My aunt is Queen Ma

Chapter 33 Jinyiwei

After the family dinner, it was already late, so Empress Ma sent someone to send Ma Yu back to his new home to rest.

Ma Yu said at this time: "Aunt, please arrange some guards for me."

"With so many things happening, I'm afraid that without anyone to protect me, I'll be hacked to death on the street if I go out."

Empress Ma patted him and said, "Don't say such unlucky words. Who dares to touch you?"

Ma Yu insisted: "I'm not afraid of a thousand, but I'm afraid of one. I don't have anyone to protect me. I don't know what to do."

Empress Ma said helplessly: "Well, you are my nephew, and you really need a few people around you to show off."

Then she found Zhu Yuanzhang and told him about this matter.

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly and said, "He's a smart kid."

So he ordered the allocation of a small flag of the imperial guards to serve as guards for Ma Yu.

Looking at the ten murderous men following behind him, Ma Yu suddenly felt at ease.

He was indeed afraid of being retaliated against and hacked to death in the street, but the reason he asked Queen Ma for guards was not simply to protect his own safety.

Instead, I want to use this opportunity to tell them that I am honest and have no conspiracy or intrigue.

It can be said that these ten people are both guards and ten pairs of eyes monitoring himself.

Only then will Zhu Yuanzhang and others feel at ease.

After all, my origins are too mysterious. No matter how I explain it, many things cannot be explained clearly.

And Zhu Yuanzhang would definitely send someone to monitor him.

Instead of lying again and again, instead of letting him secretly send people to make everyone suspicious, it is better to just open the door and live your life.

As for the rest, you can think whatever you want.

As long as he is useful to the Ming Dynasty and as long as Zhu Yuanzhang feels that he is not in danger, he can live well.

With Empress Ma protecting him, no one can do anything to him.

That was why he asked Queen Ma for guards.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma naturally understood this, so they sent a small flag of guards to him.

You have to know that these are the imperial guards, and there are no more than five of them in the whole court.

Of course, even with these ten guards, Zhu Yuanzhang would definitely send people to monitor him secretly.

But so what?
As long as you do things without telling these ten guards, you can ignore all other surveillance personnel.

You don’t have to worry about whether the person who is secretly monitoring you will deliberately frame you.

In short, everything is for safety.

Led by the eunuch, he returned all the way to his new home in this world.

It is a very grand courtyard with four courtyards and all kinds of pavilions and towers.

The key point is that this house is very close to the imperial palace, and there are two larger houses not far away.

One has Xu Mansion written on it, and the other has Chang Mansion written on it.

It's easy to tell whose mansions these two belong to.

Tsk, it’s comfortable to be neighbors with these two families.

In the future, I will have the chance to visit both of their families more often to build relationships.

But... it seems that Chang Yuchun will pass away next year, in just a few months.

If he could live a few more years, Zhu Biao and Zhu Xiongying would not have died...

I can only say, what a pity, what a pity.

After a sigh, he walked back home.

Upon learning that he had returned, Mr. Ma Baye and Ma Ye brought more than twenty male and female servants to the gate to welcome him, making it a very grand occasion.

In fact, many servants did not care much about the sudden appearance of the queen's relatives.

It’s not that they dared to disobey their master, but Master Ma’s performance was too abstract, making it difficult for them to feel awe.

But as soon as Ma Yu showed up... especially with the ten murderous imperial guards behind him, everyone was immediately shocked.

This queen's nephew doesn't seem to be easy to deal with.

Seeing the crowd, which was originally a bit noisy, suddenly become silent, Ma Yu was very satisfied.

This was another reason why he asked Queen Ma for guards.

Don't think that others will obey you just because you are a royal relative. Since ancient times, it has been common for evil servants to devour their masters.

Why should this group of servants obey a royal relative who suddenly appeared, was only thirteen or fourteen years old, and looked very embarrassed?

Ma Yu was too lazy to spend time to subdue these people.

Not free enough.

This is true not only for these servants, but also for all the officials in the court and the country.

Everyone respected and loved Queen Ma, but this respect was not transferred to her relatives.

But it’s different when there are imperial guards, everyone has to be polite.

As expected, as soon as the ten guards went to that station, everything was fine.

But this was not enough, he walked in front of the crowd, pointed at the ten guards and said:

"These are the guards sent by His Majesty and Auntie to protect me. They will live in the mansion permanently from now on."

"Let's make room for them later."

Hearing this, the servants looked at him with even more respect, and even a bit of awe.

Mr. Ma was extremely envious. Ten guards! I didn’t even have such treatment before.

Ma Ye admired him even more, thinking that his cousin was really amazing.

At this time, Master Ma stepped forward and said, "Ma... uh... this..."

Ma Yu smiled and said, "You are the elder, just call me by my name."

Seeing that he didn't seem difficult to deal with, Mr. Ma felt a little relieved and said:

"How can that be? I'll just call you Dalang."

Ma Yu smiled and said, "That's too formal."

