Three Kingdoms: I, Ma Su, just want to die

Chapter 719 The Last Expedition
During the Spring Festival of the 25th year of Jianxing, Liu Chan recalled Zhuge Liang, Ma Su, Huang Quan, Liu Yin and other civil and military officials, as well as the crown prince Liu Xuan. In the imperial palace in Chang'an, Liu Chan launched the largest reward in history.

Among them, Zhuge Liang and Ma Su were already at the highest positions among the ministers, so naturally there was no more title to be given. However, Liu Chan still gave them additional fiefs of 10,000 households, and promoted their sons to county marquises, directly appointing the Langya Zhuge family and the Yicheng Ma family as prominent families that would prosper together with the country.

As for the rest of the military and civil officials, they all received generous rewards. For example, Jiang Wei was granted the title of Marquis of Ji County, Deng Ai was granted the title of Marquis of Jinyang, Liu Yin was granted the title of Marquis of Mianzhu, and Zhang Yi was granted the title of Marquis of Yiyang...

Among them, Liu Yin was promoted to General of the Guards, and sat to the left of Ma Su. This was basically a consensus reached between the General's Office and the Emperor, who appointed Liu Yin as Ma Su's successor.

On the other hand, Chen Zhi, the chief clerk of the General's Office, was granted the title of Marquis of Jiangling and sat beside Fei Yi. This was also the appointment of Chen Zhi, a close confidant of Ma Su, as Fei Yi's successor.

In addition, the other four generals of the expedition and four garrison all received certain degrees of rewards.

At this point, the successors of Ji Han's new round of military and political team have basically been made clear. And their most important feature is that they are all Ma Su's disciples.

Ma Su was a man of great power...

Of course, there was also a minor figure who was granted the title of marquis during this reward, and that was Cao Mao, the last remaining member of the Cao clan. After he was brought back to Chang'an by Ma Su, the seat next to Liu Chan was finally occupied as he wished.

Cao Mao was also quite fond of Liu Chan's temper. The five-year-old boy was polite and well-spoken. He also actively complimented him in his words and deeds, and Liu Chan felt very comfortable talking to him.

It was also because of this that Cao Mao was granted the title of Duke of Anle, which was considered as Liu Chan's recognition of him.

After Cao Mao was conferred the title, Xiahou Ba also surrendered voluntarily and was appointed as the rear general by Zhuge Liang as a way of giving face to his uncle.

After all the rewards were given, Liu Chan brought the crown prince Liu Xuan, Zhuge Liang and Ma Su to the Imperial Ancestral Temple to offer sacrifices to Liu Bei and his ancestors, and at the same time announced the good news to all the ancestors that the Yan and Han dynasties had risen again.

Looking at the tablet of Emperor Zhaolie Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang and other old ministers could not help but shed tears.

It has not been easy for everyone along the way.

It was at this time that Liu Chan officially issued an edict to change the reign title, changing the 25th year of Jianxing to the first year of Yanxing, and granting amnesty to the entire country!
After offering sacrifices in the Imperial Ancestral Temple and reporting his achievements in unifying the country, a few months later, Liu Chan, urged by the Secretariat and the Prime Minister's Office, set off for Mount Tai to offer sacrifices to the gods.

This move officially declared the legitimacy of the Han Dynasty to all the people in the Thirteen States of the Han Dynasty. Anyone with a little ambition would have to consider whether they dared to cause trouble after seeing this situation.

However, life after the unification of the world was obviously not easy, for Zhuge Liang, for Liu Chan, and for Ma Su.

The small court of Ji Han was established by Liu Bei at the last moment when he lost half of Jingzhou and Cao Pi usurped the Han Dynasty. There were many flaws from the beginning, and Liu Bei's three-year big brand brought a lot of hidden dangers to this court.

This small court, with the cooperation of Zhuge Liang and Ma Su, swallowed up the whole world in just 20 years. A large number of contradictions and hidden dangers accumulated in it, and the foundation of more than 60% of the territory was not reliable.

In the past, such conflicts had to give way to the unification of the world. But now that the Thirteen States of the Han Dynasty have basically returned, the previous conflicts and hidden dangers can no longer be shelved.

Old accounts, taxes, the foundation of local governance, appointments and dismissals of officials, and the investigation of hidden households. All the work needed to be solved bit by bit, and these heavy burdens were finally gathered by the Shangshutai and the Prime Minister's Office.

