Ji Han Liu Zhang

The first year of Jian'an, the end of November.

Longxi County, with its capital in Didao, looked a bit desolate in the severe cold, with no pedestrians on the road and the streets covered with snow. On the one hand, this was because Didao had a small population, and on the other hand, under the severe cold, the people stayed at home and were unwilling to go out to be bullied by the cold wind.

Most of the Ma family soldiers on the city wall of Didao gathered in the city gate tower, and only a few unlucky ones stood on the city wall, monitoring the movements inside and outside the city and doing their job of defending the city.

"Damn, my luck is really bad today." Ma San, who was stationed on the top of the city wall, cursed. His eyes looked towards the city gate tower that could block the cold wind, and deep desire was revealed in his eyes.

As the Ma family soldiers assigned to guard the city walls, they thought that under the heavy snow, the Qiang and Hu people and the bandits had all stopped, and there would be no enemy attacking Didao. So after they climbed the city walls, they drew lots to decide to leave three or five people to guard the city walls, and the other lucky ones huddled in the city gate tower to keep warm.

Ma San was one of the three or five unlucky guys. He drew the lot to be stationed on the city wall. He had no luck or the blessing to enter the city gate tower to avoid the biting cold wind. He could only shake his body and keep blowing air from his mouth to warm his almost frozen hands.

"When will the person who takes over the shift arrive? I'm freezing to death."

Just when Ma San was looking forward to the soldiers coming to replace him, he suddenly discovered something strange appeared in front of the city. Dozens of black ant-like things were approaching Didao City.

Ma San frowned and focused his eyes to look forward. In an instant, he saw clearly what was coming. It was dozens of horsemen, galloping towards Didao.

Seeing an unknown person approaching, Ma San picked up the short spear that he had placed against the parapet. As soon as he grasped the handle of the short spear, he suddenly felt a chill from the palm of his hand along the veins of his arm to his heart and lungs, causing him to hiss.

Ma San didn't pay much attention to the chill brought by the short spear. He took two steps at a time and walked towards the city gate tower. When he reached the entrance of the city gate tower, he pushed the door open with force and rushed into the house in the wind and snow.

"Ma San, has the shift change arrived? Today's shift change is a bit early, and I don't usually see those guys being so diligent." As the leader of the soldiers, Qu Changmada sat cross-legged and asked in confusion.

Ma San jumped over the problem of Ma Da and shouted, "Qu Chang, there is an enemy!"

Hearing the word "enemy situation", Mada could no longer sit still. He quickly jumped up, took big strides, walked out of the city gate tower quickly, and looked towards the city.

At this time, Laiqi was already very close to Didao City.

"Who are you and what are you doing here? Please answer me from sixty steps away. If you dare to come closer, I will show no mercy to you with the arrows in my hand." Ma Da shouted threateningly. After that, he drew his bow and shot an arrow at the cavalry from a distance. The arrow landed exactly sixty steps in front of the city.

The cavalry stopped knowingly, and then one of the riders jumped out from the team. The knight pointed at the person who was the most popular in the team and shouted to the top of the city wall: "This is General Han Sui of Anqiang. He is invited by your General Ma to attend the banquet today."

Ma Da was stunned when he heard this. He focused his gaze on the person who was surrounded in the middle of the knight team. After a moment, a look of surprise appeared on his face. It was because he knew Han Sui and knew that Ma Teng had invited Han Sui to the banquet. He just didn't expect that Han Sui actually came to the banquet. Looking at the number of people in the team, there were only dozens of riders, and they looked like they completely trusted Ma Teng.

"Hiss, you are so brave." Ma Da secretly admired Han Sui in his heart. You know, although the two families are allies now, Han Sui had harmed Ma Teng's wife before, and the hatred between the two sides was not small, but Han Sui dared to attend the banquet lightly and with only a few guards.

With this thought in mind, Ma Da looked in the distance in front of the city. After ensuring that there were no ambushes, he first shouted to Han Sui: "General Han, wait a moment. I will inform my lord and then welcome General Han into the city."

Then Ma Da turned around and whispered to the meticulous Ma San: "Quick, tell the general that Han Sui is coming to the banquet."

"Yes." Ma San responded, and then his legs moved like a whirlwind as he ran down the city wall and toward the government office in Didao.

Soon, in the government office of Didao.

"Han Sui is here?" In Ma San's sight, General Andi Ma Teng showed an expression of disbelief.

"Yes, I recognize General Han. It is indeed General Han who came here in person. He said that he came to the banquet at the invitation of the general." Ma San lowered his eyebrows and answered respectfully.

