My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 546: Ma Teng knocks on the door, Pang De breaks the city, Ma Chao surrenders to Liu ( words long chapter)

From the deployment of Cao Cao's side in this battle, it can be seen that Cao Cao attached great importance to Ma Chao in this battle.

He was also afraid that Pang De was once Ma Chao's subordinate. Even if he had the courage to carry the coffin and fight to the death, his martial arts were not as good as Ma Chao's. The soldiers under Pang De might not dare to kill Ma Chao himself.

Therefore, Cao Cao let Pang De fight in the first battle, just for the purpose of having Pang De lead the charge and show his face, which would greatly undermine the enemy's morale and make the enemy believe that "the old lord is not being coerced by Cao Cao, but really wants to punish the rebellious son."

As for the task of killing Ma Chao with bravery on the battlefield, Cao Cao did not dare to rely on Pang De alone to complete it, so he arranged Xu Chu as a backup so that he could rush forward together.

In Cao Cao's view, suppressing a rebellion is not a fight between generals, and there are no rules of the underworld. Of course, everyone should work together to deal with the rebels.

The two armies soon engaged in a fierce clash of swords and spears, with both sides using cavalry as the first force and attacking directly on the Huayin Plain west of Tongguan.

Since the Battle of Guandu, there has not been such a large-scale cavalry decisive battle in the entire land of China. The technical and tactical levels of both sides can also represent the peak of cavalry combat skills in this era. After all, both sides in the battle are mainly composed of Xiliang cavalry, and Cao's army is also supplemented by some Bingzhou cavalry.

Although they were inferior to Zhao Yun's Youzhou cavalry, who were equipped with double-sided metal stirrups, in terms of weapons and equipment, these Xiliang cavalry were definitely not inferior to Zhao Yun's Youzhou cavalry in terms of personal combat skills.

The intensity of the battlefield was instantly raised to its maximum. The cavalry charged, the lances charged, the bows flew and shot in a disorderly manner, tearing holes in the crowd and forming bloody paths.

There was no fancy tricks at all, only the most straightforward and direct killing techniques. People shouted, horses neighed, and there were endless screams of pain and grief.

Wielding long spears and wearing iron armor, riding horses and fighting with short weapons. Banners cover the sun and the enemy is like clouds, arrows fly and soldiers compete for the lead.

……

The fierce fighting lasted for a long time. Ma Chao personally took the lead, wielding his spear vigorously. He led his personal guards to cross the front of Cao's army and charged back and forth. At first, no one could match his spear.

His personal guards also fought bravely, following the commander closely and killing many of Cao's soldiers.

Although Ma Chao is extremely powerful and brave, he is now the commander of an army after all, and he will not fight with the enemy, as that would be too reckless.

However, his armor was too bright and eye-catching. Cao's soldiers were greedy for merit and surrounded him fearlessly, so Ma Chao's speed gradually slowed down.

After a while, a general came out from the opposite side, rushed towards Ma Chao, and attacked him with a sword. It was Pang De.

Although Pang De was brave, he did not dare to be reckless in this battle. At the beginning, he only commanded the troops to charge, but he himself did not rush to the front.

He knew very well that in such a large-scale melee, those in the front row could easily become cannon fodder, so he had to wait until he engaged the enemy before exerting his strength.

So after a series of charges and fights, the soldiers in the front row were gradually killed and Pang De gradually became the front row, and finally ran into Ma Chao head-on.

Ma Chao hated Pang De for betraying the Ma family, and Pang De also hated Ma Chao for rebelling and was eager to prove himself. Of course, the two of them fought fiercely, sparks flying as soon as they collided.

"You bastard! My Ma family has treated you well! But you serve Cao Cao like a dog just for your own wealth and glory. Prepare to die!" Ma Chao shouted loudly, and stabbed at the vital points with his spear, using the simplest and most powerful moves.

"Beast! I am a loyal minister of the court and the Ma family! You thief! Today I will clean up the house on behalf of my old master and kill you, the pig and dog who wants to kill your father!" Pang De cursed loudly while waving his long sword like the wind, trying to swing Ma Chao's spear away in advance.

