The next day, Ma Cheng rubbed his sour waist and eyes again, and this time he decided that he must not indulge in such indulgence tonight, or he would die on Gu Xiying's belly without a Manchurian braid.

On the other hand, Gu Xiying has been really radiant in the past two days because of her own moisture, and she exudes a woman's charm.

Gu Xiying was getting dressed at this time, and when she saw Ma Cheng looking at herself stupidly, she couldn't help but blush and asked, "Second master, why are you looking at the slave family?" ”

Ma Cheng licked his face and said, "It's also a pleasure to watch beauties dress!" ”

Gu Xiying probably said that he was beautiful for the first time in his life, although he knew that Ma Cheng was comforting him, he was also very happy in his heart, after all, this was the first time that the lover praised himself.

Gu Xiying blushed and said, "The second master will fool people with clever words, and he won't tell you!" After Gu Xiying finished speaking, she turned around and walked out of the back room.

Ma Cheng smiled and got up to get dressed, when Chunlian from the outhouse teahouse came in to pack up the futon. Ma Cheng said to Chunlian: "Chunlian, start dinner early this morning, and Steward Ma will come to me later." ”

Gu Xiying, who was outside the door, heard Ma Cheng say this and asked, "Second Master, is there something wrong today?" ”

Ma Cheng nodded: "Yes, yesterday my mother promised me 1,000 taels of silver to open a sugar workshop, and today Steward Ma will accompany me to buy a few laborers outside the city!" ”

Gu Xiying was very happy when she heard that she was going out, although she was a woman, but before she married Ma Cheng, she liked to walk around in men's clothes, although she had a good honey with Ma Cheng these days, she was very depressed in the house. Now I heard that Ma Cheng was going out and hurriedly said: "Second master, the slave family will also go with you!" ”

Ma Cheng is a later generation, there is no machismo in this era at all, what kind of woman wants to talk about three obedience and four virtues, so I listened to Gu Xiying's words and nodded and agreed: "Okay, but it's inconvenient for you to wear women's clothes, why don't you let your brother go to the front yard for a set of soldiers' clothes to wear later, even if this young master's personal soldiers?" ”

Gu Xiying was very happy to hear Ma Cheng's promise, and hurriedly nodded in agreement. At this time, the courtyard door sounded, and it was Gu Changwei who came.

Gu Xiying saw her brother coming, stepped forward and said what Ma Cheng had just said again, and Gu Changwei, who was angry, couldn't bear his back, Gu Changwei scolded: "What do you want to do with a dead girl?" Do you think you're at home? Now you are the concubine of the second master, the one who can run around the city in men's clothes, and you will stay at home from today, and if you want to go out, your brother will break your legs! ”

Gu Xiying was very afraid of this eldest brother, and she didn't dare to answer when she heard the eldest brother say this, so she could only look at Ma Cheng pitifully.

Ma Cheng had no choice but to say: "Changwei, anyway, there is nothing to do today, you go to the yamen in the front yard to find Zhang Guozhu and ask for a set of soldiers' clothes, and it will be fine if you put it on your little sister!" ”

When Gu Changwei heard Ma Cheng say this, he didn't dare to refute, so he had to go out and go out to borrow clothes from Zhang Guozhu.

Now Gu Changwei is Ma Cheng's eldest brother, and he has a good status in Zhang Guozhu, not to mention borrowing a set of clothes, even a full set of pacesetter's equipment can come. Soon Gu Changwei brought a new set of military uniforms back, and Gu Xiying was very happy to see it, so she hurriedly went into the house to change into it.

After a while, Gu Xiying put on a new military uniform and came out, and Ma Cheng secretly praised it in his heart, he was really a handsome little soldier.

