In the winter of 195 AD, because Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty was dissatisfied with Li Dao's brutal rule, he led hundreds of officials to flee Chang'an. Li Dao and Guo Yan pursued Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty and the hundred officials of the Gongqing in the area of Caoyangjian in Hongnong County, and Yang Feng, who protected the Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty and the hundred civil and military officials, was defeated by Li Dao, and Emperor Xian fled to the north of the Yellow River alone. At this time, Yuan Shu, who had the jade seal in his hand, thought that the time had come, and called a meeting of his subordinates and said: "Now that the Liu family has declined, the sea is boiling, and the four generations of our Yuan family are all important ministers in the court, and the people are willing to belong to me." I have a jade seal in my hand, I should uphold the will of heaven, conform to the will of the people, and ascend the throne as emperor now! So Yuan Shu proclaimed himself emperor in Shouchun, established the name Zhongshi, appointed Jiujiang Taishou as Huainan Yin, placed ministers and courtiers, and built an altar for the emperor to worship the emperor in the south and north of the city.

After Yuan Shu became emperor, the princes of the world responded:

Yuan Shao, the most powerful, was the most unconvinced: "Yuan Shu rebelled against the sky and usurped his position, and opened the country in Shouchun, and he actually asked me to be a minister to him, which is really unreasonable!" Gao Lan, the general under his command, also said unevenly: "Yuan Shu is really bold, if you talk about the wide area, the number of soldiers, the prestige, the excellence of the soldiers, my lord is above Yuan Shu, to be the emperor is also my lord to do, which round can he Yuan Shu!" Lu Kuang also persuaded: "Well said, respectfully ask the lord to be the emperor!" Yuan Shao's subordinates responded, but they basically agreed with the generals. At this time, Yuan Shao's advisers spoke, and Xu You said: "Although the world is chaotic, but the Han Dynasty is not exhausted, Yuan Shu openly usurped the Han at this time, and he will definitely be burned, and the lord must not follow suit!" The strategist Guo Tu said: "Yuan Shu is in a hurry to pick peaches before they are ripe, he will only pick his hands full of thorns, and he will become the public enemy of all princes. ”。 Tian Feng, Yuan Shao's number one strategist, also said: "Yuan Shu's claim to be the emperor is not a bad thing for the lord, but a good thing!" There are many people who want to be emperors throughout the ages, and those who want to be emperors are more intolerant of others being called emperors, and now Yuan Shu is blatantly called the emperor, which will inevitably cause the world's anger, so that all the soldiers and anger have been transferred to Yuan Shu's side, and the lord will take advantage of this to attack Hebei, take the counties of Youzhou, and then look back at the matter of the king's throne! Seeing that his advisers were admonishing one after another, Yuan Shao could only give up!

When Cao Cao heard about this, he also laughed at Yuan Shu, lamenting that he had seen the wrong person, saying that Yuan Shu "has not achieved enough things, and has more than enough failures!" ”。 At this time, Cao Cao was stationed in Xuchang, bordering Yuan Shu's Runan City, at this time the military advisor Guo Jia suggested: "Yuan Shu perversely, risking the world's disapproval to claim the emperor, the lord can just take this opportunity to raise troops to crusade against it, our army is famous, will defeat Yuan Shu!" ”

Liu Bei was under the control of Cao Cao at this time, living in Xiaopei, which happened to be adjacent to Yuan Shu's capital Shouchun, Guan Yu suggested: "Yuan Shu Xiao'er dares to usurp the Han family, and the eldest brother, as a member of the Han family, should crusade against him!" "Persuade Liu Bei to take this opportunity to develop and expand his strength.

After hearing that Yuan Shu had established himself as the emperor, he immediately turned his face and scolded Yuan Shu as an "anti-thief", and beheaded the marriage envoy Han Yin to show the public, wanting to draw a line with Yuan Shu.

Sun Ce of Handong, who had taken refuge in Yuan Shu after the death of his father Sun Jian, had a good relationship with Yuan Shu, but seeing that his claim to be the emperor caused national outrage, he could only cut off relations with Yuan Shu.

