Three Kingdoms: I, Ma Su, Only Seek Death

Although Wang Ling was a little confused at the moment, he also understood the overall situation. Without much hesitation, Wang Ling ordered the Shu army to march north to attack Dingying.

However, given that Ma Su's previous combat style was too weird, Wang Ling was really scared. So while going north to attack Dingying, Wang Ling also sent people to Dingling to ask for soldiers and horses to cooperate with the siege.

Ma Su had 10,000 elite soldiers, and there was still a mountainous area to rely on in Dingying. Wang Ling only has 40,000 people, so it would be too risky to attack him head-on.

It's better to send troops from the direction of Dingling to rush for reinforcements and besiege Ma Di together. Although this will slow down the attack on Kunyang, if Ma Su is not beaten away first, even if they attack Kunyang, they probably won't feel at ease.

Wang Ling no longer dares to expect to make great achievements, as long as he doesn't make too many mistakes. Against a bastard like Ma Su, if we can ensure that we don't lose too badly, it's already a very good result.

After mobilizing the Lingwei army to attack from the south, Wang Ling led 40,000 troops from Xia Cai to the north. The army camped step by step along the waterway and attacked Dingling like a turtle crawling.

He was extremely cautious, fearing that there would be another oversight and Ma Di would seize the opportunity to launch a sneak attack.

Wang Ling's caution gave Ma Su ample preparation time.

After leading the troops to Dingying, the Shu army quickly launched an attack. As always, they relied on the Eight Ox Crossbow to quickly build a siege ladder, and then captured the city with overwhelming force.

Most of the wealthy families in Runan did not support the Han army and had unrealistic illusions about Cao Wei. Since Ma Di's troops left Nanyang, he has never encountered a city that voluntarily surrendered or abandoned the city and fled.

Even if it is a small city, when faced with the siege of the Han army, everyone must work together to defend the city.

Faced with such stubborn forces, Ma Di showed no mercy at all. After capturing the city, he massacred all the wealthy people in the city on the same day. Any aristocratic family that refused to surrender would be dealt with completely by Ma Su.

After all, they were about to defend the city and fight with the Wei army. No matter how much they thought about leaving their backs to these people, they didn't feel at ease.

While dealing with the opposition forces in the city, Ma Di also began to consider deployment based on the terrain of Dingying.

To the east of Dingying is Jishui River, to the west is a mountain forest, and Dingying is located among them.

If the Wei army wanted to go north, there were only three roads they could take. Either go north by water, go by land from Dingying, or go west, take Xiping and go north directly to Wuyang.

A total of these three roads are basically controlled by Dingling. So Ma Di pondered for a while and divided the nearly eight thousand Han troops into four groups and stationed them in four places.

The young general Jufu led two thousand soldiers and horses to station in Dingying and was responsible for this most important stronghold. Subsequently, two groups of soldiers and horses were stationed in the West Mountain and the east bank of Jishui respectively, responsible for the coordination of the Shu army in Dingying.

There were still more than 2,000 people on the last road. Ma Di ordered one of his cronies to lead and stationed on the mountain near Xiping, responsible for blocking the Wei army's food road in the direction of Xiping.

In this way, the Shu army formed a loose blockade from Xiping to Dingling. The grain transported from the north to the south was basically blocked and could not be transported south to Wang Ling.

When Wang Ling went north, he had to besiege the Shu army's strongholds and face Ma Su directly.

As long as Ma Su is still active here, Wang Ling will never dare to go north to attack Kunyang.

"Everyone, the next battle will be extremely dangerous. There is a high probability that all of us participating in the battle will die here, including me, Ma Su!"

After the deployment was almost completed, Ma Su held a pre-war mobilization meeting and showed off his cards to all the Han soldiers.

Of course, it is more of a collective suicide note writing meeting than a mobilization meeting. Because Ma Su was straightforward and asked all soldiers to prepare for the worst.

"We will basically have a narrow escape from death, and there is basically no possibility of survival! We will use our sacrifice to delay the entire war for the Han Dynasty!"

"From the moment we participate in this battle, it means we are dead!"

"So everyone, if you are afraid of death, it is still too late to leave and escape back to Wuyin, and no one will make it difficult for you. As for the soldiers who participated in this battle, those who survived will have merit in battle, and those who died in battle will have pensions!"

"I, Ma Su, promise you that if the court cannot honor it, I will sell all of Ma's family property and I will honor the military pension you deserve!"

"Now, make your choice!"

The Han army had a total of 8,000 men, including less than 11,000 cavalry, so Ma Su did not have many loyal troops. However, after Ma Su's words, few people chose to leave.

While Ma Su has become famous over the years, he is also known as a good leader in the army. Soldiers who have followed Ma Su know that if you follow Ma Su, you will never lose a penny in military merit and pension.

As long as they are paid enough, these soldiers are naturally willing to fight to the death for the big man.

"Isn't it just a life? As General Zhengbei said, what will happen if it is thrown away!"

"Afraid? I haven't been afraid of war since I was a soldier!"

"I have been joining the army in the Northern Expedition for several years. From Longyou to now, I have never frowned once!"

After a passionate mobilization, the Han army was filled with enthusiasm and everyone wanted to fight to the death.

Ma Su nodded and secretly sighed that his military spirit was available.

The next step is to prepare for a fight with Wang Ling...

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Ma Su's army has been deployed, and the whole army is eagerly waiting for Wang Ling's arrival.

As a result, after waiting for six or seven days, Wang Ling's soldiers and horses still did not arrive. Finally, Ma Di couldn't bear it anymore and sent someone to investigate. It turned out that Wang Ling had only walked half of the two hundred miles...

How afraid of Ma Su must be to make such a careful move. With this level of caution, Sima Yi had to say that he was aggressive like fire when he came.

Having no choice but to wait for several days, the tens of thousands of Wei troops led by Wang Ling arrived belatedly.

Wang Ling led 40,000 soldiers and horses all the way along Jishui to the foot of Dingying City, and set up camp ten miles away.

Wang Ling then sent scouts to investigate the Shu army's arrangements, but the intelligence reported left Wang Ling scratching his head.

"Ma Su, this bastard, divided his troops again? And once again he divided his troops into four groups, each under Ma Su's banner?" Wang Ling felt sick instantly when he saw such an arrangement.

Ma Di was also ambitious. A total of 10,000 soldiers and horses got into the middle of Cao Wei's nearly 100,000 soldiers and horses, and he dared to divide his troops to resist the enemy.

There are only two thousand people on each road, which seems to be very easy to fight. But they all hung Ma Di's flag, making Wang Ling completely unable to determine where Ma Di was.

wrong! Perhaps these four Shu armies were all suspects, and Ma Di personally led the cavalry and ran away through the back door.

All in all, Wang Ling was a little unsure about what to do next.

"What is this guy Ma Su up to? Could this be his trap?"