The one-on-one talks between Li Sheng and Ma Chao went on for a long time, but basically no one knew what they were talking about. www.biquge.info An hour later, Ma Chao came out of the side hall, and Ma Yunlu, the younger sister, saw something abnormal from his brother's face. She saw that her brother was no longer as radiant as when he entered, but a little lonely in addition to calm, and there was a faint look of excitement in the silence. She has never been afraid of heaven and earth, and after seeing such a strange expression on her brother's face, she was rarely silent, and she could completely feel the chaos in her brother's heart.

"What the hell is going on there?" Ma Yunlu always wanted to ask this clearly, but she didn't dare to open up in the end. Just silently walked from the front hall to the wing, and she followed behind her brother step by step. It wasn't until they both entered the room and sat down that she mustered up the courage to speak. But before she could ask her own question, Ma Chao on the other side asked first: "Yunlu, what do you think of this General Zhao Yun?" ”

"Huh?" Ma Yunlu's thoughts were interrupted by this question, she heard her brother mention it, but she was a little shy while being surprised, and two blushes gently floated on her cheeks. For a moment, she felt that her face was extremely hot. When a girl is asked such a question, I'm afraid they will have a similar reaction to her. Maybe her reaction was normal? She was able to understand the meaning of her brother's words, and after being silent for a while, she seemed to have regained the courage of the daughter of a military general, and just when Ma Chao no longer had any hope for her sister's positive answer, Ma Yunlu said very clearly and affirmatively: "General Zhao Yun? I think it's good, it's a good person. ”

"Does the lord want to marry you to General Zhao Yun? What do you think about this? Ma Chao looked at his sister's reaction interestingly, and already understood a little in his heart, but on the surface, he still asked so bluntly.

"But...... But it's up to the elder brother to call the shots. It's finally time to answer positively, Ma Yunlu's shy and timid voice seems a little inaudible, if it weren't for Ma Chao's strong martial arts and good ears, I'm afraid that her sentence will be ignored like this.

"Good...... Good! Ma Chao stroked his palms and laughed, and the last bit of worry in his heart was removed here. He no longer has any doubts about his sister's marriage to Zhao Yun.

The marriage was largely settled in this way. The next thing is naturally to organize the wedding. Because Zhao Yun and Ma Chao are among the most important generals under him, and this marriage is not a simple emotional marriage, but to win over his relationship with Ma Chao and prepare for the next war, Li Sheng attaches great importance to this matter. Although Li Sheng famously said that this marriage should be completed quickly, he never let go on the issue of whether it was grand or not, and at the moment he directly called the treasury money and grain in Yinping City to complete this matter, so as to make this wedding better.

"This is my reward for Zilong. He was given a lot of things before, but he never received them, and always gave them to his men, which is really admirable. But it's always like this, and it always makes me feel like I owe Zilong a lot. I hope this wedding can make up for Zilong a little. After all, Zilong has made a great contribution to us. Li Sheng said to the person who hosted the wedding. This is also a good intention of his, although this seems to be a bit selfish, but he feels that there should be some change for now. After thinking about it for a while, he was planning such a thing here in Pingyin lively, and on the other hand, he wrote a letter about the incident and sent it to Chengdu. He also knew that this matter was not in accordance with the law, and he also understood that in general, Kong Ming would not say anything to himself, but thinking that he had said something like "before the law, everything is equal", he gritted his teeth in pain and asked Kong Ming to deal with this matter as a typical example. He wrote directly in a letter to Zhuge Liang: "...... In the past, there was Cao Cao's hair cut to restrain military discipline, so today we should also use such things to restrain the hands and feet of officials, and we should do it more truly than Cao Cao. If a person's head falls off, it can no longer grow, but when there is less money and food, it can be collected again. I'll leave all this matter to you, Kong Ming, and please be sure to be serious. ”

It is obvious that Li Sheng is planning such a big drama. On the third day after the wedding of Zhao Yun and Ma Yunlu, Ma Chao and Zhao Yun exchanged official seals with each other and were about to go on their own roads, when the decision on this matter from Chengdu was sent to Li Sheng.

That decision was written on three pieces of paper, but the core of it was just that: Li Sheng's unauthorized transfer of the Yinping treasury in Yinping had violated the laws of Yizhou, although Li Sheng was the lord and had the right to arbitrarily transfer the state and county materials, but this right was obviously limited to official affairs. If Li Sheng used this money to go to war, it would be a public matter, and he could use this money to hold a wedding for his generals, which would be a private matter. Li Sheng has abolished the public government privately, which is improper, but fortunately there is no major incident, and the Yamen of Yizhou has solemnly demanded that Li Sheng quickly make up for the money, and announced the establishment of an audit yamen to verify the transfer of money and grain from the state government in the future.

