Zang Ba was close to the truth of the matter, but it was still a step too late.

Cao Ang was worried that Zang Ba would see that Linyi City was a bait set by him, so he did not report any hope of holding back Zang Ba's troops, but instead directly targeted Zang Ba's hometown, the ancient city of Huaxian County.

The ancient city of Huaxian County is located on the valley plain impacted by Wu River (now Qihe River in Shandong Province), with mountains on both sides of the north and south.

These mountains are usually Zang Ba's biggest support. Moreover, the mountains on both sides straddle the two states, and the previous officers and soldiers did not have the right to cross the border, so Zang Ba lost control of the mountains on both sides, especially the south.

A wary heart.

After Cao Ang decided on the strategy against Zang Ba, he ordered Xia Houyuan and Ma Tong to lead two groups of Liuqu troops from Kaiyang to the west and penetrate into the mountains to the south.

The two troops rushed all the way to the Wenliang River area, then turned north and rushed to the southern part of Feixian County to lurk.

This place was already within Zang Ba's sphere of influence. Although Zang Ba did not occupy Fei County, there were only a few soldiers here. To Zang Ba, it had never been a threat, but now it was a dark place.

The two of them kept a close eye on Zang Ba's movements until most of Zang Ba was heading east, and they finally took action.

Xia Houyuan led the front troops to attack the ancient city of Huaxian, while Ma Tong led the cavalry eastward to block Zang Ba's troops who might return for reinforcements.

In Cao Ang's opinion, as long as they capture the ancient city of Huaxian, Ma Tong and Xia Houyuan can block Zang Ba's way of escaping to the west. When the troops from the south and north come up again, they will form an encirclement.

From beginning to end, Cao Ang's goal for Zang Ba and his group was to annihilate them all.

To cut the grass is to remove the roots.

Because of Zang Ba's confidence in Hua County, he did not keep many troops here. After all, Hua County's enemies were in the east, and there was a warning from the main force of the coalition forces. Moreover, Zang Ba was preparing to rely on this battle to confirm his leadership position, so naturally he wanted to bring all his family wealth with him.

.

Xia Houyuan was so fast that a group of infantrymen raced against the cavalrymen.

When everyone arrived at the west side of the old city of Hua County, Xia Houyuan ordered dozens of dead soldiers to pull more than a dozen carts pretending to be grain merchants and arrive outside the city.

Everyone had tampered with the shafts of the carriages, and when the middle carriage entered the city gate, the porter pulling the carriage deliberately pretended to be unstable and tipped the carriage over.

Under the weight of hundreds of kilograms of grain on the car, the broken shaft was immediately crushed.

The car in the middle fell down, and the cars behind it immediately moved forward and piled up behind the car. The car in front also took the opportunity to stop moving. Several porters actually left their cars and went to check on the broken car.

People and cars were rushing in front and back, immediately blocking the car door.

At this time, several guards inside the city gate saw this group of people blocking the road, and they immediately became angry.

A man who looked like a leader came forward cursing and asked them to move the damaged car quickly and not block the road.

At this time, the goal of the officers and soldiers had been achieved. Seeing that the defenders were unprepared, the crowd immediately rose up, drew their swords from their cars, and charged towards the defenders.

One person even came outside the door and fired a blast into the distance.

Xia Houyuan's main force had been lurking outside the city. Seeing that the soldiers of the front army succeeded, he immediately mounted his horse and rushed towards the old city of Huaxian County.

It has to be said that Xia Houyuan's running ability is the best among the three armies.

Cao Ang valued the physical fitness of his soldiers and regarded long-distance rapid marches as an important assessment target. Xiahou Yuan paid special attention to long-distance raids, and his troops naturally became the best in running.

Xia Houyuan personally charged, taking the lead, and rushed straight to the city gate. It took only about a quarter of an hour for everyone to reach the city gate despite a distance of several miles.

At this time, the siege soldiers and the defenders were fighting fiercely.

Although the number of soldiers who died in the siege was small, they relied on more than ten large vehicles and set up a two-tiered vehicle formation at the city gate to deal with the defenders.

There were only a few hundred defenders in the city, and the rest were all women and children. Although the generals responsible for defending the city quickly received news of the attack, they were unable to gather the counterattack troops and naturally could not drive out the incoming officers and soldiers.

And after Xia Houyuan led his army into the city gate, the outcome of this battle could no longer be changed.

In just one hour, the front troops captured Hua County.

Xia Houyuan ordered a group of troops to take over the city defense and strangle the resistance forces in the city, and then personally led the remaining two troops to support eastward.

Now Xia Houyuan has swept away the decadence of the past, and his whole person is full of enthusiasm.

Hearing that Xia Houyuan wanted to support Ma Tong, his generals also persuaded Xia Houyuan to stay in Hua County for the time being to clear out the rebels in the city, but Xia Houyuan refused.

"What does a small Huaxian County mean? There is still Zang Ba's main force waiting for our army to deal with it."

Xia Houyuan had no other intentions, he just wanted to take credit.

Xia Houyuan rushed to Ma Tong's location. It was already afternoon. Due to Ma Tong's strict blockade of Hua County and Linyi County, Zang Ba did not get the news.

Ma Tong set up ambushes on both sides of Zang Ba's return road, preparing to ambush the reinforcements here.

But Ma Tong did not wait for Zang Ba, but waited for Xia Houyuan. He was also surprised.

He calculated the time it would take for Xia Houyuan to attack the old city of Huaxian County. It took less than three hours to complete the attack. This speed was also staggering.

Cao Ang's previous arrangement was for both sides to attack the city and fight for reinforcements, with no control over each other. However, when Xia Houyuan arrived this time, a problem arose, that is, who of the two would obey whom.

One of the two parties is the old man Cao Ang, and the other is a relative of Cao Ang.

Finally, seeing that he was young and inferior to Xia Houyuan in status, Ma Tong took the initiative to ask Xia Houyuan to be his general and command the two armies.

Xia Houyuan did not give in. In his opinion, this general should be his. No matter in terms of ability or status, how could Ma Tong match him.

As the number of ambush troops increased, the battle became easier to fight, so Xia Houyuan decided to set up a defensive position relying on a north-south river to block the reinforcements. Ma Tong led the cavalry and dispersed to both sides until the reinforcements arrived.

Come and attack its two wings.

There was no problem with Xia Houyuan's arrangement, and Ma Tong did not shirk and went to prepare according to the arrangement.

After sending away the horse copper, Xia Houyuan had people set up fences to keep away the horses, and dug a trench near the water.

Although Xia Houyuan was not afraid of the enemy, the enemy had tens of thousands of troops after all, and Xia Houyuan did not dare to underestimate the enemy. By the time Xia Houyuan personally supervised the completion of the fortifications, it was already dark, but the enemy army had not arrived yet.

Xia Houyuan was a little suspicious. Could it be that Ma Tong's blockade was so strong that the rebels didn't get the message at all.

Fortunately, Xia Houyuan didn't wait long. Not long after, a scout who was monitoring the rebel army came to report that a large force of the rebel army was coming west, and it should be Zang Ba's main force.

Xia Houyuan was overjoyed, and he held the Changshan in his hand tightly.

For Xia Houyuan, this was to give him credit. Ever since he followed Cao Ang north to Bingzhou, seeing Xu Huang, Zhang Liao and others all being granted the title of marquis, Xia Houyuan was also very greedy.
Chapter completed!