scourge the qing dynasty

Chapter 413 General Ma
Being carried directly into Ma Bao's handsome hall by the soldiers of Ma Baojun, Chen Renjie, the fat man's army messenger, soon saw that the Ma Baoshuai hall was already full of generals of all levels, big and small, sitting in the middle of the hall. With a grizzled face and beard, a rough expression, and wearing a phoenix-winged beast-face swallowing helmet specially designed for high-ranking military generals in the former Ming Dynasty, he presumably is Ma Bao, the former favorite general of the old traitor Wu and the current Generalissimo of the Honghua court.

Sitting next to Ma Bao were many generals of the Wu army, beautiful and ugly, tall and short, but Chen Renjie joined the Fat Army after the Fat Army invaded Nanjing, so he didn't know any of these people, but sitting on the left side of Ma Bao A middle-aged man in his 40s caught Chen Renjie's attention. He was wearing a former Ming Tuan collar shirt with a golden pheasant pattern on his official uniform. His confidant Guo Zhuang plotted.

When Chen Renjie was observing Ma Bao and the others, Ma Bao and other generals of the Wu army were of course also observing Chen Renjie, and the first member of the Wu army standing on the right side of Ma Bao was quite puzzled and asked: "Are you the envoy sent by Lu Yifeng? Why haven't we seen you in the old Pingxi Palace's team before?"

"Report to this general, the small envoy Chen Renjie, who was sent by King Lu of the Yue King of the Great Zhou to apologize to General Ma Baobao, the General of the Great Zhou Conquest to the North." Chen Renjie tried not to let his fear show, and bowed his hands in a very respectful reply. Said: "Xiaguan was originally the eight-rank book of the magistrate's yamen in Jiangning. When Lord Lu led the Dazhou army to attack Nanjing, the Xiaguan followed Mr. Xie to abandon the secret and joined the Dazhou army. I have no post, so I have no blessing to see the dignity of the generals, and the generals have never seen the little envoy."

"I see." The general of the Wu army nodded, and asked casually, "Then why didn't Lu Yifeng send an old man from the Pingxi Palace? He just wanted to send a newcomer, and it's inconvenient to talk."

"General, about this, I don't know the reason." Chen Renjie replied cautiously: "It may be because there is not even an old man in the Pingxi Palace in the Li Cao of the Yue Palace of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and the villain happens to be working in the Li Cao. That's why Prince Lu casually appointed a villain as his envoy."

"Marshal, did you hear me, did you hear me wrong?" Guo Zhuangmou said suddenly, turned to Ma Bao and said with a smile, "Does that rebellious boy surnamed Lu only treat outsiders as treasures and our old man in the Pingxi Palace as grass?" ? Such a big Licao yamen, not even an old man from our Pingxi Palace?"

Ma Bao snorted heavily and did not answer, but Chen Renjie came to his senses and quickly explained: "General Ma, don't get me wrong, there is no old man in Pingxi Palace in Licao of Yuewangfu, because Licao is the same as the Ministry of Rites. They are all the poorest and least lucrative yamen in the six ministries, so we are the newcomers. The old people in the Pingxi Palace are all in places like Li Cao, Hu Cao and Bing Cao, and the slightly poorer criminal Cao and Gong Cao. , there are very few old people in Pingxi Palace."

"Boy Lu Yifeng, are you really treating our old man in Pingxi Palace so kindly?" Ma Bao finally asked with a curious expression on his face.

"It's absolutely true." Chen Renjie nodded quickly, and replied honestly: "Young envoy dare not lie to the general, our prince values ​​old love the most, and treats the old man of Pingxi palace most favorably. The most ordinary soldier, now he has at least been promoted to be a post chief, and his military salary is higher than other newcomers. This is especially true for civil officials. Even the civil officials in Lu Wangye's team back then, even if they were a secretary, are now paid. At least a county magistrate."

