Nanjing in March is the season of spring flowers, although it is in the period of the Xiaoice River, but Nanjing still ushered in spring.

The coup d'état three months ago was the main battlefield, and more than 10,000 citizens died in the war later, but the resilience of the Chinese is the strongest, as long as they are given a stable life, they can quickly get out of the shadow of death.

Ma Cheng and Zhang Erpei wore civilian clothes and walked on the streets of Nanjing with only two escorts. Ma Cheng saw that the surrounding shops were doing prosperous business, and couldn't help nodding secretly, it seems that his old son Ma Shiying still has a set of rules.

In the Ming Dynasty, because of the brutal party struggle, the ministers of the court and the central government were divided into two factions, one was the eunuch party and the other was the Donglin party. Of course, eunuchs were not eunuchs, but most of these eunuchs were bureaucrats with rich governing ability.

Ma Shiying didn't say anything, he had served as a county governor and a prefect, as well as officials at the central and local levels, and his governing ability was first-class and rich. Ma Shiying's Zhang Jie, Li Zhan and others are also local officials, that is, Tian Yang and Zhang Sunzhen, who are not very good, have also been local officials for many years, so Ma Shiying's party is clear about governing the country.

On the other hand, the Donglin Party's clear stream is not good, of course, it does not mean that the Donglin Party is all boastful clear streams, among which there are also Jiang Yueguang, Qi Biaojia, Zuo Maodi and other local officials with governing experience. But most of the Donglin Party is still dominated by Qingliu, such as Qian Qianyi, who was born in the Hanlin Academy! Wang Duo, the waiter talks about his background. These people may be good at playing politics, but they are not good at governing the country.

Ma Cheng came out of his mansion and stood on the street of the flower market and watched the flow of people, Ma Cheng asked, "Second brother-in-law, where do you say we go first?" ”

Zhang Erpei heard Ma Cheng call him his second brother-in-law, and felt that the hairs all over his body stood on end, you must know that Ma Cheng has never been polite to his brother-in-law, the eldest brother-in-law Zhu Yousong was killed by him outside the city, and the second brother-in-law Zhang Erpei was beating in the house just now, and now Zhang Erpei heard Ma Cheng call him the second brother-in-law, and quickly said politely: "Grandpa must not be called like this, lowly status, where can he compare with grandpa?" Grandpa can call the humble name! ”

Ma Cheng's second sister Ma Hongyu is a concubine, and Zhang Erpei is only a small family in Guizhou, so he really can't compare with Ma Cheng. But Ma Cheng was still embarrassed to call him by his name directly, Ma Cheng thought for a while and said, "In that case, then Bengong will call you Brother Zhang!" ”

Zhang Erpei heard it, and quickly nodded and said, "It's all up to Grandpa!" ”

"Okay, Brother Zhang, where do you say we should go to find out the news first?"

"Now there are many children in the city, these scholars are vassals and elegant, so naturally they all have to go to the Qinhuai River, this time the court has confiscated a few female dependents, and there must be new goods in the Jiaofang Division, why don't you humiliate and invite the grandfather to go to the Jiaofang Division to see?"

Beginning in the Tang and Song dynasties, the Department of Teaching and Workshop was only an official ritual and music institution at the beginning, responsible for cultivating literary and artistic talents for the country, similar to the Communication University and Chinese Opera in later generations. However, in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang hated those literati doctors who served the Yuan Dynasty, so he beheaded these unlucky ghosts and assigned their families to the teaching workshop as a happy household. Families here are not only for women, but also for many men to learn musical instruments for daily accompaniment.

When Zhu Dijing became the emperor, this guy was ruthless, killed those ministers loyal to Emperor Jianwen, and sent their female dependents to the Jiaofang Division as prostitutes, which completely stigmatized the ritual and music institution of the Jiaofang Division and became a state-run brothel.

Ma Cheng's heart moved when he heard that he was going to the Jiaofang Division, he had really never been to this kind of state-run brothel, thinking of this, Ma Cheng smiled and said: "Okay, let's go and have a look!" ”

The Teaching Workshop Division is located in the north and south of Kyoto, and the Yanle Hutong in Dongcheng District, Beijing is the original site of the Ming Dynasty Teaching Workshop Division. And Nanjing's Jiaofang Division is in the southeast of Wende Bridge, the south bank of the Qinhuai River, the terrain of this area is low-lying, a flood season, the river water of Qinhuai and Qingxi two rivers is poured into this place to become Zeguo, the Yuan Dynasty will rebuild the long bridge here into a stone dam, and the street is named after the stone dam.

Shiba Street is located in the southeast of Nanjing Confucius Temple, west of Bailuzhou, because it is close to the Gongyuan, it is a place where talented people and talented people often come, so it has gradually become a famous red light district in Nanjing.

Because it belongs to the state-run brothel, it is different from other private brothels, and it is not the name of some building or pavilion, and there are only two big characters on the tall gatehouse.

The state-run style is really different, and Ma Cheng is the first time to come to a brothel in this era, so he can't help but stand at the door and take a look. There are turtles wearing green turbans standing at the door of the teaching department, probably Zhang Erpei is a frequent visitor here, these turtles saw Zhang Erpei coming, and they smiled one by one and stepped forward to lick their cheeks: "Grandpa Zhang, why are you free to come here today?" ”

Zhang Erpei was not welcomed here two years ago, but since Ma Shiying became the first assistant, Zhang Erpei's reputation has become higher and higher, and in the past few months, Ma Shiying has become an auxiliary minister, and the Ma family is a fourth duke, Zhang Erpei is even higher, and the title is from Zhang Ye to the master, and now he is directly promoted to grandfather.

