Chapter 405 Have to fight
Out of curiosity, at the beginning of winter, Black Bear led a thousand cavalrymen south.

The road along the way after crossing Yangping Pass is already rugged and difficult to travel, and now with the military standoff between the two sides, there are no mountain people or residents moving around.

Even the villages not far from the roadside in the ravine were empty, and the mountain people fled far away to avoid the war.

After finding a village to spend the night, they abandoned their vehicles and redundant personnel on the second day and headed south with the remaining elite cavalry.

Around noon, we finally arrived at Jiameng Pass, known as the throat of northern Yizhou.

Jiameng Pass is located in the southwest of Jialing River. The Bailong River flows into the Jialing River from the northwest, and Jiameng Pass is located in the southeast of the river mouth.

The Jialing River in winter is barely in its dry season, but it is still turbulent.

The black bear looked across the Bailong River at Jiameng Pass. The water vapor was oscillating, and with his keen senses, he could not stand the constant noise caused by the rapid river flow.

After gazing for a while, he said to Yang Fu, Yan Pu, Zhang Wei and others who were with him: "I have heard for a long time that the road to Shu is difficult and dangerous. Just this Jiameng Pass is so dangerous that one man can block the passage of ten thousand men."

There is no problem crossing the river, as there cannot be any decent naval warship group in the upper reaches of the Jialing River.

Therefore, there is no need to worry about the problem of naval blocking the way...even the Jiameng Pass in front of us can be ignored and not attacked.

As long as our army goes upstream along the north bank of the Bailong River and crosses the river after walking thirty or forty miles, they can take the Jianshan Road.

The Sword Pavilion has not been built yet, but even without it, this road is still very dangerous.

In this way, the defenders of Jiameng Pass can threaten and harass the subsequent food routes.

The cost of maintaining the garrison along the grain route is definitely lower than storming Jiameng Pass.

But even so, it is difficult for ordinary people to attack Yizhou along Jianshan Road.

Black Bear held the whip in his right hand and rubbed his cheek gently, his eyes fixed on the outline of Jiameng Pass in the distance.

So far, he still has no idea of ​​taking advantage of the situation to sweep and capture Yizhou.

But the terrain in front of him was obviously dangerous. If he wanted to attack Yizhou at low cost in the future, he had to do it himself.

Anyone who came here would be tortured by the road to Shu, and the military expenditure would be extremely huge.

Even if this battle only eliminated Liu Zhang and allowed the people of Shu to rule Shu... the benefits would be enormous.

When dealing with the Yizhou issue in the future, military expenditures can be omitted.

The expenditure on military supplies is one aspect, while personnel losses, pensions and war damage are another.

In short, if anyone were to attack Yizhou from the north, the cost would be very high and the chance of success would be low.

Unless there is a problem within Yizhou.

It just so happened that he came in person this time, and his arrival was very sudden; and Yizhou was not necessarily prepared for a full-scale war.

Liu Zhang had only been king for three months. How could he have had the time to integrate Yizhou?

There is only one chance, and it will be gone in a flash.

Seeing him hesitating, the old people and new members around him were all silent, waiting for a decision.

Now they can all see that this is indeed a great opportunity to attack Yizhou.

After pondering for a long time, Black Bear made up his mind and said to his men: "As the saying goes, when you get Long, you will want Shu. Although our soldiers are tired after fighting, the enemy is already discouraged. Now is the time to make a final push!"

Zhang Wei could no longer bear it, and took two steps forward, bowing and saying, "I am willing to be the vanguard!"

He has this confidence. In recent years, believers have gone into the mountains and destroyed temples, and they are best at marching in the mountains.

The people of Yizhou must have dismantled the Jianshan plank road, but Zhang Wei’s troops were confident that they could cross the mountain, or at least repair the plank road.

Here in Yizhou, the biggest and only role of the vanguard is to open and repair roads!
Black Bear did not agree directly, but said: "The plank road can be repaired at any time. Now we have to attack Jiameng Pass first. If Jiameng Pass is not taken down, it will disrupt our food supply and will be difficult to repair the plank road." Yang Fu stepped forward and asked: "Your Majesty, do you want to attack Jiameng Pass by force?"

