Ma Cheng was in a much better mood after leaving Ruan Mansion. Ma Cheng looked at it and it was already evening before Ma Cheng remembered that he had promised me to go home for dinner tonight. So Ma Cheng said to Gu Yong: "When returning to Chaotian Palace, there are also people who will be sent home to ask the eldest lady to take a few children and return to Chaotian Palace. My mother said she would have a dinner tonight!"

After returning to Ma's mansion, Ma Shiying had already returned home. At night, the family had a happy meal. After dinner, Gu led a few female family members to chat about family matters, while Ma Shiying brought her three sons to the study to discuss the matter.

After the father and son sat down, Ma Cheng asked first: "Dad, my son went to pay homage to Ruan Dacheng in the afternoon. Why is his Duke of Huai State unsuccessful?"

Ma Shiying knew that Ruan Jun was Ma Cheng's son, but now Ma Shiying was in a state of confusion and all his attention was on competing with the Donglin Party for the quota vacant in the cabinet, so there was no time to control the small matter of inheriting the title.

"I have no time for my father this half month. I'm talking about such a small thing after the New Year!"

Ma Cheng had no choice but to remain silent when he heard Ma Shiying say this.

Ma Shiying was a little unhappy when she saw Ma Cheng, but now she had time to control these things. Ma Shiying pretended that she didn't see Ma Cheng's expression, and asked, "How is the front line now?"

"The whole province of Zhejiang has been pacified. My son held troops in Quzhou Prefecture and was waiting for the spring next year to enter Fujian!"

"Okay, the better Zhong and you fight on the front line, the greater your voice will be in the court for your father!"

After Ma Shiying finished speaking, he drank tea and continued, "This time Zhonghe came back. For my father, he would use your prestige to push Zhang Jie to enter the pavilion. Tomorrow you will go to the palace to pay homage to the emperor, and bring up this matter!

Zhang Jie was a Jinshi in the 41st year of Wanli, and his qualifications were older than Ma Shiying. Zhang Jie was similar to Ma Shiying and could not be regarded as a eunuch. During the Chongzhen period, Zhang Jie was affiliated with Wen Tiren, who was then a supporter. Later, after Wen Tiren fell, Zhang Jie had no backer and could only come to Nanjing to retire in shame.

However, unexpectedly, the feng shui changed. After a few years, Chongzhen hanged himself in Beijing, so the officials of the six ministries who remained in Nanjing became important. At this time, Zhang Jie actively acted and said that Shi Kefa supported King Fu Zhu Yousong, but Shi Kefa was undecided, so Zhang Jie had no choice but to surrender to Ma Shiying.

In history, Zhang Jie hanged his country to death at Jiming Temple after the city of Nanjing was destroyed. Ma Shiying's core party members Li Zhan, Yang Weiyuan and others committed suicide to their country. Others Zhang Sunzhen, Xie Sheng and others escaped into the mountains. Such integrity is much better than those of the Donglin Party’s righteous people.

Zhang Jie and Ma Cheng knew a pretty good official, Ma Cheng nodded and agreed: "Dad, who will take over the position of the Minister of Personnel?" The Minister of Personnel is commonly known as the Heavenly Official. He is in charge of the promotion of officials across the country, but it is a top priority.

"Li Zhan will take over as the Minister of Personnel, and Tian Yang will take over as the Minister of Revenue!"

If Ma Shiying, Zhang Jie, Li Zhan and others are gentlemen among villains, then Tian Yang is the villain among villains.

Tian Yang and Zhang Jie were both Jinshi in the 41st year of Wanli, but Tian Yang was always released as an official. In the first year of Chongzhen, Tian Yang was dismissed from office during the corruption case of the governor of Sichuan.

However, Tian Yang was not discouraged, but ran to Nanjing to surrender to Liu Kongzhang, the founder of Chengyi. With Liu's help, Tian Yang became the right assistant minister of the Ministry of War here in Nanjing, and was considered Shi Kefa's deputy.

