(Thanks to Xiaomeng, Xiaoben, Yandu and Brother Mo Yan for the reward)
"Meng Qi, Xuande is so kind to you, why don't you have a drink."
Zhang Lu knew that Ma Chao was wary of Liu Bei, and he didn't want the atmosphere to become less harmonious, so he came to Liu Bei's rescue with a half-command, half-persuasion tone.
Ma Chao paused for a moment, stepped forward, took the wooden cup from Liu Bei's hand, raised his head and drank it all in one gulp, then put the wooden cup back into Liu Bei's hand without saying a word.
Looking at the empty wooden cup, Liu Bei smiled and said: "General Meng Qi is indeed a boy from the north, he is very generous."
The corners of Ma Chao's mouth trembled slightly, but he still said nothing, just stared at Liu Bei indifferently.
That blade-like gaze made Liu Bei feel uncomfortable as if there was a gleam on his back.
Liu Bei could only avoid Ma Chao's gaze, returned to his seat, poured himself another glass, raised it to Zhang Lu and said: "Master Zhang is so kind and righteous that he is willing to accept Bei, a homeless and destitute man. This really makes Bei deeply touched. I¡¯ll thank you Master for a glass of wine.¡±
"From now on, we are our own family, why do we need to say such kind words." Zhang Lu raised his glass and drank it down.
The more the two chatted, the more they became more and more congenial. The atmosphere of the banquet became more and more harmonious. The previous unhappiness caused by Ma Chao's cold attitude seemed to have disappeared quickly.
After three rounds of drinking, both Liu Bei and Zhang Lu were slightly drunk.
At this time, Fa Zheng on the side said: "Master, didn't you say you have something to donate to Master Zhang?"
After this reminder, the drunken Liu Bei suddenly remembered and hurriedly said: "When Bei retreated to Jiameng, he ordered someone to draw a map of Xichuan, which detailed the key points of the grain depots in each pass. Now it is just right. Dedicated to Master Zhang."
Although both the east and west Sichuan belong to Yizhou, Zhang Lu separatist Hanzhong and have always been in a state of hostility with the Liu family. They are very guarded against each other. Even Zhang Lu, a neighbor, only has a rough knowledge of Xichuan's various military secrets.
Now Liu Bei presented this detailed picture of Xichuan. Zhang Lu suddenly felt like he had found a treasure and said excitedly: "Xuande has this picture, please take it out quickly and let me have a look."
"Come here, bring up the picture."
Liu Bei shouted loudly, and a soldier entered outside the tent, holding a scroll of silk pictures in his hand.
The Hanzhong warriors in the tent stopped the soldier and prevented him from taking another step forward.
Liu Bei knew that Zhang Lu was on guard, so he winked at Fazheng.
Fa Zheng immediately stood up, took the silk map from the hands of his soldiers, placed it on the desk in front of Liu Zhang, and slowly unfolded the huge map in person.
"When I was preparing to enter Shu, I recorded here all the key points I saw in the places I passed, especially the two counties of Zitong and Brazil, which are particularly detailed."
Liu Bei said that before joining the case, he looked like he was ready to explain and give Liu Zhang some advice.
Zhang Lu became more and more interested, and he opened his eyes to take a closer look.
Fazheng took his time and slowly spread out the map bit by bit.
When the last map was unfolded, something suddenly appeared.
A short sword.
When the gleaming head of the handle appeared under his eyes without any warning, Liu Zhang's expression was instantly frightened, and four words instinctively emerged in his mind:
The picture shows the poor dagger
Before he could react, Fa Zheng fiercely picked up his dagger and stabbed Liu Zhang with a low roar.
Liu Zhang, who was born as a scholar, was frightened for a moment and was at a loss what to do, while Ma Chao and Zhang Wei beside him reacted quickly. They knew there was a trick at the sight of the dagger. Amidst the metallic buzzing sound, the swords on his waist had already been activated. Unsheath.
"Brother, be careful."
