Liangzhou, Jicheng.

Cao Jun did not advance again, so that Ma Chao breathed a sigh of relief, and if he continued to fight, Ma Chao could not fight, but in terms of logistics, Ma Chao could not support it, but now under Ma Chao, in addition to the Jicheng accident, there are only two counties of Longxian and Luoyang, and the people are less than 30,000, and the soldiers and horses plus Yang Ang's Hanzhong army have as many as 30,000, even if the Cao army does not attack, these soldiers and horses, Ma Chao will not be able to support them.

If you continue to fight Cao's army, you won't be able to take any advantage, but if you don't fight, Ma Chao can only choose to disband the army, which makes Ma Chao have a headache, it seems that no matter whether he fights or not, he has no good fruit to eat.

Pang De came in from outside the door, bowed to Ma Chao and said, "Lord, Yang Ang asks to see you." ”

Ma Chao restrained his mind and nodded: "Please!" ”

Pang De saluted, then turned around and went out, and after a while, he came in with Yang Ang.

Ma Chao saw Yang Ang and smiled reluctantly: "I haven't seen General Yang for many days, but I don't know what the general has been doing recently?" ”

It stands to reason that Zhang Lu surrendered to Liu Bei, and Yang Ang, as Zhang Lu's general, should also return to Hanzhong to vote for Liu Bei at this time, but Yang Ang did not, since he saw the loss of Yangping Pass, he returned to Ma Chao to help Ma Chao capture the city, and he joined Ma Chao's side, but he has never been officially loyal to Ma Chao, but Ma Chao is quite friendly to Yang Ang, after all, the 10,000 Hanzhong soldiers and horses in Yang Ang's hands are a powerful help to Ma Chao!

"General, great joy!" Yang Ang saluted Ma Chao and said with a smile.

"Why does General Yang make fun of me, now that I'm trapped here, why should I be happy?" Ma Chao shook his head with a wry smile and said, in the current situation, even if Cao Jun doesn't come to fight, he may collapse at any time, where is the happy event.

"I just got the news of the old deployment." Yang Ang said with a smile: "Then Liu Bei had already led the army into Yizhou in February. ”

"This has ...... with me" Ma Chao was about to say, what does this have to do with him? After all, Liu Bei didn't have much to do with himself whether he beat Yizhou or not, but halfway through his words, Ma Chao paused and looked at Yang Ang.

Yang Ang smiled and said: "Liu Bei attacked Yizhou, Hanzhong must be empty, if the general takes advantage of this time to attack Hanzhong, although Hanzhong is small, but there are hundreds of thousands of people, there is more danger of Hanchuan, if the general is here, why be afraid of Cao Cao?" ”

Ma Chao heard this, his eyes lit up, what he is most worried about now is that he has no territory to use at the moment, if he can break through Hanzhong, and have this Longyou land in hand, wait for himself to cultivate in Hanzhong for several years, and then take the Qiang soldiers and horses to attack the Cao army, why not recapture Xiliang?

Ma Chao also moved his mind at this moment, looked at Yang Ang and said, "Can the general be sure that Liu Bei has entered Shu?" ”

If Liu Bei is in Hanzhong, Ma Chao will not dare to fight the idea of Hanzhong, after all, this little soldier and horse in his hands can't beat Cao Cao, and he is also not the opponent of Liu Bei according to Xiongguan, this is self-aware, since the last time the coalition army was defeated and lost most of Xiliang, Ma Chao has already recognized it, but if Liu Bei's rear is empty, Ma Chao doesn't mind falling into the well and copying Liu Bei's back road, as for whether Liu Bei will be trapped and killed in Yizhou because of this, he Ma Chao can't control it.

"It's true, now Liu Xuande has transferred most of the soldiers in Hanzhong, but the garrison in Hanzhong is the former Tonglaide Shu army!" Yang Ang said with a smile: "General, these Shu troops are all Yizhou soldiers, and now Liu Yi is brazenly leading troops to attack Yizhou, I am afraid that these Shu troops are also dissatisfied in their hearts, if the general leads the army to attack at this time, then the Yizhou soldiers may not be able to resist the enemy with all their might, this is the Mandate of Heaven General is the lord of Hanzhong, and you must not miss the opportunity!" ”

"It's just ......" Ma Chao hesitated for a moment when he heard this: "If our army attacks Hanzhong, and the Cao army takes advantage of the weakness to cut off my back road, won't it lose its foundation?" ”

Yang Anglang said: "If the general can be trusted, he is willing to lead the army to help the general defend Longguan, and on the day of the general's success, he will not let Cao Jun set foot half a step!" ”

When Ma Chao heard this, he hesitated, after all, Yang Ang was not his own person after all, and until now, he had not yet had the will to be effective, and Ma Chao was not too relieved about him.

Seeing this, Yang Ang seemed to react, and said to Ma Chao with a smile: "If the general is not at ease, you can leave one general to supervise the army." ”

Ma Chao was also a little embarrassed to be told in front of him, but this kind of thing, since Yang Ang took the initiative to propose, Ma Chao would not refuse, and immediately ordered someone to recruit Ma Dai, and ordered Ma Dai to defend the city with Yang Ang, and he began to count the soldiers, horses, grain and grass.

……

There was movement on Ma Chao's side, Liu Yi had been ordering people to pay attention to Xiliang's movements during this time, and Ma Chao had soldiers, but on the fifth day, Liu Yi had already gotten the news here.

"Sir! The last general will go to support the Buncho? Huang Zhong looked at Liu Yi and said.

