Ma Jing sighed and said, "Originally, all this has been planned, we are just like small cogs on a huge machine, we only need to complete our respective missions according to the plan. ”

"But when I arrived in Lanzhou City, I found that the scene in front of me was completely different from what we had imagined. His Royal Highness King Su is indeed deeply loved by the people, but he only thinks about developing Lanzhou and letting the people live and work in peace and contentment, and he has no selfish intentions, and he has no rumored intention of rebellion at all. ”

For the construction of Lanzhou City, he even often paid out of his own pocket, and a large number of tax reductions and exemptions, making a dignified prince, but the daily use was stretched, in order to save expenses, he had to let most of the guards go to the outskirts of Lanzhou to reclaim wasteland. ”

He smiled a little self-deprecatingly: "Just such a poor prince, his daily expenses have to be subsidized by the imperial court, where will he have the financial resources to raise troops and troops, fight against the imperial court, and attempt to rebel?"

It's a pity that by the time I understood this, it was already too late, and the whole plan was already ready to be launched, and it was impossible to stop. ”

Ye Feng frowned and asked, "Why?"

Ma Jing smiled: "Could it be that Ye Gongzi thinks that such a huge and well-thought-out plan can only be designed by me and the emperor?" Including the preliminary preparations, as well as the scheduling of military personnel and the aftermath after success, there are many people involved in and involved in the formulation of this plan, and all of them are high-ranking and powerful civil and military ministers in the imperial court. ”

"The emperor wants to rectify and control the northwest, it is already a national policy, if the plan that has been set is suddenly stopped at this time, the imperial decree will be changed, the emperor's majesty will inevitably be damaged, and these civil and military ministers will inevitably be suspicious, which will cause turmoil in the imperial court. ”

"So for the sake of the stability of the court and the majesty of the imperial power, I can only stubbornly implement the plan that has been set a long time ago, even if it is to sacrifice His Royal Highness King Su, there is no way to do it. ”

Ye Feng snorted coldly: "That's a nice thing to say! What about the lives of Imperial Physician Jian's entire family? What about the people who fled under Lanzhou City? What about the lives of more than 100,000 innocent people in Lanzhou City? Could these be sacrificed casually?"

Ma Jing's face turned pale, and he raised his voice: "How can there be no sacrifice in doing great things since ancient times? The whole world is not the king's land, and the shore of the land is not the king's ministers, for the sake of the peace of the court, the border is stable, and even His Royal Highness King Su, who is a royal noble, can be sacrificed, what can not be sacrificed for the lives of these civilians in front of me?"

"If there is real turmoil at the border, invasion by foreign enemies, wars and wars everywhere, those families are ruined, and the displaced people are not only the hundreds of thousands of people in this area?"

His words seemed to be reasonable, and for a while, Ye Feng was speechless.

Ma Jing shook his head and sighed: "However, what I didn't expect was that Ye Gongzi and your party would come to Lanzhou City at this time, and unconsciously get involved in this turmoil, and even resolutely want to find out the real culprit of poisoning for me!"

"I didn't want to support you at that time, but I couldn't stop you, especially Ye Gongzi with your cleverness

witty, he cracked the serial murder case of the Qinglong Dart Bureau in a few days. Such a tortuous and bizarre case was easily solved by Ye Gongzi, and I had a feeling at that time, I am afraid that this plan will be difficult to hide from you. ”

Ye Feng suddenly asked at this time: "Master Ma said earlier that in order to implement this plan, even His Royal Highness King Su, who is a royal nobleman, and the hundreds of thousands of innocent old and young people in this Lanzhou City, can all be sacrificed. Since you already sensed that we might ruin your plans, why didn't you do anything to us?"

Ma Jing didn't expect him to ask this question, and was obviously stunned for a moment before answering: "Ye Gongzi said with a smile, the fathers of your three sons are all famous generals and important ministers in the court, high-ranking officials, and all of them are people who are relied on by the emperor, how dare I make my own decisions against you?"

After a pause, he said again: "What's more, there are many martial arts masters around you, all of whom are strong in martial arts, even if I have the courage, I really don't have the ability!"

Ye Feng lowered his head and didn't speak, but he vaguely felt a burst of indignation in his heart.

