If it were other opponents, Ma Chao would definitely chase after him without hesitation, but in the face of Chen Xu, Ma Chao hesitated.

Jumping off the war horse, Ma Chao came to the Gobi, looked at the horseshoe prints left by the Guanzhong cavalry, and his face couldn't help but become puzzled.

"The whole army retreats and retreats to the royal court!"

After all, Ma Chao did not lead the troops to catch up, and made an extremely wise choice.

After Chen Xu got the news, he was not too disappointed, but comforted everyone: "If this person is so easy to deal with, he will not be Ma Chao." ”

Summer slowly passed, and when autumn arrived, the grass and trees withered and yellowed, and the color of the shore of the lake became much more monotonous.

For three months in a row, the Qiang people lived as if they were living in a nightmare.

Originally, in order to be cautious about guarding against the Guanzhong army, Ma Chao also restrained the Qiang people and prevented them from going out to graze.

However, the Guanzhong army did not directly attack the Qiang royal court as Ma Chao thought, but continued to harass the lives of the Qiang people.

Ma Chao sent a large group of cavalry to capture the Guanzhong cavalry who came to harass them, but as long as the large group of Qiang cavalry appeared, these Guanzhong cavalry would disperse.

It is impossible for the Qiang cavalry to be cautious all the time, and the grazing area is too large for the Qiang people to guard against it at all.

In this way, the Guanzhong army kept harassing and sneaking attacks, and in three months, they killed nearly 3,000 Qiang herdsmen, which made the entire Qiang royal court panic.

Ma Chao was angry, and he personally led the army to prepare for a decisive battle with Chen Xu.

However, the cavalry in Guanzhong was like slippery loaches, and when they saw the main force of the Qiang people appear, they would flee in panic and not engage them at all.

Although the Qiang people were familiar with the terrain, the Guanzhong army found an extremely good guide, and gradually became very familiar with this place.

Another time, the Guanzhong cavalry deliberately fled to the Gobi, and the angry Ma Chao chased after him, but suffered a fatal counterattack, and more than 3,000 Qiang cavalry were killed.

Ma Chao also wanted to scatter the cavalry in various pastures, but he would always be attacked and killed by the Guanzhong cavalry that suddenly appeared with superior forces.

After more than three months of intermittent fighting, the Qiang cavalry lost nearly 6,000 people, which was undoubtedly a fatal blow to the Qiang people, who were already thin in numbers.

In desperation, the herdsmen did not dare to go out to graze at all, and hid in the Qiang royal court every day, fearing all day long.

Not only that, every time after nightfall, the Qiang people would feel terrified, afraid that the Guanzhong army would kill them at some point.

It turned out that the Guanzhong army would always appear at night, beat the war drums, shout loudly, and set fire to the outermost defensive buildings of the strongman's royal court.

As long as Ma Chao led the troops to kill, the Guanzhong army would quickly disappear into the night, and there were several times when Ma Chao pursued desperately, but was defeated by the ambush of the Guanzhong army.

The constant harassment, sneak attack, and massacre of the Guanzhong army have made Ma Chao almost crazy, and the Qiang people are also tortured to exhaustion.

Today, excluding the 3,000 blonde and blue-eyed aliens, there are less than 15,000 Qiang cavalry under Ma Chao's command.

Although the number is not worse than that of the Guanzhong cavalry, if you really want to go head-to-head, the outcome is unknown.

The Qiang people were almost unbearable at this time, because there was no way to graze, and a lot of the hay they had stored before had been exhausted.

If this continues, the cattle and sheep of the Qiang people, as well as the war horses, will be starved to death. At that time, there was no need for the Guanzhong army to come and attack, and the Qiang people completely collapsed.

After all, they are not like the Han people, who store a lot of grain at home, and cattle, sheep and livestock are almost everything to them.

"Damn, hateful, damnable!"

Ma Chao threw everything in the house on the ground, his handsome face was extremely distorted, and he roared loudly regardless of his image.

The Qiang people have a fixed camp, and there are many old and weak women and children in them, and there is no possibility of migration.

And Ma Chao has reason to believe that as long as the Qiang people dare to leave the camp, the Guanzhong army will definitely be like a hungry tiger, pounce and bite fiercely.

At this time, Ma Chao was about to lose his mind after being tortured.

"It can't go on any longer."

Ma Chao clenched his fists, and a crazy but helpless look flashed in his eyes.

The Qiang people have a fixed camp, and the Guanzhong army can come and harass them at any time.

On the contrary, the Guanzhong Army is like a ghost, with no fixed place, even if Ma Chao wants to fight against it at all costs, he can't do it.

