NOVPUBLet’s not discuss what Ma Teng and Han Sui, those two fellows with their hidden motives, were really thinking, but it is true that they actually swore brotherhood. And they really started calling each other brother with such warmth.
"Meng Qi, from now on Wen Yue is your uncle, and you must treat him with respect!" Ma Teng patted Ma Chao on the shoulder and said.
"..." Ma Chao’s eyes widened as he looked at Han Sui.
"My nephew is indeed a young hero, and I am sure that in the future he will accomplish great deeds." Han Sui at this moment showed none of the previous sarcasm, instead appearing like a sincere and kind elder concerned for his kin, leaving Ma Chao quite perplexed—what on earth was going on!
"From now on, we brothers shall unite and work together to tackle the traitors and restore the Han Dynasty to save the Emperor!" Ma Teng declared righteously.
"Good, restore the Han Dynasty, and together seek out the traitors!" Han Sui echoed, who after a lifetime of scheming, finally had a legitimate official position to his name.
"Chao’er, have Ling Ming quickly return to Longxi to mobilize troops! Gather the Qiang People and prepare to rescue the Emperor," Ma Teng said spiritedly.
"Yan Ming, you must also quickly organize your troops. The Emperor is waiting for our rescue, you have ten days to lead your forces to Anding Gaoping. Brother Shoucheng and I shall take the lead and wait for you there, as well as take the initiative to scout the situation in Yongzhou!" Han Sui, seemingly fully embracing his role, said with a smile, no longer showing the tense confrontation they had when they first met, looking as if he truly intended to follow through with Ma Teng.
It is indeed remarkable how Han Sui and Ma Teng found themselves allied. They were bitter enemies, having fought in Xiliang for over a year with many casualties on both sides, yet a fraudulent imperial edict had calmed them, and to prevent each other from holding back during the campaign, they followed the Central Plains practice of becoming sworn brothers.
Normally, such sworn brotherhood between individuals with different ambitions and paths would not be feasible—after the conclusion of this battle, it would be natural for them to turn against each other. However, Li Que and Guo Si were so vicious that they nearly destroyed both Han Sui and Ma Teng.
The two misfortunates had no choice but to lick each other’s wounds, and over time, real affection developed between them. Plus, after the battle of Yongzhou, they realized that to those heroes in the Central Plains, they would stand a slight chance only by sticking together. Therefore they ceased their internal conflicts and huddled together for warmth, letting bygones be bygones, and surprisingly, their relationship began to warm significantly.
When Jia Xu and Liu Ye received the imperial edict delivered to Jincheng, Ma Teng and Han Sui had actually already led a force of nearly a hundred thousand men into battle. With the Xiliang Iron Cavalry as the core of their army, there was no helping it—Liangzhou was simply a place with many horses and Qiang People, and Ma Teng was especially adept at earning the trust of the Qiang People, and with the intelligence of Han Sui, who was seen by the Qiang as a Celestial God, how could they not cling to such strong support?
Hence, when Ma Teng and Han Sui set out, they had only over forty thousand men, but along the way, more and more self-sufficient Qiang People continuously joined their ranks, swelling the army to a hundred thousand. Figures like Cheng Yin, Ma Wan, and Liang Xing, some bringing three to five thousand, others eight to ten thousand, all came to join this new session of the Loyalist Army, recognizing Ma Teng as the Alliance Hierarch and Han Sui as the military advisor, with soldiers willing to mobilize under them.
Truth be told, this group didn’t join out of loyalty to the Han Dynasty; it was entirely because they knew Ma Teng and Han Sui had reconciled. If they didn’t surrender quickly, they wouldn’t have good days ahead, so all of them appeared in the ranks of the new Loyalist Army.
However, it was precisely because all the landlords from Xiliang had gone and were completely decimated by Li Que and Guo Si that Ma Teng and Han Sui’s forces did not perish after this ordeal, since everyone had suffered losses.
Speaking of Ma Teng, his force of over ninety thousand men, falsely claiming to be a hundred thousand (such was the disparity), marched mightily towards Yongzhou. Before even reaching Zuo Fengyi in Chang’an, Li Que had already received the urgent report and was instantly enraged!
