Feng Yi knew that he was loyal and sincere to Liu Xiu, but he also knew that the three of them became tigers and all of them were gold.

He is not afraid of work, no matter how heavy and dirty the work is, it doesn't matter if he doesn't get recognition if he does it well, but he is afraid of the conspiracy and right and wrong in the officialdom.

In the past, the reason why he liked to be alone with his back to the big tree and not participate in the braggadocio and arguments of his colleagues was because he was afraid of causing trouble. He believes that fraud, hypocrisy, conspiracy and slander in officialdom are not only harmful, but also disgusting.

However, now that right and wrong have come to the door, they can't hide from it.

He solemnly wrote to Liu Xiu, showing that he was loyal to the court and had no two hearts.

He said that he was just a martial artist, and his ability to have today was completely the result of the emperor's favor and love. Guanzhong's achievements today are all due to the emperor's leadership. The minister knows the courtesy of the monarch and the minister, and he will never dare to take half a step beyond the thunder pool. Everything the minister is given by the emperor, although the emperor is summoned at any time, the minister is willing to use his brain at any time to repay him with death. Now, the minister asked to work in the court and serve by the emperor's side to repay the emperor's grace.

Liu Xiu knew that what Feng Yi said was from the bottom of his heart, and did not agree with him returning to Beijing to work, so he immediately replied that the general had made great contributions to the country, fully demonstrated the righteousness of the monarch and ministers, and was like a father and son with me. What other suspicion can a general have to produce such fear?!

Feng Yi, don't worry, I believe in you, do it well!

However, Feng Yi was still not at ease.

He thought that after all, he had been away from the capital for several years, and it was inevitable that he would be estranged from his colleagues in the DPRK, and besides, many things in the officialdom were unclear and inexplicable, and they would change at any time, especially in this troubled era.

He decided that no matter how busy he was, he would also go to Beijing to report his thoughts and work to the emperor in person, and observe the situation in the imperial court.

At the beginning of 30 AD, that is, when Kuihuan's envoy Zhou You was killed in the Guanzhong military camp, Feng Yi was in Luoyang.

For Feng Yi's entry into Beijing, Liu Xiu gave a special favor.

On this day, Feng Yi asked to see him and got Liu Xiu's consent.

In the main hall, Liu Xiu met with Feng Yi very warmly, and summoned senior military and political cadres in the DPRK to meet together.

In front of everyone, Liu Xiu solemnly introduced Feng Yi:

"This is the secretary (main book) when I started the army, and I am currently in the process of overcoming obstacles and stabilizing the pass."

(It was the main book when I started the army, and I overcame thorns for me and was in peace.) ）

In fact, Feng Yi and most of the senior cadres present were acquaintances, and some were still very good friends, even if there were a few who were surrendered or promoted during Feng Yi's expedition to the west, they should also know Feng Yi's personality and political achievements very well.

Liu Xiu said this completely to set the tone for the so-called "Feng Yi problem": Feng Yi is my confidant, and now he has made great contributions to Andingguanzhong, and I am satisfied with and trust him.

In order to calm some people's suspicion of Feng Yi, and at the same time to let Feng Yi work at ease, Liu Xiu also made a series of public moves.

Immediately after the meeting, he rewarded Feng Yi with a large number of treasures, coins, clothes, and silks.

When sending Zhonghuangmen to give Feng Yi these things, Liu Xiu also gave Feng Yi an edict.

This edict is very special, it doesn't talk about work, it only talks about feelings, and it is very humorous:

"Due to time constraints, I didn't have time to prepare the bean porridge from Wupu Pavilion and the wheat rice from Hutuo River for you, and your deep friendship for me will be difficult for me to repay for a long time."

Here, Liu Xiu said a few words, recalling the bloody wind and rain when he was chased and killed by Wang Lang in Hebei, and recalled the bean porridge and wheat rice that Feng Yi found for himself in times of crisis.

I think that in Liu Xiu's mind, the rich taste of bean porridge and wheat rice must be the same as the cake that Fan Ye gave him in Xinye Prison in his early years, and the taste of wine he drank when he ate and served on credit at the beginning of the army.

Next, Liu Xiu invited Feng Yi to dinner many times, and the monarchs and ministers drank and talked happily to discuss the plan to attack Bashu.

Liu Xiu stayed with Feng Yi for more than 10 days before letting him return to Guanzhong.

