This army of Shu was formed by the surrendered troops of the Later Liang and Qi Kingdom. The elite troops of the Later Tang Dynasty, such as Hedong, Wei Bo, did not participate in the war. The southeastern army that conquered Shu this time was not the Later Tang army. At first, when Gao Jixing visited Li Cunxu, he suggested attacking Former Shu. Li Cunxu followed the situation and ordered Gao Jixing to lead his troops to the west, attack Kui, Zhong, and Wan Sanzhou, and restrain the actions of the Shu army. In order to increase his enthusiasm, Li Cunxu also said: As long as he was captured, these three states would be under the jurisdiction of Jingnan. Gao Jixing's army had no more than 30,000 people, and could only serve as a foil.

The total force of the Former Shu at that time was about 200,000. This number was twice that of the Later Tang army attacking Shu, and it seemed that the advantage was on the Shu army. However, these troops were scattered in the various vassal states of the Former Shu. Once they were spread out, the force in each area was not too much. During the war, the Shu army had never gained the advantage of even one confrontation.

On September 18, the gathered army of Later Tang attacking Shu left the capital Luoyang. The vanguard commanded by Li Shaochen had 10,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry, and set out first. The main force commanded by Guo Chongtao immediately followed up, and the Tang army officially led the army westward.

A few days after the Tang army was dispatched, the former Emperor Wang Yan of Shu also led his troops north. He was in response to the request of the Tianxiong Jiedushi Wang Chengxiu, and went to Qinzhou, an important Shu town near the border of Tang and Shu. When Wang Yan and his army arrived in Hanzhou, they received an urgent report from the Wuxing Jiedushi Wang Chengjie, who was in front of him, saying that they had received information. The Later Tang army rushed to the west and was about to invade! Wang Yan didn't care, laughed and squirted out a sentence: "Good here, I'm about to show the power of Great Shu to the world!"

After receiving the alarm from Wang Chengjie, Wang Yan continued to go north and wrote poems with Han Zhao, Wang Renyu and others to express their aspirations and express their passion. However, the feeling of happiness was short-lived. Soon, the surging army of the Later Tang Dynasty tore up the ideals of the three poets with reality.

In early October, the army of the Later Tang Dynasty passed Fengxiang and arrived at Baoji. The Qinling Mountains were in sight. When we moved forward, we passed Dasan Pass and entered the Shu Road, which was called "difficult to reach the blue sky".

At this time, under Guo Chongtao, commander-in-chief of the Later Tang Dynasty's siege, there was an aide named Chen Yi, a disciple of Zhang Hanjie, a treacherous minister of the Later Liang Dynasty. He had never participated in any war and felt afraid of difficulties when he saw the continuous mountains. He asked Guo Chongtao for sick leave and asked to stay in the local area for treatment.

Guo Chongtao's other subordinate, both surrendered ministers of the Later Liang Dynasty, but Li Yu, who had a much better reputation, couldn't stand it and angrily rebuked: "Chen Yi, a villain, always squeezed forward when he saw the interests and retreated back when he saw the danger. Now the army is about to enter the dangerous place, which is the time when the morale of the army is most easily shaken. If Chen Yi dares to commit crimes against the wind, he should be beheaded and shown to the public! To serve as a warning!"

As soon as these words were said, Chen Yi was so scared that he no longer dared to say that he was sick and retreated. Undoubtedly, Li Yi's performance made Guo Chongtao look down on him, while Li Yu was valued by Guo Chongtao.

The Later Tang army did encounter some difficulties. This year, the natural disaster was severe, and Fengxiang was also a severely affected area. There was insufficient food in the vassal treasury. Tens of thousands of troops entered the jurisdiction. Although the Jiedushi Li Jihu tried his best to raise supplies, the supply of the army was still very tight. Once the army entered the Qinling Mountains, the difficulty of transportation would naturally double. If the Shu army stood firm and let the Tang army stop the troops under the critical pass, the trouble would be even greater.

Guo Chongtao led his army to Dasan Pass, pointed to the mountains and ridges ahead with the momentum of burning boats, and said to the generals:

"If the army enters the pass, if it cannot defeat the enemy and make achievements, no one can expect to return here. There is no way out, so we can only fight to the death! Our military rations are indeed not much, but it doesn't matter. We will conquer Fengzhou first and eat their military rations!"

Most of the generals present surrendered from Houliang. They had many failed experiences and naturally would not resonate with Guo Chongtao's heroic spirit. Therefore, they emphasized difficulties and proposed a steady but conservative plan: many places in Bashu Mountain are dangerous, and the army should not move forward rashly. It is best to take steps forward step by step, advance cautiously, and attack again when you find opportunities.

Guo Chongtao had expected this to happen, so he arranged for Li Yu, who had the same viewpoint as him, to do work for the generals. Li Yu said confidently: "The people of Bashu have long been fed up with the debauchery of the foolish monarch and are unwilling to use it for him. Before, they were just unable to resist and dared not speak out. Now that the army suddenly approached, the people of Shu were terrified and were afraid, they would collapse. Our army should take this opportunity to advance rapidly with the thunderous attack! The Shu army must be brave. Although there is natural danger, who will defend Wang Yan? So at this time, our army can only advance quickly and must not be slow!"

While the argument was taking place, Li Shaochen, the vanguard of the Tang army, sent people to send good news. It turned out that when the Tang army pioneers attacked the mighty city of Former Shu, the guard general Zhou Yansu sent commander Tang Jingsi to fight. Unexpectedly, as soon as Tang Jingsi left the city, he directly led his army to surrender to the Tang army, which made a good start for the choice of the vast majority of Former Shu generals in this war.