These two men had worked together for many years and knew each other's martial arts very well.

Pang De also knew that Ma Chao's spear was sharp and his arms were very long, which was very suitable for long-distance stabbing. His own weapon did not have the length advantage, so he could only dance wildly in advance to block.

Relying on his understanding of Ma Chao, Pang De could barely hold his own even though his martial arts skills were slightly inferior. However, using his long sword to defend and block in advance would consume a lot of his own physical strength.

Ma Chao's seven or eight consecutive fierce thrusts were all deflected, and he realized that Pang De was too familiar with him and it would be difficult to kill him for the time being.

Moreover, the two sides were not fighting each other, and their respective personal guards and cavalrymen were still rushing up to fight. Ma Chao had to devote more attention to assassinating other Cao soldiers who rushed up as he pleased, while conserving his energy.

In this way, judging from the momentum of both sides, it seemed that Pang De fought more vigorously, with his sword blows being as powerful as a tiger.

Only experts and discerning people know that Pang De’s fighting style cannot last long. After dozens of moves, his physical strength will be reduced and he will be taken advantage of by Ma Chao.

However, Ma Chao overlooked one point. The morale of his own army was low to begin with, and the army was in chaos. When the two sides first engaged in battle, it was only because of Ma Chao's bravery and his leading by example that they were motivated to fight.

Once he himself got stuck in the quagmire and was entangled with the enemy, the morale of Ma Chao's troops quickly got out of control.

Ma Teng was still on the wall of Tongguan, shouting and condemning the rebellious son. The Cao army's scolds also cooperated well and repeated Ma Teng's words in waves.

In order to maintain the insults even in the midst of the deafening shouts and screams on the battlefield, Cao's army even organized hundreds of loud voices on the wall to curse in unison.

Soon, the Xiliang Army around Ma Chao began to be won over by Pang De and Ma Teng, and large numbers of them defected in the face of the enemy, but were pulled back by their old lord and General Pang.

After all, both sides were made up of Ma family members as the vanguards of this battle. After Ma Chao's side showed signs of decline, the psychological burden of his troops surrendering to the enemy was extremely low. In their view, this was just a temporary deception and they were returning to their former master.

Unfortunately, Ma Chao did not have a deep understanding of military tactics, and he was temporarily suppressed by Pang De, which accelerated the collapse of his army's morale.

When he was rushing into battle himself and was filled with passion, he couldn't spare much energy to pay attention to the overall situation. By the time Pang De gradually became exhausted, Ma Chao's defeat on the battlefield was already unstoppable.

When he realized this, the furious Ma Chao still wanted to make enough money, at least kill the traitor Pang De, so that even if he lost the battle, at least he could get back some of his money.

Unfortunately, just as he was trying his best to stab and attack, a tall and mighty cavalryman appeared behind Pang De, riding a tall horse and galloping towards Ma Chao, brandishing a sword and going straight for Ma Chao.

Although Ma Chao did not know the opponent's identity, he could instinctively sense a hint of danger from his opponent's physique and momentum. He knew that he could not delay any longer, so he changed to a life-and-death fighting style, and took advantage of the flaw to stab Pang De in the heart with all his might.

Pang De was already gradually losing strength, and seeing the spear coming at him so fast, and his weapon being so heavy, it was too late even if he tried to block it with his sword. He just threw his sword with all his strength, hitting Ma Chao's spear, slowing down the force of his spear, and then stretched out his arm to push Ma Chao's spear away.

Ma Chao's spear was bent and pushed away by Pang De, losing its accuracy. In the end, he failed to pierce Pang De, but only lifted the iron armor and cut a long bloody wound under Pang De's ribs.

Pang De took advantage of the armor's force-absorbing function and used all his strength to hold on to the spear tightly, enduring the pain and preventing Ma Chao from withdrawing his weapon.

At this time, Xu Chu, who was behind him, had already arrived on horseback and was about to chop Ma Chao with his sword.

Seeing that there was no time to pull back his spear, Ma Chao had no choice but to abandon his spear and flee on his horse.

