The bitter and hot air seemed to have stagnated, the fiery faces waited sadly for the wind to come, the sun shone hotly in the blue and dark sky, and the whole northwest land seemed to be shrouded in a furnace.

The weather in July is exceptionally hot, and in the last ten days, there has not been a drop of rain, the earth is cracked, and there is a drought.

Zhang Yan led a large army from Shangtai County, first meeting with the armies of Yang Qiu and Chengyi in Yuzhong City, and then joining forces in one place, along the river in the direction of Wuwei.

It was really uncomfortable to march in such a hot weather, and many of the militiamen brought by Zhang Yan suffered from heat stroke because they couldn't adapt to the weather.

In desperation, Zhang Yan had no choice but to adjust the time of the march, find a place to escape the heat during the day, and march at night with a hint of coolness.

As soon as the timing of the march was adjusted, his pros and cons immediately became apparent. The advantage is that the soldiers no longer have to brave the scorching sun and brave the scorching heat to march, but the disadvantage is that the vision is not good at night, and the march is slow.

However, most of the army were natives of Liangzhou and were very familiar with the terrain, and under their leadership, the army finally arrived in Wuwei a few days later.

When Wuwei Taishou Pang Rou learned that Zhang Yan and Ma Chao were leading the army, he hurriedly arranged a qiē and personally led his subordinate officials out of the city to greet him.

Pang Rou is Pang De's cousin, although his martial arts are not as good as Pang De, but he has made great achievements in governing the local area, although Pang De is Ma Chao's henchman, but Pang Rou does rely on his own ability to hold such an important position.

Ma Teng was too punctual for stability before, and Pang Rou was Ma Teng's right-hand man, and he first served as Ma Teng's staff. Later, he was appointed as the commander of Linjing County. Linjing County will be governed in an orderly manner.

After Ma Chao eliminated Han Sui's forces. Because Wuwei is a traffic artery in the east-west direction, after several considerations, Pang Rou was appointed as the Taishou, hoping that Pang Rou could govern Wuwei well.

After the army arrived at Guzang, the county town of Wuwei County, they temporarily stayed here for a few days, first, to wait for the two armies of Pang De and Ma Gang, who had not yet arrived, and second, to have a rest.

The next day, Pang De and Ma Gang led the army to Guzang City. Coupled with the army that arrived before, there were a total of 110,000 people, and everyone came to Guzang City with all the hard work, all running towards a common goal, that is, to expel the Xianbei people from Liangzhou.

However, this is a combined army composed of the Han army, the Ma family army, and the Qiang people, and everyone has never been in contact with it before, and the fighting methods of each army are different, and how to cooperate with each other to fight is a problem that must be solved first.

For this. Zhang Yan had to hold a meeting before the war began. Let me start with a few points.

The main body of this combined army is the Ma family army, and a total of 70,000 of the 110,000 troops are Ma Chao's subordinates. Zhang Yan has 28,000 people, and the Qiang people have 13,000 people, but because Zhang Yan is the king of Yan, a figure above 10,000 people under one person in the whole world, the commander-in-chief of this combined army naturally fell on Zhang Yan, and everyone was convinced.

The meeting was held in Chenshi, Ma Teng, Ma Chao, Ma Dai, Ma Tie, Ma Xiu, Ma Gang, Pang De, Pang Rou, Yang Fu, Wang Shuang, Yang Qiu, Cheng Yi and others all participated, and Tai Shici, Xu Chu, Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong and the six Qu Shuai of the Qiang people must also be present.

When the time came, there were no empty seats in the hall of the Taishou Mansion in Guzang City, and it was the first time that so many people were filled here, and today the person sitting in the top position was Zhang Yan, the regent of the world.

After Zhang Yan walked out of the back hall, everyone present stood up from their seats and bowed respectfully to Zhang Yan: "See His Royal Highness King Yan!" ”

"No need to be polite, sit down!" Zhang Yan said.

Everyone sat down one after another, and as soon as they sat down here, Zhang Yan said, "I called everyone here today, just to announce a few things." ”

The hall was unusually quiet, and everyone present looked at Zhang Yan intently, looking attentive, and they all listened attentively.

Zhang Yan said: "This dispatch of troops is of great significance and has a clear purpose, which is to expel the Xianbei people from Liangzhou. However, according to the information found by the scouts, the Xianbei people occupying Dunhuang are only a very small part of the Xianbei in the west, and the real army of the Xianbei in the west is in the area of Jiluo Mountain, where they live, and about 400,000 Xianbei people are stationed there, watching every move of the Han Dynasty. If we don't strike first, I'm afraid that when the Xianbei people attack, we will become very passive. ”

After a pause, Zhang Yan continued: "However, since the Xianbei people are scattered in two places, I decided to divide the army into two routes, one led by Liangzhou Mu and Zhenxi General Ma Chao, from Guzang all the way to the west, to recover Zhangye, Jiuquan, Dunhuang, and Zhangye's subordinate countries. The other army was led by the king himself, and went straight to the mountain, attacking the heartland of the Xianbei people, and dealing a heavy blow to the Xianbei people. ”

As soon as these words were spoken, many people present looked at each other, and their faces were full of worry and scruples. Because the Xianbei people are too powerful, there are 400,000 Xianbei people in the Jiluo Mountain area, and the total number of troops they sent this time is only more than 110,000 people, the Xianbei people are almost a nation of all soldiers, even excluding those women, the elderly and children, there are more than 100,000 people who can fight, and all of them are cavalry.

