Chapter 7: Bao Chao's Loyalty and Ma Chao's Rebellion

  Before long, Da Han returned with the washed dishes, just as Ma Chao had finished eating.

  "Waiter, the bill!" The big man shouted to the waiter. The waiter hurried over, and before he could even open his mouth, the big man directly threw the money bag onto the counter, "Is it enough? If not, there's more. And include the young brother's face-saving money too!"

  "That's enough, that's enough, it's sufficient." The shopkeeper replied hastily after taking a look.

  "That's good, keep the remaining money as a reward, you can go now!"

  "Alright, thank you sir, thank you sir!" The shop assistant left with a smile.

  It can be seen that the great Han is generous and open-handed, with a bold and straightforward temperament. Ma Chao clasped his fists and said: "Thank you, brother."

  "No need to be polite, little brother. Let's just enjoy each other's company!" The big man hastily waved his hand and said. "I have a habit of not liking to talk too much when eating out, but after finishing the meal, we can chat freely. Now that we've all eaten, let's have a good conversation."

  "Exactly what I meant, but couldn't find the words." Ma Chao said to Da Han.

  "Someone introduced himself, he was from Longxi Lintao, with the surname Dong and the name Zhuo, courtesy name Zhongying, currently serving as the Wuji Colonel of the Western Regions."

  Ma Chao was inwardly startled upon hearing this - so this is Dong Zhuo? It seems there's no mistake. What brought him here, though? This is strange indeed.

  "Fufeng Maoling, Ma Chao." Ma Chao said with a fist in his hand to Dong Zhuo.

  "Some even thought Ma Xiao was a young man from Liangzhou, but how did Ma Xiao, who is from Fufeng, end up in Liangzhou?"

  "I have come to study under your guidance."

  "Who has he apprenticed himself to?" Dong Zhuo thought to himself, surely it's some famous master.

  "Faithful to one's lord above and loyal to one's friends below."

  Yan Zhong? Dong Zhuo was quite shocked in his heart. As a native of Liangzhou, he had naturally heard of Yan Zhong's name. However, Yan Zhong had never accepted any disciples before, and it was unexpected that he would accept one now.

  "Wow, Ma Xiao is really something!" Dong Zhuo praised.

  "What's the meaning of this?"

  "Think of Yan Zhong, who has never accepted a single apprentice. If he says he wants to take on an apprentice, even if there isn't a long queue, his home will still be crowded with people trampling the threshold. The fact that Ma Xiao has become Yan Zhong's apprentice, no matter what the reason, is enough to show Ma Xiao's abilities!" Dong Zhuo said with a smile.

  Ma Chao hastily said: "No, no. I don't know why Brother Zhongying has come here."

  "Since Brother Ma asked, there's nothing that can't be said." Now Dong Zhuo's address to Ma Chao has changed from "little brother" to "Ma little brother", and now it has become "Brother Ma".

  "Dong Zhuo received a letter from home, his old mother asked him to return to Linzhang for a visit, so he had no choice but to take leave and go back home. This place has the best noodles, it's been a long time since I've eaten them, and now that I'm back home for just a few days, I specially came over to eat them." Dong Zhuo said, still licking his lips with his tongue, seemingly savoring the taste of the noodles and lamb leg.

  This guy is indeed a foodie, running here just to eat noodles, Ma Chao thought to himself.

  "Hahaha, I've made Brother Ma laugh. In this life, there are only four things that matter: power, beautiful women, delicious food, and fine wine. As the saying goes, 'to eat and drink' is what life is all about. If we don't enjoy ourselves now, once we're dead, we won't be able to eat anymore. Brother Ma, isn't this the truth?"

  "Yes, yes! What Brother Zhongying said is absolutely right!" Ma Chao responded helplessly.

  "Brother Ma, you're just perfunctorily saying this, I understand. In short, from now on, Brother Ma must go to Lintao, even if I'm not there, my family will still take care of you!"

