"What's going on? Didn't Ben order you to return to the city of the firstborn? How could there be more than 50 people left? Ma Chao's face turned blue and asked sharply.

Dian Wei didn't dare to get up, and clenched his fists and said: "Lord Qiqi, then I am indeed preparing to return to the eldest son city after successfully breaking through, but after traveling a few miles, I learned from the local people where Yu Fuluo's lair is. In order to share the pressure on the lord, the last general and his brothers galloped more than 100 miles to the valley near Wenxi County to attack the camp, killing nearly 500 enemies, and burning all the captured materials except for those brought back, and captured Yu Fuluo's pregnant concubine Wang, and asked the lord to dispose of it! ”

"Is that so?" Ma Chao was slightly surprised, thinking that this unborn child would not be Liu Bao! After a little contemplation, he said: "Although you have great merit, you have violated the order first, and you should have been severely punished!" But for the sake of your single-minded savior and desperate killing of the enemy, I will punish you for half a year, and the next one will not be an example! ”

"Thank you, lord!" More than 50 people fell to their knees in unison.

Ma Chao said again: "As for that woman, hand it over to Pingyang County Order!" Find a Lang Zhong to pour abortion soup for her first, and then find a good family to marry! In addition to the war horses and food, the other yellow and white items should be distributed to the families of the wounded and fallen soldiers as pensions! ”

"Thank you, my lord!" There is a lot of gold and silver in these trophies, which can be regarded as a small amount of money, Ma Chao's move is really a clear punishment and a secret reward, and more than 50 survivors are excited.

Ma Chao was in a heavy mood, and the loss of a total of 100 personal soldiers when he came to kill the thieves made him heartbroken, but fortunately, Dian Wei didn't have an accident, otherwise the loss would have been great. And the concubine in Fuluo is a girl from the Han family who was plundered, and she is six months pregnant at the moment. Regardless of whether this child was Liu Bao or not, Ma Chao had no reason to let him be born, and directly handed over the matter to the Pingyang County Commander to deal with, and left a small team of cavalry to supervise.

There was a small episode, but it did not affect Ma Chao's plan. Escorted by 2,000 cavalry from the Shenwei Battalion, everyone set out in the morning and rushed back to the city of the eldest son at nightfall.

Ma Xiu, Ma Yunlu, Yang Wan, Dong Xuan, Du Xiuniang and other close people came out early, and they were relieved to see that Ma Chao's face was just pale, and his actions were not hindered. Cai Yan has been serving Ma Chao by Ma Chao's side these days, just like a little daughter-in-law, and at this moment, seeing Ma Chao's three charming unmarried concubines, she couldn't help but pout, and she couldn't help but feel aggrieved.

Ma Chao smiled slightly and didn't speak, he didn't need to worry about the matter between these little women at all, because for the time being, there was no such scheming jealous woman to join. Cai Yan's surname is smart and elegant, although he sometimes likes to play with a child's temper, but he is still very knowledgeable.

The envoy of the Son of Heaven has been waiting in the city of the eldest son for many days, and the edict and seal of appointment have been prepared. It was the end of April, it was the season of cultivation in the north, Ma Chao didn't dare to drag it out any longer, and with a little preparation, he led 10,000 Xiliang soldiers, 2,000 Shenwei battalions and 10,000 Black Mountain troops to rush to Jinyang City with hundreds of carts of baggage. Accompanied by Dian Wei, Xu Huang, Ma Xiu, Ma Yunlu and the four delicate little Lori, it can be said that except for Wen Ping and Yang Chou who sat in Shangdang County, everyone else rushed to Jinyang City.

Ding Yuan has been waiting in Jinyang City for a long time, and the two only need to hand over the internal affairs and the formation of troops and horses. Speaking of which, Ding Yuan was still very kind, leaving Ma Chao with 10,000 infantry troops and 2,000 cavalry, but almost all of them were old, weak, sick and disabled, the leading general was Hao Meng, and Qin Yi was left to assist Ma Chao in internal affairs.

