This guy is not Ma Chao

  Year 176.

  I clearly remember that Ma Chao was born in this year, and the legendary 18th Route Army's expedition against Dong Zhuo was around 190 AD. The Battle of Guandu seems to have taken place around 200 AD. I also remember the Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 AD very clearly. As for other major battles, their dates are not clear to me.

  It was 200 years ago, when Cao Cao's power had not yet been consolidated.

  I should be 24 years old.

  There are still 14 years left from now.

  Only 14 years old.

  Within these 14 years, Han Sui must be eliminated, Dong Zhuo and his subsequent forces in Chang'an must be defeated, the territory must be expanded to Cao Cao's rear, and he must be eliminated first. The north can also be occupied.

  I suddenly realized that Ma Chao's debut was not late after all, although it is unlikely to catch up with the eighteen vassals who attacked Dong Zhuo - a 14-year-old boy, no matter how brave he was, could not match the peak state of Lü Bu and Lü Xiaoqiang!

  However, as long as they seize the opportunity to take action, Wei's iron cavalry still has great lethality in the Central Plains. Although it is easy to listen to Yi Zhongtian's commentary on the Three Kingdoms, Teacher Yi said with disdain: "After Guo Jia's death, Cao Cao basically didn't win any battles, and at most eliminated local bandits like Ma Chao and Han Sui..."

  I checked it out at the time, and basically it was true. Lu Guanzhong went to great lengths to beautify the Five Tiger Generals, and in this small battle, he also made a big fuss. The story about Ma Chao killing Cao Cao's old thief, cutting off his hair and beard, and not being stopped by Cao Hong, and Xu Chu fighting naked against Ma Chao for hundreds of rounds, with some wins and losses, all came from Lu Guanzhong's clever brushwork. Probably the only true part was that Cao Cao used Jia Xu's strategy to drive a wedge between Ma Chao and Han Sui.

  Uh, got a bit off track. Although some people say that the Western Liang army's combat effectiveness is not great, there were also online discussions back then about how Ma Chao's troops had a strong connection to ancient Roman cavalry and their combat effectiveness was extremely powerful... it was quite shocking to read. However, the actual combat effectiveness of this army still depends on their usual training level - after all, Dong Taishi is considered an excellent representative of Western Liang's production. His subordinates were able to hold their own against the coalition forces from Central Plains - although the coalition forces were disorganized and lacked unity.

  Let's not get into the details of combat power, let's take a look at the long-term plan. According to my vague and unreliable memory, the Ma family has always been short of talent, Han Sui's subordinates have eight elite troops, and the generals at least have a name, while the Ma family, except for Pang De, is just Ma Dai who hasn't been killed, and Ma Wen this big sister simply didn't exist, but was created by Master Zhou Da in the Republic of China period.

  Moreover, the entire Western Liang region lacked talented civil officials and strategists, and had always relied on bravery to make a name for itself. The only ones who were somewhat capable were Li Ru and Jia Xu under Dong Zhuo's command. As for why Western Liang was able to repeatedly repel Shu's attacks while under Cao Wei's control, a large part of the reason was due to the help of minority ethnic groups. I know that these fearless Qiang people are very powerful, and when it comes to charging into battle, they are indeed very strong. Therefore, we must treat them well in the future...

  The number of generals is not particularly scarce for the time being. My father Ma Teng counts as one, I count as one, Pang De counts as one, and Ma Dai counts as one. Two younger brothers, Ma Xiu and Ma Tie, won't be too bad either - as their older brother, I will strive to cultivate them. My elder sister Ma Wen should also be able to lead troops out to fight. As for Pang De's older brother, Pang Tong, he has no strength to bind a chicken, so he can only be considered an intellectual hero. This is seven martial and one literary, and with average intelligence, we might barely be enough to hold our own against Han Sui in a battle of wits. However, when facing the numerous heroes of the Central Plains, we will definitely feel overwhelmed, especially when facing the talented Cao Wei army and the increasingly powerful Liu family army. Without an advisory team, we will certainly become disorganized. How I wish to snatch someone like Xun Yu or Guo Jia from Cao Cao's army - I would be overjoyed, just like Cao Cao was when Xu You came to surrender! Don't even mention letting me go barefoot to welcome them; I'd even go bare-bottomed if necessary!

