It was the third day of April in the sixth year of Jianxing.
The sky is blue and the misty rain is about to fall, and the ground is yellow and the spring breeze is rising.
In the narrow, winding, slightly muddy Chencang Weishui River Valley, an army with tough qualities and resolute faces is marching forward with sullen strides.
"faster."
"Faster."
"Get to Chang'an City within three days. Everyone will remember it as a great achievement!"
Ma Su was wearing a light helmet and stood upright on a high stone platform beside the river. He held the hilt of the sword in one hand and pointed directly to the east with the other hand. He acted like an immortal guiding the way, constantly urging everyone to move forward.
Behind him, the three generals looked at each other and hesitated to speak.
Li Sheng and Zhang Xiu looked at each other, the former pursed his lips at the latter, and the latter gently pushed the guard captain Xu Shen's back with his shoulder.
Xu Shen took a step forward and asked bravely: "General, are you really going to attack Chang'an?"
Are you really kidding me?
"That's right!" Ma Su nodded decisively and stood still.
"Only five thousand people?" Xu Shen asked again.
"That's right!"
Ma Su glanced sideways at Xu Shen, a man from Guanzhong, and patiently explained: "Actually, I think five thousand people are a bit too much."
"In my deduction, three thousand men are enough to capture Chang'an and achieve unparalleled achievements!"
Hearing this, Xu Shen turned around and exchanged glances with his two colleagues. They saw fear, panic, and a trace of suppressed excitement on each other's faces.
In the past three days, the three of them have been worrying about the rationality of the decision to "attack Chang'an with five thousand people".
They all suspected that they heard wrongly.
That was Chang'an, an important town in the west where Emperor Cao Rui of Wei State was seated!
The "Ziwu Valley Ingenuity" presented by General Wei Yan also asked for 10,000 people to go there. We only have 5,000 people, and we just went there in such a big way...?
Although we were fortunate enough to participate in this military operation to attack Chang'an, everyone was a little excited, feeling that the day to become famous might be today.
Or tomorrow.
But there was more fear and despair in my heart.
Our group of new recruits, how brave and brave we are, can actually take on such a difficult task!
Are we worthy?
Also, you are openly leading everyone to die, General Ma!
At first, Li Sheng, Zhang Xiu, and Xu Shen all had serious doubts about this decision, thinking that Ma Di was just joking with them.
Maybe when the army reaches the fork in Hanzhong, three hundred miles east of Shanggui City... General Ma Di will lead everyone to turn around and go south, and retreat to Hanzhong in a hurry.
But now, they are panicking.
The army had traveled more than 700 miles and had already passed the fork, but its marching direction had not changed.
Head all the way east and head straight to Chang'an City.
In fact, since they passed the Hanzhong Crossing, the heartbeats of the three of them have been very fast.
Beating, banging, banging.
No general with a normal mind would be able to make the decision to lead only 5,000 men and travel more than 1,000 miles to attack Chang'an.
How reckless this decision is! How stupid! How absurd!
But three days have passed, and the army has advanced more than 700 miles in the Weishui River Valley, marching in the same direction.
It's Chang'an.
The surprise attack on Chang'an was not a big deal to the ordinary soldiers of the Shu army. They were uneducated and did not realize whether the trip was dangerous or not.
Because they have been brutally indoctrinated into the idea of "obeying orders" from the first day they became soldiers.
Disobedience is death.
Therefore, they only look at the general. As long as the general dares to take the lead in charging, even if there is an abyss ahead, they will dare to follow closely and give it a try.
They are just so ignorant and fearless.
But for Li Sheng, Zhang Xiu and Xu Shen, who had some knowledge and experience, their hearts were completely exploded and they were in chaos.
Let's not talk about anything else. Cao Zhen, the governor of Wei, is personally leading an army to attack Hanzhong at the moment. If the five thousand people in front of him arrive at Chencang City, it happens to be that the Wei army withdraws from Chencang Road...
That scene makes people shudder just thinking about it.
Cao Zhen's 100,000-strong army may not be able to compete head-on with Prime Minister Zhuge on the Chencang Road, but it is enough to easily kill their group of 5,000 "new soldiers" who have only won two battles on the Guanzhong Plain.
