Early in the morning, Ma Su rode out of the mansion and drove out of the city, followed by two carriages.
The entourage included Yang Wanwan, Huang Xi, Li Sheng, Zhang Xiu, as well as two girls, Axiu and the great wizard, who were sitting in the carriage.
It can be said that he brought his family with him and returned home with great honor.
Along the way, I met many people I knew or didn't know. Everyone bowed their hands to Ma Su enthusiastically and stopped to chat. This made Ma Su unable to come out of the city gate until noon.
But the farewell was not over yet, there was still a large group of people waiting outside the city gate.
The first one to step forward was Deng Zhi, the former general of the Shu Han Dynasty. This descendant of the famous Eastern Han Dynasty general Deng Yu has always been kind to others. He had a close relationship with the young general Zhao Yun, so he would not be rude to Ma Su. To be precise, he was not rude to all his colleagues.
It would be rude.
"Youchang, have a nice journey."
Deng Zhi came to Ma Su in casual clothes, bowed his hands first, took out a letter and put it in Ma Su's hand: "Please give me a letter from home."
Damn it, you kid, you just saw me off and asked me to be your courier?... Ma Di looked at Deng Zhi with a look of disbelief on his face.
You really don’t treat me like an outsider,
Deng Zhi felt a little embarrassed. After a pause, he took out three more silver coins and put them into Ma Su's hand.
Yes, this friend can do it. Ma Su quickly put away the money and picked up the letter.
"Uh, Youchang, the money is for the second half of the year's salary. Please help me transfer it to my wife."
Feeling that Ma Su had misunderstood, Deng Zhi hurriedly explained again, then shifted his position and quickly walked into the city.
Ma Su: "..."
The second person who came over was Yang Yi, the chief secretary of the Prime Minister's Mansion. He was wearing official uniform, a turban on his head, and a long goatee under his chin.
The two are of similar age and have similar starting points, but now his official position is higher than that of Ma Su, a noble commoner, so his face has an extra high-spirited look.
When he walked forward, his whole face was filled with a smile from the bottom of his heart. He rolled up his long sleeves and cupped his hands: "You Chang, have a good trip."
Ma Di was almost sent away by these words, and glared at him angrily. Thinking that it was a good day to say goodbye, it was not worth getting angry with him, so he forced a smile on his face: "I thank you and your family!"
"You're welcome, You Chang is too polite." Yang Yi did not understand the meaning of Ma Di's words, and turned around with a smile and entered the city.
The third and fourth people who came forward were Dong Yun, the assistant minister of the Yellow Gate, and Yuan Xiang Lang, the meritorious official of the Prime Minister's Palace. Ma Di met their eyes and smiled happily. His predecessors were related to both Dong Yun and Xiang Lang.
Yes, especially the latter. I heard that the two of them got along very happily when they were colleagues.
The two of them bowed their hands together, took out two letters and some silver ingots, and said in unison: "You Chang, you have been working hard all the way, please!"
Ma Su raised his eyes and looked at the huge team outside the city, and suddenly realized that so many people came to see each other off today, not just because they had cards, but also for other reasons.
Sure enough, the next people wished Ma Su a safe journey and handed him a package or a letter in turn.
After a while, the first carriage was half full. Axiu had no choice but to go to the second carriage and ride in the same carriage with the great wizard.
The last person to see him off was Zhao Guang. He didn't give Ma Su anything, but his eyes were a little unconvinced. He raised his hands and saluted Ma Su, called out "Uncle, have a good trip", and walked away quickly, walking at a brisk pace.
Entered the city.
Ma Di knew that Zhao Guang felt unworthy of him, which could be seen from the way the latter took the opportunity to beat up Wang Ping yesterday.
Young people are impulsive. How can Wang Ping be my opponent... Ma Di shook his head and smiled, looking around.
But Zhuge Liang's car was not seen.
I was feeling extremely disappointed when I suddenly heard a cough above my head.
Ma Su followed the sound and met Zhuge Liang's eyes.
The two looked at each other in the distance, neither speaking.
After a long while, Ma Su raised his hands from afar, got on his horse, and led the convoy toward the southwest.
…
Zhuge Liang watched Ma Su go away and stood at the top of the city with his hands behind his back, never leaving.
When the sun was at its strongest, a middle-aged scholar wearing soap clothes walked up the tower, came to Zhuge Liang's side, cupped his hands and said, "Prime Minister."
