Yue Qijie is Ma Cheng's uncle, and he used to know too much about this wife and nephew. Ma Cheng was born when Gu was thirty-one years old, as the saying goes, the old son and grandson, the eyes of the old lady. Ma Cheng has become Gu's heart since he was born, holding it in his hand for fear of falling, and holding it in his mouth for fear of melting. In addition, after Ma Cheng was born, Ma Shiying went to Shanxi to become an official, and Gu took three children to live in Nanjing.

Yue Qijie had always thought that Ma Cheng was an ordinary second-generation official, but today he was very shocked to hear Ma Cheng say this.

Yue Qijie looked Ma Cheng up and down repeatedly, and then sighed and said, "Zhonghe Xian nephew, I really didn't expect you to have great wisdom!" It's a pity that your brother Ma Luan, as a lifter, has studied hard for many years, and his knowledge is not as good as yours! ”

Yue Qijie is talking about Ma Cheng's eldest brother Ma Luan, if Ma Cheng is a negative example of the second generation of officials, then Ma Luan is definitely a positive example of a scholarly family. Ma Luan was born in the forty-third year of Wanli, according to the tradition of the Ming Dynasty people who were two years old, Ma Luan was just the year of establishment this year.

Ma Luan as the eldest son received the most orthodox Confucian education when he was a child, and Ma Luan also lived up to expectations, at the age of twenty-four in the middle of the lift, in the same year in the uncle Yang Wencong under the recommendation, and married the Jiangnan Dashi family, the daughter of the Zhang family in Ningbo as a wife, it is really a spring breeze!

But precisely because Ma Luan's father-in-law is the Zhang family in Ningbo, Ma Luan has a deep friendship with the Donglin Party and the Qingliu literati of the Fushe Society. And Yue Qijie is lonely, and Ma Shiying is really not optimistic about King Fu, so he didn't take Yue Qijie's suggestion.

Now that someone finally agrees with his own opinion, Yue Qijie was overjoyed, took Ma Cheng's hand and asked, "Virtuous nephew, how did you think of this?" ”

Ma Cheng has been so valued in later generations, his face was red with excitement, and he quickly said when he heard Yue Qijie ask: "Uncle, my nephew has been reading history books these days, and he has found the truth that the gun is out of power in the historical records of the ancestors, and my father has millions of soldiers and horses in the four towns of Jiangbei, and he can obviously fight for a higher status, and now King Fu is isolated, as long as his father is willing to support him, then the position of the first assistant of the new dynasty in the future must be his father's, and then my uncle can also rise and go further!" ”

Now it is the chaos in the world at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and it basically has the rudiments of warlord secession in the late Han Dynasty and the late Tang Dynasty. This has been reflected in the Chongzhen years, every time he failed to fight with the peasant army, Chongzhen could only kill civilian officials to vent his anger, and he did not dare to move the generals who led the troops on the front line. Yue Qijie has fought against the peasant army many times, so he naturally knows the current situation in the world.

However, what Ma Cheng said was too explicit, and he almost said that he would let Ma Shiying take one side. The governor's yamen had many eyes, and Yue Qijie hurriedly blocked Ma Cheng's mouth, and looked around to see that there was no one else except Gu San, and then he was relieved.

Yue Qijie whispered: "Zhonghe Xian nephew, what do you mean Uncle knows, but don't tell outsiders these words?" Otherwise, our Ma family's catastrophe is coming! ”

It's not that Yue Qijie is too careful, although the north is now eroded, but after all, the Ming Dynasty still occupies half of the country, and it is still the richest province. According to the analysis of the current situation, it is very likely that the Ming Dynasty will continue for hundreds of years like the Southern Song Dynasty and the Eastern Jin Dynasty. If Ma Cheng's words reach the ears of the ministers of the court or the future emperor, it will be over, not to mention that Ma Shiying has the merit of supporting the emperor, that is, the emperor's father, as long as there is the idea of separation, there is also a pair of killings, and there is no ambiguity.

Ma Cheng woke up when he heard Yue Qijie wake up, and then he remembered that now is not the future generation of freedom of speech, it is now the old society of all evils, and a wrong word can make people's heads fall to the ground.

Ma Cheng hurriedly bowed down and said, "Uncle, nephew Meng Lang, thank you uncle for waking up!" ”

Yue Qijie had already changed his opinion of Ma Cheng at this time, and nodded with a smile: "Okay, the old man likes you very much, your father will be able to come back from Pukou in ten days, and the old man will say this to you in front of your father, and try to convince your father!" ”

Ma Cheng was overjoyed when he heard Yue Qijie say this, he came to this strange era, and the only thing he could rely on was his familiarity with history, as long as history could return to the right track, he would have more than a year of buffer time. He can organize and train a new army, and with the strong national strength and endless population advantage of Nanming, he will definitely be able to fight the Manchu Qing Dynasty and find teeth, and then he will not have to run away to Japan. Japanese sashimi is delicious, but no one can stand eating it every day.

Ma Cheng, who had done a big thing, was very happy, and after saying goodbye to Yue Qijie, he took Gu San out of the third hall and came to the second hall, which is the internal affairs agency of the governor's yamen, that is, the secretary's office and general office of the governor himself, and the second hall is the official office of the governor's yamen.

Ma Shiying supervised Henan and Shandong Denglai, Huaibei and other places, so Ertang is here to be the military road, the grain road, the river and other governor's direct institutions, there are more than a dozen houses, and there are wooden signs hanging at the door.