Hearing Chen Renjie's words, all the generals in Ma Bao's team exclaimed in low voices with envy on their faces, but Guo Zhuangmou was furious and cursed: "Put your mother's shit on! A book office is at least one Magistrate, bragging is not afraid of flashing your tongue!"

"My lord, what's the use of boasting as a small envoy?" Chen Renjie replied with a wry smile: "Lord Lu has led the Great Zhou army to take down more than six provinces, and they are all provinces with the largest population and the largest number of cities in the world. There are thousands of vacancies in civil and military positions in this county, and the Yungui elders in Lu Wangye's team at that time were not enough to be assigned, so they could only be appointed as the secretary office of the county magistrate, which is still unlucky."

Guo Zhuangmou was speechless, Ma Bao blinked his copper bell eyes and remained silent, but the general of the Wu army who first questioned Chen Renjie before said with a smile: "Boy Lu Yifeng, you are getting fatter and fatter. Boy Chen, you know me Who is it? It doesn’t matter if I don’t know, let me introduce myself, my name is Du Hui, and I was General Xiaoqi, who was the personal army of Prince Pingxi when he started his army, and later the commander of the Great Zhou Navy.”

"It turned out to be General Du. The envoy has blind eyes. Please forgive me." Chen Renjie hurriedly saluted and said respectfully: "General Du, taking this opportunity, the envoy has something to report to you. The son of the general who stayed in Taiwan back then." Du Guochen, General Du, has followed Chaozhou General Liu Jinzhong and General Liu to rebel out of Yanping Palace and surrendered to the court of the Great Zhou Dynasty. The young master ordered Lu Wangye to state the matter, and Lu Wangye issued a decree, and named Lingzi the Chenghai General Soldier. He also ordered General Liu Jinzhong and Monk Zhixin to strictly protect Young Master Ling."

"The ministers of the state have already taken refuge with you?" Du Hui's face showed joy. When Zheng Chenggong failed in the Northern Expedition, he was surrounded by the Qing army like Liu Jinzhong and others. However, he has been left in Taiwan and has not heard from his son for more than ten years.

"That's true." Chen Renjie nodded, and replied honestly: "Originally, Young Master Ling still had a letter from his family, and he entrusted the prince to pass it on to the general. It is inconvenient and unnecessary misunderstandings have arisen, so I temporarily left the general's son's family letter in Nanjing, and I am going to wait for General Ma to accept our army's apology before forwarding it to the general."

Du Hui's face was serious, and after careful calculation, he felt that Chen Renjie's words made sense. His son had already joined the Fatty Army, and now the Fatty Army and Ma Baojun had just had a conflict. At this time, Chen Renjie brought his son's letter, whether it was submitted publicly It is indeed easy to cause misunderstandings whether it is passed on privately.Thinking up to this point, Du Hui nodded, and said to Chen Renjie: "Tell your princes when you go back, and thank him for being so considerate for me, and thank him for taking care of my son for me." After finishing speaking, Du Hui quickly stepped back , dare not speak again.

"Marshal, please don't misunderstand General Du." Seeing that the situation was not good, Guo Zhuangmou hurriedly stood up and pretended to be a good person, hypocritically said to Ma Bao: "Although General Du's son unfortunately fell into the enemy's hands, General Du's loyalty to the court of the Great Zhou But we can learn from the sun and the moon. General Du Hui joined our Pingxi Palace 16 years ago, and the young master has been in Taiwan. Our Taizu Gao Emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty has never doubted General Du. I hope that the general will not fall in love with Lu Yifeng. The thief's countermeasures will cut off your own arm."

After finishing his pretentious speech, Guo Zhuangmou quickly turned his head to Chen Renjie, and shouted viciously: "Bold rebel, why did you deliberately mention General Du's son in front of Marshal Ma? Did Lu Yifeng send you here on purpose to plot against him?!"

"Commander, Lu Yifeng sent someone to alienate our army, this bastard should be slaughtered!" Wang San, who was still wrapped in gauze on his head, also yelled.

