Vol 2 Chapter 2520: The three kingdoms of Shu, Sui and Qin were divided into Tang (Part 2)

Chapter 2520 The Three Kingdoms of Shu, Sui and Qin Divided into Tang (Part 2)

Chapter 2516: The Three Kingdoms of Shu, Sui, and Qin were divided into the Tang Dynasty (Part 2)

Li Bai once said in "The Road to Shu is Difficult": The road to Shu is as difficult as climbing to the sky.

And Yangping Pass is the first difficulty in entering Shu.

Different from ancient passes such as Hangu Pass and Wuguan, Yangping Pass is actually a new pass.

According to the Records of Emperor Wu of the Three Kingdoms, when Cao Cao attacked Zhang Lu in July of the 20th year of Jian'an (AD 215), Zhang Lu's original intention was to withdraw his troops, seal his warehouses, and surrender the city. However, Zhang Lu's younger brother Zhang Wei and his generals tried their best to be opposed to.

Under pressure, Zhang Lu ordered Zhang Wei and others to "build a city across the mountain for more than ten miles" and guard "Yangping Pass". Cao Cao was unable to conquer this area for a long time, so he led his troops to retreat.

This is the first time records of Yangping Pass appear in historical materials.

Zhang Lu had never been the governor of Hanzhong in this life. Naturally, Yangping Pass was not built by him, but by Li Xiaogong.

When Dong Zhuo died, Yang Jian was eager to take power. Once he had military and political power in his hands, the first person he targeted would be Li Xiaogong of Hanzhong.

Yang Jian was so powerful that Li Xiaogong did not dare to compete with him. He could only take advantage of the fact that Yang Jian was anxious to eliminate dissidents and had no time to care about anything else, so he built a new pass between the two mountains at the junction of Sanguan and Anyang, namely Pingyang Pass.

Pingyang Pass built by Li Xiaogong is surrounded by mountains on three sides and protected by two waters. It is surrounded by the Qinling Mountains to the north, Daba Mountain and Micang Mountain to the south, and the Jialing River passes by the town. It can be said that it is easy to defend but difficult to attack.

The Pingyang Pass that was first built was actually very crude. After all, Li Xiaogong did not have so many resources to build the pass. It was not until several expansions by Li Shimin that it reached its current scale.

Today, Pingyang Pass is about 2,000 meters wide from north to south and about 7,500 meters in circumference. There are three gates in the city, east, south and west, named Zhenjiang Gate, Dingjun Gate and Gonghan Gate respectively.

Looking at the majestic Yangping Pass, Zhang Song, the envoy of the Shu Kingdom, couldn't help being surprised.

Before coming to Yangping Pass, he thought that Yangping Pass was not even as good as Mianzhu Pass, let alone dangerous passes such as Jianmen Pass and Baishui Pass.

But after arriving, he realized that the danger of Yangping Pass was definitely among the top in Yizhou, which has many great passes.

According to Zhang Song's observation, among all the dangerous passes in Yizhou, only Jiange can stabilize Yangping Pass.

Now Zhang Song finally understands why Liu Yu is determined to win Yangping Pass.

To put it bluntly, this level will determine the ownership of Hanzhong.

Yangpingguan returns to Shu, and Hanzhong returns to Shu.

Yangpingguan returned to Qin, and Hanzhong returned to Qin.

At this thought, Zhang Song only felt the pressure on his body doubled. After all, for him, this mission must not fail. If it failed, he would have no shame in continuing to be loyal to Liu Yu and could only apologize with death.

 Zhang Song was a veteran of three dynasties in Shu. When Liu Yan was still alive, he was already in a high position. Later, when Liu Yu succeeded to the throne, he was also highly trusted.

 But with the rise of Liu Ji, Liu Yu's situation became more and more difficult. A large number of Yizhou aristocratic families betrayed Liu Yu and joined Liu Ji's command.

Although Zhang Song persisted until the last moment, he eventually fell to Liu Ji and betrayed Liu Yu.

I thought this matter would end here, but I didn't expect that Liu Yu actually won a beautiful victory at the last moment, turned over, and completely replaced Liu Ji.

 No one expected that it would become such a situation, and the situation of those who had betrayed Liu Yu before suddenly became embarrassing.

After all, no matter what reason they have, they are all people who have betrayed Guo Liuyu.

But now that King Liu Yuque has returned, how will he treat traitors like them?

 In response to this, all the rebel ministers, including Zhang Song, were extremely moved and uneasy.

