Ma Chao is also very happy, and now that Zhang Yan is willing to surrender, the remaining Yu Poison, Bai Huan and other big and small leaders will no longer become the climate. That night, the two talked about Fang Shan in the middle of the night, and learned that Zhang Yan had nearly 70,000 Black Mountain troops in his hands, and these people were all loyal to his direct subordinates. In addition, there are nearly 150,000 people who are attached to him, all of whom are gathered in the Snow Wolf Valley at this moment.

However, Taihang Mountain not only has seven big leaders such as Zhang Yan, Zheng Gu, Yang Feng, Tao Sheng, Bai Huan, and Yu Poison, but also Zuo Xiao, Guo Daxian, Zuo Zhangba, Qingniujiao and other small leaders. These people often disobeyed Zhang Yan's orders, often went out of the mountains to plunder the local people, and sometimes united to attack the county seat and the Shijia Wu Fort.

Ma Chao also has a headache for these small bosses, although they are vulnerable, they are not slippery, and they will not fight you head-on at all, and they will definitely not be able to be eliminated in a short time. But now that Yu Poison and Bai Huan are newly defeated, Zhang Yan has secretly descended, and the Black Mountain thieves who have been in trouble and the two states for several years have also collapsed. Of course, this collapse is in Ma Chao's opinion, and others don't know what is wrong with it.

That night, the two made an appointment on various matters, and Ma Chaoci returned to Zhao in a very low-key manner.

It was the middle of December, which was the cold season in the north, which was not conducive to the use of troops. Ma Chao was concerned about the annexation of the state, so he ordered Xu Huang to lead 2,000 cavalry and 3,000 infantry troops to Handan; Zhang He led 2,000 cavalry and 3,000 infantry troops to sit in Zhao. The two of them are in a horn position with each other, and once a small group of black mountain thieves take risks out of the mountain to plunder, the two can react quickly.

Ma Chao himself led the remaining 4,000 cavalry, 2,000 archery battalions, and 4,000 sword and shield soldiers to Changshan and Zhongshan countries. In the past two months, some small leaders of the Montenegrin thieves saw that Ma's super army had not retreated for a long time, so they gave up plundering the rich lands in Handan and Guangping, and went out of the mountains from the northern end of Taihang Mountain to Shiyi, Zhending, Anguo, and Wuji in the north of Jizhou.

Previously, Ma Chao saw that the number of these groups was not large, and he was afraid that the tiger would leave the mountain, so he had been ignoring it, but now he naturally wanted to clean them up. In addition, Zhao Yun, who had saved his life, was really determined, he had already sent someone to find out, and he was about to come to thank him in person this time.

Four thousand Xiliang cavalry galloped all the way, Dian Wei led six thousand infantry troops behind, and a small group of thieves fled in the place where they passed. These people are active in the Taihang Mountains all the year round, there is no cavalry at all, and Jizhou produces few horses, so the Black Mountain thieves are almost all infantry soldiers except for the leaders with higher status.

Ma Chao led the cavalry to chase and kill, and in three or four days, he beheaded more than 700 people, captured nearly 1,000 prisoners, and captured more than 30,000 grains. The money and food were distributed to the local people who had been plundered, and the prisoners were guarded by the infantry led by Dian Wei. The army passed through Shiyi, and finally came to Zhending City, the seat of Changshan County.

Changshan Taishou Song Jiang immediately led people to greet him, Ma Chao directly handed over more than 1,000 captives to the local county soldiers, and ordered all of them to pull the city gate at noon to show the public. These gang of black mountain thieves killed innocent people and annihilated silver women, which was inferior to the robbers, and although Ma Chao lacked labor, he could not accept these heinous people.

That night, the army was stationed in Zhending City, and the next morning, Ma Chao took Dian Wei to lead more than ten entourages to carry a heavy salute to Zhaojiating, which was more than ten miles away from the city.

Ma Chao didn't want to oppress people with his identity, so he only dressed up as a scholar and personally knocked on the door of the Zhao family. I saw a young man about twenty-seven or eighteen years old come out, eight feet long, handsome, faintly similar to Zhao Yun.

