Summary of the previous chapter: Ma Xiaoquan plans the rise of the Ma family, and must first engage in real estate...
It will be the twentieth day of the first month of the second year of Qi tomorrow, yi622 AD.
Ma Xiaoquan went to the palace early in the morning and walked to the gate of the Forbidden City when he was stopped by a guard.
Ma Xiaoquan was a little angry, raised his head and shouted: "You are so presumptuous, do you know who I am?"
A guard said expressionlessly: "I don't know, and I don't want to know!"
Ma Xiaoquan grabbed the guard and said, "Believe it or not, I will kill you now?"
The guard snorted coldly and said, "Kill or scratch whatever you want!"
"Hey" Ma Xiaoquan smiled, released his hand and nodded, "Not bad, not bad. If the Ming Dynasty had more people like you, it wouldn't be like this... Let me show you this." Ma Xiaoquan said, pulling his waist
He took out the small token hanging in the room and threw it to the guard.
The guard took the small token, looked through it for a while, and then respectfully said: "Master Ma, please!"
Ma Xiaoquan nodded, passed by the guard, suddenly stopped and said, "What's your name?"
"My name is Yang Dong!"
"Yang Dong, um, okay, I've written it down."
...
After passing the gate, Ma Xiaoquan went straight to the Yangxin Hall.
When I arrived at the gate of Yangxin Hall, I happened to meet Wei Jinzhong.
Ma Xiaoquan grabbed Wei Jinzhong and said politely: "Eunuch Wei, where are you going?"
Wei Jinzhong straightened his clothes and snorted: "Don't worry about me."
"Eh? Eunuch Wei, why are you so cold to me? I haven't messed with you recently, have I?"
Wei Jinzhong said: "You didn't mess with me, but I don't want to care about you."
Ma Xiaoquan released his hand and scratched his head, then made a helpless gesture and let Wei Jinzhong leave.
Looking at Wei Jinzhong's retreating figure, Ma Xiaoquan said to himself: "The old guy is here so early."
After walking into the Yangxin Hall and going around a few corners, Ma Xiaoquan saw the Emperor of Tianqi, Zhu Youxiao.
Zhu Youxiao also got up early today. After breakfast, he began his carpentry research.
At this moment, Zhu Youjian was concentrating on drawing a carpentry design, while Ma Xiaoquan quietly stood aside, waiting quietly without saying a word.
Half an hour later, Zhu Youxiao raised his head, breathed a long sigh of relief, and then noticed Ma Xiaoquan.
"Hey, Ma Aiqing, when did you come?"
Ma Xiaoquan said respectfully: "Half an hour ago, I saw that the emperor was drawing a picture, so I didn't dare to disturb him, so I waited a little longer." Ma Xiaoquan said, came forward, looked at the picture drawn by Zhu Youxiao, and admired it.
He said, "Your Majesty is truly a genius. This carpentry drawing is comparable to an artist's artistic drawing."
Everyone likes to hear good things. When Zhu Youxiao heard Ma Xiaoquan praise his drawings, he was happy and said: "That's natural... By the way, Ma Aiqing, last year you went out to find the Mohist classics on mechanism techniques for me.
, is there any result?"
Ma Xiaoquan nodded: "The report to the Emperor has yielded results, but it was intercepted and killed on the way and lost again..."
"What, lost it?" Zhu Youxiao didn't seem to care much about Ma Xiaoquan's lies. In fact, he didn't see that Ma Xiaoquan was lying. "Well, if it's lost, just throw it away."
Ma Xiaoquan said: "Your Majesty, you can actually create a woodworking classic that is more powerful than the Mohist school."
"Oh, how do you say this?"
Ma Xiaoquan borrowed the donkey from the slope and said: "Your Majesty, the training ground of the Central Army of our Ming Dynasty needs to be renovated recently. There happens to be a lot of military equipment that needs to be replaced. Wei Chen believes that with the emperor's talent and strategy, we can design and manufacture a training ground suitable for our Ming Dynasty.
There must be no problem with the ordnance and equipment for the soldiers’ training.”
"Trained... ordnance..." Zhu Youxiao said to himself, seeming to hesitate.
Ma Xiaoquan struck while the iron was hot: "Yes, Your Majesty, think about it, the soldiers will be more confident if they use the ordnance designed and manufactured by you, whether it is wooden or metal. Our Ming Dynasty will never fall!"
Ma Xiaoquan was just talking nonsense. With the current national strength of the Ming Dynasty, even if foreigners did not invade it, it would not last long. However, Zhu Youxiao did not care about the government affairs at all and had no knowledge of outside information.
Ma Xiaoquan continued to forge: "Your Majesty, I have one more thing to do. After you develop weapons and equipment, you should need a new venue for training. Well, so I thought, please ask the emperor to issue an imperial edict and appoint me to do our work in Beijing.
Renovation work on the training ground outside.”
How could Zhu Youxiao have understood Ma Xiaoquan's deception? He nodded and said, "Well, Ma Aiqing is dedicated to the country. I am very happy. I will do it now!"
Ma Xiaoquan's eyebrows rose with joy and he swallowed hard.
At this critical moment, Wei Jinzhong suddenly came in.
When Wei Jinzhong saw what the emperor was holding a pen to write, he quickly stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, what do you want to do?"
Zhu Youxiao raised his head: "Oh, it's Jin Zhong. You came just in time. Call me Eunuch Bingbi. I want to issue an imperial edict."
Wei Jinzhong glanced at Ma Xiaoquan and asked, "Your Majesty, what imperial edict do you want to issue?"
"Well, it's like this. Ma Aiqing suggested that I design and manufacture military equipment for the Ming Dynasty soldiers. It just so happened that the training ground of the Central Army was no longer available, so I thought about letting Ma Aiqing be responsible for renovating it."
Wei Jinzhong was shocked when he heard this: "Your Majesty, you absolutely must not do this."
Ma Xiaoquan cursed secretly in his heart and stepped forward: "Eunuch Wei, what do you mean by this? Do you, the eunuch, want to monopolize power?"
"You!" Wei Jinzhong gritted his teeth in anger.
Ma Xiaoquan said to Zhu Youxiao: "Your Majesty, we cannot delay matters at the training ground, otherwise your enthusiasm will be in vain."
Wei Jinzhong said: "Your Majesty, you must not do it. The Ministry of Industry is responsible for the renovation of the training ground, and Lu Zhan from the Ministry of Punishment has always been responsible for them. If Ma Xiaoquan interferes, wouldn't it be a mess?
"
"Lu Zhan from the Ministry of Industry... from the Ministry of Punishment?" Zhu Youxiao thought for a while, nodded and said to Ma Xiaoquan, "Ma Aiqing, what Jinzhong said is right, it seems that this matter should be done by the Ministry of Industry.
Well, there’s also Lu Zhan.”
Ma Xiaoquan was extremely furious. Wei Jinzhong, that idiot, had come early and late but now, disrupting his plan.
Wei Jinzhong sneered in his heart and said to Ma Xiaoquan, you brat wants to get involved in the training ground project, huh, I, Wei Jinzhong, must take over the training ground project.
...
Now that the emperor had spoken, Ma Xiaoquan and Wei Jinzhong could say no more. After a while, the Minister of Industry came.
Zhu Youxiao asked the Minister of the Ministry of Industry: "The training ground needs to be renovated. How are you preparing for this job? I heard that Lu Zhan from the Ministry of Punishment is also involved?"