"Injustice! Injustice!" Chen Renjie also had some pustules. After being frightened by Guo Zhuangmou and Wang San, he was so frightened that he fell to his knees with a plop, kowtowed and shouted for injustice: "Ma General, I am wronged, the envoy really didn't deliberately sow discord, the envoy just heard about General Du's name, so he casually said about his son, it was definitely not intentional and deliberate!"

"Get up, I can see if you deliberately sow discord." Ma Bao yawned in a big way, waved Chen Renjie to get up, and knocked on Erlang's leg and said to Chen Renjie: "Let's talk about business, kid Lu Yifeng killed him in Yingzhou." I have so many brothers, why did I send you here?"

"Apologize to the general." Chen Renjie nodded and bowed his head and said, "Although there was a reason for the incident in Yingzhou, our army was indeed at fault, so our Lord Lu didn't want to make any distinctions, but ordered the envoy to come to Jiujiang to represent him. The general apologizes, and I hope the general can forgive our army for offending the general, and don't destroy the internal unity of the Dazhou army because of such a trivial matter."

"A little thing? Put your mother's shit on!" Wang San yelled, "Over 1000 brothers were killed by you, is it just a little thing?"

"The lives of more than 1000 and 1000 soldiers of the Great Zhou Dynasty are just a trivial matter?" Guo Zhuangmou also laughed strangely, and said with a smile: "More than [-] lives and an apology is enough?"

"General, please don't get me wrong, of course it's not just a verbal apology." Chen Renjie shook his hands quickly, then nodded and bowed at Ma Bao and said: "To express our apology, our prince also ordered the villain to bring 5 taels of silver to the general. Silver, I would like to apologize to the general, the villain Yin has already brought it, and it is currently placed on the boat at Jiujiang Wharf, the general can send someone to check it at any time."

Ma Bao's copper bell eyes shot out green light, his throat moved, and he swallowed heavily again, besides Wang San, all the generals of Ma Bao's army showed joy, and someone blurted out, "Really?"

"Marshal, Lord Chu and Guo Xiangye promised to give you 10 taels of military pay." Guo Zhuangmou panicked, and quickly stood up and said to Ma Bao: "The cash of 10 taels of silver is now in Wuchang City Here, as long as the commander-in-chief nods, he can send it to you at any time."

"Commander, Lu Yifeng's son is sending beggars for 5 taels of silver, which is like buying the lives of our 1000 taels of brothers? He has a good idea!" Wang San also waved his fists and shouted angrily.

"General Wang San, our lord also has a little affection for you." Chen Renjie hurriedly turned to Wang San again, cupped his hands and said, "The 5000 taels of Wenyin is our lord's compensation for the general's soup and medicine expenses."

"5000 taels of Wenyin? Mine? Real or fake?" Wang San suddenly stopped halfway through his fist swing, his expression was a little dull, and he quickly calculated in his head. One, but the looted silver was distributed to the soldiers and honored Ma Bao, and it was not much that could actually be taken into his own hands.Moreover, Yingzhou was flooded by the diversion of the Yellow River, and almost all the rich people in the city could run. Even if Yingzhou was defeated at that time, it would be difficult for those who could really get 1000 taels in their hands.Lost a poor city of Yingzhou, and exchanged for 5000 taels of silver, seems to be a good deal?

"Of course it is true." Chen Renjie nodded and bowed his waist and said, "The 5000 taels of silver has already been brought to Jiujiang by the envoy. General Wang can receive it at any time."

"Wang San, you bastard got rich!" A general of Ma Baojun yelled, "The prince bought a Humble Administrator's Garden back then, and it was only 4000 taels, and your bastard's head was wiped with a gun and it cost 5000 taels! Treat, treat! "

"That's right, treat, treat!" Several Ma Bao generals yelled at Wang San, and another general asked Chen Renjie: "The commander has 5 taels, and Wang San has 5000 taels. What about us? I, Xue Qilong, did the same. Those who have killed the enemy side by side with Lu Wang, do not have my share?"

