After inspecting the barracks and comforting the wounded soldiers, Ma Chao also returned to Ma's mansion in the city to rest. A dreamless night.

When he got up the next day, Ma Chao knew that the soldiers were exhausted, so he ordered him to rest for two more days. Ma Chao also remembered the matter of migrating the displaced people in the territory of Youfufeng, so he went to inspect the camp of the official army. I saw that Cheng Gongying was already sorting out the supplies of the whole battalion, and many displaced people had begun to line up outside the camp. The displaced people drank the corn porridge distributed by Cheng Gongying and the officials, and lined up to receive supplies.

In addition, Ma Teng also quickly sent officials from Hanyang County and Anding County, which are closest to Youfufeng in Liangzhou, to work with Cheng Gongying to distribute supplies and organize the displaced people into a grain transportation team, and on the other hand, to compile the displaced people into the household registration of each county in Liangzhou. Because of the transaction between Ma Chao and Han Sui, Dunhuang County became a no-man's land. Originally, Ma Teng wanted to move these displaced people to Dunhuang County. But Cheng Gongying considered that the homeless people were weak and couldn't go far; Moreover, when migrating to Dunhuang County, which is thousands of miles away, the displaced people will definitely consume a lot of food on the way; In addition, Dunhuang County is mostly sandy land with narrow arable land. Therefore, Cheng Gongying persuaded Ma Teng to settle the displaced people in the three counties closest to Sanfu, Hanyang, Anding, and Beidi, and Ma Teng agreed.

Seeing that the transportation of grain and the filling of migrants were carried out in an orderly manner, Ma Chao was no longer worried. Ma Chao planned to rest for two more days, and when the soldiers and horses of the Xiliang Army had recovered their strength, he would lead the army to Yixian, and then look for an opportunity to start a war with Huangfu Song and Dong Zhuo.

Just as Ma Chao in Chencang City was thinking about Huangfu Song and Dong Zhuo, the two were also talking about Ma Chao. Let's look at Huangfu Song first.

After a night of trekking, at noon the next day, Huangfu Song finally led the remnants of the official army with half a breath left to return to Yixian, set up a barracks in the city, and stationed them.

As soon as Huangfu Song soothed some peeling lips and colic stomach with a few sips of hot water, and just sat down to rest his already overwhelmed legs, Bao Hong, Yuan Peng, Zhou Shen and others all surrounded him.

Huangfu Song knew that the three of them were coming, and they must have reported the casualties of the battle. Thinking of this battle, the officers and troops must have lost most of them, Huangfu Song first closed his eyes that were already bloodshot in despair, and after making mental preparations, he opened his eyes helplessly, and said indifferently: "Okay, say it!" What are the casualties in this war? ”

Bao Hong looked sad, and said slowly in a hoarse voice: "Go back to the car, in this war, our army has a full 70,000 infantry troops. However, the last general and others did everything possible to collect stragglers, and in the end, there were only about 40,000 infantry troops left in Yixian. ”

Hearing this, Huangfu Song's head couldn't help but feel pain, but he still struggled and asked, "I only lost 30,000, well, it is far lower than the old man's expectation of losing 40,000." There are still 40,000 infantry troops, okay. Among the remaining troops, how many are officers and soldiers, and how many are soldiers of the family? ”

Bao Hong said: "When the chariot is in the array, all the soldiers of the family are arranged at the front. And the front position in the formation was the most ravaged by the Xiliang Iron Cavalry. Therefore, among the 40,000 surviving infantry troops in the Chinese army, the vast majority of them are our officers and soldiers, and only more than 3,000 are soldiers of the family. ”

Hearing this, Huangfu Song breathed a sigh of relief and laughed happily.

Huangfu Song said with satisfaction: "No matter how well-trained and well-equipped the soldiers of the family are, they will not be able to compare with the officers and soldiers after all. The officers and non-commissioned officers are all veterans of vicious battles, and they are the main force of our army. As for those family soldiers, if they die, they will die, and they are not the old man's subordinates anyway. ”

Bao Hong said worriedly: "But the chariot, we have lost so many family soldiers, those Sanfu families will definitely be our enemies." ”

Huangfu Song snorted coldly and said, "At this time, our army is still facing a big enemy like Jin Ma Chao and the Xiliang Army. There is a way that you don't have to worry if you have too much debt. Let them go with resentment! Besides, they have even lost all the soldiers, and now they all rely on the old man to protect them. No matter how much they hate the old man, they don't dare to use any means now. ”

Only then did Bao Hong settle down.

Huangfu Song said: "Go on. ”

Yuan Peng said with a sad face: "Go back to the car, in this battle, our army's reserve first fought fiercely with the enemy's Sanguan defenders, and then a Xiliang iron cavalry came to attack and attack our army's reserves together with the Sanguan defenders. So the reserve lost 5,000 horsemen, and there were 2,000 horsemen left. ”

Although cavalry has strong mobility and attack power, it is much weaker than infantry protection. Huangfu Song had expected this, so he was not too surprised and pained.

Zhou Shen also said: "Back to the car, in this battle, the right flank of our army was surrounded and attacked by the enemy's left wing infantry and cavalry, and the loss of 7,000 cavalry, there are still 13,000 cavalry. ”

Huangfu Song sighed and said, "In other words, the old man now only has 40,000 infantry troops and 15,000 cavalry troops, a total of 55,000 cavalry troops?" ”

Bao Hong said: "No, the chariot, doesn't our army still have Dong Zhuo's department?" ”

Zhou Shen said: "Dong Zhuo still doesn't know where he was driven by the Xiliang Iron Cavalry, and he hasn't returned to Yixian yet. ”

Yuan Pan shook his head and said, "Even if he returns to Yixian, it will be difficult to increase the number of my soldiers. The last general had previously captured a deserter from Dong Zhuo's department on the way, and he said that Dong Zhuo's department had fallen into Jin Ma Chao's strategy to lure the enemy deeper, and was ambushed by the Xiliang Iron Cavalry on the bank of Weishui, and lost most of it. Coupled with the previous defeat suffered by Dong Zhuo's troops in the general decisive battle, the final general estimated that Dong Zhongying still had thousands of horsemen at most. ”

Huangfu Song, Bao Hong, and Zhou Shen listened, and at this time they had no intention of laughing at Dong Zhuo, who had repeatedly contradicted them, for their fiasco this time. Hearing about Dong Zhuo's fiasco, it only made Huangfu Song and others feel sad about the death of rabbits and foxes, and their hearts were even more desolate.

Yuan Peng asked: "Che Cai, at present, the number of non-commissioned officers of our army has been roughly equal to the number of non-commissioned officers of Xiliang, and the numerical superiority that our army relied on is gone forever. How good is that? Do you want to look for an opportunity again and start a decisive battle with Jinma Chao? ”

Huangfu Song sighed and said, "General Yuan, do you look at the current state of my sergeant, do you seem to dare to face the Xiliang army that is not afraid of death again?" ”

Yuan Peng looked around, all around him were hungry officers and soldiers sitting in groups of stoves, waiting for the food to be cooked, everyone sighed, and their faces were like ashes. Yuan Peng had nothing to say now.

Bao Hong said: "Then we will defend the city and attract Jin Ma Chao to lead the army to attack the fortified Yixian." The Xiliang army is good at cavalry warfare and field warfare, but it is not good at siege warfare, so it will definitely frustrate the spirit of the Xiliang army. ”