Liu Yu was naturally extremely resentful towards these traitors. After all, he had not felt sorry for any of them, but even so, the other party still abandoned him. How could he not have any resentment in his heart?

 Originally Liu Yu was prepared to dismiss from office all those who betrayed him.

But if this is really done, the officialdom of the Shu Kingdom will definitely undergo a major change. Nearly one-half of the officials will be laid off. This will undoubtedly be a big earthquake for the Shu Kingdom, and he does not have that many people. officials to replace.

 In the end, Liu Yu listened to Su Qin's consolation and decided to let go of his resentment and choose to forgive these traitors. After all, he couldn't even protect himself in the first place.

 Liu Yu's generous forgiveness made traitors such as Zhang Song, Qiao Zhou, Gong Lu, Cheng Ji, Pang Xi, and Xu Jing so ashamed that they all vowed never to rebel again, otherwise they would not end well.

Liu Yu naturally wouldn't believe such a verbal oath. Since he can't do without these traitors for the time being, he can only use them even if he has a grudge in his heart. He simply has to face these people, and his attitude after rebelling and surrendering is not bad. good.

 Zhang Song was also one of the many Shu ministers who rebelled and surrendered. Now Liu Yu ordered him to be the envoy to Yangping Pass. He gave such an important task to him, a rebel. What a new appointment it was.

If this fails, the entire Shu Kingdom will be in turmoil. Then why does Zhang Song still return to Shu Kingdom?

Therefore, for Zhang Song, the best thing to do during this trip to Yangpingguan is to persuade Li Siyuan to surrender, and the second is to keep Li Siyuan neutral. But once Li Siyuan surrenders to Qin, he will only die.

 “I hope this trip can go smoothly.” Zhang Song sighed lightly.

But after announcing his intention and entering Yangping Pass, and before entering the palace in front of Li Siyuan, Zhang Song's heart skipped a beat.

 There was a large cauldron placed in front of the main hall. The bottom of the cauldron was filled with firewood, and the inside of the cauldron was filled with boiling oil.

“Is Li Siyuan just showing off his power? Or has he turned to Da Qin and is preparing to cook me alive?”

Zhang Song thought with some guilt in his heart, but after meeting, Li Siyuan's first words made him feel relieved.

“Did the envoy of Shu come here to die?” Li Siyuan said coldly.

Zhang Song felt relieved and did not kill him immediately, which meant that Li Siyuan had not yet fallen to Da Qin.

"No, I'm here this time to discuss cooperation with the general. The two families will continue to fight against the Qin Dynasty together." Zhang Song said calmly.

"hehe."

Li Siyuan sneered and said in a cold voice: "Shu and Tang Dynasty were originally allies, and they have been on good terms with each other for many years. When Liu Ji dominated Yizhou, Liu Yu's power declined. It was my lord who sent troops to Yizhou to relieve the difficulties, and Liu Yu was born today. of turning over.

 But how did Liu Yu repay me, Datang? "

 “Uh, this…”

Even though Zhang Song was very eloquent, he was also shocked by Li Siyuan's words. For a moment, he didn't know how to refute.

 After all, it is true that Li Shimin gave Liu Yu timely help, but after Li Shimin's death, Liu Yu added insult to injury during the most difficult time of the Tang Dynasty.

What Liu Yu did was indeed unethical, but it was also true. After all, there was no friendship between countries, only interests.

“You should have seen the big cauldron outside the palace when you came.

 Liu Yu was ungrateful and broke the covenant. Since Mr. Liu came here on behalf of Liu Yu, if he cannot give me an explanation, I would blame him for being ruthless. "Li Siyuan said coldly.

Zhang Song's heart suddenly shivered when he heard this, and then he tactfully excused Liu Yu, and blamed the reason for Liu Yu's tearing up the alliance on the instability of people's hearts in Li Tang. It was impossible to defend Hanzhong under Qin's offensive, and the Shu Kingdom won However, Hanzhong was forced to do so in order to improve the northern defense line of Yizhou and to resist the overall situation of Qin.

 Zhang Song's rhetoric, not to mention convincing Li Siyuan, even the generals present could not accept it, and they all clamored to throw Zhang Song into the cauldron.

Li Siyuan stared at Zhang Song coldly and said indifferently: "It seems that Mr. Zhang Song's explanation cannot satisfy us. There is no need for us to continue talking. Someone, come and send Mr. Zhang Song to the cauldron."

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　)

 Two big men from Guanxi stepped forward, picked up Zhang Song and walked out of the palace, as if they were going to throw him into the cauldron and blow him up alive.

