Chapter 357: The Death of Celebration (Part 1)

Ma Dawei hurried to the study room in front. At this moment, Ma Siyi had been waiting for him in the room for a long time. After Ma Siyi went to Luoyang, he turned over the Yellow River and rushed to the Longyou Army to report Ma Dawei's recent situation to Zhang Huan, and then returned to Sishui City.

The task assigned to him by Zhang Huan was very simple. He instigated Ma Dawei and offered generous conditions for the governor of Peng County and the governor of Huaibei. He suspected that his brother-in-law Ma Si was full of confidence. He knew that Ma Dawei was not loyal to Cui Qinggong, and he was persuaded to follow Cui Qinggong. Now the news circulating in Luoyang City was enough to make him and Cui Qinggong turn against him.

"Why did Siqi go so long? Your entourage has been back long ago." Ma Dawei entered the house and asked him with a smile. He was actually just asking, and he did not take Ma Siqi back to heart. Without waiting for his answer, Ma Dawei directly cut the topic to the things he had been worried about in the past two days. He closed the door and whispered: "Yesterday Cui Qinggong sent his confidant to see me, trying to conspire with me to Li Shidao, but I don't know how Siqi views this matter?"

Ma Si was confident in his mind. He pondered for a moment and said, "When I was in Luoyang, I heard rumors that Ma Dawei and Li Shidao wanted to stand on their own, and they were in front of the horse and Li Hou. But now Cui Qinggong is not careful about you, but instead he wants to conspire with you to Li Shidao. What does the general think this is the intention?"

"Is this a strategy for Cui Qinggong to fight for a long distance?"

"Yes!"

Ma Siyi nodded slightly and smiled, "I thought it was not only that simple, but this was Cui Qinggong's plan to kill three birds with one stone. First, it would first cut off the possibility of you and Li Shidao's conspiracy with Luoyang; second, it would stabilize you so that you would not leave because of your lips and cold teeth. Third, it would be to use your hand to kill Li Shidao, which would be better to trigger an internal strife between you and Li Shidao, and he would come to the fisherman's advantage."

Ma Dawei frowned, and he paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, "I don't understand why Cui Qinggong did this. Now that the enemy is in front of him, he should unite me and Li Sidao, but internal conflicts occur under the enemy's eyes. This is undoubtedly a way to die. Does Cui Qinggong understand? Even if he doesn't understand, why don't his advisers dissuade Cui Qinggong?"

"Strategist?" Ma Siyi sneered repeatedly: "I used to be his chief adviser. Do I still don't know what kind of person he is? He will be valued if he can follow his will. But once he is loyal, he will kill his parents, wife and children. Who would be loyal to him? Even if someone gives advice for him, he has other intentions. Now he has clearly fallen into Zhang Huan's plan but he is unaware of it. In my opinion, he is about to die."

Ma Dawei was shocked and asked quickly: "What strategy did he get hit by Zhang Huan?"

Ma Si snorted suspiciously and said disdainfully: "The elite soldiers are all in the hands of you and Li Shidao. How can he not be afraid of it? It's just that the situation is imminent, everyone's lips and teeth are cold, and they don't care about calculating each other. But Zhang Huan suddenly withdrew his troops at this time. On the surface, he might be back to Chang'an to fight for power, or to fight against the Khitan in the north, so it would be fine if he withdrew his troops, but why did the Xiangyang army besieged Xinzheng retreat together? Did the general think of this strange thing?"

"You mean he was intentionally letting go?" Ma Dawei suddenly understood what he meant.

"Yes, this is obviously Zhang Huan deliberately created a relaxed atmosphere to relieve your pressure and make the three of you start to kill each other. Zhang Huan even did not have to cross the river at all, so he solved the civil strife in the Central Plains."

"Why are your tone the same as the court?" Ma Dawei glanced at his brother-in-law and said unhappy: "Do you also think we are civil strife in the Central Plains?"

"Then what do you think it is? Do you practice the way for heaven?" Ma Siyi asked back with a hint of mocking tone.

Ma Dawei didn't say anything for a long time. Finally, he sighed and sat down, holding his head tightly with his hands, looking very painful. Although he was regretful now, his hands and Cui Qinggong had been covered with blood over the years. He has reached this point today. Can he still go back?

