Shu Han Confucian General of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 189 The Peak Showdown
"Old General Huang, who do you think is better?" Although Zhuge Jin has a little knowledge of swordsmanship, this level of contest is beyond his comprehension.

"It's hard to say!" Huang Zhong also watched intently. Such a duel between masters is rare. To Huang Zhong, watching such a duel once is more enjoyable than being promoted.

At this time, the duel in the arena was already showing a momentum of polarization. Yan Liang's feet were getting faster and faster, and his hands were getting faster and faster, often completing a circle around Guan Yu in an instant. At the same time, the long knife in his hand had already passed Go out five or six strokes.On the contrary, Guan Yu looked very clumsy. He stood on the ground and rarely moved. He held the green dragon knife in the middle of the handle with both hands. When Yan Liang's long knife stabbed, he blocked it.The range of motion is so small that you can save as much effort as you can.

At this point in the duel, Yan Liang's moves were almost too fast for human eyes to see clearly.Not to mention Zhuge Jin, even Dong Xi and Chen Wu couldn't see how Yan Liang used his sword.In fact, apart from Huang Zhong, only Zhou Tai and Guan Ping could barely see the duel in the arena.The more Guan Ping watched, the more startled he became: I thought I had mastered my father's true biography, but I didn't expect my martial arts to be so far behind my father's.

Not only Guan Ping, but all the people watching the battle, except Huang Zhong, had a thought in their minds: Fortunately, it was General Guan who was fighting Yan Liang, not me.

Although Guan Yu's moves seemed sluggish, the two fought fiercely for a long while, but he blocked all of Yan Liang's attacks.Huang Zhong and Zhou Tai had already noticed that Guan Yu's martial arts had almost reached the level of ingenuity and ingenuity.In contrast, although Yan Liang's offensive was fierce, but in terms of realm, he still fell behind.

Wanting to understand this point, Huang Zhong and Zhou Tai already understood that Guan Yu basically had a better chance of winning in this duel.At this moment, there was a loud "dang" in the arena, and the two people who were fighting fiercely separated suddenly. Yan Liang retreated five steps, and Guan Yu also retreated five steps.But Yan Liang stood firm with his sword on the ground, while Guan Yu stood firm.Moreover, Yan Liang was out of breath, while Guan Yu was calm and calm. The round of rush attack just now was fruitless, which exhausted Yan Liang's physical energy and psychological pressure quite a lot.

"General Guan really lives up to his reputation!" Yan Liang praised in surprise, and then shot again.This time he didn't pursue speed too much, but slowed down his moves.In this way, Guan Yu no longer sticks to the defense blindly, but fights fiercely with Yan Liang both offensively and defensively.Until then, the two were considered to be the real peak duel.

"Hey!" Yan Liang yelled suddenly, and then he jumped up, and the long knife in his hand took advantage of this rushing force to strike Guan Yu's head from the sky.The momentum of this move was astonishing, with Guan Yu as the core, the dust on the ground within a radius of one zhang was actually blown up by the strong wind, and the surrounding audience couldn't see clearly what happened in the field.

"Dang!" After a loud noise, the dust gradually dispersed, and only then did everyone see the two people in the field clearly.But he saw that the long knife in Yan Liang's hand had cut into the ground, but the handle of the knife was still in his right hand.And around his neck was Guan Yu's Qinglong Yanyue Saber.As for the handle of the knife, it was naturally held in Guan Yu's hand.

The result was obvious, Yan Liang lost, Zhou Tai and the others couldn't help but secretly heaved a sigh of relief.

"You are too fast!" Guan Yu said in a deep voice, his words were full of fear.

"I just found out today that this is also a shortcoming!" Yan Liang sighed.Just now, his knife with all his strength was really a last resort.The previous attack was too ruthless, and had already consumed a lot of his physical strength, so much so that when he confronted Guan Yu head-on, his arms were numb after fighting for more than 30 times.In order to seek victory in defeat, he made this move desperately.

But although he is not at the end of his strength now, he is already weak in succession.This move was made, but Guan Yu dodged it in time, only cut off a corner of Guan Yu's battle robe, and before he could take back the long knife, Guan Yu's Azure Dragon Saber was already resting on his neck.

"General Yan, the outcome has been decided, what should we do?" Guan Yu was not afraid of Yan Liang's sudden rebellion, so he retracted the Qinglong Yanyue Saber and asked.

"General Guan's martial arts skills are astonishing, and Yan Liang was convinced by the defeat." Yan Liang didn't seem to care much about his loss, he just sighed.Looking up at Guan Yu, Yan Liang waved to the defenders on the pass, many soldiers began to put down their weapons, and came in and out of the city with bare hands, while the Jingzhou army on the side stepped forward to take him into custody.

"General Yan, I think you are talented, why not?" Guan Yu was about to persuade Yan Liang to surrender, but Yan Liang laughed and said, "I appreciate General Guan's kindness, but Yan betrayed Yuan Benchu ​​that day, if he betrayed Duke Wei again today, Falling down again and again, greedy for life and afraid of death, what face do you have to see the people of the world."