The young man saw that it was a fresh face, and when he saw the more than ten people following behind him, he couldn't help but be stunned, and hugged his fists and said: "In Xia Zhao Ling, may I ask who this son is?"

Ma Chao returned the salute with his fists and said: "In Xia Ma Chao, I am visiting my old friend today, can Brother Zilong be at home?" ”

Zhao Ling said: "It turned out to be an old friend of my brother, Zilong went out early in the morning to train the township soldiers and has not returned, a few people please come in quickly, I will ask someone to find him back!" After that, he returned to his height and said: "Xiaoyu, go to the village to find your second brother, and say that there is a distinguished visit!" ”

As soon as the words fell, an eleven or twelve-year-old little Lori came out of the room, with bright eyes and bright teeth, fair skin, combing a ponytail, although wearing a cloth dress, she was radiant, and she was full of beauty.

The little Lori stared at Ma Chao twice, and said crisply: "May I ask the son's surname?" The little sister can also reply to the second brother! ”

Ma Chao hugged his fists and said: "There is Miss Lao, Ma Chao is getting off!" ”

"Yikes!" Little Lori was slightly startled, and then teased: "How can you have the same name as the champion of the dynasty?" It won't be an impostor! Do you have a table? ”

Ma Chao smiled bitterly: "In the following table, Meng Qi, I was born with this name and never changed!" ”

"Ahh Little Lori's mouth grew big, and suddenly her little face turned red, and she ran away as soon as she smoked.

Zhao Ling was also surprised, and hurriedly bowed down and saluted, "The original champion Hou is visiting, please forgive me for missing the future!" Shame shame shame! ”

Ma Chao hurriedly bowed and returned the salute, and said urgently: "Brother Zhao can torture the younger brother, Brother Zilong had a life-saving grace in Hedong a few months ago, and recently the younger brother led the troops to crusade against the Black Mountain thieves in Jizhou, and the army passed through Zhending City, just came to visit and chat to express gratitude!" ”

"There is such a thing!" Zhao Ling obviously didn't know anything, and frowned: "My brother has loved martial arts since he was a child, and he went to Shouyang Mountain to learn art seven years ago, and only came back to guard filial piety for a year when his father died of illness during the Yellow Turban. Then he returned at the beginning of the year, and he has been busy forming and training township soldiers for the past few months, and it has not been more than a year, but I don't know when he saved the general's life! ”

Ma Chao briefly said what happened a few months ago, and finally said: "Brother Zilong has the grace of life for me, Brother Zhao must not be polite, I just don't want to stir up the teacher and move the crowd." ”

"I see!" Zhao Ling hurriedly invited Ma Chao into the inner hall, and while sitting with him, he instructed his wife to prepare wine and food.

The two chatted for a while, and Ma Chao immediately found out the details of the Zhao family. The Zhao family has been poor for generations, Zhao Yun's father served as the chief in his early years, and had two sons and a daughter, the eldest son Zhao Ling Ziyuan, who is twenty years old, has seven, the second son Zhao Yun Zilong, who is twenty years old, and the youngest daughter, Zhao Yu, is twelve years old.

Zhao Yun's mother was killed during the Yellow Turban Massacre, and Zhao's father died of depression soon after, so Zhao Ling took over from his father as the lieutenant chief, while also taking care of his young sister. Zhao Yun, who was only 16 years old at the time, was grief-stricken when he rushed back after hearing the news, kept filial piety for his parents for a year, and was determined to sweep away the thieves and keep the people safe.

After the expiration of the filial piety period, Zhao Yun ruthlessly said goodbye to his fiancée Fan Juan, who grew up with his childhood sweetheart, and resolutely went to Shouyang Mountain again. Three years have passed, and when I returned to my hometown at the beginning of the year, I passed by Hedong County and happened to save Ma Chao's life.

After Ma Chao figured it out, it was clear to him, history records that Zhao Yun was born in 167 (to be examined), the fact is 168, a full eight years older than him, and Zhao Yun's master is Tong Yuan, who lives in seclusion in Shouyang Mountain. Tong Yuan and the great swordsman Wang Yue have always been good friends, so Zhao Yun also learned a lot of exquisite swordsmanship from Wang Yue, and the spear and sword are from this.