In the face of such a powerful army, Zhang Yan actually proposed to divide the troops into two ways, and many people were skeptical, thinking that Zhang Yan must have gone crazy.

Among them, the most worried is the Qiang people's Qu Shuai, they are not the protagonists of this war, just for the sake of face, they were sent to help Ma Chao, but at that time Ma Chao just said that he wanted to expel the Xianbei people from Liangzhou and recover Dunhuang and other lost lands, but he did not say that he would go to the heart of the Xianbei people to attack the Xianbei people.

Holding the same skeptical attitude are Ma Teng and Ma Chao, although they have long heard how powerful King Yan is, but the soldiers brought by King Yan this time have not been on the battlefield at a glance, although there are thousands of elites, but in the face of more than 100,000 Xianbei iron horses, it is not helpful at all.

Ma Chao looked like he wanted to speak and stopped, glanced at Zhang Yan, frowned, but never said it.

Seeing this, Zhang Yan said to Ma Chao: "Meng Qi, if you have any questions, just ask." ”

Ma Chao immediately spoke: "His Royal Highness King Qiqi, this time, we have a total of 110,000 coalition troops, and the number is not small, but if we want to attack Jiluo Mountain in the heart of the Xianbei people, compared with the 400,000 people there, this is much less. Moreover, this is still the number of Xianbei people gathered in the area of Jiluo Mountain, not counting the places further north of Jiluo Mountain. But at this time, His Royal Highness King Yan not only had to provoke the Xianbei people who had fallen from Jiluo Mountain, but also had to divide his troops into two ways, was it a little too hasty? ”

Ma Teng also hurriedly hugged his fists and said: "King Yan, what Meng Qi said is very true, I thought that we should go to Dunhuang together, and after expelling those Xianbei people, we will fortify them layer by layer in Dunhuang and lay heavy troops to prevent Xianbei people from coming to retaliate." Although the coalition forces are numerous, most of them are infantry, and the Xianbei people are cavalry, and if we really fight in the field, we will suffer a great loss. On the contrary, if we can defend the city, hold the pass, and rely on the strong city walls to defend against the Xianbei people, who are not good at attacking the city, if they can't attack it for a long time, they will naturally retreat on their own......"

Without waiting for Ma Teng to finish speaking, Zhang Yan said with a smile: "You don't have to worry, since this king has made such a decision, he must be sure of victory." However, to go to Jiluo Mountain, the king can only lead the cavalry, the cavalry under the king is limited, I want to borrow some horses from you for riding, as long as 10,000 war horses, the rest of the army, led by Ma Teng and Ma Chao, went to the west of Liangzhou, to recover the Dunhuang counties. ”

As soon as these words came out, it was even more surprising, everyone thought that Zhang Yan would take away more than half of the soldiers and horses, even if there were only cavalry, it should be all the cavalry, but no one thought that Zhang Yan only wanted 10,000 war horses.

Ma Teng and Ma Chao wanted to say something, but Zhang Yan preemptively said: "This matter is decided, please don't say more, if something happens, this king will bear it!" ”

At this time, Ma Teng and Ma Chao stopped talking, and the rest of the people had nothing to say. In the end, it was decided that the Qiang people would lend the 10,000 war horses.

Subsequently, Zhang Yan made a decision, he only took 13,000 people, including the 3,000 cavalry brought by Tai Shici, and the other 10,000 were selected by Xu Chu from the 20,000 militiamen who had not been on the battlefield, and the 5,000 elite soldiers sent by Niu Jin when he entered Liangzhou were left behind, and the other 10,000 troops were all subordinate to Ma Teng's subordinates, and Zhuge Liang was appointed as Ma Teng's army.

And Ma Chao led his original soldiers and horses unchanged, and the Qiang people naturally came under Ma Chao's jurisdiction.

After the meeting ended, Ma Teng, Ma Chao, Pang De, Yang Fu, Pang Rou and others all gathered together, and they didn't quite understand Zhang Yan's amazing move today, but they had to obey such an order.

The next day, Zhang Yan took 13,000 cavalry, including Xu Chu, Tai Shici, and Pang Tong, with enough dry food and water, and took the lead in leaving Guzang City.

After Ma Teng, Ma Chao and others sent Zhang Yan away, they embarked on the route to the west.

Ma Chao led Pang De, Ma Dai and 3,000 cavalry to go first, entrusted all the troops of his subordinates to his father Ma Teng, and left Guzang City.

Subsequently, Ma Teng commanded the army and marched in turn, and on the way, he was particularly puzzled by Zhang Yan's amazing moves, so he asked Zhuge Liang, who joined the army next to him, and asked: "Zhuge joined the army, and King Yan only brought 13,000 cavalry, do you really have to worry?" ”

Zhuge Liang said: "King Yan does this, naturally there is a reason for King Yan, and King Yan never fights unprepared battles, the reason why he will take so few people to attack the heart of the Xianbei people should be sure of victory." (To be continued......)