Master Ma Ba quickly said, "We all yell like this at home."

Ma Yu then nodded and said, "That's it."

Then he glanced at Ma Ye again and said, "Just call me big brother."

Ma Ye said happily: "Brother."

At this time, Mr. Ma took out the keys and account books and prepared to hand them over to him.

Ma Yu did not answer, but said: "You are the elder, these things should be managed by you."

Master Ma Ba quickly said, "You are the head of the family, and you should be in charge of these things."

Ma Yu then took it, but did not check the account book.

To be honest, he couldn't quite understand the ancient account books, so he decided to wait and ask Queen Ma for a reliable accountant another day.

Later, with the introduction of Mr. Ma Baye, Ma Yu got to know all the servants.

Ten of them were already there, and the remaining dozen or so were gifts from others these days.

Ma Yu frowned slightly and observed carefully. These servants were indeed divided into two groups.

The group of ten people were the original residents of the mansion, including an old gatekeeper, a horse feeder, an elderly couple who cooked, and the remaining six who did odd jobs.

These people are all older, the youngest looks to be in his thirties or forties, and they are all honest.

The other group of sixteen or seventeen were gifts from others.

They were all young men and girls, the men were smart and the women were pretty, and they were all servants.

Ma Yu couldn't help but secretly shake his head. How dare Mr. Ma invite anyone into his home?

But from this point it can also be seen that Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma did not really intend to keep him in Yingtian.

Otherwise, he would not be allowed to recruit these people of unknown origin into his house.

After figuring out the general situation, he already had a plan in mind.

However, he did not say it in public, but asked everyone to continue doing what they were doing before.

Afterwards, he came to his own courtyard, and without any instructions, ten guards conducted a carpet search of the place.

And began to take turns on duty to protect the safety here.

If someone offers them tea, they have to drink it first before allowing it to be brought in.

By the time everything was done, it was already getting dark.

Ma Yu called the flag officer, Meng Sanqing, the captain of this team of guards:
"Captain Meng..."

Meng Sanqing was a sturdy man over five feet tall, with a body as strong as an iron tower and arms thicker than Ma Yu's thighs.

There is a long centipede-shaped scar on the left side of his face, which looks very ferocious and terrifying. Just like this, it can scare children to tears when walking on the street.

But when he heard Ma Yu call him Captain Meng, he immediately bowed and said:
"Sir, just call me by my name."

Ma Yu thought to himself, it seems that he is a rough but delicate person, no wonder Zhu Yuanzhang asked him to protect me.

Since he was a smart man, he didn't say anything more polite and said directly:

"Sanqing, go to the palace tomorrow and hand over all the slaves that the Eighth Master has collected to the Empress."

"By the way, ask her to get some reliable servants. Let her decide how many to send."

"She knows more about this than I do."

Meng Sanqing couldn't help but nod secretly. This gentleman is very insightful. He must not be disrespectful in the future.

So he said respectfully, "Yes, sir, do you have any other instructions?"

Ma Yu thought for a moment and said, "Arrange someone to buy some pens, inkstones, and brushes tomorrow, as well as some books."

"Forget it, don't buy the books. I'll make a list later, and you can go to the palace tomorrow and ask the Empress for them."

"Well, spend a little more money to buy two sets of clothes for everyone."

"Everyone should withdraw one guan of fixed income from the account every month. As the team leader, you should withdraw two guan."

Meng Sanqing quickly said, "No, no, we have food and money."

Ma Yu knew what he was worried about and said, "Food and wages are food and wages. This is what I give you."

"Tomorrow you will tell the Queen all this and tell her that I must give it to her. She will naturally understand."

Meng Sanqing then bowed and said, "On behalf of my brothers, I thank you for your reward."

After explaining the matter, Ma Yu let him leave.

Meng Sanqing took three steps back before turning around and leaving, closing the door carefully when he went out.

Ma Yu smiled slightly, the money was not wasted.

He didn't go to sleep after that. How could he sleep with so many things happening? He lay on the bed with his eyes closed thinking about what had happened in the past few days.

And plan the rest of your life.

Meng Sanqing returned to his room. The other nine people had already been waiting there and surrounded him.

A subordinate named Liu Xiaodao asked:
"Captain, how is this young man?"

Meng Sanqing sat down with a majestic look and said, "This young master is a true young master. Brothers, please be vigilant and don't neglect him."

Liu Xiaodao's eyes suddenly became sharp: "Why, is he so arrogant?"

Meng Sanqing said: "On the contrary, he is very polite."

Then he carefully analyzed everything that had happened since he entered the mansion.

In particular, the key point was that he should go to the palace tomorrow to ask the queen for supplies.

Everyone then realized that every move he made had a deeper meaning, and they began to have a little more respect for Ma Yu.

When they heard that they would also be given their regular salary, everyone's eyes lit up.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the army only distributed food but not money. They could get one stone of food every month, which had a market price of about five hundred to six hundred coins.

