Two thousand men and horses were selected from the Beijing camp, and on the same day, Ma Dai led the troops back to Baoding.

Initially, Ma Dai received the edict and immediately rushed to the capital on horseback, he knew that Li Zicheng was like a bamboo all the way in Shanxi, the imperial court soldiers were outnumbered, and there were many crises, and the emperor was so anxious to transfer him to the capital, there must be some major task entrusted to him.

At first, Ma Dai guessed that the emperor wanted him to send troops from Bauhinia Pass or Inverted Maguan to copy Li Zicheng's back road, but Ma Dai was also a little difficult, because there were not many soldiers in the entire Baoding Governor's Office, and there were only 3,000 soldiers and horses left in the Governor's Office, and only 1,000 men and horses were taken away by Governor Xu Biao to guard Zhending, only 2,000 men and horses could be maneuvered, and some people should be left to guard Baoding, Baoding is the southern gate of Gyeonggi, and there must be no accidents, and there are only 1,000 soldiers and horses at each checkpoint of Bauhinia Pass and Inverted Horse Pass. Together, these soldiers and horses may not be able to contain Li Zicheng's hind legs.

The next day, Ma Dai was surprised, it turned out that it was not as he guessed, the emperor did not let him send troops to fight Li Zicheng, but promoted him to be the governor of Jiliao, and also awarded him the governor Tongzhi, Doctor Ronglu, and asked him to lead the troops to open up Caoyun.

To say that the rank of the governor of Jiliao is not high, it is a second grade, but it is a senior officer, and his status can be compared with that of a non-chief military officer, and it has always been a civil official trusted by the emperor.

Ma Dai knew that the reason why he was suddenly promoted, there must be someone who recommended him, in the imperial court, if no one was promoted, it would be absolutely impossible for a man like him to be promoted to such a high position, Liu Wenbing told him that he recommended him was the queen mother's righteous son Zhu Cixuan, the governor of Zuodu, Ma Dai wanted to go to the door to thank him, and in the end, he felt that it was better to express it with practical actions, no matter what, he would take his life to kill all the rogues on both sides of the canal, so that was the best reward, if it was not done well, That is to slap the governor of Zuo Du in the face,

As for the future, I must listen to the words of the Governor of Zuo and stand on the same line with the Governor, who dares to be unfavorable to the Governor, I will not agree.

When selecting people in Beijing, Ma Dai wanted He Zhen to be his deputy, the two had dealt with each other before, Ma Dai knew that He Zhen was a person who dared to play with his life, and when he met He Zhen, Ma Dai knew that He Zhen was already Liu Wenbing's assistant and the chief transfer officer of Jingying, and that level was not much lower than him.

When selecting people, Ma Dai and He Zhen chatted and learned that He Zhen was also promoted by Zuo Dudu, and both of them were surprised for a while, it turned out that no one knew Zuo Dudu.

In the end, He Zhen recommended Han Shiming, the deputy general of the 5,000th Battalion, to Ma Dai as his deputy.

In accordance with Zhu Youzhen's order, Ma Dai went straight to Baoding with the selected 2,000 men and horses, and the emperor told him to arrange the affairs of Baoding before opening up Caoyun.

The capital is 300 miles to Baoding, and after dark, Ma Dai rushed to Baoding with 2,000 cavalry.

After arranging food and accommodation for soldiers and horses in the Governor's Office, Ma Dai immediately sent someone to inform Shao Zongyuan, the Tongzhi of Baoding, and Liu Zhongsi, the commander of the rear army, Yang Ruxiu of the Chinese army, and Zhang Luoyan, the township official, hurried to the Governor's Office.

Shao Zongyuan and others rushed to the governor's office and found that Ma Dai had brought back 2,000 men.

Shao Zongyuan asked, "Mr. Ma, is this going to war?" ”

This is obvious, the Baoding Governor's Office is not enough, the imperial court has only added some people from other places, and Ma Dai's entry into Beijing must be the case.

Ma Dai smiled, "Baoding Tongzhi Shao Zongyuan received the order. ”

Shao Zongyuan laughed when he heard this, "Mr. Ma, don't be joking, let's say, how do you need me to cooperate?" ”

He thought that Ma Dai had come to him to solve the logistical problems of the troops.

Ma Dai looked at Shao Zongyuan, "Old Shao, be serious, I really brought the emperor's decree, Shao Zongyuan received the decree, and the emperor promoted Shao Zongyuan to the prefect of Baoding, and he was awarded a higher level." ”

"What? That's impossible! ”

Why didn't Shao Zongyuan believe it? Because he was not born as a Jinshi, he belonged to Engongsheng, and the people of Engongsheng were able to reach the ceiling at this step.

