After Ma Su recovered from his injuries, he also figured out many things. He no longer struggled with the halo of both civil and military affairs. It was his life that mattered! He decided not to charge forward, but instead acted as the leader or the head coach.

After repositioning himself, he untied his knot and Ma Su's martial arts made obvious progress. He did not mean to show off. Although he practiced martial arts diligently every day, he handed over all the training of the army and other matters to Xing Daorong.

Ma Chao was well-known in Xiliang. After joining Zhang Lu, he was soon appreciated.

However, because of Yang Song, Yang Bai and other slander, Zhang Luxin was afraid of Ma Chao and did not dare to use it. Ma Chao also felt helplessness of relying on others and wanted to counterattack Xiliang.

Because Zhang Lu regretted the marriage first, he apologized for Ma Chao and agreed to send troops to help.

As an envoy sent by Liu Bei to form an alliance with Ma Chao, Ma Su could not stand by and lead his troops to walk with him.

Ma Su followed Ma Chao to attack Qishan for more than a month. This time, he did not personally take the arrows and stones, but sent Xing Daorong to Ma Chao's command to obey orders and make plans for Ma Chao himself.

Every day when he besieged the Qishan Village, Xing Daorong fought bravely, losing nearly 30% of the troops. The morale of the army was sluggish and he was unable to fight again.

Zhang Lu's general Yang Bai led 5,000 troops, attacking every day was just a gesture. Although Ma Chao had the advantage of his troops, he still couldn't capture him for a long time.

After Zhang He's reinforcements arrived, Ma Chao rectified his troops and wanted to fight to the death with Zhang He, but Yang Bai was unwilling to cooperate and retreated more than ten miles on his own initiative, and made an escape.

In this way, Ma Chao's army and Zhang He were stalemate, but Zhang He was tightly clenched, and he could not advance or retreat!

As a last resort, Ma Su offered a plan to create Yang Bai's army as an illusion of ambush. He abandoned the siege equipment to confuse Zhang He, and was able to retreat unscathed.

Yang Bai took the lead in retreating his troops. He was originally going to sit in the mountains and watch the tiger fight, but Ma Chao retreated unexpectedly. He became the army behind the palace and was chased by Zhang He, which lost a lot of people.

Yang Bai was afraid that Ma Chao would replace him, but now he has a handle and immediately wrote a document to complain to Zhang Lu.

Ma Chao cheated Yang Bai, and knew that he was in a disadvantage, so he did not dare to lead his troops back to Hanzhong. So he came to Jiameng Pass with Ma Su and submitted a letter to Zhang Lu, preparing to attack Liu Zhang instead.

After receiving Yang Bai's military information report, Zhang Lu did not fully believe his one-sided words. After Ma Chao's official documents arrived, he supported Ma Chao's attack on Liu Zhang. Although he did not send more troops, he also sent food and siege equipment.

Ma Chao originally had few horses, but now there are less than 3,000 troops left. If you really want to attack Jiameng Pass, even if you can conquer Jiameng Pass, you will definitely suffer heavy losses.

But this is Ma Chao's own request and he has to fight. Every day, Ma Chao leads more than a thousand troops to invite the battle before the Jiameng Pass.

The general of Jiameng Pass is Wu Lan. He has good martial arts skills. He knows that Ma Chao is brave. He admires Ma Chao for defeating Cao Cao many times. He does not want to face Ma Chao and cannot go out in seclusion. He reports to the prefect of Zitong Pang Xi.

The Pang family was a prominent family in Shu and had a friendship with Liu Yan. Pang Xi was Liu Zhang's in-laws, so he was valued and always served as the prefect of Zitong, which was a barrier to resist Zhang Lu.

Pang Xi had thousands of elite soldiers under his command, most of whom were private soldiers of the Pang family. For the sake of family interests, he needed to preserve his strength and gain self-respect. Therefore, he did not work hard to fight Zhang Lu to death.

Pang Xi and Zhang Lu fought more than ten battles, and were defeated repeatedly, which led to Liu Zhang's land in the 41 prefectures and counties in Xichuan, with hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers, but he could not do anything to Zhang Lu, who was only in one county in Hanzhong. Instead, he was often intimidated by Zhang Lu.

In fact, there is still a certain secret deal between Zhang Lu and Pang Xi, and they have formed a tacit understanding. Every time Pang Xi was defeated, the army suffered very little losses, and there was no loss of passes or cities.

Every once in a while, Zhang Lu would send troops to show off his might at Jiameng Pass. Pang Xi must have urgently reported to Liu Zhang for help, and this time was no exception.

