Ji Han Liu Zhang

"Unparalleled in his bravery!" Lou Fa said to Fa Zheng who was beside him with admiration.

Fa Zheng nodded: "Ma Jun is indeed a brave and extraordinary person."

Although Fa Zheng was not a military general, he also knew the significance of Ma Chao's ability to kill more than a dozen Hun scouts alone, which was not something an ordinary brave man could do.

In addition, we know that the Hu cavalry who can serve as Xiongnu scouts are generally very good in martial arts, as can be seen from the Xiongnu scouts' horse riding and archery just now.

Facing more than a dozen Hu cavalry who were outstanding among the Xiongnu, Ma Chao fought alone and was able to defeat the opponents so easily. How could this not be extraordinary bravery? In the world today, there may not be many cavalry generals who can match Ma Chao.

Lou Fa and Fa were sighing here, while Qu Bei, the Right Wise King of Southern Xiongnu on the opposite side, was stunned and couldn't believe the scene.

Qu Bei had just seen a cavalryman of the Shu army going out to fight, and he was so arrogant that he thought that the dozen or so brave scouts he sent out could easily eliminate the Shu general.

However, he did not expect that within a few breaths, all his scouts and Hu cavalry were killed by the Shu generals, and even the fleeing Hu cavalry could not escape the fate of being killed.

"Hiss." Qu Bei hissed. The fact that there was such terrible fighting power among the Shu generals made him want to retreat. But before that, he waved his hand, and then a young man understood and rode forward.

But when the men sent by Qubei walked forward for a distance, they shouted to Ma Chao from afar, "General of the Shu army, please leave your name." Qubei, the Right Wise King, wanted to know Ma Chao's name in order to prepare for future warnings.

After Ma Chao easily killed more than ten Xiongnu scouts, he stayed where he was and did not return to his camp for a while. When he heard the enemy's question, he replied proudly: "I am Ma Mengqi of Fufeng."

"I am Ma Mengqi of Fufeng."

Ma Chao called out his name several times and handed his name to the enemy leader opposite. Upon hearing this, Qu Bei secretly warned himself that he must not fight against Ma Chao easily, otherwise he would be defeated at best and killed at worst.

Qu Bei stretched out his hand and waved backwards, signaling the army to retreat to the camp. Ma Chao's great power just now had damaged the fighting spirit of his men, and fighting at this moment would not be beneficial to him.

On the top of Anyi City, Hedong Governor Wang Yi saw the Xiongnu army retreat. He first breathed a sigh of relief, and then exclaimed to the Inspector Wei Gu: "The Shu army's general is so brave, he can fight ten with one, and he is unstoppable. He is truly a man of heaven."

"It is indeed a godly man." Wei Gu nodded heavily. As for the generals who went to fight against the Xiongnu scouts, he considered himself the main general in Hedong County, but almost no one of them could be the opponent of this Shu general.

Wang Yi instructed Wei Gu: "Lord Wei, take some cattle, wine, and silk cloth to the Shu army camp and find out the name of this Shu general for me."

Since the place where Ma Chao and Qu Bei were fighting was some distance away from Anyi City, Wang Yi and Wei Gu neither saw Ma Chao's true appearance nor heard clearly when Ma Chao introduced himself.

When night fell and the sun set, Wei Gu and his entourage of more than ten carriages rushed to Ma Chao's camp outside Anyi City to congratulate Ma Chao on his small victory today. At the same time, Wei Gu inquired about the name of the Shu general who would be fighting today.

When Wei Gu learned that the Shu general going into battle was Ma Chao, a look of surprise appeared on his face. He had not expected that the one going into battle would be Ma Chao, the main general of the Shu army, and he had not expected that Ma Chao had such unique bravery.

"General, you can fight ten with one, and all the Huns you killed were the best and bravest of the Hu cavalry. You are truly a man of heaven." Wei Gu sighed towards Ma Chao and expressed his admiration.

"You are too kind, Inspector. I only killed a dozen or so Hu cavalrymen." Ma Chao said modestly as usual, and then he made a bold statement: "Today's battle is not even a small victory. We must retreat Gaogan and Qubei to win a big victory."

Wei Gu smiled and concluded, "You have shown your might today. The Xiongnu will surely be frightened and will not dare to fight you again. Qu Bei will be timid and Gao Gan will be unable to hold out alone, so they will easily retreat... With you here, Hedong will be safe."

"I hope it will be so, thanks to the Inspector's good words." Ma Chao nodded with a faint smile.

Then Ma Chao ordered his men to store the cattle, wine, and silk cloth sent by Wei Gu into the warehouse, to be used as prizes to reward the soldiers after the battle with Gao Gan and Qu Bei the next day. As for Wei Gu, Ma Chao set up a banquet and gave him a simple treat.

After the banquet, Ma Chao sent Wei Gu to the camp gate and waved goodbye to him. At this time, it was late at night and the moon was bright in the sky.

"The moon in Hedong is no different from the moon in Liangzhou." Ma Chao looked at the bright moon in the sky. He thought of his father Ma Teng and his two younger brothers Ma Xiu and Ma Tie. He couldn't help looking a little sad.

