When the news of the death of the Son of Heaven began to spread from Yanzhou and Yuzhou to the Central Plains, Ma Chao also led his troops to rush to the vicinity of Hongnong City, which was in ruins.

Ma Chao only saw dead bodies everywhere, and there was a strong smell of corpses everywhere, but he couldn't smell anything else.

Ma Chao, who had experienced the Great Plague before, had some experience, and when he saw the dead bodies everywhere, he immediately ordered the soldiers to pile these corpses together and set them on fire.

Because there were too many corpses, all the soldiers of the vanguard army were used to burn the corpses, and Ma Chao himself could only take a few hundred of his own soldiers to Hongnong City, which was burned in a mess, to check the situation.

When approaching Hongnong City, Ma Chao saw dozens of people carrying firewood from outside the city to the city.

He rode forward to ask for something, but when he heard the sound of horses' hooves, the dozens of Li Shu were so frightened that they threw away the firewood on their backs and ran into the city.

I'm not trying to kill you, why are you running so fast?

Ma Chao felt a little depressed, shook his head helplessly, rode forward, led the troops into Hongnong County, passed through the city gate, and saw the inner city covered by the city wall, Ma Chao sighed very much.

A huge city, larger than any city he had ever seen, except for Chang'an City, was burned to the surface.

Not to mention Ma Chao, even his own soldiers sighed for it.

As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but the charred ruins and the dead and charred corpses that had not been cleaned up on the ground.

It can be imagined what Hongnong City experienced that night.

But in the end, not everyone is dead, there are still living people in Hongnong City, Ma Chao ordered the soldiers to find the living people, he wanted to ask if what happened here before was the same as what Zhang Ji said, and then think about what to do next.

The pro-soldiers scattered in groups of three or five, most of them found nothing, and a group of pro-soldiers captured a middle-aged man.

When the middle-aged man saw Ma Chao, he was so frightened that he was incontinent, and Ma Chao frowned.

"I didn't mean to kill you, why are you so afraid of me?"

The middle-aged man was so frightened that he couldn't say a word, his face turned pale, and he trembled all over.

Ma Chao was unhappy, pulled out a knife and struck it across the middle-aged man's neck, making him scream in fright.

"I'm going to ask you something, dare to tell a lie, I'll chop you!"

"I say it all! Don't kill me! Don't kill me!! ”

The man was so frightened that he said the first words.

Then, Ma Chao asked the man about the destruction of Hongnong City, and the middle-aged man told the story of the three days of purgatory-like Shura from the perspective of an ordinary resident.

People died, cities burned, goods were plundered, and even the emperor was gone.

Hearing such a description, Rao is Ma Chao, a person who has lived in the Shura field in Liangzhou since he was a child, can't help but feel angry.

"Such a big city was destroyed in three days, if there is such a city in Liangzhou, I will definitely protect it well, these people are really ruthless."

Ma Chao couldn't help muttering a few words, then waved his hand and let the man go.

"Chief, what are we going to do?"

The pro-soldier asked Ma Chao.

Ma Chao pondered for a moment.

"Let's turn around Hongnong City first, turn it over, and see if there are any things, such as the treasure seal of the Son of Heaven, and the jade seal of the country, although Hongnong is destroyed, those things should still be there, find it for me, and after you find it, continue to the east, the goal is Luoyang."

Hongnong is abandoned, there are always some cities that can live and be garrisoned, we have to gain a foothold here, occupy this place, we can't always shrink in Liangzhou's one acre and three points of land, get Kanto, Kanto has our way to live. ”

Ma Chao cast his vision to the east, the location of Luoyang.

The goal is Luoyang.

After Ma Chao made a decision, he sent a letter to Ma Teng and Han Sui, telling what he had seen and heard in Hongnong, confirming that what Zhang Ji said was true.

At the same time, it was suggested that Ma Teng lead the army to the east, go to Luoyang, occupy Luoyang, condescendingly, occupy Xiongguan, and look at Guandong with the posture of Dong Zhuo, and then enter Guandong.