  Although I'm from the 18th century, I also played Three Kingdoms games and read a bit of "Records of the Three Kingdoms" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", which I was familiar with since childhood. I have some understanding and knowledge of the history of the Three Kingdoms, but after all, only by experiencing it myself will I know: historical records are absolutely not equal to history! Nor is it a romance with personal and era-specific emotions! Who knows if this era has changed or not, otherwise my mother wouldn't have died ten years early!

  Generals, strategists, wise men, these are what I need most in the next decade! With my intelligence and military analysis capabilities, leading troops to charge forward should be possible. However, it's still very difficult for me to make rational deployments from a macro perspective on my own - after all, I'm not yet able to break free from the thinking of our new society... Ah, how I yearn for thousands of Patriot missiles right now! But I'm not some kind of god who can arrive in feudal times and silently draw out design blueprints for various mechanized products of our new society, find skilled craftsmen, build cars, tanks, and within a few years be able to command armored vehicles transporting special forces armed with AKs while reading newspapers and speaking on wireless radios... I don't have that kind of energy! All I can do is rely on my own bravery to advance in this era of cold weapons. So, I still need clever people to help me analyze, govern, and pacify the world.

  Famous wise men, the closest should be Jia Xuan and Li Ru in Chang'an? Of course, Zhang Lu's Hanzhong may also have some, but I don't know any of them, they are too unknown, so when Cao Cao led his army to conquer the west, Zhang Lu surrendered directly.

  Uh, and this Li Ru, although the intelligence in the game is generally not low, but maybe because he served Dong Zhuo, I always feel that he is not a good thing, using him will not work hard.

  Jia Xu was different, this person is considered a top strategist, when he was young, he did some odd jobs under Dong Zhuo's command. When Dong Zhuo was killed and Li Jue, Guo Si and others wanted to withdraw their troops back to their hometown, he presented a plan to Li Jue, letting the two lead the remaining troops to attack Chang'an in the west, forcing Wang Yun who had just succeeded in making trouble to death, and driving away Lü Bu who was holding Diaochan. The two occupied Chang'an and continued to support Emperor Xian.

  When Li Jue was enfeoffing his meritorious officials, Jia Xu firmly refused to make himself too powerful and later did his best to protect Emperor Xian of Han. He eventually contacted Cao Cao through various means and successfully sent the emperor out, then quietly retreated. Then he attached himself to Yuan Tan, but due to Yuan Shao's suspicion, he automatically ran to find Zhang Yang, got along well with Zhang Yang, and also worked in Zhang Yang's Wan City for several years, truly making Jia Xu famous in China.

  He persuaded Zhang Zhao to unite with Liu Biao, repeatedly repelling Cao Cao's large-scale attacks. After surrendering for the first time, he severely defeated Cao Cao and made him lose his young eldest son Cao Ang, nephew Cao Anmin, and loyal guard Dian Wei, who was praised by Cao Cao as a fierce general of ancient times.

  This battle made Cao Cao's proud and arrogant attitude disappear without a trace, and also made Jia Xu's name resound throughout the world.

  After defending against Cao Cao for several years, shortly before the Battle of Guandu, both Cao Cao and Yuan Shao extended an olive branch to Zhang Liao. Jia Xu immediately rejected Yuan Shao's envoy and persuaded Zhang Liao to surrender to Cao Cao. Cao Cao gladly accepted, and Zhang Liao was enfeoffed as a marquis while Jia Xu became one of Cao Cao's important advisors.

