Ma Teng took a closer look and saw that it was his eldest son Ma Chao. He hurriedly said: "Chao'er, how can you shout so loudly? Be careful that the walls have ears."
"What are you afraid of! It was Liu Xin who acted unfairly first!" Ma Chao raised a piece of paper in his hand and said, "Dad, look. Pei Ji, Yang Fu surrendered to him behind my father's back, and now they are all serving as governors.
job, but he left dad here in the cold and ignored him! This is unbearable!"
Ma Teng made a "shush" gesture and signaled a big man next to him to close the door, and then whispered: "Chao'er, what are you holding?"
Ma Chao handed the piece of paper to Ma Teng and said: "Dad, what is this thing called Dahan Express? It records official appointments, harvests in various places, recent weather conditions, jokes, short stories, and excerpts from classics and histories.
There are many kinds of justice, everything is available, and the paper is so good, just ask them to waste it."
Xiang paper was a major economic pillar of Liu Xin, and it was even more expensive than gold outside the areas he controlled. That's why Ma Chao felt that Dahan Express was really a luxury.
Ma Teng took the Dahan Express and took a look, and sure enough he saw that both sides were densely filled with content, and the middle part was the appointment of the governor of the ten counties of Liangzhou. The names of Pei Ji, Yang Fu and others were all in it, but there was no
I couldn't help but let out a long sigh and said, "How dare you not bow your head when you are under a low eaves! Nowadays, our family is living under someone else's roof, so we should be careful in our words and deeds."
Ma Chao said nonchalantly: "Dad, I don't accept this anger! No, let's go against him again!"
"Oh? Who is talking arrogantly and wants to rebel?"
Ma Teng was shocked when he heard the sound coming from outside the door. He glared at Ma Chao fiercely and said, "Shut up, or you'll get into trouble!"
The big man who had just gone out to close the door had subconsciously put his hand on the sword at his waist. He was just waiting for Ma Teng's order to rush out and kill people.
There was only a soft "pop" sound, and the door latch that had just been inserted was actually broken into two pieces in the middle. The door opened with a "click" and a tall young man walked in slowly. Although he was smiling,
There seemed to be a boundless domineering force that intimidated everyone in the yard. Ma Teng and the big man next to him were both breathless.
But Ma Chao, a newborn calf, was not afraid of tigers. He put his hands on his hips and said angrily: "Who are you? Did you break the bolt of this door?"
Here, two more scribes came in from behind the young man, but Ma Teng recognized them as Ju Shou and Tian Feng, and hurriedly shouted: "Chao'er must not be rude!"
Turning to Jushou again, Tian Feng said: "How come you two gentlemen are free today?"
Jushou smiled and said: "General Ma has been clamoring to see the lord every day, but now the lord is right in front of him, but you don't know him."
Only then did Ma Teng realize that the young man in front of him was Liu Xin. He quickly bowed his arms to the ground and said, "General Ma Teng pays homage to the lord!"
Liu Xin took a step forward, helped him up, and said: "Liu is very pleased that General Ma can abandon the darkness and turn to the light. I wonder if you are still used to living in Xiangyang these days?"
Ma Chao shouted from the side: "I'm not used to it! Why are others appointed prefects, but my father doesn't have any official position!"
Liu Xin looked him up and down and said with a smile: "Liu heard that General Ma has a young man named Ma Chao who is very brave. Could it be that he is not this young man?"
Ma Teng hurriedly said: "Going back to my lord, it is my son Ma Chao. I am young and ignorant. I hope my lord will not sin."
Liu Xin waved her hand and said: "Young man should be vigorous and vigorous at this time. If you are timid, it will be difficult for you to become a great person in the future. My son shows his talent, General Ma has indeed given birth to a good son!"
Ma Chao just spoke, and when he saw Ma Teng's sharp eyes, he lightly "hummed", but his eyes were still glaring at Liu Xin angrily.
Liu Xin didn't take it seriously, and still smiled and said: "Ma Chao, do you know that today's prefects only deal with civil affairs and do not control the military. But your father started his career in the army, and handling civil affairs was not his specialty, so Liu did not appoint him.
His position as governor has unexpectedly aroused your displeasure. Hahahaha... Well, Ma Chao, I will tell you first that I plan to appoint your father as the left minister of the Ministry of War."
Seeing the confused expressions on the faces of Ma Teng and his son, Tian Feng said with a smile: "General Ma may not be too clear yet, so let Tian explain it. My lord has established six departments: officials, households, rituals, soldiers, punishments, and work.
A minister,
There is one left and right minister each. The Ministry of War is in charge of the mobilization of soldiers and horses in the world, the selection and inspection of generals, weapons, and horses. The left minister of the Ministry of War is also a very important position. Tian is here to congratulate General Ma!"
Ma Chao listened for a long time, but still didn't quite understand, and muttered: "It's such a troublesome thing, but it's still not worth it."
Jushou said seriously: "Mr. Ma, my lord has classified the officials into the ninth rank, the county magistrate is the seventh rank, the prefect is the fifth rank, and the Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of War is the third rank. Who do you think is more important and who is less important?"
Ma Chao said angrily: "That's not as good as leading thousands of troops and horses to gallop on the battlefield!"
