I will be the master of Xuande

Chapter 540 Liangzhou is Difficult
In July of the third year of Xingping, the war in the northwest spread to Chang'an, shaking the Manchu Dynasty.

The reason was that Niu Fu and Lu Bu had a fierce conflict with the rebels led by Han Sui and Ma Teng in Liangzhou!

A few months ago, Lu Bu and Niu Fu led the army. After leaving Chang'an, they marched westward along the Wei River, from Huaili to Yi County and then to Chencang. They continued to recruit elite soldiers from various counties in Guanzhong along the way, and finally arrived at Hanyang, north of Qishan Mountain. The county capital is Ji County.

The location of Jixian County is not very far from Guanzhong, but it has already entered the scope of Liangzhou, and the landform here is very different from the Guanzhong Plain.

Lu Bu and Niu Fu traveled westward. The lands in Guanzhong they passed along the way were rich in water and grass. As far as they could see, there were cultivated land and wheat fields everywhere. The water from the Wei River was directed to the cultivated land everywhere to irrigate the farmland!
Although it cannot be said that there is a scene of prosperity, the farmers are also busy in their own way, presenting a scene of prosperity.

But after passing through Chen Cang and arriving at Longshan Mountain, everything in front of him seems to have changed completely!
Don't look at the close distance between Guanzhong Plain and Liangzhou, but it really seems like two worlds!
The gap is just that big.

There are fewer and fewer green scenes, or even none at all. As far as the eye can see in Hanyang County, most of them are yellow.

The plains are yellow, the mountains are yellow, and the fault cliffs are also yellow!

But Lu Bu and Niu Fu didn't care about this scene, on the contrary, they were still very happy in their hearts.

Because, only in such a dangerous place, the poor mountains and rivers can allow them to display their true abilities, let them train the most capable soldiers here, and at the same time recruit the strongest soldiers here, expand their army, develop their strength.

The more remote the place and the harsher the environment, the weaker the Han dynasty's control over the place was, and the more they could do whatever they wanted here.

Lu Bu and Niu Fu were like tigers coming out of the abyss. They were happy to come to Liangzhou, but the residents here did not welcome them!
As the saying goes, there is no room for two tigers in one mountain, especially on the top of the mountain in Liangzhou, there is more than one tiger.

Especially the Liangzhou rebels led by Ma Teng and Han Sui, as well as the powerful warlords in the border counties who have great power locally and are in charge of the army!

They were full of hostility towards the arrival of Lu Bu and Niu Fu.

Ever since, the two sides had almost no redundant words, and went to war directly.

Liangzhou has ten counties and one country, with an extremely vast area and sparse population distribution, which makes the strategy of Ma Teng, Han Sui and others extremely wide. Relying on their prestige among the Qiang people and the vast territory of Liangzhou, they have a close relationship with Lu Bu. Started a fierce confrontation with Niu Fu!

When it comes to commanding the army and being able to conquer battles, Lu Bu is above Ma Teng and Han Sui, but the problem is that Han Sui and Ma Teng are fighting at home. They understand the landforms of Liangzhou and have contacts with the Qiang people. There are too many people... so it can be said that they have a certain advantage.

In fact, if it were Lu Bu who was in his heyday, he would definitely not be afraid of Ma Teng and Han Sui, but the key point is that Lu Bu lost many elite soldiers and hurt his vitality in the previous battle with the Hebei army in Sizhou. Therefore, in the confrontation with Han Sui and other rebels, they were in a passive situation.

However, Lu Bu was not a mortal after all. Although the local rebels in Xiliang were strong, he was still able to hold his ground. He stationed his troops in Ji County, recruited troops and horses, and levied grain and grass. At the same time, he sent people to Chang'an to ask for help from the court.

Lu Bu was in a stalemate with the rebels. Although he did not win a big victory, he definitely did not lose. It was just an invincible situation, which was not a good thing for the court.

After all, everyone in Liangzhou knew how much savings the imperial court had spent over the years, and how much material and financial resources the imperial court had exhausted.

Lu Bu and Niu Fu reached a stalemate in Liangzhou, which was very passive for Liu Bian. After all, the expedition to Liangzhou was the first strategy he promulgated after he succeeded to the throne. It was related to the emperor's majesty and reputation.

Liu Bian was very anxious after receiving the news. He hurriedly consulted with Dong Zhuo, hoping that Dong Zhuo could think of a solution quickly!

What can Dong Zhuo do?For him, the only way was to lead his troops to Liangzhou in person.

Compared to Niu Fu, Dong Zhuo has a higher prestige in Liangzhou. Compared to Lu Bu, Dong Zhuo is more familiar with the rebels' combat methods and their methods. In this situation, if Dong Zhuo can personally go to Liangzhou to sit in the town and give advice to Lu Bu With Niu Fu, they will definitely be able to defeat Ma Teng and Han Sui and restore the situation...

However, Dong Zhuo didn't dare to leave.

Dong Zhuo was really worried about the Chang'an court.

In fact, as long as Li Jue, Guo Si and others are left behind, Dong Zhuo is not afraid of a military rebellion from the Chang'an court... The problem is that Dong Zhuo is afraid that Liu Bian will not be able to handle political matters alone in Chang'an.

