In the military camp in Jiangling City, Ma Chao inspected and consulted batch after batch of military officials.

Yan Pu, the general of Jianjie and the son of Yan Pu, the Marquis of Pingle Township, appeared in front of Ma Chao with a layer of coarse linen clothes and nine other military officials, and Yan Pu hung his head.

Ma Chao discarded the bamboo slip roster in his hand on the table, and his tone was flat: "Since you are an old man, why don't you look up and see each other?" ”

Ma Chao wore a white scarf on his side, he came back from Xiangyang not long ago, and retrieved the bones of his relatives Dong Chao and Dong Heng and reburied them.

At this moment, Ma Chao, Dong Chong, and Yan Pu looked at each other, and a wonderful atmosphere was brewing.

Ma Chao's stepwife's surname is Dong, and after Ma Chao joined Liu Bei's command, Zhang Lu did not embarrass Ma Chao's family. Later, Zhang Lu swayed between Liu Bei and Cao Cao, and Yan Pu persuaded Zhang Lu to surrender to Cao Cao, so Yan Pu was able to make a marquis and pay homage to the general.

Cao Cao won Hanzhong and gave Ma Chao's wife Dong to Yan Pu, and Ma Chao's son was handed over to Zhang Lu, who stabbed him to death with a sword to show his position.

If Yan Pu had persuaded Zhang Lu to join Liu Bei at that time, then Ma Chao's family would have been saved, the battle of Hanzhong would not have been so difficult, and Pang De would not have been transferred to Cao Cao's command.

Yan Pu clenched his fists in his sleeves, raised his head and squeezed out a smile: "King Rende of Han, although I am a descendant of the army, I am actually an innocent person. If General Zuo kills me because of personal vendetta, he should be careful of the criminal laws of the Han king. ”

Ma Chao's face did not fluctuate, and he turned his head to look at Dong Chong: "Ask Huang Hujun and Deputy General Tian about this matter, and ask if a certain family can kill the son of the enemy in a canonical manner." ”

Dong Chong immediately picked up the pen and wrote on the bamboo slips, wrote five bamboo slips in a row, and handed them over to the officials after weaving them with twine.

Ma Chao squinted at Yan Pu: "King Han and Guan Junhou are heroes in the world, and they have their own way of dealing with the world. And a certain family is just a lost dog, and it has to be taken in by the King of Han, and there are only two things that he wishes in his life. One is to repay the Han king's kindness, and the other is to kill the enemy. ”

Yan Pu arched his hand: "General Zuo, my father is planning a retreat for Zhang Zhennan, which is really the duty of a minister." My father did not mean to be hostile to the general, but hoped that the general would be clear. ”

"Hehe, a certain family doesn't care."

Ma Chao stretched out his hand to pick up the tea bowl and take a sip: "Now I am serving the King of Han, and I can't ask for pleasure and revenge." Jiangdong Sun Quan repeatedly deceived the King of Han and Guan Junhou to be square, and a certain family moved to Jingzhou, just so that Sun Quan knew what the means were. Taking Qing's life today, although there is a personal vendetta, it is more of a business matter. ”

Yan Pu showed hesitation and horror on his face, but he still gritted his teeth and said: "If the general wants to kill, he will kill, why do you lie and deceive yourself?" ”

Seeing that Ma Chao picked up the bamboo slip and examined the information of other military officials, Yan Pu said again: "The Han King's faith, righteousness and benevolence are sown in the sea, the general's killing of me is a small matter, and the bad Han King's great cause is a big crime." ”

Ma Chao just raised his eyes and glanced at Yan Pu: "Go out, don't bully." ”

Immediately, a tribal warrior entered the barracks, and Yan Pu hurriedly scolded: "Ma Chao! You! ”

Immediately, a warrior covered his mouth and nose with his hand and dragged him away, Yan Pu jumped to his feet in a hurry, and he was helpless after all.

After dealing with Yan Pu, Ma Chao looked around at the other nine military officials from Guanlong and Hanzhong: "I only ask one thing, those who are willing to serve the king of Han will step forward to make up for the hundred stone officials, and those who do not want to move to the two counties of Bashu to implement the military tun, and the descendants will not be used within the third generation." May those who serve take a step forward. ”

As one person stepped out of the ranks, the remaining eight people did not hesitate too much, and they all took a step forward.

The quiet days in the barracks have made too many military officers and sergeants slack off, and for many people, the time when the Jingzhou army was captured was almost the happiest time in their lives.