For these, after Li Sheng read them, he nodded slightly, but he gave them to Ma Chao and Zhao Yun noncommittally. Zhao Yun didn't say anything, but Ma Chao was upset for Li Sheng: "Lord, what kind of thing is this." This Yizhou is dominated by you, and the money and grain of Yizhou's treasury and the people are all your people. If a person wants to use his own things, does he have to be bound by this kind of bondage? I think the military advisor and all the gentlemen are in a daze. ”

"Dizzy? Do you really think they are? They're doing things according to the law. Li Sheng said with a faint smile.

"Acting according to the law? Lord, isn't this the law of Yizhou just you? Everything you say is the law. Ma Chao was stunned for a moment, and still retorted according to his original cognition.

"You're wrong, Meng Qi!" Hearing Ma Chao say this, Li Sheng was solemn: "The law is not, and it must not be up to me to say it alone." The key to the impermanence of chaos from ancient times to the present lies in the existence of people who are beyond the rules. Although such detachment can be explained by the privilege of the superior, if you think about a country like a house, the upper beams of the house are crooked, can the lower beams of the house still be straight? I don't want the people below me to be crooked, and in that case, I must sit upright. Absolute rights derive absolute**. For the sake of eternity, I don't want to enter such a cycle. The rules have been set, so we have to work together to uphold them. I don't allow anyone, including myself, to break such rules. ”

"Ah......?" Ma Chao couldn't believe Li Sheng's statement, and he muttered to himself: "This seems to be incompatible with etiquette." ”

"Yu Lili is not compatible? What if the ritual itself is wrong? Li Sheng asked rhetorically: "Etiquette pays attention to the monarch as the minister, the father as the son, and the husband as the wife, that is to say, the monarch has absolute rights over the courtiers, the father over the son, and the husband over the wife and children." This seems to be true, and the power is very tempting. But can you imagine that I will one day be able to indiscriminately deprive you of your property, your life? You might say it's the act of the faint king. But since it is said that the monarch has everything, according to this reason, it is also legal for me to do so, and it cannot be regarded as stupid at all. ”

"This ......" Ma Chaofa was asked, although what Li Sheng said was very "crooked", but he had to admit that such a "crooked reason" was very "Tao".

"I am sure of one thing, if the Son of Heaven is rich in the four seas, and all that his subjects belong to the Son of Heaven. The Son of Heaven also means that everything about him is empty, and the Son of Heaven is rich all over the world, that is, the Son of Heaven has no money of his own; All that is to the subjects is to the Son of Heaven, that is, everything to the Son of Heaven is to the subjects. Such a genius is really pitiful. Li Sheng finally said: "I don't want to be such a son of heaven, so I must clearly distinguish between public and private inside and outside." I wanted to retain a sense of freedom and not want to be more constrained when I wanted to do something. ”

"My lord, this is far-reaching." Ma Chao realized this, and he also thought that Li Sheng was right.

And then there was a sensation. Li Sheng spread the "blame" document sent by Yizhou Chengdu to the world, and at the same time attached a letter that he admitted his mistake and was willing to obey the punishment. This time the world was shocked, although Li Sheng is not the king, but now in the three-point world, who does not regard Li Sheng's princes as kings? In the past, it was said that the prince was guilty of the same crime as the common people, and people thought that this was a reflection of the strictness of the law. But at present, Li Sheng has really achieved the same crime as the king and the common people, and unlike Cao Cao in the past, who took the hair as the head and took the light and the severe, Li Sheng's punishment this time is real. Basically, how Yizhou's rules are stated, then how he himself acts. Such a line is just like the letter of the former Shang Yang when he changed the law. Almost everyone realized that what Li Sheng, the Yizhou pastor, said was true, and the laws of Yizhou must be obeyed, and no one should be exempted.

