Coming out of the Qianqing Palace, Ma Cheng stood in front of the Xihua Gate and hesitated. I originally wanted to kill Qian Qianyi today, but I didn't expect Lu Jiude to turn back. Lu Jiude's backlash made Lu Siye unreliable, and the most important military intelligence department in Ma Cheng's hands was in the hands of Lu Siye, and such an important department must not make any mistakes.

Ma Cheng thought about the operation of the Military Intelligence Department, but fortunately, the Military Intelligence Department has just been established for half a year, and the basic work is only to send spies to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the biggest spy is Zuo Maodi, and there is nothing unseemly about these things. Fortunately, Ma Cheng has not yet had time to let the Military Intelligence Department carry out the task of monitoring hundreds of officials, if this matter is exposed in front of Zhu Lunkui, then he can't explain it.

Now that Lu Siye is no longer reliable, how should the Military Intelligence Department operate? This candidate is difficult for Ma Cheng, the Military Intelligence Department is not the same as the general Yamen, the Military Intelligence Department will be Ma Cheng's secret service in the future, and completely reliable talents must be selected.

Ma Cheng stood here in Xihua Gate for a long time, the Han general who guarded the door saw this powerful figure standing at the door and didn't know what his intentions, the current Ma Cheng was different from the miscellaneous admiral half a year ago, Ma Cheng held more than 100,000 troops in the capital, and was a prominent man.

The Qianhu guarding the door stepped forward and asked, "The villain has asked the Hou Ye to say goodbye, I don't know if the Hou Ye has anything else to do with the villain?" ”

was reminded by that thousand households, Ma Cheng remembered that he was standing at the gate of the palace, there are strict rules in the palace, and idle people are not allowed to wander here. Ma Cheng said apologetically: "I'm sorry, Ben Du was thinking about something just now, delaying the brothers, now Ben Du will go out!" ”

After Ma Cheng finished speaking, he left from Xihuamen, Ma Cheng came from the later generations, and the idea that everyone is equal has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, so Ma Cheng has always spoken kindly to ordinary people or his generals. It's the first time that Qianhu has heard such a big man talk like this, and it would be good if those nobles didn't scold you a few words, and they could still be so kind there.

That Qianhu watched Ma Cheng go away, and silently thought in his heart that this Guiyang Marquis was really unusual, different from ordinary nobles.

Ma Cheng didn't know that he had inadvertently befriended a little person, and this little person would play a big role in the future.

Ma Cheng left Xihuamen and went to the Thousand Steps Corridor. The Thousand Steps Corridor is between the Chengtian Gate and the Hongwu Gate, it is the office location of the Six Departments of Nanjing, but there are too few rooms here in the Thousand Steps Corridor, and the Six Departments have other offices in the city in addition to here, and the offices here in the Thousand Steps Corridor are the Lang Officials of the Six Departments.

Ma Cheng came here to find Xu Zhenye, the right attendant of the Ministry of Industry, and Lao Xu, who had been mixed up for more than half a year. After taking refuge in Ma Shiying, Xu Zhenye, who was supposed to go home to farm, re-became the head of the Ministry of Industry, and was promoted from the seventh grade to the fourth rank in less than half a year. This time, because of his meritorious service in supporting Zhu Lunkui's ascendancy, coupled with the help of Ma Shiying, the first assistant behind him, he became the third-in-command of the Ministry of Industry and the right attendant of the Ministry of Industry.

Now the secretary of the Ministry of Industry is Li Zhan, this old guy is the same year as Ma Shiying, the second-in-command Zuo Shilang is Ma Cheng's teacher Song Yingxing, and the top bosses are all his own people, so Xu Zhenye is really mixed up like a fish in water in the Ministry of Industry.

Although Song Yingxing has the title of Zuo Shilang, he has been working in the Ordnance Bureau in Beicheng all the year round.

So now the Ministry of Industry is in charge of Xu Zhenye.

The Manchu Qing Dynasty was in the outer city of the city, and the six departments in the city basically had nothing to do except for the military department and the Ministry of Industry, because the Ministry of Industry had to manage the production of weapons in the whole city, so Xu Zhenye was really busy in the back of the head these days.

Xu Zhenye was working in the yamen today, and heard a report from the officials outside the gate that the Marquis of Guiyang was here.

Xu Zhenye's wealth is all on the Ma father and son, and now when he heard that Ma Cheng was coming, he quickly put down his work and went out of the door to the second gate to greet him.

Ma Cheng wore a red over-the-shoulder python robe, and when he saw Xu Zhenye respectfully standing at the second gate to greet him, Ma Cheng smiled and said: "Lord Xu, you are now a third-grade waiter, you don't need so many courtesies!" ”

Although Ma Cheng said politely, Xu Zhenye didn't dare to be sloppy, he knew that this Ma Cheng in front of him was a smiling tiger, and he could destroy people when he talked and laughed, so he didn't dare to slack off, bowed down and said: "Hou Ye said that he laughed, without Hou Ye's presence today, Xia Guan naturally can't forget Hou Ye's kindness back then!" ”

Seeing Xu Zhenye say this, Ma Cheng was very satisfied, and he was afraid that these scholars would forget how they were promoted when they became officials. Now that Xu Zhenye said this, Ma Cheng was very relieved, so that he could tell him some secret things today.

Ma Cheng came to Xu Zhenye today not because he was idle and wandering around, but because Ma Cheng wanted to find a confidant civil official to help analyze what to do in the future. This time Lu Jiude defected to the Donglin Party to make Ma Cheng very passive, Lu Siye is his confidant, he knows a lot of things, if he doesn't solve Lu Siye, what secrets will Lu Jiude have in front of him in the future?