Zhang Song deliberately didn't speak, just to see Li Siyuan's reaction, but until he was carried out of the hall, Li Siyuan didn't react at all.

This made Zhang Song realize that although Li Siyuan had not yet surrendered to the Qin Dynasty, he also had the intention to surrender to the Qin Dynasty.

If he had remained silent, he would have been cooked alive and used as a certificate of return to Qin.

“Wait a minute, I have something else to say. After the general hears this, it won’t be too late to kill me.” Zhang Song struggled and shouted.

 【Ding dong, Zhang Song’s skill ‘Skilled Tongue’ effect 1 is activated;

 Smooth tongue: A eloquent tongue, mostly possessed by people with outstanding eloquence, and different people have different effects.

 Effect 1. After this strategy is activated, it can reduce the opponent's intelligence by 1 to 3 points through verbal stimulation and depending on the opponent's intelligence.

 Effect 2, if you hit the opponent's sore spot, it may also reduce the opponent's command and force by 1 to 2 points.

  Li Siyuan: Commander 98 (+1), Force 102 (+4), Intelligence 94 (+2), Politics 98 (+1), Charisma 95;

The current ‘Smart Tongue’ effect is 1, which reduces Li Siyuan’s intelligence by 2 points. The current intelligence of Li Siyuan drops to 92;】

When Li Siyuan heard this, his heart moved inexplicably, and he immediately ordered someone to carry Zhang Song back.

Zhang Song, who had temporarily saved his life, was shocked into a cold sweat. He knew that the next negotiation was the most critical.

If the bargaining chip provided by the Shu Kingdom does not satisfy Li Siyuan, he may really return to Qin.

Zhang Song, who was sweating profusely from the boiling oil, wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "General Li Siyuan, can we talk alone?"

 Obviously it was not convenient for him to say what he said next in public.

Li Siyuan felt something in his heart. After thinking about it for a while, he took Zhang Song to the back hall.

 “What do you want to say?” Li Siyuan said calmly.

Zhang Song cupped his hands and said: "As long as the general can surrender and return to the Han Dynasty, our lord is willing to go to the emperor and make the general the King of Longxi, and the fiefdom is Longxi County, and retain the king's military power. Those Tang troops who are unwilling to surrender will also return to the king." Under the account."

Hearing this, Li Siyuan's pupils shrank suddenly. He knew the importance of Yangping Pass, but he was still shocked by Liu Yu's generosity.

 Combine him as king and retain military power?

 No wonder Zhang Song talked about cooperation rather than persuading surrender. Liu Yu wanted to retain his independence and enfeoff him as the Shu Kingdom. No, it was the first vassal state of the Southern Han Dynasty.

To be honest, Li Siyuan was very excited at the moment. The ambition that had been hidden by him was now aroused by Liu Yu.

Although Li Siyuan was moved, he did not agree directly. Instead, he said calmly: "Liu Yu has already betrayed his trust once. Do you think this general will believe the promise he made?"

Zhang Song was overjoyed. Li Siyuan did not refuse directly, which meant that he was already interested. However, the two sides did not have the basis for a new appointment.

"The military advisor is right. Li Siyuan is indeed ambitious, but he has been suppressed by Li Shimin and never dared to show it." Zhang Song thought to himself.

Su Qin was very accurate in judging people. He not only saw that Li Siyuan was ambitious, but also saw that Li Keyong, Yu Wentai, Ji Fa and others were ambitious. However, Li Shimin was around before, so these people did not dare to show their ambition.

From this it can be seen that Li Shimin is indeed much stronger than Dong Zhuo. Not only can he suppress his careerists, but he can also drive them. Dong Zhuo, on the other hand, cannot suppress Yang Jian and Li Yuan.

"General, there is no need to be suspicious. My lord also knows that he can't stand up to Li Tang this time, so he wants to make up for his debt to Li Tang with the general."

With that said, Zhang Song actually took out an imperial edict from his sleeve, opened his mouth and pointed at the seal printed on it, and said, "This should be enough to prove my lord's sincerity."

Li Siyuan quickly took it and began to read it at a glance. After reading it, he began to close his eyes and meditate, weighing the pros and cons.

 Liu Yu is indeed sincere this time.

Li Siyuan did not have many factions in his hands. In addition to tens of thousands of defenders, there was only one Yangping Pass, among which Yangping Pass was the most valuable.

If it weren't for the time when the Qin army was pressing down on the border and Liu Yu failed to completely capture Hanzhong, Yangping Pass alone would obviously not be worth Liu Yu's high price.