When Ma Yuanyi said this "request", he saw Zhang Chong's face was very indifferent, so he quickly added:
"The great virtuous master plans to pass the title to you. You will also inherit your master's mantle."
Zhang Chong looked at Ma Yuanyi complicatedly and asked:
"Do you think I still need this title now? Do you even think I still need Taipingdao?"
Ma Yuanyi didn't expect Zhang Chong to reply so directly, but he quickly gave his advice:
"Ah Chong, you are indeed strong now, but you have to understand one thing. The influence of Taiping Dao has long been deeply rooted in your team. Take a look at the team and see how many are believers in Taiping Dao."
Seeing that Zhang Chong was indifferent, Ma Yuanyi raised his voice again:
"Yes, you can say that your prestige is firmly controlled, but this is because you are still in Taiping Dao, and once you become the enemy of Taiping Dao, people will inevitably be upset internally. Moreover, our Taiping Dao is still in Qingzhou and Bingzhou,
Jingzhou has huge power, and you have become a hero of Taiping Dao, which not only fulfills your master's wish, but also can take advantage of this huge power. Why not?"
At this point, Ma Yuanyi changed his tone and spoke to Zhang Chong with the tone of an old friend:
"Ah Chong, let's put it bluntly. If the Taishan Army and the Yellow Turban Army join forces, both will benefit, and if they fail, both will lose. You can't understand this, right?"
Zhang Chong also seeks truth from facts and does not deny this.
It is indeed like this. No matter how well the Taishan Army develops, it still only has the Yanzhou part and the Jizhou part. This is completely incomparable with the Taiping Road, which has been developed for more than 20 years.
In other words, more than twenty years is two generations, that is to say, the first batch of believers, their children and nephews have now grown up.
The Yellow Turban Army looks weak now, but it is much better than in the original time and space. The current Taiping Road is in absolute power in Qingzhou, with some in Xuzhou. Although the Yellow Turbans in Yuzhou were severely damaged, most of the Yellow Turbans in Runan are
Still lurking in the local area, the Yellow Turbans in Jingzhou still adhere to the banner of Taiping Road despite changes.
And don’t forget that Taiping Dao has a very deep foundation in Hebei and Bingzhou, otherwise the Black Bandits and White Wave Bandits will not breed in the future. These are million-level forces, which shows the potential power of the Yellow Turbans.
Therefore, Zhang Chong had to admit that what Ma Yuanyi said was right.
But he didn't plan to go, not because he was worried that it would be a Hongmen Banquet.
In Zhang Chong's view, there is a very good reason why the Zhang brothers really want him to be a hero. That is, with Zhang Chong here, they can conquer the world for Taiping Dao. And strangely enough, the three Zhang brothers
None of them had any direct heirs, at least he didn't know of any.
In other words, they are relatively pure and just want to establish an earthly country. Therefore, the probability of directly annihilating Zhang Chong with physical resources is not high.
But no matter how low it is, there is still a possibility. There are many heroes in history who feel that they are Optimus Prime, and they will definitely not be killed. But the opponent is an idiot with a lower bottom line, and the final blow ends.
Therefore, if Zhang Chong only had this reason, he would never go.
But the real reason why Zhang Chong couldn't go was not this.
He did not agree with the policies of the Zhang brothers. In Zhang Chong's view, the only person in Taiping Road who could be acquainted with him was his former mentor General Ren Gong, but he was already dead.
The current Taiping Dao is just to conquer the world, but according to Zhang Jiao's philosophy, how is his world different from the Han family? What use is such a world to the head of Guizhou?
So Zhang Chong did not decide to go. Because after the Battle of Xingyang, he made up his mind to cut off from Taiping Road. In Zhang Chong's view, inheriting the banner of Gongjun now would have huge disadvantages in the future. Because in the world at that time
, the influence of names far exceeds modern people’s understanding.
Take for example the famous event in this time and space, which used the emperor to command the princes. This shows the great role of names.
After Cao Cao ushered in Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, he jumped directly from the vassal power of Yuan Shao to the central power representing the Han Dynasty, and gained absolute political initiative.
But in the future, the relationship between Cao Cao and the Han Dynasty became a huge internal conflict among Cao Cao's forces. In his foreign wars, the war had to be terminated several times due to changes in Xuchang.
It can be said that the more he reaped the dividends of the Han Dynasty in the early stage, the more he suffered from this internal friction in the middle and late stages.
On the other hand, Yuan Shao took another independent path.
This path is to take Hebei as the basis and take advantage of the natural political centrifugal force between Hebei and Guandong to establish a government. Although this path cannot leverage the resources of the Han Dynasty in the early stage, it will become wider and wider as it goes further.
