But Wang Ping was not happy for long, and Zhuge Liang soon announced his punishment: he had meritorious service, his past crimes would not be punished, he would be reduced to serving the people, and he would never be hired again.
When the decision finally came down, Wang Ping didn't have much trouble in his heart.
What he did to Ma Di before was enough to decapitate or even kill his whole family. But Ma Di did not think it was evil, but repaid evil with kindness, and even rescued him from the gate of hell.
This greatly changed Wang Ping's impression of Ma Su. He used to be dissatisfied and resentful, but now he is sincerely convinced and grateful.
Seven or eight days passed in the blink of an eye. Wang Ping's injuries slowly recovered, and he was released from prison and returned home as early as the day he was pardoned. A very real problem was immediately placed in front of him.
What to do next?
It is no longer possible for him to serve as an official in the Shu Han Dynasty. There is no place for him in the entire Shu Kingdom, and he does not know how to farm, and he does not even bother to farm.
In this case, there is no other way but to travel far away.
But where to go?
The Kingdom of Wei is far away and difficult to reach, and it was once its old master. After abandoning Wei and joining the Han, the road to return to Wei was cut off.
Not everyone can become Meng Da and be accepted by the old master again after tricking him.
What's more, now he has no hatred for Ma Su, only gratitude; Prime Minister Zhuge Liang also treats him well, and it is absolutely impossible for him to defect to the enemy of Shu Han.
If you can't defect to Wei, then you have no choice but to defect to Soochow.
There are two advantages to joining Soochow. One is that there is no enemy of the Shu Han; the other is that the road is short and travel is convenient. You can just go down the river.
The most important thing is that Wu State is in urgent need of army generals and cavalry generals. If he takes this opportunity to defect, he should be able to be reused by Sun Quan, the leader of Wu.
However, before defecting to Soochow, there are two things to do. One is to go to Ma Mansion to thank Ma Su for saving him again. On the day he was pardoned, Zhao Guang quietly told him that he was able to be pardoned this time because of Ma Su's contribution.
,
The second is to think about why you have fallen into this situation, or to find out why Ma Su wants to mess with him while secretly rescuing him.
Wang Ping has been thinking about this issue since he was arrested in Hanzhong. Unfortunately, he has been detained in a prison and the information he obtained is very one-sided, making it impossible to fully analyze the reasons.
Now that he is free, the general outline of the whole matter is almost known, so it is even more important to clarify this issue.
Otherwise, how can one feel at ease?!
To defect to Wu State in such a dejected manner will leave a shadow in my heart that will never be erased.
Because he is no longer young. He devoted his youth and a lot of hard work to Shu Han, but ended up with nothing. This made Wang Ping unwilling to accept it no matter what. At least, he wanted to find out why Ma Di did this?
However, Wang Ping also knew that it was impossible to figure out the mystery with his own brain.
So, he decided to visit Ma Su and ask the matter clearly. As for whether Ma Su would tell, that was another question.
But he had to ask!
Just as he was thinking about it, a servant hurried in from outside and said, "Master, General Ma Di is asking for an audience at the back door."
"Ma Su?!"
Wang Ping raised his eyebrows and secretly said, "Say Ma Su, Ma Su will be there." He immediately said seriously: "Please come quickly!"
“Please come to the backyard nearby!”
The servant took the order and left.
Wang Ping waited uneasily in the backyard for a while, and when he saw Ma Su, dressed in white, walking up to him, he quickly raised his hands and saluted.
"Wang Ping, a common man, has met the general."
Ma Di glanced at him, then looked at the backyard: "Don't call me that, I'm no longer a general."
Wang Ping quickly changed his words: "I have met the king."
Ma Su said "hmm" and said casually: "Zijun, do you know why I came to you?"
"I don't know." Wang Ping shook his head: "General... if you have anything to say, please speak frankly. I am a rough man and don't understand the twists and turns."
Ma Su looked at him and smiled slightly: "Then you have no questions to ask me?"
Wang Ping answered truthfully: "Yes, there is something that Ping cannot understand."
"It's all because of the king that I'm in this situation today. But the reason why I can come back to life and be safe and sound is all because of the king's strong rescue. Wang Ping really can't figure out the reason for this."
Looking at Wang Ping's tangled facial features, Ma Su carefully considered his words and said, "I want to entrust you with a big thing, but I can't do this, and you will suffer."
A look of surprise appeared on Wang Ping's face. Sure enough, he guessed right. Ma Su had a purpose in punishing him first and then rescuing him.
"The current situation in the Three Kingdoms is turbulent. I, Ji Han, want to achieve the great cause of unifying the world, but I am afraid that Sun Quan of the Eastern Wu will be the leader of the two countries and stab him in the back. I have thought hard for a long time and found a plan. I want to entrust this plan to you.
I wonder what Zi Jun wants?"
This news was so shocking that Wang Ping was stunned for a moment and didn't know how to answer.
After a long time, he asked cautiously: "Why did you choose me?"
"Because the whole world knows about your discord with me, and it just so happens that you have violated military discipline."
"..." Wang Ping was silent for a moment, and then asked: "May I ask you, what is your clever plan?"
Ma Su smiled again: "Do you know about Zhou Yu's beating of Huang Gai in the past?"
"Bitter meat plan?!" Wang Ping was surprised.
"That's right!" Ma Su nodded: "This plan is an advanced version of the bitter meat plan. Just open your chest and take a look."
Wang Ping did as he was told and saw among the dense whip marks on his chest, there was a terrifying scar as long as one finger. It was the scar left when he committed suicide that day. At that time, the sword penetrated his chest and back, and his back
There is an equally large scar on the back.
"I wonder what your plan will be?" Wang Ping put on his clothes and looked at Ma Di.
