In July of the first year of Shaowu in the Ming Dynasty, the rainy season that began in May finally passed, and the sky finally showed a ray of sunshine. However, the passing of the rainy season does not mean that the good days of the Qing army have come, and the next rainy season is the scorching heat.

East Asia began to enter the Xiaoice period at the end of Wanli, and it snowed on Hainan Island at its coldest time, but in July of the first year of Shaowu, the climate was exceptionally abnormal. After the rainy season stopped, the high temperature began to continue, and the highest temperature in the Nanzhili area has reached 30 degrees. Not to mention this kind of temperature, not to mention the Manchurian Eight Banners from the bitter cold land of Liaodong, even some locals in Nanjing City can't stand it.

All activities of the Manchu army outside the city have stopped, except for those newly annexed troops who continue to attack the surrounding prefectures and counties under the leadership of the surrendered generals, and all the Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners hide in tents to escape the summer.

The high temperature was followed by the plague, although both sides of the war had plans to bury the corpses, but the number of people who died outside Nanjing was 50,000, from Yuhuatai outside Nanjing to Xiaoling, the two sides dug hundreds of large pits to bury the corpses.

But just like that, the plague began to spread among the troops on both sides. Ma Cheng came from later generations and knew that the source of the spread of the plague was small animals such as parasites and rats, so he was isolated in the city for the first time, and at the same time strictly ordered that raw water was not allowed to be eaten in the city, and all water must be boiled before it can be used. At the same time, the sick soldiers and civilians were isolated, and the dead were dug and buried deeply, so that the plague in the city could be controlled.

With the help of Ma Cheng, a traverser in the city, the plague was controlled, but not outside. Because the Manchu army did not pay attention to hygiene, they drank river water and well water directly, and a large number of soldiers fell ill with the plague. Up to now, among the 400,000 troops of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, 50,000 or 60,000 have lost their combat effectiveness due to various reasons, and this situation has made the wise and resolute Duoduo at a loss, and even has the idea of retiring from the army.

But Dorgon wanted to retreat, but Dorgon wouldn't. Now that Cao Yun has just been cleared, Beijing has just gained a little respite, and it is so easy to withdraw troops there, so Dolgon has issued orders many times, strictly ordering Duoduo to hold out until the last moment. Duoduo, who received the holy decree, had no choice but to lead his troops to continue to persevere, but he could only besiege the city, and it was completely impossible to attack the city.

The Manchu Qing Dynasty did not attack the city to give Ma Cheng a chance to breathe, he took this opportunity to start rectifying military affairs, in addition to training those unsuccessful guards, Ma Cheng recruited 20,000 new troops to supplement his strength.

Now the number of new troops in Ma Cheng's hands has reached 45,000 people, which is already the limit, and if this number is exceeded, the quality of life will be appropriately reduced, after all, the consumption of these 45,000 people is too great.

These new troops are the absolute main force of Ma Cheng, and they have to eat three dry meals a day, and they also have to be supplied with pork and other non-staple foods. Ma Cheng stipulated that the people in the city should supply one pound of food a day, which still requires physical strength, but the soldiers of the new army need two and a half pounds of food a day, not counting vegetables, pork and other non-staple foods, so Ma Cheng's 45,000-strong new army is more expensive than the 100,000 guards.

There has been no war in the past few days, and Ma Cheng has been staying in the Beicheng military camp, eating and living with these newly recruited soldiers. The grass-roots officers of these new armies were all selected from the old new army, and those soldiers who had killed a lot and made many meritorious contributions were selected one after another as grass-roots officers such as Xiaoqi Zongqi, and as for the middle-level officers such as Baihu and Qianhu, they were all Ma Cheng's personal soldiers, so as to ensure Ma Cheng's absolute command of the new army.

This day Ma Cheng

I was watching the drill of the new army, and an officer on duty came to report: "Report to the army!" Outside the gate, there is Wu Jiazhou, the prefect of Tianfu, who asked to see him! ”

Wu Jiazhou came, Ma Cheng frowned, it seemed that there was a problem with the surplus grain collection system implemented in the city. This is a big deal, Ma Cheng didn't dare to delay, handed over the training to the Chinese officer Zhu Tong, and then took a few personal soldiers to see Wu Jiazhou.

Wu Jiazhou is in a hurry outside the camp, he has lost a lot of weight in the past few days, the collection of surplus grain is a job that offends people, other ordinary people are easy to say, but those noble doctors are not easy to play, these days have made Wu Jiazhou lose a lot of hair.

Wu Jiazhou saw the gate of the barracks open, Ma Cheng rode out on horseback, Wu Jiazhou hurriedly stepped forward and saluted and said, "Lord Junmen, something is wrong!" ”

"Say, what is it, does anyone dare to resist the decree?" Ma Cheng knew that it was not easy to collect surplus grain, and those nobles in the city would definitely take the opportunity to do something.

Wu Jiazhou heard Ma Cheng say this, and quickly nodded and said: "That's right, in the morning, Xu Zhan led people to count the granary in Beicheng, and there was a group of family members who claimed to be the Duke of Wei State, who stood up to prevent Xu Zhan from entering, and also injured the Shangyuan County official brought by Xu Zhan!" This matter involves Wei Guogong, and the lower officials dare not be self-sufficient, so they come to ask the military lord! ”

Wei Guogong? It turned out to be Xu Da's remnant again, Ma Cheng originally thought that after the death of Xu Hongji, the old Duke of Wei, the new Duke of Wei, Xu Wenjue, would not dare to do anything. But now it seems that these nobles are all ordinary goods, and if you don't rush your mother, you won't call you Dad!

Ma Cheng turned around and said to Gu Yong: "Gu Yong, you go to the military camp and transfer a hundred households to follow the governor!" Gu Yong agreed, and after a while, the armor in the barracks sounded, and a hundred households came out with one hundred and twelve soldiers of the new army, standing neatly in front of Ma Cheng.

