I rode and slashed unparalleled in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 929 Devastated
Hanzhong is the gateway to Yizhou. Since Su Yao is preparing to take action against Liu Yan, he naturally won't wait for his opponent to play his cards one by one.

First, when Zhang Su and others left Beijing, Su Yao immediately sent a fast horse to convey the order, transferring Ma Chao from Xiliang to lead the Qiang cavalry to the south of Wudu, rush to Yangping Pass, and cut off Hanzhong's retreat.

Many people in the court expressed concerns about this order.

The Xiliang Qiang people are unruly and difficult to tame. Both sides of the Han-Qiang war suffered a lot. Can Ma Chao be controlled just by detaining Ma Teng and others?
There are different opinions among knowledgeable people on this.

Once Ma Chao is allowed to go deep into the interior, will he be forced to form an alliance with Liu Yan and Zhang Lu?

To be honest, Su Yao also had this worry at first. After all, Ma Chao had proved himself to be a traitor in history. He was determined to rebel against Cao and killed more than 200 members of his family.

But the facts have proved that Su Yao is not Cao Cao, and Ma Chao is not really such a cold-blooded person.

The fundamental reason for the frequent attacks on Liangzhou was the conflict between the people of Guanxi and Guandong. The imperial court did not treat the people of Liangzhou as human beings, and did not give them any room for advancement. It even made them bear the heavy burden of war, which led to the situation where the people of Liangzhou united with the Qiang people and joined forces to resist the central government.

That’s right, the Xiliang Qiang Rebellion was just like the Japanese pirate rebellion in later generations. The fundamental reason why it continued was the distribution of interests. It soon evolved from the initial troublemaking by the real Qiang (real Japanese) to the situation where local Han powerful families joined forces to participate in and even dominate the chaos.

For example, Han Sui, Ma Teng and others were once court officials, quite famous in the local area, and were "recommended" by everyone during the chaos.

The warlords in Liangzhou at this time were very similar to the various Jiedushi of the Tang Dynasty in later generations. They nominally had control over their subordinates, but in reality they were just agents of the self-governance of large groups of military leaders.

Liangzhou was a base for self-governance by aristocratic families and powerful people. Ma Chao's rebellion against Cao Cao in later years was more the collective will of the warlords in Liangzhou at that time than his personal ambition.

If Cao Cao wanted to attack Hanzhong, he would naturally have to reorganize and take back the ruling power over Guanzhong that was then controlled by the warlords of Xiliang. Those people were unwilling to just go back to Liangzhou and eat dirt, so more than a dozen warlord groups scattered around the place all rebelled.

Today, that problem apparently does not exist.

Ma Chao is only 16 years old this year, and the warlords in Liang Province are not fully developed, let alone working together to break through Guanzhong and lay a great foundation.

Moreover, Su Yao's policies of reforming the system, opening up the imperial examinations, and reopening trade routes not only won over the people of Liangzhou, who had suffered from the bullying of the Guandong nobles, in a short period of time, but also caused a huge response in the local area.

Cui Lie, a famous man from Jizhou, arrived in Liangzhou under the "influence" of Su Yao and his granddaughter. He then took the trouble to frequently visit various aristocratic families and warlords' mansions in Liangzhou to preach the court's new policies.

Cui Lienai was the former prime minister and a member of a famous family in Guandong. His words obviously moved some scholars in Liangzhou.

They sent people to Beijing to learn about the imperial examinations, participated in the caravans that helped rebuild the court, witnessed the changes in the capital with their own eyes, and gradually began to look forward to the future.

The scholars of Liangzhou were like this, so the Qiang people were even more in awe of Su Yao.

Back then, Su Yao swept across the grassland, defeating both the Huns and the Qiang people, making the Qiang tribes in the north terrified. General Su Yaotian's reputation soon spread to all the tribes.

Compared with the Han aristocratic families and powerful people who have a lot of bad intentions and are calculating various interests, the Qiang people's attitude is much simpler.

The imperial court of General Tian did not assign any additional duties to them, and General Tian himself was extremely brave and powerful. So was there any need for them to think about what choice they should make?

Therefore, under these various factors, when Su Yao attacked Hanzhong, the warlords of Western Liang not only did not cause trouble, but actively sent troops, thinking whether they could achieve success and see whether the general would be as generous as the rumors said.

After receiving the order, Ma Chao quickly gathered a cavalry of 8,000 people in the name of righteousness, and marched out of Wudu along the Jinniu Road and directly attacked Yangping Pass.

At the same time, Su Yao would naturally not rely solely on the Xiliang Army.

