Ma Cheng pushed open the courtyard door in the backyard and walked in, and when he stood in the courtyard, he heard a hearty laugh coming out of the room.

Ma Cheng came to the door and clenched his fists and said, "Mother, my son is back!" ”

As soon as Ma Cheng finished speaking, he saw the cotton curtain in front of the door open, and the eldest brother Ma Luan said with a smile: "I'm waiting for you, second brother, come in and meet your uncle!" ”

Ma Cheng followed his eldest brother into the house, although it was December and the outside was silvery white, but the charcoal basin in the house was as warm as spring. In the middle of the lobby in the room sat the smiling old lady Gu, and on the left hand side of the old lady sat a middle-aged strong man with a height of one meter eight. Behind this old guy stood two young men in their twenties, both wearing scholarly robes, these two young people were the same as the old guys, tall and muscular, but they had to wear a scholar's robe, how awkward to look.

The old lady Gu saw Ma Cheng come in, and said with a smile: "My Bao'er is back, come and see your uncle!" ”

It turns out that this old guy like a bear is his own uncle, Ma Cheng doesn't like the kneeling ceremony of the Ming Dynasty very much, there was no way to bow down to the father and mother before, and now he wants to kneel to a stranger and is very resistant in his heart. But there is no way, as the saying goes, the mother is the uncle, Ma Cheng knows that his mother only has such a brother, and if he does not kneel and worship, he will be said that he does not understand the etiquette.

Ma Cheng had no choice but to kneel on his knees, and then said loudly: "Nephew Ma Cheng, meet your uncle!" ”

The bear that Ma Cheng knelt down to worship was Gu Congxin's younger brother, the Guizhou Wei commander of this generation. This old guy saw Ma Cheng kowtow to himself, and said with satisfaction: "Boy, get up!" ”

After Ma Cheng got up, Gu Congxin saw that Ma Cheng was wearing a military attache uniform from the first grade, and said happily: "Sister, my younger brother said back then that this kid was not the material for the imperial examination, and it was still cost-effective to be a soldier." Although my brother-in-law's family has been a family of poems and books for four generations, I can't forget my duty to be born in a military family! ”

Gu Congxin said this, which made Ma Luan, who was born a person, very uncomfortable, but he couldn't help it, Gu Congxin was his own uncle, so Ma Luan had to laugh awkwardly on the side.

The Gu family hadn't seen this younger brother for more than 20 years since he left Guiyang, and he couldn't help laughing and scolding when he heard his younger brother say this: "You kid think everyone is dancing with knives and guns like you?" The status of military households is low, or studying for the imperial examination is the right way! ”

Ma Cheng saw the two little bears behind the old bear at this time, these two guys were probably Gu Congxin's sons, and their body size was similar to Gu Congxin's, they were both tall and big. This old bear doesn't like to read, how come his two sons are all reading?

Ma Cheng asked curiously, "Dare to ask your uncle, are these two cousins behind you?" ”

"Oh, I forgot to introduce you!" After Gu Congxin finished speaking, he pulled the two young people behind him and said, "This is your second cousin Gu Chun, this is your third cousin Gu Pu, you get to know each other!" ”

After Gu Congxin's order, the two little dogs and bears gave a deep salute to Ma Cheng in a good manner, and then said in unison: "I've seen Cousin Ma Cheng!" ”

Seeing these two nondescript guys, Ma Cheng couldn't help laughing and hurriedly bowed. After finishing the matter, Ma Cheng asked, "Uncle, why don't you let your two cousins study if you don't like to read?" ”

Ma Cheng said that Gu Congxin and the old man blushed and scolded: "You kid is really sharp-toothed, old. . . Although the old man doesn't like to read people, he still knows that the imperial examination is the right way, and there is your eldest cousin Gu Yuan at home to pick me up, and these two little ones will be sent to Nandu to study. ”

The four major families of Guiyang, Ma, Yue, and Yang have been married for generations, and the other three families have all taken off their military membership and become literati families, and Gu Congxin, as the patriarch of the Guiyang Gu family, is naturally anxious. Therefore, Gu Congxin left his eldest son to inherit his command, and the remaining two sons let them study and prepare for the imperial examination.

Gu Congxin's plan is very good, but a real literati family can succeed in one or two generations. The Ma family has four generations, and only two Jinshi have been produced in Ma Shiying's generation. And Gu Congxin's two sons are not reading material at all, except for being interested in fights and eagles and lackeys every day, they are sleepy when they see books.

Gu Congxin saw that this was not a solution, the poor mountains and bad water in Guiyang were not prosperous, so Gu Congxin planned to send these two reading seeds to Nanjing and let their uncle Ma Shiying discipline them.

Gu Congxin sighed and said: "Sister, you also know that our family has no foundation for reading, my younger brother and I have been licking blood all the year round, and my younger brother is also tired of it, thinking about how to say that the next generation should also cultivate a scholar, not to seek a title like my brother-in-law, at least like a nephew is also good!" "Nine peaches

Ma Cheng listened to Gu Congxin's tone so loud and happy, do you think it's so easy to take the test? His eldest brother was taught by his father Ma Shiying, and with the addition of his two uncles Yang Wencong and Yue Qijie, as well as the precipitation of four generations of the Ma family, Ma Luan could be lifted at a young age. And the two cousins of the Gu family are like bandits who rob their homes, so Ma Cheng didn't believe that these two cousins could calm down and study.

Just when a few people in the house were talking, the door curtain was lifted, and Ma Shiying walked in from outside, it turned out that Gu had already sent a letter to her husband, saying that her maiden brother was here.

