Although Cao Cao withdrew his troops, he still paid attention to the movements of Xiliang and secretly informed Han Sui of Yuan Shu's movements, hoping that he could prevent Yuan Shu from taking Xiliang.

Regarding Ma Teng's ambiguous attitude, Cao Cao was very helpless while holding a grudge in his heart. He had no power to meddle in Xiliang's affairs, and it was impossible for him to make any promises to Ma Teng, so Cao Cao directly did not go to talk to Ma Teng about the alliance, so as not to bring shame on himself.

And after learning the news from Cao Cao, Han Sui instantly felt bad.

"Lord, Ma Teng is already planning to surrender, Cao Cao and Liu Bei are even more defeated now, why don't we also descend!" As the first general under Han Sui, Yan Xing suggested.

Han Sui looked at the information in his hand with gloomy eyes: "Hehe, I want to surrender, but the other party has to be willing to accept it!" ”

Yan Xing was puzzled and said: "My lord, you have nearly half of Xiliangzhou County and 60,000 elite soldiers under your command, is it difficult for Yuan Shu to be unwilling to accept us?" ”

Han Sui glanced at Yan Xing, sighed lightly, and said, "You think too simply. If Cao Liu hadn't been defeated, we might still have the hope of surrendering, but now that Yuan Shu personally led the troops and had 150,000 troops under his command, do you think he would leave so easily? Yuan Highway didn't give us a chance to choose at all, he persuaded Ma Teng to surrender and ignored us, doesn't this explain the problem? ”

Yan Xing was shocked when he heard this: "Then what should we do?" ”

Han Sui's face was hideous, and a cold glint flashed in his eyes: "Since Yuan Highway wants me to die, I naturally can't sit still, but fortunately, Ma Teng is still quite virtuous, and he didn't directly swing his knife at us, and we still have a chance to fight back." I want Yuan Highway to understand that I, Han Sui, have been dominant in Xiliang for so many years, and I am not a fool in vain. ”

"Lord, give the order!" When Yan Xing heard this, he knelt down on one knee and said excitedly.

Han Sui lightly tapped the map of Xiliang on the wall, and various thoughts flashed through his mind.

"Yan Xing! You summoned Liang Xing and the others. ”

"No!" Yan Xing immediately turned around and went to make arrangements after agreeing.

Han Sui looked at the vast map of the Xiliang region on the wall, and the corners of his mouth hooked up a sneer: "Yuan Highway, do you really think that I, Han Sui, are the objects you manipulate at will?" I'm going to give you a profound lesson about what the lack of cavalry in Xiliang represents? ”

Han Sui crisscrossed Xiliang, relying not only on the wisdom of the Jiuqu Yellow River, but also on the eight strong generals under his command who were also famous in Xiliang. Liang Xing, Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Li Kan, Zhang Heng, Cheng Yi, Ma Wan, Yang Qiu, these eight people are all second-rate generals, and they can be said to be famous in Xiliang. Coupled with Yan Xing, the general that Han Sui relied on the most, this established Han Sui's status as the first person in Xiliang. Of course, this is also because Ma Chao is still young and has not grown up yet, otherwise, the eight Jian generals together will not be enough for him to cut alone.

......

"Report! A battle report came from the rear! The herald broke into Yuan Shu's camp and shouted eagerly.

Jia Xu casually took the battle report, waved his hand to drive the herald away, and handed the battle report to Yuan Shu.

Yuan Shu casually opened it and glanced at it, and said in a depressed tone: "Wenhe, how many times has this been?" ”

"Twenty-one!" Jia Xu said in a calm tone.

Fiercely crumpled the battle report in his hand and threw it into the furnace, Yuan Shu said viciously: "What a Han Wenyue, I really underestimated him!" This person is really cunning and difficult to deal with. ”

Jia Xu said softly: "In the past three days, the grain transport team in the rear of our army has suffered a full twenty-one attacks, successfully defeated the opponent eighteen times, and burned all the grain and grass of the grain transport team by the other side three times. The other party is indeed too difficult. ”

The Western Liang Qiang and Han were mixed, and most of the cavalry under Han Sui were Qiang, which was the essence of the Qiang people's guerrilla warfare. In many cases, attacking the grain transport troops is basically a one-touch walk, and they cannot be defeated and run directly.