"Yes, yes." Chen Renjie's answer stunned the generals of Ma Baojun, "The envoy also brought a batch of jewelry, which is going to be given to the generals. You can send someone to pick it up right away. Please divide it among yourselves." .”

"Okay, Lord Lu is a thousand years old!" Ma Baojun's generals cheered, and someone patted Wang San on the shoulder and shouted: "Wang San, forget it, it's worth getting 5000 taels of silver for one shot, forget it, forget it, Don't embarrass Lord Lu's envoy. If you still feel sorry for that little force, we will raise a little force for you and return you two thousand troops."

"If the commander-in-chief doesn't care, of course I'm fine." Wang San replied straightforwardly, but he couldn't hide the joy in the corner of his eyes.

"By the way, General, there is one more thing." Chen Renjie hurriedly bowed to Ma Bao and said, "As long as the general is willing, in order to express our army's apology, our prince also plans to give all the brothers of the general a one-month bonus." The military salary, please allow the general."

"What? Give us an extra month's military pay?!" There was a whirlwind of exclamations in the lobby, Ma Bao also widened his eyes, and asked in surprise: "Lu Yifeng is so generous? I have more than 6 people, Each infantry is paid four and eight cents a month, plus the cavalry and generals, the monthly salary is at least 4 taels!"

"General Ma's infantry, each brother is paid four and eight cents a month?" Chen Renjie was taken aback.

General Ma Bao was taken aback for a moment, thinking that Chen Renjie knew the truth, that he had reduced the infantry and cavalry's pay to three renminbi a month—and was often in arrears. .Immediately, Ma Bao blushed, gritted his teeth and said, "I love soldiers like sons, what's wrong? Do you think I'm too tall?"

"The general misunderstood." Chen Renjie quickly waved his hand and explained: "The general misunderstood, because in our Jiangnan army in the Great Zhou Dynasty, each infantry was paid one, two, and five silver coins a month, so the envoy heard that the general The brother of my brother was paid four and eight cents a month, and was taken aback."

"Pfft!" General Ma, who was drinking tea, spurted out a mouthful of tea, and almost spat out a mouthful of old blood.

"The infantry is one tael or five silver per month? What about the cavalry? How much is the cavalry?!" Wang Jinwu, who was in charge of the cavalry for Ma Bao, asked excitedly, "Is the cavalry the same as the infantry?"

"Two taels of silver per month for the cavalry." Chen Renjie replied very straightforwardly, and added: "By the way, the emissary also forgot that there is a difference in the salary of the soldiers in our team. The military pay is seven taels of silver. If the infantry is the old man from Yungui brought to the south of the Yangtze River by the prince, it will be three taels or four taels of silver every month. Especially elite soldiers, such as the cavalry of General Gao Dejie, Han Daren, etc. General and General Wang Xu's personal soldiers are all twelve every month!"

"Pfft!" General Ma's tea spewed out again, and the eyes of General Ma Baojun beside him turned green, and they all yelled at Ma Bao, "Marshal, Lord Lu is a good man, a good man, isn't he just in Yingzhou? A few brothers died in a small conflict, what's the big deal? How many soldiers in our team didn't die that day? Forget it, accept Lord Lu's kindness."

"Shut up for me!" Ma Bao slapped the table, stopped the commotion of the generals, pointed at Chen Renjie's nose and shouted: "Boy Lu Yifeng, is he going to pay my team according to that standard? When the army was running, the infantry was four cents and eight cents, and the cavalry was six cents? Or is it now that your infantry is one or two five cents, and the cavalry is two or two cents?"

"That's right, according to which standard is the military salary?" Ma Bao's generals, including the soldiers in the hall, yelled, "Is it four cents and eight cents a month? Or one, two and five cents a month?"