Ma Chao was depressed about this, and when he inquired, he knew that Lu Bu, Zhang Yang, Gao Shun, Hou Cheng, Song Xian and other generals had led 10,000 elite soldiers and horses to Hanoi County. This team was subordinate to the ruling Jinwu Ding Yuan, and was used to guard against the northern gateway of Luoyang, mainly to deal with Zhang Yan's black mountain thieves.

It's just that he was a step late, so that he missed the good general Gao Shun, and now Ding Yuan has left Qin Yi and Hao Meng two officials, Ma Chao is embarrassed to pry the corner again! What's more, Ding Yuan had already given up Zhang Liao beforehand, pondered for a while, and said with his fists clenched: "Uncle Ding takes care of his little nephew so much, it's unforgettable!" However, when Uncle Hao was serving as the ruling Jinwu in Beijing, General Hao Meng should stay under his uncle's command and serve his life! The little nephew only needs to choose a low-level general named Cao under the command of General Hao Meng to help! ”

Ding Yuan was quite surprised, frowned, and said, "This is not appropriate!" ”

Ma Chao said with a smile: "That's right, the little nephew has already won a fierce general like Wen Yuan, how can he dig up talents under his uncle's command again?" ”

Ding Yuan thought for a while and sighed: "In this case, I will do it according to the will of the virtuous nephew!" Hao Meng, do you have a general surnamed Cao under your command? ”

Hao Meng's face was full of decadence, he took the initiative to ask Ding Yuan to stay and assist Ma Chao thought that he could have a good future in the future, but he thought that people would not look down on him at all, and he said that he was crazy, and said angrily at the moment: "Lord Qiqi, there is indeed a person surnamed Cao under the command of the last general, but this person is just an archer, I don't know if it is the person that the champion Hou said?" ”

Ma Chao said: "It's this person, just bother General Hao to leave this person!" As for the 12,000 soldiers and horses left, if you want to take the general, you have no opinion! ”

Hao Meng shook his head and said: "The general laughed, that was the soldiers and horses left by my lord to the general, how dare the last general take it away without permission?" ”

Ma Chao secretly sneered in his heart: Just because you, an anti-bone boy, are not worthy of staying under the command of Ben General, having a surname Cao is enough! As for you, you'd better go back and scourge Lu Bu! In history, this Hao Meng was provoked by Yuan Shu and betrayed Lu Bu, causing Lu Bu to almost die, so he had to flee into Gao Shun's camp with his family in embarrassment. Later, Gao Shun led his troops to counterattack and quell the rebellion, and the surname Cao fought a big battle with his boss Hao Meng and broke one of his arms, but he was also stabbed. Since then, Lu Bu has taken a great fancy to the surname Cao and called him "Jian'er!" ”

After sending Ding Yuan away, Ma Chao secretly had a headache while listening to Qin Yi's introduction to the current situation of Bingzhou. The mess of Bingzhou is not ordinary, the treasury is empty, there is no money and food, and there are still more than 10,000 old, weak, sick and disabled Bingzhou troops to feed. Moreover, the state has been war-torn for a long time, and now the two counties of Yanmen and Xinxing have basically become political blank areas, and there is no official government, and thieves are rampant in the territory, and the people are dead and fleeing, and there is no one for a hundred miles.

There are nine counties in the name of the state, namely Taiyuan, Shangdang, Hexi, Yunzhong, Xinxing, Yanmen, Shuofang, Jiuyuan, and Shangjun. Since the Southern Xiongnu descended to the Han Dynasty, Shuofang, Jiuyuan, Yunzhong, and Shangjun in the Hetao area were assigned to the Southern Xiongnu as a place to live, and there were only five counties under the actual rule of Yanmen, Shangdang, Xinxing, Hexi, and Taiyuan.

Now the six counties of Shuofang, Yunzhong, Jiuyuan, Shangdang, Hexi, and Shangjun have long been under the control of Ma Chao, and Yanmen and Xinxing are uninhabited for hundreds of miles, and there are many grasslands, little arable land, and no river irrigation, so the usable value is extremely limited. The only thing that really needs to be governed is Taiyuan County, which has a relatively large population and a relatively developed economy.