Gongsheng, is the official name of the person at this time, the person is called Gongsheng, Xiucai is called Sheng, the so-called En Gongsheng, that is, the people in the middle of the selection of political officials, the emperor or the royal family encountered a great event, the emperor approved a batch, it is considered to be extraordinarily gracious, so it is called Engongsheng.

Under normal circumstances, only with the Jin Shi can be an official, lifting people is not good, of course, there are individual phenomena, especially excellent people are not impossible, but need to have a considerable level of officials to recommend it, Shao Zongyuan was recommended as an official because of his good morality, initially served as the magistrate of Gao County, and later relocated to the head of the Ministry of Labor, into the staff of the outside Lang, the official rank of the staff from the fifth grade, and he served as the official rank of the same knowledge of Baoding Mansion from the fourth grade, which is already very bullish.

At this time, the origin is very important, the background determines your future, the same period of the first three champions, Tanhua, Bangyan, when the first official position was awarded, Wangwang was from the sixth grade, directly stayed in the Hanlin Academy, and the second class Jinshi was awarded the official position at the beginning of the seventh grade, some stayed in the central government office, most of them went down to be the county, the top three of the same Jinshi are generally from the seventh grade, a few stay in the pedestrian division to run errands, individual luck to go to remote places when the county, most of the people serve as county officials, Do you think that it is not easy for Shao Zongyuan, an official from a high background, to mix with the fourth grade, how can he become a prefect from the third rank who has been awarded a higher level? No one believes it.

According to the regulations, only the prefect of Shuntianfu in the country can be from the three products, if the emperor is heavy, you can add a level to the three products, but people are the prefect at the feet of the Son of Heaven, and there is only one Shuntianfu in the whole country? That's a scorpion poop poison.

"The Governor wasn't joking with you."

As soon as Ma Dai's words came out, everyone was immediately surprised, Ma Dai called himself the governor? Mother! He calls himself the Governor! What the hell is going on?

Ma Dai also knew why everyone looked at him with surprised eyes, "The official didn't expect that the emperor's transfer of the official to Beijing was to promote the official, and this morning, the emperor personally appointed the official as the governor of Jiliao, and awarded the governor Tongzhi, and the doctor Ronglu." ”

My mother! Everyone was stunned, this Ma Dai is too prosperous, at the end of last year, he was still the deputy commander-in-chief, and he was just appointed as the commander-in-chief at the beginning of the year, and his ass was not yet hot, and he became the governor of Jiliao again.

"Zhang Luoyan takes the order!"

Zhang Luoyan was originally from the Shaoqing of Guanglu Temple in Sipin, and he resigned and went home because he was excluded.

"Minister Zhang Luoyan took the order."

"The emperor ordered Zhang Luoyan to be appointed as the secretary of Guanglu Temple, and to bring Zhang Luojun, Zhang Luofu, Zhang Luoshan, and Zhang Luozhe back to the court."

"Thank you for your obedience!"

Zhang Luojun is Zhang Luoyan's eldest brother, and the Jinshi who was admitted last year was assigned to the territory occupied by the Liukou, and there was no way to go to the post, so he went home.

Zhang Luofu is the youngest of the six brothers of the Zhang family, and he was admitted to the Wujinshi last year, needless to say, he must have done it for the official.

Zhang Luoshan is the third elder of the Zhang family, Zhang Luozhe is the fifth, and he was admitted to the martial arts examination in the first two years, Zhang Luoyan was very surprised, "Governor Ma, do you want Luo Zhe and Luo Shan to be officials?" ”

Ma Dai smiled, "We don't know about this, think it's like this, we'll know when we enter Beijing." ”

My mother! Happiness came too suddenly, Zhang Luoyan arched his hand to the north, and that direction was the direction of the capital, "Minister Zhang Luoyan Xie Emperor." ”

"Liu Zhonghei, the commander of the Baoding Houjun, listened to the seal, and the emperor appointed you to take over the post of chief soldier of the Baoding Governor's Office."

Liu Zhongsi was surprised, my mother, it turns out that I was the one who was promoted? "Humble Emperor Xie, Mr. Ma, it's not your recommendation, right?"

Ma Dai looked at Liu Zhongsi with a smile, "I have that ability?" ”

Then, Ma Dai said to Yang Ruxiu: "How is it? Let's follow this officer as the Chinese army. ”

Yang Ruxiu was very happy, mother! I was also promoted, and the Chinese army is still the Chinese army, but the Chinese army is different from the Chinese army, and the Chinese army who serves as the governor is much higher in rank than the Chinese army of the general army.

Everyone was surprised, how could it be that in one day, all the people in Baoding were promoted?

