The Yizhou army attacked Yizhou County in three groups. The armies of each group were overwhelming, and the counties along the way were overwhelmed by the wind.
In just one month, the armies of Liu Zhang, Liu Ye, and Zheng Du gathered under the Dianchi City.
Liu Zhang's army's successive successes are inseparable from the new head of the Yong family, that is Yong Jie.
Yong Jie was Yong Zheng's younger brother, but the relationship between the two was not close. During Yong Zheng's reign, he always suppressed his younger brother for the sake of his son Yong Kai, which caused a deep conflict between the two.
After the First World War of Zhu Ti, Yongzheng and his son died, and Yongjie, the second son, naturally inherited the Yong family.
Yong Jie didn't care at all about the rumors circulating in Yizhou County, and was even deeply grateful to Zhu Qiao and Meng Kun.
If Yongzheng did not die, how could Yongjie have any chance to succeed?
After Yong Jie succeeded as the head of the Yong family, he immediately contacted Zhu Qiao and Meng Kun and agreed to abandon their past feud and join forces to fight against Liu Zhang.
Meng Kun did not trust Liu Zhang at all. Since returning to Yongchang County, he has been lobbying various barbarian armies to complain about Liu Zhang's cruelty and preparing Nanzhong forces to raise troops to resist Liu Zhang.
Yongjie immediately expressed his full support for Meng Kun and agreed to annihilate Liu Zhang and divide Nanzhong into two. He also doubled the conditions previously promised by Yongzheng.
In this way, Yongjie united several barbarian tribes such as the Zhurong, Cang, and Yuan tribes in Yizhou County, and gathered a total of 50,000 barbarians to garrison Dian Lake.
The Meng family united with more than 20 barbarian tribes including the Yang family, the Mang family, and the Gui family in Yongchang County, and raised a total of 50,000 troops.
When Liu Zhang's three armies arrived at Dian Lake, Meng Kun also arrived at Jianling County with the barbarian coalition forces.
Yongjie's army and Meng Kun's army were each other's horns, and the two cities watched each other, preparing to work together to defeat Liu Zhang.
Outside the Dianchi City, Liu Zhang's army camp and the Chinese army's commander's tent were located.
Liu Zhang sat on the main seat, Liu Ye and Zheng Du sat on both sides.
There are eight generals in the tent: Dian Wei, Zhao Yun, Tai Shi Ci, Zhang Liao, Zhang Ren, Yan Yan, Gan Ning and Zhou Tai.
The soldiers and horses of the camp were exactly the same tribes that the eight men belonged to, totaling a total of 65,000 people in the horse-footed waterway army.
The number of Liu Zhang's army was far less than the 100,000 coalition forces in Nanzhong, but the troops led by Zhao Yun and others were the most elite troops in Yizhou. Even with a small number and a large number, Liu Zhang was still very confident in taking down the barbarians.
Except for Gan Ning's Jinfan Camp and Yan Yan's troops, the remaining five battalions of soldiers, Ma Jiu, followed Liu Zhang in his southern and northern campaigns.
Although he could not use one against ten, Liu Zhang was confident that he could defeat two barbarians with one.
"Everyone, the distance between Dianchi Lake and Jianling is only twenty miles. Now Meng Kun leads 50,000 barbarian troops to station in Jianling, which will cause great harm. I wonder if you have any good strategies to defeat the enemy?"
Now that he had both civil and military skills, all of them were generals who were good at fighting. Therefore, Liu Zhang did not need to do everything himself. He only had to choose the best strategy among the strategies provided by his subordinates.
Seeing that no one said anything, Gan Ning took the initiative to stand up.
"My lord, go down the Lu River and take a detour through the Laoshui River. You can go directly to Meng Kun's lair in Buwei. Please ask Gan Ning to lead the Jinfan Army for a sneak attack!"
Liu Zhang couldn't help but secretly marvel at Gan Ning's courage. He dared to go deep into the enemy's territory with five thousand men. It was really not something ordinary people would dare to do.
However, before Liu Zhang could express his opinion, Liu Ye rejected Gan Ning's proposal.
"Yongchang County has steep terrain and complicated river systems. Once you get deep into it, you can easily lose your way. There are many barbarians in Yongchang County. As soon as you show up, you will be surrounded by enemies on all sides!"
"General Gan is more courageous than others, but this plan must not be used!"
