Ma Chao knew that as soon as Chen Cangcheng was lost, he would die without a place to be buried; He thought about it carefully, maybe Han Sui sent troops around his rear not necessarily to sneak attack Chen Cangcheng. After all, Chen Cangcheng still has Ma Teng, with 15,000 people stationed there, and it is a strong city in the world.

Thinking of this, Ma Chao suddenly understood: Han Sui's strategic intention was not to sneak attack Chen Cangcheng, but to cut off his grain route and let him collapse without a fight!

Ma Chao then thought of a worse outcome: perhaps Han Sui's intention was not to cut off his grain route, but to launch a surprise attack directly from behind him; Or, that strange army will always lurk behind his troops, and wait until Han Sui and the main rebel army come to engage him in the middle of the battle, and then surprise his weak, defenseless rear army!

Thinking of this, it was obviously a hot day, but Ma Chao had a chill, and cold sweat broke out all over his body. Ma Chao didn't dare to continue to scrutinize, and he didn't dare to make more terrible assumptions. Ma Chao couldn't imagine how superb Han Sui's resourcefulness was, and he could devise such a superb strategy; It was even harder for him to imagine what would have happened to him if he hadn't happened to run into this strange army, which would have been doomed anyway.

After thinking about Han Sui's intentions, Ma Chao began to wake up: it turned out that everything was too difficult and too difficult, the conquest was not what he imagined, and the war was not so easy, it was a gamble that gambled with his life and everything, and it was all over if he lost. Ma Chao began to reflect on himself, and the six victories in six battles made him think too much of himself. It is true that he is a "Divine Mighty Heavenly General", with the courage of ten thousand men and the advantage of the foresight of the traverser, but his enemies are also much stronger than him.

Ma Chao pondered in the tent for a long time, only to find that the sound outside the tent gradually decreased. After a while, Ma Dai and Pang De and a dozen lieutenants asked to be included in the account. Ma Chao ordered the generals to come in.

After Ma Dai, Pang De and others saluted Ma Chao, Ma Dai said: "Brother Yu, five thousand soldiers have been incorporated into our army, and in accordance with my brother's wishes, some military salaries have been given to each of the soldiers, and the soldiers are ecstatic. ”

Ma Chao nodded, and asked again, "Are they willing to serve me?" ”

Pang De said: "With the prestige of the young general, and the prestige of General Fubo, the soldiers have long been devoted to it, and they are all willing to turn their backs on Han Sui and join our army." ”

In fact, Ma Chao does not have the title of general, he is not even a captain, because the imperial court did not officially seal him. Because Ma Teng has firmly controlled the 20,000 Han troops under his command, the captains and military marquis are all his cronies. That's why Ma Chao can successfully master this song.

Ma Chao nodded with satisfaction, thinking in his heart that this time it was not without gain, after all, he got five thousand and hundreds of horses at one time, which could be regarded as revenge for Han Sui's design to sneak attack his rear.

Ma Chao said: "In this case, how many people and horses does our army have now?" ”

Ma Dai couldn't hide his laughter, and said happily: "Brother Yu, our army has 23,000 horsemen and 31,000 good horses; The armor is neat, and the swords, guns, bows, and arrows are also ready. ”

Twenty-three thousand rides? This is far more than the 5,000 horsemen that Ma Teng handed over to him at the beginning, and it also exceeds the strength of 15,000 horsemen of Ma Teng. Ma Chao was overjoyed.

"That's more than my father's strength. In less than ten days, the elder brother collected 18,000 people who controlled the strings, six battles and six victories, Xizhou was shaken, and the younger brother was also happy for the elder brother. Ma Dai looked at Ma Chao with admiration on his face and said with a smile.

"It's all because of Han Wenyue's generosity, and he handed over the iron horses under his command to others six times, and he cheapened me for nothing!" Ma Chao also smiled.

The generals laughed, and the barracks burst into laughter. Ma Chao asked again: "What about the military rations?" ”

"The military rations are also very sufficient, which can last more than a month." Pound Road.

Ma Chao touched his chin and thought about it, and said, "Okay." Then set up camp here, rest for a day, and move tomorrow. ”

Ma Dai and Pang De glanced at each other, didn't understand what Ma Chao meant, and said, "Brother (Major General), what will be the next step?" ”

Ma Chao resolutely stood up and said vigorously: "Attack Longxian!" ”

"Longxian?" When the generals heard this, they were all dumbfounded, and they couldn't believe Ma Chao's words.

Ma Chao looked at the color of the generals, and saw that the generals were a little flustered, but he actually understood very well. Because Han Sui had just led the army to conquer Ji County, the seat of Hanyang County, and killed Fu Bian, the main force of the rebel army was stationed in Hanyang County. However, Longxian is an important city in Hanyang County, and it is also the east gate of Liangzhou facing Sanfu. If Longxian is captured, Ma Chao will knock on the door of Liangzhou, which will definitely attract Han Sui's crazy attack.

Ma Chao was well aware of this danger in his heart, but he was not panicked at all. Ma Chao said: "Do you know why Han Sui sent five batches of elite soldiers one after another and sent them into my pocket in vain?" ”

Ma Dai and Pang De both said: "I don't know. ”

Ma Chao said: "This is Han Sui's method of testing, he is using the first five batches of soldiers and horses to test the strength of the general." ”

Pound said puzzledly: "Then why did he send out five songs in succession, and the number of songs in each song was only thousands?" ”

Ma Chao thought for a moment and replied, "This is what Han Sui is so good about." Five groups of troops were sent to attack our troops, one is to test the strength of the generals and provide reliable information for future battles; The second is to delay the pace of our army's march into Xiliang. I expected that Han Sui had just captured Jiancheng Ji County, and it must be that the veterans of the division were tired and the people were sleepy. Moreover, the military rations were not fully raised, and for a while, there was no way to march into Sanfu again. Therefore, he has to buy time to rest the part and recharge his energy before attacking Sanfu in a big way. ”

Ma Dai thought for a moment and exclaimed, "Brother, I understand!" The reason why Han Sui Lao'er persuaded his father to surrender was also to make his father suspicious and delay his father's entry into Xiliang! ”

Ma Chao nodded and said, "That's right!" When he saw the head of the envoy sent by his father, he knew that his father was about to send troops into Xiliang. Therefore, he sent five batches of troops, not to defeat his father, but to slow down the speed of our army. Because of the lack of military rations and the exhaustion of the rebels, Han Sui was unable to lead the main force to fight, so he had to send only a few thousand horsemen at a time. ”

Pang De also quickly figured it out and said: "Han Sui saw that the five frontal interceptions were unsuccessful, so he planned to sneak attack the rear of our army, and his intention was still to buy enough time to recuperate. It can be seen that Han Sui is really scheming, and the young general should be careful! ”

Ma Chao said: "This is naturally saved." But Han Sui's meaning should be more than that. The surprise soldier was sent to ambush behind our army, and he himself led the main army to fight the general. When our department and Han Sui fight bloodily, his strange soldiers will sneak attack from behind our department in one fell swoop. ”

Ma Dai was a little incredulous, and said: "But brother, you also said that the Liangzhou rebels have just taken Hanyang County, and they are sleepy and lack of horses, and they are unable to compete with our army. He is known as the Yellow River, how can he be stupid enough to use a tired army against our troops? ”

Ma Chao shook his head and said, "Han Sui is not stupid, he is very smart." Because he knew that although it was risky to lead a tired army into battle, it would be even more dangerous once our army entered Liangzhou. Therefore, he will definitely ignore the exhaustion of his subordinates and send a large army to block the road of our army into Liangzhou! ”