Although Ma Cheng was not at the bottom of society in later generations, his social status was not high, and he had always been oppressed by those violent organs. Now that he has crossed over to this feudal society, Ma Cheng himself has become the spokesperson of the violent organs, and naturally wants to make up for it, and tries to bully those businessmen who operate legally.

Ma Cheng heard Wang Xian say that the grain merchants in the city took advantage of the opportunity of the siege to make a fortune, so he was ready to clean up these grain rats, crack down on illegal hoarding of grain, disrupt the grain market, and at the same time, he could also make a fortune easily, and he could also obtain a large amount of grain that did not need money.

Ma Cheng thought for a while and shouted to the soldiers outside the door: "Come on, go and call Lu Siye!" "Lu Siye is in charge of the Military Intelligence Department, and at the same time is in charge of the security work in the city, so this kind of early intelligence collection is naturally inseparable from him.

Lu Siye is working in the Military Intelligence Department, and in the past two months, the Qing army has besieged the city, and a large amount of news from outside the city has spread to the city.

Lu Siye heard Ma Cheng call himself, cleaned up and came to the second hall, entered the house and saluted: "Lord Junmen, I don't know what happened to the summons?" ”

Lu Siye has been promoted all the way with Ma Cheng for more than half a year, and his official position has been promoted from a general to a deputy commander-in-chief, that is, a deputy general, although there is the credit of his uncle Lu Jiude, but Lu Siye's own ability cannot be erased, so now Lu Siye is also one of Ma Cheng's important staff.

Ma Cheng saw Lu Siye coming in and asked, "Old Lu, what is the movement of the northern captives outside the city?" ”

Lu Siye knew that Ma Cheng would ask about the movements of the Qing army, so he had already done his homework: "Back to my lord, the northern captives outside the city stopped attacking the city half a month ago, according to the information sent back from outside the city, there was an epidemic among the northern captives, and many of those northern captives from the north were infected, so Duoduo ordered to stop the siege." In addition, in the past few days, the northern captives have come from Jiujiang to reinforce troops, and the number is very large, estimated at more than 200,000, so that there are 400,000 besieging the city. At the same time, from Dashengguan in the west to Longtan Town in the north, dozens of camps have been set up, connecting hundreds of miles from end to end, surrounding the southern capital like an iron bucket, and we can't receive any news from the outside! ”

Ma Cheng also scratched his head when he heard Lu Siye say this, and it was difficult to do it if he couldn't receive news from the outside: "What is the latest news from outside?" What is the situation in the surrounding prefectures? "Ma Cheng is very eager for the surrounding prefectures and counties to send troops to Qinwang, you must know that in addition to the millions of troops along the Yangtze River, Nanming also has millions of guards in Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and other places, even if these guys are all waste, but millions of troops can pick out 100,000 strong men in how to choose, no need for them to come to Qinwang, even in Zhejiang and other surrounding provinces to wave the flag and shout.

Ma Cheng's hope is very good, but the news that Lu Siye said made Ma Cheng very disappointed.

"My lord, the latest intelligence shows that the Beiyu has sent Liu Liangzuo to lead 50,000 people to start attacking the localities, and Suzhou, Songjiang, Taiping Mansion and other places have fallen!" After Lu Siye finished speaking, he looked at Ma Cheng, and then continued: "There is also an unconfirmed piece of information, after King Lu of Hangzhou learned that the Emperor Taishang had fled, he immediately imprisoned the country with the support of people with good intentions!" ”

This is heavy news, there can only be one emperor in China's system, and now two or more will come out, and it is natural that there will be big and small kings in the future.

Wang Xian was shocked, stood up and asked, "What?" How dare King Lu do something rebellious? ”

Wang Xian's shock is reasonable, because Wang Xian is accepting of Confucianism

The intellectuals of traditional education learned the idea of loyalty and patriotism, but Ma Cheng is different, and his independent character has been infinitely improved in later generations, so Ma Cheng is not very shocked that someone has another emperor, not to mention that Ma Cheng knows that in addition to King Lu, there are several clans behind him to claim the emperor, and now it is just the beginning.

"Okay, Lao Lu, don't care about him for now, the governor has another task to give you, send someone to secretly visit the grain merchants in the city, and find out their property, grain, address, and the boss behind them, this governor is useful!"

After Ma Cheng finished speaking, he said to Wang Xian: "Mr. Wang, now that the southern capital is besieged and the grain route has been cut off, we can't be as lavish as before." From today onwards, in addition to the new army, the food of the guards and the people will be divided into three classes, the first class is those who go into battle to kill the enemy, and the treatment is the same as that of the new army, the second class is the second-line reserve, and the daily ration is one liter and five he, and the third class is miscellaneous service, and the daily ration is one liter! ”

One liter is one catty, one catty in the Ming Dynasty is equivalent to more than 590 grams in later generations, according to the dietary standard of adult men, it should be two liters of grain per day, one liter of food is already the minimum standard, and no matter how low it is, it will affect the ability to move.

Wang Xian nodded, took out a pen and paper to write down what Ma Cheng said, and then asked, "What about the homeless people in the city?" And what about the citizens? ”

The displaced people in the city are all under the management of Xu Zhan, and Ma Cheng heard Wang Xian say this and replied: "Mr. Wang went to tell Xu Zhan that the daily food of the displaced people is one liter of food, and the underage children and the elderly are five times a day, and the citizens are equal to the displaced people!" ”

Most of the citizens in Nanjing are middle-class, and most of these guys are inextricably linked with officials and magnates, so it is indeed difficult for them to eat a pound of food every day.

