My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 544 Sima Yi: Prime Minister, why don't you swear by the Yellow River that you will never settle accounts with others afterwards?
Ma Teng was originally hesitating whether to die standing firm or to be indifferent and let Cao Cao perform.

Guo Jia suddenly jumped out and urged Cao Cao not to implicate others and to give Ma Teng a chance to clean up his mess and reform himself.

This sudden change really caught Ma Teng off guard, and he stood there in a daze for a moment.

"Cao Cao is actually willing to let me atone my sins? Is this... going to let us go back?!" Ma Teng couldn't help but fantasize about this in his mind. His body was shaking for a moment, and he was so excited that he could hardly stand.

This was something he couldn't believe at all.

After taking a few deep breaths, Ma Teng was overwhelmed by the desire to survive. He forced himself to cheer up, and said with a neither humble nor arrogant but gritting his teeth:

"If the Prime Minister can trust me, I will die for my country and personally lead the army to suppress the rebellion! The rebellious son has committed atrocities, and he is a sinner of our Ma family and should be killed!"

At this time, Ma Teng no longer cared about his face. He just wanted to get out of the cage first, and he could say any harsh words as if they were free.

As long as he can lead his troops away and return to Xiliang, everything will be easy afterwards.

If Cao Cao is willing to make a truce with him, then let's make a truce.

Cao Cao refused to make peace with him and insisted on forcing him to hand over his eldest son Ma Chao to be killed and punished. If he could not withstand it, he would just hand him over.

If Cao Cao is really unreliable, he can just hold out for a few more months. I heard that Liu Bei is doing pretty well in Ba County. If Liu Bei counterattacks Hanzhong, he can have the best of both worlds...

In just that short moment, Ma Teng had thought of many possible follow-up plans.

However, Xun You, another aide of Cao Cao who had remained silent before, suddenly spoke up at this time, also helping Cao Cao to speak:
"It is a great pleasure for the court and the prime minister that the General of the Cavalry is willing to sacrifice his own family for the greater good. However, I heard that Ma Chao brought a large number of troops with him. When the General of the Cavalry went to Luoyang, he only had a small number of troops with him. He could not stand alone, so how could he be a match for the rebellious son?

We still need the imperial army to protect us in order to defeat the rebellious son. Otherwise, with Ma Chao's beastly behavior, he might kill his father with his own hands!"

Xun You's words seemed to be a way of filling in the gaps and putting himself in Ma Teng's shoes. But in fact, it was clear from his words that he would not let Ma Teng lead his troops back alone to fight against the rebellious son.

Ma Teng was not stupid either. He immediately realized that these people were there to help Cao Cao plug the loophole.

But what could he do? He could only respond awkwardly and with empty words about being loyal to the court.

Cao Cao, Xun You, and Guo Jia heard this and tried to probe him a few more times before they realized that Ma Teng was worried, "If I really work for the court and follow Cao Cao's army back to quell the rebellion, how can I be sure that Cao Cao will really let us go after the rebellious son is quelled?"

In the original history, after Ma Chao rebelled, Cao Cao only dared to imprison Ma Teng immediately, but did not dare to let Ma Teng help persuade Ma Chao to surrender. Ma Teng was also unwilling to help, because such matters could not gain mutual trust.

If it involves rebellion, the whole family will be exterminated. Now you are talking well, but you don't let people go freely. Isn't that just taking advantage of nothing?
Realizing that it was difficult to convince each other on this issue, the relationship between Cao Cao and Ma Teng temporarily came to a standstill.

Fortunately, on the other side, Zhong Yao had already defended Tongguan, and Cao Cao would be able to reach Tongguan in a few days, so there was no need to be too anxious.

It was getting late today, so they were going to rest and continue marching tomorrow. Cao Cao ordered Xu Chu to send Ma Tengli to the other courtyard to stay there, and to provide him with food, clothing and daily necessities as usual.

Cao Cao himself planned to discuss behind closed doors how to gain mutual trust.

At least today's test has proved that Ma Teng is willing to cooperate. If the other party has this intention, rather than refusing to surrender, then there is still a way out.

