Ji Han Liu Zhang

Chang'an, the residence of General Fu Bo.

The moonlight was cold and the night was silent. The only sounds were the faint chirping of insects and birds. At this moment, in the armory of the mansion, a dim candle was emitting light, illuminating the tall and majestic figure of Ma Chao.

Ma Chao reached out and picked up the spear he usually used. He looked at the tip of the spear carefully. He saw the sharp edge of the spear, shining with a cold light, and containing a faint murderous aura.

Putting down his spear, Ma Chao took a few steps forward and walked in front of his armor. This set of armor cost a lot of manpower and was made by a master craftsman. The surface was coated with a layer of silver, which glowed and looked extremely majestic.

Although the law prohibits the private possession of armor, as a general, Ma Chao can display the armor at home without worrying about any laws at this time when the situation is chaotic and the war is endless.

"Brother, I heard that you have been appointed as the governor of Hedong?" Ma Dai pushed the door open. He didn't have the habit of knocking on the door of his own mansion.

The light illuminated Ma Chao's profile, which was sharp and handsome, and he was worthy of the name Jin Ma Chao. Hearing Ma Dai's question, Ma Chao nodded and confirmed it.

"Really?" Ma Dai saw Ma Chao's confirmation, but he still didn't believe it, and there was some confusion on his face.

"Really." Ma Chao confirmed again, and he smiled faintly, "This imperial decree came from your mouth, and I heard it. It is absolutely true. There is no need to doubt it."

Ma Dai breathed a sigh of relief, his face showing half surprise and half doubt: "Hedong is an important place, and Ming Gong sent my brother to go there, which shows that Ming Gong thinks highly of my brother."

"But." Ma Dai changed the subject: "Why did you send my brother there? Gan Ning, Zhang Ren and others are all in Chang'an now..."

"I don't know either, but since you have given the order, I will obey it and go to Hedong." Ma Chao shook his head, indicating that he didn't know the reason either.

As soon as he finished speaking, Ma Chao added a conjectural remark: "Peng Ying and I are on good terms. When I talked to Peng Ying privately earlier, I learned from him that you highly respect Ma Fubo, who assisted Emperor Taizu, and you were very moved by the fact that Fubo died on horseback, loyal to the country."

"Perhaps it is because of the influence of my ancestors that I was appointed the governor of Hedong." Ma Chao lowered his head slightly and said with emotion.

Ma Dai smiled when he heard this. General Ma Yuan, as their ancestor, was the glory and splendor of their Ma family.

However, Ma Dai had some other ideas about Ma Chao's appointment as the governor of Hedong. He said to Ma Chao frankly, "Maybe it's because of my little sister's blessing. My little sister got the promise from the Lord himself that I will marry the eldest son Liu Xun."

Ma Chao shook his head, his face serious: "Don't spread this matter. The last time Ming Gong ran into me, he saw my little sister was smart and cute, so he said it casually. It was probably a joke, don't take it seriously."

"Besides," Ma Chao frowned and said, "Liu Xun is the eldest son, so his wife must be from a noble family, a family with a rich history of Confucian classics, and a person from a high-ranking family. Although our Ma family is the descendant of Ma Fubo, we are also a famous family, and we can be the offspring of the general. How can we steal the position of the wife?"

"Brother." Ma Dai shouted loudly, and then he said earnestly: "Ming Gong is such a person, a man of his word is worth a thousand gold. Even if it is just a casual remark, you have to keep it, otherwise you will lose the prestige of the master."

"Besides," Ma Dai said with a smile, "The news that you have arranged a marriage between my younger sister and the eldest son has spread outside, and everyone can witness it."

"Hmm?" Ma Chao's eyebrows were furrowed, and he said unhappily: "Adai, what nonsense did you say outside?"

Ma Chao said in a rather stern tone: "This marriage is entirely up to you. If you agree, it will be my blessing. If you forget about it, then we will just pretend it never happened. How can we let rumors spread all over the city?"

"It wasn't me." Ma Dai quickly denied, "There were many people present that day, including servants serving the mistress and officials following you. Maybe they spread the news."

"Oh, right." Ma Dai's eyes lit up, as if he had thought of something: "Brother, before we met Lord Ming, didn't Zhizhong Dong Fu run into us?"

"Dong Fu said that my little sister will be blessed in the future after surviving a great disaster. She will be extremely wealthy in the future." Ma Dai clapped his hands and sighed, "Mr. Dong is really a great man. His comments one moment were proven true the next moment."

Ma Chao was silent. As a military general, he had always kept his distance from the concept of ghosts and gods. However, what happened this time was too mysterious, and he felt it was a coincidence.

