Chapter 599: Ma Family's Choice

"Hahaha..." Yuan Hang and the Sixth Prince laughed at the same time. Read

When they thought that the King of Yan was about to die at the hands of the Han family, they felt very happy.

Once, they turned their hands to make the clouds and rain in the capital, and lived a life of luxury.

He even had a chance to become the crown prince and the emperor of Dasong in the future.

But because of the King of Yan, he was imprisoned in the prison by Zhao Heng for more than a year.

Even if the powerful family sent him to Jinzhou, he could no longer live his previous life.

Because this place is too barren, even if he tried his best to plunder, he could not enjoy even one tenth of the luxurious life he had before.

So how could he not hate it.

But fortunately, all this is coming to an end.

The army of the Han family and Japan will invade Yanzhou and crush the King of Yan to pieces.

And he will join the Han family and become a vassal king guarding one side.

"By the way, my uncle said that the Han family is working with Japan to make a plan to attack Yanzhou. It is estimated that it will not take long before the war between Qi and King Yan will break out."

"He asked us to reorganize the troops and cooperate with the Qi army to contain the forces of King Yan along the flank. During this period, you should ask the guards to capture more strong men and fill our army, so that we can make a bigger noise at that time."

"Don't worry, Your Highness, just leave this matter to me. I will definitely surprise King Yan at that time." Yuan Hang patted his chest and said.

The Sixth Prince nodded and smiled with satisfaction.

Sizhou, Luocheng.

Ma Han received the imperial edict from Yanzhou and summoned the elders of the Ma family.

Everyone knows about the changes in Jinling City now, and his Ma family is no exception.

At the same time, he has been paying attention to the news of various powerful families after the chaos in Jinling City.

The Dou family established the Southern Liang, and the Xie family supported the eldest prince to ascend the throne in Jinling.

He knew clearly that the Han family established the Qi Kingdom, the Liang family established the Wu Kingdom, and the Fan family established Pingnan.

Faced with this chaotic situation, he had discussed the future of the Ma family with the elders of the Ma family recently.

"Elders, this is the imperial edict that was just delivered, asking me to go to Yancheng, but the imperial edict did not say anything."

"In my opinion, this is the intention of the King of Yan. What do you think we should do now?"

"That's strange. How can an imperial edict not explain the specific reasons?" Ma Lan said.

His father was the governor of Sizhou and died in Ma Jin's rebellion.

After Ma Han came back, he handed Sizhou over to Ma Han.

"I think the King of Yan did it on purpose. He wanted to test the Ma family." Dian Zhang said.

Although he was not a member of the Ma family, he was called to attend this family meeting because of his outstanding military achievements in the Ma family.

Ma Han nodded, "Dianzhang means the same as me. This is the King of Yan asking our Ma family to make a choice again."

"Seven of the eight powerful families have now betrayed Dasong. The King of Yan probably has no idea whether our Ma family can be trusted."

"And since the King of Yan has welcomed the emperor to Yancheng, it means that he wants to continue to maintain the orthodoxy of Dasong."

"In the future, there will definitely be conflicts with the courts established by other powerful families, so he certainly doesn't want our Ma family to turn to other powerful families at a critical moment."

The elders nodded when they heard this.

One elder said, "This is troublesome. Although our Ma family has been attached to the King of Yan for some time, the powerful families under his command are very afraid of the King of Yan, fearing that they will end up like the powerful families in Yanzhou in the future."

"That is, if we formally pledge allegiance to the King of Yan, we are afraid that the powerful families under our command will rebel."

"..."

The elders said one after another, and all of them frowned.

Ma Han and Dianzhang looked at each other with a solemn expression.

Different from the cooperation with the King of Yan.

This time, the King of Yan wanted more than just a promise from his Ma family, but to take real action.

But just as the elders worried, if he formally pledged allegiance to the King of Yan.

They were afraid that Sizhou would be in chaos, which was really a dilemma.

"What is there to argue about? Now the King of Yan is the court, and the court is the King of Yan. Isn't it reasonable for the King of Yan to pledge allegiance? Why, do you also want to learn from other powerful families to establish a country?"

As the group was talking, a voice suddenly came into the hall, and then Ma Yuan walked in.

After the powerful families let the Sixth Prince take over Jinzhou, he was disheartened and unhappy, and fell ill, so he took sick leave and returned to Sizhou to rest.

During this period, he has been staying in Luocheng.

Just now, Ma Han sent someone to inform him to come to the meeting of the elders.

His wife didn't tell him about this because she was worried about his health.

It was only when the servants let it slip that he knew about it.

So he forced himself to rush over.

"Uncle." Ma Han immediately stood up and helped Ma Yuan to sit on a chair.

Among the elders of the Ma family, Ma Yuan can be said to have the highest status and is highly respected.

Ma Yuan said so, and the elders were silent for a while.

However, this matter is related to the survival of the Ma family after all.

There are still elders who stood up to refute, "No, the King of Yan is the King of Yan, and the Emperor is the Emperor. The Emperor will not take the land of the nobles and distribute it to the people, but the King of Yan will."

"It's okay for us, the Ma family, to be loyal, unless the King of Yan guarantees that he will not touch our land in the future."

"What's the use of guaranteeing? If the King of Yan unifies the world in the future, how can he allow our Ma family to be independent."

Ma Yuan heard this and smiled coldly: "I think you want money but not life. Based on my understanding of King Yan, he will not give us the Ma family a chance to betray him. If we don't agree, within ten days, King Yan's troops will arrive in Sizhou, and then they will not be so polite."

The elder of the Ma family who stood up was speechless, stunned for a long time, and sat down dejectedly.

Ma Yuan continued: "The Ma family today is no longer the Ma family of the past. If we choose the wrong path this time, our Ma family will be shattered."

In fact, Ma Han had already made up his mind, but he couldn't act arbitrarily.

Now that Ma Yuan spoke, he felt relieved. Facing many elders, he said, "Have you forgotten Qinzhou and Yongzhou? Who else can help our Ma family take them back except the King of Yan?"

"Even if the King of Yan takes back the two states in the name of the court, at least our Ma family is no longer the sinner who lost the two states."

"Also, the Ma family's muskets and artillery are all provided by the King of Yan. Without the King of Yan providing us with ammunition, these firearms will become scrap copper and rotten iron."

"Furthermore, if you don't have the protection of the King of Yan, do you think Nanliang will let our Ma family go? I'm afraid they will be the first to attack our Ma family. Don't forget that the Ma family is shrinking in Sizhou today because of him, Dou Wei."

Some elders lowered their heads. Thinking of losing the protection of the King of Yan, in the troubled times, the Ma family will only be fat meat in the eyes of other powerful families, and they suddenly felt a chill on their backs.

Seeing this, Ma Han struck while the iron was hot, "As for the problem of the nobles, I will discuss with His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan and find a solution."

The elders nodded one after another, and faced with Ma Yuan and Ma Han, they basically agreed to this matter.

After discussing this matter, Ma Han set off for Yancheng the next day.

He went with his wife and his newborn son.