Princes and generals, would you rather have a kind?

Now it seems that the value of life between these people is indeed very different.

Compared with the more than 100,000 people in this Lanzhou city, and even compared with Zhu Ao, the king of Su, who is a royal prince and nobleman, his reconciliation of Zhenliang and Zhang Fatzi's lives is more important.

This is not because the three of them have anything remarkable, but just because their fathers are all high-ranking and powerful officials in the middle of the court, and they are trusted confidants of the emperor.

It turns out that the difference between the high and low of life is all due to the emperor's own likes and dislikes, and in the eyes of others, the lives of hundreds of thousands of people are far less important than the children of these high-ranking officials.

He shook his head, feeling a sigh in his heart.

Ma Jing saw that he was silent, and he didn't know what he was thinking, and then said: "But what I didn't expect was that seeing that the plan was about to succeed, Song Hu had already mobilized a large army to besiege Lanzhou City, but at this time, the emperor suddenly changed his mind. ”

Ye Feng raised his head in some surprise: "Oh?"

Ma Jing looked at the surprised expression on Ye Feng's face and said, "If it weren't for the emperor's instructions, how could Zhang Xin, Marquis of Longping, write secret letters to Song Hu's old subordinates privately at such a time, instigating them to no longer obey Song Hu's orders, and hesitating to advance when they were about to fight, causing Song Hu's army to fall apart." ”

"What makes me even more unexpected is that at this time, the Tatar cavalry will actually rush to the Ganliang border pass overnight as if they had been discussed, forcing Song Hu to order a retreat before the battle and return to the border. The timing is so coincidental that it can't help but make people suspicious. ”

He suddenly turned pale, stared at Ye Feng and asked, "Regarding the Tatar cavalry's attack on the Ganliang border pass, I don't know what the inside story Ye Gongzi knows?"

Ye Feng shook his head a little dazedly.

It seems that Ma Jing knows nothing about the true identity of the medicinal herb merchant Boss Wu.

Ye Feng didn't want to reveal Boss Wu's identity to others, not only because he was kind to Ye Feng after all, but also because he didn't

Just because of the siege of Lanzhou City, his secret letter to the Tatar cavalry played a vital role.

The most important reason is that although Boss Wu is a Tatar spy and is not of my race, in the final analysis, he has not done anything to damage the interests of the two states, nor does he want to provoke a fight between the two states, but has been trying his best to fight for the peaceful coexistence between the two states.

Based on this, Ye Feng still regarded him as a friend in his heart, a good friend who could be trusted.

Ma Jing saw Ye Feng shaking his head, a look of disappointment flashed on his face, and he sighed: "No matter what, because of Ye Gongzi's best efforts, as well as the Tatar cavalry that appeared inexplicably, Song Xiaohou finally chose to retreat at the moment before attacking the city. The siege of Lanzhou was lifted, and my plan was a complete failure. ”

He shook his head, with a wry smile on his face: "But I don't know why, although this plan failed, and I saw that it was about to be difficult to reply to the emperor, but in my heart, I felt a sense of relief, and even a little inexplicable sense of happiness." ”

"Maybe it's for the sake of the people, His Royal Highness King Su who has no selflessness, maybe it's for the more than 100,000 innocent people in this Lanzhou city, maybe it's for the simple-minded but well-governed Song Xiaohou Ye. ”

"At the end of the day, everyone can get out of the way, which is something I never even dreamed of. ”

Ye Feng nodded, this ending now may indeed be the best.

He suddenly asked, "What about you, my lord?"

Ma Jing looked up at the sky and sighed: "As for me, I have failed the holy will, I am not effective, and I am almost ......."

Speaking of this, he paused, glanced at Ye Feng, and then said: "Putting the lives of His Royal Highness King Su and the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Lanzhou City in danger, presumably in the near future, I will be transferred back to the capital, and what awaits me may be an extremely severe punishment." ”

Ye Feng listened to his words, and always felt that there was something strange in these words, but he couldn't tell what was strange for a while.

Ma Jing smiled self-deprecatingly: "When I set out to come to Lanzhou, I was ready to kill myself, and now I can still live in the world, a little punishment, what is there to fear? As long as the border is peaceful and the country is peaceful, what do we have to hate even if we are broken?"

