After Zhuge Liang came back, because of the bumper harvest of grain in Jingnan, he was in charge of the public security dispatch and prepared to go to Xichuan for food and grass.

When Pang Tong returned to the public security from Leiyang County, Liu Bei naturally wanted to show off his own show. He personally apologized for the crime. Pang Tong also made a good story about the king and his subjects.

Liu Bei met Pang Tong again and was very happy. He thought to himself: "Sima De once said, "Fu Long, Feng Chu, if two people get one, you can rest assured the world." Now we both have it, the Han Dynasty can prosper!" So he appointed Pang Tong as the deputy military advisor General, and praised the strategy with Kong Ming.

Kong Ming was busy with political strategy, and Pang Tong specialized in training soldiers and waiting for the conquest.

The so-called emperor and ministers were sent to the emperor in the past. In the past, Kong Ming was in charge of the army. The generals in the army were nothing more than Guan, Zhang, Zhao and Kong Ming used troops, and also decided on Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun.

Now these people have become the pillars of Liu Bei's subordinates, each with their own side. Zhao Yun guards Jiangling, Guan Yu guards Jiangxia, and Zhang Fei patrols Jiangjingnan and Jingnan. They are no longer able to leave the guarding place.

Pang Tong's training troops this time was mainly to march into Xichuan. Although the soldiers had drawn 30,000, the generals who led the troops were not yet determined.

What I fear most when leading the army to fight is that I am not familiar with my generals. Although Pang Tong only trains troops, as a military advisor, these leading generals were naturally selected by him so that they could use them easily.

Fortunately, the Pang family was in Jingzhou for many years, and Pang Tong had been planning a good army for a long time. He wanted to serve Liu Biao and secretly inspected the generals of Jingzhou, and many people were available.

The generals of Jingzhou, Pang Tong, were the ones who could be attracted by Wen Pin, including Huang Zhong and Wei Yan. He proposed to Liu Bei that Huang Zhong and Wei Yan would be transferred to his command to train troops together.

Liu Bei also discussed with Zhuge Liang about the leadership of the generals who advanced to Xichuan. He also had a crush on Huang Zhong and Wei Yan, so he naturally cooperated with Pang Tong very much, leaving only Liu Pan to guard You County alone, and transferred two people to the public security office.

Three months passed in a blink of an eye. Kong Ming still focused on government affairs and prepared food, grass and weapons for the expedition, but he was also very concerned about Pang Tong's training.

Although Pang Tong was full of strategy, he was talking about military affairs on paper after all. It was the first time for the supervisor to train sergeants, and he had to train 30,000 troops at once. During the training, he was inevitably faced with various problems and was overwhelmed.

Zhuge Liang promised Zhang Fei to reuse Ma Su, so he naturally would not break his promise. When he saw that Pang Tong was too busy and the period of calling Ma Su was ripe, he asked Liu Bei and said:

"Lord, Pang Shiyuan is a little too busy to train a 30,000 army, so he needs to find an assistant; Ma Su is the cousin of the Barbarian King Shamoke, and has a high prestige among the barbarian generals. It is a bit unruly to settle Wuling for a long time. Ma Su once assisted Xu Yuanzhi in training troops, so it would be better to use the tooth goalkeeper Xiang Chong to exchange Ma Su from Wuling and assist Pang Shiyuan in training troops."

Liu Bei trusted Zhuge Liang very much. His proposal was reasonable and naturally he would not refuse.

But because Ma Su was already engaged in Jingzhou, his status and treatment were similar to Pang Tong's military advisor General.

Now that Ma Su is allowed to enter the army, there is no corresponding military position. Therefore, Liu Bei is also undecided about how to arrange Ma Su's position. In the end, he has to ask Kong Ming for advice.

Kong Ming had already had a lot of conspiracy in his heart, but he didn't want to overestimate the enemy, which caused Liu Bei's unhappiness.

Now that Liu Bei asked, Kong Ming thought for a moment and replied:

"Lord, during the Battle of Chibi, Sun Quan appointed Lu Su as the captain of the Zan Army and assisted Zhou Yu in military affairs. His position was equivalent to that of the military advisor, but he was in an auxiliary position. The lord might as well follow this example and also appointed Ma Su as the captain of the Zan Army and assisted Pang Shiyuan in training troops."

When Liu Bei heard what Kong Ming said made sense, the day after Ma Su arrived, he announced the appointment of Ma Su as the captain of the Zan Army, and trained troops with Pang Tong, preparing to march into Xichuan.

But in order not to arouse Liu Zhang's vigilance, he proposed the slogan "Northern Expedition to the Central Plains and Eliminate the Han thieves!" to the outside world.

...

...

Liu Bei was training his troops, and someone had already reported to Xuchang.

Cao Ren, who was guarding Xiangyang, dared not be careless and wrote a letter to Cao Cao, saying that Liu Bei used Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong as the military advisor, and Ma Su as the lieutenant of the Pang military, recruited troops and bought horses, accumulated grass and garrisoned grain, and connected Eastern Wu, and would launch troops to the north sooner or later.

Since Cao Cao was defeated in Chibi, he has always wanted to take revenge. When he heard that Liu Bei was preparing to attack the Central Plains in the north, he naturally could not ignore it. So he summoned all the advisers to discuss the southern expedition of Liu Bei.