When Gu Congxin saw Ma Shiying coming back, he quickly stood up and saluted: "Little brother to see my brother-in-law, I haven't seen my brother-in-law for more than ten years and is still so elegant!" The two little bears of the Gu family also quickly knelt down and kowtowed to their uncle.

Ma Shiying nodded, first helped the two kowtowing puppies and bears up, and then asked, "Yun Chang, how hard is it all the way?" ”

Ma Cheng stood behind and listened to his father's words calling his uncle, so he didn't squirt out, and his uncle Bear actually took a word that was the same as Guan Yu, it seems that Guan Yu is his idol!

Ma Cheng stood behind Gu Congxin, so his strange state Gu Congxin's father and son didn't notice it, but they were seen by Ma Shiying on the opposite side, Ma Shiying glared at Ma Cheng, Ma Cheng quickly cleaned up his strange state, and stood aside with his eyes and nose and nose.

Gu Congxin heard Ma Shiying's question and hurriedly said: "Now that Sichuan is occupied by the Liukou and can't take the waterway, the younger brother can only take the land route to Changsha, and then go south by boat, with the military department given by my brother-in-law, there is nothing to do along the way!" ”

Ma Shiying heard Gu Congxin mention Sichuan, and couldn't help frowning and asked, "How is Sichuan?" In July, the imperial court has appointed Wang Yingxiong as the secretary of the military department and the scholar of Wenyuan Pavilion, the governor of Sichuan, Lake, Yun, and Gui military affairs, and specially suppressed Zhang Xianzhong. ”

Gu Congxin sighed when he heard Ma Shiying say this, and said: "After receiving the appointment, Inspector Wang scattered all his wealth to recruit thousands of troops, and now leads the Sichuan generals Luo Yuxin, Hou Tianxi, Zeng Ying, Wang Xiang and others to concentrate in Zunyi. It's just that the Sichuan Liukou has become a big trend, and Inspector Wang has less than 10,000 horses, so he really doesn't dare to fight hard! ”

Now the whole country has become a pot of gruel, and Ma Shiying is too busy to take care of himself here in Nanjing, and he can manage the affairs of Sichuan. At that time, the policy given to Wang Yingxiong was also to let him fend for his own food and grass, and it was already very good to be able to block the liukou in the periphery of Guizhou.

Ma Shiying then asked, "Didn't Zuo Liangyu embarrass you when he passed through Wuchang?" ”

Gu Congxin said with a smile: "Brother-in-law, although Zuo Liangyu claims to have millions of soldiers, but the men that his little brother knows are nothing more than catching some good people in the countryside, and the seven hundred soldiers brought by the younger brother this time are one hundred, and it is no problem to deal with Zuo Liangyu's showmanship." ”

Hearing Gu Congxin's words, Ma Shiying frowned and asked, "Didn't the letter I gave you say five hundred?" How did you get two hundred more? ”

Seeing that Ma Shiying was a little unhappy, Gu Congxin hurriedly explained: "Brother-in-law is like this, there are only 200 soldiers available in the hands of the younger brother, there is no way, the younger brother borrowed 500 people from the second room of Anshun, and the second room is deep into the Yi area, and the combat effectiveness of the soldiers is much stronger than that of the younger brother's own soldiers!" Please rest assured that the younger brother has already let his soldiers enter the city in batches outside the city, and now lives in various parts of the city. ”

The ancestor of the Gu family in Guizhou was Gu Cheng, the Marquis of Zhenyuan, and after Gu Cheng went to Beijing, the eldest son was brought to Beijing, but left a few concubines in Guizhou. The second son, Gu Tong, became the commander of Pudingwei, and the third son, Gu Yong, who is Gu Congxin's direct ancestor, became the commander of Guizhou Wei.

Guizhou in the Ming Dynasty is not a tourist attraction in later generations, just more than ten years ago in the luxury rebellion, Shuixian clan's An Bangyan besieged Guiyang for a year, the entire Guizhou Han people were killed most of them. Guiyang, as the capital of a province, is in chaos like this, and Anshun, which is deep in the Yi District and where the Yi and Han people live together, can it be good? Therefore, the combat effectiveness of Pudingwei's soldiers is stronger than that of Guizhouwei's, there is no way, no one can survive if they don't work hard to fight, and the Yi people will not survive.

Ma Shiying nodded with such cautious satisfaction when he heard Gu Congxin, Ma Shiying didn't have any disobedience, and his hundreds of soldiers didn't pose any threat. Ma Shiying let his brother-in-law transfer troops from Guizhou just as an insurance, after all, now the government is unclear, and it is not good for the Donglin Party to befriend Zuo Liangyu, in case Zuo Liangyu goes south along the river, he will have a reassuring armed force to protect the whole family and flee south safely. It's just that now Ma Shiying and the Donglin Party are fighting to the death, and even if they fall into the hands of the Donglin Party, they can be amplified and misinterpreted by these-stirring sticks, so Ma Shiying can't help but be careless.

Ma Shiying looked at Ma Cheng and said, "Cheng'er, you prepare, tomorrow these soldiers will be incorporated into your new army in the name of new recruits, be careful not to leak the news!" ”

After seeing Ma Cheng bow down and agree, Ma Shiying continued: "Ma Luan, your two cousins are handed over to you, you are responsible for their daily homework, and the old man has to check every five days!" The two little bears had no choice but to nod their heads with bitter faces when they heard Ma Shiying say this.

"Okay, Luan'er, you take your younger brothers out, I have important things to discuss with your uncle!"

Ma Luan and Ma Cheng quickly bowed down and agreed when they heard their father say this, and then went out with the two little bears.