  "Great, I'll definitely go if I have the chance!"

  "Alright, it's settled then. Brother Ma, I'm going to head back now. Although we've just met for the first time today, it feels like we're old friends. Unfortunately, I have some other matters to attend to and can't chat with you more, but I believe we'll meet again soon. When that happens, let's definitely get together and drink to our friendship! Brother Ma, stay here a bit longer, I'm taking my leave now!" With that, Dong Zhuo left the restaurant.

  Ma Chao clasped his fists and gazed at Dong Zhuo's receding back, lost in thought.

  Dong Zhuo's father had three sons, the eldest was named Dong Yue, styled Menggao, who had passed away early. The youngest was named Dong Min, styled Shuzhuo, and the second son was Dong Zhuo himself.

  Dong Zhuo was fond of chivalry when he was young, and he himself traveled through the territory of the Qiang people. Because he had good martial arts skills and a generous temperament, and was also very open-minded, the Qiang people both respected and feared him. Dong Zhuo got along well with the Qiang tribal leaders, and they were quite friendly. He also slowly cultivated his own loyal followers among the Qiang people in order to expand his influence.

  Later, Dong Zhuo returned to his hometown of Lintao, herding and farming. When the Qiang tribal leaders came to visit him at home, he would slaughter the family's cattle and sheep to entertain them, actually to win them over.

  The Qiang people saw that Dong Zhuo's martial arts were so strong, and he was also very kind to them, so they were all willing to listen to him. Once, the Qiang chieftain found out that Dong Zhuo had slaughtered most of his cattle and sheep at his home, so he sent thousands of heads of various livestock to thank him.

  Later, Dong Zhuo became an official and rose from a military officer to his current position as Wu Ji Colonel, all of which were fought with swords and guns. So no matter what Dong Zhuo will become in the future, at least he is still not bad now, at least in Ma Chao's eyes.

  As for later, since Ma Chao wants to unify the world, he will naturally have to deal with all the heroes in the world. Dong Zhuo is one of them that cannot be avoided. He didn't think much about it and returned to Yan's mansion after leaving the wine shop.

  He returned to his own house and saw Yan Zhong waiting for him at the door.

  "Teacher." Ma Chao hastily paid his respects.

  "Super boy, from now on you should come back home a bit earlier when going out."

  "Ah." Ma Chao was also puzzled, why did he come back so late? He estimated that when he left the house it was around noon. He went to the blacksmith's shop, then to a noodle restaurant, and after chatting with Dong Zhuo for a while, he thought about some things, and by the time he got home it was already dusk. The sky had just darkened, this time really passed too quickly.

  Yan Zhong reminded Ma Chao and then left, without asking where Ma Chao was going. In fact, Yan Zhong also gave Ma Chao some space of his own, as long as Ma Chao didn't do anything too out of line, Yan Zhong wouldn't interfere, so it can be said that Yan Zhong is a relatively open-minded teacher.

  After returning home, Ma Chao looked at the book and ended up falling asleep on the couch.

  The next day, he got up early. No choice, since the teacher's class starts at Chen time now, Ma Chao had to get up before Chen time, looks like I'll have to get up early from now on, Ma Chao thought.

  After finishing washing his face, Ma Chao went to the study room to see his teacher and started his studies.

  He has two periods of classes every day, in the morning at Chen time and in the afternoon at Shen time. In between is rest time, you can go out, but before Shen time you must come back, being late will be severely punished.

  Ma Chao thought of a problem, it seems that teachers from ancient and modern times, China and foreign countries all dislike students who are late. So Ma Chao dared not be a student who is late, because he was afraid of the teacher.

  He had just finished his class this morning and ran out of the door. What for? Of course, to get a snow cone!

  Ma Chao burst into the blacksmith's shop from yesterday and shouted, "Boss, is the knife I ordered yesterday ready?"

