A few days later.

The former capital of Zhao Kingdom, Yiling City.

In Zhaohou Palace, Sima Tan raised his hand and slapped a pear blossom table to pieces.

"Waste!" Sima Tan, who was about fifty years old, looked angry, "Sima Gu is a waste, Sima Chong is also a waste!"

Several generals in the hall and the retainers of the Sima family were both arrogant and did not dare to show up, for fear of being irritated by Sima Tan.

The day before yesterday, Sima Tan learned that Sima Gu was defeated and died outside Jianshi City. Today, he heard that Sima Chong was defeated and died in Kaiyi.

Sima Gu and Sima Chong were the generals of the Sima family's military power second only to Sima Tan. Now that they have suffered consecutive defeats and deaths, it would be strange if Sima Tan is not angry.

The most important thing is that as this battle to annex Quanzhao, hosted by Sima Tan, was about to end perfectly, this incident happened.

How did Sima Tan explain to the Marquis of Wei and other court officials of Wei?

After a while, Sima Tan's anger subsided slightly, and a thin old man spoke.

The old man was named Sima Tianjia, who was the chief of the Sima family (residiary, head of slaves), and Sima Tan's right-hand man.

He coughed lightly and said, "General, according to the information we have obtained from the soldiers who fled back, Lian Cheng also appeared in the Yun army this time and brought two strange beasts and tigers.

In addition, the five thousand elite Yun Kingdom led by Nie Gandang and thousands of remnants of Zhao Kingdom, the two partial generals were unprepared and were inevitably defeated and died."

"Lian Cheng~" Sima Tan gritted his teeth, "If I had known today, I would have to get rid of this person at no cost back then... It's hateful!"

After saying that, Sima Tan saw Sima Tianjia open his mouth and frowned and said, "Is there any bad news?"

Sima Tianjia knew that the matter could not be delayed, so he could only bite the bullet and said, "I will not hide it from the general, but now something is spreading everywhere in the army and in Yiling City."

"What's up?"

"It is said that the Yun army captured nearly 5,000 soldiers of our army this time, and they are willing to exchange these soldiers for salt.

An ordinary soldier will change to ten kilograms of salt, the squad leader will change to twenty kilograms, the length will change to thirty kilograms, the squad leader will change to 500 kilograms, and the commander will change to 1,000 kilograms.

If the Wei Kingdom did not change, they would kill all the captured soldiers."

Sima Tan's face immediately became dark and said, "When did this matter spread?"

Sima Tianjia smiled bitterly, "When the villain discovered it, it had been spread for most of the day, and now almost everyone in the army knows it.

General, if this matter is not handled well, it will cause unstable morale in the military at the worst, and it will cause a mutiny in the military at the worst."

Sima Tan stood up, walked around with his hands behind his back, and hummed, "How to deal with it? Could it be that someone really wants to use salt to redeem those captured soldiers?

They fought to the death on the battlefield and surrendered to become prisoners. They should have died, so what should they do to redeem them?"

Sima Tianjia advised: "General, you say that, but the soldiers in the army may not think so when they hear this.

The soldiers would only feel that those captured comrades could survive, but the general watched them being killed.

In this case, I'm afraid many people will feel heartbroken and may not fight to the death for the general in the future."

After hearing this, Sima Tan walked a few more times, then a gleam flashed in his eyes and said, "If you really want to exchange these prisoners, you will need at least 50,000 kilograms of salt, or even 100,000 kilograms of salt."

Why should our Sima family bear such a burden? Let’s report it to the Lord first, and see what you say.

If the Lord is unwilling to share the burden, then we will pass this matter to the army. I believe the soldiers will not blame my Sima family."

After hearing this, Sima Tianjia sighed in his heart, but he knew that it was impossible to persuade Sima Tan to change his mind, so he said, "The head of the family is wise, so I will do it."

A few more days later.

The Marquis of Wei sent an order, but reprimanded Sima Tan and ordered Sima Tan to try to raise salt to exchange for all the captured soldiers.

Otherwise, former general Zuo Qiusheng would be sent to replace him and continue to pacify the three prefectures of Zhaoguo.

After receiving the order, Sima Tan waved his hand to order the other generals and officers in the hall to withdraw, leaving only a few retainers.

"Your Majesty is so good to treat my Sima family~"

Seeing that there were no outsiders, Sima Tan couldn't help but gritted his teeth as he gritted his teeth as he held the order of Marquis of Wei.

This time, Sima Tan was the chief general. As long as the matter was successful, it would be a great merit, allowing him to catch up with General Pang Xuan in the army.

Now only one Shi Nan’s Mansion has not yet been settled. If he gives it to Zuo Qiusheng, his contribution will be greatly reduced in the future, and his prestige will even be reduced in the army.

It can be said that the order of Marquis of Wei suddenly took three inches of Sima Tan's.

Sima Tan originally thought that as his sister-in-law, Marquis of Wei would provide him with the best choice and try to solve the problem of salt exchange for prisoners, but he did not expect that he would eventually get such an order, which made him very angry.

Seeing this, Sima Tianjia advised again: "General, although there are a lot of 100,000 kilograms of salt, our Sima family is not unaffordable.

And this matter is not unhelpful to us - after the prisoner replacement, the soldiers who were redeemed will definitely be grateful to the general, and the rest of the soldiers in the army will also respect the general more."

After hearing this, Sima Tan's face was still gloomy.

He snorted, "I know everything you said, but when I think of this fact, I feel unhappy!"

Perhaps because he really hated Marquis of Wei too much, Sima Tan actually called Marquis of Wei as "that person".

After hearing Sima Tan's words, Sima Tianjia had nothing to say.

But I couldn't help but sigh in my heart: The head of the family has such a temperament and pattern. In another ten or twenty years, I'm afraid that the position of General Zuo will not be guaranteed.

Sima Tan felt even more unhappy when he saw that several of his retainers had no expression on their faces and did not show any hatred of him.

So he waved his hand and said, "You all go out, I want to be alone and quiet."

Sima Tianjia heard this and attacked Sima Tan and silently retreated.

When Sima Tan was the only one left in the hall, he touched out the jade pendant hanging on his chest.

I saw the baby's palm-sized baby's body was milky white, but there was a fiery red line in the middle, emitting a faint flame, as if it was slowly extending to one end.

On the back of the jade pendant, there are two bird-shaped characters engraved - Sima.

If there are children of the Sima family's legitimate genitals here, they can recognize it. This is the token that represents the identity of the head of the family - the Fire-line Jade Talisman.

This fire-line jade talisman is obviously not an ordinary jade pendant.

In fact, there is a big secret, a big secret passed down by the heads of the Sima family throughout the ages.

At this time, Sima Tan looked at the jade talisman with anticipation and fanaticism.

He murmured: "The day when the line of fire penetrates the jade talisman is the time when the ancestor breaks the seal.

At the current speed of the extension of the live line, I'm afraid it won't take it for a year, right?

Yuanfeng, Yuan family and our Sima family have been in-laws for generations, but now you are so embarrassed by our Sima family.

When the ancestor is untied, I want you to know that this Wei State does not belong only to your Yuan family, but also to my Sima family!"

···
Chapter completed!