April 11, night.

On the Jinghe Plateau, in a semicircular camp with a diameter of more than ten miles, the lights were still on, and all the generals were doing the final preparations before the war.

This is the Xiliang Army camp of Li Jue and Guo Si. Twenty miles southwest of their direction is Liu Bei's camp.

The buffer zone in the middle not only prevents both sides from being too nervous and always worry about being robbed in the middle of the night. It is also out of tacit understanding to leave a battlefield for the subsequent decisive battle.

The Xiliang Army camp was divided into three large blocks, with Li Jue in the middle, Guo Si in the northwest of Li Jue, and Duan Wei in the southwest of Li Jue. As for Zhang Xiu, because there were only 10,000 people and was not worthy of forming an independent camp, he was affiliated with Li Jue's camp, close to Duan Wei's side.

The reason for this deployment was that Li Jue wanted to strengthen his left-wing cavalry.

Guo Si had 70,000 to 80,000 people, and had just attacked Han Sui and captured many prisoners, including Yang Ding and Wu Xi, and the cavalry were large.

In comparison, Duan Wei only had 30,000 people, and he has always defended Huayin and Hongnong farmed in the past two years, and had no chance to recruit soldiers and horses to expand his power, so Duan Wei's cavalry scale was always the same as when Dong Zhuo died. Only when Zhang Xiu's 10,000 cavalry strengthened, Duan Wei's combat power could be balanced.

In the Zuoying tent, Duan Wei almost deserves to go to bed, but he still set up a pot of wine and wanted to finish drinking. There are a lot of bad news recently, which makes him very worried.

First of all, Yuan Shu invaded. He heard about this news three days ago, and then yesterday he heard that Yuan Shu seemed to be blocked, Li Bei and Dong Cheng were all transferred to assist in defense.

Another thing that bothers Duan Wei was the drought. The rain began to stop in late February. Until now, for a whole month and a half, there was no drop of rain. I don’t know when this day will end.

Duan Wei is considered to be one of the warlords in Xiliang who attaches great importance to production. In recent years, he has relied on Huayin and Hongnong to farm and support his troops. In theory, if he relies on the territory of one county and several counties and relies on the collection of grain taxes to support soldiers, he will only support at most 10,000 or 20,000 yuan.

Duan Wei had a total of 40,000 people, so his troops were actually involved in the military camp. The soldiers had to go to the fields to farm when they were idle, so they were not hungry. The drought this year was so severe. Fortunately, he brought 30,000 people out and could eat Li Jue's food with him. But this is all temporary. After the war, they went there to find a meal ticket?

I heard that the three counties in the western part of Youfufeng, especially the Weinan area, were occupied by Liu Bei, and this year they could be exempted from being completely eliminated. Duan Wei was really envious of this.

This year's Han Dynasty seemed to have no rain in Guanzhong and Jinghe Plateau. The ancients did not know the meteorological principle of atmospheric circulation, but this did not prevent them from understanding the result - this year's severe drought in Guanzhong was mainly because the warm and humid air flow from the south did not climb and break through the Qinling Mountains. In addition, the cold air from the north still went south in spring, and then confronted the Qinling Mountains, which directly caused severe rain, causing the rain that should have fallen again in Guanzhong in advance.

There are always so many water vapor and cloud clusters. There will always be flooding in Guanzhong when there is drought. The Hanzhong Basin has overdrain this year.

Duan Wei didn't understand the principle, but he also knew that the result of "Hanzhong was a little flooded this year", which made him envious.

But in fact, the agriculture in Hanzhong was not affected at all, mainly the water source in the Hanzhong Basin, and part of it was led north by Li Su - the "earthquake" in Wudu County, which allowed the Western Han Dynasty to return to the north. Therefore, the part of the water source that should have flowed south in Wudu has now flowed to Guanzhong. The water storage area in the Hanzhong Basin is about 20%, so there are no floods in Hanzhong. The excess water just happened to feed the three counties of Weinan.

Sometimes, when Duan Wei thought of this conclusion of the enemy's propaganda, he couldn't help but wonder - was Emperor Gao really appearing? So in the year of a major disaster, the upper reaches of the Wei River, especially those areas where the tributaries of the south bank of the Wei River could actually avoid famine.

The blessing of Liu Bei's destiny was really terrible. There was nothing impossible to do if the landslide caused the Han River to change its route.

Moreover, people in the Qin and Han dynasties also had secret letters about the "Shanling Mausoleum Crack". After searching through ancient books, they all used "Shanling Mausoleum Crack" as synonymous with the death of the emperor.

Three hundred and eighty years ago, the mountains of Wudu County collapsed and the Han River was lost. It was the second year of Gaohou, that is, the second year after Emperor Hui's death. Empress Lu had just violated the White Horse Alliance and made Lu Chan and Lu Lu the king.

