When he learned that the gunpowder craftsman Wang Lin could take his son with him, the other twenty-nine craftsmen began to clamor, and a craftsman in his forties with a loud voice shouted: "This master, let us bring our family too!" Several other craftsmen with families also shouted.

Ma Shun saw that the situation was a little uncontrollable, and he was about to wave the leather whip in his hand to whip these ignorant guys, but was stopped by Ma Cheng.

Ma Cheng looked at the selected craftsmen, the average age was about forty years old, a few were younger, and some were thirty. According to the thinking of later generations, it is indeed a bit cruel to let them be separated from their families, thinking of this Ma Cheng said: "Okay, you can all bring your families!" ”

As soon as Ma Cheng's words came out, more than 100 people came out of the homeless people, all of whom said that they were the families of those craftsmen. Everyone is not stupid, staying in the camp can only starve to death, it is better to follow this master to be a slave, at least you can eat a few full meals.

Ma Cheng was dumbfounded when he saw so many people, he originally thought that these craftsmen had fled from the wilderness, and their families should be almost dead, how did he know that there were still so many people.

Although Ma Shun was young but old, he knew that most of these homeless people were not the families of craftsmen, and he just wanted to take this opportunity to escape from the sea of suffering.

Ma Shun walked up to Ma Cheng and said: "Second master, these homeless people are very slack, people are bitter worms and they can't be beaten if they don't fight, let the villain's whip teach them how to be obedient!" ”

After Ma Shun finished speaking, he picked up the whip and was about to drive away this group of people who claimed to be craftsmen's family, Ma Cheng thought about it and stopped Ma Shun, after all, it was only more than a hundred people, look at these people are mainly women, even if they can't work, but it's okay to wash clothes, thinking of this Ma Cheng said: "Okay Ma Shun, bring them all!" ”

More than half of the more than 100 people who came out were women, and they had no way to live in the camp of vagrants, and they could only wait to starve to death except for their bodies in exchange for some food.

Those craftsmen are also very happy in their hearts, most of their family members have died on the way to escape the famine, and now there are women who take the initiative to come to their own wives of course they can't ask for it, and one by one, regardless of their appearance, they have grabbed a woman to their side and said that it was their wife.

Ma Cheng looked at it and couldn't help it, so he had to tell Ma Shundu to sign the death deed.

If in peacetime, absolutely no one would sign this kind of death deed like a slave, but now it is different, staying in the camp is really waiting for death, so when they heard that Ma Cheng asked them to sign the death deed, they didn't have the slightest opinion.

Ma Shun took thirty contracts and asked these craftsmen to sign contracts as a family unit, and when he saw the gunpowder craftsman Wang Lin, the original only son Wang Lin's family became a family of four, in addition to the father and son, there were two more women, a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law.

Ma Shun saw this and sneered: "I said Wang Lin, you are really a beautiful blessing, I didn't expect to escape to Fengyang and get such a young wife!" ”

Wang Lin's door-to-door wife looks like she is only twenty years old, and Wang Lin is already in her forties, so she is naturally a Yanfu. Wang Lin didn't dare to say anything, looked up at Ma Cheng, and saw that the main family had nothing to say, so he was relieved to take his new wife and son to draw a charge together.

There were more than 100 wives on the craftsman's side, and some of the homeless people started the idea of the 100 young people, and a young woman shouted: "Zhang San, I am your wife, have you forgotten?" ”

Other people also shouted when they heard such a woman, and for a while, the gate of the homeless camp became a big market for recognizing relatives. Ma Cheng can let those craftsmen find wives temporarily, because the family is the stabilizer produced by these craftsmen with peace of mind, but the army is different, Ma Cheng wants soldiers who can work hard for themselves, if they are all married, who still wants to fight with a knife?

Ma Cheng saw that something was going to happen, and said to Xu Dahu: "Big Tiger, you guys are watching with knives, and if anyone dares to move, they will be killed!" ”

Xu Dahu was ordered to draw out his waist knife and stand in front of the hundred people, Xu Dahu was already tall and big, and it was very scary to hold a steel knife in his hand, scaring those women who were about to move back.

At this time, one of the 100 people selected stood up and said: "This lord, but the villain really has a family in it, can you... ”

Ma Cheng interrupted him without waiting for him to finish speaking: "I'll talk about it later, when I return to the city, I will solve it with your second master, and whoever moves now should not complain about the ruthlessness of military law!" ”

The hundred people were all honest peasants, and they were so frightened that they didn't dare to move when they heard Ma Cheng's murderous words, and they stood there honestly.

At this time, Ma Shun had already signed the death deed, and then Ma Cheng took out the silver and divided five coins of silver to each family, and when the silver came to the hands of those craftsmen, he had to take out three coins and hand them over to the homeless people's Kongmu, which was the rule, and Ma Cheng didn't want to care about it when he watched it from the side.