Zhang Erpei now holds a lot of power, and his majesty is increasing day by day, where can he look down on these lowly turtle princes? Zhang Erpei asked in a deep voice, "Mother He?" ”

"Yes! In! Please wait a moment! After a turtle slave finished speaking, he trotted into the gate, and after a while, a middle-aged beauty wearing a green brocade robe and a medium stature came out and said with a smile: "Brother Zhang is so interested today, why did he come here in the afternoon just after leaving in the morning?" ”

This old bustard is in his thirties, his appearance is not bad, he must have been a beauty when he was young, although he is now a handful of years, but he still has some charm.

Ma Cheng saw this old bustard and said with a smile: "Brother Zhang, it seems that this beautiful sister misses you!" ”

The old bustard's maiden name is He, although she has a title of a female official from the ninth grade in the Teaching Workshop Division, but this kind of lowly livelihood has always been looked down upon by outsiders, and now Ma Cheng calls her a beautiful sister, He Lao Bustard looked Ma Cheng up and down, and asked with a smile: "Brother Zhang, who is this little brother?" ”

"Oh, he's a little friend of mine, and my mother can call him Second Master Ma!" Zhang Erpei said the title agreed with Ma Cheng. He Laobuar is a well-informed person in Nanjing, and Zhang Erpei's father-in-law is Ma Shiying, and this Ma Erye must be a son of the Ma family. But He Lao Bustard didn't dare to think that the second master of Ma in front of him was Ma Cheng, Ma Cheng was the prince of Zhenguo, so he could come to this kind of place to prostitute *?

He Laobuar took Ma Cheng's hand and said with a smile: "The second master is here for the first time!" Please come in, later today, it will be the election of the Oiran in the courtyard, and the second master can be notified if he has a photo! ”

Ma Cheng touched He Laobustard's little white hand and smiled: "What's so good about those girls who haven't opened anything?" There is such a style of mother, I don't know if my mother is willing to accept customers? ”

He Laobuar has not accepted customers for more than ten years, but she has seen a lot of prostitutes like Ma Cheng and knows how to fight

Hair: "Second master rest assured, if the second master does not have a girl in the picture, then the slave family will fight to go out of the mountain again, and they will also meet the second master once!" ”

Ma Cheng was also a frequent visitor to the massage parlor in his previous life, so he didn't know that this was He Laobu's excuse, but Ma Cheng was not angry, and said with a smile: "Okay, the second master came to you for the first time today, give us a few prepared fields, and the second master will see how you choose this oiran in a while!" ”

Zhang Erpei is a frequent visitor, and he is not bad for money, so He Laobuar gave up the best room on the second floor, this room has an excellent view, and he sits in the house and sees the cloud platform in the courtyard. However, there was no one on the gimbal at this time, and the selection of the Oiran could not start until the evening.

Ma Cheng entered the house and sat down, the two bodyguards of the Military Intelligence Department stood at the door, and after a while, He Lao Bustard sent in two beauties and sat next to Ma Cheng and Zhang Erpei to accompany the wine.

These two women were trained by the Teaching Workshop Division, and their figures and appearances were first-class, but this kind of appearance was nothing in Ma Cheng's eyes, what he liked was a big Yanma or a mature woman, a royal sister, and a young * tooth, so no matter how these two women teased, Ma Cheng didn't have any waves in his heart.

Although Zhang Erpei is a frequent visitor, his face is also flushed by the women around him, Ma Cheng glanced at Zhang Erpei and scolded: "Useless things, these two belong to you, go and solve it later!" ”

got Ma Cheng's willingness to guard, Zhang Erpei quickly stood up and pulled the two girls to the back to vent. The two girls were gone, and the house was much quieter, when I heard a commotion from the next room.

"Brother Yan and brother, five years ago, I said goodbye to Nandu, but I didn't expect to meet again in the old place!"

"Where is it, the virtuous brother smiled, the foolish brother came to Nandu to take the exam with great interest, but he didn't expect to fall into Sun Mountain!"

"Brother Yan and rest assured, this time I heard that the imperial court has given five hundred places, and there is a great chance of winning the lift!"

Ma Cheng heard what the two people on the side said, and knew that these were two talents who participated in the imperial examination. In order to win the hearts of the people in this year's township test, Ma Shiying deliberately increased the number of places in the middle test, and directly raised the number of places in the middle test from the previous 100 to 500. However, because there has been no exam for five years, and this township exam is not limited to Nanzhili, as long as the talents from the southern provinces can come to the exam, the exam is still very difficult.

Ma Cheng came to the Jiaofang Division this time to listen to the public opinion in the countryside, and after hearing that the room next to him was a lift, he moved the chair to the wall and listened carefully to what the two said.

At first, the two of them just talked about what they had seen and heard, and after a while, three more people came in, these people were probably old acquaintances, and after meeting the courtesy, they said a few words politely, and began to talk about what they had seen and heard in Nanjing.

"A few brothers, this time the younger brother ran out of home secretly, and my father didn't let the younger brother come to participate in this township test!"

The imperial court has issued a notice that if you pass the township test this time, you can come out to become an official, how can this father cut off his son's official road? Everyone else was puzzled. A person asked, "Brother Xian, is my uncle afraid that the chaos between the DPRK and China will implicate you?" ”

"Yes, the traitor Ma Shiying dared to hold the emperor hostage, isn't this to be Wang Mang and Cao Cao? My father is very optimistic about Ma Shiying, so he doesn't allow me to come out! But a few elder brothers know that the younger brother is already twenty-eight years old, and he is a talent after eighteen years of the imperial examination, and he doesn't know when he will wait until he doesn't come out this time! So the younger brother hid from my father and came to Nandu by himself to try his luck! ”