Ma Dawei hurriedly walked to the front study, at this moment Ma Siwei has been waiting for him in the room for a long time, after Ma Siwei went to Luoyang, he turned around and crossed the Yellow River, rushed to the Longyou army to report to Zhang Huan about Ma Dawei's recent situation, and then returned to Bishui City.

The task given to him by Zhang Huan was very simple, to plot against Ma Dawei, and to open the favorable conditions of Pengjun's assassin history and Huaibei Jiedu envoy, and to oppose his brother-in-law Ma Si is full of confidence, he knew that Ma Dawei was not a person loyal to Cui Qinggong, and he was persuaded by himself to reluctantly follow Cui Qinggong, and now the news circulating in Luoyang City is enough to make him and Cui Qinggong turn against each other.

"Why has it been so long? Your retinue will have returned long ago. Ma Dawei entered the room and asked him with a smile, he was actually just asking, and did not take Ma Siwei back to heart, without waiting for him to answer, Ma Dawei directly cut the topic to the things he was worried about in the past two days, he closed the door and said in a low voice: "Yesterday, Cui Qinggong sent his henchmen to see me, wanting to conspire with me Li Shidao, I don't know how to think about this matter?" ”

Ma Sisu had already made up his mind, and he said after a little groaning: "When I was in Luoyang, I heard rumors that Ma Dawei and Li Shidao wanted to be self-reliant, and they were the front and back of the horse, but now Cui Qinggong is not guarding against you, but wants to conspire with you Li Shidao, what does the general think this means?" ”

"Could it be that this is Cui Qinggong's strategy to attack from afar?"

"Yes!"

Ma Siwei nodded lightly and said with a smile: "I thought it was not only that simple, but this was Cui Qinggong's plan to kill three birds with one stone, one of which first cut off the possibility of you and Li Shidao conspiring with Luoyang; The second is to stabilize you so that you will not go away because of the cold lips and teeth, and the third is to kill Li Shidao with your hand, which is best to cause internal strife between you and Li Shidao. He came to sit on the fisherman's advantage. ”

Ma Dawei frowned, and he paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, "I don't understand why Cui Qinggong did this. Now that the enemy is present, he should unite me and Li Sidao, but there is infighting under the eyes of the enemy, which is undoubtedly self-defeating, doesn't he Cui Qinggong understand? Even if he didn't understand, what about his advisers, why didn't they dissuade Cui Qinggong? ”

"Strategist?" Ma Siwei sneered repeatedly: "I used to be his chief strategist, I don't know what kind of person he is?" If you can follow his wishes, you will be used, but once you are faithful. He wants to kill his parents, wife and children, just ask who in such a place will be loyal to him, even if someone gives him advice, there are other intentions, and now he obviously fell into Zhang Huan's strategy but didn't know it. In my opinion, he is dying. ”

Ma Dawei was taken aback, and he hurriedly asked, "What trick did he fall for Zhang Huan?" ”

Ma Si snorted suspiciously, and said disdainfully: "The elite soldiers are all in the hands of you and Li Shidao, how can he not be jealous?" It's just that the situation is pressing, everyone is cold-mouthed, and they can't care about calculating each other, but Zhang Huan suddenly withdrew his troops at this time, on the surface, he may be returning to Chang'an to fight for power, or he may be fighting against the Khitan in the north, and he will withdraw his troops, but why did even the Xiangyang army besieging Xinzheng also retreat with him? Did the general think of this weirdness? ”

"You're saying he deliberately released the water?" David suddenly understood what he meant.

"Not bad. This is obviously Zhang Huan's deliberate intention to create a relaxed atmosphere. **J starter** relieved your pressure, so that the three of you began to kill each other, and even Zhang Huan did not have to cross the river at all, and the civil strife in the Central Plains was resolved. ”

"Why is your tone the same as that of the imperial court?" Ma Dawei glanced at his brother-in-law, and said with some displeasure: "Do you also think that we are civil strife in the Central Plains?" ”

"So what do you think it is? Do you do the right thing for heaven? Ma Si asked rhetorically with a hint of mockery.

Mardavian did not speak for a long time, and finally he sat down with a long sigh, holding his head tightly in his hands, and looked very painful in his heart, although he now regretted it. But he and Cui Qinggong have had blood on their hands for so many years. has come to this point, can he still go back?

