In front of the treasure gate of Nanjing City, the fire is soaring here, and the city head is still separated from the fire by a moat of 20 zhang, but you can also feel the scorching flames. There was a scorching smell in the air, just like the smell of burning pigs* hair when Ma Cheng's hometown killed New Year's pigs, and Ma Cheng knew that this was the smell of nearly 10,000 Qing soldiers being scorched in the sea of fire.

Ma Cheng looked at the fire and looked straight at the flowers, this time it looked good, and he killed nearly 10,000 Qing troops with a single fire, but Ma Cheng knew that this kind of strategy could only be used once, and the Qing army would not be fooled the second time. At the same time, in order to achieve good results this time, Ma Cheng used hundreds of barrels of fire oil in the ruins outside the city, as well as nearly 1,000 barrels of tung oil to help burn, and added hundreds of catties of new gunpowder, spending tens of thousands of taels of silver for this fireworks show.

Although the money is spent, the effect is still good. Ma Cheng's biggest concern is morale, although Ma Cheng's new army is well-trained, it has not been on the battlefield. At the same time, the people spread the gods of the Eight Banners of Manchuria, what Eight Banners were not ten thousand, Manchu was invincible, and so on, so that the morale of the soldiers before the war was generally not high.

In addition to burning 10,000 Qing troops to death, the most important thing is that it has gathered the morale of the officers and men of the new army, and the Manchurian Eight Banners on the opposite side are not invulnerable to copper-headed iron arms, it turns out that they can also be killed by artillery, they can also be killed by muskets, and they can also be burned to bones.

Ma Cheng was happy to see the morale cohesion, of course, he would not say that the 10,000 Qing troops who died outside the city were not the main force of the Manchurian Eight Banners, or even the Eight Banners of the Han Army, but some Ming troops who had just surrendered not long ago.

"Okay, everyone has a meritorious service in the first battle, and all the soldiers participating in the battle here in Jubaomen will be rewarded with two taels of silver, and the officers will be rewarded with five taels! The hundred households that planted fire oil outside the city were rewarded with 100 taels of silver, and all the officers were 20 taels and the soldiers were 10 taels! "If you win, you have to be rewarded, but Ma Cheng knows very well how harmful it is to morale if you don't reward for meritorious service, so this reward is very heavy.

The surrounding soldiers were thunderous when they heard Ma Cheng say this, what did everyone do as soldiers? Isn't it just for eating, now that the military gate is rewarding silver, naturally Ma Cheng has won the support of all the soldiers.

Just when the soldiers were thundering, a group of people climbed up from under the city, led by Lu Jiude, the new eunuch who was in charge of the seal. After Zhu Yousong escaped a few days ago, Han Zanzhou, as the original eunuch of the palm seal, hanged himself in the Ming Dynasty, so now Lu Jiude's status has risen, and he was appointed by the new emperor Zhu Lunkui as the new eunuch of the palm seal.

The cannon roared here in Nancheng for two hours, and the enthronement ceremony in the imperial city could not be prepared, and the new emperor Zhu Lunkui was shocked, you must know that he is now the emperor, as long as the city is broken, he will be the first unlucky. Therefore, Zhu Lunkui immediately sent Lu Jiude to personally come to Nancheng to inquire about the situation of the battle.

Lu Jiude climbed up to the Jubaomen Tower, and was hearing the thunderous cheers of the soldiers, and at the same time saw the flames outside the city, he hurriedly grabbed Ma Cheng and asked, "Master Hou, the sage sent the old slave to ask how the battle was going?" ”

Ma Cheng smiled and took Lu Jiude's hand and said, "Uncle Lu, look at the fire outside the city, 10,000 Qing troops were buried inside!" After speaking, Ma Cheng pointed to the retreating Qing army brigade five miles away and said: "See, that is the Qing army's brigade, which has been repelled by us!" ”

When Lu Jiude heard Ma Cheng say this, he saw that the Qing army five miles away was indeed retreating, and said happily: "Great victory!" What a victory! The old slave will go and report to the saint that he knows! ”

After Lu Jiude finished speaking, he stumbled down the city tower, and the official sedan chair was no longer sitting, and he rode a fast horse and ran back to the palace to report the news.

