After Ma Chao completely annihilated Xiahou Yuan's entire army, he repaired on the spot. Scouts were sent to listen to the news and gather the generals to prepare to discuss the next step in the army. The generals were immersed in the joy of the great victory, and some talked and laughed together.

Ma Chao cleared his throat, and everyone quieted down. Ma Chao glanced left and right and said, "All the generals work hard! We are happy to have won a big victory, but Cao Jun did not withdraw from Longyou. Xiahou Yuan is just a part of Cao Jun, and there will be a big battle next! The generals nodded.

Ma Chao pointed to the hanging Yongliang map and said, "Generals, we can't repair here for too long. The soldiers are very fast, and while Cao Jun does not know that Xiahou Yuan is overthrown, he must expand his advantage as soon as possible, so that the situation is in our favor! What do you think or do you have a strategy for marching into the army? We don't have much time! ”

Cheng Ji said: "General, I think you should contact Huang Thorn Shi first!" According to the confession of the captured Cao Jun, Huang Quan fought a bloody battle with Xiahou Yuan, and was defeated and left, with no trace. We'll send someone to find it! The Liangzhou soldiers and horses were personally formed and trained by Huang Thorn Shi, and he was helping morale! ”

Ma Chao said: "Yes, it should be so!" ”

Cheng Ji walked to the front of the map and said, "As for how to enter the army, I think General Ma has already planned. Let's speculate on it! Calculate the time, and it will not take more than two days to harvest the wheat field.

At present, we should quickly rush to Tianshui, Nan'an and other counties, take advantage of Cao's army to cut wheat and disperse, and give full play to the advantage of cavalry coming and going like the wind to carry out surprise attacks and annihilation. Let them not dare to harvest wheat, and at the same time attack the Cao army's grain road, cut off the supply of the Cao army, and force the Cao army to withdraw from Longyou! ”

Ma Chao said thoughtfully: "Reasonable! What good tactics did the other generals have? ”

The generals whispered, and General Zhang Xiu represented everyone: "General Cheng's words are very true, can you act according to General Cheng's plan?" ”

Ma Chao touched his chin and said, "I have a different idea, you guys listen to it!" ”

Ma Chao pointed to the direction of Hanzhong on the map and said: "According to the information from the interrogation of the general Cao Jun, the Cao army was killed from Yinping and Wudu counties, which means that the Cao army raided the two counties and cut off the possible support of Yizhou and Hanzhong reinforcements to Longyou and Liangzhou.

On this point, Huang Thorn Shi mentioned it before, and it was the same as he guessed. I have captured nearly 40,000 people since Didau. Cao's army is at least 60,000 in Longyou, and we still have 13,000 cavalry, and the Qiang tribes are now scattered north of Lintao to block reinforcements in the direction of Longxi County.

I have already sent men and horses so that they don't have to set up a horse rejection in the trenches, and since Xiahou Yuan has been completely annihilated, there is no need to waste men and horses.

I roughly estimate that there were about 25,000 people on horseback from the Consolidated Tribe. Our Han army has infantry soldiers but needs to guard Taoyang and other places, and the infantry moves slowly, and the number is not more than 10,000 people, so it is useless.

The Qiang tribe was unbearable for hard fighting, untrained, and could not fight a tough battle. The only thing that can be used is our 13,000 Liangzhou cavalry.

Everyone entered Longyou, facing the 60,000 elite Cao army, even if they had no cavalry, but we couldn't resist the formation battle.

General Cheng proposed that it is feasible to attack separately, after all, it is not a foolproof strategy, the Cao army will not sit still, they will lure and set up an ambush, this Longyou wheat field is vast, we can hide in the Cao army.

The safest way is to go south, taking advantage of the fact that the Cao army in Wudu and Yinping has not received the news of the annihilation of the Xiahou Yuan cavalry, and use the cavalry to insert a knife from the back of the Cao army at the fastest speed, and open up the road for the soldiers and horses of Yizhou and Hanzhong to enter Longyou, so that the Cao army will be defeated without a fight.

Because the whole Liangzhou and Longyou and Guangwei counties, it seems that the Tianshui County Administration has not fallen, and it is relatively easy for us to supply the soldiers.

