Ma Tan's soldiers who went to the mountains to chop firewood accidentally caught two former Jingzhou Dongwu soldiers, which was an absolutely good harvest, how could Ma Tan give up? So Ma Tan called these two people over, and comforted them well: "Prime Minister Zhuge has pardoned your crimes, if you two can provide me with information on the other side, I will give you and a rich reward, if you are willing to join the army, I will promote you to three levels in a row, if you are not willing to join the army, I can let you go home." ”

can go home with the reward, which is a good thing that the two of them didn't expect, so they kowtowed again and again: "Thank you general, what news does the general want to get?" We're absolutely all about it. ”

Ma Jian asked, "How many troops does Lu Meng have in Xiazhi?" What is the current morale of the Lü Meng army? ”

The two soldiers looked at each other, and Ma Tan immediately ordered the two men to be separated, and then he asked one of them: "You must tell the truth in order to get a rich reward, and if what you say is different from the other's, then I can only reward you with a whole corpse." ”

The soldier kowtowed again and again: "The little one will never dare to deceive the general, he must know everything and say everything." ”

Ma Tan asked the above two questions again.

The soldier thought for a while and then began to answer: "Now there are 40,000 soldiers in Xiazhi, but General Lü Meng is seriously ill, vomiting blood every day, and he can no longer manage things, and now he will hand it over to his two generals Mao Wen and Mao Wu to lead, as a result, most of the troops came from Chaisangkou, and they did not listen to the command of the original Mao Wen and Mao Wu at all. Now it has appeared that every time he goes out to collect firewood, he must be led by a soldier whose family is in the city, and once the team he brings out runs away, General Mao Wu will kill that soldier. ”

Ma Jian had long known that Lü Meng was seriously ill, but now he heard that he was terminally ill, so he asked more carefully: "You said that your General Lü Meng is terminally ill and vomits blood every day, is this true?" ”

This shibg swore to the sky: "This is absolutely true, and there have long been rumors in the army that General Lu Meng will not survive for three or five days." ”

Lu Meng is a well-known commander in Dongwu, and even Zhuge Liang has to be treated carefully, but he is sick and is about to die, so Dongwu will once again remove a top beam, which is really a happy thing.

After Ma Jian asked some other things, he and Wang Ping, who interrogated the soldier, met with each other and compared each other, and this matter was true.

But Ma Tan was still not at ease, so he ordered his subordinates to touch the vicinity of Xia Zhi and arrest the fleeing Soochow soldiers.

As a result, as the two soldiers just said, the soldiers who came out to collect firewood always took advantage of the inattention to escape, in these two or three days, Ma Tan arrested no less than 100 Dongwu soldiers, after interrogation, their answer was that Lu Meng was seriously ill, and it was getting worse day by day, plus the original city was small, and there was not much grain and grass in the area, and suddenly more than 30,000 soldiers poured in, and the grain and grass in the city were cut off for a while, and now the city was already panicked, and the commander was about to die of illness, which was indeed a great blow to the morale of the army, it seems, the child has been messed up.

Faced with such a situation, Ma Jian was overjoyed, and immediately found Wang Ping and said to him: "General Wang, you are now guarding the street pavilion, and I will take 5,000 men and horses to Xiazhi and carry out a tentative attack on them." ”

When Wang Ping heard this, he was anxious at the time, and hurriedly dissuaded: "The general must not be, the two of us came here to occupy the choke point of this street pavilion and cut off the water and land connection of the Wu army, as long as we complete this task and stabilize the back of the prime minister's army, we will be a great achievement, and we must not take the initiative to attack." ”

Ma Jian disagreed with Wang Ping's conformism: "As a general, in the battlefield, the battlefield situation is changing rapidly, how can you stick to the rules, if you are like you, where can you still have an enterprising spirit?" ”

Wang Ping retorted at the time: "The battlefield is changing rapidly, we should be more cautious and cautious, and complete our duty, which is also for the sake of the overall situation, if you don't listen to the prime minister's arrangement and act without authorization, in case you fall for Lu Meng's tricks, the consequences will be unimaginable." ”

Ma Jian said contemptuously: "Lu Meng is terminally ill and dying, what else does he have in mind, what kind of conspiracy and tricks are he playing, I just took advantage of this opportunity to directly take down the child and completely solve the prime minister's worries." ”

Wang Ping dissuaded again: "Even if Lu Meng is seriously ill and will die soon, but there are still 40,000 Wu troops in Xiazhi, and we will not be able to shake it no matter what, and please don't act without permission." ”

Ma Jian said in annoyance: "Don't act without permission, don't act without permission, haven't you heard that you are not subject to military orders abroad?" ”

"The general is not subject to foreign military orders, this mainly refers to the fact that the general is too far away from the commander, there are special circumstances on the battlefield, and it is inconvenient to ask for instructions back and forth, and now we are only 50 miles away from Cheng Xiao, general, you should ask the prime minister."

"For such a trivial matter, you have to ask the prime minister, wouldn't that make the prime minister worry about it every day, and at the same time, these little things should also be consulted by the prime minister, so what do you want us to do as the coach? Are we marionettes? ”

It was a bit too much to talk like this, and Wang Ping's face fell: "The task of the prime minister sending you and me here is to cut off the connection between the two places, which is the most fundamental task. If the general leads people to attack Xiazhi, and once the attack is frustrated, and the men and horses are damaged, and our mission here becomes dangerous, then we are the sinners of the whole campaign, and the general should think twice. Then he didn't forget to remind: "When the general came, he signed a military order with the prime minister, which is not child's play." ”

As soon as the military order was mentioned, Ma Jian also began to be stunned, Zhuge Liang is strict in governing the army, and the military discipline is very strict, if you really disobey Prime Minister Zhuge Liang's orders, even if you are Prime Minister Zhuge Liang's personal disciple, you will definitely not escape military law, at this point, you are really careful.

However, seeing Jiang Wei fighting every day on the front line, he was put in this place to do nothing, and he was also unwilling, because both of them knew that Zhuge Liang was working hard to cultivate the two of them, and he would eventually choose one of them to inherit his mantle, and now he and Jiang Wei are competitive opponents, and they must show their absolute combat merits to show their abilities in order to stand out in this competition.

Ma Jian thinks that his ability is definitely much stronger than Jiang Wei, who will only be submissive to the prime minister, and the future military power of the Han should be controlled by himself, and he will lead the Han army to sweep the world, so this is the first time to lead the army independently, he must show his performance.

But he also knows Zhuge Liang's character, that is, the most annoying thing for others not to listen to his greetings, if he sends troops without authorization, this Wang Ping will definitely make a small report like Zhuge Liang, after thinking about it, in the end Ma Jian still endured it.