"In short, don't care how outsiders ask. Don't be sure about the in-law relationship. Just fool around with it. Don't commit to this matter before your Excellency's certification." Ma Chao instructed Ma Dai carefully.

He, Ma Dai and Ma Shu, as the few remaining members of the Fufeng Ma family, must act with caution and not allow any mistakes. Otherwise, if he takes a wrong step and makes a big mistake, the world may not know whether the Fufeng Ma family will exist in the future.

"I understand, little brother." Ma Dai nodded seriously and responded to Ma Chao's request.

By this time, the night was already deep. Ma Chao waved his hand and said, "Adai, go to bed early. You still need to guard the county temple tomorrow night, so you must rest up."

"Yes." Ma Dai replied. Before leaving, he asked Ma Chao, "It is said that the higher-ups are dissatisfied with your lack of troops and intend to send you to Longyou?"

"Yes, we will go." Ma Chao nodded. "We were attacked by Han Sui in Xiangwu before, and many of our guards were killed. As for our own troops, we are too few. My Lord sent me to Longyou to recruit 4,000 elite soldiers, plus Lou Fa's 3,000 soldiers, to deal with Gao Gan who was attacking Hedong... At that time, the summer tax of Sanfu was deposited in the warehouse, and the first batch of grain and grass from Bashu was also delivered. It was just the right time to send troops to Hedong."

"In recent years, our reputation in Longyou has not been very good. I am afraid it will be difficult to recruit soldiers." Ma Dai said worriedly. When Ma Teng was alive, they and Han Sui rebelled in Xizhou and committed many illegal things. Therefore, with their current reputation as the Fufeng Ma family, it might be difficult to recruit soldiers in Liangzhou.

"Don't worry." Ma Chao comforted him, "Tianshui County Governor Peng Ying and I are on good terms. I have already sent a letter to him asking for help... With Peng Ying as a helper, there should be no worries."

"I hope so." Ma Dai gave a blessing, then he took his leave.

……

Liangzhou, Tianshui County.

County Magistrate Peng Ying, as Liu Zhang's confidant, firmly controlled Tianshui, a key place connecting Sanfu and Longyou, for Liu Zhang. At the same time, he provided relief to the people and supervised farming, making Tianshui County prosperous. Nowadays, the people of Tianshui respected Peng Ying. At present, Peng Ying received two letters, one of which was from the shogunate in Chang'an, asking him to help Ma Chao recruit soldiers; the other was a private letter from his good friend Ma Chao, in which Ma Chao asked him to help recruit soldiers.

The two letters have the same meaning. Both privately and publicly, Peng Ying needs to contribute, otherwise he will disappoint the shogunate's expectations and the friendship of his good friends.

Therefore, Peng Ying posted notices in various counties of Tianshui County, informing the elders in the county that the shogunate would send troops to rescue Wang Yi, the governor of Hedong, and would recruit soldiers in Tianshui County.

As soon as the notice was published, the elders in the county gathered together to read it.

"The war is about to start again. There will never be a day of peace." An old man sighed.

A scholar laughed and said, "The world is in turmoil, and the four seas are in strife. There will be no peace for even a day."

"My chance has come. I will make great achievements and be granted a title of nobility. It only comes today." When a butcher saw the inscription on the banner, his face showed joy and he intended to join the Chang'an shogunate's army to conquer Hedong.

"How dare you, a butcher, hope to be granted a title of nobility? You'd better just kill your pigs." The scholar shook his head and sneered.

"Pah." The butcher was ridiculed, and he immediately retorted: "Fan Kuai was just a dog butcher in the past, but he assisted Emperor Gao to achieve great things, and was finally made a marquis. How can I expect not to be made a marquis?"

The scholar snorted, "How dare you compare yourself with Fan Kuai? Fan Kuai is famous for his bravery, but you can only kill pigs, but you can't even get a title."

"A dog's eyes look down on people." The butcher complained, and he said in a loud voice: "Just wait and see, you little brat, watch me use my butcher knife to carve out a path to becoming a nobleman."

Noisy discussions in the countryside have been going on every day since the notice was posted, but the wealthy families in Tianshui County have thought about the matter carefully. They gathered together and started talking.

At first, Liu Zhang conquered Longyou and killed Han (Sui) and Song (Jian). In order to ensure the long-term stability of Longyou, he made great efforts to recruit famous scholars and officials from Longyou and incorporated them into his ruling class.

However, Liu Zhang's recruitment did not penetrate deeply into the roots of Longyou. He mainly recruited famous scholars and officials. For example, small noble families and small county officials in Longyou were mostly not included.

As a result, many wealthy families in Tianshui County were hesitant about the recruitment of soldiers from the Chang'an Shogunate. When they talked about this matter, some thought that their own children should be sent to join the army, while others thought that there was no need to get involved.

