Ma Gui, born in the eighteenth year of Jiajing, is a native of Datong, Shanxi, a Hui people, and the son of Ma Lu, a general of Datong.

During the Jiajing period, Ma Gui joined the army from Sheren, and because of the accumulation of merits, he was promoted to the commander of the capital and served as the guerrilla general of Xuanfu. During the Longqing period, he was promoted to the general of Datong Xinpingbao.

In the early years of Wanli, Ma Gui was promoted to deputy chief of Datong; In the winter of the tenth year, he was transferred to the Ningxia General Army as the governor of Ningxia. Soon, Magui moved the general headquarters to Datong. At the beginning of the nineteenth year, Zeng Qianheng, a Shaoqing secretary, impeached Ma Gui and demoted him to the border.

In the same year, the people of Ningxia rebelled, and the imperial court appointed Li Rusong as the main general and Ma Gui as the deputy general to lead the army to crusade against the traitors. After the rebellion was quelled, Li Rusong was promoted to governor, and the emperor authorized his family lineage to command Tongzhi, and soon after, he went east to Korea; And Ma Gui also increased his rank because of his military exploits, and was once again promoted to the chief soldier to guard Yansui.

In the twenty-second year, the Mongols gathered all the tribes to go deep into Dingbian and set up camp in Zhang Chunjing. Taking advantage of the emptiness inside the enemy, Ma Gui smashed the enemy's camp tent in Hetao and beheaded more than 250 ranks. After that, Ma Gui led the deputy general Xiao Rulan and others, even the battle of Limatai, Xue Jiawa and other places, are a great victory, Wanli Emperor learned the news, specially sacrificed to the ancestral temple to promote the great victory, and promoted Ma Gui to the governor of the same knowledge, to give the generation of shadow.

So far, the Ming Dynasty has the saying of "East Li and West Ma", which refers to the Li family in Liaodong and the Ma family in Shanxi. The representative generals of the Li family were Li Chengliang and Li Rusong, although Li Rubai and Li Rumei were not as famous as Li Rusong, they could be regarded as famous generals at that time.

The representative general of the Ma family is Ma Gui, and his brother Ma Jin is also a tiger general, but he died young. After that, Ma Chengzhi, the sons of Ma Jin, and Ma Chengen also quickly grew into well-known generals of the Ma family.

Zhong Nan thought that with Magui's qualifications, the other party should be the general soldier of one side at this time, and most of them were guarding the important towns of the nine sides, but after reading the list of generals in the nine towns, he did not find Magui's name.

looked through the list of generals in the thirteen provinces, and Zhong Nan still didn't find the word Magui.

That's weird. Could it be that it was because of his own crossing that Ma Gui died early, and now he is no longer alive, right? Zhong Nan said in his heart, if this is the case, it will be a big trouble.

For the sake of safety, Zhong Nan summoned the officials of the military department and asked the other party about it, only to know that Ma Gui was now cultivating. The official was hesitant at first, refusing to elaborate, and was bluffed by Zhong Nan with a gun and a stick before telling the truth.

It turned out that at the beginning of last year, Ma Gui didn't know which bigwig he offended, and he was repeatedly impeached by the officials. In desperation, he had no choice but to take the initiative to resign, saying that he was seriously ill and could not be qualified for his current position. As a result, Ma Gui has been cultivating until now.

Zhong Nam really wants to say "NNND" to those officials!

In the early days of the Ming Dynasty, the officials were still loyal to their duties, and most of the impeachment of an official could be targeted; The personal character of the officials can also be said to be relatively noble.

I don't know that by the end of the Ming Dynasty, speech officials were basically reduced to tools of partisan struggle, impeachment purely for the sake of impeachment, and it was not uncommon to make something out of nothing; What's worse is that most of the officials are people who tend to be inflammatory, and they have no shame at all. It is conceivable that under their "artillery fire", there can be a few officials who can retreat in their entirety.

Ma Gui is the most critical person identified by Zhong Nan, and since he is at home, Zhong Nan plans to visit the other party in Shanxi in person.

The next day, Zhong Nan set off for Magui's hometown, Shanxi Datong Youwei.

Regarding the sudden visit of a senior official of the Ministry of War, Ma Gui was really surprised. He has never met with Lord Shirou, and he really can't figure out the other party's intentions.

"Mr. Ma, are you feeling better?" Zhong Nan greeted him cordially.

"It's okay, it's okay." Ma Gui couldn't figure out the other party's intentions, so he could only do a perfunctory thing or two first.

"Mr. Ma, I've heard of your name for a long time, and when I saw it today, it was really extraordinary." Zhong Nan admired. His words are not polite, because judging from his appearance alone, Ma Gui is indeed very heroic. Although he is already in his fifties, his face is still angular, and his hair is black and shiny, if Zhong Nan hadn't seen the other party's files in the military department, he really thought that the other party was only in his forties!

"Lord Squire, you can't call me the chief soldier anymore, I'm a white Ding now!" Ma Gui's reply is meaningful.

"It seems that Mr. Ma still has some resentment against the court. To tell you the truth, I've heard about your things, and it's not a big deal. In a few days, when I have made a consecration to the Holy One, all things will be gone. ”

"Thank you, Lord Squire, for your kindness." Ma Gui thanked him, and then he couldn't help it, so he said: "Lord Shilang, you came to Shanxi this time, I don't know if it's a business or a private matter?" ”

"Huh...... It can be said to be a public matter, or it can be said to be a private matter, but it has a lot to do with Mr. Ma! Zhong Nan hung the other party's appetite.

