Ma Su touched his nose and thought to himself that the effect of pretending was not particularly good. There were no stars in this sister's eyes, nor did she rush to praise me for being the best among people.
Maybe I'm not strong enough now.
But there is nothing we can do.
He is only eight years old now. No matter how shocking things he does, he will be questioned by others. Just like what the people said, although their words of praise are exaggerated, there is a tone of disbelief.
It can be seen from this that it is not so easy to control public opinion.
Of course, in this era, the opinions of ordinary people cannot represent public opinion. Only the wealthy and aristocratic families can represent public opinion, because they are the ones who truly control the direction of public opinion.
It can be deduced from this that those who spread the idea that he is the "reincarnation of the Red Emperor" must not be from aristocratic families like Yuan Shao or Wang Yun. If these two wealthy families want to praise him, they only need to mention it casually in the circle of aristocratic families.
Then he is already in Tingwei Prison and eating public food.
I just don’t know which minor character is targeting him.
Ma Su returned to the carriage slightly depressed.
Cai Yan followed in, but she didn't believe everything her brother said.
On the way back home, she turned around from the carriage and looked at Ma Su seriously, "Brother Su, how did you defeat so many of them with 30,000 soldiers and horses by yourself?"
Ma Su replied briefly: "No one can hit the spear."
Cai Yan's lips pouted obviously, and he said angrily: "You are only eight years old, there is no way you can fight so many people, not to mention that Dong Zhuo has six generals under his command, all of whom are brave enough to be worthy of ten thousand men... Don't think that
Sister, I don’t know that Zhu Huanwei went with you that night."
Ma Di smiled and said: "Yes, Zhu Heng went with me, but he only helped with a little help. I killed Dong Zhuo alone..."
"What little favor?"
"He helped block Dong Zhuo's six generals, as well as Dong Zhuo's more than 300 personal guards..."
Cai Yan rolled his eyes and was speechless for a moment.
This brother is really unreliable!
However, Zhu Heng was really brave. He fought against six and managed to escape with his whole body.
Such a person is actually willing to come to Cai Mansion to be a guard?
It's really puzzling.
"Brother, can he really fight one against six?" Cai Yan asked curiously.
Ma Su looked at Cai Yan's little face that was almost twisted together and said with a smile: "One against six is nothing, he can even beat one against twelve."
Cai Yan's eyes were dull and his mouth was slightly open. He was so shocked that he couldn't speak.
Ma Su also calmed down, silently thinking about how to explain to Cai Yong when he returned. Logically speaking, Cai Yong should have known the truth about Dong Zhuo's murder on the day he was promoted to censor Zhongcheng. But until now, Cai Yong has not come to him.
Settle accounts.
This is very abnormal.
Cai Yong is the kind of Confucian elder who has a very strict upbringing. He always follows the rules and does not violate etiquette. If his children make mistakes, they will be beaten severely. From the age of three to now, Ma Su can't remember how many times he has been beaten.
But after returning home, nothing happened. Cai Yong stayed in the study and didn't come out.
The days that followed were uneventful. Although Ma Su ran to Cai Yong and hung out when he had something to do, Cai Yong seemed not to see him. He was very calm. Even the matter of actively bringing Wei Zhongdao and Cai Yan together,
I also became less concerned.
Wei Zhongdao stayed in Cai Mansion for two months. When the New Year was approaching, he felt bored and returned to Hedong alone.
Ma Su secretly breathed a sigh of relief and finally had time to turn his attention to the situation in the world again.
In terms of the court, except for the state pastors surnamed Liu who are distributed in every state in the world, most people have expressed support for the Yuan family's control of the court. Of course, these people who support the Yuan family do not include Bao Xin.
In Chang'an, Cao Cao won first and then lost. He was completely defeated by the combined forces of Ma Teng and Han Sui, and retreated to Tongguan in embarrassment.
At this point, the eight counties of Liangzhou, the five counties of Longyou and the five counties of Guanzhong were all under the control of the Xiliang Army.
As for Yizhou, Liu Yan sent Zhang Lu to defend Hanzhong, cut off the connection between Yizhou and the imperial court, and became a free and independent emperor.
In Youzhou, Gongsun Du had already taken office while Dong Zhuo was still alive. Within a few months, he seemed to have actual control over the three counties in Liaodong, and showed a posture of disobeying the court's orders.
In Bingzhou, the pressure from the Xiongnu and Xianbei is increasing. Seven of the nine counties in Bingzhou have been without prefects for a long time, and only two counties, Taiyuan and Shangdang, are still under the control of the Han Dynasty.
In Qingzhou, millions of yellow turban thieves reappeared and looted everywhere.
During the Lingnan generation, Shi Xie had turned Jiaozhou into his own territory.
Although Dong Zhuo no longer rebelled against the capital and the eighteen princes gathered together, the situation in the world was still in dire straits, and the Han court was only trying its best to support it.
"Cao Cao is going to be in trouble..." Ma Di sighed, not knowing whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.
