In Chang'an City, Zhang Ji, as usual, was ready to pull the 40,000 Xiliang troops under his command to the training ground in the early morning and train fiercely. Looking at the energetic appearance of the soldiers under his command, Zhang Ji was sincerely gratified.

Once upon a time, they, like Li Dao and Guo Yan, were labeled as Dong Zhuo's old department, and everyone was punished. Since accepting Ao Lie's recruitment, Liu Xie, the son of today, did not blame Zhang Ji's past, and asked him to lead 40,000 dead soldiers to garrison Chang'an. In the blink of an eye, Zhang Ji has spent several years of stable life in Chang'an, and he can have today's comfort without the infamy of being captured and traitorous, but it is all the credit of Ao Lie, for this, Zhang Ji's heart is very grateful, and he never dares to forget it. Although he can't go directly to Ao Lie's side to serve, it is also a good thing to contribute to the Son of Heaven, so Zhang Ji has extremely strict requirements for the soldiers in training, and always requires them to the standards of the four elite troops under Ao Lie's command.

A sweaty captain hurriedly ran over, with a look of surprise and incomprehension, and after seeing Zhang Ji, he hurriedly said: "Report to the general, a group of cavalry suddenly appeared outside the city, and it is rapidly approaching Chang'an!" ”

"Huh? Who is it? Zhang Ji asked with some confusion. In the past few years that he was stationed in Chang'an, at the beginning, Li Dao and Guo Yan, who were based in Liangzhou, often came to harass and tried to break through Chang'an, but they were beaten back by Zhang Ji, and in the past two years, Li and Guo also gave up their extravagant hopes for Chang'an, and started to be the emperor of Liangzhou with peace of mind, and now suddenly a cavalry appeared outside Chang'an, and Zhang Ji couldn't help but be suspicious.

"General Yu, the last general looks from a distance on the city wall, this cavalry is not in dispute, it seems that they have lost the battle and fled for refuge, not like they have come to attack the city." The lieutenant reported what he had observed to Zhang Ji.

Zhang Ji waved his hand. said calmly: "No matter who it is, let's go and see it first." ”

Coming to the city wall with several important generals under his command, Zhang Ji looked down the city and saw that there was indeed a team of cavalry under the city, and it was almost at the gate of Chang'an City. The cavalry rode tall horses, but their armor was in tatters, and it was evident that they had just experienced a great battle and seemed to have been defeated. The knight on the horse, dressed like a Xiliang person, does not wear a helmet on his head. Instead, the hair is tied with animal fur, and a gray wolf tail is dragged behind the head. Most of these knights were in their thirties, and they all had thick short beards on their chins.

Wait until the cavalry gallops to the city gate, and the movements are in unison to restrain the horses. Stand under the castle. One of the knights stepped out of the crowd and shouted towards the city wall, "Where is General Zhang Ji?" A certain Xiliang Ma Shoucheng! "Mashou City is Ma Teng. Ma Chao's father. Ma Teng's voice. Obvious lack of qi, which is a sign of injury.

Zhang Ji stood on the city wall and said loudly: "Brother Shoucheng, Zhang Ji is here!" I don't know why Brother Shou Cheng looks flustered? Ma Teng saw that it was Zhang Ji under the city, sighed, and said, "Please General Zhang open the city gate." Let someone enter the city, and later a certain self will tell the general everything. ”

Zhang Ji weighed it in his heart, although Ma Teng had not participated in the attack on Chang'an, he was from Xiliang after all. If he is allowed to enter the city like this, in case he is sent by Li Dao, in order to attack Chang'an with the inside and outside, the consequences will be unimaginable. But Zhang Ji thought about it, Ma Teng is a down-to-earth hero, he has been in Xiliang for more than ten years, and his character has already been recognized by everyone, and he will not do anything willing to rebel against the party's eagle claws for Li Dao. Besides, Ma Teng's eldest son Ma Chao is Ao Lie's sworn brother, in this regard, Ma Teng and Zhang Ji can barely be commensurate with each other, and Ma Teng will not do anything sorry for Zhang Ji and the court.

After hesitating for a moment, Zhang Ji waved his hand and gave the order to open the city. Ma Teng entered Chang'an with 5,000 bearded soldiers under his subordinates, and the first sentence after seeing Zhang Ji shocked Zhang Ji: "Li Dao and Guo Yan united with the forces of all departments in Liangzhou and collectively rebelled!" ”

It turned out that under Guo Tu's words, Li Dao and Guo Yan finally decided to raise troops to respond to Yuan Shao. However, these two people are not stupid, they know that with their own strength alone, it is good to be able to defeat Chang'an, but they will have to pay a huge price, not to mention that after defeating Chang'an, the troops will enter Luoyang. So, the two found Han Sui and the Qiang people, and the forces of several parties finally reached an agreement, and jointly led their troops to plot to attack Chang'an, responding to Yuan Shao, who was fighting in the Central Plains. After the matter was completed, Yuan Shao sat in the Central Plains, and Li Dao and Guo Yan sat in Yongliang and Guanzhong areas; Han Sui will get the control of the western part of Liangzhou, which is commonly known as Western Liang; The Qiang people, on the other hand, own the northern part of Liangzhou and most of the Qiang Guard's Department.

After the interests of all parties were evenly divided, Han Sui put forward the opinion that if he wanted to expand externally, he must first eliminate the internal unstable factors, that is, Ao Lie's policy that the foreign country must first be secured. And the unstable factor in Han Sui's mouth is talking about Ma Teng. As early as ten years ago, the two had contradictions and entanglements, when Han Sui's general Yan Xing almost killed Ma Teng's eldest son Ma Chao, forcing Ma Teng to have no choice but to let Ma Chao take Pang De and Ma Dai to Luoyang, the capital to seek development, but after the end, he accidentally became a brother with Ao Lie and became Ao Lie's right-hand man.

