Section 8 Ma Su

In mid-December, Ma Liang finally returned to Linying and saw the newly repaired Linying City like a creeping tiger in the twilight.

"Wow—" Ma Liang let out a long time, held back his seat and dismounted, and a relaxed smile appeared on his dusty face: "I finally got home."

"Sir, should you go back to the mansion to rest first, or go to see Mr. Zhuge?" the entourage rushed over and asked.

Ma Liang thought for a while, "It's not bad for this time. I'd better go back to the mansion to rest and prepare for it. Let's go to reply to the business tomorrow morning." After hearing this, the entourage nodded. They got off the horse, took the reins to the city gate, and the entourage stepped forward to hand over the official documents. The soldier who was guarding the door saw the document in his hand, looked up at Ma Liang with a smile on his face, and said to the entourage, "Please wait."

The follower was a little puzzled, and saw the soldier hurried into the hukou's hukou's hukou. After a while, the hukou strode out and saluted Ma Liang: "Master Ma, please tell me that when you see the hukou come back, please go to the military advisory office immediately and discuss important matters."

Ma Liang was a little surprised, but since his younger brother Ma Sut left a message here, there must be something urgent. He didn't say much and took his entourage straight to Zhuge Liang's office.

Ma Su was sitting opposite Zhuge Liang, looking at the news coming from all over the place, with a look of confusion on his face. He looked up at Zhuge Liang who was buried in the bamboo slips and said, "Brother Kong Ming, there was news last time that the Yiling Guardian Wei Wenchang was searching for ships. We analyzed that it was attracting Badong Li Yi's attention. But now Yizhou has fallen into Cao Cangshu's hands, and Li Yi has also transferred from Badong. Why is Wei Wenchang still searching for ships? Could it be that he has made some moves?"

Zhuge Liang glanced at him, waved his hand and quickly rated a few words on a document, raised his hand to Shu Zuo next to him, and then took another document and opened it. He glanced at him quickly, raised his hand and replied while writing: "What can he do if he searched for more ships? The fishing ships cannot be used for war. The warships of the Jiangling Navy have been burned in Wulin. The Xiangyang navy is now part of Wen Zhongye's hands and part of Cai Degui's hands. It is not enough to cross the river to fight. Just Wei Yan can just collect a few fish boats?"

He laughed, raised the wholesale document and blew the ink marks, turned his hand and stuffed it into another Shu Zuo's hand, and approved three documents in succession. Then he stopped for a while, thought for a while and laughed: "I'm not afraid of him coming, but I'm afraid he won't come. It would be better that he can transport three or five thousand people on a fishing boat, and we can have more people to farm. Besides, the elite Northern Army will be more convenient to fight."

Seeing that he was speaking easily, Ma Su laughed: "That's right, if we were not... losing some manpower, we wouldn't have to spend so much trouble with Buzishan (Buzhi). It's just that General Zilong led 5,000 troops into Cangwu, and see what he could do to Buzishan."

Zhuge Liang's face flashed with a hint of embarrassment, and then he smiled: "What you often say is that our current military strength is a little stretched. Fortunately, Zhou Gongjin is no longer in Jiangdong. Now Lu Zijing is guarding Chaisang, otherwise we would not be able to withdraw our hands to Cangwu." He sighed, "Although we have the four counties in Jiangnan, Cao Cangshu easily took down the entire Yizhou and blocked our way westward. The four counties are now in the gap between Yizhou and Yangzhou. The sea is on the south and the Yangtze River is on the north, and there are dangers everywhere."

Seeing that Zhuge Liang was in a bad mood, Ma Su secretly regretted raising the issue of military strength. Originally, Liu Bei did not suffer any losses in the Battle of Chibi, and the troops he lost in Changban were basically replenished. Later, he annexed Jiangxia's troops, deceived more than 2,000 people from Zhou Yu, and then captured four counties and recruited troops. He now has nearly 50,000 troops. However, the newly recruited troops could not be in the forefront for a while, so he could only recharge the number of people. Every time at this time, Zhuge Liang regretted that he had suffered too much loss in the Tiger Leaping Gorge, and the losses were Liu Bei's most elite troops, and his vitality was greatly damaged.

