In front of Ma Chao, a middle-aged man in his early fifties with a somewhat dark face sighed: "Before Dong Zhuo's rebellion, this Chang'an was prosperous. Unexpectedly, now it is dilapidated like this. ”

Ma Chao looked at the middle-aged man with a smile and said, "Father-in-law, have you been to Chang'an?" ”

It turned out that the middle-aged man's name was Han Sui.

Han Sui and Ma Chao's father, Ma Teng, were both powerful princes of Xiliang.

Han Sui was originally friends with Ma Teng, and even became brothers of the opposite sex.

Before Ma Teng accepted the imperial court edict and rushed to Xudu with his family, he specially told Han Sui to take care of his eldest son Ma Chao to prevent him from being too young and being confused.

Before, Yuan Shao's account and the state assassin Shi Gao sent people to contact Ma Chao, inducing Ma Chao to betray the imperial court, organizing generals to attack Chang'an, and Yuan Shao to attack Cao Cao, Ma Chao was afraid that he would not be able to do anything, so he worshiped Han Sui as his father-in-law.

Han Sui saw Ma Chao asking, and laughed a few times and said: "Meng Qi, even if it is your father, he only knows that I have been enemies with Huangfu Song, Zhang Wen, Sun Jian, Dong Zhuo and others, and I beat them and fled. ”

"But few people know that I used to be a loyal minister of the Han Dynasty, and I listened to orders under the general He Jin."

"It's just that General He Jin is just a butcher after all, and he doesn't know what governing the country is."

"In the past, I was in Chang'an City and persuaded him to kill the eunuch, but the butcher told the news to his sister Empress Dowager He."

"Empress Dowager He is just a woman, not to mention what it means to govern the country."

"She knew that her mother had accepted the eunuch's favor, so she stopped the butcher's plan."

"The first strike is stronger, and the second strike suffers."

"As a result, this butcher was killed by that group of eunuchs, and there was a follow-up Dong Zhuo entering Beijing, and the world was in chaos."

Han Sui sighed: "Fortunately, I was wiser at the beginning, and after persuading He Jin not to listen, I asked to return to Liangzhou, so I had a foundation." ”

"After that, there was a story of continuous confrontation with your father against the imperial army."

"It's just a pity that we made mistakes later."

"That is, before Dong Zhuo entered Beijing, we besieged Chencang, and as a result, the alliance leader kingdom was killed by Huangfu Song."

"The killing of the alliance leader has caused each general to have his own ghosts, and his strength has been greatly reduced."

"If the alliance leader hadn't been killed, we wouldn't have fallen apart at that time, and now, perhaps, most of this court would be ours."

Glancing at everyone, Han Sui said: "Now that we are reunited and plan for great things together, we must learn a lesson to prevent the mistakes of the past from being repeated." ”

All the generals replied one after another: "General Han has a point! ”

"We're all in this together."

"We want to be great generals and build a new dynasty!"

Han Sui laughed.

Ma Chao's face was also full of excitement.

He agreed with Yuan Shao that once Cao Cao was taken and the world was pacified, Liangzhou would be his, and he could still serve as a general.

Looking around, Ma Chao suddenly became arrogant, and the wolf howled.

It didn't take long for the cavalry from all directions to gather and report to Han Sui: "Governor, the entire Chang'an City has been cleaned up, and there is no living mouth. ”

Although Yuan Shao sent Ma Chao to contact Shi Gaogan.

However, because the horse is super young.

In order to be able to suppress the heroes, although Ma Chao was the leader, he still recommended Han Sui to be the governor and be the nominal commander.

Han Sui listened to the cavalry report, nodded, looked at Ma Chao and said, "Meng Qi, since there is no living mouth here, there is no point in staying any longer. We continued to move forward, broke through Tongguan and other places this morning, and then joined Yuan Shao's army. ”

Ma Chao said with a smile: "Listen to my father-in-law's arrangement!" ”

Han Sui nodded, turned on his horse, and said loudly: "The whole army listens to the order, follow me to Tongguan immediately!" ”

As he spoke, he took the lead in the direction of Tongguan.

Tongguan.

In the tent.

Captain Zhong Xuan kept anxiously watching his steps.

The generals were also silent.

Not long ago, they received information from an unknown person that Yuan Shao had united with Ma Chao and other Guanzhong princes to prepare a rebellion and attack Chang'an!

After sending Xizuo to infiltrate the army of the princes in Guanzhong and confirming the truth of the information, Zhong Xuan, the captain of the school, immediately made a decision and immediately led the people of Chang'an City to withdraw from Chang'an, pass through Tongguan, and retreat to Xudu.

However, in order not to startle the snake, Zhong Xuan asked the deputy general Kong Xiu to lead a thousand soldiers to guard Chang'an.

Just now, Kong Xiu's soldiers rushed over and reported the news: Kong Xiu and his 1,000 soldiers were all killed in battle.

Only this soldier was spared by Kong Xiu's dispatch to Tongguan to report information to Zhong Xuan.