Ma Siyi was very good at observing his expressions. He saw the hesitation in Ma Dawei's eyes, and smiled slightly and said, "Why don't the general continue to ask me why I have been to Luoyang for so long?"

Ma Dawei slowly raised his head and looked at him in confusion. He heard that Ma Si's suspicious tone was a different.

"It's very simple. After leaving Luoyang, I went to the north bank of the Yellow River and met Zhang Huan."

"What!" Ma Dawei was shocked. He stood up and grabbed Ma Siyi, his face became extremely fierce, and he said word by word: "Have you betrayed me?"

Ma Siyi slowly pushed away his hand and said coldly: "If I go to see Cui Qinggong, I will betray you. You have to figure this out first. Who is going to kill you?"

The fierce look on Ma Dawei's face slowly disappeared. He walked to the table and flipped through some documents on the table. Finally, he couldn't help but ask in a low voice: "What words did he ask you to bring me?"

Ma Siyi knew that he had already had the will to surrender, but he couldn't figure out Zhang Huan's attitude, so he took out a letter from his arms and handed it to him and said, "This is a handwritten letter from Shangshu Zhang. Just look at it and you will know if I'm harming you."

Ma Dawei quickly took the letter, and opened it with his hand trembling slightly. After reading it, he felt a little incredible. Zhang Huan actually promised him to be the governor of Huaibei and could continue to lead troops, but after a second thought, he understood Zhang Huan's true intention to treat him. This was actually for Li Shidao to show him! He was named the governor of Huaibei, so Li Shidao would naturally not be too bad.

At this time, Ma Siyi next to him also explained to him: "This is because Zhang Shangshu doesn't want to consume too much military force in Luoyang. He wants to go north to fight against the Uighurs and Khitan coalition forces, so he is lenient to the general and ask the general to seize this opportunity to avoid regret in the future."

Ma Dawei ignored him this time, but walked slowly in the room with his hands behind his back. He was no longer a three-year-old child. He had been in the officialdom for decades and had seen the warmth and coldness of human relationships. Zhang Huan treated him preferentially at this time just to ask him to surrender, or even show him a show for Li Shidao, and was definitely not really planning to let him continue to lead his troops. If he was ungrateful and really led his troops to Huaibei to take office, he would definitely be dead.

But if he does not surrender and continues to resist stubbornly, he will be dead and will be famous for his eternal age. Only when Zhang Huan sees this through it will he give him a military governor with ease.

Thinking of this, Ma Dawei sighed secretly, then turned around and asked Ma Siyi, "I want to make some contributions before surrendering to Zhang Huan. I wonder if you have any good suggestions?"

Ma Siyi smiled and said, "Is there a great contribution that the general can't think of?"

"You mean Cui Qinggong?" Ma Dawei shook his head repeatedly, "Impossible! He could not risk coming to me, and there was no need for him to come."

Ma Si smiled suspiciously but gloomy: "Generally speaking, he won't come, but I brought something back. I believe Cui Qinggong will definitely come for it."

Luoyang City, Cui Qinggong stared at his confidant who had just returned from Sishui City in surprise. His voice almost changed in excitement, "Are you saying that Ma Siyi has developed gunpowder?"

"It's true. I saw their experiment with my own eyes and shattered a three-meter-high wooden frame. My ears were almost deaf. It was so amazing." His confidant said in fear.

"Oh my God! The sky has eyes, but it was done at this critical moment." Cui Qinggong could no longer sit still and walked back and forth in the bedroom. He rubbed his hands and closed his eyes to thank the heavens. The extreme excitement was revealed on his face, gunpowder! Yes, as long as he had gunpowder in his hand, he would no longer be afraid of Zhang Huan. He could even march into Chang'an immediately and use gunpowder to blow up the gate of Tongguan. With gunpowder, he could even climb Hanyuan Palace in one step.

The battle in the Western Regions made the reputation of Thunder spread throughout the world. All the troops longed to possess this weapon, but it was so mysterious that it could not see its truth. They had spent nearly 200,000 jin of money on it, but they could never get a trace of its fur. They only knew that it might be gunpowder.

