On February 19 of the second year of Shaowu in the Ming Dynasty, the morning sun rose in the east and shone in the study of Mafu.

Ma Shiying's study is still the same study, and Ma Shiying's clothes are still the same, but Ma Shiying's mood is completely different from last night's anxiety and despair. Ma Shiying was loyal to the Ming Dynasty and would never surrender even if he was captured in the last part of history. But not being afraid of death doesn't mean that Ma Shiying doesn't want to live, last night when Ma Shiying was about to hang himself, he suddenly received the news of the Ming army's victory, how could he not let Ma Shiying be overjoyed?

Ma Shiying stroked his goatee and said with a smile: "Luan'er, it seems that your second brother is really handsome!" When I was a child, I only thought he was stubborn, but now it seems that he is really different! ”

Ma Shiying praised his son Ma Cheng here, and Ma Cheng's bad deeds had a reasonable explanation. When I was a child, I didn't study and became a splendid chest, and when I grew up, I became a teenager in a fight, and when I became an adult, I didn't learn to eat, drink, prostitute and gamble and became eclectic, anyway, now Ma Shiying looks at Ma Cheng and is satisfied.

Ma Luan also knew his father's thoughts, and praised with a smile on the side: "This is all due to my father's cultivation, and the second brother can get ahead!" ”

Ma Shiying nodded again and again when he heard his son say this, his eldest son was promoted at a young age, and his second son is even better now, thinking that he is sixty years old, and finally has a successor, Ma Shiying can't help but be very complacent.

Just when the father and son in the house were full of emotion, another family member came to report outside the study.

"Sir, sir! There's new news in the East Side! ”

Ma Shiying was overjoyed when he heard this, it seems that his second son has some good news!

This time, Ma Shiying personally opened the door and asked, "Say, but what good news has come from Cheng'er!" ”

The housekeeper in the courtyard had a white face, and said stumblingly: "Master, uncle! The second young master went out of the city with 15,000 people, saying that he was going to fight to the death with the Tartars! ”

Ma Shiying was still praising this son just now, but now when he heard Ma Cheng taking more than 10,000 people out of the city, he couldn't help but scold: "Bastard, this rebel, more than 10,000 people dare to go out of the city to fight?" There are 400,000 captives outside the city! ”

Ma Luan didn't care about his younger brother turning from a young hero to a rebel at this time, and hurriedly said to Ma Shiying: "Dad, what can I do?" Outside the city, the Qing army is dozens of times and the second brother, this time you will definitely suffer a loss, Dad quickly think of a way! ”

Ma Shiying was also in a hurry, in addition to worrying about his son, he was also worried about the 15,000 elite soldiers that his son brought out. If these elite soldiers are lost outside the city, then there is still a fart in Nanjing! But Ma Shiying was in a hurry and couldn't do anything, because he was a cabinet assistant, but he couldn't manage the military.

In the Ming Dynasty, the military was directly in charge of the emperor, and the generals were directly appointed by the emperor, and the military department of the cabinet was just a logistics department, responsible for food supply.

"That's right, the old man went to find the emperor, and now he can only ask for a holy decree to let this rebel return to the city!" Ma Shiying reacted for a long time before he remembered to go to the emperor, and at this time, Ma Shiying didn't care about any officialdom, so he directly asked his family to prepare a horse, rode on the horse and ran to the palace.

Last night, the eastern city was in a fight, and the Qing army arrived at Di'anmen at the most dangerous time, so the Jinyi guards guarding the palace did not sleep all night, and they were all on the palace wall to guard against the Qing army.

But fortunately, Ma Cheng's new army was strong, and finally drove the Qing army out of the city at dawn, and these brocade guards finally breathed a sigh of relief.