At the same time, in order to further express his belief in Feng Yi, Liu Xiu also specially arranged for Feng Yi's wife and children to accompany him.

(Later, the banquet was introduced, and it was decided to stay in Shu for more than ten days, so that the different wives returned to the west with the differences.) ）

Now, in Liu Xiu's strategic layout, or combination of actions to capture Kui Huan, Feng Yi's main task is to attack head-on, choke the relevant strategic points, and at the same time adopt the method of encroachment to gradually recover the surrounding areas of Kui Huan's forces and isolate him to the greatest extent.

Combining military, political, and cultural means like this is also Feng Yi's forte.

According to Liu Xiu's deployment, Feng Yi's first task was to take down Suiyi.

However, Kui Huan also saw the importance of this place and had already taken the lead.

Lao Kui thinks that if you make a move with a master like Liu Xiu, you can either pretend to be dead and not fight, or beg for mercy and surrender, or take the initiative and go out and fight to the death. Whoever wants to fight and slow down will only be flattened.

Therefore, he wanted to gain the initiative, and after the victory in Xinguan, he immediately sent his generals Wang Yuan and Xingxun to lead 20,000 horses from Longxi (now Lintao, Gansu) to attack the Sanfu area.

Among them, according to the plan, the Kui army was patrolled to conquer Suiyi, and Wang Yuan dealt with Wangcheng.

It is slightly west in the north of Chang'an, and it is not too far from the Qiyi of Geng Yi and the city of Xianzun in the northwest of Chang'an. However, the two generals, Geng and Xi, are also rushing from Chang'an to their destination, and they are still on the way.

In this way, if the patrol occupies Suiyi, it will echo Xizhou, and form an encirclement of Chang'an, Qiyi, and Huangcheng from the north, and look at the Sanfu region.

Suiyi, Suiyi? Suiyi!

Feng Yi knew too much about the importance of the Yi, and ordered the troops to go day and night to take the Yi!

Fortunately, Feng Yi was half a step faster than Xingxun.

Feng Yi felt that the Kui army had just won the battle and its morale was flourishing, and his men and horses had been doing heavy work for a long time, and the brothers were very tired, so he had to increase the technical content of the battle.

When his subordinates felt too tired and asked to rest and leave, he clearly refused, patiently persuaded everyone, and immediately ordered the troops to speed up, but to move in concealment, in fact, "sneak into the village, don't shoot." ”

Soon, his team quickly stepped up and quietly entered the city.

He immediately arranged for his subordinates to quickly control all important parts, and closed the city gates. At the same time, he also asked that all kinds of movements should not make loud noises.

(Dive to the closed city, and stand out.) ）

In this way, people outside the city do not know what is going on in the city.

Not long after, the patrol led the troops to come in a hurry, and when they saw that the city was quiet, they thought that they were marching fast and seized the opportunity.

The patrol ordered: Brethren, hurry into the city!

Oh, it's here, let's get into the city and rest.

Although the troops on patrol won the battle a few days ago, they are also a long journey now, and they are a little tired, everyone thinks, anyway, Liu Xiu's men and horses have not yet arrived, so let's rest in the first city.

Who knows, the patrolling men and horses have just approached the city gate, suddenly, the war drums in the city are screaming, the city is full of flags, Feng Yi personally led the elite cavalry from the city gate shouting, rushing out of the kill!

didn't say anything, Feng Yi's soldiers rushed to the patrolling soldiers and horses, and when they saw who cut whom, they would not be soft.

The patrol soldiers were caught off guard, frightened, and panicked, how did they do it? Run!

This time they were fleeing, unprepared, and running in no order.

Feng Yi's soldiers had rich experience in chasing and killing, slashing and slashing in the back, biting tightly.

There was no Ma Wu in the patrol team, so they could only let Feng Yi's men slash and stab with swords, fall to the ground and become corpses, most of them became hellish spirits.

Feng Yi's soldiers chased and killed for dozens of miles, won a complete victory, and returned to the city.

(Taking advantage of its surprise, the pawn beats the drum and builds the flag.) The patrol ran in a panic, pursued for dozens of miles, and broke it. ）

Almost at the same time, in Huangcheng, the sacrifice of Zunzun defeated the Wang Yuan people who came to attack.

In this way, almost all of the troops sent by Kui Huan Wang Yuan and Xingxun were destroyed in the hands of Feng Yi and Sai Zun.

