The Rebellious Officials and Traitors of the Late Han Dynasty

Chapter 320: A Fateful Beginning, a Frustrated Ending
At this moment, a thunderclap sounded, and the sound of landslide and tsunami came from the distance. A group of people rushed into the chaotic army. The leader was holding a long sword and looked majestic. Who else could it be but Ma Dai?

He was surrounded by Qiang soldiers, all of whom were brave and good at fighting. They took advantage of the chaos in the camp and rushed in.

"Brother, let's go quickly."

Ma Dai looked at Ma Chao who was fighting with Yan Xing with an anxious look on his face and shouted loudly.

When Ma Chao saw this, he immediately knew that this was his only chance to escape. Without thinking, he swung the spear in his hand, forced Yan Xing back, turned his horse around, and rode away.

He was still a fool. In this situation, he didn't run away. Wasn't he looking for someone? He didn't believe that Qin Shou would let him go. He had already betrayed the other party. Once he was captured alive, he would surely die.

Yan Xing and others were about to give chase but were stopped by Qin Shou.

"Prime Minister, if Ma Chao is not killed, he will cause trouble in the future." Yan Xing said nervously.

He had been fighting with Ma Chao until now, and he knew Ma Chao's character. If he didn't take the opportunity to kill him at this time, he would definitely be the one who would suffer in the end.

"Don't chase a desperate enemy. Besides, Ma Chao has lost all his elite troops. The remaining soldiers in his hands can no longer play any role." Qin Shou shook his head.

Yan Xing was a little anxious and was about to speak, but was stopped by Han Sui.

"Send a message to Xiliang that no force may accept Ma Chao, otherwise they will be the enemy of the court. The day when the royal army arrives, you will die and your clan will be destroyed." Qin Shou said dimly.

"The Prime Minister is wise."

Han Sui's eyes lit up when he heard this and he quickly spoke.

"You have a legitimate reason to do so, Marquis Jincheng. The affairs of Xiliang are now in your hands."

Qin Shou did not hide what he was thinking.

He is not just dealing with Ma Chao. Ma Chao is now like a stray dog ​​and does not have much strength left. The only thing he can do is to join other forces.

For example, Xiliang, or Zhang Lu in Hanzhong, etc. If Qin Shou wanted to conquer these people, he had to have a reason. There was no better excuse in the world than to eliminate Ma Chao.

Yan Xing did not notice the problem, but Han Sui heard it. While he was surprised, he also thought it was an excellent strategy.

"Generals of Xiliang, you can choose to use them, but remember, there are some bottom lines that cannot be broken."

Qin Shou warned.

After the great battle, the eight generals of Xiliang were either killed or surrendered. It depended on Han Sui himself to determine how many of them could be used.

In fact, among all the Xiliang generals, Qin Shou only cared about Yan Xing and Han Sui. Qin Shou didn't care about the rest. Xiliang couldn't change the world.

"I will follow the Prime Minister's orders." Han Sui quickly responded.

He was very happy that Qin Su trusted him so much.

"If you have any other requests, you can raise them now. If you wait for a while, the cabinet officials will be difficult to talk to." Qin Shou joked.

Han Sui thought for a moment and said quickly, "Prime Minister, I heard that the Imperial College in Chang'an is full of talented people and many great scholars. I want to send my sons to the Imperial College. Please help me."

After hearing this, Qin Shou looked at Han Sui deeply. He was indeed a cunning guy. He wanted to send his son to Chang'an as a hostage, and yet he said such nice things on the surface.

"I promise you. I will arrange a residence for you in Chang'an. Your family can live there peacefully."

It is a pleasure to deal with smart people, and Han Sui is a smart person.

Seeing that Qin Shou entrusted all the affairs of Xiliang to him, he also honestly sent his son to Chang'an City in exchange for Qin Shou's trust. Of course, all this was because Qin Shou was so powerful and the disparity in power between the two sides was so great that it caused this phenomenon in front of him, causing Han Sui to take the initiative to hand over his son as a hostage.

Who made him not have a single ally in Xiliang now?

"Thank you, Prime Minister." Han Sui breathed a sigh of relief.

At that time, the Cavalry Army stayed in Sanfu for five days, cleaning up the battlefield, pursuing Ma Chao, and killing the Qiang soldiers.

Ma Chao could only flee in a panic. He stopped five days later, looked around, and felt extremely desolate.

Apart from Ma Dai, only dozens of personal soldiers broke out of the siege, and they were all exhausted.

"Brother, the Cavalry should withdraw its troops."

Ma Dai glanced around and immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"Ah!" Ma Chao stabbed the spear in his hand into the ground fiercely, and let out an unwilling roar.

All the troops in his hands have been defeated, and now there is no chance to gather the remaining troops, which means that he has no hope of rising again.

"It's all because of that damn Han Sui. If he hadn't betrayed us, we wouldn't have failed. This old man really deserves to be killed."

Ma Dai said viciously.

He blamed all of this on Ha Sui, thinking that it was all Han Sui's fault.

Ma Chao found a big rock and sat on it, his eyes flashing fiercely. He knew that Ma Dai's words actually made little sense. Even without Han Sui and Yan Xing, he would not have won this battle. He still underestimated Qin Shou.

"Ma Dai, we can't stay in Xiliang anymore. Let's go back to Beidi County first. Take your family and leave while Qin Shou is still occupied!"

Ma Chao saw that the Qiang troops around him had already withdrawn, and he knew what Shao Dang Qiang was up to. From then on, their friendship was gone. It was already a rare thing that the other party risked offending the Cavalry Army to help him.

Having lost his own troops and the support of the Qiang soldiers, Ma Chao knew that even if he returned to Beidi County, it would be impossible for him to make a comeback.

"Brother, where can we go?"

Ma Dai asked.

"Find some tribes willing to accept us, recruit soldiers and horses, and wait for the opportunity. If we can reoccupy Xiliang, that would be even better. If not, we can go to Hanzhong. Qin Shou is ambitious. He needs the whole world. Hanzhong will be his goal sooner or later. Zhang Lu has no one to use. If I go, I will definitely be a general."

Ma Chao said confidently.

Nowadays, it is difficult to find anyone in the world who can compete with Qin Shou.

Even Ma Chao can only take one step at a time.

At this time, it would be a lie for Ma Chao to say that he did not regret it. He still overestimated himself and thought that he was not much different from Qin Shou. However, reality gave him a heavy blow. There was a huge gap between the two.

It was not until the two sides fought that they realized the gap between them.

Unfortunately, I realized it too late.

After Ma Chao returned to Beidi County and took his family with him, he learned that Han Sui had become the Governor of Liangzhou and Marquis of Jincheng, while his opponent Yan Xing had become the General of the Western Expedition and Marquis of Guannei. He felt even more depressed.

Originally all of this belonged to him, but now it was helped by Han Sui and his son-in-law, which made him angry and furious.

(End of this chapter)