"This...." Chen Renjie was a little timid. Being questioned by so many people, he was unavoidably frightened, and tremblingly said: "This... is more complicated, because there are also old people from Yungui and those who joined later in your team, General. For recruits, so we can only treat them differently. The Yunnan-Guizhou veterans registered in the old Pingxi Palace, the cavalry is paid seven or five dollars a month, and the infantry is three or two four dollars; the brothers who have not registered in the old Pingxi Palace , It’s the same as the salary for recruits in our team, two taels of silver a month for cavalry, and one tael and five taels of silver for infantrymen a month.”

There was no sound in the handsome hall, including Guo Zhuangmou, who was stunned - the old Pingxi Palace didn't have money, Fatty Lu used Eight Banners ointment to help old man Wu to earn money, and later blackmailed from Kang Mazi, it was tens of millions Two, but after six years of fighting, the money needed to buy food and grass, make firearms, weapons and warships, buy enemy generals, reward heroes, and pay soldiers, plus the huge expenditure caused by the expansion of the army and officials The increase, the accumulation of corruption by civil and military officials, the disappearance of the huge profits caused by the war, the military pay and food that were swept away when the Wu clan split, no matter how much savings they have, they will be empty, and let the Honghua court spend so much money to reward and buy Ma Baojun , is indeed somewhat powerless.

"That's right... that's right." Chen Renjie added another sentence tremblingly, and said to Ma Bao: "General, in order to facilitate the distribution of military salaries and ensure that the military salaries are distributed to every brother, we, Lord Lu, also hope that the general can Allow, allow our army to send officials to check the real number of your generals and soldiers, and check whether their identities come from the old Pingxi Palace, please give your permission."

"Haha! The fox tail is finally exposed?!" Guo Zhuangmou laughed loudly, and shouted at Ma Bao happily, "Marshal, did you hear that? Did you hear that? Lu Yifeng's son's fox tail finally appeared , What is checking the real number and identity of the soldiers, it is clear that I want to find out the details and secrets of you, Commander, and find out the situation of your team's garrison, so that we can take the opportunity to attack!"

"No, no." Chen Renjie hurriedly waved his hand again, explaining again and again: "General, our lord never meant that. Our lord also knows that doing so will easily cause your misunderstanding, so our lord ordered again, if the general you If you really don’t want to, then let’s forget about it, just pretend that our prince never said such a thing.”

"I can't forget it! Check it out, check it out. It's great to have the ball?" Of course, the generals of Ma Baojun didn't want to see the money they were about to fly away. They clamored for the Fatty Army to check the actual number of Ma Baojun's soldiers, while thinking about how to catch some more. Strong men come to fill the ranks, and drive them away after cheating them of their salaries.Guo Zhuangmou was sweating profusely, knowing that once Ma Bao agreed to let the Fatty Army check the actual number of his soldiers, even if Ma Bao didn't go with Lu Fatty, the plan to drag Ma Bao into the water and join forces against Lu Fatty would definitely fail.

"Bang!" Ma Bao suddenly slapped the table, frightening all the generals of Ma Bao's army to shut up. Ma Bao shouted again: "What a quarrel? Have you ever seen Yinzi? Shut up the fuck and stand up." ! I will make up my mind!"

All the generals of Ma Baojun resisted and shut up and stood back to their original positions. Only Guo Zhuangmou had the courage to say: "Marshal Ma, this is Lu Yifeng's trick. Please think carefully. Lu Yifeng's condition is for you. Master Xiang will also consider it, and will not let you suffer."

"What conditions did Lu Yifeng make for me?" Ma Bao stared sideways at Guo Zhuangmou, and asked coldly, "Is he here to apologize to me, and he didn't say anything else. Is he planning to use me to beat you? Or is he planning to include you?" Lao Tzu's team?"

Guo Zhuangmou was speechless and retreated honestly, while Ma Bao hesitated for a while, and then pointed to Chen Renjie and asked, "Boy, I have a question, and you have to answer it truthfully——Boy Lu Yifeng has the Great Zhou Taizu Gao in his hand." The emperor's last edict, in terms of reputation, can command Lao Tzu. Why has it been more than a year? Apart from an order for me to prepare to recruit Xia Guoxiang's team, there is no other order? He neither ordered Lao Tzu to send troops to fight anyone, nor Didn't I order Lao Tzu to hand over the military power and hand over the troops and territory to him?"