Ma Sisu is very good at observing words and feelings. He saw the hesitation in Ma Dawei's eyes, so he smiled slightly and said, "Why didn't the general continue to ask me why I went to Luoyang for so long?" ”

Ma Dawei slowly raised his head and looked at him suspiciously, and he could hear that Ma Si's tone was different.

"It's very simple, after I left Luoyang, I went to the north bank of the Yellow River and met Zhang Huan."

"What!" Ma Dawei was taken aback, he stood up abruptly and grabbed Ma Siyi, his face became extremely fierce, and he said word by word: "Did you betray me?"

Ma Siwei slowly pushed his hand away, and said coldly: "If I go to see Cui Qinggong to betray you, you have to find out this first, who is going to kill you?" ”

Ma Dawei's face slowly disappeared, he walked to the table and flipped through some documents on the table, and finally couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "What did he ask you to bring to me?" ”

Ma Si knew that he had already surrendered, but he couldn't figure out Zhang Huan's attitude, so he took out a letter from his arms and handed it to him: "This is Zhang Shangshu's handwritten letter to you, take a look at you to know if I am hurting you." ”

Ma Dawei quickly took the letter, his hand trembled slightly and opened the letter, looking at it, he felt a little incredible, Zhang Huan actually promised him to be the envoy of Huaibei Festival, and he could continue to lead the troops, but as soon as he thought about it, he understood Zhang Huan's true intention of treating himself, which was actually for Li Shidao to see! He was named the envoy of the Huaibei Festival, and he Li Shidao was naturally not too bad.

At this time, Ma Siwei next to him also explained to him: "This is because Zhang Shangshu is unwilling to consume too many troops in Luoyang, his is to go north to fight against the Hui and Khitan coalition forces, so he treats the general leniently, please The general must seize this opportunity, so as not to regret it in the future." ”

Ma Dawei ignored him this time, but paced slowly in the room with his hands behind his back, he is no longer a three-year-old child, he has been mixed in **** for decades, and he has already seen the warmth and coldness of people, Zhang Huan treated him at this time just to ask him to surrender, and even make a show to Li Shidao, and never really planned to let him continue to lead the troops, if he didn't know what to do, and really led the troops to Huaibei to take up his post, then he would definitely be a dead end. But if he doesn't surrender and continues to resist, it will also be a dead end, and it will be notorious for eternity. Zhang Huan saw through this, so he generously gave him a knot.

Thinking of this, Ma Dawei sighed secretly. ^^Head. Fa^^ then turned around and asked Ma Siji: "I want to make some merit and then surrender Zhang Huan, I don't know if you have any good suggestions?" ”

Ma Siyi smiled and said: "There is a great merit, can't the general think of it?" ”

"You mean Cui Qinggong?" Ma Dawei shook his head repeatedly, "Impossible! There's no way he's going to venture to me, and there's no need for him to come. ”

Ma Si suspiciously smiled gloomily: "Generally speaking, he won't come, but I brought back something, and I believe Cui Qinggong will definitely come for it." ”

Luoyang City, Cui Qinggong stared at the henchman who had just returned from Bishui City in surprise, and his voice was so excited that his voice almost changed tone. "Are you saying that Ma Sisu has developed gunpowder?"

"It's true, my subordinates watched their experiments with their own eyes, and they blew up a three-foot wooden frame on the ground, and their ears were almost deafened. It's amazing. His henchman palpitated.

"Oh my God! The sky has eyes, and it is actually done at this critical juncture. Cui Qinggong couldn't sit still anymore, he walked back and forth in the dormitory, he rubbed his hands, closed his eyes and thanked God, extreme excitement was revealed on his face, gunpowder! Yes, as long as he has gunpowder in his hand, he is no longer afraid of Zhang Huan, and he can even march into Chang'an immediately. Blow up the Tongguan gate with gunpowder. With gunpowder, he could even ascend to Hanyuan Hall in one step.

The first war in the Western Regions made the prestige of Thunderbolt spread all over the world, and all the armies were eager to have this weapon, but it was so mysterious that people could not see the truth about it, and they had spent nearly 200,000 yuan for it, but they never got a trace of its skin, only knowing that it might be gunpowder.

