Ma Chao and Han Sui stayed well in Xiliang, but why did they rebel?
◎ It turned out that in the fifteenth year of Jian'an, in order to eliminate the warlord Zhang Lu who was entrenched in the Hanzhong area, Cao Cao had sent Zhong Xuan, Xiahou Yuan, and others to lead an army through Guanzhong, and it was this mobilization that aroused the suspicion of Ma Chao and Han Sui, and the two were worried that such a fate would soon fall on themselves, so they simply attacked first and sent troops to occupy Tongguan and make enemies with Cao Cao.
◎ Guanzhong is located behind the Central Plains, and if Guanzhong is not peaceful, the center of Cao Cao's rule will never be peaceful.
◎ So he decided to personally lead a large army to fight ma chao and Han Sui.
◎ Here Ma Chao stationed most of his army at Tongguan, originally thinking that this would stop the main road of Cao Cao's advance, but Cao Cao was such a figure, Cao Cao immediately ordered the general Xu Huang to quietly go north, bypass Tongguan, cross the Yellow River from Pusakajin, and establish a camp.
◎ At this time, Ma Chao's army was unable to divide its troops to repel Xu Huang's army crossing the river because of the positive pressure of Cao Cao's army. Cao Cao saw that Xu Huang had succeeded, quickly led a large army north, and then crossed the river and smoothly entered the Guanzhong Plain, confronting Ma Chao's army.
◎ On the Guanzhong Plain, Xiliang's cavalry and spears were very powerful, and Cao Cao could only rely on fortresses and fences to advance step by step. The Cao army also crossed the Weishui River several times, but because of the loose sand in Guanzhong, it was impossible to build a fort immediately after crossing the river, and was driven back to the north bank by Ma Chao's cavalry.
◎ At this time, in September, when suddenly the heavens gave a cold current, Cao Cao seized the opportunity to send troops to smuggle across the river, and then used Lou Gui's strategy to pour water to build an ice city, and overnight he built a solid ice fortress, and Ma Chao cried out in vain. Cao Jun finally took root on the south bank of the Wei River.
◎ After Cao Cao crossed the Weishui River, he still maintained a posture of not being able to hold out, and ignored Ma Chao's challenges. Ma Chao had originally planned to lead his troops to retreat to Xiliang, but seeing that Cao Cao was always on the defensive, he thought that Cao Cao's army was timid, so instead of withdrawing, he transferred a lot of troops from all over the country.
◎ When Cao Cao heard Ma Chao's move, he couldn't help but be overjoyed, and he said to his generals: "If you let them escape back this time, it will be difficult to clean up in the future; it is better to let them all gather together, so that once they are solved, it will save a lot of trouble in the future." On the one hand, he secretly carried out a counter-plan, persuading Han Sui not to help Ma Chao, and on the other hand, he asked Ma Chao to fight a decisive battle.
◎ On the day of the decisive battle between the two armies, Cao Jun and Ma Chao's armies fought together, and the two sides did not distinguish between victory and defeat, but Han Sui did not try his best to help Ma Chao.
◎ Cao Cao saw it clearly and ordered elite cavalry to attack Ma Chao's two wings and crush him in one fell swoop.
◎ Ma Chao and Han Sui had to flee back to Liangzhou. Cao Cao marched to conquer and inghemped the entire Guanzhong region.