Dao Taiping, there are always endless battles to be fought, and now you can become a captain if you kill a hundred or so barbarians from the Northern Mang. Otherwise, I won the title with great difficulty, but tomorrow it will be someone else's military merit, so once again, when that young man ran to the Yamen in disgrace again, asking for soldiers and horses and food and grass from us military masters, no one was willing to talk to him, I always felt that You won’t be able to earn back your original capital. The tiger talisman that the Ministry of War can get is actually only a dozen or so yuan, otherwise you will have to use the shady private army. Who will you give it to? Why give you a precarious young man? "
"If I remember correctly, it was raining that day, and that young man from Jinzhou, who had the title of captain at that time, was standing in the courtyard of the heavy rain, with a box of silver under his feet, and his waist was straight. Asking for help. Just that little money? Will the Ministry of War send you seven or eight hundred troops? Although we all know that this person is not greedy for money, as long as he wins a battle, no matter how many people he dies, the first thing he will do is to take money and give it to him. To the Lord of the Ministry of War, but it should never be wrong. When this guy was defeated in the last battle, he killed a junior who was sent by the Lang of the Ministry of War to his army for military exploits. So, no one is willing to pay attention to him. See Who dares to support such a person with all his strength because he always rushes to the forefront every time he fights? If he knows how to fight, he will not be an official. He might die that day. OK."
"However, I was in a good mood that day, because the military officer always liked to fight against me because of his old qualifications. My idea was very simple. I was disgusted by the military officer, so I went to that young man who had never dealt with him directly before. In front of him, I promised to give him a soldier."
Hearing this, Ma Wenhou asked curiously: "Did you win a big victory soon?"
The old man smiled and shook his head and said: "I won, and I won three games in a row, but the young man ran out of soldiers and horses again. Of course, I must have earned back my capital. At that time, human life was the least valuable thing." Things, but once young and strong put on armor and pick up knives and guns, they can still be counted according to the head. The old foundation of the Ma family was accumulated bit by bit at that time. Many generals who originally ruled one side were also At that time, little by little, the family was wiped out."
Ma Wenhou was speechless.
Most of the young people of their generation didn't like to listen to the old people's nagging about the Spring and Autumn Wars, and their ears got calloused when they were young, and Ma Wenhou was no exception.
The old man said with emotion: "The Jinzhou captain who needed to see your grandfather's mood and face at that time, you must have guessed it a long time ago, it was Xu Xiao. Later Liyang Rentu, the last Beiliang King."
Ma Wenhou nodded slightly.
The old man has never mentioned this old story to anyone.
"There is an old saying that if you do unrighteous deeds, you will die. It is not entirely true. In any case, Xu Xiao was able to die of old age with injuries and illnesses. It is probably God's reward for his righteous words. But 'Being unkind, I believe in it, grandpa. The Xu family is another good example. Xu Xiao killed so many people. Look at his sons and daughters. Who is blessed? The eldest daughter died very early, and the second The daughter is paralyzed in a wheelchair, and the youngest son is an idiot. As for the eldest son... this young man, I don't think these years have been happy. In fact, that's what happened on the bright side. People, it's very strange, the poor think Rich people must have a good life, but Shengdou people feel that the big men who hold power must do whatever they want. Half of them are right and half are wrong. It is a very simple score. Ordinary people are kicked on the street for no reason. , this threshold has been crossed, but what about you, Ma Wenhou? If you slap Yin Maochun's son or Gu Jiantang's son, will you forget this thorn tomorrow or next year? No, this way Compared with the poor who lost more than a dozen taels of silver, it is almost the same."
Ma Wenhou whispered: "Yin Changgeng and Lao Gu's son dare to slap me? I won't break their three legs?"
Ma Zhongxian glared at each other, "How old is he, do you know the severity?! Stand at thirty and stand at thirty, what a fart you kid!"
The old man waved his hand and signaled Ma Zhongxian not to get angry, "Zhongxian, don't look at your son's mouth full of clues. In fact, Yan'er is bad. Don't think that it is wrong to teach Yin and Gu's descendants. Is there a mistake? No. , as long as the method is right, it is actually a good thing. In this point of understanding, you Ma Zhongxian is far behind your son."
Ma Zhongxian hummed, although this General Anton was known to be rebellious and rebellious in the official circles of the capital, he was extremely filial and obedient to Ma Lulang's words, and never felt that his wings were hardened or that Ma Lulang was confused .
The skinny old man smiled happily, stretched out his hand tremblingly, and gently squeezed his son's shoulder, "You are better than me. You have really fought in battles, made great achievements in battle, and have a simple temper, which is a great thing." , the most suitable for conservative, especially at the feet of the emperor, smart people make mistakes, and pretending to be smart is even death. You have picked up the burden of the Ma family."
The old man turned his head and stared at Ma Wenhou, who had been doing nothing for more than ten years, "It is the responsibility of the generations of grandpa and your great-grandfather to conquer the country, and it is your father's burden to keep the family business. Then the family's rejuvenation or improvement, it should be done. now you."
Ma Wenhou closed his mouth tightly and did not speak.
Seeing his son's sickly virtue, Ma Zhongxian immediately felt an unknown fire, and when he was about to lose his temper, he gave the old man a stare and immediately fell silent.
