With the fear of Cao Cao's attack, Li Sheng led Kong Ming, Huang Quan, Liu Ba and other people who were familiar with military strategy to the meeting hall of the state governor's mansion, where several generals who were still on CD were waiting early, thinking that they had also heard that there was an urgent military report. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

"What's going on in Hanzhong?" As soon as Li Sheng arrived in the hall, as soon as he sat down, he ordered someone to bring the messenger from Hanzhong and asked eagerly. Hanzhong is the gateway to Yizhou, and if Hanzhong loses, this Yizhou will be in an extremely dangerous state. This is something that Li Sheng and everyone here do not want to see, especially the group of people who were originally under Liu Zhang. After all, they have all tasted the kind of suffering that Hanzhong is not in their hands.

"Lord Qi, Yinping County, a subordinate of Hanzhong, has been attacked by unknown armed forces from the northwest, and the situation is already critical. Lord Xu Shu specially ordered me to come to CD for help. The messenger thought that he had just breathed a little breath on the side, and although his face was still dusty, he was not so out of breath when he actually spoke.

"Unidentified forces in the northwest of Yinping County? Isn't the northwest of Yinping County the territory of the Qiang people? Could it be that the Qiang people have invaded? Li Sheng's eyes widened and he felt strange, "But I remember that the Qiang people have always been scattered, and there is no strong political power, since the Qiang rebellion was pacified in the middle of the peace, there has been no war between the Qiang and Han for many years, how could they suddenly come to attack Yinping?" What are they, these people who attack Yinping? Li Sheng was suspicious in his heart, and quickly asked again.

"The other party is playing a horse flag." The messenger had seen that army before, and naturally did not quickly answer Li Sheng's question even for a moment's hesitation.

"Xiqiang? It's the horse flag again, is it his ......? Li Sheng suddenly thought of someone, and then turned his head to look at Kong Ming. I saw Kong Ming nodding lightly at himself, thinking that he also knew the identity of that person, "Sure enough, ......it was him" Li Sheng understood, and resentment rose in his heart: "You dare to directly attack my state and county, do you think I am worse than Zhang Lu?" Li Sheng gritted his teeth, and he asked the messenger again: "Does Lord Xu Shu have any requirements to explain to you?" ”

"Lord Xu Shu asked the lord to quickly send a general who could fight to Yinping. There are three fierce generals in the opposing army, and the incompetent cannot be defeated......" The messenger replied quickly.

"Fierce general? Hmph, this time I will personally take Master, Zilong, and Wen Chang with me. I want to see if his Xiliang cavalry is powerful, or my Xichuan generals are heroic. Li Sheng said angrily, the feeling of being despised made his chest burn with anger, of course, in the face of his subordinates, he would not vent the anger in his chest so rudely, at the moment he calmed down, and coldly instructed the messenger: "You go down to rest first." In six days, you came from Hanzhong quickly, and you were really tired. His tone was not very good, but the concern in his words was obvious. Naturally, the messenger was moved.

"Thank you, my lord!" The messenger prostrated himself on the ground, bowed to Li Sheng, and then turned away.

Only the people in the hall who listened to the so-called people in the fog were a little puzzled, and they all looked at Li Sheng in a daze, waiting for the explanation of their lord, who had been gritting his teeth but was a little stunned.

"What happened to my lord?" Everyone waited for a long time and still didn't see Li Sheng say an explanation, so they made eye contact with each other, and finally Zhuge Liang asked each other - this is also a matter of no way, although Zhuge Liang himself has already understood this matter, but as a courtier, he is still not good at explaining everything before his lord explains, and completely explains everything for his lord.

"Huh?" Li Sheng, who was awakened from his thoughts by Kong Ming's words, snorted slightly, and then smiled bitterly: "It seems that your lordship and my prestige are still not enough." What kind of shrimp and small fish, the remnants of the defeated army dare to bully the door......"

"What?" Li Sheng seemed to have a feeling, but this feeling made his generals a little confused. "Lord, what happened?" Huang Zhong asked in a deep voice. If it is said that in this hall, the person who is the top spot among the civil ministers is Kong Ming, then the person who is the top spot among the military generals is Huang Zhong. Not only is he very old in Li Shengjun's qualifications, but he is also a person who is respected by Li Sheng as a division commander, so it is quite appropriate for him to ask about it.