Soon, almost at the same time as the fierce battle in Hanzhong continued, the results of the big drama performed by Li Sheng were presented one after another. A large number of merchants left their hometowns from where they had been staying, and swarmed towards Li Sheng's territory. They were not for anything else, but for a point that was made clear in Li Shengjun's law: "Li Shengjun guarantees the lawful private property of the people in all his territories." ”

"These damned merchants." Cao Cao roared loudly. Cao Cao didn't feel hurt by the results of Li Shengjun's statement, but he was also very troubled by this - the people who went to Li Sheng's side because of this statement did not have real big families, and there were few ordinary desperate people, and more were those middle-aged families with a little bit of assets. These people usually do some small business, and their support for Cao Cao himself is not very large, so they are generally forgotten by Cao Cao. As the least valued small businessman, Cao Cao didn't pay too much attention to their passage at the beginning, but now, as they moved away in large numbers, the living needs of the people in his territory suddenly became unsmooth, which made Cao Cao have a headache. Cao Cao found that the more they walked, the more the city under his command appeared. Although there are still many big merchants supporting themselves, these supports only enrich their military rations and money, and do not do any good for the popularity of their own territory.

"Alas...... No one would have thought that these people would have such a role. Misstep, I misstepped. Cao Cao sighed, but there was no better way to do this. A large number of people have already slipped away, unless he gives them greater benefits and makes terms similar to Li Sheng's, I am afraid that they will not come back. However, can he make the same promise as Li Sheng? I don't want to be bound by all this in the future. Originally, businessmen were the best targets for their own military expenditures, food and grass when they were in short supply, and Cao Cao didn't want to find himself bored.

Knowing that Li Sheng's statement caused him great damage, and he couldn't compete with Li Sheng for the same way because of one reason or another, how should he act now? Admit defeat and suffer a loss? This is not Cao Cao's style. In his opinion, the trick Li Sheng used was no different from the trick he used to "cut his hair and act as the head", but his original trick was used to appease the people, but Li Sheng's current trick was to attract the Yin Shi family, he was using the trick of drawing salary from the bottom of the kettle to himself, and he wanted to destroy his foundation, and he should use revenge to oppose such behavior. Thinking of this, Cao Cao quickly ordered: "The three elders of each township should thoroughly investigate the situation of the villagers in their own townships. If anyone dares to face Li Sheng south, the whole family will be confiscated, and they will be punished as slaves. As for those who were heading south, the edict ordered the officials in various places to recover them, and if they resisted, they were to be killed on the spot. ”

Cao Cao gave these orders with a tiger's face, he was a person who was not afraid of killing, so these orders he gave in addition to anger were also full of the bloody smell of slaughter. In the face of such a bloody order, because Cao Cao was in anger, no one dared to resist for a while. Under the strict orders of their own lords, those officials acted quickly, sending troops and thieves, plus many of them were fishing in troubled waters, which also made Cao Cao's territory boiling and chaotic. Cao Cao's side did not count how many people he killed in this migration chaos, but Li Sheng of Yizhou counted 108,000 numbers to prove Cao Cao's cruelty. No one knows how Li Sheng's side counted such a number, but there is such a statistic on Li Sheng's side all over the world, and everyone seems to believe Li Sheng's words. The people of the world didn't say anything about it, in troubled times, human life is always not very important, not to mention that it is not a slaughter of the city: the people in Cao Cao's territory are clamping their tails about this; The people on the Jiangdong side ignore this, and they use almost the same methods as Cao Cao for the loss of those people in their territory, except that they do not kill people, but reduce all those caught to slavery.

Cao Cao didn't care about the reputation of the slaughterer, but he was still annoyed by Li Sheng's big loss. While single-handedly grasping the stability of his territory, he also began to send people to urge Xiahou Yuan, the general of the western expedition to the west, to end the war against Hanzhong as soon as possible. Because Cao Cao had already received a report from Jia Xu's side on the matter at hand: because of what Li Sheng had planned, he had pushed himself to issue such an order, and the entire Yuzhou, Yanzhou, Xuzhou, Sizhou, and Qingzhou ...... All of Cao Cao's territories south of the Yellow River suffered greatly from this year's harvest. If it weren't for the fact that the four prefectures of Hebei hadn't been affected and suffered, if it weren't for the fact that he still had some foundation left in the past few years, he was afraid that the war on Xiahou Yuan's side would have to be suspended immediately, instead of giving them a "as soon as possible" statement. Of course, this as soon as possible also really needs to be as soon as possible - because Cao Cao knew that he could still provide a monthly supply of grain and grass for the front line. If Xiahou Yuan still hasn't made any progress in this month, Cao Cao will let him retire no matter what. After all, even if he was as strong as Cao Cao, at this time, he understood that his support for the war had reached a point where he could not fight.