……

After Ma Teng was sent away, Cao Cao urgently discussed countermeasures with Xun You and Guo Jia.

Both of them had followed Cao Cao for many years and were familiar with Cao Cao's decision-making process and his concerns. After a while, Xun You pointed out:

"I think the Prime Minister can continue to focus on winning over General Pang De, regardless of whether Ma Piqi is willing to persuade his son to surrender and shake the morale of the Xiliang army. At least in the past few years, General Pang has been quite favored by us, and he also has the loyalty to serve the court directly without Ma Piqi.

While on the way west, the Prime Minister can test his heart and try it with kindness. If Pang De can lead a part of the Xiliang soldiers to attack Ma Chao, and the main force of the imperial court will follow. When the Xiliang rebels see that their old friends are unwilling to join them, their morale will surely collapse. In this way, it will not be difficult to defeat Ma Chao. "

Upon hearing this, Cao Cao nodded repeatedly and agreed with it deeply.

In this life, Ma Chao's momentum and strength were much weaker than when he started his army in history. Another key factor was that in this life, Cao Cao paid attention to Pang De much earlier and with much greater strength.

Since Cao Cao offered Ma Teng and Pang De a high reward five years ago to help fight against the high officials of Bingzhou and Guo Yuan of the Yuan family, the rewards and promotions given to Pang De by Cao Cao have always been much higher than those in the same period of history. Pang De also admired the strong and was willing to work hard for the Xudu court to win a glorious title.

The two sides hit it off immediately and have been on good terms for several years, which has led to the fact that now that Ma Chao has started a rebellion, Pang De has been trapped in the court, and Pang De is no longer on the same page with Ma Chao.

This also meant that the effectiveness of Ma Chao's uprising in this life would be much lower than that of the same period in history, as he simply did not have the capital to make it too big.

From Cao Cao's point of view, as long as he could treat Pang De differently and prevent him from being implicated by Ma Teng and Ma Chao, father and son, and then give him high trust, and offer him an official position and heavy rewards, Xun You felt that this man could be used.

Cao Cao also felt that he had no better choice, so he had to take this small gamble.

"This is a very good idea. I will take off my clothes and give him food, just like Emperor Gaozu did to Han Xin. Without further ado, I will summon Pang Lingming tonight for a private drink. Zhongkang, you will also have to retreat behind the screen and not show up. Pang Lingming will not be allowed to carry weapons when he meets me."

Cao Cao was very generous and willing to take risks. He decided to summon Pang De alone at this sensitive moment and personally persuade him to drink to show his trust and consolation. In order to let Pang De feel this trust, Cao Cao was even willing to let Xu Chu hide first. As long as there was no accident, he should never speak or show his face. In this way, Pang De would see that the prime minister was not worried about him and treated him as his own, and he would definitely sincerely attack Ma Chao for the prime minister.

Xun You and Guo Jia did not object, but Xu Chu could not help but yell a few words in a low voice after hearing it, obviously for Cao Cao's personal safety.

However, Cao Cao severely rebuked him: "What time is it now? Besides, Pang De has no weapon. If he really attacks suddenly, I have my sword. Can't I hold him off for a few breaths? Or do you, Zhongkang, not have the confidence to take the initiative and subdue him?"

Xu Chu was provoked like this and had nothing to say, so he roared like a tiger and agreed.

Soon, Cao Cao arranged everything and Pang De was brought in quickly.

Pang De was also very upset, but only slightly better than Ma Teng. He was surprised to see that the Prime Minister had no opinion about him.

Cao Cao took off his clothes and gave him food as planned, poured wine for Pang De personally, and talked about the past, mostly about Pang De's contributions to the court and the injuries he had suffered in the past five years.

When Cao Cao spoke, it seemed as if he was speaking in a leisurely manner, as if he suddenly thought of it on the spur of the moment.

In fact, before summoning Pang De, he had already reviewed and done his homework. He specifically asked Xun You to find all the information about Pang De's meritorious service and memorize it before the battle.

At this moment, Pang De was so moved that he burst into tears when he heard the Prime Minister remember his contributions so clearly, not forgetting every single one of them.

