In May of the third year of Zhongping (186 AD), Ma Yue returned to Shining County.

Ma Yuezheng's clothes were untied, and he strode into the conference hall with a horsewhip in his hand, followed by Jia Xu and Guo Tu.

With a flick of his cloak, Ma Yue sat down on the tiger skin chair, looked at Guo Tu with a golden sword, and asked, "Gongzhi, what is the movement in the court?" ”

Guo Tu bent down and replied respectfully: "Ting Wei Zhang Mi was ordered to thoroughly investigate and abolish the case, and the investigation lasted for several months but there was no progress, and the Son of Heaven dismissed Zhou Mi's official in a fit of rage, and then handed it over to the inner court for a thorough investigation......

Ma Yue waved his hand and said indifferently: "Needless to say, what is the result?" ”

Guo Tu respectfully replied, and then said: "As a result, Yuan Feng and Yuan Kui were dismissed and relegated to their hometown in Runan, Situ Huangwan was demoted three levels in a row and thought about it behind closed doors. ”

"Hmm~" Ma Yue nodded, and asked again, "What about the surrounding areas of Ning County, what is the movement?" ”

Guo Tudao: "Two months ago, Ding Yuan of Bingzhou Assassin Prefecture gathered 20,000 troops in Yanmen County, including 10,000 Hun cavalry, Jizhou Assassin Shi Han Fu also gathered 30,000 troops in the river, and practiced at night, and a large amount of grain was continuously transported from Qinghe and plain counties to the river, and Yuan Shao, the Taishou of Bohai, was also recruiting troops and horses in Nanpi, and the situation was very critical. ”

Jia Xu said indifferently: "The lord beheaded the emperor's uncle Liu Yu, Ding Yuan, Han Fu, Yuan Shao and others must have thought that the Son of Heaven was about to issue an order to crusade against the lord, so they mobilized a large army in advance and stockpiled grain, which is also expected, but ~~ If the edict of the prince has been issued today, the crime of killing Liu Yu will not be investigated, and it will naturally retreat soon." ”

"As Brother Wen and Brother expected." Guo Tu said, "I have just received a detailed return, and the army gathered between Yanmen and Hehe has dispersed to the counties. ”

Ma Yue asked again: "What about Mobei Xianbei?" ”

Guo Tu said: "Since the defeat of the leader in the Yinfeng Canyon last year, Mobei Xianbei has been divided into four groups, Budugen, Qianman, Kebineng, and Tuoba Jiefen have their own policies and attack each other. ”

"Hmm!"

Ma Yue got up, strode to the north wall, looked at the military topographic map hanging on the wall and fell into contemplation, Jia Xu and Guo Tu took a few steps forward, and the attendants immediately jumped left and right, Guo Tu took a breath and said in a low voice: "Lord, now that our army is well fed and the four sides are stable, it is a good time to take the Hetao in the west." ”

Ma Yue turned his back to Guo Tu, but bowed his head slightly but remained silent.

Jia Xu's eyes flashed, he already guessed Ma Yue's thoughts, and said with a smile: "Now everything is ready, all you need is an excuse." ”

Ma Yue didn't look back, but asked lightly, "Does Wenhe have a good plan?" ”

Jia Xu said: "The lower officials heard that Zhang Huan, the general of the Xiongnu Zhonglang, has always been at odds with the Xiongnu Shan Yu Qiangqu. ”

"Oh?" Ma Yue Huoran turned around, looked at Jia Xu with a burning gaze, and said, "I want to hear about it." ”

Jia Xu said: "My dynasty from Guangwu Zhongxing, coincided with the Xiongnu civil strife, Hu Han Yeshan led more than 50,000 Xiongnu of eight tribes to the south to surrender, and was placed in Xihe, Shuofang, Dingxiang, Wuyuan, Yunzhong, Yanmen counties. During the Jianwu (Emperor Guangwu years), Emperor Guangwu in order to accumulate national strength and carry out the strategy of shrinkage, the Xihe, Shuofang, Dingxiang, Wuyuan, and Yunzhong counties that originally belonged to the state were abandoned, and the counties were filled with border people (in order to enrich the border fortress when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was in order to enrich the border fortress, the people in the interior migrated to the border fortress) more than 100,000 people, most of whom migrated south and returned, but the Xiongnu tribes stayed, thinking that the northern barrier of the Han Dynasty resisted the invasion of Xianbei and Wuhuan ~~"

"After more than 100 years, the world changed, Wuhuan surrendered, Xianbei surrendered, the status of the Xiongnu as the northern barrier of the Han Dynasty was lost, Zhang Huan made himself the Xiongnu general, several times asked Qiangqu to scatter the Southern Xiongnu in Xihe, Dingxiang, Shuofang, Yunzhong counties of the troops to move south to Yanmen, Taiyuan, all for Qiangqu refused, Zhang Huan was deeply dissatisfied, deliberately withheld the Han Dynasty to help the Xiongnu money, grain and cloth, from the grievances said deep."

