Chapter 191

Zhao Chi had already lost one battle.

The next person to lead the troops must be more capable than Zhao Chi, and must also be loyal, ensuring he would not be incited by Zhang Lu.

"My lord, how about Yan Yan, the Administrator of Jiangzhou?"

"This person is resolute and steady and has a reputation in the province."

"If he leads the troops, even if he cannot defeat the rice thieves in one battle, presumably he can stabilize the situation at the front in time."

Zhang Song thought about it and decided to recommend Yan Yan to Liu Yan.

"Yan Yan?"

"Having him lead the troops is indeed acceptable."

"Sigh..."

"If this old man were ten years younger, why would I be so troubled!"

Liu Yan sighed.

His eyes were filled with desolation.

He was now just like that broken snake spear.

He had already entered his twilight years.

Plus all the illnesses.

Liu Yan felt that perhaps his time was running out.

But what he hoped for was to be able to solve the big trouble of Zhang Lu during his lifetime.

If not.

His sons Liu Mao and Liu Zhang, neither of them was capable.

Relying on them to kill Zhang Lu was likely harder than ascending to heaven.

Looking at the desolate Liu Yan.

Zhang Song lowered his eyes, not knowing what he was thinking.

The problems Liu Yan could see, a person as intelligent as Zhang Song could naturally see most of them.

After Liu Yan passed away, I'm afraid the safety of Yizhou could not be guaranteed.

For Zhang Song, it was naturally impossible to be tied to Liu Yan, Liu Mao, Liu Zhang, and others.

He needed to consider his own future and the safety of his family behind him.

Therefore.

Zhang Song believed that after Liu Yan passed away, he should go find a big, thick leg to rely on!

And now.

In the Guanzhong region, besides Liu Yan, this aging warlord.

The only big, thick leg was...

Thinking of this.

A different kind of light gradually appeared in Zhang Song's eyes.

"This wretch Zhang Lu defeated Zhao Chi under Liu Yan?"

"And beheaded more than five thousand?"

"This kid is capable; I didn't expect him to be so brave and resourceful."

In the Chancellor's residence.

Old Dong looked at the battle report sent from Hanzhong and praised.

However, just as the words fell.

Li Ru, who was beside Old Dong, spoke:

"My lord, rather than saying this Zhang Lu is amazing."

"It is better to say that the special terrain of Hanzhong gave him the opportunity to defeat Zhao Chi."

"The narrow plank road made it impossible for Liu Yan's side, which had superior forces, to deploy, and they could only passively accept Zhang Lu's counterattack."

Old Dong nodded.

This wretch Liu Yan, when he occupied Yizhou, what he plotted for was Yizhou's ease of defense and difficulty of attack.

The terrain of Hanzhong had the same effect as Yizhou.

If Liu Yan occupied both Yizhou and Hanzhong at the same time, he would be able to advance to attack and retreat to defend.

But now.

Zhang Lu declared independence in Hanzhong, which was equivalent to the door of Yizhou being directly removed.

The difficulty coefficient for Liu Yan to take down Hanzhong was not generally high.

"By the way, how is the road construction of the Baoxie Road and Xiegu Road going?"

Dong Zhuo asked Li Ru.

The latter smiled slightly and replied:

"Thanks to Linzhi's brilliant plan, we sent Jia Xu to Hanzhong to deceive Zhang Lu and make him agree to the road construction."

"Otherwise, if our army wanted to invade Hanzhong in the near future, I'm afraid the difficulty would not be lower than Liu Yan's."

"Now, more than half of the road to Hanzhong has been built."

"Even if Zhang Lu reacts that something is wrong now, it is already too late!"

As the saying goes.

If you want to get rich, build roads first.

By the same token.

If you want to take down Hanzhong.

You must also build roads first.

Otherwise.

With the broken road conditions of Xiegu Road and Baoxie Road.

Never mind that Dong Zhuo had three hundred thousand troops, even if he had six hundred thousand, it would be very difficult to exert one-tenth of his power.

The southern expeditions of Cao Zhen and Cao Shuang in history have fully proven the importance of road construction.

Cao Zhen, as the highest commander of the western front under the Cao Wei regime, once thwarted Zhuge Liang's two northern expeditions.

But even he, when leading one hundred thousand Wei troops to invade Hanzhong, had to spend two months on the broken road of Baoxie Road.

Plus the continuous rainy weather, Cao Zhen's southern expedition plan was forced to end early.

Not long after returning to Luoyang, he died of illness due to depression.

Cao Shuang's luck was better than Cao Zhen's; he didn't encounter continuous heavy rain during his southern expedition.

However.

As soon as he led his army out of Xiegu Road, he was immediately blocked by the Hanzhong Administrator of the Shu Kingdom, Wang Ping.

One hundred thousand troops suffered losses of two or thirty thousand!

This caused Cao Shuang to have no prestige in the military from then on.

This also indirectly laid a certain foreshadowing for the Gaopingling Incident later.

It can be seen from this.

Road construction is really too important!

The road from Chang'an to Hanzhong, if not repaired, the army simply cannot pass through.

"By the way, this wretch Liu Yan has not established a successor until now."

"If he suddenly passes away, Yizhou will definitely be in chaos."

Dong Zhuo put down the battle report in his hand, closed his eyes slightly, and said.

"My lord, it's not that Liu Yan doesn't want to establish a successor, but he has no one to establish!"

Li Ru said with a smile.

In reality, Liu Yan had four sons in total.

But what was very awkward was.

The eldest son and the second son were both hostages in Luoyang.

After Old Dong moved the capital to Chang'an, the two followed him to Chang'an.

With the terrible diplomatic relationship between Old Dong and Liu Yan now, how could he let Liu Yan's two sons go back for no reason?