And now. Just when he was already desperate. The god of fate gave him another chance, and they succeeded in developing gunpowder. This opportunity is no less than Wei Deqing being killed, it seems that the god of fate favors himself again and again, why? Isn't this just to push yourself to the ninety-five position?

After calming down slightly, Cui Qinggong inquired in detail about the process of the test site, and the henchmen naturally would not deceive themselves, and from his description of the test, Cui Qinggong could immediately conclude that the ground powder developed by Ma Si was Zhang Huan's thunderbolt.

Soon, Cui Qinggong faced an extremely real problem, Ma Sisu had been driven away by himself, the gunpowder he developed now belonged to Ma Dawei and not himself, did Ma Dawei give him the gunpowder so easily?

Cui Qinggong began to regret a little, regretting that he shouldn't have driven Ma Siyi away, but it was useless to regret it at this point, he was restless in the palace all morning, how to get Ma Dawei to hand over the gunpowder. At noon, Zhu Tao received the will of the prince, ordered him to enter the palace quickly, Zhu Tao did not dare to slack off, so he left the matter in his hand and hurried to the palace, because Cui Qinggong could not recruit officials who were willing to work for him, so he had to rely on Zhu Tao, who had been a cabinet minister, and left Luoyang's large and small government affairs to him to deal with, not only that, Zhu Tao was also his son, shouldering the burden of assisting his second son to govern.

Zhu Tao did not disappoint him, not only handled the affairs in an orderly manner, but also gave him advice and became his chief strategist, Cui Qinggong said to his generals more than once for this reason, Zhu Tao is his Zhuge Kongming.

Like today's top priority in obtaining gunpowder, of course he had to discuss countermeasures with Zhu Tao.

"Luoyang Yin Zhu Tao has arrived!" The high-pitched voice of a eunuch echoed in the hall for a long time, and another eunuch led Zhu Tao into the palace quickly, walked through the palace gates, and was inspected again and again, and Zhu Tao was finally brought into Cui Qinggong's bedroom.

As soon as he entered the door, Cui Qinggong said to him urgently: "Do you know that Ma Si Su has developed gunpowder that is no less powerful than a thunderbolt?" ”

Zhu Tao was also taken aback, and hurriedly asked, "When did this happen?" ”

Cui Qinggong shook his head and said with some annoyance: "I don't know when the king of the earth was developed, Ma Dawei kept this matter very tight, if it wasn't for my henchmen who happened to see them test, the king would have been kept in the dark." ”

Zhu Tao was slightly stunned, since it was a secret, how could it be known by Cui Qinggong's henchmen, he saw that Cui Qinggong had been burned unconscious by the good news of gunpowder, so he smiled quietly: "No matter what Ma Dawei's intentions are, but he has gunpowder in his hands." This is God's favor for the prince, and the prince no longer has to worry about Zhang Huan's killer feature. ”

"Well said! This is indeed the favor of Heaven for this king and earth. Cui Qinggong waved his hand proudly, but suddenly he remembered that the gunpowder was not in his hand. The smugness disappeared in an instant, he beckoned to Zhu Tao, ordered him to step forward and whispered: "If the virtuous brother can find a way to get the gunpowder for me this time, after I ascend the throne in the future, I will indeed crown the virtuous brother as the king of Shu, and give you the land of Bashu to inherit from generation to generation to the Zhu family." ”

Zhu Tao hurriedly knelt down, kowtowed heavily, and said with great loyalty: "Zhu Tao doesn't want to split the prince's territory, he just wants to handle the chores of the court and China for the prince." ”

Cui Qinggong patted him on the shoulder and laughed, "Wait until that day." Of course, you have to be the right minister, but you have to solve the current gunpowder matter for this king first. ”

Zhu Tao lowered his head and pondered for a moment before saying, "Since Ma Dawei showed the gunpowder, he must have asked for something, or he is threatening the prince."