After a moment of sadness, Ma Chao's expression calmed down. He returned to the central military tent and discussed military intelligence with Fa Zheng on how to defeat Gao Gan and occupy Hedong for Liu Zhang.

On this side, Ma Chao and Fa Zheng were discussing Gao Gan, and on the other side, Gao Gan and Guo Yuan were also discussing Ma Chao.

"So brave?" Gao Gan's tone was somewhat incredulous. He didn't believe that one person could kill more than a dozen brave Xiongnu cavalry and escape unscathed.

However, he had no choice but to believe it, so he first went to Qubei to report it, and then Guo Yuan, who had been supervising the battle in Qubei in the morning, explained in detail Ma Chao's great deeds that day.

"Ma Chao is indeed brave and hard to defeat." Guo Yuan affirmed again. He thought to himself that with his martial arts skills, if he were to fight against Ma Chao, he might not be able to last more than ten moves.

Gao Gan believed it, and a sad look appeared on his face. In front of his close friend Guo Yuan, Gao Gan revealed his true feelings: "I thought Liu Zhang sent a surrendered general from Liangzhou just to deal with Wang Yi's request for help, but I didn't expect Ma Chao to be so brave. It seems that Liu Zhang is determined to compete with us for Hedong."

In the north today, in Gao Gan's eyes, only three princes can participate in the struggle for hegemony. One is his uncle Yuan Shao, who is a tyrant in Hebei and controls four states of Ji, You, Qing and Bing. He is the leader of all princes in the world and also the hero among all princes in the world.

The second was Liu Zhang of Guanzhong, who succeeded to Yizhou as a relative of the royal family and continued the will of his father Liu Yan. He seized Hanzhong and also swallowed up Guanzhong and Longyou, occupying a dominant position in Guanxi, like the powerful Qin.

The third is Cao Cao of Yanzhou. Cao Cao occupied the Yanyu area in the Central Plains and controlled the princes by holding the emperor hostage. Although his power was not strong, he could control the emperor's banner and was for the righteousness of the world.

Among the three families, his uncle Yuan Shao was the most powerful, stronger than Liu Zhang and Cao Cao. In Gao Gan's view, Liu Zhang and Cao Cao would not dare to make enemies with the Yuan family easily, just like Cao Cao gave up the position of general to his uncle to please him.

But now it seems that Liu Zhang is indeed a fool, who sent a strong army to compete with Yuan for control of Hedong without thinking, and was determined to make enemies with Yuan. "What a Liu Zhang." Gao Gan said angrily.

……

The Yin of Henan, whose ancient capital was Luoyang City.

Henan Yin is one of the Three Rivers. As the only large county in the Three Rivers that was under his control, Cao Cao sent his cousin Cao Ren to garrison in Luoyang to guard against Liu Zhang in Guanzhong and Zhang Yang in Henei.

As for the selection of the Yin of Henan, it fell into the hands of Zhong Yao, who was recommended by Xun Yu. Zhong Yao was appointed by Cao Cao as the Yin of Henan, and worked in Luoyang City, in charge of civil affairs.

However, in Henan, when Dong Zhuo was forced by the Guandong princes, he drove the people to Guanzhong, causing heavy casualties and the loss of all the people. Therefore, the burden of Zhong Yao, the governor of Henan, was very light, and he did not have many affairs to deal with every day.

Just before noon, Zhong Yao had finished the matters that needed to be dealt with for the day. He put down the knife and pen in his hands, stretched out his five fingers, and then clenched them. After doing this several times, he relieved the fatigue in his hands and felt a sense of lightness.

At this moment, Cao Ren walked in from outside. He first bowed to Zhong Yao, and then sat down by himself, sat lazily on the seat, and yawned lazily.

"General Cao, did you not sleep well last night?" Seeing this scene, Zhong Yao asked with concern.

Cao Ren shook his head, yawned again, and then opened his tearful eyes and said, "It's not that I didn't sleep well, but I have nothing to do recently, so I am really a little tired."

"Speaking of which, sir, you take care of the miscellaneous affairs of the county every day, which is much harder than me." Then Cao Ren praised Zhong Yao's diligence, and took out a document that Zhong Yao had handled from the desk and glanced at it.

After taking a look at it, Cao Ren sighed: "Your handwriting is natural and has no artificial charm. I have never seen any handwriting better than yours."

"General, you are too kind." Zhong Yao smiled and waved his hand. At the same time, he sighed: "Speaking of which, I am also rarely busy. Look, today I have to deal with government affairs. The sun is not even at noon yet, but I have already finished it."

"This is due to your extraordinary talent. What you decide in one day may take others three to five days to complete." Cao Ren waved his hand and insisted on praising Zhong Yao.

Zhong Yao smiled and did not make too many excuses. He changed the subject and asked Cao Ren, "I heard that there is a battle going on in Hedong. Gao Gan led his troops to defeat Donghuan and besieged Anyi. He also besieged Hedong Governor Wang Yi in the city. Will Hedong fall into the hands of the Yuan family?"

