Ma Cheng was in a much better mood when he came out of Ruan's mansion, Ma Cheng looked at the sky and it was already evening, and Ma Cheng remembered that he had promised his mother to go home for dinner tonight. So Ma Cheng said to Gu Yong: "Go back to Chaotian Palace, and send a few people home to let the eldest lady bring a few children back to Chaotian Palace, and my mother said that I will have dinner tonight!" ”

After returning to Mafu, Ma Shiying had already gone home, and the family had a happy meal in the evening. After eating, Gu led a few female relatives to chat, and Ma Shiying took his three sons to the study to discuss things.

After the father and son sat down, Ma Cheng asked first: "Dad, my son went to worship Ruan Dacheng in the afternoon, why is there no one to inherit his title of Duke of Huaiguo?" ”

Ma Shiying knew that Ruan Jun was Ma Cheng's son, but now Ma Shiying was anxious, and all his attention was on competing with the Donglin Party for the vacated seat in the cabinet.

"There is really no time for my father in this half month, such a trivial thing is being talked about after the New Year!"

Ma Cheng couldn't help but hear Ma Shiying say this, so he had to remain silent.

Ma Shiying was a little unhappy when he saw Ma Cheng, but now that there was an air traffic control there, Ma Shiying didn't see Ma Cheng's demeanor, and instead asked, "How is the front line now?" ”

"The whole province of Zhejiang has been pacified, and my son Chen Bing is in Quzhou Mansion, waiting for the spring of next year to enter Fujian!"

"Okay, the better Zhong and you fight on the front line, the more power your father will have in the court!"

After Ma Shiying finished speaking, he drank tea, and then said: "This time Zhonghe came back, my father wants to use your prestige to push Zhang Jie into the cabinet, and tomorrow you will go to the palace to meet the emperor at the same time, mention this matter!" ”

Zhang Jie is a forty-first year jinshi of Wanli, and his qualifications are older than Ma Shiying, Zhang Jie is about the same as Ma Shiying, and he cannot be regarded as a eunuch. Zhang Jie was attached to Wen Tiren, the first assistant of the party during the Chongzhen period, and later after the fall of Wen Tiren, Zhang Jie had no backer, so he could only come to Nanjing to retire here.

But I didn't expect feng shui to take turns, and within a few years, Chongzhen hanged himself in Beijing, so that the officials of the six ministries who stayed in Nanjing became important. At this time, Zhang Jie was active, and said that Shi Kefa supported Zhu Yousong, the king of Lifu, but Shi Kefa was undecided, and Zhang Jie had no choice but to take refuge in Ma Shiying.

In history, Zhang Jie hanged himself in Jiming Temple after the city of Nanjing was broken, Ma Shiying's core henchmen Li Zhan and Yang Weiyuan committed suicide and martyrdom, and other Zhang Sunzhen, Xie Sheng and others fled into the mountains.

Zhang Jie Ma Cheng knew a pretty good official, Ma Cheng nodded and agreed: "Dad, who will take over the secretary of the ministry?" "The official department is commonly known as the heavenly official, and is in charge of the promotion of officials throughout the country, but it is the most important position.

"The secretary of the ministry will be taken over by Li Zhan, and Tian Yang will take over the secretary of the household department!"

If Ma Shiying, Zhang Jie, and Li Zhan are the gentlemen among villains, then Tian Yang is the villain among villains.

Tian Yang and Zhang Jie were in the same year, and they were both Jinshi in the 41st year of Wanli, but Tian Yang has always been released as an official. In the first year of Chongzhen, Tian Yang was dismissed from office for corruption during his tenure as governor of Sichuan.

However, Tian Yang did not lose heart, but went to Nanjing to take refuge in Liu Kongzhi, the sincerity of Bo. With Liu's help, Tian Yang became the right attendant of the military department here in Nanjing, and he can be regarded as Shi Kefa's deputy.

When Zhu Yousong became the emperor, Tian Yang first took refuge in Ma Shiying, and later Ruan

Dacheng made a fortune, and Tian Yang took refuge in Ruan Dacheng again. With the help of Ruan Dacheng, Tian Yang succeeded Lu Zhenfei as the governor of Caoyun and the governor of Huaiyang.

