Goose Three Kingdoms

Chapter 666: Northern Affairs
The city of Datong is covered in silver.

In the suburbs, Ma Teng led a thousand cavalrymen to hunt.

The knights who set out ahead of time searched, drove away, and gathered the herds.

When Ma Teng's group arrived, they worked together to chase the tired beasts and shot them one after another.

In the afternoon, inside the military tent, Ma Teng sat in the upper seat, and the tent was filled with laughter.

Ma Dai mingled with the crowd and reluctantly sat at the last seat in the front row. Listening to all the flattering voices around him, Ma Dai felt very uncomfortable.

These people are generally Ma Teng's old brothers, and they have been friends with Ma Teng since they were young, fighting with him to the death.

At this moment, they all hold positions as clerks in the Zhenbei General's office, and can barely be considered to have a public background.

If the Grand Marshal's Office does not recognize their achievements in future performance appraisals, the official backgrounds of these people will be invalidated.

The Ma family has extensive experience in cultivating queens, and now they have Ma Chao, the unprecedented Right Wise King.

Not only the old brothers were trying to curry favor with Ma Teng, even the Huns were trying to curry favor with Ma Chao.

The banquet ended and the sun was setting.

Ma Teng returned to his thick little tent, where a copper stove was burning and heat was spreading.

He stared at the dark blue flames, breathing evenly.

Hearing the sound of footsteps on the snow outside the tent, Ma Teng calmed down, sat up straight, grabbed the wine glass and took a sip.

"uncle."

Ma Dai entered the tent, bowed, and was also forced to drink a lot of wine.

Those people were so familiar to him that if he refused, his father would lose face.

Ma Teng motioned Ma Dai to sit near the copper furnace: "I heard that Yunlu made the Grand Marshal unhappy?"

"Just mad."

Ma Dai explained: "My younger sister still refuses to admit her fault, and we cannot let the Grand Marshal admit his fault. My brother has also sent people to ask, and the rewards for the four seasons in Xixiang have not been lacking, and there is nothing missing from Dongxiang."

"Don't cover up for her. The women in Dongxiang give birth to many children, which is far beyond what Xixiang can compare with."

Ma Teng raised his hand and rubbed his eye sockets and eyebrows: "It's all because of her arrogance that the women of various families have been neglected. Now people's hearts are scattered, how can they be gathered together?"

The women sent to Xixiang were not slaves, nor were they spoils of war, nor were they looted from the people.

They were the daughters of older brothers. Although there were also widows, the fathers and brothers of these women were all Ma Teng's followers and partners.

Now, after more than two years of neglect, the other women in Xixiang no longer hide their resentment and have begun to complain to him through their fathers and brothers.

With a long sigh, Ma Teng said, "Go back and tell Meng Qi that Xixiang's affairs are not his business. I will handle this matter. Also tell Yun Lu to remember this lesson and not to make the same mistake again."

"Uncle, do you want to apologize to the Grand Marshal?"

"It's not my turn to apologize, so don't worry about it."

Ma Teng handed over two written letters: "Don't collude without my permission in the future. The Grand Marshal doesn't care much, but he doesn't like it either."

"Yes, nephew will remember this."

Ma Dai restrained his expression, stepped forward to receive the letter, and asked in a low voice: "Uncle, brother wants to know whether Liu Wengong is alive or dead."

"died."

Ma Teng stared at Ma Dai and uttered two words. Seeing Ma Dai lower his head, Ma Teng let go of the letter in his hand.

Watching Ma Dai leave, Ma Teng let out a long breath of alcohol.

Enter the DPRK quickly.

We can't stay in Datong any longer. The danger increases with every passing day.

He clearly had nothing to do with the matter of the Crown Prince of the Pseudo Dynasty, but Ma Chao still sent Ma Dai to question him, which made him very tired and frightened.

As for the matter with my daughter, the root cause was of course that she was willful and forced a concubine to death.

But she was forced to death, not poisoned or beaten to death. The concubine was weak by nature and could not stand the pressure. She committed suicide at the slightest oppression.

Even if my daughter made a mistake, it was not a big mistake.

Even the father and brother of the deceased did not think it was excessive, but Da Sima thought it was excessive... Is this reasonable?
This is obviously unreasonable, there must be other factors.

The factor is very simple, that is the seal of the General Zhenbei in his hand and the golden seal of the Right Wise King in Ma Chao's hand.

As long as he gave up his military power and returned to Guanzhong with his old brothers, the problem in Xixiang would be solved.

Originally, he was reluctant to leave, and stayed in Datong waiting for the war to conquer Hebei.

But judging from the current situation, if he delays any longer, his old brothers will turn against him first.

If they are pushed to the limit, those women in Xixiang will join forces and there is a high probability that Ma Yunlu will die of illness.

