Ma Cheng's eyes lit up after hearing Chen Zilong's words, and asked, "Mr. Chen, can this Xie Qikun really help the kid deal with Qi Biaojia?" ”

"My lord is wrong, although Xie Qikun was promoted only after Yuan Fu agreed, it is impossible to let Xie Qikun deal with Qi Biaojia!"

Ma Cheng heard Chen Zilong say this and said angrily: "Mr. Chen, can't you finish it in one breath?" It makes the boy's little heart rise and fall like a boat! ”

"My lord, although Xie Qikun was promoted to an envoy by Yuanfu's favor, Xie Qikun has a good relationship with the Donglin Party after all, and it is unrealistic for him to stand up and fight against Qi Biaojia in front of him, so this official who can compete with Qi Biaojia can only be Zhang Sunzhen! However, Zhang Sunzhen's position is not as high as Qi Biao's after all, so he needs Xie Qikun's help! ”

Chen Zilong didn't understand what Ma Cheng said, Xie Qikun has a relationship with the Donglin Party, why can he still help Zhang Sunzhen deal with Qi Biaojia?

Seeing Ma Cheng's puzzled expression, Chen Zilong continued: "My lord, officialdom is different from the battlefield, and there is no need for orders to prohibit it, so if Shangguan wants to advance the work, he must cooperate with the officials below. Although Qi Biaojia is the governor in charge of administration, after all, the appointment power of low-level officials is in the hands of the political envoy, although Qi Biaojia has the right to impeach, but can all low-level officials who do not cooperate be dismissed? This is one of the key roles of Zhang Sunzhen in restraining Qi Biaojia. But after all, Zhang Sunzhen's position is lower than Qi Biaojia, which requires the cooperation of Xie Qikun, who is also a provincial official! ”

"My lord, Xie Qikun can't help Zhang Sunzhen openly, but Xie Qikun knows that he can only be promoted by Yuanfu's favor, so he can naturally cooperate with Zhang Sunzhen in secret. Therefore, Xia Guan believes that as long as there is a problem, this Xie Qikun must be in the middle and thin mud. And the adults can use the needs of the war to oppress Qi Biaojia, when the time comes, there will be war pressure above, and Zhang Sunzhen and other officials below will not work, and Qi Biaojia, who is caught in the middle, will be guilty! ”

Ma Cheng clapped his hands after hearing Chen Zilong's words, and applauded: "It's really a clever plan!" This is like a boy's house, my mother doesn't care about things, let my sister-in-law Zhang's housekeeper, but the housekeeper who manages the money is indeed my mother's person, a few of our uncles want to eat well, we are not satisfied with spending less money, and my mother is not satisfied with spending more money, so my sister-in-law Zhang's is not pleasing from top to bottom, and the two ends are not satisfied, doesn't it become Qi Biaojia? Ha ha!! ”

Chen Zilong didn't expect Ma Cheng to be able to tell about his family, and he was a little embarrassed, so he had to laugh and said: "What the adults said is right, the truth is almost the same!" ”

Chen Zilong's strategy is poisonous and ruthless, as long as Ma Cheng does what he says, it won't be long before Qi Biaojia will be set aside, and when the battle on the front line goes well, it's okay to say, if Ma Cheng is making some trouble, the charge of not going well in the war must be borne by Qi Biaojia, who manages logistics, who called you the leader of Nan Zhili?

In fact, Chen Zilong didn't need Chen Zilong to wake up Ma Cheng in this matter, Ma Shiying would definitely send someone to inform Ma Cheng what to do, because Ma Shiying sent Zhang Sunzhen and Xie Qikun to clean up Qi Biaojia, but Zhang Sunzhen relied on his official position and refused to come to see Ma Cheng first.

Thinking of this, Chen Zilong sighed secretly, he was forced to do this. Chen Zilong used to be an official, and he still had illusions, thinking that as long as he worked hard, he would definitely be able to get ahead in the future, after all, the emperor's eyes were not blind. But the facts are in front of him, not only in the eyes of the emperor

He was blind, and the eyes of the Manchu civil and military ministers were also blind.

At that time, Chen Zilong went up more than a dozen times in a row, and no one took care of him at all, and no one even cared about Chen Zilong within their Donglin Party, so Chen Zilong had no choice but to resign and go home in frustration.

After this incident, Chen Zilong completely saw the faces of those bigwigs in the court, and at the same time realized more deeply that the famous sentence said by Deng Xuan, an official in the Song Dynasty: Laugh and scold you, and a good official must be done by me! What is the meaning.

Deng Juan was an official in the Song Shenzong period, and when he went to Beijing to report on his work, Song Shenzong asked him if he knew Wang Anshi? Deng Juan obviously didn't know Wang Anshi, and at the same time belonged to a different camp from Wang Anshi, but in order to shoot the emperor's horses, he praised Wang Anshi and Lu Huiqing in the reformers at that time. He also openly touted Wang Anshi and others, like Yi Yin and Lu Shang, for implementing the Qingmiao Law and the Law of Exemption from Military Duty, which won the hearts of the people.

After the debriefing, Deng Xuan's friends accused him of having no morality and losing his moral bottom line in order to become an official. At this time, Deng Juan said the famous sentence of the ages: Laugh and scold from you, a good official must be done by me! It means that you can laugh and scold, but I have become an official.

Deng Xuan's sentence has always been regarded as the only way for officialdom, and Chen Zilong, as a university scholar, also knows this sentence, but he used to look at this sentence with the purpose of criticism. But after this resignation, Chen Zilong found that what Deng Juan said was too right.

If you want to do something for the country and the people, being an official is the basic condition, and the bigger the official, the more you can realize your ideals and ambitions. No matter how good your personal ability is, ordinary people don't have the slightest say in the affairs of the imperial court, at most, just like Tang Bohu, go home to write books and scold those in power, and paint two Spring Palace paintings to sell some money, that's all.

