Yan Kuo bowed and said: "Major General, it is because of the young lady and my Xiliang army that I made this plan. If we surrender to Liu Zhang, not only can we return to Xiliang, but the young lady can also return safely. In the future, we will be in Xiliang
Liang, the most we can do is fight under the banner of Liu Zhang, there will be no losses, and we will have one more powerful ally, so it will be easier to survive among the dozens of warlords in Yongliang."
"Hahahaha." Ma Chao laughed hoarsely: "General Yan Kuo, you are too naive. You are right. Now we can take refuge with Liu Zhang, and we will gain nothing without any harm. If it is possible, what do I, Ma Chao, have to worry about? No big deal," he said
Comeback.
But haven't you seen Liu Zhang's pursuit of us? He almost killed us all, how could he allow us to surrender?
General Yan Kuo can think of it, how could Liu Zhang not think of it? Accepting our surrender now is a good reputation. When we return to Xiliang, what can Liu Zhang do to us? On the contrary, it will hinder him from gathering the Xiqiang, because when we go back, we will definitely
Take revenge on those who surrendered to the Qiang people."
"But wouldn't our revenge on the Xiqiang be more conducive to Liu Zhang's win over the Qiang people?" Yan Kuo said.
"That's what I said." Ma Chao smiled and said: "But I don't know why Liu Zhang is so persistent in pursuing us. It seems that he wants to create an enemy-free environment for the Xiqiang. Liu Zhang will not let us go."
"Yan Kuo." Ma Chao suddenly said solemnly to Yan Kuo: "General Yan Kuo, I, Ma Chao, have been defeated by Liu Zhang and have no shame to return to Xiliang. Tonight I will throw an army to break out. When the Sichuan army is besieging you, you can lead your men to find an opening and leave.
Go back and tell your father that I, Ma Chao, am sorry for Ma and will die to apologize."
"No." Yan Kuo said loudly: "You must not do it, Major General. Xiliang can do without me, Yan Kuo, and these tens of thousands of Xiliang troops can do without, but we cannot do without Major General. Why don't I break out of the encirclement, and Major General will choose the opportunity to rush out."
"
"If I don't show up, the Sichuan army will not attack with all its strength, and no one will be able to leave by then... Hmm?" Ma Chao suddenly frowned: "I have thought of a way, which may be successful, let me give it a try."
......... At the Sichuan Army Camp, Liu Zhang, Hu Che'er, and Huang Zhong finished discussing the cavalry matter, and smiled at Fazheng next to him: "I didn't expect that it is so easy to get cavalry. With so many war horses and weapons captured, tens of thousands of cavalry can be formed.
Already."
Fazheng was not as happy as Liu Zhang, and said to Liu Zhang: "My lord, my lord, do you really want to kill Ma Chao? Then we will have a deadly feud with Ma Teng. My subordinates believe that accepting Ma Chao's surrender and being friendly with the Ma family will not be under our control."
It is beneficial to Xiqiang. If Xiqiang has no rivals, it will never be controlled by us."
"You are saying that this time the Xiliang army suffered a disastrous defeat. Those who joined us were all those who were originally attached to Han Sui. If Ma Chao cannot return to Xiliang and without the so-called divine power, Ma Teng will lose both his strength and charisma, and will be unable to fight against Han Sui.
, it is inevitable that Han Sui’s family will dominate, and the Xiqiang will also be controlled by Han Sui?”
"That's right."
"What's the use of having a Ma clan general in name only?" Liu Zhang knew that Ma Teng had submitted to Cao Cao very early in history. In the end, he didn't just rebel. The Xiliang army was no different from the grassland army. It was not absolute.
In terms of control, they only care about interests and strength.
"Don't say it's in name only, even if it's in name only, we should keep the Ma family. Without the control of the Ma family, Han Sui will definitely unify Xiliang, which will be very detrimental to us." Fazheng said anxiously.
