When Ma Biao heard this, he controlled the strength of his hand, grabbed Man Gui's wrist and pulled it back.

In the cold flash, out of the sheath, there was really only half a goose feather knife.

"I didn't fool you, did I?" Man Gui rolled his eyes to break free from Ma Biao, didn't care about his broken blade, and sat opposite Ma Xianglin, "General Ma, I, Man Gui, want to ask you, why did you kill the brothers in our battalion?" ”

Ma Xianglin waved his hand and motioned for several other family members to retreat, leaving only Ma Biao in the tent.

Ma Xianglin flicked the lamp twist, thinking about the conversation that Zheng Haizhu had said to him.

He didn't immediately respond directly to Man Gui's questioning, but picked up Ma Biao's broken knife on the dry grass mat, and asked calmly, "Where did this knife be made?" Looking at the situation of the fracture, not to mention that it is far from the hundred steels, even the knife of the Tartar is stronger than this. ”

Man Gui snorted in his nose: "The court sent it, naturally from Beijing." ”

Ma Xianglin has counted.

According to Zheng Haizhu's statement, in the early Yuan Dynasty, Shanxi's smelting skills were by no means inferior to the Zhenjiang area in Nanzhili.

Therefore, Mongolia, as a nomadic people in the steppe, although the casting skills of cold weapons were worrying, after Genghis destroyed Jin and controlled Shanxi, he obtained a large number of Han craftsmen who could forge high-quality cold weapons, and the military strength was significantly improved. After the death of the Yuan Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, the country returned to the hands of the Han people, and many northern blacksmiths were moved to Yingtianfu, and returned to Beijing with Zhu Di's relocation of the capital, and belonged to the Yamen such as the War Bureau and Wang Gongchang, and became hereditary craftsmen.

However, the officials were corrupt, the livelihood of the craftsmen was embarrassed, and the weapons produced and exported in Beijing became worse and worse. Many generals in the Nine Sides, whether they are eating empty salaries to save money, or doing business on their own for profit, but those who have a lot of money and can afford to support their families will recruit craftsmen in their own towns to make really useful weapons for their own family members.

A low-level officer like Man Gui is far from the family soldiers of the chief soldier Zhao Menglin, and what he gets is naturally a tattered thing from Beijing.

Man Gui saw Ma Xianglin pondering the broken knife thoughtfully, and said impatiently: "Let's talk about the knife, let's talk about the fight between the two of us." General Ma, I really don't understand, you people in the south, what are the holes in your hearts. When you stick the gun today, you clearly feel that my knife is wrong, and you can get rid of it with a gun flower, why did you deliberately take the gun out of your hand? Do you want to win Lao Tzu and let Lao Tzu follow you to work hard, or do you want Lao Tzu to win and put gold on Lao Tzu's face? Regardless of the former and the latter, Lao Tzu is not rare. ”

The more Man Gui spoke, the more anxious he became, and his gaze was as sharp as lightning when he entered the gun with a single knife.

Ma Xianglin was like two people in the evening, and there was no murderous spirit in his eyes.

"Brother Man Gui," Ma Xianglin patiently waited for the reckless brave man on the other side to finish speaking, and sighed softly, "Ma Mou is not deliberately selling Guanzi, he is just thinking that that person really knows everything about the strong hands in the border army, but he is kind-hearted." ”

"Who?"

"It can be regarded as a Wenchen sent by the imperial court to patrol the border, and she also has her own business in the Xuanda area of Jizhen, so she is familiar with this place. It was she who taught Ma to know that there was a man Gui in the Xuanfu army, who was a brave general, and if Ma had the heart to resist the enemy outside the pass, he would be able to lead you as a comrade. However, she also said that if you don't want to get along with a foreign Nanban like us easily, I shouldn't force it, but I might as well increase your prestige and fame for you. ”

Man Gui listened to it, his face was a little pale, and when he heard the last sentence, the disdain at the corner of his mouth rose again: "I rely on my true ability to fight Tartars, not bragging." ”

Ma Xianglin smiled faintly: "In the border area, you must have real skills, and your reputation cannot be unpopular." It was the man who said that I knew, Cui Jingrong, the governor of Xuanda, Cui Gong, who was at the edge of Ningxia Town, hit a 150-pound iron knife, and ordered his subordinates to carry it, while he rode on a horse and carried a wooden knife of the same size, patrolling the grassland. The reason is the same, let the Tartars think that there are many brave generals in the Xuan army who can defeat my Ma Xianglin, what's wrong? ”

Man Gui was choked by the words, and was silent for a moment, looking away at the flickering lights.

After a while, he looked back at Ma Xianglin: "So, General Ma, no matter whether my knife will break or not today, you will sell a flaw for me to win?" ”

Ma Xianglin nodded: "Yes." However, with your skills, if the knife continues, perhaps, Ma doesn't have to sell flaws, and he will really lose. ”

Man Gui's heart suddenly felt comfortable.

This southern barbarian is quite good at saying beautiful things.

Ma Xianglin glanced at Ma Biao, and Ma Biao walked to the depths of the tent and opened a wooden box.

After the clanging sound of iron colliding, Ma Biao took out a blade.

"Brother Man, my friend Wenchen pointed out that his family has a cloth armor and iron workshop in the south, and the cotton armor on Ma's body is made by her, and the ordinary lead of the Shenji Battalion cannot be penetrated thirty or fifty steps away. This time, she also asked Ma to bring a few good swords, swords, and spear heads to Yehuling to give the good men she respected. You're using a knife, that's great. ”

Ma Xianglin said, took the knife presented by Ma Biao, put his index finger and middle finger together, gently stroked the blade like a hook and sickle head, and then picked up a piece of jute paper on the wooden pier to write a letter home, shook his wrist, and threw it into the air.

There was a light and hoarse "hiss" sound, and the jute paper was cut in half, like autumn leaves, slowly falling.

Ma Xianglin put the knife into the sheath and pushed it in front of Man Gui, and his tone diluted Ning He: "Brother Man, the Chinese courtiers of the court, are not all sour and mean, and despise our warriors, there are also knives, guns, and people, all on the road. Ma will soon go to Longmen Pass in the east, and after the Manchu brothers take advantage of this new knife, we will try again. It's better to compare, who has the guy in his hand and kills more Tartars, right? ”

Man Gui looked at the person in front of him in a daze, and then looked at the knife in front of him.

In his adult cognition, for the first time, today's ups and downs appeared, which made him go from arrogance and disdain, to the upsurge of blood, to the surprise everywhere, to the door to solve doubts, to the surging heart, and finally, to become ignorant and do not know how to deal with it.

The only thing that can be determined right now is that I have a good knife.

It's not a reward, people say it, it's a gift, yes, it's the word I learned from the mouth of the showman in the town: respect.

The pins in the tent can be heard.

Ma Biao was in the shadows, staring at this scene, and he felt quite interesting. It was also face-to-face, and the fierce melee at dusk turned into a silent contemplation.

However, silence is better than sound.

When Ma Biao was speculating whether Mrs. Zheng and the young master could make their wishes come true, Man Gui stretched out his big hand and held the hilt of the knife.

"General Ma, the border army is rationed, one tael and five cents of silver per month. I'm full of Gui, it's not that I haven't seen a good thing or a dirt bun, this knife is almost ten taels of silver. I'll take someone and go with you to the east, and you can give the pipe a meal, and I don't want more than half a year's worth of food and silver, but I will discount the money for this knife. I am full of laurels, and I never take other benefits in vain. If I kill the Tartars happily, General Ma will reward me again. ”

(End of chapter)