The Ming Dynasty: My sister, Empress Ma

Qutang Pass was breached.

Tang and others began to take stock of the battle damage.

Although the battle was won decisively, there were still some losses.

Li Jingzhi's death in battle left Ma Wenyuan with no chance to settle scores later.

Ma Wenyuan felt somewhat regretful.

Yang Hao also died.

He died from a stray arrow; he could not be cured.

Ma Wenyuan's body was never found; it was said he had fallen into the river.

Yang Jing did send someone to retrieve it, but they failed.

Regarding this matter, Chen Jingming could only express his regret and say that life is unpredictable.

Regardless of the circumstances, they ultimately won the battle.

The day after Qutang Pass was breached, Liao Yongzhong personally led his naval forces toward Chongqing.

Ma Wenyuan was among them. Now that Li Jingzhi was dead, his soldiers were assigned to Ma Wenyuan's command by Tang He.

Ma Wenyuan's forces jumped from 6,000 to over 10,000.

He had truly entered the inner circle, rising from a low-ranking officer to a general of Yang Jing's caliber.

Three days after the pass was breached, Kuizhou fell.

On that day, the naval forces were divided again.

Ma Wenyuan led over 10,000 naval troops along the river, Liao Yongzhong followed closely behind to clean up the mess, and Tang He led the army by land.

However, Ma Wenyuan did not have time to accept the surrender, but handed it all over to the troops behind him.

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The sixth day after breaking through the barrier.

Ma Wenyuan arrived at Tongluoxia.

Tang He's army arrived on the same day and met with Ma Wenyuan at Chaotianmen for the imperial examination.

Xia ruler Ming Sheng surrendered outside the city, bound and holding a jade disc in his mouth, presenting a memorial requesting surrender.

Tang He and Ma Wenyuan accepted the surrender.

With this, the Ming Xia regime fell.

It is worth mentioning that, because Tang He did not remain inactive as historically expected, his advance is now even faster than that of Fu Youde, who besieged Chengdu.

Ten days after breaking through the pass, Chengdu surrendered, and Fu Youde captured Chengdu.

A month later.

Zhu Yuanzhang's imperial edict arrived, and Ma Wenyuan was no longer the acting commander.

After capturing Qutang Pass, thanks to Liao Yongzhong's deliberate concession, Ma Wenyuan's contribution was no less than Tang He's.

Therefore, Ma Wenyuan was appointed as the Right Commander-in-Chief of the Grand General's Office, concurrently serving as the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Guard, and was also granted the titles of General Who Protects the Nation and Pillar of the State.

He rose from a sixth-rank centurion to a first-rank Right Vice-General.

Tang He and the others were quite envious, but no one said anything.

He's the emperor's brother-in-law, so it's a good thing he wasn't directly given an official position.

In another month, Ma Wenyuan led his troops to support Fu Youde and captured Baoning.

With this, the entire territory of Shu was recovered.

The two armies returned to the capital in triumph.

The only thing that Ma Wenyuan felt somewhat regretful about was not seeing Li Bao'er.

Ma Wenyuan left Chongqing, and Li Baoer came to Chongqing.

Ma Wenyuan returned to Chongqing, and Li Wenzhong went to Baoning to appease the people.

They never had the chance to see him until they returned to the capital in triumph.

……

Fall.

The army arrived at Dongting Lake.

The emperor's brother-in-law felt extremely sorry for the people in this area who were to be harassed by river bandits.

Therefore, at the urging of local officials, Ma Wenyuan ordered Meng Chong and He Tao to each lead three thousand soldiers to begin suppressing bandits along the edge of Dongting Lake.

Anyone who has committed a crime, no matter how minor, will be killed.

Ma Wenyuan would only let someone go if they joined the bandits and remained law-abiding.

It's quite obvious, however, that such a person doesn't exist.

For a time, Dongting Lake was teeming with people. Not to mention the river bandits, even merchant caravans dared not enter the Dongting Lake area.

Finally, Li Wenzhong sent a letter, which made Ma Wenyuan stop and set off again to respond to Tianfu.

Li Wenzhong said that Heaven has a benevolent nature towards life.

