Soldiers come to the world

Ji County is the county seat of Tianshui County. The city is tall and strong, and the moat is also very wide. It is a city that is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Like Liu Jing, he can claim territory and become king, but he can't do it. They can't build a huge bureaucratic system.

Liu Jing had the foundation laid by Liu Biao, but Ma Chao did not, so for more than ten years, both Ma Teng and Ma Chao were just military leaders, and they had never been politically self-reliant. It's a little bit different than before.

Ma Chao directly captured Ji County, killed the prefect Wei Kang, proclaimed himself General Zhengxi and Liangzhou Shepherd, and planned to follow Jingzhou's example and implement the integration of military and government.

However, although the idea is very good, the reality is very cruel. The people in Ji County did not want to be exploited by him, and they fled the city one after another. The remaining county magistrate, Yang Fu, barely maintained order in the city for him.

Not only was he a political failure, but he was also hit militarily. The Qiang Di people supported his [-] slave army, but did not give him horses, which made him lose the most important mobility. At the same time, Ma Chao’s army was short of food, The little food collected from the city made it difficult for him to survive until the end of the year.

On the top of the city, Ma Chao looked anxiously at the south. Ten days ago, he received an express letter from the grain delivery team in Hanzhong. Dai led three thousand troops to Qishan to meet them.

Calculated from the time, they should have returned long ago, but there was no news at all. Ma Chao sighed, and turned his eyes to Cao Jun's camp a few miles away. The camp was set up three miles to the east, and no troops were sent to attack, so the confrontation lasted for nearly two months.

Ma Chao also knew Cao Cao's intentions very well. He didn't besiege the city, but waited until he gave up Jicheng and fled. Without the advantage of Jicheng's high city, Cao Jun could annihilate him in one battle, just like they wiped out the [-] coalition forces in Guanzhong, including Shangjun. Yang Qiu was also wiped out.

Cao Cao must have known that his food supply would be cut off. On the day he ran out of food, Ma Chao felt anxious and hated, but he could do nothing. At this moment, a soldier pointed into the distance and shouted: "Captain! It's the second general!" coming."[

The second general is Ma Dai. Ma Chao was refreshed, and looked south with his hand curtains. He saw dust flying in the distance, and an army was rushing towards the city. Judging from the number of people, there were only more than a thousand people, and they were not fully loaded. Food for mules and horses.

Ma Chao's heart sank, and a feeling of extreme disappointment poured into his heart. Needless to say, Ma Dai must have failed to receive the food. At this time, someone shouted again: "Cao Jun has sent troops!"

I saw an army rushing towards Ma Dai's army in the direction of Cao Jun's camp, obviously trying to intercept Ma Dai, Ma Chao urgently ordered: "Order 2000 people to follow me out of the city!"

After a while, Ma Chao led two thousand soldiers out of the city to meet Ma Dai's defeated soldiers.

About 5000 Cao troops came to intercept Ma Dai, led by generals Cao Ren and Xu Chu. At this time, Cao Ren saw Ma Chao's army rushing out of the city, and hurriedly stopped the soldiers. Wouldn't it be nice to simply block his retreat, wait for the prime minister's army to arrive, and defeat him in one battle!"

Cao Ren shook his head, "Pound must be prepared. If we cut off Ma Chao's retreat, we will easily be attacked by Ma Chao and Pound back and forth, causing unnecessary failure. The prime minister said that Ma Chao's defeat will only happen in a few days, so we don't have to take this risk." .”

Xu Chu had no choice but to sigh, and also reined in his horse. At this moment, Ma Chao suddenly led his army towards them. Ma Chao rushed forward and shouted, "General Cao, do you dare to fight Ma Chao?"

Xu Chu felt itchy, and cupped his fists at Cao Ren: "General, please allow me to fight!"

Cao Ren nodded, "General Xu, be careful!"

Xu Chu swung the [-]-jin gold-backed tiger-tooth knife and urged the horse to kill Ma Chao, shouting like thunder, "Ma'er, have you heard of the name of Xu Zhongkang from Qiao County?"

