Chapter 240

Chapter 240

Can a strategist not ascend the throne? Volume 7: Eight Hundred Qin Rivers, Occupying Guanzhong Chapter 240: Invitation to a Banquet

But this retreat from Longting to Chenggu was destined to not be without losses.

The heavy crossbows on the Longting city walls fired at the retreating troops, causing countless casualties among the officers who had followed Zhang Lu on a forced march for over a day and failed to evade in time.

After retreating to a distance of a thousand paces from the city walls, the troops finally showed signs of forming a proper formation. As per Zhang Lu’s orders, they set up a bow and arrow blockade against the pursuing forces.

However, as they moved between Longting and Chenggu, a force suddenly charged down from the northern hills, heading straight for their middle and rear sections.

The leading general truly embodied the heroic demeanor of a tiger general.

By the time Zhang Lu noticed that the general with the silver spear and white horse was no ordinary foe, the enemy had already led their cavalry to cut through the middle of his troops in an instant.

Even though Zhang Lu had previously believed his side had the advantage in cavalry, the surprise attack force before him gave him no chance to utilize this strength.

The enemy seemed to know that at this moment, the best they could do was catch them off guard.

With six to seven hundred cavalry, once surrounded by a force nearly ten times their size, even the most valiant general would find it difficult to retreat unscathed.

After cutting through the troops, they immediately turned their horses and attacked the rear forces.

The cavalry at the front might still be able to engage such an enemy, but the archers and shield soldiers at the rear certainly could not!

Or rather, they could not in their current state of retreat!

Before Zhang Lu’s elite cavalry could pursue the enemy, the leading general had already decisively led his troops in a swift retreat towards Longting to the east.

The scattered rear forces of Zhang Lu could not form an effective blockade, and the enemy had already disappeared from sight.

“Damn it!” Zhang Lu, looking at the casualties caused by this charge, felt a wave of irritation.

The previous city wall crossbows and this round of enemy attacks had cost his forces nearly a third of their strength.

Even Zhang Xiu, who had come with him, knew that the most important thing now was not to mock him but to stand firm and drive out the strong enemy, so he refrained from saying anything at this moment.

As the initiator of this relief effort to Longting, Zhang Lu had to further bear the blame for the poor leadership of the Taishi Path.

In the face of this renewed loss of troops, Zhang Lu did not notice that the “young man with a Badong accent” who had come to deliver the message was no longer in the ranks.

He simply assumed the man had been unlucky and become one of the casualties in these two rounds of attacks.

In fact, the man had returned to his original unit during Zhao Yun’s charge.

The young man, having delivered the message and returned, was still in a state of excitement.

“General Zhao, Lord Qiao and Strategist Xun’s plan was simply divine. So far, our losses are less than a hundred, while Zhang Lu’s forces have lost nearly two thousand!”

On the way to Hanzhong via the Luogu Road, this young man from Badong had been the one to tell Qiao Yan and Xun You about the legend of Liu Xiu at Mangling and had witnessed the snake jumping into the hot pot.

For the relatively superstitious people of Bashu, this was not just an auspicious sign for the soldiers but also a divine intervention.

Driven by this belief, when Qiao Yan asked him to deliver a letter to Zhang Lu, he agreed without hesitation.

The Longting County garrison commander, Yang Ang, following Zhang Lu’s orders, was closely monitoring the Ziwu Road direction—east of Longting—and would never have expected the enemy to quietly appear at Chenggu, not directly attacking Nanzheng but heading towards Longting.

The Guanzhong army, advancing from the west of Longting, took advantage of the night to capture Longting and then set the trap to lure Zhang Lu.

Yang Ang, the Longting garrison commander, died in the battle, preventing Qiao Yan from recruiting him, which was a slight pity.

But considering Yang Ang was a close confidant of Zhang Lu and a believer in the Taishi Path, it might have been impossible to recruit him anyway, so it did not disrupt her plans.

After interrogating Yang Ang’s captured guards and reviewing the correspondence in the city, Qiao Yan imitated Yang Ang’s handwriting to write the plea for help.

She still had unused skill points, and after several attempts at forging the handwriting, she directly applied the skill.

To prevent any flaws in the forgery, she blurred certain parts.

Additionally, while Yang Ang might have been loyal to Zhang Lu, not all the centurions and captains in the city were indifferent to the arrival of the royal forces, and they handed over the Longting garrison tokens to Qiao Yan.

This became what Zhang Lu finally saw.

Everything Zhang Lu saw deepened his impression that the report was genuine.

The messenger was from Bazhou in Yizhou and even spoke with a local accent in his urgency.

The letter was in Yang Ang’s handwriting, accompanied by the Longting garrison tokens.

The situation described in the letter was indeed plausible for Hanzhong at that time.

How could he have realized that the letter was actually forged by Qiao Yan, the commander of the Guanzhong army!

And her opponent, in this scheme, had even promised to provide support to prevent the Yizhou messenger from defecting to his side.

In fact, the smooth progress of the Guanzhong army on the Luogu Road, the auspicious sign of the snake jumping into the pot, Qiao Yan’s achievements and status, along with the Yizhou man’s experiences in Chang’an, all ensured that the messenger would not make a wrong choice in the current confrontation.

