Ma Cheng and the rest of his family retreated to the back room before saying to Chen Qi: "Hurry up and invite Lord Xu in!" After speaking, Ma Cheng tidied up his clothes, and then stood at the door ready to welcome Xu Zhenye.

The current Xu Zhenye is different from the previous broken county, the current Xu Zhenye's official residence is from the second grade, if there is no accident, it has reached the apex of the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty, of course, there are six Shangshu and Ge Lao on Xiao Jiuqing, but those positions can not be obtained through personal struggle, luck, timing, and backstage are indispensable.

Of course, it is not so easy to achieve from the second grade, there is no one product of the living officials in the Ming Dynasty, all the official levels range from the second grade to the seventh grade, and there are more than 30,000 positions in the country, except for the governor and the governor, these feudal officials, there are less than 30 officials in the court with the color of the second grade. Although the elder of the pavilion coaxed the assistant emperor to be in charge, the real official position of the scholar was only the fifth grade, which was far from being comparable to the six Shangshu and the big and small Jiuqing.

It was precisely because of the difficulty of promotion that Xu Zhenye was very grateful to Ma Cheng for his help, which allowed him to be promoted from a seventh-rank county to a second-rank court member in more than a year.

Of course, Ma Cheng's support is very important, but it is also inseparable from Xu Zhenye's personal efforts. In the battle to defend the city of Nanjing, Xu Zhenye basically lived in the Ordnance Bureau, and it was precisely because of Xu Zhenye's hard work and dedication that there were no major problems in the weapons support on the front line.

Ma Cheng stood at the door and heard Chen Qi say outside: "Lord Chen, my lord is invited!" ”

A deep voice said, "Okay, please lead the way!" ”

As soon as the words fell, Chen Qi opened the curtain of the cabin, and a middle-aged man in a gray cloth robe appeared at the door.

Xu Zhenye's family is not short of money, and he used to wear silk and satin, but today he was surprised by wearing it like this.

"Lord Xu is here, please come in! Chen Qi served tea for Lord Xu! ”

After Xu Zhenye entered the house, he saw Ma Cheng standing at the door to greet him, and he was moved, and hurriedly bowed down and said: "How can the lower official be virtuous, and the marquis of the town is bent to greet him!" ”

Ma Cheng smiled and said, "Old Xu, why are you still talking about this?" Come in, it's very windy on the lake today, come in and get warmer! ”

After Ma Cheng finished speaking, he took Xu Zhenye's hand and walked into the cabin, and then let Xu Zhenye sit in the main seat.

Chen Qi served the tea, then bowed and retreated. There were only two people left in the cabin, Ma Cheng and Xu Zhenye, and Ma Cheng smiled: "Congratulations to Lord Xu, now you have been promoted to Xiao Jiuqing!" ”

"Hou Ye made fun of it, Xia Guan knew that these credits belonged to Hou Ye, and Xia Guan just happened to meet him!"

"Lord Xu, there are no outsiders in the house, don't say these words, without Lord Xu's hard work day and night, the Ordnance Bureau can produce more than 300 artillery pieces and tens of thousands of guns in a year, this is all the credit of Lord Xu!"

Ma Cheng is not exaggerating, in addition to ensuring the supply of firearms, the Ordnance Bureau also manufactured more than 20,000 armors and more than 100,000 knives and guns in one year. Although Ma Cheng transferred the coal and pig iron from the prefectures and counties around Nanjing to Nanjing before the war in order to ensure the supply of the Ordnance Bureau, Xu Zhenye was responsible for the operation of the Ordnance Bureau, the distribution of production capacity, and the training of craftsmen.

Xu Zhenye listened to Ma Cheng praising himself, and hurriedly said modestly: "There, the Normal Operation of the Weapons Bureau is also credited to Lord Song!" ”

mentioned Song Yingxing

Ma Cheng was angry, according to Old Man Song's qualifications and merits, Ma Cheng could completely operate Old Man Song into a secretary of the Ministry of War, but he didn't expect Old Man Song to be tired of being an official, so he had to be the head of a craftsman, there was no way Ma Cheng could only promise this old guy, who called the old guy Ma Cheng's teacher!

