Chapter 40: Parting with Guzang City
The Seventh Night of Lunar New Year
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It's been four years.
After killing Han Jue, we arranged the heads and bodies of several people including Han Jue neatly in front of our mother's tomb, and hundreds of war horses lined up to trample them repeatedly.
As I watched Han's corpse, which had already been trampled by his sister into a bloody pulp, being crushed to powder under the horse's hooves, my mind went completely blank.
Is this the extremely clichéd plot from the legend?
The feeling of weakness throughout the body after a long-awaited revenge has been achieved.
Or is it temporary confusion about future goals and paths?
It shouldn't be.
What's there to be puzzled about?
Eliminating Han Zhuo is just the first step in the chaotic world, and the vast and majestic scroll of the Three Kingdoms has not even officially unfolded yet. I have not yet encountered real war and bloody slaughter, what am I confused about?
No reason at all.
So I calmly chose to continue.
After annihilating Han Xi, Ma Teng formally submitted a memorial to the imperial court - of course, after consulting with Pang Yu and refining it - which detailed Han Xi's various heinous crimes in the past. These included indiscriminately killing officials, disregarding national laws, despising the imperial court, bringing disaster to the people, and causing harm to one side. Additionally, there were previous evil records of following Bei Gong Boyu's rebellion, and then pretending to obey the imperial court while secretly disobeying it, and again forcing Ma Teng to rebel in Sanfu, with great guilt and extreme wickedness that could not be forgiven!
At the same time, Old Lao also sent a private envoy to Dong Zhuo and other senior ministers with his own cordial and respectful greetings.
The court quickly responded and generously promoted Lao's official position, because the governor of Liangzhou was killed by Han Shui, and no one had substantially taken over, so it has been vacant until now. In the previous year, the court also issued an edict to restore the state shepherd setting. Lao, because he had a little relationship with Dong Zhuo, and was a relative of Lin Jun, was smoothly recommended as the Liangzhou Shepherd, and concurrently took the position of Hu Qiang School Lieutenant... This official position is often killed by the Qiang people... and was sealed as Guannei Marquis, Du Xi General.
This Guannei Marquis, I'm relatively familiar with it, seems to be a lower-ranking marquis, similar to the General of the Western Expedition... probably just a title obtained by those people in the imperial court on a whim. I only know that titles like Zhengdong, Pingxi, Zhennan are the names of high-ranking generals, but this matter can't be rushed. With my father having the title of Provincial Governor, at least I can make a name for myself in Liangzhou.
As a meritorious vassal in the suppression of the rebels, I, Ma Dai, Pang Hui, and others who participated had different rewards. Among them, as the eldest son, I received slightly more rewards, and this result would not have been disputed by anyone - even if Han Sui's death had nothing to do with me.
However, since the old man is already the actual and nominal master of a state, the allocation of subordinate official positions has basically been arbitrary, as long as a symbolic memorial is given to the imperial court at the time of appointment. Probably the imperial court will not have anyone look at this kind of document twice - this arbitrary appointment does not include the county governors in various places, the county governor being a heavy position of 2,000 stones, although the state pastor has the power to directly supervise the county governor and can recommend, but still needs the approval of the imperial court.
As the son of a local official who is currently loyal to the Great Han Dynasty and does not intend to betray for the time being, I can fully understand the principles of the imperial court.
The imperial court originally stipulated that the governor of Liangzhou was in the city of Long, Hanjiang County. Hanjiang County is a major county in Liangzhou, but why is the government office located in Long City instead of being placed together with the Hanjiang Prefect in Jicheng? This makes me somewhat puzzled, probably to reduce the inconvenience caused by having two masters in one city.
So we have to bid farewell to Ganzhou City now.
Guzhang... The place of my childhood, is it going to leave me?
The city that left a decade of memories was finally thrown behind.
The Ma family packed up their belongings for two days, filling fifteen large carts to the brim. With a grand flourish, they set off towards Longcheng.
Fifteen large vehicles?
Yes, just fifteen cars.
Originally, adding the large number of items seized from Han's home, the amount was far more than that. After deducting the expenses for rewarding soldiers with gold and silver after the war, most of it was used to support Dong Zhuo.
This principle is actually very simple: Han Sui and his father are on the same level, and for Dong Zhuo, there is no distinction between closeness or distance. However, Liangzhou has always been within Dong Zhuo's sphere of influence, and any official promotion or transfer would require giving Dong Zhuo a heads up to show respect, unless you were one of his trusted confidants from the early years, like Zhang Rang, who was one of the Ten Eunuchs.
But... since you have a prestigious status, it's unlikely that you would come here to be an official.
So we took Wuwei and Jincheng two counties nearly thirty thousand soldiers, surrounded by the Ma Fu fifteen large carts and thousands of big and small carts of soldiers, mighty and majestic departure to Long City.
Luckily, we have many horses and also a group of good horses sent by Han Jie. Let them be our labor force. Tens of thousands of fine horses are walking slowly on the official road. Wherever they pass through, it is within the reach of Lao Da's power. Along the way, the city guards and county magistrates are busy coming out of the city to welcome us with songs and dances, red flags fluttering, drums shaking the sky...
Just passed by a county town, cough, our luggage has increased by several large trucks... It's really embarrassing, but the county magistrate was too enthusiastic, we have been in the same place for so long, how can we refuse?
Of course, during the process of passing by, I made some arrangements and ordered a few hundred people to go to the grassroots level to do some propaganda. After dinner, they told stories to the common people, especially introducing the section "War Jin Cheng Han Lao Zei Yan Neng, Feng Kuang Xue Ma Shao Ye Fa Wei" in great detail, vividly describing it as if they were present at the scene. Of course, these small soldiers had all seen it with their own eyes, but how many people could understand the changes in my body at that time? They would certainly add oil and vinegar to exaggerate and talk about it for a while, and then slowly cover the entire Western Liang within a few months, doing some work on public opinion and popular sentiment. This is my little thought.
Things have developed so smoothly that I'm slightly caught off guard.
It didn't take several months, but less than ten days.
When our mighty army marched to Han Yang Prefecture in a majestic and leisurely manner, the entire Liang Zhou was already filled with my name of martial valor. My old father, who had been the first to launch the battle at Yun Wu City, was completely overshadowed by my magnificent image due to his lack of achievements. Although Pang De's swift and brilliant surprise attack on two enemy camps yielded remarkable results, it was also downplayed due to the authorities' lack of strong promotion.
Liuzhou now has a brave and unmatched young general:
General God of War
Ma Chao
I seem to have seen a rising star in the late Han Dynasty.
The night sky of Liangzhou is a brilliant splendor.
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Volume One: The Storm Rises in Longxi
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Happy New Year!
At least three more years in junior high school