Zhuge Liang turned his head and glanced at the visitor, then turned back to look into the distance: "It's Wen Wei. Did you meet Ma Di and his party on the way?"
Fei Yi chuckled and said, "I met you, but Youchang seemed to be thoughtful and didn't see me."
Zhuge Liang said "hmm" and said, "Did Sun Quan explain Lu Xunyue's invasion of Yong'an before he was sent as envoy to Soochow?"
"Yes, Sun Quan flatly denied Lu Xun's troops marching into Yong'an, saying that he did not know about it and it should be a misunderstanding. He hoped that the prime minister would continue to believe in Soochow. Sun Quan's position on "the alliance of Wu and Shu, the two emperors stood side by side, and the Wei territory was divided" has remained the same.
firm."
"The Lord of Wu also greatly praised the Prime Minister for capturing Longliang, and attached a congratulatory gift to express that when the Prime Minister sends troops to the Northern Expedition next time, Soochow is willing to send troops on the southeastern front to respond."
After a pause, Fei Yi continued: "On the way back, Lu Xun, the great general of Wu State, stayed in Jiangling and had a conversation with me."
"Oh, what are you talking about?" Zhuge Liang didn't seem surprised that Lu Xun would do this.
Fei Yi carefully considered his words and replied: "Lu Xun said that he marched into Yong'an because he discovered that Badong and Yong'an suddenly had more troops. He suspected that the prime minister had the intention of marching eastward, so he sent troops to Wu Gorge as a precaution.
"
"Lu Xun also said that he had no intention of attacking Shu, and there was no need for the Prime Minister to increase troops in Badong."
After thinking about it, Fei Yi added his own opinion: "Prime Minister, from what I can see, Lu Xun did not know in advance that our country was increasing its troops in the two places. He must have discovered that our army was prepared after arriving at Wu Gorge, so he
Just retreated."
"Yes, your analysis makes sense." Zhuge Liang nodded.
Soochow is an unreliable ally, as only older Han people know.
Jiangdong is full of rats!
Of course, this group of rats does not include his eldest brother Zhuge Jin.
The two returned to the Prime Minister's Mansion and sat across from each other. Zhuge Liang looked at Fei Yi who was about to speak but stopped, and said with a smile: "Wen Wei, why are you hesitating?"
Fei Yi said cautiously: "Your Majesty asked me to come to Nanzheng to ask for your instructions on how to reward Ma Su. By the way, I want to know when the Prime Minister will return to Chengdu. Your Majesty's original words: I miss my father-in-law very much..."
Fei Yi nodded and sighed: "Your Majesty seems to be different from before."
Although this was said in a very cryptic way, Zhuge Liang still understood it.
What Fei Yi means is that His Majesty Liu Chan seems to be no longer as idiotic as before.
"I'll be back soon." Zhuge Liang uttered four words and kept thinking.
Fei Yi looked at Zhuge Liang respectfully, waiting for the next words.
"Today, the Northern Expedition has won great victories one after another. We have newly gained 13 counties in Longliang and nearly 800,000 people. Things are piled up like mountains. We need someone to take charge of the overall situation. The earliest we can get back and forth to Chengdu is the end of the year."
Fei Yi cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, Prime Minister."
Zhuge Liang waved his hand: "I have something to do now. Can Wen Wei help me?"
"Please give me your instructions, Prime Minister."
Zhuge Liang organized his speech slightly and objectively told Fei Yi everything that happened after the Battle of Guanzhong: Wang Ping took the lead in withdrawing his troops and ignored Ma Su, and then stubbornly believed that he was not guilty.
Finally, he said: "I want Wen Wei to talk to Wang Ping. As long as he is willing to reflect deeply in front of the entire army and state his fault, the matter will be dismissed. Of course, it is still necessary to reduce his position to serve the people."
.”
"If there is a war in the future, it may be reactivated."
"I wonder what you think?"
After hearing this, Fei Yi smoothed his short beard under his chin, but did not agree to the job immediately.
He was actually very happy to take on this job, and his hesitation was just thinking about the pros and cons of taking it.
Of course, Fei Yi also knew that Zhuge Liang's words "may be reactivated in the future" were just words to comfort Wang Ping.
The true meaning of this sentence should be understood as "will never be used again in the future."
Not to mention anything else, the mere fact that Wang Ping and Ma Su were at odds basically ended all Wang Ping's future prospects in the Shu Army.
What's more, Zhuge Liang also said this when he dismissed Li Yan.