Liu Xiu's military struggle against Kui Huan won an overwhelming victory after a small defeat.

As soon as the local heroes such as Geng Ding and others in the area of Beidi County (now Qingyang, Gansu) saw the change in the situation, they immediately announced that they had drawn a line with Kui Huan and returned to Liu Xiu one after another.

The military was done, and the propaganda and ideological work and organizational measures arranged by Liu Xiu also closely followed.

Everyone can see very clearly that the main credit for winning the Yiyi is Feng Yi. But when Feng Yi reported to the imperial court, he was very cautious.

Because, Feng Yi believes that although he personally led the army to kill the enemy and capture the city and achieved an obvious victory, not far away, his leaders and colleagues are also at their posts: Wu Han is in Chang'an, Geng Yi is in Qiyi, and Zunzun is in Wangcheng, etc.

It has always been a taboo in officialdom to say that the achievements that belong to you are your own.

Therefore, when Feng Yi reported his work to Liu Xiu in writing, his words were very cautious and his attitude was very low-key, and he did not dare to mention his role at all.

(I don't dare to cut myself off.) ）

We have won a tremendous victory, and this was achieved under the cordial care of the emperor, under the correct leadership of the imperial court, under the direct guidance of the great Sima of the Wu and Han dynasties, with the close cooperation and vigorous assistance of the generals, and with the active support of the masses in all sectors of society. We just did a little bit of what we were supposed to do.

In the future, under the correct leadership of the emperor and the imperial court, we will take this opportunity to start from scratch, not be arrogant or rash, find more gaps, resolutely act in accordance with the emperor's will, conscientiously implement the line, principles and policies of the imperial court, closely unite with colleagues, extensively mobilize the masses, and further do better work to repay the emperor's grace.

Feng Yi is good at work, he doesn't make small moves, and he doesn't have time to calculate others, so although he is careful everywhere and always on guard, he is still unable to guard against it.

He works in a high-profile manner and is a low-key person, but there are still people who want to embezzle his merits.

Since it is to embezzle his merits, it is inevitable to slander and plot against his cold guns and arrows.

The people who are qualified to do these things are, of course, his colleagues.

There are always a lot of people who can't do their jobs, and they are masters. And people who are dedicated to their work often have no mood or time to calculate others.

For this kind of officialdom curse, Liu Xiu can't do anything about it.

(The generals may want to share their merits, and the emperor will suffer from it.) ）

As a generation of Ming Jun, what Liu Xiu can do is to protect the people who work as much as possible, and he can't put an end to the cold guns and arrows that shoot at the people who work.

Because, since it is a cold gun and a cold arrow, the gunman archer is often well camouflaged, and even if anyone can find him, it is often difficult to eliminate the political and cultural environment that produced him, and such and such gunners and archers will emerge in endlessly.

The stubbornness of China's traditional political culture has become so stubborn that people cannot treat it with a revolutionary attitude.

Therefore, Liu Xiu not only wants to protect Feng Yi, but also does not want to dampen the enthusiasm of other generals, so it is indeed a bit of brains.

After careful consideration, Liu Xiu issued an edict to these generals to the west in Luoyang.

This time, Liu Xiu felt that he had to uphold justice and give Feng Yi an application statement, and he must not be with the mud. Otherwise, whipped the fast ox and stabbed the good horse with the sword, who would want to work honestly?

At this time, Liu Xiu sent a total of 7 great Simas and generals to the Chang'an area, and this edict was specially issued to Feng Yi, but it was specially sent to 6 other brothers.

At the head of the edict, Liu Xiu called his brother 6 positions, which seemed very formal and serious.

Looking at the content again, it is even more clear, sternly worded, strict and unambiguous.

He said: A few days ago, the enemy pressed the border with a large number of troops, and the cadres and masses in the Sanfu area were very frightened, while most of the soldiers guarding the northern area did not move, hesitating to wait and see. Now, these remote cities have been preserved, and the enemy has suffered serious setbacks, and Geng Ding and others have abandoned the darkness and turned to the light, and returned to the righteousness of the monarch and ministers. All this is thanks to Feng Yi, the general of the expedition to the west. He is as accomplished as a mountain, but he still humbly thinks that he has not done enough and is not commendable. Now, I have sent Dr. Taizhong to give medicine and coffins to the dead and wounded officers of General Feng's department, and you must personally go to offer condolences and condolences to General Feng, so as to express your admiration for General Feng's humble virtues.