The old man said softly: "Wen Hou, as for me, grandpa, your father is the only son, but there are four grandsons, and two granddaughters. These years, your three younger brothers have been busy fighting for favor and power, but you are the only one who carefully protects you." It’s good to look at your two younger sisters. Those three are worthless, they have no real skills, but they are quite capable of being jealous. They are more women than women. Give them the family business, and it will take a generation to die , Jinshan Yinshan can also be wiped out."
The old man emphasized his tone and repeated: "You are fine!"
Ma Zhongxian froze on the spot.
The old man curled his lips and sneered, "There are two kinds of people in the world that you can't deal with. One is the perfect person who is almost a sage, such as Bi Yaner. No matter what you do, it is difficult to have personal friendship and benefits with him. A person with a bottom line is not afraid of a person whose bottom line is low. After all, you know who that person is, and you can avoid disaster and seek profit after all if you are careful. Only a person without a bottom line, you don't know that he will bring you a "surprise" one day. Kind of people, like Zhao Youling, the former heavenly official, and Jin Lanting, the current left servant of the Ministry of Rites. If you have a deep friendship with them, sooner or later they will sell them all. If you are wronged, they are still proud. Needing to cling to high branches is a different matter. It would be nice to be able to fall into their eyes. However, although the Ma family is not considered the leading wealthy family in Tai'an City, it is still barely in the top ten, so you can ignore these people. Don't get close to anyone of that kind."
Having said that, the old man gave a piece of advice to his son and grandson respectively.
"Zhongxian, don't think about making great military exploits all day long, especially don't think about going to Guangling Road to join in the fun. Remember, the king of a country often wants someone to die. It is not necessarily his own wish. The first emperor really didn't want to be able to fight Zhang Julu, Yan Zhenchun, and the others will go down in the annals of history together? When the time comes, the emperor wants you to die. As a courtier, who can you turn to for reasoning? Therefore, you must not have great honors in the country, but you must have small favors in the king. Remember, remember !"
"Wen Hou, here is a word for you, Tantan Weng said to me in the early years: the depth of the water makes the flow slow, and the richness of the people makes the speech slow. You, stop talking about those bold words, 'I don't hate that I don't see the ancients, I only hate the ancients Don't see me', 'When you are born, you should be enshrined as a marquis, and when you die, you should enter the temple to accompany the sacrifice'. It sounds quite relieved. In fact, compared with Tan Tanweng's words, the way is more than a dozen streets away. Some words, put them in the stomach That’s good, you can’t say it out loud. A man’s ambitions are no more obvious than a woman’s a few months after she’s conceived.”
Ma Wenhou laughed and said: "Now I don't like to talk about these things anymore. Didn't I think that if one day I really become famous in the future, and future generations write history books, I can use them directly."
The old man laughed and scolded: "You son of a bitch!"
Ma Zhongxian was a little innocent, and said depressedly: "Father, why did you scold me too?"
The old man managed to squeeze out a smiling face, stretched out his hand again, and touched Ma Zhongxian's head, "You are also a bastard. Well, all three are scolded."
Ma Zhongxian smiled, but there were already tears in the eyes of this rough man.
Ma Wenhou always held his grandfather's arm with one hand and stopped the old man's back with the other.
At this time, a senior priest of the Ma family appeared at the door, his voice trembling uncontrollably, and he said slowly: "Xu Fengnian has killed more than 30 immortals at the gate of the Qin Tianjian. One thousand taels The Hundred Heavy Cavalry has not entered the battlefield yet."
Ma Lulang, General of Zhengbei, looked a little dazed.
Then the old man suddenly said sharply: "Zhongxian, hurry up and enter the palace to face the saint, even if you kneel and break your knees, you must stop His Majesty from using that heavy cavalry army!"
Ma Zhongxian stood up suddenly subconsciously, but when he realized that the old man's life was not long, he hesitated.
The old man scolded angrily: "Idiot, I am going to use the face of the whole Ma family to serve as a ladder for His Majesty to walk down from a high place! Next, His Majesty will appoint anyone to be the commander of the heavy cavalry army, anyone can, except You Ma Zhongxian can't do it! Only in this way can Wen Hou hope to enter the center as quickly as possible."
Ma Zhongxian wiped his eyes vigorously, then turned and left with big strides.
Ma Lulang gasped violently, and Ma Wenhou patted the old man's back gently.
The old man smiled wryly: "Let me lie down, I can't hold on anymore, and there's no need to hold on."
Ma Wenhou carefully let the old man lie down.
The old man held the hand of the eldest grandson, and said with a soft smile: "It is rare to live in seventies, and grandpa is already in his eighties. Why are you so sad?"
Ma Wenhou squeezed out a smile and said with a sob: "It's not that I dislike my father for being stupid. Even if he swears, he can't make sense of it. Grandpa has great wisdom. Even if he doesn't swear, I can still listen to it."
The old man lay there quietly, already in a bleak situation where his intake of air was less than his output.
The old man calmly said: "Wen Hou, at seventy, do what you want and do not exceed the rules. This statement is very interesting. Grandpa really believed it after he was seventy. If you don't believe it, then you must live to this age. You My heart is not quiet enough, I need to read more, and when the night is quiet, I can sit on the eight steps."
Ma Wenhou grabbed the old man's hand and nodded vigorously.
Ma Lulang slowly closed his eyes, "I was born earlier than you, Xu Xiao, and died later than you, Xu Xiao. I finally won a game against you."
When the old man finished the last sentence, he finally passed away forever.
"Now I, damn it."