Chapter 665: The Qishan Road or the Baoxie Valley

A huge map of Meng Shu hung in the war council hall.

On the map, the surroundings of Shu, especially the undulating range of mountain icons along the northern edge, made the officers in the White Tiger War Hall look rather grave.

Ever since the Western Han, when torrential rain and earthquakes in the upper Han River cut the river off, both entering and leaving Shu had become a difficult problem.

Before that, Shu could reach Tianshui directly from Hanzhong via the Western Han River, the upper course of the Han River.

Historically, whether it was Sima Cuo marching from Longyou through Shu to attack Chu, or Liu Bang's "openly repairing the plank roads while secretly marching through Chencang," both had used this golden waterway to transport supplies and troops.

But now, after the Western Han River had been forced to change course, it had become the upper reaches of the Jialing River.

The name Jialing River sounds pleasant, but it truly was no good waterway. Zhang Zhao vaguely remembered that before he transmigrated, the Jialing River had still not been navigable along its entire length, let alone now.

Compared with the Han River of the pre-Qin and early Han periods, it was simply the difference between heaven and earth.

At this time, attacking Shu generally offered five possible routes.

The easternmost one started from Mount Zhongnan south of Chang'an and went south by the Ziwu Road. The Ziwu Valley stratagem that Wei Yan had obsessed over in history referred to this very road.

However, during the Shu Han period this road had been nearly hellish in difficulty. Cao Zhen had marched through it, and his entire army had dropped dead of exhaustion without ever getting out of the valley.

This period was somewhat better, because due to climatic reasons, rainfall had gradually shifted southward, so the Ziwu Valley was not as muddy and prone to flash floods as in the Three Kingdoms era, and the difficulty of travel had lessened somewhat.

The most important reason was that three years earlier, the Shu army had marched through here. Not only had they marched through, it had not been a few thousand men, but a great army of more than twenty thousand.

Meng Chang had truly been infuriated by Zhang Zhao's bluffs and deceptions, and had taken the Ziwu Road to seize Guanzhong and stab our Sage Zhang in the back.

In Xingyuan Prefecture (Hanzhong) alone, Meng Chang had conscripted over a hundred thousand laborers, and in the end at least three or four thousand had died in the corvée labor of opening up the Ziwu Road.

But after the Shu army was badly defeated in Guanzhong by Liu Zaisheng, the panicked Shu troops had gone and destroyed the passage they had restored at such cost in money and lives.

After careful consideration, Zhang Zhao abandoned the idea of taking the Ziwu Road, because this road had only two mouths: the Zi Mouth south of Chang'an and the Wu Mouth in Yuanzhou (Yang County, Hanzhong).

In recent years Meng Shu had been constantly guarding against an attack by the Zhou state. Wu Mouth Pass had been repaired several times and garrisoned with more than a thousand elite Shu troops.

With such a natural stronghold, never mind a thousand-odd men, even five hundred could not be taken in a short time. When the time came, the Shu army could simply block Wu Mouth Pass, and starvation alone would drive the Zhou army off.

West of the Ziwu Road was the famous Tangluo Road, which from the end of the Han to the present had been an extremely important route in and out of Hanzhong.

Moreover, it was the shortest route, with relatively broad plank roads. Emperor Dezong of Tang and Emperor Xizong of Tang had both fled to Shu by the Tangluo Road.

The Tangluo Road was fast, true, but unfortunately it required crossing Mount Taibai, as well as fording the Luogu River, the Hei River, the Tang River, and other waterways great and small, placing very high demands on troop quality and army organization.

West of the Tangluo Road was the even more famous Baoxie Road, a route that was relatively easier for the Zhou army.

Because three years earlier, Zhang Zhao had used the cession of Qin and Feng prefectures as bait to make Meng Chang ship him three hundred thousand shi of grain, most of which had been transported via the Baoxie Road.

West of the Baoxie Road was the Chencang Road, which by this time was essentially abandoned and completely impassable.

These four roads were all ancient plank roads leading from Guanzhong to Hanzhong. As for the fifth, it went south from Tianshui Prefecture by the Qishan Road.

After the Western Han River changed course, although one could no longer go directly from Hanzhong to Tianshui, going from Tianshui to Xingzhou (Lueyang) was impossible upstream, but downstream one could still travel part of the way by water.

Therefore, Zhang Zhou currently had two choices: one was to attack Hanzhong via the Baoxie Road or the Tangluo Road; the other was to go south from Tianshui by the Qishan Road and strike straight at the Chengdu Plain.

Zhang Zhao sat in the seat of honor and first rejected the Ziwu Road plan.

