When Zhong Yao climbed the city to check the next day, he found that Ma Chao's army had retreated completely. He did not dare to be careless, only for fear that Ma Chao would have a plan, but he still did not dare to open the city gate.

To be cautious, Zhong Yao sent a large number of scouts and provocates and found that Ma Chao's army had indeed gone away, a hundred miles away from Chang'an City, so he felt relieved.

Because the military and civilians in the city lacked daily necessities, especially the firewood had been exhausted, Zhong Yao could not restrain himself, so he had to open the city gate halfway and send soldiers to take strict guards. Even if the military and civilians were ordered to go out of the city to collect firewood and get water, the vendors outside the city also entered the city in groups of three to sell vegetables and firewood.

Three days later, more and more people were entering and leaving the city, and Ma Chao's tens of thousands of troops were no longer whereabouts.

Although Zhong Yao was worried that Ma Chao had cut off his connection with the court, he relieved the danger of the city breaking and put a stone in his heart.

So, Zhong Yao sent an order to open the city gates and let people go in and out, and restored the old rules, but he still sent a large number of scouts outside the city to inquire about military information.

Who knew that on the fifth day after opening the city gate, the scout came to report that Ma Chao's cavalry came back! The soldiers and civilians outside the city rushed into the city, and Zhong Yao ordered the city gate to be closed and he could not leave.

The general who guarded the Ximen was Zhong Jin, the younger brother of Zhong Yao. When he saw Ma Chao stationed heavily in the Ximen, he did not dare to slack off and inspected and guarded him at night.

It was almost three o'clock, and Zhong Jin brought people to check on the city wall. Suddenly, a fire broke out next to the city gate.

When Zhong Jin brought people to put out the fire, he turned a group of people out of the city gate, took the lead, raised his sword and shouted:

"The thief will stop leaving, and take my sword. Pang De is waiting here for a long time!"

Pang De was a famous brave general in the Xiliang army, second only to Ma Chao. This time, in order to make contributions, he personally brought more than ten elite subordinates, disguised as hawkers who bought firewood, and sneaked into the city in order to open the city gate, cooperate inside and outside, and break through Chang'an.

Zhong Jin has been leading the army for a long time and is Zhong Yao's right-hand man. That day, he saw his elder brother Zhong Yao defeated Ma Dai and almost lost his life. When he heard that Pang De, who was still famous, had stolen into the city himself. He was expected to be unable to fight against the enemy and did not dare to fight the enemy, so he fled.

Zhong Jin's escape caused panic among his soldiers, and they scattered in a mess, blocking his way.

Zhong Jin was unable to escape and was caught up by Pang De and slashed him down with a knife.

Pang De led his army to rush into the chaos, and shouts inside and outside the city were shocked. Although Zhong Jin had many generals and corpses under him, he had no leader and was in a mess. He was led by Pang De and dozens of people were dispersed like ducks. Then he cut off the lock, opened the city gate, and let Ma Chao and Ma Dai's army enter the city.

As soon as the Xicheng Gate opened here, military soldiers had already reported Zhong Yao. Zhong Jin died and had lost the Ximen.

Zhong Yao was even more frightened and did not dare to resist. He led the remaining thousands of troops and horses to abandon the city from the east gate.

Ma Chao and Pang De got the city and did not chase it. Instead, they immediately sent troops to control important places such as the county magistrate's mansion and warehouse.

After the army entered the city, Ma Chao wanted to gain a good reputation and restrain the three armies. He did not plunder the people. There were no major families in the city that had no time to escape, nor were they attacked. Most of these people were changing their positions when they saw the wind and hurriedly sent people to show their favor, killing pigs and sheep, and rewarding the three armies.

Zhong Yao lost Chang'an and sent someone to report to Cao Cao. He wanted to lead his troops to retreat to Tongguan, but was blocked by Han Sui's army and had to go to Wuguan and leave.

After Cao Cao captured and killed Ma Teng and Huang Kui in Xuchang, he knew that the chaos in Xiliang was approaching. Fortunately, the army and horses of the southern expedition had gathered and were on standby, just for the western expedition, and it took about ten days to reorganize the army.

When Dong Zhuo led his army into Luoyang, the prosperous Luoyang City was looted. Cao Cao was afraid that the Xiliang army and horses would enter the Central Plains to harm the people, so he sent Cao Hong and Xu Huang to take 10,000 troops to Tongguan and guard the pass.

