Chapter 380 All the food for the Northern Expedition came from here

Chapter 380 All the food for the Northern Expedition came from here

At this moment, facing Ma Su, he was smiling, but his tone was not polite at all, but Zhuge Ke had nothing to do. After Ma Su unceremoniously opened the skylight and spoke frankly, Zhuge Ke had to answer carefully,

"I came here to explain the misunderstanding to the general and resolve the grudges!"

Clarify the misunderstanding...

Hearing this sentence, not to mention Ma Di, even Liu Yin and others sitting next to him burst out laughing. All the senior generals on the eastern front of the Han Dynasty were laughing as if their wives had given birth.

No matter what, after the battle is over and it is a misunderstanding, no one can hold back.

This is not a petty border conflict, but a backstabbing battle involving all the strength of the country. In just a few months, 100,000 troops were mobilized and put into the battlefield. They launched attacks from three directions and fought with the Han army for more than a month. This cannot be excused by a misunderstanding.

Ma Su is not stupid...

Seeing that the Shu Han generals were all laughing and not being polite to him, Zhuge Ke felt insulted. But there's nothing we can do about it, no matter what, it's our own fault.

At this moment, he finally understood how Deng Zhi felt when he joined Jianye and was laughed at by Jiangdong officials.

"General Ma, let's take a step to talk..."

"Just say it here. Everyone here is the pillar of the Han Dynasty. There is nothing you can say." Ma Di looked at Zhuge Ke with a smile and said directly,

Ma Di was not stupid. He knew very well that Zhuge Ke wanted to rely on his family members to talk privately to avoid being ridiculed. However, Ma Su is not used to people coming from Soochow at all. Since you are doing it, there is nothing to be afraid of.

What's more, Ma Su doesn't think his current relationship with Soochow can last long. By the time Guanzhong is recaptured at the latest, Soochow will definitely have a complete break with Shu Han.

However, Zhuge Ke was the prime minister's nephew after all. After some ridicule, Ma Su waved his hand to stop everyone's ridicule.

"My Han tradition has always been to go straight, there is no need to go around these twists and turns. Why Yuan Xun came here this time, just tell him straight away."

Zhuge Ke was silent for a while, then gritted his teeth and said,

"By the order of my lord, I am here to redeem the tens of thousands of captured Jiangdong disciples!"

This time Zhuge Ke came with Sun Quan's death order, and he must redeem the 50,000 Soochow soldiers no matter what. If these tens of thousands of Soochow soldiers cannot be redeemed as soon as possible, the group of aristocratic families within Soochow can tear Sun Quan apart without Cao Wei and Shu Han.

Remember what Ma Zhong said directly? Soochow's strongholds were heavily privatized. Except for some of the Sun family's own troops, the rest are basically private armies funded by powerful people.

These private soldiers are the property of the powerful powerful people, and they are just "temporarily loaned" to you, Sun Quan, to fight the war.

Now that everyone's Buqu has been given away all at once, it would be strange if the Soochow people weren't crazy.

So this is also the reason why Zhuge Ke is so low-key. There is really no way.

Of course, as a minister of Sun Quan, Zhuge Ke subconsciously defended Sun Quan. For example, in this operation, Wu Hou was deceived, and the subordinates made their own decisions, etc. There are many reasons.

In response to this, Ma Su just shook his head speechlessly, not even bothering to expose his words. However, Ma Di also read a key message in Zhuge Ke's attitude.

For now, Sun Quan, the Marquis of Wu, is very anxious and needs to get back these 50,000 troops. If this were not the case, a decent person like Zhuge Ke would never be so cowardly.

Obviously, the other party's situation is worse than he imagined.

In this case... don't blame me, Ma Su, for talking too much.

A glimmer of light flashed in Ma Su's eyes, and at this moment he thought of a good idea.

Didn't the Prime Minister say before that the Northern Expedition to Guanzhong could not be carried out quickly because of lack of food and grass? Now that Nanyang has been engaged in a very high-intensity war for a year, Shu has consumed a lot of money, so it is obvious that there is still a lot of deficit.

In this case, when such a big fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered comes to your door, is there any reason not to slaughter it?

All the food for the Northern Expedition came from this!

After thinking about all this, Ma Su smiled slightly, stepped forward and slowly helped Zhuge Ke up. Then Ma Su's attitude changed quickly and became very gentle. Zhuge Ke couldn't adapt to it for a while.

But when Ma Su asked for the price, Zhuge Ke almost fell to the ground.

"Originally, I have received an order from Chengdu. These captured soldiers must be reorganized on the spot, and then officers will be sent to receive them and use them for the Northern Expedition."

"But since Yuan Xun is here, I still have to give the Zhuge family some face. I won't keep these tens of thousands of people in Soochow. As long as Wu Hou can give two million shi of grain in exchange, I will give these people put it back!"

"How much...taken?" Zhuge Ke was almost frightened and couldn't believe it for a moment.

Although he was prepared to be blackmailed, Zhuge Ke still didn't expect that the other party's price would be so high.

What is the concept of two million stones of grain?

In the Han Dynasty, one stone of grain was enough to feed a person for about forty days, while two million stone was equivalent to nearly two years of food for an army of 100,000 people.

Of course, the intermediate loss is also very high, so most of the time it may only be enough to last a little more than a year.

But even so, the price far exceeded Soochow's psychological expectations. Even if Jingyang was rich, it would definitely not be able to afford this price.

However, Ma Su is very serious about this. Just pay this price, and nothing less will do. All in all, Ma Su has decided to take over you, so you don't have to let him go if you have the ability.

"General Ma, I'm afraid Wuhou can't afford this price. Please..."

"If you can't afford it, just give it in installments. I will release as many people as you give me. This will be good for everyone." Ma Su patted Zhuge Ke on the shoulder with a smile, and then his expression suddenly changed,

"Does it mean that Sun Quan wants to take advantage of my Han court? Or does Wu Hou want to join my Han soldiers in hunting Wu?"

"Absolutely not that! This is all a misunderstanding!" Zhuge Ke was shocked and waved his hands repeatedly.

Now Soochow has suffered heavy losses and is in chaos internally due to mutual conflicts. If the Shu Han came east to take revenge at this time, and the Wei army quickly moved south, Soochow would be doomed.

As a result, due to Ma Su's changing attitude, Zhuge Ke had no idea what Shu Han's bottom line was. And with Ma Su's dazzling record and deterrence here, Zhuge Ke did not dare to continue testing.

If he makes the other party angry, it would be bad to actually go down the river to attack Wu Ke.

In the end, Zhuge Ke could only cautiously express his wish to go back and report to the Marquis of Wu, so that the Marquis of Wu could make up his mind. Even Zhuge Ke couldn't make the decision in such a big negotiation.

Ma Su didn't care about this and immediately agreed to Zhuge Ke's request.

But before sending Zhuge Ke out of the room, Ma Su suddenly yelled in the room,

"Please come to General, I need the latest information and map of Jingzhou!"