And now, just when he was already desperate, the God of Fate gave him another chance. Their gunpowder was successfully developed, and this opportunity was no less than that of Wadeqing's murder. It seems that the God of Fate favored him again and again. Why? Isn't this just to push himself to the 95th position?

After calming down a little, Cui Qinggong asked in detail about the process of the experiment. His confidant naturally would not deceive himself. From his description of the experiment, Cui Qinggong could immediately determine that Ma Si's gunpowder developed was Zhang Huan's Thunder.

Soon, Cui Qinggong faced another extremely realistic problem. Ma Siyi had been driven away by himself. The gunpowder he developed now belonged to Ma Dawei, not himself. Does Ma Dawei easily hand over the gunpowder to him?

Cui Qinggong began to regret it a little, regretting that he shouldn't have driven Ma Siyi away, but it was useless to regret it. He spent the whole morning restless in the palace. How could Ma Dawei hand over the gunpowder?

At noon, Zhu Tao received the order from the prince and ordered him to enter the palace quickly. Zhu Tao did not dare to neglect, so he threw down his work and rushed to the palace. Since Cui Qinggong could not recruit officials who were willing to serve him, he had to rely on Zhu Tao, who had been a cabinet minister, to throw all the government affairs of Luoyang to him for handling. Not only that, Zhu Tao was also his prince's tutor, and was responsible for assisting his second son in the administration.

Zhu Tao did not disappoint him. Not only did he handle matters of all sizes in an orderly manner, but he could also give him advice and become his chief adviser. Cui Qinggong said more than once to his generals that Zhu Tao was his Zhuge Kongming.

Like the top priority of gunpowder today, he certainly had to discuss countermeasures with Zhu Tao.

"Luoyang Yin Zhu Tao is here!" The loud voice of an eunuch echoed in the hall for a long time. Another eunuch led Zhu Tao into the palace quickly, walked through the palace gates, and underwent inspections again and again. Zhu Tao was finally taken to Cui Qinggong's bedroom.

As soon as he entered the door, Cui Qinggong said anxiously to him: "Do you know that Ma Si suspected that he had developed gunpowder that was no less powerful than Thunder?"

Zhu Tao was also surprised and asked quickly: "When is this?"

Cui Qinggong shook his head and said a little annoyed: "I don't know when I was developed. Ma Dawei concealed this matter very seriously. If my confidant had just seen them test, I would have been kept in the dark."

Zhu Tao was slightly stunned. Since it was a secret, how could Cui Qinggong's confidant know that he saw that Cui Qinggong was already burned by the good news of gunpowder, so he smiled without saying a word: "No matter what Ma Dawei is thinking, he has gunpowder in his hand. This is God's favor to the prince. From now on, the prince will no longer have to worry about Zhang Huan's killer move."

"Well said! This is indeed God's favor for me." Cui Qinggong waved his hand proudly, but suddenly he remembered that the gunpowder was not in his hands, and his complacent feelings disappeared in an instant. He waved to Zhu Tao and ordered him to step forward and whisper: "If my brother can come up with a way for me to get the gunpowder, I will actually give my brother the King of Shu after I ascend the throne in the future, and give you all the land of Bashu to inherit from the Zhu family for generations."

Zhu Tao quickly knelt down, kowtowed heavily, and said with great loyalty: "Zhu Tao does not want to break the prince's territory, but only wants to deal with the court's affairs for the prince."

Cui Qinggong patted his shoulder and laughed loudly, "When it comes to that day, of course, you must be the right prime minister, but you have to solve the current gunpowder matter for me first."

Zhu Tao lowered his head and pondered for a moment, and said, "Since Ma Dawei showed off his gunpowder, he must have something to ask for, or he was threatening the prince..."

"Threat?" Cui Qinggong interrupted Zhu Tao's words angrily, "He would not dare to threaten me if he gave him a hundred courages. He was just a clerk in the army back then. If I hadn't promoted him in an extraordinary way, would he be the same as Ma Dawei today?"

