Nanzheng, Shu royal palace.

In the hall, the fragrance of wine is everywhere, the meat is fragrant, and the dragon table is filled with delicacies.

Goujian on the throne couldn't raise much appetite, so he could only barely take a few bites.

He couldn't move too violently, the arrow wound on his butt had just begun to heal, and every time he touched it, it would hurt so much that he grinned.

The pain, coupled with the current unfavorable situation, made Goujian feel sad most of the time, and he couldn't eat it.

In comparison, his appetite is pretty good today, and he can barely eat a few bites.

Because just a few days ago, Zhang Ren sent him a good news, claiming to repel a large-scale attack by the Wei army and annihilate up to five thousand invading Wei army.

This piece of information was like giving Gou Jian a shot of cardiotonics, igniting a glimmer of hope for survival again.

Although Goujian knew that Zhang Ren's battle report had an exaggeration, at most he could only kill and injure more than a thousand Wei troops.

However, at this critical moment of storm, even a small victory is enough to inspire people and make Goujian ignite the confidence to persevere.

"Zhang Song has sent an urgent report. Cao Cao has gathered 80,000 troops to move south. The vanguard has reached the northern entrance of Xiegu. In less than ten days, Cao Cao's army will be able to enter Hanzhong. As long as he holds for another ten days..." Gou Jian thought about it, his heart became wider and his appetite gradually improved. He couldn't help but pick up a few more bites of meat.

Goujian thought again that the ten thousand soldiers and horses that leaned against Yangping Pass seemed to be a little less. Hanzhong had at least 170,000 or 80,000, and forced recruitment could barely raise nearly 20,000 more soldiers and horses.

Goujian decided to issue a royal order immediately and immediately ordered the counties belonging to Hanzhong to recruit young and strong people to participate as soon as possible to enrich his military strength.

As for the forced recruitment of young and strong men in the army, it will seriously affect farming and cause great damage to agriculture. Goujian also doesn't care about these long-term impacts.

Moreover, his eagerness to recruit troops was not only to resist the pottery merchants, but also to prevent Cao Cao.

Otherwise, if Cao Cao suddenly turned against him, how could he deal with Cao Cao's 80,000 troops based on the 10,000 troops of Yangping Pass alone?

"Well, I don't believe it. I can't overcome this hurdle. Tao Shang, Cao Cao, I will let you two fight each other so that I can reap profits..."

The more Gou Jian thought about it, the more proud he became. A cold smile even rose up at the corner of his mouth, and his appetite became very good. He drank the wine one by one, and ate the meat continuously.

"Report—Yangpingguan urgent report—"

Just as Goujian picked up a piece of fat mutton and was about to stuff it into his mouth, a rapid scream rang out of the hall.

Gou Jian subconsciously stopped moving, holding the fat chopsticks, hanging in front of his mouth.

Looking up, a scout came in in panic, with a look of panic. He knelt down in front of the steps a few steps and shouted in a trembling voice: "Report to the king, Zhang Renfazheng, Li Yan and Yan Yan Wangping have led two thousand defeated soldiers to flee back to Nanzheng. Huang Quan Wangfu was killed by Wei general Han Xin, and Yangping Pass was lost!"

Tag!

Gou Jian's body trembled violently, and his chopsticks were so shocked that he couldn't hold them. The fat piece fell to the ground in response.

In an instant, Goujian held up the chopsticks and became rigid in place with an awkward movement.

Yangping Pass was actually lost!

Gou Jian was shocked in an instant as if he had lost his soul, his mind buzzed, and the blank space was almost shocked.

He couldn't understand why a few days ago, Zhang Ren sent him a good news, claiming to defeat the Wei army and asking him to be willing to let him go. Even if the Wei army had wings, he would not have thought of crossing Yangping Pass.

But why did the indestructible Yangping Pass suddenly fall after just a few days?

Moreover, he only fled back two thousand soldiers, and even important officials like Huang Quan and Wang Fu died under the command of Wei Generals.

"How did the pottery thief do it, why is this happening, and why is it like this?" Gou Jian, who woke up, suddenly roared out loudly, threw the chopsticks in his hand, and jumped up from the throne.