Ma Chao invited a battle at Jiameng Pass for several days, but Wu Lan stayed away. Ma Chao's confidant soldiers were used to yelling and fighting, and their words became increasingly unpleasant. The soldiers who were closed were full of anger.

There is a small school who is proud of his courage and youthful spirit. While he was guarding the gate, he opened the gate privately and fought at Xiaguan. He was killed by Ma Chao in one move and took advantage of the situation to grab the gate.

Fortunately, Wu Lan led his army to fight to the death, so he managed to ensure that the pass was not lost, but he also lost hundreds of troops and horses and urgently reported to Pang Xi for help.

...

...

Pang Tong received the secret letter from Fa Zheng. After the two discussed, they went to see Liu Bei together. Pang Tong said:

"Lord, there is Sun Quan in the east of Jingzhou and Cao Cao in the north, so it is difficult to achieve success. Yizhou has a household registration of one million yuan, a wealthy land, and can make great achievements. Now Zhang Song wrote to you that Liu Zhang will come to Fucheng to welcome the lord. This is a good opportunity. The lord can take the opportunity to imprison Liu Zhang and recruit his soldiers, so that Xichuan can be pacified without fighting!"

After Liu Bei visited Xichuan three times, he decided to take Xichuan as his foundation. Now that the opportunity has come, Liu Bei is also moved, but after thinking for a long time, he still rejected Pang Tong's proposal for his reputation and answered resolutely:

"Cao Cao is now the enemy of my water and fire. Cao is anxious, I am lenient; Cao is violent, I am benevolent; Cao is clever, I am loyal: I am always opposite to Cao, things can be accomplished. If I lose faith and righteousness in the world because of seeking the same clan, I will lose greatness because of the smallness, and I will never do it."

Pang Tong and Fa Zheng were silent and retreated in a bad mood. Pang Tong said to Fa Zheng:

"The lord is kind and can't bear to fight with the same family. When Liu Zhang comes, we will act again when we see the opportunity!" Fa Zhengranzhi.

Fucheng was only 360 miles away from Chengdu. Liu Zhang and Cui's army rushed forward. It took only three days to arrive on the banks of the Fu River and sent someone to welcome Xuande.

Both armies were stationed on the Fu River. Liu Bei entered the city to meet Liu Zhang, and each told his brotherly feelings. After the ceremony, he cried and told his heartfelt feelings. After the banquet, he returned to the village to rest.

Liu Zhang saw Liu Bei away, and saw that he only brought several civil servants to the banquet, without any precautions, he also felt relieved and said to the officials:

"It's ridiculous that Huang Quan, Wang Lei and others don't know the hearts of Brother Xuandezong, and they are suspicious. We meet today, and we are a truly kind and righteous person. I have him as a foreign aid, so why should I worry about Cao Cao and Zhang Lu? If it were not Zhang Song, I would have lost it." He took off his green robe and 500 taels of gold, and sent someone to Chengdu to give Zhang Song.

Liu Zhang's subordinates, Liu Xun, Ling Bao, Zhang Ren, Deng Xian and other civil and military officers, spoke:

"My lord, don't be happy. Liu Bei has a soft and hard heart, and his heart is unpredictable, so it is better to guard against it."

Liu Zhangzhang replied with a smile:

"You are all worried, how can my brother have two hearts!" Everyone sighed and retreated.

When Liu Bei returned to his village, Pang Tong said to Liu Bei:

"Lord, have you seen something abnormal at the banquet today?"

Liu Bei was very satisfied with Liu Zhang's warm hospitality and sighed:

"Brother Ji Yu, you are a sincere person!"

But Pang Tong said to Liu Bei:

"Although Ji Yu is good, I see that Liu Xun, Zhang Ren and others under his command are all unfair, and the good and bad are not guaranteed. In my opinion, if you hold a banquet to entertain Liu Zhang tomorrow, the lord needs to take more precautions in order to protect himself."

Liu Bei asked:

“How to prevent it?”

Pang Tongdao:

"A hundred knives and axes were ambushed in the wall clothes. Just in case, if Liu Zhang's subordinates have any abnormal movement, the lord can take advantage of the situation and throw a cup as a horn, and the ambushing soldiers will come out. You can take advantage of the opportunity to capture Liu Zhang and his officials, and lead the troops to occupy Chengdu directly. If the sword is not sheathed or the bow is not stringed, you can sit and settle the land of Xichuan."

Liu Bei replied without thinking:

"Ji Yu is my fellow disciple, and I treat me sincerely; and I have not established my kindness when I first arrived in Shu. Even if his subordinates act inappropriately, if I act in the same way, I will violate the way of integrity, and I am afraid that God will not tolerate it, and the people will also resent. I will never use this plan for the scholars."
Chapter completed!