"General, let's go." Gao Lan advised. He had clearly seen the current situation. Unless a group of troops descended from the sky and stopped Cao's army, the Jizhou army would be able to reduce its losses.
Cao's army outside the city had tens of thousands of troops, which was far inferior to the army inside the city.
Ma Chao's first reaction when he got the news was to run away immediately. The strength of the enemy and ours was very different, so they resisted to the death because they didn't know. However, Ma Chao clearly remembered Jia Rong's instructions before leaving. After gathering the troops and horses, he immediately ran away without even saying hello.
Not making a sound was not because Ma Chao was unkind. The situation on the battlefield was changing rapidly. If he was not careful, he would be killed. Moreover, Ma Chao was also responsible for the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers and had a heavy responsibility.
Wen Chou and Gao Lan would have been shocked at the speed at which the Xiliang army gathered. Within a moment, the cavalry and infantry were ready. The cavalry sandwiched the infantry in the middle to prevent the situation from changing and to respond at any time.
, and began to retreat in an orderly manner.
It wasn't until he walked out of Pingyuan County that Ma Chao breathed a sigh of relief.
Ma Chao escaped, but the Jizhou army in the city suffered. Cao's army entered the city with 30,000 soldiers and horses. The two sides fought fiercely in the city between the newly awakened Jizhou army and the wolf-like Cao army.
Seeing the constant casualties of his soldiers, Gao Lan felt the corners of his eyes twitching, grabbed a soldier and said, "Where is the Xiliang army?"
It is said that after such a while, the Xiliang Army should have heard the news and came to support, so that the Jizhou Army could withdraw more soldiers from the city. The current situation, if Ma Chao led the army to join the battle, would not be affected.
Possibility of battlefield situations.
"I just went to check out the Xiliang Army's camp and found that there was no one there," the soldier replied truthfully.
Gao Lan let go of the soldier's hand, with mixed feelings in his heart. The motivation he relied on to support him in fighting might be the reinforcements from the Xiliang Army. Unexpectedly, this pillar had fled without any loyalty.
"Withdraw." Gao Lan said to Wen Chou.
"Withdraw." Wen Chou shouted loudly.
There were only more than 5,000 Jizhou troops who withdrew from the city, and most of them were injured. The attack by Cao Jun at night surprised them and they did not have much combat power at all.
After walking for only an hour, Wen Chou met Ma Chao. He was about to step forward to scold him, but was caught by Gao Lan. The current situation is that both the Xiliang army and Cao army are stronger than them. If there is any conflict, Jizhou will be the unlucky one.
military.
"General Ma is not in the city, why is he here? General Ma must also be aware of the changes in the city just now, right?" Gao Lan said with a smile.
Ma Chaozhen heard the meaning of Gao Lan's words. As a military general, he did not want to be looked down upon, but compared with the lives of his soldiers, it was still a bit insignificant. Those who did not join the Xiliang Army would never understand the life of a low-level soldier.
importance.
"There is something wrong with me, the general, about what happened in the city. However, there is chaos in the city, and I have no choice but to do so. I hope the two generals can understand clearly. I will definitely report the truth to King Liang after I return. No matter what kind of punishment there is, Ma Chao
I am willing to do so." Ma Chao said with his fists clasped.
The sincerity in their words did not make Wen Chou and Gao Lan feel anything. Their eyes towards Ma Chao became a bit hostile. You are from the Xiliang Army. You did not lose your troops and horses. You will naturally be rewarded after you return. And Jizhou
The army suffered countless losses. After the two returned, they were not only punished. The fall of Pingyuan County meant that the Jizhou Army completely lost control of Qingzhou. Yuan Shao's previous ceding of Zhuo County to the Xiliang Army was also a defeat.
The water has drifted.
In the past, the Jizhou army might have been a little unconvinced and competed with Cao Jun, but the current situation does not allow Yuan Shao to be arrogant. Cao Cao has more troops than Yuan Shao, not less, and Cao Cao occupies more places.
, it is easier to provide supplements to the army, so how can they be afraid of Yuan Shao's revenge.
After Ma Chao returned to Chang'an, he reported everything that happened during his trip, and then went back to rest. He was constantly running on the battlefield, which made him excited but also a little tired.
Without Ma Chao's report, Jia Rong had already learned about a series of changes in Qingzhou through intelligence. He did not expect that Yuan Shao's power in Qingzhou would be completely disintegrated so quickly. After Qingzhou fell into Cao Cao's hands, it was not just Yuan Shao's strength that was weakened.
.
Jia Rong rubbed his head, and let's talk about the future later. The most important thing now is to develop strength as soon as possible, so that Xiliang Bank can blossom and bear fruit throughout the land of China, and let the money in the hands of the princes continue to move closer to Chang'an.
The expansion of Xiliang Bank happened just when the war between the princes had just ended. After the war, neither Yuan Shao nor Cao Cao wanted to offend the Xiliang army. However, in the face of the establishment of Xiliang Bank, Cao Cao still implemented a series of
One of the measures was to establish a bank belonging to Cao Jun, named Yanzhou Bank. Xuzhou Bank, Yuzhou Bank in Yuzhou, and Qingzhou Bank were also opened in Xuzhou. In short, under Cao Jun's rule, banks sprung up like bamboo shoots after a rain.