The Cao army had to transport grain from Guanzhong along the street pavilion, and the 60,000 soldiers and horses plus the transportation cost were enough to drag down the Cao army! ”

The generals listened attentively to Ma Chao's words, after Ma Chao finished speaking, everyone couldn't help but admire, Cheng Ji admired and said: "Ma Chao is worthy of being a famous general, and he is very good at using soldiers and horses." Not inferior to the generals of the Cao army, or even slightly higher! It's a pity that Ma Chao didn't care about what his family did, so that the king had a grudge against him! Otherwise, if General Guan commanded the troops to defend one side, it would be enough to make Cao's army frightened! ”

At the moment, he said: "General Ma is thoughtful, I admire it!" The generals chimed in.

Ma Chao smiled and arched his hand: "Offer ugliness!" General Cheng's plan is also feasible! You don't need too many soldiers and horses to go south, 10,000 is enough! The rest of the Han army and the Qiang cavalry could enter Tianshui and other counties to attack and harass Cao's army.

Now the question is who will command the troops, after all, the division of troops is a major matter, and the Cao army has failed miserably in the division of troops, and we cannot repeat the mistakes of the past.

My Ma Chao can lead one way, who can afford the other way?

None of the generals is more familiar with the geography of Longyou than me, and these tribesmen need someone to suppress them and make them obedient. It's best to be Zhao Yun except me, but unfortunately Zhao Yun is trapped in Longshang and has no news, followed by Huang Quan, and I don't know where it is! ”

Ma Chao sighed and said: "It's best for me to go south in person, the cavalry command is not as good as me, I have garrisoned troops in Wudu and Yinping, and I am proficient in its terrain." And the victory or defeat of this next step is directly related to the gains and losses of Longyou! ”

The generals were silent, there was no way, they really couldn't afford this heavy responsibility. The generals discussed, but there was no result, Ma Chao left Cheng Ji, and the generals dispersed.

Ma Chao said to Cheng Ji: "General Cheng, if no one can afford to take on the heavy responsibility, let the general do it!" ”

Cheng Ji lowered his voice and said: "General Ma, to be honest, I'm not afraid of leading troops, I'm not afraid of danger!" I'm just afraid of mistakes! Bad for the big picture! Xiahou Yuan was the world's famous general, and I was afraid of it! ”

Ma Chao said: "That's better than nothing!" At least we have a lot of room to come back, we can run if we can't fight, and we can avoid a head-on fight, right?

I'll teach you how to recover Qishan Fort, you first judge whether my judgment is correct, take it if it's right, and discard it if it's wrong!

Then I'll tell you what methods I will use to attack and how Cao Jun might deal with them, and some signs of possible danger! ”

Cheng Ji listened carefully, and Ma Chao explained in detail on the map how to use the wheat field to hide, how to deal with the possible ambush of the Cao army, and how to find out that the Cao army might set up a pit and stumbling rope in the wheat field! Unconsciously talked for most of the night.

The two rested separately, and after dawn, Cheng Ji came and asked some questions, and Ma Chao explained in detail. Ma Chao saw that it was almost over, so he said: "General Cheng, everything has a first time, don't panic!" If you rush to Tianshui, you can send Qiang Yi to contact and see if you can find Zhao Yun's whereabouts, and if you find him, the general will be easier!

In addition, remember that the Qiang cavalry can be discarded, and our soldiers of the Han army in Liangzhou cannot be easily damaged! Without our own soldiers and horses, these Qiang people would not be obedient.

In addition, remember that you must not take risks, the main general is different from the general, the morale of the general who dies in battle can be boosted again, once the main general has something, it is the collapse of the whole army, and there is no chance of turning defeat into victory! ”

After Ma Chao finished speaking, Cheng Ji hugged his fists and said: "It's an arrow on the bow, so I have to send it!" ”

Ma Chao nodded and pointed to his armor and said: "When those Qiang leaders come, after I instruct, you can wear my armor, and my armor is enough to suppress these Qiang people!" ”

Cheng Ji was stunned and said, "How can I? ”

Ma Chao sighed and said, "Why can't you!" I'll lend you a worn, and you'll give it back to me when the time comes!" I'll be back in twenty days at most, please! ”

Cheng Ji Zhengse said: "For the Han, for the king!" We will live up to our mission! ”

Ma Chao said: "Yes, for the sake of the big man!" For the king! Also for me, Ma Chao is worthy of the ancestors! I won't fail! ”

Ma Chao gathered the generals and announced the appointment. Leave Zhang Xiu, Huang Xi, Liang Ang and others to fight with Cheng Ji.

