The Three Kingdoms Voyage

Chapter 301 East and West Fight for Heroes They Are Wolves
Zhuge Liang walked into the prime minister's mansion with unchanging steps, went straight into the study and sat down, spreading out the unfinished business on the desk, without raising his head, with his left hand holding his sleeve, and his right hand habitually took the ink brush handed over by Shu Zuo , hanging his elbows to read, but stopped, sighed inexplicably, and there was a flash of disappointment in his well-disguised eyes.

"Prime Minister?" Jiang Wan, who came in to report his official duties, appeared at the door. When he saw Zhuge Liang's appearance, he couldn't help being stunned. Zhuge Liang gave the impression that he was always full of energy, as if he had never felt tired, but now he Although he was still sitting upright, he faintly revealed a trace of weakness.

"It's Gongyan." Zhuge Liang was startled and woke up from his trance, then nodded to Jiang Wan, beckoned him to sit down, and then said to Shuzuo, "Go make a pot of tea." After thinking for a while, he said again : "Go to Madam to get Yizhou tea."

"Here." Shu Zuo responded, turned around and left.Jiang Wan sat down suspiciously. He knew that Zhuge Liang seldom drank tea when he was working, because drinking tea had a diuretic effect. Asking Shuzuo to go to the backyard to find his wife to get some tea is really abnormal.

Thinking of Zhuge Liang's entry into the palace, Jiang Wan was suddenly worried: "Prime Minister, how is your king's health?"

"Not very good." Zhuge Liang shook his head, his face was heavy: "Look at it, it's not bad if it can last until the prince and the general come back." He paused, looked up at the door, Jiang Wan understood, and said hastily : "Every Cao is busy in his own room."

Zhuge Liang was relieved, and quickly said what happened just now in short words, and then looked at Jiang Wan with a helpless corner of his mouth.

Jiang Wan frowned slightly, thought for a while, and said, "Your Majesty's move is far-sighted, and there is nothing wrong with it. Why is the prime minister worried?"

Zhuge Liang was a little surprised, glanced at Jiang Wan, hesitated for a moment, was about to speak, but heard a burst of footsteps outside the door, from far to near, and then Ma Di, a tall man with a long face and short beard, appeared at the door. Seeing the eyes of Zhuge Liang and Jiang Wan, Ma Su smiled: "Gong Yan is also there."

Jiang Wan's lips, which had been tightly shut all the time, loosened, and he turned his head to look at Zhuge Liang, and said with a smile, "Prime Minister, it seems that You Chang always came here by coincidence. The Prime Minister just wanted to invite us to drink tea, and the tea has not yet arrived. After soaking it, he will smell the fragrance and come."

"Prime Minister invites us to drink tea?" Ma Di looked at Zhuge Liang in surprise, turned around and retreated, went to the door to take care of a few words, then hurried back, took off his shoes, knelt and sat opposite Zhuge Liang, leaning forward Stretching his body, he asked with concern: "Prime Minister, is it possible that Your Majesty can't hold on any longer?"

"Nonsense." Zhuge Liang lowered his face, but there was no anger in his eyes, but a hint of approval instead.He briefly said again what he had just said to Jiang Wan. Ma Zhi listened quietly, with a look of disdain in his eyes: "What is Li Yan, how can he represent me from Jingxiang? It's the prime minister."

"Young Chang, don't talk nonsense. Zhengfang is alert, knowledgeable about current affairs, and quite strategic in his military operations. The general and the general of the Chinese army are old. He is in his prime, and he is a suitable reserve force."

"Appropriate?" Ma Di sneered: "He has fought a few battles, but they were all against the Qiang people. What can he count? At best, he is just a partial general. If you want to say that he is in charge of the overall situation and strategizing, he can't compare with the prime minister. The slightest? I think the king is sick and confused."

"Youchang, don't talk nonsense!" Zhuge Liang was really upset this time, and his face became very stern: "You are still young, and the king will not use you for the time being, hoping that you can become more calm. How can you teach me a lesson?" Not attractive, but still so mad? You dare to slander the king, thanks to only Gong Yan, if others listen to it, not only you will be imprisoned, but Gong Yan and I will also be implicated."

