Chapter 89: Taking Advantage of the Situation
Duan Wei returned home, called his confidants, and wrote another secret letter to Jia Xu.
When talking about Jia Xu, Duan Wei was full of emotion.
In Dong Zhuo's army, Duan Wei was a general of the imperial guards, while Jia Xu was only a lieutenant. But in the blink of an eye, after joining the imperial tutor, Jia Xu made a brilliant turn and became the chief secretary of the imperial tutor's mansion.
Recently, he was promoted to Shangshu Youcheng, which is a glorious moment.
In the letter, Duan Wei not only reported the latest developments in Chang'an City, but also promised Qin Mo that he could act as an insider and cooperate in opening the gates of Chang'an and leading the imperial army in.
He is going to surrender the city!
What Duan Wei didn't know was that his confidants were intercepted in a grove by Dong Min's men as soon as they left the city.
After reading the letter, Dong Min let the confidant go again, with a sneer on his face: "Duan Wei, Duan Wei, since you want to surrender the city, I will use your trick against you."
As he said this, he sent someone to pass on the message to Ma Teng.
The fact that the Dong Zhuo brothers were able to occupy Yongzhou and at the same time turn the world upside down in Luoyang shows that they were not as crude as they appeared on the outside, they had quite a few tricks up their sleeves.
I have been on guard against Duan Wei for a long time.
…
When Jia Xu received Duan Wei's letter, he did not dare to neglect it and immediately presented it to Qin Mo.
After reading it, Qin Mo asked, "Military Advisor, do you think this Duan Wei is trustworthy?"
“It should be credible.”
Jia Xu recounted in detail what he knew about Duan Wei.
"Then let Xu Rong cooperate." Qin Mo still believed in Jia Xu's judgment. Since they wanted to take over Chang'an City, they couldn't do it in a high-profile manner.
We cannot even send our entire army forward.
"To be on the safe side, we can send a message to Zhang Ji and ask him to lead his troops to Xinfeng County and be ready to support Xu Rong's troops at any time." Jia Xu suggested.
"Let's do it." Qin Mo nodded.
…
Xinfeng County.
After taking Xinfeng, Xu Rong led his troops to stop and wait for the follow-up troops to catch up. The food and grass they had brought with them were almost exhausted and needed to be transported from Tongguan.
After receiving the order, Xu Rong immediately sent someone to contact Duan Wei.
Before this, the two had both served as Generals of the Central Army in Dong Zhuo's army and were relatively familiar with each other. Xu Rong's judgment was the same as Jia Xu's, and both believed that there was a high possibility that Duan Wei would surrender the city.
The two finally agreed to surrender the city at night three days later.
…
Chang'an City, Dong Min's residence.
After reading the secret letter, Dong Min sneered, "Xu Rong, you will die in three days!" He not only hated Qin Mo, but also hated all the former generals of Dong Zhuo who surrendered to the court.
See it as betrayal.
Dong Min immediately wrote a letter to Ma Teng, asking Ma Teng's troops to quietly advance eastward three days later, planning to take advantage of Xu Rong's troops attacking the city to encircle them from both inside and outside.
If the 30,000 troops under Xu Rong can be wiped out in one fell swoop, the imperial army will be reduced by half.
What else can we use to attack Chang'an?
If they joined forces with Han Sui's troops, they might be able to launch a counterattack, defeat the imperial army, and recapture Tongguan. In the future, they might even have a chance to invade the Sili region again.
Thinking of this, Dong Min couldn't help but get excited.
…
Meiguo County.
When Ma Teng received Dong Min's letter, he immediately gathered his generals to discuss the matter.
At this time, Ma Teng had a lot of talented people under his command. In addition to Pang De, who was known as the second bravest man in Xiliang, there were also Liang Xing, Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Li Kan, Zhang Heng, Cheng Yi, Ma Wan, and Yang Qiu.
As for the brothers Ma Chao and Ma Dai, they were still young at that time, but they were known for their bravery.
None of them are up to standard.
Ironically, except for Pang De, all the generals present had joined Han Sui after Ma Teng was killed by Cao Cao and became the eight generals under Han Sui.
"What do you think of Dong Min's proposal?" Ma Teng asked.
Liang Xing smiled and said, "I think it is feasible. Not only can we repel the imperial army, but we can also occupy Chang'an in one fell swoop. Why not do it?" From his words, it was obvious that he did not take Dong Min and his ilk seriously.