Therefore, Cao Cao sent a letter to Xiahou Yuan asking him to end the war against Hanzhong as soon as possible. As a generation of leading soldiers, although Cao Cao is in the rear of the battlefield, he knows the situation of the generals in front very well. Of course, he knew how his actions would affect his generals. Therefore, he only explained in quite euphemistic words in his heart to Xiahou Yuan's past, and did not have any intention of forcing Xiahou Yuan to fight quickly. But after receiving this euphemistic letter, Xiahou Yuan somehow understood Cao Cao's idea of asking him to quickly march and take Yangping Pass as soon as possible. Perhaps such a thought has long existed in the depths of his heart, and Cao Cao's letter was just the last straw that broke the camel's back. In fact, as a general in Cao's army, he also has the right to get some information from Jia Xu's intelligence agency, he has long known the seriousness of the situation in his own territory, and when he knew that all these serious situations were caused by those guys in the south, he held his breath to look good to those guys in the south. And winning Yangping Pass is undoubtedly the best choice for them to look good. The 100,000 army was trapped under the Yangping Pass, and he had never won this light card, such a result was really unacceptable to Xiahou Yuan, he was very dissatisfied with the maintenance of the current battle line, and he had the intention to change everything damn about it.

Here, Xiahou Yuan was dissatisfied with the maintenance of the current battle line and planned to plan a big battle, and Wei Yan over there was really angry about it. At present, for Li Shengjun, the supreme commander of the entire Hanzhong battlefield is undoubtedly their lord Li Sheng, who is now sitting in the city of Nanzheng, but as long as anyone who really participates in this battle understands that Li Sheng is only the nominal commander of the Hanzhong battlefield, and it is Wei Yan, the general of Anyuan, who really commands the overall situation and plans to strike at the invading Cao army. Originally, it was very taboo to have two commanders in the army, but in the case of Li Sheng's support for Wei Yan, this taboo situation did not appear in Li Sheng's army, and the military orders of the entire Hanzhong were unified, and Li Sheng deployed nearly 200,000 horses in Hanzhong, all obeying Wei Yan's orders and preparing for the battle at Yangping Pass.

The appointment of Wei Yan as the governor of Hanzhong was a decision made by Li Sheng out of the actual needs of the war, and it was also a trust in Wei Yan himself. For Li Sheng's trust, Wei Yan was deeply encouraged, but also felt the existence of pressure. He wanted to adapt to this pressure and live up to this trust, so he chose to fight. He believed that only by achieving merit in battle could he not live up to the advantages of his own lord.

Since we have this in mind, we need to work on it. Wei Yan thought and did so, so he racked his brains and formulated a large plan on how to encircle and annihilate the Cao army led by Xiahou Yuan, and submitted it to Li Sheng for approval. After all, although Li Sheng handed over the command of the army on the battlefield to him, he did not hand over the strategic command to him, and he had to obtain Li Sheng's permission to fight wherever he wanted to fight and how he wanted to make further moves against the enemy on the opposite side.

Wei Yan told Li Sheng the plan, full of hope and waiting for his approval, but he didn't want Li Sheng to shake his head lightly after looking at Wei Yan's plan in detail: "You can take back this plan." There's no way I'd agree with you doing that. ”

"Why?" Wei Yan asked puzzled. Seeing that the things he had worked hard for a long time were beaten back by Li Sheng lightly, he was really annoyed and a little aggrieved.

"Because it's not yet time. The battle situation in Hanzhong is closely related to Liangzhou, and before I can get Zhao Yun's side to start, Hanzhong's defense should be mainly defensive. This is a strategy, a strategy for us to seize Liangzhou. Li Sheng solemnly warned Wei Yan: "Don't be impulsive. Unless Xiahou Yuan takes the initiative to attack you, you must not engage him. Even if you are fighting, you will not have to fight the enemy unless you have received my orders. ”

"Understood...... However, this is also a bit more depressing. While Wei Yan agreed, he muttered very softly.

"Hmph......" Although Wei Yan's voice was small, Li Sheng's ears were very sensitive, and this slightly complaining sentence gave him a positive answer, he glanced at Wei Yan with slanted eyes, and no longer said anything. He actually understood why Wei Yan would complain like this. After all, for a general, an enemy who can be completely destroyed by himself is in front of his eyes, and he can't touch him for various reasons, which is really a sad thing, just like a big falcon can see his favorite food but can't eat it, which is always unbearable. Looking at Wei Yan's expectant eyes, Li Sheng also wanted to agree to him like this, but he finally endured it. "We have to wait. Don't worry, what are you going to do in the next battle? There was no way, Li Sheng had to comfort his master.

