Zuo Maodi is a traditional knowledge person who has been poisoned by Confucianism, and his words and deeds strictly abide by Confucian teachings.

Zuo Maodi stared at his eyes and stretched out his hand to pinch Ai Daxuan's neck, and scolded: "Nonsense, the old man will never make such a break for the Bei, and the people of the world will never believe your master Ma Cheng!" ”

Ai Daxuan is also a military general in waste, but he didn't dare to fight back when Zuo Maodi made a move, and he had no choice but to see that he was choked by Zuo Maodi, Ai Daxuan hurriedly shouted: "My lord, my lord!" The last general has something to say! ”

Zuo Maodi slowly let go of his hands when he heard Ai Daxuan say this, and asked, "Say, what else did your master say?" ”

At this time, the Qing army guards in the distance found that the situation of the two was wrong, and slowly surrounded them, Ai Daxuan hurriedly waved his hand at them, fortunately Dolgon gave instructions to the guards, in order to recruit Zuo Maodi and let them listen to Ai Daxuan's orders, those guards watched Ai Daxuan so did not come.

Ai Daxuan touched his neck, and then said in a low voice: "My lord, this is not what the last general said, it is just a message to Ma Junmen!" ”

At this time, Zuo Maodi had already calmed down, glared at Ai Daxuan and said: "The clear is self-pure, the turbid is self-turbid, the old man is dedicated to the country, and history will naturally give the old man justice!" ”

Ai Daxuan secretly scolded Zuo Maodi in his heart, but Ma Cheng had a second trick here, which was to deal with diehards like Zuo Maodi.

"My lord, Ma Junmen also said, you don't think about your own name, but also for the people of the whole world, now that the Manchu Qing Dynasty has eliminated the rebellion, and you will go south soon. But now the imperial court is in crisis, and the bigwigs in the DPRK and China have contacted foreign generals to prepare for a fight, if the Manchu army is in the city at this time, it will be a big deal. Ma Junmen's original words are Brother Zuo, you can be loyal to the Ming Dynasty, but once you die, what about half of the Ming Dynasty? What about the hundreds of millions of people in the South? Do they want to be reduced to a fourth-class class person who is not worth a lame donkey at one time? ”

Ma Cheng came from later generations, and he also worked as a salesman for a period of time, so he has a good set of demagoguery. The retelling of Ai's election just now really went to Zuo Maodi's heart.

Zuo Maodi is different from other Donglin parties, Qian Qianyi, Jiang Yueguang and others are all from cichens and have no experience in grassroots administration. But Zuo Maodi is different, Zuo Maodi was elected as the magistrate of Hancheng County after Chongzhen was elected to the department in the fifth year of Chongzhen.

Hancheng is located at the junction of Shaanxi, Shanxi and Henan provinces, and in the fifth year of Chongzhen, it was the place where the peasant uprising was most serious. In the first month of his arrival, Zuo Maodi encountered tens of thousands of rogues besieging Hancheng, and Zuo Maodi ordered all townships to collect grain and livestock and clear the fields, and then recruited troops, adjusted salaries, defended rivers, and defended the city, and successfully repelled the enemy.

With this experience, Zuo Maodi deeply knows what the war represents to ordinary people, and thieves are like combing soldiers, and they are not as frivolous as what is written in the history books. Thinking of this, Zuo Maodi was a little shaken, and he asked in a low voice, "What does your master want the old man to do?" ”

Ai Daxuan was overjoyed when he heard Zuo Maodi say this, Ma Cheng had already promised him that as long as he persuaded Zuo Maodi, he would give his son a Tongjinshi background, which was a guarantee for the carp to leap over the dragon gate.

Ai Daxuan didn't know that this was Ma Cheng in order to let him concentrate on the empty check that he had been sent to do it, and he was born as a scholar and could already be a seven-rank civil official, Ma Cheng was only a commander now, and he had the right to get this privilege, even his son Ma Shiying had no right to do so. But Ma Cheng doesn't care about this, as long as he can let Ai concentrate on his errands, don't say that a fellow Jinshi is born, even if he is a count, Ma Cheng will agree.