But it didn't matter that he jumped. He forgot that there was a wound on his butt, and immediately pulled the wound. With the heart-wrenching pain, a warm current suddenly overflowed from his butt, and a blood stain appeared on his pants.

Gou Jian screamed in pain, grinned and sat down again, and then sat down again with his butt, which hurt so much that he could only arch his body and lay half on the table.

The hall was immediately in panic.

At this time, personal soldiers hurried in and reported that Zhang Ren and several other defeated generals were waiting outside the hall to see each other.

Goujian didn't think too much, and endured the pain and waved his hand, and ordered them to pass them in.

A moment later, Zhang Ren, Fa Zheng, Li Yan, Yan Yan, and Wang Ping walked into the hall sadly and knelt in front of Goujian with a look of guilt.

"You guys say, why are you for Yangping Pass? Why!?" Gou Jian shouted at them in annoyance.

Everyone's eyes immediately focused on Zhang Ren. As the commander of the entire Yangping Pass army, he naturally had to bear the blame for the failure of the conflict.

Zhang Ren took a deep breath, and had to bow his hand, saying in a deep voice: "Report to the king, Yangpingguan was originally as solid as a golden soup, but the former pottery thieves sneaked into Dingjun Mountain. I divided five thousand troops and asked Yan Yan and Huang Quan to take back Dingjun Mountain. Unexpectedly, they were defeated by Wei general Han Xin. After the defeated troops, the Wei army took the opportunity to enter Yangpingguan from the east. The pottery thieves responded with their main force to attack from the west. I lost the battle and lost the Guancheng."

Although Zhang Ren's words were the truth, he was suspected of placing the blame on Yan Yan and the dead Huang Quan.

Sure enough, Gou Jian immediately stared at Yan Yan again and shouted: "Yan Yan, what's wrong with you? Does that Han Xin have three heads and six arms, why would you lose to him?"

Yan Yan would not take responsibility either, so he immediately said seriously: "Report to the King, Huang Quan is the main general in the battle of Dingjunshan. He was the ambushing plan of Han Xin, which eventually led to the loss of Yangping Pass. I was just following his order to defend Dongying. When I learned that Yangping Pass was in danger, I immediately led my army to rescue him, but I didn't expect it to be too late. I just met Zhang Ren and his men escaped. If it weren't for my response, I would probably be the only one who stood here to report to the King today."

Yan Yan told the truth, Gou Jian's anger suddenly turned to Zhang Ren and asked: "Zhang Ren, Zhang Ren, you are so confused. Huang Quan is just a civil servant. Why do you want to send him to lead the troops to fight?"

"King, I am..." Zhang Ren was silent, his face turned awkward and blushed, and he was speechless.

"King, now it's not the time to blame anyone. Tao Shang has already obtained Yangping Pass, and will definitely advance eastward and take Nanzheng directly. At this time, we should unite and fight against foreign enemies together." Fa Zheng advised.

At this point, Fa Zheng didn't care about putting in trouble, and it was rare to speak for Zhang Ren.

"Will you fight against foreign enemies together? How do you fight?" Gou Jian smiled bitterly, weak and exhausted: "You have defeated all 10,000 troops in Yangping Pass. At present, the total number of troops on my hand is only 5,000. There is no danger to defend west of Nanzheng. How can you resist the attack of the pottery thieves?"

In the lobby, there was a sudden silence like death, and everyone felt silent.

They already had a strong feeling in their hearts that the fate of the Great Shu Kingdom had come to an end, and now all they could do was wait for death.

Even if Yangping Pass is gone, what else can you resist? Will you rely on five thousand remaining soldiers to deal with more than 100,000 Wei troops on the field of the Hanzhong Plain?

I'm afraid even if Jiang Taigong descends to earth, he will not be able to do it.

Goujian sighed sadly, Fa Zheng was speechless, Zhang Ren and Li Yan were even silent, Wang Ping and Yan Yan also shook their heads and sighed.

A breath of death flowed wildly among the kings and ministers of Shu.

"Our Great Shu Kingdom is not yet at its peak!"

