Can I get to the other side?.

Chapter 274 Ma Teng: Your Majesty, my son is a loyal and filial son!
Senior officials withdraw their troops back to Bingzhou?
Tian Feng colluded with Wuhuan and Ma Chao?
When Liu Xie heard the news reported by Zhang He, his face suddenly changed.

He could accept the news that Gao Gan withdrew his troops back to Bingzhou, but the fact that Tian Feng was colluding with Wuhuan and Ma Chao was something he really didn't expect.

"Why is Ma Chao connected with Tian Feng? Is it true that, as in history, he doesn't care about Ma Teng's life or death and wants to stage a play of loving father and filial son?"

"But why would he rebel?"

Although Liu Xie knew Ma Chao's character, he still found it incredible because in his opinion Ma Chao had no reason to rebel.

He is the legitimate emperor in power, and he is not the Emperor Xian of Han who was held hostage by Cao Cao in history. Moreover, the current situation is very good. As long as the Ma family is honest and serves as the emperor's meritorious officials, they will surely enjoy wealth and glory in the future.

As a result, he actually connected with Tian Feng at this time?
Could it be that there is something hidden in it?

Liu Xie looked at Zhang He with doubt in his heart and said in a deep voice: "Where is the secret report? Bring it to me so I can see it."

"Your Majesty, please take a look."

Upon hearing this, Zhang He immediately handed over the secret report with both hands.

Liu Xie took it and read it carefully.

After a moment, his eyes turned slightly cold.

According to the letter, Tian Feng went to meet Ma Chao alone as an envoy, and then the two talked about something unknown, and then Tian Feng stayed in Ma Chao's military camp.

"Ma Chao..."

Liu Xie's eyes were somewhat gloomy.

Things were not as bad as he imagined, and Ma Chao did not openly rebel, but this matter still could not be ignored.

Tian Feng was a counselor under Yuan Shao and a remnant of the rebels. Even if he went to see Ma Chao as an envoy, as long as he was not going to surrender, Ma Chao should have arrested him immediately.

Because there is no need to follow any rules when dealing with rebels.

However, instead of arresting Tian Feng, Ma Chao let Tian Feng live in the military camp and did not even report the matter to him.

What is this for?
To put it mildly, it is concealing the truth; to put it seriously, it is colluding with traitors, plotting evil, and intending to rebel!

Liu Xie snorted in his heart, put away the secret report, and then said to the Zhen clan elder and Yuan Xi who were watching him closely: "You should leave first."

"The minister obeys the order."

The two dared not raise any objection and left immediately.

After they left, Liu Xie said to Zhang He, "Send the Northern General Zhang Yan and the Loyal Marquis Gongsun Xu to the court."

The matters concerning Gao Gan and Ma Chao can be discussed at the court meeting. Now that Zhang Yan and Gongsun Xu have arrived outside the palace, we have to meet these two people first.

"promise!"

Zhang He took the order and withdrew.

Soon, Zhang Yan and Gongsun Xu walked into the Xuanshi Hall under his leadership and bowed respectfully, saying, "Your Majesty, I am Zhang Yan (Gongsun Xu) and I pay my respects to you!"

"No need to greet you, my dear ministers."

Liu Xie had adjusted his mood and his eyes fell on Gongsun Xu. "Marquis Zhonglie is far away in Ji County. Why did he come to see the emperor with General Zhenbei?"

The title of Marquis Zhonglie that he gave to Gongsun Zan could be inherited from generation to generation. After Gongsun Zan's death, Gongsun Xu became the new Marquis Zhonglie.

"Reply to Your Majesty."

Gongsun Xu bowed and said, "After hearing the news of your Majesty's great victory in Hejian County and the capture of Yuan Shao, I took the initiative to send troops to recapture the counties in Youzhou occupied by Yuan Shao."

"Although it is my duty to recover the lost territory for Your Majesty, I still feel it is necessary to come and report to Your Majesty in person."

"On the way to Yecheng, I happened to meet General Zhenbei who was also going to Yecheng, and we traveled together."

