"Lord Yang!"
In Yong Province, Ma Long led his officers out to pay their respects to Yang Zong.
Ma Long had now fully taken over Deng Ai's army, and Deng Ai's army had become Ma Long's army.
Ma Long's way of commanding troops was entirely different from Deng Ai's, but his past military achievements had quickly won him the soldiers' admiration.
Yang Zong stepped down from his carriage, still holding the Son of Heaven's Standard, and Ma Long hurriedly led everyone in bowing to him.
Yang Zong looked over the men before him, his gaze finally settling on Ma Long.
"General Ma, please rise."
Smiling, Yang Zong helped Ma Long up. Ma Long was somewhat surprised; he was not particularly well acquainted with Lord Yang.
Yet Yang Zong acted quite naturally, as though he had encountered an old friend.
"His Majesty talks about you all day long. Why haven't you written him a reply?"
Yang Zong showed none of his usual aloofness. He was exceptionally warm toward Ma Long, taking his hand and talking about affairs within the imperial palace.
The officers around them exchanged glances.
The looks they gave Ma Long had all changed somewhat.
There was one thing that put Ma Long at a considerable disadvantage: his background.
One could even say that, throughout Great Wei, he was probably the only general whose background was poor.
Wang Ji, Yang Hu, Hu Zun, Guanqiu Jian, even Deng Ai and Zhuge Dan-no matter how thoroughly one looked through Great Wei's generals, one could hardly find any born as commoners.
Even Ma Long could not be called a commoner by birth. He came from a wealthy local family, but that background was rather unimpressive before these scions of the great clans.
Even Shi Bao, who also came from a wealthy local