Chapter 1144 Expected and Unexpected


    "I heard that General Han has returned to Jincheng?" Xia Mu looked at Ma Chao, and there were several gurgling sounds in his throat, as if a mouthful of thick phlegm was crawling up and down in it. He coughed, cleared his throat, and then said , "Why didn''t my nephew come with you? Jincheng has a lot to do with it, but nothing can be lost..."


    Ma Chao smiled, ignored Xia Mou''s topic about Jincheng, and said, "General Xia, haha... do you think that the Chong family has nothing to do with it now, so...haha, I wish Uncle XX could leave, I can''t wait. Even I left, and left these Qiang people just to gather them in their hands?"


    "This..." Xia Mou resolutely shook his head and said, "Nephew, how can you think that way? A certain has been an official for many years, and he does not seek glory and wealth, high power and position, but seeks the peace of his hometown and the well-being of the people... The war is also to shut down the disputes and return to unity, so that the people can rest and recuperate... The matter of Jincheng is also unexpected... What''s more, General Han is also a friend. How can a certain be greedy for friendship and ruin his reputation? Nephew, worry too much!"


    Ma Chao heyed, noncommittal, and then said: "Okay, then please General Xia to arrange money and food, and I will transport it away immediately, so as not to disturb General Xia''s cleanliness!"


    Ma Chao didn''t believe a word of Xia Mou''s words.


    When I caught those Qiang people with unclean hands and feet before, if they were wronged, most of them would jump and scream, and they didn''t speak much. Yes, but it is often a long-winded speech, because these hands-on people, I am afraid that they have thought a lot before and after, including those excuses to excuse themselves.


    In this way, isn''t Xia Mou in front of you very similar to those guys who do things?


    Xia Mou seemed to have said too much at once before, feeling a little unwell, and snorted twice in his throat, as if thick phlegm was gushing up again, but this time it didn''t go down so smoothly, coughing for a long time, and then After panting for a while, he said, "Ahem... ah, nephew, what did you just say?"


    "Food and grass!" Ma Chao glanced at Xia Mou, and threw out only two words stiffly.


    "Ah, food and grass, it''s easy to say... easy to say... small things, small things, should, should..." Xia Mou said with a smile, and then ordered, "Come on, um, go to the back camp to check, give Ma Xiao The general dispatched some food and grass..."


    Xia Mou''s guard outside the tent responded, and then turned back not long after, reporting: "General Qi, there is no more food in the rear camp!"


    "What?!" Xia Mou slapped the table, with seven emotions on his face, "Why is there no food in storage?!"


    "This... General Qi, a few days ago, the Baima Qiang and Qingyi Qiang transported a batch," the guard reported, "yesterday the Yak Qiang also pulled three carts away, which is the last remaining food...so..."


    Xia Mou slapped the table angrily, and said, "Damn it, since there is no more food left, why didn''t you report it in advance! Prepare in advance! General Ma came here temporarily to pick up food, why should I call you guys?" Greeting failed? Come, pull me down, and punish me heavily!"


    The guard was silent, and was dragged away by several soldiers who rushed in without saying a word.


    Xia Mou breathed heavily, and there was a gurgling sound in his throat, then stopped, and said with a smile: "Little General Ma, if this is not the case, I will immediately send someone to go to another place to bring some food and grass... When the food and grass arrive, How about sending someone to inform the little general?"


    Xia Mou had no intention of giving food to Ma Chao, and all the current behaviors were just performances.


    As soon as Han Sui left, Xia Mou put the calculations on Ma Chao.


    Without food and grass, let’s see how you, Ma Chao, can hold the Qiang people together?


    The reason is very simple, Ma Chao is good-looking, well, the above one is not important, the important thing is that Ma Chao is young, young means that he does not have much experience, so he is easy to teach, well, it seems that something weird has mixed in, forget it, whatever Anyway, Xia Mou thinks that as long as you hold Ma Chao, if you want to make it round, you can make it round, and if you want to make it grow, you can make it grow...


    But what Xia Mou didn''t expect was that young people, although inexperienced, had drive.


    Ma Chao was silent for a while, then stood up, grinning and arching his hands, and said, "Alright, this will bother General Xia..."


    "Haha, it''s easy to say... easy to say..." Xia Mou smiled and called out quite proudly, "Come here, send the little general Ma..."


    Before the words were finished, Ma Chao leaned forward with a "huh", pulled out Xia Mou''s guard''s saber with a bang, and chopped down the hapless guard with a single blow, and then he jumped. He rushed to the front of Xia Mou!


    "Bold, bold!" Xia Mou experienced a short period of panic, and his years of military service quickly calmed him down, and he shouted loudly, trying to delay time and weaken Ma Chao''s killing intent on the one hand, " General Ma, you need to know..."