"No need, Wen Chang has the advantage of Yangping Pass over there, as long as he doesn't send troops without authorization, he can stop Ma Chao, we will continue to be here, and send more secret sentinels to patrol the mountains, once I find the traces of Cao Jun, I will report immediately!" Liu Yi shook his head, the defense on the side of Yangping Pass was designed by Liu Yi himself, not to mention perfect, but it was not easy for Ma Chao's group of Xiliang soldiers who were not good at attacking the city to attack it.

"Here, you might be able to catch a big fish!" Liu Yi explained to Huang Zhong that according to the speculation of the two before, Cao Cao's surprise attack is very likely, otherwise there is no need to let Ma Chao attack, but where to make a surprise attack and when to do it, then it can only be fateful.

Huang Zhong naturally knows this truth, but after all, it is just a speculation, whether Cao Cao will come, whether he will go to the Meridian Valley is unknown, Liu Yi obviously has no bottom in his heart, if he guesses wrong, not only Liu Yi's own project will fall, but Huang Zhong will also miss an opportunity to kill the enemy and make meritorious contributions.

He is no longer young, among the generals under Liu Bei, Huang Zhong is definitely the oldest, although he has the ability, but because of his age, Liu Bei is not at ease with Huang Zhong, and he does not dare to give Huang Zhong too many opportunities to lead the troops, for fear that the old man will suddenly hang up on the march, and therefore, Huang Zhong is eager to have a chance to prove his ability, and his heart of contribution is more urgent than anyone else.

Liu Yi naturally knows this, but he really has no one else at hand, if Cao Cao sends troops to attack, the selection must be elite soldiers, and the leader must be a powerful person, Liu Yi has no confidence to face those fierce generals under Cao Cao alone, so Huang Zhong can't go, even if he misses this time, Liu Yi will try to get a chance for Huang Zhong in the future, but if this Meridian Valley can catch Cao Jun, the credit will be greater than defeating Ma Chao.

After all, although Ma Chao is brave, he is now at the end of the crossbow, and if Cao Jun is caught, not only will he resolve a crisis in Hanzhong, but more importantly, the generals who can be sent by Cao Cao to attack will not be low in identity and ability, which is definitely a big loss for Cao Cao!

Huang Zhong saw that Liu Yi insisted on waiting here, so he could only nod helplessly, and continued to lead people to find a suitable ambush location with some depression, hoping that Cao Jun could really choose a surprise attack strategy as Liu Yi predicted and make sure that the other party would go here.

……

Chang'an, the former imperial palace.

Cao Cao, accompanied by Cheng Yu and Zhong Xuan, looked at the palace of the former capital of the Han Dynasty, but now it has declined into such a state, and he can't help but feel an indescribable emotion in his heart.

Whether it is Ma Chao or Liu Yi, I am afraid that Cao Cao would personally go to Chang'an to command this battle, before Cao Cao's arrival, the soldiers and horses in Guanzhong, Nanyang, and Luoyang were secretly transferred, even now, Mo said that Hanzhong or Xiliang was under Cao Cao's rule, and there were not many people who knew Cao Cao's transfer of troops.

"Prime Minister, news from the direction of Xiliang." A guard walked over quickly and saluted Cao Cao.

"Bring it on!" When Cao Cao heard this, he beckoned, took the bamboo note from his cronies and looked at it quickly, and a little smile gradually appeared on his face.

"But then Yang Ang said that Ma Chao was moved?" Seeing this, Cheng Yu on the side asked with a smile.

"Not bad!" Cao Cao handed the bamboo note to Cheng Yu and said with a smile: "The horse has sent troops to Yangping Pass, but you can order Jun Yi to secretly transfer troops and prepare to cooperate with Yang Angli, no matter whether the horse can break through Yangping Pass or not, after a month, send troops to pacify Xiliang." ”

In a month's time, Ma Chao's grain and grass may also run out, and at that time, Ma Chao's use value will be gone, so naturally there is no need to let Ma Chao occupy the right place of Longyou.

"Destiny Yuan let the troops be stationed in Yixian, as soon as the horses retreated, they immediately sent troops to Yangping Pass, and the fate of Miaocai could set off and attack Hanzhong by surprise!"

One order after another was issued in an orderly manner, before Cao Cao came, he had discussed with the generals the countermeasures for attacking Hanzhong, Ma Chao was Cao Cao's free vanguard, in addition, Xiahoudun led the army after Ma Chao attacked Hanzhong or was repulsed, quickly followed, if Yangpingguan changed hands, even if not, Yangpingguan could not have a chance to breathe.

Zhang He was responsible for cleaning up the remnants of Ma Chao, as for Yang Ang, as for Yang Ang, as early as after being blocked back by Wei Yan from Yangping Pass, he secretly handed over the letter of surrender to Cao Cao, but Cao Cao hoped to use Yang Ang's power to let Ma Chao be his pawn, and secretly ordered Yang Ang to continue to stay by Ma Chao's side.

In addition, Cao Ren and Cao Hong will send troops from Nanyang, go to Fangling and Shangyong, and attack Hanzhong, plus Xiahou Yuan led the elite to take a small road to attack Hanzhong, and directly inserted into the hinterland of the center of Hanzhong, this time in order to capture Hanzhong before Liu Bei reacted, Cao Cao secretly deployed 70,000 horses in the past few months, and even did not hesitate to go to the front line himself, for Hanzhong, Cao Cao is obviously imperative.

"Whoa!" Cheng Yu agreed, and quickly went to pass the order, these deployments have been done for several months, and now the war is together, with just one order, the people and horses gathered in various places can immediately enter the war, Cao Cao chose to sit in the rear, responsible for the allocation of grain and grass and the deployment of personnel.

"Prime Minister, if you can break through Hanzhong this time, can you take advantage of the situation to go south, and take advantage of the situation when Liu Xuande and Liu Zhang are holding each other, and attack Yizhou, then the world can be decided!" Zhong Xuan suggested with a smile......