Ma Teng nodded, and after pacing back and forth a few times, he called out to Ma Chao, "Mengqi, go and bring Han Sui into the city."

"promise."

As Ma Chao responded, Ma Teng suddenly stood up and waved his hand towards Ma Chao, saying, "You should go on your own for your father. Han Sui has come to the banquet in person with such sincere intentions. It would be unreasonable for your father not to welcome him in person."

The originally deserted central avenue of Didao City has now become bustling with dozens of riders galloping on the avenue, their hooves stepping on the bluestone slabs, echoing with the crisp sound of horses’ hooves.

The leading knight was none other than General Ma Teng of Andi, who was determined to go out and meet Han Sui in person. Ma Teng was still hesitant about Han Sui's personal visit.

He originally did not expect Han Sui to come to the banquet in person, thinking that given the grudge between him and Han Sui, Han Sui would not dare to come to the banquet in person, and would most likely send his subordinate Cheng Gongying to come.

But what Ma Teng never expected was that Han Sui actually came to the banquet in person. This made Ma Teng feel ashamed. Han Sui came here in person, which showed his sincerity in consolidating the alliance, but he was still suspicious of Han Sui before. It can be said that he was judging others by his own standards, which showed that he, Ma Teng, was a little narrow-minded.

Not long after they walked, the city gate of Didao City opened and Ma Teng rode out alone. He walked towards Han Sui, came to Han Sui's side, stretched out his hand and clasped Han Sui's hands, welcoming Han Sui warmly.

"Brother Han." Ma Teng greeted.

"Brother Ma." Han Sui responded sincerely.

Ma Teng stretched out his hand and gestured towards Didao City: "Come on, it's quite cold outside the city, it's not a good place to talk, follow me into the city and we'll talk."

"Okay." Han Sui nodded naturally with a warm look on his face, but when his eyes swept towards the dark city gate of Didao City, there was a hint of worry in the depths of his eyes.

However, Han Sui concealed it very well. He still looked enthusiastic in responding to Ma Teng and talking about some recent events.

"I have had nothing to do recently, so I led my soldiers to hunt in the wild and shot a white tiger. Today I will offer a white tiger banquet to Brother Han." Ma Teng welcomed Han Sui into Didao City and talked about his recent hunting results.

"Oh, then Han Sui is in for a treat." Han Sui said with a smile. At night, the White Tiger Banquet opened grandly. Ma Teng warmly entertained Han Sui who came from afar, fearing that there was something inconsiderate. Now that the two sides joined hands to deal with the enemy, it was time to make peace.

When the banquet was over, Ma Teng invited Han Sui to sleep with him. They had agreed to be brothers in the past, but later they became estranged due to some things. Now it seemed that they had returned to the time when they were brothers with different surnames and were very close.

Day two.

At noon, Ma Teng hosted a banquet for Han Sui, and then he personally saw Han Sui off as he left the city, even walking a mile or two away before saying goodbye to him, showing an appearance of brotherly joy.

After stopping to watch Han Sui go away, Ma Teng waved his hand and said, "Return to the city."

On the way back to the city, Ma Chao leaned close to Ma Teng and sighed, "Father, Han Sui has come here lightly. It is a good time to kill him. Once Han Sui is dead, Liangzhou will belong to you. Why did you let him go? He will become a trouble in the future."

Ma Chao had also taken the opportunity to tell Ma Teng these words during the banquet last night, but Ma Teng did not listen. Now that Han Sui was gone, Ma Chao felt that he had missed a good opportunity and sighed in his heart.

Ma Teng frowned, looking unhappy. He retorted: "Han Sui came here in person with full sincerity. If I kill him in the banquet, how will the heroes of the world view me as their father... Besides, the enemy at the moment is Liu Jiyu. It is the time to join hands with Han Sui. How can I get rid of one of my arms before the enemy is defeated?"

"Father, Han Sui has a treacherous mind and is difficult to predict. Instead of forming an alliance with him, it is better to get rid of him to eliminate the potential threat... As for Liu Jiyu, he has Hai'er as the cavalry commander and Pang De as the infantry commander. If we can recruit tens of thousands of Qiang and Hu people, we will be able to defeat him. Why should we rely on Sui? What should we ask of Sui?" Ma Chao spoke sincerely from the bottom of his heart.

"Sui, you are my father's brother, how can you kill your brother? What you said is ridiculous, don't say it again." After Ma Teng scolded him, he rode forward a few steps and stopped talking to Ma Chao.