While Ma Su was sighing in Luoyang City, Cao Cao, the general of the Han Dynasty's expedition to the west, fell into deep self-blame.
Tongguan.
Cao Cao stood on the top of the city with his sword in hand, leaning against the city wall, with the bright winter sky above his head, the majestic pass at his feet, and not far away, the hundreds of thousands of Xiliang cavalry retreating.
The cold north wind howled, making his armor and clothes rustle.
Cao Cao lowered his head and remained motionless, suppressing the many emotions in his heart and silently reflecting on the reasons for his failure.
The failure of the Battle of Chang'an was unforgettable to him. When he saw Zhang Liao and other eight strong generals rebelling against the enemy, he knew he was going to lose.
Big defeat!
More than 30,000 of the 50,000 imperial cavalry were killed in the battle, plus more than 8,000 people who rebelled against the enemy, Cao Cao's army was almost wiped out.
The strong frustration and disappointment of losing to Ma Teng, Han Sui, and being driven out of Guanzhong almost made this great Han general who conquered the West completely unable to recover.
With the fall of Chang'an, the balance between the imperial court and the Xiliang Army was instantly gone. The Xiliang Army, which controlled the 800-mile plain in Guanzhong, could continuously obtain food from the local people without having to travel thousands of miles from Liangzhou.
Raise food and fodder.
This situation allowed the Xiliang army to face any offensive from the Guandong region with ease, and even tried to march towards Luoyang to test the weakness of the Han court.
Cao Cao knew very well that the defeat in this battle would not lead to the demise of the Han Dynasty. He had a huge reserve supply line of the Han Dynasty behind him, and the main force of the Xiliang Army only had these 100,000 cavalry, but these 100,000 cavalry were very troublesome.
.
Because the Han Dynasty doesn't have many cavalry anymore.
And the courage of one cavalryman can serve as eight infantrymen.
Although he was defeated, Cao Cao was actually not afraid of Ma Teng, Han Sui, and Lu Bu. As long as he was given enough time, he was confident that he could defeat these three people; what he was afraid of was that there was no time left.
Because of the annihilation of the entire army, the imperial court was already planning to replace him with Zhu Jun. To be precise, Yuan Shao planned to replace him as the general.
As a result, the Han army has no chance of winning, and the gap in arms cannot be smoothed out by changing generals on the spot.
Otherwise, if the Xiliang army has been causing chaos in the Guanxi region for five years, the imperial court will not be able to do anything about it.
In the past five years, the leader of the Western Expedition has changed his master several times, from Huangfu Song to Zhang Wen, then to Dong Zhuo, and finally to Cao Cao. Did the Xiliang army be defeated?
not at all!
But there is no way. If you lose, you lose. The defeated general has no excuses.
Cao Cao sighed, and the soldiers took strict precautions and quietly waited for the arrival of the new general.
…
Ever since the news of the Han army's defeat in Chang'an came back to Luoyang, undercurrents have been surging in the court. Civil and military officials have been discussing privately: Cao Cao is said to be the best friend of General Yuan Shao, and the general will definitely pardon him. Even if there is
Those who are punished will definitely be given a lighter punishment.
These discussions are only spread within a small area for the time being, but their destructive power is extremely powerful. Even though Yuan Shao's family background and prestige are enough to prevent everyone from talking about it openly, the secret criticism still makes him sleepless.
The awn is on the back.
Judging from the results, Cao Cao's appointment as General of the Conquest of the West has been proven to be a huge, huge mistake. If someone deliberately attributes this mistake to the personal relationship between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, not only Yuan Shao's prestige in the court will be affected
If the situation is shaken, some opponents with different political views will also use the issue to criticize the entire Yuan family.
This is a situation Yuan Shao does not want to see.
After thinking about it again and again, Yuan Shao finally sighed secretly, looked around at the officials in the court, and then announced in a businesslike tone: "It is my intention to put Cao Cao in a prison car, escort him back to the capital, and hand him over to the Tingwei."
When making this decision, Yuan Shao felt a little guilty in his heart, but this did not affect the military academy captain Chunyu Qiong from carrying out the order.
When Chunyu Qiong came to Tongguan with this imperial edict and read it in person, Cao Cao could not accept the treatment of being escorted back to Beijing in a prison car. So when two soldiers pushed the prison car slowly to him, they pushed him into the prison car.
When he was being dragged inside, he lost control of his emotions for a moment. He struggled with an extremely angry expression and shouted: "I am Cao Cao, the general of the Han Dynasty who conquered the west. You can't arrest me!"
"This is the emperor's decree. Could it be that General Cao wants to resist the decree?" Chunyu Qiong snorted coldly, holding the sword in his hand and looking sideways at Cao Cao.
As long as Cao Cao dares to resist again, he can kill the former on the spot without having to bear any guilt.
"I'm just following orders. If General Cao has anything to say, you might as well go back and talk to the chief judge, Tingwei."
