And far away in the camp of the Xiliang Army under Lufu City, Ma Chao was carefully reading the battle report from Jincheng. When he saw that Yang Fu had brought such rich results to Xiliang, especially the population that Xiliang urgently needed, Ma Chaofang was very happy as soon as he spit out the turbidity in his chest.

Under the tent stood the lieutenant generals, captains, Changshi, Yang Yidu and others of the whole army, all looking at Ma Chao expectantly.

Ma Dai asked curiously, "Brother, what is the good news that you are so happy?" ”

Ma Chao handed the battle report to Ma Dai and smiled at everyone: "Everyone, the right army division sacrifices wine Yang Fu has pacified the northern border, and in one fell swoop, Xiu Tu, Hun Evil, and Lu Shuihu, the population of the three departments is all my Xiliang's income. ”

As soon as they heard this, all the generals laughed heartily, and Zhang Xiu, who had just returned from Juyan, said with a smile: "That's great, brother, from now on, we can concentrate on dealing with the Jiuqu Yellow River, and Liangzhou doesn't have to worry." ”

Ma Chao nodded and said, "The most important thing is that Yang Fu has obtained three tens of thousands of women. The second and third sons work hard, and I will reward the second and third sons with some women depending on the level of military merit. ”

"Thank you, young master!" When the generals heard that there was a woman's hair, they were overjoyed.

Ma Chao said: "Captain Yangyi hurriedly spread the news so that the morale of the officers and men of the whole army can be boosted. ”

"Whoa!"

Jia Xu nodded slightly and said, "Han Wenyue has always been treacherous, and our army has been besieging the city for a long time, he will definitely send spies to infiltrate our army and spy on intelligence." It also happened that this news was transmitted back to the ears of Han Wenyue through the mouth of the spy. ”

Because in the past three or five days, Han Sui and Zhang Heng have been guarding Lufu City and Anmi City respectively, and Ma Chao has not waited for the siege equipment. Therefore, the two cities could only be surrounded. And Han Sui was scheming, and he didn't dare to go out of the city easily, and he didn't even dare to go out of the city to attack Ma Chao's camp at night, and Ma Chao couldn't make any progress for a long time, so he could only besiege the city without attacking. Ma Chao explained some military affairs, dismissed the generals, and went to inspect the military camp with Jia Xu.

Ma Chao and Jia Xu walked side by side, strolling through the camp, followed by twenty guards. On the way, I constantly met Sergeant Xiliang, either training under the leadership of the captain, Du Bo and others, or standing guard, or feeding the war horses, sharpening the edge of the spear with a whetstone to prevent rust; Some use polo and sumo wrestling to pass the time. The camp is orderly, loose on the outside and tight on the inside.

Seeing that the soldiers were not idle because of the long siege of the city, and their morale was exhausted, Ma Chao was a little relieved.

Ma Chao said: "Jiuqu Yellow River refused to go out of the city for a decisive battle, and our army besieged the city for a long time. The morale of the soldiers has not decreased, which is really rare. ”

Jia Xu said: "The main thing is that the officers and men of our army are not weak brigades. However, there are also reasons why General Zhang Xiu returned victoriously. ”

Ma Chao nodded, Zhang Xiu just came back yesterday and brought good news to the military camp, not only successfully recovered Juyan, but also waited for the opportunity to defeat several small tribes of Xianbei people, and collected their women, cattle and sheep, although not much, but still made the soldiers more confident in winning this battle.

Ma Chao said: "Yan Xing should come back in two days, Dunhuang County has been captured, the entire Hexi, Han Sui only has two cities, and the Hutu people have not been able to move Liangzhou at all, now it's up to him what to do!" ”

Jia Xu said: "Not necessarily. Han Sui still has more than 30,000 troops, which is more than our army. With the mind of the Yellow River, it is certainly not so easy to succumb. If you want to defeat the Jiuqu Yellow River, the young master still has to start by capturing its city. Lufu City and An Mi City are his last bit of confidence, if he doesn't capture Lu Fu City and An Mi City, then Han Wenyue will still be delusional that Huangfu Song will attack my Liangzhou on a large scale and share the pressure for him. ”

Ma Chao nodded in agreement. Although Huangfu Song's 100,000 foot cavalry was weaker than his Xiliang Iron Cavalry, the number was there after all. When there are many people, it naturally represents the overwhelming crowd. Defeating the strong with the few, defeating the strong with the weak, that is a miracle that is unique in ten thousand, Ma Chao does not dare to gamble on this miracle with the lives of tens of thousands of people. Besides, Huangfu Song was a famous general in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, and he rarely had defeats.

So before he had a battle with Huangfu Song, Ma Chao never knew if he had a chance to win. It's like a boulder hanging in the air, you never know if it's going to hit you until it falls. And this uncertainty, this unknown, is what frightens people the most.

Ma Chao felt this kind of fear. Although it has been a stalemate with Han Wenyue for so long, even Yang Fu has solved the problem of Hugh slaughtering people, and there is no movement from Huangfu Song, but no one knows when Huang Fu Song will move. Ma Chao knew that Huangfu might see through his plan to hide the sky and cross the sea, or he might see through it tomorrow, or he might only see it through when he returned to Jincheng after completely defeating Han Sui. And Han Sui's watertight defense of the city, and the siege equipment he still had on the way, made Ma Chao even more restless.

