Ma Xiaoquan nodded: "Yes, it has been decided. This generation of the Beiming family does not have any talents that can be of great use, so Beimingzheng can only place his hopes on the next generation."
Hua Yue said worriedly: "I don't know anything else. What if the child born between you and Mei is a girl?"
"No~" Beiming Shuangxue suddenly walked out, holding Hua Yue's arm with a smile, "Sister Yue'er, how could I give birth to a girl? I will definitely give birth to a son, hehe, don't forget, we
What does the Beiming Family do?"
Hua Yue shook her head and said: "I'm just worried about you. You are dedicated to the Beiming family. Don't neglect the Ma family. You are the Ma family's daughter-in-law after all."
Beiming Shuangxue looked at Ma Xiaoquan, her eyes suddenly revealed guilt, but she had no words, she just lowered her head and hummed softly.
Ma Xiaoquan was so careless that he didn't notice the change in Beiming Shuangxue's expression. He chuckled, put his arms around the two women's shoulders and said, "Okay, I'll deal with the rest later. I'm a little hungry. Get me something to eat."
...
At night, Ma Xiaoquan called everyone in his family together and announced his decision to prepare to go to the front line to defend the border in the coming days.
Everyone was shocked when they heard this, especially Mrs. Ma. She just felt that Ma Xiaoquan had paid too much for the Ma family, and she felt guilty for him and wanted to make up for it, but... unexpectedly...
No more chance...
Ma Xiaoquan looked at Mrs. Ma, stepped forward and held her hand, saying: "Grandma, you can stay at home in Beijing. You are old, so you won't go with me anymore.
Maybe after some time, your grandson will come back, and there will always be someone at home to take care of him..."
Mrs. Ma had a look of reluctance, but she didn't dare to say no, so she could only nodded lightly.
"The rest of the people who have been working in the Ma family, if they want to go with me, they can go with me. If they don't want to, I won't force them to stay in the Ma family. If they want to go out to make a living for themselves, I won't.
stop......"
The servants of the Ma family looked at each other, and the younger ones stood up first: "Fourth Young Master, let's go with you. You go to guard the border. We will go with you. Even if we don't know how to fight, we can cook a meal and burn firewood.
We will still do it..."
Some of the older people also clapped their chests and clamored to follow.
Ma Xiaoquan felt moved in his heart. He bowed deeply to all the servants of the Ma family and said: "Thank you for your support to the Ma family and to me. Well, I appreciate your kindness. My family
Someone has to take care of us here, so we can’t all leave. Besides, there are also old guys who have worked in Ma’s family for decades. I can’t let you follow me to endure hardships, so the old guys won’t go. Young ones,
If you want to go with me, I won't stop you...but you have to wait until your uncle comes back to make a decision."
Uncle Tong is Ma Tong, the great steward of the Ma family. He is still managing the copper mine, but soon, he will receive a letter from Ma Xiaoquan to sell the copper mine and return to the capital to continue managing the Ma family.
As long as the Ma family has Ma with them, there will be no problems in the capital, because as early as when Ma Xiaoquan decided to change hands of the copper mine, he made an agreement with Wei Zhongxian and asked to give Ma the same imperial position.
In view of Ma Tong's previous tragic life experience and the special nature of his body (eunuch), Wei Zhongxian was naturally willing to give Ma Tong a position. Of course, eunuchs cannot directly serve as officials, so Ma Tong's job title is - Sixth Grade of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
Deputy General Manager.
In fact, this rank is not included in the ranks of eunuchs. Usually, even the most powerful eunuch Si Li Bingbi is only from the fifth rank. Of course, the "9990-year-old" Wei Zhongxian is an exception and is not included in the discussion.
Inside.
With Ma Tong having such an identity, if Ma Xiaoquan is not in the capital in the future, no one will dare to bully the Ma family.
...
The next day, Ma Xiaoquan came to the business gathering place and asked the fat businessman who had been his business agent to give him instructions.
When he heard that Ma Xiaoquan had transferred the merchant gathering place to Wei Zhongxian, the fat businessman was so frightened that he knelt down quickly. He thought that his secretly making money was exposed and Ma Xiaoquan was going to punish him.
Ma Xiaoquan laughed, helped the fat businessman up, and said: "I won't hold you accountable for what you have done in the past, but if Wei Zhongxian takes over, he will probably not use you anymore, and I may still hold you accountable for your past things.
..."
The fat businessman said with a mournful face: "My lord, I took the opportunity to make some money. It's really not much. My lord, you see that people are running around for my business. I hope you and Eunuch Wei will..."
Ma Xiaoquan dragged his chin, thought for a while and said: "Otherwise, you can't stay in the capital for the time being. After the New Year, you can find a chance to hide. After I leave the capital, if you want to come back, I
Just don’t care.”
The fat businessman nodded, but said in his heart: The adults are gone, if I come back again, wouldn't I be seeking death?
"Sir, can I go with you?" the fat businessman suddenly asked.