The first hundred households knelt down on one knee and said loudly: "Lord Junmen, the last general Deng Da, obey the dispatch of Lord Junmen!" ”

Ma Cheng recognized this Deng Da at a glance, this guy was originally called Deng Da, and he was a homeless person he took in outside Fengyang City, and after a few months of fighting, he became a hundred households, and at the same time, his name was changed to Deng Da by Ma Cheng.

"Okay, Dunda, take the soldiers and follow Lao Tzu, your task today is to protect Lao Tzu's safety!" After receiving the order, Deng Da led people to stand neatly behind Ma Cheng.

Ma Cheng got on the horse and said to Wu Jiazhou: "Governor Wu, you lead the way, Lao Tzu will see what the Duke of Wei is like today!" ”

Wu Jiazhou hurriedly led the way in front, and on the way, Wu Jiazhou told Ma Cheng in detail. It turned out that the granary in Beicheng was not the private warehouse of the Duke of Wei, but the granary of Yongxing Grain Store in the city. This morning, Xu Zhan led people to seal up the Yongxing grain store, and learned that the grain store's warehouse was in Beicheng, so he brought people to Beicheng to seal the grain warehouse.

Unexpectedly, when I arrived in Beicheng, I ran into Wei Guogong's family, who said that Yongxing Grain Store was Wei Guogong's industry, and hoped that Xu Zhan would let him go. But Xu Zhan had the emperor's holy decree in his hand, so the two parties said that they would move when they froze. Those Wei Guogong's family members are all practicing families, and Xu Zhan's subordinates are not opponents at all, so they suffer a loss.

Ma Cheng's military camp is also in Beicheng, not far from the granary, and it was quickly arrived, which is located in Jinchuanmen Inner Street, and outside the city is Jinchuanmen Wharf, so this place is all kinds of warehouses, what granary, salt warehouse, cloth warehouse, you can't see the end at a glance.

Passing through a few alleys, Ma Cheng saw two groups of people

is confronting, on one side is the Shangyuan County official led by Xu Zhan, and on the other side there are fewer people, probably the family of Wei Guogong.

Wei Guogong was led by a middle-aged man in his thirties, with a short figure, and he looked like a practitioner. He saw that reinforcements had come from the official uniform, so he hurriedly led the people to shrink up and firmly guard the gate of the granary.

Ma Cheng rode his horse apart from the crowd and came to the front, glanced at the middle-aged man and scolded: "You bastard, do you know what Lao Tzu does?" When you see Lao Tzu coming, don't you get out of the way? ”

Ma Cheng had just come out of the barracks, and he was not wearing an official uniform, but an off-white training uniform. But seeing Ma Cheng's arrogant look and a large number of people behind him, the man also knew that there was a hard stubble.

"This lord, this is my father-in-law's property, according to the law of the Ming Dynasty, my father-in-law does not have to pay taxes, why do these servants come to forcibly expropriate my granary?"

This man looked vulgar, but he was quite articulate, but Ma Cheng was not going to say anything to him, and said to Deng Da in the back: "Deng Da, you see, Wei Guogong's family Ding resisted first, intending to attack this marquis, and he has already committed the crime of rebellion, and now kill them all!" ”

The leading man didn't expect this Hou Ye to be so ruthless, and he was about to kill himself without asking a word, and the man was just about to plead, but Deng Da and they had already done it. Although these Wei Guogong's family members are all good, they should be stronger than the new army when they fight alone, but the new army is fully armed, and there are more people than the family soldiers, and the new army is fighting in teams, so soon more than 20 family members of Wei Guogong were hacked to death in front of the warehouse.

Seeing that these guys were all hacked to death, Ma Cheng waved his hand impatiently, and Deng Da led people to rush into the granary and correct all the guys on the spot. Ma Cheng's ruthless methods scared Wu Jiazhou stupidly, he also thought that Ma Cheng would be able to argue with the Duke of Wei when he came, but he thought that Ma Cheng would play ruthlessly directly, and he would kill everything.

After all of them were killed, Ma Cheng said to Xu Zhan: "Lord Xu, if you encounter someone who resists the holy decree like this in the future, will you immediately correct the Fa on the spot?" ”

Xu Zhan was also stunned by Ma Cheng, and after listening to Ma Cheng's words, he quickly nodded and agreed.

"Okay, I'll leave it to you!" After Ma Cheng finished speaking, he led people out of the granary. Of course, Ma Cheng is not going to return to the camp, this time he wants to kill chickens and monkeys, Wei Guogong jumped out at this time just to calculate the new accounts and old accounts together, and he will take Wei Guogong, the big rooster, to cut the knife.

Ma Cheng led more than 100 new troops under his command through the city to Nancheng, and the home of Wei Guogong was near the Confucius Temple. Wei Guogong's family saw a group of wolf-like soldiers in front of the door, and was about to step forward to ask, but they knew that these guys were far away from a firecracker, and the four Wei Guogong family members at the door were all killed at the door.

The sound of the fire alarm alarmed the Wei State Mansion, and more than a dozen families with sharp knives came out of it, they originally thought that there were gangsters making trouble at the door, and it was the regular army who knew that the murder was committed at the door.

Ma Cheng stood in front of the Duke of Wei's mansion, looked at the archway written by Zhu Yuanzhang and the civil officials getting off the sedan chair and the military attaché dismounted, and got off the horse with a smile: "The will of Taizu is still to be obeyed by the governor!" After Ma Cheng finished speaking, he said to Deng Da: "Go, enter the Wei Mansion and arrest Xu Wenjue and Xu Jiujue's brothers!" If there is resistance, kill on the spot! ”