Yangzhou Mansion School is not far from the Yamen of the Lianghuai Salt Transportation Division, because it is the location of the hospital examination, and it is located in Yangzhou, which is not bad for money, so the Mansion School is very broad.

Ma Jiyuan stood at the door and looked inside, except for a few houses near the edge of the wall that were destroyed, the Dacheng Hall in the center dedicated to the Holy Ancestor was intact. Seeing that Kong Laoer's tablet was not destroyed, Ma Jiyuan breathed a sigh of relief, as a Confucian disciple, if he saw that the tablet of the ancestor was destroyed, it would be really disrespectful.

Seeing the large army of the Ming army appear at the gate of the Fuxue, the professors and instructors hiding in the Fuxue were already frightened. The professor trembled and greeted the door, and saw an official wearing a big red python robe standing at the door, knowing that this was a big official, he quickly knelt down and kowtowed.

"Xiaguan... No, Shen Chongwen, professor of Yangzhou Mansion, greetings to my lord! "The professor of Fuxue is from Jiupin, but Shen Chongwen is an official appointed by the Manchu Qing Dynasty, so he dares to call himself a subordinate official, so he quickly changed his words and called himself a criminal citizen.

This kind of Jiupin official is not a fart in front of Ma Jiyuan, Ma Jiyuan cares about how Dacheng Hall is.

"You're a professor of this school? Okay, Ben Governor asks you, is the Holy Master in the Dacheng Hall not disturbed? ”

"Lord Hui, Lord Manchu Hong, no! The Hong thief was also born in the imperial examination, how could he garrison the army in this Fuxue, and under the leadership of the Heavenly Army, he did not commit any crimes in the autumn, and the Fuxue did not suffer from the disaster of the army! ”

Ma Jiyuan didn't care about the professor's sycophancy, as long as the Holy Ancestor was not disturbed.

"Good! Don't be afraid, continue to be your professor, but the governor wants to use your house to handle government affairs, you go and clean up! ”

After receiving Ma Jiyuan's leniency, Shen Chongwen put his mind at ease, and hurriedly took four or five instructors and a dozen helpers to clean up a clean and bright room on the edge of Dacheng Hall for Ma Jiyuan to use.

Yangzhou in the Ming Dynasty is not the Yangzhou of later generations, but only a relatively large secondary city, Yangzhou in the Ming Dynasty is subordinate to Gaoyou Prefecture, Tongzhou, Taizhou three states and Jiangdu, Taixing, Yizheng, Rugao, Haimen, Baoying, Xinghua, Liuhe, Chongming nine counties, the total population of the heyday is three or four million. Although a large number of people were lost in the war of Yangzhou at the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were still many local squires. In addition, Yangzhou, like eastern Zhejiang, belonged to the area of fierce resistance to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the gentry in this kind of place were the objects of Zhu Hongsan's regime, so Ma Jiyuan met with the representatives of the gentry from various prefectures and counties as soon as he occupied Yangzhou.

At the same time, Ma Jiyuan sent the Ming army to the prefectures and counties, and when they encountered resistance, they were resolutely eliminated, and the original post of Kaesong surrender was retained. Because Hong Chengchou has exhausted all the troops south of the Yellow River, so all the prefectures and counties under Yangzhou are governed by the gentry from all over the country, and the Ming army surrendered one after another, and the entire Yangzhou government completely fell into the hands of the Ming army before the twelfth day of the first month, and Zhu Hongsan finally had a buffer zone north of Nanjing.

Ma Ji has been a magistrate for a long time, and this kind of protection of the territory and the people is his strength, but he was also busy until the evening, and he didn't eat a bite of food.

Now that it was dark, Ma Jiyuan's family saw that no one was visiting, so they hurriedly brought dinner to their master.

Ma Jiyuan was just about to use chopsticks to eat, when a family member came in from outside the door and whispered: "Master, King Qin is here, saying that he wants to see the master!" ”

Mafu's family knew that this pair of ancestors and grandchildren were not dealing with each other, so it was very strange that Zhu Jiang could take the initiative to see Ma Jiyuan.

Ma Jiyuan was stunned, why did Zhu Jiang come to see him so late? Ma Jiyuan looked at the dinner in front of him, sighed and said, "It seems that the dinner can't be eaten, Ma Gui, you go and bring Zhu Jiang in!" ”

Ma Gui is Ma Jiyuan's housekeeper, and at the same time Ma Mingyuan's housekeeper Ma Fu's eldest brother, and he was Ma Jiyuan's scholar when he was a child. Ma Gui saw that the old man was going to see King Qin first if he didn't eat, so he hurriedly said: "Master, you've been busy for a day, and King Qin is not an outsider, so you might as well see you while eating!" ”

Ma Jiyuan shook his head and said: "Although King Qin is the grandson of the old man, he is also the prince of the country, how can the old man not respect the law of etiquette!" ”

Ma Gui sighed when he heard Ma Jiyuan say this, asked people to remove the dishes and chopsticks, and then went out to greet King Qin by himself.

Zhu Jiang saw Ma Gui coming to greet him at the door, and hurriedly bowed down and said, "Uncle Ma is here!" ”

Ma Gui's family has been the domestic slave of the Ma family for generations, and although Zhu Jiang's mother Ma Ruyan was a concubine back then, she was mostly taken care of by Ma Gui, so Zhu Jiang was very respectful when he saw Ma Gui.

But Ma Gui dared to accept Zhu Jiang's courtesy, Ma Gui hurriedly avoided the side and said: "King Qin, the master is waiting in the house, please go in with the old slave!" ”

Ma Gui took Zhu Jiang into the house, served tea and retreated, leaving a separate space for the two grandparents.