Ma Xiaoquan looked at the fat businessman and said: "I'm here to guard the border. I don't have eyesight in this battle. Your family's treasure may not be lost after a battle..."
The fat businessman gritted his teeth and said, "Sir, I have spent enough money and lived enough... Now I want to find something exciting to do."
Ma Xiaoquan smiled: "Others are looking for stability, but you, a fat man, are looking for exciting things to do. Oh, by the way, who taught you the word 'stimulating'?"
The fat businessman chuckled and said: "When the Vulcan Empress came one time, I, I remembered it..."
"Vulcan Empress...oh, you are Qinghan..."
When he mentioned Li Qinghan, Ma Xiaoquan suddenly felt worried. Li Qinghan suddenly left without saying goodbye without leaving a word or letter. Although Ma Xiaoquan later met Huo Lingshuang and confirmed that Qinghan was safe, Qinghan, what the hell are you doing?
Where...
"Okay, here at the gathering place, you can start settling the accounts now. Well, remember, just don't let me lose money. Not long after the new year, I will change hands to Wei Zhongxian."
"Yes, sir!"
...
In the blink of an eye, it's New Year's Eve, and the flavor of the New Year is already very strong in the capital.
Emperor Qi Zhu Youxiao summoned his ministers to the Zhonggong Palace to make arrangements for the New Year.
Since the emperor is ill, he does not plan to celebrate the New Year this year in a big way, but the customary sacrificial activities in the past will continue as usual.
After the court came down, the ministers began to discuss the matter one after another.
Anyone with a discerning eye knows that the emperor may not be able to recover, so some important ministers began to plan the successor of the next emperor.
According to common sense, when the emperor dies, his legitimate son should succeed to the throne. The legitimate son is the queen's son. Empress Zhang was pregnant with a son before. Unfortunately, when the child was six months old, Wei Zhongxian and Ke Yinyue jointly killed her.
Therefore, Emperor Zhu Youxiao did not have any legitimate sons, but the emperor did have two non- legitimate sons.
Wei Zhongxian's calculation was to wait for the emperor's death and select one of the minor non-legitimate princes, so that he could continue to control the government and serve as regent; but the ministers were not happy, in view of the absurd things done by his predecessor, Wanli Emperor Zhu Yijun
The ministers unanimously felt that similar things could not happen again, so they all clamored and secretly competed to support one of Zhu Youxiao's younger brothers as emperor.
A certain brother? Which brother?
If this matter were normal, the ministers would definitely stand in different queues and support different kings, but the emperor Zhu Youxiao was different first.
What's the difference? To summarize, as of now, Emperor Qi has only one brother left, and that is his fifth brother, King Xin Zhu Youjian.
The emperor's son is old and not the legitimate son, so he cannot succeed to the throne. The emperor is about to die, so there is only one person left who can succeed the emperor, and that can only be King Xin Zhu Youjian.
...
Ma Xiaoquan didn't want to participate in the discussion among these ministers, but someone wanted to drag him into the discussion.
In order to avoid suspicion, Ma Xiaoquan just nodded and said nothing. When he was really pressed, Ma Xiaoquan just pushed the matter away on the grounds that I will be guarding the border in the next year and you guys can handle it yourself.
.
Wei Zhongxian was not idle either. After hearing that Ma Xiaoquan did not express any attitude, Wei Zhongxian finally breathed a sigh of relief. To be honest, although Ma Xiaoquan seemed to be weak in power, in fact his words held great weight.
In the past, some court discussions had qualitative changes several times because Ma Xiaoquan expressed his views.
...
Inside Wei Zhongxian's home.
"Well, Ma Xiaoquan has fulfilled the promise I made with him. Okay, if he doesn't participate in the dispute over the country's foundation, I, Old Wei, will naturally not embarrass him..." Wei Zhongxian sat in his seat and murmured.
.
Li Yongzhen thought for a moment and said, "Master Wei, what if Ma Xiaoquan cheats?"
Wei Zhongxian shook his head: "Although Ma Xiaoquan is deceitful, he doesn't play tricks on this. Some people in the court say that he is a person of King Xin, but in fact, I don't think King Xin cares much about him, and his businessman."
I took over the business at the gathering place after the New Year, and I didn’t see any movement from King Xin, so the person we are most worried about now should not be Ma Xiaoquan, but King Xin.”
Li Yongzhen nodded: "Master Wei is wise, but Master Wei and King Xin have always lived in seclusion, making people unpredictable..."
"Hmph, how long can a baby with a bigger butt be able to jump around?" Wei Zhongxian said disdainfully.
Li Yongzhen sighed secretly and said nothing.
...
When Ma Xiaoquan returned to Ma's house, his heart suddenly felt heavy.
Although Zhu Youxiao is an emperor who has done nothing, he cannot be entirely blamed for all this. After all, he was not trained as a successor at the beginning.
"The Emperor is still too young..." Ma Xiaoquan sighed, raised his head and looked out the window.
The sons of two servants were setting off firecrackers in the courtyard at the moment. The children's laughter was very cheerful and they didn't sound worried at all.