Later, when Zhu Xuhou, Zhou Bo and others eliminated Lu and established Emperor Wen of Han, they also said that "the Shao Emperor is not the son of Emperor Hui." Therefore, when many prophecies and divination scholars in the Han Dynasty interpreted this history, they interpreted the collapse of Wudu County in the second year of Gaohou as "Empress Gao established 'not the descendants of Liu's family, and usurped the Liu family's country'. Heaven was furious and warned Emperor Hui to be destroyed by the collapse of Wudu, and the Liu family was cut off at the same time."

This view was not found in the late Han Dynasty. As early as the end of the Western Han Dynasty, scholars such as Liu Xiang and Liu Xin went to Bangu Banzhao, who had studied the "Book of Han" in the early Eastern Han Dynasty, and had interpreted this aspect, so it is well-known to everyone and scholars.

Now Wudu has collapsed again, and it is a landslide that has been diverted to the Han River. Does it mean that there will be a "mountain collapse" this year, and will there be an emperor who will die and replace him?

In a nutshell, the situation this year is in short: in Hanzhong, all kinds of auspiciousness and auspiciousness are not at one end; in Guanzhong, all kinds of disasters and disagreements are not at one end.

...

Duan Wei was drinking a little sleepy when suddenly a confidant chief clerk walked into the account and whispered: "General, hold a few detailed works in the camp, but the leader said it was Liu Bei's envoy. If you want to see the general, we dare not be good at it. Do you want to..."

Duan Wei was still a little dazed, shocked, and subconsciously blurted out: "Envoy Liu Bei?! Why didn't he kill quickly and offer his head to the General of the Chariot! If we knew that we had privately met the enemy, how could I explain clearly!"

Chief Regiment: "Then..."

Duan Wei rubbed his eyes: "Wait! If he was beheaded and sent, the General of the Cavalry might not have doubted what the envoy told me before his death, and would still capture and escort him alive... It's not okay. If it's a deathbed, he bit me back before he died... Forget it, I'll take it first and I will examine it myself - by the way, no outsiders know that we have caught it, right?"

The chief clerk immediately gave him a reassurance: "I know the importance of the matter. Recently, the soldiers who patrol at night were absolutely confidant guards."

Duan Wei nodded. He was not afraid of seeing Liu Bei, but was afraid that Li Jue would know that he would meet him.

Soon, there was a man wearing an ordinary cloth clothes, but if you looked closely, you could tell that he was a scholar. He was under thirty years old and was tied up and pushed into the tent.

This person is a miscellaneous aide under Liu Bei's account, Fei Shi, who happened to be using this kind of work that is at risk of being killed.

This time, Liu Bei not only took Sun Qian and others to be responsible for logistics, but also brought several secretary-type civil servants to the army, namely Qin Mi and Fei Shi.

Qin Mi is better at speaking, but Qin Mi likes to quote classics and essays, so he can talk about other corrupt scholars, and lobbying vulgar warriors can easily offend people.

In comparison, Fei Shi spoke more straightforwardly, but to the point. In history, he was able to calm the bad temper of Ling Ao sage like Guan Yu, so he just happened to deal with people like Duan Wei.

Liu Bei is still very wise in his knowledge of people. After these aides followed him for a few years, he would know who was good at dealing with what occasions and how to make the best use of them.

Originally, if Li Su was asked to hire people, he would think that Li Hui, who was said to be the talented person of Ma Chao, would be better. But Li Hui is still too young now, less than 20 years old, and is still in charge of the Nanbarbarian trade in Yongchang County, Nanzhong, so Li Su did not question the king's personnel arrangements.

After Fei Shi entered the tent, he bowed with neither humility nor arrogantly: "The King of Hanzhong worked in Fei Shi under the curtain and met General Pingdong."

Fei Shi represents Liu Bei, so he can only say that he has seen him and cannot say that he "wedding" to avoid losing Liu Bei's reputation. At the same time, he is talking about "Southern Guardian" because he is the shogunate official of the King of Hanzhong, serving as a central officer, not a military officer.

Of course, Duan Wei didn't care about these etiquette details. He just looked up and down and asked coldly: "Our army is fighting with the King of Hanzhong. The King of Hanzhong is trying to rob, but you dare to come."

Fei Shi was slightly convinced: Duan Wei spoke seriously, but did not call him "Liu Bei", but recognized the title "King of Hanzhong", so there would be hope.

Fei Shi cleared his throat indecisively, and according to the general idea of ​​the right general before departure, he said, "I am here to express my respect to General Pingdong.

The general conspired with General An Ji (Dong Cheng) to intimidate the Li family defenders of Chang'an because of the decline of military power, and used his troops to intimidate the Li family defenders of Chang'an and protect the emperor. This was the merit of protecting the emperor. After the King of Hanzhong succeeded in serving the king, he would definitely reward him according to his merits, which was enough to eliminate the general's crime of being coerced by Li Jue and Guo Si."