This Tang Jingsi, who surrendered without a fight, then made many military achievements in the Later Tang, Later Jin, Later Han, and Later Zhou dynasties in the Central Plains, and was known as a brave general. Finally, he followed Zhou Shizong Chai Rong to conquer the Southern Tang Dynasty. He bravely took the lead in the Battle of Haozhou and was injured and died.

Even the brave general Tang Jingsi surrendered. Seeing that the situation was over, Zhou Yanyue also offered the city to surrender to the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, this fortress built by Wang Jian and rich in reserves, with more than 10,000 Shu troops defended, was easily captured by the Tang army! The Tang army seized 200,000 hu of military rations, and the problem of shortage of food in the army was solved in this unimaginable way.

After seeing the good news, Guo Chongtao was overjoyed: The Shu army was so weak that it was all right, and Li Yu said! He praised Li Yu in front of the generals and said, "Your judgment of the enemy situation is so accurate, what else can I worry about?"

In the front, Li Shaochen ordered the release of all more than 10,000 prisoners of Shu troops. In the eyes of this general with rich practical experience, these captured Shu troops have no combat effectiveness. Releasing them back will not strengthen the Shu army's subsequent resistance, but will instead spread panic like a plague and disintegrate the morale of the Shu army.

After letting the prisoners go, Li Shaochen did not stop in Weiwu City, but led his army to follow these scattered soldiers and advance towards Fengzhou. Li Yan, who was with Li Shaochen, wrote a letter of persuasion to surrender and sent flying cavalry to Fengzhou before the army, and gave it to Wang Chengjie, the governor of Wuxing in the Former Shu.

Fengzhou is the headquarters of Wuxing Town, the former Shu Shu, but most of the garrisons in Wuxing Town are stationed in Weiwu City. Fengzhou only has 8,000 guards, and his morale was relatively low. When he learned about the situation of Weiwu City and the rumors that the Tang army would not kill as long as it was disarmed, he had no fighting spirit.

At this moment, there were two ways before Wang Chengjie. Resistance seemed to be a dead end, and surrender was obviously a way to survive. Wang Chengjie, who had long lost confidence in Wang Yan, did not hesitate for too long, so he opened the Fengzhou city gate to welcome Tang.

The army entered the city and then presented the military governor of Wuxing Town and his subordinate Feng, Xing, Wen and Fu seals. Li Shaochen did not fight in Fengzhou and was surrendered to 8,000 troops and received 400,000 hu of grain!

The victory was sent to Guo Chongtao, and Guo Chongtao said happily: "The battle to pacify Shu will surely succeed!" Immediately, in the name of Li Jiji, the commander of the Expeditionary Army, appointed Wang Chengjie to continue to serve as the governor of Wuxing, and set an example for the vassal states and ministers in the Former Shu area to learn from.

The day after Wang Chengjie surrendered, Wang Yan and his party arrived in Dalizhou. Here, he saw the defeated soldiers who escaped from the Weiwu City for the first time. These people were disheveled in armor, panic, and spoke without saying a word, describing the Tang army that was about to be killed like a heavenly soldier and general.

Wang Yan was shocked. In his impression, even if the enemy in the north went south, he should be blocked at the Dasan Pass and the Victory City line, and then he began a long-lasting tug-of-war. The Shu army was on the verge of being in a hurry and waiting for the counterattack. Wang Yan didn't care about showing off his literary talent to Han Zhao and others, and no longer had the confidence he had before. He hurriedly summoned the two important officials, Wang Zongbi and Song Guangsi, who were accompanying him, and asked them what they should do now?

Wang Zongbi and Song Guangsi comforted Wang Yan: "Don't worry, the troops in Dongchuan, Shannan and other places are basically intact. As long as your Majesty uses a large army to defend Lizhou, how dare the Tang army go deeper alone?" Wang Yan felt a little relieved and ordered the troops to protect the troops slowly on the road to quickly gather in Lizhou. At the same time, he appointed the three generals Wang Zongxun, Wang Zongyan and Wang Zongyu who were accompanying the troops to recruit the three generals Wang Zongxun, Wang Zongyan and Wang Zongyu to recruit 30,000 people from the army that had arrived in Lizhou and rushed to Sanquan, the key pass north of Lizhou, to deploy defenses as a barrier for Lizhou.

However, the escorts of the escorts mobilized by Wang Yan did not accelerate their actions due to the urgent enemy situation. They were still slow because they were angry. The army rumored that: "The military pay of the Longwu Army is more than twice as high as ours! Why don't you see them when you have something to do? But we want to die!"

In a battle, three commanders who are equal and do not belong to each other are also a specialty that Wang Jian often uses. The purpose of Wang Jian's doing this is obviously for internal security and to increase the difficulty of rebellion or mutiny in the front-line army. However, the side effects are also obvious. Without unified command, the combat effectiveness of the army cannot be fully utilized, greatly increasing the possibility of defeating the war.

On October 22, the Tang army vanguard arrived in Xingzhou. Although the Wuxing Jiedushi Wang Chengjie had already surrendered instead of Xingzhou when he surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, the Xingzhou garrison did not obey the command of Chief Wang. Commander Cheng Fenglian led 500 people to surrender, and immediately started to repair the bridge and plank road to welcome the Tang army to advance. The governor Wang Chengjian did not surrender, but did not dare to resist, and led the remaining defenders to abandon the city and flee. So the Tang army occupied Xingzhou while advancing, and Guo Chongtao appointed Tang Jingsi as the governor of Xingzhou to commend his achievements in surrendering first.

Then, the Tang army marched south along the Jialing River and attacked Sanquan on October 26. Because there were three recruits, everyone monitored each other, and because the emperor Wang Yan was behind them, there was still a little deterrent. The 30,000 Shu troops stationed in Sanquan did not surrender or retreat, but instead stood guarding the dangerous place and mustered up the courage to resist.
Chapter completed!