Outside the martial arts arena, the crowd was dense, and countless people gathered around the periphery of the martial arts arena, crowding people from person to person. The front wants a more spacious place, while the people in the back keep squeezing to the front, hoping to see more clearly and have a better position.

All of a sudden, there was chaos around the martial arts arena.

Naturally, Yan Shao and Cao Cao had no problem on their side, one was that they were surrounded by armor soldiers who were responsible for protection, and the other was because no one dared to squeeze into their position.

Around the martial arts arena this time, a VIP area was specially divided for them.

The princes who came alone included Yan Shao, Cao Cao, Yang Feng and Xu Rong, and there were more than 20 generals including the imperial court and princes from all walks of life, including Zhao Yun, Sun Guan, Xu Huang and others under Yan Shao's account, as well as Xiahoudun and others under Cao Cao's account...

After entering this so-called VIP area, Yang Feng has been staring at Xu Huang in the corner with a look of anger and hatred. Obviously, Xu Huang's betrayal is still lingering, and Xu Huang seems to have been affected a lot, his mood is a little bad, and his eyes don't glance at Yang Feng's corner at all.

All this naturally fell in Yan Shao's eyes, which made him a little helpless.

Although Xu Huang had avoided Yang Feng as much as possible before, this Luoyang City was not small, it was not big, and it was impossible to completely avoid a person. Originally, Xu Huang had already confirmed that it was impossible for Yang Feng to come here to watch this rare scene, but who knew that Yang Feng would also come.

Even Yan Shao himself felt a little embarrassed, after all, he dug the corner from Yang Feng with his own hands.

However, although the atmosphere on Yan Shao's side was a little awkward, there was nothing for Ma Chao and Lu Bu in the field. The two of them stood in the middle of the arena as if they were not aware of their surroundings, and were just serious observers of their own opponents.

Especially Ma Chao, riding on the back of the dragon horse, he looked even more nervous.

On the other hand, Lu Bu, who was riding on the red rabbit, had the almost iconic Fang Tian painting halberd in his hand, but it was very casual in his hand. This kind of contemptuous behavior made Ma Chao a little indignant and more cautious at the same time.

The reason why Ma Chao will find Lu Bu is actually very simple, it is one reason, there is no first in the text, and there is no second in the martial arts.

He became famous in Xiliang, and he is not without opponents, for example, Pang De under Ma Teng's tent is a fierce general, but he is still slightly inferior to him in terms of martial arts. As for Yan Xing under Han Sui's account, it is true that his martial arts are strong, but he is definitely not his opponent when he really fights.

Although Ma Chao was still young at this time, he had already become famous in Xiliang. It can be said that he has no opponent at all, and when he was in Chang'an City, even Li Dao, Guo Yan and others thought that he had a brave force that was not inferior to Lu Bu.

If it were an ordinary person, I would be ecstatic to get such an evaluation.

As the first military general in the world, Lu Bu was originally the idol of many people. Even Cao Bao in Xiapi admired Lu Bu's bravery and married his daughter Xu to Lu Bu.

Only mediocre people will be pleased with this kind of evaluation, but for an ambitious person like Ma Chao, it is impossible to accept it no matter what. As is often mentioned in later generations, do not call me a certain person in China, but should say that such and such a person is the same as me in China.

It was precisely in order to prove to others that he was not inferior to Lu Bu at all, that he would challenge Lu Bu.

As for Lu Bu? There is no objection to this, as a martial artist, it is necessary to constantly challenge other opponents to hone himself. And an excellent martial artist will not only not be troubled by too many opponents, but will have a headache because of the lack of good opponents.

In his own army, there are only two people who can be regarded as first-class, one Gao Shun and one Zhang Liao, even if these two people are added together, they are not Lu Bu's opponents. And when he was in the Xiliang Army, there was only one Hua Xiong who could be seen, and he was cut down.

Although Ma Chao's age is a little lighter, his martial arts are good, at least Lu Bu recognizes it, and he even seems to see himself when he was young...

When I was younger...