When Pang De saw Ma Chao running away, most of his strength was drained away. He was shot in the ribs and lost a lot of blood. He staggered and fell on the horse's back.

Pang De was injured, Ma Chao lost his weapon, but Xu Chu was in good condition.

He had only killed a few miscellaneous soldiers along the way, and his physical strength was not greatly consumed, so how could he let Ma Chao escape? He immediately chased him with his sword, biting Ma Chao tightly and not letting him go.

Ma Chao abandoned his long weapon and his weight was lightened. In addition, he was not as fat and heavy as Xu Chu, so he had a slight advantage in horse running speed. After running for a while and putting some distance between them, he thought to himself: If I flee without caring about anything, the army under my command will be dispersed. I have no choice but to fight for my life.

But he no longer had his spear, so it was extremely difficult for him to fight back against Xu Chu. Finally, an idea flashed in his mind, and he gritted his teeth and took a gamble, pretending that his horse was gradually exhausted, and slightly slowed down the horse to give Xu Chu a chance to break.

Xu Chu saw this and had no doubt about it. He was overjoyed and ran forward madly, intending to kill Ma Chao with a powerful horizontal slash.

But Ma Chao saw Xu Chu's sword coming out and suddenly slowed down his horse. Xu Chu didn't expect this, and when Xu Chu swung the sword halfway, the distance between the two sides had shortened. If he continued to swing the sword, the blade would not be able to cut Ma Chao, and only the handle would hit Ma Chao.

Xu Chu was slightly startled, but did not realize the danger. At that moment, only one thought flashed through his mind: Even if Ma Chao could not be killed, if the handle of the knife hit him, his tendons and bones would be broken!
Since there is no time to change tactics, then continue to increase the strength of your hands and smash Ma Chao to seriously injure him! Then finish him off!

However, at this moment, Ma Chao stretched out his arms, quickly drew the sword from his waist, and accurately stabbed Xu Chu's handle. The whole action was smooth and quick, so fast that no one else in the world could do it.

This is exactly the "method of attack" that Ma Chao has been passed down for thousands of years by later generations. He draws and swings the sword in an instant, accurately and in one go.

People who are good at instant sword drawing have a gift, which is that their arms are particularly long. If they are not long enough, they have to move the scabbard to the other side of the waist first, just like the Fuso people's Iai Slash, and have to prepare in advance. Or just like when the King of Qin was stabbed by Jing Ke, it takes time to "carry the sword" before you can draw it.

At the end of the Han Dynasty, there were only two people in the world who had arms long enough to draw swords at any position: Liu Bei and Ma Chao. There was no third person.

Because only the two of them have arms that are longer than the full length of a long sword.

Xu Chu did not know this in advance and was not prepared. How could he defend against this sudden attack that came in an instant?
The distance between the two sides was originally seven or eight feet, which was exactly the attack range of long weapons, and short weapons could definitely not reach them.

But Ma Chao's ape arms, combined with his long sword, and Xu Chu's front hand, which was stretched to its limit, slashed Xu Chu's front hand with this sword, which was the result of thirty years of skill, right on the handle of the knife, directly cutting off the outermost joints of the index finger, middle finger and ring finger holding the knife.

Xu Chu felt pain and lost the support of his front hand. Although he still swung his back hand with all his strength, it had no fulcrum after all.

The handle of the knife, with its force halved, continued to hit Ma Chao's chest due to inertia. Ma Chao vomited blood and was obviously injured internally.

Xu Chu lost a joint on each of his three fingers. The index, middle and ring fingers of his left hand were all cut as short as his little finger. He was unable to wield the sword to fight for a while.

Ma Chao took the opportunity to squeeze his horse's belly and speed up his escape. After finding his allies, he picked up another spear and gave the order while spitting blood:

"The whole army retreats! All cavalry follow me! Run as many as you can and regroup in Chang'an! We cannot fight any more!"

Ma Chao knew very well that he was injured and the only backbone of the army could no longer hold on. If he continued to fight, more of his own people would be sacrificed in vain.

In that case, we might as well withdraw.

Ma Chao's cavalry troops began to quickly withdraw from the battlefield, while the infantry troops were completely unable to escape and were quickly surrounded, and surrendered in an organized manner.

