The people trembled, and they saw the unbearable fear on each other's faces, and the inside of the already sweaty bodies was filled with prostration. When Pang Tong saw it, he immediately said loudly: "Pass the order, don't be afraid, it's a mirage, it's fake!" ”

The herald quickly relayed the news, but at the forefront, the locals had already told the people around them the truth. Soon, the people gathered the courage to look in awe at the unpredictable desert. They approached the image of the mirage. Three days later, the army finally saw the real walls poking their heads out on the horizon. It was exactly noon, and the army stopped at five miles. Pang Tong waited for Tanma to return. After understanding the general situation, Pang Tong judged: "This city should not have the ability to fight a decisive battle with us. ”

Dian Wei said: "Why? ”

Pang Tong said with a smile: "Lian Jingqi has been planted a few times, either they are teasing us, or the guards are not strict and the military discipline is not good." The archers on the walls did not stand in a row, and they were gathering in a scattered manner, unlike the regular army. Ma Teng must have already thought of a strategy for the decisive battle. Not here. ”

He let the army charge. The sight of people rushing under the ash curtain of the thought sandstorm shocked the people of the city. Just like Pang Tong said, the people here have no will to fight at all, and they are at a loss. The archers also shoot their arrows indiscriminately, on the one hand, the sand and dust are too strong to see clearly, and on the other hand, no one seems to want to resist desperately. The infantry directly set up the ladder and climbed the wall.

An hour later, Pang Tong came over with determination, and the city wall was already full of his own family. The city gate was wide open, and Pang Tong's army rushed in. I saw a handful of people resisting, but they were outnumbered. On one side, the stark contrast is the appearance of the guards kneeling down and begging for mercy. Zhao Yun and Xu Huang scrambled to be the first to enter the enemy formation, and one of the generals in that group of people was very brave, and they also fought bravely around the Pang Tong soldiers back and forth.

"Descend early!" Zhao Yun shouted angrily, swept past the general, and shot him in the back. The military general landed and was captured alive, and the rest of the people abandoned their weapons and surrendered.

Pang Tong came over, and almost all the defenders of the city knelt on the ground, and there were only more than a hundred corpses on the ground. The bound enemy will be brought to his knees before his mount.

Pang Tong looked at the man who was speechless and asked, "Honorable surname?" ”

The man snorted coldly: "Give me less power!" I am a soldier of Liangzhou, and I am ordered to stop you thief here! He looked up at Pang Tong without fear.

Pang Tong smiled bitterly: "You brought a group of old, weak, sick and disabled people to stop my army? Don't you look at what kind of soldiers Ma Teng has assigned you? I don't think Ma Teng has any good intentions, and you don't have enough people here to stuff our teeth. ”

"You wait for Hugh to deceive people!"

"You don't know what to do!" Pang Tong shouted angrily, his eyes shooting out of the mang. "With these people dare to resist, you clearly want these people to die with you. Seeing that I am so strong, I should have opened the door for the people of the city to surrender early. You Ma Teng's subordinates only know your glory and wealth! ”

Yan Xing continued to shout: "If you want to kill, kill, what are you doing with so much nonsense!" "Pound and Liang Xing came to this thing. Yan Xing was speechless when he saw the two of them like this.

Pang De frowned and said: "The people of Xiliang are almost out of strength, and it is really nothing to miss you." But you are also a hero, Ma Teng has never thought about guarding here, what kind of hero are you. Not down yet! ”

Pang De had a lot of prestige in the Xiliang army, Yan Xing thought about Ma Teng's move to abandon this, and when he saw this, he had to bow his head and say: "The last general is willing to surrender." ”

Pang Tong recruited the soldiers of the city, and found that only 1,000 people were young men who could fight, and the other 3,000 people were old people and children, which was really unsightly, and the equipment was not very good, some people were not even equipped, and they were still holding a wooden stick. After several major battles, it was clear that the regular army had suffered a serious setback. However, Pang Tong was worried that this scheming guy might have gathered all his elites and planned to fight him to the death.

Pang Tong gave a little of the gold and silver dug up in the dungeon to the county treasury of the city, so that Yan Xing could strengthen exchanges with some foreign tribes in the north. Because he suddenly got dozens of times the wealth of the original county treasury, Yan Xing and the people in the city were even more grateful to Pang Tong. In fact, Pang Tong knew that he couldn't take too many treasures with him, so he had to scatter them to these cities along the way, after all, in the decisive battle, if he brought so many unnecessary non-military materials, he would be implicated.

Pang Tong's army continued to march to the last city in Liangzhou in the northwest, the county seat of Jiuquan County, Ma Teng's old nest. The army has gradually become accustomed to the sweep of the heat wave. However, the approaching summer will make the weather worse, especially the temperature difference between morning and evening. Pang Tong realized this, and he did not hesitate to fight Ma Teng as soon as possible.