"Your Excellency, please understand! I cannot coexist with the thief Ma Chao! I am grateful for your trust in me and for not comparing me with the Ma family. I will never be able to repay your kindness with my life! I will serve my country for the rest of my life without hesitation! Even if I die on the battlefield, I will not be able to repay your kindness. I will be loyal to my ancestors for generations!"

As he was speaking, Pang De's eyes became dazed. He glanced around, picked up a chopstick from the food table next to him, and stabbed it hard into the edge of his arm.

Cao Cao's heart trembled, and he subconsciously waved his sleeves and made a gesture to stop him.

The swaying of his sleeves created a rustling sound in the wind, which also covered up the slight noise behind the screen. Xu Chu had originally wanted to rush out when he saw Pang De suddenly behave abnormally, but when he saw the prime minister waving his sleeves to stop him, he held back and did not ruin his plan.

"Ah!" Pang De screamed, stabbed his arm and bled, then pulled out the chopsticks, broke them and swore an oath, just like Lu Bu stabbed his arm and bled in front of Wang Yun and swore to kill the traitor Dong Zhuo.

Cao Cao would naturally give face to Wang Yun and quickly helped Pang De up: "You don't have to do this! You are you, Ma Chao is Ma Chao, when have I ever not trusted you?"

As he spoke, Cao Cao personally tore off a piece of his robe, bandaged Pang De's wound to stop the bleeding, and said many comforting words before sending Pang De away.

"Pang Lingming is finally stable, but how can we gain trust from Ma Teng himself? Letting him go and quell the rebellion on his own is definitely not an option. It is also a bit difficult to let Pang Lingming monitor him, after all, he is his former master..."

Cao Cao thought to himself and still felt a little headache.

……

However, Cao Cao's headache didn't last long.

Just as he had settled Pang De and was walking back in the courtyard, a eunuch suddenly came over to report that Sima Yi, a clerk in the Prime Minister's Office, wanted to see him for something.

Ever since Sima Yi had made contributions to Cao Cao through his elder brother Sima Lang in framing Si Tu Zhao Wen and helping Cao Cao clear out the three officials and re-establish the prime minister, Cao Cao thought he was a talent and slightly adjusted his position.

From an ordinary literary official, he was transferred to a more important position as a Cao official. When Cao Cao went on the expedition, a considerable number of his Cao officials would accompany him, and Sima Yi was naturally among them.

Because when Sima Yi first followed Cao Cao, he was dealing with this kind of infighting in the court and secretly finding excuses to eliminate dissidents.

After Zhao Wen was overthrown, Ma Teng took the lead in submitting a petition to establish a prime minister, and Sima Yi was more or less involved. This led to him being very familiar with the relevant matters. Today, when he heard that the prime minister was worried about this matter, he certainly came to offer advice.

After being summoned by Cao Cao, Sima Yi took a deep breath cautiously, and then said boldly: "I heard that the Prime Minister is worried about how to gain the trust of Ma Teng. I am a fool, but I have some ideas. I sincerely ask the Prime Minister to give me a chance to throw out some ideas and ask for your advice."

Cao Cao had already experienced too much stimulation today and was already tired. He just waved his hand weakly, indicating Sima Yi to speak casually.

Sima Yi then pulled himself together and said, "I think that the Prime Minister could make an oath with the General of the Cavalry pointing to the Yellow River in front of the three armies when we swear to attack Ma Chao. As long as the General of the Cavalry sacrifices his own family for the sake of justice, the Prime Minister will never pursue the matter of the father-son relationship...

Of course, this is just the first step, a superficial idea. There are still many follow-up details to be guaranteed..."

Sima Yi was afraid that his words might seem presumptuous and frivolous, so he spoke very softly and cautiously.

He didn't dare to look up at Cao Cao's eyes, so he secretly stared at Cao Cao's legs and feet while speaking, trying to see if Cao Cao's legs were shaking because of anger or unwillingness.

-

PS: I think there is nothing wrong with Sima Yi's proposal. There is nothing controversial about it. As long as Cao Cao swears and keeps his promise, everything will be fine.

The mistake is not in the swearing part, but in the regretting part.

(End of this chapter)