Ma Su laughed awkwardly, and responded awkwardly.The Ma family is a big family in Xiangyang, and their brothers have a good relationship with Zhuge Liang. Zhuge Liang entered the shogunate of General Zuo of Liu Bei, and they also left Xiangyang together, and later entered Sichuan together.Liu Bei valued his elder brother Ma Liang very much, but looked down on him very much. Zhuge Liang recommended him in front of Liu Bei many times, but Liu Bei said that he was too exaggerated and unusable, which made the always conceited Ma Di very unhappy.However, he only made a few complaints in front of a close person like Zhuge Liang, and he never revealed a word in front of others.

"The prime minister has taught you a lesson." Ma Di pleaded guilty, then turned to Jiang Wan and said, "Please take care of me, Gong Yan."

Jiang Wan stroked his beard with a smile, and nodded: "Youchang, you are very scheming, let's see how to resolve it?"

"It's actually not that important to talk about the martial arts hall." Ma Di said disapprovingly: "In such a place, at best, you can only train some captains, military lords, etc. If you want to train famous generals, it depends on everyone. There was no similar school before, so where did so many famous generals come from? One is that they were trained on the battlefield, and the other is that they are born with talent for using soldiers. Although they have never been on the battlefield, they have special experience in the art of war." Ma Di breathed out Said: "As the saying goes, if you take the law from the top, you can only get the middle, and if you take the law from the middle, you can only get the bottom. What famous generals can the country have? Among the four generals, two are pirates, and one is a Yangtze River water thief. , and the other is the ship supervisor of Dongye Shipyard, who usually deal with small pirates and the like, what kind of future can such a person teach?"

Zhuge Liang smiled: "From Youchang's point of view, maybe the martial arts hall is just a place for enlightenment in military science?"

"The prime minister's words are right." Ma Di said without humility: "Since the king wants to cultivate talents for military use through the martial arts hall, so as to foreshadow the future mastery of military power, why doesn't the prime minister send a few people to participate in it, and then we will see who will be able to use it?" He is the most suitable general talent. If the prime minister thinks it is inappropriate, it is easy, Su is willing to go to the martial arts hall by himself as a traveling scholar, and then compete with the candidates arranged by the king."

Zhuge Liang's eyes lit up, and he nodded slowly.Liu Bei doesn't like Ma Di, Ma Di is nearly 40 years old, and now he is still white. Even if Liu Bei dies, for a long time, with Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun and others around, he can't be in command of the army. Naturally, Ma Di There is also no possibility of going to the battlefield. Instead of this, it is better to let him travel to Funan in a private capacity. If he makes a name for himself in Yue, it will be justifiable to use him in the future.

"Young Chang, it's good to go out and have a look." Zhuge Liang smiled faintly: "Read thousands of books, travel thousands of miles, accumulate a lot of money, and mature late."

……

In July, when Xia Hourong and others arrived in Yuyang, Cao Zhang heard that his younger brothers had come with his congzi, so he dared not neglect, and asked Chi Zhao, the governor of Buqu, to take a thousand cavalry to meet him for fifty miles.Xia Hourong was startled when he saw the thousand fine cavalry wearing black armor, holding a long halberd, a long sword on the left, and a strong bow on the right.It is difficult to sit still on a galloping horse, and it is very difficult to use a halberd with one hand, so the general knights use the ring-shoulders as weapons. The most elite cavalry in the state of Wei is the tiger and leopard cavalry, but among the tiger and leopard cavalry, there are no 1000 people who all hold long soldiers.

Xia Hourong remembered Sun Shao's words, and he looked carefully at the thousand cavalry, only to find that these cavalry had tall saddles on their horses and iron stirrups on their feet. Such saddles and iron stirrups Xia Hourong saw in Funan However, Sun Shao's will be available soon, but Xia Hourong has not tried it. Now it seems that these are one of the sharp weapons that Sun Shao said.

"These are supported by the Yue State?" Xia Hourong said to Hao Zhao with a smile.

Hao Zhao hurriedly saluted: "Exactly, these long halberds and ring-shoulders are the first-class weapons of the Yue State. The Yue State provided equipment for 50 riders, and the bow was made by ourselves, but the State of Yue supported 3 Kuaiji Arrows made of arrow bamboo, these stirrups are also in the style given by the State of Yue, we built them ourselves, a total of more than [-] pairs have been made, and we are still rushing to make them, and by the end of the month, we can prepare about [-] pairs."

