Chapter 1403 Sima's Sorrow

Sima Yi came to Zhang Chunhua's courtyard, and saw Mrs. Fu, Mrs. Zhang, Mrs. Bai and other concubines, as well as Sima Liang, Sima Qian and other children all arriving, waiting outside Zhang Chunhua's ward.

Regardless of whether they are really sad in their hearts, there is a sad look on everyone's face.

Seeing this scene, Sima Yi frowned slightly and his heart sank subconsciously.

No matter how much I hate Zhang Chunhua, they have been married for many years, not to mention they were in love when they were young.

At this time, Zhang Chunhua was seriously ill, and Sima Yi could not help but feel the same sadness:

In the past few years, hasn't my body been getting older and my energy no longer what it used to be?

Time is not forgiving...

Seeing Sima Yi coming, all the concubines and children all saluted.

Sima Yi waved his hand and walked towards the inner room.

Perhaps there is such a thing as a couple's heart-to-heart relationship in this world. Although Sima Yi and Zhang Chunhua have long been enemies, as soon as Sima Yi entered the room, Zhang Chunhua, who was already lying on the couch like a dead tree, suddenly opened his eyes.

Seeing Sima Yi looking slovenly, disheveled and haggard, Zhang Chunhua's eyes showed relief and some gloating, and even his voice became stronger:

"You're here?"

Sima Yi stopped a few steps away from the couch and nodded:

"Yes, I'm coming."

Sima Yi didn't like the strong medicinal smell in the room, not to mention that there was an indescribable evil smell constantly emanating from Zhang Chunhua's body and the couch.

This made Sima Yi even more evil in his heart.

Perhaps sensing Sima Yi's unabashed deep disgust for him, Zhang Chunhua's almost lifeless face revealed a trace of self-deprecation and resentment:

"If you don't want to, you don't have to come."

"But I'm already here." Sima Yi said with an indifferent expression, "The war is urgent. If my son hadn't begged me, would you have thought that I would be willing to come?"

Hearing this, Zhang Chunhua sarcastically said:

"Yes, if I were not going to die, I would not be able to see you easily."

Sima Yi frowned:

"Are you sick and confused? You and I don't see each other. It's because you went on a hunger strike in the first place that it caused unrest in the house and unrest in the children. That's why our husband and wife are at odds and hate each other."

When Zhang Chunhua heard this, his long-sick body almost jumped up from the couch.

At this time, the old thief actually said such rude words to his face?

Doesn’t he know why he went on a hunger strike in the first place?

She huffed and puffed a few times like a broken bellows, and Zhang Chunhua's withered chest kept rising and falling. It took her a while to calm down again.

Forget it, at this time, what else is there to fight for?

Her eyes fell on Sima Yi again:

"I am about to die! You are in charge of important matters, and I don't dare to delay Alang any longer. I just can't let go of the matter, so I want to ask clearly."

"What's the matter?"

"Is my son safe in Xuchang?"

The "my son" in Zhang Chunhua's mouth naturally refers to Sima Zhao who went to Xuchang to move reinforcements.

Sima Yi nodded:

"Of course everything is fine."

After a pause, he continued, "Don't you write back from Xuchang every month to tell you that you are safe? Why do you still ask me like this?"

The sarcasm in Zhang Chunhua's tone remained unchanged and he said:

"Alang is a very smart man. Is it because the war is not going well and his mind is restless that he didn't even hear what I asked?"

"Alang dares to say that when he sent his son to Xuchang, was he really meant to look for reinforcements?"

Before Sima Zhao went to Xuchang, Zhang Chunhua once said to his son based on his understanding of Sima Yi:

If he had to, Sima Yi might not sacrifice his son's life to find a way out for the Sima family.

Sima Yi was silent.

Seeing Sima Yi standing there without answering, Zhang Chunhua's resentment grew stronger.

But the longer Sima Yi remained silent, the resentment in Zhang Chunhua's eyes turned into pleading:

"I and Alang are husband and wife after all. I gave birth to three sons for Alang. Ziyuan (Sima Shi) was guarding Luoyang for Alang, but he was injured in front of the battle and died before me."

"The third son, Ziliang (Sima Qian), is young and suffers from hysteria (i.e., intermittent mental illness) from time to time. We don't know when it will get worse, and he may not have a good death by then."

"It just so happened that the second son was sent to Xuchang by Alang. Now his safety is uncertain. It's okay that Alang hates me. Do I have to hate my own son too?"

Sima Yi finally said:

"Zi Yuan has passed away. Zi Shang is the leader of all the disciples, and he is also the direct descendant of all the disciples. How can I ignore his safety?"

"If he doesn't have more experience, how will he take over the Sima clan in the future? Don't say anything again!"

Hearing Sima Yi's words, Zhang Chunhua looked at him intently, finally used up his last bit of strength and nodded invisibly:

"Forget it, I'll just trust you again."

Sima Yi didn't speak anymore, but turned around and walked out.

He didn't see that Zhang Chunhua's eyes behind him had been following him.

Her eyes turned from resentment to complexity, and then gradually dimmed, until the last trace of her look disappeared.