"Hmm~~" Ma Yue pondered for a moment and said in a deep voice, "This is an opportunity." ”

Jia Xu said: "Why don't the lord condemn the henchman to pretend to be a rebel general of Wuhuan, and lead a Wuhuan to betray the West River and go to the Qiang Canal, if the Qiang Canal is taken in, it will be intolerable to Zhang Huan, if the Qiang Canal is not accepted, you can take advantage of the situation to kill it, and then blame Zhang Huan." Zhang Huan and Qiangqu are already on the same page, but there is wind and grass, inevitably swords and soldiers face each other, Qiangqu is cornered, will inevitably rebel against the Han, if the Huns rebel, the Son of Heaven will send troops to ask, the lord can take advantage of the situation to play the Son of Heaven, blame himself for the ineffective guardianship of Wu Huan, and implore the army to conquer the Huns and atone for the merits, then the general trend can be achieved. ”

"It's a brilliant plan." Guo Tu was amazed, and then turned his head and asked, "Then ~~ Who can be the general?" ”

Guo Tu counted Pei Yuanshao, Liao Hua, Xu Chu, Gao Shun, Dian Wei, and Zhou Cang under Ma Yue's command one by one, but found that none of them could do it. Faced with Guo Tu's question, Jia Xu smiled and did not answer, looking confident, and Ma Yue also looked thoughtful.

……

It's night, General's Mansion.

In the melodious and melodious sound of the piano, Zou Yuniang was caressing the piano by the window, and Liu Yan was waiting for Ma Yue to eat with a big belly.

"Husband, I heard that this expedition to Goguryi killed a lot of unarmed people, as well as General Dian Wei, it is said that in front of the soldiers of the three armies, the princess of Goguryi~~"

Ma Yue Huoran raised his head and looked at Liu Yan coldly, Liu Yan was suffocated, and he didn't dare to continue, so he could only swallow the words back into his stomach.

After a while, Ma Yueshi snorted and asked, "Who are you listening to all this~~?" ”

From Ma Yue's tone, he faintly heard a bit of murderous intent, Liu Yan shook his head anxiously and said: "No one told the concubine about this, it was all overheard when the concubine went to the military camp to treat the soldiers' injuries." ”

Ma Yue said unhappily: "Men's affairs, women don't care!" ”

Liu Yan lowered her head and answered softly, "Yes." ”

"And~~" Ma Yue's gaze fell on Liu Yanyue's increasingly bloated waist, and frowned, "I'm already six months pregnant, so don't go to the barracks in the future." ”

"Yes."

Liu Yan's head hung lower, and two lines of tears slid down her pink cheeks.

Ma Yue's thick eyebrows tightened for a moment, and he said unhappily: "What are you crying about?" ”

Liu Yan cried: "The concubine is just an innocent commoner who pities Goguryi, and there is also the princess of Goguryi~~"

"You pity them?" Ma Yue was furious and said coldly, "Then why don't you pity me?" Why don't you pity the Han people of Liaodong County? Why don't you pity the Han people in Youzhou? ”

"This~~"

Liu Yan was a little overwhelmed by Ma Yue's question.

Ma Yue took a breath and said in a deep voice: "Do you think ~~ I like to slaughter innocent people?" No, you're wrong, I don't like it at all, it's all a last resort! Gongsun Du slaughtered the Wuhuan people and children in Liucheng, all the Wuhuan soldiers were full of hatred in their hearts, they had to take revenge, they had to release the hatred in their hearts with crazy killing, if I didn't let them slaughter the Goguryi people, they would rush into Liaodong to slaughter the Han people! If I don't let them kill, they'll ~~ kill me! ”

"I don't want to die, and I can't die! So I can only let them kill others, but I will never and cannot let them kill Han people! In order to keep one Han Chinese, I would rather sacrifice a hundred or ten thousand Goguryi people! If you're not of my race, don't expect me to sympathize with them, don't think about it! ”

"And Goguryi's princess Liji, do you think I like to see her killed by Dian Wei in public? No, you're wrong, I don't like it at all, but I have to! The Wuhuan soldiers killed all the way from Liucheng to the capital of the King of Goguryi, they were all red-eyed, they only had crazy killing, killing, and killing in their minds, if they didn't try to stop them, they would lose control and become a group of complete beasts, and at that time, even I would be able to stop them. ”

"But~~" Liu Yan asked weakly, "Do you have to do that to stop the Wuhuan soldiers from continuing to kill?" ”

"Maybe there's another way, a better way." Ma Yue said coldly, "But under the circumstances, it was the most direct and impressive way I could think of!" Those who obey my orders~~ live, and those who do not obey orders~~ die! Wuhuan soldiers are all rough people, and they can even be said to be barbarians, they are illiterate, they don't know how to educate saints, they don't know etiquette, righteousness and shame, and they don't know benevolence, righteousness and morality. ”

"If you can't let the Wuhuan soldiers do the order and ban it before returning to Shining County, it will be all the women around Ning County who will suffer at that time! At that time~~ Are you sympathetic to Princess Goguryi, a woman? Or sympathize with all the women around Ning County? Well? ”

"This~~"

Liu Yan was speechless.

"So~~ Put away your cheap tears and overflowing compassion, it's not your turn to teach me a lesson!" Ma Yue said in a deep voice, "Although the scholars and nobles of the entire Han Dynasty call me a butcher and a cold-blooded executioner, I know what I am doing~~"

"Smack!"

After stacking this sentence, Ma Yue slammed the chopsticks on the table, got up and walked away.

It wasn't until Ma Yue left for a long time that Liu Yan sighed faintly and asked Zou Yuniang: "Sister Yuniang, am I really wrong?" ”

Zou Yuniang sighed and replied speechlessly, like Liu Yan, she didn't understand the sorrow and helplessness of the troubled times.

What are troubled times? The blood and tears of the weak, the conquest of the strong, and the troubled times are the law of the jungle.

(To be continued)