Now Zhang Chong plans to do the same.
For him, rejecting Zhang Jue's "invitation" this time is a signal to Zhi, that is, our Taishan Army never listens to messages from distant places, and our Taishan Army just wants to follow its own path.
Although the consequences may be as Ma Yuanyi said, his military morale will inevitably be shaken. But Zhang Chong believes that after so long preparations, most people know what to choose.
So, Zhang Chong said a heart-wrenching sentence to Ma Yuanyi:
"The Guangzong Incident is still happening before our eyes, and I am afraid that this general will not be able to occupy his position."
Ma Yuanyi looked embarrassed after hearing this.
Finally, Ma Yuanyi left, taking with him a letter from Zhang Chong to Zhang Jiao.
In the letter, he mentioned that the two parties were still allies of the offensive and defensive alliance, resisting the pressure of the Han Dynasty. But that was all. The Taishan side was in the past, and now it was the Taishan army.
Zhang Chong can only do this, and he doesn't know what Ma Yuanyi will say about this letter when he goes back. But even if Zhang Jiao really turns his back, will Zhang Chong be afraid? At most, Zhang Jiao will give you a "step back"
Already.
…
Outside Handan City, the Taishan Army is still strengthening the camp, and they are planning to transform the dying camp outside the city into a permanent camp.
Obviously, Zhang Chong did not intend to withdraw to Yecheng.
This is also Zhang Chong's service for the next stage of the war strategy. In the later stage, the main task of the Taishan Army is to manage Hebei, and Handan, as a transportation thoroughfare and far north, is more suitable than Yecheng as the location of the shogunate at this stage.
.
So these days, some staff agencies in Yecheng are moving to Handan.
On this day, April 12th, the county palace in Handan City, which is now the temporary shogunate of the Taishan Army, was brightly lit and filled with laughter and laughter.
On this day, Zhang Chong and Dazhao led officials and soldiers in the Northern Expedition.
The time of the banquet always passed quickly, and soon all the officials went back drunk.
And for one reason or another, a group of staff and civil servants gathered in small groups of their own in groups according to different circles.
The largest group among them is Duman's group. The group includes Cai Yong, Zhuge Gui, Wu Guan, Shan Ming, Tao An, Xun You, Fan Chang, Ruan Yu, Lu Cui and other senior staff, as well as new generations.
Li Heng, Li Rong and Feng Xi.
Slightly smaller than Duman's crowd was He Kui's group. Among them were military chief Zhao Da, chief Bo Yanzhuang, secretary Gao Sheng, Guo Tu, Shen Shang, Feng Fang, Chen Qin, etc., as well as new staff such as
Huang Quan, Guo Tao, Wu Rui, Zhang Yun.
These two groups of people are also the two largest groups in the Taishan Army staff department today. The Confucian family headed by Duman, and the Legal family headed by He Kui.
The reason for this division is not because there are really two groups of people, one is pure Confucianism and the other is pure Legalism. The essence behind it is a power struggle.
As far as He Kui is concerned, he is an out-and-out pure Confucian, and he has repeatedly advised Zhang Chong to act in a royal way. However, Duman is also a pure Confucian, and everyone around him is of this type, so why does He Kui
He can only win over legal officials who are a little more ruthless in their methods and actions.
So behind all the isms, there is power.
So after the big banquet ended, each small group found a place to continue their relationship.
Here, Zhao Da, Gao Sheng and the others followed He Kui to the mansion on the side of the military mansion, which Zhang Chong assigned to He Kui for daily living.
When Zhao Da and others arrived, He Kui's family had prepared simple vegetables.
Compared with the Han Dynasty, the Taishan Army still maintained a simple style, which is still reflected in He Kui.
He Kui took the seat, and the others encouraged each other to take their seats.
Before everyone could sit down, Guo Tu in the crowd was already eagerly chatting about a topic:
"This time, are we really going to break with the Yellow Turban Army?"
What Guo Tu asked was actually not a new topic, but it still touched the hearts of everyone present.
Although they did not think much of the Yellow Turban Army, they could not deny that the Taishan Army had received a lot of help from the Yellow Turbans in its development to this day.
Shan said that the Yellow Turban forces were in front of them, attracting the largest number of Han troops, which allowed the Taishan Army to calmly deploy.
So they still hope that this kind of life can continue. That is to say, the Yellow Turbans will die and they will take advantage of it.
But now that such good days are gone, they can't help but feel a little sad.
Therefore, Yan Zhuang, who was sitting slightly higher up, lamented:
"Yes, from now on we will have to carry the anti-Han banner ourselves. In the future, it will be difficult to say whether the Yellow Turbans are enemies or friends."
