Ma Han made a vow to fight the Han army to the end, which is reasonable.

Let's not say that Ma Han himself has a certain strength, just say that within the three Hans, Ma Han belongs to the local natives, Ben Han and Chen Han are both outsiders, and they will not feel distressed if they lose their fields.

Ma Han is determined to fight, and Zhang Chao is not surprised by such a result. Immediately, he called Jia Xu, Zhao Yun, Tai Shici and Jia Ni and others.

Zhang Chao showed that he had left Bingzhou for too long and needed to go back now, and the matter here was left to Jia Xu's military division, leaving Zhao Yun's 40,000 Dragon and Tiger Army and Tai Shici's 40,000 people from the 3rd Army, as well as a total of 40,000 soldiers from Yuan Chenhan and Benhan led by General Jiani, totaling 120,000 people.

With 120,000 against Ma Han's 150,000, Zhang Chao believed that under the command of Jia Xu, he would definitely be able to achieve the final victory.

Regarding Zhang Chao's trust, Jia Xu immediately said that he would not let him down. Under the careful recruitment, Jia Ni also knelt down to see Zhang Chao, recognized the lord, and joined the camp of the generals of Zhang Chao's group.

Ma Han's matter, Zhang Chao knew that once the war started, it would not end so quickly, after all, this was a war on other people's territory, and without the geographical advantage, the difficulty would increase a lot. Fortunately, with Jia Xu, Zhao Yun and Tai Shici and others here, he was still relieved.

Before leaving, Zhang Chao also specially invited several generals to a banquet, asking them to obey Jia Xu's military division's arrangement. After the banquet, he had a long talk with Jia Wenhe, and in this meeting, Zhang Chao also mentioned the idea of establishing a naval army for the first time.

"Wenhe, as a powerful country, it is impossible to do without a navy, I will authorize you now, during the attack on Mahan, I will start training the navy, I have thought about the generals of the navy, let Tai Shici do it, I will escort all kinds of items and talents needed for this matter, and you can do it too."

At this time, Zhang Chao has gradually shown his intention to become the king of the world. After hearing these words, Jia Xu was also very moved, and immediately said: "The lord can rest assured, I will do a good job in this matter and live up to the trust." ”

"Okay, I can rest assured that Wenhe is here to do this." Zhang Chao nodded heavily. Zhang Chao has long had such an idea about the establishment of a naval army, but because of the annexation of the state, there is no water around, which can only be an idea. But now after occupying Samhan, it is completely different, it is far away from the Central Plains, and it is surrounded by water on three sides, so it is very suitable to build a strong naval army in such an environment.

Don't reveal the news, don't let the princes be guarded, once the naval army is built, you can go to any side by land and water, at that time, the soldiers are pointing to no one to be invincible, no one can be guarded.

The day after talking with Jia Xu, Zhao Yun and others, Zhang Chao set off with a large army, left here, and returned to Lelang County from Hai Ying City.

From the beginning of July to Jizhou from Yanmen to the present, it has been half a year, and Zhang Chao finally returned triumphantly with the army. Along the way, Zhang Chao was not in a hurry to march, and every time he went to a place, he would fully understand the situation at that time, and when he walked to Liaodong, Zhang Chao also left Lu Bu and Pang Tong.

Pang Tong's several conspiracies made Lu Bu shine in Sanhan, and he decided that this person had the ability, so he asked Zhang Chao for someone, hoping to ask Pang Shiyuan to be the military advisor of the vanguard army.

Lu Bu's vanguard army is the most capable of fighting in Zhang Chao's group, and it is the most suitable army for long-distance attacks, and it has also made many achievements. But Zhang Chao has always been worried, that is, once this army is careless, how to deal with itself?

For this matter, Zhang Chao also thought of sending a military advisor to the vanguard army, after all, Lu Buqi was not a brave and resourceful general like Zhao Yun, the general of the Dragon and Tiger Army. What kind of military advisor can be sent to satisfy the other party, and he can rest assured?

As I said before, the greatest use of the vanguard army is to run thousands of miles, which is also destined to be in good health for the military advisers accompanying the army. Originally, he wanted to choose Jia Xu as the appoint, this person has the reputation of a poisoner, and the worse the situation, the more he can come up with some good ideas to turn defeat into victory. But after all, this person is too old, and I am afraid that he will not be able to bear it under the attack every day.

Zhang Chao thought of sending Li Ru as the military advisor of the vanguard army again. It is said that this person is also young, and he has also cooperated with Lu Bu many times, the two know each other, and they can reduce a lot of trouble when they are together. It's a pity that this person is now guarding Hanoi to resist Dong Zhuo's subordinates who may come to attack at any time from the west.

Li Ru is Dong Zhuo's son-in-law, and he knows the situation in Dong Zhuo's army very well, and Zhang Chao can rest assured that he is here.

In this way, Jia Xu and Li Ru could not come to the vanguard army, and now Lu Bu proposed to ask for Pang Tong, which was in Zhang Chao's arms.

