After Cao Cao withdrew his troops in winter, he returned to Xuchang with a great victory in the narrow pass.

Cao Cao's confidants immediately began to plan for Cao Cao's advancement. Xi Xi and Lu Cui were not liaison officials, and wanted to write to the emperor to crown Cao Cao as the king of Wei.

The reason for their book is very simple, Han Sui, Ma Chao and others are all strong in Xiliang, and Cao Cao's defeat of them is a great achievement. Meritorious service will be rewarded, and Cao Cao deserves to be crowned King of Wei.

However, there are many people who disagree, and they have already agreed that Cao Cao's title was due to Xun Yu's death. Now that Cao Cao has made inch, many courtiers loyal to the Han family disagree.

In the first lunar month, the imperial physician Ling Yoshimoto and his sons Ji Miao, Ji Mu, Shaofu Geng Ji, Si Zhi Wei Huang and others attacked the military camp of Prime Minister Changshi Wang Bi and shot Wang Bi in the shoulder. However, this rebellion was still put down by Wang Bi and Yan Kuang.

Cao Cao spent the New Year in Yecheng, so he was not in Xuchang. However, Xi Xian, Lu Cui and others took advantage of this to clean up a group of courtiers loyal to the Han family.

After the operation of Xi Xi and others, the emperor issued an edict to canonize Cao Cao as the king of Wei.

Cao Cao accepted the edict, and the ceremony was completed in March. 30,000 households, located in the princes and kings, do not call the ministers, do not worship the edict, worship the world with the crown of the Son of Heaven, the car uniform, the flag, the ritual music suburbs, enter and exit to be called the police, the temple, the ancestors, the wax are all like the Han system, the national capital Yecheng. The princes were all princes.

Daijun Karasuma Shan Yu Pufulu, Southern Xiongnu Shan Yu Hu Chu Spring all led their famous kings to the dynasty, Cao Cao left Hu Chu Spring, so that he went to the country of Humble Prison. The division is five, each of which is appointed as a nobleman, and Han Sima supervises it.

After the seizure of Hu Chuquan, he wanted to go south to Xuchang. However, just in time for the rebellion of Tian Yin and Su Bo in Hejian, Cao Cao delayed in Jizhou for two months, and only came to Xuchang after destroying Tian Yin and Su Bo.

After arriving in Xuchang, Cao Cao did not rest, but received news from Chang'an, Ma Chao united with Liang Xing, Xingguo Wang Agui, and Baixiang Wang to attack Huaili.

Ma Chao got Li Hongzhang's grain and grass in March, and immediately contacted him a few kings of Qiang and attacked Chencang and Yixian. Ma Chao gathered an army of 30,000 and more than half of the cavalry.

Xiahou Yuan and Zhang He were stationed in Chang'an, because they had to guard against three sides, Xiahou Yuan and Zhang He could only defend the Chang'an area with all their might. There are Nanyang in the east, Hanzhong in the south, and Liangzhou in the west, and if the two of them defend the entire Guanzhong, the troops will not be enough at all.

Ma Chao took advantage of this and occupied Chencang and Yixian first. Chencang and Yixian are both battlegrounds, Chencang is the important place to guard the Chencang Road, and Yixian is the important place to guard the Baochuan Road, as long as these two places are occupied, you can prevent the two plank roads in Hanzhong.

After Ma Chao captured Chencang and Yixian, he continued to attack in the direction of Chang'an, and his attack on Chencang and Yixian was mainly to open up the grain route, because he also needed the grain supplied by Li Hongzhang. If it is transported from Anding, the bend is too big, and it is far better to transport it directly from Shangtai.

Zhuge Liang and Li Hongzhang were also discussing how to attack Guanzhong in Ji County, and he was still a little worried about using Ma Chao to attack Guanzhong.

"Envoy, Ma Mengqi is unruly, and after he occupies Guanzhong, I am afraid there will be repeated actions."

