Chapter 2: The Iron Cavalry of Xiliang

Later generations argued that Zhuge Liang disagreed with the strange strategy of Wei Yan Ziwu Valley lies in success or failure, rather than whether the Ziwu Road can be passed.

The Ziwu Dao can work, but it is accompanied by extremely high risks.

The most basic thing in the war is the comparison of military power. Zhuge Liang's northern expedition, and Cao Wei is at a disadvantage. It is like gambling. A gambler with a wealth of wealth can spend a lot of money and lose without changing his face. But Zhuge Liang cannot afford to take risks. If he loses, he may not even have room for a turnaround. Zhuge Liang is an excellent military strategist and politician. His general is slightly outstanding because the situation in Shu is weak. Although his several northern expeditions ended up with little success, he did not lose at all in the slightest confrontation with Cao Wei, and even achieved many military and political victories.

Kong Ming was cautious all his life. If he underestimated Zhuge Liang's general strategy, it would be a big mistake. Shu Kingdom used attack instead of defense, but there was actually no way out. Cao Wei people were many and vast. If they only defended but did not attack, the defeat of Shu Han would be a matter of time sooner or later. Therefore, Zhuge Liang had to fight northward. Whether he won the response and surrender of three Cao Wei forces when he went to Longyou from Yinping, Wudu, or the confrontation with Sima Yi and killed Cao Wei in Chencang, it was all his success in military operations for Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Liang could not take risks because the generals of Cao Wei who guarded Chang'an were indeed unknown, but it may not be possible that there were no capable people. In the case of unknown enemy situation, how could Zhuge Liang agree to Wei Yan and the elite Shu Han soldiers take a risk?

Zhuge Liang was fighting against the country of Cao Wei. Guo Jia was strong at the moment, and he had to face only brave but unscheming figures like Li Jue and Guo Si. He had no need to send people to the Ziwu Road to attack Chang'an, and went out to seize Chen Cang, and took every step of the way to attack Guanzhong. He was sure to win.

When Guo Jia led the army northward, the three thousand defenders of Dasan Pass in Xiongguan west of Guanzhong surrendered directly, and when they headed north to return to Chencang, Chencang, who had received the news, had surrendered flags on the top of Chencang.

If the troops are not bloody, they will take two strategic locations. If Guo Jia wants to take Guanzhong, Chen Cang is the key, because this is the transit place for Hanzhong to transport grain from Guanzhong.

Dasan Pass is a powerful pass in the west of Guanzhong. It is particularly important to take it down here and then conquer Fufeng County. It is particularly important to let Fufeng County be used as a outpost to pay attention to the military trends of the Western Liang warlords.

After entering Chen Cang for a while, Guo Jia had to sort out military intelligence first and then make plans for the next step.

There are few people in Chencang City. Guanzhong was ruled violently by Dong Zhuo and Li Jue and Guo Si. Now nine out of ten families are empty, with the strong scattered and the weak scattered, and there are no traces of people.

The soldiers on the streets of the city came and went in a hurry, carrying weapons and armor, or pushing wooden carts carrying food and grass, a busy scene.

Guo Jia, who was staying in the simple county yamen in the city, took off his armor and invited people to discuss matters.

Zhang Liao, Gan Ning, Xu Chu, Dian Wei, Gao Shun, Yan Yan, Wu Yi, Wu Ban and Meng Da gathered together. There were many military generals, but only Fa Zheng was the only adviser.

"Li Jue and Guo Si went to Sizhou to pursue the emperor. How is the situation developing now?"

Guo Jia asked lightly.

Fa Zheng left the line and replied: "According to the detective Ma Lai, Zuo Xianwang led his army and Baibo thieves to fight back Li Jue and Guo Si. Now the two are on their way back to Chang'an."

Even today, there are still yellow turban remnants in various places. Bai Bo's film was once led by Zhang Baiqi. After joining Guo Jia, the others who did not choose to follow Zhang Baiqi were still Baibo thieves, but there is no doubt that their strength has been greatly reduced.