The new emperor Zhu Lunkui and the ministers in the Wuying Hall were waiting anxiously, and the cannons were still rumbling at the south gate just now, why was there no sound now? Could it be that the southern city is broken?

In addition to Zhu Lunkui, Ma Shiying was also very anxious in his heart, what level of his son was he was a clear man, and Ma Shiying didn't believe that more than 20,000 horses who had been trained by Ma Cheng for less than a year could resist the tiger and wolf army in the north? Ma Shiying has led the soldiers, and knows that fighting is not a joke, if Ma Cheng fails this time, then Ma Shiying will not even have a chance to escape, so he can only be honestly tied up and captured.

Just as everyone was waiting for the news, they heard a male duck's voice shouting: "Great victory! Great victory! ”

Zhu Lunkui's heart tightened when he heard this voice, and then Lu Jiude stumbled in, knelt on the ground and shouted, "Master, my lords, what a victory!" South Gate Victory! ”

Zhu Lunkui heard Lu Jiude say this, walked quickly to the front, and asked anxiously: "Tell me quickly, how is the battle going?" ”

"Master, the slave saw with his own eyes at the south gate that the Marquis of Guiyang attracted the heavenly fire and wiped out 10,000 people in the north, and at the same time, the people and horses of the north captives have been withdrawn!"

Zhu Lunkui and the minister in the house heard Lu Jiude say this, and their hanging hearts relaxed, and what followed was ecstasy. The retreat of the northern captives represents that Zhu Lunkui's throne is firmly seated, thinking that he has obtained an emperor out of thin air, Zhu Lunkui is overjoyed and says: "Okay, reward!" Pass the word, I want to reward it! Hurry, hurry up and let the Marquis of Guiyang enter the palace to see me, I want to reward him well! ”

Lu Jiude saw that the emperor was happy, and hurriedly went out to send someone to deliver the news to Ma Cheng that the emperor wanted to see him. Lele Literature

Ma Cheng was also relieved to see the Qing army retreating at the head of Jubaomen City, but he knew that today's Qing army was just a small test, and it would be a bloody siege battle when Duoduo came in a few days, so Ma Cheng did not wait for the fire outside the city to be extinguished and began to order the soldiers to prepare for battle.

At this time, the little eunuch who passed the decree came with a message, saying that the emperor was very happy after knowing the victory, and let Ma Cheng enter the palace immediately, and he wanted to reward Ma Cheng well.

Ma Cheng frowned when he heard the news, thinking to himself what kind of trouble are you making as an emperor, the big war hasn't come yet! However, since Ma Cheng supported Zhu Lunkui, at least there should be respect on the surface, so Ma Cheng had no choice but to hand over the military affairs to Ma Bao, and clean up and follow the little eunuch into the palace to meet Zhu Lunkui.

When Ma Cheng re-entered the Wuying Hall in full uniform, the original atmosphere of sorrow was gone, replaced by a sense of jubilation, just like expelling the Manchus back to Liaodong and reoccupying Beijing.

Ma Cheng walked into the main hall and was about to kneel down to meet the emperor, when he knew that the new emperor Zhu Lunkui personally stepped down from the high platform, supported Ma Cheng and said with a smile: "Don't be polite, general, today you are a hero!" Come on, show the general! ”

On the side, a little eunuch brought an embroidered pier and placed it in front of the general, waiting for Ma Cheng to sit down. But Ma Cheng saw that his son Ma Shiying was standing aside, and he dared to sit down. Ma Cheng hesitated for a long time and had to say, "Your Majesty, the minister is still standing!" ”

Zhu Lunkui looked at Ma Cheng's demeanor, then at Ma Shiying, and said with a smile: "Yes, I only care about being happy, and I forgot about Ma Aiqing!" Come on, move a seat for Shousuke! ”

It is a supreme honor to have a seat in front of the emperor, except for Zhang Juzheng in the eleventh year of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, no one has a seat in front of the emperor, so Ma Shiying sat on the stool with a red face, and his heart was completely proud of his second son Ma Cheng.

