When Man Gui came back to his senses, Ma Xiaoquan had already left the room. Looking at the tea that had not yet cooled down on the table, Man Gui smiled bitterly and shook his head, murmuring: "People say that Jinyiwei Deacon Ma Xiaoquan is treacherous. What we dealt with today is really...
It’s nothing worse than that, that’s all. There are people on both sides that I can’t afford to offend. I’d better think about what to do, hey.”
...
A few days later, Mangui wrote a letter to the Superintendent Wang Zhichen, saying that I was guarding Shanhaiguan, but I was short of food. If you don't give me food, I won't be able to work here. You can do whatever you want.
Wang Zhichen was also very straightforward, kicking the ball to Yuan Chonghuan, and also wrote a letter, strongly praising Yuan Chonghuan's achievements, and at the same time promised that as long as the food issue is solved well, I, Wang Zhichen, will personally go to Beijing to claim credit for you.
Yuan Chonghuan is even more of a bachelor, and your ministers are shirking their responsibilities, so I might as well write to the emperor and let him resolve it.
Going back and forth, the time was delayed for nearly half a month, but fortunately, the imperial court also paid attention to this matter, so the imperial court agreed to deliver food to various checkpoints in batches.
...
During the past half month, the repair work of Shanhaiguan supervised by Ma Xiaoquan was also carried out in an orderly manner. Although food was scarce, everyone who worked knew that if Shanhaiguan was broken, the future would be even more difficult than now.
On this day, Ma Xiaoquan was inspecting the construction progress on the construction site. Suddenly a soldier ran over and reported something in Ma Xiaoquan's ear. After hearing this, Ma Xiaoquan was shocked.
"What? This happened?" Ma Xiaoquan looked at the soldier in surprise.
"Reply to the deacon, yes"
Ma Xiaoquan breathed a sigh of relief and said calmly: "Okay, I understand, you can go down first."
After the soldiers respectfully retired, Ma Xiaoquan wandered around the construction site for a while, giving off a calm demeanor.
Then, during lunch, Ma Xiaoquan disguised himself quietly and left Shanhaiguan.
...
Shortly after Ma Xiaoquan left, Mangui asked him to ask for something, but he couldn't see anyone. After asking around, he found out that the deacon had suddenly left Shanhaiguan because of something.
The repair work was still in progress, and Ma Xiaoquan left suddenly without saying hello. Man Gui suddenly became suspicious.
It's not that Mangui thought Ma Xiaoquan would surrender to the enemy, but that if he left so suddenly, something important was about to happen?
The more Man Gui thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. Since his official position was not as high as that of Ma Xiaoquan, he informed the internal supervisor of Shanhaiguan about the matter.
Liu Yingkun, the head of the internal prison, was a little surprised when he heard that Ma Xiaoquan suddenly left Shanhaiguan. However, he took advantage of others, and as the saying goes, he is short-handed, so he only comforted Man Gui symbolically and stopped interfering.
In Liu Yingkun's view, Ma Xiaoquan's sudden departure may be due to his status as a deacon of the Jin Yiwei. After all, when he was in the capital, there were often precedents of Jin Yiwei being suddenly sent out to perform secret missions.
Although Man Gui also knew this, he was not clear about it.
...
At a certain place, Ma Xiaoquan, who had been running around for most of the day, stopped his horse and asked the horse to find water by itself. He also ate a few mouthfuls of dry food and stood quietly without moving.
"Captain is here very early..." a female voice came over.
Ma Xiaoquan looked up and said with a smile: "After such a long time, I didn't expect you all to be here."
In front of Ma Xiaoquan, stood nine women. They were members of Ma Xiaoquan's previous "Victory Eleven". They were the members of Ma Xiaoquan who asked them to disperse first in order to protect them.
"You are so brave that you asked a soldier to pass a message to me. Aren't you afraid that the soldier will spill the beans?"
Zhang Chunhua, the youngest among the team members, walked out and said with a smile: "That soldier is a relative of my family, hehe."
"I'll go, right?" Ma Xiaoquan smiled and shook his head.
"Yes, yes," Zhang Chunhua said seriously, "Captain, don't forget, our family specializes in this."
Ma Xiaoquan scratched his head and said: "To put it bluntly, your family's business is really speechless, haha, but that's fine, as long as you make money."
Miao Xiaomiao said: "Captain, since we are all here, what should we do?"
"Well, you haven't gone to Ningyuan yet, right? All the Ma family's family members are in Ningyuan. You can go there to find Hua Yue, and she will settle you down."
"Is the captain going to leave Ningyuan?"
Ma Xiaoquan nodded: "Yes, but the time is not yet ripe. I already know the route."
"Then where are we going?" Haoyue interrupted and asked.
Ma Xiaoquan shook his head: "I don't know either, but I always have a feeling in the dark that I must go there. I just don't know if you are willing to go with me?"
