Three Kingdoms: I, Ma Su, just want to die

Chapter 720: Frosty Weather in Northeast China

In the spring of the second year of Yanxing, when the farming season in Hebei had just ended, Ma Su could not wait to station his army in Nanpi. After making logistical preparations for the battle, Ma Su immediately led 20,000 Han troops and began an expedition to Liaodong.

Liaodong was the last small enclave that Ji Han had not yet recovered.

This place is not only far from the Central Plains, but also sparsely populated and extremely harsh in environment. So in theory, there is no need to take it back, and let the Sima family fend for themselves here.

But it was obvious that Ma Su did not accept the theory. He did not want to let the Sima family, his great enemy, live so peacefully. So he brazenly launched the last expedition and decided to completely wipe out the Sima family in the second year of Yanxing.

This time, Ma Su dispatched 20,000 Han troops, most of whom were veterans from Guanzhong, including 3,000 cavalry, General Ma Dai, Wang Ping, and the revenge-seeking Xiahou Ba.

In addition to this group of accompanying generals, Zhuge Liang also sent the chief secretary Yang Zhun to serve as the military supervisor. Before leaving, Zhuge Liang personally dropped all his official duties to see Ma Su off.

"You Chang, since you have made up your mind, I will not say anything. Go ahead and recover Liaodong. As long as I am still here, there will be no problem in the court."

Listening to Zhuge Liang's words, Ma Su felt something was wrong. Looking at the Prime Minister's farewell eyes, Ma Su felt an indescribable sense of disharmony.

It looks like...it seems as if the Prime Minister is more convinced that I will die in Liaodong than I am.

However, Ma Su also agreed honestly, and replied with a smile,
"Prime Minister, Su has fought in the south and the north for twenty years. He is very tough. Liaodong is nothing more than this."

Zhuge Liang shook his head slightly, his expression still serious without a trace of smile.

In the end, with the concern of the entire Han Dynasty, Ma Su led his troops on an expedition to Liaodong.

Ma Su first led his troops to Yijing, and after two days of rest in Yijing, the Han army continued to advance to the northeast. Soon, Ma Su understood where Zhuge Liang's worries came from.

Ma Su took advantage of the end of the farming season in Hebei to launch the Northern Expedition, and it was almost summer. But not long after Ma Su led his troops out of Yijing, the temperature began to drop rapidly.

It seemed like only a day or two had passed before the weather had turned cooler. And as the Han army continued to advance, the temperature continued to drop.

And most importantly, there was almost no city in the entire Liaozhong Corridor from Yijing to Liaodong. The Han army marched for half a month and had to sleep in the open air almost every day, which was a huge drain on the morale of the Han army.

Fortunately, Ma Su had prepared for this. He not only prepared winter clothes in advance, but also brought with him veterans from Guanzhong. After a difficult march, the morale of the Han army did not decline significantly.

"Tsk... I finally understand why Master Sima regards this place as his last stronghold. If it were someone else, they would give up after a little consideration."

Ma Su, wearing thick winter clothes, felt the temperature in the northeast during the Little Ice Season and couldn't help but sigh.

The road conditions and temperature are so bad that the debuffs are stacked up. Liaodong has a small population and is far away from the central government. No one is willing to do such a loss-making business.

"That's true. It's much colder here than Xiliang..." Ma Dai beside him couldn't help but say,

"But it feels like the weather has been getting colder over the years, and life in northern Xinjiang is probably getting harder and harder."

As a mixed race of Han and Qiang, Ma Dai was very sensitive to things like temperature. He knew very well what the drop in temperature meant to the grassland people.

"That's right, the Han Dynasty will probably have a hard time in the future." Ma Su shook his head slightly, knowing this very well.

The Little Ice Age is not even halfway through, and the climate will get colder and colder in the next two hundred years. By then, Ji Han will have to face the impact of the nomadic people in the northern border who are frantically moving south to survive.

Fortunately, the Later Han Dynasty is much better than the Western Jin Dynasty in history, and the Five Barbarians' Invasion of China will probably not happen again. As for how far the Later Han Dynasty can go, this is not something Ma Su can interfere with. Let's take it one step at a time.

"By the way, how far is it from Liaodong?" Ma Su got back to the point and asked while flipping through the map.

"We will reach Changli County in two days. That is... the frontier outpost of the Liaodong rebels."

Ma Dai originally wanted to call Sima Shi and his men Wei thieves, but suddenly remembered that the Cao Wei clan was already extinct, so after thinking for a while he could only call them Liaodong traitors.

"That's not far away. Order the entire army to rest and recuperate in the next two days!"

"I will personally lead the charge, fight a quick battle and reach a quick conclusion, and then march directly to Pingxiang!"

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Two days later, the Han army successfully arrived at Changli County, the forefront of Liaodong. What surprised Ma Su was that two cities sprang up in the empty position on the map, blocking the Han army.

In these two cities, a large number of soldiers were already on full alert.

This is obviously also the work of Sima Shi.

There are five counties in Liaodong, among which the Sima family established their capital in Pingxiang of Liaodong County.

This place was originally Gongsun Yuan's territory, but was later recovered by Sima Yi. Unexpectedly, it became the last stronghold to shelter the Sima family.

After Yecheng fell, Sima Shi fell into a coma, and the entire Hebei province collapsed. Under such a disadvantage, Sima Zhao and Yang Hu did not dare to defend Yijing at all. After gathering the remnants, they immediately ran to Liaodong and fled to Pingxiang before they breathed a sigh of relief.

In the end, the number of troops who followed the Sima family to escape totaled only about 2,000 people. Including the original garrison in Liaodong, the total number was less than 10,000.

The only good news was that Sima Shi was not dead, but woke up again. However, the Sima family leader, who was in his prime, seemed to have completely white hair overnight.

In any case, they were temporarily safe. With the last bit of Sima family's wealth, Sima Shi officially proclaimed himself king in Pingxiang, and was named King of Yan, which gave his subordinates a sense of belonging.

After becoming king, Sima Shi immediately deployed his troops to guard Changli County, where there were many fortifications that Sima Shi had repaired long ago.

The two cities that Ma Su saw were the ones that Sima Shi had renovated a few years ago. The two cities were stuck in the path of the Han army and seemed to be extremely obstructive.

"Sir, it looks like we have to fight a siege here first." Military Supervisor Yang Zhun looked a little disappointed and said to Ma Su helplessly.

"But I think there is no need for you to fight this battle yourself. I am enough." Ma Dai suddenly interrupted and confidently challenged Ma Su to fight.

However, Ma Su shook his head slightly and smiled inexplicably.

"No need to go through so much trouble, we can just go around it!"

(End of this chapter)