As soon as Ma Chao said this, there was a burst of laughter in the hall. Xu Chu clapped his hands and shouted: "Ma Chao, are you in love with someone's daughter, say it, I will be a matchmaker for you!" ”

Ma Teng's face was a little unbearable, and he got up and said: "Xiao'er is talking nonsense, please remember that he is young and ignorant, and forgive him this time." ”

Liu Xin's tears were about to burst out laughing, and when she heard Ma Teng's words, she was a little embarrassed, so she quickly coughed twice and said, "Ma Chao is straightforward and fast-talking, but he has an appetite for Liu. Gongtai, you don't have a problem now. ”

Actually, Chen Gong still has doubts. Ma Chao is not a woman, find a stable woman to test it, you will know if you are a virgin, who can prove whether you are a child man or not? However, Liu Xin had already said this, and the faces of everyone in the hall still couldn't stop smiling, and Chen Gong had no choice but to nod.

Liu Xin waved his hand and said, "Deju, you can take people down." ”

Cai Mao promised and hurriedly went to arrange a "foreign house" for Liu Xin.

Zhao Yun was relieved to see that this matter was finally over, and he arched his hand and said, "Lord Qiqi, there are still a few horses, and they are in the courtyard. ”

Most of the Xiongnu tribes are good horses, and Zhao Yun and they are all experts in knowing horses, and those who can be brought back by them as trophies are definitely not ordinary ordinary horses. Liu Xin nodded and said, "Let's go, let's go and have a look." ”

There were four horses in the yard, all of them with strong physiques and strong postures. Ma Chao was born in Xiliang and was particularly fond of horses, so he took the initiative to explain. These four horses, one pure white, was dedicated to Liu Xin by Hu Chuquan, one was snow-blue with many black spots on it, which was Liu Bao's mount, and the other two black horses were Yu Fuluo's mount. When the introduction of the snow-treading oolong with black bodies and snow-white hooves, Ma Chao was obviously a little reluctant. The snow oolong also seems to be quite humane, and he actually lowered his head and rubbed Ma Chao's face twice affectionately.

After the spoils of war are offered, they will be rewarded for meritorious deeds, and the only people who are eligible to receive Liu Xin's direct reward are Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong, Ma Chao and Xiahou Lan.

Xiahou Lan's martial arts were mediocre, and the accumulated credit was not enough for promotion, so Liu Xin gave him two hundred taels of silver, of course, he would not give him cash, but two hundred taels of silver tickets issued by Dahan Qianzhuang. One tael of silver is equivalent to one thousand yuan of Zhongping Tongbao, and two hundred taels of silver is 200,000 yuan, a lot of wealth.

Zhao Yun and Huang Zhong are both army commanders, and their official positions have not been promoted, and Liu Xin gave them 1,000 taels of silver each. However, Liu Xin said again: "BMW gives heroes, and Liu doesn't go into battle to fight, it's useless to ask for those horses." Zilong, give the white horse to you, Hansheng, the snow green horse is yours. ”

As a general, there is no one who does not want to own a horse of divine horses. Zhao Yun and Huang Zhong were overjoyed and even thanked them. saw Zhang Fei jump up from the chair and shouted, "Big brother, give me a horse too." ”

Liu Xin frowned and said: "Third brother, if you didn't participate in this expedition, naturally you won't have any credit, if I give you the horse, others are afraid that they will have opinions." ”

Zhang Fei said disapprenously: "Where is the big brother, these horses are now the eldest brother's, the eldest brother can give them to whoever he wants, I am the brother of the eldest brother, the eldest brother gave the horses to me, who will make irresponsible remarks?" ”

He didn't want to think about it, Liu Xin's sworn brother was not the only one, except for Zhang He who was still in Jiangnan and didn't rush back, Xu Huang, Dian Wei, and Xu Chuke were all here.

Xu Huang got up and said, "Lord Qi, the third brother has also made many contributions, so please ask the lord to give him a good horse." The last general has no objection to the evil come and Zhongkang. ”

In fact, Dian Wei and Xu Chu were also red-eyed, but they didn't have time to speak, so Zhang Fei took the lead, and now they were blocked by Xu Huang, so they had to stare dryly.

Xu Huang himself doesn't want a good horse, they are all military generals, they are born and die on the battlefield, war horses are their partners, a good horse can not only improve their combat effectiveness, but can even determine their life and death. However, Xu Huang didn't want to embarrass Liu Xin, so he took the initiative to stand up and help him out.

Liu Xin naturally understood what Xu Huang meant, nodded, and said, "Since the second brother has said so, then the third brother, you can pick one yourself." ”

The two were black horses, but one was pitch black and the other had white hooves. Zhang Fei didn't hesitate to choose the black horse, and said happily: "I look black, with this black horse, it is a pair, it should be mine!" ”

It caused everyone to laugh again.

Liu Xin raised his hand, stopped everyone's laughter, and said, "Ma Chao,......"

But seeing Chen Gong stand up, he arched his hand and said: "Qi Yu Lord, Lord Lord, stay in the Hun King's tent at night, great rebellion, subordinates think they should be severely punished!" ”

As soon as these words came out, the atmosphere in the hall suddenly became solemn. Ma Teng glanced at his precious son, and he had a feeling of hating iron but not steel. Lin San had already reported everything on the Xiongnu grassland to Ma Teng, staying in the Xiongnu king's tent at night, leaving the Xiongnu woman in the tent, and not sending troops to reinforce Shangguan, these three things were big taboos in officialdom. Ma Teng had been careful since he entered the hall, not knowing when these things would erupt. Just now, the woman who left the Xiongnu Shan Yu in the tent finally prevaricated, but his overnight stay in the Xiongnu king's tent is not easy to explain in any case.

