Yan Xing sat in the courtyard of Zhangye's Taishou Mansion, looking at a tree, and he was fascinated.

October has arrived, and the autumn season has arrived, and the bleak autumn wind has gradually yellowed and withered the green poplar leaves, as if the autumn wind is blowing, and the leaves will be yellow and withered. Under the swaying of the autumn wind, the yellowing leaves gradually withered with the wind. The autumn wind withers the green trees, and the years kill people.

Yan Xing's heart suddenly felt that he was like this tree, gradually withering in the wind and becoming a dead thing. But after thinking about it, he felt that this tree was in a much better situation than him, because when the spring breeze was ten miles and the spring rain was continuous, the tree would pull out its buds again and grow endlessly.

And Yan Xing felt that it was impossible for him to germinate again.

After Han Sui led the defeated army into Hexi, he killed the former Taishou and successfully occupied Hexi, which was thousands of miles away. Although he received tens of thousands of good horses in Zhangye County, the iron cavalry under his command supplemented with sufficient war horses. Later, he got the grain straw in Hexi, because Hexi Chengping was relatively long, the grain and straw were quite sufficient, enough for Han Sui's 20,000 horses to eat for a long time.

But apart from war horses and grain, Han Sui got nothing. The people of Hexi have been stable for too long, and they are unwilling to accept Han Sui, an intruder from afar, and there have been repeated cases of secret resistance by the people of Hexi. After a period of time, the news of Ma's implementation of benevolent government in other counties spread with the merchants, and the people of Hexi became even more resistant to Han Sui.

Faced with the people's disagreement, Han Sui chose to brutally suppress it. 20,000 elite horsemen are already a catastrophe for the people of Hexi who have been peaceful for a long time. Soon, the opposition subsided.

What made Yan Xing even more disdainful was that Han Sui's occupation of Hexi was not regarded as his own territory, but as a reserve base for counterattacking the Ma clan and returning to Liangzhou. In order to quickly restore his strength, Han Sui grabbed the strong men and forced more than 60,000 people into his Hexi army.

In addition, in order to accumulate money and grain, Han Sui wantonly increased taxes and looted most of the wealth of the people in Hexi. Because many people could not pay Han Sui's taxes, some were forced to sell their sons and daughters, some were pulled away by the county officials, some were even set on fire to their houses because they refused to pay taxes, and some were even directly fined and confiscated into the official and became official slaves.

All of this fell into Yan Xing's eyes. Yan Xing had already seen Han Sui loot and exploit the people of Liangzhou, but now he saw a similar scene, and he was indignant in his heart.

At the same time, Yan Xing heard about the benevolent government implemented by the Ma clan, which not only greatly reduced taxes, but also built water conservancy, and even directly granted land to the people to cultivate, and provided cheap cattle, farm tools, and seeds. The people had almost nothing, and everything was distributed by Ma. Under such benevolent governance, Yan Xing expected that the recovery of Liangzhou seemed to be only a matter of speed, and Yan Xing believed that the speed of recovery would be fast. Compared with the people of Hexi who lived in the shadow of Han Sui, Yan Xing was more envious of the people under the rule of the Ma family.

Han Sui himself sat in Lufu City in Jiuquan County, and sent the most powerful Yan Xing to lead 30,000 troops to garrison Zhangye County. Although 30,000 horsemen were already very considerable, Yan Xing knew that these 30,000 horsemen were just captured strong men. The strong men are not only poorly trained and undisciplined, but they are simply a weak brigade; And what's even more serious is that his heart is not in Han Sui, and he can't wait for Jinma Chao to send troops to attack.

