Chapter 357

Early the next morning, Liu Bian led an army of forty thousand, with Guo Jia, Lü Bu, and Chen Gong, several important civil and military officials of the court, and headed toward Wuwei Commandery.

And Jia Xu, unsurprisingly, stayed behind in Fuping City, busy with the matter of planting corn for the commoners.

And Guan Yu and Zhang Fei also set off with Liu Bian, heading toward Jincheng Commandery where the father and son Ma Teng were.

Last night, Cao Cao's battle report had also been delivered to Liu Bian. Unsurprisingly, Hanyang Commandery had already been taken by Cao Cao.

At this time, Cao Cao was leading his army toward Wudu Commandery. It was estimated that in another seven or eight days, the unification of Liangzhou could be achieved.

And at this time, Zhang Liao and Xi Zhicai's army had already taken the entire Taiyuan Commandery.

As for Shangdang Commandery to the south of Taiyuan Commandery, after Zhang Liao and Xi Zhicai discussed it, they decided to let Zhang Long lead ten thousand troops to attack it.

And he himself led fifty thousand troops to continue toward Yanmen Commandery and Dingxiang Commandery in the north.

These two commanderies were adjacent to Yunzhong Commandery, Wuyuan Commandery, and Shuofang Commandery in the north, which were occupied by the Xiongnu.

Relying on Li Su and the other four, Zhang Liao was not at ease at all. Such border strongholds required him to go personally to be at ease.

Moreover, Li Su and the other four had been forced to defend for these years, ensuring that the territory was not lost.

This was not the result he wanted. He wanted to drive the Xiongnu completely out of the Han land, not defend passively as they were now.

What was more interesting was that Niu Fu was also beheaded by Li Cheng, one of Zhang Liao's thousand-man commanders.

Back then, Zhang Liao followed Xi Zhicai's suggestion and called his subordinate Li Cheng to go and challenge Niu Fu. I didn't expect Niu Fu to really fall for it.

This was why he was beheaded on the spot by Li Cheng, who had the strength of a first-rate general.

You know, the thousand-man commanders under Zhang Liao all had the strength of first-rate generals.

And Niu Fu only had the strength of a second-rate general. Moreover, because he hadn't been on the battlefield for a long time, his strength had long been less than one-tenth of what it was.

How could he be the opponent of a thousand-man commander with the strength of a first-rate general from the Bingzhou army who had killed his way out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood!

The two fought for no more than three rounds before Niu Fu was beheaded by Li Cheng.

In an instant, without the main general sitting in command, Jinyang City, which was guarded by an army of twenty thousand, was so easily taken into Zhang Liao's hands.

Plus, Jia Xu had already arranged a large number of Shadow Guards in the city, so Zhang Liao's takeover was exceptionally smooth.

It only took two days, with the cooperation of the army in his hands and the Shadow Guards in the city, to completely take over Jinyang City.

Now, Zhang Liao had also obtained another ten thousand troops after cleaning up the twenty thousand people in Niu Fu's hands.

These ten thousand troops were broken up by Zhang Liao and rearranged into his Bingzhou army. Plus the army he brought himself, the total number of the army reached sixty thousand.

Moreover, because Liu Bian issued an imperial edict to teach the garrison troops in various places the first three layers of Martial Dao cultivation methods, now, it could be said that the army in Liu Bian's hands were all warriors.

However, these people who joined later had just started cultivating, and their cultivation was not very high.

As for Jinyang City, Zhang Liao didn't leave many people behind, just symbolically leaving two thousand troops.

He planned to transfer the main force of the army to the three northern commanderies and, in combination with the strength of Li Su and the other four, drive the Xiongnu out of the three Bingzhou commanderies in one fell swoop.

At the same time, Ma Teng arrived under the walls of Anyi City with his army.

The fall of this city would mean that the Qiang tribe in Jincheng would only have one isolated city left, Linqiang City.

Nowadays, the scale of Ma Teng's army had reached sixty thousand, which included the twenty thousand troops incorporated from Han Sui.

This huge team had flags fluttering, high morale, and showed a powerful momentum in a mighty way.

However, in sharp contrast to this, there was only an army of ten thousand guarding Anyi City.

When they saw Ma Teng's army, which was as dense as an ant colony, their hearts were filled with fear and anxiety.

At this moment, the entire Anyi City was shrouded in panic; people's faces were pale, and their eyes revealed despair and helplessness.

"What did the Great King say? When will the reinforcements arrive?"

At this time, in the City Lord's Residence, Shao Ge, the second-ranked general under Che Liji, the defender of Anyi City, was asking the soldier who had returned from Linqiang City with expectation.

Shao Ge was E He's own younger brother and the second warrior of the Qiang tribe under Che Liji.

Since receiving the news that E He and the twenty-thousand-strong Qiang army had been completely annihilated by the father and son Ma Teng.

Che Liji sent Shao Ge to lead an army of five thousand to Anyi City, totaling an army of ten thousand, wanting to block Ma Teng's footsteps.

However, he seriously underestimated the number of Ma Teng's army. He didn't expect Ma Teng to bring all sixty thousand troops.

You know, the news he received was that Ma Teng only had an army of forty thousand. He didn't expect Ma Teng to bring the twenty thousand troops incorporated from Han Sui along.

Seeing Shao Ge looking at him with expectation, the guard couldn't bear it. After a period of silence, he said with difficulty:

"General, Great King Che Liji said that he doesn't have any extra troops now. He sent Prime Minister Ya Dan to try to persuade Ma Teng to retreat, telling us to hold on until Prime Minister Ya Dan arrives."

After hearing the soldier's words, Shao Ge collapsed onto his seat.

He knew he was finished. Ma Teng was not Han Sui; it was impossible for him to agree to retreat.

Now, the only one who could save them was Prime Minister Ya Dan. It depended on whether he could persuade Ma Teng.

If Ma Teng didn't agree to retreat, then they could only surrender. After all, in his subconscious, as long as they couldn't beat the Han people, surrendering was the best choice!

"Report!"

Just as Shao Ge was still deep in thought, the sound of a soldier's anxious voice came. A Qiang soldier entered the main hall with a panicked expression.

He said to Shao Ge in terror: "General, something bad has happened. Among the Han army, a young little general has come, naming you to go out and fight."

"Let's go, follow me to take a look."

After hearing the soldier's words, Shao Ge said to the soldier with a solemn face and walked toward the city tower.

"Shao Ge, I heard you are E He's younger brother. Now, your enemy is right in front of you. How come you don't even have the courage to take revenge?"

"I heard that you are still the second warrior of the Qiang tribe. Could it be that you, the second warrior of the Qiang tribe, are a shrinking turtle?"

Before Shao Ge arrived at the city tower, he heard cursing coming from outside the city from afar.

After hearing these words, Shao Ge was almost green with anger. He, the dignified second warrior of the Qiang tribe, had never been humiliated like this.

Immediately, he walked quickly to the city tower. He saw a young and handsome young general outside the city, wearing black battle armor, holding a long spear, sitting on a black war horse.

At this time, the young man was holding a long spear, pointing the tip at the city tower, and cursing loudly at the city.