Chapter 120: Martial Arts Showdown
It was almost four o'clock in the morning when Ma Chao returned to the camp, and the sky was turning pale.

In the camp, he and Ma Dai sat at the table and ate together.

Ma Chao held a dagger in his hand and cut the roasted lamb leg. The leg meat was rich in fat and he ate it with wheat cakes and garlic sprouts with a good appetite.

While eating, he recounted the conclusion of tonight's conversation, with a hint of regret: "This little thief is very clever, I'm afraid it will be difficult to fool him."

Ma Dai also felt embarrassed after listening to this. It was difficult for them to drive their troops to take the initiative to tackle tough problems, unless they bullied the weak.

The army currently assembled is to deal with Yuan’s troops in Hedong and Taiyuan, not Ma Chao’s private troops.

Only by leading this army to win a few battles and establishing Ma Chao's personal prestige could he barely control this army.

Zhong Yao and Ma Chao were similar in that they lacked the prestige to command the generals and soldiers in Guanzhong.

The sudden appearance of the Tiger Tooth Army made Ma Chao very uncomfortable.

It was because he recognized "Tai Shi Wen Gong" through the Fang Tian Ji that he led his personal soldiers across the river; if he wanted to command the 3,000 men under his command to cross the river and fight, it would be too difficult.

For the vast majority of people in Guanzhong, the current situation is just waiting, waiting for the Hedong region to express its position.

If the mainstream voice in Hedong is to resist Yuan's troops, then the soldiers in Guanzhong will cross the river to join the battle and resist Yuan's troops together.

Otherwise, if the Guanzhong soldiers dared to enter Hedong without permission, it would only provoke the neutral Hedong people.

So there is really nothing we can do about the people of Hedong.

Hedong can mobilize 30,000 soldiers. This is not an exaggeration. This is the extreme mobilization of the people of Hedong.

Ma Teng was the most powerful warlord among the counties in Guanzhong, but Ma Teng did not want to fight to the death with the people of Hedong.

For any force in Guanzhong, if their troops are wiped out, they will be left with nothing.

The same goes for the people of Hedong. They are sandwiched between Guanzhong and Hebei. If they are not careful, their rare peaceful life of more than ten years will be ruined.

Now, for the people of Hedong, Hebei is a whole, while Guanzhong is a mess; the only variable is that the Central Plains where the imperial court is located is attacking Hebei, which has led to more imperial court factions among the people of Hedong.

But there is another variable, that is, Hebei has actually organized an army in the Nanyang area to attack from both sides through Wuguan.

Fortunately, the people of Hedong were not aware of this news for the time being, and fortunately, the commander of this army had other ideas.

Ma Chao really couldn’t understand, could Liu Biao just watch Hebei annex Guanzhong?

Ma Chao has no way to deal with the current situation. The situation changes and he can only choose what card to play when it is his turn.

Now it is the people of Hedong who choose the cards, and the other one who can play cards is Black Bear.

The Xudu court, Hebei, and Jingzhou are all a bit far from being able to bang the table.

After thinking it over again and again, Ma Chao vaguely regretted going to see Black Bear. He had gotten the information that the other party had a rift with the Yuan family, and the other party should also be able to figure out his true strength.

After thinking about it again and again, I always feel that Black Bear is not stupid and should not put pressure on the people of Hedong.

If the people of Hedong knew about the pincer attack from the Huya Army, they would have formed an alliance with the Yuan family.

Hedong, which can send out 30,000 young and strong men, can at least gather more than 10,000 troops for the front line. Taking into account the Bingzhou soldiers, the Southern Xiongnu, Wuhuan, and the Qiang and Hu in the north who took advantage of the situation to rob, there can be at least 70,000 to 80,000 troops in total.

When such a powerful army is gathered, the people in Guanzhong who are afraid of fighting will certainly rush to surrender to avoid the war destroying their hometown.

The young Ma Chao was obsessed with analyzing the situation in his mind and found it difficult to fall asleep.

On the other side, there was also smoke rising as the black bear returned to the camp.

Before the sun rose, the Qingzhou soldiers and Gan Ning's troops broke camp one after another and began to cross the Ba River.

During the advance, Gan Ning's troops temporarily absorbed the troops of Lantian Commander Liu Xiong. After Gan Ning's streamlining, he maintained a camp of a thousand men for Liu Xiong.

Don't expect these people to charge into battle, just do some logistical work.

The people in Guanzhong, who have experienced the rebellions of Dong Zhuo, Li Jue and Guo Si, currently have a fear of war.

