Chapter 14: Hot Potato

In fact, the armament of the Liangzhou army is not invincible in the world, there is no strongest spear in the world, and there will be no strongest shield. Weapons ultimately come down to what kind of people use them, and besides, weapons, arms, and tactics, all such tools for the purpose of killing people, the emergence of new ones will inevitably decide to replace the old ones. This in turn triggers a series of chain reactions.

Just as the supply of money and grain in Liangzhou and the improvement of ore productivity brought about the upgrading of weapons and troops, this short-term lead is almost inevitable.

But whether he admits it or not, his change led to the rapid distancing of the entire world's armaments, and accelerated the pace of history, and the armored cavalry of the northern and southern periods of the Jin Dynasty stepped out of the powerful iron hooves in this era.

How hard is it for ordinary people to change the world?

Work hard and struggle with one goal, and do not hesitate to fight for your life, regardless of any hardships.

As long as you're alive, you can always make it happen.

A Ma Junhao, with 20 years and 2,000 years ahead, has stiffly raised history by 200 years.

But the price is by no means the only one.

In order to increase their armament to guard against or conquer more powerful enemies, the land annexation of this era was further exacerbated, and the private land became less and less, and all of them were incorporated into the official land headed by the princes. The boundary between private soldiers and officers and soldiers was no longer so obvious, the power of the imperial court was getting weaker and the power of the princes was getting stronger. In agricultural civilization, the number of fields means how many people can be fed, and the number of people that can be fed means how many soldiers can be fed.

In addition, the military service system has also undergone a more natural change, and the warriors at this time are more noble, because they need more rigorous training and standards to grow into samurai who can cope with today's disputes.

During the Xiping period, it only took three civilians to feed a foot soldier who could go to war. Therefore, whether it is the imperial court or the locality, the troops that can be organized are about 10 percent of the population. The huge number of troops, the huge amount of food and grass, made the war so difficult. If you are not careful, the national strength will decline sharply, and no one will dare to start a war lightly.

Ma Yue's Liangguo military system influenced the world, making the samurai more and more elite and professional. These people no longer cultivate and graze in peacetime, but specialize in martial arts, and are good at fighting rather than farming.

In the middle age of Jian'an, Liang Guo needed the support of twenty people to raise a qualified sergeant in armor, and the precision forging sword and bow and crossbow were worth the annual income of two people, the armor was four people, and the horses needed three, and more was needed to feed their daily meat and meals, not to mention their land, wives and children...... And who shall provide for the twenty people who provide for them? The people of the world have become more difficult, because they have invisibly taken on the responsibilities of others.

The death of a sergeant in battle has become even more worrying, and dying in battle means losing a lot of money, but even if all the sergeants in the Liang Kingdom are killed, it will be difficult to touch the foundation of the country. The status of martial artists is getting higher and higher invisibly.

Ma Yue once tried his best to enter the imperial court and improve the status of the Kansai warriors in the eyes of the world, but it backfired countless times. He never thought about it, but as a prince of the world's powerful vassals, he unconsciously affected the status of the world's martial artists.

After ten years of dormancy, the Liangguo army under Ma Dai left this battle that shocked the world again to the Jizhou army.

The whole line was routed, the gravel cannons and bed crossbows fired in unison, and the horses' hooves and spears fired in unison. The proud Jizhou cavalry line was rapidly routed under the attack of gravel and bows, and the army formed in Youzhou eighteen years ago, and the white horse Yicong, who followed Gongsun Zhan to dominate the northern heroes, suffered heavy losses. Subsequently, the fierce and fierce Liangguo Iron Cavalry swept the rolling yellow sand behind him and stabbed obliquely into the offensive of the foot soldiers, although the strong crossbow halberd of Jizhou caused a lot of trouble to the Liangguo cavalry, but it was only trouble.

No one could match this fierce butcher hidden in armor, and this level of casualties did not frighten them, but was provoked by the death of the robe, and a bloody slaughter began and ended in an hour, leaving only the wailing of white horses and stumps everywhere.

When the scouts returned to Jizhou reinforcements three miles away, Ma Dai's more than 4,000 remnants had already placed gravel cannons on high barracks, and between the barracks were bed crossbows capable of firing ten spears at a time, and the sergeants formed a formation with chariots and wooden fences, waiting for the approaching enemy army.

Wait for the enemy to wear themselves out.

Ma Dai climbed the gravel cannon and climbed into the distance, and the rolling iron hooves and dust swept in, but he saw the banner of Liangguo.

"Have these Jizhou cubs also learned to hide their eyes?" The Liangguo army in the camp had already wound the bow and crossbow, and when the enemy army entered the ambush position, it would be the end of ten thousand arrows, but Ma Dai frowned...... He saw Xu Huang, who was led by the banner, holding a ring knife and stopping on the previous battlefield, and then stopped the soldiers and horses from riding alone, "Bo Zhan, it seems that you have defeated the general of the enemy army, but you can capture him?" ”

Ma Dai hurriedly turned over from the gravel cannon, ran to the camp gate and ordered someone to move the crossbow and asked, "Uncle, where is the enemy?" Our scouts have found out that there are three enemy forces, how can they ...... Intercepted by you? ”

Seeing the blood on Xu Huang's armor, Ma Dai seemed to understand something, and hurriedly welcomed Xu Huang into the formation.