As the most trusted clan general of Cao Cao, Cao Ren wanted to lead his troops there himself, but Cao Cao didn't expect that Cao Cao would arrange for Cao Hong to go directly, and he was a little worried.

Just a few days ago, Cao Ren had a big quarrel with Cao Hong over a debt dispute and almost turned against each other. The two of them were still a little unhappy now, so they came out to report:

"Zi Lian is impatient and cannot bear it. In an important place in Tongguan, I am afraid that it will make a mistake." Although Cao Ren had some conflicts with Cao Hong, he was not avenging his personal revenge, but he was really afraid that Cao Hong would make a mistake!

The terrain of Tongguan is very special. It is originally the gateway to Guanzhong. If you want to break through Guanzhong, it is famous for being easy to defend but difficult to attack. However, if you attack from Guanzhong and attack from Guanzhong, Tongguan will become easy to attack but difficult to defend.

Of course, Cao Ren also had his own little thoughts. He was afraid that Cao Hong would be punished by military law after his failure, and even more afraid that Cao Hong would die in battle.

Because Cao Hong is well-managed and is a famous rich man in the Cao family, he took out most of his wealth and jointly operated a grain store with Cao Hong. Recently, because Cao Cao restricted the grain price and bought a batch of grain from the shop at a low price, the shop suddenly turned a profit into a loss. If something happened to Cao Hong and Cao Ren could not do business, the grain store would really be closed, and he would lose all his money!

The scandal between the two cousins ​​could not be hidden from Cao Cao's eyes and ears. He knew that Cao Ren's concerns were reasonable, so he ordered Cao Ren to say:

"Zixiao, you can lead five thousand elite troops and horses to escort food, grass and military funds to Tongguan, and then pick up Zilian."

Cao Cao was also afraid that Cao Hong would act voluntarily, so he asked them to issue military orders before leaving and said sternly to Cao Hong and Xu Huang:

"Zi Lian, Gongming, the elite troops of the Xiliang army and horses, you must guard the pass and not fight. If you lose the pass within ten days, both of you will be killed. If you are forcibly attacked by the Xiliang army and horses outside ten days, you will not do your business. I will lead the army and then arrive." The two of them took the general order and went to Tongguan at night.

...

...

After Ma Chao conquered Chang'an City, because his father was in a grudge, he had no intention of enjoying the city. After opening the warehouse and using enough food and grass, he did not stay in the city for too long. He led the main force out of the city and went to Tongguan to meet with Han Sui.

Because the aristocratic families in the city cooperated very well, Ma Chao did not leave heavy troops to station in Chang'an, but only left an unknown small school, leading a thousand soldiers to guard the warehouse. As for other government affairs in the city, Ma Chao did not have a number, so he still entrusts those aristocratic families to manage.

Ma Chao personally led an army of 40,000 to Tongguan and joined forces with Han Sui. The total force was nearly 100,000, and the momentum was greatly boosted.

Han Sui's 50,000 army set up six camps from a high place several miles outside Tongguan to confront Cao's army at the gate.

In fact, Han Sui was condescending to attack Tongguan, and had an absolute advantage in military strength, so it was not too difficult to defeat Tongguan.

But because he didn't want the army to be damaged too much, nor did he want to fight Cao Cao to the death and become a life-and-death enemy, so he did not attack, but just sent a group of troops to the pass every day to invite the battle.

At the beginning, the general of Tongguan was Zhang Ji, who had only thousands of troops and horses under his command. He knew very well that the Western Liang army was brave and good at fighting, but he just stood firm and could not leave the pass.

Fortunately, Han Sui did not force his attack and seized the pass and let him wait for Cao Hong and Xu Huang's reinforcements.

After Cao Hong and Xu Huang arrived in Tongguan, they succeeded Zhang Ji to defend the pass. When they saw tens of thousands of troops in Xiliang, they were also frightened and did not go to fight.

The eight troops under Han Sui's troops also took turns to send troops, fighting under the custody every day, but they used the common custody words on the battlefield, which did not anger Cao Hong. In addition, the two generals were subjected to Cao Cao's strict orders, but they just couldn't stand it.
Chapter completed!