"Are you going to send troops at the end of the month?" Xia Hourong shook his head: "This is not the best time to send troops."

Hao Zhao smiled: "The General Cheqi arranged it like this. The general must have considered the specific reasons."

Xia Hourong smiled, and he looked at Hao Zhao intentionally. He knew that if Cao Zhang succeeded this time, then no general in the future would be able to run away from Hao Zhao.

Under the escort of a thousand cavalry, Xia Hourong and others came to the military camp outside Yuyang City.The bustle outside the city was extraordinary. Between the barracks and Yuyang City, there were people coming and going. Many spoke with southern accents and had professional smiles on their faces. Xia Hourong roughly recognized them. He paid close attention to the businessmen from the country, and found that no matter whether these businessmen were going to the military camp or to the city, their cars were full.He also noticed a strange phenomenon. The wheels of these businessmen are different. They seem to be covered with a layer of black, and they walk much more smoothly than ordinary cars. much smaller.

"What is this?" Xia Hourong stopped a Yue businessman and asked, pointing to the wheel.

"Wheel." The Yue merchant replied calmly.

"Then why is your wheel different from the others?"

The businessman shrugged his shoulders: "They are reluctant to spend money, and they only want to use the old-fashioned wheels. This is a new product from my country of Yue. With this, the wear of the wheels is so small that it can be ignored, and the service life is almost longer than before. Ten times, and the price is only three times that of ordinary wheels."

"What exactly is this?" Xia Hourong asked.

The businessman glanced at Xia Hourong vigilantly, and showed a kind smile on his face again: "I don't know about it, I only know how to buy it for use, and don't inquire about things that shouldn't be inquired about. If you want to buy it, you can go to Yuyu Go and ask in Yangcheng, there is a Funan car dealer in the city that specializes in selling this kind of wheels, they should know where they come from." After speaking, he politely cupped his hands and drove the car away.

Xia Hourong looked back at Hao Zhao.Hao Zhao smiled: "He's right. After using this kind of wheel, it's not only much more stable, but also durable. But the price is also expensive. The general ordered [-] pairs of wheels. After all, the Yue Kingdom lowered the price. Come down a little bit."

"Why don't you just ask the King of Yue for some?" Xia Hourong laughed.

"I want to pass, but I don't want to come." Hao Zhao looked at the businessmen with love and hate, and even some worries. "But Shi Bao, the East China Sea Superintendent of the Yue State, said that these are not military supplies, nor are they operated by the Yue State government. They are not good at forcing merchants to lower prices. If you think it is worth buying, don't buy it if you think it is not worthwhile. As long as the merchants don't drive up prices, they will Don't mind asking."

"Shi Bao made his own decision? Didn't he report it to King Yue?"

"Shi Bao said that it is the same thing to report this kind of thing to the King of Yue. There will be no second explanation. He is acting according to the regulations. If he abuses his private power, those businessmen will sue him at the prime minister's mansion." Hao Zhao said indignantly, "I think it's the magistrate surnamed Shi. Maybe it was decided by the King of Yue. He just wanted to make a fortune while our country of Wei went to war."

"You can't say that." Cao Rui, who had been following Xia Hourong, suddenly interjected: "The equipment supported by 1 people from the Yue Kingdom is worth more than these 1 pairs of wheels, right? A lot of money has been spent. How can you care about these little money? In my opinion, what Shi Bao said may be true."

Seeing Cao Rui say that, Hao Zhao didn't dare to say anything.When they came to the barracks, Cao Zhang had already sent people to wait and welcome them into the tent.The big tent was full of books and maps, and more than a dozen officials were discussing matters. Cao Zhang introduced them one by one, including Hu Karasuma Colonel Tian Yu, Hu Xianbei Colonel Qianzhao, Xie Jun, Yuyang and other nearby county prefects. Now, Qingzhou Musun Temple is also there.

"Youquan, it's great for you to come." Cao Zhang greeted him with a big smile, "I have a lot of affairs here, and I'm so busy that you are all busy, and I need someone to take care of the overall situation. If you come, don't leave, help me Get these things sorted out." He glanced at Cao Yu, Cao Rui and the others, and said with a smile, "Do you know what the king asked you to do?"

