Summary of the previous chapter: Sima Yi asked Ma Xiaoquan for advice, and Ma Xiaoquan in turn asked Sima Yi to teach his four sons. Sima Yi agreed and took the initiative to visit Ma Xiaoquan a few days later...
Ma Xiaoquan was very aware of China's five-thousand-year-old tradition of respecting teachers. Since Sima Yi became the teacher of his sons, Ma Xiaoquan naturally wanted to be polite to him.
Sima Yi was very satisfied with Ma Xiaoquan's politeness. Although Master Xian Ma Xiaoquan was far above him in terms of status and position, Master Shangxian's sideways invitation made Sima Yi very useful.
Sima Yi also had a teacher, and he knew very well about respecting teachers. Seeing the serious look on Master Shangxian's face, Sima Yi secretly made up his mind to teach Master Shangxian's four sons well.
.
"Please, Lord Immortal!" Sima Yi responded politely and entered the main hall side by side with Ma Xiaoquan.
In the hall, the servants had already prepared tea and cakes. When they saw Ma Xiaoquan and Sima Yi coming in side by side, the servants all retreated respectfully.
The two sat down and started chatting from side to side.
Although Ma Xiaoquan hated politics, during the twenty years he had known Cao Cao, Ma Xiaoquan had been exposed to many things about politics.
Sima Yi had great political acumen and military talents. Unlike Cao Cao, Sima Yi's military and political opinions were more targeted, especially regarding the strategic direction of the Sun-Liu alliance. Sima Yi bluntly pointed out the weaknesses of the two men.
Ma Xiaoquan kept nodding his head while listening. Unknowingly, the two of them had been talking for more than an hour.
At dinner time, Ma Xiaoquan invited Sima Yi to join him for dinner, and Sima Yi happily accepted.
After the meal, Ma Xiaoquan gathered his family together and held a simple apprenticeship ceremony for his four sons.
To show his sincerity, Ma Xiaoquan specially sent a large box of treasures to Sima Yi. This move made Sima Yi flattered. Although the Sima family was not short of money due to his brother Sima Lang's relationship, he could get a large box of treasures in an instant.
Sima Yi can guarantee that his father and brother have never encountered this before.
"Thank you, Lord Immortal!" Sima Yi did not refuse and bowed to Ma Xiaoquan.
Ma Xiaoquan waved his hand, feeling very happy in his heart.
The fact that Sima Yi readily accepted the treasures he gave away proved that Sima Yi had weaknesses.
Ma Xiaoquan had dealt with Zhuge Liang. Compared with Sima Yi, Zhuge Liang could be described as a saint. Ma Xiaoquan admired his frugal and self-disciplined life style.
But... Ma Xiaoquan is not a good person. When dealing with people like Zhuge Liang, Ma Xiaoquan always has to be careful.
Sima Yi was different. Not only did he not blush after receiving the treasure, but he continued to chat with Ma Xiaoquan while repaying the money, as if the big box of treasure belonged to him.
At this point, Sima Yi was added to the list of shameless people in Ma Xiaoquan's heart.
...
"Haha...it's getting late, Lord Immortal, I'll take my leave..."
Sima Yi stood up and offered his hand to Ma Xiaoquan, but he looked reluctant to leave.
How could Ma Xiaoquan not understand what Sima Yi meant, so he pulled him back and said, "Zhongda, it's too late today. I think you should stay in my Ma family compound to rest today. I'll have my men take you off tomorrow."
go back."
Sima Yi blushed: "Why are you so embarrassed?"
"Eh? Zhongda, you are my son's teacher now. Why are you embarrassed? Come on, come on. You will stay at my house tonight. Come here."
"exist!"
Ma Xiaoquan ordered his servants: "Prepare an upper room for Teacher Sima!"
"yes!"
Sima Yi no longer refused, bowed to Ma Xiaoquan, and was led by the servants of the Ma family to go to the upper room to rest.
"Well." Looking at Sima Yi's disappearing back, Ma Xiaoquan said to himself: "In this way, my Ma family won't have to worry too much for at least the next fifty years... Well, next, I have to find time to go to Hanzhong
It’s a trip..."
...
In the tenth month of the fifteenth year of Emperor Xian's reign of the Han Dynasty (AD 210), Cao Cao ordered the construction of the Bronze Bird Tower in Yecheng.
The Tongque Tower is not just a tower, it is the main fortification that Cao Cao used to build the city defense of Yecheng.
Cao Cao once wrote a letter to Ma Xiaoquan, explaining his idea of building Tongque Tower. According to Cao Cao's deployment, Yecheng's city defense fortifications were not only Tongque Tower, but Cao Cao also planned
Two or three Jinhu and Bingjing towers, plus other surrounding facilities, will turn Yecheng into a military fortress capable of both offense and defense.
As for the origin of the name of Tongque Terrace, Ma Xiaoquan always thought that it was named after Cao Cao dug up a bronze bird. Later, when he asked, he found out that this was not the case.
Cao Cao named the bronze bird mainly because of the legend that the bronze bird on the double round tower of Jianzhang Palace can bring a good harvest, which made Cao Cao have the desire to pray for good weather and good harvests, so he named this platform bronze bird. As for Jianzhang Palace
Something like that, it was destroyed a long time ago.