"What the military advisor said is absolutely true. Xingba is the general of Yizhou and cannot take risks easily!"
Liu Zhang did not intend to let Gan Ning go. Although he had never been to Nanzhong, he knew how difficult Zhuge Liang's southern expedition was!
Miasma, poisonous springs, wild beasts, shoals! Each difficulty comes one after another, and if you are not careful, your entire army will be wiped out.
Liu Zhang has seen the warships provided by Jingzhou, and they are indeed very domineering. There is definitely nothing the barbarians can do against these warships!
However, it is not known what the situation is in the Lushui and Laoshui rivers, and it is still unknown whether the warship will be stranded in the river.
"Military advisor, Zheng Canjun, do you have a plan to defeat the enemy?"
With nearly 200,000 troops on both sides, this cannot be solved in a simple battle and requires an extremely careful strategy.
Liu Ye and Zheng Du are both wise men, and Liu Zhang must listen to their opinions first.
"My lord, if you want to defeat Yong Jie, you only need to surround the city on all sides, build fortifications outside the city, and trap these barbarians to death in Dian Lake. As for Meng Kun, the architect, you only need to send a troop of troops to ambush Jian Ling.
On the only way between Ling and Dianchi, once Meng Kun comes to his aid, just ambush him!"
Zheng Du's strategy is just one word, procrastination!
Look no one can stand it!
However, Dianchi Lake is not only the seat of Yizhou County, but also the home of the Yong family. The Yong family has been operating here for hundreds of years, and must have accumulated countless grain and property.
If it drags on for a month or two, it will be easy, but if it really drags on for a year and a half, Liu Zhang himself will not be able to bear it.
Nanzhong has invested 80,000 troops one after another, and the daily consumption of 80,000 troops is completely astronomical!
Fortunately, Liu Biao paid two million stones of grain and grass as compensation. Otherwise, how could Liu Zhang have the confidence to go south in person, and how could Jia Xu have the confidence to mobilize soldiers from various counties?
Now Nanzhong not only needs food for the battle, but also needs food to recruit and surrender the barbarians. If it takes a few months to reach winter, the soldiers will also need clothes to keep warm, and there will be various problems by then.
If Nanzhong really drags on for a year or two, Yizhou will definitely be dragged down. Even if Nanzhong is finally pacified, it will definitely be a lose-lose situation for both sides.
By that time, if Liu Zhang wants to leave Liangzhou north, he may have to wait for many years.
"Let me give you the bottom line. All the grain and grass that Yizhou's treasury can assemble cannot exceed three million shi at most. This is because Liu Biao compensated us two million."
"Three million stones may seem like a lot, but in fact they cannot withstand our uncontrolled consumption. The Yong clan must be destroyed as soon as possible, and Meng Kun must be defeated as soon as possible."
Liu Zhang did not directly reject Zheng Du's proposal, but this could be regarded as a disguised rejection of his strategy.
Zheng Du was not a petty person, what Liu Zhang said was very reasonable, and he fell into deep thought again.
The enemy in front of us is a hundred thousand barbarians, not a hundred thousand pigs. The barbarians are cruel by nature and very brave. Even if they face the enemy head-on, it is not easy to win.
Now is the time to test Liu Zhang and his military advisors. Victory at what cost depends entirely on their intelligence.
After a long time, Liu Ye stood up.
"My lord, I have a plan, but there is something I need to confirm with my lord."
Liu Zhang's eyes lit up. He was worthy of being the Qilin'er of the Liu family. As expected, he still had to look at him.
"Zi Yang, please speak."
"What should we do with Meng Kun and Zhu Qiao? Should we surrender them or eliminate them?"
In fact, Liu Zhang himself had thought about this issue, but he had not yet come to a conclusion.
If he really decided to kill the two of them, he wouldn't be so angry just after hearing about their betrayal.
Judging from what happened last time, Meng Kun, like his son Meng Huo, will definitely not be able to surrender in one or two attempts.
Following Zhuge Liang's example of accompanying Meng Huo's father, Liu Zhang would definitely not have such a lot of spare time.
Now that Liu Ye had asked, Liu Zhang decided not to be kind to women.
"Kill! I have spared their lives in Zhu Ticheng, but as soon as these two people left, they immediately gathered the barbarians to fight against us. If we don't kill these two people, how can everyone follow suit in the future?"
"Kill these two people, and then give grace to their tribe. With this combination of grace and power, the barbarians will be completely conquered!"