I did it all for the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 351 Coward
Fu Gan quickly stepped forward and grabbed Ma Chao's arm: "Young General, you mustn't!"

"Why not?"

Ma Chao was already heading to get the sword hanging on the wall!

"Yuan Shao has now cut off my finances! How can I remain indifferent?"

Fu Gan hurriedly tugged at Ma Chao's sleeve: "Young General! With Yuan Shao's current power, how can a small corner of Xiliang possibly resist him?"

Instead of calmly debating with Fu Gan, Ma Chao recounted his previous conversation with Liu Miao to Fu Gan.

"I also had my doubts at the time about whether His Majesty's proposed path would be viable. Why don't you guess what His Majesty said?"

In order to appease Ma Chao, Fu Gan could only follow up with the question: "What did His Majesty say?"

"His Majesty said, if we don't try, who knows!"

Ma Chao already had the sword in his hand.

"Your Majesty rose from humble beginnings. When you were trapped in Jiangdong by Yuan Shu, did you know that you would definitely be able to defeat him?"

"Yuan Shao came with great force, seemingly poised to sweep across the land! But what will the final outcome be?"

Ma Chao made no attempt to hide his disdain for those around him.

"If His Majesty listened to you, the Han Dynasty would have perished long ago!"

Fu Gan pleaded desperately, "But that's His Majesty! How could an ordinary person do what the emperor can do?"

"So what if he's the emperor? We're all emperors of the Han Dynasty, so how come some people shamelessly relinquish the throne to others in front of our ancestors' temples? How come some people are able to resist Yuan Shao and rebuild the Han Dynasty?"

Ma Chao never thought that the identity of the Emperor of Han was anything special!

What can a title or name represent?
If we don't try, who knows!
Fu Gan couldn't stop Ma Chao. Watching Ma Chao's departing figure, Fu Gan stamped his feet repeatedly, saying, "Liu Miao! What have you been teaching the young master?!"

Fu Gan was afraid that Ma Chao would cause trouble, so he quickly went to invite Ma Teng to discipline Ma Chao.

When Ma Teng heard that Ma Chao was going to fight Yuan Shao, his vision went black and he almost fainted!

"You unfilial son! You unfilial son! The lives of my entire family will one day be lost to you!"

Ma Teng hurriedly led his cavalry to pursue Ma Chao, and finally caught up with him at the foot of Chang'an City.

"You unfilial son! What are you doing?"

An ordinary person would have been half-defeated by the sight of their own father chasing after them in such a menacing manner.

But was Ma Chao an ordinary person?

Upon seeing Ma Teng, he neither dismounted nor bowed, but instead shouted at the top of his lungs, "Today I will go to punish the traitors of Han!"

"Bullshit! Punishing traitors of the Han? You're not worthy to punish traitors of the Han! Come home with me right now!"

Ma Teng was furious!

And to punish the traitors of the Han?
You look like a traitor to the Han!
Ma Chao rode on a fine steed from Xiliang, seemingly oblivious to what was happening.

"Father! Your gun is dull! Your horse is old! If you don't want to do it, then let me do it!"

"You unfilial son, what the hell did you say?!"

Although Ma Teng came from a poor background, he was usually calm, magnanimous and polite when talking to others. However, when he spoke to Ma Chao, he would ask about his wife every three sentences, and his face would turn red with anger!

"Father! This is the truth!"

Seeing that Ma Teng was truly angry, Ma Chao stopped being in a hurry.

"Father! You know better than I how miserable and poor Xiliang is!"

"We'd like to live a peaceful life! But how can we support so many people with just what we have on the land?"

"I recently visited many Qiang tribes, and many women there can't even produce breast milk! If this continues, they'll rebel sooner or later!"

"Just because Dong Zhuo and Cao Cao gave you two seals, you really think you're a loyal subject of the Han Dynasty? You're going to obediently guard the frontier?"

Ma Chao spat out a mouthful of saliva—

"Bullshit!"

"Father! Why have we been so well-behaved all these years? It's because we took advantage of the chaos in Guanzhong after Dong Zhuo's death and raided the Three Auxiliary Regions! Do you really think you're some kind of unparalleled saint?"

"Once we run out of the looted food, we won't be able to stop looting! Do you understand?"

“I don’t want to be a bandit for the rest of my life! Nor do I want my descendants to be bandits! Now His Majesty has shown us a bright path! It’s the only path in decades where we don’t have to be bandits! Now someone is trying to cut off this path. If I don’t fight him to the death, do you think it will work?”

"Father, you don't need to worry about the war! My eight hundred Xiliang cavalrymen are more than enough!"

"..."

Ma Teng's face turned from red to white, and then from white to green.

Ma Chao's words are correct.

If Xiliang were truly wealthy, and the people could feed themselves by growing grain every year, why would they need to fight a war?
And those Qiang people.

If they weren't desperate to survive, who would want to fight against the well-equipped Han Chinese?
From childhood to adulthood, Ma Teng has witnessed and experienced at least hundreds, or even thousands, of battles!
And each time, it was because of a lack of food and money that the trouble started.

The battles that took place in Xiliang were different from the warlord conflicts that occurred in the Central Plains.

What about restoring the Han Dynasty?

What do you mean by "peace and tranquility under heaven"?

This is all bullshit! These people can't even read a few characters! What does it matter to them whether it's heaven or earth, Han or Han, righteous or unrighteous?
The hundreds and thousands of battles that took place in Xiliang can be summed up in one word:

hungry!
Now that Ma Chao has finally found a way by following Liu Miao's method, how could he not fight desperately?

……

Ma Teng, who was initially furious, actually came to understand Ma Chao.

Ma Teng was particularly moved by Ma Chao's words, "I do not wish to be a bandit myself, nor do I wish my descendants to be bandits."