When the Han ministers in the court heard the news, they immediately complained to Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, saying that Cao Cao built the Bronze Bird Tower to hide the beauty in the golden house.
After hearing this, Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty discussed with all the Han officials and decided to adopt a soft policy to persuade Cao Cao.
This gentle policy, on the one hand, fully affirmed Cao Cao's achievements, and on the other hand, it used Tongque Terrace as a topic point, cutting into Cao Cao's advanced age, and advising him to hand over his military power, retire and return to his hometown. Of course, in order to express
For Cao Cao's further "affirmation", Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty specially granted three additional counties to Cao Cao.
After receiving the decree from Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, Cao Cao sneered and immediately wrote a letter to refuse the additional fiefdom, and immediately wrote a letter to counter his hint of resignation.
In early November, Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty summoned the Immortal Marquis Ma Xiaoquan and ordered him to persuade Cao Cao.
Ma Xiaoquan got the order and indeed went to Cao Cao's residence and met Cao Cao. However, Ma Xiaoquan didn't take the advice to heart at all. The two drank and talked happily, and even went out to hunt together in the middle of the month.
In late November, Ma Xiaoquan reported to Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty that he had gone to Cao Cao's place, but... Cao Cao ignored him...
Xudu, inside the palace.
"It's nonsense to talk about Ma Xiaoquan... How can it be true? How can it be true..." Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty was so angry that he threw things around, causing the little eunuch Xiao Huangmen beside him to be frightened and helpless.
"Your Majesty..." A bold little Huangmen stepped forward and hugged Emperor Xian of Han's thigh.
"Get away or I'll kill you!"
This little Huangmen is quite stubborn and would rather die than let go.
Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty struggled to free himself a few more times, but found that he could not get away, so he finally stopped and burst into tears.
...
Yecheng, Ma Family Courtyard.
Cao Cao poured a cup of tea for Ma Xiaoquan and said slowly: "Master Shangxian, do you think your memorial is too much?"
Ma Xiaoquan rolled his eyes at Cao Cao: "Excessive? Xiao Cao, that memorial was written by you. If I hadn't stopped you from telling you to write it more tactfully, you would have gone even further, right?"
Cao Cao chuckled: "I can't hide anything from Master Shangxian, hehe..."
Ma Xiaoquan raised his hand and said, "Xiao Cao, what will you do next?"
Cao Cao said: "The next step...well..."
Seeing Cao Cao's silence, Ma Xiaoquan smiled and said: "Xiao Cao, I will recommend someone to you..."
"Oh?" Cao Cao smiled when he heard this, "Who is it?"
"Sima Zhongda!"
"Sima Zhongda? Oh, Master Shangxian is talking about Sima Yi?"
Ma Xiaoquan nodded.
"Sima Yi?" Cao Cao paused and said, "This man is ambitious..."
Ma Xiaoquan smiled and said: "Everyone has ambitions. The key is whether you have the ability to control ambitious people. If you have to do everything yourself, you will be exhausted."
"Oh" Cao Cao said in a deep voice, "Then let me take some time to talk to Sima Yi..."
Ma Xiaoquan did not continue to talk, just leave everything to the point. As for whether Cao Cao talks to Sima Yi or not, that is a matter between the two of them.
After Cao Cao left, Ma Xiaoquan called Mao Gang and asked, "Mao Gang, why are you so mysterious lately? What are you doing?"
Mao Gang smiled and said: "Master, my disciple has been helping you find the items you need recently."
"Oh?" Ma Xiaoquan was very happy to hear this, "Well, thank you, do you have any specific news?"
Mao Gang said: "Master, you said before that the object you are looking for has now fallen into Lu Xian's hands. I sent someone to inquire again, and the feedback I received was that Lu Xian seemed to have left Hanzhong.
....."
"Ah? Have you left Hanzhong?" Ma Xiaoquan frowned.
If Lu Xian was in Hanzhong, Ma Xiaoquan would still have a target, but when Mao Gang said that Lu Xian had left, Ma Xiaoquan suddenly had no idea.
Although Ma Xiaoquan had doubts about his disciple Mao Gang's words, it would take some time to go back and forth from Yecheng to Hanzhong. Even if Mao Gang told lies, he would probably not meet Lu Xian if he went there.
"Damn" Ma Xiaoquan cursed. Originally, he meant to rush to Hanzhong in the next few days. Now that Lu is leaving first, it seems that the plan will be temporarily shelved.
It was impossible to go to Hanzhong, and the ladies were all pregnant, so they couldn't go far and have sex. Ma Xiaoquan suddenly felt that staying at home was meaningless.
"It's better..." Ma Xiaoquan thought for a moment and said to himself, "It's better... to fight Xiliang with Xiao Cao. Well, it's almost time...
...That’s it.”
Just as he was about to leave, Yuan in his left eye suddenly said: "Huntan Ma Xiaoquan, did you miss me?"
Ma Xiaoquan responded: "Damn, you still know how to talk to me, how many times have I called you?"
