Dinner? Ma Shiying was stunned when he heard the eunuch finish speaking, he had no blood relationship with the emperor, how could this family banquet be talked about? What's more, Ma Shiying belongs to the foreign minister, and now that the state affairs are over, it is a little unruly to enter the inner court.

Ma Shiying thought for a while and asked, "This father-in-law, why did the Queen Mother announce that our father and son were summoned to the palace?" ”

"Ge Lao, Yi Zhi was ordered by the Queen Mother, but it was requested by the Emperor! There are not many emperors in the palace, and the emperor said that the banquet was deserted, so he asked the queen mother to summon the old man into the palace! ”

It turned out that this was the case, Zhu Lunkui was the grandson of King Zhou before he became the emperor, but after Kaifeng was broken by Li Zicheng that year, the previous King of Zhou, Zhu Gongfang, ran to Zhangde with some family members, where the old Zhou King Zhu Gongyu was exhausted and died in Zhangde.

At this time, the son of King Zhou, that is, Zhu Lunkui's son Zhu Shaojiao, had already died in Kaifeng, and Zhu Lunkui had no choice but to take the remaining family members and his younger brother Zhu Lunsheng south to Nanjing.

Most of Zhou Fan's belongings were lost in Kaifeng, and life was very difficult here in Nanjing, and Zhu Lunkui didn't even have a decent set of clothes. Zhu Lunkui's biological mother, Xue, was just a palace maid back then, and she gave birth to Zhu Lunkui after a one-night stand with Zhu Shaojiao. In addition to the other royal families in the city, those who are close to each other have been killed by Zhu Lunkui for various reasons, and those who are far away are not qualified to participate in the royal family banquet.

Ma Shiying thought about it after listening to the eunuch's explanation, bowed down and said, "Then please ask your father-in-law to lead the way, I'll wait for the father and son to go!" ”

Ma Cheng stood in Qianqingmen for a day today, and at this time he was trying to go home and rest for a while, when he heard that the emperor was still looking for food, Ma Cheng reluctantly said: "Dad, there are still some things in my son's house, why don't you go!" ”

The eunuch heard Ma Cheng say this, and hurriedly said: "Marquis of Guiyang, the emperor has a will, not only the Marquis of Guiyang, but even the commander of the school, Ma Sangongzi, the emperor has also sent someone to invite!" ”

Ma Xi was also coming, and when Ma Cheng heard it, he knew that he had no way to refuse, so he had to reluctantly follow Ma Shiying to re-enter the palace.

After this toss, it was already dark when Ma Shiying and his son arrived at the Qianqing Palace, and the little eunuch who led the way entered the report and soon came out to take Ma Shiying and his son in.

The interior of the Qianqing Palace was brightly lit, the Empress Dowager Ma Hongning sat in the center, and the Emperor Zhu Lunkui and Empress Qian Yuhe sat on the side to accompany each other. There are eight small tables in the main hall, the four on the left are empty, the opposite one on the right is already full, and the first table sits a young man, this young man is similar to Zhu Lunkui seven or eight points, it is Zhu Lunkui's half-brother Zhu Lunsheng.

Zhu Lunsheng's background is higher than Zhu Lunkui, and his biological mother can be regarded as one of Zhu Shaokui's concubines, which is why Zhu Lunkui is very wary of this younger brother. After Zhu Lunkui became the emperor, the title of King Zhou was inherited by this younger brother, but except for an empty prince, there was no other rights.

Zhu Lunsheng sat down three sixty or seventy-year-old old men, these people are the concubines of the imperial family, and the eldest one is the concubine of the Wanli Emperor, who is seventy years old this year, and these people are the only remaining imperial relatives in Nanjing.

In fact, four years ago, there were still many clans in Nanjing, and a large number of clans who fled from the north lived in Nanjing. However, with Zhu Lunkui's ascension to the throne, this guy was afraid that someone would threaten his rule, so he took down these unlucky clans

In prison, it didn't take long to die silently in prison, so now the only clan is Zhu Lunsheng, the king of Zhou.