Upon hearing this, Cao Cao quickly calmed down, stretched out his hands, and allowed the soldiers to tie his arms behind his back and roughly stuff him into the prison van.
Cao Cao carefully looked at this familiar prison car, and some past events deep in his memory emerged one after another.
This prison car is very famous. Many people have ridden in it, including Lu Zhi, Dong Zhuo, and Zhang Wen. Now it's Cao Cao's turn.
The first three were all thrown out of the prison car because of defeat or poor supervision of the battle. In the end, they all had a narrow escape and were returned to their posts without incident.
But he didn't know if he could escape the disaster this time, Cao Cao sighed secretly.
Almost all the 50,000 soldiers and horses were wiped out.
If we don't kill him, how can we comfort the tens of thousands of dead souls in heaven?
My life is at an end!
The soldier slammed the car door shut, took a long and thick iron chain, wrapped it around the entire prison cage, and then locked it tightly.
"General, they have been tied up."
"Okay, let's go!"
Following Chun Yuqiong's order, the driver of the prison car cracked his whip, and the prison car began to move slowly. As the car walked on the rugged Shashi road, the wood made a "creak" sound.
Cao Cao's expression was dull, and his body was shaking with the shaking of the car. Before today, he had thought about countless scenarios of returning to Beijing, but he never expected that he would return to Luoyang in such a harsh way.
I recall how high-spirited he was as the General of the Western Expedition when he first set off on the expedition! Now he can only look at the towering Tong Pass farther and farther behind him through the wooden fence, and gradually disappears from his sight.
After the prison car gradually left the boundary of Tongguan, it followed the official road from Chang'an to Luoyang and slowly headed east.
…
The General's Mansion.
Yuan Shao frowned and sat across from his uncle Yuan Wei. The atmosphere in the room was extremely dull.
As the actual controller of the Han Dynasty, Yuan Shao could not bet the fate of the Han Dynasty and the reputation of the Yuan family on a failed general, although this general had a very good personal relationship with him. So as soon as he received the news of his defeat, he immediately held a court meeting and ordered Zhu Jun led 30,000 Northern troops to Tongguan to take over the position of coach from Cao Cao.
At the same time, Yuan Shao sent Northern Military Academy Lieutenant Chunyu Qiong to Tongguan with a prison car to bring Cao Cao back to face the trial of Tingwei.
Although this is a bit cruel and cruel to his friend Cao Cao, it can at least prevent the current corrupt situation from getting worse.
Victory must be rewarded, defeat must be punished, this is the iron law of the Han Dynasty's military. Even though Yuan Shao wanted to save Cao Cao's life, he felt that the probability of Cao Cao's survival this time was extremely low.
At this moment, his best friend relationship with Cao Cao has even become a reminder for the latter. In order to prevent the court officials from saying that he was acting for personal benefit and protecting his friends, who should be chosen to preside over the trial of the Tingwei this time? It became a big problem.
As for how to deal with the Xiliang cavalry next, Yuan Shao planned to go back and ask his staff. The top priority was how to deal with Cao Cao and calm down the criticism in the court.
Yuan Shao looked at Yuan Wei and asked thoughtfully: "In my uncle's opinion, who should be invited to preside over this court trial?"
Yuan Wei didn't answer and asked instead, "Did you originally want to bear the name of killing your friends, or did you not want to bear the name?"
"Please uncle, please tell me the whole story." Yuan Shao handed over his hand and humbly asked for advice. In terms of political cultivation, his uncle Yuan Wei was much more sophisticated than him.
Yuan Wei stroked his long beard three times and said calmly: "Original, no matter you want Cao Cao to live or die, you only need to invite a highly respected person who is familiar with Cao Cao to judge, and you can sit back and relax. In this way, no matter what Whether Cao Cao will be sentenced to death in the end has nothing to do with our Yuan family. If he is sentenced to death, the Cao family will only blame the judge for not remembering old feelings; if he is not sentenced to death, the world will only say that the judge is partial. "
Yuan Shao's eyes lit up, "Uncle, that's great! But I don't know who can be the chief judge?"
"It must be Cai Yong and Cai Bojie!"
"Cai Yong...Cai Yong, wonderful, uncle!"
Yuan Shao touched his palms and sighed, and shouted out the door: "Come, hurry up and send an order to Cai Yushi's Mansion..."
…
When General Yuan Shao's order to appoint Cai Yong as Cao Cao's chief judge reached the Cai Mansion, it was already the end of December in the sixth year of Zhongping.
After receiving the order, Cai Yong locked himself in his study all night.
Early the next morning, the fifty-eight-year-old man opened the door with bloodshot eyes, and walked firmly out of the house as if he had made an important decision.
Ma Su originally wanted to persuade Cai Yong. The words came to his lips but he didn't know what to say. In the end, he watched Cai Yong walk away step by step.
After his interference, this time and space has completely deviated from its original trajectory. Ma Su doesn't know what will happen next.
All he can do is to continuously strengthen his strength and wait and see what happens.
