In the 17th year of Jian'an (212), after Ma Chao failed in the Battle of Tongguan, because Cao's army was chasing him, Ma Chao did not dare to stay all the way. After passing Chang'an, he left Xiahou Yuan's pursuit and hid in the Qiang tribe to cultivate and rest.

After Cao Cao returned to Xuchang, Ma Chao quickly received news that he wanted to raise an army again, but because there were less than two thousand soldiers in his hands, he had to give up temporarily.

This time, most of the Qiang tribes sent troops to fight with Ma Chao, and the losses were quite large. Ma Chao traveled to dozens of tribes of all sizes and only received a small amount of troops to replenish them.

Ma Chao was unwilling to be hiding. He thought that more than 2,000 troops were enough to attack the county town. He was about to take a risk and attack, but the spy brought the news that thousands of Liang Xing's troops were wiped out by Xiahou Yuan. Ma Chao did not dare to lightly sing the edge of his sword and had to continue to lie dormant.

Because he had turned against Han Sui, Ma Chao had no reliable allies and was thinking about sending someone to form an alliance with Zhang Lu, but the person Pang Rou sent to contact him was here.

After Ma Chao asked carefully, he knew that Pang Rou had thousands of troops and horses temporarily stationed in Hanzhong. He was overjoyed and hurriedly sent Ma Dai to Hanzhong to form an alliance with Zhang Lu.

Zhang Lu faced Cao Cao's attack this time and was difficult to compete with, but because the Western Liang coalition launched an army, the battle with Cao Cao in Tongguan for several months. After the Western Liang coalition failed, many defeated soldiers fled to Hanzhong and were all incorporated by Zhang Lu, and his military strength was actually improved.

When Ma Dai arrived in Hanzhong, he met Zhang Lu and made a request for an alliance. Zhang Lu happily agreed because he had an alliance with the Xiliang coalition. He heard that Ma Chao was going to raise an army to take revenge. Not only did he let Pang Rou's thousands of troops return to Tianshui, but he also sent general Yang Ang to lead 5,000 troops to help.

Ma Su and Pang Rou were stationed in Viayang for several months. When they were idle, Ma Su wanted to train his infantry into cavalry.

Pang Rou was very supportive and assigned some of the remnants of the recruitment to Ma Su as instructors to help Ma Su train cavalry.

These defeated soldiers were not Pang Rou's direct descendants. Although Pang Rou treats them well, she still has a distinction between closeness and distantness, and they do not have a strong sense of belonging.

When they arrived in Ma Su's army, these cavalry received the respect they deserved. They were not only valued, but also treated much better than Pang Rou's army. They gradually merged with Ma Su's soldiers.

When Pang Rou heard that Ma Chao asked him to return to Tianshui and wanted to fight Cao Cao again, he was not easy to disobey. He was not sure, so he simply left the cavalry to Ma Su and prepared to lead the remaining 3,000 troops and Yang Ang to Tianshui together.

Ma Su now has more than 2,000 cavalry, but most of them have never been on the battlefield. As a ally of Ma Chao, he couldn't sit idly by, but he didn't want to lose the stronghold of Mianyang. He left Xing Daorong to lead a thousand troops to guard Fengyang. He personally led a thousand cavalry to go to war with Pang Rou.

Although Ma Chao's own troops were less than 3,000, but with the troops of Yang Ang, Pang Rou, and Ma Su, he assembled more than 10,000 people. With the confidence to fight Xiahou Yuan, he raised troops again.

Ma Chao was famous in Xiliang. Wherever he went, the soldiers and horses of various counties dared not resist. He quickly annexed the counties and counties in Longshang (Longxi, Nan'an, Hanyang, Yongyang, etc.), and besieged Liangzhou Governor Wei Kang in Jicheng, the capital of Liangzhou.

Liangzhou Governor Wei Kang was recommended by Yang Fu and was good at defending the city. Although he only had hundreds of soldiers and thousands of people strong, he withstood the attack of more than half a month by Ma Chao and more than 10,000 troops and made great efforts to protect the city of Ji.

