Gu Changwei is worthy of being an expert in killing and setting fires. The fire in the south of the city made him right. It was Xu Dahu who deliberately lit all the houses around him in order to ensure that everyone in Huaiyang Tower was burned to death. Xu Dahu's reason was very simple. At that time, the shopkeepers and friends of these shops also saw that they committed murder and were also witnesses. In order to reduce the troubles of the second master, Xu Dahu took his own initiative to expand the ignition area.

Xu Dahu's main focus was on sharing his worries, coupled with the poor fire prevention awareness in the Ming Dynasty and the southeast wind in spring, the people of Fengyang Nancheng were in trouble. In the eighth year of Chongzhen, Li Chuang was already in trouble, and this time, the fire in Nancheng, Fengyang City, which had just recovered its vitality after seven or eight years, was defeated back to its original state.

Fortunately, after Li Chuang's destruction, there was basically nothing in the city. So the fire in Nancheng slowly stopped after burning half of Nancheng. It was just a pity that the bell and drum tower in Nancheng, the only building that could have been preserved for later generations, was also burned by Ma Cheng this time.

The fire stopped slowly at noon the next day. According to data reported by Fengyang County, the fire burned half of the Nancheng, and more than 3,000 families lost their houses. More than 2,000 Fengyang residents died in the fire, and countless property were damaged.

Xu Zhenye, the magistrate of Fengyang who had dreamed of getting rich, was so scared that he sat on the ground after learning that half of Fengyang's southern city had been burned. So many people died and so many houses were burned, and it was still in the imperial capital. Not to mention that he was Xu Hongji's godson, even Xu Hongji's biological father would not be used. He was the blame for this.

Just as the county magistrate Xu was considering his second half of his life, our protagonist, Ma Cheng, was preparing to study hard at home.

In fact, Ma Cheng studied well in his previous life. He was able to reliably focus on the county level from a township junior high school and continue to get into an ordinary university. Ma Cheng still has some experience in exam-oriented education.

So after being confined by Yue Qijie, Ma Cheng made up his mind to prepare for his own advantage and let me come back to see him with admiration. But Ma Cheng thought it was pretty good, and he was stunned when he took the Analects of Confucius.

In his previous life, Ma Cheng couldn't do liberal arts, or he couldn't choose a computer major. However, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Journey to the West can still be understood in the Ming Dynasty novels. So Ma Cheng thought that even if he didn't recognize traditional Chinese characters, he wouldn't be the same as illiterate no matter how he said it!

Ma Cheng was confidently reading out the Analects of Confucius in the dusty book, but when he opened it, he was stunned. If it were all traditional Chinese characters, Ma Cheng would recognize it. Fortunately, most of the traditional Chinese characters are similar to simplified Chinese characters. You may guess what the meaning is based on the context, but the lack of punctuation marks out of context really made him a headache.

Ma Cheng looked at the first sentence of the Analects of Confucius, "The Master said: When you learn, you are not happy, and you are not happy, but you are not worried, but you are not gentleman." Ma Cheng did not recognize any other word except the harmony, let alone read it fluently.

Ma Cheng was originally not familiar with the Analects of Confucius, and most of them were not recognized in traditional Chinese characters, and there was no punctuation. This thin volume of Analects of Confucius Ma Cheng was like reading a book of heaven.

Ma Cheng followed the Analects of Confucius for a long time, but couldn't remember a sentence, so he couldn't pick up a Zengguang Xianwen from his desk. When he opened it, he saw the first sentence: "I used to tell you about the collection of Zengguang, and I saw more and more." It was similar to the Analects of Confucius, but I didn't know what it meant.

Ma Cheng picked up the third book and saw it was a thousand-character text, "The world is mysterious and yellow, and the universe is full of sun and moon, and the sky is full of sun and moon, and the sky is full of sun and moon, and the sky is full of sun and moon, and Ma Cheng knew the first sentence, but Ma Cheng refused to recognize the word sun and moon, and Ma Cheng did not recognize it. There was no pinyin in the Ming Dynasty, so Ma Cheng didn't know what it pronunciation was.

Ma Cheng sighed and flipped through the table. He picked up the most basic three-character classic. He knew it when he saw this. In fact, Ma Cheng understood it. If a Chinese person doesn’t even know the truth about the words “The nature of a person is very good and good, and his habits are different”, then he is really a Chinese.

Ma Cheng knew that the Three Character Classic was the lowest level of enlightenment reading. In the Ming Dynasty, he was five years old, which meant that preschoolers of five years old had to learn the Three Character Classic. Ma Cheng is now eighteen years old and is still reading the Three Character Classic. Ma Cheng himself felt that he could not afford to lose this person.

"It seems that no matter how you have been in the past and future, you are not a material for reading! It seems that the promising profession of the Second Generation Ancestor is suitable for you!" Ma Cheng found a reasonable explanation for himself and threw the book away, preparing to devote himself to the path of the Second Generation Ancestor to the end.

Just when Ma Cheng was completely dead and his mind was studying, the gate of the courtyard rang and Gu Changwei ran in from outside.

"Second Master, Second Master! The news is back!" It turned out that Gu Changwei got Ma Cheng's instructions today and went outside to inquire about the loss of the fire last night.

"Gu San is back, what are the losses outside?"

