Chapter 10 won the Central Plains 46th section of July, Guanzhong Fengyi County, Gaoling City. In the early morning, the Xiliang army withdrew into Gaoling City to rest, in order to avoid the heart of the army being shaken, Yang Qiu, Han Yi and others decided not to mourn, and concealed the news of Han Sui's death from the soldiers of the army.

Han Yi urgently convened the generals of Xiliang to discuss the matter. Yang Qiu didn't see Ma Chao in the lobby, and sighed secretly in his heart.

Han Sui's sudden death made the situation in Western Xinjiang very complicated. In the past, all kinds of contradictions in Western Xinjiang were forcibly suppressed by Han Sui with his personal prestige and intelligence.

But now that he is gone, all the contradictions in the Western Xinjiang are immediately exposed, and with the defeat of Zheng Baiqu, the Western Xinjiang Army has fallen into an unprecedented existential crisis, and these contradictions may be intensified and erupt at any time.

As Han Sui expected, the young Han Yi not only did not do his best to unite the generals of the Xiliang tribe and boost the morale of the army at this critical juncture, so as to ensure that the Western Xinjiang army could safely, completely, and quickly withdraw to Xiliang, but instead made the contradiction between himself and Ma Chao public, and deliberately created and intensified the contradiction.

There was a reason why Han Yi couldn't wait to take Ma Chao when he was seriously injured and his strength was lost.

Han Yi was not worried that Ma Chao would dominate Xiliang, but that Ma Chao would cause trouble in Xiliang. Ma Chao now has no army, and the main force of the Xiliang Army, in addition to Yang Qiu, Cheng Yi, and Cheng Yin, who are the subordinates of the older generation of Xiliang warriors, other armies such as Zhang Ji, Liang Qing, Chen Yan, and Jiang Jian all obey Han Yi's military orders, after all, they are all Han Sui's disciples and protégés.

Ma Chao's lack of an army does not mean that Ma Chao has no strength, as long as Ma Chao returns to Western Xinjiang and Longxi, he will be able to rely on the help of the Qiang people to rebuild an army in a short period of time.

Whether Ma Chao has the ambition to dominate Xiliang, Han Yi doesn't know, but Han Yi knows that his father has promised to hand over Xijiang to Ma Chao.

If Ma Chao regains his strength and launches infighting and competes with himself for the western frontier, the western frontier is bound to be in chaos. Therefore, Han Yi believed that if the Western Liang Army could safely withdraw to Western Xinjiang, the biggest enemy would not be the Hebei army in Guanzhong, but Ma Chao and the Qiang tribes outside the Saiwai.

Solving Ma Chao first can completely remove a huge hidden danger. Yang Qiu couldn't help but want to test Han Yi, he asked softly, "Why didn't Meng Qi come?" ”

"He's injured and can't move for the time being." Han Yi said lightly,

"He has a very close relationship with many generals of the Northern Frontier Army, especially Pang De, if he wants to surrender and leaks our secrets, we will definitely be wiped out and buried in Guanzhong." Yang Qiu's expression was suddenly cold, and he said solemnly: "Meng Qi's iron cavalry has been defeated, and he has formed a deep enmity with the Northern Xinjiang Army, how can he surrender?" ”

"How do you know he's not going to surrender?" Han Yi sneered,

"Ma Chao, like his father, is a merciless and capricious villain. Is it true that Ma Teng betrayed my father and took refuge with Yuan Shao? After Yuan Shao killed Ma Teng, my father helped him send troops to take revenge, and he actually took revenge, not only assassinating my father, but also provoking internal strife in Xiliang, sending troops to attack us, and vainly trying to dominate Western Xinjiang, is it a fact? Doesn't these bloody facts still show that Ma Chao is a person? I don't want to repeat my father's mistakes, and I don't want to return to Xijiang and fight with him bloodily and bury Xijiang in vain. Yang Qiu was stunned for a long time and didn't speak for a long time.

Over the years, Ma Teng and Ma Chao father and son have indeed done a lot of things that are sorry for Han Sui and sorry for Western Xinjiang, but now the situation is different.

Now that Han Sui is dead, the vitality of the Western Xinjiang Army has been greatly damaged, and there is no one in the Western Xinjiang who can control the Western Xinjiang like Han Sui.

In today's precarious situation in Western Xinjiang, Han Sui's deathbed entrustment is very important, and he must have a deep meaning for him to let Ma Chao succeed him as the commander of the Western Liang Army.

Yang Qiu set his eyes on Cheng Yi and Cheng Yin, their faces were gloomy, pretending not to know, and they didn't say a word.

Yang Qiu sighed gloomily, walked to the side and sat down, and stopped talking. Although Han Sui entrusted the important task of assisting Ma Chao to stabilize Xiliang to the three old brothers, these three people, like other Xiliang generals, did not trust Ma Chao.

And now Ma Chao has no strength, once he says it, it will affect Han Yi's status, and Han Yi may find an excuse to kill Ma Chao.

Once the long-suppressed contradiction of the Western Liang Army erupts, the army is very likely to collapse, so the three of them have not said Han Sui's deathbed will so far.