Shao Zongyuan looked at Ma Dai, "Governor Ma!" Why did the emperor promote all the people in Baoding? ”

Ma Dai smiled, "Fuzun, do you know why?" We were all recommended by the Governor of Zuo. ”

Everyone is in a hurry, and the Zuo Governor is a member of the imperial court, but there are several Zuo Governors in the imperial court, some of whom have real positions, and some of whom have false positions.

Shao Zongyuan asked, "Was it the Governor of Zuo who recommended me and others?" ”

Everyone was also surprised, it was too good for this Zuo Dudu to speak to the emperor.

Ma Dai smiled, "It's the queen mother's righteous son, Zhu Cixuan, the governor." ”

In an instant, everyone understood, no wonder this governor spoke so well, he was the queen mother's son, and the queen mother's son was not the emperor's nephew? But it's very strange, why did the Queen Mother suddenly accept her son?

Everyone knows that this queen mother is the empress of the emperor of the previous dynasty and the sister-in-law of the current emperor, and this collection of righteous sons is very sensitive.

Shao Zongyuan still felt strange, "Why did Lord Governor recommend me and other Baoding officials for promotion?" Could it be that Governor Ma and Governor Zuodu are very familiar? ”

Ma Dai smiled embarrassedly, "Don't hide it from everyone, this governor only saw the governor of Zuo when he went to the Qianqing Palace to see the emperor, and he hasn't recognized anyone yet, and he only knows when he comes out, alas!" My old horse is also a fool, and his eyes are on his ass. ”

Zhang Luoyan was very surprised, "Could it be that Zuo Dudu is our Baoding people?" ”

Ma Dai looked at Zhang Luoyan, "What will we do?" I heard from Marquis Liu that Zuo Dudu was originally the nephew of the Queen Mother, and this time he made a great contribution. ”

Everyone looked at Ma Dai in surprise, and Liu Zhongsi asked, "What merit have you made?" ”

Ma Dai looked at Liu Zhongsi, "This great achievement, I'm afraid we won't be able to stand for the rest of our lives, Zuo Dudu rescued General Zhou Yuji in the midst of thousands of troops and horses, and also exposed Wei Zaode's true face in the court, and assisted the emperor to discover the crimes of Zhu Chunchen and Li Guozhen." ”

The amount of information in this statement is too large, and it also shocked everyone, everyone knows that a month ago, Li Zicheng sent troops to Shanxi, but he was known as a million army, Zhou Yujining Wuguan Battle Li Zicheng Everyone also heard about it, and they all thought that Zhou Yuji was dead, but they didn't expect to be saved by the Queen Mother's righteous son, think about it, how difficult it is to save Zhou Yuji in front of Li Zicheng's rolling army, and what is the matter with demolishing Wei Zaode? Wei Zaode is the first assistant, what happened to discovering the crimes of Zhu Chunchen and Li Guozhen?

Ma Dai had no choice but to tell what he knew.

Immediately shocked everyone, I wipe! It's amazing!

"Originally, the task of clearing the canal was very urgent, the emperor ordered me to make a detour to Baoding, and there are still things to be told to you to do, listen to Liu Zhongsi, you have to immediately lead a large part of the troops to rush to the Bauhinia Pass or the Reverse Horse Pass, and make it look like you want to attack the Liukou, remember to make a show, but you have to do it like, the emperor called this an attack posture."

"Tadashi understands!"

Ma Dai said: "However, once the conditions are ripe and the imperial court wants to attack the Liukou, you must immediately attack, so you must be prepared for a real fight." ”

"Ruxiu, you stay in Baoding first, assist Governor Shao to immediately recruit troops and horses, step up training, and then hand it over to Liu Zhonghe."

Yang Ruxiu arched his hand and replied: "Obey Governor Ma's orders!" ”

Shao Zongyuan's face showed embarrassment, "Governor Ma, our people in Baoding have always been simple and fierce, and it is not difficult to recruit 20,000 elite soldiers, the key is that we have no silver, and it is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice." ”

Ma Dai smiled, "Lao Shao, when Ma Dai said goodbye to the emperor, the emperor explained, how much silver is needed, you immediately send someone to the household department to collect it, the key is to recruit a group of soldiers who can fight, as many moves as possible, as many as possible." ”

Shao Zongyuan was surprised, "Do you have any money in the household?" ”

"Of course, it is said that the household department cannot find 10 million taels of silver."

Shao Zongyuan was immediately stunned, he had been a Beijing official, and he knew how poor the imperial court was, in order to raise silver taels in recent years, the imperial court had also increased three salaries, and the people couldn't bear it, "Where did you get so much money?" ”

Ma Dai shook his head, "I Ma Dai can't say anything about this matter, but I heard that the emperor copied back to his home, and he got more than 20 million taels at once, and I heard that the inner treasury of the palace was full, and the rest was put in the household department." ”

More than 20 million taels? The crowd was amazed.