() This battle report is actually a good news in the true sense. It is a good news that the Han army in Long County defeated the Qiang people. On May 19, when Ma Yue was still rushing to Lijiawu,

The Han army in Long County set a trap and severely damaged the Qiang army besieging the city.

Zhang Wen found out that Li Xiangru, an insider in the city, took advantage of his plan and pretended to surrender. In fact, he set a trap in the city. When the Qiang people tried to suddenly enter the city at night to seize the land, they ran into the encirclement of the Han army.

In the middle, tens of thousands of Qiang people who wanted to seize the city in one fell swoop were trapped in the small space between the outer city and the Wengcheng. They were completely unable to exert their proper fighting power, so they were killed by the Han army and suffered heavy losses.

At the end of the battle report, the comparison of casualties between the two sides was mentioned. Less than a thousand of the Han army were killed at the last moment because the Qiang people abandoned their horses to seize the outer city and fled. There were almost no other injuries, while the Qiang people were lost in the city.

After tens of thousands of corpses were laid down, and the Han troops then attacked one after another and beheaded thousands more, it could be considered a complete victory.

The most critical point of this victory lies in the strategy used by the Han army - to use the strategy to the advantage. Because they found the Qiang people's internal agents in the city, they used this to lure them into the trap, and then annihilated them in one fell swoop. Ma Yue also quickly found it.

The problem is that Dong Zhuo must have believed that he was responsible for this victory, so he doubted himself so much, especially since he also saw that among the meritorious people recorded at the end of the battle report were the names of his father and brother.

"How about it, do you have anything else to say? Don't you admit that you secretly helped Long County?" Li Ru asked when he saw Ma Yue raising his head.

Ma Yue smiled bitterly, handed the bamboo slip in his hand back, and then looked at Dong Zhuo: "My lord, do you think that the great victory in Fanlong County is because of your advice?"

"Isn't that right? You were the first to propose that there was a Qiang spy in Long County, and you even made your brother rush back. Judging from the time, it was after he returned to Long County that this great victory came.

Your father and brother have made great contributions, so I guess you, Ma Zhongling, should also make a big contribution?" Dong Zhuo said with a sullen face and a very unhappy tone.

Ma Yue sighed: "This contribution is indeed great. I think the court will reward the meritorious people heavily afterwards, but I really have nothing to do with the victory of this battle. Yes, I did ask my brother to drive away

I’m going back, but that’s it. I just want the Han army in the city to be on guard so that they don’t cause trouble to Xiao Qiang without knowing it, and I can’t possibly set up such a defensive-for-offensive strategy for them. I hope my lord will learn from it!”

"Do you really know nothing about this matter?" Li Ru asked, staring into Ma Yue's eyes.

"I really don't know anything about it! If I really have any dissatisfaction with my lord, I won't come back this time. I guess with the contribution I made this time, I will be able to get an official position under Zhang Wen, so why bother?

Come back again?" Ma Yue's answer was very straightforward, but he also hit the key point in one sentence.

Ma Yue knew very well that Dong Zhuo was a person. He was indeed suspicious, but he was also a ruthless person. Once he really no longer trusted someone, he would definitely find a way to get rid of him. And he could see Dong Zhuo safely and communicate with him.

He said so many words, obviously because he still had doubts and did not really regard himself as a traitor. The key to this should be that he returned on time this time.

This was indeed the case. After receiving this battle report, Dong Zhuo suspected that Ma Yue had concealed something important from him, which made him unhappy. Fortunately, Li Ru was there to persuade him, saying that if Ma Yue really had different intentions, this time

Otherwise, he would not have returned to Latao. On the contrary, there would have been no problem, which was why Dong Zhuo did not order the killing immediately. And Ma Yue's return could be regarded as restoring some impressions in Dong Zhuo's mind, so that he could defend himself in this way.

"Even if what you said is right, you have indeed never betrayed my lord and planned for others, but it was you who caused this matter." Seeing that Dong Zhuo had been moved by Ma Yue's words, Li Ru used this sentence that seemed to be a reproach.

The words continued to excuse Ma Yue.

Ma Yue didn't understand that this was a step up for both sides, so he immediately saluted respectfully again and said: "I am indeed responsible for this. If I hadn't asked my brother to go back, there would not have been this great victory."

The reason why Ma Yue spoke like this lies in his stance. When it comes to Zhang Wen, Dong Zhuo always hopes that the other party will continue to fail so as to set off himself. And everything that happened before is consistent with this, Zhang Wen and others

Several groups of troops kept losing battles and were almost trapped in Long County. However, Dong Zhuo's group of troops won a hearty victory in Wangyuanxiao, thereby preserving the integrity of this group of troops. As long as things continue like this, Dong Zhuo will replace

It is not impossible for Zhang Wen.

Although the imperial court trusted Zhang Wen even more, as the situation in Xiliang further deteriorated, in order to reverse the situation, the imperial court had to choose a more capable person to direct everything. Naturally, this person has already made considerable contributions.

Dong Zhuo is the only one. This is also the strategy Ma Yue and his advisers set last year.

