Chapter 37: A Weary Victory

  The fourth watch of New Year's Eve

  ——

  "Han Sui is dead!"

  "I've had enough!"

  "General Ma wins a great victory!"

  As soon as I returned to Dunhuang, the whole city was filled with a festive atmosphere, and some people even raised colorful flags to celebrate.

  Ma and Han have been allies for ten years, but the friction between them has never stopped. Four years ago, when Han broke into Juzhang, it was particularly severe. Since then, Ma Teng has been hiding his anger and humiliation, and the military and civilians of the entire county felt that they had lost a bit of their pride, like being one head shorter than Jin City. Now, with this victory, they can finally hold up their heads and avenge their past grievances, and everyone is delighted.

  －

  Inside the Wu Zang Taishou's mansion.

  The old man sat quietly, with a stack of letters spread out on the table in front of him.

  In the government office, it was filled with tribute from officials all over Xiliang, ranging from precious gems and rare stones to exotic beauties.

  Jincheng won the war, and in one fell swoop eliminated Han Sui and his seven generals who had occupied Xiliang for nearly ten years. At a cost of almost zero casualties, they annihilated nearly 20,000 miscellaneous soldiers and incorporated over 10,000 elite Jincheng troops, bringing their total combat strength to over 30,000.

  From then on, among the ten prefectures of Xiliang, the Ma family alone occupied Wuwei and Jincheng two prefectures. In terms of population, financial resources, and military strength, it had already become the number one family in Xiliang.

  To say that 30,000 to 40,000 troops are nothing, in our Chinese history, 30,000 soldiers and horses, to be honest, is this even an army? Just pick any dynasty with a decent scale, the central group army has millions of strong soldiers, when fighting against enemies or ordinary rebellions, it's also tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands. I'm ashamed to show you such a small number of troops.

  However, it's also rare that Liangzhou has been inhabited by both Qiang and Han people, with some counties even having more than half of the population being Qiang or Hu people. The population is not as dense as in Central Plains or Jiangnan, and there are too many ethnic minorities, so it's impossible to allow local forces to expand their troops. Therefore, these 30,000-40,000 soldiers are our most precious assets in this godforsaken place. If they all die, I won't even be able to fight a guerrilla war, let alone anything else.

  This is also one of the reasons why Ma Chao was unable to recover from his defeat at the hands of Cao Cao after the Battle of Tong Pass - it's not easy to gather tens of thousands of elite soldiers (the population of Liangzhou is only a few million, after all), and after a disastrous defeat, almost the entire army was wiped out. You can't just flee everywhere like Liu Bei did at the time, fighting one battle and then changing location: no one will follow you, and your reputation as the "Flying General" Ma Chao won't be worth anything. Although others may fear or dread you, without an army, who will take you seriously?

  Let's put these aside for now.

  "This battle was indeed beautifully fought," Old Dad twirled his three-inch short beard, looked at me and smiled, "Super's combat plan is truly perfect."

  "There's still a lot left, I thought we needed to lay in wait for a while and take care of Han Sui's reinforcements... but none of that happened, haha." I said with some embarrassment, realizing my plan wasn't thorough enough.

  "That's because the enemy is too weak, are we supposed to be blamed for killing them too quickly?"

  Pang Rou stroked his palm and laughed: "What Dài Gōngzǐ said is very true, this can't be blamed on Shǎo Jiàngjūn's plan being flawed. I must say, I'm quite impressed with Shǎo Jiàngjūn's plan."

  "What's even more surprising is Dege," I smiled slightly, looking at the silent Pang De. "With over a thousand cavalrymen rushing back and forth between two places, resolving Zhang Heng and Hou Xuan's troops with lightning speed, making it impossible for Han Xi to seek help from these two men in time, who were closest to Jincheng. This can be said to be the first achievement of this battle!"

  "Good, originally leaving a thousand cavalry, I thought it would be difficult to annihilate Han's army, but unexpectedly my nephew is so brave and has taken two camps in a row. Compared to you, your uncle's face can't hold up."

  "Uncle laughed," Pang De smiled slightly, showing his usual calmness. "Uncle and General Shao each led 5,000 soldiers to bypass Jincheng, making a long-distance raid, and their combat effectiveness must have been damaged. I just used my elite cavalry to suddenly attack the enemy's weakest two armies, how could we not win?!"

  The old man stroked his short beard again, still unable to conceal the excitement in his heart: "Good, good, if you know that your uncle is like this, then your father's spirit in heaven will finally be at peace!"

  It is said that Father, Pang De and Pang Zhuo's expressions were slightly dim, but soon returned to normal. As the elder brother, Pang Zhuo was even more emotional about his brothers' growth. The two brothers looked at each other, with warmth in their eyes.