With the exhaustion of the troops defending the city, Wei Kang could no longer withstand. Knowing that Ma Chao would not withdraw his troops easily, he sent his confidant general Yan Wen to secretly leave the city and ask for help from Xiahou Yuan.

Yan Wen dived out of the city at night. The next day, Ma Chao's army discovered the traces left by Yan Wen by the moat, and sent Pang De to lead the cavalry to track and intercept them, chased Yan Wen in Tianshui territory, and captured him to see Ma Chao.

Ma Chao wanted to win people's hearts and personally untied Yan Wen's bondage and promised him:

"Governor Wei Kang was guarding the city for nearly a month and has done his best. Now the victory and defeat have been determined. Even if you open the door and surrender, Cao Cao will not blame you. You were caught when you took the risk of asking for help. There are no reinforcements now, and Wei Kang's lonely city is hard to defend. If you can tell the people in the city for me that Xiahou Yuan will not have reinforcements, I will let you regain your post, otherwise I will kill you now."

Yan Wen is Yan Xing's cousin. He knew that Ma Chao and Yan Xing had not made enemies for a long time. In the past, because they were allies with Han Sui, they dared not attack him. Now he turned against Han Sui and knew that he would not let him go, so he pretended to agree. When Ma Chao sent him to the city of Jicheng, he shouted to the city:

"Everyone must hold on. General Xiahou Yuan's army will come back within three days. Work hard!"

When Ma Chao saw Yan Wen like this, he angrily asked him: "You are so unfaithful, are you really not alive?" Yan Wen refused to answer and was killed by Ma Chao at the city.

Ma Su followed Ma Chao out of the battle and had also attacked the city several times, causing hundreds of troops to be damaged. He felt very sorry for these cavalry. Seeing that he could not capture the city for a long time, he did not want to attack the city and lose his precious cavalry again, so he asked himself to lead his troops to the important transportation route thirty miles east to set up a camp to prevent Xiahou Yuan's reinforcements from attacking.

...

...

After Zhang Song successfully arrived in Xudu, he lived in Dingshi in the inn, handed over official documents, went to the Prime Minister's House every day to ask for information and ask for Cao Cao.

When Cao Cao knew that Liu Zhang's envoy had arrived, he thought it was an opportunity to collect Xichuan, so he called Jia Xu, Xun You, Cheng Yu and other trusted advisers to ask for countermeasures.

Cheng Yu was still blaming himself for Jiangdong's failure and always wanted to redeem his sins. He was the first to stand up and said:

"I heard recently that Zhang Lu had signs of attacking Xichuan. Liu Zhang thought it was difficult to resist. He sent an envoy Zhang Song to come over, not to surrender, but to persuade the Prime Minister to attack Zhang Lu. Although he had bad intentions, it was also a good opportunity to pacify Xichuan. It would be better to reward the envoys with great rewards. Taking advantage of the opportunity to attack Zhang Lu, he sent troops from Yangping Pass to Xichuan and go to Xichuan first. Hanzhong is also the one in the prime minister's bag!"

Cao Cao thought Cheng Yu was right, but he always felt something was wrong. Jia Xu and Xun You were silent, and he couldn't make up his mind, so he asked Jia Xu:

"Wenhe, what do you think Zhongde's plan?"

Jia Xu didn't want to speak at first, but Cao Cao took the initiative to inquire and had to answer:

"Although Zhongde's plan is wonderful, it's not the right time yet. Our army has been expeditioning the west for nearly a year. Although we have won, it consumes a lot of troops, horses, food and grass. The army is exhausted and has no power to fight again."

When Cao Cao heard what Jia Xu said was reasonable, he thought about it carefully and turned to Xun You and asked:

"Gongda, what are your opinions?"

Xun You replied:

"Prime Minister, because our army has no strength to fight again, I also think it is not appropriate to send troops to attack Hanzhong, nor to reward envoy Zhang Song, nor to send troops into Xichuan. If news of the relationship between the Prime Minister and Liu Zhang is heard, unexpected changes are likely to occur."

Xun You didn't know whether he was not considering maturity or wanted to keep it in a close relationship. When he talked about this key point, he stopped and stopped talking. Cao Cao looked expectant and waited patiently for him to state the reasons.
Chapter completed!