When Zhu Yousong became emperor, Tian Yang first defected to Ma Shiying, and later Ruan

With Dacheng's traces, Tian Yang defected to Ruan Dacheng again. With Ruan Dacheng's help, Tian Yang replaced Lu Zhenfei as the governor of the grain transport and the governor of Huaiyang.

At that time, Tian Yang's status was second only to the governor Shi Kefa in Jiangbei. At the same time, Tian Yang was stationed in Huai'an and held tens of thousands of soldiers. However, Tian Yang saw that Shi Kefa was besieged by the Qing army, but he did not dare to lead troops to rescue him. Instead, he gave up Huai'an and fled back to Nanjing.

After returning to Nanjing, Tian Yang was not at fault because of Ruan Dacheng's protection. He turned into a great hero who supported Zhu Lunkui and was appointed as the Minister of War.

Half a year ago, Ruan Dacheng was dismissed from his post due to Huang Daozhou's counterattack. Tian Yang was unlucky this time and lost his official position. However, Tian Yang once again had a baby, but he was a mother's ability, so he immediately turned around and defected to Ma Shiying.

Although Ma Cheng knew that Tian Yang was a capricious villain, Ma Cheng did not want to care about Tian Yang's affairs. At the same time, Ma Cheng's status was not yet at the time to be able to make trouble for the government. Now Ma Cheng needs to care about his own safety issues.

"Dad, my son feels that the timing is too coincidental. Ruan Dacheng will be married as soon as he dies. Is there any connection here?"

Ma Cheng was stunned after saying that, Ma Shiying was stunned. He really didn't think about this. Now when his son recalled, there was indeed some coincidence. Now Ruan Dacheng is dead, and the court has changed from three factions to two factions.

But Ma Shiying thought about it again, it was not right. If the emperor wanted to deal with his father and son, why would he drag the cabinet as the candidate and let Qi Biaojia of the Donglin Party enter the cabinet?

"Shuda, what are the abnormal movements in the military camp outside the city?" Shuda was Maxi's name. Ma Shiying asked Maxi just to find out whether the emperor had reached out to the military camp outside the city. 50,000 troops were stationed in the large school outside the city, which was Ma Cheng's last capital, so no mistakes were allowed.

Ma Xi grew up a lot after the Battle of Nanjing, and now she has grown short beards. When Ma Shiying asked himself, Ma Xi said in a deep voice: "Father, there is no movement in the military camp outside the city, and the emperor did not send military generals in the army. Now the generals and deputy generals of each battalion are ours!"

The city defense in Nanjing is now divided into three parts. The imperial city is guarded by Mei Chun, the emperor's confidant and Xiaoling Guard. The inner city is guarded by Lu Siye, the governor of Nanjing. He has more than 20,000 soldiers including the Military and Ma Si, the Inspection Office, and other soldiers. Outside the city is guarded by 50,000 soldiers led by Ma Xi.

Although Lu Siye in the inner city is the emperor's person, Zhao Jinshi, the guardian of Jubaomen, is Ma Cheng's person. Therefore, as long as something happens in the inner city, the 50,000 troops outside the city can enter the inner city without any difficulties and protect Ma Cheng's family.

After hearing Ma Shiying said, Ma Shiying nodded. This arrangement was safe. In addition, the wars in the whole country are endless, and the emperor will never be able to deal with his father and son, so Ma Shiying felt relieved when she thought of this.

"Zhonghe, you're worried. Now the threat from the King of Tang and King Gui is greater than that of you, my father and son. The emperor will never destroy the Great Wall by himself. Don't worry!"

Ma Cheng couldn't completely relieve himself when he heard Ma Shiying say this. Although all kinds of information now indicate that the emperor has no malice towards him, what if? So Ma Cheng said: "Dad, in order to prevent it, my son wants to transfer two thousand people into the city to protect our mansion!"

Ma Cheng and Ma Shiying's mansion cover a huge area, and it's no problem to hide one or two thousand people. Ma Shiying thought about it after hearing his son say this, nodded and agreed, "Yes, but you want it."

