Ma Chao saw Yuan Xi's sarcasm and was about to attack, but he felt that it made sense, and responded unceremoniously: "The manly husband is willing to gamble and lose, this time I have written down the hatred of your Xiliang warriors who hurt me, and I will repay it in the future, hum!" After saying that, he reluctantly ordered the army to retreat. Yuan Xi didn't care, the gap between the Xiliang army and himself in the future will only get bigger and bigger, but he didn't want Ma Chao to be used by Cao Cao, so he persuaded: "General Ma Chao should not fall for Cao Cao's conspiracy, for a false position, it is really unwise to meet with me." Although Ma Chao was said by Yuan Xi, he was not in the mood to reason with Yuan Xi, but it was Zhong Xuan, who commanded the army after the break, although Yuan Jun would not treacherously attack him, but it was still just in case.

Yuan Xi saw that Zhong had to be cautious and cautious, and he admired it very much, so he stepped forward and looked for Zhong Xuan and said: "Doctor Zhong can not only manage Guanzhong in an orderly manner, but also be good at military affairs." Zhong Xuan said modestly: "The virtuous nephew is young and terrifying, and the future is immeasurable, the old man admires it and says goodbye." "The generals are also looking at Yuan Xi, do you want to pursue? Yuan Xi smiled: "Am I a treacherous person for victory? Maybe they'll be back soon. ”

On the way, Ma Yunlu blamed himself even more, if he hadn't played by himself, he might not have lost the competition. Ma Chao comforted: "Although we are embarrassed to lose this time, Yuan Xi is right, we don't need to fight with Yuan Xi for Cao Cao, only the army is there, and my father's Liangzhou Mu is counted, even if we defeat Yuan Xi, we will sacrifice a lot of Xiliang soldiers." As soon as the strength of our army is weak, can Han Tunnel convince his father, the Liangzhou pastor? ”

Ma Yunlu thought of the hated Han Zheng, so he didn't really want to go back to Xiliang, and said coquettishly to Ma Chao: "Big brother, I finally came out once, or we will be a little while, anyway, now Yuan Xi is not our enemy, why don't we go to Luoyang to play again, and when we find that Zhao Yun, my brother will definitely win this time!" Ma Chao knew that Ma Yunlu didn't want to go back, and he felt shameless to retreat to Xiliang so quickly, as for Zhao Yun, he really wanted to compete with him again, so he agreed to Ma Yunlu's suggestion, first withdraw the army to Hangu Pass, and then go to Luoyang to meet Zhao Yun for a while.

However, when Ma Chao's army returned to Hangu Pass, no one came down to open the door, and although it was dark, there were torches lit on the city wall, and he should be able to see himself. Seeing that the situation was not right, Zhong Miao also rushed from the side and shouted to the guards on the city wall: "General Wang, I am Zhong Xuan, hurry up and open the city gate." At this time, there was finally a reaction on the city wall, and I saw a big man shouting apologetically on the city wall: "Doctor Zhong, I'm sorry, I'm Zhang Yan, I don't dare to let you go without General Yuan's order!" ”

Although a few of the brothers of the Montenegrin army relied on many days of trekking through mountains and rivers and blended into Hangu Pass. However, he was afraid of Yuan Xi's sneak attack before, and Zhong Xuan was also tightly guarded, so the Montenegrin army never had a chance. This time Ma Chao's arrival, but gave them the opportunity to seize the pass, while Ma Chao and Zhong Xuan led the army to confront Yuan Xi, lied that Yuan Xi sneaked up on Hangu Pass, Zhong Miao wanted to wait for himself to come back to help, the city guards were not guarded, and when they opened the city gate and found that something was wrong, several Montenegrin soldiers in the pass took the opportunity to rush over, occupy the city gate, and let Zhang Yan in. There were not many guards in the pass, so Zhang Yan quickly stabilized the situation and closed the city gate in case Ma Chao came back to hide from the pass.

Ma Chao saw that Hangu Pass was occupied, and his way back to Xiliang was broken, and when he was suffering from the enemy on his back, he was angry that Yuan Xi seized Hangu Pass in the name of the competition, and scolded: "Yuan Xi is really a despicable villain, taking advantage of our duel to steal the pass, it is really one thing in front of people and one thing in the back." "Directly ordered the siege of the city. Zhong Xuan hurriedly dissuaded at this time: "General Meng Qi, don't be impulsive, the old man was careless for a while, so he lost the checkpoint, and we have no way home." If it is dark today and it is not suitable to attack the city, we should first guard against Yuan Xi's sneak attack from behind. Pang De and the others were also kind to persuade each other, Ma Chaocai gave up the siege, first found a safe place to set up a village, and waited for dawn.