At that time, Tian Yang's status was second only to the supervisor Shi Kefa in Jiangbei, and at the same time Tian Yang was stationed in Huai'an, holding tens of thousands of soldiers in his hands, but in this way, Tian Yang saw that Shi Kefa was besieged by the Qing army, but he did not dare to lead the troops to rescue, but abandoned Huai'an and fled back to Nanjing.

After returning to Nanjing, because of the protection of Ruan Dacheng, Tian Yang was not at fault, and became a great hero who supported Zhu Lunkui and was appointed as the secretary of the military department.

Half a year ago, because of Huang Daozhou's counterattack, Ruan Dacheng was dismissed, and Tian Yang was unlucky this time and lost his official position. However, Tian Yang once again carried forward the ability to have milk is a mother, and immediately turned around and took refuge in Ma Shiying.

Although Ma Cheng knew that Tian Yang was a capricious villain, Ma Cheng didn't want to care about Tian Yang's affairs, and at the same time, Ma Cheng's status was not yet to the point where he could dictate the government, and now Ma Cheng needed to care about his own safety.

"Dad, my son feels that the timing is too coincidental this time, Ruan Dacheng is going to get married as soon as the emperor dies, is there anything related to this?"

Ma Cheng was stunned for a moment after Ma Cheng finished speaking, he really didn't think about it, but now when he heard his son talk about it, he found that there were indeed some coincidences. Now that Nguyen Dacheng is dead, the DPRK and China have changed from three factions to two.

But Ma Shiying didn't think about it again, if the emperor wanted to deal with his father and son, then why did he drag the cabinet candidate and directly let Qi Biaojia of the Donglin Party enter the cabinet?

"Shuda, what's wrong with the military camp outside the city?" Shuda is Ma Xi's character, and Ma Shiying asked Ma Xi to find out if the emperor had reached out to the military camp outside the city. There are 50,000 troops stationed in the large school field outside the city, these are Ma Cheng's last capital, and there is absolutely no room for mistakes.

Ma Xi has grown a lot after the battle of Nanjing, and now he has grown a short beard, listening to Ma Shiying ask himself, Ma Xi said in a deep voice: "Father, there is no movement in the military camp outside the city, and the emperor has not sent generals in the army, and now the commanders and deputy generals of each battalion are our people!" ”

Now Nanjing's city defense is divided into three parts, and the imperial city is guarded by Mei Chun, a close confidant of the emperor, under the command of Xiaolingwei. The inner city was guarded by Lu Siye, the town guard of Nanjing, and he had more than 20,000 soldiers under him, such as the Soldiers and Horses Division and the Inspection Department, and the outside of the city was guarded by 50,000 soldiers led by Ma Xi.

Although Lu Siye of the inner city is the emperor's person, Zhao Jinshi, the guard of Jubaomen, is Ma Cheng's person, so as long as something happens in the inner city, the 50,000 troops outside the city can enter the inner city without difficulty and protect Ma Cheng's family.

Ma Shiying nodded after listening to Ma Xi, this arrangement can be guaranteed to be foolproof, and now that the whole country is in turmoil, it is absolutely impossible for the emperor to deal with his father and son, so Ma Shiying is relieved when he thinks about it.

"Zhonghe, you are too worried, now the threat of King Tang and King Gui is greater than that of you and my father and son, and it is absolutely impossible for the emperor to destroy the Great Wall, don't worry!"

Ma Cheng couldn't completely relax when he heard Ma Shiying say this, although all kinds of information now showed that the emperor had no ill will towards him, but what if? So Ma Cheng said: "Dad, just in case, my son wants to transfer 2,000 people into the city to protect our family's mansion!" ”

Ma Cheng and Ma Shiying's mansion covers a huge area, and it is no problem to hide one or two thousand people, Ma Shiying heard his son say this and thought about it, nodded and agreed: "Yes, but you want it."