Ma Cheng's idea was to tie Ai's heart with a blank check, and only if Ma Cheng won the check could he cash it. But what about failure? If you fail, Ma Cheng's own life will not be guaranteed, where you can manage the of the election!

"My lord, Ma Junmen hopes that your lord will take refuge in Dolgon, and then use the internal contradictions in the north to kill Duoduo and Azig, and stop the Manchu troops in the Huai River valley, so as to ensure that the people of Nanzhili are safe!"

Zuo Maodi stood in the courtyard and thought for a long time, his personal honor and disgrace and the suffering of the people were repeatedly weighed in his heart, thinking of what happened to the people of Hancheng, Zuo Maodi finally sighed and said: "Okay, the old man promised your master, but the old man has one condition, and he must return the old man to a clean slate in the future!" ”

Ai Daxuan heard Zuo Maodi say this: "Please rest assured, Ma Junmen said that after the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains recovers the Ming Dynasty, he will definitely ask for credit for the adults!" ”

The credit Zuo Maodi didn't see it, only this posthumous name is what Zuo Maodi valued. Zuo Maodi didn't know whether today's incident was right or wrong, so he sighed and asked: "Also, the old man has not spoken to Beiyu in the past few months, and now he suddenly wants to take refuge, isn't it a little abrupt?" ”

"This southern capital has already been arranged, and the adult's family will go to the northern capital in half a month, and then the adult can take the opportunity to join Dolgon!"

Zuo Maodi didn't know that his baby daughter had become Ma Cheng's concubine, and when he heard Ai Daxuan say this, he asked: "Isn't it a little inappropriate to take refuge in the past for this little reason?" ”

Ai Daxuan looked at Zuo Maodi, swallowed and spitted and said, "My lord, don't be angry after the last general finishes!" In order to confuse Dolgon, Ma Junmen snatched your daughter and became a concubine! "59 Stacks

Zuo Maodi was born in a large family in Shandong, and he is still a close branch of the Zuo family, and his daughter Zuo Shuying is even more descendant, according to tradition, this daughter must be the wife of the same family. But what about Ma Cheng? Although the Ma family is also a scholarly family, it is not good to compare with the Zuo family. At the same time, although Ma Cheng is the son-in-law, he is not the eldest son who is qualified to inherit, and Ma Cheng made Zuo Shuying a concubine by means of Ma Cheng, what Ma Cheng did can no longer be said to be an insult, it is completely riding his neck to, pulling his chin to pee.

Zuo Maodi scolded angrily after hearing Ai Daxuan: "What, this bastard dares to humiliate the old man like this!" ”

Zuo Maodi scolded Ma Cheng here, but Ma Cheng lived a happy life in Nanjing. It should be Ma Cheng's little wife here, and the fifteenth day of the first month is the day of Ma Cheng's wedding.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, although there is no festive atmosphere in Beijing, it is completely different here in Nanjing. Because of the war in the north, a large number of people poured into the relatively safe Nanjing, and the arrival of a large number of wealthy families in Jiangbei made Nanjing more and more prosperous, just like a person's return to the light before death.

On the eighth day of the first lunar month, the palace issued a holy decree, according to the tradition, this year's Shangyuan Lantern Festival from the eighth day of the first month to the seventeenth day of the first month, the holy decree came out, and the whole Nanjing was immersed in a peaceful atmosphere of the festival.

Seeing the peaceful appearance of the whole Nanjing, Ma Cheng sighed, these people probably didn't know that in half a year, the entire South China would become a sea of fire, and the total population of the country would be reduced by seventy percent in the next twenty years, and this great chaos in the world would not end until the rebellion of the three feudatories forty years later.