The nine women looked at each other, and Miao Xiaomiao said: "Captain, we abandoned everything to follow you, you can't leave us alone."
Ma Xiaoquan was a little moved: "You are all in your prime, and you all follow me. I feel guilty."
Jiaojiao, who had always been quiet, suddenly said: "Our family doesn't need us to put in much effort. We are women. People in the family say that women don't have to struggle, but we don't think so, so we follow the captain.
....."
Ma Xiaoquan sighed, remembering that when he asked them to do things with him in the past, there was a certain degree of deception and randomness. At that time, Ma Xiaoquan did not think about what big things the "Victorious Eleven" would do, but now it seems that,
These women have basically been brainwashed by him. They don't say anything, but they must be determined to start a career with him...
"Well," Ma Xiaoquan dragged his chin and asked, "I'll ask you one last time, don't you regret following me? It might cost you your lives."
Several team members shook their heads and said: "We already have children and men. We have done everything that women should do in this life, but we did it for others, not just for us. Now we are determined
Following the captain, we just want to do what we want..."
"Okay, I see that you are all determined, so I won't say any more. Well, would you like to meet Ning Yuan, Hua Yue and the others first, or follow me to Shanhaiguan?"
Miao Xiaomiao said: "In this way, we will split into two groups. One group will go to Shanhaiguan with the captain, and the other group will go to Ningyuan first."
Since Li Qinghan left, Miao Xiaomiao has been the vice-captain. When she suggested it, the team members had no objection.
"Okay, then which one of you will go to Shanhaiguan with me?"
Hazy Moon was the first to stand up: "The captain and I will go."
Shui Ling'er then followed: "I'll go too."
Jiaojiao and Zhang Chunhua looked at each other, and the two women stepped forward together.
"I have relatives in Shanhaiguan. It just so happens that I go there, so I can find out some information." Zhang Chunhua said.
Jiaojiao said: "I am the fastest at writing. Captain, what should you need to register?"
Ma Xiaoquan nodded: "Well, if you need that job, just the four of you will follow me. The rest of you will go back to Ningyuan first. By the way, you all look beautiful. If you follow me back, I'm afraid Shanhaiguan will be boiling."
...
At noon the next day, Ma Xiaoquan led four female team members back to Shanhaiguan.
Since Ma Xiaoquan was not present to supervise, Mangui had no choice but to go into battle himself, both to train the soldiers and to supervise the repair work.
Seeing Ma Xiaoquan and the four women around him from a distance, Mangui cursed in a low voice: "What the hell did I think you were doing? I went out to meet women for a long time, and you still brought me with you."
Back."
After all, when seeing Ma Xiaoquan, Mangui was still polite and said hello.
"Ah, the deacon is not here, so he went to find a woman?" Mangui said in a strange tone.
Ma Xiaoquan chuckled and introduced Mangui to the four women behind him: "This is General Polu, Mangui."
The four women stepped forward together, and their soft voices sounded together: "I have met General Man."
Hearing the women's greetings, most of the resentment in Mangui's heart disappeared. He raised his eyebrows and looked at the four women. He was surprised to find that these women all had good looks. Although they were not beautiful, they were also handsome.
People.
"Master Deacon, are these four your women?"
Ma Xiaoquan nodded: "So... right..."
Mangui said with envy and jealousy: "It is said that there are three thousand beauties in the emperor's harem, but compared with Lord Deacon, why do I think Lord Deacon has the upper hand?"
"No, no, didn't General Man say that the emperor has three thousand beauties in his harem? I only have a few."
"A few of them, these few are not inferior to the beautiful ladies in the harem in terms of appearance and figure, right?" Mangui joked.
Ma Xiaoquan chuckled and changed the subject: "I'm not here right now, so I'd like to thank General Man for his supervision."
Mangui was also a cheerful person and waved his hand: "If you really want to thank me, just have a drink with me. We won't come back until we get drunk."
"good"
Mangui added: "Since they are all your women, let's call them too."
Ma Xiaoquan said: "I heard that General Man has many wives and concubines. Why don't we invite the general too, and we two families can have a meal and drink together."
"Yeah that's fine"
...
While Ma Xiaoquan was busy repairing Shanhaiguan Pass, Huang Taiji outside the Pass was also busy training soldiers.
Just like the problems encountered inside the pass, there is also a shortage of food outside the pass, and it is even more scarce than inside the pass.
Tan Ma inquired about the news and said that grain must be transported to the pass to solve the problem. Huang Taiji immediately ordered that when the time is right, we will go to the pass to grab grain.
There is no way, the apprentices outside the customs are poor and cannot grow food at all. Not only food, but also general daily necessities, the Jurchens cannot do it.
When the two sides were relatively peaceful before, there was often some trade exchanges, but since the war between the two sides has become tense, the number of caravans is obviously much smaller than before, and prices have continued to rise.
Sometimes when Huang Taiji wants to drink a cup of tea, he has to think carefully to avoid drinking it today and not having it tomorrow.