At the end of May and the beginning of June of the fourth year of Yande, the Wei Empire itself entered a short period of rest.

The war in Yizhou could not be fought for a while and a half, the war against bandits in Yangzhou was basically over, and the war in Jiangnan came to an end.

Guo can finally put a lot of energy and resources into the south, the treasury can take a breath, and instead of continuing to export to the south of the Yangtze River with high intensity, he can send more resources to the Hexi Corridor, so as to enhance the strategic position and strategic strength of the Hexi Corridor.

Not to mention that during this period, Guo was planning a big conspiracy against Wusun.

Ma Yuan followed the caravan that left Luoyang to return to the Kushan Empire all the way to Hexi, and in Dunhuang County, Ma Yuan and Longlihe, who had returned with a full load, bid farewell to Putiai and then to Thatch.

Ma Yuan asked Thatch to do a good job as a translator to help the Wei Empire's envoys to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs officially sent to the Kushan Empire to conclude a friendship agreement to successfully complete the task.

"Don't worry, I'll definitely complete this task."

Thatch was appreciated by Guo Peng for being fluent in multiple languages, and Guo Peng felt that this was a rare talent, so he wanted to keep him.

So Guo Peng planned to appoint Thatch as an official in the Wei Empire, and allowed him to enter the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as an official to train language talents for the Wei Empire, and asked him if he would like to come to Wei as an official.

Thatch was flattered, he never expected that His Majesty the Emperor of the Heavenly Empire would actually appreciate him, and he immediately expressed his willingness to serve Wei for the rest of his life.

Then I plan to go back to Dawan and talk to King Dawan and his family, and then bring my family, and then go back to Luoyang with the Wei Empire envoys to be officials.

Ma Yuan was very happy about this, and the two agreed to meet again in Luoyang.

After the separation, Ma Yuan carried Guo Peng's secret warrant and found Cao Ren, who was wearing coarse cloth and assisting the soldiers in building the road at the road construction site in the west of Dunhuang County.

Cao Ren, like Lejin, was also idle and bored, so he took off the general's armor and worked with the soldiers to assist the people in building roads, maintaining law and order by the way, and speeding up the construction of roads.

When Ma Yuan found Cao Ren, Cao Ren was digging with tools.

Knowing that the emperor's secret envoy had arrived, Cao Ren turned his head and saw Ma Yuan, and immediately smiled.

Then Cao Ren wiped the sweat from his face, drank a large bowl of water, and sat down with Ma Yuan under the greenhouse some distance from the road construction site, resting in the shade while talking.

"Your Majesty plans to use force against Wusun?"

Cao Ren was suddenly a little surprised, looked left and right, and saw that there was no one around, so he was a little relieved, and lowered his throat: "Didn't you say slow down and wait until the road is repaired?" ”

"It's natural to wait for the road to be repaired, but there are a large number of countries in the Western Regions, and some countries have relatively strong military strength and large populations, if they are dealt with together when the time comes, Your Majesty is worried that there will be some problems for the general to start a war, so he plans to weaken the biggest obstacle as much as possible before the start of the big war."

"The ...... biggest obstacle"

Cao Ren narrowed his eyes: "It's Wusun, I heard Wen Lie say it before, Wusun Country also has a population of 400,000, if it faces a decisive battle, the big and small Kunmi join forces, I'm afraid it can pull out more than 50,000 troops, and they are all cavalry, which is indeed a challenge to our army." ”

"Therefore, Your Majesty can't let the big and small Kunmi of the Wusun Kingdom have a chance to unite."

Ma Yuan said in a low voice: "Your Majesty plans to use a trick to let the big and small Kunmi fight first, and then find an opportunity to kill a few people, blame the big Kunmi or the little Kunmi, and then Cao Duhu will lead the armies of the Western Regions to attack Wusun, so as to consume the military strength of the Western Regions." ”

"What's the trick?"

Cao Ren asked.

"Out of nothing."

Ma Yuan smiled: "Wusun Kingdom once had a story of being close to Princess Xijun of the former Han Dynasty and Princess Xie Wu, and the big and small Kunmi were split by Emperor Xiaoxuan of the Western Han Dynasty and Princess Xie Wu, although Da Kunmi no longer knows whether there is still the blood of Princess Xie Wu, but he claims to have the blood of Princess Xie Wu.

Wusun has such a past, he must know what is going on with my Wei Heqin, so I suggested that His Majesty go to the territory of Da Kunmi and the territory of Xiao Kunmi to spread rumors respectively, saying that Big and Small Kunmi have plans to go to Luoyang to propose marriage to His Majesty and ask for peace. ”

"Huh?"

Cao Ren was taken aback: "Your Majesty's eldest daughter is only nine years old, and the daughter of the Guo clan is okay to say, but ...... Wait a minute! It doesn't seem right, how can they fight? ”

"How could Your Majesty agree to Wusun's harmony?"

Ma Yuan looked sarcastic: "Back then, Emperor Xiaowu of the Han Dynasty let the princess go to make peace in order to win over Wusun against the Xiongnu, but now the Xiongnu are no longer there, Xianbei has escaped to the north, what is the value of Wusun?" It's just an obstacle, an obstacle, how can you be qualified to be the daughter of my Wei Tianzi? ”

"And what do you mean?"

Cao Ren looked at Ma Yuan.