"When your brother comes back, we can know the situation where Shamoke is. If he can take over his troops, it will be an elite soldier." Zhuge Liang smiled and said with a little yearning.

When Ma Su heard this, he lowered his face unhappily: "Brother is really, I have been delayed for so long and have not come back yet. The people who sent the letter have been around for more than ten days. He hasn't arrived yet, and he hasn't even known that the military situation is urgent at all."

Zhuge Liang had a deep feeling, but in front of Ma Su, he couldn't say what Ma Liang was wrong. He coughed dryly and was about to speak when someone came outside to report it. Ma Liang came. When Ma Su heard this, he stood up with a shout, strode out of the door, and was facing Ma Liang who had just entered the door.

"Brother, are you going well all the way?" Ma Su said coldly, neither yin nor yang.

Ma Liang hadn't noticed that Ma Su's face was bad, so he laughed and stepped forward to hug Ma Su's shoulder: "It's okay, okay, what's the matter? Is there anything urgent? Let's wait for me at the city gate?"

"There is no urgent matter, at least in the eyes of my brother, there is nothing to be urgent." Ma Su snorted and pushed Ma Liang's hand away. Ma Liang was stunned. Then he saw Ma Su's eyes full of complaints, and he couldn't help but feel a little puzzled: "You Chang, you are..."

"I'm busy here. In order to allocate limited troops and military farming affairs, Brother Kong Ming was busy day and night. He didn't go back to the house for a few days and was waiting for you to bring some good news back. You're so happy and comfortable all the way. I didn't understand what's good about it along the way, letting my brother linger like this."

Ma Liang's face turned red. He was indeed a little relaxed along the way. He only thought that he could return to Lining before the twelfth lunar month. In his mind, there would be no war in winter, and it was not necessary to hurry up. Unexpectedly, he used too much time. Seeing Ma Su like this, Zhuge Liang was probably a little anxious, but he couldn't say anything. Ma Su understood Zhuge Liang's difficulties and took the lead.

"Young Chang, don't say anything, take me to see Brother Kong Ming." Ma Liang pulled Ma Su and walked in. When he entered the door, he saw Zhuge Liang's hands kept waving, two piles of official documents piled up on the table. Several Shu Zuo was busy and ashamed. He bowed deeply in front of Zhuge Liang: "Military advisor, Scholar Ma Liang, has delayed the military advisor's official duties, please punish him."

Zhuge Liang had already heard what Ma Su said to Ma Liang outside. He chuckled softly, put the pen in his hand, got up and turned the table, bent down and helped Ma Liang up, and said in a harmonious voice: "Thank you for your hard work, why are you guilty? Look at your face, you have lost a lot of weight, and you have suffered a lot in Wuling. Come on, sit down and wash your face first, and then tell us about the situation in Wuling. The battle in Fuling was beautiful, and Shamoke has gained a lot of benefits, right?"

Ma Liang smiled awkwardly. He had been delaying the road for so many days, but he was afraid that Wuling's battle report would have been sent to Zhuge Liang's desk. He knew that Zhuge Liang had established a team that specialized in collecting intelligence. Although the personnel were not as capable as Zhang Song, who was in charge of intelligence under Cao Chong, he should not be underestimated. Zhuge Liang may not know much less about the situation in Fuling than him.

Ma Liang did not dare to neglect, so he quickly explained the matter after he arrived at Shamoke Village in detail. Zhuge Liang nodded constantly, and finally took out a document and handed it to Ma Liang and said: "After Ji Chang left Keyang, Pang Shiyuan, who was acting in Chengdu for the affairs of the General Office of Zhennan in Chengdu, divided the White Tiger Army into two, and Pu Xinshou led a thousand of them to Fuling, and Peng Yongnian of Guanghan was the military supervisor and stationed in Fuling. Cao Cangshu was still in Xiangyang, but before Peng Yongnian arrived in Fuling, he had gone to Xiangyang to meet Cao Cangshu."

He paused at this point, feeling a little moved by the difference in the styles of work between the two parties. Peng Yi rushed from Chengdu to Xiangyang and then from Xiangyang to Fuling. It took only ten days, while Ma Liang rushed from Keyang to Lining. The journey was closer, but it took nearly a month. Ma Liang was still halfway, and Peng Yi and Pu Gan had already entered Fuling.

