Chapter 44 Sima Yi's capital

"Young master, can this bird really deliver letters?" Looking at the pigeons that were gradually moving away, Wang Shuang asked confusedly. The famous general in history is only a teenager under the age of 20. But he is strong, tall and burly, and with the blue birthmark on his face, it looks even a little scary.

"Natural can!" Sima Yi said lightly, but he sighed in his heart that Zhao Botao was really awesome and could get this kind of bird. I spent a lot of money to inquire about the post stations under Liu Bei's rule, and then I got these. It took me several years to know how to use it to deliver letters by myself. But now it seems that it's all worth it. It's not far from my goal.

"Father, the child came back late, and the child is unfilial!" In Sima's house in Hedong, Sima Yi, who had just arrived home, was covered with filial piety and knelt in front of his father's spirit and cried bitterly. Since then, Sima Yi has been closed to protect his father's filial piety. It was only when there were occasional guests who came to mourn.

In the evening, Sima Yi looked around and no one noticed him. Then he carefully returned to the small yard where he lived. Looking at the pigeon's nest, two more pigeons flew back. Sima Yi untied the mailbox tied to the pigeon's leg and then returned to his room. He closed all the doors and windows and blew out the lights. Sima Yi listened carefully to the window and made sure that there was no movement before he started.

With a "squeak", Sima Yi turned a seemingly inconspicuous oil lamp on the table, and a door suddenly appeared on the green brick wall beside him, inside which was a very long corridor. Sima Yi went in gently and closed the door before he dared to take out the fire fold and lit a torch on the wall. With the dim light of the torch in his hand, Sima Yi walked dozens of feet to the end of the corridor.

With a "creech" opening of the door at the end of the corridor, Sima Yi walked out of the door and was already in a small courtyard. He gently stepped forward and knocked on the door of a small room, and an old voice immediately came from inside: "Is it Zhong Da? The door is not locked. Come in by yourself!"

"Father!" After entering the door, Sima Yi bowed meticulously to the old man in the room who had just got up in his clothes. That's right. The old man hiding in the small yard is Sima Yi's father, Sima Fang, who claimed to be dead.

"Zhong Da, I'm counting on the day. You should almost come back. How's it going? Is everything going well? After Sima Fang got dressed, he asked with a smile.

"I'm so concerned about my father that everything is fine!" Sima Yi said respectfully. Sima Fang nodded and suddenly sighed, "Zhong Da, once this matter is defeated, our Ma family will have no place to stand. I lied for my father's death, just to let you go back to your hometown to preside over the overall situation. But you have to make sure that you are foolproof before you can act!"

"Father can rest assured that the child has a detailed plan. But when Cao Liu fights again, he can make a profit from it!" Sima Yi said solemnly. Looking at his son's confident posture, Sima Fang also nodded with some confidence, but he still reminded him: "My son must not be careless. Although our Ma family has a strong foundation, it has only accumulated this little property for his father for many years. At present, the military horses in the land of Sili, counting the old officials who are the father's disciples, I'm afraid they can only mobilize 20,000 at most. No matter how much, they can't be mobilized!"

"T 20,000 troops are enough, and children have soldiers and horses elsewhere!" Sima Yi said with a smile. Sima Fang nodded and said nothing more. Sima Yi said a few more words with his father and hurriedly left. In the months after that, Sima Yi studied at home and planted vegetables, guarded filial piety for his father, and governed the family business. Whenever relatives and friends come to visit, Sima Yi is also warmly received. But he himself seldom goes out to visit friends, and can even be said to be behind closed doors.

Of course, all this was also passed to the ears of Prime Minister Cao Cheng in Ye City through secret agents. After reading the spy's report, Cao Wei also said no. However, Sima Yi had nothing to do for the time being. Cao Jian was also a little relieved and began to go all out to prepare for the restoration of Hebei people's livelihood, and then prepare for the next war. However, in the winter of this year, when Cao Yan almost forgot Sima Yi himself, two uninvited guests came to Sima Yi's home in Hebei Province.

"Sima, are you really willing to help us?" As soon as the man entered the door, he also asked Sima Yi urgently. Sima Yi smiled when he heard the words, and then said, "General, don't worry, our Ma Yi is not a person who doesn't believe what he says. At present, Cao is bullying the emperor and forcing Li Min. The general was forced by the situation. How could Sima Yi stand idly by? If the general can trust me, he can find a habitat for his subordinates in a few years!"

"Oh, that's good!" The man also sighed after hearing the words. Looking at Sima Yi with a calm smile on his face, this man also said bitterly, "I have been roaring in the mountains and forests for more than ten years, but now it is difficult to walk!" After my father's death, I took these hundreds of thousands of people to live in the mountains and forests. In recent years, I have fought with Zhang Yi, and I have lost more and won less. I want to surrender to Cao Jian, but Cao Jian is in danger, and we are afraid of being harmed by him. Fortunately, Mr. Sima helped me with righteousness, and Zhang Fang was very grateful!"

