Ma Daile stopped the war horses, looked at the barracks covered with blood and the curling blue smoke, and his eyes twitched involuntarily. He was ordered to pursue Xiahou Ba and drag Xiahou Ba to hold him down, so it would be best to lure into Zhuge Liang's ambush circle. Unexpectedly, Xiahou Ba refused to be fooled, and even did not fight with him. Three thousand cavalrymen were wandering around the hinterland of Guanzhong like a group of crazy-starved wolves. They went along the way, whether they were military or civilians, they were destroyed by him. People were killed, food, livestock were stolen, and barracks were pushed down and burned.

The military farm that Zhuge Liang worked hard on was like a piece of fat meat. It was cut by Xiahou Ba in the east and west, and it was covered in bruises and blood. Fortunately, the crops in the fields were not yet ripe, otherwise Xiahou Ba would set fire without hesitation, just like the wheat fields that Tian Fu and the others burned down.

That was the experience that Ma Dai was ashamed of, but he did not expect that this scene would appear in front of him again today.

Ma Dai was very angry and hesitant. Although he led 4,000 cavalry and had more troops than Xiahou Ba, he knew very well that his subordinates had just been integrated and had not established a tacit understanding between them. He did not have much advantage in fighting against the three,000 Wei cavalry. Because of this, the orders given to him by Zhuge Liang were to restrain him, to lure the enemy, not to defeat him.

However, Xiahou Ba did not contact him and went all the way to the northeast. If he did not pursue him, he could only watch Xiahou Ba's unbridled destruction. If he pursued him, he would not be able to rely on Zhuge Liang's main force and could only fight independently.

They had already expected this when deducing tactical methods, but there was no good solution. They could only wait and endure it.

Ma Dai has a good temper and can wait and endure it, so Zhuge Liang handed over this task to him with confidence.

Ma Dai thought about it and decided to be cautious. These four thousand cavalry were the hard work of Zhuge Liang, and they were robbed by Zhuge Liang from various departments, so they could not be destroyed in his hands.

As for those civilians and military camps, they can only blame them for their bad luck.

After receiving Ma Dai's report, Zhuge Liang had no choice but to make careful arrangements, but he was unable to overcome this objective difficulty and could only defend passively. What worried him even more was that Gao Ping's Chen Shi sent news, and Zhang He who had disappeared for a while later appeared again. Judging from his marching route, it is very likely that he would attack Liupanshan again.

Zhuge Liang was helpless and had to send Jiang Wei to lead 20,000 people to the Wu family for defense, so as not to take the opportunity to break into Guanzhong. For him, his only advantage now was that his horse was thin in spring, and the combat effectiveness of the cavalry was far less than that of autumn and winter, and the threat to the infantry formation was much smaller.

In just two days, Zhuge Liang received another news from Ma Su. Ma Su was accidentally defeated by Cao Zhi in Hongmen. The situation in Chang'an was dangerous and Zhao Yun was insufficient. He did not dare to fight Cao Zhi. The situation near Chang'an was extremely critical. Zhuge Liang was worried and could not sleep at night. His hair was half white overnight.

Two more days later, Zhuge Liang finally received good news: Wei Yan severely damaged Cao Zhen's camp and drove Cao Zhen across the Yellow River. Tongguan is currently safe. Wei Yan led two thousand troops to join forces with Ma Su and was chasing Cao Zhi. Cao Zhi was heading towards Fengxian County. It seemed that he wanted to join forces with Xiahou Ba and pick up Zhang He into the pass.

Zhuge Liang then breathed a sigh of relief. Although the Wei army concentrated on him and the pressure on him was getting greater and greater, compared to Zhang He breaking into Guanzhong from the east, he hoped to put the battlefield in the west, so that he would not have to march for a long distance and could wait for his work. With the strength of his hands, even if Cao Zhi rushed over, he would have a chance to defend his position.

In order to increase the chance of victory, Zhuge Liang ordered the general Xiang Lang and General Fuyuan Zhao Guang to lead the army to support Xiang Lang. Xiang Lang was surrounded by Wang Ping, so Xiang Lang could lead his troops in person. Ma Dai, who originally assisted Zhao Guang, was already by the Prime Minister, so he could only send people to bring two thousand men to Fengxian County, leaving only two thousand men to guard Longguan.

After Xiang Lang and others arrived, Zhuge Liang had more than 30,000 troops around him. Even if Ma Su and Wei Yan did not chase him, they would have enough troops to deal with Cao Zhi. Zhuge Liang felt a little relieved and sent Huo Yi to lead two thousand people to reinforce Chen Cang to protect the intersection from Guanzhong to Hanzhong, so as not to threaten Hanzhong. Although Cao Zhi had no logistics supplies and could not attack Hanzhong, Cao Zhi was already crazy. Who can guarantee that he would not be crazy again?

Zhuge Liang refused to leave any chance for Cao Zhi. He wanted to trap Cao Zhi to death in Guanzhong and eliminate this confidant.

At the same time, he reminded Ma Dai that Cao Zhi's main infantry force would arrive soon. Be careful and keep a distance from Xiahou Ba to avoid being surrounded. Ma Dai was very cautious, and after receiving this news, he did not dare to be careless.

...

Xiahou Ba sat on Hu's bed, gnawing beef that had not been painful for half a lifetime, while staring at the map Cao Zhi gave him, without saying a word for a long time.

Niu Jin held his arm, leaned against the war horse, and looked at the mountains in the distance. He was very dissatisfied with Xiahou Ba's avoidance of war for several days, and could no longer hide his resentment.

