On the tenth day of July in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty, although the war in the north had been in turmoil for many years, the entire southern Zhili was not affected by the war. However, the temporary peace was also limited to Nanzhili, and in the Huai River valley, not far from Nanjing, the Liukou's Bingfeng had reached the banks of the Yellow River. In Wuchang, in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, Zhang Xianzhong had just slaughtered the city a few years ago, and hundreds of thousands of people in the city died tragically under Zhang Xianzhong's knife.

In the entire middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, there is only such a safe pure land as Nanzhili, so the rich scholars of several surrounding provinces have fled to Nanjing in large packages, and the Jinchuanmen Wharf, which is already very prosperous, is even more lively, and the Jinchuanmen Wharf full of various dialects.

July is the scorching heat, although it is now the Xiaoice River period, but Nanjing has always been China's furnace, in addition to the subtropical high pressure, this year's Nanjing is particularly sultry, Ma Cheng estimates that the temperature can reach 30 degrees, although there is no ferocity of 40 degrees in later generations, but for Nanjing citizens who have been accustomed to more than 20 degrees in summer, this temperature today has made them unbearable.

Today, Ma Cheng was going to Jinchuanmen Wharf to see off Zuo Maodi's mission, so Ma Cheng set off from home early. Because it was a send-off, Ma Cheng didn't bring a team of hundreds of pro-soldiers, but only brought ten guards to follow.

Of course, Ma Cheng didn't really admire Zuo Maodi's personality when he went to see him off this time, Zuo Maodi's life and death had nothing to do with Ma Cheng at all, this time Ma Cheng was willing to put down his busy affairs for his own consideration.

In ten months, hundreds of thousands of troops of the Manchu Qing Dynasty were about to come to the city of Nanjing, and Ma Cheng now only had an armed force of 3,000 people in his hands, even if all the Nanjing guards were counted, it would be less than 50,000. It was precisely because of this difficulty that Ma Cheng racked his brains to think of a way to resolve the Manchu Qing's military advantage.

Where there are people, there are rivers and lakes, and Ma Cheng's previous unit only had about 20 people, and they had to be divided into several groups to fight each other. After coming to the end of the Ming Dynasty, Ma Cheng saw that in addition to being more knowledgeable and eating better, the character of the scholars in the imperial court was really not as good as those who sent couriers before, at least Ma Cheng had not broken that colleague in the unit to pick up ashes! So when Ma Cheng faced the threat of the Manchus, the first thing that came to mind was to dismantle next year's offensive from within the Manchus.

If you want to disintegrate from the inside, you have to send a reliable person to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and it is this person who makes Ma Cheng very difficult. Now there are few talents under Ma Cheng, it is useless to send a letter in the past, and Dolgon is not a fool, how can you trust the people sent by Nanming? If you send people with high prestige to Ma Cheng, you can't believe it, these stinky old men of the Donglin Party are mothers, who knows if they really work for Ma Cheng?

Just when Ma Cheng was worried about the candidate, Zuo Maodi, the chief officer of the envoy group, entered Ma Cheng's eyes. Needless to say, Zuo Maodi was loyal and was imprisoned by Dorgon for a year and three months without surrendering. Another point is ability, since Dolgon can be close to Zuomao for more than the first year, doesn't it mean that Dolgon wants to get this talent!

Therefore, after thinking about it, Ma Cheng felt that this Zuo Maodi was the best candidate for this dead room, loyal to the Ming Dynasty, with a high official position and strong ability, and he would be reused immediately after joining the Dolgon camp, so Ma Cheng targeted Zuo Maodi. As for whether Zuo Maodi could successfully incite Dorgon's dissatisfaction with Duoduo, Ma Cheng didn't take this to heart, don't look at the Southern Ming court, the people's heads were beaten into dogs' heads, and the Manchu regime in the north was not much better.

Not to mention that Dolgon designed to kill his nephew Hauge, even Dolgon's own brother Azig, who was not trusted in Dolgon's heart. In addition to the Han ministers who surrendered in the Manchu court, all of them were experts in beating the sticks with black hands, so the bad things in the Manchu court were not much less than those in the Southern Ming Dynasty.

And Zuo Maodi can climb from a seven-pinzhi county to a provincial and ministerial-level senior official at the governor level in more than ten years, although his personal ability is outstanding, but those bends in the officialdom must be understood very carefully. has the ability, the means, the loyalty, and the fact that Ma Cheng knows that this Zuo Maodi will never betray, so Zuo Maodi is the right person for this death.

The next step is to persuade Zuo Maodi to use it for himself, but Ma Cheng is not too worried, these stinky old men think that they can shame Wei Xiangbangao to death Zhuge Villager, so it is very simple to deal with them, just leave them a name in history, as the so-called credit and fame are left to you This stinky old nine, money and beauty are left for yourself.

Ma Cheng, who beat the abacus to the mountain, rode a horse to Jinchuanmen Wharf, where a group of people had already gathered in order to see off Zuo Maodi to the north, and Ma Cheng looked at those who knew and those who did not.

Ma Cheng was seeing Chen Zilong in the crowd, standing next to Chen Zilong was a middle-aged official in his forties, wearing a red official uniform, and seeing that the complement on his chest was a high-ranking official of the third grade.

Ma Cheng estimated that this person was Zuo Maodi, and hurriedly squeezed into the crowd and shouted: "Big brother, big brother Chen!" Little brother is here! ”

Zuo Maodi is an important member of the Restoration Society, and he is also one of the founders of the Shanzuo Taisha Branch, so those who came to see him off today are some young cadres of the Donglin Party. These people heard someone shouting behind them, Brother Chen, and they all turned their heads to watch, and they saw a young man struggling into the crowd.

