On the top of the hill, Ma Teng, Pang De, and Zhang Yang could clearly see the busy figure of the enemy army, and when they saw that the enemy began to dig a trench and build a one-zhang high wall, their faces became extremely ugly.

The enemy is not stupid, it is the real mortal threat to them that they changed their strategy so quickly, besieging but not attacking.

Their dry food is running out, and the fresh water is not rich, so they have patronized the pursuit of Han Sui before.

In fact, the food can last for two days, and with so many wounded war horses, how can they eat for a few days, but without water, how can people live?

It's a bare hill, and without a few trees, it's impossible to find a source of water.

If you wait until the enemy's trench is dug and the wall is built, it will be difficult to break through.

I don't know where the reinforcements behind me went? Can you get there in time?

Ma Teng sent men and horses to interfere with the enemy's trenches, and at first it worked well, killing and wounding many enemy soldiers.

However, the later enemies also learned well, and they built arrow towers on the wall, which were always watched, and ambushed a large number of archers by the side of the trenches.

When the Central Army attacked again, the lookout post on the arrow tower issued a warning early, and a large number of archers inflicted a lot of casualties on the Central Army, and the digging of the trench was no longer affected.

Ma Teng looked at the widening and deepening trench, anxious, fortunately, Han Sui wanted to dig a trench around the mountain, the amount of work is not small, this is also half a tundra zone, the soil is hard, they don't have the right tools, it will take a few days to complete.

On the post road to Di Dao in Ji County, another huge team is rolling forward.

The crimson uniforms are very eye-catching, and most of them ride horses, and there are quite a few carriages accompanying them.

On the side of the procession, on the edge of the post road, there were more than a dozen Han soldiers in the costumes of officers, and hundreds of cavalry were followed in the distance, looking like guards.

Among the officers, there was a man dressed as a civilian, also riding a horse, panting and saying something to a man dressed as a general in silver armor and white horses in the middle.

"Tell General Zhang Liao, I am the person in charge of the Longxi Branch of the Liangzhou Bureau of the Ministry of Intelligence, and this is my token," he said, taking out a waist card and handing it to Zhang Liao.

Zhang Liao took a look, and sure enough, it was the waist card of the Ministry of Intelligence, and the joint code was also correct, so he believed that it was his own person.

Zhang Liao is not like Ma Teng, he is very convinced of the ability of the Intelligence Department, so he has maintained close contact with the Intelligence Department along the way.

So as soon as he arrived in Ji County and saw Guo Yan who stayed behind, he knew that Ma Teng rushed to Longxi, it must be for Han Sui.

The Ministry of Intelligence also got the news that Han Sui appeared in Jincheng County. At the same time, the flying pigeon biography from Chang'an also brought Lu Bu's instructions and uneasiness.

Zhang Liao heard that Ma Teng had led the army to set off for more than ten days, and he was also anxious.

Ma Teng's subordinates are all cavalry, especially the cavalry of the Central Army has maintained a fine tradition, all of them are one horse and three rides, and they are rushing to the road, which is simply a flying speed, where can they catch up?

He could only order Guo Yan to immediately lead his Eighth Cavalry Brigade to open the way in front and chase Ma Teng closely.

On the one hand, he asked the Ministry of Intelligence to send a letter to Hou Cheng in Anding, to leave a brigade to garrison Anding and Beidi, and take Fa Zheng and two other brigades to chase after him in the starry night, and go to reinforce Ma Teng together.

He himself left the Sixth Brigade, which lacked a regiment, in Ji County, and in any case, Ji County could not be lost as the county governor of Hanyang and the state of Liangzhou.

Zhang Liao personally took the Fourth Brigade, the Fifth Brigade, the Engineer Regiment and the Special Operations Brigade to set off overnight, and he couldn't take a rest and rushed to Didao.

Before he arrived at Di Dao, he ran into someone from the Intelligence Department to deliver the latest news.