He said it so impassionedly that even he was about to be moved, but Ye Feng's face sank at this time, and he said coldly: "So tragic, so righteous!"

He pointed to the tribute on the case behind Ma Jing: "Then what is the sacrifice of this righteous man? And the more than ten people in the palace of Imperial Doctor Jian, and the more than 100 innocent people who fled under the slaughter of Lanzhou City, what are their lives?"

Ma Jing's face darkened, and he sighed at the incense and candle offerings: "Yes, this brother of mine, this righteous man, died generously for the sake of loyalty, but unfortunately the plan failed, not only did he die meaninglessly, but he also had to be forever poisoned on my back, betraying the lord for glory, I can't stand him!"

He turned to face Ye Feng and said, "And Imperial Doctor Jian's family, I didn't plan to kill him

, I just asked Mobei City to take Imperial Doctor Jian away and hide it, so as not to be interrogated by you and expose your feet. ”

"But Mo Beicheng thought that it was too unreal to take away Imperial Doctor Jian if he didn't hurt his life, so he took it upon himself to kill the subordinates in Imperial Doctor Jian's mansion. Later, because of the appearance of Zhang Shizi and his mistaken belief that the people from the Tang Sect had arrived, he saw that he could not take away Imperial Doctor Jian, so he was killed. ”

"As for the more than 100 people who were slaughtered under the city of Lanzhou, I had ordered people to guard the city gate in advance, but they themselves were panicked and in a catastrophe, and they just wanted to flee for their lives, so they forcibly broke through the city gate and broke into the military formation outside the city. This is in line with the sentence, people who are afraid of death, tend to die sooner. ”

He sighed: "But in the end, the reason why Song Hu led the army to besiege the city was all because of my plan, so I can't escape the blame for their deaths." ”

"And Mobei City is dead now, since he is acting on my orders, then the lives of more than ten members of Imperial Doctor Jian's family should naturally be counted on my head. ”

Ma Jing suddenly stretched out his hand and pulled out the saber at his waist, and threw it in front of Ye Feng, and the long sword "choked" with a sound.

He said proudly: "If Ye Gongzi wants to get justice for them, then he can do it now." ”

After saying that, he craned his neck and closed his eyes to die.

Ye Feng hesitated at this time.

originally thought that since all these turmoil in Lanzhou City were planned and manipulated by Ma Jing behind his back, then he must be a sinister and vicious, bloody and deeply hidden villain.

If this was the case, Ye Feng would never hesitate to attack him.

But through this conversation, he found that Ma Jing was not only not a big villain, but a true loyal person who was for the sake of the country and the court, in order to serve the emperor's kindness, and even put life and death aside, and he was not afraid of personal reputation, good and evil.

Ye Feng's mind was a little confused.

Is what Ma Jing did right or wrong? Should those dead souls be sacrificed? Who should judge all this?

He looked at the long sword shining with cold light on the ground, was stunned for a moment, slowly turned around, and suddenly asked: "This plan failed, will the emperor continue to attack the northwest and Lanzhou?"

Ma Jing, who had been waiting for death with his eyes closed, opened his eyes a little unexpectedly, thought for a while, and said: "Since the emperor suddenly changed his mind and terminated the plan this time, with his temperament, he will never repeat the mistakes of the past in the short term and act against the northwest again." ”

"The adjustment of the garrison of the northwest border pass is imperative, but His Royal Highness King Su should be able to have stability for a long time. ”

Ye Feng nodded, did not speak, and then walked towards the darkness.

He still couldn't do it after all. What qualifications does a person have to judge good and evil when he himself does not even understand right and wrong?

Ma Jing watched his figure walk into the darkness behind the rockery and disappear, and let out a long sigh in his heart.

Ye Feng, Ye Feng, it seems that you still don't know why the emperor suddenly changed his mind and gave up this long-planned plan?

The huge secret behind you is far more important than the stability and tranquility of the Northwest.

Ma Jing has been by the emperor's side for many years, although he doesn't know the whole picture of this secret, but he knows a little bit about the leopard.

It's just that it seems that this Ye Feng still doesn't realize his own importance at all!

(End of chapter)