Thinking of this Ma Cheng was full of bitterness, but what could he do? He now has no more than ten generals and no more than 30,000 soldiers, not to mention the Manchu Qing Dynasty, even the more than 100,000 Beijing battalions in Nanjing City are not enough, thinking of this Ma Cheng feels that his future is bleak.

Gu Xiying saw Ma Cheng looking at the lights outside the window in a daze, and said with a smile: "Master, the auspicious time has come, why don't you change your clothes and go out to greet Madame?" ”

After Gu Xiying's awakening, Ma Cheng remembered that today was his big day, and the bride was his cousin, Gu Miaoyin, his uncle Gu Congxin's daughter-in-law.

Ma Cheng smiled bitterly and said to Gu Xiying: "Little sister, in the future, the lady will not be able to accompany you every day when the lady enters the door!" ”

Gu Xiying felt bitter when she heard Ma Cheng say this, but there was no way, Gu Xiying's status was too low, where did she dare to compete with Mrs. Zhengfang?

"What did the master say, the slave and maid will always be the master's person, won't the master be separated by a courtyard if he wants to come?"

Ma Cheng is about to move out of Gu Xiying's small courtyard when he gets married, Gu Miaoyin's status is precious, so naturally she can't live in this kind of small courtyard. Ma Cheng's old lady Gu has prepared a five-entry courtyard and more than 30 rooms for her niece, and there are more than 20 people just to serve.

Gu Xiying looked at Ma Cheng's sad face and thought that he didn't want to get married, so he hurriedly persuaded on the side: "Master, don't look like this, the slave maid heard about the four happy events in life, the candle night in the cave room, the title of the gold list, the nectar in the long drought, and the old acquaintance in another country, the master should be happy!" ”

Ma Cheng didn't expect Gu Xiying to know this allusion, and said while getting dressed: "My lord has also heard of the three happy events of men, he was promoted to become rich and died of his wife, I don't know if I can meet it!" ”

Gu Xiying heard this kind of statement from the later generations, frowned and asked: "Master, the slave who was promoted to a rich man knows that this is a happy event, but how can a dead wife be considered a happy event?" ”

Later generations of this statement is based on monogamy, men to middle-aged career success, just when the wife dies can marry a fair-skinned and beautiful little wife, naturally can be regarded as a happy event, but the Ming Dynasty does not have this statement, the Ming Dynasty in addition to the restriction of the wife, there is no limit on the number of concubines, as long as you have the money to marry a hundred, no one cares.

Ma Cheng was originally worried about state affairs and was depressed, but now he was in a much better mood by Gu Xiying's silly white sweetness, Ma Cheng touched Gu Xiying's nine-month big belly and smiled: "Little sister, when the master's wife dies, I will let you straighten it out!" ”

Gu Xiying was overjoyed when she heard Ma Cheng say this, but she also knew that at this time, Gu Xiying's family was just a slave, and she was already high enough to be a concubine, and her wife would never dare to think of it.

Gu Xiying said with a smile: "What did the master say, the slave maid doesn't dare to have this kind of delusion, the slave maid just wants to give birth to a son for the master, and there is a hope when he gets old in the future." ”

Gu Xiying's status is too low, although she is the biological mother of the child in her womb, but now that Ma Cheng has a wife, and the legal mother of the child is Miss Gu, Gu Xiying can't help but be a little frustrated when she thinks of this.

Seeing Gu Xiying's demeanor, Ma Cheng was also very uncomfortable, but he couldn't help it, don't say that this tradition can't be reversed now, even if Ma Cheng becomes the emperor, there is no way, the power of tradition is too strong. Ma Cheng had no choice but to comfort Gu Xiying: "Little sister, don't worry, when the child is born in the future, the master will let you personally raise you to adulthood, and no one can take away your child!" ”

Gu Xiying heard Ma Cheng say this and knew that the master was comforting herself, but she felt a lot better, so she quickly cheered up and put on a dress for Ma Cheng.