Has Li Yan been reactivated?
No!
The only function of this sentence is to give Wang Ping, who is about to be reduced from his position to a civilian, some expectations.
After a while, Fei Yi stood up, cupped his hands and said, "Yi will definitely live up to the Prime Minister's trust. The Prime Minister will wait for my good news."
Nanzheng, Dalao.
Wang Ping huddled in the corner, looking depressed.
He couldn't figure it out.
Although I don't know a few Chinese characters, I have made many military exploits in the past thirteen years since I abandoned Wei and surrendered to Shu.
How could he be punished for a small early withdrawal of troops?
During the Battle of Jieting, Yang Yi was also behind the scenes to harm Ma Su. Later, after winning the Battle of Jieting, Yang Yi did not have any trouble. Instead, Ma Di was demoted three levels in a row and became the director of the account directly.
Why is it that for the same thing, Yang Yi is fine, but he has to be put in jail?
Wang Ping didn't understand.
The harsh environment of this cell deeply hurt his self-esteem. Not to mention that some of the prisoners in this cell were sent in by him. Now that they saw him in trouble, they made crazy noises and laughed at him.
All these things made Wang Ping's world dark.
Fortunately, the warden and prison guards showed a certain degree of respect for him and did not confuse him with ordinary military war criminals. Firstly, they did not deliberately embarrass him, and secondly, the food was okay.
Wang Ping is not sure, this is a blessing among misfortunes.
This morning, the magpies outside the window kept chirping. Wang Ping's gloomy mood suddenly became more hopeful, and his appetite increased greatly. He ate ten white-flour steamed buns in one meal.
He felt that he was not far from being released from prison.
In the past two days, he heard one after another from the jailer about Ma Su's resignation to serve the people. He suddenly realized that his turning point had come.
Since Ma Su has become a commoner, it means that Prime Minister Zhuge must be under great pressure and will let him out soon.
as expected.
In the afternoon, two jailers took him out of the cell and to the reception room specially designed for visiting prisoners.
This room has two large windows, and the light is very bright. The west-slanting sun shines in through the wooden windows and falls on his back, giving Wang Ping a feeling of warmth and prosperity, and the feeling of seeing the sky again.
The sound of an iron door opening and closing interrupted Wang Ping's thoughts. He raised his head and saw a scholar sitting in front of him.
"Master Fei Yi? Why are you here?" Wang Ping looked surprised.
He had thought that the first person to visit would be Zhuge Liang, Ma Di, Deng Zhi, Wei Yan, or even Zhao Yun stationed in Liangzhou, but he never expected that it would be Fei Yi, a civil servant.
Frankly speaking, he did not know a few Chinese characters and was naturally insulated from civil servants. Even the civil servants in Shu Han were not willing to deal with him.
When everyone saw him, although they were polite on the surface, Wang Ping could feel the alienation, disdain and contempt those civil servants had for him deep down.
This was also the treatment he experienced in Wei State.
Therefore, Wang Ping understood the truth that "all literati in the world are noble" early on, and he never took the initiative to talk to scribes or ask for trouble.
Fei Yi looked at Wang Ping's desolate look, suppressed the disgust rising in his heart, and asked kindly: "Zi Jun, the Prime Minister sent me to see you..."
As Fei Yi spoke, he took out a food box from under his feet and placed it on the wooden table. He took out the food and wine, and poured a glass of wine for Wang Ping himself.
Wang Ping carefully took the wine glass with both hands. After drinking a glass of wine, he suddenly choked and burst into tears. The grievances he had suffered in the past few days were instantly vented, and he cried like a three-hundred-pound child.
Fei Yi just sat across from him quietly.
When Wang Ping calmed down, he said: "The Prime Minister said that as long as you deeply reflect on your mistakes in front of the entire army and then reduce your position to serve the people, the matter will be over."
"Does the Prime Minister have anything else to say?" Wang Ping asked eagerly.
After being imprisoned, he had already prepared for the worst. He knew that he would most likely be demoted from his job.
But based on his talent in fighting, Wang Ping felt that he still had a chance to be used again.
As long as the Prime Minister doesn't give up on him, he will definitely be able to rise again.
Fei Yi shook his head and said regretfully: "No, the Prime Minister has no other explanation."
"In my opinion, the Prime Minister is very disappointed with you and will never use you again in this life."
"Snapped--"
The wine glass in Wang Ping's hand fell to the ground and shattered into pieces. He sat in despair behind the wooden case.