Fortunately, his father was the victorious side. Even if these Xiliang soldiers were defeated and captured, they could rejoin the team and would not be massacred.

The brothers would not be killed in vain, this was Ma Chao’s last thought.

Cao Cao, who was on the wall of Tongguan, saw that Ma Chao was finally defeated, so he walked up to Ma Teng, patted him on the shoulder, and said a few words of comfort, which were nothing more than "Brother Shoucheng is indeed a trustworthy man. As long as we take back Chang'an and Chencang, I will let you go back to Jincheng. I will never break my promise" and so on.

Ma Teng had no choice but to smile bitterly, and at the same time advised Cao Cao not to kill too many people. As for the Xiliang soldiers who could be persuaded to surrender, they must be placed under the command of Pang De and re-incorporated. The prisoners and the surrendered must not be killed.

Cao Cao naturally agreed to this: "Of course, these people were bewitched by Ma Chao, and it is not their fault. As long as they return to the army, they will still be the court's army."

After more than half an hour, the battlefield finally quieted down. Except for the cavalry that escaped, the rest of the army led by Ma Chao was almost wiped out and was re-incorporated by Ma Teng and Pang De.

However, after this battle, both sides suffered thousands of casualties. These soldiers were originally intended for Cao Cao to enter Sichuan to fight Liu Bei. Now, after this incident, nearly 10,000 troops disappeared out of thin air.

Moreover, this was just the counterattack at Tongguan. Cao Cao would have to spend more time to take back the two cities. Even if Ma Chao's subsequent tenacity was poor, Cao Cao would still have to continue to suffer losses.

More importantly, because of Ma Chao's actions, Cao Cao's speed of reinforcing Xiahou Yuan was greatly slowed down.

At the same time, south of the Qinling Mountains, Liu Bei forced Wu Yi to surrender and took the opportunity to seize Liu Zhang's Jiameng Pass and Zitong, which made things so smooth.

All we can say is that the impact of the butterfly effect is profound, and a single move can affect the entire body.

Even if Ma Chao's disruption in Guanzhong did not succeed, it helped Liu Bei to gain a lot in the south. Who made these two events coincide at the same time?

...After Cao Cao won the counterattack in Tongguan, he cleaned up the battlefield, gathered the surrendered soldiers, and reorganized the army.

On the other hand, he did not dare to delay. Just one or two days later, he launched a hasty attack again, counterattacking Xinfeng and Bashang from Tongguan and heading straight to Chang'an.

It took three days to march all the way, one day to reorganize the city of Xinfeng, one day to block the Bashang and cross the river, and at the same time wait for reinforcements to catch up. Five days later, they advanced to the city of Chang'an.

After Ma Chao returned to Chang'an, he vomited blood after being hit by Xu Chu's sword handle. He spent several days urgently recovering from his injuries and asked the military doctors to treat the wounded as soon as possible.

Ma Chao was also extremely worried about whether he could defend the city of Chang'an.

But he was reluctant to give up. Ma Chao was not a wise man after all, and he was not so decisive in giving up something he had already obtained.

In the end, he did not dare to cause any further damage. He just looted some valuables from the Chang'an treasury and prepared enough dry food so that he could break out in case he could not hold on.

After Cao's army arrived, Le Jin, Xu Huang and other generals asked Cao Cao whether they should encircle Chang'an from all sides and then look for weak points to attack.

Their suggestion was a standard tactic for attacking such a large city. Because cities like Chang'an and Luoyang were so large, it would require a huge number of troops to ensure that all sections of the city wall were defended.

Ma Chao's main force had been persuaded to surrender again in the counterattack at Tongguan, and was nominally handed over to the puppet Ma Teng, but actually to Pang De's leadership, so the number of soldiers Ma Chao had available to defend the city was definitely not enough.

As long as we surround the whole wall, we will definitely find the weak point. After breaking through, there is no need to defend the other sections of the wall.