After saying this, Yan Liang immediately reversed the long knife in his hand, and stabbed himself in the chest with a "puchi".Guan Yu was about to stop him, but the distance between the two was too far and it was too late. As soon as he took a step, Yan Liang's body had already fallen to the ground.

"Hey!" Guan Yu looked at Yan Liang who died there, with a smile on his face, as if he was still reminiscing about the battle just now.Sighing, Guan Yu ordered Yan Haosheng to be buried, and then led his troops to Shangyong.

"General, that guy Shen Dan knew he had committed a serious crime, so he committed suicide by taking poison!" Zhou Tai, who was in charge of cleaning the battlefield, hurried over.

"It's cheap for him!" Guan Yu cursed secretly.The result of this battle still made Guan Yu very satisfied. After Yan Liang died, except for his dozens of personal guards who committed suicide along with him, the remaining 1 Cao soldiers all surrendered.These people are all elite soldiers under Xiahou Yuan's command in Guanzhong, including four thousand cavalry, equipped with good horses from Guanzhong.Even when there was a shortage of food, Yan Liang was not willing to kill the horse.As long as these people reorganize well, they can be used for themselves in the future.It can be said that Guan Yu won more than 1 elite soldiers in vain without bloodshed.

"Father, an urgent letter from General Zhao of Hanzhong!" At this moment, Guan Ping hurried over and handed Guan Yu a silk letter brought by a pigeon.Guan Yu opened it and looked at it, but he also smiled and said: "Bo Tao has captured Hanzhong, Zhang Lu has been captured and taken to Xichuan, and the rest are all put to death. The two counties of Hanzhong have been pacified!"

"Great!" Everyone was overjoyed when they heard the words. In this way, the crisis has basically been resolved invisibly.In addition to Nanxiang being occupied by Wen Chou, Fangling has also been recovered by Wenpin.It can be said that due to the deadly time difference caused by carrier pigeon communication, Xia Houyuan and Cheng Yu's military operation this time is really a steal.Of course, compared to the misery Liu Bei let Sun Quan plot against last time, the loss they suffered this time is already small.

While everyone was talking, it happened that Wenpin Feige sent a letter to report. Liu Bei of Shouchun sent Zhang Liao to lead 1 Yuzhou troops to Jingzhou to help in the battle, and they had already arrived in Xiangyang.Upon hearing the news, Guan Yu left Zhou Tai with [-] troops to garrison these two places, while he led a large force back to Xiangyang.As for the more than [-] surrendered troops, Guan Yu ordered [-] infantry and [-] cavalry to be sent to Zhao Feng in Hanzhong.Besides, Guan Yu also knew that Zhao Feng was more familiar with this whole arrangement of soldiers than he was.

A few days later in Nanzheng City, Zhao Feng was overjoyed when he saw the five thousand soldiers sent by Guan Yu.He now has only over 3 soldiers in total after he has incorporated the Feiguanna Yizhou Army, and his combat effectiveness is very problematic.With these five thousand extra soldiers, Hanzhong can be well managed.

Apart from Yang Song, there are no wealthy families in Hanzhong. Basically, even some landowners are small-scale, and the children of the family can only be county magistrates or meritorious officials at most.Zhao Feng ordered Zhu Ran to guard Yangping Pass, Wang Ping to guard Chenggu and Baocheng, and Yang Ren followed him to reorganize and surrender in Nanzheng.In addition, Zhuge Jun and Ma Di were appointed as Mianyang County Magistrate and Xicheng County Magistrate, and let them be responsible for the civil affairs in Hanzhong first.Zhuge Jun hadn't said anything yet, but Ma Di got a little emotional again.

"General, this west city is a county, the chief is obviously the prefect, why did you make me a county magistrate?" Ma Di said to Zhao Feng with a mournful face.Although the promotion from Shuzuo to county magistrate is already a great promotion, wouldn't it be better to be a prefect.

"Xicheng was originally a county, but Zhang Lu Yaodao promoted the county to a county. However, the population of Xicheng is no less than 20. You have to manage it well. In the future, you will have a time to make great achievements. Do you understand?" Zhao Feng said to this ambition. Gao Yuan's Ma Di was also a little helpless. When he was his age, he was still the head of the pavilion.

"That's right, thank you General for your appreciation!" Ma Di was right when he thought about it. Since he went to Xicheng to take office, he didn't mention it, but he was still thinking about it.

After sending Ma Su away, Zhao Feng dispatched 500 elite soldiers to divide into ten divisions, with one division consisting of [-] men. They went to Xingshi and Luotang, where the valley roads connecting Guanzhong were steep, to set up camps. An army from Guanzhong came and set fire at night to light cigarettes during the day to prevent the enemy from attacking Yangping Pass.This trick is the unique trick that Wei Yan used to guard Hanzhong in history.

"The elite soldiers in Guanzhong are really strong. The Hanzhong Army and Yizhou Army are far behind them, and only the Jingzhou Huben Army under the general's command can match them!" During the training that day, Yang Ren also sighed to Zhao Feng. .