Zhang Zhou now held half the realm, with a population five times that of Meng Shu, and the quality and numbers of its army gave it an overwhelming advantage. There was no need to take a route like the Ziwu Road, which had something of the nature of a gamble.

However, after rejecting the Ziwu Road plan, Zhang Zhao did not interfere further in the war council.

Because he did not intend to go on this Shu campaign himself. The difficulty of the Shu roads was no joke; once he went to Bashu, who knew how long it would be before he could get out of Sichuan.

And now that he was going to let Pei Yuan take the blame for him in suppressing Buddhism, Zhang Zhao naturally had to stay in the safer home base of Hexi and Longyou, so that at the slightest sign of trouble he could hurry out and put out the fire.

Yin Zhengqi, Yin Yaozi, coughed lightly. After all these years handling logistics and playing support everywhere, in this Shu campaign he had finally taken the seat of commander-in-chief.

In the White Tiger War Hall, besides Yin Yaozi, there were also Li Cunhui, Luo Yu'er, Fan Quan, She Deyi, Li Rong, Wu Xingde, He Fujin, Zhao Hui, Feng Hui, Gao Huaide, Wang Quanbin, Yue Saonu, Murong Yanzhao, Shi Kuangwei, and other officers.

Of course, the Sage Zhang's hawks and hounds, Zhang Zhaozhong, Zhang Zhaojiu, Wang Tongxin, and others, were also present.

Yin Zhengqi picked up a horsewhip, tapped the spot of Tianshui Prefecture on the map, and said to Zhang Zhao.

"Sage, going south from Tianshui Prefecture by the Qishan Road to Xingzhou, most of the territory in between is under our army's control, so it is suited for deploying a large force.

By contrast, on the Baoxie Road, the Tangluo Road, and the like, the plank roads have long fallen into disrepair and have been destroyed by the Shu army. If we take either of these two routes, we must repair the plank roads as we advance.

Not to mention the delays and wasted time, even after taking Xingyuan Prefecture (Hanzhong), we would still have to take the Jinniu Road through Jianmen Pass to reach Shu proper. Therefore, your servant suggests that the main force should go south from Qishan and strike straight at Shu proper."

Yin Zhengqi's strategy was exactly what Zhang Zhao had in mind: first make a great show of preparing to attack Xingyuan Prefecture, then send the main army out through Qishan.

But someone had a different opinion. Li Cunhui stood, saluted with folded hands, and said to Zhang Zhao and Yin Zhengqi: "Sage, Duke, your servant believes that sending the main force south by the Qishan Road is not the best choice.

Although the Shu army was severely beaten last time when it raided Guanzhong, its foundations have not yet been damaged.

Zhang Qianzhao has long been garrisoned in Lizhou (Guangyuan), knows the terrain well, and can make his soldiers fight to the death. He is no incompetent.

After Sun Hanshao occupied Fengxiang Prefecture last time, the Shu troops under him did not harm a single hair of the people, advanced and retreated with discipline, and in the end managed to withdraw intact under extremely disadvantageous conditions.

With him defending Xingyuan Prefecture, if we send only a diversionary force to attack, it will surely be like scratching an itch through a boot, unable to pin down the Shu army.

In that case, Sun Hanshao could calmly shift troops west from Xingyuan Prefecture. If our main force cannot take Xingzhou or Lizhou, and is then caught in a pincer by the Shu army, it would be far too dangerous."

Yin Zhengqi stroked his chin thoughtfully, showing not the slightest anger at Li Cunhui's challenge.

This was partly because Zhang Zhou's war councils had always welcomed open discussion, and partly because Yin Zhengqi was by nature open-minded and humble, able to take advice, and even willing to ask questions of his subordinates.

This was also why Zhang Zhao felt safe making him the Chief Director of the Shu Campaign Headquarters. In this Shu expedition army, there were all sorts of factions and characters, and only Yin Zhengqi, the Emperor's cousin, could listen to all sides and keep them in line.

"Sage, Duke, your humble general also believes the main force should be used to attack Xingyuan Prefecture."

She Deyi also stood. It seemed that after receiving Zhang Zhao's order to lead troops into Guanzhong, She Deyi had been thinking about it the whole way.

"Sage, please look. Although the plank roads of the Baoxie Road have long fallen into disrepair, they are not completely rotted away. In many places, only simple repairs are needed for a large army to pass.

Moreover, there is still a stretch of the Bao River that can accommodate boats. Midway along this stretch, here, there is also an old city from the Tang period. Our army can use it as a place to stockpile military supplies and provisions.

In this way, the five-hundred-li Baoxie Road is divided into two sections, and both advance and retreat are in our hands. It can be considered completely secure.