Fei Shi was like saying a very confident and unquestionable contribution, and used the tone of "the final conclusion is made afterwards, and the reward of merits" to tell what Duan Wei had done.

But Duan Wei was frightened: Why didn’t I know that I’ve done this kind of thing!

Of course, protecting the emperor is indeed a great achievement and a good thing. But he has never done it before, nor has he conspired with Dong Cheng!

Duan Wei was paying attention to his conservatism again, and he could not bear it at this time. He immediately refuted: "A bunch of nonsense... I'm not saying that the protection of the horse is not good, why do you frame the accusation... No, why do you praise me for the protection of the horse? I don't know what Dong Cheng did at all. I didn't just hear that Yuan Shu had invaded, and they just dispatched troops to block Yuan Shu..."

Duan Wei spoke, his voice fell down, as if he had also figured out a bit of an abnormal smell.

When Fei Shi saw that there was a door, he hurriedly refused to give the other party time to think about it, so he pretended to be surprised and put pressure on him: "Oh? That must be because the general who stayed in Hongnong County had made his own decisions. It must be that General An Ji thought he was insufficient in his troops and had no strength to protect himself alone, so he contacted General Pingdong's troops who stayed in Hongnong County and participated in the grand ceremony.

General Anji presented his secret letter to our king, but he did not dare to specialize in his skills and was willing to give all his first achievements to the general. It would be a joyful congratulations."

"Dong Cheng sent Liu Bei a secret letter?!" This news was like thunder, and it hit Duan Wei's heart directly.

At this moment, although he would also doubt the authenticity of the incident itself, he was at least convinced that Liu Bei was very familiar with all the military dispatch trends in Chang'an and must have an internal response.

If Dong Cheng had not colluded with Liu Bei internally and externally, how could Liu Bei know how the Xiliang Army dispatched the surrounding Chang'an so quickly? How could he know which generals in Chang'an benefited from this dispatch?

This is simply incomprehensible.

After all, even if Duan Wei was thinking about it, he would never have thought that Li Ying was just a messenger asking for help from Li. He was intercepted and killed by Zhang Fei, and then was tortured and forced to confess to prisoners by Fa Zheng. He added some clues and sent a letter to Liu Bei. Then Li Su combined the historical prophet to push the aircraft from the beneficiary...

This big circle requires Zhang Fei, Fa Zheng and Li Su to perform very well, and it has exceeded Duan Wei's IQ imagination. It is not as easy to understand and accept the explanation that "Dong Cheng directly colluded with Liu Bei and sent a letter to Liu Bei".

The only uncertain thing in the end is "whether Dong Cheng had pulled him into the water in a secret letter and really gave him the potential first merit of protecting the driver", or "Dong Cheng just said a conspiracy, and someone around Liu Bei added fuel to the fire and pulled him in."

Duan Wei became nervous. When he thought of the dilemma he was about to face and the potential suspicion of Li Jue and Guo Si, Duan Wei felt a little sweating. This carelessness could be a disaster.

However, Liu Bei sent someone to talk about this, because he wanted to surrender him and turn against him in the last battle?

Speaking of this, it seems that there is no other possibility.

Fei Shi grasped the rhythm and waited for Duan Wei to slowly digest these logics. Seeing Duan Wei's expression gradually become more resolute and decisive, Fei Shi just made up a reassurance pill just right:

"General, don't doubt it! The King of Hanzhong promised that the general would be punished for his merits and would admit that he would protect his patriarch. There would be no repetition! If the general does not want to seize this opportunity, or if I can't get out of this camp today and go back to report my life, it would be fine.

Before the final battle tomorrow, the King of Hanzhong will send another person to shoot Dong Cheng's secret book into Li Jue's central army tent. The two results are the choice. The general is still the one who chooses. You have one more night to think than Li Jue."

This sentence is too lethal, and Duan Wei is so scared.

In addition, he did not collude with Li Jue and Guo Si, and was the one who had the least sins among the Xiliang army and had the opportunity to atone for his sins. In history, in the third year of Jian'an, Li Jue had been declared a traitor by Cao Cao, and killed Li Jue and helped the court take back Chang'an and Hongnong.

Duan Wei himself also felt that Liu Bei would not kill all the soldiers from the Western Liang army. He repeated Wang Yun's mistakes, and might even leave a sign to comfort him.

From this point of view, I still have great hope in the past anyway.

After swallowing hard, Duan Wei finally made up his mind: "Duan is willing to serve the king and protect the emperor and participate in the grand ceremony. However, Li Jue and Guo Si are still in a big way. I will lead 30,000 people in a hurry. Anyway, the troops may not be able to obey all of them for a while. I am afraid that they will not be able to exert much combat power in the chaos.

Li Jue and Guo Si have 140,000 people left, while the Hanzhong King has only 70,000 to 80,000 people. If the king cannot suppress Li Jue and Guo Si on the battlefield, it will be useless to rely on me alone."
Chapter completed!