Chapter 233 Wang Ping, I didn't expect that stealing a grape would be such a big crime
Chapter 233 Wang Ping, I didn’t expect that stealing grapes would be such a serious crime.
When the soldiers arrived at the Xiegu Pass, Ma Su was angry to find that Wang Ping and his 10,000 soldiers and horses who were originally stationed here had withdrawn to Hanzhong one day ago, leaving only 500 old, weak, sick and disabled soldiers to support them at the pass.
Forty thousand troops.
That's right, Ma Su only has 40,000 troops left under his command.
In the battle of Wuzhangyuan, in order to lure the Wei army to go deep and annihilate it from a high position, Ma Su arranged a total of 8,000 soldiers on the first four lines of defense. These soldiers were almost all killed or wounded when the Wei army rushed to the fifth line of defense.
It was precisely because of such a large investment that we were able to lead the enemy's large forces to the fifth line of defense, and finally annihilated 30,000 Wei soldiers, inflicting a brilliant battle loss of nearly one to four.
No matter how sophisticated the tactics and strategies are, war always requires costs. Those eight thousand soldiers were the capital Ma Su spent in this battle.
Of course, the death of eight thousand soldiers was not the reason for Ma Di's anger. What made him angry was that he was stabbed in the back by Wang Ping again.
The reason why Ma Di dared to garrison Wuzhangyuan without fear of being besieged by Sima Yi's army was because the Xieggu Pass was under the control of the Shu army, with a smooth back road and no worries about food routes. Once the battle situation was not ideal, he could still calmly pass through the Xieggu Pass.
retreat.
However, Wang Ping withdrew his troops one day early, which taught him a hard lesson.
Wang Ping's move has only one meaning - you, Ma Di, can defeat Sima Yi by yourself, you are invincible, and you have great military exploits... You are very popular, but I won't take advantage of you, I will withdraw first.
Obviously, such a military move is very dangerous.
If Sima Yi knew the information well enough, he could send a large army to seize Xiegu Pass first and block 40,000 Shu troops in the pass.
The consequences would be unimaginable.
According to the report of the general who stayed here, Wang Ping began to pack up his belongings and retreat in batches as soon as he received Zhuge Liang's order to withdraw his troops.
Wang Ping had no consciousness of being the backing force of the army. He could have waited for the army to arrive before withdrawing, but he chose to leave one day early - of course, he still left five hundred veterans behind at the pass.
It is foreseeable that if Ma Su goes back to find Wang Ping to settle accounts, Wang Ping will definitely come up with a lot of excuses to frustrate him.
For example, "withdrew the troops in accordance with the Prime Minister's military order"; another example was "leaving five hundred soldiers to support the rear army"; Wang Ping could even sarcastically say: "You Ma Su are so capable of fighting, but Sima Yi is just a ball, he dares to lead hundreds of thousands of troops
When a large army comes to block you, you use 40,000 soldiers and horses to annihilate his army of more than 100,000 people. You, Ma Su, have this ability."
It can be said that Wang Ping showed strong jealousy and uncooperative tendencies from the moment the war ended, and refused to give Ma Di any form of assistance. After receiving the withdrawal order, he did not follow military common sense and wait for the army to reach the pass before retreating. Instead, he
Deliberately leaving a day early was an extremely improper move.
Wang Ping's actions made most of the generals in the camp indignant, and they cursed and condemned one after another. In their impression, this was indeed Wang Ping's style of behavior: narrow-minded, jealous, and stubborn. Except Zhuge Liang's orders, whose orders were not his.
It doesn't work well there.
Even if it was the commander's order, it would still be ineffective when it came to his deputy general.
According to the military system of the Shu Army, the deputy general's position is half a level lower than that of the chief general, and he has independent power to command troops. Strictly speaking, the deputy general does not need to obey the chief general's words.
But the rules are rules. Under normal circumstances, the deputy general will not go against the commander-in-chief and will obey most of the commander-in-chief's orders and arrangements.
After being stationed at the Xiegu Pass for a day, Ma Di still couldn't swallow his breath. He immediately took out his pen, ink, cloth and inkstone, and wrote a letter to Zhuge Liang, filing a complaint against Wang Ping.
Zhuge Liang was doubtful about this complaint. He knew both Ma Di and Wang Ping very well and did not think that Ma Di would do anything to slander his colleagues, nor did he think that Wang Ping would do something that clearly violated military common sense and ignored the army.
