"Whew!" Han Qi looked at Tongguan, which was already behind him, and then breathed a sigh of relief. Since Cao Ying let him leave Xuchang a few days ago, Han Qi did not dare to delay for a moment, and hurried all the way through Sizhou to Tongguan at the fastest speed, and returned to Xiliang through Guanzhong. Along the way, Han Qi was afraid that Cao Ying would regret it, so he only slept for an hour every day, and spent the rest of his time on the road. Now I have passed the Tongguan Pass and arrived at the Guanzhong. Although this is still Xiahou Yuan's territory in name, his father also has a certain influence here, and it is much safer than in the Central Plains.

It seemed that Cao Ying was really going to let himself go, and Han Qi secretly wondered in his heart. Touching the letter that Cao Ying gave to his father in his arms, Han Qi couldn't help but muttered a little in his heart: What is Cao Ying going to do? Thinking of this, Han Qi also opened the letter and read it, anyway, even if he read it, his father wouldn't be able to find out. This didn't matter, Han Qi suddenly felt a basin of cold water poured down from his head.

In the letter, Cao Ying told Han Sui, I will return your son to you first, but don't be happy, while you still have a few years to live, get together with your son. Now you Han Sui can still sit on an equal footing with Ma Teng in Xiliang, but when you hang up, whether your son can still sit on an equal footing with Ma Teng's son and share the helm of Xiliang depends on his creation. In the end, Cao Ying told Han Sui that Ma Teng was above the edict and was the person I had to eliminate, and whether you help him or me depends on how you decide. If you help him, I will fight you together; If you help me and kill Ma Teng, Xiliang will be yours.

Although it has been four or five years since he left Xiliang, Han Qi is still very clear about the status of the Ma family in Xiliang. Although his Han family is also a famous family in Xiliang, his father Han Sui is even on an equal footing with Ma Teng, the head of the Ma family. But compared with the Ma family, the comprehensive strength of the Han family is still inferior. There is no other reason, since the Ma family started with General Fubo Ma Yuan, more than ten generations have been rooted in Xiliang, such a deep-rooted relationship network, even if it is a hero like Han Sui, it is impossible to rely on decades of operation. In a word, it is not so easy to achieve qualitative change if you want to achieve quantitative change.

After flipping through Cao Ying's letter and reading it again and again, Han Qi couldn't make up his mind in his heart. After thinking about it, I would still let my father decide. In terms of brains, I am not better than my father.

Not to mention this little Jiujiu in Han Qi's heart, in Xuchang City at this time, Cao Ying, the prime minister of the dynasty and the duke of Wei, was feasting the ministers in his mansion. Cao Ying had a good reason to hold this banquet, and since returning from the northern expedition with his army, Cao Ying's prestige has been as high as Zhongtian. In the eyes of many scholars, the current Duke of Wei is enough to overshadow Wei Qing and Huo Quai, who were said to be sick in the past. Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty also knew the edict of the times and crowned Cao Ying as a hussar general. Therefore, this banquet is not only to celebrate Cao Ying's promotion, but also to celebrate the success of the expedition to Mobei. The important civil and military officials in Xuchang were all present.

"Why did the prime minister let Han Qi go, so that Han Sui had no scruples in Xiliang, wouldn't he let the tiger return to the mountain?" During the banquet, he heard that Cao Ye announced that he would send Han Qi back to Xiliang, and Liu Ye was also quite puzzled.

"Haha, Ziyang can't help but look up to Han Sui too much, where can he still be regarded as a tiger?" Cao Ying took a sip of wine and smiled vigorously.

"At best, it's just a capricious wolf!" Guo Jia said with a smile.

"Wenhe, you can talk to everyone!" Cao Ying motioned to Jia Xu, who was most familiar with Xiliang, to explain. Jia Xu nodded, got up and explained: "Ma Teng and Han Sui have been entrenched in Xiliang for many years, and they have always been the prime minister's confidants. , Ma Teng's roots in Xiliang are deep, Han Sui is deep-minded, with these two joining forces, if you want to plot Xiliang, it is not easy. Therefore, it is necessary to separate the two before acting. ”

"Send Han Qi back, and you can separate the two?" Liu Ye felt that this was too unbelievable. Not only him, but most people listened to Jia Xu's words, and they were all puzzled.

"That's it!" Jia Xu spoke amazingly. then explained in detail: "Ma Teng and Han Sui are both veteran people, and it is not easy to separate them. Especially Han Sui, this person is known as the Yellow River Jiuqu, and his deep scheming is the best in the world. But people always have weaknesses, and Han Sui is afraid that he will have to turn his face with Ma Teng for the sake of his children and grandchildren. ”

"Why is that?" Liu Ye didn't quite understand Xiliang's matter, so he had to continue to ask.

"Han Qi, the son of Han Sui, has mediocre intelligence, and has been a proton in Xuchang for many years, and he can be described as unknown in Xiliang; Ma Chao, the son of Ma Teng, is the first warrior of Xiliang and is known as the general of Shenweitian. The fame of the two is far apart, after the death of Ma Teng and Han Sui, can Ma Chao still tolerate this mediocre Han Qi and share Xiliang with him? Jia Xu said slowly.