  The blacksmith was busy forging iron, heard the sound and looked up to see Ma Chao, "Hey, sir, you're here. The thing you wanted is already done, just waiting for you to pick it up!"

  The blacksmith hastily moved the knife from beside him, it was indeed forty catties, not four catties.

  Ma Chao looked at the knife, overjoyed. Yesterday, the blacksmith said it would be ready at noon, but unexpectedly, just after 4 pm, everything was already prepared. He didn't think that when customers place an order, business people usually say the delivery time is later than expected, who says it's too early?

  The blacksmith looked at Ma Chao and said, "Where is the person with the knife? You can't possibly wield it, you're just a child of five or six years old."

  Ma Chao didn't understand what he meant. He thought that the blacksmith's family might want to keep the remaining money, right? Doing business is about one hand giving money and the other hand giving goods.

  He hastily put the money on the table and then took the knife from the blacksmith. The blacksmith was quite good, and even gave away a free scabbard.

  After pulling out the knife, he carefully measured the blade. To be honest, this knife and scabbard didn't look good, black and dull, should be made of rough iron. Of course, Ma Chao didn't care whether the knife was good-looking or not, some luxurious things were not practical, and he was still a very pragmatic person.

  A knife is a deadly weapon. It's used for killing and self-defense, no matter how good it looks or how useful it is, its purpose is the same, to kill people. Its appearance doesn't matter to Ma Chao.

  He drew his sword and lightly chopped off a corner of the long table beside him. "Good, good sword! Haha!" Ma Chao held the sword, fondling it lovingly.

  On the hilt of the knife were engraved the two characters "Snow Drinking". Although this Snow Drinking Knife was not a precious sword, Ma Chao still liked it particularly. He looked at the blacksmith and just wanted to speak when he found that the blacksmith was staring blankly at him.

  Ma Chao didn't understand what he meant, was it because I looked too handsome? That shouldn't be the case. Was it because of Long Yang's goodness? No way, he had a chill, it shouldn't be that either. Oh, I get it, maybe it's like this: the blacksmith made a knife and even gave a free scabbard, now someone bought it and he's a bit reluctant to part with it.

  "Hey, boss, don't be like that. Today I'll take the knife away, and tomorrow I'll definitely make this knife famous throughout the land! I won't let your past efforts go to waste!" With that, Ma Chao took out the remaining money and put it all on the counter, then strode off with a flourish.

  In the blacksmith's shop, only the silly blacksmith was left. As for why the blacksmith was like this, he was scared stupid after seeing Ma Chao's actions. Forty kilograms! A five or six year old child could pick it up so easily, this is defying heaven! Never seen before in his life, never seen before! This, this is also too unbelievable, who would believe it if he told them?

  Ma Chao took his Snow Slasher sword and left the blacksmith's shop.

  He glanced to the side, and it was still the same noodle shop as yesterday. It was there that he had met Dong Zhuo yesterday. The image of Dong Zhuo eating lamb legs with oil all over his mouth and hands floated before Ma Chao's eyes, and he smiled slightly. It seemed that such a thing would only happen once in a lifetime, and it was unlikely that he would ever see Dong Zhuo again.

  Ma Chao recalled meeting Dong Zhuo yesterday and asked him, "Why didn't Brother Zhongying eat or drink but instead invited me to eat?"

  Dong Zhuo said, it's not that he left some for Ma brothers, but rather because they hit it off immediately and had a great rapport, so he wanted to invite Ma brothers to eat and drink together. Originally, with his appetite and capacity for wine, even if there was more, he wouldn't refuse, but he restrained himself, remembering what his subordinate advised him before leaving the house: when going out, one should eat less and drink less, so...

  Ma Chao thought that Dong Zhuo was still quite willing to listen to advice now, but he didn't know about the future... He didn't think about it anymore and brought his sword back to Yan's mansion.

  Back at the Yan manor just after noon, Ma Chao had nothing to do and started practicing martial arts again. He first practiced spear techniques, then began learning sword techniques.

  After learning, I realized that knife skills are simpler than gun skills, but they are still very difficult. From noon to almost afternoon, I still didn't understand much. It seems that I need to study slowly, can't rush into it, or else I'll get burned by hot tofu.

  It's almost time for dinner, so Ma Chao had to go to the study room. Following Yan Zhong to learn, Ma Chao only knew how powerful Yan Zhong was. The art of war tactics, all are precise. Not only did he teach Ma Chao the things in the military books, but he also taught Ma Chao his own understanding of the art of war, which benefited Ma Chao greatly.

  Moreover, every half month, he would lead Ma Chao out of the city to observe various landforms and terrains in the outskirts of other counties. Every time this happened, he would teach Ma Chao how to ambush troops, how to break through enemy ambushes, which type of troop was most suitable, how to attack most effectively, how to defend with twice the result with half the effort, and how to resolve unexpected events, etc.

  Many times, he also gave Ma Chao various problems. At first, Ma Chao's answers were not very good, but as the time spent studying under Yan Zhong grew longer, his answers became better and better.

  Sometimes Yan Zhong was also surprised, is Ma Chao still a child of five or six years old? It's simply an adult. This sentence Yan Zhong really thought about it, plus the current age, Ma Chao is almost thirty years old now, can five or six years old be compared with thirty years old?

  Outside has its own way of learning, and home also has its own way of learning.

  Apart from the military strategy, Yan Zhong also took out a map of the Great Han to explain to Ma Chao. The map was not the most important thing, what was important was that Yan Zhong himself was like a living map. Not to say that he had an in-depth understanding of every county and prefecture in the thirteen states of the Great Han, but for each state's key counties, transportation routes, passes, terrain and geography, Yan Zhong basically knew them all like the back of his hand.

  Ma Chao was shocked, how many years of traveling had he gone through to reach this level? Yan Zhong was indeed a strong man, but such a powerful figure, why hadn't he heard of him before? It seemed that the Three Kingdoms had indeed buried many talents, and many were nameless heroes who didn't have a reputation.

  Day after day, year after year, winter and summer passed by. In the blink of an eye, five years had passed, Yan Zhong went from being forty to forty-five years old.

  Ma Chao also grew from a five-year-old child at the beginning to a ten-year-old boy now. Although he is only ten years old, Ma Chao's height has surpassed many of his peers and is comparable to that of thirteen or fourteen year olds.

  And time has also shifted from the initial Xi Ping 2nd year to the current Guang Heng 1st year.

  It was a day in April of the first year of Guangyuan, Ma Chao went to the study as usual, but today is a special day for him, because today is the day when Ma Chao finishes his studies and becomes a master.

  Ma Chao looked calm on the surface, but he was very upset in his heart. He had also experienced separation before, but at that time, he and Cui Hong had only been together for two years, far less than the five years now.

  Ma Chao also knew that thinking too much was useless, and many things were beyond his control. He sighed silently to himself, and walked into the study, where he found Yan Zhong waiting for him.

  "Superior son, now you have learned and achieved something, it's time for you to go out into the world."

  "Yes, teacher. But..."

  "Alright, I know what you want to say. After all these years, I also see that the world is going to be in chaos. A chaotic world produces heroes, and I hope you are one of them!"

  "Disciple Ma will definitely not disappoint Master's expectations!" Ma Chao knelt down and kowtowed to Yan Zhong.

  "Chao'er, I have written a letter to your master. From now on, when you meet Cai Yong and Cai Bojie, hand the letter over to them. They are old friends of your master's, and for the sake of their old friendship, they will take care of you."

  He handed the letter to Ma Chao, who took it and said, "Many thanks."

  "Go on your own, Super Boy." Yan Zhong glanced at Ma Chao, waved his hand and left the study without looking back.