He told Zhang Liao a shocking news, saying that the undercover agents lurking in Han Sui's army and Wuwei's intelligence officers had the same news, and Wang Meng, the chief of the Western Regions, had entered Jincheng County through the Hexi Corridor with the nineteen countries alliance army of the Western Regions and 40,000 cavalry from the Western Regions through the Hexi Corridor as early as a month ago.

When Zhang Liao heard the news, he immediately concluded that Han Sui was a conspiracy, a trap for Ma Teng, and Ma Teng, who was alone in the depths, was in danger.

He sent someone to inform Guo Yan, who was opening the road in front, and ordered him to advance at full speed and go to Jincheng County to meet Ma Teng, without waiting for the follow-up army.

He had asked the people in the Intelligence Department, and knew that Ma Teng had not been in contact with the Intelligence Department along the way, otherwise Ma Teng would have gotten this latest information a few days ago.

Ma Teng rested in Didao for five days, but he narrowed the gap between them, hoping that Guo Yan's men would be in time.

Zhang Liao called Wang Quan again, his special operations brigade itself is a special cavalry brigade, the cavalry skills are better than ordinary cavalry, the horse matching is also one horse and three rides, and even the war horse is better than the ordinary cavalry unit.

"Wang Quan, Guo Yan's Eighth Cavalry Brigade is opening the way in front, but I'm worried that the troops are not enough, you will immediately take the special operations brigade and set off, don't stop, you can grab the front of Guo Yan, and it would be better to meet General Ma Teng, let's go!"

Seeing off Wang Quan's special operations brigade, Zhang Liao ordered his second division to also advance lightly, all the hoplites stayed behind and hurried slowly, even the bead artillery also stayed behind, and the others accelerated forward.

By the time Zhang Liao arrived at Didao, Guo Yan and Wang Quan's troops had already marched towards Jincheng County, and only the regiment of the Ninth Brigade was still guarding Didao.

Zhang Liao nodded, and told them to stay in Di Dao, and lend all their horses to the troops of the Second Division, so as to speed up the march of the Second Division.

Out of Di Dao, when crossing the Taoshui, a large group of cavalry suddenly came from the east, with tens of thousands of horsemen.

Fortunately, they were all the banners and costumes of the Han army, and when they got closer, Zhang Liao found out that it was Hou Cheng and Fa Zheng.

Zhang Liao wondered, how did these two come so quickly? I'm afraid that my flying pigeon biography has only reached stability, right?

Hou Cheng smiled when he saw him: "Wenyuan, Xiaozhi has long guessed that General Ma Teng will not listen to dissuasion and go deep alone, so after we defeated Linjing, we found that there were no more resisting soldiers in Anding and Beidi counties, so Fa Zheng urged me to come back with two brigades." ”

"Sure enough, I encountered a trick in Ji County, we all know the cause and effect, and it is important to save people."

Fa Zheng also said: "I'm afraid that General Ma Teng will be careless and fall into the trap of Han Sui's old thief. He only has three or four thousand people, but he dares to return to Jincheng, I am afraid that he has a plan! ”

Zhang Liao told the two of them about Wang Meng's Western Regions Alliance, and Fa Zheng slapped his forehead, "That's it, Han Sui must have already set up an ambush in Jincheng County, and the east is a Han settlement, I'm afraid it won't help him." ”

"It will definitely be in the hinterland of the Xiqiang people in the west, the Western Regions Alliance Army plus the Xiqiang people, if you add Yueshi Hu, I am afraid that the enemy will have sixty or seventy thousand people, ten times that of General Ma Teng, and the situation is critical! General Wen Yuan had to make a decision early. ”

Zhang Liao admired Fa Zheng's quick response, "Rest assured, Xiaozhi, I have already let Guo Yan's Eighth Brigade and Wang Quan's Special Operations Brigade take the lead, and it should be three or four days away." 10,000 Central Army is not so easy to gnaw, I am afraid that he Han Sui does not have such a good mouth. ”

(End of chapter)