At the same time, breathing also stops.

——

The death of the Taifu's wife was untimely, because at this time, the entire Taifu's mansion was shrouded in the clouds of war.

When the Han army approached Weize Pass, the news came that Feng personally led the army to attack the city, which made the whole Ye city a little restless.

Mr. Feng's reputation for being good at fighting is no less than his reputation for being fierce.

Jingxing is one of the most important roads from Jin through Taihang Mountain to Hebei.

And Weize Pass is the most important gateway to Jingxing. Once it is lost, the Han army can enter Hebei through Jingxing continuously.

So when the Taifu's wife died of illness, there was a lot of traffic in front of the Taifu's mansion, and everyone was like a bereaved mother.

In the eyes of those who don't know, the Taifu's wife is really like his biological mother.

But most of those who came to mourn have other purposes:

The bandit leader is powerful, can the guard of Weize Pass stop Mr. Feng?

If not, when will the Taifu lead the army to go there in person?

In this tense atmosphere with a little panic, Zhang Chunhua's funeral was kept simple.

Sima Yi, who dealt with Zhang Chunhua's funeral in just three days, looked even more tired and his body became more hunched.

If he put on a farmer's clothes, from a distance, he would look no different from an old farmer who had been carrying a heavy load for years and was finally bent by the load.

He didn't look like a pampered person at all.

With his upper body almost bent over the desk, Sima Yi squinted his eyes and looked at the documents sent from below with some difficulty.

After reading for a while, he felt his eyes were dry and had to rub them with his hands for a while.

Until he rubbed out tears and made his eyes feel better, then he could continue reading.

In fact, most of these documents were not very important.

The most important thing at the moment was naturally the war in front.

No matter what happened, the war report must be delivered to him as soon as possible. This was the rule set by Sima Yi.

As for the official business Sima Yi was dealing with now, in the past, at least most of them did not need to be read in person.

What about a dozen farmers in a certain county who abandoned farming and fled and disappeared.

Some Tuntiankefu rebelled again, and then was suppressed.

Some county's taxes were not paid on time again...

There were so many things, no big things, but small troubles kept coming.

As a veteran of four dynasties, Sima Yi knew a fact:

The Wei Dynasty had already had problems when Emperor Wen was in power.

The problems he was facing now had been constantly appearing during Emperor Wen's reign.

In the final analysis, most of these problems can be traced back to one source, that is, local tyrants and aristocratic families.

Of course, now we may have to add the Han Kingdom.

Farmers who escaped from farming may have been hidden by the big families, or they may have fled to the Han Kingdom in the west.

The Tuntianke rebellion was most likely due to the collusion between the Tuntiankefu and the big families, resulting in the loss of Tuntianke and the Tuntianke being overwhelmed.

The failure to collect taxes was the most fatal, and the reason was also the simplest:

The local big families had occupied all the arable land and hid the population, so where could they collect taxes?

When the Eight Oxen Plow spread from Shu in the early years, both the former emperor and the knowledgeable people in the court said that it was God's blessing on Wei.

Because Wei no longer had to worry about food problems.

Some people even took the opportunity to laugh at Zhuge Liang of Shu for being stupid and Feng Mingwen for being ignorant, and not knowing how to keep such a national treasure secret.

As long as Wei had enough food, Shu would be pacified in a short time.

The appearance of the Eight Oxen Plow did help Wei collect a lot more food in the first few years.

So Wei could reorganize the army again and again to fight against the Han army after repeated defeats in the west.

But no one expected that after Wei got the Eight Oxen Plow, it only had a few years of good life and began to pay a heavy price:

The Eight Oxen Plow greatly contributed to the greed of the powerful families.

With the Eight Oxen Plow, they could more easily swallow up the fields that they could not swallow up in the early years due to lack of manpower.

The land annexation trend of Wei became more intense after the appearance of the Eight Oxen Plow.

All of this, in turn, made the power of the aristocratic families expand more and more rapidly.

With the power of the previous emperor, he tried to curb it many times, but in the end it was nothing.

Thinking of this, Sima Yi's face became heavier. He put down the official documents, stood up, walked to the window, and stood there blankly, thinking a lot.

The eight-ox plow was originally made by Feng Yong. He couldn't have been unaware of the great role of this thing in farming.

But with Zhuge's wisdom and Feng Yong's strategy, they only kept it secret for two or three years, and then took the initiative to send it to Wu, and then spread it to Wei.

They couldn't have been unaware that the eight-ox plow was more suitable for the Central Plains, but they still let the eight-ox plow spread. Are they really not worried at all?

Or...

Actually it was intentional?

The aristocratic families are like a glutton, swallowing everything they can.

Even if Wei occasionally gets something, it will eventually become the nourishment of this glutton.

So Feng Mingwen had already seen the biggest weakness of Wei before he was twenty?

Thinking of this, Sima Yi was almost depressed.

Although Zhuge Liang was very wise, he still had traces in his actions.

Feng Mingwen was very resourceful, but his methods were unprecedented. Could he be said to be almost like a demon?