Not to mention, Wei Jun, who had been teased by Zhao Yun's suspected soldiers for more than half a month, was now furious and in urgent need of a punching bag to vent his anger.
If this happens to hit the opponent's knife edge...
what to do?
How can we change General Ma's decision to lead everyone to death?
Just when the three of them were in doubt, Ma Su spoke up: "You three look like this, could it be that you are afraid?"
As he spoke, Ma Su slightly pulled out the sword from his waist, looked around the three of them with sarcastic eyes, and said with a sneer:
"Everyone is mortal."
"If it can't be done vigorously."
“What’s the difference between that and salted fish?!!”
"Three of you, whoever doesn't want to go can make it clear that I will not force you to leave this place immediately..."
The three of them were overjoyed when they heard this. Xu Shen was the first to say: "Do you really mean what you said, general? I..."
"I think……"
"I want to leave..."
Before Xu Shen could finish speaking, Zhang Xiu and Li Sheng rushed to express their opinions.
Ma Di waved his hand, interrupting the rest of the three people's words. He drew out his long sword, aimed at a tree with a thick arm and a crooked neck next to the big rock, and chopped it down with his hand.
Cang——
The crooked-necked tree broke off at the sound, and the cut was smooth.
Such a fast sword... The three of them took a deep breath.
Ma Su glanced at the three of them expressionlessly and continued: "Who wants to leave and who wants to stay?"
The three people exchanged glances and reached a consensus instantly. Xu Shen quickly replaced the three words that came to his mouth with "want to stay".
Zhang Xiu followed closely behind and said the word "stay" without thinking, with sincere and firm eyes.
Ma Su held a long sword, stared at Li Sheng closely, and said in a very unkind tone: "You want to leave?"
Li Sheng was speechless for a moment.
He had just spoken quickly and said the words "I want to leave", but now he suddenly couldn't turn a corner.
Facing the aggressive Ma Su, Li Sheng hesitated and said: "I want to get closer... to... get closer to you, general."
As soon as this was said, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Li Sheng was panting heavily, almost exhausted, and his forehead was wet and glistening.
For a moment, he thought he would die by Ma Di's sword.
Fortunately, the tragedy did not happen.
The soldiers are still in harmony, and brothers, friends and brothers are respectful.
"Very good." Ma Di nodded: "Since everyone has the same goal, the plan to attack Chang'an needs to be discussed carefully."
"Li Sheng, how do you think we should attack Chang'an?"
Li Sheng swallowed and wiped his forehead: "General, I haven't read for a few days. I don't know the strategy of military aircraft and how to attack Chang'an."
At this time, the strong wind slowed down slightly, and there was no other sound in the valley except the dense footsteps of the soldiers.
There was a solemn atmosphere all around.
The three of them were frowning in thought.
Zhang Xiu's eyes suddenly lit up and he suggested: "General, if you don't see it, why don't you take advantage of it and attack Chencang first?"
"The last general heard that Chencang City is located in a dangerous location and the city's defenses are strong. If we steal the city, our army will be in an invincible position. We can either attack Chang'an or return to Hanzhong, depending on the situation."
As soon as these words came out, Li Sheng and Xu Shen suddenly felt that this was a good idea.
Chang'an is too difficult to fight, Chencang can definitely give it a try.
If the difficulty of attacking Chang'an is one hundred, then the difficulty of attacking Chencang is ninety.
Moreover, if the attack method is changed to a sneak attack, the difficulty will be up to fifty.
Whichever is the lesser of two evils.
Normal people know how to choose.
Thinking of this, in order to dispel Ma Di's decision to attack Chang'an (taking everyone to death), Li Sheng immediately patted his chest and expressed his position: "General, if we attack Chencang, I will be the vanguard and climb the city to kill the enemy!"
"General, even the last general is willing to be a vanguard!"
"General, so do I!"
Zhang Xiu and Xu Shen also expressed their attitudes one after another.
If we attack Chencang, we are all willing to fight to the death; if we attack Chang'an, General Ma Su, please remember to collect our bodies.
If you, General, survive...
Ma Su was overjoyed when he heard this and immediately made a final decision: "Okay!"
