Spoiler History: Starting from the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 663: Go North if You Want to Advance East

The young horses are roaring, the thousands of riders are moving like clouds, and the dust of the barbarians is rolling over Pingyang for thousands of miles.

The Han people sang long songs, their enthusiasm reaching the sky; the Han flags fluttered on the top of Xiangling City.

"Dexin has told me about Gongheng's talent several times before, but I still didn't believe it."

On the top of Pingyang City, Ma Chao leaned against the top of the city wall and looked out to the north at the three fortresses of Xiangling, Gaoliangyi and Yangxian, which had already changed their flags, and laughed heartily:
"Now I know your talent. What Dexin said is less than one tenth of it!"

Huang Quan, who was standing beside Ma Chao, just smiled at the praise, but was also surprised:

Everyone knew about Liu Zhang's conflicts with Zhang Lu of Hanzhong when he was the governor of Yizhou. At that time, Liu Yizhou had considered joining forces with Ma Chao more than once to drive the tiger to devour the wolf.

Zhang Lu of Hanzhong therefore tried to win over Ma Chao, so Huang Quan also heard a lot of rumors about Ma Chao.

Apart from the Qiang blood that flowed in this general's veins, the most talked about thing was undoubtedly that General Jin was arrogant, disrespectful, unkind, and vicious.

Therefore, when Huang Quan, who had traveled to Yizhou and Guanzhong to train his troops, heard that he was a member of the Northern Army and would follow Ma Chao to the expedition, he felt a little uneasy.

But as the saying goes, military orders are as heavy as mountains and cannot be refused. Fortunately, after the expedition, Huang Quan's impression of Ma Chao has changed greatly.

When he led his army into Hedong, although he had thousands of good cavalry and tens of thousands of strong men, General Ma Chao rode into the city alone and had a very pleasant conversation with the Hedong prefect pointed out by Cao Cao. In the end, Hedong was conquered without a fight, and the Hedong prefect promised to assign more than a thousand civilians to provide logistics for the army.

When Huang Quan asked about it later, Ma Chao did not boast of his own achievements at all, but only said that this place was General Guan's hometown and the villagers all knew the name of Guan Yu.

The situation of mutual assistance among the three strongholds in Pingyang was quite troublesome. Huang Quan and Ma Zhong thought about it and decided that they could ask Ma Chao to lead elite cavalry to cut off the connection between Pingyang City and the three strongholds, and then Huang Quan would lead the infantry to break through the city and the stronghold.

Although this was the most reliable way to break the impasse, Huang Quan's words seemed to be a bit of an attempt to steal the credit, but in the end Ma Chao didn't even show any dissatisfaction on his face and happily followed his lead.

Now that Pingyang County has been conquered, the next step is...

"Lead the army eastward, take Shangdang, press on Yecheng and frighten Cao!"

Before Huang Quan could finish his daydreaming, Ma Chao clearly stated the next goal.

Although he said so, Huang Quan could see clearly that General Ma Chao was still looking far towards the north, and his eyes were not on the east.

Huang Quan knew why - from Pingyang to the north, the road was flat. To Xihe, Taiyuan, Jiuyuan, and further north, it was Yanmen Pass and outside the Great Wall. This route was the world of cavalry.

Huang Quan had seen General Ma Chao's cavalry fight. In his opinion, his might was almost as great as that of General Zhao Zilong who defeated ten thousand with only three hundred men to capture Langzhong.

The difference is that General Zhao's cavalry is like a sharp blade. Whoever it touches will be defeated and whoever it strikes will be broken.

The Qiang cavalry led by General Ma often moved in numbers of thousands or tens of thousands. It was said that when they captured a capable general under Cao Cao named Zhang He, they chased him for nearly a month without stopping, almost like a pack of wolves hunting in the wild.

It is only natural that such a cavalry general would be eager to increase the prestige of the cavalry and gain fame and achievements on a flat terrain.

"Shangdang...is not easy to fight."

Huang Quan spoke the truth, and during this period of time, the northern army did not stop sending scouts towards Shangdang when attacking Pingyang, so he had a general understanding of the situation in Shangdang at this time.

