Chapter 410 Hard to Resist
In the morning, smoke from cooking fires will dissipate from various places on the walls of Mianzhu.

Wu Kuang stood on the top of the city wall and looked into the city. He saw that every household had their doors closed and the streets were empty.

After standing there for a long time, a feeling of inevitability arises spontaneously.

It is more important than anything else to quickly welcome the Grand Marshal to Shu and bring peace to Shu as soon as possible.

The road to Shu was difficult, and the West Han River had changed its course, so it had long lost its transportation advantage of directly transporting water to Chencang.

Therefore, Shu could no longer draw military rations from Guanzhong as it did in the pre-Qin and early Han dynasties.

Even if they were to acquire supplies, they should mainly be finely crafted armor, weapons, copper materials, gold mines, and luxury goods such as Shu brocade.

Therefore, Shu would not bear the heavy burden of grain transportation like the pre-Qin period. It would simply develop the navy to make war and logistical preparations for sweeping the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers in the future.

Even if the Jianghuai court exists for a long time, it will not affect the peace of Shu.

Therefore, his defection would be beneficial to himself, his tribe, and the people of Shu.

As for Liu Zhang, he forced Zhang Lu to rebel, but he couldn't defeat Zhang Lu. What else can we expect Liu Zhang to do?
There were many people who opposed the title of King, especially the title of King of Liang.

Being in Shu but abandoning the title of King of Shu, what would the people of Yizhou think?
Although Yizhou can also be regarded as the ancient Liangzhou in the Nine Provinces theory, the name Yizhou was used for nearly four hundred years during the Han Dynasty. In the eyes of the vast majority of scholars and people in Yizhou, there was no affection for the name Liangzhou.

While Wu Kuang was deep in thought, someone beside him reminded him, "General, there are cavalry approaching from the north."

Turning around, he saw a dozen knights riding their horses in the distance, and the leader was Meng Da.

Soon Meng Da stopped his horse at the foot of the city, and quickly stepped forward to shout to the people on the city wall: "General! The plank road is open, and the Grand Marshal is here!"

The city gate slowly opened, and Meng Da squeezed in through the crack of the gate carrying the bloody cloth bag, and then quickly walked up the ramp to the city tower, panting: "Last night, the Grand Marshal also led his troops to the south to repair the plank road. This morning, he passed Jianmen Road and sent his fierce general Taishi Wengong to attack Jianshan Mansion. It was broken in one battle. This is the head of the defending general Gao Pei."

As he spoke, he held up the cloth bag with blood stains still on it with both hands. Wu Kuang's personal soldier stepped forward to take it. Another personal soldier untied the cloth bag, and a head that had not been washed or processed appeared in front of Wu Kuang.

Wu Kuang took a quick glance and recognized that it was Gao Pei, but he frowned suspiciously and asked, "Why is the plank road being repaired so quickly?"

Meng Da hesitated for a moment and whispered, "I saw that the Grand Marshal's men were fearless and unafraid of death. Some of them fell into the valley while climbing the mountain wall. They died one after another without turning back. It was very scary!"

There was a sound of inhalation, and Wu Kuang was also horrified, staring with eyes wide open: "Could it be the surrendered troops from Jiameng Pass?"

"No, judging from their armor and clothes, they are all the personal guards of the Grand Marshal."

Meng Da took a few deep breaths and added, "After leaving the plank road, the Grand Marshal sent the historian Wen Gong to lead more than 40 elite warriors to climb the mountain with ropes, and then rappel down from the cliff to break through Jiange in one fell swoop."

"The bravery of Taishi Wengong is something I have never seen in my life. He is like a god."

Meng Da was deeply impressed and had made up his mind that he would never confront or fight with Tai Shi Wen Gong in this life.

Even if you have the courage, your own troops may not dare to fight.

Wu Yi squeezed to the front and asked, "How many soldiers and horses does the Northern Army have now?"

"When I arrived, there were about 4,000 surrendered soldiers from Jiameng Pass crossing the Jianshan plank road, followed by more than 3,000 black flag knights under the command of the Grand Marshal, and more than 1,000 elite Xianbei cavalry, and further behind them were the Hanzhong soldiers. I don't know the exact number of them. As for today, I think at least 20,000 people will arrive."

Meng Da looked at Wu Yi seriously, and the astonishment in his pupils could not be concealed: "Except for the surrendered troops at Jiameng Pass, the rest are all elite troops. According to the words of the Grand Marshal's subordinates, when the Grand Marshal entered Hanzhong this time, he had 50,000 troops. They were a powerful force to defeat the Xiongnu, Xianbei, and the Qiang people."