"This..." Chen Renjie was a little dumbfounded, thinking that I am a courteous officer, and I usually take care of foreign documents, how could I know what the prince is thinking?

I don't know if I don't know, but since Ma Bao asked, Chen Renjie couldn't help but answer, so he could only bite the bullet and pick up nice nonsense: "Back to the general, it's because our lord respects you. Regardless of your age, you are enough to be a The father of our lord; in terms of seniority, you and our lord's father-in-law, General Wu Guogui, are called brothers and brothers, and you are our lord's uncle; in terms of seniority, the general, you joined the army when you were a teenager and fought north and south on the battlefield for 40 years. Ten years. Therefore, although our prince’s official title is higher than yours now, he is embarrassed and can’t bear to give orders to you, ordering you to kill each other with other Zhou troops, and making it difficult for your family in Kunming, old general.”

"Boy Lu Yifeng, do you really think so?" General Ma showed some joy.

"It's absolutely true." Chen Renjie continued to brag brazenly: "General Ma, forgive me for saying something that offends me. In fact, we and the general are both reasonable about the incident in Yingzhou, and you don't even have reason. If it is true We need to do it - our prince is sitting in Yanzhao, with a strong population, monopolizing the south of the Yangtze River, abundant money and food, hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses under his command, and sufficient food and soldiers. Princes such as Geng Jingzhong and Zheng Jing have the courage to confront our prince head-on None of them, and I gave away most of Zhejiang and Hangzhou Tiantang—forgive me for saying something disrespectful, if we really want to do something, we really are not afraid of your team, General Ma."

"In that case." Chen Renjie paused, peeking at Ma Bao's face and said cautiously: "Since we are not afraid of your team, General Ma, on the battlefield, why did our lord send an envoy to Jiujiang to apologize? Is it to give compensation money or take the initiative to pay the army? Apart from respecting you, Old General Ma, our lord does not want to be an enemy of you, Old General Ma, what explanation can we have?"

Ma Bao lowered his head to calculate, and after a long time, Ma Bao raised his head again, pointed at Guo Zhuangmou, and asked Chen Renjie calmly: "Then do you know what this Guo Zhuangmou is doing here? What is his purpose?"

"No..., I don't know." Chen Renjie shook his head and said tremblingly: "Back to the general, if the envoy knows that General Guo Zhuangmou is coming to Jiujiang City and happens to meet with the envoy, then the envoy will not dare to come to Jiujiang City. Because although the envoy doesn't know the purpose of General Guo Zhuangmou's visit, the envoy can also guess that it must have something to do with the incident in Yingzhou."

"It's related to that incident, but not entirely." Ma Bao crossed his arms and said coldly, "He's here to persuade me to join the anti-Lu alliance, and he wants me to come forward to contact Wu Guogui and ask Wu Guogui to stop the civil war with them. Join forces with them, with me, with Geng Jingzhong, Zheng Jing, Shang Zhixin, Wang Pingfan, Wang Pingfan, etc., to deal with you Prince Lu."

"Ah!" Chen Renjie jumped up in shock.Guo Zhuangmou was also scared out of his wits, and shouted: "Marshal, how can you tell Lu Yifeng's emissary? Do you know that your words will kill countless people! This emissary must be killed and cannot be left behind." !"

"Of course I know the consequences of saying this." Ma Bao turned his head and said with a smirk at Guo Zhuangmou: "Not only will I tell Lu Yifeng's emissary, but I will also go to Beijing in person to take your trick as a certificate of honor. Give it to Kid Lu Yifeng!"

"What?" Guo Zhuangmou was so startled that he also jumped up, but Ma Bao threw out a charming look, and immediately several soldiers rushed up and held Guo Zhuangmou down.