Some of these Donglin Party people recognize Ma Cheng, and now the contradiction between Ma Shiying and the Donglin Party has become public, so many people frowned and avoided when they saw Ma Shiying's second son coming, and some people who didn't know Ma Cheng's identity also avoided Ma Cheng after knowing it, just like Ma Cheng was a puddle of stinky shit. Jushuku

Chen Zilong was talking to Zuo Maodi in detail, when he suddenly heard someone calling him, and looked up to see that it was Ma Cheng. Chen Zilong beckoned to Ma Cheng, and then said to Zuo Maodi: "Brother Zhongji, this is Ma Cheng, the new friend of the younger brother!" ”

At this time, Ma Cheng had already squeezed into the crowd and came to Chen Zuo's side, and when he saw Zuo Maodi, Ma Cheng hurriedly arched his hand and said, "Little brother Ma Cheng, meet Zuo Shilang!" ”

Zuo Maodi is tall and heavy, and Ma Cheng is a young man who can enter Zuo Maodi's magic eye, but Zuo Maodi is a gentleman, and in addition to Chen Zilong's face, Zuo Maodi smiled: "This brother is polite, since he is a friend of Wozi, he is also Zuo Maodi's friend, and the word "brother" can be called!" ”

Ma Cheng saw Zuo Maodi laughing so casually: "Then the little brother is Meng Lang, and he calls the adult Brother Zhongji!" ”

Zuo Maodi smiled and nodded in agreement, this is a voice behind Ma Cheng said: "Isn't this Ma Shiying's second son, Ma Cheng?" Why don't you go to the Shenji Battalion to train the soldiers and come here! ”

This kind of yin and yang weird tone Ma Cheng didn't need to look at it to know who it was, it was Hou Chaozong, the prince of the two dynasties. Ma Cheng turned around angrily and scolded: "Hou Fangyu, if you don't speak, no one will treat you as a mute!" ”

After Ma Cheng finished scolding Hou Fangyu, he turned around and saw that Zuo Maodi's expression had changed, from the smile just now to a snull. Zuo Maodi said coldly: "It turned out to be the second son of Ma, and the official is busy with affairs here, so he will not accompany the second son!" After Zuo Maodi finished speaking, he turned around and began to talk to the other bureaucrats, and no longer paid attention to Ma Cheng.

Ma Cheng secretly scolded Hou Fangyu in his heart, but there was no way, Zuo Maodi originally did not agree to the peace talks between the imperial court and the Manchu Qing Dynasty, so he knew that Ma Shiying didn't know what to think, and this peace mission did not send Zuo Maodi, the opposition, to be the chief official. Zuo Maodi was originally the Donglin Party, and in addition to the political dispute with Ma Shiying, it would be hellish to be polite to Ma Cheng.

Chen Zilong was a little reluctant to see Ma Cheng eating deflated, after all, Ma Cheng was introduced by himself, so Chen Zilong pulled Zuo Maodi and whispered: "Brother Zhongji, this Ma Cheng... Chen Zilong wanted to explain to Ma Cheng, explaining that although Ma Cheng was a bit of a second-pole, he was different from his bastard Lao Tzu.

But Zuo Maodi didn't listen to Chen Zilong's explanation, but asked in a low voice: "Brother Wozixian, it's not that the foolish brother said you, you and I are not the same party as Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng, stay away from them in the future!" ”

Chen Zilong knows that Zuo Maodi is extremely upright, since he has already said so, it is to characterize Ma Cheng, and Lao Tzu's son is also a bastard. Chen Zilong heard Zuo Maodi say this, but he had no choice but to sigh and not explain to Ma Cheng.

Ma Cheng was left out in the cold like this, everyone else was chatting in groups, and only Ma Cheng stood alone on the dock. When he came, Ma Cheng prepared a belly of rhetoric, ready to persuade Zuo Maodi to serve him, but what should I do if I think that it is all in vain now, and Zuo Maodi will not talk to you at all?

After Ma Cheng crossed over to this era, he was a son-in-law at home and a commander in the army, and he had not encountered this kind of neglect. Ma Cheng gritted his teeth, but he couldn't help it, no matter what his identity and status were, Zuo Maodi was above you, what capital do you have to turn your face with Zuo Maodi? In addition to the fact that Zuo Maodi is the death room selected by Ma Cheng, it is not easy to end up if it is too noisy.

However, not being able to turn his face with Zuo Maodi does not mean that Ma Cheng has to swallow this breath, Ma Cheng looked around, and saw Hou Fangyu chatting with his friends. It was this guy who made himself so embarrassed just now, Ma Cheng gritted his teeth and patted Hou Fangyu's shoulder and smiled: "Hou Gongzi! ”

Hou Fangyu saw that it was Ma Cheng, and was about to ridicule this guy for a few words, but thinking that Hou Fangyu hadn't opened his mouth yet, Ma Cheng raised his fist and looked at Hou Fangyu's beautiful face.

Ma Cheng has been training with the army for the past few months, and his physical fitness is very good, and this punch is a hundred kilograms, and he knocked Hou Fangyu to the ground in one fell swoop. Then Ma Cheng stepped forward and rode on Hou Fangyu, and began to beat Hou Fangyu inhumanely.

The status of the scholars in the Ming Dynasty is special, although they often beat up in the court, but they still have to put on the demeanor of a beautiful son in the public. Today, Ma Cheng and Hou Fangyu's mutual assault like a shrew is really an eye-opener for the ordinary people on the dock.