Ten days later, they arrived 30 miles east of Jiuquan County.

The spies reported that there were no flags on Ma Teng's last big city, and the people at the head of the wall were scattered. Xu Huangjin said: "It's better to take advantage of their unstable military spirit and kill them quickly." ”

Pang Tong shook his hand on the horse and said: "The garrison of the two cities in front is too weak, on the one hand, they have already decided on the battle plan before abandoning the city, and on the other hand, they will consider that we are often more victorious than arrogant, and then give us a fatal blow at the last moment!" Don't fall for the old thief's tricks. ”

After hearing this, Xu Huang suddenly realized, and sighed in his heart, and said, "What is the plan of the adult?" ”

Pang Tong said: "You go back to the formation, I will give an order." ”

Xu Huang left. Pound came again and said, "As I expected, there must be a lot of elite soldiers in the city, and it should be a hundred thousand people. ”

Pang Tong nodded and said: "It's not bad for me to think about it, this is a real battle, and the first two are playing for us." He looked at the rolling up of the dust, and saw through the sand curtain the vague walls. He is waiting for the rabbit, and we can't stay on his territory for too long, so we can get to the bottom of him first and press the army over. ”

Pound stopped: "No! Your Excellency must not enter the army at this time. I'm here to warn you that there will soon be sandstorms. ”

Pang Tong took a deep breath and showed a playful and self-deprecating smile. He asked, "What would you do at this time?" ”

Pound said: "I must wait for the sandstorm to leave, otherwise I will be like entering troubled waters." ”

"Good!" Pang Tong said loudly: "The whole army is marching!" ”

Pang De was stunned, he persuaded again and again, but Pang Tong just didn't listen, so he had to return to his phalanx. Even Liang Xing was surprised, and when he came to speak, he was drunk back by Pang Tong.

Pang Tong's army advanced, with infantry in front, and the Chinese army was dominated by cavalry. When he came to the city, the city was still in a casual state, and no one seemed surprised by the arrival of Pang Tongjun, and there was no very formal way to meet him. Zhao Yun led the order to come to the city to challenge, and said: "Ma Teng Xiaoer, seeing our army coming here, he still shrunk inside, and he really laughed to death!" ”

There was no answer in the city. Zhao Yun scolded for a while, but the city was still like dead ashes, and the soldiers watched him. This made Zhao Yun very uncomfortable, like an ignorant person who came here for some reason by a group of wandering spirits.

"If Ma Teng is a hero! Come out and answer! ”

He spoke out again. But there is still no reflection. He returned to Pang Tong's side and said, "What should I do, my lord?" ”

Pang Tong looked around, smiled slightly, and ordered Pang De to come over. Pang Dezhi was beside him, with a little disappointed look on his face, he should still be complaining that Pang Tong had just not listened to the advice. Pang Tong asked him, "When will the sandstorm come?" ”

Pound was surprised: "It's coming soon, are you worried now?" ”

Pang Tong showed a relieved smile, which made those around him puzzled. He immediately called the herald.

Just as Pound had said, the ground to the north rumbled with the yellow-gray smoke of the angry growlers, slashing through the sky. Flying sand and rocks, just like the huge waves on the sea washing the sand sculptures on the shore, whether it is the city or the phalanx of Pang Tongjun, they are all sand sculptures, which are as small as beans under the huge waves of sandstorms.

The soldiers held their breath, but to no avail. Sand and dust whipped faces, flapped armor, and horses neighed. Pang Tong's right hand gripped the hilt of the king's sword, and a fire was brewing in his chest. His eyes were closed, the sound of the wind and sand had confused everything around him, and it was like a clock ticking in his head. The sandstorm was just an event point in the clock, and he waited for the next storm to come.

The waves struck south. Just as the surroundings were gradually returning to calm, the horses' hooves came with their feet in the dust. To the north of Pang Tong's army, the wind direction of the sandstorm just now, a group of Ma Teng cavalry did not know when to leave the city, and it was attacking Pang Tong's army at this moment. With such a formation, it is in vain to adjust the formation. Ma Teng had already planned to use the predicted sandstorm to carry out a surprise attack from the beginning, and some of the previous ones were all to pave the way for this. For people in the desert, taking advantage of the desert's time and place is the key. And he did that. Still, it's too early to laugh. When the Ma Teng cavalry array charged over, they were stunned to find that the Chinese army of the Pang Tong army had been aimed at them, and it was two infantry camps with spears in front, and the two phalanxes on the left and right of the army to the north became iron chariot cavalry. Under such circumstances, nearly 20,000 horses and horsemen rushed into the line formed by the spearmen.