Chapter 535 Return to Guanzhong
At the same time that Ma Di defeated Jiangling and completely recovered the entire Jingzhou, another war broke out in Ye County.
The protagonist this time is still Guo Huai. As soon as Ma Di left, he came back immediately.
After all, as the oldest general in the northwest theater of Cao Wei, he had absolute confidence in his military qualities. Over the years, he has always felt that once Ma Su and Zhuge Liang left, he would be the vanguard in the fight against Shu.
So, when Ma Su quickly led his troops south to defeat Lu Xun and take over Jiangling, Guo Huai led his troops back without saying a word. But this time, the person who greeted him in Ye County was no longer Li Hui, who was bullied before.
At this moment, Ji Han General Wei Yan personally led the Han army in Ye County to prepare for the attack.
The two sides quickly started a tug of war here, and three high-intensity fighting broke out in a few days. For this reason, Guo Huai even went into battle in person to spar with Wei Yan, but ended up losing.
The fighting between the two sides continued until Ma Di ended up in Jiangling and personally led his troops back north. When it was discovered that Ma Di had returned to Wancheng from Jingzhou, Guo Huai evacuated urgently, and the battle for the Nanyang portal came to an end.
At this point, the Han army was very exhausted from the continuous battle in Jingzhou for more than half a year and had no time to regain Kunyang. Guo Huai was very satisfied after making a little progress and quickly withdrew all his troops.
Both parties have made satisfactory progress, a win-win for short.
As for who lost, I don’t know...
All in all, after both Cao Wei and Ji Han made initial progress, the war officially came to an end. After the war in the Jingzhou war zone was completely concluded, Ma Su also embarked on the road back to Chang'an.
As for why he, the dignified governor of Yizhou, did not return to Chengdu to work overtime, but returned to Chang'an, I don't know.
With the news of Jingzhou's recovery, Ma Di rushed all the way from Wancheng into Guanzhong. After more than ten days on the road, Ma Di returned to the capital of the Han Empire.
Although he had been away for less than a year, Ma Su found that Guanzhong had changed dramatically.
Large areas of barren farmland in Weinan have been reclaimed and utilized, and a large number of farmers work on the fields. Most of the official roads that had been in disrepair for a long time have also been repaired and become extremely smooth.
Ma Su even saw many newly built granaries and newly built canals along the way, and the entire Guanzhong was full of vitality.
In less than a year, Guanzhong has changed so much, which surprised Ma Su. The source of all these changes is naturally Prime Minister Zhuge Liang, who no longer interferes with military affairs.
"It is worthy of being seen through the ages. This level of internal affairs is beyond the reach of many people." Ma Su said with emotion as he looked at the vibrant scene along the way and saw that the people in Guanzhong no longer feared the passing officers and soldiers.
Here is the power of Zhuge Liang, who is devoted to government affairs. It is no wonder that he can pull the exhausted Yizhou from the brink of collapse.
Seeing this, Ma Su couldn't help but feel very good. After all, Guanzhong is the logistical support for the upcoming Eastern Expedition. The more prosperous it is, the more troops he can mobilize for the future Eastern Expedition. As the confirmed leader of the Eastern Expedition, Ma Su was naturally happy.
Along the way, Ma Su even grabbed an old farmer and asked them what difficulties they had in Guanzhong.
Facing Ma Di's question, the old farmer just smiled and answered,
"Thanks to His Majesty's great blessing, the weather has been smooth these past few months, and the Prime Minister has lightened taxes, which is enough for us. According to the current national situation, a small family of several people will have a surplus of food at the end of the year, so we have nothing to ask for!"
"But... if I have to say there is any difficulty, it's probably that this pass is still not very peaceful. There are bandits in many nearby mountains and forests, and we, the common people, have no place to rely on..."
Along the way, Ma Su asked many farmers on the fields and basically got the same answer. Regarding taxation and production, Zhuge Liang has achieved the optimal solution.
However, because Guanzhong was a newly conquered territory, even if the government stationed a large number of troops here, it was still difficult to eliminate bandits everywhere. In addition, many people who had just moved here were working in the fields, and their foundation was unstable, so they were often disturbed by bandits and robbers.
"It seems that public security issues also need to be taken seriously. After all, we are under the emperor's feet, so there can't be any problems." Ma Su touched his chin and began to think, and began to recall that in history, there were such policies to solve this kind of situation.
Local security was always a headache for the feudal dynasty. The normal finances of the feudal court could not support so many security personnel, so most of the time the wealthy families were allowed to defend themselves.
However, the power of the wealthy families in Guanzhong is currently weak, and Ma Su does not want to introduce wealthy families here, so how to deal with it becomes a problem.
While Ma Su was meditating, he had quietly arrived outside Chang'an City.
Chang'an has become much more popular than before, and there are many more residents than when Ma Su left. Although it still looks a bit deserted, it finally looks a bit like a capital city.
When Ma Di arrived at the city, several young Northern Army soldiers immediately came to intercept him, saying that horses were not allowed in the capital. Ma Su didn't say anything about this, and simply dismounted and entered the city.
Although normally he was qualified to ride into the city, he thought about it and let it go. Don't let the news reach the Prime Minister and get slapped by him in the name of being domineering.
After walking all the way to the Prime Minister's Mansion, Ma Su met Zhuge Liang again.
Zhuge Liang is currently handling government affairs in the Prime Minister's Mansion, but he doesn't seem busy. Compared with before, the number of government affairs on the chopping board has been reduced by more than half, and Zhuge Liang also seems to be more content.
Of course, this feeling of joy did not last long. When Zhuge Liang saw Ma Di coming back, his brows suddenly wrinkled.
"Someone, bring me Zen!"
"Holy shit! Prime Minister, calm down!" Ma Su was shocked when he saw this situation. He was a little confused for a moment, wondering what he had done wrong.
"Calm down? Then as a Yizhou shepherd, you were not in Chengdu to deal with government affairs, so you ran away to Jingzhou. What crime should you do?" Zhuge Liang glanced at him and was speechless at his apprentice.
To be honest, Zhuge Liang had some sympathy for Li Mu, the chief of the Hussar General's Mansion. I don’t know what kind of evil I have believed in, but I insist on following Ma Di and wiping Ma Di’s ass.
Now that he is fine, he is abandoned by Ma Su in Chengdu again. Zhuge Liang feels sorry for a great talent who has fallen here.
"Ahem... Prime Minister, isn't this the first provocation from Soochow? That criminal Sun Quan ordered the rebellion, so of course I have to go out in person to regain the territory." Ma Di shrank his neck and quickly explained to Zhuge Liang.
"I have already wiped out the main force of Soochow, and now I have recovered the entire territory of Jingzhou. Now I am here to announce the good news!"
"You have already recovered the entire Jingzhou? So quickly?" Zhuge Liang was slightly startled by this, feeling a little surprised.
Although he was aware of Ma Su's combat skills, Zhuge Liang still exceeded Zhuge Liang's expectations to regain the entire Jingzhou with just the small amount of troops in Jingzhou.
It seems that I am getting old after all, and my thinking has become too conservative.