Cao Cao also imitated the system in the bank, and adopted the system of the Xiliang Army, printing and issuing banknotes, etc.
But who do the merchants trust more? Not to mention the merchants running around the counties of the Han Dynasty, it is the aristocratic families in the city. It seems that under the high pressure of Cao Cao, after buying some banknotes, they quietly bought some Xiliang Bank banknotes with other money.
There is no other reason. Some merchants accepted Cao Jun's banknotes under Cao Jun's policy, but secretly they didn't want it. If you use the money to buy things, you are not an uncle at all. It also depends on the merchant's face, unless you take out Xiliang.
Bank notes, or cash.
However, when the banknotes you took out were from Xiliang Bank, the merchant immediately changed his face. After carefully checking the banknotes in his hand, he accepted them with confidence, and the customer became a gentleman.
This situation quickly spread in various cities, and the establishment of banks under Cao Cao's rule indirectly provided opportunities for the development of the Xiliang Army.
Cao Cao tried many times to destroy the Xiliang Bank in the city, but finally endured it. When Xun You went to Chang'an to form an alliance with the Xiliang army, Jia Rong had a rule that Cao Cao's army could not stop the development of the Xiliang Bank for any reason.
If discovered, the covenant will immediately become invalid.
On the Qingzhou battlefield, the appearance of the Xiliang Army made Cao Cao angry for a time, but in the end, the performance of the Xiliang Army allowed Cao Cao's treacherous plan to succeed, and his anger towards Jia Rong was relieved a lot.
It is roughly the same as in history. When Zhang Song came to Cao Cao's rule, the treatment he received was very different from that in Chang'an. Even when Cao Cao received Zhang Song, many ministers looked at him and pointed, obviously amused by Zhang Song's appearance.
Look at it completely like a monkey.
Faced with this situation, Zhang Song was already filled with anger. After all, he was also a person who was received by King Liang in Chang'an.
After Cao Cao came forward, he was even less interested in Zhang Song and had a lot of disdain in his words. The ancients valued talent, but they also valued appearance. Like Pang Tong, he was talented, but he could never be reused because his appearance was too good.
Too bad.
Then Zhang Song refused to give up and went to the tent of Liu Biao and Yuan Shao. They were both looked down upon. After several comparisons, Zhang Song decided to set off for Chang'an again.
Time flies. In the blink of an eye, two years have passed. The ninth year of Xingping is destined to be an extraordinary year. Although Liu Biao changed his reign after becoming emperor, the princes did not buy it very much. The title given to Liu Biao
, also noncommittal.
After two years of recuperation, the Xiliang Army has achieved unprecedented development. The standing force is still 150,000, but Chang'an and Luoyang have been built to be extremely prosperous. The combined population of the two cities now has 600,000.
, every time when the market is open, there is a lot of traffic and pedestrians rubbing shoulders, making it very lively.
In the past two years, although there have been some minor frictions among the princes, their actions have not been major, and there have not been tens of thousands of troops at every turn. The people can be considered to have achieved short-term peace.
In the craftsman's workshop, Jia Rong stared at the thing in front of him with sharp eyes and could no longer move away. After seeing this thing from a traveling artist, Jia Rong immediately organized talents to conduct research and added advanced knowledge from later generations.
, and studied gunpowder, something that Jia Rong had always forgotten.
However, the explosives produced are somewhat dangerous. A few days ago, a pack of explosives exploded. The force of the explosion directly overturned a small house where explosives were researched. Prince Liang's Mansion came forward and explained before stopping.
speech.
After two years of rest, the Xiliang army will definitely use force. With the help of gunpowder, it will become easier to seize the city. No matter how strong the city gate is, can it withstand being bombed by several bags of gunpowder? Jia Rong seems
I have seen how the princes trembled under the power of gunpowder.
Research on gunpowder began immediately. Jia Rong naturally hoped that the more powerful the gunpowder, the better. The stability requirements were also very high. It was best to research gunpowder that could explode in water.
What Jia Rong said is a bit ahead of its time. Anyway, the craftsmen don't understand why gunpowder can explode in water.
This is because Jia Rong took care of them, otherwise it would be more difficult for them to research pistol grenades.
It is very simple to develop gunpowder, but its power is worthy of examination. In terms of the formulas of later generations, the power must have increased dramatically, but would the ancients understand this?
This time, Jia Rong targeted Jizhou. Although Yuan Shao had never taken any action against the Xiliang army, having such an enemy around always made people feel a little uneasy. If he could remove Yuan Shao from Jizhou and then occupy
Jizhou is of great significance to the development of the Xiliang Army. Unlike Liangzhou and other places that are inherently barren, Jizhou has always been a large food state for the Han Dynasty. There are many merchants, but it is also full of aristocratic families, including the fourth and third princes of Yuan Shao.
With his reputation, he can win over the aristocratic family and easily control Jizhou. After receiving benefits from Yuan Shao, the aristocratic family will naturally not cause trouble.