Li Hongzhang said with a smile: "Although Ma Chao is unruly, he is quite upright. He is now deeply favored by us, and when he fails again, he can only take refuge in the lord. At that time, the lord will be able to recover this rebellious generation, and with the patience of the lord, Ma Chao can be completely attached. ”

Zhuge Liang shook his head lightly, "I'm still afraid that Cao Mengde will not be able to expel him." ”

"Kong Ming is afraid that Cao Cao is too simple."

It's not that Zhuge Liang thinks of Cao Cao simply, but that Ma Chao, who has the support of Li Hongzhang, has become powerful. Because he didn't know to what extent Li Hongzhang supported Ma Chao, because as long as there was food, Ma Chao could constantly gather soldiers and fight Cao Cao again and again. Even if Cao Cao is powerful, he can't stand such a toss year after year. And I don't know how long it will take for Ma Chao to give up the idea of being the master, if Li Hongzhang wants to be proud, it will take time.

"I'm just afraid that after a long time, Cao Cao will gain a firm foothold in Guanzhong."

"Kong Ming, don't worry, now Han Sui already has the intention of being a princess, Li Shanchang has now successfully entered Han Sui's family, only three or five years later, the lord will transfer Li Shanchang away, and Li Shanchang will take the Han family with him. Now Xue Rengui has gone to attack Anding County and Beidi County, and the entire Liangzhou except for the Caohan area is already ours. And now the Qiang people under us have basically surrendered, and those who are reluctant have been taken away by Ma Chao. ”

After Zhuge Liang heard this, he was relieved. Surrendering to the Qiang people is equivalent to cutting off Ma Chao's source of troops, and it is impossible for him to make a comeback.

Cao Cao received the news of Chang'an, immediately knew that the situation was serious, and immediately rushed to Chang'an. When he walked to Luoyang, Cao Cao once again received news that Ma Chao had captured martial arts and was attacking Huaili. After Cao Cao also heard this, he immediately accelerated his march, but when he arrived in Huayin, he received the news that Ma Chao had broken through Huaili and attacked Chang'an.

Fortunately, Xiahou Yuan and Zhang He were both good generals, and they fought with Ma Chao one after another near Chang'an. and successfully resisted Ma Chao and dragged Ma Chao back.

Ma Chao can be said to be like a breakthrough at the beginning, capturing Chencang in mid-April, Yixian in early May, Wugong in mid-May, and Huaili at the end of May. Xiahou Yuan and Zhang He seemed to be frightened, and they did not send troops to rescue at all, but waited for work near Chang'an.

After Ma Chao attacked Chang'an, he found that Chang'an was not easy to attack. Xiahou Yuan was stationed at Baqiao, and Chang'an City was at the corner. Moreover, there are quite a few soldiers in Baqiao and Chang'an, all of which are about 10,000. Ma Chao asked Pang De to take 10,000 troops to block Xiahou Yuan, and he himself led his troops to attack Chang'an.

But Xiahou Yuan was extremely brave and could always break through Pang De's obstruction and interrupt his siege.

After persisting for more than ten days, Cao Cao arrived in Chang'an. Cao Cao's arrival made the morale of the soldiers in Chang'an loud, Cao Cao's prestige in the army was very high, and now Cao Cao became the king of Wei, which made the soldiers very excited.

Ma Chao saw Cao Cao coming over and immediately began to retreat. Originally, there were 20,000 soldiers in Chang'an, and Cao Cao brought another 30,000, and the troops were already more than him, so he could only retreat to Huaili to protect himself. Cao Cao led a large army to attack Huaili, and repeatedly attacked for a month, Huaili was in danger and could be broken at any time.

Although Ma Chao's soldiers are brave, their military discipline is not strict, and their morale is prone to ups and downs, and they are easy to collapse when they are at a disadvantage. In addition, there are too many commanders of the coalition forces, some people want to fight, and some people want to surrender, and the combat effectiveness is reduced again.