"You bastards!" General Ma stood up and shouted at the generals in the hall: "Little bastards, listen to me! Two children, Guo Zhuangtu and Xia Guoxiang, proposed to form an alliance with us to deal with Lu Prince, it sounds nice to say that they are giving money and weapons, but those are all false, let alone whether they can get them, even if they do get them, they still want to push us to the front line, go Desperate with Lord Lu, and die in vain, so that they can hide behind and take advantage of it! Are you willing to give Guo Zhuangtu and Xia Guo considerable cannon fodder?"

"I don't want to!" Ma Bao's army roared in unison.

"Yes, I don't want to! I don't want to either!" Ma Bao roared, "I know exactly what the two bastards Guo Zhuangtu and Xia Guoxiang are thinking! I control Jiujiang and Nanchang. If I join hands with Lu When the prince goes to war, I have to be the first to go all out on the front line, take my life, take the lives of you bastards, to consume the ammunition and troops of Prince Lu! I am not that stupid! More than a dozen injuries, I have long been tired of beating! I don't want to be beaten anymore!"

"I've decided that it's too early to ride the dragon. Lord Lu now has hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses in six provinces, and he also has the imperial edict of Emperor Gao of the great Zhou Dynasty. So good, instead of being cannon fodder for Guo Zhuangtu, Xia Guoxiang, Geng Jingzhong and Monk Zhixin, and letting you bastards be cannon fodder when you are hungry, I would rather take you to join Lord Lu! At least, Lord Lu will not It will make you bastards hungry, and won’t let you tie your head on your trouser belt to rob everywhere! When Prince Lu rules the world in the future, I can get a wife and son, and you can also get a fortune , there is no shortage of food and clothing!"

"You bastards! Would you like to go with me? Go to Lord Lu?!"

"Yes!" All the generals of Ma Bao's army shouted in unison, "Go with the commander and go to Lord Lu! Follow the commander and go to Lord Lu! Follow the commander and go to Lord Lu!"

"Boy Chen!" Ma Bao suddenly pointed at Chen Renjie again, and shouted, "Immediately write back to Lord Lu and ask Lord Lu to send someone to take over my army and territory! And tell him that I want to enter Beijing, to give Kowtow to the imperial edict of Emperor Taizu of the Great Zhou! Tell him to prepare everything for Lao Tzu’s mansion, rewards, land and beauties. I can spare him, but no one else can spare him! Do you understand?"

"I understand, I understand." Chen Renjie, who had been frightened by General Ma's arrogance, nodded repeatedly and agreed again and again, but Chen Renjie suddenly remembered something, and hurriedly said: "Old General, what about your family members? They What should I do? They are still in Yunnan, what if..."

"I've thought about it a long time ago." General Ma had a sly smile on his rough face, pointing at Guo Zhuangmou, who was already terrified, and said with a smirk: "Guo Zhuangtu is just such a younger brother. I caught him in my hands. Are you afraid that Guo Zhuangtu will not obediently return Lao Tzu's family?"

"The old general is brilliant." Chen Renjie had a flattering face, but at the same time he muttered inwardly, "No wonder he hasn't kicked his legs after 40 years on the battlefield. He really is a slippery old man."

"Also." General Ma shouted again: "When Prince Lu sent someone to take over Lao Tzu's army and territory, he asked him to bring some food and grass from Nanjing. Lao Tzu's food and grass can only last for a month or so! Damn it!" If it wasn’t for the fact that there is no food and grass, and you expect to grab a batch of food and grass to survive the spring famine, Wang San, a bastard, would fight you in Yingzhou?!”

PS: Ma Bao’s war-weary mentality is not a fiction of the author. It is recorded in the fifth volume of "Ting Wen Lu". In history, after the old traitor Wu suddenly died of illness, Wu Guogui, who was promoted by the Wu army generals as a handsome man, proposed to give up protecting Yunnan and concentrate his troops eastward to the south of the Yangtze River Or go straight to Beijing, but Ma Bao was the first to object, and put forward a negative proposition of surrendering Yunnan, with a very obvious war-weariness mentality.

(End of this chapter)