The Three Kingdoms Fight for the Deer

Chapter 455 Guiding the maze
Ma Tie said unconvinced: "Hmph, that's just your luck."

"Third brother, don't talk nonsense, let General Li explain to us." Matthew seemed to realize that Li Yuan was going to give them advice, so his tone became humble, and he told Ma Tie not to rush Li Yuan again.Ma Chao was silent, but he looked at Li Yuan curiously, obviously wanting to know the answer.

Seeing the curious eyes of Ma Chao and Ma Xiu, Li Yuan knew that he had successfully attracted their interest and finally had a topic to discuss together. He said: "As we all know, Xiliang is a barren land where animal husbandry is the main thing. , and often fought against the Xiongnu, so the population is small, not as outstanding as the Central Plains.”

Hearing this, Ma Tie said angrily: "I thought you were going to say something big, but it turned out that it was just talking about people who hurt us in Xiliang. I don't care if I don't listen to such words." Ma Chao and Ma Xiu also showed slight anger.

"Three generals, don't be anxious. What I just said is the disadvantages of Xiliang, but the advantages are also obvious. That is, the people of Xiliang are tough, and most of them are taller than the people of the Central Plains. Because they have been fighting the Huns all year round, they also produce Good horses, so the Xiliang army has always been braver than the soldiers in the Central Plains, and this is your advantage."

The three of Ma Chao felt a little more comfortable after hearing the praise. Ma Chao also felt humbled once and asked, "Then what you said just now is the reason why we can't expand outward?"

"There are three main reasons. The first is that the geographical location is not good. Because you are close to the border, you often resist the invasion of the Huns. This consumes a lot of your military and material resources, which makes you unable to expand outward; secondly, most of the Xiliang people There are very few generals who are brave and ruthless, and are good at using tactics. They do not have a long-term strategy for future development. This is your mistake; the last point is that Cao Cao occupied Tongguan. Iron cavalry is famous all over the world, but Tongguan is the most powerful pass in the world. If you want to enter the pass, you must first attack Tongguan. Xiliang iron cavalry will not play much role in attacking the pass, so even if you have enough troops, you may not be able to break through Cao Cao's defense .”

Li Yuan talked eloquently and analyzed the reasons why the Ma family has been unable to expand outwards for the three brothers Ma Chao. After listening to it, the three of them bowed their heads in thought and felt that what Li Yuan said was very reasonable. Let's not talk about the second point and the first point Three points, just the first point is enough to prove Li Yuan's understanding of Xiliang. Their Ma family has guarded Xiliang for generations, and has made countless contributions to the Han Dynasty's resistance to alien invasion. This was a very glorious thing in the past, but now It has become an era of heroes fighting for hegemony, but it has become their burden.

Ma Tie had a different opinion and said, "Hmph, even if we can't break through Tongguan, we can still attack Xichuan. Xichuan Liu Zhang is a weak and incompetent man. With the bravery of our Xiliang iron cavalry, we can easily defeat him."

"Hahahahaha." Li Yuan suddenly couldn't help laughing out loud, the laughter was quite ironic.

"Li Yuan, what are you laughing at!?" Ma Tie couldn't help being angry again, even he didn't know why he always looked down on Li Yuan.

"I was wondering what you Xiliang people rely on the most?" Li Yuan didn't answer Ma Tie's question, but asked instead.

Ma Tie replied without hesitation: "That is the invincible Xiliang cavalry."

"That's why I think it's funny. You Xiliang people rely on Xiliang cavalry the most. However, you know that Xichuan is mostly mountain roads, steep and difficult to navigate. There are so many mountains and mountains that people can't count them. Some cliffs can't even be climbed by people, let alone horses. Wouldn’t it be good to send your Xiliang iron cavalry to fight in the mountains?” Li Yuan couldn’t help laughing, thinking that Ma Tie might be too young to go to places other than Xiliang, so he didn’t care about Xichuan at all. do not understand.

"This..." Ma Tie looked at Ma Chao and Ma Xiu, "Big brother and second brother, is what Li Yuan said true?"

Ma Chao nodded slightly, indicating that what Li Yuan said was true. Although Li Yuan's laughter was ironic, he was absolutely right. The reason why they never mobilized troops against Xichuan was because Xichuan was not suitable for cavalry combat. They have been standing still, otherwise Liu Zhang's incompetence would have taken action long ago, so why wait until today, so no matter how you look at it, the most suitable place for their Xiliang cavalry to fight is still east of Tongguan.

Matthew admired him from the bottom of his heart: "Listening to what you say is better than studying for ten years. Matthew has been educated."

After listening to Li Yuan's analysis, Ma Xiu, who was originally dissatisfied with Li Yuan, began to express his sincere admiration for Li Yuan, and Li Yuan also defeated Ma Chao openly, proving that his martial arts are superior. Talent, as the saying goes, knowing heroes and valuing heroes, Matthew let go of his previous prejudices and sincerely made friends with Li Yuan.

Although Ma Tie still looks arrogant on the surface, but at this time he also knows how far he is from Li Yuan, so no matter how dissatisfied on the surface, he has already begun to admire Li Yuan in his heart. The reason why he did not say these words is because He is still young and used to being arrogant, so he can't let go of his face.

Ma Chao also admired it in his heart, but he wanted to know how to deal with this predicament, and continued to ask: "Then what should I do to solve the current problem?"

"As the saying goes, if you want to fight against the outside world, you must first secure the inside. If the internal affairs are not resolved, how can you expand? In my opinion, you have three important internal hidden dangers to solve. The first one is the Huns mentioned just now. Most of the Huns Nomads make a living, but there are also many people who have entered the life of the Han people and gradually adapted to the life of the Han people. As far as I know, there are many Han people in Xiliang who have the blood of Qiang and Hu people. You don’t have to deal with it. Alien invaders all use tough methods, and they can use Huairou tactics instead."

"General Li, what do you mean?" Matthew also changed his address to Li Yuan.

"You can send people to contact the Xiongnu, allow them to enter Xiliang to a certain extent, let them integrate into the life of the Han people, and provide them with food and farming technology. They can exchange milk, horses and other materials, as long as you both The cultures of the Han people began to merge with each other, and eventually they would become a family. What the Huns want most is the food of our Han people and our culture. As long as these two requirements are met, they will naturally not make trouble.”

When Li Yuan mentioned an advanced concept of national integration, the three Ma Chao brothers were all dumbfounded when they heard this, because this kind of strategy was unheard of, and they dared not even think about it.

"Is it inappropriate to do this?" Ma Chao doubted, feeling that doing so would be opposed by many Han people.

(End of this chapter)