In the winter of the twelfth year of Jianxing, Wei Yan, the general of Zhendong, was killed in battle, and Wei Ba, the general of the chariot cavalry, and Wei Feng, the general of Dangkou, escorted the body back to Jingzhou. The Son of Heaven issued an edict to give the general seal of the chariot and horseman, and said that he was loyal, considering that his eldest son Wei Feng and second son Wei Ba were both marquis with military merits, so he was the heir of the third son Wei Wu.

The Wei family is from Yiyang, and Yiyang has now been included in the territory of the Han Dynasty, so naturally there is no need to bother, Wei Ba directly transported Wei Yan's body back to Yiyang, and then lived in Yiyang, preparing to handle the funeral.

Wei Yan himself is not popular, but after all, he is an old minister who follows the first emperor, and more importantly, his son Wei Ba is now a famous chariot general, a pivotal general in the Shu Han court, so there are many people who come to mourn. After discussing with Mrs. Zhang, the main mother who came from Chengdu, Wei Ba decided to stop the spirit for three months and make a big deal to show his grief.

The Han people value filial piety, and the funeral is complicated enough, and Wei Ba has the heart to do a lot of things, so it is even more unbearable.

Yiyang, who became the Yiyang of the Wei family for a while, is full of people related to the Wei family's funeral.

Wei Feng is the eldest son, and Wei Wu is the heir, so he naturally becomes the main representative of the funeral, and they all have to appear when they are sent. But it was not them who were the busiest, but Wei Ba. In addition to cooperating with the funeral, Wei Ba also had more difficult tasks.

Inherit Wei Yan's political legacy.

Although Wei Yan is a poor ghost in politics, he has many enemies and not many friends, but there are still three catties of nails in the rotten ship, Wei Yan has been a heavy general for so many years, and he still has some connections. Now after death, the mourning is extremely prosperous, and the Son of Heaven has issued an edict and gifts. Originally, there were some people who were not very close, but now they have become close friends, and they have come from thousands of miles to mourn. It's an opportunity to network, and of course you have to take advantage of it.

A long time ago, Wei Ba had a tacit understanding with his mother, Mrs. Zhang. Although Mrs. Zhang regretted that her son Wei Feng was overshadowed by her concubine Wei Ba, she also knew that Wei Feng was really not a material for playing politics, and if she wanted to compete with Wei Ba, it would only cause internal strife, and outsiders would take advantage of it. Rather than this, it is better to take the initiative to let Xian. It was up to Wei Ba to preside over the Wei family. I believe that with Wei Ba's character, he will naturally not treat Wei Feng badly.

With this tacit understanding, she will let Mrs. Xi return to Xiangyang from Chengdu, and the subsequent situation will be proven. Her decision was very wise. Now Wei Yan is dead in battle. The position of the head of the Wei family was vacant. Mrs. Zhang took the initiative to propose that Wei Ba be the new head of the Wei family.

The head of the family is not so easy to be the one who bears the heavy responsibility of the whole family. Outsiders only see the majesty of the head of the family, but few people see the responsibility of the head of the family. The Wei family has dozens of people of all sizes, 3,000 families, involving tens of thousands of people, plus new and old friends, close relatives and old friends, and the busyness of the clue is definitely not something that a simple-minded person like Wei Feng can do.

Even Wei Ba was exhausted by these things. Fortunately, the overall situation is still controlled by Mrs. Zhang, and with the help of Xiahou Hui, a talented woman, the matter was finally handled properly and nothing went wrong.

On this day, Zhuge Ke came to Yiyang, and after paying homage to Wei Yan, he was taken to Wei Ba's study.

