Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1400 Interception
After Yang Xiu learned that Ma Chao had gone to the north of Tongguan to block Xu Huang, he said to Yuan Xi: "Although the Xiaohan Road is not conducive to the use of cavalry, the Xiaoshan Mountain in the north is even more unfavorable for returning to defend. I'm afraid he wants to escape, right?"

Yuan Xi thought about it and said with a smile: "It's really possible."

"It seems that he still has Liang Province in his mind. It makes sense that Cao Zhang was defeated, Han Sui died, and the heads of the eight great families were wiped out by Zilong. Liang Province is now in a power vacuum. If he goes back to recruit soldiers and horses, within a year, his power will surpass that of Han Sui."

Yang Xiu said, "We must not let the tiger go back to the mountains. It would be best if we could kill him on the road."

Yuan Xi shook his head and said, "It's not that easy. Although Ma Chao has been defeated in recent years, it was because I used three generals to suppress him. Now it's not easy to defeat him with only Xu Huang."

"If I transfer Zhang He over there, Xiahou Shang will definitely find that my front is empty. The safest strategy for now is to advance step by step."

Yang Xiu said, "But letting the tiger go back to the mountains will bring endless troubles, especially in a place like Liangzhou."

"If Ma Chao were to plunder and cause trouble between Dunhuang and the Western Regions, the border would probably be in turmoil for decades to come."

"Your Majesty, do you want to eliminate the trouble completely, or take Chang'an first and give up the pursuit of Ma Chao?"

Yuan Xi's eyes flashed, "What you said is interesting, tell me about it."

Yang Xiu said: "It's actually very simple. Ma Chao will not fight to the death when he goes to fight Xu Huang. Instead, he will find a time to leave the battlefield and go to Liangzhou to make a comeback while the encirclement of Chang'an is still underway."

"From his perspective, his Xiliang troops of several thousand people are definitely not as important as Chang'an, so when he escapes, he will not go through Tianshui Longxi, or even through Chang'an, but will go through Bingzhou and Dongliang Beidi County between the two states, and then go from Wuwei to Zhangye County."

Yuan Xi said, "I have occupied all the Wuwei in the north. Isn't he afraid of encountering the Jin army?"

Yang Xiu replied, "Your Majesty's main forces are now concentrated in Tianshui, preparing to approach from the west of Chang'an along the Wei River. The two counties of Wuwei and Beidi in the rear are empty. Ma Chao is familiar with the roads in Liangzhou and is confident that he can avoid your Majesty's scouts."

"If you want to stop him, Your Majesty, just send a letter to General Zhao in Tianshui right now and ask him to lead his troops eastward to guard the north. He will definitely be able to stop Ma Chao."

"But if we do this, the gains will not outweigh the losses, because General Zhao is going to attack Chang'an from behind, which may block the Emperor of Wei in Chang'an and directly destroy the Wei Kingdom. That's why I told Your Majesty that you have to make a choice."

Yuan Xi thought for a moment and said, "Zilong's cutting off Chang'an's retreat is actually just a deterrent. After all, that place is an important rear base that Wei has been managing for several years. How can it be so easy?"

"If Ma Chao escapes, it will indeed be a big problem. Well, I will write a letter to Zilong and ask him to take action as soon as possible."

Afterwards, Yuan Xi focused on Tongguan. He was not in a hurry and ordered the entire army to attack the pass. He just deployed siege equipment and attacked the top of Tongguan day and night. After a few days, Xiahou Shang became more and more uncomfortable. In addition, he would run out of food in a few days, so he began to consider retreating.

However, one day he received urgent news that Xu Huang, the general of the Jin State in the north, was leading his troops southward and approaching Tongguan. This shocked Xiahou Shang. Could it be that Ma Chao's army was destroyed by the enemy?

After he got the news from the spies, he realized that the battles between Ma Chao and Xu Huang in the past few days were just for show. Later, when Xu Huang increased his offensive, Ma Chao lost interest in fighting and led his troops to retreat.

Xiahou Shang knew that Ma Chao would run away sooner or later, but he didn't expect him to run away so early and so easily. He was afraid that Xu Huang would cut off his retreat, so after thinking for a moment, he decisively decided to retreat.

While sending a messenger to Chang'an to deliver a letter, he set Tongguan on fire to block the Jin army's pursuit, and then led his troops to retreat westward.

When Xu Huang arrived, he saw Tongguan engulfed in flames. He learned from the captured Wei soldiers that Xiahou Shang had retreated not long ago, so he led his troops in pursuit and eventually fought a battle with Xiahou Shang's rear army.

However, Xiahou Shang made sufficient preparations when he withdrew. Xu Huang and Xiahou Shang fought for a long time, but it was difficult to determine the winner. Finally, Xu Huang was afraid that Xiahou Shang had an ambush, so he retreated slightly and waited for Yuan Xi to lead his troops over.

The fire lasted for most of the day before Yuan Xi led his men across Tongguan, which had turned into a scorched earth. This time he was not as anxious as in Yecheng, so naturally he would not let his soldiers risk their lives to put out the fire.

When he met Xu Huang, he learned that Ma Chao had fled north to Beidi County, so he said to Yang Xiu: "It is just as the military advisor predicted. The rest depends on whether Zilong can stop him."

"Now that Wei has lost the natural barrier of Tongguan, we should not rush to Chang'an. Let's wait for Prime Minister Zhuge in the south to come and join us."

At that time, Zhuge Liang had just captured Wuguan and had just come out of Huashan Road. He was rushing here, but in the end he was a step too slow and did not meet Xiahou Shang.

After he led his army here, he met Yuan Xi and said, "Your Majesty, although Liang went south to Nanyang, he pursued all the way. First he missed Sima Yi, and now he has not intercepted Xiahou Shang. I am really ashamed."