Therefore, after returning from Mount Tai, the whole of Chang'an was plunged into a busy state. Fei Yi, Chen Zhi, Zhuge Liang, Huang Quan, even Liu Chan and the Crown Prince Liu Xuan, all began to work overtime.

After all, what they need to be responsible for now is no longer just a small area like Yizhou and Guanxi. All places in the Thirteen States of the Han Dynasty need them to be responsible.

In order to strengthen the authority of the central government, under the leadership of Zhuge Liang, the power of the governors of each state was reduced by more than half. Except for the Guandong Prince's Office, which was personally headed by the prince, all other officials were not allowed to recruit talents without authorization.

If found, he will be executed immediately!

At the same time, due to the great population decline at the end of the Han Dynasty, the population of many counties was pitifully small, and in some places, nine out of ten houses were even empty. As a result, the county magistrates in many places had nothing to do and basically just ate the court salary for nothing.

Therefore, in response to this, Fei Yi also presided over the reduction of the size of counties. Some counties with a population of less than 1,000 households were downgraded and abolished, and everything was simplified. The civil officials were busy as hell, and the military generals were obviously not going to sit idly by. After the Fengshan ceremony,

Jiang Wei and Shu Ji then led their troops back to the Six Garrisons to continue guarding the northern border for the court, while Zhang Yi was ordered to serve as the Grand Commander of Yongliang and lead his troops to protect the safety of the Hetao Corridor.

Deng Ai was appointed as the Grand Commander of Lianghuai, and while preventing the self-defense forces in the southeast from reviving, he continued to cultivate land in the Lianghuai area.

As for Xiang Chong, Wang Ping, and even Guan Yinping, they all had heavy tasks. There was hardly a single person in the court who was not troubled by work.

Why do I say almost? Because Ma Su was extremely idle at the moment.

The entire Ji Han seemed to be running smoothly, but Ma Su, a general who had fought in all directions before, suddenly became idle. When he returned to Chang'an after Fengshan, he suddenly felt that he was somewhat out of tune with the entire court.

There are naturally a lot of things to do in the General's Mansion, but these have been taken over by General Wei Liu Yin. As the hand-picked successor to the General's Mansion, he has to start taking over the power at this moment.

On the other hand, at the Secretariat, as the work became more and more complicated, Ma Su felt that he was no longer able to help.

Even when rebellions broke out in the Ji Han region, he could not intervene at all. Basically, before he arrived at the place, the local rebels would flee or surrender as soon as they heard his name.

It was not until this time that Ma Su realized that after the fall of Wei and Wu, his work seemed to be over. Now, he was basically no different from a retired man.

This result made Ma Su suddenly feel that he was really old. The mighty general who was famous all over the world had reached the point where he had no more wars to fight.

The Hu people in the north were indeed dishonest, but the cost of conquering them was too high. Even if Zhuge Liang wanted him to go, Ma Su was worried about the waste of money and manpower.

As for the small countries in the Western Regions, they were all so obedient that he didn't need to intimidate them. During the entire year of the 25th year of Jianxing, Ma Su basically stayed in Luoyang, helping the crown prince to intimidate Guandong.

However, such a life is too boring. If Ma Su could stay idle, he would not have become a powerful general.

What's more, if a screw with high strength wear is left idle, it will rust faster. For Ma Su, he didn't want to die in bed at this age.

So, after resting in Luoyang for a year, Ma Su could no longer sit still, and personally returned to Chang'an to report to Liu Chan and request an attack on Liaodong.

After the Han army recaptured Jizhou, Sima Zhao and Sima Shi took the few remaining remnants to Liaodong. Although they seemed to be lingering on and posed no threat, they were still a scourge and it was best to resolve them.

However, Ma Su's request for war really made Liu Chan embarrassed. After all, Ma Su was already so old and was about to die. It was really unsafe for him to go to Liaodong, a place with a harsh environment, to fight.

You know, Boss Cao’s good friend Guo Jia died in the bad weather in Liaodong.

Therefore, Liu Chan's idea was to send a general to lead a small army to suppress the rebellion, and there was no need for Ma Su to go to the battlefield in person.

But Ma Su was very determined about this and he had to go to the battle himself.

"Your Majesty, the remnants of the pseudo-Wei faction are not simple, and this matter still needs someone to take charge."

"Besides, I know my own body well. I will definitely be able to come back safely and continue to assist the prince in governing Guandong!"

Faced with Ma Su's fierce request for battle, Liu Chan finally approved it helplessly. With Liu Chan's reply, Ma Su embarked on his last expedition...

(End of this chapter)