That Kong Mu was naturally happy in his heart when he received dozens of taels of silver in the morning, and said to Ma Cheng: "This Yanei, when you need manpower in the future, you can come to the villain, and they are definitely strong laborers!" ”

Ma Cheng hated this kind of slave trader the most, so he ignored him and turned around and left the camp with the newly recruited more than 200 people.

This time I really saw the tragic fate of ordinary people in the Ming Dynasty to Ma Cheng was very touched, I used to see the troubled world in the book like a mustard, although I was shocked, but because it was all paper numbers, so I was not touched, but now I really see what the end of the dynasty is like.

The corpses that died in front of the homeless people, the young women who sold their bodies for a bite to eat, and the parents who were forced to change their children in order not to starve to death, Ma Cheng felt very heavy in his heart when he thought of them.

Could it be that God allowed himself to pass over to see this tragic situation? Ma Cheng secretly vowed that he would end this troubled world as soon as possible, at least so that these homeless people could live with dignity.

Ma Cheng took more than 200 people to re-enter Fengyang City from Changchun Gate, and when they arrived in the city, the craftsmen were handed over to Ma Shun, and the address of the sugar factory had been selected, and it was in Xicheng. Now Fengyang City is full of empty houses, so the factory is easy to find. As for how the sugar factory is produced, it is not Ma Cheng's responsibility, the Ma family has talents like this, and these things are just handed over to professionals, Ma Cheng is only responsible for making a point at the critical moment, and using his extra 600 years of knowledge to let those craftsmen avoid detours.

The 100 talents carefully selected by Ma Cheng are the key, and they are the guarantee for Ma Cheng to live in the last days of this dynasty. Ma Cheng took these people back to the governor's yamen, of course, not to his own small courtyard, but to the big school field at the gate of the governor's yamen.

Because the governor's yamen is a military institution, there is a huge square in front of the gate, which is of course used by the leaders to inspect the troops. However, now the armies of the two Huai lands are in the hands of the four towns in Jiangbei, and the army directly under the command of Ma Shiying is less than 10,000 people, and they are also stationed in the counties around Fengyang, so the large school field at the gate is completely idle.

Ma Cheng took these 100 people to a corner of the school field, and then dismounted and came to these people.

Ma Cheng looked at the hundred people in front of him, and then said affectionately: "Do you know why I chose you?" What do you want to do? ”

None of the 100 people, plus Xu Dahu and the other 12 people, were literate, so naturally they didn't understand what the second master chose them for, so no one spoke.

Ma Cheng saw that it was a little cold, and it was different from what he thought, at this time, someone should stand up and shout loudly: "Serve the people!" ”

Ma Cheng had no choice but to continue: "Everyone has seen what Daming has become, some of you are from Henan, some are from Shandong, and a few people from Beizhili, you all see everything Liukou has done to your hometown, don't you want to take revenge?" Don't you want to do something for Daming? ”

After Ma Cheng finished speaking, he waited for a long time and didn't hear anyone stand up and make an impassioned statement, fortunately it is spring now, if it is autumn with a gust of autumn wind, it is really miserable and miserable. Seeing that no one was talking, Ma Cheng pointed to the person in front of him and asked, "What's your name?" ”

The man saw Ma Cheng asking himself, and quickly knelt down on his knees and said, "Back to the master, the villain's name is Ding Liu." ”

Ma Cheng nodded and asked, "Okay, Ding Liu, what do you want to do when you become an official?" ”

Ding Liu thought for a while and said: "If the villain wants to become an official, he will marry a big fart * woman, and then give birth to a bunch of cubs!" ”

Ding Liu's answer made Ma Cheng angry, Lao Tzu trained you to be an official, you want to get married and have children? But Ma Cheng can't help it, whoever calls these guys can't read, according to the great men of later generations, it is a simple small peasant consciousness.

Ma Cheng had no choice but to follow what Ding Liu said: "Yes, what this brother said is very right, Lao Tzu didn't pick you out to let you be laborers, but to let you fight as soldiers, and use the swords and guns in your hands to fight a prince Wandai!" ”

Ma Cheng originally thought that his remarks could encourage these guys to scream, but knowing that Ma Cheng had just said that they would be soldiers, more than half of the hundred people knelt on the ground and begged for mercy: "Uncle, please raise your noble hand and let us go!" ”

"We need to know that we would rather starve to death than come to be soldiers!"

"Uncle, we don't want your family's money, let us go!"

Ma Cheng was dumbfounded when he heard these guys say this, why didn't he think right? According to the mobilization of the official in TV, the soldiers under him immediately shouted and copied the guy to do it, how could the facts be different from what he thought?

Xu Dahu patiently listened to Ma Cheng's speech, and then saw these guys yelling to go back one by one, Xu Dahu angrily pulled out his waist knife and scolded: "You gang of miscellaneous people, do you know that you have signed a death contract with my second master?" Now even if the second master kills your government, the only thing you have to do now is to listen to the second master's orders, if you don't obey the steel knife in the grandfather's hand, kill it and bury it! ”

Xu Dahu was taller and stronger than them, and with the steel knife in his hand, these guys closed their mouths one by one and stopped making noise.