The two sat down separately, Zhuge Ke looked at Wei Ba carefully, and said very sincerely: "General, you have lost weight." ”

Wei Ba looked at Zhuge Ke in surprise, and said after a moment of silence: "My father unfortunately passed away, and the affairs are complicated, how can I not lose weight?" ”

Zhuge Ke sighed. He knew that Wei Ba didn't want to see him, and this was in disguise, so that he had something to say quickly, don't be verbose. Although they turned out to be enemies, they have always talked about each other, but now that he has become Zhuge Liang's designated successor, he is on the opposite side of Wei Ba, so he is not so close. But Wei Ba's tone is so blunt now, not because they are enemies, but because Wei Ba wants to show strength. In the case of serious damage to his strength, he had to show strength even more to dispel some of the thoughts of the Prime Minister's Mansion, just as he had blatantly killed Wang Ping in the first place.

Zhuge Ke knew it well, and he didn't break it, and said straight to the point: "I am ordered by the prime minister to be in charge of negotiations with Fei Wenwei, and I will go to Xuchang soon." Does the general have anything to explain? ”

Wei Ba arched his hand and said lightly: "I am Ding Wei at home now, and I don't care about state affairs." Since the prime minister arranged for you to come, everything must have been arranged, and you just do what the prime minister asks. ”

Zhuge Ke insisted: "Although the general is worried at home, you are still in charge of the battlefield on the Eastern Front, how can you leave it alone?" ”

"The events of the battlefield on the Eastern Front, I have written clearly on the song, didn't the prime minister see it?"

Zhuge Ke bared his teeth in embarrassment: "The prime minister has some incomprehension about the general's suggestion, and he still wants to discuss it with the general." ”

"Oh?" Wei Ba stretched out his voice as if questioning, picked up the tea on the table, and listened quietly.

When the report on the battle of Pengcheng was delivered, Wei Ba had already prepared the personnel arrangements for the Eastern Front battlefield. In the battle of Pengcheng, he was accidentally damaged, and the original jihua could not be executed, and adjustments had to be made. He put Lu Xun in the first place, asked the imperial court to transfer Lu Xun from a Wu general to a Han general, and moved from Yingchuan to Xuzhou and Pengcheng to be responsible for the overall affairs of the Eastern Front battlefield, and he returned to Jingzhou to guard filial piety.

This plan is not only that he and Lu Xun have swapped places, but also has another effect.

Zhuge Liang agreed to Lu Xun in the middle of the road, not only because Lu Xun had been stationed in this area, but mainly because he wanted to draw Lu Xun over and use Lu Xun to cut off the connection between Wei Ba and Li Yan, so that they could be broken in the future. Unexpectedly, Lu Xun ignored Zhuge Liang's overtures and took the initiative to get close to Wei Ba, and Zhuge Liang's Jihua all failed.

Now Wei Ba wants to let Lu Xun replace him on the battlefield on the Eastern Front, in fact, he will give the benefits of Yangzhou to Lu Xun in exchange for his continued support, and he will return to Jingzhou to sit in the middle of the road, which can not only seize the time to recuperate, but also get closer to Li Yan, so as to facilitate the supply of war horses from Guanzhong. In the future, when his strength recovers and he goes out on the Northern Expedition again, he will be the commander of the middle route army, and Li Yan and Lu Xun will become his right-hand men.

How could Zhuge Liang tolerate this situation.

"General, in the battle of Pengcheng, if Sima Yi follows up in time, what will be done?"

"If Sima Yi had followed up in time, I wouldn't be able to sit here and talk to you now."

"Sima Yi missed the opportunity, so that Zhang He died in vain, Pengcheng was lost, and Cao Wei's left wing was empty, why was he not punished?"

Wei Ba glanced at Zhuge Ke and smiled slightly: "Is the prime minister afraid that Lu Xun will become the second Sima Yi?" ”

"The general sees it."

"What does the prime minister mean?"

"Choose someone else to be in charge of the battlefield on the Eastern Front, Lu Xun is still in the middle line, sandwiched on both sides, and he will not have a chance to sit big."

"Who?"

"Ma Zhong."

"Ma Zhong." Wei Ba took a sip of tea and was silent.