"Don't worry, without Ma, there will still be people to check and balance Han Sui. Ma Chao is a genius in commanding the cavalry. If he dies, the strength of the Xiliang cavalry will be reduced by more than half, which will be of great benefit to our future attack on Xiliang."
"I'm afraid this is not all my lord's reasons." Fa Zheng said. He didn't believe that Liu Zhang would kill Ma Chao so rashly. No matter how strong a person is, no matter how great the threat he encounters when attacking Xiliang in the future, it will never be greater than Xiliang.
The threat of military dominance is great.
"Liu Bei." Liu Zhang slowly said two words.
"Liu Bei?" Fazheng was stunned and said in surprise: "The Liu Bei from Shicheng? The Liu Bei with less than three thousand troops?"
"That's right, the Liu Bei of Shicheng and the Liu Bei of less than 3,000 troops. But according to intelligence, after the wheat harvest of the 200,000 people Liu Bei brought from Chang'an, he expanded his army to 7,000 and conquered Yongzhou and Guanzhong.
The little warlord took advantage of the Hetao, and now there are more than 10,000 people."
Now, despite his hard work, Liu Bei is still an inconspicuous little warlord. At most, he is a little more dazzling than those small warlords in Guanzhong. In addition, Liu Bei has a record of repeated defeats.
Just like in Xinye in history, even if the famous people Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong were added, they were still not recognized by the heroes of the world. At most, they felt that famous people like Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong, and powerful generals like Guan, Zhang, and Zhao were outclassed by pigs.
But others can ignore it, but Liu Zhang will not ignore it. Liu Zhang has been sending people to keep an eye on Liu Bei's development, and this time the matter between Qingyi Qiang and Wu Ban is so strange. Although Liu Zhang suspects Cao, Liu Big Er cannot escape the involvement.
.
"More than 10,000 people?" Fazheng looked at Liu Zhang blankly: "Is it just these 10,000 people?"
"Very few?" Liu Zhang smiled: "It seems to be very little, but according to your calculation method, if Liu Bei can defeat a hundred thousand soldiers at any time, Liu Bei has Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun, which is half a million
There are many heroes, are they few?"
The Dharma was stagnant for a moment, and I had no words to answer.
"Okay." Liu Zhang patted Fazheng on the shoulder: "I know you are not convinced, Xiaozhi, but believe me, Liu Bei cannot be underestimated. If Ma Chao is let go, Ma will be friendly with Liu Bei, and it will be a serious problem for us in the future. Today
If Ma Chao is killed, even if Han Sui unifies Xiliang, I would rather fight Han Sui than Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang."
Fazheng nodded hesitantly. Since Liu Zhang said this, he had nothing to say. Liu Zhang's surname was already known to Fazheng. He would explain to himself what he had decided, but he would not change it because of himself.
Fazheng and the generals left, but Guan Yinping remained the last one. He turned around and said to Liu Zhang: "Uncle, the little girl has a request."
"Tell me, Guan Yu is a person whom I admire very much. Guan Yu's daughter will grant all requests." Liu Zhang said casually.
Being admired by a powerful man like Liu Zhang, and being the daughter of Guan Yu, Guan Yinping also felt somewhat honored, but her face was solemn and there was no joy in it. She bowed to Liu Zhang and said, "Uncle Huang, I hope the emperor will let Sister Yunlu go."
"No, she is still useful." Liu Zhang decided without hesitation.
"But you just said...but you don't agree." Guan Yinping said angrily.
"That's right. I didn't say I wouldn't let it go. Didn't I say she is still useful? When I'm done with it, I'll let it go naturally."
"How do you want to use it?" After asking, Guan Yinping blushed and felt weird.
Liu Zhang smiled and said: "When Ma Chao is killed, Ma Yunlu will be released."
Guan Yinping's expression twisted, and she wanted to speak, but stopped herself. She was no longer new to Yangping Pass. After last night, Guan Yinping already knew that simple personal morals and laws could not be used to measure the relationship between princes and warlords.
