Now that he had decided to adopt Zhuge Liang's strategy, Liu Xie began to prepare for the departure. Unexpectedly, in the spring of the third year of Long'an, when the snow first melted and the glaciers began to melt, King Heng Tuoba Liwei once again sent an envoy to the court to state his interests and narrate the various disobedience of Xianbei by Murong and Kushanguan. signs, and expressed his willingness to lead his own army to conquer the two thieves for the imperial court.
After Liu Xie received the report, he changed from his usual enthusiastic attitude towards the Xianbei people and kept these envoys aside on the pretext of discussing in Taige. It was not until the third day that he formally received the Xianbei envoy in the palace. The leader of this group of envoys was named Baba Wu. When he met the emperor, although he looked embarrassed and nervous, his posture was always as upright as a pine, his words and deeds were neither humble nor arrogant, and he appeared to be courageous.
Ba Bawu was not good at words, so he came up and asked: "What do you think of His Majesty the Emperor? My king has been waiting in Saibei for most of the autumn and winter. Now the horses are starting to lose weight. If he doesn't reply, I'm afraid he will have to wait until June this year." ”
The more anxious the Xianbei people became, the more calm Liu Xie became. He said slowly: "Prince Heng and I are related by marriage. How can we despise the alliance between our family and our country? It's just that sending troops is not a trivial matter. It is related to the overall situation of the country, so we have to be cautious. I When urging Taige, the ministers always said to wait a few more days, I am also anxious! You wait a few more days until the results are available, and then report back to King Heng." Then he sent them away again and called General Ma Chao went to receive them.
However, due to the long delay of Ba Ba Wu, after ten days, a second batch of Xianbei envoys came to inquire about the current situation. This also shows that Tuoba Liwei attached great importance to this matter. Maybe he also felt that after the new emperor ascended the throne, the relationship between the two countries began to become subtle and sensitive.
Ma Chao was forty-one years old at this time. After being promoted to General of the Southern Conquest, he was also named Marquis of Yiyang. He was one of the few Marquis of Ten Thousand Households in the imperial court. He went to the Xianbei people's residence. After entering, those people had already gathered together to wait for him. That day, Ma Chao wore a white military uniform with cross-collar and narrow sleeves, and a gold-studded belt around his waist. He was eight feet tall and handsome. When the people of Xianbei saw him, they couldn't help whispering: "There are such beautiful talents in China!" They quickly invited him in and made room for him to sit on the chairman's chair.
Ma Chao was only equipped with a short sword, and he knelt on the mat. Hu, the same group of people, explained: Since the Liao people failed to be wiped out the year before, the country attached great importance to this expedition. It would select 50,000 elite soldiers from the five prefectures, and it was bound to be established in one battle. Powerful, so it takes a long time.
Unexpectedly, the Xianbei people were very angry when they heard his explanation. The leader, Babawu, stood up suddenly and cursed in Xianbei dialect: "We know that the Celestial Empire has millions of soldiers, but it took so long. I'm afraid it's not against the thieves." , but the intention is for my king!" Seeing the leader stand up, the group of barbarians rushed to draw their swords first, with more than ten dazzling blades dancing in front and behind Ma Chao. This is like throwing a stone into a crowd of crows competing for food, causing a commotion among the crows. The Xianbei translator, who was sitting next to Ma Chao, turned pale with fright when he saw the barbarian suddenly having a seizure. He hurriedly lowered his head and covered his face, not daring to say anything.
But Ma Chao was unmoved, and said calmly in shock: "The two countries are married and have been friends for two generations. How can the emperor be suspicious for no reason? He just wants to succeed in the battle and not cause disaster to the people." He pushed it with his hand. The translator next to him asked him to tell the Xianbei people, and continued: "You and I are both real men, and we have always been upright in fighting. How could we play some tricks for no reason? I believe that the warriors of Xianbei are also concerned about this kind of behavior." Disdainful."
After hearing these words and seeing that Ma Chao spoke calmly throughout, the Xianbei people calmed down. They all put their knives in their sheaths, sat down to drink buttermilk, and talked to each other loudly, as if they were in a market. After a while, Ba Bawu asked Ma Chao through the translator: "You are so calm, you must be a famous warrior on the battlefield, right?" Ma Chao smiled and said nothing, lifted up his sleeves to reveal his arms, and saw scars all over his arms. , and the dents left by the penetration between the branches. All the barbarians were overjoyed to see him. Some people said, "Men have scars, just like women have beautiful faces. They look more pleasing to the eye." The Xianbei people had some admiration for Ma Chao.
The leader added: "When we arrived in China, there were too many etiquettes among people. Except for my king, many of them were not used to walking in the streets, so they shot willows by the river for fun. General, do you want to come together and try it?" After hearing this, Ma Chao said, He stood up and said, "Just what I want!"
The group of people came to the back of the house and saw a grass seed bag hanging on the branch of a willow tree by the river in the distance, estimated to be a hundred and twenty steps away. The barbarian took the bow and arrow, gave it to Ma Chao, and asked him to go forward to the tip of his tongue. Ma Chao saw a line drawn where he stood for archery, about eighty steps away from the target, so he waved his hand and said, "No need to go, it's right here." After that, he stood a hundred steps away, nocked an arrow, drew his bow, and pointed it at the bag. Shot away with an arrow. As soon as it hit the target, the arrow passed through the boat bag, and the grass seeds inside fell out.
When the crowd saw it, they all clapped and applauded. He ordered his servant to take the broken bag, replace it with a new cloth bag, fill it with grass seeds, and hang it up. Ba Ba Wu asked for an arrow, and this time he handed it to Ma Chao politely. Without hesitation, Ma Chao re-cocked the arrow, aimed at the target, lowered his shoulders, took a breath, remained calm, then raised his finger and released the arrow. With a whizzing sound, he hit the target again.
