Three Kingdoms

  Chapter 1185 Reason is a good thing

Enough is a rare quality, but it is a pity that many people don't understand this, or they can see clearly and know how to control it when they are bystanders, but when they participate in it, they can't help being confused. Li was confused.

   Ma Tie thinks that he is a clear bladder, um, a bystander, so he can see Ma Chao's urine more clearly...

"Brother is good at everything, but not enough is enough..." Ma Tie sat on a tree stump, and said to Pound beside him, "The original plan was quite good. It lured the enemy deep and encircled them on three sides. Once Zhengxi fell, he would definitely not die. We are also disabled... But now, look, Zhengxi has not seen us, and we are about to run and become disabled..."

It used to be a forest here, and then people nearby came to cut down trees for firewood. As the freezing line of the Little Ice Age became more and more southward, in order to resist the severe cold, people cut down trees more and more frequently. After reaching an adequate measure, there are only some tree stumps that have not completely rotted in this forest, and there are gradually degraded grasslands in the forest. Perhaps in more than ten years, this place will turn into a piece of yellow sand without any traces. green.

   Pound suddenly coughed twice.

"...Do the math, we ran here from Jincheng for five days, then went to Tianshui, and ran for another two days. We didn't recuperate when we arrived in Tianshui...Well, if looting the manor is considered repairing, then it is Let's fix it... It took another three days before and after, and then we rushed back, two and a half days..." Ma Tieba held his finger and said, "Tell me, the legs of this running around are thin... This is really good Is it? There is a little lack of horsepower... Once Zhengxi retreats, the elder brother will chase after him..."

   "...Then you mean to stop chasing him? Brother Dai won't take revenge?" Suddenly a voice sounded from behind Ma Tie, and Ma Tie fell to the tree stump with a fright.

   Ma Tie hurriedly jumped up from the ground, put on a smile, and said: "Ah... big brother, this, why are you here..."

   Ma Chao's face sank like water, and Da Ma sat on the stump where Ma Tie sat: "Tell me, it's rare to find that you are still a good thinker... Tell me, I'll listen, and speak boldly..."

  Ma Tie hesitated, but dared not speak.

For Ma Dai's death, Ma Tie didn't feel as hurt as Ma Chao. One was that Ma Dai was of Qiang descent, and he was relatively close to Ma Chao. Ma Xiu and Ma Tie are not very close, so Ma Tie naturally doesn't have much pain.

   "Speak!" Seeing Ma Tie's hesitation, Ma Chao couldn't help becoming angry, and shouted at Ma Tie, "I told you to speak! Did you hear that?!"

Ma Tie trembled, his heart turned, and he simply said: "Yes! I just don't understand why the elder brother is so urgent! Zhengxi retreats, so he retreats. What are you doing chasing him? Just force him to retreat to Hanzhong, and we can go all the way Go beyond Yangping Pass and take all the way to Guanzhong! If Zhengxi wants to go back to Guanzhong, he can only climb the Qinling Mountains, and when he climbs out, maybe we have already taken Guanzhong..."

The more Ma Tie talked, the more he let go, pointing to Jiangshan, with some passionate words, and continued: "When the time comes, we will occupy the land in Guanzhong, with three hundred miles of fertile land for farming, connecting Longyou to the west, and a thousand hectares of grassland. It can be used for grazing, if you want people and horses, you want horses and horses, and looking for opportunities to compete for the world, wouldn't it be great?!"

   Ma Tie finished speaking in one breath, and then he didn't dare to look at Ma Chao's face, so he lowered his head and waited for the storm, but he didn't expect...

   "Pa, pop..."

   After Ma Chao heard this, the anger on his face gradually disappeared, and he applauded Ma Tie's words.

   Ma Tie was a little confused.

   "Come, sit down." Ma Chao pointed to the tree stump with a pleasant face.

   "Brother..." Ma Tie didn't know what to do.

  Pound looked around, took a breath, and said with cupped hands: "This... this subordinate still has some chores..."

   "It's okay for Ling Ming to stay! They are all my brothers, so don't be so polite!" Ma Chao waved his hand and said with a laugh, "Ling Ming, you sit too! Just chat as your own brothers, no need to be restrained!"

  Pang De looked at Ma Chao, felt that he didn't seem to be talking ironically, so he thanked Ma Chao, and sat directly on the ground without looking for any stumps.

Ma Chao patted Ma Tie on the shoulder and said, "Third brother, you are willing to use your brains. My brother only has joy in his heart. How can he blame you? Don't worry...what you said just now is not wrong, but there is one point that you have not yet well considered…"

  Ma Tie couldn't help asking: "Excuse me, brother, what's the matter?"