With food to eat every day, you don't need to face a harsh boss, you don't need to worry about the exclusion of your colleagues, and you don't need to worry about and be responsible for other dangerous things.

Most of the concerns for family members and relatives have been figured out at this moment.

Now that the population is heavy, it is impossible for relatives to be killed, so they are relegated to slaves to become tuntiankes.

The problem is that the Jingzhou army let himself go back and investigate the crime of surrendering the army, and it is estimated that he and his relatives will not be able to escape the fate of being relocated, exiled, and reduced to Tuntian guest slavery.

A comfortable life has consumed the original will, but this life is coming to an end, and there are two paths in front of us.

or accept the adaptation, re-embark on the official career, and fight back with the army; Either he will be imprisoned forever and execute the military camp as an ordinary sergeant, and he may never be able to marry a wife for the rest of his life, and he will die of old age and illness in a lonely and hard-working life.

Seeing that the nine people stepped out of the ranks, Ma Chao was expressionless: "Go back and persuade the old department, persuade the 100 people to return, make up for the generals, and persuade the 50 people to make up for the team officers." If you can't persuade people to return, you can make up for it. ”

After dealing with this batch of military officials, when Ma Chao studied the information of the next batch of military officials, the military information was urgently delivered, and Dong Chong forwarded it to Ma Chao.

Ma Chao opened it for inspection, and it was sent by Huang Quan to ask Ma Chao's opinion on the next battle.

The four counties of Jingnan did not set up a county guard, and temporarily commanded the troops with the captains of the four counties, including Xi Zhen, Fan Zhou, Chen Feng, and Deng Kai, Wen Bu took over the county captains of Yidu County, and Guan Yu did not care about these five lieutenants, and the military affairs of the five lieutenants were controlled by Huang Quan, and they faintly belonged to the peripheral forces of the left army.

After the situation in Jingzhou is stabilized, the front army will expand, and the left army will also expand.

Counting the navy, the establishment of the Left Army will be 30,000, and this establishment power is in the hands of Huang Quan, and Tian Xin also has a deep influence on the officers of the Left Army.

Affected by the food problem, whether to fight a lose-lose battle with Jiangdong or to reap the benefits has become a problem that the left and former armies need to face together.

Ma Chao scrutinized it carefully and saw that Tian Xinli was the main division of troops to attack Jiaozhou to get grain, but Huang Quan had a neutral attitude and did not say no.

What the left army thinks, in fact, is not critical, the key is whether the front army wants to continue fighting.

Now that the plague is poisonous, the former military officers are worried about the safety of their families, and they have been fighting for more than four months, and the former military officers naturally don't want to fight.

Guan Yu wants to fight or not, he shouldn't want to fight.

To make this judgment, Ma Chao put pen to paper and signed his opinion on this bamboo slip signed by Huang Quan, Tian Xin, and Lu Xun: "The officials of the plague are tired, the treasury is empty, and the successor is weak, so they urgently need to recuperate and not fight again." When we are vigilant against Jiangdong's delaying plan, we will not see 100,000 stone of military rations within five days, which shows that Jiangdong's desire for peace is not true, and it is advisable to send a large army to strike a blow. ”

Then he signed and sent this volume of bamboo slips that conformed to the opinions of the main generals of the left army to Hanjin and was weighed by Guan Yu.

Five days is an ultimatum in Ma Chao's eyes, Jiangdong will send military rations on schedule, then continue peace talks and truce.

If you can't, it will be hiding evil intentions, the left army and the front army will attack together, fight with Sun Quan, and burn all the jade.

That night, the opinions of the left army were sent to Hanjin, and Guan Yu passed on to Zhuge Jin and showed this bamboo slip: "Today, on the eighth day of the first month, the fifth day and the thirteenth day after the fifth day, if Jiangdong arrives with 100,000 stone meters, our army can be suspended." ”

Zhuge Jin's face was bitter: "Junhou, it's getting late today, can you give a grace of one day, and our army will send military rations before the middle of the 14th." ”

"No, Ma Mengqi's limit of five days should mean thirteen days."

Guan Yu looked at Zhuge Jin: "In order to prevent Jiangdong from cheating, a certain general agreed to Tian Xiaoxian's policy and asked him to lead his troops to Lingling County to prepare for the war on the Xiangjiang River. On the 13th, there was no Jiangdong army rations, and on the 15th, General Tian Xiao led the army across the Lingqu and waved his troops into Cangwu. With the ability to step forward, I am afraid that it is not the opponent of filial piety. ”