Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 480 The Horse is Unruly

Zhang Fei escaped. Under Wang Ping's interrogation, both Fan and Zhang confessed, revealing their plan to join forces with Yao Jing to assassinate Zhang Fei and surrender to Ma Chao.

Although Zhang Fei was angry and annoyed, he had no choice but to kill Fan and Zhang and hang them at the camp gate as a warning to others.

Seeing the turmoil in the army, Zhang Fei was afraid that there would be another problem with the army and Ma Chao would take advantage of it, so he led the army back to Hanzhong.

Ma Chao led his army to cover up the enemy for dozens of miles and captured a large amount of money and food from the Han army. He was very proud of it. Not only did he report his victory to Cao Cao, he even wrote a letter to Zhang Fei, sarcastically saying that Zhang Fei had fled before the battle and it was better to fight him a few more times.

Yangpingguan, the city pass government office.

In the lobby, Zhang Fei received the sarcastic letter from Ma Chao. He was so angry that he threatened to fight Ma Chao again.

Compared to Zhang Fei who was furious, Lu Xun was calm and read Ma Chao's letters carefully.

After learning that Generals Yao Jing and Zheng had surrendered to Ma Chao, Lu Xun, who was stationed in Fu County, was afraid that Zhang Fei would be missed, so he led his troops out of the sword pavilion to meet Zhang Fei on the Qishan Road. The two met in Ju County and slowly retreated to Hanzhong.

"Bo Yan, Ma Chao, my son, won a victory by luck. How dare you speak like this? You must be bullying others too much!"

Previously, Zhang Fei had more than 10,000 soldiers and an army of more than 20,000 people, mostly with the help of Lu Xun and Gan Ning. Today, he is leading 40,000 troops in the Western Expedition. The origins of his generals are complex. They are not just veterans. They are the first time a young lady has stepped into a sedan chair.

Lu Xun stroked his short beard, his elegant face showed amusement, as if he was thinking about something.

He has been in the northwest for many years and has had a lot of contact with Ma Chao. He feels that the word wolf is very suitable to describe Ma Chao.

"refute?"

Hearing this, Lu Xun smiled a few times, showing disapproval, and said: "Ma Chao is as unruly as a wolf, how can we surrender him so easily. If we can lure Ma Chao back to rebel against Cao Cao, it will be a great benefit to our country!"

Zhang Fei saw Lu Xun looking at the letter without saying a word, so he stepped forward and said, "Bo Yan, can you write a letter for a certain person and refute that kid Ma Chao severely?"

After Lu Xun finished reading the letter, he then looked up at the angry Zhang Fei and couldn't help but want to laugh.

Putting down the letter, Zhang Fei looked puzzled and asked: "Now that Ma Chao has surrendered to Wei as a general, there is no hope of rising again. Boyan knows that Ma Chao is unruly, is he trying to trick him into surrendering to me?"

Zhang Fei raised 40,000 troops to go out to fight, but his marching formation was chaotic and his advance and retreat were out of order. If he hadn't been outnumbered, he would have defeated Zhang Fei's troops long ago. However, if he had 40,000 soldiers, he would be able to defeat Bashu. How could Zhang Fei be so heroic?

Lu Xun's eyes moved down and fell on the letter again.

In this letter, Zhang Fei saw the harsh sarcasm in Ma Chao's words, but through these words, Lu Xun saw Ma Chao, who was unwilling to submit to others, using words to vent his emotions and express his ambition.

Lu Xun invited Zhang Fei to his seat and said patiently: "Ma Chao is unruly and unruly. He surrendered to Cao Cao out of necessity. Although the words in this letter are humiliating my uncle, I am still feeling resentful for him."

Lu Xun put down the letter and said with a smile: "Why refute it?"

Zhang Fei put his displeasure behind him, looked at the letter again, and said: "Ma'er was a prince at the beginning. He surrendered to Cao Cao because of his defeat and lack of food. Now Cao Cao has appointed him to supervise the two counties of Yinping and Wudu. This is actually an order. He specializes in guarding my soldiers in Bashu. Now I am reading his letters and studying his words deeply, and I may have the impression of what Bo Yan said."

"Not urgent!"

Zhang Fei was pacing in the hall, pointing at the letter and cursing.

"Ok!"

Although he is not as incompetent as Ma Chao said in his letter, he has made many mistakes. If they meet the generals led by Cao Cao and Huo Jungao and set a trap, they will most likely be defeated.

Hearing this, Zhang Fei became anxious, pointed at the letter and said, "Bo Yan, is Ma Chao insulting your uncle?"

"Surrender?"

In the letter, Ma Chao ridiculed Zhang Fei for being in name only and not knowing how to use soldiers or run an army. He was able to achieve his current status mostly because of Liu Bei's support. Without Liu Bei's support, Zhang Fei would be just a general with five thousand soldiers.

Ma Chao is unruly and unruly. He does not care about his relatives and family, but only cares about profit and force. He will never be willing to be inferior to others. This is why Ma Chao secretly expanded his power in Yinping and Wudu because he was eager to rise.

Therefore, making Ma Chao your subordinate is like letting a wolf guard the door. Either he will be bitten by the wolf, or he will gradually become a watchdog, lose his aggressiveness, and lose his sharpest fangs.

"Then Yi Bo Yan's intention made Ma Chao rebel?" Zhang Fei asked.

"Of course!" Lu Xun pondered for a while and said, "If my uncle doesn't care about Ma Chao's words and humiliation, Xun will write to Ma Chao himself to see if he can get along with him and observe the horse's words and deeds."