After Han Yi and the others discussed it a little, they found that the Xiliang Army had no way to return to the Western Xinjiang safely. There was silence in the hall, and the atmosphere was oppressive and sad.

In the battle of Zheng Baiqu, the Xiliang army suffered heavy losses. Han Sui rushed to the battlefield with an army of 90,000, Gao Gan's 40,000 army was completely annihilated, and Xiliang's 50,000 army was lost in half, and now there are about 23,000 people left.

If you add the 3,000 people from Zhang Ji and Jiang Jian who came from Chang'an City, the entire army is only more than 25,000 people.

"At present, there are still 2,000 people in Chang'an City, and there are 3,000 people in Huaili and Chencang." Ling Ru wrenched his fingers and said,

"There are about 30,000 horses in the entire Guanzhong, and there are too many people and horses in the Northern Xinjiang Army, and we still haven't figured out how many Northern Xinjiang troops there are on the battlefield of Zheng Baiqu. But conservative estimates put them at least three times as many as ours, and the chances of us safely withdrawing to the western frontier are too small. ”

"Yesterday afternoon, the Northern Xinjiang Army not only surrounded Gao Gan on the right flank battlefield of Zheng Baiqu, but also wanted to annihilate us completely, and although we finally broke through, this did not affect the determination of the Northern Xinjiang Army to pursue and encircle us in Chang'an City." Ling Ru sighed,

Xu Rong's determination was too great, he wanted to decide the battle and occupy Guanzhong completely, so that he could quickly encircle Luoyang with the Northern Xinjiang Army of the Central Plains and complete the preparations for attacking Luoyang. He did it, Zheng Baiqu's battle can be said to be flawless, if we fail to break through, he can even take advantage of the situation to occupy the western frontier and completely remove our threat to Guanzhong. ”

"Although we broke through and withdrew from the Zhengbaiqu battlefield, this place is still thousands of miles away from Xiliang, and Xu Rong still has enough troops and time to encircle and annihilate us in the area of Chang'an and Huaili." Zhang Ji said very frustratedly,

"If the 30,000 army wants to safely withdraw to Xiliang, it must bring grain, grass and baggage, but our people are seriously insufficient, and the number of troops is also seriously insufficient, especially the number of iron cavalry, and the gap with the Northern Xinjiang Army is too great. In addition, the morale of the army was also extremely low, and the soldiers were physically and mentally exhausted. If we are surrounded by the iron cavalry of the northern frontier on the way to retreat, we will inevitably collapse at the first touch. Han Yi covered his face with his hands and lay on the desk, with a splitting headache and was at a loss.

After a long time, he looked up at Ling Ru and asked weakly, "How many casualties have we suffered?" How many wounded soldiers will be able to fight again? ”

"The specific number is not clear at present, and we will carefully verify it when we withdraw to Chang'an." Ling Ru said,

"Soldiers with less serious injuries need some time to recuperate, even if they can return to the battlefield. Under the current circumstances, the danger of forcibly retreating is too great, and it is better to stay in Chang'an City for the time being. The army can rest and regain its strength while waiting for the tide of battle to change. ”

"The army can't stay in Chang'an City." Zhang Ji said excitedly,

"There are too many iron cavalry in the Northern Frontier Army, and they will immediately take a shortcut to Fufeng County to cut off our retreat. The infantry army of the Northern Xinjiang Army will then also chase to Chang'an City. Gao Gan was already dead, and Yuan's army had no food and grass, so they either surrendered or collapsed, and they couldn't hold out for a day at all. We still retreated quickly, and Pegasus urgently reported to the border extension of Xiliang, asking him to bring reinforcements to meet as soon as possible. ”

"There are only 8,000 people left in Xiliang, and a large part of them are old, weak, sick and disabled, and there is an extreme shortage of food and grass, plus the Qiang people are staring at Jincheng on the north bank of the Yellow River, and they must not be mobilized." Yang Qiu was shocked, and hurriedly shook his hand to persuade,

"The army now has no strength to fight again, even if the grain and grass are discarded and the baggage is retreated quickly, the soldiers will not be able to support it, so it is better to defend Chang'an Xu Tu and his strategy."

"There are more than 1,000 miles to go home, and if you lose your grain and grass and don't want the Northern Xinjiang Army to fight, the soldiers themselves will scatter in a hurry." Cheng Yin patted the table hard and said loudly,

"Now the only way to keep the army is to defend Chang'an City and negotiate peace with the Northern Xinjiang Army quickly."

"Peace?" Liang Qing and some other Xiliang generals were like grasping a life-saving straw, and their eyes lit up. Liang Qing asked urgently: "The battle has reached this point, and the Northern Frontier Army is still willing to negotiate peace with us?" ”

"Of course." Ling Ru nodded,

"Xu Rong must be willing to negotiate peace. Before the Zheng Baiqu War, Huangfu Li stayed in Chang'an for a few months, didn't he just want to negotiate peace with us? Now they have won, but they have suffered heavy losses, and if we hold on to Chang'an and do not retreat, they will continue to fight. The longer the battle drags on, the more unfavorable it will be for Hebei. Hebei's goal in recent years is Luoyang, which is to take the Central Plains, so whether Guanzhong can quickly stabilize is very important to them. The primary condition for the stability of Guanzhong is the stability of Western Xinjiang, but Hebei does not have the strength to take care of Western Xinjiang at present, so they have always wanted to negotiate peace with us, and they want to persuade Mr. to lead the army to withdraw to Western Xinjiang to defend it. If we agree to their conditions now, return to the western frontier with the army to defend it, and immediately cede Guanzhong to them, Hebei will certainly be willing. ”

"You just said that you are waiting for the situation to change, and you are referring to peace?" Han Yi asked after a moment of silence.

