More than 100 miles away from the Baishui Bridge, a group of Xuanjia cavalry composed of about 5,000 people was arranging vertically and horizontally, heading south.

The knights were tall, expressionless, armed with guns and shields, and disciplined, and judging by the formidable momentum they exuded as they marched, it was clear that they were an unstoppable elite army that had been battled in a hundred battles.

In the middle of the cavalry, a general flag with a flying yarn line was erected, and the words "Zhenxi General Cao" were written on it.

Under the banner, Cao Zhen Cao Zidan, who had a beard and bright eyes, was sitting upright on top of the famous horse and sailing, and followed the army slowly and unhurriedly.

He was about thirty years old, and he was wearing a scarlet cloak, which was very wide, but it was difficult to hide his tiger body and bear waist.

At this time, from time to time, he looked sideways at the young general who was wearing a new Mingguang armor, holding a longbow in his hand, carrying a big sword, and was closely guarding the young general who followed by his side.

Through the hood, it can be seen that this young general has a white face and beard, with an abnormally tender baby face, and he looks like he is only seventeen or eighteen years old, but Cao Zhen knows that he is already in his twenties this year, and he is the best among his peers in terms of martial arts and mind.

This person is Xiahou Ba, the second son of the late general Xiahou Yuan.

In Cao Zhen's view, Xiahou Ba has been skilled in arching and horses since he was a child, and he is the strongest martial artist among several brothers in the family, and he has high ambitions, and he is really one of the talents worthy of cultivation in the second generation of Cao Wei's clan.

Last summer, that is, in the summer of the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an, Xiahou Yuan, who was guarding Hanzhong, was beheaded by Huang Zhong, a general of Shu Han, in the battle of Dingjun Mountain, and even the fifth son Xiahou Rong, who was serving on the side, drew his sword and fought and died on the spot.

Xiahou Yuan raised troops to follow Cao Cao at the end of the year, and ended with a horse leather shroud and sacrificing his life for the country. Cao Cao was grateful for his merits, and gave his title to Xiahou Yuan's eldest son Xiahou Heng to inherit, and also married his niece to Xiahou Heng as his wife.

Xiahou Ba, as the second son of Xiahou Yuan, naturally has to be treated with honor. He could have been an upstart in the court, or he could have been a wealthy man in his hometown.

But he didn't.

When the news of Xiahou Yuan's death reached his family in Qian County, Xiahou Ba gritted his teeth and decided to join the army, practicing martial arts and military skills more diligently every day, and vowing to avenge his father.

A year later, he finally waited for his chance.

In May this year, Cao Zhen was ordered by Cao Pi to supervise all things in Yongliang.

Yongliang is the place where Xiahou Yuanhu walked to the right and made great achievements. When Xiahou Ba heard about it, he immediately conveyed to Cao Zhen through his friend Cao Shuang the idea of following him to the Western Army for training.

Cao Shuang is Cao Zhen's eldest son. According to the generation, Xiahou Ba and Cao Zhen belong to the same generation of clans, but because of the difference in age, he has a great relationship with Cao Shuang, who is a younger generation.

Through this relationship, coupled with Cao Zhen's natural courage and martial arts, he admires Xiahouba's martial arts and filial piety very much, so he has the heart to cultivate one or two.

Just before leaving the town of Yongliang, Cao Pi, the king of Wei, allocated 5,000 tigers and leopards to ride on him.

The members of the Haw Par Cavalry were selected from among the 100 generals of each army, and the imperial court spared no cost, with top-notch equipment and horses, which were unparalleled in the world and had brilliant achievements.

In the ninth year of Jian'an, the tiger and leopard rode from the south of the skin, attacked it urgently, beheaded Yuan Tan, and Hebei passed on the shelf;

In the twelfth year of Jian'an, the tiger and leopard rode with the Wuhuan expedition, and beheaded the Wuhuan single in the head of the Dun, and the northern border people have been subdued since then;

In the thirteenth year of Jian'an, the tiger and leopard rode from Jingzhou, chased Liu Bei in Changsaka, and was burdened by his two daughters, and accepted his scattered pawns;

In the sixteenth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao and Ma Chao fought for Guanzhong, first with light soldiers to pick it, fought for a long time, it was a tiger cavalry attack, broke it, and Xiping in Guanzhong;

In the twenty-third year of Jian'an, in the outpost battle of the Battle of Hanzhong, Cao Hong, Cao Xiu, and Cao Zhen led the tiger and leopard cavalry to break through the Shu general Wu Lan and seize the land advantage, so as to force away Zhang Fei and Ma Chao's coalition army.

It can be seen that the strength of the tiger and leopard riding force can be called the world's sharpest.

It is precisely because of this that there is an unwritten rule in Cao Wei's army - the tiger and leopard are not allowed to be led by the non-clan.

The Xiahou clan has a close relationship with the Cao clan and is called the clan.

So Cao Zhen took this opportunity to appoint Xiahou Ba as the leopard rider Sima in the tiger and leopard riding, and brought him to Guanzhong for training and training.

Xiahou Ba's performance is also remarkable, in just a few months, the leading troops one by one wiped out the Qiang people who had been moved to Guanzhong by Cao Cao, but they always refused to accept the king's transformation and acted recklessly; His own art of war and martial arts have also advanced by leaps and bounds in a short period of time, which makes Cao Zhen quite impressed.

At this moment, Cao Zhen looked at the young but cautious cheeks under his pocket, but the face of Xiahou Nan in Chang'an City, who was easy and hardworking, had no ambitions, but was deeply valued by the King of Wei.