"If Zhengxi is not dead, there will be no chaos in Guanzhong! If there is no chaos in Guanzhong, what chance do you and I have for controlling Guanzhong?" Ma Chao looked into the distance and said slowly, "The land in Guanzhong, Zhengxi was initially settled, although it is unstable, If the west is not destroyed, even if I wait for the troops to go straight in, the Guanzhong soldiers and horses who conquer the west will retreat to Zuo Fengyi at worst. Where will we defend? Yangping Pass? Longguan? Wuguan? Or Baoxie, Ziwu and other crossings? Or Pujin Ferry? Diaoyin? At that time, the little thief who conquers the west will only need to move left and right, pointing east and west, and dragging our troops to death in Guanzhong..."

  Ma Tie and Pound's faces were a little stunned.

"If you want to take Guanzhong, you must kill Zhengxi! Other than that, there is no other way!" Ma Chao lowered his face, gritted his teeth and said, "The name of Zhengxi is also rumored in Longyou, so if I kill him The little thief Zhengxi can use his bones to boost the reputation of our Ma family! Therefore, the little thief Zhengxi must die here! So, third brother, Lingming, do you understand?"

   "I never thought that elder brother would be so far-sighted. I am really ashamed..." Ma Tie cupped his hands and said.

Ma Chao laughed, patted Ma Tie on the shoulder, and said, "They are all my brothers, so just say what you want! There is no need to be so polite! This place is only a hundred miles away from Xiabian...Third brother, take a hard trip and pass the order Go down, everyone have a good rest for half a day, and set off tomorrow morning!"

   "Wei!" Ma Tie took the order, and Pang De also hurriedly accompanied him.

   Ma Chao looked at the backs of Ma Tie and Pang De going away, and slowly put away his original smile. What I told Ma Tie and Pound was naturally this irrefutable reason on the surface, but deep in Ma Chao's heart, there was another reason, which was inconvenient to mention in front of Ma Tie or Pound.

   Ma Teng died. Unexplained and inexplicable died.

   As for Ma Chao, although he is the eldest son, he is a concubine.

Although it is said that it was Li Jue's poisonous hand, and Ma Chao also took revenge, so he has the right to lead the Ma clan today, but it is not clear whether Han Sui contributed to the flames or refused to save him in this matter. It's hard to say, but one very important thing is that after Ma Teng's death, the relatively balanced situation in Xiliang has changed.

  While there are many warlords from various tribes in Xiliang, they are scattered all over the place, and they are not very powerful, and each has their own ideas. Under such circumstances, Han Sui must be the dominant family. If he could not use this opportunity of strangling and conquering the west to make the Ma family famous again, maybe in a few years, the Qiang people who originally followed the Ma family would also die. Well, regardless of the warlords of the various tribes in Xiliang who have made friends with each other, Han Sui will inevitably pull them over...

  By that time, no matter how capable and creative Ma Chao is, he will not be able to use it.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, on the one hand, we can strangle Zhengxi and promote the name of the Ma family, and on the other hand, we can use this piece of fat in Guanzhong to attract and consume soldiers and horses from Han Sui and the warlords of Xiliang, so as not to let these villains The wolf fixed its eyes on the Ma family whose wounds had not healed!

  Ten thousand steps back, even if Zhengxi cannot be beheaded and the overall strategy completed, Ma Chao will take this opportunity to encourage the various tribes in Xiliang to attack Guanzhong!

  If Han Sui and the warlords of Xiliang were not weakened, how could Ma Chao feel at ease?

In fact, Ma Chao also suspects that Han Sui saw part of his plan, or even the whole plan, but for Han Sui, weakening the strength of the various warlords in Xiliang is also quite beneficial, because Ma Chao knows that Han Sui is also thinking about these Xiliang The ministries have been working together for a long time, so Han Sui will cooperate in this way now.

   However, until now, no one knows who will have the last laugh...

   "Young Commander!" A soldier ran over and said in a flustered expression, "Sir, our horse suddenly became restless for some reason... It seems... It seems that there is another mare standing up..."

"What? The mare is tailing up?!" Ma Chao stood up abruptly, and said, "How is it possible? It's been a few months now, how could such a thing happen? Besides, aren't all the mares behind? How could it be here? Got a mare?"

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, after Zhao Guo Hufu rode and shot, the proportion of war horses in the war gradually became more and more important. However, for a long time, even in the Tang Dynasty, the horses that actually went to the battlefield were basically It's a stallion.