If Chen Gong had been silent today, Liu Xin really planned to pretend to be confused, who knew that if he didn't say anything, it would not be Chen Gong. Liu Xin had to ponder for a moment and asked, "Gongtai, in your opinion, what should be done?" ”

Chen Gong is a trustworthy person, he had already agreed to Liu Xin's handling advice that day, so naturally he would not be too embarrassed, so he hugged his fists and said: "Back to the lord, my subordinates think that the reason why Ma Chao did such a rebellious thing is because he is young and ignorant, so he can not be investigated, just cut him off his official position and demote him to a pawn!" ”

As soon as these words came out, Ma Chao was furious, he wanted to take a big position and be promoted again, but now not only is there no hope of promotion, but he will also be cut into a pawn, so that he is embarrassed. Ma Chao clenched his fists, his eyes widened, and he stared at Chen Gong. Facing the thick murderous aura exuded by Ma Chao, Chen Gong was not afraid at all, and smiled at him. was so angry that Ma Chao really wanted to open his mouth to scold, but in front of so many people, he didn't dare to be presumptuous.

Zhao Yun hurriedly got up and said: "Lord Qiqi, this time on the grassland, he knew that Yu Fuluo had sent people to attack Huchuquan, but he was able to judge the situation and hold the camp steadily, and did not rush to send troops. This composure alone shows that he has the talent of a general. And this time, Ma Chao did make a great contribution, please ask the lord to remember in his youth and ignorance, and allow him to make a contribution. ”

In Ma Teng's opinion, this matter is a taboo in officialdom, but Zhao Yun and Chen Gong are not idle people, so they naturally see it very clearly and know that Ma Chao is right to do this.

Without waiting for Liu Xin to answer, Chen Gong had already preemptively said: "Merit is merit, and passing is passing, how can it be offset?" Please judge justly! ”

Liu Xin sighed and said: "Ma Chao, Liu also knows that you are brave and good at fighting, but what the public station said is good, if you have merit, you will be rewarded, and if you have a fault, you will be punished, so that you can order and prohibit it." In this way, Liu will now order you to be removed from your position as a partial general, do you choose to be a foot soldier or choose to retire from the army? ”

Ma Chao's expression changed on his face, as if it was difficult to choose, and after a long time, he finally gritted his teeth and said, "In this case, Ma Mou quit the army!" ”

Ma Teng said angrily: "You rebel! You, you, me off! ”

Liu Xin's words just now are very clear, meritorious service will be rewarded, and if there is a fault, punishment will be given, with Ma Teng's experience of so many years, Liu Xin seems to have the intention to exonerate Ma Chao. Moreover, the three sins he has been worried about today, the first case has been revealed, and the third case has also been turned into merit by Zhao Yun, and now only this second sin remains, which can be completely offset with a few credits made by Ma Chao. Even if he can't be deducted by merit now, with these merits he has made, it is not impossible for him to be promoted from a foot soldier to a partial general. However, Ma Chao actually chose to retire from the army, so there was no hope.

Ma Chao is a very proud person, their Ma family is also a strong party in Xiliang, when Ma Teng took the initiative to serve Liu Xin, he was not willing. But the situation is stronger than people, if you don't choose to serve at that time, the Ma family will face the cruel blow of the Han army and end up with the same fate as Han Sui, you must know that Han Sui's strength at that time was much more than their Ma family.

However, Ma Chao is still unwilling, even if he can't become a hegemon, the person who assists him should be a master, at least with a broad mind. He stayed overnight in the Xiongnu king's tent and left the woman in Fuluo, just to test Liu Xin's attitude towards himself, but he didn't expect Liu Xin to really listen to Chen Gong's "slander" and be suspicious of himself, so what else did he have to be nostalgic for, and he retired from the army directly.

"Shoucheng, this is not the place for you to teach your son." Liu Xin waved his hand, stopped the indignant Ma Teng, turned to Ma Chao and said, "Ma Chao, Liu respects your choice, and will let the military department remove your military status after a while, from now on, you are an ordinary citizen." ”

Ma Chao snorted and didn't answer, just looked at Liu Xin coldly.

Liu Xin saw that his expression was not good, but he didn't think so, and continued: "However, you still have to be rewarded for your achievements. You have defeated the tribes of Liu Bao and Yu Fuluo, and you have played a pivotal role in the entire battlefield, and you will be rewarded with 1,000 taels of silver for each of these two achievements. ”

There was a burst of "tsk" admiration in the hall, such a reward is not insignificant, even Zhao Yun, as the commander of the unified army, only received a reward of 1,000 taels, it seems that this is Liu Xin's compensation for Ma Chao's dismissal.

But Ma Chao was disdainful, although such a reward was rich, but his ambition was to leap into the world, how could he care about these yellow and white things. There is no master here, there is a place to stay here, and Ma Chao has already germinated a place to go.

But I heard Liu Xin say again: "In addition to these two merits, Ma Chao's forced death in Fuluo is also a great achievement, and he should be rewarded." ”