It's already the end of the month, and it's about to be the New Year, and the weather is not very good these days, the air has been shrouded in a layer of dark clouds, and the whistling north wind is also blowing non-stop, and this morning finally floated a small snowflake, but people who are familiar with the weather here in Xixia know that this kind of snow generally doesn't fall much, and finally at most a layer of thin snow that doesn't pass the surface of the feet, and the impact is not very great.

Perhaps because of the close of the year, there are more pedestrians on the official roads around Xingqing Mansion, although the Western Xia has just been occupied by the Great Song Dynasty, most of the area is still very peaceful, but Xingqing Mansion is stationed with a large number of Song troops, and it is the most prosperous area in Western Xia, so after the Song army occupied here, they immediately began to rectify the law and order, and now the area around Xingqing Mansion has almost restored the original prosperity, and the official roads are also full of pedestrians and caravans.

"Driving~driving~" With a rapid sound of horses' hooves, a Great Song cavalry suddenly galloped from north to south on the official road, and the pedestrians on the road also avoided on both sides, which was originally a very normal thing, but some sharp-eyed people were surprised to find that this cavalry was all composed of generals of the Great Song Dynasty, including old and young, and there were slight differences in the color and system of the armor, which showed that they did not belong to the same army, but now they rushed to the direction of Xingqing Mansion together, which is a little strange.

Ma Derang, who was riding on his beloved war horse, did not care about the strange eyes of pedestrians on the road, seeing that Xingqing Mansion was about to arrive, he was now full of excitement, feelings, in fact, not only him, but also other generals in this team were full of excitement, because they were back to Xingqing Mansion to receive the reward this time, and many of them in the team this time have made war exploits, and they can at least be promoted to one grade.

Thinking that his hard work during this time had finally paid off, Ma Derang couldn't help but clench his fists excitedly again. Speaking of which, Ma Dejang is also a cadet of the first class of the military academy, and he is also one of the best cadets among them. It's just that his situation is special, because he is too old, and some young students can be his grandsons.

Originally, Ma Derang was not the first cadet of the military academy, his son was, but his son was really not a weapon, and he couldn't endure the hardships of the military academy at all. It just so happened that Ma Derang was a character who was dedicated to serving the country, and after understanding the role of the military academy, he immediately replaced his son into the military academy and became the oldest student in the military academy.

Speaking of which, although Ma Derang is old, his grades are among the best in the first batch of cadets, and the military academy also takes good care of him, an old cadet, so as soon as he entered the army, he was the same as Hu Yanqing and several others. became one of the few cadets who directly served as the head of the capital, and thanks to his relatively old age and a good understanding of human accidents, he quickly got along with his brothers and established his identity in the army.

During this attack on Western Xia, although Ma Derang was not as eye-catching as Huyanqing's, he was also steady and made a lot of contributions. It was only after capturing Xingqing Mansion that he was sent to the Dingzhou area in the north. On the one hand, it was to clear the remnants of the Western Xia army over there, and on the other hand, it was also to guard against the Liao army.

Some time ago, the crown prince Zhao Ji went to Xingqing Mansion to reward meritorious soldiers and the court, which was also a means to boost morale. After all, they have been fighting abroad for nearly half a year and have paid a lot of casualties, and the morale of the army will inevitably be affected.

Ma De made their group of people all the Great Song army stationed in the north of Xingqing Mansion, and the meritorious soldiers of this army were naturally not only them, but in order not to weaken the strength of the army. Therefore, the meritorious soldiers also rushed to Xingqing Mansion in batches to receive the reward, and their group of people was the first batch, and it was also the group with the greatest merit, and after receiving the reward, they could also have a lively New Year in Xingqing Mansion, which also made Ma De even more excited.

Seeing that it was about to be noon, the tall gate of Xingqing Mansion City was also far away, which made Ma De make them want to speed up and enter the city again, but now that the New Year is approaching, there are a lot of people entering and leaving the city gate, although these people dare not block Ma De to let them go, but there are too many people on the official road, they can't hide if they want to, Ma De let them not really hurt people, so in the end they have to slow down.

In this way, it took half an hour for Ma De to let them enter Xingqing Mansion with the flow of people, and there was a post station in the city that specially received them, which they had already known before, so after entering the city, they immediately rushed straight to the post station.

The post station is on the east side of the palace, Ma De let most of them participate in the siege of the city, so they are also familiar with the terrain in the city, and soon came to the vicinity of the palace along the royal street, the people of the post house saw these soldiers who came to report, they were also very enthusiastic, and hurriedly greeted them to settle down in the post house, during this time there were more soldiers who came to receive the reward, and the houses of the post house were not enough, so Ma De let them be two people in a room, and no one said anything about it, after all, they were all soldiers, I usually sleep in the pile of dead people, but now it's nice to have a bed.

