"Whoever has the best plan for holding the power, and then decides what he wants and what he wants to do." [Xunzi·BuGou]
Even though Ma Chao had some power, he was still young and energetic, and had never seen the brutality of the war that year, nor the power of the army and Huangfu Song.
At this time, he said disapprovingly: "If you can't solve it, then let it go. Anyway, we wanted to take advantage of Dong Zhuo's power at the beginning, and we didn't really want to submit to the little emperor and the court. Now that Dong Zhuo, Li Jue and others are dead, the court
Those ministers have a lot of rules and weird tempers. I think if I surrender in the future, I will be restricted everywhere. Judging from their faces, it is better to be happy and comfortable now."
What Ma Chao said seems to make sense. There are many people in the rebels who hold the same view as him, but not many people have this opinion. With Ma Teng, Han Sui's prestige can still convince him.
.But since learning that Li Jue and Guo Si surrendered to the court and were still taken to the city to be executed, the court's credibility in this regard has been greatly reduced. Even Han Sui couldn't help but murmur in his heart, fearing that his surrender this time would follow Li Jue's footsteps.
Follow in the footsteps.
After much deliberation, Han Sui and Ma Teng decided they were unwilling to give up this great opportunity.
Mainly because since the death of their nominal leader Guo Guo, the Liangzhou rebels have fallen apart. In addition to relatively large forces like Han Sui and Ma Teng, there are also many generals or Qiang and Hu chiefs who are fighting in separate armies.
Therefore, they chose to submit to the imperial court. Firstly, they could be the first batch of surrendered Liangzhou generals and receive relatively generous rewards. Secondly, they could also nominally submit to the imperial court, temporarily solve the threat from the imperial court, and then calmly rely on the imperial government's assigned troops.
Guanjue, unified the various rebel armies in Liangzhou.
When the two of them solve these problems, their soldiers and horses will be strong on the ground in Liangzhou. As for whether they will listen to the imperial edict at that time, it depends on whether the strength of the two sides is equal.
So in the face of this huge prospect and benefit, Han Sui and Ma Teng put aside their doubts and sent Ma Chao and Cheng Gongying to personally lead people to sneak into Chang'an and secretly investigate the situation.
Nowadays, the situation in the DPRK and the attitude of the various factions are almost figured out. Cheng Gongying said to Ma Chao firmly: "The situation in the DPRK has been stable for more than a month, but the parties are in conflict. It would be better to fight against Dong Zhuo and Li Jue together.
So united."
"This is the first one, and the second one is related to your family." Cheng Gongying said.
"my home?"
"Didn't Zunjun always say that he is a branch of the Ma family in Fufeng?" Cheng Gongying said, with a hint of playfulness in his tone: "It's just that Zunjun was not taken seriously by others in his early years and thought it was nonsense. Now Taiwei Ma Rixi has admitted it in private.
Your family is indeed from the Ma family, and we are working hard to get the court to contact your family as soon as possible to facilitate a pardon."
"What?" Ma Chao asked in shock. His father has been brooding about this matter for a long time. Now that he has the endorsement of the head of the Ma family, if his father's long-cherished wish comes true, his father will surely be overjoyed when he finds out.
If you win, please surrender.
It's just that Ma Chao is currently rebellious, so he doesn't understand why his father would care about such a thing, and he has no interest in the name of the Ma family in Fufeng.
He saw Chenggong Ying was slightly jealous, probably because he was worried about his lord Han Sui, fearing that if the two of them entered the court at the same time in the future, he would be inferior to him because the other one had Ma's care.
Ma Chao is still rare and shrewd in this regard: "Sir, my family has such a prestigious reputation in Xiliang. It is all because of my father's life. How can we rely on his Ma family's reputation? This Ma Rixi has never said anything before.
You didn’t tell me, but now you show up to recognize this family, and you don’t even care whether I will answer or not.”
Is it up to you, a young boy, to decide whether you recognize your relatives or not?
Cheng Gongying cursed in his heart, but he understood that Ma Chao was trying to comfort him, and he felt a little relieved. He did not mention the matter again, but kept it in his heart and prepared to discuss it with Han Sui when he went back.
"These are all your family affairs. As an outsider, I can't say anything more. Besides, I heard that the imperial court is currently preparing to conquer Bai Bo. Just the leadership of the general has involved the energy of many people." Cheng
A smile appeared on Gongying's face, and then he raised his voice slightly and said: "I was hesitant at first and worried that the imperial court was doing this to defraud me. It wasn't until I heard about it today that I gave up my worries."