This time the Xianbei people did not applaud. Ba Bawu looked solemn, bowed and saluted and said: "It may have been a fluke once, but the second time I can only say that you are a sharpshooter. I hope I don't meet you on the battlefield!"
Ma Chao heard this, stroking his fingers and laughing.
Ba Bawu noticed that Ma Chao was not wearing a jade, so he took off the jade jade on his right thumb without hesitation, handed it to Ma Chao with both hands, and said, "This rare treasure is perfect for you to wear on your finger!" Ma Chao saw it. The jade was green and clear. I knew it was a rare treasure, so I thanked him and accepted it. When the barbarians saw it, they all gathered around and rushed to bequeath their treasures.
But after this incident, the court also knew that Tuoba Xianbei's patience might have reached its limit. Liu Xie privately told Taiwan ministers: "Raising Xianbei in Yunbei is like feeding a wolf in a cage. It can neither starve him to death nor stimulate his ferocity. I don't know how many years it will take to raise a good dog." !”
Zhuge Liang said: "Although I said in my policy statement that I should be wary of Xianbei, it is true as Wu Qi said that strengthening the foundation of the country is not in danger. As long as the court diligently cultivates politics and remains strong for a hundred years, it will naturally win over the foreigners."
Liu Xie said "hmm" and finally ordered Wei Xi to draft an edict, and also ordered Liu Fang to find Ba Bawu and others to deliver oral instructions: "The matter of sending troops has been decided. In March of this year, the country sent 50,000 cavalry. General Meng Da is the chief general, and General Zhou Buyi is the deputy general. Your army only needs to send people to guide the way, and the battle will be successful."
The barbarians were all a little disappointed when they heard that the general was not Ma Chao, but they were happy after all when they finally got the answer. They saluted Liu Fang and said, "Since the country is preparing to send troops, my king will not fall behind. Today The mission has been completed, and we are waiting for the army of the king in the royal court! See you in March!" He took the edict and left in a hurry that night.
Not long after, one day at a party at the Prime Minister's Mansion, Ma Chao sat next to Chen Chong and drank for a while. Chen Chong noticed that there was a large jade ornament on Ma Chao's hand. It looked familiar and he glanced at it frequently. Ma Chao had always been on good terms with Chen Chong. Seeing that he looked strange, he took it off and showed it to him. Chen Chong didn't answer, but asked him: "Is there two small characters 'North and South' engraved on the inside of Yujue?" Ma Chao hurriedly took a closer look. If it was true, he was shocked and asked Chen Chong how he knew it.
Chen Chong said sadly: "To be honest, this should be the relic of my disciple Xu Yuanzhi! The two characters 'north and south' were carved by my uncle-in-law, which I asked my uncle-in-law to carve. It means 'across the north and south, to pacify the Kyushu'. I cut this jade I gave it to him in the hope that he could assist the late emperor and achieve great things, but unexpectedly he died in the middle of the road, and the jade sword was missing. This dragon style was carved by me after I carefully selected it, and asked the master to carve it. I can still see you today.”
Ma Chao was startled and asked hurriedly: "When did it happen? I had indeed heard about Xu Shu's reputation back then, but I didn't know that the Prime Minister was so optimistic about it?"
Chen Chong said: "At that time, the late Emperor and I had just entered Chang'an, and Yuan Zhi was the military advisor. He was the leader in defeating the bandits of Heishan, Yuan Shu, and Gengcang. Unfortunately, he died after the Bohai War, and even his descendants None of them are left behind, and I don’t know how many people will remember them in future generations.”
"Ah, the Prime Minister said that, and I remembered it. At that time, I was still fighting with the Qiang people in Longshang. When talking about the talents of the Central Plains, after the Prime Minister was Xu Yuanzhi, and even Cao Cao was not famous!" Ma Chao also regarded the Xianbei envoy as Tell Chen Chong the story of the gift of jade.
Chen Chong hurriedly asked the name of the Xianbei envoy, but he said to himself: "Yuanzhi was killed twenty years ago. At that time, he was killed by Cao's army. Tuoba Xianbei has been included in my account. It can't be him who is in charge of Yuan Zhi. In the past twenty years, this jade sword has probably changed its owners many times."
Ma Chao looked at the jade stone in his hand that had gone through vicissitudes of life and said: "Everyone says that a good thing can be exchanged for hundreds of owners. It has lasted for thousands of years. This is true. I think this jade has the first sign." He wanted to return the jade stone to Chen Chong, but Chen Chong hurriedly declined. He said: "No, it's just a coincidence. Now that you have Meng Qi, you are his true master, and you deserve it." Then he thought again: "This thing has been tossed around and changed so many owners. I don't know if Meng Qi can wear it." How long?" But Ma Chao drank calmly and didn't seem to think so much.
It turned out that Ma Chao was still regretting that he could not lead the army to the north. But after the Ma Dai case, he is no longer the young man who rode his horse in the right direction, and he has become more and more aware of the overall situation of the court. He thought to himself that since he was already a highly respected minister, as long as he could preserve the family's wealth, he could do whatever the Lord asked him to do. Although he still yearned to make achievements, he was not as enthusiastic as before.
In a blink of an eye, it was early March. Meng Da and Zhou Buyi set out from Luoyang with 50,000 cavalry, and Liu Xie personally drove them to Heqiao. At that time, the spring was lingering, and thousands of green willow silks hung down like green hair. Through the shade of the willow trees, Ke saw the empty blue sky on both sides of the river beach.
