With Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong, and Ma Chao about to return to Xiangyang, Liu Xin had already guessed what Chen Gong was here for. Ma Chao stayed in the Xiongnu king's tent overnight, and also left the Xiongnu Shan Yu's wife and concubine in the tent, such a thing even frustrated and dissatisfied, not to mention the upright Chen Palace. Of course, Liu Xin appointed Chen Gong as the supervisor of the imperial history and was responsible for supervising hundreds of officials, which was to take a fancy to Chen Gong's upright character.

In fact, the phantom spies under Fu Zhi are more capable of providing timely information about civil and military officials, but although Liu Xin is not a decent man, he is not ashamed to use this kind of espionage method on his subordinates. He would prefer to hear about the officials from Chen Gong, because Chen Gong's duty is to supervise hundreds of officials, and no matter what means and channels he uses to obtain information, it is natural and fair. Of course, if it involves a major event of rebellion and rebellion, the Phantom Spy will also spare no effort to spy on it. It was precisely because Ma Chao's actions were suspected of rebellion that he rushed to report to Liu Xin.

However, Liu Xin did not intend to tell Chen Gong that he already knew about this matter, because in this way, it would reveal that he had other sources, and this was also a distrust of Chen Gong. Therefore, Liu Xin put on a look of being ready to listen, and said with a smile: "Gongtai, come, sit down and talk slowly." ”

Due to Liu Xin's arrival, chairs have gradually spread throughout the Han Dynasty, and they are indeed more comfortable than sitting on the ground. But in many places, those who hold their own identities prefer to sit on their knees when it comes to important occasions.

However, in Jingzhou, this situation has changed completely, because the chair is indeed very comfortable to sit on, and their state pastor likes to sit on the chair, and others naturally follow suit, and now no one still adopts the kneeling posture, even the more traditional people like Chen Gong also like the chair.

After following Liu Xin for a long time, he knew that Liu Xin was actually a very easy-going person, so Chen Gong was not hypocritical, thanked him and sat on the chair, and habitually adjusted his posture to make himself sit more comfortable, and then presented a letter and said: "Lord Qi, my subordinates have received a secret report, which is about Ma Chao, a partial general of the Sixth Legion." It records many of his lawlessness, and I ask the lord to look at it. ”

Liu Xin took the letter and hurriedly glanced at it a few times, and sure enough, it was the same as what Fu Zhu said, but there was one more than what Fu Zhu reported, that is, Ma Chao privately took a good horse that was seized for himself.

The reason why Fu Zhu was able to get the news many days before Chen Gong was due to the high efficiency of the Phantom Spy and the special messaging system. After getting the news, he felt that the matter was very important, and he sent someone to further verify it, so he came to report to Liu Xin, so it was a little later than Liu Xin's original estimate.

These two sources corroborate each other, but they also prove that the content of the news is accurate in another aspect.

Liu Xin had already said to Fu Zhu that he would not pursue this matter. But in the face of the upright Chen Gong, he still pretended to be solemn and asked: "Gongtai, in your opinion, how should this matter be handled?" ”

Since Chen Gong felt that this matter was very important, he naturally thought about how to deal with it before he came, and when he heard Liu Xin ask, he almost blurted out: "Back to the lord, what Ma Chao did is really a big rebellion, and his subordinates should be severely punished!" ”

Liu Xin pretended to be contemplative, and said for a while: "Ma Chao is young and ignorant, and he probably doesn't think about it so much. Besides, the Xiongnu has been incorporated into the Han Dynasty, so it doesn't matter what the king's tent is, and where he lives shouldn't be nothing. ”

Hearing these words in Chen Gong's ears, it was clear that Liu Xin was excusing Ma Chao. Chen Gong was slightly dissatisfied, and said with a straight face: "Lord, things are not so simple. In the eyes of the Huns, the king's tent is a symbol of royal power, not to mention that Ma Chao also touched Yu Fuluo's woman, which is comparable to rebellion! ”

What is the crime of rebellion, it is a great crime of raiding the family and destroying the clan. Liu Xin couldn't help laughing when she saw what Chen Gong said solemnly: "Ma Chao is just a child, how can it be so serious." You say that he lives in the king's tent, and I believe that it is a fool to keep such a big tent in it, and even I will live in it. However, you say that Ma Chao touched the woman of Yufuluo, I will never believe it, those women on the grassland are born with a smell of sheep, smell it, if you touch it, hehe, you know. ”

This sentence is a big truth, there are also twelve Hun girls in the state pastor's mansion, they are all very handsome, and their bodies are also very hot, but the smell on their bodies makes people stay away. If it weren't for the fact that Minchan and Cai Yan wanted to learn dance and musical instruments on the grassland, Liu Xin would have driven them out of the house long ago.

Chen Gong heard Liu Xin laugh, unmoved, and arched his hand and said: "If the lord thinks that Ma Chao is just a child, then he should be deprived of his military power!" How can anyone let a child lead troops to fight, and if it is spread out, won't it make people laugh at me that there is no one in the Han Kingdom? ”

Liu Xin looked stunned, he didn't expect Chen Gong to immediately seize the loophole in his words, it seems that the wise man of this era is really not to be underestimated.

In fact, Chen Gong is not the kind of person with a tendon, he said this to give Liu Xin a step down, admit that Ma Chao is a child, and do not investigate Ma Chao for the crime of rebellion, but Ma Chao must be removed from his official position and deprived of Ma Chao's military power, which can be regarded as a severe punishment for Ma Chao.

