After the Battle of Anfeng, Ma Tong led his troops eastward, aiming directly at Liu'an City.

At this time, there were still more than 10,000 people from Meicheng and Chen Lan's troops stationed in Lu'an City.

The soldiers in the city had plenty of food and supplies, but Liu'an was too close to Shouchun after all, and there was no danger to defend it. Mei Cheng and Chen Lan knew they were invincible, so they fled south to Qianshan with their soldiers, horses, money and food.

Lei Bo.

Lei Bo was also a general under Yuan Shu. He was originally ordered to conquer Lu Kang, the prefect of Lujiang County. Later, Yuan Shu was defeated, Lei Bo's logistics were cut off, and he did not dare to surrender to Cao Ang, so he went to camp in Qianshan, plundered from all sides, and became a bandit.

Qianshan, also known as Qianshan or Tianzhu Mountain, is the famous Nanyue of the Han Dynasty. Here there are towering peaks, thousands of rocks and ravines, and the terrain is extremely complex.

Ma Tong chased him all the way to the Longshu area (which governs the southwest of Shucheng City, Anhui Province today), but he was a little afraid to enter.

From Longshu County to the south, there is a mountainous area.

Ma Tong was born in a humble family, so he developed a cautious and cautious character. He was also quite conservative in using troops and always put stability first. At this time, he only had a few thousand men in his hands, and Mei Cheng, Chen Lan and Lei Bo all

With nearly 20,000 troops in his army, he couldn't help but be careless.

Cao Ang received Ma Tong's battle report and sent Zhang Liao to lead the left-wing army and Xu Shang's Taishan Army to go south to support Ma Tong.

By the time Zhang Liao arrived, Ma Tong had only wiped out the bandits in Longshu and had not yet moved south.

Zhang Liao became angry when he learned about this.

Soldiers are very fast. You are moving slowly like a snail, but it is safe. You can defeat the thieves at any time, so you asked Ma Tong to advance quickly.

When Ma Tong saw Zhang Liao, he explained: "Our army has few soldiers and the road is dangerous. It is difficult to transport food and it is difficult to penetrate deep. If we are ambushed, we are afraid of a big rout."

"Since it is a dangerous road, it is nothing more than one man standing at the pass. Now one man is one, the brave one will advance."

Zhang Liao's attitude is very clear: when we meet on a narrow road, the brave will win.

If Zhang Liao did not have a high say in the past, Ma Tong and Xu Shang might not listen to him, but might push him back. However, after the Shouchun War, Zhang Liao's status rose sharply, and he was awarded the 20th-level honors in Xuzhou.

Being awarded the third-level honors, which is comparable to that of Zhongqing, is unique.

After Zhang Liao set the tone for the battle, three groups of more than 20,000 troops drove south to Anhui County (now Qianshan City, Anhui Province).

Anhui County was Lu Kang's territory, but Zhang Liao's tens of thousands of troops came to the city, and the county magistrate did not dare to refuse, so Wan County fell into the hands of Xuzhou's army.

Wan County is the hub of the southeast of Lujiang River. Since Zhang Liao took it, he was not prepared to return it.

Not far from Wan County to the north is Qianshan.

Qianshan is so steep that it is the most unique in the world. It has the reputation of "one peak of Tianzhu holding up the sun and moon, and a thousand caves locking clouds and thunder". Moreover, the main peak of Tianzhu Mountain is surrounded by mountains and cliffs on three sides. There is no way to go, except to the south.

One way is feasible.

After Zhang Liao stationed troops in Wan County, he asked the locals about the situation in Tianzhu Mountain.

This is the only road leading to Tianzhu Mountain, and it is also a rugged and difficult path, especially some narrow paths that can only accommodate one person, and there are road pillars blocking the road at any time.

It is no joke to say that one man can guard the gate, but ten thousand men cannot open it.

Zhang Liao knew that this battle was difficult to win easily, so he sent people to persuade him to surrender. If he could persuade a few people, everything would be fine.