The appointment of Ma Teng as the left minister of the Ministry of War was the result of Liu Xin's repeated trade-offs. It was necessary to demonstrate his certain status without allowing him to directly take charge of the army. However, in the eyes of Ma Teng and his son, it was better to have a large number of troops and dominate one side alone.
Therefore, Ma Chao disapproved of such an appointment.
Ma Teng knew that there was no need to worry about running out of firewood as long as the green hills were there. He was afraid that Ma Chao would ignore the importance and anger Liu Xin, so he quickly shouted angrily: "Chao'er! You don't have the right to speak in front of my lord, why don't you back down!"
Liu Xin's real goal in conquering Ma Teng was actually the young and energetic Ma Chao, otherwise he would have eliminated Ma Teng as well when he ordered the attack on Han Sui.
"Wait a minute!" Seeing Ma Chao backing away unconvinced, Liu Xin waved her hand and said in a deep voice, "Ma Chao, look at your father. He is already very old and his face is full of vicissitudes. As a son, you shouldn't
Do you want your father to enjoy a peaceful life for a few days? You actually want to let your father go to the battlefield to fight in a bloody battle, don't you have any filial piety?"
Ma Chao was stunned. He subconsciously felt that Liu Xin's words were a bit far-fetched, but he couldn't think of how to refute it, so he stayed there.
Liu Xin's voice suddenly became louder, almost roaring: "Ma Chao, wake up! The one who should really pick up the sword and charge into battle is not your father, but you!"
This shout shocked Ma Chao and left him speechless. Ma Teng was quite surprised by Liu Xin's words and hurriedly said: "Go back to my lord, my son is young..."
Liu Xin's expression suddenly softened, and she laughed loudly: "The tiger father has no dog son, Liu believes that Ma Chao will not disappoint you. Since ancient times, heroes have been born young, General Ma, if you don't let Ma Chao try, how can you know
Can he do it?"
Ma Chao didn't wait for Ma Teng to answer, but he already said first, "Dad, I'm willing to give it a try!"
Liu Xin patted Ma Chao on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Yes, Ma Chao, I did not misjudge you. I heard that your ancestor was a general of this dynasty. Do you want to make contributions to our Han Dynasty and become a generation of the Han Dynasty?"
Famous general?"
Ma Chao replied without hesitation: "Yes!"
Liu Xin laughed. He knew that although Ma Chao was brave, he lacked tactics. In history, Cao Cao easily used a counter-intentional plan to break his alliance with Han Sui. Later, he was deceived by Liu Bei, a big-eared thief. Unexpectedly,
Today, he only spoke a few words to make his blood boil. Liu Xin was determined, struck while the iron was hot, and continued: "However, it is not easy to be a general, and it is even more difficult to become a famous general. It needs to be done step by step from the bottom.
Starting from now, you still need to familiarize yourself with military books and strategies, and you will have to go through many hardships. Maybe you can bear this hardship?"
Ma Chao straightened his waist and replied loudly: "Yes!"
Liu Xin nodded and said to Ma Teng: "General Ma, are you willing to let Ma Chao join the army?"
What he said was a bit knowing. How could Ma Teng not agree? What's more, Ma Chao was still watching eagerly.
Seeing Ma Teng nodding in agreement, Liu Xin added: "Ma Chao, you may not know the composition of the Han army, so let me introduce it. At present, the entire army is divided into four parts: the Flying Tiger Guards, the regular army, the local army and the engineering army...
…”
Zhang Fei and Huang Zhong led both regular legions. In the battle against Han Sui, Ma Chao only heard about the devastating momentum of the regular legions, but he was fascinated by them for a long time, so he blurted out the words before Liu Xin finished.
Said: "Lord, Ma Chao wants to join the regular army!"
Liu Xin smiled and continued: "The regular army is divided into seven armies and two fleets. The first to fifth armies each have 100,000 people and are a mix of infantry and cavalry; the sixth army is an all-cavalry army.
, there are 50,000 people; the Seventh Army is an army specializing in mountain and jungle warfare, with 20,000 people. Ma Chao, I guess you won’t go to the Navy, so among the seven armies, which one you want to go to, you can choose for yourself!
"
Ma Teng was secretly frightened when he heard this. He didn't expect that Liu Xin's army was so powerful. The regular army alone had no less than 600,000 troops. Fortunately, he didn't resist him head-on, otherwise he would have died without a burial place.
Little did he know that this was just Liu Xin's idea. The recruitment of new soldiers was currently being planned and was far from reaching such a scale.
All this information about the army is top secret. Although it is just a concept, it will be put into practice soon. However, considering that Ma Teng has become the left minister of the Ministry of War, these information will be known to him sooner or later, so Liu Xin did not hide it.
Instead, he told him everything. Of course, doing so could kill two birds with one stone. It not only allowed Ma Teng to familiarize himself with the situation in advance, but also shocked their father and son.
Ma Chao had just chosen to join the regular army without hesitation, because in the regular army he had more opportunities to charge into battle and achieve great military exploits. However, he did not expect that the regular army also had so many names, so he hesitated and found it difficult to choose.
The compulsion of Chinese people to compete for the first place has been around for a long time. In the Olympics, they not only have to compete for gold medals, but also the first gold medal. At this time, Ma Chao was also undecided whether to join the first corps or the sixth corps. Since there is a "third
"One" title, that should be the most powerful force, and he himself prefers the spectacular scene of thousands of horses galloping, so which one should he choose?