Gongsun Xu briefly explained the reason.

The troops and horses in those Youzhou counties captured by Yuan Shao were pitifully small. Most of them had followed Tian Feng to Bingzhou. Although he did not have many troops and horses, it was effortless for him to capture these counties.

"Oh?"

Liu Xie's eyes lit up after hearing this.

He had wanted to order Gongsun Xu to send troops to recapture Youzhou in the next two days, but he did not expect Gongsun Xu to be so sensible and take the initiative to send troops without his asking.

This saved him a lot of effort.

Liu Xie smiled and said to Gongsun Xu, "As expected of you, you are the son of General Baima. Your heart of serving the country is the same as your father's. I am very pleased."

"It is my duty to share your majesty's worries!"

Gongsun Xu clasped his fists and said, his eyes slightly reddened, "My father died at the hands of the thief Yuan. Your Majesty has wiped out the entire Yuan family. My father's spirit can rest in peace in heaven!"

"I wonder when Your Majesty plans to execute the thief Yuan?"

He hated Yuan Shao and Yan Liang to his core. Now that Yan Liang had been killed by Zhao Yun, Yuan Shao was his only remaining enemy.

He wants to see Yuan Shao die with his own eyes!
Liu Xie said: "After the beginning of spring, when I lead my army south, I will kill him as a sacrifice to the flag and send his head throughout the country to boost the morale of the three armies."

Hearing this answer, Gongsun Xu was overjoyed. Killing Yuan Shao as a sacrifice had already made him excited, but he never thought that the emperor would also send Yuan Shao's head to the world!
"Your Majesty, the soldiers and civilians of my Black Mountain Army have moved out of the Taihang Mountains and have now arrived in Wei County."

"I don't know...how to settle down?"

Zhang Yan, who was standing next to him, felt a little nervous when he saw Gongsun Xu had finished speaking, so he asked cautiously.

Even though the emperor promised him that he would settle all the members of the Black Mountain Army, there are hundreds of thousands of people after all. Can the court really arrange it properly?
If a riot occurs and he is not handled properly, he will definitely be blamed, and instead of getting any credit he will be accused of a crime.

That would be terrible.

Liu Xie smiled and said, "General Zhenbei, don't worry. These hundreds of thousands of people are also my people of the Han Dynasty. How can I just ignore them?"

"I have made adequate preparations."

At present, sufficient supplies have been prepared, and the next step is to confirm the resettlement plan with the ministers. He already has an idea in mind.

"Your Majesty is kind!"

Zhang Yan heaved a sigh of relief and continued, "Your Majesty, the Black Mountain Army still has 30,000 troops. Your Majesty can send someone to take over at any time."

"Although I am the General of Zhenbei, my abilities are limited and I am not good at commanding troops. Your Majesty, please let other generals lead the Black Mountain Army."

Before coming here, Zhang Yan had made plans.

All he wanted was wealth and honor. It didn't matter to him whether he had military power or not. After all, he had a history of rebellion. If he kept the military power in his hands, he would be suspected. It would be better for him to hand it over directly.

When Gongsun Xu heard this, he was shocked and looked at Zhang Yan with a strange look on his face.

Thirty thousand troops, just surrender them as you say?
There are people in the world who are not greedy for military power!
Liu Xie was not surprised by Zhang Yan's answer, because Zhang Yan in history was such a person and he surrendered all his military power after being recruited by Cao Cao.

It can be said that he is well versed in how to protect himself.

So he didn't say anything polite, but nodded and said, "I will arrange this matter. General Zhenbei has made great contributions in escorting the people to Yecheng, so he must be rewarded."

"Then change the title of Marquis of Anguo to Marquis of Zhending, and give him a reward of one thousand gold and one thousand pieces of cloth."

If Zhang Yan surrenders his military power, his post as General Zhenbei will certainly be dismissed, so he will have to be compensated in other ways.

Zhang Yan was quite surprised to hear this, because he just handed over his military power in accordance with the situation, but he did not expect to receive a wave of rewards.

