The army is most taboo about unclear command and inability to carry out orders and prohibitions, and the former Qin Fujian was defeated because of this. Therefore, Ma Chao would rather use Yan Cheng, who had just surrendered, to make the command of the army smoother and faster.

When Yan Xing heard that Ma Chao was actually willing to promote him to a lieutenant general, he was defenseless against him, and his heart was full of gratitude to Ma Chao, so he immediately knelt down, kowtowed to Ma Chao, and said: "The junior general is just a general, and the general treats me like this, which really makes the junior general not know what to do." The young master is above, and the last will meet the young master. ”

As he spoke, three muffled voices rang out on the ground. Ma Chao hurriedly jumped off the horse and helped Yan Xing up.

Yan Xing said again: "The last general has just arrived, and I am afraid it is not suitable to serve as a Zhonglang general. The young master can leave a lieutenant position for the last general, and the last general will never complain. ”

How could Ma Chao give up a fierce general? Said: "I have always been suspicious of people, and I don't need to use people." In the future, you will be a Zhonglang general, in the same column as Ma Dai and Pang De. ”

Yan Xing didn't say a word, and immediately bent his knees again, wanting to kneel, but Ma Chao hurriedly stopped him and said, "Okay, okay, if you really want to be grateful to me, you can make the defenders of the city go out of the city and surrender." ”

"Whoa." Yan Xing hurriedly got on his horse and galloped into the city, and after a while, a group of cavalry came out of the city, but they came out with their horses and did not carry weapons in their hands.

Ma Chao said to Jia Xu: "The precautions can be withdrawn." ”

There were about 10,000 soldiers, all of whom walked up to Ma Chao, threw down their weapons, and surrendered on their knees.

Ma Chao ordered people to take away the horses and armor, and took the soldiers to rest elsewhere, and marched into the city with Yan.

Yan Xing said to Ma Chao: "Young master, these people are all the people who Han Sui was newly forced to join the army, and they actually do not obey, and I hope that you will conquer Hexi as soon as possible, so no one will not surrender." ”

Ma Chao bowed his head, at this time Ma Chao began to experience the benefits of going out early, the time was too short, Han Sui immediately ordered to gather tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, and the military heart was not easy to attach to, easy to defeat. And if he goes on another expedition next year, maybe Han Sui will use the method of envy and power to make the newly recruited soldiers and horses obey him. And after a long time, Han Sui's training of soldiers and horses will be more refined and more difficult to deal with.

Ma Chao asked: "How many recruits are there like this?" ”

Yan Xingdao: "There are not many households in Hexi, only 450,000 people, and Han Sui also recruited 60,000 new soldiers, arranged in Jiuquan 30,000 and Zhangye 30,000, because these two counties are the most important places in Hexi. Han Sui's most core force, and also the most powerful force, was the 20,000 cavalry he brought from Liangzhou, which was also in Jiuquan County. ”

Ma Chao probably understood Han Sui's strength, although Han Sui's strength far surpassed him, but those recruits did not obey Han Sui, and the army was discouraged; It was not a strong army, and the only real threat to him was the 20,000 horsemen who survived the Battle of Caohan. Those 20,000 horsemen can be described as elite horses, and they are also loyal to Han Sui.

Ma Chao said again: "The general once said that he could persuade the guards of other cities in Zhangye?" ”

Yan Xing said, "Yes." Except for the two cities of Zhaowu and Shude, the rest of the cities were guarded by the henchmen of the last general. In the end, there will be sure to persuade him to surrender. ”

Ma Chao nodded, the remaining two cities were all cities close to Jiuquan County, and Yan Xing had already been able to save him a lot of effort.

…………………………………………

In the next two days, Ma Chao sent Yan to be the vanguard, and every time he encountered a city, he persuaded him to surrender, and five cities, including Fanhe, Rile, Dichi, Delete Dan, and Wulan, turned against each other, and Ma Chao was able to take most of Zhangye County without blood. After Ma Chao dismissed those surrendered troops, there was no love stack, and only Shude City and Zhaowu City were in front of him.

Since Yan Xing said that the guards of these two cities were not his henchmen, he did not dare to guarantee to surrender. Ma Chao considered that he would be shocked by rashly persuading him to surrender, so that Han Sui would know the news that he had attacked Zhangye, so he decided to use the previous Jia Xu's plan for the capture of Lijing City to capture the second city.

The first is the city of Shude, which is also the county seat of Zhangye.

Ma Chao, like last time, sent Ju Yi to lead 300 soldiers to the dead, disguised as a business traveler, and infiltrated the city. This time, the defenders were not as clever as Yan Xing, and Ju Yi smoothly mixed into the city.

After Ju Yi and the others entered the city, they stayed in a hotel just like business travelers. In the middle of the night, Ju Yi led the soldiers to take out armor, swords and guns from the carriage. When he was fully armed, he quietly walked out of the inn and walked in the direction of the city gate.

Like other cities, there is a curfew at night, and no one is allowed to enter or leave the streets. This caused some difficulties for Ju Yi and others, but it also created some convenience, because the streets were empty, and as long as they did not encounter patrols, they could swagger and walk on the streets.

Ju Yi led the crowd through a street, and when he turned the corner, he suddenly heard a sound of footsteps, and urgently ordered the tribe to stop silencing. Ju Yi stretched out his head and saw that three soldiers of Han Suijun were patrolling with lanterns on the street.

Ju Yi and evil are born to the side of the guts, signaling that the part is ready.

The three patrolmen walked around the corner where Ju Yi and the others were hiding, and when the three of them walked out of the street, Ju Yi and a dozen of the first dead soldiers immediately reached out and pulled the three of them over.

The dead men skillfully covered their enemies' mouths with one hand and cut off their heads with the other. And just like that, the three patrolmen died without knowing it.

Now no one can stop the first to ascend to the dead. Ju Yi asked the three dead soldiers to change into the clothes and armor of the patrolmen, disguised themselves as soldiers of Han Suijun, re-lit the extinguished lanterns, and headed for the city gate.

The three "patrolmen" walked under the city gate, and only more than 100 soldiers of the Han Sui Army were guarding the city gate, the city gate tower, the horse road and the city wall. The soldiers were newly recruited, so discipline was not strict, and some were dozing off with spears and leaning against the walls.

After the three "patrolmen" approached, they immediately drew their broken gold knives and cut down the three guards while the guards could not see their faces clearly. The rest of the guards didn't know what was happening, looking at the three corpses on the ground, at a loss.

Only then did the three of them throw away the lanterns, swung their knives and slashed indiscriminately, and immediately cut down several of the guards. Taking advantage of the fact that the guards could not react, Ju Yi also raised the broken gold knife and led the rest of the first dead soldiers to rush to the city gate. Three hundred soldiers who died first hacked the defenders under the city gate to death in an instant.

Ju Yi saw that there were still some defenders on the city wall, and he was afraid that they would notify the other defenders to come to help, so he immediately said to the two military marquis: "You, you, each lead fifty people to rush up the city wall, and after killing all the defenders, raise fire as a number!" ”

"Whoa!" A hundred first-timers immediately poured onto the city wall from the horse road, where were the defenders the opponents of first-timers? Soon there were endless wails on the city wall, and then several corpses fell, all of them soldiers of Han Sui's army.

Ju Yi hurriedly commanded Qu to lift the bolt of the city gate and push it open.