After Ma Su thought about it, there was no good way to make Ma Chao's army return without success, and it did not go against the intentions of Liu Bei and Zhuge Military Advisors.

In any case, Wancheng and Xinye are not a place to stay for a long time. Ma Su has already arrived in Wancheng, so it is very convenient to return to Jingzhou.

Zhuge Liang wanted to keep him in Guanzhong, although he wanted him to restrain Cao Cao, but Ma Su knew that he would definitely not have anything to do to achieve the great contribution of Xichuan. What he needs to consider now is how to lead the army to survive in Guanzhong.

Fortunately, Ma Su and Zhuge Liang coincided with each other, and he was reluctant to leave the army he had incorporated, and he also intended to stay in Guanzhong for the time being to cause trouble for Cao Cao.

Therefore, he had already made the necessary preparations and had sent most of the troops to transport Wancheng's grain to several Liu Xiongming's strongholds to stock up, preparing for his future survival in Guanzhong.

Wu Pass is an important pass that can effectively lure Cao's troops to attack.

Ma Su naturally would not give up easily. He also hoarded enough food in Wuguan and prepared to confront Cao's army for a period of time in Wuguan.

After Ma Su occupied Wancheng and Xinye, he opened the warehouse and took out the money from it as military funds, but there was a lot of food and weapons inventories, so he couldn't take them all away, which was a pity.

He didn't want to leave it for Cao Cao, and it would be too wasteful if he destroyed a large amount of food!

Because Ma Su sent troops to transport food and grass, his troops were a little short of strength. He had a sudden inspiration and posted a notice of peace in Wancheng and Xinye, and took out a large amount of grain in the government's stock as settlement expenses, and recruited a large number of soldiers in the two cities.

Because of years of war, in the eyes of the people, food is the hard currency. Ma Su and Cao Cao were proud of each soldier who was recruited to have ten stones of food as the cost of resettlement.

This is not a small amount, almost a thousand kilograms of food, enough for a family of five to eat for a year.

Therefore, local young people enthusiastically joined the army. In just a few days, Ma Su recruited nearly 2,000 young and middle-aged people. He dispersed and organized into the army of several generals. After a little training, it would not affect his combat effectiveness, so he freed up a large number of defending troops.

Those strongholds for garrisoning were all left by Liu Xiongming before, and they were quite confidential. Not only could they not use civil servants, but they also had to use soldiers whom they trusted. Now thousands of people have been freed up, and Liu Xiongming personally led the food and grass to transport them, which is even more efficient.

In Ma Su's expectation, he sent the confidant who sent the letter to come back early because he did not arrive in Tongguan.

When he walked to the fork in Huashan to Tongguan, he saw that there were wandering soldiers and scattered brave men everywhere on the road. After a little inquiring, he learned that the Xiliang coalition had been defeated and fled, and Ma Chao had only hundreds of defeated soldiers and had already returned to Chang'an.

When Ma Su heard that Ma Chao would not come again, he felt relieved, but he felt a lot of loss in his heart. He was very persistent in occupying Xiangyang. If Ma Chao sent his army to come, he would still want to bluff and force Xiahou Dun to abandon the city and leave.

Ma Su was also very confused. The Xiliang coalition, which had superior military strength, was defeated by Cao Cao so quickly. He was also very curious and asked this confidant carefully, but he couldn't get the point.

When Ma Su thought of Ma Chao's tens of thousands of elite cavalry, he was crippled overnight, Ma Su was also very heartbroken!

Ma Su thought about it again and felt that not many of the Xiliang cavalry should have been killed, and there were at least tens of thousands of defeated soldiers and generals who had escaped.

If Cao Cao wants to completely crippled Ma Chao, he must take back the defeated soldiers. At least he cannot let them return to Ma Chao's command, and he must cut off their way back to Xiliang.

Therefore, Cao Cao would definitely send generals to guard the Huashan Fortress heading to Chang'an and intercept all these defeated troops.

Ma Su's heart moved. If he could raise a flag at the Sanchao intersection to Tongguan, in the name of Ma Chao's allies, he would definitely be able to recruit many defeated soldiers in Xiliang. These Xiliang cavalry with extraordinary combat power were very precious, and he could not help but be moved.

Ma Su did what he said, handing over Wancheng's defense to Xing Daorong, asking him to send more scouts to intercept Cao's army's sending letters to Xiangyang, and strictly blocked the news of Xiangyang, so that Xiahou Dun dared not act rashly.

