On the sixth day of the first month of November, Ma Chao and Wang Yan arrived at Yumen Pass with 100 soldiers. There is still a distance between Dunhuang and Yumen Pass, and they arrived in nearly five hours.

The Yumen guard will learn that Ma Chao, the new Taishou, is coming, and he has already gone far to greet him. After seeing Ma Chao, "The Yumen guards Pang Rou Pang and Ming have seen Taishou!" ”

"No need to be polite, let's go inside."

Yumen Pass belongs to Longle in Dunhuang, and the defenders have 1,000 people, and the guard is this Pang Rou.

"I don't know how much you know about the three forces of this Jade Gate Pass?"

Although he had learned a lot from Wang Yan, Ma Chao felt that it was necessary to ask Pang Rou again, after all, he was the current Yumen guard.

"Returning to Taishou, his subordinates' understanding of the three Han brothers, the one-eyed dragon and the eighteen sons is not as good as Wang Sima. But I don't know if Wang Sima can talk about the distribution and range of activities of the three potential forces. ”

After Ma Chao heard this, he became interested, you see that this is not the right question, Wang Yan didn't say this before. Of course, I didn't ask about it, but I really don't know how to do it.

"I want to hear about it!" Ma Chao said to Pang Rou.

"The three Han brothers and the eighteen sons are active to the east of Yumen Pass, while the one-eyed dragon is active to the west of Yumen Pass!"

When Ma Chao heard this, he realized that a jade gate was separated by three forces. The three Han brothers and their eighteen sons plundered the area east of Yumen Pass, while the one-eyed dragon was west of Yumen Pass. In other words, the range of the three Han brothers and the eighteen sons is still in Dunhuang County, near the Yumen Pass. However, the range of the one-eyed dragon's potential power was in the Western Regions, near the vicinity of Yumen Pass.

After listening to Pang Rou ask Ma Chao, Wang Yan remembered that he had forgotten to talk to Taishou about the distribution range of the three potential forces, but fortunately, Pang Rou has now added it.

"Western Regions, Western Regions ......"

Ma Chao muttered, isn't this a problem? Although the one-eyed dragon was also looting near Yumen Pass, but the people were active in the territory of the Western Regions, and if they wanted to eliminate the one-eyed dragon, they had to lead troops to suppress bandits in the Western Regions, which was obviously beyond the boundary.

"Sima Wang, what do you think we should do to exterminate the one-eyed dragon?" Ma Chao asked Wang Yan.

"It's too much to keep, it's not allowed. I forgot about my subordinates, the one-eyed dragon was indeed active in the realm of the Western Regions, so ......" he didn't say any more.

"So, so we can't send troops to kill him, don't we?" Ma asked loudly.

Wang Yan and Pang Rou were silent, and Ma Chao slapped the long case suddenly, "Wang Sima, tell me, the Western Regions are still not under the control of my Han?" ”

"This, this, yes." Wang Yan replied.

"Okay, since you also know the way, but why don't you dare to let me send troops? You don't have to answer, but today I tell you that it is imperative to suppress the bandits, and the one-eyed dragon must be eradicated! I don't care if he's in the Western Regions or the Eastern Regions, he must die! ”

"Taishou, this ......"

Wang Yan also wanted to persuade Ma Chao a few words, but was interrupted by Ma Chao.

"Wang Sima, I know what you mean, but I have made up my mind, so I don't need to say more! Whatever happens, Ben Taishou is responsible for it, and he has nothing to do with others! ”

Ma Chao is not afraid of anything, in his eyes, the Western Regions is actually not much different from a state in Dahan. Then since you have never exterminated this one-eyed dragon in the long history of the Western Regions, then let yourself, the Dunhuang Taishou, do it. As for the rest, I can't control it so much, I can do whatever I like, anyway, let's kill the bandits first.

Wang Yan and Pang Rou glanced at each other after hearing this, they still wanted to say something to Ma Chao, but Ma Chao didn't give them a chance, "I also know that the two of you are thinking about me, but the two of you should know that now the bandits are becoming more and more rampant, and it has reached the point where it is impossible to ignore it, and someone has to take care of this matter." I'm not afraid of anything anyway, it's a big deal if I don't do it after the official is the worst, then there may be a better way out, but if this trouble is not eliminated for a day, I will not be able to sleep and eat! And the two of you have not been in Dunhuang County for a day or two, and you know much more about the bad impact caused by this bandit than I do! ”

After listening to Ma Chao, Wang Yan and Pang Rou didn't say anything more. Ma Chao is right, now this bandit has to be solved, and he is too stubborn to do so, as a subordinate, he can't say anything more.