"Xiliang Ma Chao connected with 20,000 Qiang soldiers to attack my Yinping." Li Sheng came to this fact coldly.

"Ma Chao? We have no grudge against him, and he was defeated at the hands of Xiahoudun just a few months ago, how can he have the strength to attack us? You must know that we have Yizhou, Jingnan, and Jiaozhou, and our strength is not under Cao Cao? Hearing Li Sheng say this, everyone was suddenly surprised, they all felt that this thing was too incredible, "Ma Chao is also a bit of a brain, how could he do such a stupid thing?" ”

"It's very simple, because Ma Chao, who was defeated by Cao Cao, just wanted to find a place to settle down as soon as possible. There are two paths in front of him: one is to take refuge in a certain force in order to seek safety; The other is to attack a weak force and gain its own territory through war. Obviously, the current Ma Chao thinks that we are that weak force, and wants to destroy us casually. Li Sheng said with a sneer.

"What? Seeing us as a weak force that wants to attack us, this Ma Chao is too arrogant and too bold, right!? My lord, please allow me to take a detachment of men and horses to destroy him. Hearing Li Sheng say this, Wei Yan stood up angrily and asked Li Sheng for his life. This time he didn't get any battles to fight, except for the battle of Jiangzhou, the rest of his efforts were spent on how to march quickly. Although he successfully completed the task, the boredom in his heart still suffocated him. At this moment, when he heard that there was a battle to fight, he was naturally very excited.

"Don't worry, you'll be beaten." Li Sheng nodded hatefully: "Not only your share, but also all of us." For Ma Chao, my opinion is, hit! Beat him hard until he submits to us. ”

"Surrender? Doesn't the lord want to eliminate him directly? When most of the people were still immersed in the passion of Li Sheng's cruel words, Kong Ming keenly grasped the word "surrender" in Li Sheng's cruel words. He was afraid that these generals in the hall would only remember to be ruthless, but he forgot what Li Sheng meant by "making Ma Chao and them surrender", and immediately asked out loud - he used this question to remind them.

"Of course, Ma Chao is very useful to us, I don't want to simply eliminate him like this." Li Sheng glanced at Kong Ming and knew that he was cooperating with him, and the smile on his face flashed, but he said affirmatively.

"Chok? Ma Chao is very useful to us? As soon as these words came out, except for Kong Ming, who already understood Li Sheng's strategic deployment, everyone in the hall was a little puzzled by this: "Please also ask the lord to make it clear!" ”

"This has to do with our future strategic deployment. As early as Jingnan, I thought that in order to have enough strength to compete with Cao Cao and Sun Quan, it was necessary to obtain Yizhou and Jiaozhou. Now that the land of friendship and benefit is in our hands, then our strategy of standing on the top of the world is completed. After that, it was a strategy to rely on the land of Jing, Jiao, and Yi to dominate the world. Speaking of this, Li Sheng paused slightly, but asked everyone in the hall: "You said that now that we have Jing, Yi, and Jiao, where is the first place we want to capture?" ”

"Well, this one!" The people in the hall thought for a moment, and then gave Li Sheng a positive and correct answer: "It should be the land of Yongzhou in the north of Hanzhong, that is, Guanzhonger." ”

"That's true." Li Sheng nodded in agreement, and then said: "The southwest of Guanzhong is adjacent to our Yizhou, the northwest is adjacent to Liangzhou, the east is connected to Sili, the southeast is adjacent to Nanyang, the northeast is ordered and stated, Weishui and the Yellow River flow through it, come to the four dangerous places, since ancient times, there are eight hundred miles of Qinchuan said, this dynasty Gaozu and the previous dynasty of the Great Qin Lai Zhi thought that it was the foundation to seize the world. If we can get Guanzhong, then the major events in the world can be decided. Li Sheng said this with a smile, paused slightly, glanced at the ministers in the hall who were all listening carefully to his words, and then continued: "We are based on Yizhou, if we want to go north to Guanzhong, we can only send troops from Hanzhong all the way. We can only attack Cao Cao from one direction, and Cao Cao only needs to defend us in one direction. Cao Cao is a master of the art of war, and the land in Guanzhong is full of dangers, but I am afraid that the result of entering the army from here is that our army will waste labor, but it is difficult to make any gains. Although Emperor Gao went from Hanzhong to Guanzhong in the past, it was only a surprise, and now that the past is gone, Cao Cao may not still allow us to do so. If we continue to advance towards Guanzhong in the direction of Hanzhong, our attack will become very difficult. Therefore, it is necessary for us to find another way to Guanzhong. ”

