This guy is not Ma Chao

  Five thousand iron cavalry galloped in the dark moonlight.

  These five thousand light cavalry are all the troops I had when I first took the field.

  Ma Dai by his side had already begun to tremble slightly all over.

  I know this isn't fear - what would a man of the Western Xia Ma family be afraid of?!

  This is excitement, this is agitation, this is hot blood boiling!

  It's the kind of fervent passion that surges up from a man's chest when he first really fights and kills with his own hands!

  We have arrived near Zhiyang, which is a small city. It's only 70 miles away from the seat of Jincheng Prefecture, Yunwu. Since it's convenient for Han Sui to respond to our attacks and defenses, the construction of the city walls has not been taken seriously.

  In fact, in Liangzhou, except for the Han Yang Long Cheng where the government office is located, only three cities, including Jizhou City, Wuwei City's Guzang, and Jincheng City's Yunwu, have city defenses that can be considered as city defenses. The rest of the small counties and small prefectures do not have the money to build city walls. They were all destroyed in the wars over the past hundred years, and only the residence of Yang Qiu, who was stationed here, had been slightly repaired. Even the barracks were temporary and hastily built simple tents.

  We hid in a small sparse forest, quietly watching the smoke rising from the branches of the city, waiting.

  "Big brother, you're really clever! The stirrup you made for us is much more convenient than the old broken cloth strap!" Ma Dai couldn't help but start talking nonsense as he couldn't wait any longer.

  "Be patient, we'll be on the battlefield soon." I gripped the long spear in my hand tightly and looked around at the five thousand cavalrymen behind me.

  Although I don't understand the manufacturing and invention of various light and heavy machinery, I can slightly improve the cloth strip that was originally tied to one side of the saddle. This ability is still available. In my previous life on the internet, I saw many knowledgeable online gamers arguing endlessly about whether there were stirrups during the Three Kingdoms period. Some people disdainfully said: If there were no stirrups, what did Han Dynasty's Wei Qing and Huo Qubing ride when they fought against the Xiongnu?

  I'm clear now, indeed there isn't one, at least not in my Ma family's Wuwei, only using unpleasant cloth strips to wrap around the feet. When I was young and riding a horse, it would always be bumpy, even with both hands tightly embracing the horse's neck, I still worried about falling off, let alone holding a gun and chopping people, really can't bear the suffering on the horse, so I asked Zhao Cheng to find an old blacksmith, according to my description made a stirrup, after trying it myself, feeling pretty good.

  The old man hastily equipped the entire army, although there were only more than 10,000 cavalrymen. In Xiliang, where money and people were scarce, metals like copper and iron were extremely rare. After searching for more than half a year, they finally completed the equipment six months ago. After a brief adaptation, the cavalry of Wuwei will inevitably increase their combat effectiveness by a large margin.

  Smoke is still rising everywhere, it seems that the military and civilians of Zhīyáng City have officially entered dinner time. I beckoned behind me, and the five chiliarchs are standing neatly behind me.

  "Let everyone get ready, after we finish this battle, we'll go to the city and have dinner prepared for us!" I gritted my teeth and added another sentence, "Try not to kill any civilians!"

  The five thousand men retreated, and in an instant, the entire cavalry team stood up. The eyes of all the warriors looked at me, I patted Ma Dai's shoulder: "Divide half of your troops, you go north, I'll detour from the east, don't be afraid!"

  "Understood!" Ma Dai saluted solemnly and led out 2,500 cavalrymen, forming a neat column behind him.

  "In the city, Yang Qiu's mansion is in sight!" I cupped my hands, grabbed the long spear, mounted my horse and led the remaining soldiers towards the east gate, rushing to the first real battlefield of my life.

  Right behind me, there was only the sound of horse hooves in unison, making this evening even more serene.

  As we entered the city from the east, we could already vaguely see the bonfires piled up by the soldiers in the distance. **The horses galloped a few times, and we could clearly see the panicked faces of the soldiers in the camp.

  I grasped the horse's belly, and with a long spear in my hand, I vigorously swept it through the bonfire, sending splinters of wood flying everywhere. The flames that had just been burning fiercely suddenly spread in all directions as they reached the camp tent.