One string of coins was equivalent to two months' food wages for them.

Moreover, they can receive one tael of RMB every month, which is a huge sum of money for them.

Meng Sanqing finally said, "Do you understand now? This young master is very open-minded and honest in his actions."

"He's so open, we men can't lose face, understand?"

Naturally, everyone also promised to do their job seriously and protect Mr. Ma.

After all, that was real money.

As for the matter of monitoring Ma Yu, no one mentioned it. Some things are not convenient to bring up on the table.

It's enough for everyone to know it.

What's more, before Ma Yu gave them the regular salary, he would seek the consent of Empress Ma in advance.

The attitude has been made clear.

In the future, we will continue to report to the higher authorities, but we will also keep him under surveillance and protect him.
-
Li House.

When Li Shanchang returned home, his face was very ugly, and he even punished a rude servant for it.

The whole family was terrified.

Li Zhong was very puzzled. You came back safe and sound, why are you still so unhappy?

Looking at his confused son, Li Shanchang became even more furious.

How could I give birth to a bunch of stupid sons like you?

The Li family is finished if it relies on you.

But soon, news came back that made him even angrier.

The servant he sent to inquire about Ma Yu came back to report that Ma Yu had been taken into Kunning Palace.

He stayed there for the whole afternoon before leaving, and was then escorted by ten guards to the house in Da Gong Fang that was originally allocated to Mr. Ma Baye.

Li Shanchang's face suddenly turned the color of liver. "What do you want to do? Are you trying to make this real?"

"Go, keep a close eye on Ma Yu. I want to know his every move."

After making the arrangements, he said with a gloomy face, "If you want to become a royal relative, it depends on whether you have the fate."
-
Liu Mansion.

After learning what had happened, Liu Bowen, a shrewd man, could not help but be delighted:

"Li Shanchang's cleverness backfired, and this time he's probably really lost the emperor's favor."

Liu Lian asked in confusion, "Your Majesty hasn't dealt with him in any way. How do you know he's lost the emperor's favor?"

Liu Bowen said, "Your Majesty said that he would not punish Li Shanchang, but only those who obeyed him. Don't you understand what he meant?"

Liu Lian suddenly realized: "This is to isolate Li Xiang."

Liu Bowen nodded and continued, "Besides, this happened deep inside the palace. How could you have found out the details so easily?"

"Someone must have deliberately leaked the news. Who do you think it was, and why did they do that?"

Liu Lian was overjoyed and said, "I understand. He's finally getting his comeuppance. Let's see if he dares to humiliate you again this time."

Liu Bowen couldn't help but shake his head. This son's mind and character were not enough to stand on his own.

On the contrary, his second son Liu Jing was the best choice in terms of character and talent, and he could inherit his mantle.

But if you ask which son he likes more, it is Liu Lian.

Nothing else, just filial piety, integrity, and courage.

As a father, what more could he ask for?

"I asked you to keep an eye on Ma Yu. Do you have any news about him?"

Liu Lian said, "I was just about to tell you."

Then he told the story of how Ma Yu stayed in Kunning Palace for an entire afternoon and was then escorted to Da Gongfang Mansion by ten imperial guards.

Liu Bowen's face was full of confusion: "Things...are so weird."

Liu Lian also nodded and said, "Yes, I can't figure it out either. What on earth is your Majesty thinking?"

"Not only did they not throw him into jail, but they also let him live in Mr. Ma's house. Isn't it possible for him to recognize his relatives?"

Liu Bowen was shocked at first, then said in a serious tone:
"I'm afraid you guessed it right... Although I don't know what happened, I now understand why Prime Minister Li resorted to such a desperate measure."

Then he ordered: "Keep a close eye on Ma Yu. I want to know his every word and action, but remember not to offend him."
-
With the deliberate propaganda of some people, the news that Li Shanchang had lost the favor of the emperor quickly spread.

The Zhejiang East faction was undoubtedly the happiest.

Without Li Shanchang, they could influence the formulation of etiquette and laws.

The officials of Li Shanchang's faction felt like they had lost their parents. What should they do next?
More officials quietly chose to distance themselves from Li Shanchang, and from then on they were just colleagues.

As for Ma Yu's matter, it also aroused everyone's speculation.

There are many smart people, and many of them have guessed the truth.

Could it be that the royal family wanted to make a false claim into reality and make Ma Yu a royal relative?

This is absolutely unacceptable. As soon as the court releases the news, they will immediately write a letter of opposition.

No, there is no need to wait for the court to release the news.

I will submit a memorial to the emperor at the morning court tomorrow, asking him to give everyone an explanation.

How could a criminal pretending to be a royal relative live in a big house openly?

However, before they could take any action, a piece of important news came out.

Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the dissolution of the Guard Bureau and recruited new personnel to form a new personal guard organization.

Moreover, the scale of this organization started out as a garrison, with a commander-in-chief level leader.

The tentative name is Jinyiwei.

(End of this chapter)