Those within the family know their own situation. Although they were granted the titles of general and marquis by the Han Dynasty, most people in the world still regarded the Western Liang warlords as rebels and bandits, fundamentally different from the Central Plains warlords such as Liu Miao, Cao Cao, and Yuan Shao.

The descendant of the dignified General Ma Yuan has turned to treasonous acts. What else could this be but a disgrace to his ancestors?
Moreover, Ma Chao is right.

Once the previously looted food is used up, in order to maintain such a large and independent army, won't they eventually have to resort to plundering again?

No matter how powerful the Han or Zhao dynasties were, they couldn't let people go hungry, could they?

Thinking of the future that was inevitable sooner or later, Ma Teng finally let out a long sigh.

“Mengqi, I understand what you mean.”

"But you can't beat Yuan Shao! Do you really think that just because Yuan Shao suffered two defeats at the hands of Liu Miao, he's a useless piece of trash?"

Seeing that Ma Teng's attitude had softened, Ma Chao not only did not retreat, but instead extended an invitation to Ma Teng.

"It is naturally difficult for me to defeat Yuan Shao on my own!"

"But if Father is willing to lend me a hand! If we can gather the military leaders from various places, such as Han Sui, Liang Xing, and Yang Qiu, together, wouldn't we be able to defeat Yuan Shao?"

Ma Teng was once again somewhat exasperated by Ma Chao's naiveté.

Young people with ideas and courage are truly enviable.

But those unrealistic fantasies can really give you a headache!
Why should those military leaders from Guanzhong come to help Ma Chao?
Even if it were Han Sui, why would he help you fight against Yuan Shao?

Not only will these people not help, they might even be lurking in the shadows, waiting for Ma Teng to fall so they can take advantage of his misfortune and feast on the corpses of Ma Teng and Ma Chao!

Just as Ma Teng was about to reprimand Ma Chao for not understanding the wickedness of human nature, a troop of soldiers suddenly ran towards Chang'an.

The Ma family father and son, unsure whether they were enemies or friends, instantly fell into a solemn silence.

Only when the group approached and they could clearly see the Yan Han flag fluttering at the front did the two men feel relieved.

"Zhong Yao, Commandant of the Capital Region, greets the General!"

The one who personally rode over was Zhong Yao, whom Cao Cao had left in Guanzhong and who had assisted Liu Miao in defeating Yuan Tan.

Zhong Yao's face was much thinner than when Ma Chao last saw him, and his hair had turned white, making Ma Chao almost unable to recognize him!

"How come you look so haggard after not seeing you for several months, Crouching Tiger (an old title for the Commandant of the Capital Region)?"

"It's just that I'm heartbroken for the country."

The words "I grieve for my country" seem light and casual, yet they reveal countless sorrows.

Because he was far from the Central Plains battlefield and Guanzhong was too devastated, Zhong Yao could only watch the grand drama unfold in the Central Plains from the sidelines.

First, Yuan Tan attacked, and Liu Miao assisted him, making the war against Yuan Tan very successful.

Then things took a sharp turn for the worse. Cao Cao retreated to Xuchang, and Yuan Shao occupied the Central Plains, utterly despondent.

But then came the news that Liu Miao had defeated Yuan Shao at Kunyang, which invigorated Zhong Yao once again!

However, the excitement didn't last long before it was said that Yuan Shao had captured Xuchang, seized the emperor, forced him to apologize to the ancestral temple, and abdicated the throne.

Then Liu Miao proclaimed himself emperor in Jinling, Jiangdong, thus resuming the Han dynasty...

Which of these things hasn't undergone tremendous changes over hundreds of years?

Especially as an observer, Zhong Yao's heart had long been riddled with holes from the ups and downs.

Your face reflects your heart.

Zhong Yao's face, already filled with confusion, was broken and no longer showed his previous determination.

The Great Zhao, which received its mandate from Heaven and accepted the abdication of the Son of Heaven.

The people were chosen by Heaven to be reborn from the ashes, becoming the great Han dynasty.

The existence of these two countries, and their respective interpretations of the law, not only carved a huge rift in the land of China, but also in the hearts of the scholar-officials who had always upheld the ideas of "great unification" and "the emperor is born holy and supreme."

It's simply that Zhong Yao's existence is somewhat special, which is why this crack appears exceptionally obvious on him.

After exchanging a few pleasantries with Ma Chao, Zhong Yao got down to business.

"There are reports that Yuan Shao is reorganizing his troops in Bingzhou, ready to attack Guanzhong at any time... I see that you have come from the west, so it must be for the same reason?"

"Exactly!"

When Ma Chao saw the crimson banner with the character "Han" above Zhong Yao's head, he naturally assumed that Zhong Yao was his ally.

"Is Crouching Tiger also here to lend us a hand?"

Ma Teng frowned slightly, looking at his rebellious son, clearly unaware of where the "we" in "we" came from.

Unexpectedly, Zhong Yao shook his head at this moment.

"I've come to persuade the general to halt the fighting."

Ma Chao initially thought he had misheard.

Zhong Yao was a loyal minister of the Han Dynasty who accompanied Liu Xie through countless hardships and came from a prominent family in Yingchuan!
What "pause in hostilities"? Is this something Zhong Yao would say?

Ma Chao was about to speak when Ma Teng interrupted him.

"May I ask, Crouching Tiger, is this Xiahou Yuanrang's intention?"

Zhong Yao stared at Ma Teng, then nodded emphatically.

"good."

"If we resist, I fear that Lord Cao and his family members will all be in danger of losing their lives..."

"coward!!!"

Ma Chao had already gripped the hilt of his sword, his eyes wide with fury: "You are all cowards!"

(End of this chapter)