After Ma Cheng finished speaking, Wang Xian was just about to speak, but was stopped by Ma Cheng: "Wang Xian doesn't need to say it, this governor knows what you want to say, so this governor will enter the palace to ask for a decree and ask for a food rationing system in the city!" ”

Wang Xian heard that Ma Cheng insisted on this, so he didn't say anything anymore, and got up to say goodbye to Ma Cheng.

After Wang Xian and Lu Siye left, Ma Cheng also changed into official clothes and took his own soldiers to prepare to meet the emperor in the palace. As soon as Ma Cheng arrived at the door, he saw a knight galloping from the direction of the South Gate Jubao Gate.

According to the military order, it is not allowed to ride a horse in the city without an emergency military situation, and Ma Cheng saw that it was an emergency military situation and quickly stopped. The knight came to Ma Cheng's side and flew off his horse, knelt down on one knee in front of Ma Cheng and shouted: "Lord Qiqi Junmen, Nancheng Jubaomen has found an emergency, Ma Zongzhen invites Lord Junmen to take a look!" ”

Emergency? It's not an emergency military situation, what is going on, Ma Bao doesn't dare to make his own decisions.

Ma Cheng frowned and asked, "What's the matter, you Ma Zongbing don't dare to make your own decisions?" ”

The knight was just an order, and he didn't know what the specific situation was, but he knew that the Qing army had sent a few more lobbyists to persuade him to surrender.

Ma Cheng, who heard that it was persuaded to surrender, was very unhappy, this Ma Bao really couldn't tell the difference, and now he has become like this with the Qing army, is it something that can be done by a few lobbyists to persuade him to surrender? However, Ma Cheng thought that Ma Bao was his uncle after all, and he still had to give face to him.

There was no way, Ma Cheng had to temporarily turn the horse's head and follow the knight to the treasure gate.

When they arrived at the urn city of Jubaomen, Ma Bao and a bunch of generals were watching at the head of the city, and when they saw Ma Cheng coming, they quickly knelt down one by one

Courtesy.

Ma Cheng came to Ma Bao and asked, "Sixth Uncle get up, what is the matter that brought Bendu here!" ”

Ma Bao's expression was very unnatural after he got up, and he whispered beside Ma Cheng: "My lord, look at the city, who is the leader of the city?" ”

Ma Cheng lay on the battlement at the head of the city and saw three knights under the city, two of which were cavalrymen wearing white helmets and white armor.

In front of these two horsemen stood a man, with his wrists tied to a rope, standing by the moat and weeping.

Ma Cheng saw that this guy was wearing a green coat and a small hat, and he was very fat, and he was a small landlord. Ma Cheng didn't recognize it after looking at it for a long time, and asked, "Sixth uncle, who is this person?" ”

Ma Bao said in a low voice: "My lord, this person outside himself said that he was the emperor, and the last general had never seen the emperor, and this matter was too important, so the last general did not dare to call the shots, so he invited the lord to come!" ”

When Ma Cheng heard that it was Zhu Yousong, he quickly rubbed his eyes in fright and watched again, this time he looked carefully, and the fat guy standing below was Zhu Yousong. However, after about two months of suffering, Zhu Yousong lost a lot of weight, and completely became a small fat man, which was very different from the original weight of more than 300 catties, so Ma Cheng did not notice it at first sight.

Ma Cheng saw clearly that it was the toad Tianzi Zhu Yousong below, and shouted in his heart, Ma Cheng originally thought that this guy had escaped, but now that there is chaos outside, this guy must have died outside. I didn't expect this guy to be so lucky that he was able to survive until now.

Now the Qing soldiers standing behind Zhu Yousong don't have to guess to know that this guy has become a prisoner of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and now the Qing army escorts him to the city, naturally wants to use his identity to win the city gate. Fortunately, Zhu Yousong lived in seclusion after becoming the emperor, and the soldiers and civilians in Nanjing were not familiar with him.

Ma Cheng appeared in the city with his own soldiers, and the city had already found out that something was wrong, and the Qing soldiers behind Zhu Yousong struck Zhu Yousong with the handle of his knife, Zhu Yousong immediately wiped away his tears, and saw Ma Cheng in the city showing his head and looking at himself.

Seeing the appearance of his relatives, Zhu Yousong is really mixed, two months ago, he was a true dragon emperor, but now he has become a prisoner of Beiyu. Zhu Yousong saw Ma Cheng and hurriedly shouted: "It's Ma Cheng in the city, I am your brother-in-law, I am the emperor Zhu Yousong!" ”

Although Ma Cheng's sister Ma Hongning is one of Zhu Yousong's harem women, Zhu Yousong has no feelings for Ma Hongning, how can she not take Ma Hongning with her when she runs away from Beijing? But now the timing is different, Zhu Yousong has become a prisoner, Ma Cheng has become the guard of the southern capital, and Zhu Yousong has to call himself brother-in-law in a low voice in order to survive.

Hearing Zhu Yousong say this, Ma Cheng secretly scolded that it was not good, and he must not let this guy talk nonsense.

"Who are you? How dare you call the emperor by his name? The Emperor Taishang has sacrificed his life for the country, and the Ming Dynasty has a new emperor, this governor advises you to flee for your own safety! ”

Zhu Yousong heard how he became the emperor, but the history of the Ming Dynasty is not without precedent, after the change of the civil fort, Zhu Qizhen of Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty was respected as the emperor by his younger brother, and he stayed in the South Palace for several years of imprisonment, so it is not a good word to be the emperor in the Ming Dynasty.