Wealth and other things are secondary. The main thing is that his title was changed from Marquis of Anguo to Marquis of Zhending. You have to know that Zhending County is his hometown!

Return home rich and noble, bringing honor to your family!
"I just hate that Ju Yi stole my credit, otherwise I would be the Marquis of Zhending County now. It's all because of that shameless villain!"

Zhang Yan thought bitterly.

If Ju Yi had not defected in the middle of the battle, he would have been the one who got the credit for capturing Yuan Shao. He would have been a county marquis instead of a township marquis!

After cursing Ju Yi a hundred times in his heart, Zhang Yan respectfully bowed and said, "Your Majesty, thank you for the reward!"

……

In Tai'an Hall, all officials gathered.

After meeting Zhang Yan and Gongsun Xu, Liu Xie walked into the hall, sat down at the main seat, and cast his eyes on the ministers in the hall. He saw that the faces of people like Yang Biao and Cui Yan were somewhat depressed and ugly, and they were obviously still hurting from the money and food materials they competed for yesterday.

After all, they donated so many things but failed to win the title of the Han Dynasty's top philanthropist. This deal was a huge loss.

Liu Xie took in the looks of all the ministers, raised his lips slightly, and said with a smile: "My dear ministers, you donated so much money and food yesterday, which really touched me."

"With so many supplies, the hundreds of thousands of people will surely be properly resettled. You are worthy of being loyal ministers of the Han Dynasty!"

Liu Xie never mentioned the fact that his ministers had complained to him about being poor and having no money, but just kept praising his ministers for their contributions.

As the saying goes, don't hit people in the face, and don't expose people's weaknesses.

Since his desired goal has been achieved, there is no need to make things so embarrassing and embarrass everyone.

Anyway, compliments don’t cost money.

Cui Yan forced a smile and said, "Your Majesty has been working hard to settle the refugees. Naturally, we want to share your worries. We are just trying to do our best."

So much money and food is enough for him to form 10,000 Tiger Guards!
The ministers all echoed sparsely.

They all knew that the purpose of Liu Xie's donation this time was to make them bleed, but the key was that no one could say anything.

Because donation is entirely voluntary.

Liu Xie did not force them, nor did he engage in any shady dealings. Even Zhen, the emperor's purse, personally stepped forward and donated a large sum of money, grain and supplies.

However, no one expected that everyone present had ulterior motives. Although they said they would not donate, they were actually more enthusiastic than each other in donating and more fiercely scrambling for the donations.

Yuan Xi even donated the entire Yuan family's property and used it as a bargaining chip to compete with them. It was really hard to resist such a big move.

So they can only bear this loss by themselves.

Liu Xie smiled faintly and said, "My dear ministers, you are thoughtful. Today, General Zhenbei has brought hundreds of thousands of people to Wei County. The next thing to discuss is how to resettle these people."

"I have an idea about this."

Liu Xie did not keep the secret and directly stated the resettlement plan he had already formulated: "There are too many people arriving in Wei County this time. Simply providing relief to them can only solve the problem temporarily, not for a long time, and it will also waste so much manpower."

"Therefore, I intend to implement a strategy of using work for relief. The court will give them food, but they must participate in the labor."

"This way, we can provide relief to the people and make use of this huge manpower."

Work-for-relief is not unique to later generations.

As early as the Spring and Autumn Period in the State of Qi, the doctor Yan Ying proposed the form of work-for-relief, allowing the disaster-stricken people to repair the palace for the King of Qi in exchange for food.

It not only provided relief to the victims but also saved no manpower and built a palace for the King of Qi, achieving two goals at one stroke and becoming a famous story.

Unfortunately, few kings in later generations were like this.

Most of them ignored the lives of the people and forcibly levied labor service.

Work-for-relief, which appeared in the Spring and Autumn Period, would be considered a sign of a king's kindness today.

The ministers praised Liu Xie for this move again.