"Don't mention the old guy, when you mention this old guy, the marquis is angry! By the way, does Lord Xu have anything to do with coming to Ben Hou this time? ”

Ma Cheng's scolding of the teacher is not trivial, the Ming Dynasty respected the teacher and emphasized teaching, if Ma Cheng's behavior was spread out, he would immediately become a street rat. However, Xu Zhenye is Ma Cheng's confidant, and he also knows that Ma Cheng has no choice but to recognize Song Yingxing as a teacher, so he doesn't pay much attention to it.

Xu Zhenye listened to Ma Cheng ask what he was doing, sighed, stood up and knelt in front of Ma Cheng and said: "Zhenguo Hou, Xia Guan was promoted from Qipin Zhi County to from Erpin Jiuqing, knowing that this is all the power of Zhenguo Hou's envoy, originally Xia Guan should have become the eagle dog of Zhenguo Hou and serve the dogs and horses for Zhenguo Hou!" But just a month ago, Xiaguan received news from his hometown in Jiangxi that his mother had died of illness for two months! This time, the lower officials came to see the Marquis of Zhenguo, so that Ding Wei would go home and do his filial piety for his mother! ”

Ma Cheng heard Xu Zhenye say this, and immediately turned cloudy, he cultivated Xu Zhenye so hard, in order to have someone in the court to help him, and now Xu Zhenye has become an important minister, but he didn't expect the old lady to die at home.

In ancient China, filial piety came first, and intellectuals who were deeply educated by Confucianism were even more so, and when the official's parents died, the official had to resign and return to his hometown to keep filial piety for his parents for three years and twenty-seven months.

Of course, in addition to Ding Wei, there is also a system called seizing love, after all, the death of parents cannot be controlled, and it is likely that some officials are busy with court affairs, such as wars and rebellions, etc., and the court is really inseparable from this official, so at this time, the emperor must come out to win love. It probably means that the emperor knows that you are very filial, but you will be finished without the country, and you can't live without the emperor, so you just hold on, turn your grief into strength, don't go home to keep filial piety, stay and continue to work for the emperor.

Before the middle of the Ming Dynasty, Ding worry and love did not have any political meaning, but since Zhang Juzheng in the early years of Wanli, love has become a pronoun of great rebellion, so in the future, even if the court is already on fire, as long as the officials know that Lao Tzu Niang is dead, they will immediately put down everything and go home Ding Wei, even if the emperor takes a hundred times.

Although Xu Zhenye is Jiuqing from the second grade, his official position is not in the eyes of the emperor at all, and the emperor will not win love for Xu Zhenye at all, so Xu Zhenye has to honestly go home to keep filial piety regardless of whether he is public or private.

Ma Cheng very much needs Xu Zhenye to be his mouthpiece in the court, because Ma Cheng's official position is a military position, and he has no right to speak in the government at all. But even if Ma Cheng went to beg Lao Tzu Ma Shiying, Ma Shiying would not bear the insults of the court officials, and went to the emperor to intercede for the sake of an insignificant Xu Zhenye.

Ma Cheng looked at Xu Zhenye who was kneeling on the ground, his heart was full of helplessness, he had no choice but to stand up and support Xu Zhenye, and then said with concern: "Lord Xu, don't worry, isn't it just three years, Benhou can afford to wait!" ”

After Ma Cheng finished speaking, he said to Chen Qi outside the door: "Chen Qi, go back to the house in a while and send five thousand taels of silver tickets to Lord Chen!" ”

Five thousand taels is equivalent to five million in later generations, which is a large amount, Xu Zhenye hurriedly excused himself and said: "Master Hou, this money must not be asked for by the officials!" ”

Ma Cheng held Xu Zhenye

said: "Lord Xu, this money is not for you, it is for you to go back to your hometown to choose a piece of feng shui treasure land for the first test and Xianci!" ”

Ma Cheng said this, what else could Xu Zhenye say, so he had to accept this gift gratefully.