Thinking about it, Ma Chao and Jia Xu walked to the tent area of Ma Chao's personal guard camp. The Guards Battalion was in training, and five hundred of them wore heavy armor and became a piece of armor. This armor riding equipment is also the only armor riding equipment in the entire Xiliang Iron Cavalry, and they are practicing the tactics of group charging under the command of the military marquis.

As soon as they saw Ma Chao coming, the guards were very encouraged, and the armor and horses also stopped training and dismounted to greet Ma Chao. Ma Chao walked between the armor and horses, inspected them cordially, patted the shoulders of some guards from time to time, and said a few words of encouragement.

After that, Ma Chao ordered the three thousand guards to continue training, and Ma Chao wanted to watch the training of the armor and cavalry. With Ma Chao present, the guards naturally trained hard, especially the armor and riding equipment, which worked very hard, and the movements were standard and magnificent.

Seeing that this armored cavalry is so majestic, Ma Chao suddenly thought that the armored cavalry is a rare heavy cavalry and heavy cavalry, which not only has strong protective power, but also has extremely fast attack power, and it is very suitable to impact the formations of light cavalry and mausoleum infantry. Such a unique and powerful force should be put to good use. Thinking of this, Ma Chao decided to separate this armor and cavalry equipment from the guard camp and list it as a separate part for use as an elite like the first camp.

Jia Xu said: "But the young lord doesn't have to worry, the lord is already sending his troops to transport siege equipment, and on the way here, there are still ten days and eight days to be transported to Lufu City." As soon as the siege equipment arrived, it happened that Yan Xing's 10,000 cavalry had already come back to repair it, and the young master gathered the whole army of 30,000 iron cavalry to attack the city fiercely, and it was not too difficult to capture the city. ”

After listening to Jia Xu's comfort, Ma Chao didn't feel much comfort, and said: "Ten days and eight days is too long, and no one can guarantee that Yang Biao has discovered the fact that the main force of our army has been in Hexi during this period. The sooner you take Lufu City and Anmi City, the better. ”

Jia Xu stroked his beard and said, "If you want to capture the second city when the siege equipment has not arrived, and Han Wenyue cannot hold on and defend it strictly, you can do it." The method was to order the soldiers to make some rudimentary ladders to attack the city. But in that case, if the enemy condescendingly releases arrows, our army will surely suffer countless casualties. And Han Wenyue at this moment, it is impossible not to have a large number of arrows. ”

Ma Chao listened to Jia Xu's words, suddenly thoughtful, and muttered to himself: "Wen He said that the key is the arrow......

Jia Xu didn't know what Ma Chao was thinking, and said casually: "Yes, young master, the most important thing to defend the city is the arrow." If the enemy can't hurt our soldiers with bows and crossbows, then our army's 30,000 tigers and wolves will capture only two small cities. ”

Ma Chao was still thoughtful, he felt as if he was approaching something, but not really close yet.

Ma Chao said: "In other words, as long as I can deal with the arrows shot by the enemy from the city, so that they fail to shoot the Xiliang soldiers, I will have a chance to attack the city?" ”

Jia Xu realized what Ma Chao was thinking about at this time, and asked, "Could it be that the young master has thought of some method?" ”

Ma Chao looked at Jia Xu and said, "It seems that I thought of it, but I didn't seem to think of it." ”

Suddenly, in the armor and cavalry behind Jia Xu, there was a horse about the same as a male horse without gelding, and suddenly became angry, it raised its front hooves high, and kept jumping, trying to throw the cavalry off the horse. The cavalrymen stubbornly tied their legs around the horse's belly and never fell off.

The neighing of the horse suddenly started, and Ma Chao subconsciously looked away to look at the armor and riding equipment. When he saw the armor and equipment, Ma Chao immediately felt enlightened, as if an incandescent lamp was lit on his head.

That's right! The armor and horsemen are covered with heavy and hard armor, not to mention the ordinary swords that can't hurt him, even the arrows fired by the crossbow can't shoot through, they will only be bounced off.

After the startled horse was tamed, Ma Chao walked straight to one of the guards, and without saying a word, he directly untied a powerful crossbow from him. Jia Xu was still in the dark at first, but after thinking about it for a while, he couldn't help but grin.

Ma Chao just wanted to call a sergeant with armor and cavalry, but when he turned around, he saw that Jia Xu was already asking a sergeant with armor and cavalry to stand still, and that person was Cherrigie.

Ma Chao couldn't help laughing, at this moment he finally knew why Cao Cao was so happy when he got Xun Yu and Liu Bei got Wolong, not only because he got a big help, but also because he got a person who understands himself, that is, a confidant.

Ma Chao pointed at Jia Xu and nodded two points, and said with a smile: "Wenhe, it's not bad, in such a short period of time, you can actually understand my intentions." ”

Jia Xu smiled humbly: "As a young master's advisor, he still thinks too late and begs for forgiveness!" ”

Ma Chao waved his hand and asked Jia Xu to stand farther away.

Cherrigi is also a relatively smart person, and immediately understood that Ma Chao wanted to test the protective power of the armor, so he took off the armor on his body, hung it on a stake, and said to Ma Chao: "Young master, it's ready!" ”