Therefore, when Ma Yunlu was pushed out by the Sichuan army to threaten the Xiliang army, Guan Yinping had nothing to say except being heartbroken and feeling sorry for Ma Yunlu.
At this time, Liu Zhang wanted to kill Ma Chao. Liu Zhang had already explained the reason just now. Guan Yinping knew that as long as Liu Zhang thought it was in the interests of the Sichuan army, it would be useless even if he said it.
Guan Yinping left in silence. As soon as he reached the door, Liu Zhang suddenly stopped and said with a smile: "Miss Yinping, if you promise me a condition, I will let Ma Yunlu go. How about that?"
"What conditions?" Guan Yinping did not turn around, knowing that the conditions coming out of Liu Zhang's mouth were either for the benefit of the Sichuan Army, or... or for the benefit of the Sichuan Army.
"You have already killed a hundred people," Liu Zhang said with a smile.
Guan Yinping frowned and understood what Liu Zhang meant. Yes, after killing a hundred people, this was his own decision. After killing a hundred people, he would join Liu Zhang. At first he was perfunctory, but later he was willing, and even for himself
Liu Zhang felt happy and had a sense of belonging after joining Liu Zhang.
If it had been two days ago, I might have agreed without hesitation.
But now, although I can't deny what Liu Zhang did, it may be the great benevolence that Zen Master Pujing said, but after all, it is different from the supreme benevolence that I have always imagined.
If under Liu Zhang, for the benefit of the Sichuan army, I might one day attack unarmed people, what would I do then? Can I comfort myself with a "great benevolence" at that time?
"Forget it, it seems that the girl is unwilling." Liu Zhang smiled. Guan Yinping stood silent and told him the answer. Liu Zhang said to Wang Xu: "Send the order, call Ma Yunlu, Pang Rou, and Pang De to come in."
"yes."
Guan Yinping's expression twisted, and he took back the steps he had taken, and stood aside. Liu Zhang played with a scimitar and chuckled.
Pang De, Pang Rou, and Ma Yunlu were brought in. Pang De was tied up, and Ma Yunlu was escorted by two sergeants. Pang Rou bowed to Liu Zhang: "Meet the emperor."
Pang De, Pang Rou, and Ma Yunlu looked at each other, all with complicated expressions. One really surrendered, the other pretended to surrender, and the other was a hostage. They were held hostage in front of the two armies and suffered humiliation. Ma Yunlu looked at Guan Yinping. This two years ago
A good sister, Ma Yunlu has hatred in her eyes.
Guan Yinping felt Ma Yunlu's gaze and her face was expressionless.
"Uncle Emperor." Liu Zhang smiled and slammed the scimitar on the table. This Qiang weapon looked domineering, but it was not as good as he imagined. In his imagination, the scimitar should be very sharp.
Iron is like clay, the Qiang people use it too bluntly.
Liu Zhang stood up, glanced at the three of them, and said to Pang Ju: "General Pang, you are very good. You can call me uncle. It only shows that you have not thought about it. If you call me lord, I will doubt whether you are harboring evil stars."
Pang Rou was silent.
Pang De on the side said bitterly: "Liu Zhang, can you let Miss Ma go now?"
No one knew that Liu Zhang used Ma Yunlu to threaten Pound that night.
Pang De was asked to do only two things, one was to inspire the troops, and the other was to fight Ma Chao. Afterwards, he let Ma Yunlu go, otherwise Ma Yunlu would be killed regardless of whether the Sichuan army was defeated or victorious.
In Pang De's view, just shouting in front of the Sichuan army's formation would be a loss of reputation. However, when fighting Ma Chao, Pang De knew Ma Chao's force and he would never be an opponent. At most, he would be killed by the Major General.
Pang De measured that by doing these two things, he would not lose anything to the Xiliang army, and it was worth it if he could get Ma Yunlu back.