"Something to do with me?" Ma Gui was surprised, "Please also ask Lord Shilang to make it clear." ”

Zhong Nan saw that the other party was a straight intestine, so he no longer beat around the bush, he cleared his throat, and then said loudly: "As far as I know, the general army of Ma has been fighting for many years and has almost never tasted defeat, so it can be said that I am a famous general in the Ming Dynasty." ”

"In my opinion, as a soldier, his greatest glory is to fight for a lifetime. Now that my Ming Dynasty is full of smoke, foreign enemies such as Mongolia and the Japanese Kingdom are eyeing each other, and internal troubles such as the White Lotus Sect are also intensifying. ”

Regarding Zhong Nan's words, Ma Gui has been listening attentively, although he did not speak, but it seems that he agrees.

"Although Ma Zongbing has suffered a little grievance, it doesn't mean that the court and the saint are dissatisfied with you, the purpose of doing so is just to stop the mouths of the officials. I also hope that Mr. Ma will not mind! ”

"I can understand that." Ma Gui nodded.

"In that case, Mr. Ma, I hope you can change your mind as soon as possible. Because, before long, there will be a big rod waiting for you to fight. ”

"The big battle? And with whom? Mongols? Ma Gui was a little puzzled.

"It doesn't matter. No matter who it is, it's okay to be afraid of them, right, Mr. Ma? Zhong Nan smiled.

"Squire-sama is right. In the past 30 years or so, I have fought a lot of battles, big and small, and although it is said that 'knowing oneself and knowing one's opponent is the only way to win all battles', but more often than not, I must also 'take myself as the master'. As long as we are strong enough, we don't care if he is a Mongol, a Japanese or a Jurchen, if they dare to attack, they will definitely beat him to the ground! Ma Gui said very domineeringly.

"Yes, I appreciate Mr. Ma's self-confidence, we are generals, we really can't do it without this confidence." Zhong Nan sincerely appreciated.

The two hated to see each other a little late. Ma Gui didn't expect the other party to think so highly of him, although the general soldier of the Nine Sides and the right squire of the military department have the same rank as the third grade, but one is a military attaché and the other is a civilian official, and the two are not the same. If it is really more serious, Zhong Nan can teach him to be a man in minutes.

Ma Gui is a Hui person, and in the Ming court, which is dominated by Han people, he is somewhat out of place. In addition, he does not have any backstage, so although everyone says "Dongli Xima", Magui's heart is clear: "Dongli" can be said to be worthy of the name, and "Xima" is somewhat unworthy of the name.

Why?

Although Li Chengliang's father and son are also descendants of Korea, they have moved into the mainland as early as the Tang Dynasty, and after hundreds of years of evolution, there is no longer much Korean blood.

What's more, when Zhang Juzheng was alive, he relied heavily on Li Chengliang, and Li Chengliang took this opportunity to run Liaodong into a monolith. Therefore, Li Chengliang is also known as the "King of Liaodong" in private, which shows the strength of the Li family.

Ma Gui is different, he is an authentic Huiren. The Ma family has only become famous in the last ten years, and there are no big names in the court, and they have a preference for the Ma generals, so Ma Gui will be easily impeached and removed from power.

In fact, Ma Gui has always wanted to learn from Qi Jiguang and Li Chengliang and find a backer in the imperial court, so that not only can he strengthen the strength of the * family, but when he encounters the impeachment of the official, he will not be arrested.

However, the Ming Dynasty "ruled the country with literature", and civil officials looked down on military attaches from the bottom of their hearts, and people with extraordinary vision like Zhang Juzheng were rare. Ma Gui just wants to find a civil official as a backer, and it is difficult to find the right person.

It's just that after Zhang Juzheng's death, the entire court can no longer find someone like the former Shoufu, so the "Jizhou Mutiny" incident occurred not long ago.

Ma Gui thought that there was no hope for the revitalization of the Ma family, but Zhong Nan came to Shanxi at this moment.

For Zhong Nan, the right attendant of the military department, Ma Gui has always paid a lot of attention. In this way, a character who can understand the sadness of the military attache and is extremely favored by the emperor seems to be custom-made for Ma Gui. Now that Zhong Nan has taken the initiative to come to the door, after thinking about it repeatedly, Ma Gui feels that he must not miss this opportunity.

"Lord Squire, if I can go to the battlefield again this time, I will definitely not forget the kindness of my lord." In the end, Ma Gui expressed his intention to take refuge.

"Don't worry, follow me, General Soldier Ma will definitely not lose the opportunity to accumulate combat merits." Zhong Nan gave the other party a reassurance.

"My lord, please forgive me for being stupid, I don't see a big battle to be fought anywhere?"

"General Ma, don't be in a hurry, in just a few months, this big battle will come."

Indeed, as Zhong Nan expected, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was preparing for another invasion of Korea.

In early April, King Yi Hao of Joseon sent a letter to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, expressing his dissatisfaction with the increase in troops in Busan. After receiving the letter, Toyotomi Hideyoshi simply tore his face, and not only did not withdraw the reserves added to Busan, but also gathered 120,000 troops again and rushed to Korea.

With 140,000 troops (plus 20,000 reserves in Busan) and more than 7,000 naval troops, Toyotomi Hideyoshi took a two-pronged approach and aimed directly at Korea.