"That's right!" Liu Ye nodded. Originally, Han Qi was a hostage in Xuchang, and Han Sui had no motivation to compete with Ma Teng at all. Now that his son is back, for the sake of his son's future, Han Sui will definitely not be so peaceful, pity the hearts of parents all over the world!

"But Han Sui is scheming, wolf-hearted, dog-hearted, if he gets Xiliang, it will also be a big trouble!" Cao Ren suddenly spoke, and most of the generals nodded in agreement.

"Not necessarily!" But it was Guo Jia who smiled, and then explained: "There are few people in Xiliang, and there are only 600,000 Han people. The reason why Ma Teng's foundation is so stable is that the Ma family has always been connected to the Qiang people. If Han Sui won Xiliang, his people could only gather thirty or forty thousand horses at most. And Ma Teng is in Xiliang, enough to gather 100,000 cavalry! Moreover, once Ma Han was infighting, General Xiahou could take the opportunity to send troops to Longxi and pinn it down in a corner of Liangzhou. ”

"I see!" Now everyone understands that when the abacus hits this step, it can no longer be described only by essence. However, Ma Teng and Han Sui, who were in Xiliang, couldn't take care of these things for the time being, because they had an urgent matter.

"Brother Shoucheng, this year's Xiliang grain harvest is a foregone conclusion, and we need to raise grain as soon as possible!" Han Sui said anxiously. Xiliang is different from other places, where there are only 600,000 Han Chinese, in addition to nearly 500,000 Qiang people. Although these Qiang people are also nomadic people, they are obviously inferior in strength compared to Xianbei and Xiongnu, so they and the Han Dynasty basically belong to a kind of interdependent relationship. Everyone lives in Xiliang, you Han people farm, I Qiang people graze, and if you have nothing to do, you drink wine and eat beef together. In case the Xiongnu or Xianbei came to fight, everyone would fight with them together.

It sounds quite peaceful, but it's all based on everything that is too peaceful. In case of a famine year, the friendship between Shenma and Divine Horse will be gone. Especially those Qiang people, as nomads, their plundering surnames have been deeply rooted in the bone marrow. Once the food is scarce, robbing the Han people around them has become their most realistic means. The land of Xiliang is barren and the grain production is limited, and in the past, every famine year, the Han and Qiang people would start because of the grain. Since the three counties of Longxi returned to Ma Teng the year before last, the situation has improved. However, this year's drought in Longxi has made the grain harvest a foregone conclusion, and it has suddenly become passive again.

"At the moment, there is a shortage of food, so I can only buy food, but who to buy?" Han Sui's son-in-law Yan Xing sighed. Zhang Lu, who had always been in Hanzhong, had exchanged horses for food, but now Zhang Lu was cleaned up by Zhao Feng, and it is unknown whether he can change it again.

Ma Teng thought for a while and said: "At present, the person in charge of Hanzhong is Zhao Feng, this person is General Zuo under Liu Bei, I have an old relationship with Liu Bei, and it is not a problem to exchange food for him." As soon as these words came out, Han Sui and the others were also slightly relieved.

"Father, the child is willing to go to Hanzhong to buy grain. If Zhao Feng dares to refuse, I will take his head! A heroic young man in his twenties came out of the ranks, and as soon as he heard his son's words, Ma Teng felt his head swell a little again.

"Big brother, it's to buy food and not to kill people, why are you in such a hurry?" A young girl beside him complained a little. The man smiled disapprerovingly, and several young people with similar appearances behind him shouted: "The name of the eldest brother Shenwei Tian General, who is not afraid of the Mighty Guanzhong!" ”

"You guys, you're just going to be brave and ruthless!" Ma Teng looked at his few shouting sons, and said a little angrily. looked at Han Sui's son-in-law Yan Xing, Ma Teng also sighed secretly in his heart, his sons are all brave and strategic, and in terms of wisdom and knowledge, they are much worse than Yan Xing.

"Zhonghua, you act steadily, let you go to Hanzhong to buy grain, and Ling Ming will go with you!" Ma Teng thought about it, but he still handed over this matter to his nephew Ma Dai to do it, and sent Pang De to go with him. These two people are more brainy, at least, their brains are much better than Ma Chao's.

"Master, young master is back!" At this moment, a person suddenly rushed in from outside the door, but it was a member of Han Sui's family.

"Young Master?" Han Sui's mind didn't turn for a while, and then his voice trembled a little and asked, "You mean Qi'er?" ”

"Yes, master, the young master has returned from Xuchang!" The man said excitedly. Rao is Han Sui was scheming, and when he heard that his son had returned after a long absence, he was also excited for a while, and he almost lost his footing.

"Han Qixian's nephew escaped back?" Ma Teng also asked casually, not noticing that the face of his daughter behind him had changed a little. Except for Ma Dai and Pang De, who were about to set off to buy grain, the rest went to Han Sui's mansion.

"Yunlu, why are you here?" Ma Dai and Pang De had just left Jincheng with hundreds of people, preparing to go to Hanzhong to buy grain through Longxi, and they found that Ma Yunlu had changed into men's clothes and was waiting for them at the city gate.