Zhang Wei exclaimed as a warning, pushed Liu Zhang back with his right hand, and stabbed Liu Zhang squarely with his left hand.
At the same time, Ma Chao's sword danced out at the same time.
Lightning flashes.
Poof~~
Blood splattered, and the map of Nuo Da was instantly covered with blood stains.
A long object fell on the table with a "snap".
Zhang Lu¡¯s expression was extremely horrified, as if he had seen the most incredible and terrifying thing in the world.
The object that fell on the table turned out to be Zhang Wei¡¯s severed arm
"ah¡ª¡ª"
Amid the screams, Zhang Wei fell backwards while holding his broken arm.
At this time, Fazheng was originally stabbing Liu Zhang with his dagger, but it turned around halfway.
With a burst of tearing sounds of bones and flesh, the extremely sharp sword edge easily pierced Zhang Wei's chest.
"Meng Qi, Xuande, you"
The shocking incident happened so quickly. In the blink of an eye, his younger brother Zhang Wei was lying in a pool of blood, and Zhang Lu's brain was still numb.
With a flash of the bloody sword edge, the cold blade was already placed on Zhang Lu's neck. Ma Chao's mouth curled up with a ferocious and weird smile.
Liu Bei, who was directly opposite him, had the same chilling sneer on his gray face.
An instant later, the surrounding Hanzhong warriors were shocked. Just as they were about to rush to protect Zhang Lu, Ma Chao shouted loudly: "Whoever dares to make a move, I will have Zhang Lu's head thrown to the ground."
The lord was captured. Under such a threat, all the troops were afraid to act rashly.
At this time, Zhang Lucai finally understood everything. In anger, his face turned pale and his whole body was shaking with anger.
"It turns out that you guys have planned this for a long time, Ma Mengqi, I treat you well, why did you betray me?" Zhang Lu yelled at Ma Chao with grief and anger.
Ma Chao sneered: "After I, Ma Chao, subjugated General Bo, how can I be willing to let you be driven away by a demon? You don't want to take care of yourself. Are you worthy?"
"you you¡ª¡ª"
Zhang Lu was so angry that his tongue was tied and he didn't know how to fight back.
"At the beginning, I advised you to take advantage of Cao Cao's eastward expedition to mobilize all the troops in Hanzhong to seize Guanlong from the north, but you just refused, and you will miss this great opportunity. I, Ma Chaoruo, will commit myself to your service again. When can I avenge my Ma family¡¯s blood feud to Cao Cao?¡±
After Ma Chao counted Zhang Lu's "crimes", it seemed that the resentment accumulated in his heart was finally vented, and he felt indescribable joy all over his body.
Zhang Lu had no choice but to turn his gaze to Liu Bei and said in a trembling voice: "Xuande, I accept you with good intentions, why do you want to join in with this villain and harm me together?"
¡°Alas~~¡±
Liu Bei's gloomy sneer faded, replaced by a helpless expression. He shook his head and sighed: "Gongqi, don't blame Meng Qi, and don't blame me. Everything we do is to revive the Han Dynasty. To destroy Cao's thieves, we have to do it as a last resort."
¡°You, you guys~~¡±
When the situation developed to this point, Zhang Lu was so angry that he didn't know why.
At this time, Fazheng had wiped the dagger clean on Zhang Wei's body, and said to Liu Bei with a smile: "Lord, look, I have said before that everything is under my control."
It turns out that this scene of defecting to Zhang Lu was a trap set by Zhuge Liang and Fazheng from beginning to end.
Earlier, after Zhuge Liang heard that Liu Feng had entered Shu, he predicted that things in Yizhou might develop to the point where they are today. Therefore, from that time on, Zhuge Liang began to make plans for Hanzhong.
At that time, Zhuge Liang heard that Zhang Lu had a counselor named Yang Song. This man was from a prominent Hanzhong family and was highly relied upon by Zhang Lu. And most importantly, this man was extremely greedy for money.