Now that the news of Chongzhen's hanging in Beijing has spread, and Li Chuang's forces have reached Shandong, the governor's yamen is busy here, and the official documents for troops and food from all over Shandong and Henan have been sent here like snowflakes, and the entire governor's yamen is busy, and naturally no one cares about Ma Cheng, an idler who came out of Santang.

Ma Cheng saw that no one paid attention to him, and walked out of the main gate of the second hall with Gu San, and entered the main hall of the governor's yamen, which is the White Tiger Festival Hall mentioned in the Water Margin book.

However, the White Tiger Hall is a military institution of the Song Dynasty, and it has been more than 500 years since the end of the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty has canceled this name, so the main hall of the Fengyang Governor Yamen is not the White Tiger Hall, but the main hall is not something that ordinary people can enter.

The main hall was guarded by personal soldiers, and Ma Cheng and Gu San were discovered by the guards as soon as they walked into the lobby from the corner gate. The one on duty today is a thousand households, but fortunately, it is also Gu San's old acquaintance. When the Qianhu saw that Gu San dared to bring an outsider into the military land, he said angrily: "Gu Laosan, don't you want to die?" What is this place? How dare you bring outsiders in? ”

As soon as Gu San saw this person, he broke out in a cold sweat, and hurriedly bowed down and said, "Lord Zhang, the subordinates dare to come in, the second son has to come over to take a look, and the subordinates can't help it... ”

Ma Cheng arched his hand on the side and said: "This uncle, I am Ma Cheng, Ma Shiying is my father, I am going to come over to see the governor's yamen, don't complain!" ”

That Zhang Qianhu glared at Gu San, and then said to Ma Cheng: "Second son, this main hall is a place for the general to gather and point troops, outsiders break in and want to cut off their heads, please don't embarrass the second son!" After Zhang Qianhu finished speaking, he waved his hand, and two pro-soldiers came from behind, and Zhang Qianhu continued: "Escort the second son out of the small door!" ”

Ma Cheng originally wanted to go to the main hall to see if it was the same as written in the Water Margin, with a white tiger in the middle. But looking at Zhang Qianhu's dead appearance, Ma Cheng sneered: "Hmph, Zhang Qianhu is so powerful, the master is my father's son-in-law, can't this master go to the main hall?" ”

Ma Cheng was angry, knowing that Zhang Qianhu didn't care about Ma Cheng at all, with a wave of his hand, the two pro-soldiers took Gu San out, and then Zhang Qianhu arched his hand and said, "Second son, please!" ”

Seeing that Zhang Qianhu was not close to people, Ma Cheng had no choice but to follow his soldiers out of the main hall from the small gate and come to the street in front of the governor's yamen.

In front of the Governor's Yamen is a large square, and there are Yimen and the main gate outside the gate, Ma Cheng stood in front of the main gate and looked at the plaque of "Fengyang Governor's Department" on the door and scolded: "Your mother, what is a thousand households?" Wait for my dad to come back and sue you, let you go to the front line in Shandong to eat! ”

Ma Cheng turned to Gu San and asked, "Where did that Zhang Qianhu come from?" Why doesn't the master give face? Isn't it just a visit to the main hall? ”

Gu San looked at Ma Cheng and said, "Second master, in addition to the old man and the old lady at home, you can't afford to mess with this Zhang Qianhu!" ”

Ma Cheng heard Gu San say this and said angrily: "What? This guy is better than my big brother? Is he the illegitimate son of the old man? Ma Cheng thought about it, the age is not right, Zhang Qianhu looks like he is in his forties, and his father is only fifty-three years old, so there can be such an illegitimate child there.

"Second master, don't let the master hear this, or I can really beat you on the board!" After Gu San finished speaking, he explained the origin of this Zhang Qianhu in detail.

It turns out that this Zhang Qianhu's big name is Zhang Guozhu, and the official position of this Qianhu is not ordinary, it is hereditary, or Taizu himself. It turned out that the ancestor of Zhang Guozhu was the ancestor of the Ma family, Ma Cheng's fellow countryman, and he participated in Zhu Yuanzhang's rebel army with Ma Cheng, but the ancestor of the Zhang family did not have Ma Cheng's luck and died on the battlefield. Before he died, he entrusted his minor son to Ma Cheng, so the Zhang family has been very close to the Ma family for generations, Ma Shiying also regarded Zhang Guozhu as his own brother, and after learning that the imperial court appointed him as the governor of Fengyang, he immediately transferred Zhang Guozhu from his hometown in Guiyang to serve as an officer in the governor's yamen.

The Chinese officer is in charge of the governor's personal guards, and he has always been the closest person, Ma Cheng couldn't help it when he heard Gu San say this, so he had to scold: "When Lao Tzu is developed, I must let this Zhang Guozhu go to the toilet!" ”

At this time, Ma Cheng and Gu San stood in front of the Governor's Yamen on Fuqian Street, the Fengyang Governor's Yamen was the former Fengyang Governor's Yamen, originally the Fengyang Governor was stationed in Huai'an, and he was also responsible for Caoyun while being responsible for the defense of Jiangbei. Later, in the Wanli years, Cao and Fu were separated, and the governor of Cao Yun was stationed in Huai'an, and the governor of Fengyang moved to Fengyang.

Fengyang is Zhu Yuanzhang's hometown, but also the Ming Dynasty's central capital, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Li Shanchang to build the central capital after the founding of the country, so there is also an imperial city in Fengyang City, in addition to these, there are Zhu Yuanzhang's palaces of various princes, but these were burned by a fire when Li Zicheng burned Fengyang.

Ma Cheng stood on the street in front of the house and saw that it was the ruins of Fengyang, with a cool breeze blowing, how miserable it was.