"Prince calmed down." Zhu Tao quickly smiled and comforted him, "So another idea of ​​his subordinates was that Ma Dawei used gunpowder to show his importance, so that the prince would rely more on him."

"This is almost the same." Cui Qinggong nodded with satisfaction, "You continue talking."

When Zhu Tao saw him listening to the flattery, he couldn't help but sneer in his heart and continued: "I think about it left and right. I can give you three strategies for reference. Let me first talk about the worst. The prince can drive Ma Dawei into a hawk and dog and directly order him to attack Zhang Huan. Since he has gunpowder in his hand, he will definitely use it. In this way, his gunpowder is the gunpowder of the prince. Although it is not in his own hands, the effect is the same."

Before he finished speaking, Cui Qinggong shook his head and denied his worst strategy. How could he not take the gunpowder into his own hands? "I will not adopt this strategy, let's talk about the most."

Zhu Tao smiled flatteringly and said, "The so-called Zhong Ce means sending envoys to Sishui and directly negotiate terms with Ma Dawei, or exchange his gunpowder for money and grain, or territory official positions. The advantage of this strategy is that it has little risk and quick results, but there are also disadvantages, that is, it cannot get the formula for gunpowder, and he is always held in his hands, and it is still unknown how much he has now."

Originally, this plan was favored by Cui Qinggong, but Zhu Tao's second half of the sentence also reminded him that indeed, Ma Dawei would never give him the recipe easily, but used it to control himself all the time. It's inappropriate!

"Then tell me the best plan." Cui Qing did not immediately deny Zhongshou. He wanted to hear the best plan before talking about it.

"The best strategy is much simpler. The prince can go to the Madawei camp to see the gunpowder test and wait for an opportunity to bring Ma Siyi back directly. I think although Madawei is unwilling, he will never turn against the prince about this matter. The risk is that the prince wants to go to the Madawei camp in person, and the benefits are also obvious. The prince is very likely to get the gunpowder formula directly and will no longer be controlled by others."

"This..." Cui Qinggong was indeed moved at Zhu Tao's instigation. If it were other items, he might have adopted the Zhongshou, but gunpowder was the treasure he had longed for more than a year. Thinking that he had the advantage of military strength. If there was any more firearms, this one day that was invincible would appear clearly in front of him. He could no longer suppress his excitement and said to Zhu Tao, "I decided to adopt the best strategy. I will go and see Ma Dawei's gunpowder test in person, and then discuss with him about dealing with Li Shidao. I will lead more troops. I will not dare to have any unfair intentions. But after I leave, you must assist the little prince and let him lead the troops carefully and not slacken."

Zhu Tao restrained the ecstasy in his heart, knelt down and kowtowed heavily to Cui Qinggong, "I will never let down the prince's trust!"

The next morning, Cui Qinggong, under the escort of ten thousand elite cavalry, headed towards Sishui City. It was already mid-February, and the Yellow River began to thaw. The vast water of the Yellow River slowly moved downstream with huge ice, and the breath of spring began to sweep across the Central Plains.

At this moment, a change occurred on the battlefield in Hebei. The Hebei army, which had been confronted for nearly half a month, suddenly split. Pei Mingyao could no longer restrain his anxiety. He took advantage of Pei You's opportunity to order him to receive food and grass and lead 30,000 troops to quietly leave the Hebei army and head towards Chang'an. The news that Pei Xiangguo had passed away immediately spread throughout the army, causing strong turmoil in the morale of the Hebei army.

The change of the Hebei army was immediately noticed by Tuoba Qianli. He immediately seized the opportunity and ordered 100,000 Uighurs and Khitan coalition troops to divide the troops. On the third night of Pei Mingyao's departure, he launched a fierce attack on the Hebei army camp.

In the early morning of February 16, the Hebei army finally could not resist the attack of the Uighurs, and the Khitan coalition forces were defeated thousands of miles away.

The situation in Hebei suddenly changed, shocking the world. On February 18, Zhang Huan, who received a message from Feige, immediately ordered Wang Siyu to lead 80,000 Anxi troops to march towards Handan through Shangdang, and ordered Lou Wuji's army to go out of Jingxing to march into Hebei, cutting off Tuoba Qianli's return.
Chapter completed!