The loss of the street pavilion immediately exposed Zhuge Liang's back, leaving his battalion in a state of being attacked from both sides, so that he had to worry about the intrusion of the Eastern Wu army on him day and night, and he could no longer attack Ling Tong's sailors with all his strength, so that he became extremely passive in the whole campaign.

Looking at Ma Jian kneeling in front of him with a gray face, Zhuge Liang could no longer describe his mood with anger, he now has no anger, and some only hate iron is not steel.

But at this time, Zhuge Liang had a relaxed feeling, that is, the two rising stars he had carefully cultivated, their abilities were among the best, and they had their own strengths in commanding the army, which always made it difficult for him to choose, but now that he is good, he finally has a decision.

There is only one future successor of his own, and the candidates he chooses are two, no matter who is in power, after all, one of these two will be dissatisfied with the superior, and there will be infighting between the two of them in the future, and infighting is the most terrible.

This is just like Wei Yan at the beginning.

Wei Yan's bravery in battle, or in military strategy, in fact, in the entire Liu Bei group, far higher than Guan Yu, and in terms of comprehensive strength, in fact, only slightly lower than Zhuge Liang, if Zhuge Liang is wholeheartedly engaged in politics in the imperial court, it is actually very appropriate to hand over the entire military to Wei Yan.

But at that time, Zhuge Liang was in a complicated political environment, and he had to grasp the military power, only in this way could he promote the progress of politics.

At that time, Wei Yan had already shown his eagerness to try the military power, and his light had begun to appear, and his prestige in the army had begun to rise in a straight line, which seriously threatened Zhuge Liang's fundamental separation of military and political affairs, so he used a trumped-up charge to order Ma Dai to ambush Wei Yan, although killing this rare handsome man who was in charge alone was a loss to the military of the entire Han group, but compared with the power struggle that may occur in the future, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

Now there is competition between Jiang Wei and Ma Yan, and in this chaotic and chaotic world, the central group cannot agree on it, which is definitely not a harm, but a disaster.

So between Jiang Wei and Ma Yan, you can only choose one, and the other must be eliminated, this has been entangled in Zhuge Liang's heart for a long time, although it is painful, but it must be so.

Originally, it was difficult to choose between these two people, but this time Ma Tan's performance has completely exposed the inability of Ma Tan's person.

When he was by his side, he showed that he was very respectful, but once he left his sight, he immediately showed his unruliness and his arbitrariness, such a character is unacceptable, if the entire military group is handed over to him in the future, as soon as he leads the troops, he will become a kite with a broken line, and he will never be controlled by the central group again, and a new warlord will appear.

There is also his excessive conceit, he is too convinced of his own ability, and as a result, this belief has evolved into blind arrogance, and when he achieves a little achievement, he immediately gets carried away, which is the way to defeat.

Bosslessness, bullying subordinates, disloyalty, arrogance, and talent are the root of the future of uncontrolled and self-defeating.

So Zhuge Liang took advantage of this opportunity to make up his mind and kill Ma Yan, who had become uncontrollable.

Looking at Wenwu who fell to his knees and pleaded for mercy, in fact, Zhuge Liang's heart was also infinitely sad and reluctant, after all, he took them in as a disciple and taught them, the friendship between teachers and students was unbearable, how could he bear it like this? But the general situation is here, for the sake of stability and unity in the future, in order for him to be able to smoothly transfer power to Jiang Wei's hands in the future, in order for Jiang Wei not to be hindered in the future, he must pave the way for Jiang Wei in the future, so he must use this justifiable excuse now to kill Ma Yan, otherwise there will be a situation like Wei Yan, when killing him, it is very tricky, and secondly, he is also criticized.

Covering his face with his sleeves crying bitterly, Zhuge Liang hoarsely said to the kneeling pleading Wen Wu: "The military order is like a mountain, meritorious service should be rewarded and punished, this is the foundation of governing the army, you can't forgive him for this sin of piercing the sky because Ma Tan and I have the love of master and apprentice, otherwise whoever commits a crime again in the future will forgive him because of the relationship between this and that, then the country will not be a country, and the army will not be a army." ”

Ma Jian also knew that he had made a big disaster this time, because he was eager for quick success and quick profit, and wanted to make some achievements when he was leading the army independently, under the background of competition with Jiang Wei, to increase his bargaining chips in this regard, and to prepare for his future ascension to the throne and take over the military power of the prime minister.

But now it seems that he is indeed too tender, and if he loses the small street pavilion, he will become passive in this whole campaign, which is equivalent to ruining the whole campaign, and such a crime cannot be forgiven.

At the same time, Ma Jian did not ask for meritorious service, but willingly accepted the guilt, he knew that he could not be forgiven this time no matter what.

In the future, he and Jiang Wei can only have one inheritance Zhuge Liang's military position, as the so-called one mountain cannot accommodate two tigers, survival of the fittest, this is already very obvious, when the two of them were selected by Zhuge Liang to cultivate, it was already doomed, in the future, only one person can live in this world, and the other person must die.

Now that the results are out, there is no longer any suspense, although there is unwillingness, but what can it be? The law of the jungle is so cruel, the two are equal, in such a competition, the ending is like this, but a little earlier, a little later, there is no choice and pity at all.

Looking at Jiang Wei, who was kneeling next to him and his head was bleeding, Ma Yan suddenly sighed in his heart: "Jiang Wei, he is still kind, his character is determined by his loyalty, if he takes the throne in the future, Jiang Wei will definitely not betray and restrain himself, not because he will be loyal to himself, but because he is loyal to this big man, he will definitely do his best for this big man." ”

Looking at Jiang Wei, who was already begging hoarsely, Ma Jian thought inexplicably again: "But if Jiang Wei is on the throne, will I obey him like Jiang Wei?" ”

When he thought of this, Ma Jian thought about himself calmly. In the end, he evaluated himself fairly: "I am absolutely unwilling to submit to his name, how can a manly man be subservient to others?" When the time comes, I will definitely try my best to replace Jiang Wei. ”

For such thoughts, Ma Jian was not surprised or ashamed of his thoughts at all, but at this time, he was happy that he could die now, happy for this loyal man, and happy that he would not let his entire family accompany him to the funeral because of himself in the future.

Thinking of this, Ma Tan raised his head and asked Zhuge Liang: "For the sake of the future of the Han Dynasty, please kill me." ”