Chapter 5 Ma Teng's Ambition (Part 2)

  The fifth watch of the second night

  ——

  "Although the enemy's troops are scattered in many places, they rely on the solidity of Chang'an City like a golden soup. With only 20,000 troops, it is really difficult for us to occupy it." Brother Pang Rou, as the only intelligent advisor, had nothing to do along the way, and could only repeatedly weigh this trip plan, always feeling that something was not right.

  "So I've been emphasizing since Longcheng that we should make good use of the secret letter sent by Dong Zhuo." Ma Teng replied quietly.

  He gave me the impression that in an instant, he became a mediocre commander with both wisdom and bravery, leaping out of his mass idol image for many years - it seems I had similar feelings once or twice before...

  "Although there is Dong Zhuo's secret letter as evidence, it is not a stable move to seize the city in front of tens of thousands of elite soldiers in Chang'an City." Pang Rou did show due caution, but he seemed to still be unclear about the necessity of this matter.

  I shook my head in place of Father: "We have no other choice, we must take down Chang'an, otherwise even if we exhaust all our strength, we can only forever shrink in Liangzhou as a group of bandits. And with Liangzhou's poverty, it is impossible to support three to five hundred thousand soldiers and horses, let alone... As long as Dong Ze is in the court, we cannot even fully grasp Liangzhou - we don't even have a foothold, how can we make progress in this world?!"

  No matter what Ma Teng has in mind, the city of Chang'an has always been our must-take place. It is not only a source of grain, soldiers and wealth but also the only way to conquer the east and south. As long as we can firmly control Chang'an, it will be a clean sweep for the 20,000 troops in our hands now... I am also willing to do so from the bottom of my heart.

  Of course, these tens of thousands of people are the old Ma family's many years of blood and sweat. More than half of them have followed Old Ma for at least five years, and they have repeatedly participated in small-scale battles against the Western Qiang and Eastern Hu outside, and against the imperial court's three auxiliary forces inside. In the surprise attack before the siege of Han Sui, they also gained some experience, although it is far from being able to be called "veterans of a hundred battles" or "seasoned fighters", but they are all old soldiers from the northwest, at least having fought and struggled on the blade for many years. Naturally, everyone likes to have fewer casualties...

  Ma Teng once again pretended to be profound, and only slightly nodded in response to the opinions I expressed, without making any further expressions, still riding alone at the front of the team.

  Cough cough, it's indeed unpredictable. Now I also hope he can think more deeply and come up with some ingenious ideas, otherwise I'll have to risk my life again.

  Here I whisper a big truth: although we comrades seem to be full of confidence, advancing with an unprecedented momentum, regarding the defenders of Chang'an as nothing but chickens and dogs, thinking that under our invincible wisdom and bravery, we will surely take them down without shedding a single drop of blood, who among us doesn't understand the significance of this battle?

  Limited by region and strength, our every battle now will be very difficult. In the Battle of Yewu, if it weren't for Han Sui's arrogance in his military power, thinking no one could match him, and he kept coming out to duel alone, but instead took a defensive stance or launched a planned attack, adopting regular long-term warfare and positional warfare, at least within three to five days we wouldn't have been able to take down his stronghold. And this time's plan to capture Chang'an City is also based on the assumption that the enemy commander has an IQ of less than zero, which is extremely risky.

  If you don't succeed, you can only become a ghost, and neither benevolence nor humanity can be achieved.

  Of course, peaceful reunification has always been the most beautiful hope in my heart, and this is also the theme of today's era...

  From Han Yang County through Fu Feng County to Chang'an, in order to coincide with the time of the uprising of the Guandong Allied Forces as much as possible, we slowed down our marching speed as much as possible. On the county roads along the way, we delayed for as long as we could, but this thousand-mile distance can only allow us to delay for half a month at most. After fifteen days, we have already entered the territory of Jingzhao Prefecture.

  Today's specific date is January 20th of the first year of Chuping.

  The old man had already sent a fast horse ahead to deliver the letter of courtesy in the city, hoping that the troops could enter the city to rest and make some adjustments.

  More than 20,000 soldiers and horses can smoothly enter the city, and the chances of controlling Chang'an will be greatly increased. Otherwise, let us take the city with empty hands, not only is it too risky, but also there is no chance of winning.

  I couldn't think of any other way, so I could only hope that the enemy general would be a big softie and agree without hesitation, then open the city gates to welcome our friendly forces.

  We watched with our own eyes as the gates of Chang'an opened and closed, closing again.

  Two columns of smoke and dust rose far away and rolled in from the west.

  The old man only sent one person to deliver the letter, it seems that the other party also responded, there might be some play, we relaxed a bit.

  The messenger's steed is already a fine horse on the prairie, but we still feel it's too slow.

  "Our general has heard that General Ma is leading his army east and has come to the west gate to greet him."

  I couldn't help but take a deep breath and say: This guy doesn't make it clear whether or not to let the troops enter the city, instead he just says he's coming to welcome us, I don't know if he's intentionally putting pressure on me.

  Then, a cavalry corps of 20,000 slowly advanced, gradually approaching the west gate of Chang'an City.

  Only two miles away, under the indication of Lao Die, the cavalry moved slower and slower, and finally formed a square array in a relatively neat manner, and stopped like this.

  The Chang'an city is right in front of us.

  The city gate made by Chen Mu emitted a series of short, muffled sounds, and then slowly opened. Two rows of cavalrymen emerged from the gate in an orderly manner, slowly spreading out to both sides.

  My breathing became somewhat rapid.

  Ma Teng raised his hand to signal the soldiers behind him to be cautious, and then he went forward alone.

  "Be careful with your words and actions, be a bit more humble." I couldn't help but remind him.

  The old man turned his head and gave me a cold look: "Who should be humble is you, isn't it, good son?"

  I was refuted by him severely, but what the old horse said made a lot of sense, so I could only nod obediently and indicate that I understood.

  The old man's face was calm and his demeanor was solemn as he walked towards a general who had come out of the city with a crowd.

  The person opposite had a slightly slender build, riding on a fine horse with an uncommon appearance, slightly unstable; but the man's face was white with short whiskers, wearing a short garment and soft armor, with a long sword flowing with tassels, which gave off a somewhat scholarly general air.

  What kind of bird is this? It actually looks quite like one.

  Is it General Dong Jue? Or is it Assistant General Li Meng? Or could it be Li Su?

  However, even in the game, I don't have much impression of the appearance of these three people. They are either rustic or lewd uncles, especially Li Su, who stands out among the many lewd and shameless generals and ministers under Dong Zhuo's power, his light is not much inferior to Huang Hao of Shu Han.

  Then I heard the commander opposite me give a clear greeting:

  "In Li Su, the commander of the city gate of Xijing, led by Dongzhi's order, came to welcome General Shoucheng - Brother Shou, who has been traveling east for a long time, and has been working hard."

  He raised his fist in a distant salute, with a full face of smiles, and an indescribable radiant kindness.

  I couldn't help but feel a chill run all over my body.