"General Zhang's words are serious. When the matter is done, Yi promised that the general and his troops and horses can go to Guanzhong to live and work in peace and happiness! General, please see, this is the personal order of the emperor today. You and I are called to be thieves. Why worry that Cao can't be broken!" As Sima Yi said, he took out the imperial edict of Emperor Xian of Han in his arms. After reading it, Zhang Fang also nodded repeatedly. After watching, Zhang Fang sighed, "Now Cao is strong. Even if you and I join hands, there are only tens of thousands of people. It's really difficult to break through Cao Zhen!"

"General, don't worry, I already have a plan. The general temporarily returned to Montenegro and endured for a while. When everything is ready, let's get up again!" Sima Yi finally comforted him a few words. Zhang Fang nodded quickly and then said goodbye.

As the largest remnants of the Yellow Turban Army after the Qingzhou Army, the Black Mountain Army has been dotted in the Taihang Mountains over the years. Historically, after Cao Wei unified the north, the Black Mountain Army was incorporated. But now Cao Yannan has the great enemy of Liu Bei. After almost fighting the Xiongnu, he fought with Liu Bei. In addition, Yuan Tan in Liaodong is also more tricky than the Black Mountain Army, so their suppression has been delayed. Until the death of Zhang Yan, the first leader of the Montenegrin army, his son Zhang Fang, took over as the leader.

Now, Cao Jian and Liu Bei have a temporary truce. Naturally, they can't ignore such a big hidden danger. Therefore, since the beginning of spring, Cao Jian has sent the general Zhang Hao to lead the army to destroy the Montenegrin army. Zhang Yi was a veteran of suppressing the yellow scarf. At that time, Wu Dun and others were made nowhere to hide by him, so they were forced to vote for Liu Bei. Now Zhang Fang is working with him, and he is also losing.

The Black Mountain Army claims to be 300,000, but in fact, it is only 300,000 for all the people with their families. However, after Zhang's blow, there are less than 200,000 left. In terms of military strength, there are still 30,000 to 40,000. However, it is really difficult for such a person to gain a foothold in troubled times. Zhang Fang had no choice but to lead his troops back to the deep mountains of Taihang Mountain and prepare to be a mountain and forest citizen like a Shanyue people.

This year, Sima Yi suddenly sent his cronies Wang Shuang to sneak into the mountains to get in touch with Zhang Fang. Wang Shuang told Zhang Fang that Sima Yi was willing to take them in. Taihang Mountain is located between Hedong County and Jizhou. Wang Shuang suggested that Zhang Fang could sneak into the sphere of influence of the Sima family in order to live.

Zhang Fang naturally did not believe it at first, but later a small-scale flood broke out in the Taihang Mountain area, and it was even more difficult for the Montenegrin army to survive. At the same time, the Sima family took the initiative to help them. Zhang Fang was so kind that he promised to cooperate with Sima Yi. At the suggestion of Sima Yi, a part of the Black Mountain Army, who did not want to gather in the mountains and forests, began to flee to Hedong County to make a living among the fleeing victims. Sima Yi's family has a big business and a lot of fields, so they have settled down these ten thousand people. Of course, it is said that these people are all disaster victims, and the Sima family is just taking them in. But after all, this kind of thing can't be hidden from its own people. What Sima Fu said about Sima Yi's acceptance of the dead refers to this matter. It's just that there were only thousands of households and thousands of people in that time. This kind of thing was not too eye-catching. After all, these days, it is normal for the family to take advantage of the natural disaster to accept disaster victims as tenants.

In this way, Sima Yi won the trust of Zhang Fang. The Montenegrin army is no less than tens of thousands. With the help of this one, Sima Yi can exert his hands and feet. Just wait for Liu Bei and Cao Jian to fight again, and they can benefit from it. At the same time, Sima Fang took advantage of the election of officials in the nine grades, and selected some of his cronies to serve as officials at all levels in Hedong. Although Cao Shen knows these, the Sima family is a rich family in Hedong, and it is normal to select some of his own cronies. Moreover, even if Sima Yi remembers something, relying on Hedong County alone is not enough to make things happen. When Sima Fang died, Cao Yan's only doubts dissipated into smoke. Who would have thought that he had done so many tricks. Even later, when Zhao Feng knew that Sima Yi had prepared for this, he could only sigh that this guy was too gloomy. It's just that he still doesn't understand why Sima Yi, who has endured for many years in history, now has to take risks?