"Indeed!" Zhao Feng did not deny it.There are 80 people in Hanzhong. According to Zhao Feng's usual ratio, it is most reasonable to keep 4 to [-] front-line combat troops.Now there are only more than [-] troops in all kinds of troops.In this way, Zhao Feng also eliminated thousands of Hanzhong troops who were too weak, and prepared to recruit new soldiers.It's just that there is not enough food and grass in Hanzhong. It is estimated that unless the food and grass are transferred from Jingzhou, otherwise, we can only wait until next year.Now that I have insufficient troops, Xia Houyuan in Guanzhong has been pinned down by Guan Yu, and he cannot attack for a while, and only Liu Zhang in Xichuan needs to be on guard.Although he doesn't look like someone who crosses rivers and demolishes bridges, and he just tied up Zhang Lu and gave it to him, it's better to be careful in everything.

What Zhao Feng didn't know was that at the Duke of Shu's mansion in Chengdu at this time, several factions of officials were already arguing about how to deal with the situation in Hanzhong.Some military generals headed by Zhang Ren insisted on taking the opportunity to recover Hanzhong and bring the whole of Yizhou under Liu Zhang's rule; while some civil officials headed by Huang Quan believed that once Liu Bei's forces infiltrated Hanzhong, they would inevitably eat up Hanzhong in the future, so they simply refused They continued to do two things, selected elite soldiers overnight, killed all Liu Bei's men and horses who stayed in Hanzhong, and then strictly guarded the pass; of course, some civil and military officials headed by Fa Zheng and Fei Guan disagreed with their opinions.

"My lord, General Zhao helped us get rid of Zhang Lu's confidant. We didn't pay him our due, but we want to kill him. This will let the world know, what's the face of the lord!" Fei Guan is now thoroughly Falling to Liu Bei, at least, after Zhao Feng was so "open and honest" with him, he really didn't want to be his enemy.

"Yes, my lord. If you act like this, how ungrateful is it, how is it different from a beast?" Meng Dayi said seriously, and Zhang Song, Yang Hong and others agreed.

"My lord, don't do it. Liu Bei is in Hanzhong, he is like a tiger by his side, and he will plot against me at any time. If my lord doesn't figure it out sooner, then the big thing will be over!" Huang Quan remonstrated anxiously.

Liu Zhang frowned and thought for a long time, and finally sighed: "General Zhao helped me pacify Hanzhong and capture Zhang Lu Yaodao. If I attack him, won't the world laugh at me? It must not be like this!"

"My lord is wise!" Zhang Song and the others respectfully said, while Huang Quan and the others sighed inwardly.At this time, Fazheng, who had been silent all this time, suddenly said: "My lord, don't worry, General Zhao is in Hanzhong, but it is beneficial to my lord."

"How did Xiao Zhi say that?" Liu Zhang asked a little puzzled.

"The one General Zhao and Uncle Liu hated all their lives is Cao Caoer. Although General Zhao is in Hanzhong today, he has only tens of thousands of troops and only a million people. This number of troops is also part of Jianmen Pass, Jiameng Pass and Baishui Pass. With heavy guards, how can I threaten Xichuan? From a positive perspective, Liu Huangshu captured Hanzhong in order to conquer the Central Plains and enter Guanzhong in the future. From this, it is equivalent to guarding the northern border for the lord and resisting Xiahou Yuan in Guanzhong. What does the lord do? How dangerous is it?" Fazheng laughed.To say that Fazheng's strategy is superior to those of Zhang Song, Huang Quan and others, every time it seems to be for Liu Zhang's sake, but in fact it is still for Liu Bei's benefit.What's more, his excuses are half-truths and half-false, which makes it hard to tell.

"It makes sense!" After hearing this, Liu Zhang completely lost interest in the ownership of Hanzhong.At this moment, Zhang Song changed the subject again and said, "My lord, Zhang Lu has already been escorted here by General Fei, so please decide how to deal with it as soon as possible, my lord!"

"Hmph!" Liu Zhang became furious when he heard about Zhang Lu.For him, Liu Zhang had no patience, and immediately said angrily: "What else can I do? Let me behead his whole family as a warning to others!"

A few days later, Zhang Lu and his family of more than [-] people were all beheaded at the downtown entrance of Chengdu.Still feeling puzzled, Liu Zhang ordered Zhang Lu's body to be crushed to ashes.When the news spread back to Hanzhong, Zhao Feng felt it was a pity, he sighed, and ordered to build a tomb for Zhang Lu by the Mian River for the people of Hanzhong to worship.At the same time, Fei Guan re-entered Hanzhong.In addition to giving Liu Zhang the food and salary of the labor force, Fei Guan also clearly told Zhao Feng Liu Zhang's attitude, that is, the land in Hanzhong was handed over to Liu Bei, which also made Zhao Feng feel a little more at ease.

With Liu Zhang's promise, Zhao Feng sent a letter to Liu Bei of Shouchun, asking him to send someone to take over Hanzhong as soon as possible.

Liu Bei's order has not yet arrived, and at this time, another peak duel is being staged in the city of Nanxiang.The two sides in the duel were Guan Yu, who had just defeated Yan Liang, and Wen Chou, who was ranked second among Hebei's four court pillars.

(End of this chapter)