At this time West

There was a fast horse outside Anmen, and an old man sat on it, but this old man was not low at first glance, and he was wearing a big red dragon robe, and the one who could wear this dress was either a noble or a crown. However, those brocade guards were very suspicious, the princes of the clan in the city were almost dead, and most of the noble dukes were also executed, how could there be such arrogant people riding horses and galloping outside the imperial city.

As the old man walked in, the Jinyi Wei Qianhu who guarded the city at Xi'an Gate appeared, and this old man was not an outsider, but the cabinet assistant Ma Shiying.

It stands to reason that Ma Shiying, as the prince and assistant of Qianguo, has always carried a sedan chair eight times when traveling, and he is very majestic, why did he ride a horse today?

The thousand households hurriedly leaned out and shouted, "Is this Yuanfu-sama down there?" Don't know what's going on? ”

Ma Shiying had the leisure to explain at this time, and after getting off the horse, he shouted loudly: "Open the door quickly, the old man wants to see the emperor!" ”

It stands to reason that today is not the day of the last dynasty, plus the Manchu Qing siege last night, although the battle in Dongcheng is over, there are still sporadic battles that have not stopped, and this situation is absolutely not allowed to open the city gate.

But that Qianhu knew that Ma Shiying outside the door couldn't be provoked by himself, not to mention his auxiliary identity, even his son couldn't be provoked by himself. The thousand households didn't dare not open the door after thinking about it, so they had to order someone to open a gap in the city gate and let Ma Shiying in.

Ma Shiying handed over the horse to the Jinyi guards who were guarding the city, and regardless of anything else, he trotted into the Forbidden City.

Emperor Zhu Lunkui and the Empress Dowager Ma Hongning were in the Qianqing Palace, at this time they had received the news that Ma Cheng was victorious and the Qing army was driven out of the city. At this time, the little eunuch outside the palace reported that Yuanfu Ma Shiying was here!

The emperor is in a good mood now, and when he heard that Ma Shiying was coming, he smiled and said: "Queen Mother, it seems that Ma Aiqing is here to report the good news!" ”

Ma Hongning was also in a good mood, and said with a smile: "Yes! Rumor Ma Qing to meet! ”

Ma Shiying was covered in sweat all the way, and when she walked into the hall and saw the emperor and the queen mother, she quickly knelt on the ground and saluted. Although Ma Shiying is the father of the Queen Mother Ma Hongning, the court is here, and he sees that the Queen Mother will also perform the courtesy.

Zhu Lunkui saw Ma Shiying running with sweat, and said with a smile: "Ma Aiqing, please come up, come and give Ma Qing a seat!" ”

The Empress Dowager Ma Hongning saw that her father was sixty years old, and she was very distressed when she ran away, and she couldn't help but ask with concern: "Dad, what's wrong with you?" Do you want to bring good news? The palace and the emperor already know that Guiyang Hou Macheng has expelled the northern captives from the city! ”

Zhu Lunkui was also very happy when he mentioned this, and continued on the side: "Guiyang Hou is a great achievement today!" I have passed down a decree to reward the meritorious soldiers! ”

Ma Shiying was panting at this time, and hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, the Queen Mother!" Lao Chen didn't come because of this incident! The old minister received the news that Ma Cheng had gone out of the city with 15,000 people, saying that he would fight to the death with the northern captives, and he would finish his work in one battle! ”

Zhu Lunkui was taken aback when he heard Ma Shiying say this, now Ma Cheng is a baby bump for Zhu Lunkui, except for the position of emperor, even if Ma Cheng wants Zhu Lunkui's wife, Zhu Lunkui will not blink his eyes and hand it over. Because Zhu Lunkui knew that Nanjing City had survived for more than a year under the siege of 400,000 Manchu troops, which was entirely due to Ma Cheng.

Now Zhu Lunkui heard that the great hero Ma Cheng took more than 10,000 people out of the city to fight to the death against the Manchus, and he was so frightened

In the pants. Although Zhu Lunkui does not understand military affairs, he still knows the simple comparison of numbers. The Qing army outside the city was 450,000, even if a lot of people died in the siege battle for more than a year, there were still 3780,000.