As for the nobles in Nanjing, who were even more unlucky, they met such a ruthless guy as Ma Cheng, and took the opportunity of the rebellion of the Duke of Wei to sweep away more than 20 dukes, marquises, and earls in the entire city of Nanjing, and even the horses were involved in two. So today, the three remaining old horses were so frightened that they saw Ma Cheng come in.

Emperor Zhu Lunkui saw Ma Shiying coming in, and said with a smile: "Ma Qing, please come in, today I asked the Queen Mother for permission, after all, there are few royal relatives in the southern capital now, and this family banquet is really not the same, so I have no choice but to bother Ma Qing to make a scene!" ”

Ma Shiying heard the emperor say this, and hurriedly bowed down and said: "What the king invited, the minister dared to shirk?" ”

Zhu Lunkui smiled and said to his younger brother Zhu Lunsheng: "King Zhou, why don't you help Ma Qing to enter the table?" ”

Zhu Lunsheng didn't dare to say anything, so he hurriedly left the table and helped Ma Shiying to sit down, and Ma Luan and Ma Cheng also sat down with Ma Shiying. After a while, Ma Xi also came and sat down at the bottom of Ma Cheng.

The Empress Dowager Ma Hongning was very excited when she saw her father and brothers coming. Although Ma Hongning has a noble status, there are not many people in the harem, Zhu Yousong took all the women with him when he fled, and the only one left was Ma Hongning, so there are few people in the harem who have a similar status as her, and there are few people who can speak.

Today was originally a royal family banquet, and Ma Hongning didn't want his father and brother to attend, but Emperor Zhu Lunkui said that the Queen Mother hadn't seen her relatives for many years, so she took this opportunity to meet her. Ma Hongning missed his relatives, so he agreed.

Now seeing Ma Shiying's sideburns white and his brothers full of heroism, Ma Hongning held back tears and asked, "Father, are you and your mother in good health?" ”

Ma Shiying also misses her daughter, but Ma Shiying is good at controlling her feelings, so she replied without any fluctuations: "Empress Dowager Xie is worried, and the ministers and the cheap ones are in good health!" ”

Ma Hongning heard that his wife was fine, so he put his mind at ease and asked his eldest brother Ma Luan: "Big brother, has the embroidery girl grown up?" ”

Ma Luan is not a few years older than Ma Hongning, Ma Hongning was widowed at home, and his niece Ma Xiuniang was by his side all the year round, so his aunt and nephew had a deep affection.

"Back to the Queen Mother, Xiuniang is ten years old this year, and she has recognized a lot of words with the Zhang family!"

Ma Hongning nodded after listening, it seems that his family is safe and sound. Ma Hongning asked Ma Cheng and Ma Xi again, Ma Cheng gave this sister to Zhu Yousong back then, so Ma Cheng was very afraid to see this sister, Ma Hongning asked about Ma Cheng's family, and Ma Cheng dealt with the past. Ma Xi is similar, Ma Xi is a concubine, and he is nearly ten years younger than Ma Hongning, so he doesn't have a deep relationship with this sister.

Zhu Lunkui saw the Queen Mother's feelings on the side, and persuaded: "The Queen Mother can rest assured, if the Queen Mother misses her family in the future, she can let her family be brought into the palace to accompany her!" ”

Ma Hongning was overjoyed to hear Zhu Lunkui say this, she and Zhu Lunkui have no blood relationship at all, so she is very different, and now hearing the emperor say this, Ma Hongning is grateful in his heart and said: "Then thank you emperor!" ”

"The Queen Mother's words are wrong, now I and Ma Qing are a family, Ma Qing and the Marquis of Guiyang are the ministers of Qingtian, I have to thank Ma Qing a lot!"