It is precisely because of Ma Chao's relationship that Han Sui thought that Ma Teng would definitely not respond to this military action, and maybe he would report to Ao Lie and Liu Xie, so Han Sui proposed to eradicate Ma Teng first. The others had no doubts about Han Sui's proposal, so they gathered men and horses at night and launched a surprise attack on Ma Teng's department. Ma Teng's army was caught off guard, was killed by surprise, Ma Teng's sons all died in this war, tens of thousands of military horses, only 5,000 people desperately protected Ma Teng and escaped, the rest either surrendered or were killed, overnight, Ma Teng's strength was wiped out, even Ma Teng himself was traumatized, if it were not for these veterans around him desperately protecting, Ma Teng would not have escaped at all.

The 5,000 cavalrymen who followed Ma Teng's side, although they were over 30 years old and were about to reach the standard of retirement, they were skilled in martial arts, and they were the first batch of elites to follow Ma Teng's cavalry. This cavalry is also the only elite unit under Ma Teng's command, and its name is called the bearded soldiers. Under the protection of 5,000 bearded soldiers all the way, Ma Teng came to Chang'an, and he had to convey the news of Li Dao and others' rebellion, otherwise once the war burned to Luoyang, the consequences would be unimaginable.

After listening to Ma Teng's narration, Zhang Ji was completely shocked. Li Dao and the others are crazy, Yuan Shao is also crazy, and Zhang Ji feels that he is also going crazy! This world is completely chaotic! Yuan Shao, the fourth and third dukes, actually reached an alliance with Dong Zhuo's old subordinates, Li Dao and Guo Yan, and even brought in the Qiang people who had repeatedly made trouble! Without the help of the Han people, the Qiang rebellion has already caused the Han to be full of holes, and now with the drive of the Han people, it is bound to set off more bloody storms!

After a brief conversation, Zhang Ji saw blood spilling from the cracks in Ma Teng's armor, and asked with concern: "Brother Shoucheng's body is injured, let's find a medical officer to treat it first." With a pale face, Ma Teng said firmly: "These small things will not be bothered by the general, and a certain person will deal with them later." The general still wrote a letter quickly, informing the imperial court and the champion of the great changes in Liangzhou as soon as possible, so that the Son of Heaven and the Marquis of Ao Jun could prepare as soon as possible. ”

Zhang Ji nodded, and was about to say something, when a defender on the city wall suddenly ran down and reported: "General Yu, the enemy army has been found outside the city!" It's under the banner of Jincheng guarding Han Sui! ”

"So fast!" Zhang Ji and Ma Teng said in surprise at the same time. They didn't expect that Han Sui's movements would be so fast, and the four words of soldier and noble speed were interpreted by Han Sui very well. It seems that the rebellious Li Dao and others wanted to strike while the iron was hot and take Chang'an in one fell swoop.

"Whole army! Prepare for battle! Zhang Ji loudly gave the order to prepare for battle.

"Bearded soldier, dismount! Bring a bow and arrow to assist General Zhang in defending the city! Ma Teng also gave orders to his five thousand bearded soldiers.

Five miles away from Chang'an City, under the banner of Jincheng Taishou Han Sui, Han Sui sat on a white horse, looked at the general Yan Xing beside him and said: "Ma Teng is injured, it is a good time for our army to enter the army." Take advantage of his illness and ask for his life. You first lead the army to carry out harassing attacks, and wait until General Li Guoer arrives with a large army and the Qiang people, and then launch a general attack. Until then, you must not give the defenders of Chang'an a moment of rest! ”

Yan Xing nodded and replied: "The last general knows the way, harass and attacks the city day and night, and will never let Zhang Ji and Ma Teng get a chance to breathe!" Raising the spear in his hand, Yan Xing shouted: "Siege! Shoot the defenders of Chang'an with bows and arrows! ”

Under the command of Yan Xing, Han Sui's five thousand cavalry archers took the lead in action, and they rode their horses near the city gate on the west side of Chang'an City, and did not stop for a while, using the bow and crossbow in their hands to cast cold arrows at the city head. After 5,000 archers, 10,000 infantry troops were heavily besieged outside the west gate of Chang'an City, lined up their formations, and at the same time threw a large number of arrows at the head of Chang'an.

After Zhang Ji and Ma Teng came to the city wall, they saw such a scene, the defenders in the city were suppressed by the bows and arrows outside the city, and they couldn't raise their heads, and they all looked for cover to avoid the bow and arrow shooting of Han Suijun. Zhang Ji said angrily: "Come on, mobilize all the crossbowmen, spearmen and sword and axe men in the city to come to the city and suppress the rebels!" ”

Under Zhang Ji's order, all the crossbowmen, pikemen and sword and shield men in the 40,000 defenders of Chang'an City were mobilized to the west gate, and under the cover of the sword and shield men, the crossbowmen launched a confrontation against the rebels outside the city.

No one expected that this shooting would last for a day and a night! Under the mutual fire, Han Sui's army and the Chang'an defenders both suffered a lot of casualties, Zhang Ji's subordinates lost nearly 3,000 people, and Han Sui's army lost even more because there was no city wall to cover it, and it was almost close to 5,000. The arrows that Zhang Ji had stored for three years were consumed overnight on this day! Han Sui's army was even more weak, and the shooting was still very fierce at first, but as time went by, the arrows carried by Han Sui's army soon appeared overstretched, and Han Sui had to order his subordinates to collect the arrows shot by the defenders of Chang'an, and then reflect them to the head of Chang'an.

Just when Han Sui was about to lose the battle damage, Li Dao and Guo Yan and the leader of the Qiang people finally led the army to arrive! (To be continued......)