Pang Tong's ability is very strong, and he is very young, so he is suitable for running immediately. What's even more rare is that he has a relationship with Lu Bu, and he is very close to him. In this way, Zhang Chao agreed to General Lu's request, left Pang Tong in the vanguard army as a military advisor, and arranged for the two to be here when he walked through Liaodong County this time.

Liaodong County is bordered by Lelang in the south, the Xianbei tribe in the deep mountains in the north, and Goguryeo, another powerful country in the east, which is definitely a very important military base, and it is also the eastern barrier in Zhang Chao's territory. It is not an exaggeration to say that as long as Liaodong County is fine, Zhang Chao's entire east side will not be in chaos. In the face of such a military powerhouse, it is natural to arrange trustworthy people to guard it, so that Lu Bu and Pang Tong were left behind, and they were allowed to develop on their own, and the number of the vanguard army was reorganized to 50,000.

After leaving Lu Bu and Pang Tong, Zhang Chao left Liaodong County, entered Liaoxi, and passed through Dai County and Shanggu to Yanmen. Here General Huang Zhong and his Second Army Corps were left behind to defend the north. When he returned to Jinyang City in Bingzhou, it was also in March of the following year, that is, in the middle of March 197 AD.

After nearly half a year, Zhang Chao finally returned to Jinyang, and Guo Jia and Lu Su, who stayed behind, immediately opened the city gate to welcome him.

This time, Zhang Chao's move is of long-term significance, at least in exchange for two years of peace between the state and Youzhou.

For this reason, after meeting the two senior strategists, Zhang Chao said: "The next time is when we are going all out to develop the economy and military, for the disputes between the outside world and the princes, we are not easy to interfere too much, as long as they don't provoke us, we don't want to grab any territory." It's the digestion of the present fruit that counts. ”

After Zhang Chao made a decision, the people below naturally went all out to implement it. At this point, the entire Zhang Chao Group suddenly became low-key, and in addition to seeing their caravan moving around frequently, there was no sign of the army.

In March 197, Yuan Shu in the south was defeated by the increasingly powerful Sun Jian, was defeated and withdrew from Yangzhou, and began to retreat north to move closer to his brother Yuan Shao.

In history, when Yuan Shu was defeated, Cao Cao was convinced, and asked Liu Bei, as a subordinate, to stop him, and finally forced Yuan Shu to die on the road.

But even if Yuan Shu was about to be defeated, he did not tie his hands and capture, but proclaimed himself emperor, and he really had a good time before he died.

But in this life, Liu Bei has long been uncontrolled by Cao Cao, so naturally it is impossible to listen to his words to prevent Yuan Shu from returning. I believe that he also hopes that this person can return to Yuan Shao's side, strengthen his power, and threaten Cao Cao to relieve his pressure.

Liu Bei didn't make a move, and Cao Cao couldn't take a move to do this, he was still attacking Yecheng with all his might, and he wanted to avenge his eldest son Cao Ang.

Without hindrance, Yuan Shu lasted nearly three months and arrived in Yecheng in July 197 BC, leading 80,000 soldiers, which made Yuan Shao's power grow a lot.

A month later, in August 197, Cao Cao listened to the advice of his important minister Xi Zhicai, and finally defeated Zhang Xiu and entered Wancheng.

In desperation, Zhang Xiu and his strategist Chen Gong fled from the city with 3,000 men and fled to Jingzhou for refuge.

It's just that Jingzhou Mu Liu Biao was afraid of Cao Cao's deterrence, and did not accept the two, so they had to go to Xuzhou through Jingzhou and defect to become Liu Bei's subordinates.

Liu Xuande, who is trying to develop his power and recruit talents, is naturally the only one who will offend Cao Cao if he accepts these people, if he wants to say that he himself and Cao Cao are also going to fight.

After the Wancheng incident, Cao Cao returned to Xudu and began to expand the army in the name of the Son of Heaven.

In October of the same year, Dong Zhuo, who was in Yongzhou in the west, sent the general Li Meng to the Sili area and marched to the east of the river.

Si Li, originally occupied by Yuan Shao, but when Hanoi's frustration turned against Zhang Chao, it was equivalent to cutting off the connection between Jizhou and Si Li, and could not send troops in time, when Li Meng led the army to come, the Jizhou army withdrew.

Li Meng took possession of Si Li and began to threaten Hedong. But Zhang Chao really ignored this matter and still made every effort to develop his economy. All this is because when Li Meng led the army to move, Li Ru in Hedong sent a letter, with only eight big characters on it, Hedong is fine, and the lord is worry-free.

It was these eight words that made Zhang Chao feel at ease. While making every effort to develop the economy, he appointed Pang Tong as the pastor of Youzhou, with full responsibility for the economy of the entire Youzhou, and at the same time concurrently served as the military advisor of the vanguard army during the war.

Pang Tong has a new appointment, and here, I have to talk about another adviser.

As Yuan Shao's envoy, he came to Jinyang from Yecheng, originally to ask for Da Qiao. However, after he arrived, the two armies went to war, and he, the envoy, became an outcast, and no one took care of it. It wasn't until Zhang Chao returned to Jinyang City from Sanhan that this person was re-interviewed.

As soon as he saw the trial, Zhang Chao bluntly said that he wanted his assistance.