"I know." Cao Yu responded first: "Father asked us to follow my brother to practice and experience."

"Okay, you all should be assistants. Let's get acquainted with the most basic ones first." Cao Zhang waved his hand and said indiscriminately: "When you arrive in the army, the first thing you need to do is to familiarize yourself with the military orders. Let me explain the military order to you. I will give you one day to check at this time tomorrow. If you can recite it, you can stay here. If you can’t recite it, go to Yuyang City first. It’s much more comfortable than a military camp. .”

Cao Yu and the others looked at each other in blank dismay. They thought about it all the way on the road, but they didn't expect Cao Zhang to arrange them like this. In their minds, Cao Zhang should give them a grand banquet first, and then arrange some people to protect them. Take a look, just to understand the situation, who would have thought that Cao Zhang really planned to use them as ordinary scholars.

When Cao Yu and the others were still hesitating, Cao Rui bowed first and saluted: "I would like to obey the order of the chariot general." Then he walked over to the standing army with a calm face, and bowed again: "Please give me more advice." .” Ba Junzheng was taken aback, and hurriedly stepped aside.

Cao Zhang nodded secretly, but pretended not to see, and dragged Xia Hourong into the tent, leaving Cao Rui and others out of the tent.After entering the tent, Cao Zhang showed a strange smile, stood behind the tent door, looked at the helpless nephews outside, and watched them follow Junzheng with different expressions, then he sighed and said: "Look!" It’s right to bring them out to practice for a while, otherwise, most of these scorpions will become useless, and even if they have some skills, they are all in their mouths.”

Xia Hourong sighed: "General, fortunately, both the king and the prime minister are people who have gone through hardships. They know that without training, it is difficult to have real talents. If you are an ordinary person, how can you have such patience. You don't know, I put When these young people were taken out of Yecheng, the people who saw them off cried together, as if they were sending them off to war. It’s not just one or two who asked me to intercede with you, hey, these are all letters, you have one Let's seal it up."

Cao Zhang took the thick stack of letters without opening them, just scanned the cover, and finally said in surprise: "There is no sister-in-law?"

"No." Xia Hourong laughed softly: "The prime minister and his wife are connected this time."

Cao Zhang glanced at Xia Hourong, smiled wryly, and said nothing.It has not been a year or two since Cao Pi and Zhen's face-to-face quarrel. Everyone close to them knows that now Cao Pi's favorite woman is Queen Guo, not Zhen's.

"Little Zhuzi, you dare to make fun of things in the palace." Cao Zhang glared at him, then lowered his voice and shouted.

"Hey, it's nothing." Xia Hourong touched his nose, looked at the busy people in the foreign tent, pushed Cao Zhang and said, "Let's talk about business first, and let's talk about other things in detail at night. I have a lot to say To tell you."

Cao Zhang understood, and talked about the official affairs that Xia Hourong should handle.Xia Hourong has been in the army for more than ten years, and he is very familiar with these things, and he quickly entered the role. He sat in the tent, asked a few people to come over to ask about the situation, and read the accumulated official documents at an unimaginable speed. After reviewing it, then start to find the corresponding person to deal with the problem.His abnormal memory ability has been brought into full play. Those who were called to inquire found that Xia Hourong, who had just arrived, was more familiar with the situation than they imagined. The old officials who handle it are even more familiar, which is simply jaw-dropping.

In the middle of the night, when everyone who had been busy all day left, Cao Zhang and Xia Hourong had time to sit down and talk. Cao Zhang took a pot of sugar cane wine, served two plates of snacks, and roasted a lamb, facing Xia Hourong. Sitting, drinking wine and eating meat, while listening to Xia Hourong's talk about what he has seen and heard over the past year.Xia Hourong explained in detail, not only what he saw, but also his own thoughts, and finally said: "The king gave me the art of war written by his hand."

Cao Zhang was stunned for a moment, then calmed down again, cut a piece of mutton, put it into his mouth with his fingers, chewed slowly, swallowed it after a while, took another sip of wine, and then said lightly : "Only when it is passed to you, can it be considered that it has not been passed to the wrong person. Originally, it should have been passed to Cang Shu, but unfortunately, alas—"

Xia Hourong hesitated for a moment, and said worriedly, "I...I'm worried that I won't be able to bear such a responsibility."