Therefore, we should send an imposing main force out through the Baoxie Road to attack Hanzhong, and then send an elite diversionary force south by the Qishan Road as support."

The place She Deyi spoke of was the site of the county seat of Liuba County in later Shaanxi Province. It was the only place among the four roads into Hanzhong with a large town, and indeed could serve as a temporary depot for supplies and provisions.

Yin Zhengqi slowly nodded, then looked at Zhang Zhao and said: "Your servant proposed sending the great army by the Qishan Road because in this Shu campaign, our Sacred Zhou is not committing the entire strength of the state.

If we take the Baoxie Road and fight a formal, open battle, I fear it will drag on for a long time. If we cannot take Shimen Pass at the mouth of the valley, we would have no choice but to return empty-handed.

But if we choose the Qishan Road, the great army can use the Western Han River, launch the fleet, and rush unexpectedly to Xingzhou. As long as we can take it, we will have a foothold."

"With the strength of our Great Zhou troops, we can defeat the Shu army repeatedly outside Xingzhou, killing many of Shu's brave and agile warriors. The whole of Shu will be terrified, and perhaps the Shu ruler Meng Chang will even follow the example of the Duke of Anle of Shu Han."

After Yin Zhengqi finished speaking, the officers in the White Tiger Staff Hall all began to voice their opinions. Those in favor of Yin Zhengqi's plan for a quick decisive battle were only slightly fewer than those in favor of Li Cunhui's cautious and steady approach.

Zhang Zhao considered it for a moment. Yin Zhengqi's calculations could not be said to be without merit — on the contrary, they were very sound, and this was also the reason Zhang Zhao supported acting this way.

Moreover, he vaguely remembered that when the Northern Song destroyed Shu, Wang Quanbin had marched south by the Qishan Road and conquered Shu in just a little over two months.

Wang Quanbin?

Wasn't Wang Quanbin right here in the staff hall?

So Zhang Zhao beckoned to Wang Quanbin. "Wang Erlang, you speak too — how should this campaign against Shu be fought?"

Ah! Wang Quanbin, who had been idling in a corner, was so startled he nearly cried out.

The Wang Quanbin of this time was not yet the famous minister and great general of the Northern Song, one of the Ten Brothers of the Righteous Society.

On the contrary, when Zhang Zhao entered the Eastern Capital, his family was so poor they were about to sell their ancestral armor just to make a living.

It was only because Zhang Zhao valued his merit in guarding Emperor Zhuangzong of Tang at Xingjiao Gate that he made an exception and promoted Wang Quanbin into the Hanshan Unit, and only then did the Wang family become prosperous.

But compared to the others in the staff hall, Wang Quanbin was still only a minor nobody, so he had never expected Zhang Zhao to call on him at this moment.

Still, Wang Quanbin was not entirely unprepared. As a military man, who had not mentally rehearsed countless times how to pacify the realm?

Especially great states like Meng Shu and the Southern Tang — those were certainly key subjects of attention.

"Your servant agrees with the opinions of the Duke of Shouchang and Lord Zhe." After a brief hesitation, Wang Quanbin spoke his true thoughts. Military men, after all, did not have so many twists and turns.

"After the Shu army's last crushing defeat, their imperial guards and the yabing guards of the various garrisons now number only a little over thirty thousand. Even with sudden conscription, they could at most raise another thirty thousand, and those would lack armor and crossbows and be poorly trained — useful only for show, not for actually affecting the course of battle.

Now our Great Zhou can raise at least fifty thousand troops in Guanzhong alone. With the strength of our army and a host of fifty thousand, why fear a mere thirty thousand Shu troops? We should launch a fierce attack with the main army along the Baoxie Road.

If we succeed, we can seize Xingyuan Prefecture and strip Shu of its gateway. If we fail, we can withdraw at leisure — how would the Shu army dare pursue?

As for the Qishan Road, the Western Han River can be followed downstream but not upstream. If we were to stall beneath the walls of Lizhou and then be attacked from both sides by the Shu army from Xingyuan Prefecture, once we could not hold, the losses would be great."

Zhang Zhao waved for Wang Quanbin to sit down, then fell silent. Why did even Wang Quanbin say this?

So Sage Zhang carefully thought back. Historically, the Northern Song's destruction of Meng Shu should have been about twenty years later.

At that time, in Meng Shu, Meng Chang favored a pack of sycophantic ministers who could only talk big, and he himself lived in boundless luxury — even his chamber pot was decorated with gems — having completely lost all ambition.

And in the army, the batch of veteran generals Meng Zhixiang had left to Meng Chang had all died, and the entire Shu army was in the same state of utter apathy as Meng Chang himself.