"The terrain is dangerous, with many winding and narrow paths. It is extremely difficult to march, let alone attack it."

At this time, Ma Dai and Ma Zhong were standing behind Ma Chao. Upon hearing what Huang Quan said, Ma Dai immediately became unhappy:
"Yongliang warrior, you are still brave even when you dismount and fight on foot!"

Before Huang Quan could refute, Ma Zhong beside him shook his head and said:

"Cao's enemy must have a dangerous pass in Shangdang. If we attack from above, there will probably be many casualties. It is not wise to attack a strong enemy with a weak one."

"Dexin is right!" Ma Dai smoothly changed his stance:
"Then how does De Xin think we should fight Shangdang?" Ma Zhong shook his head and said word by word:

"Please ask General Ma to lead the cavalry north."

Go north? Ma Dai was stunned. Even Ma Chao, who had been silent, turned around with a slightly annoyed look on his face:
"De Xin, who is the garrison commander of Shangdang?"

Ma Zhong briefly recalled and answered fluently:

"The governor of Shangdang was Yang Xun, who was well-known for his virtue and was very popular among the people of Shangdang."

"The son of Xuanyu Governor Yang Xu, I know the descendants of such capable officials."

Yang Xu left a good reputation for refusing bribes by hanging fish, so his clan has always been famous.

In his early years, Cai Yong avoided the calamity of being a eunuch and went to Mount Tai to rely on the Yang family. At that time, the wife of Yang Xu's second son Yang Xin died, so Cai Yong married his second daughter to Yang Xin. The marriage between the famous families added to their prestige. Ma Chao vaguely remembered that Cai Yong's second daughter was named Cai Zhenji.

Ma Chao sighed immediately, feeling that Shangdang was becoming increasingly difficult to deal with.

This made him think of the instructions given by General Zhuge and Lord Xuande before he left Chang'an:

The northern army is the supporting route. It is not necessary to capture Shangdang, but it is necessary to make a loud noise to make Yecheng feel insecure.

Ma Chao also understood that this was probably because he took into account that although the Qiang people were brave, their advantage lay in cavalry. Shangdang had a complex terrain with the sky forming the corners, which was not a good place for cavalry to conquer, so he made such an explanation.

This goal is not difficult, but... Ma Chao is not willing to give up.

People said that the Fufeng Ma family was the descendants of General Fubo, and even his father was proud of it, but Ma Chao did not think so.

At the beginning, General Fu Bo was just a desperado who traveled to many places and finally achieved unprecedented achievements.

But now that the world is in chaos and a wise leader has emerged, and there is the Light Curtain, a once-in-a-millennium opportunity, why can't Ma Chao surpass General Fubo in achievement?
A man should die on the frontier and be buried wrapped in his horsehide. General Fu Bo's words are still ringing in my ears. Now, when we are on the battlefield to fight the enemy, how can we just seek peace?
Besides, he could not accept the ending of the "Ma Chao" in the light curtain no matter what. Ma Chao's bravery should be recorded in history and be ranked alongside his ancestors. How could he cough up blood and die on his bed?

Therefore, we must take Shangdang no matter what.

"anything else?"

Ma Zhong's expression became interested:
"The Shangdang troops were divided into two groups. One group was appointed by Cao Cao himself, and the leader was named Bao Shao."

"The other group is composed of surrendered generals from Hebei, and the leader, General Ma, is also very familiar to me..."

Before he finished speaking, Ma Chao had already guessed:
"The famous general from Hebei, Gao Lan?"

As expected, Ma Zhong felt that the General Jin in front of him became more motivated.

"General Guan Yu killed Yan Liang in battle, lifted the siege of Bai Ma, and caused the death of Wen Chou."

"I once captured Zhang He alive and presented him to Lord Xuande, and now I meet Gao Lan again."

"Could it be that the four former generals of Hebei will all be killed by me and General Guan Yu?"

Huang Quan scratched his head, not knowing how these things were connected.

But Ma Chao over there had already thrown away his previous hesitation, and he was determined to capture Gao Lan!
Ma Zhong remained unmoved after hearing what Ma Chao said, and even the smile on his face grew a little wider:
"In that case, we need to ask General Ma to go north."

(End of this chapter)