"Only by quickly capturing this city can the enemies near and far be wary and not dare to act rashly. Only when the food supply is smooth can we concentrate our manpower to repair the plank road."

Black Bear noticed that Zhang Wei, Yan Pu and others looked unnatural, and he also knew what they were worried about.

These people lacked confidence in attacking Jiameng Pass, let alone storming it by force or breaking through it quickly.

Before Jiange was established, Jiameng Pass was the throat, courage and support of the people of Yizhou.

If Jiameng Pass is not captured, the Jianmen plank road will be very difficult to deal with.

If you have too few people, the repair efficiency will be slow and you will be easily attacked; if you have too many people, the pressure on food and logistics will be great.

Transporting grain from Hanzhong to here is also a tough job.

There are many people on the front line, so the food transport team has to be expanded and the pressure on food is too great.

As long as the battle is delayed, the resources and manpower of the Chengdu Plain will be much more abundant than those of Hanzhong, and will be enough to drag down Hanzhong.

So we can’t drag it out and we must break out of the original attack and defense mode.

Zhang Wei was confident that he could repair the Jianshan plank road, and he was also certain that he could lead his troops over the mountain...but as for the idea of ​​attacking Jiameng Pass, which was a suicidal idea, Zhang Wei pretended he had never heard of it and had no intention of asking for a fight.

Zhang Wei, Yan Pu, Yang Ren and others remained silent. In their minds, the decision to storm Jiameng Pass was impractical, as many people would die and it might not be possible to capture the Pass.

Others did not think this task was difficult. They had seen a lot about attacking a city wall by force, and they could think of many ways.

Attacking a city at night is the most unskilled method. For this kind of assault to capture a city, people generally prefer to do it during the day.

Use fearless elite archers and crossbows to suppress the enemy at close range, and then launch a strong attack with heavy armored infantry.

Use bamboo ladders if possible. Using ladders shows a lack of trust in the crossbow troops!
Seeing that no one objected, Black Bear said, "Send a message to the rear to gather armor, bows and crossbows, arrows, and craftsmen to gather here. We should be prepared for a fierce battle after the enemy is in sight."

The only good news is that as we head south, the pressure to keep warm is less.

After thinking for a while, Black Bear looked at Zhang Wei and his men again: "The matter of ascending the city first will be handled by Grand Historian Wen Gong. I have not reorganized the troops in Hanzhong yet. This time I need you to nominate elite archers, at least one thousand for me."

Yang Ren then spoke up: "Your Majesty, the Ba people under my command are brave and good at fighting. We are willing to follow General Taishi to capture the city first."

"I know the customs of the Ba people. I have to wear two layers of armor when I attack the city. The Ba people don't like armor. If I participate in the siege, there will be a lot of casualties."

Black Bear paused for a moment, then said, "You can recruit and organize a thousand Ba soldiers. After this battle, I will keep a battalion of Ba soldiers as guards."

He looked at Zhang Wei again. Zhang Wei bowed and listened to the order. Then he heard Black Bear say: "One thousand archers and one thousand Ba people are under my command. I allow you to recruit another three thousand officers and soldiers."

"The last general takes orders."

Zhang Wei was unwilling, but he had no choice but to accept it.

The special mobilization mechanism of Hanzhong Tianshidao had almost no decent standing and organized troops.

Therefore, during this period of time, Black Bear lacked a specific and executable goal when he wanted to reorganize the Hanzhong army.

Hanzhong was a place where soldiers and farmers were integrated, and this battle was a good opportunity to eliminate the appeal of the Zhang brothers to their followers.

Otherwise, it would be very troublesome if believers were called upon to launch armed jihad at every turn.

Only through the specific war process and brilliant results can the mobilization mechanism of Hanzhong Tianshidao be dismantled in a strong manner.

After being broken up, it would be much more convenient and smoother to reorganize it with Guanzhong Taiping Dao as the core.

Therefore, this war is unavoidable, and we just hope that Yizhou can show more tenacity.

(End of this chapter)