Han Sui handed over the 30,000 recruits to Yan Xing and asked Yan Xing to be stationed in Zhangye County, which was in front of Jiuquan County, Yan Xing knew very well that this was not out of trust, so he let him be stationed at the gate of Jiuquan County; Instead, Han Sui wanted to use him and 30,000 cavalry as a shield to block Jinma Chao's attack first. It was only a matter of time before he and his subordinates were wiped out, but Han Sui was given precious time to cope. For Han Sui and Cheng Gongying, it is a wise choice to use a person whose loyalty is questionable and whose position is unclear in exchange for reaction time, some casualties in the Jinma Super, and the sharpness of the Jinma Superseries.

Yan Xing couldn't help but remember that before he was sent to Zhangye County, Han Sui and Cheng Gongying came to see him off. Han Sui patted him on the shoulder and said eagerly: "The old man Zhangye will be handed over to you, and the old man's success or failure will also be handed over to you." Don't let the old man down. ”

Yan Xing was full of promises at that time, and made another request, hoping to let his wife follow him to the post. But Han Sui didn't agree for a long time, and motioned to Cheng Gongying with his eyes to reject him. Cheng Gongying's tongue, how can Yan Xing compare? Cheng Gongying just said, "Madame is next to the general, I'm afraid it will distract the general", so Yan Xing had nothing to say.

Yan Xing knew in his heart that after the battle of Ayang, Cheng Gongying was already very suspicious of him. His wife, who is Han Sui's daughter, should remarry someone else after he dies at the hands of Jin Ma Chao. And Yan Xing couldn't do anything at all, so he could only obediently garrison Zhangye County, waiting for Jin Ma Chao to attack with all his might in the near future and complete the mission of cannon fodder.

Thinking of this, Yan Xing felt that he was not even as good as a tree. The tree still has a chance to grow again, but he can only be trapped in the city of sorrow, waiting for the arrival of Jinma Chao.

Suddenly, a bold idea appeared in Yan Xing's mind for no reason: if Jin Ma Chao came to attack and he surrendered, he would be able to leave Han Sui in Jiuquan County without any barrier and lose a full 30,000 living forces. Then, it will be much easier for Jin Ma Chao to eliminate Han Sui, and the people of Hexi can also survive from Han Sui's clutches and live better.

Thinking of this, Yan Xing changed his decadence and stood up excitedly.

During the Battle of Ayang, Han Sui's attitude towards Yan Xing was like driving dogs and horses, and Yan Xing had already seen it clearly; The reason why he didn't turn his back on Han Sui and joined Ma Chao at that time was because he was suspicious that Ma Chao, who had been alone with him, would be wary of him. But the matter has come to this, Yan Xing thought to himself, instead of guarding Zhang Ye to death for Han Sui, it is better to lower Jin Ma Chao. Even if it is not reused under Jin Ma Chao, it is much better than waiting for death under Han Sui.

Thinking of this, the corners of Yan Xing's mouth couldn't help but rise, wandering around the courtyard, and his steps were so excited that he couldn't stop.

………………………………………………………

In front of Ma Chao, the first to bear the brunt is Zhangye County. Zhangye County has eight cities: Lijing, Fanhe, Rile, Dichi, Chaidan, Yalan, Shude, and Zhaowu.

Ma Chao led the cavalry out of Wuwei County, and in front of him was Lijing City.

Twenty miles away from Lijing City, Ma Chao ordered the army to lie dormant for a while. Ma Chao took out a sheepskin map and looked at the Lijing City in front of him, which was located on a large flat and verdant grassland, with a towering city, no rivers or forests around, and he was a little worried in his heart.

Jia Xu galloped close and said, "Young Master, according to the news found by Qianlong, Han Sui sent Yan Xing to garrison Zhangye County, and the other seven cities each have thousands of defenders, only this Lijing City has 10,000 people, and Yan Xing is also in this city. ”

Ma Chao said: "Although the city wall of Lijing City is made of rammed earth, the city wall is still strong and tall. There is no river around, and it is difficult to break down the city wall with water; Without trees, our army cannot build siege machines. For the purpose of blitzkrieg, this time he did not bring any siege equipment. It's a tough battle. ”