Ma Derang and a nickname old ghost Du Tou into a room, this old ghost is about the same age as him, the two have had a few conversations on the road, they are not particularly familiar with each other, but they also know each other's names, at the moment the two of them came to the room with their luggage, at this time Ma Derang found that the old ghost was carrying a large bag of luggage, and couldn't help laughing at the moment: "Old ghost, you brought a lot of loot this time!" ”

"Hehe, I don't have such a big ability, most of these things are my brothers', they can't go back to Xingqing Mansion, so they ask me to bring things and deposit them in the bank, so as not to have an accident, speaking of which, the bank will only send people to set up branches in big cities like Xingqing Mansion and Xi'an Prefecture, and the places where we are stationed are all places where birds don't, so we can only bring these things back to Xingqing Mansion." The old ghost replied with a smile.

"I see." Ma Derang couldn't help but smile when he heard this, and then said, "This can't be blamed on other banks, after all, the banks are all valuable things, Xixia has just been occupied by us, and there are remnants of Xixia everywhere, in case there is an accident in the team of the bank escorting property, it will be bad, so the bank can only be opened in a relatively safe big city." ”

"That's right, speaking of the bank, when the Cao family and the county king opened a bank in Xi'an Prefecture, I was still the first batch of people to deposit the loot, some time ago from my hometown, saying that I asked the bank to send things have been received, and there are a lot of them, the family used these money and things to buy more than a dozen acres of fertile land, and finally have some family funds." The old ghost also spoke again at this time, and when he said the end, there was a smile of relief on his face.

"Haha, the things that our school governor made are naturally good!" Hearing the old ghost's words, Ma Derang couldn't help laughing and said, for Zhao Yan, the school governor, he was also convinced.

"Governor? Difficult...... Could it be that Ma Dutou, you are also from a military academy? The old ghost was stunned when he heard Ma Derang's words, and then looked Ma Derang up and down in some incredulity, during this time, because of the excellent table of the military academy award, the name of the military school has spread in the army, but in the old ghost's impression, the cadets who graduated from the military academy are all young generals, but now listening to the meaning of Ma Derang's words, he seems to be also from a military school?

Seeing the old ghost's surprised look, Ma Derang couldn't help laughing and said, "Old ghost, you see that I'm too old, so I can't believe that I'm from a military school, right?" But I'm really from a military school, but I'm special, and even the instructors in the entire military school are not as old as me. ”

Ma Derang is a cheerful character, and he didn't hide his own affairs, and he told the old ghost at the moment, but the old ghost was also very surprised after listening to it, and he never expected that Ma Derang was already middle-aged, and he was able to make up his mind to go to the military academy with a group of teenagers, this kind of courage is not something that anyone can do, and it is precisely thinking of these that the old ghost can't help but admire the Ma Dutou who was born in the general's family next to him.

"It's a pity that my son is really not angry, and he is not a material to lead soldiers to fight at all, but my grandsons are not bad, and two of the older ones have been sent to the military academy by me, I believe that they will be trained in it for a few years, and they will be a qualified general when they come out!" Ma Derang also showed an angry expression on his face when he mentioned his son, but when he finally mentioned a few grandchildren, he turned his anger into joy, as long as he could cultivate a few grandchildren, then there was still hope for their Ma family.

"Ma Dutou's grandson can also go to the military academy to study, it is really enviable, and after Ling Sun graduates, Ma Dutou you have a firm foothold in the army, and you will definitely be able to help one or two at that time, and Ling Sun's future will definitely be broader!" The old ghost couldn't help but say with envy on his face when he heard this.

"Haha, don't envy the old ghost, now the military academy has begun to select outstanding young people in the army to enter the military academy to study, the general commander and above the generals are qualified to recommend, with the old ghost your merits, this time at least a deputy commander, even if you can't recommend it, but walk around, it's not difficult to send your son to the military academy, but the military school is not so easy to enter, if you want your son to go in, the old ghost you want to let your son in, and finally choose a clever enough and can endure hardships, Otherwise, I am afraid that if I go to the capital, I will be eliminated by the military school. Seeing the old ghost's envious expression, Ma Derang smiled and pointed out.

"It's great that there is such a thing, thank you Brother Ma for reminding me, I'll find a way!" The old ghost is also the first time to hear about the enrollment of military schools in the army, and his face is full of excitement at the moment, now he understands that in the future, the generals of the Great Song Dynasty are likely to be from military schools, and there will definitely be fewer and fewer generals like him who climb up from the lower levels, and while there are not many cadets in the military academy now, he has to immediately plan for his children and grandchildren at home. (To be continued......)

ps: I'm sorry, I have something to do today, this chapter is updated late. R1292