Ma Liang lowered his head embarrassedly and took advantage of the excuse of reading the official document to get rid of Zhuge Liang's eyes. He looked at the official document for a while and said in confusion: "Cao Cangshu has always been so decisive in his work. Why is it so slow this time? He only sent a thousand people to Fuling. What role can it play? Needless to say, deal with Shamoke, even the big clans of Fuling, he can't handle it. Besides, this Park Xinshou is a bastard. He is only in his early twenties and has never fought a war. He was fooled by Cao Cangshu once in Chenggu. Can he do it? Not to mention anything else, the old man in the Xu family can kill him. Peng Yongnian seems to be a talented man, and he has never heard of it before."

Ma Su's face improved a little. He snorted softly, took the official document and put it in a closed tone. He said quickly: "It is precisely because of this that things feel suspicious. Whether it is Cao Cangshu or Pang Shiyuan, they should be able to see that the situation in Fuling is aroused, but they sent two people with little reputation to Fuling, which looks a bit careless and contrary to common sense."

Ma Liang hesitated and said, "The great clans in Fuling are very powerful. Maybe they are afraid of being suspicious of the big clans, so they sent them to make a move?"

"Then Cao Cangshu's General's Mansion in Zhennan has arrived in Chengdu, and the prefect of Nanjun has also been replaced by Liu Zichu. Why did he stay in Xiangyang and not return to Chengdu?" Ma Su shook his head and said, "Although the Jingzhou naval army is insufficient, this person is very risky. Now that there is the Yizhou naval army again, he might take advantage of the illusion that we thought he could not cross the river and carry out a sudden attack."

Ma Liang thought about it, shook his head and said, "I don't think it's possible. Although there are naval troops in Yizhou, they are not strong. It is difficult for them to protect Cao's retreat under the attack of our naval troops. Although Cao Cangshu is very surprised to use his troops, he doesn't like to fall into death. As for why he stayed in Xiangyang, I heard some rumors."

"Oh?" Zhuge Liang smiled: "I wonder what the wind has Ji Chang heard?"

Ma Liang smiled: "I heard from Changsha and Wuling scholars that Cao Cangshu invited Xun Zhongyu, Xu Wenxiu and others to Xiangyang Academy to debate in the academy. At first, he only discussed some academic issues, but later he gradually involved government affairs and had a great disagreement. Some people said that in order to invite favor, the Han Dynasty had declined and the local virtues were prosperous, which was a bit outrageous. In order to suppress this trend, he planned to hold an expo in Xiangyang in March next year to attract the attention of the public. The Xiangyang monthly newspaper he had created under his instruction has spread to Changsha and Wuling, and many scholars are going to participate in this debate and expo."

Ma Su was stunned and suddenly remembered something. He immediately got into a room behind him. He took out two bamboo slips in a short while, and another Xiangyang monthly newspaper published on the news about the expo. He spread all these in front of Zhuge Liang: "Brother Kong Ming, I was really negligent. I received the news of the debate and the expo, but I didn't expect that there was a connection between it. Fortunately, my brother reminded me. In this way, it makes sense that Cao Cangshu is still stranded in Xiangyang. It is not that he doesn't want to leave, but he dares not leave."

Zhuge Liang's eyes lit up: "You mean, Cao Cang Shuxin took office for three fires, but the fire burned under his butt?"

"That's right." The two brothers of the Ma family responded in unison.

"Hahaha..." Zhuge Liang laughed to the sky: "This is what you think of yourself. After all, you are young. You don't know the pros and cons of scholars' mouths. Let them say it, how can you not cause trouble?"

The Ma brothers looked at each other and nodded repeatedly. Zhuge Liang smiled for a while, twisted the short beard under the stool and pondered for a moment, then raised his head to look at the Ma brothers: "Since that's the case, we might as well send an eloquent person over to burn the fire a little bigger, and it's best to burn Cao Cangshu out of recognition."

Ma Liang was stunned. He looked at Zhuge Liang's glittering eyes staring at him, and quickly shrank his head. Don't look for him for such spy matters. Seeing that their expressions were wrong, Ma Su thought for a moment and smiled: "Brother Kong Ming, I remembered that this is the case you said, and it must be appropriate."