After thinking for a while, Ma Chao sighed, mainly because of the serious shortage of talents, according to the regulations, the state pastor can set up his own subordinate officials, namely: don't drive (the highest subordinate official, the prime minister of a state government affairs), Zhizhong (the main state government documents, in charge of the affairs of the house), engaged in sacrificial wine (engaged in the highest status is called engaged in sacrificial wine), Shucao engaged in (the main money and grain book), Gong Cao engaged in (the main person selected and assessed),

Yi Cao engaged in (participating in military and political discussions), Bing Cao engaged in (main military), and classics (leading the study and politics of a state), in addition to the positions of cavalry captain, other department Sima, military Sima, and Changshi.

And Ma Chao not only has the name of the state pastor, but also has a general Wei who is comparable to the three dukes and can open the government, although he has also summoned a lot of talents, but the subordinate officials under his command are far from being saturated.

But if you don't come, you can't tie him up, you can only slowly figure it out, it seems that it is necessary for you to go out for a walk in person, thinking of this, you suddenly shouted: "Come here, invite the three surnamed Cao, Xu Huang, and Ma Xiu to this general!" ”

After a while, the three of them came on order, and Ma Chao swept his eyes and saw that the surname Cao was only twenty-three or four years old, with a strong figure, medium height, although his appearance was ordinary, but his eyes were extremely deep.

"The young general surnamed Cao visited General Wei and the state pastor!" As soon as he saw Ma Chao, the surname Cao made a big gift.

Ma Chao hurriedly picked up the surname Cao and chuckled: "General Cao doesn't have to be polite!" This general has heard that the general has the talent to govern the army, and the first-hand archery skill is rare in the world, and the general wants to show you as the Sima of the state army, I don't know what you think? ”

The surname Cao was stunned for a moment, and said in a trembling voice: "Take what the general said seriously?" ”

Ma Chao said with a smile: "Naturally, this will not only be reused for you, but also give you military power, let me ask you, how many strong men can be selected from the more than 10,000 state troops left by Ding Thorn History!" Or a shooter! ”

The surname Cao pondered for a while: "There are three thousand people at most, and the rest are all the old, weak, sick and disabled people selected by General Lu, and they are useless!" ”

Ma Chao said: "Okay! 3,000 people are enough, this general ordered you to immediately select 3,000 elite people from them to form a bow and arrow battalion, numbered as 'descendants', to enjoy the salary of our army, each person is 1,000 yuan per month, and the rest can receive 2,000 yuan if they want to return to their hometowns, or they can stay in the army as Tuntian soldiers, with a monthly salary of 300 per month, and it is up to them to decide where to go! ”

The surname Cao was very excited when he heard this, these days, the common people are soldiers just to be able to eat, where is there any military salary to pay? He had been a soldier for several years and had never received a single penny, so he hurriedly knelt down and saluted: "The general is merciful!" The last general and 10,000 veterans of the state thanked the general for his great kindness! I am willing to fight to the death for the Lord. ”

Ma Chao shook his head and said, "The soldiers want to protect their families and defend the country and support their families, how can they not have military salaries?" Ben will just do what he should do, where can he talk about any great favor? I will send General Xu Huang to assist you in this matter!" ”

"Yes!" The two of them should be in unison.

Ma Chao said again: "Third brother, there is one more thing for you to do for your brother, this matter is very important, and there must be no mistakes!" ”

Ma Xiu hugged his fists and said: "Big brother, but it's okay, the younger brother has long wanted to go out to move his muscles." ”

Ma Chao said: "This mission is not to lead troops to fight, for my brother, I want you to lead two thousand Shenwei battalions and one thousand Montenegrin troops to Anyi City to meet Mr. Cai and Wei Kai, the eldest son of the Wei family, and I will hand it over to you later!" ”

"Don't worry, big brother, little brother promises to complete the task!"

"Well, you go back and prepare first, and you'll set off tomorrow!" Ma Chao said and looked at Qin Yi again, this kid is not too talented or small, but it is more than enough to deal with clerical chores, and he said at the moment: "Qin is engaged in a full stomach and is familiar with the affairs of the state, and you will be temporarily listed as a long history, and if you have achievements in the future, you will be rewarded!" ”

Qin Yi hurriedly bowed down and said gratefully: "Thank you, the lord, you should dare not to serve the lord!" (To be continued.) )