When Ma Mingyuan saw that the matter was exposed, his eyes were circling, thinking about how to get out.

"Your Highness, the minister is wrong, but I am just doing this for the prince!"

Zhu Hongsan was almost so upset, but still for me?

"Okay, let Master Ma tell me why it is for me!"

At this time, Ma Mingyuan, the sarcastic words in Zhu Hongsan's words, quickly said: "I saw that the King of Chu was worried that the local gentry in Guangdong would not cooperate every day, and the ministers were also very anxious. Then I thought that I could win over them with the provincial examination, so I used the opportunity of the literary association to win over several small families, promised them to be famous and famous, and let them come out to be officials. I am all for Your Highness!"

"I want to thank you so?"

Ma Mingyuan said he didn't dare!

"I wonder what Ma Ge Lao is doing to win people's hearts? Is it not for me to be Emperor Xian of Han or King Chenliu? I wonder if Ma Ge Lao has decided to have a national name, and is the new dynasty called Wei or Jin?"

Zhu Hongsan's words were very heavy, and Ma Mingyuan could no longer bear it. He knelt on the ground and said he didn't dare to say anything!

Tong Yangjia, who was very relieved to see this opportunity, did not step on a hundred feet and Ma Ming would never turn over again!

"Your Highness, Lord Ma may have a last resort. My subordinates want to ask the Lord Ma to bypass Lord Ma for the sake of the princess and the prince!"

Tong Yangjia said this sentence very heartbroken. On the surface, he begged for mercy for Ma Mingyuan, but in his words he reminded the King of Chu to worry that Ma Xiaofang and the prince would plead for Ma Mingyuan.

Ma Mingyuan heard what Tong Yangjia meant, and knelt on the ground and scolded Tong Yangjia for not being able to die a bad death.

Seeing these two people cursing each other, Zhu Hongsan also had a headache. He wanted to protect Ma Mingyuan, but this matter was too big and he couldn't argue if he didn't deal with it, but what crime should he use to deal with it?

At this time, Zhu Hongsan saw the memorial of Sihui County Magistrate sent by Tong Yangjia on the table to impeach the Ministry of Works inaction. Zhu Hongsan felt aroused and had an idea.

Zhu Hongsan slapped the table and said, "Okay! Stop quarrel!"

"Cao Fang, you have drafted an edict. Guangdong's fifth-rank academic and political education has experienced Ma Shaoji's private sale of test questions. He should have been beheaded, but this dynasty preferential treatment of scholars and officials, and the crime was reduced to one level. Ma Shaoji was distributed to Changhua Iron Mine to start mines; Ma Jiyuan, the Minister of the Ministry of Works, was not strict in management, and the Ministry of Works, had loopholes, and was demoted to the magistrate of Luzon County, Nanyang, and took office today; Ma Mingyuan, a Hanlin scholar..." Zhu Hongsan thought for a long time and said, "Ma Mingyuan, you should retire!"

Ma Mingyuan didn't expect that this was the ending. His whole family was deposed. His eldest brother went to be a county magistrate and his nephew went to mine. He was about to retire when he was less than fifty years old. He knelt in the hall and cried loudly.

Zhu Hongsan looked at Ma Mingyuan, waved his hand, and asked Cao Fang to send Ma Mingyuan out. Tong Yangjia, who saw the fall of the Ma family, was filled with joy.

The news spread the next day, and the Guangdong officialdom was shocked. Unexpectedly, Ma Mingyuan was still a cabinet master yesterday and retired today. Someone with wise men said: "This is good. This is because the regent is lighter in view of the princess. This must be put in the past, and the people who did not kill the imperial examination case that time were not killed!"

The listener nodded repeatedly, and he praised the kindness of King Chu in his heart.

Zhu Hongsan's edict to Ma Jiyuan was to take office today and leave the next day. While Ma Jiyuan was packing his luggage, Ma Mingyuan came to visit his elder brother.

As soon as Ma Mingyuan saw Ma Jiyuan, he knelt on the ground and said, "Brother, I deserve to die, I have implicated my brother!"