"Who?" Zhuge Liang felt a little unhappy when he saw Ma Liang unwilling to go to Xiangyang, but he was inconvenient to express himself. Hearing Ma Su say this, he turned his head and looked at Ma Su and said with a smile.

"Yi Ji Yi Ji Bo." Ma Su smiled and said, "Yi Ji Bo is eloquent and quick-witted. Moreover, he is from Shanyang and is very familiar with Liu Zhongyu. If he wants him to go to Xiangyang, he will definitely gain Cao Cangshu's trust and complete the task successfully. Moreover, he admires Liu Zhoumu very much, so there is no need to doubt his loyalty."

Zhuge Liang blinked his eyes and thought for a while: "After Youchang said this, he is indeed a suitable candidate. But he is now with the Lord Guiyang, and he has to make it clear to the Lord about this matter. He still needs to go to Guiyang alone."

When Ma Liang heard this, he hurriedly bowed and said, "Ma Liang is willing to go."

Zhuge Liang hesitated for a moment, nodded and said, "It's good that this is the case. Ji Chang went home to rest for two days, and then set off immediately. If he rushed quickly, he would still have time to go back to Linying to celebrate the festival."

After hearing this, Ma Liang nodded repeatedly, said some gossip, and got up and left. Ma Su watched Ma Liang go out and turned around and smiled bitterly at Zhuge Liang: "My brother seems to have suffered a lot from the Wuling barbarians, and he really doesn't want to go to Keyang anymore. Fuling has already been prepared, and Shamoke himself is afraid that he will not cause any big storms. Brother Kong Ming has thought of other candidates?"

Zhuge Liang smiled and said, "Isn't the better candidate than Brother Ling right in front of me? Why do you need to find it?"

Ma Su was stunned and pointed at his nose: "Me?"

Zhuge Liang smiled and nodded: "It's Youchang. Youchang is very smart. If you want to use military services, I'm afraid that you can't get enough for me. If you go to Wuling to lead those barbarians, how can Fuling live in peace? Maybe Shiyuan will not be able to sit still and rush to Fuling to fight Youchang in person."

Ma Su smiled and shook his hands repeatedly: "I am not Feng Chu's opponent. Pang Shiyuan is as famous as his brother, and he is also the chief adviser under Cao Cangshu. He has many ideas. How could I, a young man, dare to fight against him? Brother should choose someone else."

"Oh--" Zhuge Liang shook his head: "Why should I gain the ambition of others and destroy my own prestige at Youchang? What's wrong with you? Can you still be younger than Cao Cangshu? He is only fifteen years old and is already the General of Zhennan. It's not that you are inferior to him, but you don't have the opportunity to him. You are over 20 years old, so it's time to come out to make achievements. The lord has most martial men under his command, and Youchang has such a great talent, so how can you bury it? Although Shiyuan is very clever, it's not invincible. As long as you deal with it carefully, there should be no problems."

Ma Su felt happy. He was just humble. In fact, he always felt that although he could not compare with Zhuge Liang, he had a chance to compare with Pang Tong and others. Pang Tong was valued under Cao Chong's tent, but Ma Su did not agree with the battle he fought. He always felt that it was not perfect enough. If he had commanded himself, he would definitely do better. Now that he had the opportunity in front of him, how could he let it go easily? Wuling Man is a natural mountain warrior. If combined with his military talent, his great military achievements are just around the corner. Maybe he can take the elite soldiers composed of Wuling Man to fight to Yizhou and open the road to the west for the lord.

By then, not only will he become a famous general under the lord's tent, but Brother Kong Ming will also receive a great help. He no longer has to look at Guan Yu's man's expression and intends to please him.

"Since that's the case, Su cleaned up and got up and rushed to Gongyang, and tried to take Fuling down as soon as possible and give his lord and brother a good start." Ma Su was so excited that he couldn't suppress himself, and his voice trembled a little.

"Okay, a real man is the first to be famous, and it doesn't matter if he passes this holiday." Zhuge Liang smiled and helped Ma Su up: "The soldiers are in danger. Although I often read military books, I am still careful. I must not make contributions and go lightly to the dangerous places. Shi Yuan is not a good person."

"Thank you brother for your reminder." Ma Su said loudly.