After Zhu Lunkui finished speaking, he stood up with his wine glass, and then said: "Last year, Guiyang Hou Daizhen swept away Nanzhili and Zhejiang, and I decided to crown Guiyang Hou Ma Cheng as the Duke of Wei Guogong of Zhenguo!" In the future, the Ma family will be a double duke, the first hero of the Ming Dynasty! ”

Ma Shiying and Ma Cheng quickly stood up and resigned after hearing what the emperor said, but Zhu Lunkui had already made up his mind and would never accept Ma Cheng's resignation.

In fact, Ma Shiying and Ma Cheng were just putting on a show, and when Ma Cheng came back this time, he already knew that the emperor would definitely promote him, but he didn't expect to be able to give a duke directly, or the duke of Zhenguo.

Ma Shiying saw that the emperor was happy today, and thought why not take this opportunity to finalize the cabinet candidates? So Ma Shiying said: "Your Majesty, now the cabinet is still lacking a minister, and the minister recommends Zhang Jie, the secretary of the ministry, to replace him, what does Your Majesty mean?" ”

Zhu Lunkui was newly married today, he drank a lot of wine at noon, and now he was a little excited, and after listening to Ma Shiying, he agreed: "This is okay, I have a good impression of Zhang Jie, and when the cultivation is over, Ma Qing will make a fold, and I can agree with the seal!" ”

Ma Shiying was overjoyed when he heard Zhu Lunkui say this, he spent two months operating for Zhang Jie to enter the cabinet, but every time he was stirred up by the Donglin Party, the emperor's attitude was unclear before, and he didn't expect to be so easy to talk today.

Zhang Jie can enter the cabinet on behalf of Ma Shiying can fight against the Donglin Party, in the past, Ma Shiying and the Donglin Party were evenly matched, each side mastered three departments, after Ruan Dacheng's death, Ma Shiying was afraid that the Donglin Party would get this cabinet quota and surpass himself in overall strength, so he proposed to let his henchman Zhang Jie enter the cabinet. Now that the emperor agrees so simply, it seems that he and the Donglin Party are evenly matched again, and there are two elders on each side, among which Ma Shiying is still the first assistant, and he also has some advantages.

Ma Shiying was in a good mood and stood up to drink frequently with the emperor and the king of Zhou. Ma Luan was also very happy to see that his father's operation for several months had finally come to pass, and stood up to drink with his father. Ma Xi's status was lowly before, and it was the first time to enter the palace to participate in this kind of banquet, and he was excited and drank a lot.

Only Ma Cheng, seeing Qian Yuhe smiling like a flower, looking like a happy marriage, she felt uncomfortable, she was supposed to be her wife, but she didn't expect to become Zhu Lunkui's wife, the more Ma Cheng thought about it, the more angry he became, so he didn't drink any wine, just sat and sulked.

Tonight, everyone in the Qianqing Palace was very happy except Ma Cheng, this wine was drunk late at night, the Queen Mother Ma Hongning and Queen Qian Yuhe were women after all, and they went back to rest after a while. The two women left, and these people in the hall were even more unscrupulous, Ma Luan and Ma Xi drank a little too much, and Ma Shiying drank directly and lay on the table and couldn't get up.

Zhu Lunkui saw that Ma Shiying's father and son had drunk too much, and said with a smile: "I have a lot of fun today, but it's too late, today's wine game is here, Aiqing will go home!" ”

After Zhu Lunkui finished speaking, he stood up and was helped by the little eunuch to go back to the cave room to spend the candle night, and Ma Shiying, who had drunk too much, left the Qianqing Palace and went home with the support of several sons.

Ma's father and son, only Ma Cheng did not drink, he looked at his drunken father, sighed, and called a few Jinyi Wei Han generals here in Qianqingmen, and asked them to help Ma Shiying out.

Ma Luan followed Ma Shiying in front, and Ma Xi followed Ma Cheng behind, Ma Xi drank a little too much, put his arm around Ma Cheng's shoulders and said, "Second brother, why don't you drink?" Are you still missing the little lady of the Qian family? ”