Guo Jia started his business with the remaining Yellow Turbans, and in disguise he also helped a lot of people. For example, Yuan Shao, Hebei, lacked the harassment of the powerful Black Mountain Army, and his road to rise was much smoother, making it easier to defeat Gongsun Zan.

Looking down at the Guanzhong map spread on the table in front of him, Guo Jia calculated the journey.

Li Jue and Guo Si have been fighting with Ma Teng and Han Sui in recent years, and have suffered a lot of troops, but there are at least 50,000 troops. Even if they work together with Bai Bo to defeat the two, generals like Li Jue and Guo Si will change their minds when they see the wind, bullying the weak and fearing the strong, and will definitely escape quickly.

"Gan Ning, you lead the Yinling Flying Cavalry to bypass Chang'an. On the way back, you caught him off guard. You just need one blow and retreat, and then retreat to Chang'an. Li Jue and Guo Si do not know whether Chang'an has fallen, but they must go back to Chang'an to explore the situation. If you are cautious, the speed of the march will be delayed on the way back."

The upright and powerful Gan Ning held his fists and took the order.

Guo Jia turned his eyes to Yan Yan and said, "Yan Yan, I ordered you to lead 10,000 soldiers to go straight to the dangerous Wu Pass in the south of Guanzhong. After conquering Wu Pass, whether it is Cao Cao or Liu Biao in the east, or Li Jue and Guo Si in the pass, if you dare to come to Wu Pass, you must stick to it and not fight, and Wu Pass cannot make any mistakes."

Yan Yan was surprised that Guo Jia would ask him to lead his troops alone to fight, and said with excitement: "The last general obeys the order."

"Xu Chu, Dian Wei, Gao Shun, you and the three of you lead your troops to Chang'an. Be sure to ensure that Chang'an is in hand when Gan Ning attacks Li Jue and Guo Si withdraws, so that Gan Ning cavalry can enter the city."

The three generals naturally received the order.

Even if there are defenders in Chang'an, there will be no more. The three men and nearly 15,000 soldiers are all elite soldiers and powerful generals. It is easy to take Chang'an. The focus of this battle is to be fast and to break through the city before Li Jue and Guo Si returns.

"Fa Zheng, you go to Chang'an with Xu Chu and the others. After the city of Chang'an is broken, the food, grass and supplies will be transported there one after another. Now Chang'an must be in chaos and messy. You must not see a lifeless Chang'an when I arrive in Chang'an."

Fa Zheng solemnly received the military order. His job sounded easy, but in fact, how many people in Chang'an could not survive? After several years of warlords such as Li Jue and Guo Si were responsible for their own affairs and their political affairs were abandoned, everything had to be re-planned. Most people probably would not be able to start when they saw the chaotic situation in Chang'an.

After arranging everything, Guo Jia stayed in Chen Cang first. He was waiting for Ma Teng and Han Sui's reaction.

If these two people want to take advantage of the situation, Guo Jia's troops will deal with them first.

Han Sui was a professional rebel. Previously, with the rebellion of the Qiang people, Beigong Boyu, Li Wenhou, and Bian Zhang, those who rebelled with Han Sui were killed one after another by Han Sui. They were first enemies with Ma Teng, and then turned enemies into friends. After being recruited by Dong Zhuo, they rebelled against Dong Zhuo when the Kwantung Army attacked Dong. The relationship with Ma Teng was sometimes good and sometimes bad, all due to interests. Guo Jia would always be on guard against people like Han Sui.

Even Ma Teng, a person who is said to be a descendant of General Fubo, Ma Yuan, Guo Jia must be on guard. Ma Teng's rebellion and Guo Jia's rebellion are the same reason. They are both oppressed by those in power, and the people are living in poverty. Therefore, the reason why the Liangzhou rebels developed into warlords was forced by the Han Dynasty. It is understandable that Ma Teng responded to the rebels' rise, but that was for Ma Teng. In Guo Jia's position, Ma Teng was an enemy or a friend, and it was impossible to say.