Ma Cheng originally wanted to discuss with his father Ma Shiying, but just now Ma Cheng thought from Xihuamen that he wanted to be independent in the future, and he would tell his father everything, which would inevitably make his father look down on him. You must know that if Ma Cheng succeeds in the future, the first mortal enemy he faces is Ma Luan, and he is Ma Cheng's most favorable competitor. If you want to take the lead in the competition with Ma Luan, you must let Lao Tzu Ma Shiying see that he is indeed a qualified successor.

In order to show his ability, Ma Cheng naturally couldn't go to Lao Tzu Ma Shiying for help when he encountered any difficulties, but Ma Cheng had too few civil officials and strategists in his hands. Wang Xian is one, but Wang Xian has never been mixed in officialdom, he doesn't understand many things at all, if he plays some kind of conspiracy Wang Xian is a good hand, this kind of officialdom is better to find an expert.

Xu Zhenye is also Ma Cheng's person, if there was no Ma Cheng's introduction back then, Xu Zhenye would have returned to his hometown to farm by now. However, Ma Cheng was afraid that Xu Zhenye would forget his roots after he was promoted, so he was going to come over and test it first. Now seeing that Xu Zhenye still respects himself as before, Ma Cheng put his mind down and walked into Xu Zhenye's office.

The office here in the Qianbu Corridor is tense, except for Shangshu Li Zhan himself, who has a separate small courtyard, everyone else is several people crowded into one office. Even Xu Zhenye's servant can only run a room with the secretary of the Zhao Mo Division. However, a small reception room is separated by a screen at the back of this room, which is Xu Zhenye's separate space.

Ma Cheng came to Xu Zhenye's desk and flipped through the documents casually, although Ma Cheng couldn't recognize all the traditional characters, but the basic meaning could still be understood, these documents were all sent by various manufacturing bureaus in the city. There are those who need strong craftsmen, and there are those who need raw materials,

There is also the need to allocate wages and food.

It seems that Xu Zhenye is working very seriously, no matter what the document Xu Zhenye has made detailed instructions, and Ma Cheng is very satisfied with this.

Ma Cheng sat down on the chair next to him, and a bookstore served tea to Ma Cheng and Xu Zhenye, then closed the door and withdrew.

Xu Zhenye also knew that Ma Cheng would not come to see him for no reason, and after everyone in the house went out, Xu Zhenye asked: "Master Hou, I don't know what happened to come to find the lower official?" ”

Ma Cheng didn't want to hide it from Xu Zhenye, and said with a smile after taking a sip of tea: "It's not a big deal, just now, the governor wanted to kill Qian Qianyi in front of His Majesty, but I didn't expect that at a critical time, Lu Jiude spoke for Qian Qianyi, causing the governor's intention to fail." This time, the governor came to ask Lord Xu to help analyze it! ”

Xu Zhenye was overjoyed when he heard Ma Cheng say this, although he was a member of Ma Shiying's party, he basically had no access to any core secrets. Ma Shiying has been in the sea for more than 20 years, and there are no others, but a lot of them have died in the same year, and now there are more than 20 senior officials at the level of Shangshu in the imperial court, all of whom are Ma Shiying's party. Among them, the core figures include the cabinet elder Ruan Dacheng, the secretary of the Ministry of Officials Zhang Jie, the secretary of the household department Yang Weiyuan, the Ministry of Industry Secretary Li Zhan, the Ministry of War Secretary Tian Yang and others, and there is only one Donglin Party side of the Criminal Department Secretary Xie Xuelong and the Ministry of Rites Secretary Wang Duo.

The core figures of Ma Shiying's party are far above Xu Zhenye regardless of their status and status, and Xu Zhenye doesn't even have the opportunity to attend when they discuss any major matters they usually discuss, so Xu Zhenye heard Ma Cheng come to him today to discuss the matter of killing Qian Qianyi, and thought that it was instructed by Ma Shiying.

"Master Hou, why didn't Yuanfu participate in this matter?" Xu Zhenye quickly found the crux of the problem, Qian Qianyi is also a cabinet elder, if he really wants to kill him, Ma Shiying should take action, why did Ma Cheng say nothing without Ma Shiying just now.

Ma Cheng laughed: "Haha, what's that, this matter was the temporary idea of the governor, and my father didn't know about it!" ”

It turned out to be Ma Cheng's own intention, no wonder things didn't work out. Xu Zhenye knew that Ma Shiying was an old fritter in officialdom, if he really wanted to kill Qian Qianyi, he would definitely be well prepared, and he would definitely not be like Ma Cheng who was not at all defenseless against Lu Jiude.

"Xia Guan knows why, although Lu Jiude used to be an ally of Yuan Fu, but now that Han Zanzhou is dead, the common enemy of the two parties is gone, and this alliance will naturally disintegrate. And now that Yuanfu's side is the strongest, as long as Lu Jiude still wants to control power, he naturally wants to find another ally, so that the weak Donglin Party will become a good target for an alliance! ”

Ma Cheng knows some of these truths, but the authorities are not very clear, and now listening to Xu Zhenye's explanation, Ma Cheng can't help but nod again and again.

"There is one more thing that Hou Ye miscalculated!"

Ma Cheng heard that there was still one thing he hadn't calculated, so he hurriedly asked respectfully, "Is there anything else that the governor hasn't calculated?" Please Mr. Xu to solve your doubts! ”

Ma Cheng is good at this point, as long as it is useful, he must be respectful, and if it is useless, he will fall into the well immediately. Now I heard Xu Zhenye say that he still has something to calculate, so he quickly lowered his posture and asked for advice.

"It is understandable that Hou Ye wants to deal with Qian Ge Lao, but the timing is not right, even if Lu Jiude does not intercede this time, His Majesty will not do anything to Qian Ge Lao, and the next official estimates that in the end, he will just give an order to reprimand!"