However, Ma Su said conclusively in his letter: Wang Ping's actions from the Battle of Jieting to the present have made him heartbroken and deeply exhausted mentally and physically. If the Han army is full of such low-quality generals, then the Northern Expedition will
It is difficult to succeed in resolving the matter, and it will be impossible to talk about helping the Han Dynasty.
At the end of the letter, Ma Su said in a sad tone: Since he followed the prime minister, he has been in the army for half his life, fighting for several years, and has never been able to enter the house. Now his youngest son is three years old, but he does not know who his father is. He asks to be suspended from office and go home for a while.
time.
After reading the letter, Zhuge Liang was shocked and left Zhao Yun and other generals to guard Longyou. He hurried back to Hanzhong to see Ma Su to find out the whole story.
Why did Ma Su give up his career?
If it was just because of Wang Ping's early withdrawal of troops, then there was no need to do so.
Therefore, on the way back to Hanzhong, Zhuge Liang issued an order in advance: suspend all Wang Ping's duties, restrict the scope of his actions, and wait for him to handle it personally.
However, when Zhuge Liang arrived in Hanzhong, a rumor suddenly spread like wildfire. This made Zhuge Liang extremely hesitant about how to deal with Wang Ping's dereliction of duty.
There are several versions of the rumor, one of which is: the prime minister is nepotistic, and all the generals who surrender are inferior to others in the Shu army. Ma Su has been a close confidant of the prime minister for many years, and Wang Ping is a general who has been surrendered by Wei. This withdrawal made Ma Su unhappy. Therefore,
, even if Wang Ping is not guilty, the prime minister will definitely punish Wang Ping, and he will be demoted in the least case, or demoted to a commoner or engaged in military law.
There is also a version with a wider scope: Prime Minister Zhuge only trusted Ji Han veterans and fellow Jingzhou people, such as Zhao Yun, Yang Yi, Jiang Wan, Fei Yi, Jiang Wei, Ma Su, etc., who were all the prime minister's own people, and others such as the Dongzhou faction
Representative Li Yan (has been dismissed as a civilian), local representative Wu Yi (high position but insignificant power), demoted general Wei Yan (promoted openly and secretly demoted), demoted general Wang Ping (who has real ability but cannot be reused), etc.
…
These rumors became more and more intense and spread widely in private. Even though they did not dare to speak in front of Zhuge Liang, the secret discussions still made Zhuge Liang worried.
There is no doubt that there must be someone behind this evil trend who is vigorously promoting it.
Because there are nine truths and one falsehood in what he said, it makes people believe that Zhuge Liang is such a person who pretends to be a public servant.
Ma Di's rise has been proven to be Zhuge Liang's deliberate promotion, otherwise Ma Di would definitely not have grown to his current height.
At that time, there were so many generals who could go to Jieting to guard the area. The veteran generals Wei Yan and Wu Yi were idle and had nothing to do, but Zhuge Liang chose to send Ma Su, who had never led an army.
If this isn't to improve Ma Su's record, what is it?
Not to mention, when Ma Su disobeyed orders and made a surprise attack on Chencang on his own initiative, Zhuge Liang not only did not punish Ma Su vigorously afterwards, but also made an exception and personally led an army to rescue him.
The three armies move lightly for one person, which is a treatment that even an emperor may not have.
After that, as long as there was an opportunity to improve their performance, other generals would step aside. This opportunity would not be theirs at all, and it would definitely belong to Ma Di.
There are so many examples like this that all the generals in the army are numb. Any secret resentment is trivial. Full of resentment is the true portrayal.
Now, the Prime Minister actually wanted to punish General Wang Ping in order to take care of Ma Su's emotions.
This is so chilling.
Nanzheng, Prime Minister's Mansion.
Zhuge Liang frowned, unable to do anything.
He has found out clearly that it was indeed Wang Ping who withdrew his troops one day early due to jealousy, ignoring Ma Su's 40,000 troops.
That is to say, Sima Yi had just been defeated for a while, and he suspected that Wang Ping's early withdrawal was a trap dug by Ma Di, so he did not choose to attack. Otherwise, Ma Di and his 40,000-strong army might have been completely wiped out by now.
The blame for Wang Ping's dereliction of duty may be large or small. If the accountability is stricter, it would not be an exaggeration to punish him on the spot; even if he is liberal, at least he will be deprived of his position to serve the people.
Because this style of attack (back-stabbing friendly troops) cannot be used, once a precedent is set, the Han army will fall into endless internal fighting in the future.