Ma Chao said coldly: "I look like a butcher in Qiao County!"

Xu Chu was furious, and slashed at Ma Chao with the momentum of swallowing mountains and rivers. The knife was as fast as lightning, and Ma Chao was unhurried, and greeted him with his gun.

Surrounded by dozens of generals, Cao Cao was watching the battle between Xu Chu and Ma Chao from afar on the viewing platform of the Cao Army camp. Seeing that the two had fought for more than [-] rounds, and there was no winner, he couldn't help turning his head. He smiled and asked Xu Huang, "Who does Gong Ming think will win this battle?"

Xu Huang pondered for a while and said: "Although Zhongkang is brave, his horsepower can't last long, and I'm afraid he will suffer a loss in horsepower."

Cao Cao nodded, then asked the generals with a smile, "Can Ma Chao be number one in the world?"

Zhang Liao bowed next to him and said, "My minister thinks that Ma Chao is slightly inferior to Zhao Yun, so he can be called the second."

"Well! Zhao Zilong is indeed the best fighter in the world. Even Liu Jing's martial arts can be ranked in the top ten. In comparison, Ma Chao is nothing to worry about!" Cao Cao couldn't help but sigh.

"Prime Minister, I'm afraid Liu Jing can't be considered a general!" Xu Huang laughed.

"Of course he doesn't count!"

Cao Cao sighed and said, "I'm just joking, I wish he was a general."

At this time, Zhang He said nervously: "General Xu's horse is really dead."

Cao Cao looked intently at the battlefield again. On the battlefield, Ma Chao and Xu Chu had already fought Lily. He snorted non-stop, and his running speed slowed down significantly. Xu Chu knew something was wrong, he feinted his gun and ran out of the battlefield, shouting: "The horse waits for me, I will change the horse and fight again!"

Xu Chu turned his horse and ran towards his position. Ma Chao sneered, hung up his spear, drew out his carving bow, put on a spiked arrow, stretched the bow like a full moon, and shot directly at Xu Chu's back heart. The arrow was as fast as lightning, Xu Chu heard With the sound of bowstrings, he hurriedly dodged, but was a step slower, and shot Xu Chu's shoulder with an arrow.

Xu Chu yelled and almost fell off his horse. He fled towards the camp on his horse. Seeing that the situation was not good, Cao Ren immediately ordered: "Press the formation with a hard bow and retreat slowly!"

Two thousand crossbowmen suppressed the formation, and Cao Jun slowly withdrew to the camp. Ma Chao saw that Cao Jun's formation was in order, and he had cavalry, and he would suffer a loss if he chased and killed him. city.

"What's the matter? Why didn't we receive food?" Ma Chao asked Ma Dai sharply as soon as he entered the city.

Ma Dai sighed, "About [-] mules and horses from the Hanzhong Grain Team transported [-] shi of grain and was intercepted by Xia Houyuan's [-] troops at Qishan Mountain. They lost nearly half and were forced to return to Licheng. I led the army to Qishan and joined Xiahouyuan's army Unexpectedly, Yu Jin led an army to attack from behind, my troops were outstretched, I lost two thousand troops, I failed to complete the task, and I failed my brother's trust, I am willing to accept the crime!"

After finishing speaking, Ma Dai knelt down on one knee to plead guilty. Ma Chao sighed, helped him up and said, "Even I can't win in this situation, let alone you, I can only blame Cao Cao for being too cruel."

At this time, Pound hurried forward and said to Ma Chao in a low voice: "I went to check the food just now, and found that our food can only last for three days."

Ma Chao's face was pale, and he asked for a while, "How many livestock and war horses are there?"

"There are less than a hundred war horses and less than thirty livestock."

Ma Chao paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, feeling extremely anxious. Finally, the day when the food was exhausted, what should he do? Abandon the city and leave?Where can he go?

Pang De said in a low voice: "Captain, why don't we rob Cao Jun's grain road, maybe there is still a little hope."