Xu Huang took off the shackle and buckled it to the side and said: "It's not a volley, I received the news and I led the soldiers and horses to come, and found the traces of the enemy's rout on the road, so I led the troops to pursue, defeated half of the enemy army, and found out that their general is Gongsun Yue, the younger brother of the white horse general Gongsun Zhan, the news of the front line was defeated by you, so the remaining two troops and horses have fled, and Gongsun Chan has gone!" ”

Ma Dai clapped his hands excitedly and said with a smile: "That's easy, General Xu, your troops and horses will enter the camp to rest for the time being, and after tonight, you and I will go together to find my uncle, by the way, where is my uncle now?" ”

"King Liang and General Guan are heading towards Handan together, let's go to Handan together to meet."

Subsequently, Ma Chao, Yan Xing, and Wang Shuang's troops followed into the camp at night and set off for Handan the next day.

Although the battle between Ma Dai and Gongsun Yue did not hurt the foundation of the Jizhou army, but the whole army of Gongsun Chan knew the terrible Ma Yue army, Gongsun Yue even held the sheep stone to find Gongsun Chan after the war, after the test of the Yecheng garrison, to deal with this kind of fierce sheep stone, if you want to save the strength can only let the sergeant carry the big shield that reaches the chest to the top of the head to form a formation to form a formation to pass through the blockade of a hundred steps, but if you want to hold the chest shield over the head and walk a hundred steps, where is there still the strength to fight with the enemy in close combat?

Before Gongsun Chan figured out this problem, he would not engage in battle with the Liang army again, the army in the north was returning to the south, and he would soon be able to cross the Great Wall of the Yan Dynasty to the Zhao State, and when the army killed him, he would no longer have to worry about the scattered Liang army.

At this moment, the primary enemy in Gongsun Zhan's heart was still Cao Cao's imperial army and Liu He, who had taken away his family business in Youzhou, and Ma Yue, who crossed the border, and his 60,000 soldiers and horses were still not the enemy army he was most worried about. Although no matter what Gongsun Yue thinks, Gongsun Chan always thinks that Ma Yue's visit to Jizhou is just to help the attack, and Liu He and Cao Cao are the enemies who compete with him for territory with Gongsun Zhan.

Besides, Gongsun Yue was afraid of Ma Yue's bow and crossbow throwing stones, but Gongsun Chan was not afraid.

The city wall is high and the food is sufficient, and the 30,000 army here protects Gongsun Zhan's regiment in the middle, not to mention that the siege weapons such as catapults have already been built on the city tower, and the enemy army wants to capture this city, no matter who can get it too easily. Gongsun Chan thought very clearly, if anyone wanted to come to take Gongsun Bogui's life, then he would exchange the lives of 100,000 living beings under Yecheng.

With one for 100,000, Gongsun Bogui is worth the trip!

It's just that Gongsun Chan doesn't know that Ma Yue has the same abacus as him. Gongsun Chan didn't intend to list Ma Yue as the primary threat, and Ma Yue also didn't take him seriously, Gongsun Zhan, who was huddled in Yecheng with 350,000 soldiers and horses, was not taken seriously by Ma Yue at all, and now King Liang was only a little worried about Gongsun Zhan's reinforcements north of the Great Wall, so all the focus was on Zhongshan Kingdom in the north.

Only by taking Zhongshan and taking the defense of the Great Wall can Gongsun Zhan's reinforcements be squeezed on the border of Youji, and the two sides will collapse it, otherwise when Gongsun Zhan's soldiers and horses go south, the Liangguo army and the soldiers and horses of the imperial court will be surrounded by Gongsun Zhan's army, so as to attack and defend the situation.

Therefore, on the first day of the siege of Handan City, Ma Yue had already sent more than ten teams of scouts and envoys to various cities under Zhongshan to try to rebel against the rebellion of the county governors in various counties. In addition, he also sent lobbyists and powerful guards to cross the Great Wall to Youzhou to discuss with Liu Yu's son Liu He about attacking Gongsun Zhan.

It's just that there is another very important point, Ma Yue has not yet made a perfect plan.

What happened after Gongsun Zhan's death, Ma Yue hasn't thought about it clearly, does he really want to get involved in Jizhou?

He has had many discussions with Cheng Lijia Xu on this matter, Jizhou is rich, even after wars and natural disasters and man-made disasters, Jizhou is still the crown of the northern states, but Jizhou is not stable, not to be taken lightly. The land of Jizhou is not as cool as Liang, there are many big clans, and they all have the power of self-preservation, so they don't need the rule of a vassal state like Ma Yue. What's more, Liu He of Youzhou must also be eager to bring Jizhou under his name, and if he wants to get involved in Jizhou, he must be ready to start a full-scale war with Liu He of Youzhou.

But the war with Liu He is protracted, and the other may not be able to win.

If Jizhou is included in the Liang Kingdom, the battlefield with Youzhou will definitely unfold on the land of Jizhou. The Liangguo show is too long, Yizhou and Jizhou are at war at the same time, the traffic in the middle is not smooth, not to mention the entire imperial court, the straight-line distance alone is a full 2,000 miles. Whether it is to increase troops or transport food, it is a matter of more than a month, and if a war breaks out on both sides at the same time, Liang Guo will definitely not be able to take care of it.

And...... Ma Yue took Jizhou, Cao Cao may not support him, because Cao Cao must also need land other than Yanzhou, and Jizhou at this time is the best choice.

Jizhou is a hot potato.