"When the lord said that he was attacking Guanzhong from other directions, he meant ......" This statement is definitely not true, but most of the people in the hall did not think that there were so many roads leading from Yizhou to Guanzhong. Yes, they all looked at Li Sheng suspiciously.

"You can't just look close, you should take a long-term view." Li Sheng said that he ordered someone to get a map, and pointed to the one hanging in the hall and said: "To the west of our Yizhou is the Qiang land, and from the Qiang land to the north is Liangzhou." If we can send a surprise army to manage the Qiang land and Liangzhou, then we will be able to attack Guanzhong from the northwest and southwest, so that it will be much smoother for us to take Guanzhong. ”

"But...... But no one has ever done that, has he? Is it feasible to go from Yizhou to Qiangzhong and through Qiangzhong to Liangzhou? Hearing Li Sheng say such a strategy, everyone was refreshed and hesitated at the same time: "From Yizhou to Qiangzhong, we have to go through a large area of high mountains, and ordinary soldiers may not be able to withstand it." ”

"That's why I said that it is very important to subdue Ma Chao. Do you imagine that Ma Chao was driven west of Liangzhou by Cao Cao, how could he come to attack our county seat of Yizhou? If he hadn't gone through Qiangzhong, he wouldn't have been able to do this at all. Moreover, the messenger just now also showed that there were many Qiang people in the team that Ma Chao came to attack. ”

"I see...... everyone finally suddenly realized, they understood the importance of subduing Ma Chao to the future of Liangzhou, and they all immediately rubbed their hands excitedly: "The lord quickly give an order." We're all waiting to go. ”

Seeing that the generals under his command were so excited, Li Sheng smiled slightly, but no longer paid attention to them, but turned his head to ask Liu Ba, the person who actually took over the money and grain in Yizhou among his own forces: "Zi Che, all the money and grain of our army now." How many more soldiers and horses can be conquest? ”

Liu Ba, who still had a cold face, arched his hand towards Li Sheng and said: "My lord, Yizhou originally had a lot of money and food, and when the lord led troops to surround CD, the money and grain in the CD treasury were enough to support the needs of the 150,000 army for a year. Later, the lord rewarded the soldiers, although there was some consumption, but this year's rice was also collected because the siege was lifted, so it was more than enough to supply the lord with grain and grass from the land of CD. ”

"Hah, that's good." Li Sheng nodded with satisfaction, and his face suddenly became solemn: "Since there is no problem with grain and grass, then I order: Wei Yan, you lead the generals of your headquarters and the two generals Li Yan and Yan Yan to rush to Yinping in the starry night, remember to send more spies around the army to beware of the enemy's sneak attack!" ”

"No!" Seeing that Li Sheng and Li Sheng ordered the general orders of themselves and others in the first batch, Wei Yan, Li Yan, and Yan Yan were just very happy on their faces, and they took the general orders from Li Sheng in a hurry, bowed their hands to Li Sheng, and quickly went down.

"Song De, you led the headquarters of the army to 10,000 people and the two generals Wu Yi and Liu Bi after going around Wenshan to Yinping, blocking the border of the Hanqiang area and outflanking Ma Chao's back road. Remember, look for a guide and listen to the advice of your soldiers. Although the border between Han and Qiang is long, there are only a few places for Ma Chaojun to hoard grain and grass, and if you destroy all their grain and grass, this is a great achievement. Li Sheng then ordered. In Li Sheng's opinion, Song De has had an experience in going to Qiangdi, and pairing him with a cautious Wu Yi and a ruthless Liu Bi is just the right time for the three of them to learn from each other's strengths and weaknesses to complete the plan to cut off Ma Chao's back road.