  Although after that, due to Cao Cao's suspicion of him, Jia Xu made fewer appearances in the Cao army, keeping a low profile, only occasionally showing his face when suggesting tactics such as using the "strategy of separation" against Ma Chao and Han Sui. Even during the dispute over who should be the crown prince between Cao Pi and Cao Zhi, he maintained a low profile - I only remember that when Cao Cao sought his opinion, he merely said: "Think about Yuan Shu's father and son." Cao Cao clapped his hands in laughter, firming up his conviction to make Cao Pi the crown prince.

  And he was well-versed in the art of hiding his light and biding his time, eventually becoming one of the few advisors who died a normal death. The final result was much better than that of Guo Jia, who died young, and Xun Yu's uncle and nephew, who were brutally killed for having different ideas from Cao Cao. If I had gotten him earlier, my life would have been worry-free!

  Jia Xian, your true master is here, right in the city of Jiuquan, Wuwei County!

  －

  Unfortunately, reality is often more cruel than dreams.

  I fantasize about a first-rate strategist like Jia Xu coming to join us, but for a long time, not even a ninth-rate general would condescend to glance at us.

  It's not that we don't value talent.

  In a chaotic world, who would not attach importance to recruiting soldiers and buying horses, as well as attracting talented people?

  Who wouldn't want all the famous scholars and brave generals to gather under their command and work for them?

  The problem is that we are too humble in our attitude and the talents can't see us - they don't even bother to give us a glance.

  Apart from these local residents, who else in the world has ever heard of the Ma family's name?

  Lao Die had also actively searched within Liangzhou before.

  For example, Zu Li's Hao Jie, Jia Yu's future service object - Zhang Xiang.

  Zuli City is a small county in the southeast corner of Wuwei County, although it belongs to Wuwei, but its location is obviously closer to Hanyang County. The Zhang family was not a small clan in Zuli, and Zhang Xiu's cousin Zhang Ji had followed Dong Zhuo into Luoyang early on. Zhang Xiu was still young, so he was recruited by the county and became a county official.

  These two years, Liangzhou has become increasingly unstable, especially after Bian Zhang and Han Sui's great rebellion. Troublemakers in various counties have taken advantage of the situation to cause chaos. In Zuili County, a group of bandits from Jincheng ambushed and killed the county magistrate Liu Xun, attempting to take over the county. However, they were later defeated by the more ruthless Zhang Hua and Huang Que, who took control of Zuili City with the help of local clan forces. The people in the clan highly praised his bravery, and Zhang Hua recruited hundreds of brave warriors from the countryside, relying on the power of the clan to control Zuili City, becoming a hero of the city.

  The old man keenly discovered Zhang Hua not far away and felt that this young man had courage, had a future, and could be reused.

  Then Old Man Zhang took up his brush with sincere emotions and respectfully invited the young Zhang Hua to come to Wu County.

  Lao Die was already the governor of Wuwei County and nominally also the direct superior of Zu Lü County, so Zhang Xiu should have come to serve him immediately after receiving the order. However, this guy directly refused the messenger sent by Lao Die.

  And then spread out paper on the spot and write a poem in response.

  The old man saw the reply letter, speechless and silent, and directly threw the bamboo slips outside the house.

  I hastily ran over to pick it up and take a look.

  "To Magistrate Ma Gong..."

  I sighed: What kind of messy title is this?

  "The descendants of Zu Lijiang, including his sons and younger brothers, all have the ambition to follow in their father's footsteps and join the army. Xiu is no exception. Xiu followed his uncle Ji to serve under Dong Gong, the governor of Hedong, who had a promising military career. Xiu also had the intention to follow him. However, General Dong was from a prominent family in Longxi, and although he was a hero of his time, he was defeated by Ma Chao, a former minister's son, and could not even protect his own wives and children. If Xiu were to follow him, how would it be different from following Pang Ling? After much consideration, the only option is to seek death. I hope you will understand this clearly."

  Zǔ Lì Zhāng Xiù dùn shǒu."

  Translation: "The ancestors are strict and Zhang Xiù bows his head."

  I know that our army will continue indefinitely without a great general.