The current situation of the two sides is like that of the Han people who were on the border at the beginning, and those who often come to fight the grass valley.

The Han people could only defend passively, and even if the Han army learned that the enemy army was coming to plunder, there was nothing they could do about the alien cavalry that came and went.

It's just that now the positions of the two sides have been reversed.

……

In a small oasis, Chen Xu and the others were all dusty, with a look of exhaustion on their faces that could not be concealed.

In these three months, although their results seemed to be brilliant, although they made the Qiang people anxious, the Guanzhong cavalry was exhausted because of this.

"My lord, all the materials that can be looted within a radius of more than 100 miles have already been looted, if we continue to stay here, we will be weak in food and grass."

The lake was originally the sphere of influence of the Qiang people, and few of the other alien races dared to settle in the vicinity because of the threat of the Qiang people.

In the past three months, in order to snatch supplies for life, the Guanzhong army has even traveled a hundred miles in a radius.

For this reason, more than 1,000 non-commissioned officers and soldiers died on the way and due to the loss of troops in the battle.

Plundering is only an expedient measure after all, and if it weren't for the occasional snatching of some available supplies from the Qiang people, the Guanzhong army might not be able to support it until now.

The most important thing is that after the arrival of autumn, many grasses withered, and the Guanzhong army, which had no food and grass, had extremely difficult to feed the war horses.

Don't look at the Qiang people who are extremely embarrassed, in fact, the Guanzhong soldiers are also facing a great crisis.

Rubbing his eyebrows tiredly, before Chen Xu could answer, he heard Lu Bu's voice: "The Qiang people have been defeated by our army many times, and now they no longer have an advantage in the army. ”

"And after such a long period of training, the five thousand newly recruited cavalry can barely be regarded as an elite division."

"Even if we fight the Qiang people head-on at this time, we can defeat the Qiang people!"

Chen Xu looked at everyone, the tired but strong desire to fight, suddenly smiled, and said, "Since this is the case, let's write a war book." ”

……

Due to the continuous harassment of the Guanzhong soldiers, the Qiang people suffered huge losses, and the Qiang people also had a lot of complaints about Ma Chao.

During this time, Ma Chao's temper became worse and worse, and he was furious at every turn.

"King!"

A herald entered the house, looked at Ma Chao timidly, and shouted softly.

"What?"

Ma Chao had an impatient look on his face, and a pair of tiger eyes stared at the herald, which made that person's heart chill.

The herald hurriedly took out a letter and said, "This is shot in by the Guanzhong army." ”

Ma Chao shifted his gaze and saw the big word 'war book' on the envelope, first shook it for a moment, and then hurriedly stepped forward to snatch the war book.

When I opened the letter, I saw that it was written: Three days later, in the northwest, a hundred miles away, in the desert, there will be a decisive battle.

Ma Chao read the letter carefully a few times and couldn't help laughing out loud.

Although he knew that Guan Zhongjun was not having a good time now, Ma Chao had enough of this kind of life.

He knew that if he dragged on like this, the prestige he had built up among the Qiang people would soon plummet.

At that time, these Qiang people, who had finally been united, were likely to fall apart, and he himself would become a loner.

Therefore, after Ma Chao got the war letter, he didn't think about it for too long, and decided to fight to the death with the Guanzhong army.

Even if the decisive battle will cause heavy casualties to the Qiang cavalry, even if the Qiang may be crippled by it. However, Ma Chao has no choice.

At this point in the war, no matter what the outcome is, Ma Chao has already been defeated, and only by catching or killing Chen Xu can he recover his losses.

Therefore, this battle cannot be avoided and must be fought!

When Ma Chao summoned the generals of the Qiang people and announced the news that he was going to fight a decisive battle with the Guanzhong army, everyone was grinding their fists and clapping their hands, and they couldn't wait to break the Guanzhong army, which had been harassing them for three months.

Fortunately, the dog-headed military advisor who is Ma Chao's strategist is still a little sensible.

He said to Ma Chaojin: "King, there are not many soldiers in the army who can fight, and if you fight with the enemy, I am afraid that you will only lose both." “

Ma Chao said with a smile: "After such a long time, those three thousand foot soldiers can also be used as cavalry." ”

When the military advisor heard this, he thought of the three thousand blonde and blue-eyed men with strong figures, and then he suddenly realized.

These people were not good at riding horses at first, but after living with the Qiang people for so long, they have trained good riding skills.

To this day, these foot soldiers can be used as cavalry.

If these 3,000 cavalry are added, the Qiang side still has the advantage of troops, and it is not impossible to win a decisive battle.

