Xu Zhenye returned to his hometown to worry about filial piety for his old lady, and Ma Cheng also rejoined his work and began to work officially.

Ma Cheng's new office is located in his own house, which is not because Ma Cheng saves money for the country, but because there is no small temple that can accommodate Ma Cheng's big Buddha. Because with the end of the Battle of Nanjing, Ma Cheng's temporary command was also abolished. Ma Cheng was the commander of the Daxiaochang before the war, and later the guard of the southern capital.

The Yamen of the Admiral of the Daxiaochang is in the Daxiaochang outside the southern city, but after a year's bloody battle, there is a rubble outside the Nancheng, and the Daxiaochang has already become a rotten burial post, burying the corpses of tens of thousands of Qing soldiers.

The office yamen of the southern capital is near the Xi'an Gate in the imperial city, and the previous southern capital guards have worked here, but the emperor is now in the palace, Ma Cheng is stationed in the imperial city with a group of wolf-like soldiers, the emperor is really not at ease, so the emperor ordered the town guard yamen to the new Nandu Governor Lu Siye.

But fortunately, Ma Cheng is still the governor of the Chinese army, and he can also go to the Chinese military governor's mansion to work. But Ma Cheng went to the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies on Baihu Street, and found that the houses here were narrow and the facilities were dilapidated, and there was no way to accommodate Ma Cheng's subordinate officials, so Ma Cheng had no choice but to open up a few courtyards in his home as a temporary office location. However, fortunately, the Wei Mansion covers a large area, and Ma Cheng's family has very few dependents, so Ma Cheng's thousands of subordinates can still be accommodated.

Ma Cheng is now the marquis of Zhenguo, with the qualifications to open the mansion, and at the same time, he can have two guards according to the king of the county, so Ma Cheng will be the head of his own soldiers, Gu Yong, from the thousand households to the eighth level, and directly promoted to the commander of the Honor Guard Division. Although the Honor Guard Division is a ceremonial army, Ma Cheng does not want to treat the Honor Guard Division as a vase, and the first thing he did when he took office was to let Gu Yong go to the Qing army prisoner camp and the camp outside the city, and select strong people to serve as his own escort.

According to the military system, Ma Cheng's two guards had a total of 11,200 people, and when Zhu Di reduced the power of the vassal king, he reduced the prince's three guards to 300 people. However, Ma Cheng didn't care about this, and directly ordered Gu Yong to recruit the two guards in accordance with the imperial military system, and at the same time took out 5,600 guards to serve as a cavalry team, using the best war horses to capture the Qing army.

Ma Cheng's expansion of the army also has drawbacks. These guards belong to Ma Cheng's private army, and naturally the imperial court will not allocate money, so the weapons and equipment of more than 10,000 people have to be managed by Ma Cheng.

In addition to forming his own escort army, Ma Cheng also turned the Qing army prisoners outside the city into twenty battalions. After more than a month of clearance, a total of 240,000 of the 400,000 Qing troops became prisoners of Ma Cheng. According to later statistics, 100,000 of the 400,000 Qing troops died, most of them in the final battle. In addition to these deaths, tens of thousands of people fled into the mountains, or fled to Jiangbei by various means.

Ma Cheng selected 100,000 elites from the more than 200,000 Qing troops, divided them into 20 battalions, and began to train recruits. However, Ma Cheng didn't want to fill the 100,000 into the new army, Ma Cheng's current strength was limited, and he really couldn't get 100,000 weapons and equipment. Therefore, Ma Cheng wanted to select 40,000 people from these 100,000 people to join the new army, and the others would be used as reserves, that is, strong men with the army.

The remaining more than 100,000 Qing army prisoners are simple, anyway, the Duke of Wei has land, and Ma Cheng waved his pen

These more than 100,000 Qing troops have become their own tenants, responsible for cultivating tens of thousands of acres of land in Ma Cheng.