Cao Zhang turned his head to look at him, and smiled: "Ordinarily, you really couldn't afford such a responsibility, but the situation is different now. If my country of Wei doesn't have a pillar who can rival Sun Shao, I'm afraid the country will Zuo is hard for a long time. Our brothers have their own strengths, if we can unite, we may not be Sun Shao's opponent, but, alas, people's hearts are unpredictable, and it is not easy to be honest." He silently cut another piece The meat was delivered to his mouth, he opened his mouth and was about to eat, but suddenly said: "Youquan, I suddenly discovered that the one who knows my father best is the King of Yue, Sun Shao."

Xia Hourong nodded, he also felt the same way.Ever since he left Yue, he had been thinking about these things all the way, and gradually, he discovered that there was an inexplicable force behind all these things.The current changes in the overall situation, traced back to the source, actually all came from a dialogue between Cao Cao and Sun Shao that year. It was precisely because of that dialogue that Cao Cao took the risk of dividing his troops and sending out troops, hoping to unify the country in his lifetime. Unfortunately, he later returned from Jiaozhou with Sun Shao. Participated in the war, broke through the middle road in one fell swoop, and quickly advanced to the vicinity of Xu County, took away the emperor, and then facilitated the military elimination meeting, smashing Cao Cao's dream of unifying the world, and at the same time miraculously continued the fire of the great man who was about to extinguish down.

Even now, he was able to get Cao Cao's great trust, and it seemed to be promoted by Sun Shao.Otherwise, although the Xiahou family is no different from the clan, the task of maintaining harmony between the Cao family brothers would not fall on his shoulders. The reason is very simple. Once he has a different heart, Cao Cao will be self-defeating. up.But now, with Sun Shao, the fierce tiger, sitting on the sidelines, whether it is him or the Cao brothers, they must first consider foreign enemies. Before they have an advantage over Sun Shao, they will turn their backs regardless of open fire, and the three Cao brothers will not turn their faces , then it is impossible for him, Xia Hourong, to have any changes.

This is a check game where Sun Shao makes a move first, and then Cao Cao responds with a move. Next, it depends on the reaction of the Cao brothers.Obviously, whether it is Cao Pi or Cao Zhang, they are all very clear about the situation in front of them. Whether they are willing or not, they have wisely chosen to cooperate with Cao Cao's layout.

"By the way, where did the Yue Kingdom fleet go in the East China Sea?" Xia Hourong asked suddenly.

"Going to Japan." Cao Zhang said with a smile: "They asked me if I wanted to help, how dare I ask them to help, just help with some food and military equipment, and the war will be avoided. Otherwise, I am really worried. These The generals of the Yue Kingdom don’t want to kill me when they fight, so don’t steal my limelight.” Cao Zhang couldn’t help laughing as he said, “Youquan, do you know that these people look like dogs, But the tricks are very tricky. They don’t talk about any rules on the battlefield. Everything is for the purpose of victory. They cheat and kidnap anything. It is said that when they fought against Sanhan, the strikers were actually a group of pirates. They dragged Sanhan to exhaustion, and finally blocked them in the harbor, thinking that they could be captured in one battle, but unexpectedly, the East China Sea Fleet of Yue Kingdom came out from behind, and the main force of Sanhan's navy was almost wiped out in one battle. Total annihilation. You should know that the ships of Sanhan are good enough for fishing, but if you want to fight against the Yue fleet, it’s not even enough to fill the gaps between your teeth.”

"That's right, the king of Yue even swallowed up the Tianzhu navy this time, let alone these Sanhan people." Xia Hourong chuckled: "The cavalry of the Sanhan people may be okay, but when it comes to the navy, it's not enough at all. watch."

"Cavalry?" Cao Zhang sneered: "Three Koreans probably think so too. As soon as they heard that the navy was defeated and the Yue people went ashore, they gathered more than 5000 cavalry and killed them. But who would have thought , Vietnam also has cavalry, although the total number of cavalry is only [-] including the people of Goguryeo, but these [-] cavalry defeated three Korean cavalry in succession, and then chased them all. " Cao Zhang paused for a moment, and then said: "They are wolves, wolves who eat meat but don't spit out bones. It is definitely a nightmare to be targeted by them."

(End of this chapter)