"The Grand Marshal is clear about rewards and punishments. If the young men of our clan can make achievements in Hedong, then the whole clan can also prosper." A middle-aged strong man said. He was the vanguard of sending young men to join the army.

An old man coughed lightly and sighed, "Outsiders regard us Liangzhou people as barbarians because we are living between the Chinese and the barbarians and have been influenced by the barbarian customs. Now there is something going on outside, but there is no need to get involved. Going will only add to the trouble."

"The Grand Marshal is not such a narrow-minded person." The middle-aged strong man retorted, "Previously, the Grand Marshal recruited civil and military officials from Longyou, including Jiang Jiong, Zhao Ang, Yin Feng, Yang Fu, and other people. In addition, military generals such as Zhang Xiu, Ma Chao, Ma Dai, and Pang De were also valued by the Grand Marshal. It can be seen that the Grand Marshal has no intention of looking down on the people of Longyou. Now that the Grand Marshal is recruiting soldiers in Longyou, we should actively respond."

"There are many troubles in the world, and Longyou is far away. We should keep to ourselves and protect our families." The old man just didn't want to participate. He sighed and said, "Besides, the Grand Marshal has just taken control of Longyou. Who knows if he is just pretending to include one or two of our Longyou scholars? Who knows if he will dismiss our Longyou scholars later and only care about the scholars in Sanfu and Bashu?"

"You..." The middle-aged strong man became angry when he heard this. He had great respect for Liu Zhang and would not allow or want anyone to belittle Liu Zhang in front of him.

"Everyone, please calm down and don't get angry." A middle-aged scholar spoke up. He acted as a peacemaker and calmed the conflict between the middle-aged man and the old man.

Then the middle-aged scholar stroked his goatee and changed the subject, "Have you heard something?"

The middle-aged scholar's incoherent words aroused the curiosity of everyone present. Someone followed the middle-aged scholar's words and asked, "What's the matter?"

"It came from Chang'an." The middle-aged scholar saw that everyone was looking up with puzzled expressions, with a proud look on his face and even more happy in his heart. However, he did not keep the riddle in mind for too long and directly revealed the answer.

"Ma Chao, the younger sister of the Fu Bo Zhonglang Jiang, has arranged to marry Liu Xun, the eldest son of the Grand Marshal. They will get married when they grow up, and Ma Chao will go to Hedong to serve as the governor of Hedong."

Everyone's eyes flickered when they heard this. This was a piece of news with a huge amount of information that they needed to digest. Ma Chao was appointed as the governor of Hedong, Ma Shu and Liu Xun had an engagement, and the Fufeng Ma family seemed to be on the rise.

However, the current Fufeng Ma family moved to Longxi County since Ma Chao’s grandfather. After three generations, they were considered people from Liangzhou, and their identity was no different from theirs.

"Is Ma Shu a wife or a concubine? Which son is Liu Xun of the Grand Marshal?" Someone asked the key question.

"My wife and my eldest son." The middle-aged scholar gave a brief answer, and then he added emphatically: "Now you only have one son, Liu Xun, and another daughter born to a maid."

The wife of the eldest son, the eyes of everyone present couldn't help but shine. Liu Xun was the eldest son and Ma Shu was his wife. If Liu Xun could inherit the great cause in the future, then Ma Shu would be the mistress. In addition, when the Grand Marshal is crowned king in the future and asks about the weight of the tripod, Ma Shu, the wife of Liu Xun - her status will be invaluable.

As people from the same state as Ma Shu, they could not help but yearn for her. They had some ideas and thought that it was time for them to make a choice. After all, if Liangzhou had a queen, their careers would not be so difficult, and they would have a chance to rise to prominence if they were to be attached to the queen's family.

The old man who spoke first coughed lightly, and then he said, "The Grand Marshal has pacified Liangzhou and restored peace to us. Now that the Grand Marshal intends to stabilize Hedong, I will send my clan members to serve the Grand Marshal... In addition, Ma Fubo is a talented person in Liangzhou. He will be the governor of Hedong and will go to Hedong soon. How can I sit back and do nothing?"

"Old man, you are really good at changing your attitude according to the situation." Everyone present heard what the old man said. Although they said nothing on their faces, they all said the same thing in their hearts.

……

When Ma Chao arrived at Ji County, Tianshui Prefecture, and was preparing to work hard to raise the troops needed for the expedition to Hedong, he heard from Peng Ying that the troops had been recruited, totaling more than 6,000 people, which exceeded the original number by more than 2,000.

"Your Excellency is so virtuous that you are so popular among the people." Ma Chao, who did not understand why, sighed to his deputy Pang De, who nodded repeatedly with a grateful look on his face. (End of this chapter)