Just when Zhu Hongsan was sad about the death of his first son, good news came from Majiazhuang. On the sixth day of July, the good news arrived in Majiazhuang, and Ma Mingyuan High School in Beijing ranked 16th.

Ma Guoxiang was very relieved to hear the news, so that there would be one more Jinshi pole at the door. There are four jinshi in the father's generation. It is rare for the Ming Dynasty to be established for 200 years. Ma Guoxiang's relatives and friends came to congratulate him.

Feng Ziyong didn't go to Majiazhuang, but came to Zhu's farm, saying that he had something to discuss with Zhu Hongsan.

The two of them sat down, and Feng Ziyong said: "Don't be sad about the child's death, this is unavoidable, you are still young, and you will be reborn in the future." ”

Zhu Hongsan nodded, but he didn't want to say anything more about this matter. asked, "The second cousin didn't just come to me to comfort me. ”

Feng Ziyong nodded and said, "There is one more thing. A few years ago, a group of homeless people went to Liangzi Lake and became lake thieves. Originally, there were bandits in the world, and no one cared about them, but a few months ago, they came out and robbed two villages along the lake, and more than 500 villagers were all killed. Then he played the title of the Great General of the Heavenly Walker. Failure to report this is a dereliction of duty on the part of my magistrate. In May, I reported the situation to the Chief Secretaries and the Yamen of the Metropolitan Division, and asked them to send troops to suppress them. But because Fengyang was burned last year. Marshal Hong Chengchou ordered all the garrisons in Huguang and Sichuan to go to Henan to exterminate the Liukou. Now the Wuchangwei and Wuchang Zuowei on our side have no troops to adjust, and the Dusi Yamen has already marched to Wuchang County, let us go to suppress it ourselves. ”

Zhu Hongsan said: "So you thought of me? ”

Feng Ziyong nodded and said, "Yes, now you are a decent arm in the entire Wuchang County." There are less than 100 people in the inspection department in the county, and it is okay to maintain law and order, but it is useless to fight a war. ”

Zhu Hongsan thought: "This is a good opportunity to rip off the bamboo. Then he frowned, and pretended to be difficult and said: "The second brother is a magistrate, and he has the responsibility to guard the land. Brother-in-law, I should have given it my all. But you see, I'm in ruins. In addition, I still have to defend the place, and I don't have enough manpower, so I really can't draw troops. ”

Feng Zi scolded in his heart: "The shaft is the shaft, if you don't learn it, you can't do it, and you still have a lot of waste to be done, will you use idioms." Are you a waste? "But now that there are begging people, plus Feng Ziyong knows Zhu Hongsan's Wang Ba character, he won't let go of his mouth if he bites it, and he will definitely not do anything that is not beneficial.

Feng Ziyong continued: "I naturally know my brother-in-law's difficulties, like this. I have organized the rich families in the county, and they donated 3,000 taels of silver to my brother-in-law's military expenses. ”

Zhu Hongsan pursed his lips and said, "Second cousin, three thousand taels?" It's called Hanako. The money is too small, and the brothers below are not satisfied, and they will make trouble, and when there is a mutiny, don't blame the brother-in-law for not saying it ahead. ”

Feng Ziyong held back his anger and said, "Then what else do you need?" ”

Zhu Hongsan said: "The second cousin can say this to those rich people, I lack useful craftsmen, they have more or less craftsmen in their hands, give me dozens." ”

Feng Ziyong said angrily: "There are dozens more, at most ten." ”

"Thirty no."

"Fifteen at most."

Zhu Hongsan thought for a while and said, "Fifteen is fine, but I want five gunpowder craftsmen." ”

Feng Ziyong said angrily: "I told you, the gunpowder craftsmen are all in Nanzhili, and I have this." ”

Zhu Hongsan scratched his head and said, "Second cousin, otherwise." You can find a reason to close the firecracker shop of the Duan family in the middle of the city, and get the old Duan family's family to my business. ”

Feng Ziyong stood up and scolded: "Zhu Hongsan, how did your heart grow, let people ruin people for no reason?" ”

Zhu Hongsan saw that Feng Ziyong was angry, and also stood up and said, "My Feng Daxian Order, why is the Bodhisattva hearted now?" Have you ever done anything immoral before? You dare to swear no, you dare to swear that you have done something immoral, and the son of you and Soy Sauce Shih Tzu has no ass. I don't want it, the gunpowder craftsman. ”

Feng Ziyong really didn't dare to swear this oath, he had been a county magistrate for ten years, of course he had done that kind of thing, and he had done it a lot.

Zhu Hongsan saw Feng Ziyong sitting down and didn't speak, and said with a smile: "What's the matter, don't you dare." I said, second cousin, if you bring Lao Duantou's whole family, I will definitely not treat him badly. ”

Feng Ziyong really didn't have anything to do with this brother-in-law, and said: "It's not okay to get him, his gunpowder prescription is civilian, and it is not the same as the military." What do you want him to do? ”

Zhu Hongsan said: "Then you don't have to worry about it, you just get it, I have my own way." Zhu Hong said in three hearts: "You know that my gunpowder prescription is better than the military." ”

Feng Ziyong nodded and said, "It's okay this time, what's the problem?" ”

Zhu Hongsan said: "The silver costs five thousand taels." ”

"Aren't you short of silver?"

"Who can be afraid of money, you just get it. And give me all the gunpowder and raw materials in your warehouse. ”

Feng Ziyong said: "What are you going to do with so much gunpowder?" ”

Zhu Hongsan dared to say that he had already begun to sell firearms to the north. He lied and said, "I'm going to do an experiment." ”

Feng thought he was going to do an experiment so that he could come up with a military formula. didn't care about him, seeing that Zhu Hongsan didn't ask for it, he got up and said goodbye.