"No!" Song De, Wu Yi, and Liu Bi saw that Li Sheng had ordered him, and they immediately became happy. Among them, Wu Yi and Liu Bi were even more overjoyed, and they only felt that Li Sheng, the lord, did not look at himself differently as a general, and still gave himself such a heavy responsibility, which was really a heroic master. "It seems that there is nothing wrong with us surrendering." The two looked at each other, nodded slightly, and quickly stepped forward to follow behind Song De, and took the order from Li Sheng.

"As for the Chinese army, it was composed of 30,000 troops led by myself and General Zhao Yun, and set off six days later. As for the defense of the CD, it seems to be in charge of the master. Yizhou is a newly established land, and it is not enough to defend it as a general. Li Sheng finally said. Originally, he just wanted to give the order, but seeing that Huang Zhong, who was appointed by himself as the left-behind general, had a slightly dissatisfied look on his face, he added such a sentence at the end.

"Obey!" Zhao Yun and Huang Zhong stepped forward together to take over the order from Li Sheng. Although Huang Zhong was somewhat dissatisfied with Li Sheng's refusal to let him go to the battlefield, because Li Sheng said that in the end, and he himself thought of the importance of Yizhou, he immediately did not say anything dissatisfied, but silently took the token from Li Sheng's hand, and silently went out of the hall with Zhao Yun to take over his army.

On November 20, the 18th year of Jian'an, Li Sheng's army set out from CD and went to Yinping City, which could be defended by the timely arrival of Wei Yan's reinforcements. Because there was already a battle between Wei Yan and Ma Chao in front of him, it was Li Sheng who further understood the situation of Ma Chaojun through the battle reports that Wei Yan constantly sent to him: "...... This is a fearless army, fighting in a season that is getting colder, fighting only in thin clothing, and using their bravery to storm the city in the absence of effective siege equipment...... They are seriously wounded and will not give up fighting, even if they have broken their hands and feet, I don't know why they are like this, maybe they have to do it themselves...... The enemy general Ma Chao is not brave, I fought with him for 60 rounds, but I was not as good as him after all. As for Pang De, Ma Dai and others under him, the force is also very good. Especially Pound, although not as good as Ma Chao, but not much like me, I have fought with him for a hundred rounds, but it is still a dead end. ……”

"Ma Chaojun's combat power is very strong......" Li Sheng read the battle report that came, and gave it such a comment after a long time. Of course, although he said this, he didn't look worried about Ma Chaojun's toughness on his face, because he had already seen through Ma Chaojun's weakness: "There is no base area, there is not even a place to live, and when this winter is coming, I'm afraid they themselves will be very sad, right?" That's why you are eager to lay a good foundation? It's a pity, Jin Ma Chao, you chose the wrong opponent after all. Although I am not yet Cao Cao, I am much stronger than Zhang Lu, Liu Zhang and others, after all, it is not something that you, a fierce and fearless person who is not afraid of death, can win with a breath of blood. Thinking about it, the corners of Li Sheng's mouth curled slightly, and an inexplicable smile appeared on his face: "Meng Qi, you will fall into my hands after all......" he thought.

It's the middle of December, and light snow is falling in the sky. The white crystal, while decorating the heavens and the earth in silver, also brought the chill to the bones.

It was very cold, but the people on the road were generally smiling: "The snow has come down early, and you can meet next year, another bumper harvest year...... they said, although their clothes were very thin, and their bodies were still trembling in the cold wind of hunting, they still insisted on appearing on the road to meet Li Sheng's army. They were grateful to Li Sheng for the land they had received from him—something they had always dreamed of.

Looking at the smiles on the faces of the people, Li Sheng's heart was unprecedentedly satisfied. He felt that this smile was heavier and more weighty than any status and honorific title in the world.

Under the watchful eyes of the people along the way, the army set off like this, rushing all the way without hurry, and it took half a month of hard work to reach Yinping. At this time, Yinping's Ma Chaojun had already retreated. Lacking enough warm clothing, they huddled in the middle city in the northwest of Yinping, suffering next to each other. It seems that there is a plan to return to Qiangzhong. It was clear that they were no longer well supplied to continue the fight.