Liu Xiu then appointed Feng Yi as the acting Taishou of Beidi County and ordered him to march to Yiqu (west of present-day Heshui, Gansu).

Here, Liu Xiu criticized the generals for their conservative and passive work and their own support for the troops, and at the same time, fully affirmed and vigorously commended Feng Yi's merits and character.

Since then, the phenomenon of slandering Feng Yi and putting gold on his face has come to an abrupt end.

Not allowing honest people to suffer losses is an important principle of Liu Xiu's employment. He has always tried his best to do so, as far as he can.

Liu Xiu has absolute trust and full care for Feng Yi, Feng Yi feels deeply, and always repays with redoubled efforts and good work performance.

Soon, Feng Yi paid equal attention to enwei, and successively recovered Shangjun, Anding and other places.

Immediately, Liu Xiu appointed him to act as the Taishou of Anding County.

A general, shouldering a very important military mission, the emperor personally gave protection, gave him a very high honor, and was appointed to act as an acting official of many feudal domains, it can be said that Liu Xiu's affirmation and trust in Feng Yi is incomparable, and Feng Yi has constantly proved with his own practical actions: The emperor is very correct in doing this.

In this way, due to Liu Xiu's high trust and strong support, Feng Yi completely controlled the situation in the above-mentioned places, and Kui Huan's situation of Liu Xiu's victory in the first battle and aggressiveness was completely reversed.

If Feng Yi was from the front and adopted a combination of military and political means to curb the hustle and bustle, Ma Yuan was much quieter when implementing the actions arranged by Liu Xiu.

We pushed the time forward a few months a little, when Ma Yuan first arrived in Luoyang, Liu Xiu did not arrange a position for him in time, and he was also in a hurry!

He was originally a generous and righteous man, but the reason for his anxiety was not that he was an official fan.

First, he felt that he was a career-oriented person, with no work to do, and he was in a hurry;

Second, he felt that he had defected from Kui Huan, and his work could not be carried out, and it was difficult to explain it to the world: if I continued like this, people would still think that I had some political problems;

Third, it is very realistic, he brought a large group of family members, relatives and guests, and the expenses in all aspects are not a small amount.

Ma Yuan didn't want to be so idle all the time, and he was embarrassed to ask Liu Xiu directly for an official, so he proposed to Liu Xiu: The Sanfu area is vast, the soil is fertile, and the minister brought many guests and asked to go to Shanglinyuan Tuntian.

At that time, because the whereabouts of Kui Huan were still unclear, Liu Xiu was temporarily uncertain about how to arrange horse aid, so he agreed to Ma Yuan's request.

Okay, let's do it first, the organization will take you into account.

(Emperor Xu Zhi.) ）

Relying on farm work to make a living is also a good place, but it is obviously not Ma Yuan's desire.

When he learned that Kui Huan had turned his face with Liu Xiu, Ma Yuan was so worried that he wrote to Lao Kui many times, which was both enlightenment and blame, suggesting that he change his course and officially submit to Liu Xiu: countless examples prove that going against Liu Xiu will never end well!

At this time, Ma Yuan still regarded Kui Huan as his friend, hoping that Kui Huan could rein in the precipice, follow the trend, and obey Liu Xiu's call.

However, Lao Kui has already "dominated" his mind, and he is bent on cutting the land and becoming dominant, and he can't listen to different opinions at all.

He didn't think that Ma Yuan was good for himself, but thought that he had betrayed him, and now he had become Liu Xiu's lobbyist, and he was very angry.

While looking at Ma Yuan's letter, he used force with Liu Xiu.

And when Liu Xiu began to officially capture Kui Huan, Ma Yuan could no longer hold back his ambition to serve the country and wrote a written report to Liu Xiu.