Arrange it, transfer the sergeants into the city in batches, and don't arouse suspicion! ”

Ma Cheng nodded when he heard Ma Shiying say this, and went out to arrange for Gu Yong to transfer his most elite personal soldiers outside the city into the city to defend the two mansions in the city.

The next day, after Ma Cheng got up, he put on his official uniform, and today he was going to enter the palace to meet Emperor Zhu Lunkui. Although the relationship between the two has long been broken, the apparent harmony is still maintained.

Ma Cheng came to the palace and asked the little eunuch to report that he wanted to see the emperor. This time, the emperor didn't let Ma Cheng wait too long, and quickly let Ma Cheng in.

Following the little eunuch into the palace, Ma Cheng found that the palace had changed a lot in the past year, and construction was going on everywhere. Ma Cheng frowned when he saw the emperor building a lot of construction, now that the country is at war, this guy is enjoying it.

Ma Cheng came to the Qianqing Palace, the little eunuch went in to report, and after a while, the little eunuch at the door shouted: "Hou Ma Cheng of Guiyang, Xuanzhen Country, come to see you!" ”

Ma Cheng lowered his head and walked quickly, and after entering the Qianqing Palace, he knelt on the ground and saluted, and then said loudly: "Minister Ma Cheng, meet Your Majesty, bow to Jin'an!" ”

Zhu Lunkui saw Ma Cheng come in and said with a smile: "Ma Aiqing is back, get up quickly!" Come and show Ma Aiqing! ”

A small eunuch brought an embroidered pier, Ma Cheng got up and sat down, and then looked up at the emperor. I haven't seen this guy for a year, he has had a very good life, he has gained a lot of weight and white, it seems that Ma Cheng has not been in Nanjing for a year, and Zhu Lunkui's small life is very comfortable.

"Aiqing, how is the battle on the front line?"

Ma Cheng listened to the emperor's question, reported the situation on the front line, and then said: "Your Majesty, the minister is guilty of capital crimes, and he has not protected the safety of King Lu!" ”

Ma Cheng was deliberately selling well at this time, waking up Zhu Lunkui, if it weren't for Lao Tzu, your throne wouldn't have been able to sit so securely.

Hearing Ma Cheng say this, Zhu Lunkui sighed and said, "What is Aiqing's crime? This is all the destiny of heaven, I originally wanted to take King Lu to Nandu to be supported, how could I think that this kind of thing could happen, I can't complain about Aiqing! ”

After Zhu Lunkui finished speaking, he squeezed out two tears, in fact, he was already happy in his heart. The biggest threat to Zhu Lunkui's throne is Zhu Changshu, the king of Lu, and now that Zhu Changshu is dead, how can he not let Zhu Lunkui feel at ease? As for Zhu Yihai, the king of Lu who escaped, Zhu Lunkui didn't take it to heart.

Ma Cheng saw Zhu Lunkui's squirming posture, and secretly scolded this guy in his heart for not seeing him for a year, and his acting skills were much better. Ma Cheng didn't want to see Zhu Lunkui's mood, so he changed the topic and asked: "Your Majesty, the minister went to worship Ruan Dacheng yesterday, and I heard that his title has not been inherited yet, please think twice, don't cold the hearts of the ministers of the court!" ”

Ma Cheng's words were very euphemistic, but the meaning was very clear, Ruan Dacheng was the first Wenchen to support you back then, and now that the emperor is dead, you are playing this hand, so what should we do if we are alive? Do you want to attack us, the ministers who support the legislature?

Although Zhu Lunkui was very angry that Ma Cheng used this to threaten him, Zhu Lunkui was right when he thought about it, Ma Cheng was the first to make a contribution, if he didn't stand up and speak for Ruan Dacheng, who would be able to speak for him after that? And Zhu Lunkui still has a back hand for Ma Cheng, so there is no need to upset him at this time, so Zhu Lunkui thought for a while and said: "Ruan Aiqing's matter is negligent, and now I will make an order to let Ruan Dacheng's grandson Ruan Jun inherit the title!" ”

After Zhu Lunkui finished speaking, he prepared the holy decree and asked a little eunuch to go to the Ruan Mansion to announce the decree.