Seeing that his younger brother Ma Jiyuan had nothing to say. After all, he was the younger brother of his compatriots, Ma Jiyuan stepped forward to help his second brother and said, "Second brother, you have been smart since childhood. When your father and mother were alive, you always praised you, but have you forgotten what your father said to our brother before his death? Dad said that the King of Chu is a talented and wise ruler, no less than Emperor Taizu and Emperor Chengzu. He told you not to play your cleverness in front of the King of Chu. Have you forgotten?"

Of course, Ma Mingyuan remembered what his father said before his death. He still remembered that if he was so stubborn, the Ma family would be in trouble.

Ma Mingyuan was scolded by his elder brother and said nothing. When Ma Jiyuan saw his younger brother being depressed, he said, "Second brother, it's good to let you retire. In the past few years, you have studied hard at home. As long as your sister and nephew are fine, the King of Chu will use our brothers' belongings in the future." After Ma Mingyuan said that, he picked up his luggage and went to the dock with his son Ma Shaoji to board the boat. Ma Mingyuan was going to Luzon, thousands of miles away, while Ma Shaoji wanted to go to Changhua to mine.

News of the Ma family's unlucky spread throughout Guangdong quickly, and even Zhang Jiayu, who was far away in Nanxiong Prefecture, received the news.

Seeing the edict from the King of Chu on the mansion, Zhang Jiayu sighed. Maybe it was right for him to leave Dongguan. He was not from Huguang and had no merits. He was not killed by those old foxes in that place.

It has been half a year since Zhang Jiayu arrived in Nanxiong Mansion, and he feels very fulfilling here.

Nanxiong City was an important commercial town connecting the north and south of Dayu Mountain in history, because it is located on the southern foot of Dayu Mountain and is adjacent to southern Jiangxi Jiangxi. Since the opening of the Meiguan Ancient Road in Kaiyuan, the ancient road is like a ribbon, connecting the Zhangshui in the north, down the Ganjiang River, and into the Yangtze River; the Wushui in the south, down the Beijiang River, and into the Pearl River, connecting the two major water systems of the Yangtze River and the Pearl River. Xiongcheng has become a transportation hub for north-south water and land transport in the south. The cargo merchants in the coastal areas of Guangzhou go up from the water road to Xiongcheng, and then through the ancient road to Lingbei. The cargo merchants in the north of the Lingbei go through the ancient road to Nanxiong, and from the water road to the Beijiang River, and from the water road to the Beijiang River, and from the Guangzhou coastal areas, traveling in water, land and cargo, and cargo is unobstructed.

There are four main land transportation items in Nanxiong: one is the Meiguan Ancient Road and enter Dayu, Jiangxi, two is the Dafang and Xinfeng, Jiangxi, three is the Nanmu and enter Qiannan, Jiangxi, and four is the Baishun and enter Renhua. These four roads are the most prosperous, and are important post roads in ancient times, with quite complete facilities. In the Ming Dynasty, there was a Lingjiang Post, with one post book, fourteen running personnel, and fourteen stations: Hongmeipu, Dayu Lingpu, Xiaolingpu, Huojingpu, Lidongpu, Shitangpu, Shashuipu, Changjingpu, Changningpu, Zhoumenpu, Dongjipu, Xiurenpu, Gulupu, Dutangpu, Yinglupu, and Huangtianpu.

There is a shop for every ten miles, with four shops in each shop, totaling fifty-six. Due to the inns and inns serving merchants on the post road, teahouses and hotels have flourished and gradually formed the streets of Weizhen. From Meiguan to Nanxiong City, there are seven "streets" on the post roads of more than 60 miles: Zhigongsheng Street, Xinlukou Street, Xiaoling Street, Zhongzhan Street, Lingtan Street, Lidong Street, and Shashui Street. The so-called "street" means that many shops are arranged on both sides to form streets, with no less than 700,000 shops in these seven streets; there are more than 1,000 merchants every day, about 400,000 or 500,000 every year.