Niu Jin was from Lintao, a native of Longxi, and was the same clan as Dong Zhuo's son-in-law Niu Fu. The Niu family was also a large clan in Lintao, Longxi, and Niu Jin was even braver of Longxi people. In his opinion, being the general of the great Sima Cao Ren was the happiest time in his life, because Cao Ren was also a brave general, and his courage was even above Zhang Liao, who became famous in Xiaoyaojin. In the Battle of Jiangling, he advocated attack, but was surrounded by Zhou Yu. Cao Ren was strongly opposed to the controversy, went out of the city to defeat the Wu army, and rescued him, which was enough to be comparable to Zhang Liao's feat in Xiaoyaojin.

Xiahou Yuan was also a brave general. He walked alone in Longyou. Unfortunately, Xiahou Ba did not have the style of his father. He ran away as soon as he saw Ma Dai. Niu Jin fought for many years and made many military achievements, but he was not good at concealing his emotions, and he was not in the mood to pretend to be a smile to please Xiahou Ba.

Xiahou Ba obviously knew this, and he didn't take the initiative to discuss it with Niu Jin, and looked at the map alone to think.

"General Niu?"

Niu Jin turned his head and looked at Xiahou Ba in surprise. Seeing Xiahou Ba lowering his head, he didn't look at him, and thought he had heard it wrong.

"General Niu, come on." Xiahou Ba did not hear the footsteps, so he turned his head and looked at Niu Jin. Seeing this, Niu Jin confirmed that he had heard it correctly and hurried over.

Xiahou Ba grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth, which was reflected in the dust on his face. "Does the soldiers have resentment?"

Niu Jin curled his lips and said nothing.

“Is morale available?”

Niu Jin looked at Xia Hou Ba blankly, stunned for a while before asking, "The general is going to fight?"

"Of course we have to fight." Xiahou Ba put away the map and put it in his arms, stood up, stretched his waist. "Didn't you say that Ma Dai's four thousand people may be Zhuge Liang's only cavalry. If you defeat them, Qinchuan will be allowed to gallop in the future."

"But……"

"I'm not afraid of him. I'm waiting for an opportunity." Xiahou Ba interrupted Niu Jin: "Now, the opportunity is here, are you ready?"

"Is that true?" Niu Jin's eyes shone, and without asking much questions, he quickly stood up straight and responded loudly: "General, we are all waiting for the general to give the order. If you can fight at any time, you will win. The soldiers who were chased by Ma Dai had already accumulated a lot of anger."

"That would be better. Let everyone have a full meal and feed the horses. This meal may be our last meal."

"Here." Niu Jin suddenly walked away as if he had changed his body, and heard his thunderous shouting from afar.

Xiahou Ba smiled and looked at the sunny sky in the distance, smiling brightly. His eyes were cold.

"Ma Dai, since you dare not come, I will go."

As Niu Jin said, Ma Dai followed him behind his butt for three or four days. The soldiers of the Wei army were already full of anger. They followed Xiahou Ba all the way to Xian County, killing people and setting fires. Espering and looting, every day was like the last day, and each meal was like the last meal, and they had long thrown their benevolence, righteousness, morality, compassion, and compassion behind their heads. They were people who had no tomorrow, and they had eaten the military rations they brought. Now they survived by robbery. No one knew when they would not be able to grab food and faced a tragic ending of starving to death. Therefore, they did everything they could without restraint, destroying everything they encountered, and even destroying themselves.

They are fearless about life and death, and they care only whether they feel happy or not. So far, the only thing they are unhappy is Ma Dai. Ma Dai chases them and Xiahou Ba has no courage to fight, which makes these full desperate despise very much, and the anger in their hearts has accumulated to the extreme.

Now, Xiahou Ba decided to fight back against Ma Dai, as if he threw a spark into their hearts. All the resentment suddenly turned into a ball of fire, burning wildly. Every soldier was sobbing by the ball of fire, everyone was full of murderous aura, and even the war horses were neighing excitedly.

Half an hour later, Xiahou Ba led three thousand cavalry to turn around and kill Ma Dai, who was following him about twenty miles away.

Xiahou Ba sat upright on the war horse, his body fluctuating with the pace of the war horse, showing an indescribable beauty of rhythm. He pointed at Niu Jin with a horse whip, and waited Niu Jin to run to the front of him, he shouted loudly: "General Niu, I will give you five hundred people to be the vanguard, dare you fight?"

Niu Jin patted his chest hard and replied loudly: "Why don't you dare? In Jiangling, I dared to face Zhou Yu's tens of thousands of troops. What are you afraid of today? Although I am old, I am still worth fighting. Please see me."

"Okay, please General Niu first, I'll arrive later."

"Here." Niu Jin stood up from the horse's back, drew his sword and unsheathed it. "The men of Longxi, come with me, kill Ma Dai, and avenge the elders of Longyou."

Ma Chao was in trouble with Longyou, and many people died under his knife. After hearing Niu Jin's shout, his Longxi subordinates suddenly had red eyes and screamed, rode out of the line, gathered behind Niu Jin, like a group of wolf who smelled the smell of blood.

Niu Jin laughed and bowed to Xiahou Ba: "General Xiahou, you are a man, worthy of being the son of the General of the Western Conquest. Old Niu Duo offended him. After killing Ma Dai, he apologized to the general."

Xiahou Ba smiled slightly: "Kill Ma Dai and drink with you all."

"One word is determined."

"One word is determined."

"Let's go!" Niu Jin roared, kicked the war horse hard, and rushed out of the queue.

More than five hundred cavalry ran away.
Chapter completed!