Ma Zhong is Zhuge Liang's sworn friend. Before Zhuge Liang came to power, his official position was Han Changchang. In May of the first year of Jianxing, Zhuge Liang opened the mansion and summoned him to serve as the governor of the door, and in the first month of the third year of Jianxing, Zhuge Liang prepared to march south, so he first appointed him as the Taishou of Qiqi, and then he has been sitting in Nanzhong. Of course, he has the ability, and he can be a Taishou in a wild place like Qiqi for so many years, and he has not made any major mistakes, which is enough to prove his means. However, he was able to be promoted to 2,000 stones in less than two years, but it was the result of Zhuge Liang's single-handedness.

Ma Zhong is also a representative of the people of Langzhong in Pasir County. He and Hu Zhong, who used to be an undercover agent by Li Yan's side, are cousins, and Wang Ping, who had just been killed by Wei Ba, is also a close friend of the same county. The people of Langzhong in Brazil County were once prominent in Liu Bei's era, and Huang Quan was one of them. In the first battle of Yiling, the losses of the Langzhong people were too great, and they have not been able to ease their breath. Now, Zhuge Liang and them have found a common interest and want to use the Liliang of Langzhong to break the situation.

"I'm afraid Ma Zhong doesn't have the experience of commanding tens of thousands of troops, is it appropriate to take office suddenly?"

"The general was very worried. However, Zhang He died in battle, and Cao Wei is now unable to attack, it is the time to familiarize Ma Zhong with the situation, and with good strategies and good soldiers, there should be no big problems. ”

"I don't know what kind of good man he is?" Wei Bapi looked at Zhuge Ke with a smile: "Brother Yuan Xun is itching again?" ”

Zhuge Ke smiled slightly: "How can I have this ability." This time, I will negotiate first, and if I have a small contribution, I will prepare to go to the command of General Zhenbei for a few years. ”

The general of Zhenbei was the military position that Wei Ba asked for Lu Xun, and Zhuge Liang arranged for Zhuge Ke to listen to Lu Xun's account, but he felt that there was a problem no matter how he listened to it. Moreover, the eastern front was replaced by Ma Zhong, and the middle lane was still handed over to Lu Xun, and it was slowly overtaken by Zhuge Ke in the future, what did Wei Ba do? Worried at home?

Wei Ba felt funny, but he didn't refute, but nodded: "The Prime Minister's suggestion can't be said to be unreasonable. However, a person's reasoning is not comprehensive enough after all, so I can't help but ask the general to discuss it. As for me, I am not involved. You see, I'm really busy, and after finishing my father's funeral, I just want to take a break for a while. ”

"General's Day mourning." Zhuge Ke politely saluted and withdrew.

After Zhuge Ke withdrew from the study, Wei Ba thought for a while and couldn't help sneering. He asked Ma Bing to be invited. Ma Bing is Ma Liang's son and Ma Yan's nephew, and this time he came to mourn on behalf of Ma Yan. His sister is Zhuge Qiao's widow Ma.

"Did you meet the prime minister before you came? How is he in health? ”

Ma Bing understood as soon as he heard it: "Although the prime minister practices cloud hands every day and takes ginseng soup, he is too busy with official business and his health has not been good. After the autumn, I added the problem of coughing up blood. Mrs. Huang sought medical advice everywhere, but she was a little sick and rushed to the doctor. ”

"I see." Wei Ba nodded, looked at Ma Bing, and changed his words: "After your father died, you seem to have been a cavalry captain?" ”

"Yes."

"Are you used to it, do you want to move somewhere?" Wei Ba smiled: "It's too dangerous to lead troops to fight, aren't you afraid?" ”

Ma Bing laughed: "I'm not a general like my uncle, how can I have the ability to lead troops, but I don't have a place to go for a while, so I have to lead the Yulu gangsters who ride the captain." ”

"How about going to be a Taishou for a few years?"

Riding the lieutenant is more than 2,000 stones, which is an idle position, and the two seem to be about the same level, but in fact they are not the same. When Ma Bing heard this, he couldn't help but be overjoyed and bowed to the ground. "Thank you, General." …… (To be continued......)