  "Alright, everyone has been busy for the past few days, go rest now." The old man waved his hand, "Although you're all not kids anymore, your bodies will still get tired."

  "Yes, Father."

  "Yes, Uncle."

  I walked out of the hall shoulder to shoulder with Pong De, and as soon as we stepped out of the door, both of us slowed down our pace at the same time.

  "General," Pong De's low voice seemed to come from the bottom of his heart, "the thousand cavalry you left me before... was it prepared in advance?"

  I was slightly taken aback: it turned out that Pang De wasn't stupid either. Although I had snatched the vanguard title, I didn't want to leave Pang De, this tiger general, to do logistics work, so I naturally had to prepare some tasks for him.

  I smiled faintly and said in a low voice: "Heh, I just didn't expect Second Brother to complete it so perfectly, far exceeding my previous expectations."

  Pang De nodded slightly and walked silently for over a dozen steps until he exited through the side gate of the courtyard.

  "Is that so," he suddenly paused again, and in a low voice with his back to me said, "thank you." Then pushed open the side door and walked out in big strides.

  It seems that in this battle of Jin City, both Pang Rou and Pang De have gained a whole new understanding of my abilities.

  I am no longer the arrogant and reckless Ma family's eldest son from four years ago, but a young commander with the courage to urge his father and sworn brothers to tear their faces apart and go to war, with the audacity to lead his troops in a surprise attack on Jin City, and with the ability to challenge the number one swordsman of Xi Liang. Although my thoughts are not yet mature and meticulous, at this age and in this era, I am already a rare talent among the phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.

  But how long can I be proud?

  I don't have the qualifications to be proud of myself.

  The so-called talented young man of Western Liang, to be honest, can he really be considered a talented young man?

  Of course, in the vast land of China in past lives, regional differences and discrimination still exist, but they are far less than they were nearly two thousand years ago.

  Whoever thinks they can look down on the scholars of Xiliang and proudly raise their head in front of the wise men of the world will absolutely be collectively despised or directly surrounded, called out to bring out the whole family to see the dawn or Martian thinking.

  Xi Liang is an extreme place.

  Another extreme enemy is Zhongyuan.

  It's a place where talented people aren't treated as such.

  Talents are everywhere, and you can pick them up with just one hand!

  As for the talents of Eastern Wu and Shu, although there were also famous families throughout the ages, compared to the Central Plains region where talents were abundant and crowded, with people standing shoulder to shoulder and clouds gathering like a rainbow, they were far inferior.

  Of course, compared to our haunted place, it's also enviable to death.

  The gap is too big for two vassals of equal status.

  Look at the Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, four generations of three nobles, born into a famous family, with a large number of followers by their side. Tian Feng, Guo Tu, Shen Pei, and Ju Shou represent the literary ministers, while Yan Liang, Wen Chou, Zhang He, and Gao Lan are models of martial generals. This is called a luxurious lineup! At that time, Cao Cao's subordinates were still few in number, and his main strategists, such as Xun Yu and Guo Jia, who had fled from Yuan Shao's side, including Xu You, who would later flee the battlefield, were all from Yuan Shao's side. The richness of their talent is self-evident.

  Yuan Shu may be inferior, but he also has a group of people supporting him. Otherwise, when he usurps the throne and claims to be emperor in the future, where will his civil and military officials come from?

  The only one who can barely compare to me is probably Liu Bei, who has just started his career... With Guan Yu and Zhang Fei added, maybe Jian Yong and Sun Qian also came, Zhao Yun should not have officially surrendered yet, it's still relatively rare. But my old man is now dominating a state - although this state is one of the most dilapidated states in the Great Han - while he, Liu Bei, is just a county magistrate! Damn it, there's no such thing as humiliating people like this.

  Others like Liu Biao, Sun Jian and Gong Sun Zan are not even worth mentioning. They all seem to be better than my family. If we can't even compare with them, then let's disband and go home to hug our wives and children.

  The Central Plains are in great chaos, and the common people cannot bear the pain. Those who can escape have fled to Jingzhou, and a small number have gone to Yizhou and Yangzhou. Although the south is also filled with smoke and fire everywhere, Liu Biao's defense of Jingzhou is solid, and it can be said that he allows the common people to live in peace. As for Yangzhou, the Sun family is currently participating in the allied forces besieging Dong Zhuo, and Sun Jian, that old fool, has been fighting all over the place and has never formally established a base. It seems that Yangzhou should be under the control of several local emperors such as Liu Yu and Yan Baihu. As for Yizhou, although it is surrounded by mountains, the new governor Liu Yan has governed well, and it can be said that the state is peaceful and the people are at peace.

  Damn it, why doesn't anyone come to our Liangzhou! It's so peaceful here!

  I let out a deep sigh: I've been working too hard lately, first go take a bath...