"It's just a trick, as soon as the news spreads to the territory of both of them, it will inevitably cause competition between the two sides, and they will inevitably prepare each other and set off for Luoyang with their own team, let's ambush people on their way, kill them! Then ......"

Ma Yuan's words were not finished, but Cao Ren already knew what it meant.

"I see, in order to provoke a civil war between the big and the small...... Is it really possible? They won't be suspicious? ”

"What about doubt? But where there is the slightest possibility, who would dare to bear such consequences? And as far as I've seen, the tension between the big and the small Kunmi is no less than it was before the war.

The state between them is the state of war that will inevitably start if something happens, suspicion? This is the righteous and bright Yang scheme, and he has no choice when he is in front of him, and when the time comes, it will be the time for me to reap the benefits during Wei's intervention. ”

Ma Yuan took a deep breath: "Your Majesty asked the general to send Cao Duhu more ordnance, war horses and grain, and let Cao Duhu make some preparations, so that he can better deal with this matter at that time." ”

Cao Ren nodded.

"No problem, I'll arrange it right away."

After Ma Yuan and Cao Ren continued to discuss some things, it happened that it was lunch time, so Cao Ren asked Ma Yuan to stay and have lunch together on the construction site.

"Your Majesty's grace, the people who came to participate in the construction of the road were given three meals a day, one meal and two dry meals, and enough salt pipes, so the locals were willing to come as long as they had surplus labor at home, and some young and strong women, or little dolls who could do some light physical work, came."

Cao Ren pointed to the people who were queuing up to eat: "It can be regarded as giving them a full meal and saving some food, after all, the four counties of Hexi have not long ended the war, and they have not had time to do more development, and the grain output is very low." ”

Ma Yuan nodded.

"Your Majesty is benevolent, this is a blessing for the people of the world."

Saying that, Ma Yuan and Cao Ren cooked together, simple wheat rice, and some salted vegetables, not big fish and meat, but enough.

"You didn't come here right, you gave you a meal of meat for five days, you just ate it yesterday, and you don't have it today."

Cao Ren took a big gulp of rice with a rice bowl, the kind of wheat rice that has not even been removed from the shell, and the taste is quite rough.

Ma Yuan smiled and asked, "The general also eats this kind of thing?" Won't you get used to it? ”

"I've been used to it for a long time, and I've been eating wheat rice in the army for so many years."

Cao Ren shook his head: "As long as Your Majesty leads soldiers in the army, he will eat the same things as soldiers, and this kind of food can be regarded as the best food at the beginning."

You don't know, at the earliest, when His Majesty took me to serve in Shanggu County, what we ate at that time. ”

As he spoke, Cao Ren sighed.

"Earlier, we had a time when we didn't have enough to eat in the army, but later Your Majesty spent money to buy food, and took us to the fields, exhausting our efforts, so that the food supply in the army was put on, so that everyone could eat vegetable porridge or wheat rice.

After fighting for so many years and seeing so many enemies, every time the captives come and say that they can't eat enough in the army, the army of the whole world, except for our Wei army, what army can pat its chest and say that it has never been hungry?

It's good to have wheat rice to eat, this thing is really not delicious, but it's enough, you can eat a full stomach, and you can manage enough pickles and pickles in the team, and you can eat salt, so what's not to be dissatisfied with? Think this is Luoyang? ”

Cao Ren shook his head and continued to gulp down the rice, eating no different from the soldiers and the people around him.

As far as Ma Yuan knows, Cao Ren's family does not own property.

Cao Ren relied on Guo Peng's reward and his military position itself to live a rich life and food, and his life was quite rich, and he would not be short of money.

It is worth noting that the more than 3,000 acres of land that Guo Peng rewarded Cao Ren were rejected by Cao Ren.

So Guo Peng added Cao Ren's food estate, making his food town the top among the ministers.

Then he gave his two sons the title of knighthood, and gave him the reward of Yulu, so that he might be safe and prosperous.

Ma Yuan didn't know why Cao Ren refused to accept Guo Peng's reward for land, but Guo Peng was very happy about this and praised Cao Ren.

Aside from anything else, Ma Yuan's senses for courtiers and generals who have tenants, land, and manors are very bad.

And Cao Ren, as one of the few high-ranking members of the empire who did not accept land rewards and did not own private property, was very rare in Ma Yuan's view.

Especially when other relatives in his clan all have countless good land estates and tenants, such as Cao Hong's guy, who has countless family properties and industries all over the Central Plains, this kind of thing is even more rare.

However, this can only prove that Cao Ren's personal ethics are relatively good, and in the entire Cao clan, there is probably only his younger brother Cao Chun who can compare with him in terms of ethics.

Who are the other Cao people?

One is richer than the other, and the other has an industry than the other.

In the end, it is a descendant, a relative of the emperor and a country, how can he be short of money?

Come to think of it, even if Cao Ren or Cao Chun fell and the middle way fell, their descendants would not be mistreated by the Cao family.

With the clan as the backing, personal ethics become relatively easy, anyway, there will always be someone who is a good person, and there will always be someone who is a bad person, giving people a feeling that the same clan does not have the same heart.

But in the final analysis, no one will lose anyone.

The instructor in the training camp is really right, every smart clan will always have some unusual alternatives.

So Ma Yuan continued to bury his head and gulp down the rice.

This rice is so delicious.