Although it is not impossible for a mare to ride, but for several months in a year, a mare either takes care of its cubs or nurses, so normally, for the reproduction of the horse herd, unless it is an emergency, it will not ride a mare On the battlefield, most of them will stay behind.

As for the gelding, although there are now, there are not many, and in the Han Dynasty when the iron palm of the horse did not appear, the lifespan of a war horse was not too long in many cases. Often after a fierce battle, the war horse was either physically injured or If the horseshoe is damaged, it cannot continue to fight.

  These wounded war horses often turn into horse meat jerky and horse bone soup without treatment conditions...

Therefore, in this period when the replacement of war horses is very fast, basically no one will go to gelding on purpose, and after gelding, the wound will have to recover for several months, and retraining is required, which consumes a lot of time. It takes up to a year and cannot migrate immediately, which is almost impossible for nomadic people who often need to chase aquatic plants.

Therefore, until the Tang Dynasty, people were still used to bringing stallions that had never been gelded to the battlefield, which caused many interesting things. The stallion who thinks with his lower body...

Normally, war horses enter the peak breeding season in May. At this time, the horse farms are basically full of stand-tailed mares. At this time, the herdsmen will take special care of some horses with strong bloodlines. As for other ordinary horses, they are allowed to mate. , and after June, it has basically stopped, and the mares no longer accept the teasing of the male horse. If the male horse wanders behind her buttocks, she will have to kick her hoof hard.

  After passing this node, the signal smell emitted by the mares is less, and the male horses gradually settle down, no longer biting and attacking each other...

  Ma Chao led his troops eastward this time, because he deliberately missed the estrus period of the war horses, and there were no mares in the army. How could such a thing happen here?

   When Ma Chao arrived at the scene, the scene was already chaotic.

Although horses are gregarious animals, there are still some levels among them, and male horses are more irritable, and it is normal to quarrel and bite from time to time. Therefore, at the beginning, these men of Ma Chao, It didn't matter whether it was Xiliang soldiers or Qiang people, but later found that the situation was getting worse and worse.

   Not only are the stallions not **** biting each other, but even the **** war horses are rushing out with all their might, ignoring the bloodstains on their necks...

  People sometimes lose their minds when the sperm is on their brains, let alone a war horse?

   After holding back for a long time, the male horses suddenly smelled the smell of the mare's tail...

  A horse is a highly myopic creature. To distinguish the gender of an individual, one depends on the sound, and the other depends on the smell. The smell of the mares' tails suddenly released in large quantities made the stallions go crazy.

   Didn’t they say that for three years, even the sheep were not let go? The situation now is probably similar.

The pawns and Qiang people who went forward to divide the stallions pulling the turmoil, were trampled by the horses that lost their minds, kicked and broken bones, and even bit their teeth. Dozens of people were directly injured, and there were more than ten The person was seriously injured, seeing that he could not survive.

  The madness among the war horses is even worse, because there is no mare to vent, these irrational horses scurry around, and the whole group of horses is scattered...

   "Young Commander! Be careful!" A frothing horse broke free from the encirclement of several Qiang people, and rushed towards Ma Chao and others in a daze.

   Ma Chao stepped aside from the horse, and immediately pulled out his saber, and cut the mad horse over with one blow, and the spurting horse blood sprayed Ma Chao all over his head and body!

   "What are you doing in a daze! Kill all the crazy ones!" Ma Chao raised his sword and howled.

  Following the wailing of the war horses, a strong **** smell permeated the air, covering up the aura that drove the stallion mad. The restless horses finally calmed down gradually, leaving only a mess and everyone looking at each other...

  ………………

  Away from Ma Chao's camp on a small slope, three or four heads huddled in the grass, watching quietly.

In this camp, there are Xiliang people, Qiang people who have been with the Ma family for a long time, and people who are not very familiar with each other, and there are even some people who hate Yak Qiang and Qingyi Qiang. In addition, this place was originally Ma Chaoyuan. The bait given to Feiqian is fixed, so he doesn't care about it. He has no fixed subordinates and no full-time patrol posts. This provides Ling Jie with an extremely convenient hiding space...

"Let's go... It seems that the collected mare urine is really effective..." Ling Jie retracted his head lying on the soil slope, and greeted his subordinates, "Let's go, the show is over... go to our Hiding the horse... Be careful..."

   "How do you think the general understands this... amazing..."

   "Otherwise how can I call you a general, stop talking nonsense, let's go while they are still in confusion..."

  (end of this chapter)