With the passage of time, Ma Cheng's work was on the right track, the training of recruits was in full swing, and the wasteland around Nanjing was also being reclaimed in an orderly manner, but there was more and more unfavorable news about Ma Cheng in the imperial court.

In fact, it is very simple, Ma Cheng expanded his army to more than 10,000 people, which has exceeded the limit of the law. In addition, the-stirring sticks of the East and East Forestry Party in the DPRK were looking for Ma Cheng with a magnifying glass, so after they got the news, they immediately joined Ma Cheng.

However, the Donglin Party forgot that Ma Cheng also had a Shoufu Laozi, and with the assistance of Ma Shiying, the emperor had no opinion on Ma Cheng, after all, Ma Cheng had just been named the Marquis of Zhenguo at this time, and the heat was still there.

But as time went by, Emperor Zhu Lunkui became more and more dissatisfied with Ma Cheng. After Ma Cheng took more than 100,000 Qing army prisoners as his tenants, Zhu Lunkui's patience finally came to an end. This does not blame the emperor for being cautious, no emperor can watch the more than 100,000 tenants under his command. Now these people are tenants, if you have any careful thoughts, these more than 100,000 people are a time bomb outside Nanjing, you must know that the army in Nanjing is only 80,000, and the combat effectiveness is not necessarily as strong as your tenants.

On the seventh day of the sixth month of the second year of Shaowu, the emperor's endurance finally reached the limit, and he ordered someone to pass Ma Cheng into the palace and ask him to explain why he secretly used the Qing army captives as tenants.

Ma Cheng received the holy decree at home, and Wang Xian, the chief historian of the Hou Mansion of Zhenguo, hurriedly said: "Master Hou, this decree is not simple, please deal with it carefully!" ”

After Ma Cheng had the right to open the mansion, he immediately transferred Wang Xian to the mansion to serve as his own long history, and his official position was changed from the deputy chief soldier of the second rank to the long history of the fifth grade. Although the grade has been lowered, Wang Xian is also moved to death, where are the five grades of civil officials comparable to military generals? Wang Xian is just a showman, according to the past, Wang Xian could not become a five-grade civil official even if he studied until he died.

Ma Cheng looked at the holy decree and said with a smile: "Mr. Wang, don't worry, the emperor is just a little jealous of Benhou, and he won't unload the mill and kill the donkey!" ”

Wang Xian's current net worth and life are tied to Ma Cheng's body, and Ma Cheng didn't care and hurriedly reminded: "Master Hou, if you don't transfer Gu Yong outside the city to enter the city, in case. ”

Ma Cheng's guards were too numerous to naturally stay in the city, so they were usually stationed outside the city by Commander Gu Yong. Now Wang Xian wants to transfer Gu Yong into the city, just in the guise of rebelling in case things don't go well. Although Ma Cheng's guards are only more than 10,000 people, and the Ming army in the city is 80,000, Ma Cheng's guards are all selected elites, and the grassroots officers are veterans who have fought bloody battles with the Qing army.

Hearing that Wang Xian was so careful, Ma Cheng smiled and shook his hand and said, "No need, Mr. Wang, don't worry, Ben Hou will definitely be fine!" After Ma Cheng finished speaking, he went out and got on the horse, and only took ten personal soldiers to the palace.

At this time, the commander of the Praetorian Guard in the palace had been replaced by Mei Chun, who was extremely loyal to the emperor. However, Ma Cheng is famous after all, and Mei Chun used to be Ma Cheng's subordinate, so when he saw Ma Cheng coming, Mei Chun hurried to the city gate to greet him.

"The last general greets the Marquis of Zhenguo!"

Ma Cheng came to Mei Chun and said with a smile: "Mei Chun, it's the same now."

Admiral, congratulations! ”

Mei Chun hurriedly arched his hand and said: "There, the credit of the last general is all due to the Hou Ye!" ”

Ma Cheng nodded, left his own soldiers at the door, and rode his horse into the imperial city with the little eunuch who led the way. When he arrived at Qianqingmen, Ma Cheng dismounted, and then a little eunuch went in to report. After a while, a will came from the Qianqing Palace, allowing Ma Cheng to meet him.