  Flying horses, long guns slashing, I was dodging and weaving between the enemies that were closing in on me, striking at them with swift and precise blows. The elite cavalry behind me also dispersed, breaking into smaller units as they charged into each camp, cutting down anyone who stood in their way. In just a brief moment, the entire eastern part of the city had descended into a sea of flames and bloodshed.

  Almost two thousand soldiers in the east of the city, unexpectedly, not a few could organize some sort of resistance, but instead fled in all directions, leaving me to slaughter at will. This was so unexpected, it was beyond my previous expectations - I had thought that the Western Liang army would be fierce and formidable, but...

  I saw that the overall situation in the east of the city had been settled, and with a loud shout, I galloped away, with Zhao Cheng leading two hundred light cavalry hastily following me to Yang Qiu's mansion in the city.

  This sudden raid was absolutely unexpected, and even if Yang Qiu had been somewhat vigilant, he wouldn't have been able to organize a counterattack capable of turning the tide in such a short period of time. As for his 2,000 scattered soldiers on the east side of the city, they were now fleeing in all directions with hardly any left behind. The situation was probably no better on the north side of the city either?

  The city is small and the houses are few, and the Yang Qiu Mansion, which is the only one with a slightly larger scale in the entire Zhīyáng, is already in front of me. I was just about to let Zhao Cheng assign people to surround the mansion when several horses rushed over from afar, and the leader was none other than Ma Dai.

  Ma Dai rode up with his spear held horizontally and saluted: "Big brother, you took a detour to the east gate, yet you still arrived much earlier than little brother, impressive!"

  I also know Ma Dai's personality, doing anything more seriously and diligently than me, so he slowed down half a step, probably because he annihilated the large number of scattered soldiers in the north of the city before feeling at ease leading his troops to come, unlike me who rushed over hastily, let alone these weak and powerless scattered soldiers and heroes, annihilating them is just a trivial matter, where does it need any general!

  I just smiled secretly in my heart, and then joined forces with him to surround Yang Qiu's mansion like an iron bucket. Then, hundreds of people searched around the area the size of a palm.

  Yang Qiu, at this moment, was surrounded by his family around the table, enjoying his last dinner, only to be tied up by the guards and thrown onto the floor of his own mansion's main hall just a moment later.

  "Your Excellency, the entire Yang family has been captured, from the old to the young, including servants and slaves, totaling 36 people. It's all up to you now." Zhao Cheng reported to me while looking at the list of names from the Yang residence.

  I nodded slightly and walked towards Yang Qiu who was kneeling in the hall.

  Yang Qiu hastily lifted his head to look at me, and in those eyes, there was a mix of surprise, regret, but more than that, it was a desperate longing for survival. As I gradually approached him and stared at him, he couldn't help but blink, and his lips trembled as he said: "It's General Xia."

  I didn't remember him at all.

  He actually knows me.

  "Uncle Yang, I don't know if you still remember, that afternoon four years ago in Gucheng?" I leaned on my long spear.

  Yang Qiu's face turned slightly pale: "That... was General Han Shui's order, how could I not obey?"

  "This, I naturally know." I looked at him with a gentle gaze, "He is the first general of Xiliang, and your eight armies will certainly listen to his command."

  "Yes, yes, General Ma is wise and brilliant. I hope you will spare the life of this humble person." Yang Qiu perhaps saw my gentle expression and hastily raised his voice to beg for mercy.

  "I have no feud with General Yang, of course I wouldn't think of taking the general's life." I thought my expression must have become even more gentle, because Yang Qiu's face clearly brightened up.

  "But my father wants to kill you all!" I straightened up, releasing the upright long spear, "How can I not join in?"

  Yang Qiu's face also changed, instantly becoming as white as paper with no blood color, only slightly opening his mouth, staring blankly at me slowly pulling out the long knife from my waist and chopping towards his own head.

  Blood flies, splashing everywhere.

  My face is covered with stinky blood.

  All that could be heard in the hall was the low sobbing of women and children.

  The leaning long spear has yet to fall.

  I felt around with my hand, grabbed the long spear, and strode out of the door.