Legend has it that there is a "Zhuangyuan Tomb" on the top of Meiling, with a pair of couplets inscribed inscriptions; "A thousand people worship every day, and thousands of people watch the lights of thousands of families at night." It means that the "feng shui" of this tomb is very good. Thousands of people climb Meiling every day, step by step, as if they worship it. Every night, they look down at the foot of the mountain, and the lights of the village shop are shining like millions of pearls spreading to the ground. Although these are legends, they also reflect many objective facts of merchants traveling to the ancient road from one aspect. Take the salt transportation item as a calculation, about 5 million jin of salt must be transported from Nanxiong through the ancient road to various places in southern Jiangxi, and at least 100,000 porters alone. During the Song Dynasty, Shaoguan Cen water smelted copper and water Tongguan minted coins. There were also five or six million jin of copper coins every year. Through the ancient road north, the porters also received more than 100,000. There were other merchants, which could not count. These all show that there were many people who were trafficking goods from the ancient road, and it was not surprising that thousands came and went every day.

The main waterway in Nanxiong is the Zhenjiang River. It goes up to Xintian and connects to Shaoguan and Guangzhou. Its navigation capacity is quite large. In the early Han Dynasty, the general Yang Puping of the Nanyue Rebellion, tens of thousands of the Daochuan troops went straight to Guangzhou from the Zhenjiang River. At the end of the Song Dynasty, 97 families of 33 surnames and 97 families of Zhujixiang moved south, and most of them took rafts along the Dao River for more than two months to the Nanhai area. With the development of commerce, the waterway was becoming increasingly busy, and the boats and rafts were coming and going, and the dock facilities were gradually improved.

Here comes. During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, there were only more than 500 ships from Nanxiongcheng to Wujing. There were five professional wharfs along the river in Zhoucheng: one is the salt wharf, which is exclusively for salt ships; the second is the Longsagge wharf, which is mostly used for merchant ships on the Wujiang River; the third is the big wharf, which is Qingyunmen wharf, which is close to the downtown city and is the busiest, mainly for use by street shops; the fifth is the wooden wharf, which is exclusively for bamboo and wood merchants. At the same time, it also created a specialized transportation industry.

Now, due to the lack of officials in Nanxiong Prefecture, there is only one magistrate from the fifth rank in office. After Zhang Jiayu took office, he visited all the checkpoints and castles in Nanxiong, Shaozhou, and decided to set up the Shaonan Army Preparation Office in Nanxiong.

The first thing Zhang Jiayu did when he took office was to contact the garrison in Shaozhou. There was a regiment of the new army here. It seemed that there were quite a large number of people, but most of them were new recruits. The veterans were transferred to Nanzhili and Nanyang to fight with Nanyang by the King of Chu.

The regiment commander Ma Liang was also very depressed. Although Ma Liang's surname was Ma, he had nothing to do with the Ma family. Ma Liang's hometown is from Shaanxi. He was a serious bandit. After being captured by Zhu Hongsan in Henan, he joined the new army.

Ma Liang was very happy to hear that Guangdong had sent him a new chief, and immediately came to Nanxiong to pay homage to the new chief.

After meeting, Ma Liang said straight in with a single sword: "It's great that sir, it's great that we are here. Now we lack muskets and gunpowder. Please solve the problem with the sir!"

Can the new army still lack military equipment? Zhang Jiayu has been exposed to high-level information in the Military Aircraft Office and knows that muskets and gunpowder are piled up in the warehouse now, so how can it be missing here?

"I don't know that Shaozhou and Nanxiong are still peaceful in the north, so the Ministry of War supplies are half a chunk of them. Fortunately, the brothers' salary and food and drink are enough, which is the weapon and military. Now every three brothers can use a musket. It's okay if there is any change in the north, it will be too late to transport them from Guangdong!"

Zhang Jiayu didn't expect that he would encounter a big problem on the first day, so he quickly agreed to Captain Ma Junbei to help him solve it.
Chapter completed!