Ma Teng and Han Sui attacked Guanzhong several times, nominally, the court ministers contacted them privately to rescue them. What did Ma Teng and Han Sui think in their hearts? Guo Jia was too lazy to guess, so he was just careful.

The three armies sent out had already set off. A day later, Guo Jia received news in Chencang that Ma Teng and Han Sui had come to pay their respects.

The two men had a total of 60,000 troops stationed outside Chencang. Guo Jia had ambushed countless crossbowmen at the top of the city, and then went out of the city to meet the two people in person.

The main force of Ma Teng and Han Sui's army was the Western Liang Iron Cavalry, with nearly 30,000.

The Western Liang Iron Cavalry is not a military name, but has a local military color just like the Danyang soldiers.

Tao Qian recruited troops from Danyang to join Xuzhou. Although Sun Ce crossed the Yangtze River to the east, there were Sun Jian's old subordinates and the troops he recruited in the local area, his elite troops were the Danyang soldiers recruited by his uncle Wu Jing. The position of Danyang Prefect was also controlled by the Sun family after Sun Ce gained a foothold in Jiangdong and attached great importance to it.

Dong Zhuo's previous army was also the Iron Cavalry of Xiliang, which was famous all over the world for two reasons. One is that the horses of Xiliang are fierce, and the other is that the soldiers who control horses are mostly Qiang people and Hu, and they can immediately exert the power that the Han people are incomparable.

After Dong Zhuo entered Luoyang, the rebels in Liangzhou formed a new army, and there were also Xiliang Iron Cavalry. The cavalry under Ma Teng was given to his son Ma Chao's command. Ma Chao ordered all the Xiliang Iron Cavalry under his command, equipped with heavy armor, holding long spears, and galloped when fighting. Before approaching the enemy, they threw the spear out. In the future, they were javelins. But now, such Xiliang Iron Cavalry is very powerful in the mid-to-short range rushing.

Outside Chen Cang City, Guo Jia rode out on his horse, with Zhang Liao accompanying him.

"This young state governor is extremely courageous."

The Western Liang Iron Cavalry was in the forefront, with the other infantry behind, and the two cavalry in front of the formation were Ma Teng and Han Sui.

The person who sighed was Ma Teng, who had an ordinary figure and appearance. Compared with the burly and rough Han Sui, he was a little weaker.

His appearance is not sloppy, but he also looks messy and has a beard. Han Sui's first impression is that he is a barbarian. When a literati and scholar encounter such a person, he will retreat.

The calm and composed Guo Jia came outside the city and was 100 meters away from Han Sui Ma Teng opposite him, and asked loudly: "You two are here, but are you willing to follow us next to save the emperor from water and fire?"

When talking in the wild, the voice echoed, Guo Jia was full of confidence, neither humble nor arrogant.

He is now the governor of the Han Dynasty, and the largest Yizhou. In terms of official positions, he is not inferior. Even if Ma Tenghan comes to him, he has to salute respectfully, with orderly superiority and inferiority, and clear distinction between superiority and inferiority.

Han Sui, who was squinting his eyes, did not speak and thought about how to answer.

Do you save the emperor? Is it just save the emperor?

Ma Teng beside him replied loudly with a little excitement.

"It is a blessing for the Han Dynasty to lead less than 30,000 troops under my command to support the envoy."

When Ma Teng spoke, Han Sui had no room for a reversal. Guo Jia was the strong side and dominated the situation.

He could not easily go to war with Guo Jia, and it was under the premise that there was no profit.

"I am willing to help you with your help."

Han Sui followed the trend and expressed his intention to Guo Jia loudly.

Dong Zhuo, Li Jue, Guo Si and others do not think about the people's governance, which does not mean that others do not understand. Guanzhong has fertile fields, rivers are crisscrossing, and the climate is mild. It will be a good reward to manage this land well.

Ma Teng, Han Sui and Li Jue and Guo Si are old opponents, but they both returned in defeat.

This time, Han Sui planned to follow Guo Jia to beat Li Jue and Guo Si first, and the Guanzhong belongs to him and then discuss it later.
Chapter completed!