"Brother Dai, Ling Ming, I'll go to Hanzhong with you to have fun." Ma Yunlu said with a smile.

"Playing?" Ma Dai and Pang De looked at each other, "Yunlu, have you ever told your uncle to know?" Ma Dai asked with a bit of a headache. My cousin has always had a bit of a surname, but this time he didn't tell the elders in the family, so he ran out secretly.

"Wouldn't it be a long time to let Daddy know!" Ma Yunlu said amazingly, looking at Pang De and Ma Dai with a stunned face, Ma Yunlu lowered his voice and said: "Just now I listened to my father and Old Man Han discuss, and they are ready to bring up the old matter again!" ”

"Rehashing the old thing?" Before Pang De could figure it out, Ma Dai was already a little amused: "Are you afraid that your uncle will ask you to marry Han Qi, so you ran out with us!" ”

"No, who would have thought that kid would be able to run back." Ma Yunlu said with some annoyance. Ma Dai and Pang De looked at each other and smiled, the Han family and the Ma family had originally set up a baby kiss, Han Sui only had one son and one daughter, and the daughter was much older than all the men in the Ma family, and she was already married, so in the end, it was decided that Han Qi, the son of the Han family, and Ma Yunlu, the daughter of the Ma family, were finally settled. But Ma Yunlu has been nurtured by his brothers since he was a child, and his surname is brave and ruthless, and he doesn't look down on Han Qi, who is a little weak. Later, Han Qi went to Xuchang, Ma Yunlu secretly rejoiced, who would have thought that he would miraculously come back?

"That's it, it's not impossible to take you there, but you must not cause trouble." Ma Dai has always doted on his cousin, anyway, he went to Hanzhong this time just to buy food, so there should be no problem, so he simply took her with him.

"Father, this is a letter from Prime Minister Cao Cheng!" In the evening, after everyone left, in Han Sui's study, Han Qi took out the letter he had read and handed it to his father.

"Cao Ying's letter to me?" Han Sui seemed to have expected that Cao Ying would suddenly be so kind to put his son back, he must be famous, and when he took the letter and looked at it casually, Han Sui's brows furrowed. Cao Ying didn't persuade him much in the letter, but just analyzed the situation in Xiliang and him carefully, and Han Sui finished reading it, and he was already sweating behind his back.

"Call your brother-in-law over!" Han Sui said in a deep voice, this kind of thing still needs to be discussed with Yan Xing. After a short time, Yan Xing came, and the three of them flipped through the letter, but they were silent for a long time.

"Yanming, what do you think?" Han Sui was silent for a long time, and asked his son-in-law for advice first.

"Lord, it seems that the reason why Cao Ying is so generous is to use Ah Qi to force us to meet Ma Teng's sword soldiers!" Yan Xing watched it for a long time, and finally came back to his senses.

"Why don't I know? But what should we do now? Han Sui said helplessly. This is not a conspiracy at all, it is simply a naked conspiracy, which is a hard blow to his biggest weakness.

"The Ma family has a deep foundation, and Ma Chao has the courage of ten thousand people. If it is an enemy of the Ma family, it needs to be uprooted by thunderous means. If it is delayed for a long time, there will be trouble. Yan Xing groaned, as soon as these words came out, he basically acquiesced to agreeing to Cao Ying to deal with Ma Teng.

"Good!" Han Sui thought about it, but still gritted his teeth and nodded. Twenty years ago, he killed his two brothers, Bian Zhang and Beigong Boyu, one after another, thinking that he could occupy Xiliang in one fell swoop. But later, Ma Teng was born, using his own connections in Xiliang, and easily became the master of Xiliang. I can only bow to him, and I have only been a second-in-one person for so many years.

Although he is already over the age of six, Han Sui's determination to dominate Xiliang has not disappeared. In addition, for the sake of his son's future foothold, this time he turned his face with Ma Teng again, and the psychological pressure was simply minimal. At the moment, the three of them thought about it for a long time, and then they drew up a relatively complete battle plan.

Ma Teng naturally didn't know all this, and Zhao Feng, who was in Hanzhong, didn't know even more. On this day, he had just gone to inspect the West Side. In his opinion, the city of Xicheng is too small, and it is better to rebuild a new one. And Xicheng Taishou Ma Jian has been busy with this matter since last month.

"How long will it take for this city to be completed?" Looking at the construction crowd in full swing, Zhao Feng asked a little unexpectedly. If it is not completed before the winter, many soldiers and civilians will have to spend the winter in tents.

"General rest assured, this new city will be completed in half a month, and it will take another month for the people to move over, which is enough to enter the city for the winter!" Ma Jian is full of confidence. If it is also because of Zhao Feng, in the past, it was enough to build a city directly with soil and stones, but now it is to burn the head and burn the cement step by step, which naturally takes a lot of time.

Zhao Feng inspected a few more places, and at this moment, someone suddenly came to report, saying that it was a messenger sent by Xiliang Ma Teng, and there was something important to discuss.

(To be continued)