Lu Bu, who had stationed troops in Guanzhong for a long time, also received the order and attacked almost at the same time. He led Wei Yue, Wei Xu and other generals to divide their troops into two routes and take the Baoxiade Road in Taibai Mountain and the Tangluo Road in Shouyang Mountain from Guanzhong, through the Qinling Mountains, and march south to Hanzhong.

With the three armies dispatched at the same time, the situation in Hanzhong suddenly changed.

The scouts sent by Zhang Lu brought back bad news one after another:
"Report - enemy troops spotted on Tangluo Road, flying a banner with the character 'Lü' on it!"

"Report - there is also a large army on the Baoxiadao Road, and the vanguard has reached Chiya!"

Zhang Lu's face turned pale when he heard this, and the whisk in his hand fell to the ground with a thud: "Lü Bu?! Isn't he in Guanzhong to guard against the Qiang people? How could it be..." The counselor Yan Pu said anxiously: "Master, we are now surrounded by enemies on three sides, and only the Mi Cang Mountain in the east is passable. Why don't we avoid the front line for the time being and retreat to Bazhong?"

"No!" Zhang Lu slammed the table and stood up. "Hanzhong is the foundation of our Five Pecks of Rice Sect. How can we abandon it so easily? Quickly send a fast horse to ask Liu Yan for help!"

Just when Hanzhong was in chaos, an uninvited guest quietly visited Ma Chao's military camp outside Yangping Pass.

"I am here to see you, General Ma!" The man who came was Yang Ang, a general under Zhang Lu. He knelt on one knee and clasped his fists, saying, "My father Yang Song ordered me to come here secretly, and I am willing to be your accomplice!"

Ma Chao raised his eyebrows and said, "Oh? Isn't Yang Gongcao Zhang Lu's confidant?"

Yang Ang lowered his voice and said, "Zhang Lu is mean and ungrateful, and my father has long been dissatisfied with him. Now that the heavenly troops are approaching, I am willing to surrender. I only ask..."

Ma Chao understood and took out a scroll of silk: "The general has ordered that anyone who abandons darkness and joins light will be forgiven. If they have made meritorious contributions, they will be rewarded!"

That night, Yang Ren, the guard of Yangping Pass, was patrolling the city walls when he was suddenly stabbed in the chest by his personal guards from behind. As Yang Ang opened the city gate, the Western Liang cavalry poured in like a tide, and this dangerous pass, known as "a single man guarding the pass", changed hands overnight.

When the news reached Nanzheng, Zhang Lu collapsed on his seat and murmured, "It is God's will that I am doomed."

Yan Pu urged: "Master, it's not too late to break out now! The Micang Mountain Road is still accessible, we can retreat to Ba County and join forces with Liu Yan!"

Zhang Lu sighed and was about to order a retreat when he suddenly heard the sound of drums outside the city.

The personal soldiers stumbled in and said, "It's bad! Lu Bu's vanguard has left Qinling Mountains, and the defenders of Tangluo Road are about to attack!"

It turned out that Lu Bu personally led the light cavalry, traveling day and night along the Tangluo Road, and arrived three days earlier than expected.

How could the soldiers Zhang Lu arranged to guard the valley be a match for Lu Bu?

Lü Fengxian, with one horse against a thousand, defeated the already panic-stricken Hanzhong County soldiers in one breath.

Knowing that the situation was hopeless, the local defender surrendered directly, and the gate to Hanzhong was wide open.

On the top of the city wall, Zhang Lu looked at the fleeing soldiers outside the city and the vanguard Han cavalry following them with the banner with the word Lü in it high. He suddenly smiled bitterly and said, "I have heard that only Su Yao can match Lü Bu's courage. Now I know what a Flying General is."

Yan Pu was terrified: "Master! Let's run! Once the army surrounds the city, we will have no chance at all!"

"Retreat! Retreat quickly! Abandon Hanzhong!"

Zhang Lu knew that he could no longer act on impulse, so he hurriedly ordered a retreat, hoping to escape before Lu Bu's rear troops arrived.

But he was still a step too late.

I saw another large army approaching in the morning mist in the east, and there was a big "Zhang" character hanging on their flag.

But obviously, this Zhang has nothing to do with Zhang Lu, but...

"Zhang Yide from Yan is here!"

"Zhang Lu, you thief, open the door and get killed!"

Zhang Fei, the general who had been stationed in the capital, went to Jingzhou with Zhong Yao after Liu Biao surrendered. Now, as Su Yao's fourth sharp arrow, he went westward along the Han River and completely blocked Zhang Lu's last chance of survival.

Hanzhong, collapsed.

(End of this chapter)