A day later, the leaders of Qiangdi, Ou He, Yao Ge, Dai Wuzhi, Moth Cover, and Vatong came, Ma Chao asked them to obey Cheng Ji, and said in a sharp tone: "General Cheng is my Ma Chao, if anyone doesn't respect him, they will despise me, don't blame me for being ruthless when the time comes!" The chiefs pledged to obey orders.

After Ma Chao made arrangements, he selected 20,000 healthy horses and 10,000 elite Han soldiers, led Pang Lin, Guan Xing, Zhang Bao and the captives Guo Huai and Xiahou Rong to Wudu and Yinping, and changed horses all the way. Ma Chao is full of energy and is a pioneer to explore the way.

According to Ma Chao's instructions, Cheng Yi commanded the Han and Qiang coalition forces to escort the Cao army prisoners to Qishan Fort, and met Zhang Wei on the way to lead the remnants of the army to surrender.

Cheng Ji Daxi ordered Zhang Wei to lead dozens of horsemen to Qishan Fort to capture a prisoner, and Zhang Wei took advantage of Cao's army to go out of the fort to chop firewood and capture three people.

Cheng Ji personally interrogated, and then Cheng Ji and the generals came to see Qishan Fort in person, Qishan Fort had 3,000 Cao troops, and the original gaps were filled, because of the loss of three people, Gao Gang, the guard general in the fort, was alert and had taken precautions.

After Zhang Wei introduced it, he said to Cheng Ji: "General, Qishan is not easy to attack!" At the beginning, Cao's army of 10,000 people kept attacking, and it took more than a month to take it! The loss is four or five thousand! We can't delay it too long, I'm afraid it's hard to take it! ”

Cheng Ji said: "General Zhang, are you sure that the materials and grain in the fort have been burned?" ”

Zhang Wei said firmly: "Sure, I set fire to it when I was about to be breached, and I will personally cut it off!" ”

Cheng Ji said happily: "That's good!" General Ma Chao gave me an idea! I interrogated the captives, and I found out that this Qishan Fort was not deliberately used as a grain storage area. Transporting grain from the direction of Wudu is directly transferred to the direction of Tianshui, and unless the journey is delayed, it will not stop at Qishan Fort.

The latest batch of grain and grass was five days ago, and it did not enter Qishan Fort, and the grain will not stay in Qishan Fort. The war in Tianshui was tense, and grain and grass were given priority to supply Tianshui and Longxi.

The grain stock in Qishan Fort is definitely limited. Our army has 4,000 Cao army prisoners, what will happen if you put them in Qishan Fort? ”

Zhang Wei quickly reacted and said: "The food is consumed exponentially!" Then there is a shortage of food and chaos! ”

Cheng Ji said: "Yes, General Ma Chao is really powerful!" I thought of this! The herald ordered the Cao army captives to cut off three fingers and slash them in the thighs so that they could not heal within a month! By the way, tell the soldiers who started not to chop their thighs! Then put it back in Qishan Fort! ”

The generals immediately took action, and the four thousand Cao troops helped each other into Qishan Fort, and the guard general Gao Gang confirmed several times and recognized several Cao generals and colonels, and escorted Cao Jun into the fort in batches, these Cao soldiers had been hungry for two days and wanted to eat.

Gao Gang naturally gave them food, but he didn't feed them, urging these Cao Jun to further investigate whether there were any spies according to the original system, and after confirming that there were none, Gao Gang breathed a sigh of relief and allowed them to have a full meal!

Five days later, his subordinates reported that because there were 4,000 more people, there was only four days' worth of food left to support twenty days, and the Han army was making noise and tossing every day, and the consumption of the Cao army was much greater than the original! The Han army was besieged and unable to harvest the nearby wheat fields.