Ma Cheng came to this world or the first time to see the Ming Dynasty military uniform, in fact, the Ming Dynasty military uniform and the Qing Dynasty military uniform is very similar, the coat is the whole body copper foam cotton armor, because Zhang Guozhu's subordinates are the pacesetters of the Governor's Yamen, the cotton armor they wear is not stuffed with cardboard, this cotton armor is fifty-four pieces of one centimeter thick iron sheet, each iron piece is nailed to the cowhide inside by copper nails, a full set of cotton armor is a total of 36 catties, serious Ming army standard armor.

The cotton armor is a cloth with red edges on a blue background, the helmet is a wide-brimmed eight-break hat iron helmet, the lower body is the same as the cotton armor, the iron skirt is clamped to the calf, and the shoes are ordinary cloth shoes. Zhang Guozhu did a thorough job of favor, and also sent a Yanling knife.

This Yanling knife is not the standard configuration of the Ming Army, and the appearance of the Yanling knife is similar to that of Jinyiwei's embroidered spring knife, but it is wider than the embroidered spring knife. In the Ming Dynasty, there were millions of troops across the country, and they were all equipped with sharp weapons such as Yanling knives, which were given to him by Zhang Guozhu in order to curry favor with Ma Cheng.

Ma Cheng didn't understand, but Gu Xiying was an expert, she took out the Yanling knife and looked at Xidao: "Big brother, why did Zhang Zhenbiao give a good knife?" This is what guerrilla generals should use! ”

Gu Changwei smiled and said, "Hehe, Zhang Zhenbiao is not looking at the face of the second master!" ”

Ma Cheng heard Gu Changwei say this and asked, "Is this Yanling knife good?" After speaking, he took it from Gu Xiying's hand and watched it in detail.

Although Ma Cheng doesn't know swords, he has seen a lot of kitchen knives in later generations, and the workmanship of this Yanling knife is much worse than that of kitchen knives, and the blade has obvious traces of creation, but the blade is cold and shining, and it should be very sharp.

"Second master, this Yanling knife is the standard configuration of guerrilla generals, it needs twenty-one catties of good Yue iron, and it can be turned into stainless steel after a hundred consecutive beatings by a blacksmith in the army, and then use a good grinding stone to open the blade, which can be made into this Yanling knife! This knife can be sold for eight or nine taels of silver in the market! ”

Ma Cheng was startled when he heard Gu Changwei say this, just such a broken knife that looked like a handmade product was sold for eight or nine taels of silver, which was enough for half a year's living expenses for a family of three.

However, Ma Cheng didn't believe what Gu Changwei said just now, isn't the steel directly refined? How is this steel knife made?

"Gu San, isn't the steel being refined now?"

Ma Cheng's words frightened Gu Changwei, although Gu Changwei is not a blacksmith, but after all, he has been in the army for many years, and all the steel knives and guns in the army are made by thousands of hammers, so there are those that are directly refined?

"Second master, although the villain doesn't understand ironwork, but he has never heard of the saying that steel is refined, the knives and guns in the army are made by blacksmiths, and good knives and guns take a lot of work, as for ordinary soldiers, they can only use pig iron knives and guns!"

Ma Cheng nodded when he heard Gu Changwei say this, it seems that he still has a lot of room for improvement in the steel sector. Ma Cheng pointed to the set of cotton armor that Gu Xiying was wearing and asked, "Gu San, how much is this set of cotton armor?" Can everyone in the Ming army wear this? ”

Gu Changwei was speechless by Ma Cheng's ignorance, not to mention this genuine cotton armor in the ordinary Ming army, not even the shoddy paper armor of the Nanjing Inner Government Military Bureau. Ordinary guards can only wear an ancestral flowering mandarin duck robe, and the border army is better, but this kind of well-protected cotton armor is not something they can equip, and only middle-level officers such as Qianhu and garrison can wear a cotton armor.

"Second master, the cotton armor worn by the little sister sells for twenty taels of silver on the market, and the equipment of ordinary military households can only be equipped by the pacesetters of the governor's yamen."