"Ling Youyouchang went to Keyang?" Liu Bei's hand shook and almost threw the wine glass in his hand to the ground. He pinched the snow-white Xiangyang Monthly Report but didn't care about it. He stared at Ma Liang and asked in a slight incredible tone.

Ma Liang was surprised and looked up at Liu Bei: "That's right, when I got up and came here, my younger brother Youchang also got up and went to Keyang at the same time."

Liu Bei sighed, and just as he was about to say something, Zhao Yun behind him coughed. Liu Bei swallowed the words to his mouth again, and had to smile bitterly and said, "I understand, Ji Chang go down and rest first. I will send someone to ask Ji Bo to discuss this matter."

Ma Liang retreated in confusion. He felt that Liu Bei's face was a little wrong, but he was puzzled by the reason. He thought about it and suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. Could it be that the lord felt that Brother Kong Ming used too many people with Jingxiang and was suspected of forming a clique for personal gain? No, I would like to remind Brother Kong Ming immediately when I go back this time that if the lord really thinks so, then things will be troublesome. The more he thinks, he becomes more and more afraid. He hurriedly returned to the inn, and did not even have his luggage. He immediately asked someone to feed the horse, prepare for the dry food and water for the return trip, and prepare to return to Linhuan immediately when Yiji comes.

Liu Bei waited for Ma Liang to leave, and he smiled bitterly at Zhao Yun and said, "Zilong, what's wrong with Kong Ming? I clearly told him that Ma Youchang was an exaggeration and it was not very useful. Why didn't he listen? It would be fine if he let him participate in political affairs and be a staff officer, but why did he still stand alone?"

Zhao Yun did not respond to him, but just looked at Liu Bei quietly. When Liu Bei felt calmer, he said: "My lord, no matter whether Ma Youchang can stand alone or not, he has already set out. Now even if the lord ordered the military advisor to recover Ma Youchang, it would be too late. Besides, if Ma Youchang really wanted Ma Youchang to come back, I am afraid that not only the military advisor and Ma Jichang were not good-looking, but the scholars of Jingzhou who followed the lord across the river also had complaints. They would not say that Ma Youchang could not take on heavy responsibilities, but only said that the lord suppressed the people of Jingzhou. This would be harmful to the lord's great cause and no benefit."

"Then let's watch him defeat the battle?" Liu Bei spread his hands and looked at Zhao Yun helplessly. After thinking about it, he said, "If you lose, you will lose. Anyway, they are all those barbarians. If you die a little more, I will be more secure."

After hearing this, Zhao Yun wanted to speak but stopped. He thought for a while and said, "Lord, now that Buzishan has forced the brothers Shi Weiyan (Shi Ke) to surrender, all of them are occupied by Jiaozhou. We are in contact with the Wu prefect here. I am afraid that he has already received the news. If he moves his troops here, our troops will not be superior, and things may not be easy to deal with. It is possible that Cangwu will not only not be able to get it, but will also be severely injured by him."

"This master is very quick. I thought it would take at least a year or two to pacify Jiaozhou, and it would be a bad battle. Unexpectedly, like Cao Cangshu, he easily dealt with the brothers of the Shi family and took Jiaozhou. God is really not good at all eyes. I fought for my whole life, and my temples were gray, so I got the poor land of these four counties. They were better. One of them got Yizhou, the country of Tianfu, and the other got the entire territory of Jiaozhou. They made great contributions and easily became a prince. It was really not good at all eyes, and the sky did not have eyes."

The more Liu Bei thought about it, the more he became angry, the more he felt that God was unfair. Why did I run around like a betrayed dog at such an old age, and I got half of Jingzhou, but I was still in a remote area and accompanied the barbarians, but they took down such a good territory while chatting and laughing. If I had known that Liu Zhang was so useless, I would not listen to Kong Ming's safe plan and went directly to Yizhou, occupied Yizhou and became the king of Chengdu, and would rather be willing to cheat my old friend for Cangwu County.

After Liu Bei scolded God, he still had to solve the problem in front of him. After thinking for a long time, he couldn't come up with any good way to give in and not make any harm to his affairs. He had to turn his attention to Zhao Yun. Since you can ask a problem, you must have a solution to the problem.

"Zilong, what do you think you should do?"
Chapter completed!