Cao Cao had many advisers. Cheng Yu had been alienated by Cao Cao because of his miscalculation in planning Jiangdong. He remained silent under the tent. Jia Xu always kept himself safe and never spoke actively. The scene was a bit depressing. Xun You saw that he couldn't stop talking, so he stood up and suggested to Cao Cao:

"Prime Minister, in the Battle of Chibi, Sun Quan relied on Zhou Yu's strength to win! He personally led his troops to attack Hefei, with ten times more troops than me, and was defeated by Wen Yuan. From this point of view, there are not many generals who can fight in Jiangdong! Now that Zhou Yu is dead, he can attack Sun Quan first and then attack Liu Bei."

Although Cao Cao hated Zhou Yu deeply, he still recognized Zhou Yu's talent very much. When he heard Xun You's right, he wanted to attack Jiangdong first and seek revenge on Chibi to find the main son and grandson Quan. However, he was still hesitant and said:

"If I go to Jiangdong, I am afraid that the horses in Xiliang will be tung, so Han then attacked Xudu. When I was in Chibi, there were rumors in the army, and it was also said that the invasion of Xiliang was affected, which will affect our army's morale. Now we must guard against it."

Xun You proposed to conquer Jiangdong and considered the matter of Xiliang, so he said to Cao Cao:

"Which I saw, it would be better to issue an edict to add Ma Teng as the general of the Southern Expedition, and ask him to lead thousands of Xiliang troops and horses to attack Sun Quan. In fact, he would lure him into the capital and be under house arrest, and then there would be no trouble in the southern expedition."

When Cao Cao heard this, he was overjoyed and sent someone to bring an edict to Xiliang to summon Ma Teng into the capital.

...

...

Ma Teng, whose courtesy name is Shoucheng, was descended from Ma Yuan, the general of Fubo of Han Dynasty. It is said that he was also descended from Ma Fujun Zhao She.

Ma Teng's father was named Su, with his courtesy name Zishuo. He was the commander of Langan County in Tianshui during the reign of Emperor Huan. Later, he lost his official position and lived in Longxi, and was mixed with Qiang people, so he married Qiang girl Teng.

Ma Teng was eight feet tall, had a majestic appearance, had a strong martial arts skills, and was gentle and respected by many people. When he was young, he was accused of defeating the thieves and became brothers with General Han Sui, the general of Zhenxi.

After receiving the envoy's imperial edict that day, Ma Teng was a little undecided and discussed with his eldest son Ma Chao:

"Since I received the emperor's belt edict with Dong Cheng, I have made an appointment with Liu Xuande to fight against Cao's thieves. Unfortunately, Dong Cheng is dead and Xuande has been defeated repeatedly. I am also remote in Xiliang and have not been able to assist Xuande. Now I have heard that Xuande has obtained Jingzhou, and I am about to show my past ambitions, but Cao Cao comes to summon me. What should I do?"

Ma Chao is extremely brave and has a high prestige in Ma Teng's army. He has a great ambition and often wants to send troops to seek Guanzhong!

But because his father Ma Teng was in charge of the army, although he was a major general, he had no choice but to make decisions about many things. In fact, he hoped that Ma Teng would go to Xuchang, so that he could monopolize the power and avenge his grudges! He replied:

"Cao Cao was ordered by the emperor to summon his father. If his father did not go, Cao Cao would definitely attack us on the charge of violating the imperial edict. His father should take advantage of his visit to summon thousands of elite troops to Xuchang and connect with others and seek affairs in it, and then his past ambitions can be realized."

Ma Teng's nephew Ma Dai, whose father died early, has always been with Ma Teng. He is cautious. Although his courage is inferior, his wisdom is worse than Ma Chao. His prestige in the army is not bad, so he said to Ma Teng:

"Cao Cao has ulterior motives. If his uncle goes to Xuchang, he may be harmed."

Ma Chao didn't want to return his father, but he was afraid that the world would be in chaos, and he also relied on his courage to make achievements on the battlefield. He said with murderous intent:

"Don't have to worry about my father. He is trapped in Xiliang and will be defeated by Cao Cao sooner or later. I wish to raise all the troops from Xiliang, follow his father to Xuchang, capture and kill Cao Cao, and eliminate harm to the world. What's wrong?"

As the leader of the Ma clan of Fufeng, Ma Teng was responsible for the safety of hundreds of people. He considered the problem, but Ma Chao could not be as simple as that. After thinking for a long time, he decided to say:

"The Ma family has been loyal and kind for generations. Although the imperial edict is just Cao Cao's intention, it cannot be violated! Meng Qi, you will be in charge of the Qiang army to guard Xiliang. This time I will only take your younger brother Ma Xiu, Ma Tie and Ma Dai with me to Xuchang. Cao Cao saw that you were in Xiliang and your uncle Han Sui helped me, so I would not dare to harm me at will."

Although Ma Chao wanted to be the leader, after all, the father and son had a deep affection, and was still very worried about the safety of his father and brother's life, so he instructed:

"My father wanted to go to Xuchang in person, so he only set his army outside the city, and then he could go directly south. He must not enter Xuchang city lightly, so as not to be captured by Cao Cao.

Ma Chao was still worried, so he turned his face to Ma Dai and his two younger brothers and said:

"You guys, please cherish your soldiers, firmly grasp the military power in your hands, adapt to the situation, observe the movements, and leave your father's safety to you."
Chapter completed!