"Aduo, that barbarian Ma Teng dares to trouble us! That damn Little Emperor even dares to undermine us behind our backs!" Li Que angrily looked at the intelligence in his hand and immediately pinned the blame on Liu Xie’s head, "Let’s go, we will enter the palace and select some Concubines to thoroughly shame that guy. If it weren’t for the Prime Minister back then, how could he have ascended the throne!"
Guo Si, who came from a bandit background and was a high-ranking general, completely illiterate in reading the reports, yet affirmed Li Que’s words. Had the Prime Minister not supported the Little Emperor back then, who knows where this guy would be by now—yet now he dares to make trouble for them!
"Let Zhang Ji and Pan Chou deal with those two bastards, Ma Teng and Han Sui." Guo Si had utter disdain for Han Sui and Ma Teng, "The two of us will enter the palace and have a good interrogation with the Little Emperor about what he’s trying to do! He actually dares to have secret dealings with outer officials, not even considering us two regents." Look how brazen these words are, directly questioning the Emperor about why he’s having secret dealings with outer officials…
"There shouldn’t be any issues. Although Ma Teng has a larger force, in terms of strength, our Xiliang Iron Cavalry is far superior to their self-proclaimed Xiliang Iron Cavalry. It’s a pity that the military strategist and Master Jia are missing; if they were here, we wouldn’t need to go through all this trouble," Li Que scratched his head and said. Although he was more literate and knowledgeable than Pan Chou and Guo Si, compared to Jia Xu and Li Ru, he could only worship them as if they were celestial beings.
"Alas, if only the military strategist and Master Jia hadn’t left the city at that time," Guo Si also said with a face full of regret. They had realized by now that matters in the imperial court were not as straightforward as they had thought before; relying solely on martial force might not cut it—the intrigues were too complicated.
"Enough about that, let’s go to the palace and give a warning to the Little Emperor to behave himself. If he dares to cause us trouble again, Aduo, what should we do?" As Li Que spoke, he didn’t quite know what to say next. It seemed that apart from sleeping with the Little Emperor’s women in front of him, there were no other solutions. With the Little Emperor being such a weakling and not daring to say a word even if someone slept with his women, there simply were no good methods.
"How about we kill a few ministers?" Guo Si also felt somewhat helpless. The Little Emperor could not be killed, and as for sleeping with the Little Emperor’s concubines, they had done that countless times already. Creating chaos in the Imperial Harem had been done since Dong Zhuo’s time, but so far, who has cared? The Little Emperor neither dared to get angry nor say anything. The somewhat capable loyal ministers had all been done away with, and those of no use just delivered their heads or served as a bloody lesson—completely useless indeed!
"Good idea, let’s intimidate those people. In front of the imperial court, when the time comes, we’ll just kill whoever we find annoying," Li Que suggested. "I’ve long found this bunch of people tiresome. Scaring the Little Emperor by killing a few would also be recycling waste."
"I think we should just kill Yang Biao first," Guo Si immediately zeroed in on Yang Biao, who served as the Grand Commandant. He always found this guy to be annoying. Although Yang Biao didn’t actually do anything, Guo Si felt that once Yang Biao was gone, all the nonsense in the imperial court would disappear.
"No, when the Prime Minister killed Yuan Wei it provoked Yuan Shao to attack in fury. If we kill Yang Biao now and anger Yuan Shu, it won’t be good," Li Que still had some recollection of the Great Han Dynasty’s network of relationships, remembering that Yuan Shu’s wife was Yang Biao’s daughter. The Yuan Family’s outrage had truly frightened people like Li Que and if there were no need, he still did not want to provoke the Yuan Family.
"Alright then, we’ll just pick a few others to kill, and make sure to splash Yang Biao with their blood!" Remembering the rampage of Yuan Shao, Guo Si shuddered at the thought. He had no intention of repeating such a battle just for a Yang Biao. Without hesitation, he abandoned the idea and prepared to randomly select a few ministers to be killed, splashing Yang Biao with blood to settle the matter.
"Stupid, why not just summon everyone there?" reminded by Guo Si, Li Que thought of an even better scene. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation votes and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.com.)