Suddenly, Sima Yi stood up and said, "Your Majesty, it is winter now, the weather is cold and there is nothing we can do for the people."

Work-for-relief is certainly feasible, but it is difficult to implement in winter.

Because winter is coming, people can’t reclaim land or build cities or walls. What can they do?
"This is exactly what I want to discuss with you."

Liu Xie had anticipated this question and said, "The first thing we need to do is to build houses for the people so that they can build a place to live."

"Secondly, I want to build a textile workshop and let the people participate in weaving."

"I need to weave enough warm clothing for all the soldiers in the army as soon as possible. This is extremely important and urgent."

Hearing the seriousness in Liu Xie's tone.

All the ministers were startled.

Guo Jia frowned and asked, "Your Majesty, soldiers usually stay in the barracks in winter, why do you need to weave so many warm clothes?"

Because of the cold weather in winter, there is no training, let alone fighting.

The soldiers basically stayed in the tents.

In this case, there is no need to spend a lot of manpower and material resources to produce cold-resistant clothing. It would be better to use such expenses to produce weapons and equipment.

“Because it will be useful soon.”

Liu Xie looked calm, raised his eyes to look at his ministers, and solemnly announced his decision: "I will send troops to attack Bingzhou this winter."

As soon as the words fell, all the ministers were shocked!
Send troops to attack Bingzhou in winter? !
After realizing what was happening, Zhang Liao said anxiously, "Your Majesty, it's cold in winter, I'm afraid it's not appropriate to send troops!"

How could such a large-scale war as attacking Bingzhou be carried out in winter?

If you want to get vaccinated, you have to wait until the beginning of next spring.

"you shut up!"

Lu Bu glared at Zhang Liao and said unhappily, "Your Majesty, you have your own considerations when you say this. Are you smarter than Your Majesty?"

Zhang Liao naturally had no way to respond to this, but he was anxious and it was not right for him to speak or not speak at this moment.

Jia Xu asked, "Your Majesty, has anything happened in Bingzhou?"

In his opinion, given Liu Xie's caution, it is impossible that he was unaware of the dangers of sending a large number of troops in winter. He must have had a reason for making such a decision even though he knew it.

It is very likely that something happened in Bingzhou.

"Yes."

Liu Xie nodded slightly and took out the secret letter from his sleeve. "The news just came back today is that Liu Zhang has negotiated peace with Gao Gan and Zhang Lu, and Gao Gan has led his troops back to Bingzhou."

"In addition, Tian Feng met with Ma Chao in private and even had some dealings with Wuhuan in secret. I don't know what he was planning."

"If Tian Feng were to rebel against Ma Chao, the Xiliang cavalry would come from Bingzhou, and Jizhou, which has a vast plain, would find it difficult to resist them."

"Plus, the Wuhuan cavalry is coming from Youzhou. As long as we break through the Youzhou defense line, we can go all the way south to Jizhou."

"The attack on Bingzhou cannot be delayed any longer."

"I can't give them a chance!"

"I want Tian Feng to die!"

Liu Xie revealed all the contents of the secret letter.

Bingzhou's geographical location is so important that it has always been a battleground for military strategists.

Ma Chao controls Liangzhou and Guanzhong. If he can take Bingzhou, he will be able to strangle the throat of Hebei.

Liu Xie controls Hebei. If he can obtain Bingzhou, he will be able to strangle the Guanzhong region.

If Ma Chao were to turn against us, it would be a disastrous disaster.

What’s more, there is the Wuhuan.

Yuan Shao has been managing Hebei for many years and has very good relations with the Wuhuan. Under Tian Feng's lobbying, the Wuhuan are very likely to send troops.

Ma Chao defected and Wuhuan sent troops, attacking from both sides and Jizhou was in danger.

All the ministers in the palace changed color when they heard this!

Ma Teng was especially terrified. He stood up in panic and fell to the ground, shouting, "How could my son be in league with the rebels?"

"Your Majesty! There must be a misunderstanding!"

"Your Majesty, please investigate clearly!"

(End of this chapter)