Ma Chao also avoided the previous topic and said, "What's the matter?"
Cheng Gongying glanced at Ma Chao and said with unclear meaning: "This is related to the Xinfeng Bao Chu. It is said that his old woman was robbed by dozens of thieves that day. Since his family is a military camp, this happened
, but Diannong Sima ignored him indifferently. So much so that Bao Chu rushed there with his sword, killed several people with his own hands, and rescued his mother..."
Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Ma Chao excitedly: "Shan! I knew this man was extraordinary. He was not only chivalrous, but also a filial son."
Cheng Gongying frowned. Although he was dissatisfied, his tone remained calm and he said: "This matter reached the ears of the people in the imperial court and was deliberately used to cause drastic changes. General Hu Ben Zhonglang was originally appointed by the emperor according to rumors.
The commander of the Eastern Expedition, Gai Shun, was impeached by the cavalry general Dong Cheng because of this matter. He failed to suppress the bandits and falsely reported his record, which caused his reputation to be greatly reduced. Obviously, he lost the opportunity to lead the Eastern Expedition."
"I heard you mention it earlier. Dong Cheng has been plotting to be the coach of the Eastern Expedition. I thought he would not get his wish, but I didn't expect it would turn out like this." Ma Chao said: "This Gaishun is really incompetent. All of a sudden
He was caught in a shortcoming, and such a good opportunity was about to be given to others before he saw it."
Cheng Gongying sneered and said: "Do you think that the position of coach can fall to Dong Cheng? If that is the case, the man in Weiyang Palace is just a mediocre person. He can't do so many things."
Seeing Ma Chao's confused look, Cheng Gongying was also willing to give him some advice: "Dong Cheng also has a hussar general Huangfu Song. In terms of military exploits, who in the imperial court can match him? Now Gai Shun can't go, and Dong Cheng can't go.
, didn’t Huangfu Song get the advantage in the end?”
"I heard that Huangfu Song was a good fighter, but his bones were soft and he didn't dare to offend anyone." Ma Chao finally had a chance to speak and quickly expressed his opinion: "How could he come forward this time when he knew he would offend Dong Cheng?
I think Dong Cheng and others took this into consideration beforehand, so they impeached Gaishun without any scruples..."
"Huangfu Yizhen was also a man-eating tiger in the past!" Cheng Gongying suddenly sighed: "Although he has become mediocre in recent years, it was just his strategy to survive when Dong Zhuo and Wang Yun were in power. Dong Cheng was
People take advantage of him without knowing it, because Huangfu Song is weak and can be bullied, and by the time he reacts, it will be too late."
"I just said that all the ministers in the imperial court are deceitful and not as bold as those knights." Ma Chao couldn't help but sneered, and interrupted Cheng Gongying's thoughts about the past: "But having said that, since what happened to the imperial court,
If you are troubled, what about my surrender?"
Cheng Gongying coughed and said: "Of course I will send someone back to summon Ming Gong and others to prepare for Chang'an. However, in order to be safe at this time of departure, in my opinion, we will only set off when the imperial army arrives in Hedong.
It’s the best.”
Ma Chao thought about it carefully and realized that this was indeed an extremely sound strategy. Even if the court wanted to use the same tactics as they did against Li Jue, they would still have to consider whether the troops and horses at the time were enough to suppress the attacks they brought.
army.
The troops under their command are not the rebels gathered by Li Jue and others. They were more or less afraid of the emperor and the court. You must know that the troops under Ma Teng and others have been fighting the court for several years, and they have long since stopped fighting.
Taking the imperial court seriously, it would be too naive to think that killing Ma Teng and Han Sui would make the rebels surrender.
At that moment, Ma Chao responded: "This is exactly the reason. When it comes to these operations, I am not half as good as your husband. In the end, it is your husband who makes people obey."
Cheng Gongying waved his hand and said with a false sense of humility: "You are a young talent with just one step. In time, you will become a good general on the battlefield! By then, I can only follow his example."
Ma Chao knew in his heart that although Cheng Gongying always appeared at Han Sui's side as a counselor, in fact, when it came to bowing, horse riding, and shooting, Cheng Gongying could also be regarded as a fierce general. The two were complimenting each other here, and they seemed to be harmonious, but in fact, in their hearts
They all have their own plans and are wary of each other. They seem to be in harmony with each other, but this is the tradition among the Liangzhou rebels.