Even without the promise of support, Qiao Yan would have sent Zhao Yun to ambush Zhang Lu’s forces, targeting the archers!

Breaking Zhang Lu’s long-range attack force would make it harder for him to mount an effective counterattack in the next round of attacks.

The troops she brought to Hanzhong could not be considered a “large army,” and every soldier was precious.

Only such battle casualties could instill fear in Liu Yan, the host of Yizhou!

Completely unaware that he had fallen into a cognitive trap, Zhang Lu still did not realize that he was the “chicken” in the “killing the chicken to scare the monkey” scenario.

When he saw the Chenggu city walls and the signal flags on the battlements in the distance, he breathed a sigh of relief.

As the city gates slowly opened in response to his command in the night, and someone on the battlements shouted “Invite the Master to enter the city,” Zhang Lu’s vigilance had already dropped to its lowest point.

After the vanguard entered the city, Zhang Lu also urged his horse forward.

However, just as the middle forces were entering the city, a sudden clapper sound rang out from the battlements.

From both sides of the city streets to the battlements at the rear, hundreds of arrows flew out following this command.

Zhang Lu’s soldiers, thinking they had entered a safe place to rest, were eager to settle down in the city.

But instead of food and beds, they were met with a thunderous strike.

Zhang Lu was utterly shocked.

Amidst the chaos of flying arrows, he heard his soldiers falling one by one, and even torches were thrown down from the battlements, landing at the feet of the cavalry horses, causing further chaos.

If the enemy had chosen to attack after they had all entered the city, they might have been able to fight desperately with their numbers.

But this attack happened just as half of their forces were entering the city.

The last time their forces were cut in half was by Zhao Yun’s cavalry.

This time, the division was caused by the Chenggu city gates.

The defenders on the high city walls, having switched sides, inflicted double the damage under the cover of night and the scarcity of Zhang Lu’s archers.

Zhang Lu could not understand why, in such a short time, he had lost not just Longting but both Longting and Chenggu.

Unfortunately, amidst the chaos of his own forces and the enemy’s relentless pursuit, he had no time to ponder this question.

He also had no time to consider that his brother and mother, who were originally in the city, were…








Dear, what kind of situation are you facing now?

What he could do was obviously not to drive out the defenders in the city, but to do his best to escape from this dangerous place.

It was also fortunate that when the attack was launched, he was not at the forefront of the team, so he didn’t go too deep into the city.

What was even more fortunate was that his personal entourage still maintained their belief in the Taishi Path at this time, adhering to the belief that they must send their master out of the city, and they really fought their way out.

When he fled the city with an arrow wound, he heard the defenders on the city wall shouting: “The Son of Heaven has ordered the Grand Marshal of Bingzhou and the Grand General of Yizhou to hunt in Hanzhong and kill the rice thief Zhang Lu!”

Before the shout stopped, another wave of killing cries rose from the city.

When Zhang Lu looked back at the remnants of his troops, he saw a group of soldiers chasing towards the city, really looking like they wanted to cut off his escape route!

He didn’t care about the soldiers behind him anymore, and without hesitation, he pulled the reins and ran as fast as he could towards Nanzheng in the west.

But in the midst of this galloping escape, he couldn’t help but mutter about the sentence shouted by the defenders.

The amount of information in this sentence was too large.

It was one thing for the Governor of Bingzhou to be promoted from the Cavalry General to the Grand Marshal, but what did it mean—

To have the Grand Marshal and the Grand General hunt in Hanzhong and kill him, Zhang Lu?

This casual tone made Zhang Lu feel a chill.

Although he had some political talent, he couldn’t see the intention of Qiao Yan suppressing Liu Yan in such a short time, nor did he understand why he had already been a target in Wudu County and now became the target again.

You can’t just pick the soft persimmon to pinch!

He just vaguely felt that this series of killing moves would not have developed to this point without Liu Yan’s connivance and support!

He thought so, and his subordinates were not much different.

When the dawn broke, there were no pursuers behind them.

But after these three trials, when they looked at each other, it was not difficult to see the grief and frustration on each other’s faces.

Even those who successfully fought their way out of Chenggu County were mostly injured.

While scanning the surroundings, Zhang Lu also found that Zhang Xiu, who was originally in the team, was nowhere to be found. After asking his subordinates, he learned that Zhang Xiu was still outside the city when they entered the city last night.

Logically, this was the easiest position to escape, but he couldn’t withstand the crossbow from the city wall hitting him directly.

This arrow killed Zhang Xiu on the spot.

Zhang Lu felt mixed emotions about the death of this Taishi Path ghost master who had been competing with him.

But he knew that this might be a good thing for him.

With Zhang Xiu dead, Zhang Lu could take over his power and completely command the soldiers in Nanzheng and Mianyang under his own command, which was undoubtedly more beneficial than the original division of troops to deal with the enemies coming from afar.

Thinking of this, Zhang Lu quickly treated his wounds and continued to return to Nanzheng.