"Yes, negotiating peace is the only way we can safely return to Western Xinjiang with our army at present." Ling Ru said,

"Through peace negotiations, we can continue to receive relief from Hebei, get support from all sides of Hebei, and quickly restore our strength."

"Is the Northern Frontier Army willing to negotiate peace?" Han Yi smiled bitterly,

"Now that the Northern Frontier Army has an absolute advantage, Xu Rong is even sure that he will encircle and annihilate us, will he agree to negotiate peace with us? Unless we surrender, Xu Rong will ignore us. ”

"Xu Rong will make peace with us." Ling Ru's tone was very affirmative,

"The grain and grass in Guanzhong is enough for 100,000 troops for a month, but we only have 30,000 troops now, and these grains and grass are enough for us to hold Chang'an City for two to three months. We first withdrew the army to Weishui Bridge to hold on, and after all the grain and grass hoarded in Xinfeng City was transported to Chang'an City, we withdrew into the city to confront the Northern Xinjiang Army. ”

"And then?" Han Yi asked,

"The news of my father's death was not hidden for long. With his father killed in battle, the situation in Western Xinjiang is confusing and full of dangers, and out of consideration for the safety of Guanzhong, Hebei is bound to make adjustments to its strategy in Western Xinjiang. At this time, is Xu Rong still meeting and making peace? Even if Xu Rong is willing to negotiate peace......" Han Yi pointed to his nose and said,

"But does Xu Rong believe me? If you were Xu Rong, would you believe that I forgot the revenge of killing my father, sincerely returned to Hebei, and defended the western frontier for Hebei? ”

"Obscurity is necessary, especially at this critical juncture." Ling Ru looked at Han Yi, hesitated for a long time, and stopped talking.

"If you have something to say, just say it." Han Yi Zhengse said,

"As long as we can return to the western frontier safely, we will use any means."

"What if...... The commander of the Xiliang Army is Ma Chao, and things may turn around......" Ling Ru saw Han Yi's face cold, and immediately swallowed back the words behind him.

Ma Chao is a martial artist, has a deep relationship with the Qiang people, and has a good relationship with the generals of the Xiliang tribes.

He doesn't have any strength now, and with the main force of the Xiliang Army now under the control of Han Yi, Ma Chao needs the help of Hebei if he wants to survive and re-emerge in Xiliang.

For Hebei, it is also a good choice to support Ma Chao and use Ma Chao to balance Han Yi, balance various forces in Western Xinjiang, and then quickly stabilize Western Xinjiang.

As for the hatred between Ma Chao and the Northern Frontier Army, it is actually nothing, the battlefield duel, either you die or I live, there is nothing to complain about.

On the contrary, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao used despicable means to kill Ma Teng and Ma Chao's relatives, which was the real blood feud.

If Ma Chao gains the trust of the Northern Xinjiang Army and regains his strength, he may still have the opportunity to lead the army to Luoyang.

And Ma Chao's revenge is revenge, and he is grateful to Hebei, and in turn he will be loyal to Hebei and defend the western frontier for Hebei.

Let Ma Chao be the commander of the Xiliang Army, let Ma Chao and Xu Rong negotiate peace, let Ma Chao bring the Xiliang Army back, and let Ma Chao give himself time to recover his strength and make a comeback, this is the only feasible way at present.

Han Yi thought for a while, his face gradually softened, and his gaze turned to Yang Qiu and other Xiliang veterans.

"Before Mr. died, he said to the three of us that Ma Chao would succeed him as the commander of the Xiliang Army." Yang Qiu felt that now was an opportunity, and he should tell Han Sui's dying will,

"But the three of us ......" Yang Qiu pointed at Cheng Yi and Cheng Yin, and smiled meaningfully, which meant that it was equivalent to telling Han Yi that we support you, so we concealed Mr. 's dying will.

Han Yi is most worried about the veterans of Xiliang, whether they support him to take charge of Xiliang will be directly related to his future fate.

In order to return to Xijiang safely with the army as soon as possible, he can give up the position of commander of the Xiliang Army, and he can tolerate Ma Chao's rise in Xiliang again, but Ma Chao's strength must be within his control.

And to do this, it is necessary to get the absolute loyalty of these Xiliang veterans.

"That's good." Han Yi stood up abruptly and waved his hand vigorously,

"Let's go together to meet the new commander of the Xiliang Army." On July, Guanzhong, Wannian City. In the morning, Lu Yi took Xin Bi to Wannian City to meet Taiwei Xu Rong.

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