Yan Zhuang's words made Gao Sheng next to him unhappy.
Gao Sheng was a powerful son, and he didn't like the Yellow Turban soldiers. He had long felt in his heart that he should part ways with the Yellow Turban soldiers.
Now when he heard Yan Zhuang's words, he still had some thoughts, so he opened his mouth and said:
"Old Yan, don't make any mistakes. Commander Qu has already decided what he wants. What are you thinking about in this paper? If the Yellow Turbans wanted to survive, they would have surrendered to us early. If they still want to fight us, then God will take them away.
.”
Good guy, this Gao Sheng is a typical hawk.
Gao Sheng's view was not an isolated case, but was recognized by many people present.
He Kui, who was at the beginning, did not dwell on this issue, but simply ended with one sentence:
"Commander Qu has already made his own decision on this matter. We just have to obey it. But there is one thing that the troops present are not sure about."
As soon as He Kui spoke, everyone present listened attentively. Because He Kui was far closer to the center of power than they were, the information he could obtain was far beyond what they could compare with.
The reason why they were closely surrounding He Kui was that obtaining information was also their main purpose.
He Kui was very satisfied with everyone's reaction. He lowered his voice and spoke directly about a recent inconspicuous incident:
"Did you know that Qu Shuai is forming a group of anti-rural teams?"
Most people in the crowd had never heard of this matter, but Gao Sheng knew a little about it. But Gao Sheng did not intend to take the initiative to talk about it.
He Kui, who was at the top, saw that the people below him had no reaction, and thought to himself that it would be great if Dong Zhao was here too.
Dong Zhao was also a member of their small group before, and he was the most well-informed and had the most sensitive understanding of policies.
It's a pity that he has stopped attending these gatherings since he was appointed and dismissed by Commander Qu as the military envoy of the Fei Army.
He Kui knew that Dong Zhao was seeking stability, because the current Feijun inner guards were, to put it bluntly, the first-class embroidered messengers of the Pre-Han Dynasty, and they were all engaged in espionage.
Not only did he not dare to meet in private with He Kui and others, He Kui and others also did not dare to let Dong Zhao attend. Who knows if anyone would be taken away for saying something that should not have been said.
He Kui sighed inwardly and continued to broach the topic:
"This returning team is the result of Qu Shuai's plan to recruit military officers from different places in the army, and let them return to their hometowns to build teams. On the one hand, they will develop latently, and on the other hand, they will provide intelligence to the Taishan Army. When the Taishan Army reaches there in the future, they will
Rise up in riot and help capture the city."
After He Kui said this, he looked at everyone's reaction.
See below some people who are thoughtful, and some with expressionless faces.
He Kui started talking directly:
"Do you know what was the biggest reason why our Taishan Army left the mountain to fight in the past?"
Without waiting for others to say anything, He Kui continued:
"It is to spread the influence of the Taishan Army to a wider area and burn the fire of resistance throughout the Central Plains. Qu Shuai has a good saying, if you don't fight for it, others will fight for it."
"There are so many people being exploited in this world. If our Taishan Army only lives in a corner of Hebei, who can those oppressed Guizhou leaders turn to for revenge?"
Now He Kui still remembers the scene when Zhang Chong told him about this.
Zhang Chong said the same thing at that time, and He Kui immediately asked about a very realistic situation, that is, if these military officials were to return to their hometowns and pull out their own troops, wouldn't it be an egg against a stone? What equipment and number of people could they have?
, once you are noticed by the local powerful, you will die.
But Zhang Chong asked He Kui back and told him not to underestimate this small returning team.
These people all have military skills, and with a start-up capital, they can immediately recruit a team of ten people from their relatives and friends when they return to their hometown.
And with a team of ten people, they dare to take care of local injustices.
There are so many oppressed people, and many of them have blood feuds with the powerful. But if they want revenge, who can they turn to? The clan? The clan is also a part of the powerful. The government? The government is colluding with them. They can only rely on that.
A small team of ten people.
Therefore, despite the small number and poor equipment of the returning troops, they are the only hope for the oppressed Guizhou leaders in the vast Han-occupied areas.
Moreover, Zhang Chong does not need them to participate in the riot. The main task of the returning team is to lurk, expand their influence, and play the role of fire.
When Zhang Chong said this, He Kui understood, and he saw more.
He Kui understands that although these returning teams are inconspicuous now, they are the leaders of small base areas. If they can seize this wave and let their own team return to their hometowns to build teams, their influence will be greatly affected in the future.
It must be more than full.
He Kui didn't want to be so intrigued, but in this position, he couldn't help it. He once again understood what Qu Shuai once said: