Chapter 91: Liangzhou Governor

  Afterwards, until evening, Liu Xuan was talking to Ma Teng and his son. Liu Xuan promised that in the coming years, the northwest would still be governed by Ma Teng, but the northwestern army must be reorganized.

  Ma Teng also chose to accept this, and Liu Xuan did not completely strip him of his military power, leaving him with a force of 10,000 men intact, while allowing him to recruit a contingent of Qiang cavalry numbering no more than 10,000 to assist in the war.

  At most 20,000 soldiers, Ma Teng was already very satisfied - he already knew that the number of people in the imperial court's army was still less than this number. This time, when the northwest was conquered, the imperial court had brought out all the usable troops, and there were only about 15,000. The emperor left him with a quota of 20,000 people, which was already considered to be giving Ma Teng face.

  Of course, Liu Xuan also stated that the northwest defense will not let Ma Teng take sole responsibility. After returning to class, a group of forbidden soldiers will be sent to assist Ma Teng in defending the northwest. At the same time, the military and political power in the northwest will gradually separate. At that time, Ma Teng needs to make a choice, whether to continue commanding troops or give up his military power and focus on civilian affairs.

  When Liu Xuan bluntly said these words, everyone present felt a chill on their foreheads, because none of them had expected the emperor to be so direct, explicitly telling Ma Teng: "You can't hold such great power anymore, I have to take some back."

  Many people are worried that Ma Teng will turn against them, but they are not afraid of Ma Teng. If Ma Teng were to turn against them, even if they killed him now, the northwest would not be quiet - there are too many Qiang tribes in that area, and the Qiang tribe is on good terms with Ma Teng. If Ma Teng dies, the Qiang tribe will definitely rebel.

  At this time, everyone's eyes turned to Ma Teng, staring at the Western Liang Governor.

  Ma Teng surprisingly showed no hesitation and directly pleaded guilty: "I was originally the Governor of Xiliang, but the governor's authority does not extend to one state. Previously, due to Li and Guo's atrocities, the roads to the capital were cut off, and I had no choice but to make that excessive move."

  "Now that Your Majesty has personally led the expedition, sweeping away the bandits and pacifying the northwest, the roads have once again become safe and unobstructed. I should be punished for my crimes, but instead I beg Your Majesty to mete out punishment."

  Ci Shi is an envoy who inspects the civil administration, officials, and systems of a state. In simple terms, he represents the imperial court to inspect local areas, but does not have the power to govern locally. Ma Teng, as the Governor of Xiliang, holds the military and administrative powers of Liangzhou, which is already inconsistent with the Han Dynasty system. If Liu Xuan seizes this point and charges him with treason, Ma Teng will have nothing to say.

  Now Ma Teng also took the initiative to confess his guilt, and again pushed the blame onto Li Jue and Guo Si. He then expressed his loyalty to the emperor, and it's likely that the emperor won't dwell on this issue anymore. However, his power will definitely be weakened as a result.

  As expected, Liu Xuan nodded and directly issued an edict, appointing Ma Teng as the Governor of Wuwei and taking charge of the military and political affairs of Liangzhou. The former was a substantive official title, while the latter was equivalent to an imperial oral appointment, which could not be taken seriously. Today, the emperor can grant you this right, but tomorrow he can take it back.

  However, Yang Biao still spoke up: "Using the military might of the Governor of Wuwei to control the military and government of Liangzhou seems not quite proper. If the various counties of Liangzhou do not follow his orders on the grounds that they do not conform to the imperial court's system, what should be done?"

  Liu Xuan thought so too, but directly adding the title of Liangzhou Mu was definitely not feasible. After thinking for a moment, he suddenly remembered a very popular position during the Three Kingdoms period.

  "Thus, Gaotang was the Governor of Liangzhou, having the power to inspect and supervise all counties in Liangzhou. During wartime, all counties in Liangzhou would follow the orders of the Governor."

  The title of Grand Marshal was probably first used by Eastern Wu, but in reality it was not a formal official position. At the root, it was still a product born out of the chaos of later systems.

  In the following period, the military ranks were in a mess and each department was not subordinate to each other. In order to facilitate command, the position of "Du Jiao" (Military Governor) was born - several routes of troops that were not subordinate to each other were gathered together and placed under the Military Governor's command. During wartime, they would listen to his orders, and after the war ended, they would return to their respective departments, and the position of Military Governor would naturally be dissolved.

  This title was somewhat like that of a commander temporarily appointed in later wars, with powers only as great as the necessity, and at other times with little power.

  It can be seen from the official title reappointed by Liu Xuan to Ma Teng that Ma Teng is actually the Taishou of Wuwei - Wuwei is the seat of Liangzhou, and the territory is also the largest, which is to show Ma Teng's status in Liangzhou.

  Leading the governor of Lengzhou, usually only has the responsibility of inspection, and does not have the right to directly intervene in other counties. If so, it would be an overstep. As long as the local county guard reports to the emperor, Ma Teng will be punished.

  Of course, Liu Xuan also knew Ma Teng's position and importance, so this governor was not that simple. As long as there were any problems in Liangzhou, Ma Teng could instantly become the most powerful person in Liangzhou, controlling military, political, and civilian affairs, and various troops would have to obey his orders, to a certain extent preserving Ma Teng's rights.

  But if that was all, Ma Teng might still be a bit dissatisfied, so Liu Xuan gave Ma Teng another title - the Marquis of Huairi. With this, Ma Teng's identity became different, and his status rose greatly, and Ma Teng had nothing to be dissatisfied with.

  "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

  Thanked and accepted the order, these were all delightful things. Ma Teng himself had no more objections, and then took his son to arrange for them to rest in their camp.

  Ma Teng left, and the civil and military officials remained in the tent. When Ma Teng was far away, Yang Biao, the Grand Commandant, said: "Your Majesty, that Governor of Liangzhou... will this position not be too important?"

  Governor, in Yang Biao's view, there is hardly any difference between him and the provincial governor. In that case, wouldn't it be better to let Ma Teng control the northwest?

  Originally, Yang Biao meant to let the emperor grant Ma Teng a general title. According to Liu Xuan's current system in the imperial court, as long as Ma Teng added the general title and led the northwest troops, he would have to relax his grip on the people's livelihood.

  Then the imperial court sent someone to take over, and slowly grasped the hearts of the people in its hands. Even if Ma Teng had an army at his disposal, he would not dare to make any sudden moves.

  But Liu Xuan knew that Ma Teng currently had the support of the people in the northwest, and if he were to directly seize power from him, it would likely cause panic among the people - especially the Qiang tribe, whose problems were the most troublesome, a moment's carelessness could lead to endless disaster.

  "First reserve a part of its power, let the officials sent by the imperial court adapt for a period of time, and then slowly take back the civil administration power to the imperial court."

  Liu Xuanxuan's plan was to use Xu Xu's method, after the people had adapted to the imperial court's rule, he would take back the last bit of power over the people from Ma Teng and return it to the imperial court. At that time, he would remove him from his post as governor and confer a general title upon him. He wouldn't have any dissatisfaction, and the people also wouldn't be frightened and taken advantage of by others.

  Yang Biao listened to the emperor's explanation and also acknowledged this point, but that governor...

  "The power of the governor, once given, can be taken back at any time. After all, in the Western Liang region, except for Ma Teng, all the other prefects will have to be replaced with people trusted by the imperial court. At that time, as long as the imperial court issues a decree, taking away Ma Teng's position as governor, those people will no longer listen to Ma Teng's orders."

  This is greatly different from the governor's - the governor's subordinates are all promoted and appointed by himself, while the governor's subordinates are appointed by the court. The key personnel appointment power is still in the hands of the court, which avoids Ma Teng's opportunity to promote and employ his own confidants in Xiliang.

  "So it was."

  It's not that these people couldn't think of this point, it's just that the position of Governor was only recently proposed by Liu Xuan, so they didn't understand the power of this position for a while. Now that they understood, they also understood Liu Xuan's intention.

  So in fact, Ma Teng's power was weakened and will continue to be weakened. Everyone discussed it again, and in order to prevent the Ma family from being dissatisfied, they may need to make up for it from other aspects.

  "Enfeoffing Ma Teng as Marquis of Huaili is one method, but this is still insufficient."

  Liu Xuan thought for a moment and finally felt that starting from Ma Chao would be more suitable: "In the world, there is no father who does not care about his son. If I reuse Ma Chao, even if Ma Teng is still dissatisfied at this time, it will probably disappear soon."

  Thinking of this, the next topic is how to appoint Ma Chao.

  Several people looked at me, I looked at them, and finally Zhang Liao spoke up: "Why don't we assign Ma Chao to the Imperial Guard?"

  This is a way, but the Feathered Forest Army will have to follow the Emperor's actions for a long time to come, which means that this is a purely personal guard, even if the status is higher, Ma Chao won't be happy?

  It was Xiahou Dun who suddenly spoke up: "Your Majesty, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry has just begun to take shape, but there are not many capable generals. Why not send Ma Chao to join the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry?"

  Liu Xuan's eyes lit up as soon as he heard this suggestion: "Right, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry has been formed, what needs to be done next is to continuously wage war to temper the combat effectiveness of this army. Ma Chao can show off his status in the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, and also show off his importance, at the same time, he can accumulate military merit in the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, as long as he follows the rules of promotion based on merit, I estimate that Ma Chao will be able to become a general soon."

  "What else can Ma Teng say at that time?"

  As for Ma Chao's safety? He didn't think there was anything to worry about. With Ma Chao's bravery and after learning the skills he had taught him, if he couldn't die on the battlefield, then this Ma Chao must be a fake one.

  Apart from these reasons, Liu Xuan thought it would be fun to do so due to a sense of mischief: originally in history, Ma Chao was chased by Cao Cao and barely escaped with his life after cutting off his hair and abandoning his cloak. Now he's sending Ma Chao to serve under Cao Cao as a younger brother, who knows what interesting changes will happen - actually the most likely change is that nothing will change, but Liu Xuan doesn't care about this point.

  This was just like him letting Diao Chan practice the nine-section whip and the pumpkin hammer, only a small evil hobby in his heart. So he nodded after a moment of contemplation: "Ma Chao has been in the northwest for a long time and is quite familiar with cavalry warfare. Sending him to the Tiger and Leopard Riders is also appropriate."

  In fact, Xiahou Dun brought up this point, which is to value Ma Chao's familiarity with cavalry. Moreover, he has been living in the northwest for a long time and has seen many Xiongnu and Qiang people. According to his understanding, Cao Cao established the Hu Bao Cavalry specifically to deal with these two tribes. With Ma Chao on their side, the chances of winning against the barbarians would increase by several points.