"It's hard to say." Cao Ren gave an ambiguous answer.

"Hmm?" Zhong Yao was a little confused. With Wang Yi's talent, he was certainly no match for Gao Gan. According to the military intelligence he had currently, Hedong should belong to Gao Gan, unless... unless something unexpected happened.

"Is there any movement from the Grand Marshal in Guanzhong?" Zhong Yao asked tentatively.

"Yes." Cao Ren gave a straightforward affirmative answer: "The news just arrived this morning is that Liu Zhang sent Ma Chao as the governor of Hedong, commanding more than 10,000 infantry and cavalry to Hedong to rescue Wang Yi... And Gao Gan, who was besieging Anyi City, withdrew the siege of Anyi City to prevent being attacked from both inside and outside. Anyi City is safe for the time being. In addition, before dealing with Ma Chao, Gao Gan may find it difficult to take Hedong."

"Ma Chao?" Zhong Yao asked in a questioning tone. He didn't know much about Ma Chao.

"Oh." Cao Ren patted his forehead and explained, "Ma Chao is the son of the late Andi General Ma Teng. After Ma Teng was killed by Han Sui, Ma Chao led his cousin Ma Dai, Lieutenant Pang De and others to surrender to Liu Zhang, and now works under Liu Zhang."

Cao Ren smiled and said, "It's normal that you don't know Ma Chao. I didn't know him this morning either. I only found out about Ma Chao's origin after hearing the scout's report."

"Is that strange?" Cao Ren stretched out his hand and rubbed his short beard, looking thoughtful. "Liu Zhang has great generals who are good at fighting, such as Gan Ning and Zhang Ren, but I don't know why Liu Zhang sent a Liangzhou surrendered general to be the governor of Hedong. It's really strange."

Zhong Yao stroked his beard and thought for a while, then smiled and said, "Judging from Liu Zhang's past behavior, he always likes to promote his subordinates. Perhaps Ma Chao is an extraordinary general and Liu Zhang values ​​him, so Liu Zhang sent Ma Chao to serve as the governor of Hedong."

"Maybe." Cao Ren shook his head, not making any comment: "Anyway, no matter what, my brother threw out the bone of Hedong, and Liu Zhang and Yuan Shao fought over it. In this way, my brother will have no worries when he goes east to fight against Lu Bu."

"That's right, General." Zhong Yao nodded. "Yuan Shao is attacking Gongsun Zan in Yi County, Liu Zhang is fighting with Yuan Shao in Hedong, and Liu Biao in Jingzhou is worried about Sun Ce in Jiangdong. The princes in the world are all busy. It's the right time for Sikong to attack Lu Bu."

"Hmm." After Zhong Yao finished talking about the most famous princes in the world, he said with a hint of worry: "Only Zhang Yang, the governor of Henei, has always been on good terms with Lu Bu. When the prime minister goes east to attack Lu Bu, Zhang Yang may hear about it and send troops to harass Henan, in order to echo Lu Bu from afar and make a move of besieging Wei to save Zhao."

Cao Ren thought for a moment or two after hearing this, and then said, "What you said is not to be ignored. I will patrol Hejin to prevent Zhang Yang from leading the troops from Henei to Henan, which may cause any incident that may affect my brother's important task of conquering Xuzhou."

"General, please go on your own. I will supervise the transportation of food and supplies to provide support for you." Zhong Yao bowed to Cao Ren and assured him about the logistics issue.

A few days later, Cao Ren stationed his troops in Mengjin and sent soldiers to inspect the ferry between Henei and Henan that could be used for the army to cross the river, in order to prevent Zhang Yang from attacking Henan to save Lu Bu, which would catch him off guard and cause great disaster.

And Hanoi, the wild king.

After Zhang Yang learned from a spy that the imperial army was marching eastward to attack Lu Bu, he looked unhappy, because he and Lu Bu had always been on good terms and they were from the same state, so he could not just stand by and watch him die.

However, Lu Bu was far away in Xuzhou, and he was thousands of miles away from Xuzhou. He wanted to lead troops to rescue Lu Bu, but he was powerless. All he could do now was to cooperate with Lu Bu from a distance and carry out the strategy of besieging Wei to save Zhao.

After making up his mind, Zhang Yang ordered his chief secretary to gather all the generals. He would gather the troops, cross Mengjin to the south, and attack Henan to threaten Xu Du and make Cao Cao give up attacking Lu Bu.

Soon, the generals under Zhang Yang came to see him, and then Zhang Yang read out his ideas. However, the generals under his command, such as Yang Chou and Sui Gu, had different ideas. They were reluctant to attack Henan and rescue Lu Bu, and many of them complained or directly opposed it.

However, under Zhang Yang's insistence, Yang Chou, Sui Gu and other generals had no choice but to agree with Zhang Yang's decision, and each of them gathered their troops, prepared food and grass, and then joined Zhang Yang in attacking Henan to support Lu Bu. (End of this chapter)