"Since Taishou insists on this, then I can't wait to say anything. It's just that I won't be afraid of anything, and I'm willing to work with Taishou! Wang Yan said.

"My subordinates are willing too!" Pang Rou also agreed.

In fact, they naturally wanted to eliminate the bandits, and it was only a subordinate's duty to persuade Ma Chao before, but knowing that Ma Chao wanted to insist on this, they were very in favor of it in their hearts.

"In this way, there are two laborers, and there are two people to help each other, so why worry about the bandits not being destroyed!"

Ma Chaozhi said that if you want to eliminate the bandits, you can't do without the help of these two. And if everyone doesn't get along with each other because of something, it's not going to be easy. Therefore, he must eliminate all hidden dangers before leading troops to suppress bandits, so that it is the best.

Then Ma Chao said to Pang Rou again: "Heming, I want to select a hundred soldiers here to suppress bandits with me!" ”

The entire Dunhuang County together had only 6,000 defenders, of which 1,000 were in Yumen Pass, 1,000 in Yangguan, 1,000 in Dunhuang, and the rest were stationed in the other five cities. It is impossible for Ma Chao to take 6,000 people to suppress bandits, it is impossible and unnecessary. In his opinion, five hundred main forces will not be needed, and two or three hundred main forces may be enough.

And now in November, it is impossible to use troops now, so after selecting enough people, they will have to be trained for a period of time before they can be sent out.

When Pang Rou heard this, it turned out that Taishou was going to select a hundred people from the Yumen Pass guards to participate in the suppression of bandits, and of course he would not object.

"I don't know how to choose?"

Wang Yan also looked at Ma Chao suspiciously, while the latter smiled mysteriously, "I have my own way, and you just need to gather everyone together!" ”

"No! Subordinates will do it! After saying that, Pang Rou took the order and left.

After a while, the guards of Yumen Pass were all assembled, and as for their work, they were temporarily replaced by a hundred soldiers brought by Ma Chao and Wang Yan.

Ma Chao came to the front of the soldiers, and then Pang Rou said to Ma Chao, "Report to the Taishou, my Yumen Pass guards are all here, please be too guarded!" ”

Ma Chao nodded, looked at everyone, and said loudly: "I am from Fufeng Maoling, Ma Chao and Ma Mengqi are the Dunhuang Taishou appointed by His Majesty!" ”

There are a few soldiers who know the way, but the vast majority of them still know the way, and it turns out that the young man in front of him is the new Dunhuang Taishou.

Ma Chao then said loudly: "Let you come here today, there is only one thing, that is, I want to select a hundred people, and I need them to complete an important task. But to be clear in advance, this mission can be said to be quite dangerous, nine deaths, if any of you don't want to go, you can take a step back! ”

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw that all the soldiers were indifferent, as if they hadn't heard Ma Chao's words.

"You didn't hear what I said, or did you not understand? I repeat, this mission is life-threatening and dangerous, so if any of you don't want to go, take a step back! ”

As a result, after the second time, the soldiers still did not move. So Ma Chao said it a third time, and after three times, it was still the same. He nodded secretly, and said in his heart that the Liangzhou army did have some guts, and they all said that it was a very dangerous mission, but they all refused to retreat, and the Liangzhou sergeant was really worthy of his reputation.

In fact, this can only be said that Ma Chao only wants to be partial, and it is true that the Liangzhou sergeant has courage, but it does not mean that everyone in the thousand people is like this. It should be said that most of them are brave and bold, but there are also those who are more afraid, and they retreated a little when they heard Ma Chao say that, but no one wanted to be the first to retreat.

If there is a first, then there will be a second, a third...... But the other people who retreat may not be ridiculed by others, but the first one to retreat definitely doesn't want to raise their heads. So no one is going to be the first one, rather than being ridiculed all the time, it's better to go out of the way, isn't it just a death, between life is better than death and death, many people choose the latter. In this way, there was a scene that Ma Chao saw.

"If you have parents, wives and children in the family, as long as there is one, stand back!"

Ma Chao continued, this time there is a lot of retreat, and it seems that there are four-fifths. In fact, these are not all retreats after meeting the conditions, and some are not at all, they are nothing more than afraid and retreating. Because I didn't find a good opportunity the first time, I was able to get my wish this time.