However, after personally observing the situation, Cao Cao rejected the opinions of Le Jin and Xu Huang. He ambitiously pointed out:
"Chang'an is vast, and that kind of attack is too slow. The only benefit of a comprehensive encirclement is that it can prevent Ma Chao from breaking out. At the same time, because Chang'an is too large, there is no need to worry about Ma Chao's desperate struggle. Even if he does, he won't be able to hold on.

However, how long would it take to build camps and antler barriers to surround such a long wall and so many city gates? It was too much trouble! Because of this thief, I had been delayed for seven or eight days to reinforce Miaocai, and it would be delayed even longer in the future.

If Miao Cai was defeated by Liu Bei in the south of Qinling Mountains, it would be a loss. So Ma Chao's life or death is not the most important thing, the most important thing is to deal with Ma Chao as quickly as possible. Our army will attack the southeast and west sides, leaving the west of the city for Ma Chao to break out, and the north of the city is blocked by the Wei River, so there is no need to worry.

Before the attack, have Ma Teng personally come out to persuade them to surrender - remember to send rattan shield soldiers for protection, and don't get too close to the city wall."

……

Cao Cao gave unified orders and made clear tactical arrangements, and then Cao's army launched the offensive as planned.

Le Jin and Xu Huang each spent a day setting up camp and organizing their troops on the southeast sides.

Then Cao Cao asked Xu Chu to monitor Ma Teng, and first followed Le Jin to the south gate to knock on the doors one by one to persuade them to surrender, and then the siege troops would coordinate with the progress of knocking on the doors to launch a general attack.

Although Xu Chu had three knuckles cut off a few days ago, the injury had been treated with simple bandages. After he recovers, he will still be able to charge into the battle line with weapons in both hands.

However, the grip strength of the left hand will be significantly reduced, after all, the index finger, middle finger and ring finger have been cut as short as the little finger.

Now Xu Chu's left hand was still bandaged, so he could only put his right hand on his sword and protect Ma Teng closely.

Ma Teng also knew that it was impossible to escape, as Xu Chu could control himself with one hand. Besides, he had already come this far, so he had no choice but to finish it.

He came to the three city gates of the southern city of Chang'an and knocked on the gates one by one to persuade them to surrender.

If a time traveler saw this scene, he would most likely feel that this scene was exactly the same as when Ming Baozong was captured by the Oirat and went to various passes on the Great Wall to knock on the gates.

When Ma Chao heard that his father appeared in the south of the city, he hurriedly ignored his injuries and went to the city wall to watch and suppress the soldiers from moving.

But even so, Ma Teng's appearance still caused Ma Chao's army to be in chaos. Then Le Jin launched an attack on the city. Seeing that the soldiers were not determined to fight, Ma Chao could only supervise the battle himself and even killed some of Cao's soldiers who were the first to reach the city with his sword.

Ma Teng failed to knock on the gate of the South City, and was led to the East Gate by Xu Chu with a feint of fire, where he continued to use the same trick.

This time, because Ma Chao was unable to cope with all the other tasks, Cao Cao also sent Ma Xiu and Ma Tie to go around and knock on the gates to persuade them to surrender.

In the end, Liang Xing, the guard of the northeast gate of Chang'an City, chose to surrender to his old lord and directly opened the gate to offer the city.

Ma Chao fought desperately in the south of the city. When he heard loud shouting from inside the city, he realized that Liang Xing had surrendered and the situation was hopeless. He could only gather his cavalry and break out of the city through the west gate.

……

It took Cao's army only two or three days to recapture Chang'an. According to this routine, Cao's army continued to move towards Mei County.

Cao Cao chased, Ma Chao fled. Each city did not last more than a few days, and it took more time to march and run.

At the beginning, of the more than 30,000 Xiliang troops led by Ma Chao, only 4,000 to 5,000 cavalrymen were left following Ma Chao when they finally escaped from Chencang. The infantry troops had all been lost and surrendered to Ma Teng again, and were actually incorporated by Pang De.

This whole process only delayed Cao Cao for nearly a month. Because all this happened almost simultaneously with Liu Bei defeating Xiahou Yuan outside Yangping Pass and supporting Wu Yi's forced surrender, it was impossible for Liu Bei to respond to him so quickly.