What Zhao Feng didn't know was that Sima Yi had no choice but to do so. Ma Yi, the historical boss, endured for 40 years. After slowly accumulating fame and strength, he began to seize Cao's power. But now it is very different from history. First of all, the three-point posture no longer exists. At present, Liu Bei and Cao Jian's strength are almost the same. In the next battle, whoever loses, he is basically doomed to complete failure. In less than ten years, the world will be unified. Because of this, Sima Yi took the risk in advance. It is also because of this that Sima Yi gave Cao a seemingly polite way to Cao last time. In fact, he secretly helped Liu Bei's soldiers to surround Xu Chang, in order to balance the strength between the two a little. In this way, the longer they confront each other, the more opportunities they will have to get something from it. The abacus has come to this point, and it really can't be described as essence.

For an inappropriate example, now Cao Jian and Liu Bei are equivalent to Cao Jian and Sun Quan, who were originally confronted in history, while Sima Yi became Liu Bei at that time, with weak strength. Therefore, he can only take advantage of Cao Liu's military affairs. Isn't it so easy to just take food from Cao Liu's mouth? Sima Yi is ready to weigh the chip in his hand. If he wants to say enough, he is a little reluctant. But as the saying goes, wealth is in danger. If you think of the opportunity, you can't miss it. When you don't come again, you can only bravely come. Once the matter is done, even if it is not good, you can divide one side and compete for the world. This ** is too big for Sima Yi. It is absolutely impossible for him not to bet.

Zhao Feng didn't know the mystery at this time. Now he is busy training soldiers and horses in Xichuan to prepare for the next Northern Expedition. Although Zhang Ren and Huang Quan think that this year's success is good, they can appropriately recruit some new troops. However, Zhao Feng, who is based on the idea of sustainable development, has repeatedly considered that after recruiting a forwardless flying army, he only recruited 5,000 soldiers to enrich the local guards.

"At present, there are more than 100,000 troops in Sichuan, except for the three eastern counties and Hanzhong, there are still 90,000 horses in Sichuan. If it is the Northern Expedition, more than 10,000 people need to be left to cooperate with the county soldiers to defend the southern border. In this way, after I converged the Zilong of Hanzhong and the uncles of the three eastern counties, plus Longxi's Jushu and Tianfeng, the soldiers and horses could also have one twelve or thirty thousand. In addition, Xiliang Ma Mengqi can also mobilize no less than 40,000 to 50,000 horses. In this way, it is enough to seize Guanzhong and break Xiahou Yuan!" Looking at the map on the table, Ma Yan talked marily, and his tone was full of confidence. On this day, Zhang Ren came to report on the training of the new army, and everyone surnamed Suo visited the military affairs. Ma Zhen couldn't be better at this kind of talking about soldiers on paper.

"This is true. It is said that the people we are afraid of are the elite horse in the customs of Xiahouyuan. Most of our Sichuan troops are soldiers, and it is very unfavorable to fight against the Guanzhong Plain. Now there are General Ma Mengqi and General Zhao Zilong's Xiliang Iron Horse, which is enough to win with Xiahou Yuan. If he knows it, he will guard Jinghe River and Weishui, otherwise Guanzhong will get it for us!" Zhang Ren also nodded repeatedly. However, he turned his head and saw that Zhao Feng frowned slightly. He didn't seem to be very interested in Ma Yan and Zhang Ren's heroic words. Zhang Ren couldn't help but stagnate.

"Youchang and justice are not bad, but if you raise an army to the north, how to enter the army needs to be decided by the Lord!" Zhuge Liang smiled and gently exposed the Northern Expedition in one sentence, and then everyone began to discuss how to arrange the defense of Nanzhong. Although Meng Jie and others are still stable now, there is a saying that they are not of our race, and their hearts will be different. Zhao Feng dares not put his hope on these people's own obedientness.

"The general seems to be worried about the Northern Expedition again?" After everyone left, Zhuge Liang suddenly asked.

"Kong Ming, I knew I couldn't hide it from you!" Zhao Feng shook his head and said with a wry smile. As Cheng Yu expected, Zhao Feng is really a little afraid now. Should he continue to make contributions? After all, it's not a legend. It's nothing to take Xichuan, Hanzhong and Jiangdong by yourself, but Guanzhong is different. That's the first strategic place of the Han Dynasty. If this credit falls on you, it's hard not to attract people's attention. Therefore, Zhao Feng has already figured out the countermeasures.

"Kong Ming, I think that if the next Northern Expedition is to seize Guanzhong, it's up to you to wave the Northern Expedition. I'll just sit in Chengdu!" Zhao Feng suddenly said that this proposal was really beyond Zhuge Liang's expectation.

(to be continued)