The World Online
chapter-723

Gaia 3rd year, 9th month, 3rd day.

After Liu Bei entered Chengdu, he was filled with ambition, casually suppressing Shanhai City felt exceedingly good. However, that very afternoon, the counter attack arrived.

The Ma family that appeared along with Liu Bei - the famous Xiliang 5 Ma - quietly left Chengdu under the leadership of Zhao Kuo and headed toward Shanhai City.

The Xiliang 5 Ma referred to descendant of Fupo: General Ma Yuan, Ma Teng, his three sons Ma Chao, Ma Xiu, Ma Tie, and Nephew Ma Dai.

The Ma family ancestor was the famous General Zhao She. Zhao She was given the title of Mafu Lord, and his sons and grandsons followed the surname Mafu, which was changed to Ma.

Zhao Kuo was ordered to rush to Chengdu to move the entire Ma family out of Chengdu. The entire process was silent and soundless; Liu Bei only received the news when the Ma Family arrived in Shanhai city.

Hearing the news from an infomat, Liu Bei smashed a cup on the spot, his face swelling from fury.

"Damn you!"

If Zhuge Liang did not stop him, Liu Bei would have sent men to destroy Shanhai City's office. If he really did that, Liu Bei could only hide in the imperial palace for the rest of his life.

Gaia's punishment for NPCs breaking the rules was never soft.

Along with the betrayal of Ma, the five tiger generals of Shu Han were only left with Zhao Yun and Huang Zhong. Ma Teng and Ma Dai were both great generals, and their departure was like cutting off Liu Bei's arms.

One must not simply look at the impressive number of generals appearing in Chengdu. In truth, after Shu Han was formed, the number of talents dropped and was all held in place by the old guard.

Along with Ma leaving, the number of troops they could take out greatly dwindled.

More importantly, the departure of the Ma family shook the people's hearts. Just entering the wilderness, Shu Han had lost so much; it definitely was not a good sign.

This beautiful retaliation of Shanhai City warned Liu Bei that the wilderness still belonged to the players. Even if Liu Bei moved into Chengdu, he could not totally control it.

Only Liu Bei himself knew that this slap to the face was that painful.

The quiet desertion of the Ma family showed that the intel network that Shanhai City had placed in Chengdu was incredibly successful.

They managed to complete a huge shift of people right under the enemy's noses.

"Prime minister, immediately send someone to investigate and remove all the rats." Liu Bei was truly an ambitious person. After calming down, he immediately thought of a way to solve the problem, "Remember, this is my city."

"Understood!" Zhuge Liang nodded; his expression exceedingly solemn.

After returning from the battle map, Liu Bei had become the Shu Emperor and Zhuge Liang naturally became his prime minister.

As they say, the stars change and planets shift, nothing was certain.

If Gaia did not help, they would not have such a switch of roles.

The intelligent Zhuge Liang could feel that the wilderness was much more complicated than the Three Kingdoms. The changes in these two days undoubtedly proved this point.

...

The Ma family leaving also showed the deep foundations of Shanhai City.

Absolutely shocking!

For Ma and the rest to be willing to move to Shanhai City, it obviously had to do with the influence of their ancestor Zhao She and Zhao Kuo. Similarly, the vast prospects of Shanhai City and their position as overlord of the wilderness was similarly an important matter.

Especially to Ma Chao, who was still at the stage of his life where he wanted to continue fighting. His hot bloodedness was like his youth, and he was unwilling to be a turtle holed up in the imperial city. In comparison, Shanhai City could provide him with a stage to display his skills.

Chengdu and Shanhai City, if he had to choose one, he would choose Shanhai City without hesitation.

In history, only Ma Chao and Ma Dai chose to work for Liu Bei. The families of Ma Teng, Ma Xiu, and Ma Tie were wiped out by Cao Cao, so they had nothing to do with Liu Bei.

Even Ma Chao was the last out of the five tiger generals to join Liu Bei.

Hence, the Ma family was far from close to Liu Bei.

Naturally, they did not feel any psychological barriers from leaving.

...

When the news of the Ma Family betraying and joining Shanhai City spread, the China region was once again sent into an uproar; everyone's eyes opened wide. No one would have expected the counter attack to be so smooth and swift.

"Well done!" Some people cheered.

Many playes gave Shanhai City a thumbs-up for daring to go head-to-head with the imperial city.

One must not forget that based on China's population, each imperial city had close to a million elite troops. Even when adding the army and navy of Shanhai City together, they had just reached a million.

At the current stage, who else other than Shanhai City would dare to challenge an imperial city?

Even Di Chen had to back off against Jingdu and look on in fear.

The players who cheered were not only the ones from the other imperial cities.

There were many players in Chengdu who did not have good opinions of Liu Bei.

Chasing out the four seas bank had caused a lot of inconvenience and negative effects on the players. Liu Bei's actions lacked the magnanimity of an emperor and were seen as a little petty.