Gongsun Zan of Youzhou, at this time, was the only strong man in the north who was stronger than Yuan Shao; The soldiers are strong and strong, and there is a winning general Zhao Zilong with unparalleled wisdom and scheming, but unfortunately, because he knows how powerful Zhao Yun is, Gongsun Chan has never dared to reuse Zhao Yun, for fear of being disturbed by it! At this time, when he heard that Yuan Shu was called the emperor, he was also very happy, and sighed: "Yuan Shu is really stupid as a pig, the Yuan family has such a rebel, what face does it have to compete with me?" The Yuan family's qi is exhausted, and we will surely prosper! ”

Ma Chao heard that Yuan Shu was called emperor, and knew that the opportunity he had been waiting for had finally come. If Yuan Shu did not claim the title of emperor, then Ma Teng's division attacked Hanzhong, which was not justified, and even if he captured Hanzhong, it would easily arouse the hostility of the princes of the world. At this time, the Xiliang army wants money or not, and if you want food or not, dare to compete with the Central Plains?

After receiving the news that Yuan Shu was proclaimed emperor, Ma Chao immediately gathered Ma Teng and Han Sui to discuss major matters:

"Tell my father, uncle, Yuan Shu is the emperor in Shouchun, this is a godsend, we should immediately raise troops and attack Hanzhong!"

Ma Teng said: "Yuan Shu actually dared to arrogate the emperor, it is clearly a big bad thing to despise the world's heroes, how can Meng Qi say that it is a good thing?" I would like to hear about it. ”

"Our Xiliang army has been trapped in the northwest for a long time, and has been training cavalry for more than a year, and has purchased a large amount of grain and grass from Chang'an. However, because the division was unknown, and he was afraid that the military information would be leaked after the expedition, Zhang Lu had a precaution. But at this time, Yuan Shu was the emperor, the world was in chaos, and the attention of the heroes was all focused on Shouchun Yuan Shu, which did provide us with a great opportunity to go on the expedition! On the one hand, we can use the excuse of 'crusading against Yuan Shu', the division is famous, and it is not easy to arouse Zhang Lu's army to take precautions; on the other hand, even if we find an excuse to attack Hanzhong at that time, the princes of the Central Plains will only care about crusading against Yuan Shu, where can they take care of us! ”

Han Sui also agreed when he heard this: "Meng Qi's words are very good, we should act according to Chao'er's plan!" ”

Ma Teng saw that Han Sui and Ma Chao both suggested attacking Hanzhong, so he made up his mind and said: "Okay, according to Meng Qi's opinion, how should we conquer Hanzhong?" ”

"My father should personally lead 10,000 cavalry to Yangping Pass as a suspicious soldier, and the division is the "King of Dispatching Troops", and told Zhang Lujun that the Xiliang Army wants to take advantage of the Yangping Pass to attack Yuan Shu! Tianshui is far away from Yuan Shu, Zhang Lu definitely does not believe that we are attacking Yuan Shu, but he is not sure that we are attacking Hanzhong, he will only resist from afar, and will not take the initiative to attack us, but he will inevitably garrison Yangping Pass to prevent us. At this time, our army happened to use Zhang Lujun's refusal to give way as an excuse, and ordered the princes of the world to "Zhang Lu and Yuan Shu are conspirators" and crusade against it, and Chao'er should lead 10,000 Xiliang iron cavalry and three wells from the south of the road Qi Gong Hanzhong, and take Hanzhong City in one fell swoop! If you go back to Shiyang Pingguan, Zhang Lu can be destroyed! ”

After Han Sui heard about it, he was amazed and praised it: "Meng Qi's plan is very clever, Ming Xiu plank road, dark Chen Cang, we should follow the plan!" ”

After making a plan, Ma Chao arranged for grain and grass and wells to go first, and returned to the camp to gather all the soldiers to swear to go on the expedition:

"Soldiers of the Eastern Army, what are we training hard for a year? Is it for the meager salary in hand? Is it to be able to eat well? No, we are here to make meritorious achievements, to be promoted and rich! Raising soldiers for a thousand days, used for a while, today our opportunity has come, and the time has come to reflect our value! Hanzhong City is in front of us, there is countless money, there is endless food, today is the day of our expedition, we must destroy all the enemies in front of us, and take Hanzhong in one fell swoop! Do you have faith? ”

"Yes!" The blade of the sword has been sharpened, and the soldiers have been training hard for a long time, just waiting for the day of the expedition, and the morale is naturally high! ”

"What's our slogan?"

"Use me in the first battle, use me to win!"

"What is our military song?"

"We're different, we're the best!"

"Then sing! All the officers and men of the Eastern Expeditionary Army listened to my order: 'Go on the march!' ’”

The 10,000 long-trained iron horsemen of the Eastern Expeditionary Army finally sang the military song, entangled majestically, and set out with high spirits!