There are still about two hundred soldiers left in a thousand soldiers, which is still a lot now, and Ma Chaoji is a hundred people, only less, not more. In his opinion, there are more soldiers than many soldiers, and it is not interesting to deal with hundreds of bandits with a few thousand.

"It's the only child in the family who stands back!"

After speaking, the soldiers retreated by about a third, and Ma Chao asked Pang Rou to count, and there were one hundred and fifty-six people.

"Heming, are they all eligible?"

Ma Chao didn't know much about the soldiers at Yumen Pass, but Pang Rou couldn't be clearer, and Pang Rou looked at them again when he heard the words. One hundred and fifty-six people, all of whom are eligible.

"Back to Taishou, one hundred and fifty-six people, each of them meets the requirements of Taishou!"

Ma Chao nodded, "Okay, very good." You are all hot-blooded men in my Liangzhou army, but I only need 100 people for this mission. So fifty-six of you can't attend! One hundred and fifty-six of you are divided into four groups of thirty-nine men each. In a moment, I will pick out one hundred and fifty people from the previous ones and fight against each group of thirty-nine. After a quarter of an hour, the first twenty-five people in each group to stand up are the ones I will choose for the day! ”

One hundred and fifty-six people heard this, what kind of idea did Matthew guard, one hundred and fifty fight thirty-nine, and it will take a quarter of an hour, and this must not be beaten down. However, they did not dare to disobey the orders of their superiors, and were divided into four groups according to Ma Chao's intentions, with 39 people in each group. And Ma Chao also selected one hundred and fifty people from the remaining soldiers as the opponents of the thirty-nine group.

After they were all ready, with Ma Chao's order, the two sides began to attack. A quarter of an hour later, the twenty-five people of the first group had been selected, and Ma Chao let the one hundred and fifty people rest for a while, and then the selection of the second group was carried out. The last four groups of 100 people have been selected, but these people have bad luck, so that one hundred and fifty people have been fighting for a quarter of an hour, although they don't dare to say anything, but they scolded Ma Chao in their hearts.

Everyone said that this new person is too guarded, not to say that he should win everyone over first, but to let everyone be beaten first, saying that he is going to complete some task, but until now everyone does not know what the task is.

Ma Chao didn't know what the Daoist soldiers thought, he only knew that the purpose of Daoist Lu's coming to Yumen Pass today had been achieved, and he selected a hundred soldiers. Of course, this is only selected by Yumen Pass, and after returning to Dunhuang, he is also going to use the same method to select a hundred people from the Dunhuang garrison, so that there are two hundred people, as long as they are trained for some time, I believe that they will be able to become combatable soldiers. Ma Chao has experience in Bingzhou, so he thinks that training should not be a big problem.

However, how to eliminate the three bandit forces with minimal losses is the big problem. I don't have any good ideas now, so think about it slowly, maybe I can come up with it later.

Ma Chao looked at the hundred soldiers who were still grinning and said loudly: "You are the hundred people who were selected? But looking at your appearance, I suddenly don't have much confidence, I guess if I take you to complete the task, maybe no one of you will come back! ”

After hearing this, hundreds of people were obviously dissatisfied, and the new Taishou looked down on us.

Ma Chao continued: "Maybe you are not convinced, but what are you not convinced. Look at what you all look like, is this the man of my Liangzhou Army? Hahaha, I laughed, if you want to do this again, then do what you have to do, don't be embarrassed here! ”

After listening to Ma Chao's words, some of the hundreds of people showed embarrassment. Originally, there was nothing unbearable, but I ended up making a very exaggerated expression.

"To tell you the truth, I have been in the Bingzhou Army, and I have seen what they are like. Truth be told, you're not as good as them, at least no one has shown to be like you! ”

Ma Chao remembered the incident of merging the state, and the original scene is still vivid. Hundreds of soldiers looked at Ma Chao, they didn't expect that this Taishou was still in the state army, and looking at his demeanor and tone of voice, it didn't look like a lie at all. (You Taishou have even been to the Xianbei Royal Court of Yihan Mountain, not to mention the Bingzhou Army)

Ma Chao's words played a big role, in the Liangzhou army, the most unbearable thing for the soldiers was to let people say that the Bingzhou army was stronger than them. In the eyes of the Liangzhou soldiers, only they are the strongest in the world, but there are always people who compare the Liangzhou Army with them, so no Liangzhou Army soldier has ever admitted that he is inferior to the Bingzhou Army. And Ma Chao's words made the hundreds of soldiers no longer grin and return to their original state.