Yuan Xi laughed and said, "That's not right. The Prime Minister has opened up the passage to Jingzhou. The situation is set and Wei can no longer turn the tables." "It's still two months before winter. "Now the two sides have joined forces, and the military deployment is all under the control of the Prime Minister. Whether we can force Wei to flee depends on the Prime Minister."

Zhuge Liang immediately accepted the order and organized his troops to advance. Xiahou Shan also encountered Cao Zhen who came to block Zhuge Liang's army. After the two sides met, Cao Zhen heard that Tongguan had been lost and said worriedly: "I'm afraid the other side has already joined forces. It's hard for the two of us to gain an advantage over the Wei army in a field battle."

Xiahou Shang said, "I thought so too, but if we push it directly to Chang'an, it will cause unrest in the court, so I just gritted my teeth and held on."

"You can't possibly not make it through these two months, right?"

The two men were speechless. Cao Zhen thought it was hard to say. If it were five years ago, who would have thought that Wei would become like this today?

As for Ma Chao, he stopped and walked along the way. According to the route, he soon crossed the Sanfu area. On the way, he also went to Hexi, took all the young and strong people and property in his territory with him, and then entered Liangzhou from Xiaoguan.

Anyway, if Chang'an is lost, the Sanfu area will not be able to be defended either. It is better to take them all to Liangzhou as capital for starting a business in the future.

He was riding on a horse, and behind him were hundreds of carts loaded with wealth, thousands of soldiers and nearly ten thousand young and strong men. This was his last fortune and his future support, and he must not allow it to be lost.

Now he had been entering Beidi County for three days, and as he expected, although this was the marching route of the Jin army, they had fought all the way from Bingzhou to Tianshui and had not deployed any defenses in Beidi County. So Ma Chao had easily traveled most of the way to Beidi County. In another two days, he would be able to enter Wuwei, and then reach Zhangye, where he would be completely away from the Jin army's attack route.

The road he took was the Hexi Corridor, a passage hundreds of miles wide, with a desert to the north and the Tianshan Mountains to the south.

The Tianshan Mountains at that time were the Qilian Mountains in later generations, or the Yanzhi Mountains as the Xiongnu called them. The top of the mountain was covered with snow all year round, and the melted snow water nourished the oasis on the Hexi Corridor below the mountain. Countless rivers ran through it, making the land fertile and forming the most famous horse farm in Liangzhou.

The most famous of them is called Ruoshui, which flows through mountains and ridges, flows west to Jiuquan and then heads north. The "Book of the Later Han" records: There are Ruoshui and Liusha to the west of the Great Qin State, which refers to this area.

The Qilian Mountains here, also known as the Kunlun Mountains in ancient times, and the intersection with the Tianshan Mountains is Ma Chao's final destination.

As he was the one who was most familiar with the environment of Liangzhou, this place divided the two major basins of Junggar and Tarim, which was convenient for tribal gathering and reproduction. It was also an excellent horse farm. Moreover, it was at a high altitude and far away from the center of Liangzhou, so it was beyond the reach of the Jin army.

Thinking of this, Ma Chao's ambitious reliance on the Wei Kingdom and the humiliating recognition of Cao Cao as his adopted son were all forced actions. Now there is no need for him to be tied to the sinking ship of the Wei Kingdom. His goal should be to make Liangzhou independent in the future and revive the glory of the Ma family!
At this time, Ma Dai, who was left behind, came running over with a look of panic on his face. He said, "Brother, it's not good. The Jin army has sent a cavalry unit at Tongguan to chase us. Now they are only a hundred miles away from us!"

Ma Chao's face darkened when he heard this. "How come it took us so long to get the news?"

"How many people are coming over there?"

Ma Dai said, "It seems that there are not many, probably only about two to three thousand people, and their speed is not very fast. If we hadn't been delayed in Hexi for two days, I guess they wouldn't be able to catch up with us."

"What to do now?"

Ma Chao thought for a while and said decisively: "Don't worry about them. If we fight with them for too long, I'm afraid it will cause trouble and attract reinforcements from other Jin troops."

"We should speed up our march and enter Wuwei first, away from the route of the Jin army. If they dare to follow us, we will turn around and destroy them!"

After hearing the order, everyone quickened their marching speed, and within two days, they arrived at the border between Beidi and Wuwei.

However, at this time, even more disturbing news came. The spies sent out from the front reported that the Jin army was blocking the way fifty miles ahead and was still rushing towards this side. The number of people was inestimable, but there were at least five or six thousand people!
After hearing this, Ma Chao whipped the jujube tree next to him hard. He had tried his best to avoid the Jin army, but he still couldn't escape!

He looked at the hundreds of carts behind him, thinking of the valuables inside, and finally he couldn't make up his mind. With the young and strong men, there are tens of thousands of soldiers here, and we may not lose to the Jin army. Otherwise, if we just escape like this, without food and supplies, how long can we hold out?

So he said to Ma Dai: "Call everyone, pick up bows and arrows, and fight them first to see what they are capable of!"

After hearing this, Ma Dai hurriedly followed Ma Chao's order and ordered all the young and strong men to prepare to meet the enemy. Among them, the well-equipped elite soldiers of Xiliang served as the vanguard, and the young and strong men without armor were placed on the two wings as rangers. He and Ma Chao led hundreds of heavy cavalry in the center, ready to charge at any time.

As the spies continued to report news, Ma Chao finally waited for the arrival of the Jin army. The moment he saw the flag, he felt that things were going to go wrong.

Because based on his experience and judging from the color of the Jin army’s flag, there were at least three generals coming from the opposite side!
(End of this chapter)