Suddenly, a loud shout sounded outside the hall gate, breaking the deadly silence.

Everyone moved their bodies and looked up and saw that the person who walked into the hall with his head held high was Zhang Song.

"Zhang...Zhang Yongnian?" Gou Jian shouted out his name tremblingly, and a glimmer of hope seemed to surge in his eyes for a moment.

Zhang Song bowed in front of the hall and said, "King, Cao Cao led 80,000 Wei troops and was about to arrive at the southern entrance of Xiegu. I am taking the lead and coming to report to the king."

The Qin army arrived!

Goujian's eyes lit up instantly, and he became excited again, but in a blink of an eye, he shook his head and sighed: "Yangping Pass has been lost. What's the use of Cao Cao's arrival at this time?"

"The king is so bad." Zhang Song hurriedly cheered him up. "Although the Wei thieves won Yangping Pass, their army won consecutive battles and their hearts must be arrogant. Moreover, Wei Gou fought for a long time, and his soldiers must be exhausted, while the Qin army was very physically strong. The victory or defeat of this war is still unknown."

After a few words, Gou Jian was so excited that he felt like he saw a glimmer of hope again.

At this moment, another personal army outside the hall hurried in and bowed: "Report to the king, the vanguard of the Wei army has advanced from Yangpingguan to the east and came to our Nanzheng. Chenggu City has surrendered without fighting. The Wei army can only kill the city of Nanzheng in only two days at most."

Rumble!

Another thunder thunder hit Goujian's head, which made him dizzy, shaking a few steps, and then fell on the throne.

It doesn't matter if this fall, it once again affected the injury on the butt, and it hurt so much that it grinned and jumped up again.

Goujian didn't care about the pain and asked with a bitter face: "How long will it take for Cao Cao's army to arrive in Nanzheng?"

Zhang Song calculated his fingers and replied: "Although Cao Cao's army is close to the mouth of Nangu, it has not arrived yet. The road to the sliver valley is difficult to move. If the Qin army wants to arrive in Nanzheng, it will probably take at least three days."

"Three days?" Gou Jian screamed in shock, "When Cao Cao arrived, I'm afraid Nan Zheng had been defeated by the pottery thieves, and I was already killed by the pottery thief. What's the use of him coming!"

In the lobby, he fell silent again, and even Zhang Song didn't know what to do.

In silence, Fa Zheng sighed and bowed, "King, at this point, I can only abandon Nanzheng City for a while and rush to the entrance of Xiegu to meet the Qin army."

Gou Jian's body was immediately shocked, his eyes were filled with shock, as if he could not believe that Fa Zheng would make such a proposal.

Zhang Ren said even more anxiously: "If the king abandons Nanzheng and goes to surrender to Cao Cao, if Cao Cao is worried and wants to swallow us, just by relying on the troops we have at hand, how can we resist?"

Gou Jian's brows were narrowly froze. It was obvious that the concerns Zhang Ren raised were exactly what he was concerned about.

Fa Zheng sighed again and said with a wry smile: "Of course I know the dangers, but General Zhang, tell me, do you have any other methods besides this method? Do you still have the confidence to defend Nanzheng City with five thousand soldiers as the king?"

"I--" Zhang Ren was choked and speechless.

The subtext of Fa Zheng is naturally that you can’t even defend Yangping Pass, let alone Nanzheng City. Staying in Nanzheng can only be a dead end.

In the lobby, there was silence again.

Goujian held his remaining body and stepped down from the hall, slowly taking a step forward, with a painful and unwilling expression flowing on his face, his eyes were complicated, and he was obviously engaged in a fierce ideological struggle.

After hesitating for a long time and weighing the pros and cons, Goujian had to grit his teeth and sigh helplessly: "Fa Xiao is right and right now, I have no choice but to go to meet Cao Cao and have a little chance of life. Staying here will only be a dead end!"

Goujian's intentions were settled. Although Zhang Ren had objections, he had no way to break the situation, so he had to shake his head and sigh, not daring to object anymore.

At that moment, Goujian ordered the abandonment of Nanzheng City and the remaining five thousand soldiers and horses to meet Cao Cao.
Chapter completed!