Soon after Zhao Yun returned to his hometown, he married Fan Juan, who had been waiting for him for three years, under the auspices of Zhao Ling, and now his wife is pregnant. And Zhao Yun saw that thieves were rampant in his hometown, and from time to time there were a large number of black mountain thieves slaughtering the village, so he gathered the local prime of life, formed a village army of more than 200 people to fight against the thieves, and personally served as the head of the sect in his spare time to teach them the art of killing the enemy in battle.

Ma Chao couldn't help but be depressed when he heard that Zhao Yun was married, it seemed that his eight-year-old sister Ma Yunlu could only be a concubine. However, after hearing these news, he was also happy in his heart, the more Zhao Yun was from a poor family, the easier it was to recruit, and he crusaded against foreign tribes, exterminated Baibo, Montenegro, and even accepted the homeless people, these things were echoing Zhao Yun's appetite. Judging from the attitudes of Zhao Ling and Zhao Yu, his name has long been introduced to Changshan County. At that time, Zhao Yun was still studying art in Shouyang Mountain, and he didn't care about the world at all, that is, he had just become famous for less than half a year, and it was normal for him not to know.

The two chatted, and Ma Chao suddenly found that this Zhao Ling was not a mediocre talent, not to mention martial arts for the time being, he had some unique insights in internal affairs, especially the collective tuntian and the "three-point grain" system in Bingzhou. He often lamented that the taxes paid by the imperial court were too high, and the people had to hand over most of the harvest to the government every year.

Those big families took the opportunity to lend usury, borrowing a grain often had to pay back two or three hundreds, and if they could not pay it up, they would use the land to roof it, and the people became more and more miserable in the past few years, and those big households with a background became bigger and bigger. In particular, Changshan is too guarded by Song Jiang, this person is the younger brother of Song Dian, who is a regular servant in the court, and the big families in the entire Changshan County are basically his minions.

Ma Chao's heart moved when he heard this, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but hang a sneer. At this moment, there was a sound of horses' hooves outside, and when I got up and looked, I saw a snow-white high-headed horse running directly into the yard, and a young man with a majestic face who was eight feet long jumped down quickly, and then hugged his sister behind him off the horse, raised his silver spear and went straight to the inner hall.

Ma Chao didn't dare to slack off, hurriedly got up to greet him, lifted up his clothes and bowed down in front of him, and said: "Thanks to Brother Zilong's virtue of saving each other in the past, the younger brother is here to thank you, please accept my worship!" ”

Zhao Yun hurriedly knelt down and returned the salute, and said urgently: "Champion Hou, don't be polite, it's just a coincidence of fate." The general eradicates the alien race, pacifies the thieves, and is dedicated to the people, Yun later heard that he secretly admired, and recently heard that the general led his troops to Jizhou to crusade against the Black Mountain thieves, and often hated not being able to contribute to the country, and was like-minded and afraid that the general would misunderstand that Yun was a villain with grace and hope! ”

Ma Chao was overjoyed in his heart, if he didn't have his own crossing, Zhao Yun would lead the township soldiers to join Gongsun Zan in Youzhou after the princes begged Dong in the year after tomorrow, and then met the three brothers of the big-eared thief. Later, Zhao Ling died of illness, and Zhao Yun abandoned Gongsun Zan and returned to his hometown to mourn, until Liu Bei's soldiers were defeated and surrendered to Yuan Shao, he went out of the mountain again to find the big-eared thief and defected.

But now that there is a young master who has crossed over to stir up the situation, you big-eared thief and Cao Apu don't want to come out again, Lao Tzu not only wants to dig up the talents that originally belong to you, but also your wife, who let the owner of this body have a grudge against you! In history, Cao Ying killed Ma Chao's whole family, and Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang even used counter-plots to make Ma Chao unable to mix under Zhang Lu, so they could only abandon his wife and children to vote. Ma Chao's second wife Dong and eldest son Ma Qiu can be said to have been indirectly killed by the big-eared thief and Zhuge Liang. (To be continued.) )