"Zhongquan and Zilin are both from the Xiahou clan, but the gap is too big."

Zhongquan is the expression of Xiahou Ba, and Zilin is the expression of Xiahou Nan.

Xiahou Nan is the second son of the former general Xiahou Xuan, and has a deep friendship with Cao Pi, who married Cao Cao's eldest daughter Princess Qinghe as his wife under Cao Pi's matchmaking.

Now Cao Pi is the new king of Wei, Xiahou Nan is rising, and he was immediately promoted to the general of Anxi, sitting in Chang'an in the name of the governor of Guanzhong, and began to emerge in the political arena of Wei.

Cao Zhen's duty is to do all things in Yongliang, and Xiahou Nan, the governor of Guanzhong, is naturally under his jurisdiction. But after a few months of contact, he noticed that this Xiahou Nan not only did not have the slightest talent for military strategy, but liked to run the family business and collect money, which can be described as extremely unambitious.

If you compare Xiahou Ba of the same sect and generation with it, it can really be described as a heaven and an underground.

He didn't like it, so he threw Xiahou Nan in Chang'an.

In any case, Chang'an has the left general Zhang He in charge, and Xiahou Nan is only the nominal governor, and it is enough to divide some mixed achievements.

Cao Zhen shook his head lightly, sighed secretly, and then thought of this sudden trip to Wudu and Yinping.

Speaking of which, the reason why he appeared here has to start from May.

In May of this year, he was entrusted by Cao Pi, the king of Wei, to arrive in Chang'an as the general of Zhenxi and the governor of Yongliang, and controlled a cadre of ministers including Xiahou Nan, the governor of Guanzhong, Zhang He, the general of Zuo, Zhang Ji, the assassin of Yongzhou, Zou Qi, the general of Zhenxi, Guo Huai, and Su Ze, the captain of Huqiang.

However, he also knew that the King of Wei would never let him go to the northwest to be powerful.

Cao Cao died, and the prestige of the new Wei king Cao Pi could not be compared with his father's, and the local forces in Liangzhou took the opportunity to cause chaos. Cao Wei's rule in Liangzhou was already shallow, and at this time it could almost be called a collapse.

Cao Pi, the king of Wei, had great ambitions and was about to exert his strength to represent the Han, how could he tolerate such a thing?

So Cao Zhen, the general of the clan, was sent to Yongliang, first, to consolidate the rule of Wei in Liangzhou; If the Western Regions can be further reopened, then for Cao Pi, it will be a great contribution of great symbolic significance.

By the time he arrived in Chang'an, Zhang He and Guo Huai had already made up for the confusion of the Western Army after Xiahou Yuan's death. It took the two of them a year to re-select and train 30,000 Western troops, but the new army was not long reorganized and could not be suddenly reused.

Cao Zhen simply used battle as a substitute for training, first took the Qiang people and Di people who did not accept the king in Guanzhong, and within three months, the battle in Guanzhong was determined, and the combat strength of the Western Army had to be integrated and raised to a higher level.

At the same time, he also keeps a close eye on the developments of the four counties in Hexi.

During these months, the local tyrant of Xiping County, Liangzhou, colluded with several nearby counties to create turmoil and resist the new Liangzhou assassin Zou Qi of Wei State from taking office; Zhang Jin, a local tyrant in Zhangye County, even arrested Du Tong, the Taishou appointed by the Wei State; Huang Hua, a local tyrant in Jiuquan County, also refused to allow Wei to take up his post in the county; The Hu people of the three tribes in Wuwei County also rebelled again, and the situation in the four counties of Hexi was precarious.

Wuwei Taishou Qiu Xing complained to Jincheng Taishou and Huqiang Captain Su Ze; Su Ze sent his general Hao Zhao to Chang'an for help.

Until the end of August, seeing that everything had been decided, Cao Zhen ordered Xiahou Nan, Zhang He, and Zhang Ji generals to stay in Chang'an, and he personally led the chief Shi Guohuai, the junior general Xiahou Ba, and the deputy general Dai Ling, under the leadership of Hao Zhao, launched 5,000 tiger and leopard cavalry, 15,000 Western Army foot soldiers, a total of 20,000 soldiers and horses to attack Liangzhou, and also summoned 3,000 soldiers under the command of Su Ze, the captain of the Qiang school, along the way.

When the army marched westward to the junction of Tianshui and Longxi counties, the Qiang people Muba found the whereabouts of the army, and immediately complained to Cao Zhen about what the Shu people did in Wudu and Yinping counties, and took out the secret letter of King Qiangduan, and asked Cao Zhen to go south to Yinping and attack the soldiers and horses of Ma Chao, the general of Shu.

Qiang Duan was a pawn placed by the late Wei King Cao Cao in the Yinping area to monitor the movements of Shu, and since Shu was moving, Cao Zhen could not sit idly by.

Liangzhou has a vast area, and the foot soldiers march slowly, and it will take time to reach Jincheng to join Su.

Cao Zhen didn't think twice, leaving Guo Huai and Hao Zhao to lead the infantry to continue to move forward, and led 5,000 tigers and leopards to ride straight to Yinping.

All the way non-stop, wearing the stars and the moon, it was able to travel for three days, and finally passed through Wudu and arrived in Yinping.

In front of me is a long and narrow valley, withered vines and weeds grow, the wind gusts, there is a hidden whimper, looking at the past is a little forested.

"Stop!"

Cao Zhen had been fighting for many years, and his intuition was a little inappropriate, so he raised his right hand and shouted loudly.