According to Ma Su's plan, he wanted to take the lead in occupying Xinye, strangle Xiahou Dun's retreat, and make a stance to catch a turtle in the jar, so that he could force Xiahou Dun to retreat without fighting.

Although Xinye is just a county town, it is the only way to connect Wancheng, Runan, Jiangxia and Xiangyang. Liu Bei once stationed here for several years. Xinye County was repaired very strongly, easy to defend but difficult to attack.

Fortunately, because Cao Cao had already been included in his cap, Cao Cao was short of troops because of his army conquering Xiliang, and he did not station troops in Xinye.

If the news of Ma Su capturing Wancheng leaked and Xiahou Dun took the lead and sent troops to occupy Xinye, Xiahou Dun could maintain contact with Runan and Fancheng, and could attack and retreat and defend. Naturally, he would not retreat without fighting, and Ma Su's plan to capture Xiangyang would be disappointed.

If you cannot conquer Xiangyang, Wancheng and Xinye cannot get the support of Liu Bei, it will be an isolated city that is difficult to defend. Even if you have the largest number of troops, you can only give up.

Yang Kui quickly escorted Man Chong to Wancheng and was under house arrest by Ma Su.

Although he was anxious, Ma Su still pretended to be confident and patiently waited for the good news from He Yun in Wancheng.

He Yun did not disappoint him. On the morning of the next day, he sent someone to send news of the successful occupation of Xinye City and had already prepared city defense.

At this point, Ma Su's layout was successfully completed. Whether he could capture Xiangyang depends entirely on Liu Bei's cooperation and the deterrent power of the Western Liang Iron Cavalry. Ma Su actually did not want to attack Xiangyang for force.

Because Liu Bei's strength is still not good enough now, if he fights hard with Cao Cao, he will be a little unbearable!

As for Wancheng, Ma Su never thought of occupying it, so he was going to hand over this hot potato to Ma Chao.

During the heyday of Liu Biao's rule over Jingzhou, he could not save Wancheng and once handed over Wancheng to Zhang Xiu to guard it.

Because there is no danger of rivers between Wancheng and Cao Cao, it is separated from the river and Xiangyang. Once attacked, the enemy will first cut off the connection between Xiangyang, which is equivalent to an isolated city that is difficult to defend for a long time.

Finally, Ma Su waited for Liu Bei's reply. He hurriedly opened it and couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Ma Su could see that the letter was written by Kong Ming. Although he praised Ma Su's performance between the lines, he changed his mind and completely rejected Ma Su's plan.

The reason is that Liu Bei is fully preparing to seek Xichuan, and it is not appropriate to cause trouble now, and he is fighting with Cao Cao!

Although Ma Su did not get any benefits, in order to appease him, Liu Bei gave him a sweet date and appointed him as General Pinglu. This was a miscellaneous general with the qualification to lead troops alone. Now Ma Su's position in the army is similar to Huang Zhong.

Although his painstaking layout was useless, Ma Su had no choice but to do so because of the major event involving Liu Bei's attempt to obtain Xichuan.

Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang seemed to have no regard for Ma Su's thousands of troops and horses, and suggested that Ma Su retreat from Wuguan to Guanzhong, take advantage of the favorable conditions for Liu Xiongming to become familiar with the terrain, and continue to harass Cao Cao in Guanzhong, and buy time for Liu Bei to gain Xichuan.

When Ma Su saw that Liu Bei was unwilling to send troops, Ma Chao came to accept Wancheng and was unable to fight. Not only was it difficult to seek Xiangyang, but it would become a defeat for Ma Chao.

Although he knew that Ma Chao could not do anything, Ma Su did not want to take the blame, so he asked people to attribute the reason for Ma Chao's failure to him. He immediately wrote a secret letter and sent his confidant Pegasus to Ma Chao to stop him from continuing to divide his troops to Wancheng.

Ma Su also knew that Wancheng was too important to Cao Cao. When Wancheng was occupied by Zhang Xiu, Cao Cao had gone to war twice and was determined to win. Finally, Zhang Xiu had to surrender to Cao Cao under Jia Xu's persuasion.

Now Ma Su handed over Wancheng to Ma Chao. Although it was not a disaster, he was also determined to design and wanted to pull Ma Chao into Liu Bei's group.

In fact, after Ma Chao occupied Wancheng, even with Liu Bei's full support in Xiangyang, he could not defend for a long time. The final result was either to retreat to Xiliang or to Jingzhou to join Liu Bei!

Therefore, Ma Su's plan to take Wancheng was fake, but in fact it was for Xiangyang. Only by occupying Xiangyang could Jingzhou be considered as having the natural danger of the Yangtze River, and Liu Bei could be honest and worry-free!

Although the confidant who sent the letter had already set off, Ma Su was still worried. If Ma Chao really recognized Ma Su's plan, with his decisive character, the army he sent would probably have reached Wuguan.

In this way, Ma Su was a little embarrassed and he fell into deep thought.

...

...

Ma Chao took the letter from Han Sui, glanced at it and asked in confusion:

"Uncle, are you sure this is a letter from Cao Cao to you? Why are there traces of random modification and smearing everywhere?"

Han Sui was a little confused about Cao Cao's letter, and suspected that he had mistakenly put the draft into the envelope as a letter, so he replied very naturally:

"This is the case with the original book. I don't know why. Perhaps it was because Cao Cao mistakenly put the draft into the envelope as a letter."

Ma Chao did not comment. He looked at the letter carefully first. The more he looked, the ugly the more he looked, because although the sentences in the letter were barely smooth, the preface was inconsistent with the latter. The words and sentences that were erased were obviously the focus of the letter, and there must be something else!

Ma Chao was angry and asked Han Sui angrily:

"Cao Cao is a meticulous person, so how could he send it to others with a draft? It must be because his uncle was afraid that I would know the details of the letter, so he would modify it before I came in."

Han Sui didn't even understand this inexplicable letter, but did not doubt Cao Cao's counter-espionage plan, and involuntarily argued:

"I think it must be Cao Cao who mistakenly banned the draft, and I definitely didn't smear it!"

Ma Chao didn't believe it and asked loudly:

"I and my uncle both tried to kill the thief together. My uncle kept shrinking. I thought it was your subordinates who cherished their lives. It seems that my uncle had a strange intention!"

Han Sui said that there was no basis and could not prove himself. He vaguely felt that this was Cao Cao's plan. It was his turn to monitor Cao Cao's retreat tomorrow. He expected that Cao Cao would come to have a conversation, so he said to Ma Chao:

"This letter may be a plan for Cao Cao to alienate. If your nephew doesn't believe it, you will hide in our army tomorrow. I will ask Cao Cao to come out and answer alone in front of the formation. You will be able to assassinate him with one shot."

When Ma Chao heard Han Sui say this, he also thought it made sense, so he said to Han Sui:

"If my uncle really deceives Cao Cao, even if I can't assassinate him, it can prove that my uncle is sincere." The two agreed on a time.

Early the next morning, Ma Chao only brought a few confidant guards and hid in Han Sui's guards. Han Sui led the five generals of Li Kan, Liang Xing, Ma Wan, and Yang Qiu to the battlefield.

Ma Chao hid in the shadow of the door, and Han Sui sent someone to Cao Cao's camp and shouted:

"General Han asked the Prime Minister to have a separate conversation."
Chapter completed!