Ma Chao said: "Hugh Tu plus the evil spirit is only 70,000 or 80,000 people, the soldiers are only 30,000 or 40,000 horses, and Han Sui is only under the jurisdiction of 150,000 households, and the soldiers must have tens of thousands of ears, all of which are scabies." Huangfu Song, Dong Zhuo, Zhou Shen, Yuan Peng, Bao Hong and other talents are my henchmen in Liangzhou. ”

At this hearing, the atmosphere in the hall changed from the usual lively and active discussion to an awkward, alert silence.

Because everyone in the hall knows that although the Liangzhou Thorn Mansion is still a concubine of the Han family on the bright side, it is actually a warlord separatist force. Of course, everyone knew this when they joined the Ma clan, and they were just a little alarmed that the strength of the imperial court far exceeded that of the ruined and impoverished Liangzhou. The imperial court took out a county at random, and the population was more than half of Liangzhou.

It has never been a wise choice to go against the imperial court, just look at the Qiang people, who have been suppressed for more than a hundred years, and the population is not one in ten; Look at the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the great sages and good teachers were all dug up, and tens of thousands of people were pushed into the Yellow River and drowned; As for the previous Huns, not to mention.

But now it is impossible not to go against the imperial court, and Huangfu Song is eyeing Sanfu. After serving the Ma family, what the future will be like and how the court will treat them, everyone dare not think about it, and dare not think about the worst. Thinking of this, the atmosphere in the entire hall became cold. But the next moment, everyone couldn't help but look at Ma Chao. People were thinking that perhaps the young man who knelt on the seat but was more erect, handsome and heroic, was the key to saving their lives from the revenge of the imperial court.

Ma Chao didn't realize that everyone, including Ma Teng, was watching him, and Ma Chao himself was pondering about dealing with the threat of the imperial court.

Ma Teng pondered for a moment and said, "Chao'er, what are your plans for Chen Cangcheng's side?" ”

Ma Chao said: "My son decided to make it easy first and then difficult, first eliminate Han Sui, Xiu Tu and Hun Evil, and then free up his hands to meet Huangfu Song for a while." And Huangfu Song will inevitably take advantage of the fire to rob when he attacks Han Sui and lead the army to attack my Liangzhou. In this way, my Liangzhou is the enemy on the back of the belly and back, and the battle is fought on two fronts. ”

After hearing this, everyone's hearts were a little gloomy. was caught between Han Sui and Huangfu Song, both of whom were well-known generals in the world, so they fell into death.

Ma Teng was also a little anxious, and said, "What should I do?" ”

Ma Chao said lightly: "It's very simple, before Huangfu Song realized that our army was attacking Han Sui, he would take the lead in eliminating Han Sui, Xiu Tu and Hun Evil, and then lead the army back to Anding County from the Hexi battlefield." In this way, the son can calmly deal with the emperor Yizhen. ”

Yizhen is the word of Huangfu Song.

Ma Teng and everyone else were confused, and said in unison: "Is this still simple? ”

Ma Chao said: "That's right. I expect that Emperor Fu Yizhen probably thinks that Liangzhou is the beginning of peace, and we must wait until the winter wheat harvest in May of the next year, and our army has abundant grain and straw, before we dare to attack Han Sui. Therefore, before May, Huangfu Song will probably not closely monitor the movements of our Xiliang army. ”

Ma Teng nodded, if it were him, he would also think that Ma Chao would definitely start the war as early as after the May harvest. At that time, the soldiers who were tired of the war had rested for half a year, and the grain had just been harvested, and everything was an excellent condition for the war.

Ma Chao said again: "Then it's simple, since Huangfu Yizhen is defenseless before May, then we will start a war before May, for example, in early February of the next year, and strive for a quick victory over Han Sui." By the time Huangfu Yizhen got the information that the Xiliang army had marched into Hexi, Er'er had already separated the victory from Han Sui. By that time, the equalization system had been implemented, and the winter wheat harvest had been harvested; Cattle and sheep regrow fat; War horses give birth, knights have mare's milk to drink: this is the perfect time for a decisive battle with the emperor! The beginning of February is in the depths of winter, and I will call it the 'Winter Offensive'! ”

Everyone was impressed again, and began to praise Ma Chao one after another for how far-sighted. Ma Chao looked at the people who were praising him, and saw that even Ma Teng looked at him with more love and relief, although he knew that Jia Xu must have seen through his calculations, but Jia Xu would not demolish him, and almost no one did not believe his words, so he smiled without a trace.

He just wants everyone to believe in his choice of the timing of the war, and to hide his true time for the war. In order to achieve this goal, Ma Chao did not hesitate to spend a lot of words to compile the rationality of the "winter offensive".

At this time, Pang De, who was kneeling beside Ma Chao, poked him with his finger without a trace, Ma Chao turned his head, Pang De approached, and said in a low voice: "Young master, the lord has recruited these Cao officials for a few days, and he still doesn't know his henchmen, maybe there are traitors sent by the imperial court here." If you say the time of the start of the war in public to show that you have no reservations about the soldiers, and you will be able to understand it; But if Huang Fuyi really knew the time of our army's war, wouldn't it be a bad plan? ”

When Ma Chao heard this, he was even happier when he looked at Pound's slightly nervous and pretended to be fine. Even Pang De, his right-hand man, believed in him, how could the spies sent by the court not believe him?

Seeing that Ma Chao didn't care about the leakage of the military plane, Pang De actually smiled and said dissatisfiedly: "Young master, this is a big deal!" How can it be child's play? ”

Ma Chao restrained his smile and said in a low voice: "Don't worry, don't I know this?" It was through the mouth of the spy that this secret was passed on to Huangfu Yizhen. ”

Pound understood in seconds, and said in surprise: "Oh, the last general understands!" The young master is using false information to mislead Huangfu Yizhen. ”

Ma Chao glared at Pang De angrily, and said, "Do you dare to be louder and let the spies hear it?" ”

Pound shrunk his neck in embarrassment.

After a while, seeing that everyone was still immersed in the praise of Ma Chao, Pang De came over again and said in a low voice: "Then young master, when will we start a war against Han Sui Lao'er?" The general's broadsword is about to rust! ”

Ma Chao smiled: "It's only been half a day since I came back from Qiangzhong, and your knife is rusty?" Then you should have thrown this broken knife away a long time ago. The famous generals of the ancients are looking forward to recuperation and peace in the world, but you think about war all day long. Look at you, don't want to be a famous general in this life. ”

Pang De was cheeky and said: "Hehe, follow the young master under you, sooner or later one day you will be famous in the world, and you will not be in a hurry." So young lord, when exactly are we going to war? ”

Ma Chao pretended to be profound, closed his eyes and shook his head slowly, and said, "Shhh, the secret of heaven must not be revealed." ”

"Eh......" Pound was about to ask again, but Ma Teng suddenly spoke and interrupted him.

Ma Teng said: "Chao'er, since this is the case, you will preside over the war, and you must quickly defeat Han Sui, defeat the evil in one fell swoop, suspend the slaughter, and then turn back to the decisive battle with Huangfu Yizhen." If Huangfu Yizhen attacks Jieting when you go out to Hexi, your father will die, and you will also block his offensive for you. ”

Ma Chao bowed: "Thank you father, my son will do his best." ”

Then, Ma Teng and Ma Chao discussed for most of the day, mainly to make specific additions to the five most important things proposed by Ma Chao, namely, Juntian, household registration, army reduction, assimilation, and war preparation.