Not to mention the effect of the loans of the four seas bank on the chambers of commerce.

Hence, this was a lose-lose situation for both Shanhai City and Chengdu.

More importantly, in most players' eyes, they could not place NPCs on the same level as players. The actions of Liu Bei toward Shanhai City had triggered the sensitive nerves of the players on some level.

Only then did the players have such an intense reaction.

However, Ouyang Shuo was pretty nonchalant about this. When he killed Guan Yu, he had expected such a situation to occur.

However, as he was still in the battle map at that time, he could not make changes.

Ouyang Shuo truly treated NPCs and players equally.

He treated Liu Bei as an opponent, which was why he did not just grumble and struck back. This battle between the two giants did not have anything to do with justice and brotherhood, much less good and evil.

Shanhai City, Nanjiang Governor-General House.

That afternoon, Ouyang Shuo personally met Ma Chao and his group.

Liu Bei's announcement had messed up Ouyang Shuo's original plan. He had wanted to hold a military meeting to settle the appointment of Lu Su and the others.

Such a matter cropped up, and the meeting could only be pushed aside.

The matter of the military meeting could only be postponed to a later date.

Along with the arrival of Ma Teng and the others, some plans had to be changed.

In the main hall, the five of them officially greeted Ouyang Shuo and acknowledged him as their Monarch. Ma Teng was the first to step out, standing in front of them and bowing, "I am Ma Teng!"

"Ma Chao!"

"Ma Dai!"

"Ma Xiu!"

"Ma Tie!"

"Greetings, Monarch!"

The three sons and the nephew stood in one line, exceedingly eye-catching.

"Generals, please rise!"

Ouyang Shuo left his seat and walked before Ma Teng to personally help him up.

"Thank you Monarch!"

Ma Teng stood up; this was the first time he really judged his new Lord. Ma Teng was extremely sharp and was good at guessing other people's character. With just a short moment of judgement, his heart was shocked, and he did not dare to underestimate Ouyang Shuo.

When one was old, one would start to reminisce.

Ma Teng moved to Shanhai City because he respected Zhao Kuo. Ma Teng felt a little against this Lord that he had never met before. Moreover, he even heard that the Lord was a young kid.

Who knew that the first meeting would change his opinion?

Although his new Lord seemed young, his smile was devilish. No one would dare to be preposterous in front of him and do anything out of hand.

His body emitted the aura of an emperor; even if he was not angry, he would instill fear in others.

"General, can you still fight?" Ouyang Shuo smiled as he asked.

Ouyang Shuo wanted to know whether Ma Teng still had the ambition to conquer the battlefield. If he did not want to, then he could only find another position for him in the Military Affairs Bureau.

When Ma Teng heard these words, his eyes widened, "Monarch, do not mention it! I can still eat three bows of rice, don armor, and grab knives, my skills are not rusty!"

"Great!"

Ouyang Shuo praised, "Old General on a horse (pun since Ma=horse), one versus two!"

Haha!

When Ma Teng heard that, he laughed. In his heart, he had a new recognition of this Lord.

Ma Xiu and the others were worried when they saw their father like this. Ma Chao and the others did not wish for their father to go on the battlefield again. The few of them were enough!

However, this was their father's wish, and they could not shake it.

When Ouyang Shuo saw this scene, he found it funny.

Using this chance, Ouyang Shuo took a look at their stats.

Name: Ma Chao (Emperor Rank)

Dynasty: East Han

Identity: Shanhai City General

Occupation: Special Rank General

Loyalty: 70

Command: 70

Force: 98

Intelligence: 65

Politics: 40

Specialty: Fierce Rider (Raises troops morale by 30%, raises troops movement speed by 40%, raises troops combat strength by 20%)

Cultivation Method: Fupo Spear Technique (36 styles)

Weapon: Goulian Spear

Evaluation: All-rounded, an outstanding person. Exceedingly intelligent and can hold his own in ruling a land.

In the Three Kingdoms, in terms of martial arts, only Ma Chao could compare to Lu Bu. With his 98 force stat, he could easily kill his way out of a group of generals and was evaluated as an Emperor Rank general.

Ma Chao was like Lu Bu; they were generals that focused on one stat.

Name: Ma Teng (King Rank)

Dynasty: East Han

Identity: Shanhai City General

Occupation: Advanced General

Loyalty: 75

Command: 72

Force: 80

Intelligence: 60

Politics: 45

Specialty: Xiliang Iron Cavalry (Raises troops combat strength by 15%, raises movement speed by 25%)

Cultivation method: nil

Weapon: Machete

Evaluation: Ma Teng was a person with a tall and strong body. He has a humble and polite personality, respected by many.

As for Ma Dai and the rest, they are all King Rank generals and their stats were similar to Zhou Tai's.