It's a pity that Mei Cheng and others really didn't dare to trust the Xuzhou Army anymore. They would rather die than surrender, let alone surrender. In order to show his determination, Mei Cheng directly killed Zhang Liao's envoy.

This time Lei Bo, Mei Cheng and others had a very clear idea. Surrender was impossible and they could only hold on until the main force of the Xuzhou Army withdrew. Huainan would be their paradise.

When Zhang Liao learned that the envoy had been killed, he was furious and prepared to attack. At this moment, Ma Tong sent several people who knew the inside story of Qianshan.

It turns out that Qianshan is a southern mountain, and the imperial court has specially set up people to offer sacrifices. However, after the chaos in the world, no one could care about them anymore. This group of people had no source of livelihood and had to live on the mountain.

Later, Lei Bo occupied Tianzhu Mountain, but he didn't care about them. Even after the arrival of Chen Lan and Meicheng, he was worried about lack of food, so he just drove them down the mountain.

No matter how evil they are, they rarely attack priests, sorcerers, physiognomists, wizards, monks and the like.

These people practice the path of life and death and serve ghosts and gods. Even if others don't understand, they still respect and avoid them.

After these worshipers fled to Wan County, they lived in a ruined temple and begged for work. Later, they were found by Ma Tong. After some questioning, these people told them everything they knew about the situation in Tianzhu Mountain.

Lei Bo, Chen Lan, and Mei Cheng stationed their troops in the mountains. They did not set up camps in one place, but dispersed them.

There is no way around this. After all, Qianshan is a mountain range, and Tianzhu Mountain is steep and steep, and there is no large flat land for camping.

After summarizing and analyzing various situations, Zhang Liao and others learned that Lei Bo, as the host, had his troops stationed on Tianzhu Mountain. One of the main troops was stationed in Liangyaoping, with about a thousand people serving as Lei Bo's own soldiers;

The remaining parts are located on the surrounding peaks.

Moreover, Lei Bo himself felt that the environment on the mountain was poor, so he built a lot of construction beside a natural lake in the northeast as his residence.

To the north of this place is Fan Cliff and to the east is Raspberry Peak, both of which are dangerous places that are difficult to climb. In front of this place is Liangyao Ping, where thousands of troops are stationed, so Lei Bo only has a hundred or ten guards around him.

After all, this place is not big, and it has to accommodate servants and women, so there are naturally fewer guards.

Meicheng's troops guarded the Tianlong Pass and Tianxian Gorge area on the west side, while Chen Lan's troops were distributed on the hills to the west of Tianzhu Mountain.

Looking at the other party's arrangement, Zhang Liao and others were also a little worried.

There are hundreds of hills in Tianzhu Mountain. If we try to pull them out one by one, we may not be successful next year.

Although Zhang Liao is brave, he is not stupid.

However, it was impossible to persuade them to surrender. Since it was difficult to win by force, we had to use surprise troops to win.

So Zhang Liao searched for people inside and outside Wan County who knew the topography of Tianzhu Mountain, and soon found a doctor named Wang. He often collected medicine in the mountains and traveled to various mountains in Qianshan.

And because Tianzhu Mountain is a place of sacrifice and most outsiders are not allowed to enter and exit at will, the doctor surnamed Wang knows many unknown paths.

Zhang Liao was overjoyed and immediately promised this man that if he could lead Xuzhou's army to Tianzhu Mountain via a small road, he would be rewarded heavily.

The doctor's name was Wang Sheng, who was about thirty years old. He did not dare to disobey Zhang Liao's request, so he became the guide of the Xuzhou army.

Zhang Liao selected 500 soldiers from the army who were good at mountain climbing and prepared many ropes, hooks and other equipment.

At this time, Ma Tong took the initiative to ask for help and asked to lead the team to ascend first to make up for his previous omission of letting Mei Cheng go in Anfeng.
Chapter completed!