Can I get to the other side?.

Chapter 398 Lu Bu attacks Chang'an City at night!
After the personal guard left the military camp on Ma Chao's orders, he returned not long after and reported to Ma Chao what he had learned.

"General, I have questioned several soldiers under General Pang, and they all said that the victory at Tongguan was true. Zhang Liao and Lu Bu have already withdrawn their troops and left."

The guard told him everything.

Hearing this result, Ma Chao's frown finally relaxed a little, and the doubts in his heart were dispelled a lot.

"It seems that Lu Bu and Zhang Liao were really careless this time."

"God is helping me!"

Ma Chao muttered to himself, his eyes sparkling with excitement that he couldn't hide.

This time the imperial court came to attack him with great momentum, but ended up failing to capture Tongguan and suffered such a crushing defeat. It can only be said that even God was helping him!

The next step is to defeat Liu Bei's troops and eliminate his worries. Then, in the spring, he can join forces with Cao Cao to attack Bingzhou!

Once Bingzhou is conquered, the emperor of Yecheng will have no choice but to enfeoff him as the King of Liangzhou.

Thinking this in his heart, Ma Chao could no longer conceal the smile on his lips, and finally he couldn't help but burst into laughter.

……

the other side.

After dealing with the generals, Pang De returned to the tent to rest. As soon as he entered the tent, the deputy general came to report to him.

"General, Ma Chao just sent someone to privately inquire about our people."

The deputy general whispered.

Pang De's eyes flashed with surprise, and he immediately asked, "What's the situation? Did you let anything slip?"

The deputy general shook his head and said, "The brothers have already communicated with each other. They answered as instructed before and did not reveal any flaws."

Pang De heaved a sigh of relief after hearing this.

Sima Yi had anticipated that such a situation would happen before sending him back, so he asked him to tell his soldiers in advance how to answer if someone asked about the details of the Battle of Tongguan.

I have to say that this preparation is crucial and extremely foresighted, otherwise it would have been exposed directly.

"Ma Chao is really cautious in his actions."

Pang De sighed in his heart. He had worked for Ma Teng for many years, but even so, Ma Chao was still so wary of him.

Of course, another reason was that the lie he made up this time was too shocking. He couldn't even think of defeating Zhang Liao, Lu Bu and 100,000 Han troops head-on.

But if he didn't say that, he wouldn't be able to find a suitable reason to return to Chang'an and let Ma Chao let down his guard.

"Tell the brothers to drink less tonight and wait for dawn to follow my orders and set fire to the barracks to create chaos."

Pound gave the instructions carefully.

They planned to take action tonight after the banquet and when it was getting light. They would first set fire to the camp, and then he would order his troops to attack the central camp where Ma Chao was and capture him alive.

Zhang Liao, Lu Bu and others had already led their troops to ambush in the mountains ten miles away. As soon as they saw a fire in the camp, they would immediately launch an attack.

Success or failure depends on tonight.

……

Time passed quickly.

Night falls.

The news that Pang De defeated Zhang Liao and Lu Bu and returned with a great victory had spread among the Xiliang army, and the entire army was happy about this good news.

Ma Chao ordered rewards to the three armies to celebrate the victory together, which pushed the enthusiastic atmosphere of the great victory to its peak.

The banquet had already begun before it was completely dark, and all the generals, both big and small, in the Xiliang army attended the celebration banquet.

Ma Chao sat in the main seat, and Pang De was arranged by him to sit in the second seat next to him. This honor is not something that ordinary people can have.

However, Pound's contribution this time was so great that it was only natural for him to sit in this position, and no one would be dissatisfied.

Ma Chao's face was flushed, and he looked very high-spirited. He stood up and said with a smile: "Everyone, come and raise a toast with me to congratulate General Pang!"

"color--!"

Upon hearing this, all the generals raised their glasses and the atmosphere became lively.

Pound also stood up and returned the greeting.

After drinking a glass of wine, Ma Chao said to Pang De with emotion: "This villain Lu Bu has been holding the emperor hostage and has been rampant for a long time, but now he has been defeated by you, Ling Ming."

"This shows that Lingming, your bravery has surpassed Lu Bu. In the future, when we go east to fight against the enemy, you should be the vanguard!"

Facing Ma Chao's praise, Pang De shook his head and said, "It was just a lucky victory. If we fight head-on, I am no match for Lu Bu."

"But as long as the Major General orders me to do so, I will do my best to defeat the bandits!"

These passionate and righteous words naturally drew cheers.

