It was night, the wind was cold, the pedestrians on the street had long since disappeared, there was not a trace of fire to be seen, and the whole city was extremely empty, except for the soldiers who were patrolling around, as if there was no sound. However, in the middle of the city, the lights were still on in Ma Teng's mansion.

Looking at the fire candle on the table in front of him, Ma Teng's eyes were inexplicable, and he gently stretched out his right hand and put it on top of the flame, as if he wanted to grasp the flame. The warmth in his hand made Ma Teng smile slightly and withdraw his palm.

Looking at the calluses and very rough palms that had grown from the perennial chopping of firewood in the past, Ma Teng sighed softly.

Perhaps, I should be satisfied!

"Father, Yuan Highway wolf ambition, we must not listen to what he says, as long as the father gives an order, the child will immediately lead 20,000 iron horsemen to take off Han Sui's head to avenge the sacrificed soldiers of our army! At that time, my father will be the lord of Xiliang, and he will not be weaker than that Yuan Highway! ”

Seeing Ma Teng sitting on the main seat without saying a word for a long time, Ma Chao, who was located in the hall, said impatiently.

This thing is as unafraid as Sun Ce, even if Yuan Shu's 100,000 army comes to him in person, he dares to fight hard with the other party. Ma Chao never thought about surrendering, in his eyes, all the princes in the world are grassy mustards, nothing remarkable.

Ma Teng seemed to be awakened by Ma Chao's words, came back to his senses from his memories, and quietly looked at the arrogant and uninhibited Ma Chao, his eyes were full of relief and pride.

In his life, the most proud thing is not to rise from the grassroots and become a prince step by step, but to have such an excellent son. At the age of 20, he has already experienced the battlefield, has excellent martial arts, and has made great contributions, and no one in the army is dissatisfied. When it comes to prestige, he is only under his own father.

Ma Teng knew very well in his heart that his son's achievements in the future would definitely surpass his own. With such an excellent son, Ma Teng's heart is full of pride, who among his peers in the world can compare with my son?

Of course, he didn't know about Sun Ce's existence, otherwise he and Sun Jian would have a sense of confidant. My son is too good, and sometimes it's a kind of pressure!

"Meng Qi, you are too impatient. Han Sui has been operating in Liangzhou for many years, and he has countless capable ministers and fierce generals under his command, and the power is not under a certain force, how can it be that you can kill if you say it? What's more, the fourth and third dukes of Yuan Highway, sitting on the four southern states, how can they be compared to Liangzhou? Ma Teng shook his head.

"Not to mention anything else, the messenger who delivered the message today is not a thing in the pool, and he is a scheming person, which shows how many talents there are in Jiangdong, and it is not comparable to my Xiliang."

"Why did my father grow up with other people's ambition and destroy his own prestige? I see that today's messenger is only a corrupt Confucian, how can he compare with my Xiliang hero? Yuan Highway has only relied on the reputation of the fourth and third princes to get to this day, how can this person be compared with his father? As long as my father has been developing for a few years, he will definitely be able to compete with one of them! Ma Chao was not angry.

Ma Teng smiled bitterly and shook his head: "If you can have a few more years to develop, why don't you want to fight with Yuan Shu and the others." But now there is no time, we have lost the opportunity, not to mention the hegemony of the world, even self-protection is difficult. Cao Liu in the Central Plains and Yuan Shu in the South have set their sights on a certain place, and now they have no time to develop as a father, and they can only choose one side to take refuge in today's plan. Yuan Shu, Cao Cao, choose one of the two. ”

Ma Teng knew his current situation very well, Liangzhou was poor and weak, and he was collectively targeted by the princes of the Three Roads, and he had a vendetta between him and Han Sui, so he had no choice.

"Who does my father want to vote for? Yuan Shu? ”

Ma Chao, who heard Ma Teng, sat down in place with an unwilling face, and Ma Dai, who was behind him, asked out loud.

Ma Teng closed his eyes lightly, frowned, and said, "I haven't thought about it yet." Today, Yuan Shu sent an envoy here, and the sincerity is not small. But after all, Yuan Shu is from the Yuan family, a person of the fourth world and the third duke, and I am afraid that he will not face us and others. Moreover, the surrender we waited for was just the icing on the cake for him, but for Cao Cao, it was like a charcoal in the snow. If it is subdued by Cao Cao, we will definitely be able to reuse it. ”

"But the benefits are great, and the risks are also great." Ma Dai said: "Father should also know the current power of Yuan Highway. The land of the four southern states is extremely rich, with hundreds of thousands of soldiers, and it is also sitting on the risk of the Yangtze River, so it is safe to protect itself. Relatively speaking, Cao Mengde is only a land of two states, and Liu Bei and Lu Bu in the Central Plains are not easy to match, and it is difficult to unify the Central Plains. ”

"The most important thing is, in whose hands can Xiliang I wait for be safe?"