Ma Su looked him straight in the eyes and asked straight to the point: "Once upon a time, did you ever have the intention to defect to Soochow?"
"Yes!" Wang Ping answered truthfully.
"Very good, I want you to work as an undercover agent under Lu Xun."
Wang Ping was shocked: "Ah? Lu Xun?! Junhou, I'm afraid I can't do it."
Who in the world doesn’t know who Lu Xun is?
It's so difficult to hide in front of Lu Xun!
Wang Ping was frightened in an instant.
Ma Su waved his hand and said with a smile: "Don't panic, you can do it. I already know everything you did in Hanzhong Prison, and even Fei Yi was easily concealed by you, which shows that you have all the conditions to carry out this plan."
"
Hearing this, Wang Ping felt a little relieved, but another emotion quickly surged up, and he complained: "Your Majesty wanted to do this, why didn't you tell me earlier? As a result, I was devastated, and I almost wanted to destroy my family!"
Complaints are all, Wang Ping also knew that he and Ma Su were extremely at odds with each other at that time, and they were secretly at odds with each other. If Ma Su had told him this plan in advance, he would most likely have rejected it on the spot. Even if he hadn't refused, he probably wouldn't have been willing to do so.
Go to Soochow and work as an undercover agent.
But it's different now.
Firstly, his impression of Ma Su was greatly changed; secondly, he had no choice but to go to Soochow.
Ma Di pondered for a moment and then said: "I will go to Soochow for a short period of three years or a long period of five years."
"You can take away your two young sons and a wife to win the trust of Soochow."
"Tonight I will order someone to send 100,000 yuan to your house to save your two eldest sons and the rest of your family from worries."
"I wonder what you think?"
Wang Ping looked at Ma Su, who was full of confidence, opened his mouth, and wisely swallowed the sentence "What if I don't agree?" and said instead: "Wang Ping is willing to take this position."
"Very good." Ma Su patted him on the shoulder: "After the matter is completed, I will recommend you as a chariot and cavalry general in front of His Majesty, your descendants will be hereditary princes, and you will restore your reputation nationwide."
Hearing this, Wang Ping suddenly felt a sense of admiration and couldn't help but ask: "Does the Prime Minister know about this plan?"
Ma Su shook his head: "Only you and I know. For safety reasons, we must not let a third person know."
As he spoke, Ma Su took out a curved flute and blew it to his mouth.
After a moment, a small black dot swooped down from the sky and landed on the branch beside the two of them.
"Could this be the great wizard's pet little black eagle?" Wang Ping was surprised when he looked at the half-human-sized black eagle.
"Yes, that's it." Ma Di handed the flute to Wang Ping.
"It will follow you to Soochow and move within twenty miles around you. If there is urgent information, you can use this flute to summon it to come closer and send a message to me. Remember, do not call randomly if there is nothing to do, so as not to reveal your identity."
Wang Ping held the flute in his hand, looked at it over and over, and then looked at the majestic black eagle. Suddenly a bold idea came to his mind and he asked quickly: "Your Majesty, I will let it go east, west, south, and north.
Will it listen to me?"
"No." Ma Su shook his head: "It only listens to my... madam's orders, but it will not affect the transmission of messages."
"Okay, you pack up and get on the road as soon as possible." Ma Su turned around and left quickly.
In the backyard, one person and one eagle looked at each other for a long time. Wang Ping put the flute to his mouth and played it, trying to see what the little black eagle would do.
As a man, you are still a boy until you die. How can you be successful if you don’t give it a try when you see a fun pet?
The sound of the flute was extremely sharp and harsh. As soon as it sounded, Wang Ping suddenly felt upset, as if he had been hit hard with a sap in the chest.
This familiar sound reminded him of the flute played by Zhang Xiu during the battle at Jieting. He was startled and stopped immediately.
But it's too late.
I saw a fierce look flashing through the two vertical pupils of the little black eagle. After staring at Wang Ping for a moment, Wang Ping tied a letter to its leg, and suddenly it flew over and slapped Wang Ping with its wings.
He staggered, then jumped into the air and disappeared into the sky.
Wang Ping got up from the ground, covering his burning cheeks, dumbfounded.
…
At the end of October in the ninth year of Jianxing.
A passenger ship passed by Baidi City and went down the river, opening up a vast world.
This year's snow came a little earlier than usual.
The passenger ship is very big, with three floors, and each floor is almost full of people.
There are shouts of people everywhere, merchants and ordinary people with their children mixed together. Some are in a hurry, and some are calm and peaceful. There are complete restaurants and gambling rooms on the ship, and the sounds of drinking, shouting, and gambling come from all over the world.
Notes come and go.
Whether they were merchants or ordinary people, when they passed by a middle-aged man dressed as a commoner, they all cast wary and inquiring glances.
They didn't know Wang Ping's identity, but from his resolute face and awe-inspiring temperament, they could tell that he was either a brave general or a ruthless bandit leader.
Such people actually come to squeeze into a public boat? Is there any ulterior motive?
If this person really has an ulterior motive, where are his accomplices hiding? To rob money or a ship? Or to rob sex?
"Boatman, do you know that person?" Someone finally couldn't help but ask the boatman.
It's really uneasy to have such a strange person on board.
"I know him. He is Wang Ping."
"Is this the Wang Ping who failed to escape from prison and assassinate General Ma Su, and was demoted to serve as a civilian?"
"Yes, that's him."
"Haha, this kind of scumbag probably couldn't stay in Sichuan any longer and went to Soochow to make a living."
"Shh! My ancestor, please keep your voice down. He even dares to kill General Ma. Be careful if he hears, he will chop everyone in our boat to death..."