Ma Chao also knew that Cao Jun would bring food from Guanzhong every day, maybe this was really his last chance, Ma Chao gritted his teeth and said to Pang De: "You stay in the city, my second brother and I will go to rob food tonight, success or failure depends on this. "

At night, Cao Cao visited Xu Chu's arrow wound, and then returned to his big tent. Xu Chu's skin was thick. He didn't want to lose Xu Chu in the smoothest military deployment of the year.

As soon as he entered the big tent, his son Cao Zhi greeted him and presented him with a letter, "Father, this is a letter sent by Mr. Xun just now."

Cao Cao took the letter and sat down, and opened Xun You's letter. Usually Xun You sent the army to report it, but today he sent a letter stating that there was Xun You's personal affairs in the letter. The letter said that Zhao Yun kept sending small groups of troops to harass Chen Cang. Dao and Luo Tang said that Cao Cao already knew last time that he didn't take this matter to heart. He knew that Liu Jing was putting on a show for Ma Chao, and at the same time tested Cao Jun's defense, which was of little significance.

At the end of the letter, Xun You finally mentioned a private matter. He apologized to Cao Cao for his nephew Xun Zhi going to Xiangyang to take the exam. This is a family decision and he can do nothing.

Cao Cao had already learned about this matter from the court bulletin that Xiangyang held a grand public selection of scholars. It is said that [-] scholars from all over the world participated. This shocked Cao Cao. There are also many rich families who send their children to take the exam. It is suspected that Liu Jing is beginning to prepare for the world.

At this moment, Cao Zhi put a cup of hot tea on the table. Cao Cao sighed, and said to his son, "Unexpectedly, even the Xun family sent someone to Xiangyang to take the exam. I am disappointed!"

Cao Zhi bit his lip and said: "Father can also openly recruit scholars like Xiangyang to offset the influence of Xiangyang."

Cao Cao shook his head, "Let me pick up Liu Jing's teeth, I won't do it! Besides, I killed Bian Rang, Kong Rong, and forcibly forced the humble Legalists. I have already offended these nobles. Even if I openly recruited scholars, they will won't come."

"However, my son heard that Liu Jing is also a legalist like his father. Even the topics of this exam are "Han Fei" and "Guan Zi". It's very strange. Why don't these gentry resist it?"

Cao Cao smiled wryly, "He's smarter than me. He has Legalism as his bones and Confucianism as his skin. He tricked some aristocratic families into supporting him. This time, he was acting fair on the surface and recruiting scholars openly in Xiangyang this time. Of course the gentry support it, and when he really wins the country, just wait and see, he will smash these aristocratic families to pieces and act like my poor legal family."

"Father thinks that Liu Jing also supports the humble legalists?"

Cao Cao nodded, "The root cause of the decline and fall of the Han Dynasty is that the central government cannot control the localities. The main reason for the strong local power lies in the aristocratic families in these places. They only recognize the interests of the family. Regardless of the rise and fall of the dynasty, they control the local government. It also greatly weakened the imperial court's control over the local area, so I practice the humble Legalists just to attack these noble families."

Speaking of this, Cao Cao sighed again: "In fact, Liu Jing is also the same. You can see what he did in Jingzhou. The four great families of Cai, Kuai, Pang, and Huang have all weakened. In Yizhou, he allowed the Bashu clan to own Wealth, but restricting them from owning land, this is the most ruthless move, without the support of land, how can these families rely on inheritance?"

Cao Zhi said silently, at this time Cao Cao casually took another letter from the table, this was the autographed letter that Liu Jing ordered Liu Min to send him last time, the letter was very polite and declined many of his promises.

At the same time, he suggested that the future wars between the two families should try to avoid affecting farming. It seemed a little funny, but Cao Cao understood Liu Jing's deep meaning. Liu Jing was actually hinting to him that he would not attack Guanzhong until next year's spring plowing.

It was precisely because of Liu Jing's hint that Cao Cao attacked Ma Chao in a leisurely manner. With the method of rooting out, he must drive Ma Chao to extinction, and never give him a chance to make a comeback.

At this time, a guard went to the front of the tent and reported: "Report to the Prime Minister, urgent information has been sent from Ji County!"