Super Cultivation System of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 490: Hidden Arrows
Zhangye County, Liangzhou.

After several days of fighting, the Qiang tribe was finally repelled. One day, when Zhang Yong and Zhu Ye were about to lead their troops back to the capital, Ma Teng personally went out of the city to see them off.

"The two generals are truly worthy of their reputation for bravery. General Zhang's Golden Sword Battalion is extremely powerful, and General Zhu's Thunder God Cavalry is as powerful as thunder. It really opened my eyes. With these two generals like you, I believe the Qiang people will not dare to invade again in the next few years."

Ma Teng complimented Zhang Yong and Zhu Ye so much that even Zhu Ye felt a little embarrassed.

"General Ma, thank you for the compliment. My ability, hehe, is certainly pretty good. But compared to my four brothers, I am still a long way behind."

"Fifth brother, don't talk nonsense."

Zhang Yong said something to Zhu Ye, and Zhu Ye raised his eyebrows, shrugged his shoulders, and stopped talking.

Zhang Yong bowed to Ma Teng and said, "General Ma's Xiliang soldiers are brave and good at fighting. They are also familiar with the habits of the Qiang people and the terrain of various places. Without General Ma's assistance, my fifth brother and I would never have won. As for bravery..."

He suddenly looked at a young man behind Ma Teng. He was called a young man, and he looked no more than fourteen or fifteen years old, but he was already over seven feet tall. Although he was fair and handsome, when he stood there, his eyebrows and eyes had the aura of a fierce general.

Zhang Yong looked at the man and said with a smile, "Your son is as brave as my fifth brother, and even braver than me."

When the young man heard Zhang Yong praising him, he grinned with joy.

"General Zhang has a good eye. This time I was busy killing the enemy and didn't have a chance to spar with the two generals. If I have a chance in the future, I will definitely visit Luoyang in person and fight with the general and the famous generals who are famous all over the world."

"Shut up, Chao'er. You have no respect for your elders. What kind of status does the general have? And what kind of people are the generals? You really don't know your own limitations by challenging them to a duel."

Ma Chao was scolded by his father, but he didn't take it to heart at all. Although he didn't say anything, he kept winking at Zhang Yong and Zhu Ye. His excitement and unwillingness to admit defeat were fully shown on his face.

"Well, it's getting late. My fifth brother and I will take our leave now. When you have free time in the future, please invite General Ma to Luoyang for a chat."

The two men mounted their horses, bowed and said goodbye, then sped away.

"Chao'er."

Ma Teng called out to his son who was already somewhat absent-minded.

"Hmm? Father, what did you say?"

Ma Teng patted his shoulder.

"How is it? You used to be so arrogant that you had no rivals in Xiliang and thought you were the best in the world. You didn't go to the battle against Dong Zhuo, so you didn't see the bravery of the general, Guan Yu, Lu Bu, Zhang Fei and others. But you have fought side by side with General Zhang and General Zhu these days. Do you have any feelings?"

Ma Chao nodded very solemnly.

"Father taught me that I used to be a narrow-minded person, but now I know that there are always people better than you. Although General Zhang Yong's martial arts may not be much better than mine, his ability to command troops and his training methods are really amazing. As for General Zhu Ye, wow, with those two hammers, he rushed into the battlefield as if he was in an empty space. He is really a role model for our generation."

Seeing his son's eyes no longer full of arrogance, but were replaced by admiration, yearning and excitement, Ma Teng felt greatly comforted.

North of Luoyang City, Wei Mansion.

Wei Jian, who had been in front of Liu He with an aggressive and even domineering attitude not long ago, was now surrounded by a group of people.

There were more than twenty people sitting around him, all of whom were representatives of leaders of local aristocratic families. Among them were Wei Ji, the head of the Hedong Wei family, Chen Ji, the head of the Yingchuan Chen family, and one of the only three remaining members of the Yuan family who had been three officials for four generations, and Yuan Yi from Shanyang County, who was also one of the princes who had fought against Dong Zhuo.

Wei Ji looked at his only younger brother with an expressionless face.

"Brother, I have explained this to you. Have you thought it through?"

Wei Jian seemed a little hesitant.

"Brother, this is related to the century-long plan of our Wei family and many other noble families. No matter what the cost, I am willing to do it. But..."