Yuan Shu's eyes twitched, and the rogue tactics of Han Sui's cavalry made him sound the sixteen-character policy of the later Taizu: "The enemy advances and I retreat, the enemy retreats and I advance, the enemy is tired and I fight, and the enemy retreats and I chase, this tactic is really incomprehensible!" ”

Jia Xu's eyes flashed with surprise when he heard this: "The lord's words can be described as the essence, and it is this tactic that Han Sui used. He sent several units of cavalry, each with more than 3,000 people, every time he found that our army's grain transport team began to harass from a distance, if he found that the troops were small or our army was tired, he began to attack, if our army was strong, he would strike away, and sometimes multiple cavalry forces would cooperate together, and attack the east and west. If it weren't for the elite of our sergeants and General Pan Feng's command, I'm afraid the losses would be more than so much. ”

"In the past three days, I haven't even found a single village or tribe with people, and Han Sui has done a good job of clearing the wilderness. If it weren't for the autumn and winter when the river froze, we would have had a problem drinking water. Yuan Shu said helplessly.

"There are no supplies around, and the transportation lines in the rear have always been under the threat of the other party, if we can't quickly take Jincheng, we may be in danger!" Jia Xu reminded.

"How much rations do our troops have?" Yuan Shu asked.

"There is half a month's worth of food and grass in the army, the logistics supply lines are getting longer and longer, and the attacks are becoming more and more frequent, and the logistics support can no longer be guaranteed. Lord, we need to prepare for the worst. ”

"Understand! Let Pan Feng be more vigilant, be sure to ensure the logistics of grain transportation, try to set up some ambushes to ambush the enemy, and reduce the pressure on our army. Yuan Shu said.

"Lord, Xiliang is mostly grassland, a horse and a flat river, it is really difficult to set up an ambush! If General Huang is sent to support with 10,000 archers, the other party can throw a mouse trap. ”

"Good!" Yuan Shu nodded, looked at the sand table in the tent, and said coldly: "A certain 150,000 elite is here, if you can't take Han Sui, why fight for the north?" I want to see what else he can do when our army is under the walls of Jincheng? ”

Jia Xu nodded lightly. There is basically no suspense in this battle, even if Han Sui will use some small tricks to contain Yuan Shu, but the remaining 110,000 elites are not at all something that Han Sui can fight. The absolute difference in strength between the two sides is no longer something that ordinary tactics can change.

Unless Han Sui sacrificed natural disasters such as large-scale water, fire, and plague, or Yuan Shu's grain and grass were exhausted, it was impossible for Han Sui to win. But are these situations possible?

On the grassland in autumn and winter, the power of water and fire is not easy to borrow at all, and plague disease, please, Yuan Shu's army has always had a "medical soldier" This kind of soldier is okay. If more than 10,000 people were infected at the same time, otherwise the army under Yuan Shu's command would have nothing to do.

Han Sui's only chance of victory was to hold out until Yuan Shu's soldiers ran out of food. But this is basically impossible, fifteen days is enough for Yuan Shu to take Han Sui. This trip is only two days away from Han Sui's old nest Jincheng, and Yuan Shu, who has fierce soldiers and sufficient siege equipment, wants to take Jincheng, is it not easy?

Unless Han Sui was willing to abandon Jincheng and continue to retreat westward, it would be completely transformed into a guerrilla harassment of Yuan Shu. But in this way, Han Sui really has no chance of hegemony, as long as Yuan Shu persuades Ma Teng to occupy these cities, Han Sui will have to wait for death.

Jia Xu couldn't see any possibility of victory for Han Sui at all, even if Ma Teng turned against the water and Cao Cao was possessed, he couldn't solve Han Sui's current predicament.