Lu Bu sighed softly, he still remembered himself when he was younger, when he was already competitive and known for his bravery. It was also because of this bravery that he served in Bingzhou, and after Ding Yuan arrived, because he was optimistic about him, he appointed him as his lord, which was very kind. Since he can be the master, Lu Bu is naturally not the kind of reckless man who doesn't know anything about literature and ink, but he always feels that he is a military general, and he should do what those generals should do.

It is precisely because of this that he was moved by Li Su's words, and finally turned against Ding Yuan.

It's hard to say what Lu Bu's mentality was after killing Ding Yuan, whether he regretted it, maybe he had, but he never told others.

But after seeing Ma Chao, such a young talent, he immediately recalled the past.

"It's a good opponent, if you give it a few more years to grow, even I will find it a little tricky, but it's not enough to see now..."

"Humph!" As if noticing Lu Bu's gaze, Ma Chao snorted and raised the spear in his hand.

During this time in Luoyang, although the two did not know each other very well, it was impossible not to know each other, and naturally they didn't use those opening lines with each other, and the reason for this duel was also very clear to the two. Ma Chao wanted to prove himself through Lu Bu, just like those who challenged Lu Bu in the past, but after Lu Bu became a prince, there were basically no such people.

After all, as a prince, not everyone can challenge Lu Bu, and even if there is a challenge, he needs to have enough status and qualifications.

But Ma Chao happens to have this qualification...

As Ma Teng's eldest son, he is Ma Teng's heir and is known for his bravery.

The most important thing is that Ma Chao now has at least 3,000 cavalry in his hands, and such a force is even a little more abundant than all the troops in Lu Bu's hands now...

In terms of strength, today's Ma Chao can at least rank third in Luoyang City, well, it may also be second.

After all, the 3,000 cavalry, although the 5,000 soldiers and horses brought by Cao Cao are also the elite of Yanzhou, but considering the strength of these 3,000 cavalry, if it is really a head-on conflict, it is still difficult to say whether Cao Cao can win.

Although Cao Cao's subordinates are not short of generals, Ma Chao himself is also a rare fierce general, especially in history, Ma Chao himself almost killed Cao Cao, these are all things that have to be considered...

The more calm and relaxed Lu Bu became, the more cautious Ma Chao became.

Because he can't afford to lose, he has been boasting that he is not inferior to anyone during this time, and he has become the pride of the Xiliang Army one by one, one by one, after Li Dao and Guo Yan, the two traitors, ambushed and punished, the current Xiliang Army has become a soldier and horse represented by Ma Teng and Han Sui.

It seems that only they can be called the Xiliang Army...

Especially this time, the three thousand Xiliang cavalry who arrived in Luoyang put all their bets on him. To be honest, he hadn't heard of this kind of bet that was currently popular in Luoyang, but he didn't care much about it like the other princes.

Having been in the army since he was a child, he knew very well that he must find something to do for the soldiers and horses under his tent. If you don't give them something to do, they'll find something for you to do, and it doesn't have to be a good one.

But this time, for the first time, he hated the bets so much.

It could even be argued that at least half of the pressure on him now is due to these bets...

If he loses, those soldiers of the Xiliang Army who bet will lose all their money. In fact, this is nothing, after all, this kind of gambling has always been the kind of winning and losing since this period, it is impossible to only win and not lose, these days the soldiers under Ma Chao's command are also winning and losing, and they have long been used to it.

But this time it's different...

Those soldiers in the past lost, and they were complained about, after all, there were only 3,000 people in total, and how many officers or generals could those officers or generals who lost command? Even if you are complained, what can you do?

However, he is the commander of the whole army, and if he is complained about by all 3,000 men, it will have some impact on his future commander of this army. To make matters worse, there is an even more serious impact.

Whether it was in Xiliang or Luoyang, Ma Chao thought that he was the strongest one, and he said the same on weekdays. As the pride of the Xiliang Army, the soldiers of the Xiliang Army naturally all think so.

So when placing bets, almost all of these people have the confidence to win, thinking that Lu Bu is powerful, but after all, he is old, and his own major general Zongheng Xiliang has never had an opponent, and it is impossible to lose to Lu Bu on the opposite side.