    "I don''t want to know!" Ma Chao, who was at the end of the second year of secondary school, often passed his hands and feet over his brain when no one could restrain him, and only after he passed the knife straight across Xia Mou''s neck did he continue this sentence.


    Xia Mou covered his neck with one hand, as if trying to seal the wound in vain, blood spurted out, forming a hissing sound like a snake in the trachea, Radha''s eyelids, which seemed to never be fully opened, finally stared Round, full of horror and disbelief, he slightly raised his finger and pointed at Ma Chao, as if begging or cursing, finally trembled twice, and fell to the ground slumped.


    Ma Chao hacked down several of Xia Mou''s guards who were trying to take revenge at close quarters, then stepped on Xia Mou''s body, knocked off Xia Mou''s helmet, grabbed Xia Mou''s gray hair, and took the knife Luo, beheaded Xia Mou''s head.


    The blood that hadn''t dried up splashed everywhere, and also splashed on Ma Chao''s body and fair face, and a few drops of blood happened to splash on Ma Chao''s mouth.


    Ma Chao stuck out his tongue, licked it subconsciously, and then spat it out in a mouthful, "It stinks to death!" Then he never looked at Xia Mou''s corpse again, and just held the blood-stained saber in one hand and grasped it with the other. Xia Mou died without closing his eyes, and got out of the tent.


    Outside the camp, Xia Mou''s guards and the people brought by Ma Chao were already fighting together. Ma Chao didn''t talk nonsense, he raised Xia Mou''s head high, and shouted: "The old thief wants to annex the soldiers and horses, and harm the soldiers." Virtuous, already punished!"


    There was a sound of "boom", as if a scoop of cold water was suddenly poured into a boiling hot oil pan, and the entire Xia Mou''s camp suddenly exploded...


    ………………


    Han Sui didn''t know what kind of demon moth Ma Chao would create once he left. In his heart, the foundation of Jincheng came first.


    Han Sui is not young anymore, and his natural way of thinking and focus are different from those of young people, which is normal.


    In the Han Dynasty, ordinary people died silently due to various problems when they were 40 or 50 years old. If they lived to 60 years old, they were already called longevity. If they reached 70 years old, Basically, even if the name of Xiangrui is given...


    Even in future generations, if the braided country invites old people over 70 years old to have a meal, it will be regarded as a gift for the country''s auspiciousness.


    Therefore, the focus of Han Sui''s current behavior has changed from the entrepreneurial thinking mode to the entrepreneurial thinking mode, which is a reasonable thing. After all, no one can do what Liu Bei did. At the age of 40 or 50, the ambition of starting a business is still untouched. Attenuation by half. Of course, Liu Bei did start a business many times in the first half of his life, but in the end there was only "creation" and no "business".


    Jincheng has a foundation, a family, and more importantly, Han Sui''s children, the heirs of the family, how can there be any loss?


    Han Sui was a little anxious because of this, and he was in a hurry.


    If you want to go from Guanzhong to Longyou, you have to cross the Longshan Mountains, which are almost north-south. As for the Longshan mountain range, there are only five passages that can communicate east and west since ancient times.


    The first is Wating Road;


    Wating Road and Jitou Road are located in the north, at the northern end of Longshan Mountain. For Han Sui, it is impossible to look far away and go around a big circle before returning home. Therefore, basically speaking, these two mountain roads are not the best for marching. the way.


    The Chencang ancient road existed as early as the former Qin Dynasty, but this road is not a pure mountain road, but mostly a plank road. As for the so-called plank road, it is inevitable that there are some difficulties for people to pass, let alone horses. Although I don’t know if it was Han Sui’s ancestor, Han Xin, who used it when he captured Guanzhong, but it has been in disrepair for a long time now. , without large-scale repairs, it is difficult to pass, so for a person like Han Sui who leads a large number of cavalry, he really does not have the time to take the old road of Chencang and be a pioneer in road construction, nor is he full of fearless revolution. consciousness.


    And Guanlong Road, that is, Longdao Road.


    Logically speaking, this road should be the most straight line, that is, the closest one, but the problem is that because of the Han Dynasty''s policy of gradually abandoning the Western Regions and the Western Qiang campaign for many years, this road can let the cavalry A passage that is too convenient to travel is extremely dangerous for most of the Guanzhong area that is on the defensive. Therefore, this mountain road has been gradually abandoned intentionally or unintentionally.


    More than ten years have passed, and the Guanlong Road covered by weeds and collapsed mud has become a road only for small-scale merchants or infantry, and if you want to carry out large-scale marches, you can only It is a detour on Fanxu Road, which is a little north of Guanlong Road.


