After Ma Teng and Ma Chao returned to the county government, Ma Chao immediately sent his confidants to contact the tribal leaders of the Qiang people, and made an appointment to meet in Xiangwu County, Longxi County, three days later.

Not long after, Ma Dai walked in from outside, walked straight to Ma Teng's side, hugged his fists and said, "Uncle, someone sent a letter just now, which is for uncle. ”

As soon as the words fell, Ma Dai presented the letter. Ma Teng took the letter, opened it and hurriedly looked at it, then frowned and asked, "What about the person who delivered the letter?" ”

"Let's go, he also said, please come to the appointment on time!" Ma Dai Road.

Ma Chao asked curiously, "Father, is something wrong?" ”

Ma Teng shook his head and said, "What can happen to me, it's just that Zhuge Liang, who joined the army beside King Yan, invited me to meet on the outskirts of the city." ”

"Zhuge Liang? Is that the good-looking young man? Ma Chao asked, "What is he looking for his father for?" ”

Ma Teng said: "I don't know either. But Zhuge Liang was appointed by King Yan to join the army this time, and he followed King Yan all the way, he suddenly looked for me, could it be that there was something important? ”

"Father, just go and see what is going on, I will let Ma Dai accompany my father."

Ma Teng said: "No, Zhuge Liang said in the letter that I am only allowed to go alone, and you should not follow." ”

"Father is allowed to go alone? Isn't this Zhuge Liang trying to be bad for his father? Ma Chao said nervously.

Ma Teng laughed and said: "Zhuge Liang is just a Confucian student, he has been fighting on the battlefield for his father for more than ten years, and he will be afraid of a Confucian student?" Besides, I am the guard lieutenant of the current court, ranking in the ninth qing. And this is Liangzhou again. What can he do to me? Even if he wants to take me anyway. King Yan won't let him go! ”

Ma Chao thought about it, maybe he was too nervous. However, he was not as relieved as Ma Teng was about King Yan. But he also knew Ma Teng's personality, if he sent someone to follow, in case he was discovered, he would only be scolded.

Therefore, Ma Chao didn't say anything more, just asked Ma Dai to send Ma out of the city.

But. Ma Teng refused, he was more familiar with Liangzhou than Ma Chao, and he didn't need anyone to send him out of the city. He took out a war horse from the stable, stepped on it, and rode out of the city.

The place where Zhuge Liang and Ma Teng met was in a pavilion in Wuli on the west side of Shangtai County, and it was daylight now, Ma Teng would not be afraid at all. It's just that he can't figure it out, he has nothing to do with Zhuge Liang, why Zhuge Liang wants to see him.

Ma Teng rode his war horse and soon came to the meeting place. Zhuge Liang was already sitting in the pavilion.

Seeing Ma Teng arriving on a war horse, Zhuge Liang took the initiative to stand up. Waiting quietly in the pavilion, when Ma Teng gradually got closer, he arched his hand and said, "Zhuge Kongming greets Lord Weiwei!" ”

Ma Teng reined in the war horse, jumped off the horse directly, looked around again, and saw that there was no one around, so he arched his hand and said: "Zhuge joined the army, I don't know why I was invited to this kind of place?" ”

Zhuge Liang said: "Lord Weiwei, please take a seat, and let the subordinate slowly return!" ”

Ma Teng then sat on the stone bench in the pavilion, and Zhuge Liang stood beside Ma Teng and said slowly: "Kong Ming is very presumptuous, he wants to use this method to invite Lord Wei Wei here, and I hope Lord Wei Wei can forgive me." ”

"It doesn't matter. Zhuge joined the army, you said in your letter that there is something important to discuss, I don't know what it is? Ma Teng asked.

Zhuge Liang said: "Oh, that's the case, His Royal Highness King Yan has come up with a good way to deal with the Xianbei people, but it still needs to be done with the help of Lord Weiwei's strength, so he specially sent me to ask Lord Weiwei's opinion." ”

As soon as Ma Teng heard this, he immediately hugged his fists and said: "Since His Royal Highness King Yan has a place where Ma Mou, Ma Mou will spare no effort to complete it, in order to thank His Royal Highness King Yan for his support to Ma." It's just that I don't know what His Royal Highness King Yan wants Ma to do, and he has to be so mysterious, he has to meet in this kind of place? ”

Zhuge Liang said with a smile: "Don't be surprised, Lord Weiwei, the person who invited Lord Weiwei to this place is a lower official, not His Royal Highness King Yan." Xia Guan just thinks that the air here is fresh and quiet, which is very suitable for talking about things, and there are not so many idle people and so on, so ...... Hehe, please also ask Lord Weiwei Haihan. ”

Ma Teng said: "I see, Zhuge doesn't have to blame himself for joining the army, this little thing, Ma doesn't take it to heart." Zhuge joined the army, what does His Royal Highness King Yan want Ma to do? ”

Zhuge Liang said: "His Royal Highness King Yan knows that Lord Wei Wei has been in Liangzhou for more than ten years, and he is very familiar with the customs and habits of the Qiang people. ”

After Ma Teng heard this, he laughed and said: "What should I do, it turns out that this is the kind of thing, please ask Zhuge to join the army and reply to His Royal Highness King Yan, just say that Ma is duty-bound." ”

Zhuge Liang continued: "In addition, His Royal Highness King Yan also wants to ask Lord Wei Wei to explain in detail the situation of the Qiang people, and His Royal Highness King Yan is ready to personally lead a large army, pretend to be a Xianbei person, and attack the Qiang people's station......