Seeing that his father also had a seat, Ma Cheng dared to sit down on the embroidery pier. Zhu Lunkui looked at Ma Cheng sitting down and asked with a smile: "My General Ma, before you came, I had already issued an order to make Aiqing the governor of the Chinese army and the general of the hussars!" Is Aiqing satisfied? ”

The official position of the Ming Dynasty was similar to that of later generations, in addition to the normal actual official ranks, there was also the existence of scattered titles, and the investigators in the civil service system of later generations were similar, no matter what they did, but they received salaries according to their ranks. Ma Cheng's previous official position was already the Marquis of Guiyang, the town guard of Nanjing, and the commander of the colonel, the Marquis of Guiyang is a super product, and the admiral is from a product, and now giving Ma Cheng a Chinese military governor and hussar general is also a helpless move, can he still be directly crowned a prince?

However, the hussar general also represents the supreme grace of the emperor, and the emperors of the Ming Dynasty are very picky, probably related to Zhu Yuanzhang's beggar background, who is very mean to his subordinates, and hates to have to take a salary and work. Therefore, the emperors of previous dynasties had a very strict control over the titles and loose titles, and the military merits that were not won could never be rewarded.

Even Qin Liangyu, the female general who quelled the Yungui Extravagant Rebellion back then, was only a dragon and tiger general who was named the second grade by the emperor during her lifetime, and was posthumously named a loyal marquis after her death. In less than half a month, Ma Cheng was first named the Liujue of the Marquis of Guiyang, and now he has the title of the second rank hussar general, probably the founding of the Ming Dynasty is still the only one.

As for the governor of the Chinese army, it is not very conspicuous, this official position still has some power during the Zhu Yuanzhang period, which is equivalent to the vice chairman of the Military Commission in later generations, but after nearly 200 years of weakening, now the governor of the Chinese army has only honor left, and there is no power in his hands. The last governor of the Chinese army is Liu Kongzhao, but Liu Kongzhao is the governor of Caojiang, and he took Zheng Hongkui to intercept the Qing army half a month ago, and now Zheng Hongkui has run away, and it is estimated that Liu Kongzhao is enough to choke.

When Ma Cheng heard that he had been promoted, he was about to stand up and thank the emperor, but at this time, an official in the civil official queue stood up and said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that Ma Cheng should not be rewarded!" ”

Ma Cheng glanced at the official, who was the representative of the Donglin Party, Qian Qianyi.

I don't know much about this water is too cold Ma Cheng, Qian Qianyi used to have an ambiguous relationship with Ma Shiying, Ruan Dacheng and other eunuchs, so he escaped the liquidation of the Donglin Party by the Eunuch Party, and he can be regarded as the only remaining big man of the Lin Party in the Middle East. But I didn't expect such a soft bone to dare to stand up against the emperor's holy decree today, which made Ma Cheng impressed.

Zhu Lunkui was originally in a good mood today, the enthronement ceremony was held as scheduled, and Ma Cheng also repelled the Qing army, so it was natural to reward Ma Cheng for his meritorious service, but he didn't expect Qian Qianyi to jump out to oppose it, Zhu Lunkui asked unhappily: "Why is Qian Aiqing opposed?" ”

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the victory of Jubaomen should not be Ma Cheng's first credit, but this first merit should be Your Majesty the Emperor! It was Your Majesty's providence that inherited the unification of the country and moved the emperors of the past dynasties, so that the heavenly fire burned the northern captives outside the city, and Ma Cheng just got the right thing! ”

Ma Cheng was furious when he heard Qian Qianyi say this, why did Lao Tzu waste half a month's energy, digging trenches and placing fire oil outside the city, so that he could burn 10,000 Qing troops in one fell swoop, and you now say that Lao Tzu's credit belongs to the emperor's son?

Ma Cheng was in a mess by Qian Qianyi, and was just about to stand up and beat Qian Qianyi, but Ma Shiying stood up and said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that what Qian Qianyi said is very right, and the minister seconded it!" ”