Chapter 21: Being Set Up

  Ma Teng led his main force of over 5,000 men, claiming to be 10,000, to attack southern Hebei. Before the troops departed, Ma Teng had already learned that Ye Yuanqi's elite soldiers were guarding Huangzhou County.

  Ma Teng thought that if he were to attack with labor and leisure, even though he had 5,000 men and horses, he wouldn't have to fear Ye Xuan, the newcomer. However, it wasn't a wise move after all. After all, no matter what, Ye Xuan was also a descendant of the Ye family. He could stir up trouble in southern Hebei as soon as he arrived, and even pulled out Ma Teng's three spies by the roots. This showed that this little devil was not simple at all, definitely not an ordinary person. If given more time, it might not be easy to take him down.

  Ma Teng secretly harbored hatred, thinking to himself: Why are all the people under his command useless? If those three didn't take advantage of the situation to finish off the Ye family army, at least they could have held on for a while. Taking down southern Hebei would be an easy task! Now look what's happened - they've been completely defeated by that kid Ye Xuan in one fell swoop, which is why he's become so powerful so quickly!

  Ma Teng couldn't help but sigh, as if he had made up his mind. He thought to himself: No matter what the cost, I must capture that little Ye boy. With him in hand, the world will be mine for the taking. But if it doesn't work out, don't blame me for being ruthless! Hmph, since I, Ma Teng, can't have him, then no one else should either...

  After thinking about these things, Ma Teng's goal was Jiangwang Town, the central town in southern Hebei Province, rather than Huangzhou County. He could ignore the Ye family army.

  Ma Teng, with his cunning and deceitful nature, immediately ordered the troops to march towards Huangzhou County, over a hundred miles away in the north of Hebei Province, which belonged to the territory of Huang Yueying, from the northern part of Jiangwang Town.

  Upon hearing this news, Ma Teng's subordinates were shocked and hastily advised him: "Sir, this is the territory of the Golden Haired Yellow Crane, Huang He. We don't need to provoke him when we're about to attack the Ye Family Army!"

  After listening to these words of advice, Ma Teng sneered and replied: "Really a group of narrow-minded people, just relying on Huang He's superficially powerful but actually useless self-dare to take action against me. To be honest with you, as long as we don't make trouble in his territory, he'll think like a dog and be very loyal to you if you give him some benefits later. This bootlicker won't offend anyone unless absolutely necessary!"

  Ma Teng brought his troops into Huang Yueying's territory without hesitation...

  As Ma Teng said, after giving him some money, Huang He really didn't say a word, as if he had never come to Ma Teng's place at all, which made everyone admire him endlessly.

  At the same time, Ma Teng was not idle. After entering the territory of Huang He, a golden-haired dog, he led his army to attack southern Hebei Province. Due to the insufficient defensive forces of the Ye family in this area, Ma Teng's army broke through easily after entering the border and successively captured the five county towns of Zanhuang County, Wujie County, Pingyang County, Yuanshi County, and Zhao County north of Jiangwang Town, with their military might almost reaching Jiangwang Town.

  Ma Teng knew that as long as he took one step forward, he could take down the central part of southern Hebei. At that time, after losing their base, this would be a huge blow to the morale of the Ye family army.

  Unfortunately, just as Hebei's southern region was about to fall into Ma Teng's hands, an army blocked his way. This was the Ye family army, which had hastily withdrawn after Ye Xuan discovered Ma Teng's intentions, rendering it impossible for him to advance any further.

  At first, Ye Xuan didn't believe it when he heard that Ma Teng had come from Huang Mao's dog Huang He's territory to beat him up. At the beginning, Ye Xuan still didn't believe it, who would be so stupid, actually this can't blame Ye Xuan, after all in Ye Xuan's eyes those who can mix with Huang He should at least be considered a character, how could he tolerate such a thing happening.

  However, Ye Xuan also left a trick, on the one hand sending someone to verify the accuracy of this information, and on the other hand also sending someone to inquire about Huang Maoquan's life experience. But after hearing this, Ye Xuan thought it was bad, he had actually committed a great taboo, originally being too concerned with Ma Teng, ignoring Huang He was fundamentally an error.

  For Huang He, Ye Xuan's evaluation of him was: "the vessel is too small!"

  Huang He originally started a rebellion in Pingxiang County, northern Hebei Province. He was a private salt merchant and many of his brothers were also involved in this line of work. Since he did not belong to the peasant rebel army, he did not suffer too much.

  Two years after Huang He's uprising, he successively captured several county towns and soon unified the northern part of Hebei.

  However, from then on, Huang He's heroic deeds came to an end. Huang He had thoroughly changed; he, who used to do small business, suddenly had such a large territory and a loud name, and no longer had to sell private salt. He had a house, a car, food to eat, and women to sleep with. At this time, Huang He was very satisfied and didn't have any intention of going out to fight at all.

  However, Huang He is indeed a good man, and he was born to be taciturn, generous to others, and has reduced many taxes. He often opens granaries to provide relief, and his reputation in northern Hebei is no less than that of Ye Xuan in southern Hebei. The common people have also built temples for him.

  However, his excessive leniency and lack of decisiveness also made him completely disregarded by Ma Teng and others, who believed that he could not become a powerful warlord, but only a heroic general.

  Ye Xuan listened to these materials and suddenly understood Ma Teng's meaning, breaking out in a cold sweat. After his own intelligence officer returned to confirm his thoughts, he couldn't help but secretly scold himself for being foolish. He immediately withdrew his troops to prepare for a showdown with Ma Teng's army. The only thing that could comfort Ye Xuan at this time was that Zhuge Yu and Chen Fei were guarding the main camp in his place. Of course, this was also the only thing that made Ye Xuan feel slightly at ease.

  However, Ye Xuan was still secretly worried in his heart. His forces were still too small, and without the natural barrier of Huangzhou County, the original strategy and ambush plan had been scrapped. How could he fight against Ma Teng's forces, which were five times larger than his own? Had he been wrong to insist on taking the elite route all along?

  During the retreat, Ye Xuan touched his chin and remained silent for a long time... The depressed Ye Xuan picked up the map again, hoping to come up with a useful strategy.

  However, on the way of retreating, Ye Xuan couldn't think of any solution. But when he arrived at the battlefield chosen by Ma Teng for him, he couldn't help but take a cold breath and then laughed: "Hehe, this old man Ma Teng has a flaw in his hundred moves, giving General a perfect ambush location!"