Therefore, after a year of idle living at home, Chen Zilong deeply realized that only by being an official and only by being the first assistant can he realize his life ideals, which is also one of the main reasons why Chen Zilong did not run away with those Luwang officials after learning that Ma Cheng had won, and it was also one of the reasons why he broke away from the Donglin Party and joined Ma Cheng's men.

Ma Cheng didn't know the psychological changes in Chen Zilong's heart, he thought for a while and asked, "Mr. Chen, what do you say the kid should do?" Let's go see Xie Qikun or Zhang Sunzhen first! ”

"Go see Zhang Sunzhen first, Xie Qikun knows it himself, and he doesn't have to deliberately make friends. But Zhang Sunzhen is different, this person is very heavy-minded, and it is easy to offend him if he doesn't give him face! ”

Ma Cheng knew that Zhang Sunzhen was a capricious villain, and when he heard Chen Zilong say this, he thought it was true: "Okay, boy, let's go change clothes, please sit down with Mr. Chen!" ”

Ma Cheng changed into civilian clothes, went out of the courtyard gate, and rushed to the yamen of the political envoy with his own soldiers.

After Ma Cheng entered the city, he lived in the lion forest in the northeast corner of Suzhou, in fact, there are many gardens in Suzhou, the famous ones are the Lingering Garden and the Humble Administrator's Garden, but at this time the Humble Administrator's Garden has not been built, and the Lingering Garden belongs to the Xu family in Suzhou. This Xu family is not the Songjiang Xu family, but the prestige of the Suzhou Xu family in Nanzhili is not inferior to the Xu family. This Xu family is Xu Taishi, the Shaoqing of Taifu Temple in the Wanli period, although the reputation is not as good as Xu Jie, but the family power is not inferior to Xu Jie's family.

After Ma Cheng entered the city, he chose a place to live, and originally wanted to live in the Lingering Garden, after all, this Lingering Garden was too famous in later generations, but the power of the Xu family could not even offend Ma Cheng. If Ma Cheng wants to open up the situation in Nanzhili, he has to make peace with these big families.

It's just that the Xu family doesn't lie to Ma Cheng. Ma Cheng couldn't send an army to drive all the Xu family away, so he had no choice but to stay in the second-class Lion Forest.

As for the Lion Forest, there is not so much to take into account, the Lion Forest began in the Southern Song Dynasty, became famous in the Yuan Dynasty, and went through many masters, the most famous is the monk Yao Guangxiao who helped Zhu Di rebel. However, there was no owner in the lion forest at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and a group of monks lived in it.

Ma Cheng was afraid of the family, but he was not soft on this group of bald donkeys, and after learning that these monks had no backstage, he immediately sent troops to occupy the lion forest and drove these bald donkeys to live in Hanshan Temple outside the city.

The political envoy Si Yamen is also on Daoqian Street, not far from Chen Zilong's Suzhou Prefect's Yamen. Ma Cheng soon came to the door of the political envoy, and the official standing guard in front of the door saw Ma Cheng coming, and quickly knelt on both sides of the road to welcome Ma Cheng. Ma Cheng has been wandering around the city for half a month, and these officials don't recognize this killing god? Led by a political envoy to Biao Town, Baihu shouted: "Biao Xia has seen the general!" ”

These officials are all guys with hands and eyes, and they know that the young man in front of them likes to be called a general, so they hurriedly shouted to meet the general.

Ma Cheng jumped down from his horse and said with a smile: "Yes, let's all get up, your new lord of the domain is here?" ”

"Back to the general, Lord Fantai has already arrived, and he is packing his luggage in the back house!"

"Okay, lead the way for the Governor, and the Governor will go and meet your lord!"

Ma Cheng's words made the officials very hesitant, the official offices of the Ming Dynasty were all in the format of the front and back houses, and the back were the families of the officials, and they could not enter without any special relationship.

Ma Cheng saw that these guys hesitated, knowing what they were worried about, and said with a smile: "Don't worry, this governor is the nephew of your lord of the domain, and now that the uncle is here, the nephew is about to go to ask for peace!" ”

The servants were relieved when they heard Ma Cheng say this, and the nephew naturally didn't pay much attention to his uncle, so he got up and led Ma Cheng through the front few floors of the building to the back house.

At this time, Zhang Sunzhen, the political envoy, was directing his family to arrange luggage in the back house, although Zhang Sunzhen was vicious, but what people didn't expect was a clean official, during the period of serving as the governor of Henan Province, he was called the second Qing official in the world by his colleagues, and the first was of course Hai Rui Haigangfeng.

This time when he came to Suzhou to take office, Zhang Sunzhen only brought his old wife to come, and the other children were all adults, either they were officials outside the country, or they had already started a family, so they didn't bring any of them.

When Zhang Sunzhen was cleaning up, a family member ran in to report: "Master, the front yard official brought a young man, saying that he was the supervisor Master Ma and came to meet his uncle!" ”

Zhang Sunzhen smiled in his heart when he heard it, it seems that this Ma Cheng is not a big man, and he also knows that he is his help, and he just came to Suzhou to visit.

Zhang Sunzhen's wife heard that the Inspector was coming, and hurriedly asked, "Master, the Inspector is here, why don't you change your clothes and go out to greet you?" After speaking, he began to command the maid to change Zhang Sunzhen into an official uniform.

Zhang Sunzhen smiled and shook his head: "No need, haven't you heard that this master inspector is here to visit your uncle?" Then there is an uncle to meet the nephew, you don't have to worry about these things, go back to the inner room! ”

After speaking, Zhang Sunzhen sat down in the hall and said to the family who reported the news: "Go, invite the old man's nephew in!" ”