Li Jue was eliminated, and the passage between the imperial court and Liangzhou was no longer blocked. Although Guo Si had not been eliminated, he could only shrink his troops now to avoid being attacked on both sides, so the road was naturally opened.

During this period, neither the Imperial Imperial Army nor the Liangzhou troops carried out any large-scale attack on Guo Si. Instead, they continued to march and occupy the area originally occupied by Li Jue, and wipe out the bandits and gangsters who took advantage of the chaos to cause trouble in the countryside.

, and at the same time issued a decree to pacify the people, and settled Li Jue's old debts - Li Jue's family members and relatives were arrested and prepared to be taken back to Chang'an, and then dealt with after Liu Xuan returned.

Although Liu Xuan has already announced that he will kill the nine Li Jue tribes, the specific implementation is not that simple. At least it has to be done in a formal court meeting, not to mention killing the nine tribes... This is too cruel.

No one knows how the princes will react.

Of course Liu Xuan wouldn't care about this. He had already said what he said, so he wouldn't care what those people thought. At the moment, he was more concerned about Ma Teng's activities.

"Forward general Zhang has already come into contact with Ma Teng's army. Although the Liangzhou army is wary of the Forbidden Army, it is generally friendly. Plus Ma Teng personally came to greet them. I think Ma Cishi is indeed a loyal minister."

Liu Xuan gathered all the civil and military officials he could call and discussed Ma Teng's affairs in the big tent. At this time, Liangzhou was basically the territory of Ma Teng and Han Sui. This time they sent troops together. Now

Ma Teng had contacted the imperial army, but there was no movement from Han Sui's side.

First, Han Sui had to confront Guo Si's army and could not spare any time. In addition, Han Sui's army and horses were stationed in a slightly remote location. It is estimated that Liu Xuan would have to wait until the battle was over if he wanted to see Han Sui.

"I wonder if Han Sui chose that place on purpose?"

If it was intentional, it proves that Han Sui still has a disobedient heart - at least he wants to support his troops and respect himself, separate the local areas and become a local emperor. In that case, Liu Xuan will not tolerate the existence of such people. If not, that's fine.

There was a lot to do, and Han Sui was considered a talented person, so Liu Xuan didn't mind promoting him.

"I also hope that Han Sui will not choose a dead end."

Although he felt that the imperial court had shown a lot of strength, sometimes people are always blinded by ambition.

"Forget it, don't think about that."

Looking back, it was still Ma Teng's side of the matter. During this period, the general below was busy taking over Li Jue's territory, and also busy inquiring about the situation of Ma Teng's army.

As for the situation of Ma Teng's army, the imperial court actually has enough understanding, because the most critical reason is that there are people from the imperial court in Ma Teng's army, Liu Ye is still a guest at Ma Teng's side, and the two sides were blocked by Li Jue at the beginning.

It was difficult to contact him, but now that there is no obstacle, Liu Ye can send Liu Xuan the details of Ma Teng's situation.

Guo Jia took out a pile of handwritten letters and presented them directly to the emperor: "According to Ziyang's letter, Ma Teng raised 30,000 soldiers and horses from Liangzhou, and also recruited and borrowed more than 10,000 Qiang cavalry, for a total of 40,000 soldiers and horses to attack Li Jue's back.

Launched a ferocious attack."

"At the beginning, Li Jue had to give up his defense line and ask Guo Si to defend his rear. Only then could he withstand it. Otherwise, Li Jue would have been defeated by Ma Teng before our army arrived." Guo

When Jia said this, he added: "Of course, this is also related to the fact that Li Jue didn't pay attention to Ma Teng at the beginning. He only focused on being wary of His Majesty's army."

Liu Xuan didn't pay much attention to the last sentence. On the contrary, he was surprised that Ma Teng fought so fiercely at the beginning: "Who is the vanguard under Ma Teng's account?"

He did not go through those letters. He knew that the following group of civil servants had already torn through those letters. Especially the literati like Guo Jia and Xun Yu had probably memorized the contents by heart, even if they were asked to read them.

It is not difficult to write it silently.

Sure enough, when he asked about it, Zhong Yao said: "Ma Teng took a soldier from the county as a pioneer. Because of his outstanding military exploits, he specifically wanted to move him to the rank of captain because of his outstanding military exploits." Then he pondered for a moment and said his name.

Come out: "This person's surname is Pang Mingde and his courtesy name is Lingming."

When Liu Xuan heard the name, his eyelids twitched slightly: "Sure enough, it's this guy!"

In fact, when he first heard that Ma Teng's army was attacking very fiercely, he suspected that Ma Teng's army had a good general as the vanguard. At first he guessed that it was Ma Chao, but he calculated that Ma Chao was only fifteen or sixteen years old this year.

Serve as a vanguard general in such an important battle, right?

It is more likely that he will follow Ma Teng to take charge of the central army, and then take a chance to perform well, gain a reputation, and then lead the army alone. Besides Ma Chao, the outstanding young people of the Ma family are even younger at this time.

, even more impossible. So after much deliberation, the most likely possibility is Pound, who was born in the Majia Army in the northwest.

"Since you have meritorious service, you should be rewarded. Li Jue, who can defeat several battles in a row, is not an exaggeration to be appointed as a captain!" Now Liu Xuan is most in need of official positions, especially the rank of general - there are so many

The miscellaneous generals opened their mouths to come and keep them, or simply seal them all out.