The strength of the various generals in Guanzhong only increased dramatically after Li Jue's death. They generally had not fought a war in recent years and were just for show.

Only Ma Teng has veteran soldiers from Liang Province. The armies of other generals, like the soldiers from Jingzhou, have not experienced the trials of large-scale battles.

The heroes in Guanzhong learned advanced tactics from Xizhou and used super-spearmen as their main force, probably because this type of armed force was not only cheap but also easy to train.

If the Han army had really used the traditional infantry style of heavy armor, powerful crossbows, and cheap bow and arrow shooting, the Guanzhong heroes and the leaders of the various Hu tribes would have gone bankrupt.

So when they crossed the Bashui River and were preparing to look for a suitable camp on the west side of Mount Li, Black Bear figured this out.

The so-called Xizhou spearmen are a method used by the poor. You are so poor, how could others attack you if you don't act arrogantly?
In my subconscious, I always imagined the Guanzhong coalition forces in later generations that forced Cao Cao to cut off his beard and abandon his robe.

It has only been three years since the disaster victims in Guanzhong returned home, and the accumulation of wealth in various parts of society is seriously insufficient. At the same time, the generals who have annexed many populations are all fat and their control over the internal population is not solid!

Perhaps an armed conflict of ordinary scale can completely wipe out a powerful general with a troupe of two or three thousand households.

Among the refugees who fled back then, those with skills were basically accepted first; among the people returning to Guanzhong now, very few have mastered manufacturing technology.

In other words, even if Guanzhong Haoshuai has iron ore resources now, he lacks craftsmen to forge armor!

It is not surprising that there has been a gap in manufacturing skills and production capacity over a period of twenty years.

It would take a few more years for the generals in Guanzhong to digest the population of their troops and accumulate enough social wealth before they could fiercely resist Cao Cao.

But now, the troops have not been able to digest all the supplies, they are poor, and they have not accumulated enough supplies for fighting, so the people in Guanzhong are far weaker than they imagined.

For example, Ma Chao's desperate posture yesterday showed that Ma Chao lacked capital and still had to rely on his personal bravery and prestige to win over and accumulate followers.

If there really were ten thousand or several thousand brave warriors, how could Ma Chao possibly go into the battlefield and fight in person?

Standing on the side, holding his lance and swinging it diagonally, thousands of knights rushed out to charge... This is the demeanor that Jin Ma Chao should have.

And Ma Chao was too polite last night.

When someone like Ma Chao tries to reason with you, it means things are not simple.

In a flash of sudden enlightenment, Black Bear felt a strong pressure coming from all directions, and a faint sense of suffocation. If the people of Hedong knew that the people of Guanzhong were so weak, would they collectively simply rely on Hebei?
If the Yuan family knew the true situation in Guanzhong, would Ma Teng return directly to Liangzhou and stay away from this meat grinder?

The people of Hedong and Guanzhong all knelt in front of the Yuan family. Given the blood feud between Yuan Tan and himself, Yuan Tan would definitely force the people of Hedong and Guanzhong to fight him to the death!
Perhaps only after the blood of the people in Guanzhong and Hedong was shed, Yuan Tan could regain his composure and think seriously about other things.

This is huge pressure, but also a great opportunity!
After realizing this, Black Bear immediately said to Gan Ning beside him: "This place is not suitable. Follow me and we will set up camp on the north side of Mount Li."

Gan Ning frowned and looked back: "Please divide the troops and set up camps to monitor the enemies in Chang'an and Xianyang."

Knowing that Gan Ning wanted to expand the surveillance and control area of ​​the camp to ensure that the subsequent teams leaving Wuguan Road could arrive at Mount Li safely.

Black Bear refused: "Once we capture Xinfeng, the generals from Guanzhong will be our allies. Zhong Yao may run away, and Ma Teng will also avoid the Bingzhou troops."

The situation changed so quickly that Gan Ning had to think for a moment before he realized what his commander Qu was going to do.

The two men reached a consensus, and after a short rest the army set out again.

Go north onto the Chidao Road and advance eastward along the Chidao Road.

The Chi Road runs parallel to the Wei River, and scouts are patrolling on the north bank.

Ma Chao rode his horse and watched with dark circles under his eyes, looking at the marching columns of hundreds of men one after another, his face distorted with anger.

It can't be concealed at all. Sometimes, an army of 6,000 is no different from an army of more than 10,000.

Not only him, but all the patrol officers on the north bank changed color and looked gloomy.

In their eyes, the troops on the South Bank Road were Yuan's loyal troops, elite troops who could bypass the Central Plains to Jingzhou and cross the Wugu Pass Road to Guanzhong!
Being on the north bank, they could still vaguely understand the approximate military strength on the south bank.