Ma Chao also smiled when he heard this and said, "It's still early in the spring, so there's no rush to send troops to fight the bandits. When the time comes, I'll definitely need you, Ling Ming, to lead the troops."

"We won't talk about military matters tonight. Brothers, don't leave until you are drunk!"

As Ma Chao finished his words, the lively celebration banquet finally kicked off. The generals toasted each other, ate meat and drank wine, and were having a great time.

During this period, generals kept coming to challenge Pang De to a drinking contest.

The banquet continued like this until midnight.

Everyone was drunk, even Ma Chao was no exception. He could barely walk and had to return to the tent with the help of his personal guards to rest.

But just as the guards were about to take off his boots and help him lie down, he sat up and said drunkenly, "Get me a horse, I want to go back to the city!"

"Back to the city?"

The guards were stunned. Seeing Ma Chao's drunken appearance, they could not help but say, "Young General, you are drunk. Just rest in the camp."

"no!"

Ma Chao flatly rejected the guard's proposal, shaking his head and saying, "That old guy always said that I couldn't defeat the imperial court, and that I would definitely be defeated by Zhang Liao and Lu Bu."

"I want to show him who is the loser!"

"Bring me Zhang Liao and Lu Bu's flags!"

Under the influence of alcohol, Ma Chao's confidence was extremely inflated. He wanted to find Ma Teng immediately and throw the two military flags in front of this stubborn old guy to let him see who the winner was!
"Yes, Major General."

The guards did not dare to disobey Ma Chao's order, so they hurried to take down the two military flags hanging on the wall, then prepared the horses and accompanied Ma Chao back to Chang'an City.

……

"Wow--!"

Pang De held the spittoon and vomited violently. Only after he had vomited out all the wine and food in his stomach did he feel better.

He didn't want to drink too much tonight, but there were too many people who wanted to drink with him. If he avoided drinking, it might arouse Ma Chao's suspicion.

So I had no choice but to drink it.

Although he had a good alcohol tolerance, he still couldn't handle so much alcohol and felt dizzy.

"General." The deputy general next to him handed over a bowl of hangover soup that had been prepared long ago.

Pang De took it and drank it in one gulp. After a while, he asked, "How are the brothers doing?"

"Don't worry, General. They are all awake."

The deputy general replied that they all knew there would be an operation tonight, so they didn't drink much.

"it is good!"

Pang De was relieved. "I'll have to work harder tonight. Just hold on a little longer. We can start in two hours..."

"General! This is bad!"

As Pang De was speaking, a soldier hurried into the tent and anxiously reported to him: "Ma Chao just left the tent and went to Chang'an City!"

"what?!"

Pang De was immediately shocked. His dizzy head suddenly became clear. He asked anxiously, "Why did Ma Chao return to Chang'an? What happened?"

Read the error-free version at 69shuba! 6=9+shu_ba is the first to publish this novel.

Their plan this time was to take advantage of Ma Chao's drunkenness and capture him in the Xiliang Army camp, and then work together with Lu Bu and others to force the Xiliang Army soldiers to surrender.

The most effective way to catch a thief is to catch the leader first.

But if Ma Chao returned to Chang'an City now, all his previous plans would be in vain, let alone capturing Ma Chao alive!
"General, what should we do now? Could it be that Ma Chao discovered something? Or have we been exposed?"

The deputy general couldn't help but ask worriedly.

They only brought a battalion of troops with them on this trip. If Ma Chao discovered their plan, they would definitely not be able to walk out of the camp alive.

Pang De calmed down at this time, and said after a quick thought: "No, we are not exposed."

"If I was exposed, with Ma Chao's character, he would definitely send troops to capture me immediately, but he returned to Chang'an City. There must be other reasons."

"We can't wait until dawn, notify the brothers to take action now!"

Plans are never set in stone.

Although Pound didn't think they had been exposed, he didn't dare to take the risk. The best way was to take action now!
"Yes, General!"

The deputy general left in a hurry without saying a word.

Pang De cast his eyes towards the iron spear standing in the corner, took a deep breath, stepped forward, grabbed it in his hand, and strode out of the tent.

……

After leaving the Xiliang Army camp, Ma Chao went all the way into the city and returned to the general's mansion, then took the two flags to find Ma Teng.

Ma Teng had been fast asleep. When he heard the door being kicked open, he sat up dazedly and saw Ma Chao, who reeked of alcohol, walk in.

"Evil beast! What are you doing here again?!"

Being woken up from his sleep, Ma Teng was full of anger and started cursing.