Wei Ji raised his eyelids, and his old eyes looked extremely bright, as if he could see through his younger brother's thoughts at a glance.

"Don't worry. If the first plan succeeds, there will be no need to do this. If it really comes to the point of executing the second plan, I will first adopt my eldest son Wei Yang to you. He is married, his wife has a daughter, and his concubine is pregnant, and will give birth in a few months." With just these two simple sentences, Wei Jian seemed to have received some extremely important information, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

"Okay, I have no regrets now."

After saying this, he closed his eyes.

After a long time, everyone left the Wei Mansion from the back door one after another.

Wei Ji, however, only grabbed Chen Ji and Yuan Yi.

"Do we need to persuade the Wang family members in the same way?"

Yuan Yi thought for a moment and said, "Well... it's better to go and tell them. This is a major plan for our noble family. I think the Wang Ting brothers will not be ignorant of this matter."

"No."

Chen Ji suddenly said, "The Wang family is just a small family, not worth mentioning. After we have prepared all the internal and external affairs, we will start to act directly. He cannot refuse to agree. If we tell him too early, if these two people are not trustworthy and leak the news, we will be killed with all our clans."

The two thought about it and it made sense.

"Well, Mr. Chen is right. Liu He's power is growing day by day. He has won victory after victory in Bing and Liang. After the army returns victorious, the court will certainly reward him. If you want to deal with this man, you should be careful."

Chen Ji looked at Yuan Yi.

"Also, your brother Yuan Shu, you must not reveal the whole plan to him. Gonglu is ambitious and timid, and he is not the type to accomplish great things. Boye only needs to explain to him the part of the plan that involves him. It would be better to discuss the rest of the major matters with Benchu."

Yuan Yi nodded: "I don't care, please don't worry, Mr. Chen. By the way, what about your son's wedding banquet in a few days, if Liu He finds out..."

He seemed to be particularly concerned about this wedding banquet, and there seemed to be some worry in his words and expression.

Chen Ji was not worried at all: "Don't worry, Liu He is indeed many times better than Dong Zhuo and Yuan Shao in terms of literary talent and military strategy, but he is very proud and will not take such trivial matters to heart. I don't expect any accidents to happen in our plan this time."

"That would be great. This plan is to gather the strength of hundreds of families. As long as it works, we will almost certainly win."

Yuan Yi breathed a sigh of relief, but suddenly thought of something.

"but……"

He looked around, appearing very cautious, and then lowered his voice.

"Is that thing really necessary to be done?"

Chen Ji and Wei Ji obviously understood what "that thing" referred to.

Chen Ji narrowed his eyes and said, "We have to do this. Bingzhou is the actual base camp of Liu He. Even if we drive him out of the court or even kill him, his old subordinates can still make a comeback in no time with the manpower and wealth that Liu He has accumulated in Bingzhou over the years."

Yuan Yi was still a little hesitant: "But... once this is done, the harm will be endless. I'm afraid we will be infamous for eternity..."

Chen Ji's eyes instantly turned cold as he looked at him.

"The matter is already on the verge of happening. We have to do it. It's all your cousin Yuan Benchu's fault. He linked up with the Black Mountain Army and sent three armies into Bingzhou, but he couldn't capture a single city. So far, he has only occupied Huguan. I don't know if he can hold this one pass. If we don't destroy Liu He's foundation in this way, how long will it take for us to succeed if we just rely on military force? At this point, we can only hope that we can succeed in one fell swoop. Then we won't have to spend so much energy later."

Wei Ji also helped to explain: "Mr. Chen is right. Moreover, even if it comes to the point where we have no choice, with our careful arrangements, the world will only know that it was Liu He who committed the evil and brought disaster upon himself, and no one in the world will know that it was us who did it. Thousands of years later, in the history books, we will only be evaluated as ministers who saved the world, and Liu He as a violent and incompetent ruler, even worse than Dong Zhuo."

Yuan Yi thought for a moment and gritted his teeth.

"Well, whatever, for the sake of the nobles of the world and the long-term stability of the country, as long as Liu He can be eliminated, these trivial matters will not matter. I will go to Nanyang to see the road first, and the two of you will take your leave."

"Farewell!"

(End of this chapter)