Ma Cheng only brought 15,000 soldiers to dare to go out of the city, but he had to face more than 20 times the enemy, Zhu Lunkui really did not look optimistic about this military adventure.

Zhu Lunkui said angrily: "Ma Shiying, you are the cabinet assistant or Ma Cheng's son, why don't you stop him?" Zhu Lunkui was so angry that he forgot to respect Ma Shiying and called him by his name.

Ma Shiying also had a hard time, so he had to explain: "Your Majesty, the minister is an auxiliary minister of the cabinet, and he has no right to command the generals, and the minister was at home at the time, not by Ma Cheng's side!" ”

Zhu Lunkui heard Ma Shiying say this and knew that he had wronged Ma Shiying, so he hurriedly asked, "Ma Qing, what should I do now?" ”

"The only way now is to ask Your Majesty to issue a holy decree and strictly order Ma Cheng to return to the city!"

Zhu Lunkui thought that he could only do this, so he hurriedly called the little eunuch to write and gave Ma Cheng a sternly worded holy decree, asking Ma Cheng to quickly lead the troops back to the city. But when Zhu Lunkui issued the holy decree, it was too late, and at this time, Ma Cheng had already rushed to the Longtan camp with his troops, and it was not at all that Zhu Lunkui could stop with a holy decree.

The little eunuch who delivered the decree came to the Taiping Gate with the emperor's decree and a hundred brocade guards, and learned from Luo Bingran, who was left behind, that Ma Cheng had already left for half an hour. The little eunuch looked at the dead people everywhere outside the city, and there were rebellious troops everywhere, and he was so frightened that he did not dare to go out of the city.

However, the emperor's holy decree could not be conveyed, and the little eunuch had no choice but to discuss it with the guards of the Jinyi Guard, and went out of the Taiping Gate and headed towards Longtan Town.

Ten miles away from Longtan Town, the team that sent the decree did not dare to go, and there was no trace and banner of the Ming army in front of it. These Qing troops were completely frightened by the Ming army, and hundreds of thousands fled everywhere.

Seeing the routs everywhere, the brocade guard Baihu was also scared enough, he was just a palace guard, where had he ever seen this kind of murderous scene. And now that the Ming army has no trace at all, this team has no choice but to return to the city to resume their lives.

The little eunuch returned to the palace and told the emperor the details, and when the emperor heard about the appearance outside the city, it seemed that Ma Cheng's more than 10,000 people were more than lucky. Knowing that Ma Cheng was likely to die in battle, Zhu Lunkui was in a bad mood and vented all his anger on these unlucky little eunuchs and Jinyi guards. These unlucky guys were ordered by the emperor to be put in prison, and if Ma Cheng really died in battle, let these hundred unlucky ghosts give him a funeral.

I didn't know the exact news outside the city, so the three of them had to wait here in the Qianqing Palace. This was a whole day, from sunrise in the east to the west until the sun set in the west, and the three of them finally waited for the news of the treasure gate.

When Ma Bao led his troops out of the city, in order to appease the people in the city, he sent a personal soldier to pass the specific news to Ma Shiying. But after this personal soldier went to Ma's house, he learned that Ma Shiying had gone to the palace, so he came to the palace instead.

When Zhu Lunkui heard the news, he hurriedly sent the personal soldier in, and after the personal soldier entered the Qianqing Palace, he said loudly: "Congratulations to Your Majesty, the Marquis of Guiyang led 15,000 people to defeat the 400,000 Qing army!" Now the Marquis of Guiyang has ordered the southern city guard Ma to lead the reinforcements out of the city to help the battle! ”

Zhu Lunkui, Ma Hongning, and Ma Shiying listened to the jaw and fell to the ground, fifteen thousand against four hundred thousand? And won the war? Ma Cheng, are you still human?