After seeing Zhang Shuangxi resume practicing, Zhang Mengcheng finally let go of his stiff face. Then he turned around and walked to the practice area of the one-foot-high earthen wall, and observed a new member of the cavalry, a man who didn't see anything special was now concentrating on his practice.

This person is one of the strong men in another group of thieves personally recruited by Zhang Mengcheng after the top smoke gang joined the cottage. Most of the strong men who were originally recruited were arranged to carry out the work of Tuntian, and only a few elites were transferred to the border of Duhe Fort.

However, when Zhang Mengcheng registered the comer, he deliberately left this person alone, and directly transferred him to the left-behind cavalry team of Jinding Mountain.

Although this person is also considered to be strong, he is not outstanding among other thieves. However, his name is Ma Jinzhong, and he doesn't recognize other Chinese characters, but he only knows his name.

After Zhang Mengcheng saw this name, he was a little skeptical at first that this person would be the king of Hanyang among the three horses of the Southern Ming Dynasty in the future. Because some time ago, he flipped through the information, and in the booklet secretly recorded by Zhang Mengcheng after he crossed, there happened to be a piece of information about Nanming Ma Jinzhong.

Ma Jinzhong was the king of Hanyang in the Southern Ming Dynasty. Chongzhen was one of the thieves in the early years, alias "mixed 100,000". At first, as a thief, he fought in the Ming Dynasty. Later, due to the advance of the official army, he finally chose to surrender Zuo Liangyu.

After changing his identity, Ma Jinzhong fought bravely in the Ming army and made many achievements. After the Eight Banners entered the customs, he briefly surrendered to the Qing army, but it didn't take long for him to quickly proceed anyway, becoming one of the few armed forces in the Southern Ming army with a certain combat power. In the days that followed, Ma Jinzhong insisted on resisting the Qing army.

However, his limited strength was powerless, and in the end he did not die in the posture of a horse leather shroud, but died of illness directly.

Therefore, for Ma Jinzhong, who was also a thief in the village, Zhang Mengcheng, a traverser, was a little curious, so he directly transferred this person to his subordinates for training. However, in the days that followed, after Zhang Mengcheng looked through the newly received newspaper from the imperial court, he saw the news that the thieves were 100,000 in Shanxi.

Therefore, Zhang Mengcheng gave up the idea that Ma Jinzhong might be the king of Hanyang in the original history, and he thought that most of them were misremembered, or they might just have the same name and surname. (Note 1)

Ma Jinzhong, who successfully crossed the earthen wall, saw the leader of the showman in the village appear aside, he immediately stopped practicing, and hurriedly dismounted and prepared to kowtow.

Zhang Mengcheng stepped forward and stretched out his hand to stop him, and at the same time said: "Didn't I tell you, the brothers in our village don't need to kowtow, just bend down and make a gesture when they meet the leader." ”

Ma Jinzhong was a little restrained, he lowered his head and said: "Xianggong not only gave clothes and food to take in Jinzhong's family, but also didn't care about Jinzhong's identity, and specially took Jinzhong with him. It is really difficult to repay the great kindness and great virtue and loyalty, and this kowtow is deserved. ”

"I know that you are very gracious, but the man has gold under his knees, and I don't have gold to buy you on your knees. You better get up, and then you can salute according to the rules of our village. Zhang Mengcheng joked while helping the other party up.

Under Zhang Mengcheng's witty tone, Ma Jinzhong also let go of his restraints a little, and finally stopped insisting on kowtowing. He just made a military salute to Zhang Mengcheng in accordance with the rules of Jinding Mountain.

Zhang Mengcheng took out a note, handed it to Ma Jinzhong, and said: "Your family and I have already settled properly, and I don't have to work hard in the public land of the cottage for a year, and the share of land collection has also been slightly reduced." This piece of paper is a voucher, so take it back with you later. Nowadays, there is not enough food in the village, so everyone has a ration of food. But after the autumn harvest, your days should be easy. ”

Today's Jinding Mountain is not an absolute egalitarian, and the newly attached hungry people have to work in the cottage commune for a year in order to get a share of the village's food supply and planned land.

However, if a new recruit becomes a member of an infantry or cavalry team, their pay will be increased accordingly. If the newly joined hungry people were able to join the cavalry, they could even be exempted from compulsory labor in the public land for one year, and some land would be granted.

Ma Jinzhong had already inquired about the treatment in the cottage, and with this certificate in his hand, his family could not only directly cultivate the land, but more intuitively, his family could receive three more buckets of grain and some sweet potatoes every month.

