Huaiyang Building is one of the largest restaurants in Nanjing, there are seven or eight chefs in the back kitchen, today the owner is closed for a treat, these chefs naturally show their strengths, and prepare a table of authentic Huaiyang dishes for the owner in a short time.

Chinese catering culture is broad and profound, Huaiyang cuisine appeared in the Western Han Dynasty, developed in the Tang and Song dynasties, formed in the Ming Dynasty, and is one of the eight generations of Chinese cuisine. The Huaiyang cuisine of the Ming Dynasty was almost the same as that of later generations, except for the fact that no ingredients such as chili peppers were used, other famous dishes had appeared.

This table of dishes gathers the essence of Huaiyang cuisine, including stewed crab roe lion's head, soft pocket long fish, Huai'an tea, boiled dried shreds, three sets of duck, crystal meat, etc., Yue Qijie saw the dishes on the table, and said with a smile: "The old man is hungry, eat first, and then talk later!" ”

Ma Cheng heard this old gluttonous ghost say this, and he didn't dare to object, as long as he accompanied this old guy to eat together. But Ma Cheng's mind was not on eating, and this meal was really depressing.

After Yue Qijie killed two lion heads, half a plate of dried silk, and half a duck, he was satisfied with Zhu's long sigh: "Hey, the old man is sixty-five years old this year, and his biggest hobby is to eat this!" Huaiyang cuisine has a fresh and peaceful taste, moderate salty and sweet, and is worthy of being the first of the eight major cuisines! ”

Ma Cheng was accompanying him on the side, and when he heard this old guy express his feelings, he hurriedly said: "It's good if my uncle likes to eat, this is our own industry, and my uncle can come in the future!" ”

"That's not good, you have to make money in Huaiyang Building, the old man is thin and can't afford to spend!"

Ma Cheng heard Yue Qijie crying poor here, and scolded in his heart: You old guy are still crying poor in front of Lao Tzu? Although your Yue family is not a big landlord in Guiyang, there are still thousands of acres of land in the family, and in addition to these, they also share dividends in the Ma family's private salt business, which means that there is no money?

"Uncle, don't worry, you can take care of yourself in the future, it's all a family, and you can't talk about money or not!"

Yue Qijie nodded when he heard Ma Cheng say this: "Since this is the case, the old man has thanked the virtuous nephew first!" By the way, what were you going to ask the old man just now? ”

Seeing that this old guy finally remembered his own affairs, Ma Cheng hurriedly asked: "Uncle, the little nephew wants to know about the current situation, why did my father put the little nephew in the cabinet?" ”

When Yue Qijie heard Ma Cheng say this, he smiled and did not answer, but asked rhetorically: "What do you think, nephew?" ”

Ma Cheng heard Yue Qijie ask, and said angrily: "What else can you see? My father is afraid that the little nephew will deal with him like the emperor, but the little nephew is his son, and the son is so guarded, it makes the little nephew feel cold! ”

Yue Qijie listened to Ma Cheng's words, and laughed: "Haha, Zhonghe, your father is twenty-nine years old, starting from the head of the household department, successively serving as the prefect, Taoist, prefect, Yushi of the capital, governor of Xuanfu, governor, and now the first assistant, more than 30 years of ups and downs in the sea of Huan, can you still guard against such a kid as you?" ”

"Look at you on the other hand, the development has been good in the past two years, training troops to fight the northern captives, and the next battle in the southern capital broke 10,000 and 400,000, the old man was a little unbelieving after hearing it in Hangzhou Prison at that time. Although you have made great achievements, why are you developing so fast? Do you think it's all on your own? ”

Ma Cheng heard Yue Qijie say this, the boss was unhappy, who did he rely on if he didn't rely on himself? Why aren't these old guys optimistic about themselves?

"Uncle, my little nephew started recruiting soldiers from outside Xuzhou City, and ate with the soldiers every day

Living together, from the first year of Shaowu to the present, hundreds of battles of all sizes will be won, and the attack will be overcome! Isn't this the credit of the little nephew? ”

"Boy, you're right, you are indeed very good at fighting, but don't forget, from the seventeenth year of Chongzhen to the first year of Hongguang, can you bring out an invincible team in just two years? Who do you think you are? Did you listen to those rumors on the rivers and lakes, and really thought that you were Yue Fei? Even if you are Yue Fei, do you know how many years it took Yue Fei to train an invincible Yue family army? It took 14 years from the first year of Jingkang when Yue Fei joined the army to the victory of Zhuxian Town in the tenth year of Shaoxing. On the other hand, with no help from anyone, do you think you can make it in just two years? ”

What Yue Qijie said is very reasonable, if it weren't for Ma Shiying's full support for Ma Cheng, he would definitely not have grown into a force in just a few years. Ma Cheng's new army has good combat effectiveness, but a large number of middle and low-level officers are the personal guards of Ma Shiying and the Gu family, the commander of Guiyang.

In order to support Ma Cheng, Ma Shiying not only handed over his 500 Guizhou soldiers to him, but also personally wrote a letter to transfer 800 soldiers from Guiyang, most of these soldiers are the personal soldiers of the Ma family and the Gu family, who fight against ethnic minorities in Guizhou and Yunnan all the year round, and their combat effectiveness is not inferior to that of the Manchu Eight Banners.

In addition to these, in order to help Ma Cheng become an army as soon as possible, Ma Shiying basically used the strength of the whole country to help Ma Cheng build this new army. If you need a steel workshop, you can transfer tens of thousands of blacksmiths in Lishui County to you! If you need gunpowder, no problem, you can use the gunpowder workshop of the Ordnance Bureau! The Ministry of Industry is not strong, and there is no problem, just replace it with your Ma Cheng's teacher Song Yingxing! The soldiers' salaries were insufficient, so they directly opened the treasury of the household department and opened it up to supply the new army!

