to the capital to rescue the Emperor. So, he sent Dayun's men from Gansu.
In fact, Lee Wen also felt that it was very absurd. How could Xiao Ruxun, who had just won a battle, suddenly rebel?
He had just massacred 300,000 Northern Invaders in the north, bringing unprecedented peace to the north. Just as Li Wen was about to heave a sigh of relief and was about to issue a decree to recuperate and restore production, he suddenly received news that Xiao Ruxun had rebelled, and the imperial court was going to deploy troops from the northwest to quell the rebellion.
This was ridiculous!
But since it was an order from the imperial court, he would not resist. He obediently sent elite troops and prepared to mobilize more troops in case of emergency. He also informed Sichuan to send food for backup.
In the end, the food did not arrive. The Governor of Sichuan, Tan Xisi, fled with the King of Shu's family. He said that Sichuan had been occupied by Xiao Ruxun's rebel army and was out of control. Then came the news that Hanzhong had also been occupied. This shocked Li Wen.
Was the rebel army planning to attack Xi 'an and occupy Guanzhong again like Han Xin?
Tan Xisi fearfully said that the rebel army claimed to have a hundred thousand strong army, but from Li Wen's point of view, there were only fifty thousand at most. The number of fighters might not even reach this number. Most of them were just ordinary laborers who were responsible for transporting goods, so there was nothing to be afraid of.
What was even more hateful was that the commander-in-chief of Sichuan, Liu Chi, led the entire army to defect to Xiao Ruxun's side. He even persuaded many generals along the way to surrender to Xiao Ruxun. They attacked smoothly all the way and took over Sichuan without any obstacles. Now, they had taken over Hanzhong and were eyeing the northwest of Guanzhong. The situation was critical.
If they didn't fight, they wouldn't have any food to eat and would starve to death.
Not only that, the army would not starve to death. If the entire army of the four towns had to starve, they would rebel.
Li Wen immediately made up his mind to mobilize the army to attack Hanzhong.
Since he had decided to fight, Li Wen's first thought was that he needed to verify the amount of grain he had on hand. As such, he hurriedly sent people to verify the grain warehouse and found out that the amount of grain he had on hand was roughly two months' worth of the border army's supply. There was no war right now, so if he ate sparingly, he might be able to last another half a month.
This was obviously not enough. If the battle to recapture Sichuan started, even if the time limit was extended to three months, it would just barely be enough. If time was too tight, they might not even be able to fight their way to Hanzhong before they ran out of food. At that time, the army would be filled with complaints, asking if they still wanted to fight.
Therefore, while Li Wen was mobilizing his troops, he also sent people to the surrounding prefectures to collect as much rations as they could. In any case, he had to ensure that they had at least one month's worth of rations. Otherwise, he was not confident that he would be able to hold on until he recaptured Sichuan.
The autumn harvest had just passed. Although it was affected by the bitter cold and the previous battle of Datong in Shanxi, there was still some food …
Probably.
Li Wen was not confident, but he had no choice but to fight.
When the commander-in-chief of Guyuan, Du Tong, began to organize the army, he called for a strategy meeting with his advisors to discuss the strategy and tactics for conquering Hanzhong, as well as how to recapture Sichuan and so on.
There was no shortage of troops, but there was a shortage of rations. The battle had to be resolved as soon as possible.
The advisors were the first to reach a consensus.
The Lianyun Plank Road was a path that had to be taken. This road had the best road conditions and could carry the most rations. They could directly reach the north of Hanzhong and threaten Hanzhong, starting the attack on Hanzhong.
The Luogu Road was the least recommended path. The road conditions were too bad, and it would not be smooth sailing. Back then, Cao Shuang had taken this path and lost 180,000 troops, delaying the war between Wei and Shu by 20 years.
After Emperor Xuanzong of Tang had renovated the Meridian Road, the road conditions had improved. They could try marching there, but it was still not as good as the Baoxie Road. Therefore, if the Yulin Army from Xi 'an arrived, they could march through the Baoxie Road and directly threaten Hanzhong.
Of course, this was based on the fact that the rebel army did not burn the plank road.
Then the advisors proposed a new battle route. They could send a group of troops from Guyuan to Tianshui and take the Qishan Ancient Road from Tianshui. This was the route that Zhuge Liang had taken during his two northern expeditions. The road conditions were better, and they could attack Yangping Pass to support the army on the Lianyun Plank Road. They could also bypass Yangping Pass to threaten the rebel army's retreat.
As for Deng Ai's route …
Forget it. That would cost lives. Not to mention whether it could be done, it was not meaningful at the moment. The other side might be prepared, and there was no need to lose a group of troops for nothing.
Therefore, the advisors suggested to Li Wen to lead the main forces of Guyuan and Ningxia Town to take the Qishan Ancient Road and the Lianyun Plank Road, and attack Hanzhong in two directions. In addition, when the Yulin Army arrived in Xi 'an, they could let Li Ruzhang lead the army south through the Baoxie Road.
In this way, they formed a three-way attack on Hanzhong.
They believed that Li Wen had the advantage of military strength and could completely expand the battle situation and suppress Hanzhong, creating a huge sense of oppression in Hanzhong. This would cause panic among the Hanzhong rebel army of Xiao Ruxun, and then achieve their strategic goal of occupying Hanzhong and recapturing Sichuan.
The advisors referred to Cao Zhen and Cao Shuang's failures and Zhong Hui's successes, and chose the most suitable tactic, preparing to recapture Hanzhong in one fell swoop.
Li Wen also felt that there was no problem. If they fought this way, they would have the advantage in military strength. Cao Zhen and Cao Shuang's failures were due to logistics and the weather. Cao Zhen was the most stupid. When he encountered heavy rain, he forcibly tossed and turned in the Ziwu Valley, using up all the food and morale, and was finished.
Cao Shuang was also stupid. She did not explore the road and directly chose the Luogu Road, a road that was feared by Li Bai. In the end, she suffered a setback in the front and was almost surrounded by Fei Yi.
But they did not want to take the Qishan Ancient Road and the Lianyun Plank Road, as well as the Baoxie Road.
To avoid the Luogu Road and avoid the Ziwu Valley as much as possible, they would defend these two routes and not attack.
In this way, they could avoid repeating the mistakes of the stupid father and son, Cao Zhen and Cao Shuang, to the greatest extent.
The advisors were immensely pleased with themselves.
Li Wen thought about it again and again and felt that there was no problem, so he began to send people south to the Qishan Ancient Road and the Lianyun Plank Road to explore and gather intelligence. He also ordered Du Tong to send the vanguard army south to Baoji and Tianshui to occupy favorable terrain. At the same time, he began to arrange for auxiliary troops and civilians to transport food and supplies, preparing for the army to move south.
At the same time, Li Wen ordered Xi 'an to let Liu Guangguo arrange for troops to guard the entrance of the Ziwu Valley, in case the crazy rebel army attacked Xi' an from the Ziwu Valley. At the same time, they also had to take care of Zhouzhi County to prevent the rebel army from advancing through the Luogu Road.
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