He originally went to Longting with the idea of getting supplies there, but he never expected to face such an endless escape. During the escape, the carts carrying military rations were also lost on the road, so when he arrived at the foot of Nanzheng City, he was already starving.

In the years since he took over the Taishi Path, as a religious leader, Zhang Lu had never been in such a miserable situation. Looking back at the team he took to Longting, only a few hundred people were left, and he felt a bitter taste in his mouth.

Fortunately, the defenders on the Nanzheng city wall were still the same as when he left, and they were all familiar faces, so there was no possibility of being replaced by the enemy.

He was also smoothly welcomed into the city and had a hot meal at his residence.

But before the dishes were even cleared away, he received a shocking news.

No, it should be two.

The first was that troops were being added to the west of Mianyang in Wudu County.

The second was that a group of soldiers was approaching from the Micang Mountain path south of Nanzheng.

Zhang Lu jumped up immediately.

Because the subordinate reported that the team coming from the Micang Mountain direction was wearing the uniforms of the Yizhou Army.

Don’t say anything, after Qiao Yan took over Chenggu and Longting, they should have collected a lot of Yizhou Army uniforms.

Those people couldn’t have been prepared there by Qiao Yan early.

Because of the hunting theory, Zhang Lu couldn’t help but think that this was probably Liu Yan’s team coming to attack him.

To the west of Mianyang in Wudu County was Xu Shu’s army, to the east of Nanzheng in Chenggu and Longting was Qiao Yan’s team from Chang’an, to the north of Nanzheng was the Qinling Mountains separating from Guanzhong, and to the south of Nanzheng was Liu Yan’s ruthless killing team.

In this crisis of enemies coming from all sides, Zhang Lu felt that the Nanzheng County City where he was now was not so safe.

Even if he could temporarily hold this place, he would only be surrounded and killed here.

So this city could not be defended!

He must find another way out for himself!

Where could he temporarily take refuge, still occupy a dominant position, and not rely so much on Liu Yan’s support?

In this flash of inspiration, an answer emerged in his heart.

Guanghan Dependent State!

It was a county in the northwest corner of Yizhou, connected to another direction of Wudu County through the Yinping Path to the north, and it was also the route Zhang Lu took when he first entered Wudu County.

To get there, he just needed to retreat directly to the southwest before Xu Shu’s team from the west and Liu Yan’s team from the south joined forces in Nanzheng.

The reason why it was said that it did not rely too much on Liu Yan’s support was because the terrain of Guanghan Dependent State was relatively harsh, and the Yinping Path had the reputation of being “as high as the clouds, even the black crane is afraid to fly.”

When he was spreading the Taishi Path in Wudu County earlier, because the rule of the Taishi Path was to let the repentant people work as laborers to repair roads, he had some people participate in the construction of the Yinping Path.

This was originally to allow the reinforcements from Yizhou to quickly reach Wudu County, but it became an opportunity for him to establish a relationship with the Di people in Guanghan Dependent State, and now it also made this place his first choice for refuge.

Zhang Lu didn’t know whether this was a blessing or a curse for him, but he still made a decisive decision—

Withdraw the defenders from Nanzheng and Mianyang and take them with him to Guanghan Dependent State!

At least don’t become a turtle in a jar and be surrounded and killed here!

But what he didn’t see was that shortly after he withdrew, Yao Chang from Micang Mountain led her Qiang team to occupy Nanzheng and Mianyang, joined forces with Xu Shu’s team, and then sent the military report of this place to Qiao Yan in Longting.

“It seems that Zhang Lu’s life is still quite big.” Qiao Yan sighed.

In this series of attacks, she did not deliberately show any mercy to Zhang Lu, but completely followed the normal three-way interception.

Even though such religious teams often have the intention of protecting their leader at all costs, there are many accidents on the battlefield, and it is not guaranteed that Zhang Lu would not be killed by a stray arrow.

Although her original plan was to drive Zhang Lu to the direction of Guanghan Dependent State, when she heard that this goal was finally achieved, Qiao Yan couldn’t help but show a smile.

She wanted to break up the Taishi Path’s power in Hanzhong, but not to uproot it.

If Zhang Lu died, she would have to consider supporting Lady Lu to become the new Taishi Path master.

Now, the situation saved her a lot of effort.

It’s good to have a big life…

Only with a big life can you see the good show later!

She ordered Zhao Yun: “Send someone to report, it’s time to inform Liu Yan about this hunting.”

This order was delivered by Zhao Yun to Chu Yan stationed between Micang Mountain and Daba Mountain, and then he sent someone with the imperial decree south to Chengdu.

When this decree appeared in front of Liu Yan, he almost thought he had heard wrong.

He thought it was an order to send hostages to the capital, but he didn’t expect it to be a hunting trip with the newly promoted Grand Marshal Qiao Yan in Hanzhong.

The messenger who delivered the decree closed the decree and said, “When my lord passed through Hanzhong, he took Mianyang, Nanzheng, Chenggu, and Longting counties in one go. Zhang Xiu was beheaded, Zhang Lu fled, if the Grand General goes fast, probably—”

He meaningfully looked at Liu Yan and recited the words Qiao Yan had prepared for him.

“Probably you can still have a celebration banquet.”