Ma Cheng knew that he had 300 Guizhou soldiers under Lao Tzu, which he borrowed from his uncle Gu Congxin, probably this cotton armor was the equipment of those Guizhou soldiers!

This cotton armor plus a battle skirt is more than fifty pounds, but Gu Xiying is one meter eight, and he is really heroic when he wears it. Ma Cheng saw that Gu Xiying liked it very much, and asked, "Little sister, do you like it?" ”

Gu Xiying was born in a military family, so she naturally liked this good armor very much, and when she heard Ma Cheng say this, she hurriedly replied: "Yes, second master, can you give me this cotton armor?" ”

"It's no problem to give it to you, the key is that you don't get tired of wearing these fifty or sixty pounds?"

Gu Xiying jumped and felt nothing: "It's nothing, fifty or sixty pounds of slaves can still carry it!" ”

Gu Changwei looked at Gu Xiying and scolded: "Little sister, what are you doing wearing armor as a woman?" Don't take off the cotton armor yet, you just have to go out and wear the mandarin duck robe inside! ”

The mandarin duck robe is the standard equipment of the Ming army, the color is mainly blue and red, and there is a complement logo on the chest according to the different types of troops, such as the guard soldiers, the complement is a guard word, and then the small words on the side explain what you are guarding what place, which is managed by the general flag and small flag. If it is a recruitment, it is a soldier word, and there is also a small print indicating that you are under the management of the general soldier and the general.

As for the pacesetter of the Governor's Yamen, there is a mark on his chest, and the small character on the side is Fengyang Governor Biaozhen, which means that you are very awesome and are the personal soldiers of the commander of the military region. This mandarin duck robe represents identity in the Ming Lianghuai War Zone, and the governor's personal soldiers are better than the average thousand households.

Gu Xiying heard that her brother had let her take off her armor, but she didn't dare to disobey, so she had no choice but to take off her cotton armor slowly. Ma Cheng saw that Gu Xiying liked this cotton armor very much, and said with a smile: "Since my little sister likes it, let's wear it, but you can't say you're tired when you go out for a while, you know?" ”

Gu Xiying heard Ma Cheng say this, and hurriedly said, "Thank you, Second Master!" ”

At this moment, someone outside the door spoke: "Second young master, the old slave is here!" "It turned out that the old housekeeper Ma Gui came.

There was also a young man who entered the hospital with Ma Gui, about twenty-five or sixteen years old, very similar to Ma Gui, probably his nephew.

Ma Gui was stunned when he saw Gu Xiying when he entered the courtyard, although there were pacesetters guarding the governor's yamen, how could there be pacesetters coming in the back house. Ma Gui frowned and was about to get angry, do you know the rules or not, is this the back house you should come?

Ma Cheng saw Ma Gui's expression and hurriedly explained: "Uncle Gui, this little soldier is not my father's pacesetter, but my concubine, I have to wear this armor to play!" ”

Ma Gui is not an ordinary housekeeper, when Ma Shiying was the governor of Xuanfu, Ma Gui was a housekeeper, and he knew that if this cotton armor had not shrunk enough to weigh fifty or sixty pounds, the second young master's concubine would act as usual when she put it on.

Ma Gui originally wanted to talk about the second young master, after all, it was the face of the Ma family that let his woman show his face, but Ma Gui thought about the absurd things of Ma Cheng, the second ancestor, and still kept his mouth shut.

Ma Gui didn't see Gu Xiying, turned around and pulled the young man and said, "Second Young Master, at this time, Ma Shun, the second son of the old slave, today he followed the second young master to the outside of the city to select laborers, and the old slave will not go when he is old!" ”

As soon as Ma Cheng heard Ma Gui say this, he knew what this old guy was doing, sugar making is very expensive, and this old guy must want his son to get a job in the sugar factory.

But Ma Cheng doesn't care, the sugar factory is just a means for Ma Cheng to make money, no matter who Ma Cheng is the shopkeeper, as long as he can get money for him.