Zhu Hongsan now makes a small power earth-shattering thunder and sells it to the Liukou in Henan. Shocking thunder is two hundred taels of silver, which is still in short supply, and the arms are really profitable.

Ten days later, the old Duantou family that Zhu Hongsan promised and needed came. Seeing Lao Duantou's family of seven, three men and four women were wearing torture instruments, and it was the classic Li Fugui who was escorted.

Li Fugui stepped forward to see Zhu Hongsan and said, "Third Master, I was ordered by the Master to bring the prisoner Duan Chang's family here, and asked the Third Master to accept it." ”

Zhu Hongsan nodded and asked, "What means did Feng Xian Ling use?" ”

Li Fugui said: "Simple, it is said that he illegally developed military gunpowder, and his family was exiled for 500 miles. ”

Zhu Hongsan scolded in his heart when he heard this: "It's really a county order that destroys the family, and the mansion Yin who destroys the door." "I completely forgot that the unjustified disaster of the old Duantou family was caused by him.

Zhu Hongsan asked Li Fugui to remove the shackles, and ordered Ma Youfu to arrange a place to live, cultivate his body, and strive to devote himself to work. Of course, Lao Duantou is still angry, and his whole family lives on craftsmanship in the county, and his life is still passable. It was this Zhu Hongsan who made himself like this. However, when I went to the gunpowder factory, I heard the craftsmen who came from the early stage explain the production of high-power gunpowder. Old Duantou and his two sons became no longer resentful. After all, this high-power gunpowder recipe is simply not something they can learn. The three of them were a little grateful to Zhu Hongsan.

The gunpowder factory counts the three people in the old section, plus the two who got it in the early stage, it is five people. basically satisfied Zhu Hongsan's current consumption. In order to ensure the gunpowder used in the army's training, the export-type sky-shaking thunder could not be made at all in a month. This time, the export-type Earthquake Thunder can reach an output of twenty a month, which is four thousand taels of silver. Zhu Hongsan was very satisfied with this. As for how many officials and soldiers Liukou killed with this, and how many city passes Zhu Hongsan.

After Zhu Hongsan finished arranging, he saw that Li Fugui hadn't left yet, and asked, "Lao Li, do you still have something to do?" ”

Li Fugui said with a smile: "That master arranged for me to lead the way for you to suppress bandits." ”

Zhu Hong said in three hearts: "Damn, you still don't believe me, and you still send a spy." If you don't kill him halfway, you'll be killed. Thinking of this, Zhu Hongsan said: "Hehe, Lao Li, you are so bold, you dare to come to be a prison army?" Aren't you afraid that the third master will go out and kill you, and then report your death? ”

Li Fugui found that he couldn't keep up with Zhu Hongsan's thinking at all, there were still talking and laughing in front of him, and he was going to die in the latter sentence. Hearing this, he knelt down and said: "Third master, I dare, I came to lead the horse for the third master, and the others will never dare to talk nonsense." ”

Li Fugui saw that Zhu Hongsan didn't say anything, and then said: "If the third master is not like this, let's go out and find a village far away to slaughter it, and then count it on the bandits, and let's use people to receive the reward." There is also a lot of credit for it, and you can get an extra amount of money. ”

Zhu Hongsan heard it and found that this Li Fugui was really a talent, and such a creative suggestion could be put forward. It seems that there is a future for development.

Zhu Hongsan pulled Li Fugui up and said, "Very good, make more creative suggestions like this in the future." ”

Li Fugui didn't know what creativity meant, but he saw that Zhu Hongsan was not angry to prove that he was not wrong. With this master, you really have to add 10,000 cautions.

Zhu Hongsan said to Li Fugui: "It's too late today, you can stay." Depart tomorrow morning. Now tell me about the bandits. ”

Li Fugui said: "The robbers looted a few months ago in the county seat seventy miles away, close to Liangzi Lake in Zhaojiaji and Niuxin Dingzi Town. Because there are densely populated places all around, there are no big mountains. So the master estimated that the bandits were hiding in Liangzi Lake. Last month, the fine work sent back to report that the old nest was in the Liangzi Lake. Biandan Island is a small island in the lake, with a radius of ten miles, and there were originally a few families fishing on it. Now it seems that he should have been killed by the bandits. ”

Zhu Hongsan asked, "How many people are there in those two towns?" ”

Li Fugui said: "The Zhao family has more than 600 people in 200 households, and nearly 1,000 people in 300 households in Niuxindingzi. ”

Zhu Hongsan frowned and said, "A thousand people have been killed? How many bandits. ”

"About two thousand."

Zhu Hongsan thought about it, two thousand people are okay, not too many. Just take 600 men with you.

Thinking of this, he didn't say anything, and asked Li Fugui to rest without mentioning it.

After dark, Zhu Hongsan asked the three battalion commanders to summon them, explain the situation to them, and ask them who wanted to go. The three of them quarreled so much that they almost didn't make a move, and they all rushed to fight.

Zhu Hongsan's will to fight is very strong, which is very good. In the end, Zhu Hongsan decided, and the opportunity to play was given to Qian Yong and Zhao Guodong (that is, Zhao Goudan, the one with the same name as Zhu Hongyi). Stay at home with Ma Jingyuan.

After all, Ma Jingyuan is his eldest brother, and he is afraid that others will say that he is unfair, so he has to suffer a loss. The people were selected, and the two battalion commanders were sent down to mobilize, and tomorrow breakfast will begin.