Although it is not a lot, this one is already very enviable to the people around him. Even if the new Ding who were transferred to garrison Duhe Fort did not necessarily guarantee that they would join the cavalry. So for Zhang Mengcheng, who doesn't know why he is quite elevated, Ma Jinzhong shows great respect. He has been practicing hard for a while, and with the help of his previous riding skills, he has now begun to try to cross a one-foot-high earthen wall.

"You don't have to be in a hurry to keep up with the progress, the cavalry and war horses in our stockade are all trained step by step. The harness is also different, for example, the length of the stirrup is different from the outside world. As long as you study hard, you will always keep up with the progress of others. Zhang Mengcheng had seen Ma Jinzhong's somewhat awkward appearance when he crossed the obstacle before, so he opened his mouth to comfort the other party not to worry, first follow the training progress of the Jindingshan cavalry, and then there will always be results.

Ma Jinzhong also discovered the difference between Jindingshan harness, and he felt very uncomfortable at first. But as a newcomer, I saw that everyone else was using it this way. He was also embarrassed to ask for revisions, but with continuous practice, he gradually got used to them.

It's just that he is a newcomer after all, and there are still many things that he doesn't understand very well. It happened that Zhang Mengcheng was very kind, and Ma Jinzhong took the opportunity to ask: "Xianggong, you are well-informed, I still have a lot of things I don't understand, I hope Xianggong can explain it." ”

"If there is anything you don't understand, I'm done with it today, so I'll practice riding with you." Seeing that Ma Jinzhong finally let go of his restraints, Zhang Mengcheng began to teach seriously. For Ma Jinzhong's questions, he answered them carefully one by one patiently, and time passed unconsciously.

In the evening, Guan Zhiqing and Ma Xiangbo returned to the cottage with the caravan. This time, because Guan Zhiqing wanted to take Guan Yuze back to his hometown to visit relatives, the big boss Zhang Mengjin specially asked him to take a small team of cavalry and return to Ansai County with Ma Xiangbo. This not only protects the safety of the caravan, but also gives Guan Zhiqing enough face.

Ma Xiangzhong's caravan also exchanged for a lot of supplies, including iron materials pulled back from Ansai Tan's camp. The supplies that were already at the bottom of the cottage were finally replenished, and the supply of weapons to Duhe Fort was finally guaranteed. As long as new armor and bird guns and other weapons continue to be manufactured, there will be no power in the Yanxi area, and they will be the opponents of Zhang Mengjin and his gang.

After Zhang Mengcheng arranged for someone to collect the materials brought back by Ma Xiangbo, he exchanged experiences with Guan Zhiqing and Ma Xiangbo along the way.

Ansai County is also not stable now, and many people continue to be thieves. Some of them ran to the top of Cai Xiaozi's mugwort to find something to eat. If it weren't for Shen Yikui's timely recruitment, Ansai would definitely have many people who would have taken advantage of the time, and most of them would have planned to capture the county town and join Shen Yikui.

But now the situation has finally settled down, and the food brought by the caravan has been exchanged for several times the amount of supplies in normal years due to famine, and Ma Xiangbo is very satisfied.

And Guan Zhiqing's mood was a little not good, this time he sent a lot of money and food to his family. At the same time, because of his own people, the relatives at home have a great appearance.

But Guan Zhiqing, who returned home, still failed to convince his brother to move to Jinding Mountain. Because their mother is sick, most of them can't withstand the bumps on the road. Therefore, Guan Zhiqing could only scatter money and food, so that the eldest brother and sister-in-law could continue to take good care of the old lady, and finally returned to the cottage with disappointment and uneasiness.

Zhang Mengcheng didn't know how to do medicine, so he couldn't help much. can only say some good things to comfort the second master in the village. After communicating with Guan Zhiqing and Ma Xiangbo, Zhang Mengcheng walked to the warehouse and began the final finishing work on the caravan's trading activities.

PS: Note 1: In the fourteenth volume of "Ming Ji Beiluo", there is a record of "mixing 100,000 names Hou Shifan", who surrendered to the Ming army in June of the 11th year of Chongzhen. In the addendum to the twenty-third volume of "Ming Ji Beiluo", there is an entry for "a group of thieves pushed themselves to become kings", and there is a statement that "mixed 100,000 Jiang Lian" is one of the twenty-four leaders.

Considering that in the peasant army at the end of the Ming Dynasty, often the leader died, and someone else would inherit the title, and King Chuang was an example. Therefore, it is not surprising that the mixed 100,000 in the historical materials may be a common name of several people. However, it is worth mentioning that the name Ma Jinzhong, like Hao Yongzhong, may be a name modified after the surrender of the Ming army.