After Ma Teng heard this, his originally happy face suddenly became expressionless, and he hurriedly asked: "In recent years, the Qiang people have been much more obedient, and they are no longer enemies of the imperial court. And when he was in the hall just now, His Royal Highness King Yan also asked the dog to contact the various tribes of the Qiang tribe, wanting to use their strength to deal with the Xianbei people, why did His Royal Highness King Yan want to attack the Qiang people in the blink of an eye? ”

Zhuge Liang smiled and said, "Lord Weiwei, don't you even understand this?" As far as the lower officials knew, the Qiang and Xianbei people were both nomadic peoples, and they had nothing to do with each other, nor did they have any dealings, let alone deep hatred. Since His Royal Highness King Yan wanted to use the power of the Qiang people to drive away the Xianbei people, but he was worried that the Xianbei people were secretly communicating with the Qiang people, luring the Qiang people with gold and silver treasures, and worried that the Qiang people would turn to deal with the army of the imperial court, so he made this decision and wanted to take this opportunity to provoke the hatred between the Qiang people and the Xianbei people, so that the Qiang people could regard the Xianbei people as enemies and were not easy to be tempted. ”

After listening to Zhuge Liang's explanation, Ma Teng immediately understood the truth. However, Ma Teng frowned and said to Zhuge Liang: "His Royal Highness King Yan's idea is good, but unfortunately it is extremely difficult to realize......

Zhuge Liang hurriedly asked, "Lord Weiwei, how do you say this?" ”

Ma Teng hurriedly explained: "The Qiang people are not a whole, but according to the different blood relations, they are divided into many different Qiang species, such as Xianling Qiang, Burning Dangqiang, Zhongcun Qiang, Shenwolf Qiang, Baima Qiang, etc., and under each Qiang species, they are divided into hundreds of different tribes, large and small, each tribe has a chief, and between each Qiang species, between tribes, there are often fights, so that the Qiang people are relatively scattered, not a united whole. Because of this, the Qiang people will often make trouble, today you conquer this tribe, tomorrow that tribe rebels again, in short, this is a pool of troubled waters. A few years ago, there was a very powerful character in the burning of Dangqiang, excellent martial arts, able to conquer and fight, led the warriors of Burning Dangqiang to gradually conquer the rest of the Qiang, and then proclaimed himself the king of Xiqiang, commanding 100,000 troops to commit my Liangzhou, and was killed by my son Ma Chao. After the death of the king of Xiqiang, the Qiang people suddenly had no leader, and the various Qiang races were not united, and they were divided and retreated. But since then, the Qiang have once again fallen into a phase of fighting on their own. Fortunately, in Longxi and Jincheng, the Burning Dangqiang and Xianling Qiang are very in awe of my son Ma Chao, who once went deep into the Qiang tribe and agreed with these two Qiang leaders to live in peace and not attack each other. These two big Qiang species are afraid of me, and the rest of the smaller Qiang species naturally have nothing to say, which is why there is a stable dìng in Liangzhou. Even if His Royal Highness King Yan pretended to be a Xianbei person to attack the Qiang people's station, it only provoked the hatred of one Qiang species, and could not provoke the hatred of the entire Qiang people, and to deal with the Xianbei people, it was far from enough to rely on the strength of one Qiang species, and it was necessary to unite more Qiang species. Therefore, it is okay for Ma to pretend to be a Qiang person to attack the Xianbei people's station, but it is absolutely impossible to pretend to be a Xianbei person to attack the Qiang people's station. ”

After Zhuge Liang listened to Ma Teng's explanation, he suddenly realized, fortunately, he first came to ask Ma Teng's opinion, otherwise, if he really did the thing, he might not be able to succeed.

"Lord Weiwei's words, let the lower official suddenly open the mouth, and the lower official will go back to His Royal Highness King Mingyan."

Saying that, Zhuge Liang was about to leave, but as soon as he stood up, he sat down again and asked, "Lord Weiwei, in this way, have you agreed to lead elite soldiers and strong generals to pretend to be Qiang people to attack Xianbei people?" ”

Ma Teng said: "It is Ma's duty to serve the imperial court, except that I think that my son Ma Chao is the same, as long as His Royal Highness King Yan has any instructions, our father and son will do their best to complete the task entrusted by His Royal Highness King Yan." ”

Zhuge Liang said: "Lord Wei Wei is worthy of being the pillar of the imperial court, Ling Lang is also a young hero, His Royal Highness King Yan has high hopes for Lord Wei Wei's family, and said that if you want to pacify Liangzhou, it must be the Ma family!" ”

After hearing this, Ma Teng immediately asked happily: "Zhuge joined the army, did His Royal Highness King Yan really say that?" ”

Zhuge Liang nodded and said, "Lord Weiwei, haven't you seen it yet?" Although His Royal Highness King Yan personally led the army to Liangzhou this time, and the generals he brought with him were not a single general except for General Huben, but he appointed Lord Wei Wei as the vanguard general, and let Lord Wei Wei's two sons go out with the army together, didn't Lord Wei Wei notice such an obvious intention? ”

Ma Teng is not a fool, so he can naturally detect it, but he doesn't understand what Zhang Yan thinks. However, as soon as Zhuge Liang said these words, he immediately became enlightened, and it seemed that the time had finally come for their Ma family to soar. (To be continued......)