In this report, Ma Yuan said:

"The ministers returned to the holy court and served the emperor, neither recommended by others, nor did anyone make meritorious contributions to the ministers. If the minister does not say something, His Majesty may not be able to hear it. Therefore, the minister is not presumptuous, not afraid of capital crimes, and wants to be honest with His Majesty. The minister and Kui Huan were originally friends who trusted each other, and at the beginning, when he sent the minister to the east, he said to the minister, I want to belong to the Han family, you go and see it first, if you think it is okay, we will concentrate on attaching it. Later, the minister returned to Xizhou, truthfully reported the situation to him, and sincerely persuaded him to be good, but never led him to evil. And he has evil intentions and secretly hates His Majesty, but he attributes all the resentment to his ministers. If the minister does not report this, His Majesty cannot know. Therefore, the minister asked to go to Luoyang to meet His Majesty and show the way to eliminate the hustle and bustle. The ministers must be loyal and wise to give advice. When the hustle and bustle is eliminated and the country is peaceful, the minister is willing to retire to the countryside and die without regrets. ”

Obviously, Ma Yuan's report not only clarified himself, but also expressed his loyalty to Liu Xiu, and also put forward a request to be able to come out to work, with a sincere attitude and sincere words.

Liu Xiu already valued him very much, and the fact that he was not assigned an important position was temporary, and he also believed what he said in the report.

Now, the game between the empire and the hustle and bustle is coming to an end, and Ma Yuan should also officially appear!

So, Liu Xiu immediately summoned Ma Yuan to Beijing to discuss work.

Liu Xiu summoned Ma Yuan to discuss the plan to defeat the hustle and bustle.

Ma Yuan introduced to Liu Xiu in detail his ideas and suggestions for eliminating the hustle and bustle.

History called Ma Yuan "a military and politician with lofty ambitions", just like Feng Yi and Kou Sui, he has always been good at grasping the general trend of social development, and he has never fought for the sake of fighting.

The history of these ideas about Ma Yuan is unknown, and we are not at the scene of the proceedings, so it is difficult to know exactly.

But what is certain is that Liu Xiu basically agreed and adopted his suggestion, and let him take on part of the work from it.

This part of the work task given to him by Liu Xiu is another action that we want to say that Ma Yuan wants to implement by Liu Xiu to capture Kui: sow discord.

This is certainly not the whole story of the Ma Yuan proposal, but it is also very important.

Liu Xiu quickly allocated 5,000 horse aid special forces and elite assault cavalry to let him do this thing.

It should be said that Ma Yuan has been working and living in the West Monday for a long time and understands the customs; He also served as a general and senior think tank of Suide, and he was also very familiar with Lao Kui's side and local cadres at all levels.

So, Ma Yuan led these 5,000 special forces to go back and forth between Gao Jun, Ren Yu and other high-ranking generals, and also lobbied the patriarch of the Qiang people, Haoqiang and other local powerful factions, analyzed the situation for them, stated the interests and disadvantages, and asked them to understand the righteousness and abandon Kui to join Liu.

Whether in the city market or on the country road, the lineup of 5,000 special forces is very spectacular.

Everyone can fully imagine what kind of situation this is: a former general, senior staff, and scholar-type cadre, shouldering the heavy trust of the Liu Xiu Empire, led the crowd to wander between military and political dignitaries and local heroes, doing high-profile work to sow discord, and openly demolishing Lao Kui's platform.

Ma Yuan went back and forth in this way, and after a few rounds, Lao Kui's subordinates and local tycoons were panicked and suspicious of each other, and a situation of scattered sand gradually took shape.

It is worth noting that this kind of work of Ma Yuan has been very effective, but it has not encountered much resistance.

Lao Kui, what are you busy with?

Of course, there are also some of Lao Kui's subordinates who don't eat horse aid at all. For example, the veteran General Yang Guang.

Ma Yuan and Yang Guang were also old colleagues, old acquaintances, and old friends in the past. In order to win him, Ma Yuan wrote a long letter to him, not only describing the friendship and sophistication, but also talking about the changes in the situation, moving with affection, knowing with reason, with a sincere attitude, and combining rigidity and softness, hoping that he and through him would influence Kui Huan, restrain the horse from the precipice, and return to Liu Xiu.

However, Yang Guang ignored this.

(Guang didn't answer.) ）

Interestingly, Yang Guang himself did not and did not suggest that Kui Huan take countermeasures against Ma Yuan.

In order to consolidate the results of Ma's aid in the work of rebellion and discord, Liu Xiu also ordered Laishu to actively cooperate and closely assist.

In the atmosphere of rebellion and separation created by Ma Yuan, the generals Wang Zun and Niu Han who came to surrender Kui Huan further isolated Kui Huan.

In this way, Feng Yi, Ma Yuan, Lai She and others successfully implemented Liu Xiu's strategy and tactics of combining punches with Kui Huan, and beat Lao Kui out of temper.