"Marquis of Zhenguo, although the lower officials have returned to their hometowns to worry about Ding, there is still a clever plan for Hou Ye, so that His Majesty the Emperor can reactivate Hou Ye!"

Ma Cheng was overjoyed when he heard Xu Zhenye say this, he was worried about this matter in his heart this month, it was very simple, all of Ma Cheng's strength came from the army, and Ma Cheng was nothing without the army. If the emperor idles Ma Cheng for a year, then the comradeship between Ma Cheng in the army will be diluted, and the army's attitude towards the emperor's loyalty will become the mainstream, so Ma Cheng will still be a fart Sima Yi?

"Lord Xu, please speak!" Ma Cheng hurriedly made a deferential appearance, pulled the chair to Xu Zhenye's side, and prepared to listen to what Xu Zhenye said.

Seeing Ma Cheng like this, Xu Zhenye was also very excited, what does an intellectual value the most? Isn't it the master's trust in himself? Xu Zhenye's heart swelled with the mentality of Zhuge Liang back then, and he was fully prepared to die for Ma Cheng.

"Master Hou, you should know about the King of Hangzhou Lu, now there is news from Zhejiang, Zhu Yihai, the king of Lu, under the support of Zhang Guowei, Qian Sule and others, was in Shaoxing in August of the first year of Shaowu!"

Ma Cheng knew about King Lu that King Lu was sealed in Hangzhou by Emperor Hongguang that year. When Nanjing was besieged by the Qing army, the last news came from outside that King Lu was in charge of the state in Hangzhou. Now I didn't expect that King Lu's matter had not been resolved, and King Lu of Shaoxing began to make trouble again.

Zhu Yi, the first generation of Luwang, is the fourth son of Muzong Zhuzai, so this generation of Luwang Zhu Chang is Zhu Youzhen's cousin. King Lu was also a strong contender for the throne back then, but in the end, because the bloodline was not as close as Zhu Yousong, and Zhu Yousong won the support of the four towns in Jiangbei, so the emperor was owned by Zhu Yousong.

But now it is Zhu Lunkui of Zhou who replaces Zhu Yousong, according to the order, the relationship between Zhu Lunkui and Zhu Youzhen should be ranked to Zhu Yuanzhang, this bloodline naturally does not have his cousin Zhu Changjin, so some low-level officials of the Donglin Party in Hangzhou knew that Zhu Lunkui became the emperor, and immediately supported Zhu Changjianguo.

Zhu Yihai of Shaoxing is a different look, Zhu Yihai inherited Queen Lu and was sealed to Shaoxing by Zhu Yousong, after learning that Nanjing was occupied by the Manchu Qing Dynasty and the whereabouts of Emperor Zhu Yousong were unknown, Zhu Yihai was in charge of the state under the support of some fugitive officials in Shaoxing, and at the same time collected the guards in Hangzhou and formed an armed force of more than 100,000 people.

Ma Cheng knows these news in more detail than the imperial court, after all, Ma Cheng's military intelligence department is not a vegetarian. Now that Ma Cheng heard Xu Zhenye say this, he knew what the hell this guy was doing, it was nothing more than using external forces to oppress Zhu Lunkui.

In fact, Ma Cheng prepared in this way, he had already ordered Zhang Guozhu, who was guarding Suzhou, to stop all military activities, so that Zhu Chang in Hangzhou would become bigger, and in turn oppress the emperor Zhu Lunkui.

Ma Cheng still thinks that Xu Zhenye has any good ideas, isn't this similar to what he thinks? Thinking of this, Ma Cheng sighed and said, "Lord Xu let Benhou hold the army to self-respect? ”

Ma Cheng thought that he and Xu Zhenye wanted to go together, but he knew that Xu Zhenye laughed in a low voice: "Hou Ye is wrong, this is too slow, what if Hou Ye can let Admiral Zhang give up Suzhou?" Let King Lu's army come to the city again? ”