Being an opponent of such a demon really makes people physically and mentally exhausted.

"Feng Mingwen... Feng Mingwen... far-sighted..."

Mumbling someone's name, he finally sighed:

"There was Zhuge Liang before the Han Dynasty and Feng Mingwen after it. Shouldn't the Yan Han Dynasty really be destroyed?"

At this moment, the voice of a servant sounded outside the door:

"Taifu, I would like to see you from my doctor."

When Sima Yi heard this, he turned around quickly, the fatigue on his face disappeared, and even his voice became a little excited:

"Quick, please come quickly!"

Soon, Fu Gu, also looking tired, entered the house.

"Lan Shi, you're back!" Sima Yi stepped forward quickly, "Thank you for your hard work!"

Seeing the Taifu's hopeful eyes, Fu Gu paused in his steps, his face was filled with shame, and he bowed and saluted:

"Hey, let's meet the master."

"Get up, get up quickly!" Sima Yi didn't wait for Fu Gu to finish his salute, and quickly helped him up, and asked in a low voice, somewhat impatiently, "How's it going?"

Fu Gu stood up straight, not daring to look directly at Sima Yi, lowered his head and smiled bitterly:

"I feel ashamed that I have failed the great master's trust."

Sima Yi's expression froze, and his movements slowed down. He held Fu Gu's hand and then patted Fu Gu's shoulder and sighed:

"It's okay, it's what I expected. Come on, sit down first and tell me carefully, what is their attitude?"

Fu Gu sat down as he was told.

Sima Yi asked someone to serve another cup of tea.

He was probably really thirsty. He raised his glass and took a big sip, regardless of the boiling water.

It was obvious that he was in a hurry.

After taking the opportunity to drink tea to sort out his thoughts, Fu Gu said:

"According to the Taifu's order, I went to Pingyuan and the surrounding counties to find the Qinghe Cui family and other wealthy families to discuss money and food matters..."

After a pause, he continued, "The Cui family agreed readily, but the amount given was very small, no more than ten thousand stones."

When Sima Yi heard this, he groaned:

"What can one thousand stones be used for?"

To an ordinary person, ten thousand stones might be considered an amount that would never be seen in a lifetime, but Sima Yi knew that for those wealthy families, they could get a hundred times as much.

As for the consumption in the army, it is only what ten thousand people need for a month.

In addition, there are now 50,000 more cavalry...

Sima Yi thought about the 50,000 Hu cavalry eating horse chews, which directly doubled the food consumption of the Hebei army, and suddenly felt heartbroken and almost couldn't breathe.

He subconsciously reached out and pressed his heart, his voice a little hoarse:

"They are simply short-sighted and ignorant! Don't they know that if there is insufficient military rations, the sergeants mutiny, unable to defend the Taihang Mountains, and someone like Feng enters Hebei, they will have a good life?"

As he said this, he suddenly became angry and slammed the tea cup on the table to the ground.

I closed my eyes and leaned on the couch, feeling exhausted both physically and mentally.

I thought that I could ask for help from the Tuoba clan in advance and be able to arrange ahead of Feng, but I didn't expect that my opponent was still one step ahead of me.

How could the Han army send troops outside the Great Wall in winter? !

What kind of monster is he to do such an outrageous thing?

More importantly, he actually did it!

Done!

This made my advance arrangements a complete joke.

What's even more ridiculous is that under the pressure of the army, he was overwhelmed by the fifty thousand elite cavalry, thinking that he could have fifty thousand more cavalry at his disposal.

For a moment, I didn't realize how much of a burden these 50,000 cavalrymen would be to Hebei.

Sima Yi opened his eyes and stared at the roof. There was no focus, only confusion.

Feng Mingwen, is all this part of your plan again?

The old man who is your mother-in-law is so many years older than you, but he has always been played by you.

Sima Yi felt like crying more than once.

Fu Gu naturally didn't know what Sima Yi was thinking at this time.

Seeing that the master was so lost, he wanted to comfort him, but he didn't know how to speak.

We can only continue the previous topic:

"Taifu, from what I have seen, the Cui family and other wealthy families are not unwilling to provide money and food, nor are they without money and food. They also know what kind of situation they will be in if Hebei fails."

"The reason why they have such an attitude is probably because they have some agenda..."

"I know, of course I know..." Master Sima murmured, and then suddenly became furious, "Don't you just want me to offer them a higher price?"

He sat up straight and cursed loudly:

"Don't you just want to make Hebei the Hebei of aristocratic families? The Han army has already reached the doorstep. You don't want to work together and are so greedy. What are you short-sighted?"

"A bunch of rats! Rats! They deserve to be hanged from a tree by Feng Yong!"

Turning the world into the world of aristocratic families, which will remain unchanged for thousands of years, is the biggest pursuit of the aristocratic families over the years.

As a representative of aristocratic families, how could Sima Yi not know the thoughts of these wealthy families?

Now that they see this possibility in Hebei, these people can no longer control their thoughts and plan to force themselves to speed up the pace.

Enter his mother's!

Do they want to have fun before they die?