Chapter 675 The Prime Minister intends to leave
"I need an explanation, Youchang."
Zhuge Liang's face was calm and his tone was gentle, but from the way he tapped the table lightly, he was obviously not that calm.
Zhuge Liang has always been known for his gentleness internally, and he is a typical representative of living and letting others live. In history, even if Li Yan ruined the third Northern Expedition, he only exiled him instead of executing him.
So, it is still difficult for such a moderate prime minister to accept Ma Su's way of weakening Guandong.
Ma Su knew this well, but he still planned to explain.
"Prime Minister, this time the capture of Ruxuwu was a complete surprise, and it was not in the initial strategic deployment at all." Ma Su explained to Zhuge Liang with a serious face.
"Because of this, our army was not prepared to cross the Yangtze River to the south. From strategy to tactics, there was no preparation at all. The risk of rushing south was too great."
"In your words, I am now a general after all, and I am the one who decides the fate of the three armies. Faced with such a situation, I have to consider it carefully..."
"If you don't tell the truth, I will beat you now." Zhuge Liang said expressionlessly, interrupting Ma Su's performance directly.
These words can be used to fool the people below, but it is too naive to fool Zhuge Liang. Even Zhuge Zhan can feel that something is wrong, how can Zhuge Liang not see it.
After being told this by Zhuge Liang, Ma Su stopped talking nonsense. After a moment of silence, he confessed honestly,
"Okay, Prime Minister, I won't hide it from you... This time, the initial goal is indeed to consume the power of the Guandong nobles. I plan to let them fight with the Jiangdong forces to achieve a win-win situation..."
"Go on, I'm listening." Zhuge Liang nodded, stroking the chicken feather Zen that he had picked up at some point.
"Ahem... But I didn't expect the Wu army's combat effectiveness to be so poor, and Ruxu fell after a short time."
"But although this seems to be the best time to attack Wu, it is actually not the case."
Ma Su handed several front-line battle reports to Zhuge Liang and gave Zhuge Liang a reasonable conclusion.
"The forces in Jiangdong are complicated and located south of the Yangtze River, which is extremely suitable for separatism. Jiangdong is also rich in surrenderists. If we advance southward too early, we may end up swallowing up everything in one go like Guandong."
"In this way, the problem of Jiangdong will become more complicated. If it unites with the forces in Guandong, it is likely to shake the rule of the Han Dynasty in Guandong."
"Moreover, the Prime Minister certainly does not want to see me slaughter Yangzhou again without considering my identity. So for the sake of the Han Dynasty, this is not a good time to destroy Wu."
Ma Su reluctantly gave a reason, which finally sounded reasonable. For this reason, Zhuge Liang's expression eased a little, but he still pointed at Ma Su's military order, and the meaning was very clear.
Before the war, you said that the goal this time was to destroy Wu, and the military order was written down. As a result, you tell me now that there was no destruction of Wu in the strategic deployment from the beginning?
Are you making fun of me?
Ma Su was a little embarrassed about this, and the explanation he finally gave was to confuse Cao Wei in the north.
After Ma Su tried his best to explain, Zhuge Liang could not help but sigh softly. Obviously Ma Su's explanation made sense, but Zhuge Liang was not an idiot, and he also knew Ma Su's core idea.
"Youchang, I can understand that you intend to solve the Guandong problem as soon as possible. I can also understand your anxiety, but... no matter what, Guandong is also the people of our Han Dynasty!"
"Even if there are some who are dissatisfied with the court, it is only our internal affairs. What's more, I am not unable to deal with it. Why do you have to take such radical actions?"
It is true that Zhuge Liang's methods are sometimes more radical. But as long as there is a little room for maneuver, Zhuge Liang is unwilling to take such radical actions.
They are all the people of the Han Dynasty, and they have already submitted to the court. Is there anything that can't be solved by mild internal rectification?
So Zhuge Liang was very dissatisfied with Ma Su's actions this time, and even a little angry.
Ma Su remained silent and did not respond. It was not because of the wrong, but simply because of different concepts that could not be argued.
Zhuge Liang also knew that Ma Su was stubborn. Seeing Ma Su's attitude, he could only shake his head.
"Forget it, I can't convince you. You have always been so firm in your own ideas... But the next time I go south to Jiangdong, I will personally go there. I can't let you go on like this."
"The Prime Minister is going to go to Jiangdong again?" Ma Su was stunned by Zhuge Liang's words and spoke subconsciously.
"Otherwise, if I don't go there, how many more people will die in Guandong because of this struggle?" Zhuge Liang shook his head gently, looking a little helpless.
Ma Su is a representative of the radicals, but it does not mean that he is the only radical. On the contrary, many people in the court are happy to see Ma Su use such means to weaken the power of Guandong.
So he must go there in person to show his attitude as the prime minister. Through his own prestige, he can suppress the little thoughts of people other than Ma Su.
If everyone learns from Ma Su, wouldn't it become a systematic persecution of Guandong by Guanxi? After all, not everyone is as restrained as Ma Su in weakening you.
"So, I will personally lead the next southern expedition. Before that, you should stay in Shouchun and cultivate the land!" Zhuge Liang glanced at Ma Su and said calmly.
"Does the general have any objection to this arrangement?"
"No! Absolutely not!" Ma Su answered quickly and firmly.
"The Prime Minister has spoken. If anyone dares to have an opinion, I, Ma Su, will be the first to say no!"
Zhuge Liang glanced at him, and then raised the chicken feather Zen in his hand,
"Don't think I won't punish you just because you say a few nice words! You really went too far this time!"
"If you don't fight for three days, you'll tear off the tiles! I haven't punished you for so long, I think you're itching for trouble!"
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In the end, Ma Su still didn't escape Zhuge Liang's punishment. After being beaten in the Prime Minister's Mansion, he finally left Luoyang in the eyes of a group of officials in the Prime Minister's Mansion who were watching the fun.
It has to be said that the Prime Minister was really ruthless!
At the same time, Zhuge Liang also took back some of his power and personally assisted the prince in governing Guandong. This great Han Prime Minister who restored the vitality of Shuzhong in five years is now beginning to spread his glory in Guandong.
As for Ma Su, he needs to return to Shouchun and continue to organize people to cultivate land in Lianghuai. He hopes to gather all the chips as soon as possible, and then he can sweep the entire Jiangdong in one go.
As soon as Ma Su returned to Shouchun, he received a report from Deng Ai.
There is news from Jiangdong!