It's not that he underestimated Liu Bian, Dong Zhuo himself might not be able to deal with these old bastards in the court without resorting to killing methods, so how could he expect Liu Bian?

Sure enough, what Dong Zhuo worried about happened.

At the court meeting, Huang Wan, the official of Guanglu, began to express his opinions on the war in Liangzhou.

"Your Majesty, the war in the northwest is at a stalemate. The troops of General Niu and Lieutenant Lu are not doing well in Ji County. This is not a blessing to the country."

Liu Bian sat at the head and said nothing, he looked at Dong Zhuo: "How does Xiangguo feel?"

Dong Zhuo gave Huang Wan a hard look, and then said: "A temporary battle is not enough to make a conclusion."

Huang Wan didn't give Dong Zhuo any face: "The victory and defeat are fixed, I'm afraid it will drag down the country."

Huang Wan directly refuted Dong Zhuo in front of the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty, which made Dong Zhuo lose face.

He clenched his fist and resisted the urge to pull Huang Wan out and kill him.

"Do rats know how to fight?" "Dong Zhuo, who are you scolding?!"

Dong Zhuo said nonchalantly: "I will scold whoever deserves it!"

All of a sudden, a group of people headed by Huang Wan was annoyed.

"Treacherous villain!"

"shameless!"

"The reckless man from the border county!"

"Disaster for the country and the people!"

Dong Zhuo's complexion changed and turned into the color of pig liver.

He clapped his hands and saw a group of Xiliang warriors headed by Hua Xiong rushing into the hall.

"The old man killed you!"

"Everyone, stop it. Your Majesty is here, you are scolding and killing, how unbecoming it is! There is no chaos in Liangzhou, but I, the Han Dynasty, got into chaos first!"

Everyone turned to look, and the person who spoke was the current Shesheng Colonel Ma Rixi.

Although Ma Rixi took over the post of captain, his family lineage was very deep in the Kansai region. The Ma family's reputation among the scholars was as thunderous, and Ma Rixi himself had a very high reputation among the scholars.

When he stood up to speak at this moment, all the ministers headed by Huang Wan were stunned.

After all, although Ma Rixi has a deep family background, he has never been very popular in the court.

Today, Huang Wan led his team to confront Dong Zhuo in public. They had already put their life and death at risk. They wanted to use the incident in Liangzhou to force the emperor to take back his life. Of course, if they could make Dong Zhuo mad and reveal his true colors, what would happen to the courtiers? It couldn't be better.

Huang Wan was originally thinking that even if he provoked Dong Zhuo to kill him today, he would still have to reveal his true colors.

Who would have thought that Ma Rixi would actually stand up and interrupt his "death-seeking good deed".

Dong Zhuo also looked at Ma Rixi in surprise.

But Ma Rixi solemnly raised his hands to Liu Bian and said: "Since your Majesty has decided on the national policy of the Western Expedition, he should implement it thoroughly. If he retreats due to a few setbacks, then where is the prestige of the imperial court? Where is your majesty's prestige? How to appease people's hearts? , how to get the hope of the world?"

"At the moment, Yichen Duzhi, urgently order Taicang and Shaofu to carefully calculate the surplus of money and food in the central government and treasuries in various places, and make a plan. Also, carefully calculate that in the next three years, if the imperial court uses troops to the northwest , how much investment, how much surplus will there be based on the revenue over the years, if not enough, where should the military expenditure be paid for..."

When Liu Bian heard this, his eyes suddenly lit up.

"Ma Qing's words are justified. I have already ordered people to cast Xingping coins and put them in the world. After a certain period of time, I will definitely accumulate a lot of military wealth for Chang'an."

The advising doctor Zhao Qi suddenly laughed twice.

Ma Rixun frowned and turned to look at the source of the laughter.

"Why is Mr. Zhao laughing?"

Zhao Qi looked at Ma Ridun with some amusement.

"If someone else advises His Majesty on the financial management strategy, I think it is acceptable to adopt it. However, with Ma's fair daily use of money, the word financial management may have nothing to do with Ma Gong."

After saying this, Ma Rixi's face immediately turned red, obviously a little ashamed.

Anyone in the scholastic community knows that the Ma family spends a lot of money, and their extravagant style is among the best in the entire Han Dynasty.

Now Ma Rixi is admonishing the emperor in front of the courtiers to review expenses, balance expenditures, and save military expenses in the northwest. This is indeed a bit funny... He doesn't even understand his own family's finances, and he actually came to advise His Majesty. Manage the country's finances?

Ma Rixun naturally knew what was going on.

He said to Zhao Qi: "Since I have given advice to His Majesty, there is a reason for his advice. Your Majesty also feels that what Ma said is in line with the facts. Moreover, although Ma is not good at managing money, there are still other things in the court." A hero can take on this great responsibility."

Speaking of this, I saw Ma Rixun cupped his hands towards Liu Bian and said: "Your Majesty, please choose a clan member of the Han family, and then send a capable person with virtue and prestige among scholars to handle this matter together. , can undoubtedly protect His Majesty’s military expenses.”

(End of this chapter)