"That's it!"

"Bo Yan is of great use, so I won't ask about this matter."

Although Zhang Fei is impatient, his temper comes and goes quickly. Seeing that Lu Xun was of great use now, Zhang Fei had no choice but to deal with it himself, regardless of old grudges.

"Thank you uncle!"

"good!"

Zhang Fei really enjoyed the feeling of Lu Xun calling him uncle, holding his hands on his belt, he walked out of the hall.

After Zhang Fei left, Lu Xun thought deeply, dipped his pen in ink, and started writing.

In the letter, Lu Xun said that he had heard Pound praise Ma Chao's abilities, and he admired Ma Chao at that time. Unfortunately, the war between the two families prevented him from paying a visit to Ma Chao. I would like to take this opportunity to send a letter of greetings to Ma Chao.

Not only that, Lu Xun also praised Ma Chao's victory over Zhang Fei from a neutral point of view in the letter, saying, "If you have few cavalry, you can watch and take advantage of it." It turned out that he had the strategy of Peng Yue and Ying Bu. Such tactics made him very popular. It's admiration.

In just over 200 words, Lu Xun spoke humbly, neither overly praising Ma Chao nor overly self-deprecating, making it difficult for people to feel malicious.

After finishing the letter to Ma Chao, Lu Xun wrote another letter to Liu Bei, asking if he could hand over to him the family members of more than ten generals including Yao Jing and Zheng Ta who had surrendered to Ma Chao.

Unlike the Northern Wei Dynasty, which left their families in Yecheng, the Southern Han Dynasty kept their families in different places due to different military regions. For example, the family members of the Bashu generals were left in Jiangzhou, and the family members of Wu Chu were left in Wuhan.

Because of Liu Bei's benevolence, even if the generals rebelled, few of his family members left in Wuhan and Jiangzhou were punished.

Previously, some old Soochow generals defected to Cao Cao, and some people asked Liu Bei to kill their family members.

Liu Bei stayed but did not kill, saying that since the generals dared to rebel, they must not care about their own families. What is the difference between punishing and not executing?

Facing Liu Bei's words, although the generals of the Southern Han Dynasty were grateful, they would not be merciful if they really wanted to surrender and rebel against the enemy. Now Yao Jing and Zheng He dared to defect to Ma Chao, which shows that they have little fear.

Of course, Ma Chao asked Liu Bei for the family members of the generals who were demoted, not because he wanted to kill him, but because he planned to give the family members of these generals to Ma Chao as gifts when his relationship with Ma Chao got better.

After writing the two letters, Lu Xun called his attendants, gave him careful instructions, and then asked the attendants to deliver the letters.

Lu Xun put his pen on the shelf. When he heard that Zhao Ang was coming with a memorial, he stood up to greet him.

Inviting Zhao Ang to take a seat, Lu Xun asked, "I wonder why Weizhang is here?"

Zhao Ang spoke quickly and handed over the memorial, telling the truth: "The generals of chariots and cavalry drank too much when they went out to fight, and often whipped the soldiers after drinking, which led to incompetent military management and ruined the military. As a result, generals Yao Jing and Zheng Ta led their troops to surrender before the battle. , the generals Fan Jiang and Zhang Da secretly collaborated with foreign thieves and endangered military and national affairs."

"Today, General Chariot and Cavalry has corrupted the military. As the governor, it is the duty of supervising and governing the generals. I dare not not retaliate. However, General Chariot and Cavalry has a brotherly relationship with Your Majesty. Ang is a man of few words. I wonder if Mr. Lu can give up his private thoughts on merit." , signed the same name and memorial as Ang."

Lu Xun looked troubled when Zhao Ang asked him to impeach Zhang Fei.

He has a good relationship with Zhang Fei. If Zhang Fei is regarded as Liu Bei's younger brother, there is nothing wrong with Lu Xun calling Zhang Fei uncle. With such a relationship and a close friendship with Zhang Fei, it is really difficult for Zhao Ang to ask him to sign his name to impeach Zhang Fei.

Seeing Lu Xun's hesitation, Zhao Ang said: "It is not easy for your Majesty to create a foundation. Although Prime Minister Zhuge is enforcing the law now, your Majesty often appoints others because of his preference. His merits are rewarded but his mistakes are not punished. How can we say that rewards and punishments are clear?"

"Today, the generals of chariots and cavalry have united 40,000 troops to march westward, and the people of Bashu have gathered no less than 100,000 people. Due to their own shortcomings, they were defeated. The soldiers died and surrendered more than 10,000 people. This can be regarded as a huge defeat. We cannot let this happen at the moment. How can we convince the generals by punishing the chariot and cavalry generals?"

"Lu Hanzhong has military and political expertise, and he is close to His Majesty, so he accepts a great responsibility. If he neglects important national affairs because of his relatives and friends, he may be betraying His Majesty's trust!"

After hearing Zhao Ang's words, Lu Xun gritted his teeth and said in a deep voice: "As a minister, state affairs are the most important thing. Since Xun took office, he has felt deeply responsible and often worried about the country day and night. Today, Governor Zhao is teaching me from the bottom of his heart. I am happy to follow you!"

I don’t know whether Lu Xun was really concerned about state affairs, but it was true. If Zhang Fei is transferred from Bashu, the position of governor of Jiangzhou will basically belong to Lu Xun.

The Hanzhong Dudu District has jurisdiction over only one county in Hanzhong; the Jiangzhou Dudu District, although located in the hinterland, is dedicated to Bashu.

(End of this chapter)