    This Fanxu Dao, compared to Chen Cang Dao, is considered a fresh meat. After Wang Mang, the world was in turmoil, with heroes vying for the throne, Kai Xiao occupied Longyou, Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu sent people to fight, but was blocked by Kai Xiao in Longguan, unable to advance an inch, and then returned in a big defeat.


    Later, the general of Emperor Guangwu''s subordinates searched in many ways, and finally discovered a new road, that is, Fanxu Road, and opened up mountains and forests. Taking this road, he directly attacked and captured Lueyang, an important town on the Guanlong Ancient Road. Frightened, the commander-in-chief army besieged Lueyang, and at the same time sent his men to block Longguan, Jitou Mountain, Fanxukou, and Wating, trying to block all the key points of Longshan, but failed in the end. Already...


    So it seems that there are five passages, but in fact there is only one Fanxu Road, which can accommodate the army to pass quickly. As the cavalry commander who has traveled between Xiliang and Guanzhong many times, Han Sui naturally knew this, so he led the army directly. Ben Fan must come.


    Of course, and near this Fanxu Road, there is a place name that many people in later generations are familiar with, Jieting.


    To the east of Jieting is the crossing of Fanxu Road, which has always been the main point of contention. In the original place of Jieting, there was a small city used to garrison troops at the earliest time, but it was also because the center of gravity of the Han Dynasty shifted from Chang''an to Luoyang. Therefore, some of the original military defenses around Guanzhong are no longer so important. Even Xiaoguan has been abandoned, not to mention the Xiaobing City on the Jieting side?


    Therefore, this small town gradually became deserted, only occasionally merchants or horse thieves would visit it for a few days and regard it as a temporary stop.


    Han Sui arrived at the crossing of Fanxu Road, pulled back his horse, and dispatched scouts to investigate into the mountain road.


    Although he walked eagerly, Han Sui did not forget some basic movements, especially in such a critical position, even if he was walking with his eyes closed before, he would have to open his eyes and check carefully when he got here, otherwise The dense bones under the cover of the yellow dust on the mountain road are enough to tell these latecomers what happened to those careless merchants or military troops.


    Normally, there wouldn''t be any ambushes here, and there wouldn''t be that blind horse thief who would dare to provoke a large army. Moreover, Han Sui had just brought his troops from Longyou to Guanzhong before, and all the way It was also safe and nothing was found, but Han Sui still sent his men to investigate just in case.


    The wind and sand fluttered and stirred in the Fanxu Mountain Road, blocking all peeping eyes. The scouts were like a few birds flying into the clouds. After shaking a few times, their figures disappeared in the yellow sand .


    The wind gradually picked up, whistling, swirling through the mountain path, rolled up the yellow dust on the ground, hugged them, and danced cheerfully to the sky together, just like the yellow dust that they thought could ascend to the sky At this time, these winds let go, then turned around and left with a roar, leaving only Huang Chen stretching out his hand helplessly, and fell back to the ground again, falling to pieces...


    Want to go to the sky?


    Beautiful thinking...


    The sky can only be the territory of Fengyun, and has nothing to do with yellow dust.


    It''s like Jincheng can only be Han Sui''s territory, and other people are not allowed to get involved. Whoever dares to get involved without authorization, Han Sui will have his body smashed to pieces!


    Among the yellow sand, several scouts came back and reported that everything inside and outside the mountain road was normal, and no signs of people were found.


    Han Sui nodded, then waved his hand, and amidst people shouting and neighing, he ordered the front soldiers and horses to step into the Fanxu Mountain Road and march westward. Although the Fanxu Mountain Road has been expanded several times, it is still a mountain road after all, not as spacious as the Guanzhong Plain, and there is a difference of several hundred meters in altitude from Guanzhong to the Longyou Plateau, so it is not possible for a group of people to rush in. It can only be done in divisions.


    Not long after Han Sui''s headquarters entered the mountain road, he suddenly heard a thunderous sound of horseshoes, colliding back and forth between the mountain roads, causing Han Sui to be unable to tell for a while whether the sound was in the east. Still to the west!


    The sound of rumbling horseshoes resounded throughout the world, and Han Sui was shocked to rein in the horse and go around a few times, trying to identify the source of the sound...


    "It''s not good! It''s not good!"


    A soldier ran over with a disheveled face, and shouted in a panic, "General, I don''t know where soldiers and horses are coming from, and they are attacking us!"


    "What?!" Han Sui grabbed the soldier with his hands and shouted, "Where is it? At the crossing or at the street pavilion? How many people are there?"


    But it never occurred to the soldiers to point their fingers at the way they came from, and shouted: "It''s not the street pavilion, nor in front, but behind us!"


    How could it be in the back? !


    (end of this chapter)