And he led all the remaining Xiliang iron cavalry 40,000 cavalry, and the armor cavalry to pack the camp and trap the camp, and marched towards Yixian.

But when he arrived at Yixian, Ma Chao only saw Yuan Peng stationed here, and he didn't see Huangfu Song. Ma Chao led the army to continue eastward, and arrived at Huaili City half an hour later, seeing that there were not many officers and soldiers guarding the city, only Bao Hong was stationed, Ma Chao continued to lead the army, and soon came to Chang'an City.

At this time, Chang'an City, like other cities of the same era, was not built of bricks like the Ming and Qing dynasties, but was tamped with loess, built layer by layer, piled high, and formed. Looking at it from a distance on the flat Guanzhong Plain, it looks like a square earth mountain. On top of the city wall, which is mainly colored in earthy yellow, there are tall and majestic castle towers, corner towers that reach into the clouds, and neatly arranged pheasant moats like jagged moats, which are very solid.

At this time, Chang'an City was still different from Tang Chang'an City, Tang Chang'an City was located on the north bank of Weishui, while Han Chang'an City was located on the south bank of Weishui. Moreover, the Han Chang'an City only built a palace city, and did not build a foreign Guo city. That is to say, within the city walls of Chang'an City, there are only palace rooms such as Weiyang Palace, Changle Palace, and Jianzhang Palace, and two cities that are much smaller than the palace area. The residents of Chang'an City live outside the palace city, and there is no outer city to protect them.

Seeing the Han Chang'an City with his own eyes, Ma Chao understood why the ruins of the Han Chang'an City excavated in later generations only had Changle Palace, Weiyang Palace, Jianzhang Palace, Mingguang Palace, Gui Palace and other palaces, and the east and west cities, high temples, arsenals, city gates and city walls, but there were no places where the people lived.

It turned out that the Li were distributed outside the city wall, and the Han Dynasty did not build a Guo wall for the Li.

In later generations, only the palace area and city wall were excavated for the ruins of Chang'an City in the Han Dynasty, but not the inside, and the archaeologists were divided into two factions. One faction believes that there is no Li in Chang'an City in the Han Dynasty, and there are not many people living in Chang'an City; One faction believes that the Han Chang'an City does have a li, but it is not outside the palace city, and the Guo wall is built, and the li is exposed outside the Chang'an city.

In the past, Ma Chao also believed that there were no miles in Chang'an City in the Han Dynasty, and there were not too many people living in it. Now it seems that he was wrong.

In the western suburbs of Chang'an City, there are Taiye Pool, Gradual, Shenmingtai, Shuangfengque, and the front hall of Jianzhang Palace. The tall double phoenix is a few feet higher than the Chang'an city wall.

Ma Chao took a closer look and found that in the southern suburbs of Chang'an City, there are two tall and magnificent pavilions, which are Biyong and Sheji. Between Biyong and Sheji, there was originally "Wang Mang's Nine Temples". But soon after the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the "Wang Mang Nine Temples" were destroyed, leaving only Biyong and Sheji.

Just as Ma Chao was looking at the majestic Chang'an City and looking at it with relish, on the city tower above the west city wall and the straight city gate, the biggest red flag attracted Ma Chao's attention. That banner is the Emperor Fu Song's Da Xu. Huangfu Song was also standing under his da, overlooking Ma Chao under the city.

The officers and soldiers beat the drum and immediately pulled Ma Chao back from admiring Chang'an City. Ma Chao ordered his troops to line up in a formation between the Taiye Pool and the Shenming Platform, and ordered one to go up to the Shenming Platform and plant flags all over the place. Taiye Pond and Shenmingtai are five miles away from Chang'an City, (one mile in the Han Dynasty, 415 meters), facing the front hall of Shuangfeng Que and Jianzhang Palace, and also facing the straight city gate behind Shuangfeng Que and the front hall. The Huangfu Song of the city tower above the straight city gate can have a panoramic view of the Xiliang army.

Faced with the Xiliang army occupying the Shenmingtai, Huangfu Song was helpless. He knew that with the current situation, if he led his army in a field battle, he would definitely be defeated. Only by sticking to it can we hold Chang'an City and cut off Ma Chao's ambition for Guanzhong.

When Ma Chao saw Huangfu Song in Chang'an City, he knew that this Huangfu Song was quite strategic, and he knew that Chang'an City was the heart of the entire Guanzhong, and if he didn't garrison it with heavy troops, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Ma Chao wanted to get close to the gate of the city, but he was afraid that there would be ambushes in the front hall of Jianzhang Palace, so he first sent hundreds of horsemen to investigate, only to find that there were no ambushes in the palace, so he rode Xiaobai without scruples, and ran until he was under Shuangfeng, and then stopped. Because of the tall que, even if it is only a few dozen steps away from the city wall, it can not be injured by the arrows of the official army.

Ma Chao was under the Shuangfeng Que and shouted to the Huangfu Song under the city tower above the Zhicheng Gate: "The old general of the Huangfu, are you here?" ”

Huangfu Song got closer to the pheasant and shouted down: "Ma'er, what is the matter with the old man?" ”

Ma Chao was not annoyed when he heard this, and said with a smile: "It's okay, just come and ask Che Qi in person, how many officers and soldiers were lost in the Battle of Fufeng?" ”

Huangfu Song was furious and said, "Our army is still strong, you only need to know this." ”

Ma Chao smiled: "The old general deceived me." If the official army has sufficient troops, how can they retreat in Yixian, Huaili, and Chang'an City, and dare not go out of the city to have another field battle with me? ”

Huangfu Song was speechless.

Ma Chao said with a smile: "Judging from the experience I have accumulated in leading the troops for a year, the old general may have lost fifty or sixty thousand troops. At the moment, the number of troops is only about 50,000 or 60,000! The officers and troops were twice as large as our army before, and there were many people before they dared to engage our army. At present, the strength of the officers and troops is roughly the same as that of our army, and the combat strength of the officers and troops is weaker than that of our army, so the old general does not dare to fight easily, so he can only retreat into the city and cannot hold out. ”

Huangfu Song said coldly: "Ma'er, the old man has to admit that what you said is the truth. It is true that the old man is forced to defend the city, but do you have the ability to break through Chang'an City, Yixian and Huaili City, which the old man focuses on defending? These three cities are connected in a line, and if you don't take them, you won't be able to take Guanzhong. If you can't take Guanzhong, you have to lead the army to withdraw from Jingzhao and retreat to the right Fufeng. ”

Ma Chao said with a smile: "The old general's words are wrong! Chang'an City is the center of the pass, where the old generals and the main forces of the officers and troops are here. As long as I capture Chang'an City and defeat the main force of the official army, then Yixian and Huaili City, which are within the control of Chang'an City, are naturally not enough to worry about. ”

Huangfu Song knew that what Ma Chao said was true, and he was terrified, but he still shouted with a strong spirit: "Okay! That old man is on this Chang'an City, waiting for you to lead the army to conquer! ”

Jia Xu chased after him, went to Ma Chao's side, and whispered: "Chang'an City is tall and strong, and there are many palaces and buildings around it. Our army is all iron cavalry, and the young master must not attack the city. ”

Ma Chao said: "I naturally save this." I've got other plans. ”

Jia Xu retreated.

Ma Chao smiled: "The old general thinks that I am so stupid, will I use a group of iron horsemen to attack the city?" ”

Huangfu Song smiled disdainfully and said, "The old man heard that your father and son actually used all the captured military rations for the homeless. If you don't capture Chang'an City and obtain the grain reserves of Chang'an City, then you will have to retreat because of the lack of food. ”