Ma Chao fled back to Hanyang in a panic. Now the army is gathering here, preparing to head to Chencang directly after receiving his orders. Now, when Ma Chao escaped back with a defeated general, all the soldiers of the army were shocked.

In order to hide himself, Ma Chao saw that Zhong Yao became a prisoner, so he said to the generals: "I really didn't expect that Zhong Yao would be so shameless. It turned out that he secretly surrendered to Pei Qing from the beginning, and secretly communicated with Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu's uncle and nephew. He cooperated inside and outside, and tricked us into a fierce battle, resulting in our army's defeat and the loss of thousands of soldiers."

"What? Is this happening?" Everyone was surprised when he heard Ma Chao's words. He really didn't expect that it was the angel Zhong Yao who betrayed and colluded with Pei Qingkeng to harm him.

"However, what should we do? Mr. Pei will definitely take revenge next. With our strength, how can we be his opponent? So, why not, general, you should take the initiative to admit your crime and give me a gift." The person who spoke was a young man, whose name was Jiang Xu, whose courtesy name was Boyi, from Ji County, Hanyang County, and was a Gongcao of Hanyang at that time. He did not agree with him when Ma Chao attacked Chen Cang at the beginning. However, Ma Chao was bewitched by Zhong Yao at that time, and his ambition was inflated, he refused to listen to the persuasion and insisted on attacking. As a result, he returned with great defeat. Jiang Xu took the opportunity to persuade Ma Chao and voluntarily confess his guilt, which might save him from a disaster.

However, Ma Chao said lightly: "It's over now, and we're already in a difficult situation. How can we say that we'll give up? Besides, with Pei Qing's temper, even if I confess my guilt, he might not be willing to stop the army. Maybe he was waiting for this opportunity long ago."

Then, Ma Chao did not listen to Jiang Xu's advice and immediately issued an order. The entire army gathered and rushed to Chen Cang immediately, and he wanted to capture Chen Cang City at all costs. Pei Qing's army has not arrived yet, and Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu's uncle and nephew have not had much force there. If they attacked for a strong force, they still have a chance to capture it.

At this time, another young man also advised: "General, it's a bit inappropriate to do this. The general had already led his army to plan Chen Cang before, and Zhang Ji must have prepared some preparations. Moreover, Chen Cang's terrain is dangerous and the city is strong. As long as there is a good guardian, even a hundred thousand troops may not be able to break it. For the sake of our plan, we can only have deep ditches and high bases to avoid fighting with it. At the same time, we connect the Qiang people to support it. Perhaps there is a possibility of self-protection. If we do everything we can to attack like the general, it would be fine if we win, but once we fail, everything will be irreversible."

The young man is named Yang Fu, whose courtesy name is Yishan. He is also from Ji County, Hanyang County. He is a cousin with Jiang Xu. Yang Fu is a little young and is now a scholar in the county. On the issue with Pei Qing, he and his cousin Jiang Xu hold the same view, that is, to avoid fighting with Pei Qing as much as possible to maintain the current peace in Hanyang County. Once wars occur, the first ones are the locals who suffer.

However, Ma Chao completely disagrees with their opinions, believing that the members of the local clan avoid war and protect themselves. The purpose is to protect themselves for their own interests and do not care about the overall interests at all. Therefore, Ma Chao did not respond to the words of Jiang Xu and Yang Fu, and still ordered the soldiers of the army to gather together and attack Chen Cangcheng with all their might. Anyone who dares to neglect will be dealt with by military law!

At this time, Jiang Jiong, Zhao Ang, Liang Kuan, Zhao Qu, Yin Feng and others from the same county made suggestions to Ma Chao and asked Ma Chao to take back Cheng's orders. However, Ma Chao was furious and accused these locals of forming village party and hindering Ma Chao's great cause. Therefore, they ordered Jiang Xu and Yang Fu to be thrown into prison, and the others were deducted to pay the salary to show punishment. They ordered them to go back and reflect on themselves. They must take the matters of Jiang Xu and Yang Fu as a warning. If they do not reflect on themselves, they may be the ones who will be imprisoned in the future.

Then Ma Chao left Zhang Heng to lead a thousand soldiers to guard Hanyang County. The main purpose was to supervise the local clans and prevent them from betraying their actions after Ma Chao left. Then Ma Chao led 50,000 soldiers of the entire army to attack Chen Cang.

In Ma Chao's opinion, Chen Cang had only 5,000 people at most. He attacked Chen Cang City with ten times the strength of his troops. Even if he was scared, he could scare the other party to death. Perhaps after seeing that his side had so many troops, Zhang Ji would directly surrender. Even if Zhang Ji did not choose to surrender, it is estimated that the soldiers under his command would take the initiative to surrender after seeing so many troops.

This is called using power to suppress people. Ma Chao felt that with the momentum of his 50,000 people, no matter how prepared the other party is, it will be a failure in the end.

So after Ma Chao arrived at Chencang City, he first took action to persuade Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu to surrender. He said he could ignore past grudges and hoped that Zhang's uncle and nephew could surrender voluntarily.

However, what is unexpected is that the uncle and nephew of Zhang decisively refused. Of course, what is unexpected is that Ma Chao. For the uncle and nephew of Zhang, this is naturally expected. If the uncle and nephew of Zhang choose to surrender, this is unexpected.

Seeing this, Ma Chao became even more angry. He shouted loudly: "I originally did not pursue you in order to take into account the overall situation, but I didn't expect you to be so ignorant. Since that's the case, don't blame me for being rude and kill me!"

Then Ma Chao issued the order to attack the general, and only when the drums sounded, 50,000 soldiers swept towards the city wall like a tide, launching a fierce attack on the city head.

Ma Chao thought that it would take not much time to attack a small Chencang city with his strong strength. Although Pei Qing learned that he had rebelled, it would take at least half a month to get Pei Qing to recruit soldiers to come to Chencang again. After half a month, he probably had already occupied Chencang. At that time, he was waiting for his position to work. How could he fail? As soon as Pei Qing's main force withdrew, he would immediately attack Wuwei. By that time, he would completely occupy the two states of Yongliang, and he would have the capital to compete with Pei Qing.

However, he thought very well, and when he was actually fighting, he gradually realized something was wrong. Although he attacked Chen Cangcheng with ten times his strength, he was not satisfied. The two sides fought for nearly ten days, and his 50,000 army lost nearly 10,000, but he still failed to occupy the city. Every time he climbed to the city, he could be driven down by the other side in the end.

Ma Chao suddenly felt a little bad. He used such a great determination and consumed such a great force to attack Chen Cangcheng. Unexpectedly, this result was the end, which he could not accept no matter what.

So Ma Chao began to use various siege methods, such as burning, tunnels, catapults, well railings, and rushing cars, but it didn't work at all. Chen Cangcheng was still firmly in the hands of Zhang Ji's uncle and nephew.
Chapter completed!