This is the front and base camp again, even if the Qiang people eventually suffered heavy casualties, as long as they can defeat the Guanzhong army, they can achieve the final victory in this war.

If he is defeated outside the Saiwai, it will be very difficult for Chen Xu to escape back to Longxian.

Taking a step back, even if the war is unfavorable, Ma Chao can lead his troops back to the Qiang royal court to recuperate.

"However, will the Guanzhong Army really fight a decisive battle?"

The military advisor was still a little worried in his heart, but when he saw the faces of the generals who had been aggrieved for a long time, the crazy battle intent was not easy to say.

He can also see the current situation clearly, although the situation of the Guanzhong army is not very good, why not the Qiang people?

Both sides can no longer drag on, and if the war continues to stalemate, the final outcome is likely to be a lose-lose situation.

Of course, it is possible that the Guanzhong army is short of food and grass, and it will not be able to hold on to collapse first; It is also possible that the Qiang people could not stand this atmosphere and took the lead in civil strife.

This kind of uncertain factor is related to the life and death of one party, and Chen Xu and Ma Chao dare not bet.

Therefore, a decisive battle is imperative.

The wind swept up the yellow sand, and Ma Chao led 18,000 cavalry to march in the designated direction, and there was wind and dust along the way.

"Phew!"

The Qiang general spit out a mouthful of yellow sand and said with a curse: "The decisive battle is the decisive battle, as for putting the battlefield so far?" ”

In fact, this is also the place where Ma Chao is puzzled, I don't know why Chen Xu chose this position for a decisive battle.

Ma Chao also knew that this position was full of yellow sand, and there were no sharp stones, so it would not be too dangerous for the cavalry to charge here.

Moreover, the scouts had already probed in detail, and learned that the Guanzhong army was indeed in the agreed place, and did not bluff and then divided the troops to attack the Qiang royal court.

In fact, the Guan Zhongjun also found those Qiang scouts, but they deliberately let these scouts go to dispel Ma Chao's suspicions.

But I don't know why, the closer he got to the front, the more uneasy Ma Chao's heart became, and he even felt a sense of horror.

"Why is this happening?"

Ma Chao's face was extremely solemn, and he said to the guide who was familiar with geography: "This location, is there really nothing weird?" ”

The guide replied: "King Qiyu, the destination is indeed not strange, and it is very beneficial for cavalry combat, but sometimes sandstorms occur here. ”

Ma Chao's heart sank, and he asked, "Then aren't we very dangerous?" ”

Encountering a sandstorm in the desert is definitely a very terrible thing, a small sandstorm can swallow up all the troops he brought out.

So after hearing the news, Ma Chao reacted so much.

The guide smiled and said, "Your Majesty, please rest assured, although sandstorms often occur here, there are traces to follow, as long as you are very familiar with this place, you can generally avoid the period of sandstorm eruption." ”

"As a rule of thumb, there are no sandstorms here at all."

Ma Chao was a little relieved at this time, but the uneasiness in his heart could not be completely dissipated no matter what.

When the army came to the agreed position, far away, Ma Chao could see the neat formation of the Guanzhong army, and he couldn't help but feel awe-inspiring.

Especially after seeing the front, Lu Bu, Dian Wei, and Zhao Yun, Ma Chao felt a little numb in his scalp and chills all over his body.

Any of these three people, Ma Chao is very difficult to deal with, and now that the three of them are here, it makes people feel terrible to think about.

"I couldn't find the source of my anxiety before, but after I came here, I realized why I was upset."

"However, no matter how brave one person is, how can he resist a thousand armies? The Guanzhong army is like a cloud, although I am conceited, but I will not fight with it. ”

Ma Chao felt a little chill in his heart, and he never thought of going head-to-head with these three non-humans, it was not that he was cowardly, but that Ma Chao was more mature than before.

Of course, Ma Chao, as a top general, also has the blood of a martial artist.

If there is only one of the three hostile generals this time, Ma Chao will definitely not be afraid.

The northwest wind was howling, and the weather was a little cold, which seemed a little abnormal in the September day, but it did not attract everyone's attention.

Chen Xu took a few steps forward and looked at Ma Chao intently for a long time, and then said in a deep voice: "You are a tired teacher from afar, and I will naturally not take advantage of others as a king's teacher." ”

"Let's stop fighting today, and tomorrow, I'll wait to line up here again and fight to the death."

After Chen Xu finished speaking, he turned his horse's head and led the army to retreat in an orderly manner, leaving only the stunned Qiang people.

Seeing this, Ma Chao frowned tightly.