But what if he loses...

It's okay not to be trusted by the soldiers under your command, after all, it's normal to be blamed if you lose money.

The most important thing is to make the soldiers under his command distrust him, because in the past, it was Ma Chao and the people around him who touted Ma Chao's martial arts, and also made the soldiers below trust. If Ma Chao loses, it will also break his undefeated myth.

In the future, the soldiers under his command will distrust him and even doubt him.

And when the news reaches Xiliang, those who were originally united by Ma Chao's bravery will probably be shaken.

It can only be said that this gambling battle, it is good to win, but if you lose, there is a feeling that the gains outweigh the losses in the south. After all, even if Lu Bu loses, he is still a prince, and he is the only commander in Lu Bu's army.

But if Ma Chao loses...

That's right, young people can afford to lose, because time can allow them to fail again and again, and they can afford to lose, because as long as they don't admit defeat, they will eventually have a comeback day.

But Ma Chao can't, one is that he himself can't accept this result, and the other is that his position in which he is praised on weekdays is too high, so high that he can't fall down.

Such a result gave Ma Chao a huge pressure, but...

He does not regret that a true military general will not succumb to pressure, on the contrary, pressure will stimulate their fighting spirit.

Although Ma Chao is extremely cautious now, the fighting spirit in his eyes is almost about to burst out, so that Lu Bu has to face it.

"Drive!" Gently patting the dragon foal under his crotch, Ma Chao rushed forward with a spear.

Seeing that Ma Chao moved first, Lu Bu also rode a red rabbit to meet him, and the Fang Tian painting halberd in his hand was even held high.

The onlookers who were pushing and shoving, hoping to get a good position, saw that the two protagonists were moving, and they all became excited.

Even the princes and generals in the stands opened their eyes one by one, obviously very interested in this duel, especially generals such as Zhao Yun, Xiahoudun and Xu Huang, who were even more interested.

To be reasonable, they are all a little lonely in their own army, Zhao Yun and Xiahou are okay, the former at least has Huang Zhong, Tai Shici and Gan Ning, these super-first-class generals, and they still have time to learn from each other, and Cao Cao's account also has Dian Wei and Xu Chu, two tiger generals.

But Xu Huang is different, in the Chang'an period, there is no so-called fierce general in the Xiliang army, especially under Yang Feng's account, only Xu Huang is left and can barely be called a fierce general.

Under such a special circumstance, Xu Huang couldn't have a suitable opponent at all, which was too difficult for a general.

Now that I finally have the opportunity to watch two generals who are far stronger than themselves face off there, how can Xu Huang not be interested?

Naturally, at this time, Ma Chao and Lu Bu in the field could not have taken care of other people's thoughts, so they saw that the two of them were driving the war horses under their crotches and kept fighting. Ma Chao's spear is amazingly fast, almost to the point where people can't see it, and I see the shadow of a spear stabbing at Lu Bu everywhere, ordinary soldiers can't see these moves clearly, and those officers or generals who are a little stronger in martial arts can barely see it clearly, and even put themselves in their shoes and think about it, and find that if they stand opposite Ma Chao, at most, they can barely dodge it with their okay martial arts and their own instincts honed on the battlefield. It is absolutely impossible to expect to avoid it completely.

However, seeing that Lu Bu was not in a hurry in the face of such a move, the Fang Tian painting halberd in his hand was very easy to dissolve Ma Chao's gun moves.

Those astonishing gun moves that seemed to be fast didn't seem to be anything in Lu Bu's eyes, and the seemingly ferocious marksmanship didn't even have the ability to cut some scratches on Lu Bu's armor.

"Good marksmanship..."Looking at Ma Chao opposite, Lu Bu said with some admiration. When I was the same age as you, martial arts were nothing more than that..."

"Humph!" Ma Chao snorted coldly, but when he looked at Lu Bu, he was also amazed, although he knew that the trick just now was impossible to deal with Lu Bu, but he didn't expect Lu Bu to be able to easily resolve it.

However, both of them know very well that the scene just now is just a warm-up at most, and the real showdown has not yet begun...