Although they served under Ma Teng, they actually had their own subordinates and were also one of the forces in Guanzhong.
In Guanzhong, who doesn’t want to occupy Chang’an?
As soon as Liang Xing finished speaking, Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin and others also echoed him one by one.
Pang De frowned slightly. He did not agree to get involved with Dong Zhuo's faction, as that would tarnish the reputation of his lord Ma Teng.
But seeing that the generals in the tent were in high spirits, Pang De couldn't say anything discouraging.
As a captain under , Pang De's status on the field was even lower than that of Liang Xing and others, after all, he did not have his own troops.
Infected by this atmosphere, Ma Teng also became excited and immediately decided to cooperate with Dong Min to defeat Xu Rong's troops in one fell swoop and enter Chang'an City.
…
Two days later, Tongguan.
Qin Mo was discussing with Jia Xu the details of the action after taking over Chang'an City when Li Bingyun hurried over.
"Sir, I just got the information from Ma Teng." Li Bingyun handed over a secret letter.
It turned out that Ma Teng summoned his generals to discuss matters and then reorganized the army. He also did not plan carefully. One of the generals, Li Kan, was careless and leaked the matter out.
The three spies arranged by Li Bingyun in Ma Teng’s army learned about it.
The spy did not dare to delay and passed the information to Li Bingyun offline, without anyone noticing, and did not cause any waves in Ma Teng's army.
It’s also the fault of people like Ma Teng who are “old-fashioned”.
Guandong princes like Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, etc. were already quite insightful about foreigners, and they adhered to a principle - "use them, but don't get close to them", and never let foreigners get close to them.
To prevent being assassinated by lawless aliens.
Confidential matters would be handled with special caution to strangers, who would never be allowed to participate.
However, Ma Teng and others were in the remote area of Guanzhong. Not only were they completely unprepared against strangers, but they also knew little about Qin Mo's great power in the Middle East.
Otherwise, he wouldn't be stupid enough to cooperate with Dong Min.
After Qin Mo read it, he handed it to Jia Xu.
Jia Xu's face changed drastically, and he immediately stood up and bowed: "I didn't plan carefully and almost ruined the big thing. Please punish me, sir!"
If Xu Rong's troops were really attacked, the consequences would be disastrous.
Not only will this Western Expedition be thwarted, it will also affect Qin Mo's prestige in the court, and it is more likely to arouse the ambitions of Yuan Shao and others again, triggering a chain reaction.
When he thought of this, Jia Xu broke out in a cold sweat on his back.
Qin Mo's face also darkened.
Li Bingyun saw that the atmosphere was somewhat tense, and whispered: "Fortunately, we have seen through the enemy's conspiracy, and Xu Rong's troops have not yet started to act. Just give the order to cancel the plan."
"no!"
Qin Mo and Jia Xu shook their heads at the same time.
"Military advisor, please sit down. We will not pursue this matter further." Qin Mo said calmly.
Although Jia Xu is a talented person, there is a difference between master and servant after all. As a superior, Qin Mo cannot be kind all the time. He needs to use both kindness and severity to control his subordinates.
"Thank you, sir!"
Jia Xu bowed again, sat back in his seat, and said, "Since we have seen through the enemy's trick, why not use their trick against us and capture Dong Min and Ma Teng in one fell swoop."
"That's right." Qin Mo nodded, "Send a message to Zhang Ji and Zhang Liao immediately to prepare for battle."
Jia Xu bowed in agreement and said, "Sir, do you want to inform Xu Rong?" If there was no prior preparation, Xu Rong's troops would be severely damaged as bait.
"Let's not create unnecessary trouble." Qin Mo's expression was grim.
Two consecutive reversals forced Qin Mo to act cautiously. He was not worried about Xu Rong, but he was afraid that Xu Rong's subordinates would reveal their flaws and leak the matter again.
Then all the previous efforts will be wasted.
Li Bingyun saw that the two men had decided on the matter in no time, without even communicating many details, and issued the military order so hastily, as if they had already had a tacit understanding with each other.
A confused look...
"What kind of people are these?" Li Bingyun felt that his IQ was not enough.
Little did they know that with Jia Xu's ability, since Qin Mo had decided on the general direction, the specific combat details would naturally be perfected and deployed by Jia Xu.
But Qin Mo doesn't have to worry about it.
…
While the various forces in Guanzhong were wrestling over Chang'an, Han Sui was still on his way on horseback...