The Qinling Mountains are dangerous and it takes time for information to be transmitted. Cao Cao had previously stationed a troop loyal to him at the Chencang Pass, guarded by Yang Fu. Yang Fu also had a young general under his command named Hao Zhao.

In order to seize Chang'an and Tongguan, Ma Chao could not have attacked Chencang at the same time. When things turned out to be wrong, it was too late to seize the road to Chencang.

With only 5,000 men, Ma Chao couldn't even break through Yang Fu and Hao Zhao, so he had to bypass Chencang City, go upstream of the Wei River, cross the Long Mountains, and return to Tianshui County in Longxi.

Of course Cao Cao would not let Ma Chao go. Seeing that Ma Chao failed to enter Sichuan through Chencang Road, he kept his promise and released Ma Teng and Pang De back to Tianshui, continuing to chase Ma Chao all the way. As mentioned earlier, Cao Cao said at the time of the Hongnong Alliance that as long as Chang'an was recaptured and the Chencang Road was unobstructed, he would set Ma Teng free.

Because if Ma Chao had to be killed before Ma Teng was freed, what if Ma Chao ran to the ends of the earth and headed all the way to Xiliang, and Ma Teng couldn't catch him, wouldn't he never be free again? Ma Teng had thought of this at the beginning, so if Cao Cao's oath was too vague, Ma Teng would not believe his sincerity at all.

Now that the conditions of the alliance had been met, Cao Cao generously fulfilled his promise and really let Ma Teng return to Tianshui, and did not send anyone to follow him. He just warned Ma Teng not to play tricks before leaving, hoping that he would do his best to complete the task of killing the rebellious son Ma Chao.

Ma Teng naturally agreed readily in person and wanted to regain his freedom first.

……

Ma Chao fled miserably to the west of Longshan Mountain. When he heard that his father and Pang De were still chasing him, he presented his head to Cao Cao in order to exonerate his family.

Ma Chao was filled with resentment but had no choice but to discuss the matter with his cousin Ma Dai.

At this moment, he had been deserted by his friends and relatives. Among the former four generals of Xiliang, Cheng Yin had died in battle, and the other three had surrendered to Cao Cao and Ma Teng again, so there was only a young Ma Dai to discuss things with.

Ma Dai also knew that he was involved in this matter. If he was caught by Cao's army, he would probably not survive. He could only find a way to survive with his cousin.

Finally, they hastily thought of crossing the Qishan Road from Tianshui to the south and entering Dazhong, which is the border between Longnan and Yizhou. Once there, they might be able to bypass the Chencang Road and get in touch with the princes in Shuzhong.

It has to be said that history is so coincidental. The path chosen by Ma Chao is actually quite similar to the original path taken by Zhuge Liang when he first went out of Qishan to the north.

The only difference is that in history, Zhuge Liang went from south to north, while Ma Chao went from north to south, which is similar to Zhuge Liang’s withdrawal route.

The Chencang Road in the northwest of Hanzhong forks after passing Hechi County halfway. One road goes north directly to Chencang, and the other continues west, connecting Longnan and Dazhong, and then north to Tianshui. Ma Chao is now withdrawing his troops and is taking this road.

However, before leaving, Ma Chao was still worried: "If my father still pursues us and insists on fighting in Dazhong, how long will it take for us to escape? Will we be recruited by Liu Bei and be used as a vanguard in vain?"

Ma Dai thought about it and advised his brother: "Brother! Why don't we fake our death and break out? When we evacuate Ji County, we will burn down the mansion and tell the public that we died in the chaos. We will cross the Qishan Mountain and hide our identities from now on. We will endure for a while! Don't even take my sister-in-law with us, lest people find out our flaws!"

Ma Chao thought about it and it seemed that this was the only way. In order to make the performance more realistic, he ran away without even taking his wife with him.

After more than half a month of dusty trekking, Ma Chao finally arrived at Dazhong.

This place is west of Hanzhong and was originally under the jurisdiction of Zhang Lu. However, after Zhang Lu was defeated, Cao Cao was unable to take care of it, so this place was basically in a semi-autonomous state. Cao's army only left a miscellaneous force of less than a thousand people to guard it. Although Ma Chao only had 4,000 cavalry left, he successfully annihilated the hundreds of Cao's soldiers after arriving at Dazhong and occupied this place.