Yuan Xi was overjoyed to get Zhang Yan's successful occupation of Hangu Pass, and Sima Yi persuaded: "Ma Chao and Zhong Xuan are already cornered, why don't the lord persuade them to surrender and surrender?" Yuan Xi does have this kind of thought, but if it is already dark today, it is not good to persuade him to surrender in a hurry, waiting for the dawn. Xu Shu said: "Lord, I don't think they may surrender, and the lord also promised to let Ma Chaoxi go, once they are in a hurry, not only will they lose their trust, but it will be difficult to ensure that they do not fight hard at a critical moment, and I am afraid that the gains will outweigh the losses." ”

Yuan Xi looked at Sima Yi, Sima Yi also felt that he was in a hurry, thought for a while, and reminded mysteriously: "Lord, we promised Ma Chao to leave, but we didn't say let Zhong Xuan go!" Yuan Xi laughed: "It makes sense, Zhong Xuan is very important, we lack a leader to lead the way." ”

At dawn on the second day, Ma Chao and Zhong had spent a long night on uneasy precautions, and Yuan Xi really didn't take advantage of the chaos to sneak attack. Now that his back road has been cut off, if he storms Hangu Pass, he is afraid that Yuan Xi will use an excuse to destroy him, Ma Chao looked at the pass and was very well guarded, and he didn't have the impulse of last night. Only Pang De said: "I think that Yuan Xi is also a trustworthy person, find him a theory, and let me wait to go west." If it doesn't work, our army will fight to the death with Yuan's army! Ma Chao was noncommittal, Zhong Xuan nodded and agreed: "I agree with General Pang's opinion, after all, Yuan Xi doesn't have much hatred for us, and attacking us will not only damage his strength, but also make enemies with me, he won't do this!" ”

Before Pang De could set off, the herald made an urgent report, and Yuan Jun appeared not far away, and asked the generals to go to negotiate. Ma Chao came to the camp and asked, this time his tone was much more relaxed: "General Yuan, I, Ma Chao, keep my promise, and I will return to the army after losing the competition." Why do you not believe what you say, and you clearly promised our army to return to Xiliang, why do you still cut off my way back? Unexpectedly, Yuan Xi replied with a smile: "Didn't I come to let you go, without my military order, General Zhang, who was closed, would not have opened the city gate!" ”

When everyone heard that Yuan Xi was willing to let him go, they were also excited and thanked Yuan Xi. As a result, Yuan Xi interrupted Zhong Yao's words and said: "Doctor Zhong, I don't dare to take your thanks, the competition is my agreement with General Meng Qi and the Xiliang Army, excluding you and the Guanzhong Army." General Ma and I misunderstood, but you are Cao Cao's cronies, not a misunderstanding! ”

Zhong Xuan was shocked, he didn't expect Yuan Xi to be so strong, and pointed at Yuan Xi and said: "I didn't expect the general's son to be so eloquent and distort the facts, the old man has nothing to say, but if the old man surrenders, it's impossible!" In the face of Zhong Xuan's stubbornness, Yuan Xi shook his head, Ma Chao couldn't bear Zhong Xuan's sacrifice in vain, and said to Yuan Xi: "General Yuan, now that you have won Hangu Pass, even if you let Captain Zhong go back to Chang'an, he can no longer unite with Cao Cao, and without Captain Zhong, Guanzhong will be in chaos, and the general will not bear it." ”

Yuan Xi thought for a while, and seemed to think about the people of Guanzhong, and sighed: "I also know that Captain Zhong is a capable minister who governs the world, and each is his master, so he has no choice but to do it, as long as Captain Zhong does something for me, I will let him go back to Chang'an." After hearing this, Zhong Xuan asked without thinking, "Really?" "Really, I, Yuan Xi, am an honest and trustworthy person, if Captain Zhong doesn't believe it, you can ask General Ma?" Zhong Xuan suddenly felt embarrassed, Yuan Xi really didn't break his trust with Ma Chao.