Although his bravery is far inferior to his brother Ma Chao, Ma Dai's personality is better and calmer. He had already seen his father's thoughts, Xu Shu was not driven away, and to a large extent, his father's attitude had been explained.

"The road out of Shu has been firmly guarded by Yuan Shu, and the checkpoints along the road are heavily guarded, and it is difficult for us to take it. This means that Yuan Highway can attack my Xiliang at any time, making us tired of coping. ”

On the contrary, Cao Mengde's foundation is far away in Yanzhou, and as long as he holds Chang'an, he will not be able to enter Xiliang. What's more, Cao Mengde is currently sitting on Yanzhou and Xuzhou, if we surrender to him, then his territory will be too narrow and long, and all parties need to defend, which is not a long-term solution, and the risk of investing is too great. ”

Ma Dai saw Cao Cao's biggest drawback at a glance.

Because Yuan Shu's power expanded too quickly and steadily, Cao Cao, who had just taken the second step of unifying the Central Plains, had to temporarily stop and come to compete with Yuan Shu for Xiliang.

Conscripting 300,000 troops in two states is too much labor and money. But in the face of so many enemies around him, Cao Cao had to do the same. It's okay in a short time, but after a long time, Cao Cao's money and food will definitely not be able to keep up. Therefore, it is impossible for Cao Cao to be too entangled with Yuan Shu in Xiliang, after all, his foundation is in the Central Plains.

"Boshan, why are you so inclined to Na Yuan Highway? If there is no good horse cavalry, what can Yuan Highway do even if the soldiers are fierce? Surrendering to that Yuan Highway at this time, I am afraid that I will have to look up to people in the future, so how is it my Xiliang Erlang's style? Ma Chao couldn't help but retort when he saw that Ma Dai admired Yuan Shu so much.

Ma Dai smiled slightly bitterly: "Brother, you must know that Yuan Highway and Gongsun Boqi have been trading in Youzhou for more than half a year, and although there is a shortage of war horses, it is not that they do not have the strength to fight with us." What's more, the Battle of Northern Xinjiang and the previous Battle of Jieqiao also showed that the light cavalry was not invincible and had many methods of restraint. Do you think Yuan Highway, who has hundreds of thousands of troops, will not be worthy of a crossbow array or heavy infantry? ”

The cavalry of the eastern part of the river was weak, but the archers were relatively stronger than those of the north. Because in the south, whether it is water warfare or land warfare, archers are indispensable weapons, so a large number of elite archers naturally emerged, and almost everyone can shoot with one hand. It's not easy to form a crossbow formation that restrains the cavalry.

When Ma Chao heard this, his face froze. Ma Dai's words made him powerless to refute, and the tragedy of Bai Ma Yicong and the great victory of Wolf Juxu Mountain clearly told everyone that the elite cavalry also had the same method of restraint, and there were a lot of them.

"But what the eldest brother said also makes sense, I have the choice now, and there is no need to choose to surrender so quietly. If Yuan Gong doesn't show a certain strength, how can we join his command? After refuting Ma Chao's statement, Ma Dai changed his words.

"Oh? Boshan, do you have any suggestions? Ma Teng was surprised.

"Gong Yuan recruited us for nothing more than Liangzhou. However, if we want to control Liangzhou, it is not enough for us to surrender, if Han Sui is still there, Yuan Gong will not be able to completely control Liangzhou. If we make an agreement with Yuan, if he can destroy Han Sui and comfort the spirits of our soldiers in the sky, how about we vote for him? A glint flashed in Ma Dai's eyes and he said in a low voice.

Ma Teng pondered for a moment, looked at Ma Dai in surprise, and said happily: "My son is really smart!" Okay, just do as you say. ”

Ma Dai's suggestion is actually killing three birds with one stone. The first is to see the strength of Yuan Shu, and the second is to get rid of the scourge of Han Sui, so that Ma Teng can become the only overlord of Liangzhou and increase his value.

Finally, it is to prevent Yuan Shu from having other crooked thoughts. What Ma Teng was most afraid of was that he would be used as a gun by Yuan Shu and then thrown away after he surrendered. If Yuan Shu directly ordered him to eliminate Han Sui, he would be in a dilemma at that time. Now he simply cut off Han Sui's trouble directly to avoid the situation that Ma Teng feared the most.