But unexpectedly, the Han army in Long County unexpectedly turned defeat into victory and made a huge turnaround. This had a big impact on Dong Zhuo's established policy, and naturally made him extremely angry.

. And Ma Yue, as the initiator of this matter - he was the first to think of an internal response, which led to the subsequent series of changes - is naturally to blame.

In fact, Ma Yue was still happy to see this happen. First, in this battle, his father and brother both achieved great success, which laid the foundation for their future development; secondly, for Dong Zhuo,

Ma Yue actually didn't expect that he could gain control of the entire Xiliang so quickly, but now that he was by his side and had to rely on Dong Zhuo to gain his own power bit by bit, Ma Yue had to do his best.

It was planned by him. But this does not mean that Ma Yue will wholeheartedly think about Dong Zhuo. In some matters, he is still happy to see Dong Zhuo suffer.

Dong Zhuo didn't know what Ma Yue was really thinking. Seeing that he was blaming himself, and that the incident was just an accident as he said, he calmed down his anger a little and asked: "Now things have become abnormal."

Under control, Zhang Wen is more secure in his position as commander, but what should we do?"

It was obvious that he no longer planned to pursue Ma Yue's matter, which made him greatly relieved, but he also hoped to show off so that the lord would not have any grudges, so he said: "In fact, in my humble opinion, this victory

It’s not all good for the Lord, at least the situation in Xiliang won’t be too corrupt and eventually out of control.”

"I agree with Zhong Ling on this point. With the successive defeats in the previous battle, the Qiang people's arrogance has become extremely arrogant. If we cannot win a few games in time, it will be difficult to boost our army's power and change the current predicament.

.At least this victory is now a big one

It has greatly boosted the morale of the soldiers and civilians in our city, which is not entirely disadvantageous. Moreover, even if Zhang Wen's army won this battle, it was only temporary. The Qiang thieves were not completely defeated in one day. I don't know who deserves the greatest credit.

Yeah." Li Ru also said in agreement.

"However, if we want to seize the greatest credit from them, we must send troops as soon as possible to attack the Qiang thieves together with the Long County army!" Ma Yue suggested while the iron was hot. Dong Zhuo had previously considered his own interests,

I have never made up my mind to send troops to Long County. But this time, it has reached a critical moment, and naturally it is impossible to delay it any longer.

Sure enough, Dong Zhuo nodded and said: "I have already made a decision on this point. I will send troops as soon as the matter of borrowing troops from the Seven Families is settled."

Ma Yue saw that Dong Zhuo's face looked better, so he continued: "My lord, this victory is also very beneficial to us. Originally, we wanted to draw in the power of wealthy families to help us when the enemy is strong and we are weak.

It's still difficult for me to use it, but with this victory, the situation will be different." Ma Yue

Only then did he have the opportunity to talk about his experience in the Li family, and finally analyzed: "Obviously, the Li family only nodded and agreed to lend 3,000 men and horses after suddenly learning about the victory in Long County. And the other six families,

Presumably, I will make the same decision, and soon my lord will be able to receive an additional 20,000 to 30,000 yuan of help."

"Oh?" As a result, Dong Zhuo's expression became a little happy. In fact, during this period, he had been worrying about the number of soldiers. After all, Xiliang is a vast land with few people, so it is not easy to recruit soldiers.

So easy, I lost some people in the previous failure

After the horse, Dong Zhuo's power also suffered a lot of damage. Now he can suddenly get 20,000 to 30,000 new troops, and they are all elite men. It is naturally a great thing for him. This can offset the loss caused by Zhang Wen.

The side effects brought about by the great victory.

"Although it is true to say so, these people were not recruited by the master after all. The seven people will always take them back afterwards. How will it help us?" Li Ru said with some disapproval.

"I have thought of a countermeasure for this. As long as we can win over these soldiers' hearts, we can make them completely submit to the lord!" Ma Yue smiled calmly, already confident.

??????????

After eliminating the doubts in his heart, Dong Zhuo acted decisively and quickly. In just two days, the more than 10,000 troops were successfully reorganized. Soon after, the Li family's 3,000 troops also arrived and were quickly organized.

He joined Dong Zhuo's army. With the arrival of the Li family, other wealthy families such as Lin, Tong, Zhou, Zhang and others also followed suit.

They sent troops one after another, some of them sent five thousand, some two or three thousand, so Dong Zhuo's army suddenly formed a team of nearly 40,000 people. And their opinions were very consistent, because they felt the same.

The imperial court wanted to contribute to the pacification of the Qiang people by the Han people, so they specially recruited these elites from the local areas to help.

Of course, this was just an excuse for them to avoid being held accountable by the court afterwards. But what these people didn't expect was that such a casual excuse gave Ma Yue an opportunity to take advantage of.

On the fourth day of June, at dawn, the people in Lintao City left the city and went straight to Long County. This time, except for leaving two thousand elite soldiers led by Niu Fu, his confidant, to defend the city, Dong Zhuo was all
Chapter completed!