Li Sheng got this information, and quickly approached with his army, and together with Song De's troops who came from Wenshan, a total of 60,000 people tightly surrounded the city and blocked Ma Chao's army in the city. Because Li Shengjun has a thick military and the generals he brings are all generals with considerable ability, his combat power is flourishing, while Ma Chaojun's combat power has been greatly weakened because of incomplete equipment, scarce warm clothing, and long-term offensive and low morale. After being blocked in the city by Li Shengjun, Ma Chao organized people to break through several times, but they were all blocked back under Li Shengjun's deployment, and he had no choice but to sit in the lonely city.

"Alas...... I'm the one who hurt everyone. A mistake in judgment, but it has reached such a situation, Barlow head, I'm really sorry, I caused your warriors to accompany me on this road of no return. "There is no good way for Ma Chao to be at the moment, so he can only hide in the county government in Zhongcheng and use his privileges to drink and stay up with a few generals.

"There is no hope of escape...... whether it is Ma Chao, or Ma Dai, Pang De, or the Balo head in Ma Chao's mouth, they all recognize this - Li Shengjun outside the city is too powerful, and I don't know who came up with the idea, he actually dug trenches outside the city in all directions, and placed crossbowmen all over them, directly forming a bow and arrow death ground outside the city. Approaching after two breakthroughs, the 40,000 troops he brought had already lost more than 10,000, which can be said to be completely injured.

However, this is how the Qiang leader who joined Ma Chao as a guest army, Barlow, did not complain about it at all. "General Shenweitian, we Qiang people are people with clear grievances. You have the grace to live for the whole clan of our tribe, and it is only right that we should help you, not to mention that this attack on Yin Ping is completely my suggestion? Maybe this is self-inflicted. Barlow said with a wry smile, but his determination remained the same: "No matter what, we Qiang men here will not turn our backs on you." ”

"That's not good...... Ma Chao shook his head and put down his wine glass: "Balotouren, you and your people are all young people in your tribe." If you are all gone, your tribe will be gone, ...... you. Since the head man treats me as a brother, I naturally can't treat you badly. Anyway, I'm going to have to find a way to get you back. Having said that, Ma Chao himself had nothing to do, he could only frown tightly, and helplessly took a sip of the wine in his hand.

It was so dull that the wine was drained in three or two times, and everyone's bodies finally warmed up a little. Ma Chao seemed to suddenly think of something, and shouted loudly: "Prepare the horses, I plan to go out of Dongcheng!" ”

"Dongcheng? That's where the enemy's main camp is? Pound said suspiciously.

"I'm going to Dongcheng!" Ma Chao nodded affirmatively: "The enemy has besieged the city for so many days, but I haven't even seen their leader." Hehe, how can this be? Besides, I have something to do with them right now. ”

"Something?" Ma Dai, Pang De, and Barlow all looked at each other for a while, but finally didn't understand what Ma Chao meant: "What's the matter?" They asked.

"You'll find out if you come out and see." Ma Chao said this, stepping on the thin floating snow on the road and running a long distance.

"Oh? ......" Hearing Ma Chao say this, the three of them hurriedly followed.

The west gate of the city slowly opened, and Ma Chao came out of the city gate with more than 10,000 cavalry that he could still organize, and formed a formation in the open space outside the city-phalanx, and the cavalry was separated from each other by an evacuation phalanx of nearly three zhang. Obviously, this was a way to reduce the losses suffered by Ma Chaojun after suffering from Li Sheng's trench arrow array. This method has been used by Ma Chao in the second breakout, and the effect is still good...... However, at the moment, Ma Chao did not plan to launch a third breakthrough with this.

He raised his eyes and looked at the military camp opposite, looking at the Li character that was erected high in the military camp fluttering in the cold wind, he took a slight breath, didn't say anything, and walked forward with his men and horses in the snow. They advanced fifteen or so feet, but stopped beyond the range of a trench in front of Li Shengjun's army. Here, he took a deep breath and shouted loudly at Li Sheng's military camp opposite: "Handu Tinghou, the partial general Ma Chao is here, and he also invited Li Yizhou to come out and see ......" - Li Sheng has already taken Yizhou and called himself Yizhou Mu, so Ma Chao called Li Sheng Li Yizhou.