"Threat?" Cui Qinggong interrupted Zhu Tao's words angrily, "Give him a hundred dares, and he won't dare to threaten me." Back then, he was just a clerk in the army, if I hadn't promoted him exceptionally, would he Ma Dawei be where he is today? ”

"The prince is angry." Zhu Tao hurriedly smiled and comforted him: "So another idea of the subordinate land is that Ma Dawei uses gunpowder to show the importance of his land, so that the prince will rely on him more." ”

"That's pretty much it." Cui Qinggong nodded with satisfaction, "You go on." ”

Zhu Tao saw that he was listening to him, and he couldn't help but sneer secretly in his heart and continued: "The subordinates think left and right, and they can come up with three strategies for the prince for reference. He had gunpowder in his hands. will definitely use it, so that his gunpowder is also the gunpowder of the prince's land, although it is not in his hands, but the effect is the same. ”

Before he finished speaking, Cui Qinggong shook his head and denied his next strategy, how could gunpowder not be in his hands, "This strategy is not adopted by the king, and it is said that the middle policy." ”

Zhu Tao smiled and said: "The so-called middle strategy is to send an envoy to Bishui and directly negotiate the conditions with Ma Dawei. or in exchange for money and food, or in exchange for gunpowder. The advantages of this strategy are that it is less risky and has quick results, but there are also downsides. Even if he couldn't get the formula for gunpowder, he always held it in his hand, and it was still unknown how many of them he had now. ”

Originally, this plan was Cui Qinggong's preference, but Zhu Taodi's second half of the sentence also reminded him that indeed, Ma Dawei would never give him the formula easily, but used it to control himself all the time, which is inappropriate! Inappropriate!

"Then you can talk about the best strategy." Cui Qing didn't immediately deny the middle strategy, he wanted to hear the best strategy.

"The best policy is much simpler, the prince can go to Ma Dawei's camp to see the gunpowder test, waiting for the opportunity to bring Ma Siwei back directly, I think Ma Dawei is unwilling, but he will never turn his face with the prince for this matter, the risk is that the prince will go to Ma Dawei's camp in person, and the benefits are obvious, the prince is very likely to get the gunpowder formula directly, and will no longer be controlled by others."

"This Cui Qinggong was really tempted under the instigation of Zhu Tao, if it was other items, maybe he would use the middle strategy, but gunpowder is the treasure he has been longing for more than a year, thinking that he has the advantage of troops, if there is a benefit of firearms, this will appear clearly in front of him in one day, he can no longer hold back the excitement in his heart, so he said to Zhu Tao, "I decided to adopt the best strategy, personally go to see Ma Dawei's gunpowder test, and then discuss with him by the way to deal with Li Shidao, I will bring more troops to go, forgive him Ma Dawei does not dare to have any dissent, It's just that after I leave, you have to assist the little prince well, let him lead the troops carefully, and don't slack off. ”

Zhu Tao restrained the ecstasy in his heart, knelt down and kowtowed to Cui Qinggong again, "The minister will never live up to the prince's trust!" ”

Early the next morning, Cui Qinggong was escorted by 10,000 elite horsemen, and headed for Bishui City, at this time it was already mid-February, the Yellow River began to thaw, and the mighty water of the Yellow River carried huge ice blocks to move downstream, and the breath of spring began to sweep across the Central Plains.

At this time, there were also abnormal changes on the battlefield in Hebei, and the Hebei Army, which had been confronted for nearly half a month, suddenly split within the Hebei Army, Pei Mingyao could no longer restrain his inner anxiety, he took advantage of Pei You's order to take over the opportunity of the grain and grassland to lead the 30,000 rear army to quietly leave the Hebei Army and march to Chang'an, and the news of Pei Xiangguo's death immediately spread throughout the army, causing a strong turmoil in the hearts of the Hebei Army.

The anomaly of the Hebei army was immediately keenly noticed by Tuoba Qianli, and he immediately seized the opportunity to order 100,000 Hui and Khitan coalition soldiers to divide their troops into two routes, and launched a fierce attack on the Hebei army camp on the third night of Pei Mingyao's departure.

In the early morning of 16 February, the Hebei army finally could not resist the attack of the Hui and Khitan coalition forces, and was crushed for thousands of miles.

On 18 February, Zhang Huan, who received a message from the flying pigeon, immediately ordered Wang Siyu to lead 80,000 Anxi troops to march to Handan through Shangdang, and ordered He Lou Wuji's army to march out of Jingcheng to Hebei, cutting off the way back from Tuoba thousands of miles.

And he himself remained on the north bank of the Yellow River under the protection of 5,000 Iron Guards, waiting for the incident in Luoyang.