Ma Chao sneered, threw the two military flags in front of Ma Teng, and said with a smile: "Father, look at what these are."

Ma Teng lowered his head and took a closer look, and saw two military flags with the words "Lu" and "Zhang" written on them. His face changed involuntarily.

"Where did you get this thing from?!"

Seeing Ma Teng's shocked expression, Ma Chao felt his anger disappear. He laughed and said, "Didn't my father say that I would definitely be killed by Lu Bu and Zhang Liao?"

"I'll tell you the truth! Not long ago, Ling Ming defeated Lu Bu and Zhang Liao at Tongguan, and also routed the imperial army!"

"The two were killed and their weapons and armor were abandoned. Even the military flag was seized!"

Ma Teng was shocked and his face turned pale.

He couldn't believe that what Ma Chao said was true. It was obvious that the Embroidered Uniform Envoy had already contacted Pang De and was going to cooperate with the imperial court to take Tongguan. How could this be the result?
Could it be that Pang De surrendered falsely and deceived the court?

Countless speculations and thoughts emerged in Ma Teng's mind, but no matter what, he could not accept this fact.

"Father, wait and see me capture Yecheng!"

After letting out a long sigh, Ma Chao was in a good mood. After saying this, he left the courtyard where Ma Teng was imprisoned and planned to go down to rest.

However, just as he returned to the dormitory and was about to lie down to sleep with his clothes on, he suddenly heard a voice reporting from outside.

"Major General! Something happened!"

Hearing this, Ma Chao didn't even have time to put on his clothes. He got out of bed barefoot and opened the door.

Before he could ask the soldiers outside the house, they said anxiously: "Major General, there was a fire in the barracks for some reason, and the fire spread very quickly, affecting most of the camp!"

"A fire? How could there be a fire?!"

Ma Chao was shocked when he heard this, and couldn't help but yelled: "Are the guys on duty all good-for-nothings? Go and call for help to put out the fire!"

A fire in a military camp is no small matter. What if it burns to the armory and all the weapons and armor are burned? What will he use to fight in the spring?

Just as Ma Chao returned to his room, hurriedly put on his clothes, and prepared to rush to the military camp to command the fire-fighting, another soldier came to report.

"Major General! We have discovered a large number of soldiers and horses outside Chang'an City. They are now less than ten miles away from Chang'an City and are heading straight for the city!"

The sudden news left Ma Chao stunned.

The military camp is flooded and a large number of troops are attacking?
The combination of these two words instantly changed Ma Chao's expression, and at the same time he felt a sense of horror from the bottom of his heart.

"Oops!"

A terrible guess emerged in Ma Chao's mind. As a veteran general, he knew very well that these two things were by no means a coincidence!

But he didn't have time to think about it now, so he hurriedly ordered: "Send a message to the garrison in the northern suburbs camp, and have them return to Chang'an City as soon as possible!"

"Don't put out the fire at the South Suburbs military camp. Everyone, return to the city!"

After saying that, Ma Chao bent down, grabbed a handful of snow and rubbed it on his face to sober himself up a little, then hurried to the city wall.

After climbing up the city wall, he saw a huge fire in the Xiliang army camp in the southern suburbs, and many soldiers were running to put out the fire.

At the same time, in the darkness in the distance, countless torches lit up, and a dense army came towards Chang'an City like a tide.

Although he couldn't see the enemy's flag clearly because it was too dark and the distance was too far, Ma Chao's intuition told him that this was definitely an enemy!
But where did this enemy army come from?

Suddenly, Ma Chao seemed to have thought of something. He looked in the direction where the enemy was coming from and said with a changed expression, "To the east... is Tongguan!"

There are passes everywhere around Chang'an, and this army came from the east, so it must have passed through Tongguan!
But isn’t there tens of thousands of defenders in Tongguan?
Ma Chao's mind was full of questions. He had no idea what the situation was, but he also knew that now was not the time to worry about these things, so he quickly gave orders and prepared to meet the enemy.

At this moment, among the army outside Chang'an city.

Lu Bu looked at the nearby Chang'an City, and his pair of tiger eyes reflected the flames from the Xiliang Army camp, with a hint of bloodthirstiness.

"Follow me and charge——!"

Lu Bu raised his arms and roared, holding the Fang Tian Huaji and riding the Red Hare, he took the lead and headed straight for the Xiliang Army camp!

Behind him, Zhao Yun, Gao Shun and Zhang He followed closely, and there were tens of thousands of Han cavalry!

The whole army charges!

(End of this chapter)