"Second Master, the loss is huge. The villain asked Xu Dahu. He originally wanted to burn the Huaiyang Tower, but he didn't expect that the southeast wind would blow violently last night, so the fire took advantage of the wind to burn half of the southern city!"

After hearing this, Ma Cheng stood up after burning half of Nancheng Teng, he cursed: "Okay, did you let Xu Dahu just kill someone to silence him? Why did he burn half of Nancheng?"

When Gu Changwei saw Ma Cheng angry, Shi Si Aiai explained: "Second Master, you can't blame Xu Dahu and the others, they are also doing their best for the second master!"

Ma Cheng was furious when he heard this. What? He burned half of Nancheng or was it for the sake of the good of his master?

"Gu San, why did Xu Dahu burn half of Nancheng? He would still have to thank him if he wanted to burn so many people?"

"Second Master, if you just kill the Huaiyang Tower and burn all the Huaiyang Tower, you will definitely suspect that you will be here. So Xu Dahu and the others are taking their own initiative. Since the fire is set, it will be bigger. Anyway, all of them are burned, and Duke Wei is not sure whether it is a fire or someone sets it on fire!"

Ma Cheng heard Gu Changwei say nothing, would he punish his loyal subordinates? Who will follow you from now on? Thinking of this, Ma Cheng had no choice but to abide by Xu Dahu's actions.

Ma Cheng thought for a while and since he agreed to what Xu Dahu did, he would have to reward him! This would make his subordinates more motivated. Thinking of this, Ma Cheng asked, "Gu San, how much money do I have?"

When Gu Changwei heard Ma Cheng ask Yinzi, he said with a bitter face: "Second Master, now you can get eight taels of silver every month, but the Second Master used to be very generous. He rewarded for forty taels yesterday, but now there are less than ten taels of silver left!"

When Ma Cheng heard Gu Changwei say this, his face was full of incredible. How could his legitimate son still lack money? In Ma Cheng's impression, corrupt officials in ancient China were everywhere. Isn't there a saying that it was good? In three years, the Qing magistrate's 100,000 snowflakes. A fourth-rank magistrate could get 100,000 silver. His father was the commander of the second-rank military region. If he didn't get one hundred and eight hundred million, he would be worthy of the word "Governor"?

"Fuck, did you get the kickbacks for my money?" Ma Cheng was born in the countryside and was particularly sensitive to money. Now he heard Gu Changwei say that he was a pauper and was inevitably angry.

Gu Changwei heard Ma Cheng say this and knelt down and explained: "Second Master, the villain has the courage to embezzle Second Master's money! Second Master's monthly fee of eight taels of silver is given by the old lady!"

Gu Changwei looked up at Ma Cheng and continued, "In fact, eight taels of silver are already a lot. A border army only costs less than nine taels a year, and the model soldiers of the Governor's Office are only a dozen taels. Even the master himself, he only has more than one hundred and twenty taels a month!"

Ma Cheng was surprised to hear Gu Changwei say this. Didn’t he perform well in TV series in later generations? He had dozens of taels of silver for meals, and Wei Xiaobao even had millions of silver bills. But the reality is like this. I am a second-rank governor and only had a salary of more than 120 taels per month.

When Ma Cheng saw Gu Changwei swearing to the sky, he knew that Gu Changwei should not dare to lie to him. Ma Cheng asked, "Gu San, how much is your monthly salary?"

"Second Master, the villain is a hereditary hundred households. There are two stones of brown rice delivered by the imperial court every month. In addition to these villains, they are also the second master's Changsu. Eight cents a month are enough for the villain to chew. However, in recent years, the brown rice of the hundred households can only be paid 50% and the monthly payment is always stopped. However, the monthly salary in the mansion can still be paid in full! In addition to the ancestors of these villains who have accumulated more than 20 acres of land for their merits, Guizhou has poor land and no income every year. These items are combined to have an income of forty or fifty taels per year, and the villain's family of seven is counted on this to live."

After hearing Gu Changwei's words, Ma Cheng discovered that although a large amount of silver poured in in the Ming Dynasty, silver still retained its value among the people. Gu Changwei's family had eight people, and it was only fifty taels a year. He was only ninety-six taels a year, which was twice that of Gu Changwei's family.

"Gu San, is forty or fifty taels per year enough for seven people in your family?"

Gu San smiled bitterly and said, "Second Master, of course it's enough when he was in Guiyang, but it's not enough when he arrived in Fengyang. The prices here in Fengyang are too high, so he has to pay money every month. Fortunately, the villain lives in the mansion with the second master for many years, and the villain is exempted from eating and using food alone at home, so that he can maintain it."

"Whoever says anything from your family's eight people? If you have any help!" Gu Changwei can be said to be Ma Cheng's first confidant. He has never been vague about his own people. After all, only if his subordinates live a good life can they work hard for you.

Gu San heard Ma Cheng ask, and quickly replied: "My father died in battle ten years ago to protect the old master of the Gu family. The old mother in the family is alive, and there is a younger brother and a younger sister, a villain and a wife, two sons, a total of seven people! The villain's younger brother is now a worker under Mr. Gu, and his eldest son Gu Zhong became a junior last year. He was promoted by the old lady and was already under the governor's bid as a model soldier, so he also earns some income every month!"

Gu Changwei's eldest son was a personal soldier in the Governor's Office. No wonder Gu Changwei saw Zhang Guozhu like a mouse and saw a cat. So that's it.
Chapter completed!