Arrange it and transfer the sergeant into the city in batches, so don’t arouse suspicion!”

Ma Cheng nodded when he heard Ma Shiying say this and went out to arrange for Gu Yong to transfer his most elite personal soldiers outside the city into the city to defend the two mansions in the city.

The next day after Ma Cheng got up, he put on his official uniform. Today he was going to the palace to pay homage to Emperor Zhu Lunkui. Although the relationship between the two had long been broken, the surface harmony still needs to be maintained.

Ma Cheng came to the palace and asked the eunuch to report that he was going to see the emperor. This time the emperor did not ask Ma Cheng to wait too long, and soon let Ma Cheng go in.

Following the eunuch into the palace, Ma Cheng has seen a lot of changes in the palace this year, and construction is being carried out everywhere. Ma Cheng frowned when he saw the emperor's construction. Now the country is fighting, and this guy is enjoying it.

Ma Cheng came to the Ganqing Palace, and the little eunuch went in to report. After a while, the little eunuch at the door shouted: "Ma Cheng, Hou Guiyang, Xuanzhen Kingdom, met with him!"

Ma Cheng lowered his head and walked quickly. After entering the Ganqing Palace, he knelt on the ground to salute, and then said loudly: "My Ma Cheng, pay homage to Your Majesty, the saint is the saint Jin'an!"

When Zhu Lunkui saw Ma Cheng coming in, he smiled and said, "Ma Aiqing is back, get up quickly! Someone came to see Ma Aiqing!"

A little eunuch brought in an embroidery dormitory, Ma Cheng got up and sat down, then looked up at the emperor. He had not seen this guy for a year and had lived a very good life. He had gained a lot and had become white. It seems that Zhu Lunkui's life was very comfortable this year when Ma Cheng was not in Nanjing.

"My dear, how is the war on the front line?"

When Ma Cheng heard the emperor ask, he reported the situation on the front line, and then said: "Your Majesty, I am guilty of death and have not protected the safety of King Lu!"

Ma Cheng was deliberately selling well at this time and reminding Zhu Lunkui that if it weren't for my throne, your throne would not have been so stable.

After hearing Ma Cheng say this, Zhu Lunkui sighed and said, "What's your fault for me? This is all destiny. I originally wanted to take King Lu to Nandu for offerings, but I didn't expect that such a thing would happen, so I couldn't blame me!"

After Zhu Lunkui said that, he squeezed out two tears, but in fact he was already full of joy. The biggest threat to Zhu Lunkui's throne was Lu King Zhu Changqing. Now that Zhu Changqing is dead, how can he not let Zhu Lunkui feel at ease? As for the escaped King Zhu Yihai, Zhu Lunkui did not take it seriously.

When Ma Cheng saw Zhu Lunkui's twisted attitude, he secretly scolded him for not seeing him for a year and his acting skills were much better. Ma Cheng didn't want to see Zhu Lunkui's mood, so he changed his mind and asked: "Your Majesty, I went to pay homage to Ruan Dacheng yesterday. I heard that no one has inherited his title yet. Please think twice and never let down the hearts of the ministers in the court!"

Ma Cheng's words were very tactful, but the meaning was very clear. Ruan Dacheng was the first civil minister to support you back then. Now that the emperor is dead, you are playing this trick. So what should we do if we are alive? Should we attack us support ministers?

Although Zhu Lunkui was very angry that Ma Cheng used this to threaten him, Zhu Lunkui was right when he thought about it. Ma Cheng had made meritorious service and he didn't stand up to speak for Ruan Dacheng. Who can still speak for him after that? Also, Zhu Lunkui had a backup plan to Ma Cheng, so there was no need to make him unhappy at this time, so Zhu Lunkui thought for a while and said, "I have neglected Ruan Aiqing's affairs. Now I will issue an order to let Ruan Dacheng's grandson Ruan Jun inherit the title!"
Chapter completed!