So, Zhuge Liang sent people to Nanzheng secretly, and secretly befriended this man with a huge amount of wealth.
Yang Song took the money and said a lot of good things for Liu Bei. When Zhang Lu planned to send all his troops to attack Liu Bei's rear, Yang Song tried to dissuade him.
Not long ago, after the fall of Chengdu, Zhuge Liang sent people to send a large amount of money to Yang Song, claiming that Uncle Liu Huang wanted to come to Zhang Lu and asked Yang Song to speak kindly to him.
" Yang Song didn't know that Liu Bei planned to annex Hanzhong, so he thought that if Liu Bei came to join him, he would benefit, and Zhang Lu would be more powerful. Why not get the best of both worlds?
Therefore, at that time, Yang Song tried his best to persuade Zhang Lu to welcome Liu Bei to Hanzhong, but he did not expect that Ma Chao would suddenly come out to oppose it, which almost ruined his good deeds.
However, Yang Song would never have thought that Ma Chao, who was hostile to Liu Bei, was originally a pawn laid out by Liu Bei.
Ma Chao is from Fufeng in Guanzhong, and he is from the same hometown as Fa Zheng. When Zhuge Liang persuaded Liu Bei to take Hanzhong, Fa Zheng thought of using Ma Chao's relationship to cooperate internally and externally.
Fazheng guessed that with Ma Chao's ambition, he would not be willing to commit himself to Zhang Lu, so he secretly contacted him in the name of a fellow countryman and revealed to him Liu Bei's intention to seize Hanzhong. Ma Chao immediately hit it off.
Because Ma Chao was newly subordinated to Zhang Lu, he was afraid that Zhang Lu would be suspicious, so he deliberately went against Yang Song and pretended to be wary of Liu Bei.
In this way, Zhang Lu's confidence in him was enhanced, and he could follow Zhang Lu out of Yangping Pass to meet Liu Bei on the grounds of protecting Zhang Lu.
The joint performance inside and outside successfully blinded Zhang Lu. He never dreamed that Ma Chao, who was hostile to Liu Bei and wanted to protect himself, had already colluded with Liu Bei.
Immediately kill Zhang Wei and capture Zhang Luzhi??, Liu Bei summoned one hundred of his own soldiers and guarded Zhang Lu closely.
He immediately sent people south and ordered Zhuge Liang, Xu Shu and others to lead the army to march towards Hanzhong immediately. At the same time, Liu Bei, together with Ma Chao and Fazheng, led the surrendered three thousand troops and rushed to Yangping Pass at starry night to seize this key gate leading to Hanzhong.
Yang Ping Pass originally had Yang Bai's 10,000 troops, but if he were to attack by force, even a million troops might not be able to attack.
But now that Yang Bai saw that the visitors were three thousand Hanzhong soldiers who had just left the customs, and Zhang Lu was among them, he did not take any precautions and let them in easily.
Liu Bei then summoned Yang Bai in the name of Zhang Lu, captured him, and captured all the troops at Yangping Pass.
Things happened suddenly, and when the news of Zhang Lu¡¯s capture came back to Nanzheng, it was already three days later.
When the news spread, Dongchuan was in an uproar and panic.
Because Zhang Lu was captured, all civil and military officials were leaderless and did not know what to do.
While the civil and military officials in Nanzheng were still chatting like ants on a hot pot, Liu Bei issued a message in the name of Zhang Lu, ordering officials at all levels to follow their duties and listen to Liu Bei's orders. ¡¯s command was transferred to a new master.
Immediately afterwards, the 20,000 soldiers and horses commanded by Zhuge Liang and others arrived at Yangping Pass day and night. Liu Bei then took Zhang Lu hostage and led tens of thousands of troops toward Nanzheng, the Hanzhong administrative center.
Yangping was lost and Zhang Lu was held hostage again. Seeing that the situation was over, the officials in Hanzhong counties all surrendered. Liu Bei's army passed by without encountering almost any resistance.
Two days later, Liu Bei's army marched into Nanzheng. .