Ma Chao quickly replied, agreeing that Xue Rengui would take Hanyang and Longxi, but asked Xue Rengui to help him defeat Cao Cao and let him enter Guanzhong, and before entering Guanzhong, he would garrison troops in Shangtai.

In October, Xue Rengui led an army of 40,000 troops from Xiazhi to Hanyang, occupied Xixian, and then went north to Shangqi to join up with Machao.

After Ma Chao saw Xue Rengui, he immediately expressed his intimacy. Xue Rengui is a peerless general, and Ma Chao is also a peerless general, the two have the same arrogance, and they have a feeling of sympathy.

Xue Rengui also has a good sense of Ma Chao, Ma Chao is called Jin Ma Chao because he is good-looking and has a good personality, and the two expressed their closeness after a few words.

After a simple greeting, Xue Rengui said to Ma Chao: "Brother Meng Qi, where is Cao Cao now?" ”

Ma Chao pointed to the map and said, "Cao Cao has arrived in Wangxian County, more than a hundred miles away from Shangqi. ”

Xue Rengui nodded, and asked Ma Chao how many soldiers and horses there were now, and Ma Chao said that there were 15,000 people.

"Where's Hangul?" Xue Rengui asked.

Ma Chao said: "In the area of Xianqin and Luoyang, he is recruiting tens of millions of Qiang tribes and is gathering soldiers. ”

Xue Rengui looked at the map, showing that his relatives and Luoyang were in the north of Ji County, so he said: "You can let Han Wen about Tun Binglong County and us be horns with each other." ”

Ma Chao nodded, but there were still some worries, "Its soldiers are newly attached, I'm afraid they won't be able to resist Cao Cao." ”

Xue Rengui said: "I will send someone to assist him, you write to him and ask him to cooperate." ”

Ma Chao was stunned, he quickly figured out what Xue Rengui meant by cooperating. Xue Rengui wants to take the lead this time, but looking at the army brought by Xue Rengui, Ma Chao can't say anything. These people are also who listen to whoever has more soldiers, and the reason why Ma Chao was unable to ensure the dominance before was because his troops were not as good as Han Sui.

Xue Rengui now has the most troops, and it is more than the alliance between him and Han Sui, and it is completely possible to lead this alliance. The top priority now is to defeat Cao Cao, and other matters can be discussed after defeating Cao Cao. Ma Chao doesn't have much ambition for Liangzhou, his ambitions are basically in Guanzhong, and compared with the richness of Guanzhong, Xiliang is not important. His ancestor is a Fufeng person, and he also wants to return to the ancestral land, and there is another branch of the Ma family in the ancestral land, and if he wants to glorify the Ma family, he needs to merge with this one.

Here Ma Chao wrote a letter to Xue Rengui, and Xue Rengui also sent Yan Yan and Wang Ping to lead an army of 10,000 to Longxian to garrison. Longxian is about fifty miles away from Shangqi, Yan Yan and the others are not generals like Master Shang and apprentices, and Cao Cao will not care about casualties like killing Master and Apprentice.

Xue Rengui sent Wei Rui with Zhu Huan, Zhang Jiayu, Chen Bangyan, Chen Zizhuang and others to lead 15,000 people to the west through Wangyuan and attack Ji County.

Ji County is the seat of Hanyang County and the seat of Liangzhou Thorn History. Ji County is the largest city in Liangzhou, and it is also a city where talents gather. Many talents in Liangzhou are gathered here, and if you want to plunder talents, you must occupy Ji County. Moreover, it is also the place with the most arable land in Liangzhou, and before Longxi County was not developed, it was the largest grain production base in Liangzhou.

Chen Zizhuang was left to garrison Wangyuan to protect the grain road, and took the others to continue to send troops to Ji County.

The current supreme governor of Ji County is Wei Kang, and his father is Wei Duan, the Liangzhou Assassin appointed by Cao Cao. After his father's death, he took over the position of Liangzhou Assassin, and everyone at the time was proud of it. This is the traditional Chinese father-to-son succession, and it is also a position inherited by ability, which is more in line with the preferences of the Chinese people.

Wei's father and son have also been in Liangzhou for many years, and it can be said that they have a lot of prestige. Before Wei Rui's soldiers and horses arrived in Ji County, Wei Kang received the news. Wei Kang has always been interested in Cao Cao, after Ma Chao and Han Sui retreated to Liangzhou, he has been paying attention to their movements, and guarding Ji County, not wanting them to destroy Ji County.

But Wei Kang really didn't expect that Zhang Yi's subordinates also came to Hanyang and mixed with Ma Chao. Wei Kang constantly sent people to monitor the movements of Shangqi and other places, and Wei Rui's soldiers and horses had just moved to Ji County, and Wei Kang knew about it. However, Wei Rui's march was very fast, and after Wei Kang had just ordered to hold Ji County, Wei Rui had already taken Wangyuan, and his troops were in the city that night.

Wei Kang summoned his subordinates worriedly, and his subordinates Yang Fu, Yan Wen and others all came over.

Yang Fu said: "Cao Gong's soldiers and horses are not far away, as long as you hold on for ten days and a half months, Cao Gong's reinforcements will arrive." ”

Yan Wen also said: "At this time, there is no other way but to hold on. ”

Wei Kang naturally knew that he was just not steady. "The army outside the city is the army under Zhang Yi, its army set off from Shangqi in the morning, captured Wangyuan at noon, and arrived at Ji County at night.

No wonder Wellcome was worried, knowing that it was already winter. In the northern winter, the sun rises at about 7 a.m. and gets dark at 5 p.m. There are only about ten hours of sunshine, which translates to five hours. Although the time zone of Liangzhou will be increased by a few, the sunshine hours will not differ too much. Shangtai is fifty miles away from Ji County, and the five-hour march is fifty miles, and there is a county town to attack in the middle, and a fire is needed to cook rice, that is, there is only three and a half hours of marching time. Fifty miles is a day and a half for the average army, and three and a half hours will arrive, and it can still maintain the military appearance, and a person who knows how to soldiers knows that this is an elite division.

Yang Fu also knew that it was the elite of the army outside the city, but now he really didn't have anything to do. Ji County didn't have many troops in the first place, and after leaving Ji County, Weikang didn't have so much appeal.

Wei Kang is actually very unlucky, the reason why he was recorded in the history books is not only because he was killed by Ma Chao, but also because he was used as evidence that Xun Yu recommended people unfavorably.

Being killed by Ma Chao did not blame him at all, he defended Ji County for eight months, Cao Cao's reinforcements never came, he was not good at fighting, so he had to surrender to Ma Chao. However, Ma Chao killed him because he hated him for eight months!

As for Xun Yu's unfavorable recommendation, this one wronged him even more. Xun Yu is famous for being good at recommending talents, Guo Jia, Mao Jue, Zhong Xuan and others were all recommended by Xun Yu, and this person later became the mainstay of Cao Cao's regime, only Wei Kang and Yan Xiang failed and were killed.

Wei Kang was in Liangzhou, because there were no reinforcements and was killed by Ma Chao, Yan Xiang was in Yangzhou, and Lujiang was stationed. After Sun Ce's death, Lujiang Taishou Li Shu rebelled and killed Yan Xiang. The death of these two people was because they were isolated, after Cao Cao sent them out, he didn't care about them, it would be strange if they didn't die! Their abilities are indeed poor, and Zhong Xuan was also sent out like them, but he has been living well. But this doesn't mean that the two of them can't do it, it can only be said that they are unlucky.