But if Wang Ping is punished, some people will deliberately blame this incident on Ma Di's relationship with him. Not only will Zhuge Liang's credibility in the military be questioned, but those in the court who oppose the Northern Expedition and his monopoly of power will also use the issue to play.
This is the outcome Zhuge Liang did not want to see.
After weighing it again and again, Zhuge Liang finally sighed and looked at Yang Yi who was waiting aside: "Where is Ma Di now?"
"Prime Minister, Ma Di's army has arrived at the intersection of Lianyun Plank Road and will arrive in Hanzhong within two days."
Zhuge Liang nodded: "Go and announce that Ma Di is allowed to resign from all official positions, retain his title, and return to Sichuan to rest."
When he said this, a trace of helplessness flashed in his weather-beaten eyes.
"Yes." Yang Yi lowered her head and responded, raising the corners of her mouth slightly, then her expression quickly returned to normal, turned around, and walked out with her head held high.
"Mr. Wei." Zhuge Liang stopped Yang Yi and added: "Put Wang Ping in prison and wait until the truth comes to your Majesty for instructions. By the way, remember to also inform him about Ma Su's reduction of his position to a civilian."
"Ah? Oh, I obey."
Yang Yi was surprised at first, then accepted the order and left.
Zhuge Liang sighed quietly.
Yang Yi's reaction said it all.
Everyone in the army should have had the same reaction as Yang Yi to Wang Ping's decision to be punished. They were surprised and unacceptable.
In the fight between the strong and the weak, people usually sympathize with the weak without any reason, even if the weak is at fault first.
Moral kidnapping exists in any era.
He was still a child - what was wrong with him burning your carriage?
Wang Ping was just a small lieutenant - how could Ma Di, the general who conquered the West, bully the small with his big one?
The list goes on and on.
…
When Yang Yi came to Wang Ping with Zhuge Liang's punishment, Wang Ping jumped up with excitement. He could not accept this fact no matter what.
He thinks he is not wrong.
Ma Su's army did not suffer losses because of his early retreat.
The Prime Minister is too partial!
Based on this preconceived judgment, Wang Ping was furious.
When two soldiers came to ask him to go to the prison, he struggled hard and shouted at the top of his voice: "I don't accept it! I want to see the prime minister!"
Yang Yi snorted with a straight face: "General Wang, this is the Prime Minister's order. Please don't make it difficult for Yang to do it."
Wang Ping continued to shout: "It must be Ma Di who deliberately framed me. I don't accept it... I want to confront the Prime Minister!"
Yang Yi turned her back and waved her hand, appearing to be selfless.
A group of soldiers rushed in, held Wang Ping tightly and dragged him outside.
Wang Ping yelled, suddenly broke away from all the soldiers, and ran towards the door.
After running a few steps, Zhao Guang, who had accompanied Yang Yi, punched him in the face and knocked him to the ground.
The young Zhao Guang seemed to be very angry. He kicked Wang Ping hard several times and yelled: "How dare a common man put my army to death?!"
The soldiers who came later swarmed Wang Ping and trapped him.
After this commotion, more and more generals came after hearing the news, and soon the street was filled with water.
Everyone looked at Wang Ping with sympathy and pity.
Soon Wang Ping was pushed into a prison van and taken away.
All the soldiers followed the prison car in unison, whispering along the way.
They all believed that Wang Ping was indeed at fault, but they felt that Ma Di should be more generous and not care about such trivial mistakes.
Wang Ping was put into a prison in Nanzheng with all the generals watching. When the soldiers pushed him in, they didn't even untie the rope.
Perhaps no one had lived in the prison for a long time. Cockroaches were running around, ants were rampant, and some unknown insects were crawling around on the straw.
The harsh environment, small space, and pungent musty smell formed a stomach-churning picture of prisoners in an iron prison.
After the guard closed the cell door and left, the whole world suddenly became quiet.
Wang Ping leaned his back against the wall and slid to the ground in despair, his mind going blank.
He still can't accept the fact that he changed from a lieutenant to a prisoner.
He couldn't figure out what he had done wrong?
Even if he made the mistake of withdrawing his troops first, Ma Su would not have suffered any losses.
Why is it so serious to lock him up?
Can't we give some verbal education?
Although he may not listen.
This posture does not seem to be just a simple pursuit of blame, but a precursor to killing him.
Wang Ping, who had always feared neither heaven nor earth, nor anyone except the Prime Minister, suddenly became a little frightened.