Ma Jiyuan saw that this grandson had lost a lot of weight in the past few days, but after the training of the war, he was also full of heroism, if he was still a piece of jade when he saw him in Guazhou, the current Zhu Jiang has been polished into a piece of beautiful jade, and it seems that the battlefield is still exercising.

After the two sat in the room for a while, Ma Jiyuan opened his mouth and asked, "King Qin, is there anything wrong with coming to see the old man late at night?" ”

It was not surprising to hear Ma Jiyuan call himself Zhu Jiang, the king of Qin, this grandfather has never been willing to see him. But I always have something on my mind these days, and I can't tell outsiders about this kind of thing, so I can only talk to my grandfather.

Zhu Jiang participated in the entire Yangzhou campaign under the protection of Xu Dingbang without danger, and even experienced the vicious battle of the Yamen of the Lianghuai Salt Transport Division, and saw his comrades-in-arms on the battlefield, the enemy opposite, and the ordinary people who didn't know him, these people died in front of him and touched Zhu Jiang a lot. But this question can't be asked to others, Zhu Jiang can only come over and ask his grandfather.

Now listening to Ma Jiyuan's question, Zhu Jiang opened his mouth and said: "Grandpa, my grandson came to my grandfather tonight to ask my grandfather to solve his doubts!" In the past few days, my grandson has been on the front line, why did the Ming army attack ordinary people and rob them of their money and goods? Doesn't military law say that looting is strictly forbidden? Aren't these people the sons of the Father? ”

Ma Jiyuan smiled when he heard Zhu Jiang say this, and asked, "King Qin, are you going to report to the old man that your chief is not strict under the rule?" ”

"Grandfather, as the governor of Liangjiang and in charge of the Yangzhou army and navy, shouldn't you ask about this kind of thing?"

Seeing Zhu Jiang's indignant look on his face, Ma Jiyuan said, "King Qin, are you going to report your colleagues and your superiors?" Have you forgotten Jiang Pengju's kindness to you? Have you forgotten how Zhang Bao saved you? ”

Zhu Jiang heard his grandfather talk about these two people, and his heart was shocked, yes! These two people are good to themselves, Jiang Pengju even gave himself the chain mail given by the emperor, I heard that he suffered a lot of injuries on the battlefield, if there is that chain mail, it should be able to avoid. But what about sparing the testimonies of these two nations?

"Grandpa, I also know that these two people are kind to me, but what about the laws of the country? The father and the emperor often talk about the people, and now these two let the soldiers kill and kill, how can they be worthy of the father's trust in them? ”

Ma Jiyuan heard Zhu Jiang talk about Zhu Hongsan, and his anger rose in his heart, and he scolded: "King Qin, don't mention your bastard father, who is the initiator of the killing of the people by the generals in the army, do you know?" Exactly that bastard father of yours! ”

Zhu Hongsan's image in Zhu Jiang's heart has always been bright and majestic, heroic and abnormal, that is really a good emperor who is angry with Li Shimin to kill Zhao Kuangyin, and now he listens to his grandfather scolding his father so much, and no one can stop.

Zhu Jiang heard Ma Jiyuan scolding his father, jumped up, pointed at Ma Jiyuan and said, "Grandfather, why are you insulting your father?" Your father trusts you so much and you still scold him? ”

Looking at the furious Zhu Jiang, Ma Jiyuan sneered: "What? King Qin, do you still want to be the first old man? ”

Zhu Jiang thought for a long time and sat down, after all, the person in front of him was his own grandfather, and if he really wanted to be the first, his mother would not let him go.

Ma Jiyuan saw Zhu Jiang sitting down, and sighed in his heart, this child is only seventeen years old this year, and as Zhu Hongsan's son, it is nothing to worship his father.

Ma Jiyuan sighed and said: "Child, you are also older now, and you have experienced it on the battlefield, now my grandfather wants to tell you about the past, so that you can know what kind of character your father is!" ”

Zhu Jiang has admired his father since he was a child, and he reached his peak after Zhu Hongsan became the emperor, thinking that his father was the best emperor in the world. Now hearing that his grandfather wants to tell him about his former father, Zhu Jiang hurriedly listened.

Seeing Zhu Jiang's respectful appearance, Ma Jiyuan was very funny, there was no way, Zhu Hongsan was now whitewashing, and the things he was doing now were not bad for any emperor, and he was very able to deceive an ignorant young man like Zhu Jiang.

"Son, do you know how your mother married your father?"

Hearing Ma Jiyuan say this, Zhu Jiang was stunned, didn't he marry his father with Queen Ma Xiaofang?

"Grandpa, didn't my mother marry my father with the queen?"

Ma Jiyuan shouted: "Nonsense, your mother and the queen are aunts and nephews, since ancient times, it has been rumored that sisters have married one person together, but there has never been an aunt and nephew who married the same person!" As a disciple of a saint, how could your grandfather do such a thing that disrespects the law of etiquette! ”

After Ma Jiyuan reprimanded Zhu Jiang, he continued: "Back then, your mother was a concubine, and your great-grandfather Xianggong had a son of the same year who wanted to continue the string and begged your great-grandfather, and your great-ancestor promised your mother to the Wuchang Guo family. The Guo family has also been an official eunuch for generations, and it can be regarded as a good match with the old husband! But that Guo Huaiyi didn't know why he angered your father, your father led people to kill the Guo family, leaving your mother alone, and your mother was forced to marry your father, do you know this? ”

When the Guo family was killed, Ma Jiyuan didn't know it clearly, these were all things that Ma Jiyuan said when he went to Wuchang to listen to Feng Ziyong.