……

White Dew.

The army arrived outside Yingtian Prefecture.

Tang He issued the proclamation during the march, so there are no complicated procedures now.

All they had to do was wait outside the city for the imperial court to arrange their entry.

The imperial edict was issued the next day.

Zhu Yuanzhang personally presided over the ceremony of presenting the captives, with Tang He and Fu Youde escorting Ming Sheng to the position of presenting the captives.

Of course, Ming Sheng will not be subjected to any extreme punishment.

Instead, he was pardoned by Zhu Yuanzhang and granted the title of Marquis of Guiyi.

Emperors of such regimes are usually pardoned, with virtually no exceptions.

After all, they needed to appease the people and officials who were originally under their jurisdiction.

Then came the rewarding of those who had contributed.

In this battle, Tang and Fu Youde deserve the greatest credit.

Tang He was granted the title of Duke of Xin, and he and Fu Youde each received 250 taels of silver and 20 pieces of colored silk.

Ma Wenyuan, Yang Jing, Liao Yongzhong, and others were in the second tier.

Ma Wenyuan was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Anshu, a hereditary title with a fief of 1,500 households.

But that's not important; the Ming Dynasty was a mere facade.

What's truly important is the stipend, or salary. Ma Wenyuan can now earn 1,500 shi of grain a year without doing anything.

As for the others... they were already marquises, so they only received a small amount of gold and silver as rewards.

Zeng Qing was granted the hereditary title of centurion.

Logically speaking, as Ma Wenyuan's student, he should have been a commander of a thousand, but due to his young age, he was not able to command the troops and was therefore only a commander of a hundred.

The gold and silver rewards were all given without fail.

Meng Chong and He Tao did not have the same restrictions as Zeng Qing, since both of them were considered Ma Wenyuan's confidants.

Both of them were appointed as commanders of a thousand-household army, which was quite valuable.

They instantly became highly sought-after figures.

As for Lin Ye, he only received some gold and silver rewards and did not return to Yi Luan Si. He is still at the Ma residence... now he should be called the steward of the Marquis of An Shu's mansion.

……

Only after the merits have been assessed and rewards have been distributed can the battle officially end.

Everyone can go back to their own home and find their own mother now.

Zeng Qing's trip can be considered a triumphant return to his hometown. He returned to Qingxi Lane dressed in the attire of a centurion, clearly intending to bring honor to his grandmother.

Ma Wenyuan originally wanted to go with him, since the old lady had helped him a lot before.

He received a summons from Zhu De, but didn't go.

……

It was said that Emperor Zhu summoned him, but in reality, Empress Ma missed Ma Wenyuan.

"Your subject pays respects to Your Highness."

Led by a eunuch, Ma Wenyuan arrived at Empress Ma's palace.

Empress Ma was overjoyed to see her younger brother, who had returned safely in a red robe.

Before Ma Wenyuan could even bow, he was already standing in front of him.

"It's good that you're back, it's good that you're back." Ma Xiuying looked at her younger brother, who had gotten even darker and looked even more radiant, and couldn't help but feel relieved.

Ma Xiuying naturally placed her hand on Ma Wenyuan's arm, trying to entice him.

The moment the touch was made to his arm, Ma Wenyuan abruptly pulled back.

It's not because of any difference between men and women.

Ma Xiuying immediately understood, and the relief that had just been on her face vanished, replaced by worry.

Before Ma Wenyuan could explain, Ma Xiuying grabbed his hand.

After rolling up his sleeves, several obvious knife scars could be seen on Ma Wenyuan's not particularly thick arms.

Ma Xiuying panicked and immediately stripped Ma Wenyuan of his red robe, only to find several knife wounds on his chest.

"What happened?" Ma Xiuying's expression changed. "Didn't your brother-in-law appoint you as governor? How did you get injured?"

Seeing the tears welling up in Ma Xiuying's eyes, Ma Wenyuan was at a loss for what to do.

After a long pause, Ma Wenyuan finally smiled and said, "Since being appointed Right Vice Commander-in-Chief, I haven't really been on the battlefield much, except for the long stalemate when we were attacking Baoning..."