But they couldn't reach Xinfeng City. They could only vaguely see a dozen marching columns of hundreds of men in the front, while the back was obscured by dust.

The dust almost covered the sky and the sun.

The soldiers defending Xinfeng knew better that Ma Chao's 3,000 men on the north bank currently lacked boats and were unable to cross the river quickly.

Even if there are boats, they still have to go around to cross the river. Otherwise, if the shore is invaded, the disembarked troops will have no chance to form a formation and defend themselves, resulting in heavy losses.

The marching team gradually arrived at the large open field west of Xinfeng City, and the Qingzhou soldiers were lined up in a fish-scale formation of hundreds of men.

Later, Gan Ning's troops turned around and approached Mount Li. After selecting a site, they dug trenches, cut down trees, and began to set up camp.

On the top of Xinfeng City, Du Ji made a rough estimate and knew that the vanguard troops in front of him had no less than 6,000 people!

Xinfeng cannot be defended at all, and there is no need to defend it!

By the time the news here reaches Hedong, perhaps before the people of Hedong betray the court, the people of Hongnong will first welcome the governor of Hebei County and escort Zhong Yaoli out of the country.

The most terrifying thing is that Jingzhao Yin Zhang Shi was from Hedong.

If Hedong rebels collectively, what will Zhang Shi choose?
Zhang Shi had already thought of this and looked depressed.

The thoughts of these officials are really not important at this moment. What is really important are the militiamen and volunteers who participated in defending the city.

The large army that appeared outside the city had frightened the soldiers guarding the city walls.

Unfortunately, the news spread slowly. They didn't know the reputation of the Barber General, nor did they know about the battles of Bowangpo and Xiangyang.

The most important thing is that they didn't know that the soldiers lined up outside the west gate were from Qingzhou.

Precisely because they don’t know, these defensive militiamen are still standing on the city walls to protect their fragile hometown.

The soldiers in the Qingzhou square formation of a hundred men sat on the ground, and ten men were sent out at a time to fetch water from the foot of Mount Li.

The Qingzhou soldiers were generally unarmored, and many of them took the opportunity to take a quick shower before returning to their respective phalanxes of a hundred men with their water bags and weapons; followed by the next team of ten.

The discipline displayed by the Qingzhou soldiers was like a silent display of power, making Zhang Ji, Du Ji and others pale.

It lasted until about noon, when the dusty Qingzhou soldiers completed their wash.

The black bear on the chariot began to remotely control Gao Shun and four other Taoist soldiers.

Hundreds of Qingzhou soldiers began to gather together, forming four large horizontal formations in green, red, yellow and white.

There were no drums, no trumpets, and no messengers running back and forth.

All that was there were large blue, red, yellow and white flags waving pretentiously at the chariots.

In the open field, four large horizontal formations began their performance.

It’s just that there are not enough suitable Taoist soldiers now, otherwise Black Bear would have to perform Snake and Tetris for the defenders on the city!

The defenders on the city wall could see the whole picture, but Ma Chao's troops on the north bank of the Wei River could only see a general picture from the side.

His three thousand men were gathered temporarily and had not yet been tested in war.

At this moment, the officials and soldiers were standing densely on the shore, all speechless.

Could this be the style of the elite troops from the Central Plains who survived hundreds of battles?

The people in Guanzhong had also heard about the cruelty of the battlefield in the Central Plains.

At the end of the Han Dynasty, tens of thousands, seventy thousand, eighty thousand, or even hundreds of thousands of heroes killed the Yellow Turban Army along with women and children, but no one cared much.

However, in the Battle of Guandu, Cao's army killed almost all the surrendered troops, which made all parties feel terrified.

On Mount Li, Liu Xiong originally planned to supervise the work, but after standing on the high place and watching the military drill for a while, he immediately took out the hand axe he carried with him and went to cut wood.

Gan Ning was not surprised at all. He rode his horse along a ridge to search for the direction of the water veins, and looked back from time to time to watch the martial arts performances on the slope.

Standing on the top of Xinfeng City, Zhang Ji saw the expressions of the officials on his left and right and knew that the city could no longer be defended.

Zhang Shi was even more pale. After losing Xinfeng, his position as Jingzhao Yin would be over. But something happened in Hedong. Should he keep his family in Hedong or protect his family in Xudu?
Yuan Tan's envoy had visited him a long time ago, but Yuan Tan never said that such a strong detachment would appear in Wuguan Road!

Zhang Shi really couldn’t figure out whether Liu Biao was crazy!

(End of this chapter)