No one had any objections to this. Ma Teng expressed his loyalty to the court, and the emperor should naturally express his loyalty, not to mention asking for a lieutenant for a meritorious general under his command. Even if Ma Teng really wanted a general title, the emperor would probably seriously consider it.

And most likely agree.

"Zi Yang said in his letter that the two thieves Li and Guo in the northwest are not of concern, but the Qiang and Di tribes are the big trouble. If they cannot be dealt with properly, there will never be peace in the northwest."

Liu Ye ran to the northwest, but he really didn't do anything. He just kept an eye on Ma Teng. In addition to helping Ma Teng make plans to attack Li Jue and Guo Si, he also carefully inspected the people's sentiments, topography, features, etc. in the northwest.

, and finally found that the power of the Qiang and Di in this generation has become more and more powerful. Now that Ma Teng is a buffer in the middle, it is no big deal. But if the Ma family is not there, what will happen to the northwest?

More importantly, even if the Ma family has been guarding the northwest, the royal family can't feel at ease - how much military salary needs to be thrown into such a strategic location every year? And these military salaries are equivalent to helping the Ma family train their private soldiers, which will definitely cause serious trouble in the long run.

.

By that time, the Ma family was divided into one party. They could connect with other tribes outside and overlook the Central Plains inside. They seemed to want to become kings and hegemons. Therefore, Liu Ye was very worried about the situation in the northwest and made a proposal to Liu Xuan early.

On this point, the emperor should make plans early and not wait until the matter becomes irreversible to solve it.

After looking at Liu Ye's handwriting, Liu Xuan also pondered for a while.

"The situation in the northwest has been anticipated for a long time, and I have also considered the alien issue, but I didn't expect the situation to be worse than I originally guessed."

There are not only the Qiang and Di in the northwest, but also the Xiongnu in the north. These foreign tribes all covet the wealth of the Central Plains. Whether it is food, property, iron tools, or even women, they are all things they want very much.

At the same time, the northwest is also the passage for these alien races to connect to the Central Plains. As long as the alien races see that the imperial court cannot resist them, not only the northwest will suffer, but even the entire Central Plains will suffer a catastrophe.

With his eyebrows pinched, Liu Xuan had already begun to plan in his mind what he should do after Guo Si and Li Jue were removed and the imperial court truly ruled the northwest.

After thinking about it, I finally found that the most suitable way at present is to unite one faction and fight another - it seems that the Qiang Di have an old grudge with the Xiongnu. I wonder if they can use it?

More importantly, the existence of the Ma family provided a bridge between the imperial court and the Qiang people, which must be taken advantage of.

In this case, the Ma family will play a very important role in the next period of time. Not only can their status not be changed, but the situation that allows them to rule the northwest cannot be changed.

"Send a letter to Ma Teng, even if I want to see him and talk to him face to face!"

With a case in his mind, Liu Xuan immediately gave the order. The following people understood immediately that Liu Xuan was probably going to have a serious talk with Ma Teng, and this talk would affect the future of Northwest China for at least ten years.

Depending on the situation, it is very likely that another war will break out - if Ma Teng cannot reach an agreement with the emperor, or if Ma Teng is dissatisfied with some of the emperor's measures, it is very likely that he will use his troops from Xiliang to rebel.

Of course, none of the people present thought that the imperial court could not defeat the Xiliang army, but this war was not over yet. If the war started again, what would the imperial court look like?

At the same time, when the imperial court competes with the northwest princes, what will happen to Guandong? More importantly, the princes rebel one after another, which is a huge blow to the court's prestige, so if it can be resolved peacefully, it is best

Or resolve it peacefully.

Not long after the edict was sent out, there was a reply from Ma Teng. Ma Teng said that after finishing handling the military affairs in his hands, he would immediately take his son to see the emperor in person.

The fact that he came to see him immediately after he was handed over to the military was not worthy of attention. What made several civil and military officers concerned was the sentence "bring his own son".

As a prince in the actual sense, Ma Teng's willingness to bring his son was almost a sign of his loyalty - if he had any objections, he would either not come, or he would leave his son behind and give instructions before coming alone.

Now he brought his son with him... Is Ma Teng still willing to give his son as a pledge?

When everyone was speculating, a letter from Liu Ye solved Liu Xuan's doubts. It turned out that Ma Teng really wanted to send Ma Chao to Liu Xuan as a hostage.

When it comes to the fundamental reason, Liu Xuan is a bit dumbfounded - it turned out that Liu Ye was hit by Ma Chao while practicing, and he had to learn it. After learning that only by the emperor's side can his majesty teach him magical skills, Ma Chao

I told my father that I was going to Chang'an.

Of course, Ma Chao was not an idiot. He knew what it meant for him to enter Chang'an. He was very bachelor and said directly: "My son has gone to Chang'an, and your majesty can rest assured to use my father to guard Xiliang."

Ma Teng was speechless for a while after hearing this. He was silent for a long time before nodding and agreed. He originally wanted to work in Beijing himself, and then asked Han Sui to train his son, and then take over the affairs of Liangzhou when his son was older. Unexpectedly, he

My son actually took the initiative to go to Beijing.

It was for this reason that Ma Teng brought Ma Chao to see the emperor this time. However, he did not expect that as soon as he brought the talent into the tent where the emperor's camp was located, and just saw the emperor from a distance, a person suddenly jumped out from behind him.

, and rushed straight at the emperor opposite. At the same time, he shouted wildly: "I want to see what the boy Nanhua said is so powerful!"

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p.s: Sadly, why is it getting later and later???

;
Chapter completed!