Ma Chao's suggestion is that Kansai has been broken, and there is no one to see for a long time, and even if there is, it is a group of mountain people or refugees, and there is no production at all.

If they want to break the situation, the rotten Kansai is useless, they have to continue to the east, and the Kanto will have people, production, food and taxes, and if they want to open up the situation, they must go to the Kanto, and there is no way out if they stay in the Kansai.

Ma Teng and Han Sui received Ma Chao's letter, pondered it together, and felt that what Ma Chao said made sense, but the problem was not small.

"To the east and north of Luoyang, it is Guo Zifeng's territory, Guo Zifeng, this person, and we have no grievances in the past, no enmity in recent days, and have never interacted, but it is said that this person has occupied the Central Plains and Hebei, with 200,000 armor, very strong, for us, instead of provoking Guo Zifeng, it is better to go to Yizhou, or Jingzhou."

Han Sui thought so, and he seriously discussed with Ma Teng the next path of the Liangzhou Corps.

Ma Teng thought about it for a while, and felt that there was nothing wrong with what Ma Chao said, and they all saw the desolation of Kansai now, but Han Sui's statement was not wrong.

So Ma Teng recruited Zhang Ji and asked Guo Peng for specific information.

For Guo Peng, Zhang Ji doesn't know much, but at least he has more than Ma Teng Han Sui, and he has also fought against him.

He knew that Guo Peng had occupied Hebei and the Central Plains, and had recently occupied Xuzhou, and his power had risen sharply, and his army was definitely more than 200,000, maybe even 300,000, and it was strong.

Guo Peng is good at commanding troops and using troops, and his military ability is extremely strong, when he personally commanded the troops to fight with Dong Zhuo, Dong Zhuo was beaten by him without the power to fight back, and the generals under his command fought with Guo Peng many times, and were repeatedly defeated, and they were not opponents at all.

Later, Lu Bu also fought with him, and Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu also fought with him, so he never got any benefits, no one was his opponent, and he laid such a big foundation.

"Guo Zifeng is good at using soldiers, the army is strong, there are many capable people, there are many fierce generals, famous such as Zhao Yun, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, etc., these people have fought countless battles, really want to match, with our current strength, it is difficult to compete with Guo Zifeng, I think it is not the best policy to continue to advance eastward."

Zhang Ji did not shy away from it, and said all his jealousy of Guo Peng.

"And the most important thing to worry about at the moment is not the trouble we need to find Guo Zifeng, but whether Guo Zifeng will raise troops to attack us when he learns that the Son of Heaven is killed, it is a good thing that Captain Ma is young and vigorous, but for Guo Zifeng, it is really hard to say."

Zhang Ji said it in one sentence.

Guo Peng's power is so strong, he occupies all the essence of the Han Dynasty, and the soldiers under his command are strong and good at fighting, and there are many talents, what we have to worry about is not how to fight him, but whether he will come to fight us.

Ma Teng and Han Sui have not directly fought Guo Peng, they know that Guo Peng is strong, but they don't have such a deep sense of fear, unlike Zhang Ji, who has personally experienced Guo Peng's toughness, so they are afraid.

Rao is like this, Ma Teng and Han Sui also know that Guo Peng is not easy to mess with.

So it was enough to immediately reply to Ma Chao and ask him to arrive in Luoyang, and not to continue eastward, so as not to stimulate Guo Peng.

Then he collected intelligence to confirm whether Guo Peng would raise troops to the west.

At the same time, Ma Teng and Han Sui also began to think about what to do in the future.

The original goal is gone, so what now?

Is it to guard against Guo Peng, or to go south to Jingzhou or Yizhou?

No one can give them an exact answer.

When Ma Teng and Han Sui were entangled, the news of the Hongnongcheng Mutiny and the death of the Son of Heaven gradually spread in Yuzhou and Yanzhou.

Yecheng in Jizhou soon got the news, and then the public opinion of the entire Yecheng exploded.