Gao Gang paced back and forth anxiously, clapped his hands and said, "I knew it was no good!" The thief army let these people come back, there are ghosts, and now they can't rush out for help, and they can only wait for the food to surrender without reinforcements! ”

The subordinate said: "General, the last general has found that there are not as many thieves in the city as there were at the beginning!" It's not as good as our ......! ”

Gao Gang's face sank and said: "Go out to fight, three thousand cavalry is enough to defeat us." What is the use of the 4,000 severed fingers and stumps that were put back! What can I do? ”

Gao Gang was worried, the Han army under the city was not idle, and Cheng Ji led 23,000 soldiers and horses north on the night of the siege of Qishan Fort!

Divided into troops Zhang Xiu, Zhang Wei and the leader Dai Wuzhi led 500 Han troops and 5,000 Qiang soldiers and horses to continue to besiege Qishan Fort.

Zhang Xiu, Zhang Wei and others discussed with Dai Wuzhi to train the Qiang cavalry to enhance their combat effectiveness. Dai Wuzhi agreed, so Zhang Xiu and Zhang Wei trained according to the training method of the Han army. As for the grain, take the grain on the spot, rush to the vicinity to harvest the wheat, peel it and grind it, and don't worry about eating and drinking!

In the middle of the night of the same day, the Han army who was keeping vigil came to report that Huang Quan, the assassin of Liangzhou, had arrived! Zhang Xiu and Zhang Wei were overjoyed and went out of the village to greet them.

Huang Quan led hundreds of cavalry to arrive. Ago, under the command of the guide, Huang Quan shook off Fei Yao's pursuit, returned to Taoyang, and contacted the people sent by Ma Chao. Huang Quan didn't care about resting, so he gathered hundreds of horses and then rushed over!

Huang Quan's official position was above Zhang Xiu and Zhang Wei, and the command of the army was naturally handed over to Huang Quan. After entering the big tent, Huang Quan ordered the generals to go to rest, leaving Zhang Xiu, Zhang Wei and the two partial generals to discuss.

Huang Quan proposed that the guards were too loose at night, and his soldiers and horses would easily knock on the door, and if they encountered a sneak attack, the thieves might have succeeded.

Zhang Xiu reported with a sad face: "Assassin history, it's not that the last general is unprepared, but now the Han army has only five hundred cavalry, and the number is too small. To supervise the battle, train, inquire about the news, and organize the harvest of the wheat field, the soldiers are too tired.

And most of the Qiang cavalry are from tribes, and the military discipline of the Han army cannot be effectively applied to them! ”

Huang Quan was silent for a while and said: "Even if this is the case, you can't let it go!" In this way, the Han army and the Qiang Di cavalry were stationed separately, and in addition, try not to let the Qiang Di rest in the camp and scatter on all sides.

By the way, the Han army will treat everyone equally, so as not to cause contradictions between the Qiang cavalry! The soldiers worked hard, but they would not be hindered by sneak attacks on all sides, and the cavalry would not be able to exert the impact of the cavalry if they were blocked!

As for the guard, we have our own division of labor, General Zhang Xiu and I supervise the battle, and General Zhang Wei organizes the harvesting of wheat fields! We led a hundred men each, and the remaining two hundred were scattered at night! ”

Zhang Xiu agreed: "The last general will follow the arrangement of the assassin history, and there is also the training of the Qiang cavalry!" ”

Huang Quan asked, "I was about to ask, how do you train?" ”

Zhang Xiu replied: "Completely in accordance with the method of our army's training, train the method of advancing and retreating to meet the battle!" ”

Huang Quan straightened up and said, "What is the reaction of the leader of Qiangdi?" ”

Zhang Xiu thought for a while and said: "Dai Wuzhi is very interested, the Qiang cavalry suffers from restraint and their morale is not high!" ”

Huang Quan waved his hand and said: "I can't practice anymore, and from tomorrow onwards, no general will be allowed to reveal any training tactics of our army!" As for how to command them, I have my own way! ”

After speaking, Huang Quan stared at Zhang Xiu and Zhang Wei with his eyes and said, "You remember, Qiang Di is a hundred years of turmoil!" It's a double-edged sword, it's up to you how you use it! There are some things that can't be taught randomly! The people promised.