He was also very careful to block the way and silence people. Unless Cao's army surrendered to him, they would not be let go easily to avoid exposing his whereabouts. This army claimed to the outside world that it was led by Ma Dai, and when others asked about it, he would say that Ma Chao was dead.

After staying in Dazhong for another seven or eight days, by chance, the existence of Ma Chao's army was discovered by the Bandunman mountain soldiers who came over the mountain to conduct reconnaissance and outposts.

This was because Liu Bei's army in the south also attached great importance to scouting military intelligence in the Qinling Mountains and Qishan Mountains. In addition, Wu Yi had already surrendered and Liu Zhang had also submitted to the enemy. Liu Bei could free up most of his energy to deal with Cao Cao, so the scouts were very diligent.

The two sides finally got in touch, and the Bandunman scout troops quickly reported the news that Ma Chao had surrendered due to his desperate situation to their lord Liu Bei.

……

On the other hand, Ma Teng successfully led his troops to recapture Tianshui, and finally returned to his old nest, escaping from Cao Cao's control. Afterwards, he sent Pang De away like a plague god, and did not dare to resist, allowing Pang De to lead more than 20,000 Xiliang soldiers to help Cao Cao and participate in Cao Cao's next move.

Ma Teng knew very well that Pang De had become a loyal follower of Cao Cao and had no loyalty to the Ma family anymore. It would be better to let him go. If he stayed around, no one knew when something might happen.

After Pang De left, Ma Teng had to deal with the matter of hunting down Ma Chao himself. After some inquiries, the first thing he got was the news that Ma Chao had died in the chaos.

He still refused to believe it, but when he got home and saw that his daughter-in-law didn't run away, he had to believe it a little more.

Finally, it was the youngest son Ma Tie who persuaded him: "Father, my elder brother must be really dead, right? Now that we have returned to Liangzhou and are no longer held hostage by Cao Cao, we might as well just report it. My elder brother probably didn't really want to kill us. Why should we be so serious between father and son and brothers?"

Ma Teng thought about it, and his heart softened a little, and a thought flashed through his mind:
"In today's world, Liu Biao, Liu Zhang and I cannot possibly fight for the world. At most, we can stay in a corner to preserve our wealth and power. In the end, the world will belong to either Cao or Liu... Anyway, my whole family is safe. Let's not be too serious. If I leave a lineage on the other side, no matter who wins the world, my Ma family will not be extinct..."

Thinking of this, Ma Teng’s determination to kill his eldest son faded.

His current mentality is a bit like that of Sanada Masayuki before the Battle of Sekigahara in later generations: he let his eldest son follow Tokugawa Ieyasu, and he himself and his youngest son Sanada Yukimura followed the Toyota family. No matter who wins the world in the end, the Sanada family can at least leave behind a lineage with territory.

If Ma Chao has the ability to survive, then it means that it is God's will that the Ma family has to bet on both sides.

The "external and internal metaphors" of Ma Teng and his son Ma Chao can also be seen.

However, some superficial work still needs to be done.

After making up his mind, Ma Teng tied up his daughter-in-law and sent her to Cao Cao's army for Cao Cao to execute her and vent his anger.

His eldest grandson was still in his infancy and was said to be dead, but it didn't matter. He couldn't speak anyway and no one would recognize him. Ma Teng found a baby and sent it along with his daughter-in-law who was to be executed, saying that it was his eldest grandson and handed it over to Cao Cao for disposal.

-

PS: Because the Ma family's branch story affects the main storyline, the cause and effect must be written.

But I didn’t want to drag it out too long, so I just finished writing the 8,000-word chapter.

Tomorrow we will switch to the map of Ma Chao's surrender to Liu, and the decisive battle between Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang and Cao Cao in Hanzhong. It should be smoother.

I will be busy later because I have to attend follow-up consultations and so on. I may reduce the number of updates to one per day next week. I have added three extra updates recently, so I am ahead of schedule.

(End of this chapter)