Even someone like Gao Yanchou, who in Zhang Zhou could at most have been a Chief Military Inspector, had become one of the rare talents among Shu's generals.

That was why Wang Quanbin's campaign against Shu had been so extraordinarily swift — in fifty days he had marched south from Tianshui along the Qishan Road, smashing through countless Shu forts and stockades.

Even the Sword Gate, a pass where one man could hold off ten thousand, had taken less than ten days. The Shu army basically collapsed and scattered after barely engaging.

Finally, after another ten days, Meng Chang surrendered outright without ever having seen so much as a shadow of the Song army.

But now it was different. Meng Chang was seven years younger than Zhang Zhao, only twenty-eight, still at a stage where he wanted to accomplish something.

At the same time, Meng Chang was actually quite capable. As long as he did not give up, Shu's civil officials and military officers would still have the heart to get things done.

On the military side, the men Meng Zhixiang had left to Meng Chang — Sun Hanshao, Zhang Qianzhao, Shi Yun, and others — and even Li Tinggui, that figure who made such a fool of himself in history, were all still usable.

The Meng Shu of this time was not, as in the Northern Song period, completely lying flat and incapable of fighting back.

And most importantly, the reason the Song army fought with such reckless abandon in Wang Quanbin's campaign against Shu, even assaulting a natural fortress like the Sword Gate, was that Zhao Kuangyin had declared when the army set out that he was willing to reward the soldiers with all the wealth of Shu.

Zhao Kuangyin did this because, although Shu was then known as the Land of Abundance, in reality, after the ancient Han River had become blocked, Shu's wealth was extremely difficult to transport out of the region.

Even if it was laboriously transported out, going by way of Hanzhong, at most one or two parts in ten would survive the journey to the Central Plains.

If it went by water, and the boats did not capsize passing through the Three Gorges of the Yangtze, perhaps three or four parts in ten would reach the Central Plains in the end.

If the boats did capsize, not only was there no profit, but the ships and boatmen were lost as well.

So Zhao Kuangyin simply used Shu's wealth to reward his soldiers, and the soldiers' fighting strength soared because they knew that once Shu was conquered, they could plunder at will.

That was why, historically, after Wang Quanbin entered Shu, he was completely unable to control his army. The Song troops plundered Shu on a massive scale, and in the end it sparked the great uprising of Quan Shixiong.

This was not Wang Quanbin's fault at all — or rather, Wang Quanbin could only bear secondary responsibility. The primary responsibility lay with Zhao the First.

From this matter, one can also see the breadth of Zhao the First's vision — it was only so much.

The wealth of Shu was certainly difficult to transport out, but that did not mean it could be squandered at will!

Because it had a better use: to arm the army with Shu's wealth, then march south and recover Nanzhong.

As long as Shu's wealth was in hand and there were crack troops, the Zangke barbarians could only submit, and the Kingdom of Dali would naturally be unable to resist.

Zhao Kuangyin letting his soldiers plunder Shu clearly showed he had never even considered recovering the lands of Nanzhong.

Therefore, Zhang Zhao could not use the plundering of Shu to boost morale.

First, it would destroy the fine discipline of the Zhang Zhou army. Once that sort of thing started, stopping it again would be difficult.

Second, Zhang Zhao still needed Shu's wealth to pacify the Kingdom of Dali. Zhao the First did not want Nanzhong, but Zhang Zhao needed it badly.

Having thought all this through, Zhang Zhao understood that his and Yin Zhengqi's plan — mainly the idea he had instilled in Yin Zhengqi of a surprise rapid strike by the main army along the Qishan Road — was somewhat too risky. The best plan was still the one favored by the majority of the generals.

Send the main army into Hanzhong by the Baoxie Road, openly and squarely arraying against the Shu army for battle, and then send elite troops south by the Qishan Road for a surprise attack.

Shu had only a little over thirty thousand crack troops. If most of them were drawn to Hanzhong, the elite force on the Qishan Road could play a major role.

If the main army took Hanzhong, the elite force on the Qishan Road would advance east and completely seize everything north of the Sword Gate. Meng Shu, having lost its natural defenses, could then have its destruction counted in days.

If the main force failed to take Hanzhong, the elite force on the Qishan Road, after capturing Xingzhou, would follow the method Wang Quanbin used in history: use lavish rewards to spur the troops, have the elite force cross mountains and take small paths, and appear directly on the Chengdu Plain, or block the retreat route of the Shu army in Hanzhong.

With Meng Chang's fragile little heart, plus Ma Zhaoyuan, Guo Rong, and Zhao Kuangyin already pressing on Jiangzhou (Chongqing) by water, Meng Chang would likely come out with bared flesh to surrender.

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