Ma Chao, the enemy's commander-in-chief, greeted Li Sheng with words, and the sergeants under Li Sheng naturally did not dare to be the slightest slack. They quickly reported the news back to the camp. Suddenly, the gate of Li Shengjun's Chinese army was opened, and Li Sheng took Zhao Yun, Song De, Wei Yan, Xu Shu and other generals, under the escort of 5,000 cavalry, to Ma Chao. "I am Li Sheng." Immediately arched his hand towards Ma Chao, Li Sheng said.

"I have long heard that Li Zhoumu is young, and today I saw that it was true." Ma Chao looked at Li Sheng and felt that he was very imposing, but as a prince from a family, he thought he was noble, so when he talked to Li Sheng here, his words were somewhat arrogant.

How could Li Sheng not hear this arrogant Xu. Not only did he hear it, but even the generals behind him heard it, and they all stepped forward to invite Ma Chao to fight, but they were stopped by Li Sheng. Although Li Sheng himself was a little angry about this, his reason told him that Ma Chao's arrogance was understandable, and there was no need to get angry because of it. So, he just said lightly: "I am young, but I have also heard someone say: 'The back waves of the Yangtze River push the front waves, and the front waves die on the beach.'" ’……”

"You ......" Ma Chao pointed at Li Sheng, and when he heard this, Ma Chao was also angry. However, he finally remembered what the purpose of his coming out was here, so he forcibly suppressed his anger and said in a deep voice: "Li Yizhou, I didn't come here to have a war of words with you. ”

"So what does Du Tinghou mean?" Li Sheng looked at Ma Chao.

"I want to ask you to let these Qiang people in our army live and let them return to Qiangzhong......" Ma Chao said slowly: "The responsibility for violating the state and county and looting the treasury is on one person. These Qiang people were all over-invited. At this point, Chao must let them go back. ”

"Dutinghou is really noble, but this high-righteousness is placed under the state, but it is a bit fake. What kind of behavior is it to lead a foreign race to plunder its own people and its own land? What kind of sin can you bear alone? You are disloyal to the country, Master Ma! Li Sheng said coldly, and with a wave of the waning moon in his hand, he was compared to those Qiang people behind Ma Chao: "These people have come to a place that does not belong to them in such an unfriendly way, if they are not punished, how can they raise the prestige of our army?" At that time, our army had tightly surrounded this middle city, and seeing that the city was broken in the near future, Master Ma, do you think I would agree to what you said? ”

"Isn't there any room for accommodation?" Ma Chao asked again, his words becoming a little harsh.

"They have to be disciplined, that's for sure." Li Sheng shook his head heavily: "But if they agree to submit to me, I can let their tribe move inward without harming their lives." Li Sheng said this, he felt that he was also giving in to Ma Chao.

"Don't you think it's too much?" Ma Chao frowned and asked, "My men and I are not without the strength to fight, just with the spear in my hand, I am afraid that there is no one in your army who can be defeated." Ma Chao is still very confident in his martial arts, he thinks that there are not many people who can beat him in the world, especially in this Li Sheng. Although the Wei Yan I saw a few days ago was powerful, he was still inferior to himself.

"In that case, let's take a gamble." Li Sheng said with a smile: "There is no need for the soldier to be injured, our side will have a general to fight." If your side wins, my side will give way. If you lose, I'm sorry, I want you to take refuge in me! ”

"Good! That's it. Ma Chao agreed in one breath: "Each will produce three players, and the winner will be determined by three consecutive wins." I'm out of myself, Pound, Ma Dai. Who's out there ...... you? This kind of method was what Ma Chao was willing to see, and he immediately happily agreed.

"Well, then me, Wen Chang and Zilong." Li Sheng said with a smile: "Hehe, such a large-scale fighting general, since Feng Xiangong died, it is rare." Li Sheng looked very calm and confident, which made Ma Chao look a little puzzled.

"Could it be that he is also a master?" Ma Chao looked at Li Sheng, and his intuition was a little different. Because he didn't see much of the aura of a military general in Li Sheng's body at the moment—maybe it was because the two were too far apart.

The wind was bleak, the snow was fluttering, under the city, in the eyes of the soldiers of the two armies, the six people who faced each other approached each other: Zhao Yun against Ma Chao, Wei Yan against Pang De, and Li Sheng against Ma Dai.

The Great War is imminent!