It is precisely because of Ma Shiying's unsparing support that Ma Cheng's new army was able to form combat effectiveness in just two years and defeat the invincible Qing army under the city of Nanjing.

Ma Cheng was dumbfounded by Yue Qijie's words, and it took a long time before he quibbled: "But he is my father, shouldn't my father support his son?" ”

When Ma Cheng said this, he completely forgot about the ugly things in the imperial city at that time, Ma Cheng left Ma Shiying without looking back in order to escape for his life, is this what one of your sons should do?

Yue Qijie laughed a few times after hearing Ma Cheng finish speaking, and did not continue to ask, but changed the topic and said: "Zhonghe, do you know who the new inner city admiral is?" But do you know who this commander of the Imperial City guard is? ”

The commander of the inner city is Zhang Guozhu, this is Ma Cheng's old acquaintance, but the commander is a little-known Zhang Kunyuan, Ma Cheng has never heard of it before. Now hearing Yue Qijie say this, Ma Cheng had no choice but to shake his head and say that he didn't know.

"This Zhang Kunyuan is a thousand households in Linshanwei of Shaoxing Mansion, after you occupied Ningbo, this guy was transferred to Nandu by the Ministry of War, and at first he was a thousand households under your younger brother Ma Xi, and now he is promoted to commander!"

Qianhu belonged to the middle-level officers in the Ming Dynasty, but they were the lowest-level middle-level officers, and the official position was only the fifth grade, but the commander was a third-grade high-ranking official, not to mention the commander of the imperial city, which has always been held by honors.

Ma Cheng scolded angrily after hearing Yue Qijie's words: "What talent does this guy have?" Did you follow the path of Marcy? From the fifth product to the third product! ”

"Zhang Kunyuan did not follow the path of Ma Xi, Zhang Kunyuan's hometown is from Yinxian County, Ningbo, and he has an uncle

Uncle, called Zhang Qingfang, served as a squire in the military department of the Southern Capital, but now he is a servant. ”

Ningbo people? It seems that Ma Shiying is ready to win over the hearts of those intellectuals in eastern Zhejiang in Ningbo, otherwise how can he use a thousand households for this important position?

"Uncle, but my father wants to win over the hearts of those scholars in eastern Zhejiang?"

"You're partly right, Yuanfu does have the intention of gathering the literati of eastern Zhejiang, but the driving force is your eldest brother Ma Luan!"

Although Ma Luan has some literati stupidity, he has an excellent character and many friends, and he usually cares about Ma Cheng like a big brother. Ma Cheng suddenly grasped the main point of the problem when he heard Yue Qijie say this, but he was still unsure, Ma Cheng asked hesitantly: "Uncle, do you say that the eldest brother is cultivating his own power?" ”

"Boy, you have been in the limelight too much in the past few years, if your father is still an ordinary first assistant, it's okay, but you kid has to arch your father to the top. Your eldest brother is not prepared, will you be crushed under you when your father succeeds in the future? Cao Cao's son Cao Zhi was above Cao Pi in all his literary style, but what was the result? Your eldest brother doesn't want to be the second Cao Zhi! ”

Ma Cheng scolded in his heart after listening to Yue Qijie: If it weren't for Lao Tzu to keep you safe, now Ma Shiying would have been caught in Nanjing and peeled off, and the eldest brother Ma Luan went to Zhejiang incognito to be a teaching gentleman, and Ma Xi, the bastard, would also be killed with Ma Shiying. Now that you are all safe, you have calculated Lao Tzu!

In fact, Ma Cheng thinks so that he doesn't understand Ma Luan, Ma Luan and Ma Cheng have a good relationship, but father and son must be secretly wary of the power field, not to mention brothers, China from ancient times to the present brother killed his brother in order to seize power, to the point that he can't complain about Ma Luan's preparation in advance, he has no intention of harming Ma Cheng, but he must have the ability to protect himself.

"Uncle, now we only occupy the two provinces of Nanzhili and Zhejiang, and there are still many enemies outside, why does my father want to support my brother and suppress my little nephew?"

"Zhonghe, you're wrong to think so! The northern captives lost all 400,000 people under the southern capital, of which there were more than 30,000 real captives, you must know that the entire northern captives only had a population of 200,000, and with the addition of the Han Army Banner and the Mongolian Eight Banners, there would be no more than 100,000 people who could come out as soldiers, and these 30,000 people had already made them break their muscles and bones! There are only King Lu who still have some strength in the small courts in the south, and now that King Lu is destroyed, what is left of King Gui of Tang is just a chicken and a dog, can your father still let you go out to fight in this situation? If you win the battle again, won't you become the second Li Shimin? ”

What Yue Qijie said is the real reason why Ma Shiying suppressed Ma Cheng, Ma Cheng can fight, but in Ma Shiying's eyes, it is just the courage of a horseman, the war will always end one day in the future, and the world can be fought immediately, but it is absolutely impossible to govern the world, and in the end, the ruler of the country still needs literati doctors.

As long as Ma Shiying still has some brains, he will never let Ma Cheng make meritorious contributions to offend those local gentry who have real power.

At the same time, there is another point, that is, Ma Luan's background, Ma Luan is the eldest son, and he is very literate, and he used to be Ma Shiying's intended successor. Now that Ma Shiying has become a force, he naturally has to think about his future successor, if he has a good relationship with the literati, can he still use Ma Cheng, who has a bad relationship?