Liu Xin knew that Chen Gong was very difficult, if he didn't agree to remove Ma Chao's official position, he would definitely put forward Ma Chao's remarks about his intention to rebel again, and it would be endless, so he had to nod and say, "Then do as you say." However, Ma Chao also made a lot of contributions this time, meritorious service will be rewarded, and if there is a fault, he will be punished, which is Liu's principle of life. Now, Ma Chao's crimes will be punished according to what you said, but I still have to reward him for his contributions. I'm going to ......"

Who knew that Chen Gong had already prepared, and without waiting for Liu Xin to finish speaking, he immediately hugged his fists and said, "The lord is wise, it should be so." However, this Ma Chao is just a child, and it is enough to reward him with some gold and silver property. ”

Liu Xin was speechless for a moment, he really planned to remove Ma Chao from his position as a partial general first, in order to punish him for his mistake of living in the Xiongnu king's tent without authorization, and then commend him for his two great achievements in this battle, and directly promote him to the position of partial general, not promoted or demoted, and play with political skills. As a result, Chen Gong said this, and directly blocked all his ways, it seems that if Ma Chao is not dismissed, Chen Gong will not give up, and I don't know why Chen Gong has so much hatred with Ma Chao.

In fact, Chen Gong and Ma Chao have no grudges, moreover, he is the supervisor of the imperial history, Ma Chao's father Ma Teng is the left waiter of the military department, and the two often meet on some major occasions. Since they are all working under Liu Xin, and they don't look up and look down at each other, there is really no need for Chen Gong to be embarrassed by Ma Chao.

Chen Gong is just doing this on a case-by-case basis, although he is upright, he is not inflexible, otherwise he would not agree to just dismiss Ma Chao. If Ma Chao alone took a good horse for himself, Chen Gong would definitely not have studied it like this. But Ma Chao's residence in the Xiongnu king's tent was too out of line in Chen Gong's opinion, and if he was not removed from his official position, it was inevitable that he would not make more rude actions in the future.

Now is not the time when Liu Xin first arrived in Xiangyang. At that time, there was a shortage of talents around him, and any person with two brushes, as long as he proved to be loyal and reliable, would be entrusted with important tasks. Now, Liu Xin's subordinates are already full of talents, and the system is becoming more and more perfect, and anyone who wants to be promoted must go through the corresponding procedures.

Don't look at Ma Chao not long after he joined the Han Army, but he was able to become a partial general, completely relying on his own efforts and military exploits, little by little. Now that Chen Gong has been pushed to the end in a few words, it is not so easy to rise to today's position.

The composition of Liu Xin's army is like this, each corps has a corps commander, a deputy corps commander, two deputy generals, two partial generals, and two generals, and several captains.

Originally, Ma Chao was promoted to be an exceptional colonel and captain, so that he could accumulate military merit and be promoted to a partial general in a short period of time. Of course, there is also Liu Xin's special care for him. Now, Ma Chao is already a partial general, and has a certain degree of independent command, that is, what Liu Xin said, "the general is outside, and the king's order is not subject to it", as long as he has enough ability, he will have the opportunity to make greater contributions in the war. But after Chen Gong did this, he was directly demoted to an ordinary soldier, that is, he became the kind of person who "obeys orders and listens to commands", and he has no autonomy on the battlefield, otherwise he will really be subject to military law. In this way, he has a long way to go if he wants to be promoted to lieutenant, let alone a partial general, because it is very rare to break through the two tribes of Liu Bao and Yu Fuluo.

Two days later, Zhao Yun and Huang Zhong led some of the soldiers who went out to fight against the Xiongnu returned to Xiangyang City, and there was a boiling inside and outside Xiangyang City. Such scenes have been appearing continuously since Xiliang, but the welcoming crowd in Xiangyang City is more enthusiastic, crowding the streets and alleys of the city.

This time they braved the heavy snow to go on an expedition, not only to eliminate the Xiongnu, but also to completely turn them into the people of the Han Dynasty, and to incorporate the nomadic steppe of the Xiongnu into the territory of the Han Dynasty.

Although the inclusion of the Xiongnu steppe in the territory of the Han Dynasty has not yet been officially announced, and there are still many systems to be established on the issue of fair trade, the gossip has spread far and wide. The most important thing is that the Dahan Express has begun to recruit household registration officers sent to the Xiongnu departments, which is the best proof.

Today, the people under Liu Xin's rule have no resistance to strict household registration. Because Liu Xin is no longer taxed on the basis of capitation, on the contrary, as long as the registration is carried out, he can get "social security".

Of course, the term "social security" was also "invented" by Liu Xin, but the social security here is different from the pension and medical insurance in later generations, but it means that in the event of a major disaster, the Han people who have registered their household registration can receive relief from the government. The people's requirements are not high, and this is enough, so although the new household registration system is very strict, it is still welcomed by the people. Such a social security system also applies to the newly surrendered Xiongnu tribes, and it is believed that the grassland herders, who have suffered greatly from natural disasters, are equally happy to accept it.

At this time, Ma Chao, who had just returned from the grassland, was riding proudly on his horse, mixed with the team and receiving the welcome of the people. Liu Bao's tribe was broken by him, Yu Fuluo's tribe was also broken by him, and the scimitar, which symbolized the Xiongnu royal power, and Liu Bao's head were also sent back to Xiangyang by him, and he had reason to be proud.