Ma Su personally led 500 people to gather the defeated soldiers. When he marched to the Sanchao Road intersection, he found that someone was already gathering the defeated soldiers at the intersection, and was attacking the banner of "Pang".

Ma Su felt a little disappointed, thinking that Ma Chao was leaving Pang De here, so he asked his guards to report.

The subordinates quickly returned that the leading general was not Pang De, who Ma Su was familiar with, but Pang Rou, who had only met several times.

Pang Rou is Pang De's brother. Because his parents died early, Pang De lived in his brother and sister-in-law's house when he was a teenager.

Pang De was born with divine power. Although he was not old, he was tall and had an amazing appetite.

His sister-in-law is very unvirtuous, and her brother Pang Rou is afraid of his wife's temperament. Her sister-in-law thinks Pang De eats too much and often scolds him for no reason and refuses to give him food at any time. Pang De is often half hungry and half full, and his life is very hard.

Fortunately, Pang Rou was a lieutenant under Ma Teng's hands. Seeing that his younger brother was not full or warm in food, he felt sorry for his younger brother.

Pang De is tall and looks like an adult at the age of twelve.

Pang Rou had a sudden inspiration and brought him to the army early to serve as a personal guard. Although the training was difficult, he could at least have enough food.

Pang De loved martial arts and practiced good martial arts in the army. He was highly valued by Ma Teng because the strong were respected in the Western Liang army. Although Pang De was young, his official position was above his brother Pang Rou.

Later, Pang De invited his brother to the brothel to drink and play. When his sister-in-law found out that he had caused trouble and abused him in the future, Pang Rou was very embarrassed. Pang De was already 80% drunk, and he couldn't help but feel angry in his heart for a while and killed him while drunk.

Although Pang Rou didn't say anything, she felt very hatred for Pang De!

Since then, the two brothers have almost cut off contact. Although they are in Ma Chao's army, they intentionally avoid it and rarely cooperate with each other.

This time Ma Chao raised his troops, and Pang Rou also led a thousand infantry troops in the army. Ma Chao led a large army to fight Cao Cao on the Wei River, leaving him with two thousand troops to guard Tongguan.

Because of the lack of food and grass, Han Sui wanted to negotiate peace with Cao Cao, but Ma Chao could not object, so he had to send someone to inform Pang Rou to abandon the pass and lead his troops to Chang'an.

However, because Cao Cao used Jia Xu's plan to alienate Ma Chao and Han Sui, Pang Rou had not retreated from Tongguan, and the Xiliang coalition was defeated by Cao Cao. When he led his troops to retreat near the Huashan Fortress, he was blocked by Cao Hong.

Pang Rou's original intention was to lead the army to break through Cao Hong's interception and go to Chang'an to meet Ma Chao!

However, because of the dangerous terrain here, Pang Rou and Cao Hong were not in a good way, and they lost hundreds of soldiers and had to gather the defeated soldiers here and prepare for another battle.

Pang Rou is a kind of lieutenant who follows the rules. His martial arts skills are far inferior to Pang De and he is not a match for Cao Hong. It is because of Pang De's face that he can get the value of Ma Chao.

His military talent was very average, and he did not think of a way to break through Cao Hong's defense. He was in a dilemma here. After seeing Ma Su, he was very happy and asked him for advice and attack Cao Hong together.

Because he stayed in Ma Chao's army for a while, Ma Su and Pang Rou also had several encounters. As an ally, he could not refuse and had to follow Pang Rou to check the terrain of the Huashan Fortress.

It was originally a steep place to be located at the foot of Mount Hua, but because of the disrepair, if the general is brave enough, it is possible to break through Cao Hong's obstacles.

This is Tongguan, the last barrier from Wuguan to Chang'an. Cao Hong occupied the key point and could not be bypassed in a short period of time. Pang Rou was in a hurry and had to attack one way.

Although the main force of the Cao army was urgently chasing Ma Chao and had already gone to Chang'an, he also attached great importance to the capture of the defeated army in Xiliang. Cao Ren, who had taken over Tongguan, was able to come and attack soon.

Although Ma Su is good at martial arts, he is not good at martial arts. It is unlikely that he will lead his troops to defeat Cao Hong! He pondered for a long time and had no good plans!
Chapter completed!