Seeing Ma Teng moving forward, Ma Chao couldn't help looking depressed. He felt that he had missed a good opportunity and was afraid that there would never be such a good opportunity again. Now if he let Ma Teng let Han Sui go, it would indeed cause trouble in the future.

November of the first year of Jian'an passed quickly, and time entered the last month of the first year of Jian'an, December.

On December 10th, Ma Teng received an invitation letter from his brother Han Sui. Han Sui said in the letter that he was invited to a banquet in Jincheng as a return of his previous invitation to Han Sui.

Ma Teng did not think much about it. He immediately prepared to leave and left Ma Chao and Pang De to guard Didao City. He planned to take Ma Tie and Ma Xiu to the banquet. As for the number of guards, it was almost the same as the number of guards that Han Sui brought with him to Didao before, all of which were dozens of people.

At the gate of Didao city.

"Father, why not let me go to the banquet on your behalf, or I can escort you to the banquet." Ma Chao's face was filled with worry. He was very worried about Ma Teng going to Jincheng to attend the banquet in person. He always felt that something was a little unusual and that there might be some disaster on this trip.

"Ridiculous." Ma Teng was still stern to his eldest son. He said, "Han Sui came here to attend the banquet in person. If I send you to attend the banquet, wouldn't it be showing my cowardice? Besides, you have Tie'er and Xiu'er to protect you, so it's absolutely safe. Don't worry too much."

"Yes." Ma Chao responded helplessly, and then he watched Ma Teng go away. He did not look away until Ma Teng's figure disappeared over the horizon.

Ma Chao withdrew his gaze with a look of deep worry on his face. He could not guess the thoughts of Han Sui, the cunning fox from Liang Province. He just thought that he was too suspicious and thought too much.

One evening a few days later, the sky was already dark and it was difficult to see far away because the winter sun always sets early.

Today, Mada and Ma San were still on duty on the city wall of Didao. The day passed in peace and tranquility, but when day turned into night, there was some commotion under the city wall.

"Ma Da, open the city gate quickly, the general is back." A call came from the top of the city.

Mada had sharp ears and he recognized the owner of the voice as Wu Kan, the personal guard who accompanied Ma Teng to Jincheng for the banquet. With the help of the torches on the top of the city wall, he was also sure that the person shouting from the bottom of the city was Wu Kan, but behind Wu Kan, there was a shadowy figure that could not be seen clearly.

"Here he comes, here he comes." After confirming that it was Wu Kan, Mada asked people to open the city gate. At the same time, he went down the city wall, ready to personally welcome back Ma Teng.

After the city gate was opened, Ma Da stepped forward and asked Wu Kan, "How to reach the city at night?"

"The road was blocked by snow and wind, making it difficult to travel, so we were delayed a little." Wu Kan replied.

"Oh."

Just as Mada nodded, Wu Kan in front of him took advantage of Mada's unpreparedness, drew his sword and slashed at Mada.

"You, Wu Kan, what do you mean?" Ma Da was caught off guard and one of his arms was removed. He quickly stepped back a few steps and asked in horror.

Wu Kan smiled and said, "General Han has appointed me as a captain, and I have already surrendered and will serve General Han."

"Where is the general?" Mada asked about Ma Teng's situation. Although he had lost an arm, he was still concerned about Ma Teng, who was both the monarch and the head of the family.

Wu Kan smiled grimly, like a ghost in the dim light of the city gate: "Ma Teng has surrendered and was killed by General Han."

Hearing this, Mada was shocked. He quickly retreated towards the city gate and shouted to the soldiers to defend: "Enemy attack, enemy attack."

But before Ma Da could run a few steps, his body was pierced by a spear from behind. When he looked back, he saw the face of Yan Xing, a strong general under Han Sui. Then his eyes turned pale and his head drooped weakly.

With Mada's death, the soldiers guarding the city gate lost their backbone and fell into chaos. In addition, the lights were dim at night, and it was difficult to know how many enemies there were, which exacerbated the chaos.

Therefore, Yan Xing easily led his soldiers into the city of Didao. Taking advantage of the fact that the Ma family's troops were unprepared, they burned and killed people in the city, and even rushed around and caused extensive damage.

Suddenly, the city of Didao was in chaos. The Ma family's troops were out of formation and scattered in all directions. They were unable to counter the attack led by Yan Xing and his soldiers.

Ma Chao and Pang De, who stayed behind in Didao, were powerless to reverse the chaos. They could only flee. Ma Chao took his cousin Ma Dai and younger sister Ma Shu with him and fled Didao with Pang De. (End of this chapter)