Feel relieved? Can you put your mind at ease? Once the fighter is lost, it may not be able to be obtained again. Wei Yan wanted to refute Li Sheng like this, but he finally held back. Because he knew that what Li Sheng was talking about was a strategic opportunity, not a tactical opportunity as he was talking about at the moment. The tactical opportunity can only allow him to trap Xiahou Yuan, but the strategic opportunity can allow him to obtain the land of Liangzhou and have the possibility of roaring down from the terrain. Which of the two is more important, he Wei Yan doesn't know.

Thinking of this, despite the great reluctance in his heart, Wei Yan honestly returned to Yangping Pass and continued to resist Xiahou Yuan's southern invasion army.

At this moment, in the battle of Yangping Pass, the Cao army, as the attacking side, seems to have reached the situation of "the end of the strong crossbow and cannot wear Lu Min". Nearly 100,000 troops are gathered under the city, although the battle is still going on, and the siege is still going on every day, but the siege of the city these days has become almost child's play: every day Xiahou Yuan sent one or two thousand people to come over and shout and shout, and then the overall charge, but this charge is also in vain, and there is no substance, often one or two thousand people rush up, and one or two thousand people retreat, there is no damage at all. It seems that Xiahou Yuanjun has a very high level of stop-loss in wartime.

On the surface, this is the case, but how can Wei Yan not know that Xiahou Yuan's behavior is actually paralyzing himself? "What the hell are they thinking? Whether it's really or not, and what else is weird, I'll find out all about it. As soon as Wei Yan returned to Yangping Pass, when he heard such news and saw such a situation, he immediately ordered sharply.

Under such a strict order, Wei Yan's scouts scattered out, and within a few days, Xiahou Yuan's purpose for doing so was clearly discovered: it turned out that Xiahou Yuan actually retreated the main force five miles away, and made a decision to repair it temporarily and send people to reconnoiter the path. After all, no matter how dangerous this level is, there are always one or two paths that can be bypassed, and there is hardly a level in the world that is not like this - this is the purpose of Xiahou Yuan right now.

"Do they want to take the trail?" Hearing the report from his subordinates, Wei Yan couldn't help but sneer: "Since you want to take the path, then I will let you take the path." For the Dao of the Yangping Pass-Xiegu line, who knows better than us Li Shengjun now? And this is just to break your strategy, it can't be regarded as a switch to meet the enemy. Wei Yan thought about it, justified himself, calmed his uneasy heart, and quickly ordered to go, he had decided to take advantage of this reason to take Xiahou Yuan in order.

Wei Yan here made a plan, and Xiahou Yuan over there seemed to be completely unaware. He had not heard of a suitable path for several days, and he was sitting in the big tent with a sad face, anxiously waiting for the report of his subordinates today. “…… I hope my generals will have good news. He was looking forward to it. It has been half a month since Cao Cao, the autonomous duke, sent the letter to his side, and most of the opportunity has been lost, if he doesn't come up with a victory as soon as possible, I'm afraid that he will really have to go back in disgrace. This is definitely something that he Xiahou Yuan does not want to see. "Well, hopefully today will be different from yesterday." He looked forward to it again.

Perhaps it was God's mercy on him, or perhaps his consistent prayers and efforts had an effect, Xiahou Yuan waited for the last scouts, and finally gave him a happy reply: "General, we have found that there is such a path, so far and near, but it can only be inserted into the rear of Yangping Pass. ”

"Oh? Tell me more about it. Xiahou Yuan's golden knife sat on the top of the handsome seat, paying detailed attention to the report below.

"Uh...... That's actually what it looks like. The spy who came to report the incident explained the matter in detail, and stretched out his hand to the outside, "We have brought back all their people." ”

"Good!" Xiahou Yuan said with a deep smile, feeling that God had not abandoned him after all, so he ordered: "The third watch rebels, and the fifth watch sets off, and you must hurry overnight to go around to the back of Yangping Pass." ”

"No!" A voice of response rang out at the sound of an order. The Cao army in the entire camp moved quickly to prepare for tonight's battle. Of course, this can't be hidden from Wei Yan in Yangping Pass, because there is such a small road that Wei Yan sent someone to tell Xiahou Yuan.