The weather was very hot in June, Ma Cheng stood at the door and saw Zhu Lunkui in the Qianqing Palace, Ma Cheng knelt at the door and shouted: "Minister Ma Cheng, meet Your Majesty, long live Your Majesty!" ”

Zhu Lunkui smiled: "Aiqing, please get up quickly, come in!" ”

Ma Cheng walked into the main hall and found that he was not a courtier in the main hall, and the entire cabinet team was here.

As soon as Ma Cheng entered the main hall and stood up, he heard Qian Qianyi's sharp voice shouting: "Your Majesty, what is the purpose of impeaching Ma Cheng, the Marquis of Zhenguo, expanding the scale of the Honor and Guard Division without permission, organizing prisoners without a request, and organizing more than 100,000 prisoners into their own tenants without a request?" Therefore, the minister thought that Ma Cheng had a heart of disobedience, and asked His Majesty to order Ma Cheng to be beheaded! ”

Ma Cheng listened to Qian Qianyi's words and looked at Ma Shiying, the old man on the side, Ma Shiying's face was pale, and he probably had already argued with Qian Qianyi just now. Ruan Dacheng, who was behind Ma Shiying, closed his eyes and didn't say a word, pretending to be a dead dog.

Zhu Lunkui asked with a smile after hearing Qian Qianyi's words: "Ma Aiqing, what Qian Qianyi said is the truth?" Zhu Lunkui asked easily, but there was murderous intent in his words, if you Ma Cheng admitted, he would immediately buckle down the big hat of rebellion, and if he didn't die, he would lose his skin.

Zhu Lunkui originally thought that Ma Cheng was going to plead two sentences, but he knew that Ma Cheng said directly: "Yes, what Qian Qianyi said is true!" ”

Ma Shiying didn't expect Ma Cheng to admit it directly, he was stunned and didn't know what to do next, even Ruan Dacheng, who was pretending to be a dead dog, opened his eyes and looked at Ma Cheng with an incredulous expression.

Qian Qianyi heard Ma Cheng admit his great joy, and hurriedly said: "Since the Marquis of Zhenguo confessed, then please send Ma Cheng to the Three Law Divisions for trial!" ”

Qian Qianyi is in charge of the Criminal Department, the Ministry of Rites and the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the Three Law Divisions are the backyard of his house, can Ma Cheng escape if he falls into his hands? Qian Qianyi had already made a plan in his heart at this time, and when Ma Cheng fell into his hands, he would first make a hundred kills, then a tiger chair as an appetizer, and finally put a stick on it to make him want to die.

At this moment, Ma Cheng asked: "May I ask Lord Qian, you said that you want to hand over Ma Cheng to the Three Law Divisions for trial, what crime did Ma Cheng commit?" ”

Qian Qianyi sneered: "Ma Cheng, the Great Ming Law stipulates that the Honor and Guard Division cannot exceed three hundred, but what about you? It's already 11,200 people, and that's not a crime? And you have privately organized an army and privately organized prisoners of war into your domestic slave tenants, is this not a crime? ”

When Ma Cheng heard Qian Qianyi say this, he hurriedly shouted: "Your Majesty, elders, Ma Cheng didn't break the law by doing this, he came according to the ancestral system!" ”

Qian Qianyi scolded: "Ma Cheng, what nonsense are you talking about? What ancestry? Since Emperor Shizu, he has begun to reduce the guards and guards, and when the imperial court of Wuzong arrived, it was clearly stipulated that the number of honor guards should not exceed 300 people, isn't it a crime for you? ”

Ma Cheng said with a smile after hearing Qian Qianyi's words: "Lord Qian, the ancestral system you are talking about is Emperor Shizu, but the ancestral system I am talking about is indeed Emperor Taizu!" ”