Wu Yi turned to Wu Kuang and said, "The elite troops in Hanzhong also number 30,000. Zhang Lu's troops will follow up, and the number will not be less than 20,000. This means that there are 70,000 elite troops in total, and even more cavalry. If there are 10,000 cavalry, who in Shu dares to fight against them?"

A lieutenant also spoke up: "Let alone more than ten thousand elite cavalry, even five thousand cavalry would be enough to divide Shu and make it difficult for the cities to protect each other."

As he said this, he turned to look at Wu Kuang. Other middle and senior military officers also looked at Wu Kuang eagerly.

Wu Kuang asked, "Did Zi Jing come with any instructions from the Grand Marshal?" "Yes, the Grand Marshal's letter is here, as well as a handwritten letter from Lu Jun, the military strategist and chief priest."

Meng Da took out two silk books and handed them to Wu Kuang. Wu Kuang saw that the military order was simple, with only two legendary golden characters: Come quickly.

Another silk letter from Lu Cui had more than a hundred words, briefly telling Wu Kuang the scale of the military expedition and describing the future governance plan for Yizhou.

As for the reward for Wu Kuang, no one even mentioned it, which made Wu Kuang a little dissatisfied and he lost confidence.

Dissatisfaction grew, but the bloody smell emanating from Gao Pei's head next to him quickly made Wu Kuang regain his senses.

After circulating the two silk books, Wu Kuang instructed Wu Yi: "You guard the city, and I will go to pay a visit to the Grand Marshal."

"Here."

Wu Yi agreed and read the silk book with several captains nearby, focusing on Lu Cui's silk book. Seeing that the Grand Marshal wanted to appoint the genius doctor Li Feng as the governor of Yizhou, he felt it was absurd.

In the past, Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan both appointed fortune tellers and businessmen around them to important positions, which resulted in great defeat and alienated other civil and military officials.

Is it possible that Grand Marshal can’t find any decent celebrities under his command?

Putting aside other things, as a disciple of Cai Xue, Lu Cui could have been the governor of Yizhou, if not the governor-general. Why did they have to use a miracle doctor who was the chief priest of Laozi Temple?

This kind of thing was not convenient to discuss in public. After reading the letter, Wu Yi and others handed it to Wu Kuang. Wu Kuang did not delay. He first wrote a letter to Liu Mao and then sent someone to deliver Gao Pei's head to Chengdu.

Then he set out, bringing with him more than fifty knights.

Yizhou was relatively stable and had no shortage of official horses.

Although Zhang Lu cut off Hanzhong, Yizhou could still trade horses through the Yinping Road or with the Qing Qiang.

By the evening of that day, the news that Jianshan Mansion had fallen and Mianzhu had opened its city gates to welcome the northern troops into Shu had also reached Luocheng, which was not too far away.

The distance of a military march does not equal the speed of express delivery by messengers. The roads in the plains of Shu are well-developed, and it is not the rainy season, so information can be exchanged extremely quickly.

In Luocheng, a difficult choice was placed before Zhang Song, Wang Shang and Zhang Ren, the defender of Luocheng.

Should we gather our troops to resist and force a surrender, or should we surrender immediately?

If you are a step behind, you will be at the mercy of others if you surrender now.

The most crucial thing is that the Kingdom of Liang had already been established and they had held key positions; if they were to surrender directly now, it would go against the moral ethics of loyalty to the emperor and they would inevitably be unable to hold their heads up in the future.

But if they held on, King Liang Liu Zhang would flee to Yufu City, and Chengdu would be controlled by Liu Mao again.

I am afraid that when we raise our troops to resist, the local warlords will sit back and watch our outcome.

Huang Quan stood up and said, "Yizhou is a fertile land with a rich population. The general's troops are mostly fierce and fierce. If we don't surrender early, Yizhou will inevitably be ruined. If so, we will all be criminals in our hometown. What reputation and integrity can we talk about?"

Zhang Ren stood by without saying a word. He had no say on whether to fight or not. He only had some influence on the garrison.

If they wanted to attract external reinforcements, they could only rely on big names in Shu such as Zhang Song and Wang Shang.

What's more, King Liang Liu Zhang abandoned the city and fled, and the fighting spirit of the Luocheng defenders could not stand up to scrutiny and testing.

Zhang Ren lowered his head, and Wang Shang and Zhang Song were also in heavy moods.

The family business is so rich. If it is destroyed in such a fight, wouldn't it benefit other big families and powerful people in Shu?
How much can an outsider like Da Sima take away?
The real rivals, rivals from generation to generation, always live by their side.

(End of this chapter)