It was nothing more than him getting another daughter to marry, which was not difficult to do or understand. Limited by their experience and talents, his older brothers obviously lacked the courage to be self-reliant and strive for success.

They would rather obtain the most abundant and direct fruits through their younger sisters and daughters.

He doesn't ask for the high position of crown prince. In the future, he will be granted a country, even a marquisate. As his uncles and grandfathers, they will naturally be great helpers.

Probably only after he gave up the seal of the General of the Northern Expedition and returned to Guanzhong, did the Grand Marshal organize a war against the rebels in Hebei.

During this period, he also heard the story of the raccoon cat wearing the general's seal to fight the enemy.

The fact that the story has been spread has obviously given us the choice.

If I don't take the initiative, do I have to wait for my good son-in-law to take action?
His good brother Han Sui was a lesson for him, and now he just wanted to land safely.

As the alcohol started to take effect, he recalled his life with an overwhelmed mood and gradually fell asleep.

In Liaodong, the winters are extremely cold and heavy snow covers the fields.

After each snowfall, the snow on the roads in the city could barely be cleared.

Even Liu Bei's Liaohou Mansion was unable to clear the snow, so it could only pile up on the garden, vegetable garden, and pond ice.

The Liaohou Mansion was rebuilt from the Gongsun family's mansion. Some commonly used buildings that exceeded the etiquette were demolished, and unused buildings were sealed and unused.

Before the Gongsun brothers moved away, the only thing they did not do was burn down their mansion.

It’s not that they have any feelings for the mansion, they are simply worried that Black Bear will have nowhere to stay when he leads an expedition to Liaodong in the future.

This was a good thing for Liu Bei, as the specifications of Gongsun's mansion were neither high nor low, far above that of a county marquis and below that of the kings.

On a sunny day, Liu Bei took the guards and servants in the mansion to clear the snow from the roof.

If you allow your savings to grow, it is possible that they will collapse your house.

Since the beginning of winter, the Liao Tunnel has been closed due to heavy snow and normal caravan traffic has stopped.

This also ensures that the excellent postal sled teams are still in use. Most of these postal officials are originally from Liaodong who migrated to Dai.

It can ensure two round trips after snowfall to deliver various official documents, such as court reports, to Liaodong.

Liu Bei was shoveling snow from the roof when he saw Xu Shu driving up to the high gate of the mansion.

So Liu Bei stuck the wooden shovel into the two-foot-thick snow on the roof, then carefully walked to the eaves, jumped up, and sank into the snow on the ground.

Several attendants rushed forward and pulled Liu Bei out, but Liu Bei didn't take it seriously at all. He brushed off the snow on his body and went to the side hall for meetings.

The Marquis's Mansion also has a meeting hall, but it cannot be heated in winter and cannot be used.

Xu Shu walked briskly as he brought the latest official report.

Due to the difficulty of the journey and the Liao Tunnel, the Liaodong Dibao was two pages behind the Guanzhong one.

In the side hall, Liu Bei was sitting on a kang, wearing a sable-collared, double-breasted leather jacket.

He flipped through the official newspaper and frowned, "So, if the post of Grand Minister of Agriculture is established, we also need to send out three county accountants?"

This is to take away the population, product and tax data of the three counties of Liaodong, Lelang and Daifang.

Due to the remote location of Liaodong, the Ministry of Agriculture was unable to allocate supplies from Liaodong.

But this is just the beginning. Perhaps in my lifetime, the Ministry of Agriculture will send envoys to the three counties of Liaodong to carry out land inspections.

How can I talk about the matter of land inspection...Liu Bei agreed with the idea of ​​land inspection in his heart.

But he was very unhappy to become the target of inspection.

Xu Shu warmed his hands with tea and said, "Send them out immediately without delay. I did not expect that the Grand Marshal would be so decisive and appoint Liu Ye as the Grand Minister of Agriculture."

"Yeah, I didn't expect that either."

Liu Bei was also moved. There were so many servants under the name of the Grand Marshal, and the tax was three times the amount of food per head. He could pay the money at will.

There are also land taxes, forest and mineral rents, etc., which together amount to a huge amount of taxes.

The Grand Marshal would rather pay the money than accept the advice, which shows that the Central Plains scholars led by the State of Chen have deeply hurt the Grand Marshal.

This clearly meant that he wanted to outlast the old ministers of Jian'an before moving up.

He refused to share any of the soup or water.

With emotion, Liu Bei instructed Xu Shu: "The Grand Marshal is willing to pay taxes and rent, so I cannot be exempted. Re-sort out the three counties' registers and select capable people to be accountants."

The taxes and rents he paid were ultimately used in Liaodong.

With such a long transportation distance, the Ministry of Agriculture could only decide the use of part of the tax revenue, but it would ultimately have to be used in the three counties of Liaodong.

Who knows, you might even get a subsidy from the Minister of Agriculture by crying poor.

(End of this chapter)