Although Ma Tan and Zhuge Liang were in charge of the affairs of Liangzhou and Yongzhou respectively, they were very close. But after nearly a year in office, this is the first time that Prime Minister Zhuge has summoned Ma Tan to discuss matters.

However, according to Ma Tan's understanding of the prime minister, he would not summon him without a major event. This time, he suddenly wrote a letter to ask him to go to Ji County, which was most likely a matter of the Northern Expedition.

At this time, the war in Liangzhou has basically ended, and there is nothing to do on Ma Yan's side. So Ma Tan left his troops in Beidi County, let Jiang Wei and others guard the north together, and he took his relatives to go south to Ji County.

The distance from Beidi County to Longyou was not close, and Ma Jian hurriedly drove away for more than ten days before arriving in Ji County. Later, after the report, Ma Tan immediately entered the state governor's mansion to meet the prime minister.

However, as soon as he entered the Prime Minister's Mansion, Ma Jian was slapped on the head by Zhuge Liang's feather fan.

"Ma Yan, you are so bold, dare to encourage the prince to go to such a dangerous northern border to drive the royal expedition! If something happens to the prince, can you be responsible? Zhuge Liang looked very angry, and this time he even took the feather fan directly and went into battle to smoke the horse in person.

"Huh?" Ma Tan was stunned by a feather fan, and he looked confused and didn't know what was going on.

"When did I encourage the prince to drive the expedition in person? Didn't I say that Liao Hua was optimistic about the prince and didn't let him run around? ”

"Is this your order? Then tell me how the prince's order to borrow troops from Yongzhou is stamped with your seal! Zhuge Liang obviously didn't believe it, and directly threw the order from Liangzhou to Ma Yan.

It is written that the prince is going north to drive the royal expedition in person, and then Liangzhou has no soldiers to borrow troops from Yongzhou. And the big seal at the bottom is the seal of Ma Tan's Liangzhou Thorn History.

"Fortunately, this matter needs to be handled by me, if the prince has a problem in northern Xinjiang, you can go back to Chengdu to retire!" Zhuge Liang waved his feather fan, a little angry at Ma Yan.

Encouraging the prince to drive the expedition in person was definitely done by Ma Yan. Quan Dahan is the kid with the most ideas, and there is nothing he can't do.

However, Ma Tan was extremely confused, he had always carried the seal by himself, why didn't he remember printing this chapter.

But Ma Jian confidently tested it, and it seemed that it was indeed no different from his seal. If this is a fake by the prince, it seems to be too realistic, right?

However, Ma Jian finally explained repeatedly that this was definitely not done by himself. Zhuge Liang didn't plan to delve into this matter, anyway, the prince didn't go to Chengbeijiang in the end, and the matter passed like this.

When the prime minister was angry, he began to talk to Ma Tan about calling him.

"Young Chang, how long has it been since the first Northern Expedition in the fifth year of Jianxing?" Zhuge Liang touched his beard and asked calmly.

"Prime Minister, it's been five years." Ma Tan replied.

"It's been five years, and the Northern Expedition of the Han Dynasty has made good progress." Zhuge Liang turned his head, looked at a map hanging on the wall of the Prime Minister's Mansion, and said softly,

"Look at this map, you should know what I'm looking for you, right?"

The map of the Prime Minister's Mansion is up-to-date, and it shows the current territory of the Han Dynasty.

At this time, the territory of Dahan has nearly doubled compared with five years ago. From a remote separatist force with only one state, it now basically occupies the entire northwest. The sphere of influence of the Han Dynasty is basically the same as that of the Qin Dynasty in the past, and it is the northwest half.

The only gap is the Guanzhong Plain that is blocked in front of the big man!

So Ma Tan immediately understood what the prime minister meant, and subconsciously said,

"What does the prime minister mean...... Is the Eastern Crusade in pass? ”

"I have this idea, but it doesn't seem to be right now." Zhuge Liang shook his head and said calmly.

He is responsible for supervising Yongliang, and at this moment he is making every effort to prepare materials for the next Northern Expedition. This time, Zhuge Liang is ready to come to a big one, and he will go on a northern expedition to Guanzhong.

So far, however, material preparations have not been sufficient.

"I still need a year to prepare food, grass and money, but Sima Yi won't give us a year to prepare." Zhuge Liang finally took his eyes off the map, looked at Ma Jian again, and said calmly.

"Now the puppet Wei has appointed Sima Yi as a general to supervise the military affairs in Guanzhong. At the same time, at the suggestion of Sima Yi, the puppet Wei moved more than 100,000 people from the eastern part of the country into Guanzhong Tuntian. ”

"If we don't do anything for a year, I'm afraid Guanzhong will be extremely difficult to conquer by Sima Yi!"

"So the prime minister plans to let me lead the troops into the customs again and disrupt Sima Yi's Tuntian plan?" Ma Tan thought of his trick and immediately asked.

"No, that little fight can't affect Sima Yi." Zhuge Liang said meaningfully.

"However, Your Majesty's edict on the establishment of military towns in the north has arrived, and it will not be long before military towns are set up. According to my calculations, one year is enough to use grain and grass in the cool land. ”

"Therefore, there is no need to transport the grain and grass hoarded in Hanzhong to the north, and the loss on the road is too great to outweigh the losses. So I want you to go to Hanzhong and go there to do something for the Northern Expedition......"

Zhuge Liang didn't make it clear this time, but Ma Tan immediately understood what the prime minister meant after reading the map.

Yizhou has had a bumper harvest every year in recent years, and the grain in the imperial treasury is quite full. Most of them were hoarded in Hanzhong in preparation for the subsequent Northern Expedition.

This time, the prime minister said that the loss of Beiyun Yongliang was too great, and asked him to go to Hanzhong to do something, which could only be one direction......

"The prime minister plans to let me be in charge of the expedition to Nanyang?" Ma Tan said in disbelief, and became more and more dazed after seeing Zhuge Liang smile and nodded.

Prime Minister Zhuge said, this time is not a small fight before. In other words, this time let him go to Nanyang, the troops under his command must definitely be more than 10,000 people.

Moreover, Nanyang is an extremely important strategic place for Cao Wei, since he insists on attacking the city there, the number of troops must not be less. Ma Tan roughly calculated, if you want to attack Nanyang, the required troops must be more than 30,000 people!

With so many soldiers and horses, let him directly lead it?

"Now Yongliang has been connected, and the north has a place for the Han Dynasty. At this moment, our Han has surrounded Guanzhong on both sides, and the strategic advantage is already very great. At this time, Zhuge Liang nodded and said,

"But Cao Wei can still rush to the aid of the pass from the two directions of Wuguan and Tongguan at this moment. At that time, the Han army will march east to Guanzhong, and the puppet Wei will inevitably go all out to help, if you still let it come to the aid of the two ways, then I will not be able to fight the situation. ”

"So your goal this time is to enter Nanyang, and it is best to conquer Wancheng and defend it, so as to cut off the connection between Wuguan and the Kanto direction. In this battle, 50,000 troops were sent to attack Nanyang County, and you Ma Jian were fully responsible, and I only had one request, to take Wancheng! ”

"At that time, Jingzhou's general Xiang Pet will cooperate with your actions and fight side by side with you. If the troops are not enough, you can repair a letter to Chengdu, and Jiang Wan will give you additional troops and support in the fastest time! ”

(End of chapter)