According to the soldiers, this time Ma Chao led all the princes in Guanzhong, with a total of 50,000 cavalry!

Wherever they pass, there are no chickens and dogs!

And here in Tongguan, there are only 3,000 soldiers.

Zhong Xuan had already sent someone to send a letter to Xudu urgently.

However, he was also a little desperate at this time.

Cao Cao's situation, he knows better than anyone else.

Almost all of Cao Cao's troops were transferred to Guandu, and in response to Yuan Shao's southward advance, Xu had almost no defense.

Even if the letter was sent to Xudu, Xun Lingjun, who was in charge of guarding Xudu, had no choice.

What to do?

If there were no reinforcements, how could these 3,000 soldiers alone be able to stop 50,000 cavalry!

At this moment, a soldier's voice sounded outside: "Report, the scouts have detected that there is a large army approaching in the direction of Wancheng!" ”

Zhong Xuan suddenly paused, and hurriedly said, "Come in!" ”

The soldier walked in quickly, saluted Zhong Xuan, and said, "Just now, the scout got the news, and nearly 10,000 troops are rapidly approaching in the direction of Wancheng!" ”

Zhong Xuan's eyes lit up slightly.

10,000 troops in the direction of Wancheng?

There is no doubt that it is the garrison of Wancheng!

Could it be that the unknown person who sent him information before and informed himself that Ma Chao was going to rebel was from Jingzhou?

Look at this situation, nine times out of ten.

Zhong Xuan hissed.

This Jiangdong is indeed terrifying.

It has already been arranged among the princes of Guanzhong.

Moreover, judging by the reliability of this information, the status of this unknown person among the princes of Guanzhong is not low.

This Jiangdong, did he already expect that Ma Chao might rebel?

Zhong Miao sighed secretly.

No wonder Jiangdong rose so fast.

Before, when he was not yet the captain of Si Li, he heard that Jiang Dong had twice taken the territory that Sikong wanted in front of Sikong:

A Xuzhou.

A Wancheng.

This has contributed to the current embarrassing situation of the imperial court.

Now it seems that Jiangdong can do this to this extent, which is understandable!

Step by step, anticipate the enemy's opportunities.

But—

Zhong Xuan shook his head.

Now is not the time to lament the horrors of Koto.

What he has to face is how to hold Tongguan, or rather, to delay the footsteps of the princes in Guanzhong as much as possible.

Zhong Xuan pondered for a moment, and said to all the generals: "Go out with me immediately to welcome the arrival of the Wancheng army!" ”

A young man stood up and said, "If the Wancheng army is taking the opportunity to seize Tongguan-"

This young man's name is Zhang Ji, Feng Yi Gaoling, although he was born in a poor family, but he is talented, and at the age of sixteen, he was recommended as Maocai and served as Feng Yijun Gongcao.

After Cao Cao served as Sikong, he was recruited several times, but he was not called.

Later, Zhong Xuan was appointed as the lieutenant of Si Li, supervised Guanzhong, came to Chang'an, heard about his talent, personally went to recruit, and he recruited him to the account.

Before Ma Teng and Han Sui were willing to accept the imperial court's recruitment and enter the court as officials, although Zhong Xuan was the leader, but it was Zhang Ji who was the lobbyist.

Zhong Xuan attaches great importance to Zhang.

At this moment, hearing Zhang Ji's suspicion, Zhong Xuan pondered for a moment, but still shook his head and said, "First, we and Jiangdong are still allies. Tearing up the agreement rashly, Yu Jiangdong's current situation, is not in their interests. ”

"Second, now that the princes of Guanzhong are rebelling, Wancheng is really here to take the opportunity to seize Tongguan, which is a good thing."

"At that time, they will be the ones who will face the princes of Guanzhong."

"Three, if they do, then they are facing three enemies."

"The princes of Guanzhong, the imperial court, and Yuan Shao."

"Koto wouldn't be so stupid."

Zhang Ji nodded.

Zhong Xuan beckoned and led the generals out.

What they didn't expect was that the Wancheng army did not come, but camped five miles away.

When Zhong Xuan heard the scout's report on such a situation, he immediately asked people to inquire about the generals who sent troops to Wancheng this time.

Knowing that it was the commander who was hired by Wen and the main commander was Lu Bu, Zhong Xuan suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.

Looking at Zhang Ji, Zhong Xuan said: "De Rong, it seems that the army from Wancheng this time is not to aid us. Instead, they are here to spy on us and prevent us from being defeated. ”

"So, they'll sit on the hill and watch the tiger fight."

"You immediately rushed over and tried to find Lu Bu."

After a pause, Zhong Miao smiled sadly: "Tell Lu Bu that Ma Chao has always looked down on him, and threatened to know that he led the army to Wancheng, and he would stab him to death with one shot when he was ready to meet!" ”

Zhang Ji answered, and rushed towards the garrison of the Wancheng army single-handedly.

(End of chapter)