Chapter 1241: My son Xiaoba!

Huainan Shouchun
In an antique study room in the Ma Mansion, Ma Jingui sat on his Huanghuali chair worth hundreds of taels of silver with a gloomy face, while beside him, his master Yang Zecheng anxiously advised:
"My Lord, this is your last chance. Once Gao Zhenji returns with Marshal Ye's order, we will be doomed!"

The master's words were like a sharp knife that stabbed into Ma Jingui's heart, making his already ugly face even darker.

When Feng Keqin was the governor of Huainan, Ma Jingui was the sixth-rank Tongpan of Kangyin. Later, after Xu Zhaojie conquered Kangyin, the former prefect of Kangyin was Feng Keqin's close confidant. He was unwilling to surrender to Xu Zhaojie and was killed by Xu Zhaojie. Ma Jingui took the opportunity to surrender to Xu Zhaojie.

At that time, Xu Zhaojie was under great logistical pressure in the battle with Feng Keqin, so he needed a local to help him raise money and food.

Ma Jingui was born in Kangyin, and the Ma family had considerable influence in Kangyin and even in the entire Huainan, so Xu Zhaojie promoted Ma Jingui to be the prefect of Kangyin, and painted a big pie for Ma Jingui, telling him that if he could raise money and grain, he would be the governor of Huainan in the future!

After getting Xu Zhaojie's promise, Ma Jingui, who dreamed of becoming a provincial governor, worked hard and actively raised money and food for Xu Zhaojie. It is no exaggeration to say that Ma Jingui made a great contribution to Xu Zhaojie's capture of Shouchun and annexation of Huainan.

However, when Xu Zhaojie captured Shouchun, he completely forgot his political promise to Ma Jingui. Facing the cruel and ruthless Xu Zhaojie who wanted to kill your whole family at any time, the only thing Ma Jingui could do was to swallow his anger...
Although Ma Jingui did not dare to express his true feelings, he was resentful of Xu Zhaojie's loss of confidence, which laid the groundwork for his later betrayal of Xu Zhaojie and defection to the Fengwu Army.

After surrendering to the Fengwu Army, Ma Jingui actively raised food and fodder for the Fengwu Army on the one hand to prove his worth and ability to the Fengwu Army, and on the other hand to avenge Xu Zhaojie's breach of trust, which earned him praise from Ma Zhongjun, the then general of the First Division.

It was with Ma Zhongjun's recommendation that Ma Jingui was later promoted to Deputy Governor of Huainan. Seeing that he was only one step away from becoming a provincial governor, it was impossible to say that Ma Jingui had no ideas in his mind. However, just when he was thinking about how to remove the word "deputy" from his official title, Murong Yuliang came to Huainan out of nowhere.

Then a series of events happened. Ma Jingui had never expected that Murong Yuliang and Sun Xiuquan would end up fighting each other, and in the end he, Ma, would have to be the one to reap the spoils. When Marshal Ye instructed him to temporarily take over the post of governor, Ma Jingui felt indescribable excitement and excitement in his heart!
The post of provincial governor was not only the ultimate goal of his decades-long official career, but also a huge gold mine. With just a little effort in this position, he could double his wealth.
And the most important thing is that Ma Jingui seemed to feel Marshal Ye's trust in him in this personnel appointment and dismissal. Ma Jingui was very happy when he thought of this. He believed that as long as Marshal Ye believed in him, he, as the governor, would be as stable as a rock and could make money without any worries. He might even have a chance to move up in the future!
Thinking about his future financial prospects, Ma Jingui became more and more glad that he did not listen to Sun Xiuquan and go down the same path with him to the end·····················

When Ye Mingsheng stayed in Shouchun, Ma Jingui, who was temporarily acting as the governor, did not dare to act too presumptuously. But when Ye Mingsheng left Shouchun, he returned to his old ways and began to get ready to make money. He even took over Sun Gui's gambling house!
Ma Jingui thought that he had waited too long to become the Governor of Huainan. Now that he had finally achieved his wish and became the Governor of Huainan, he definitely could not do it in vain. So he had a small goal, which was to earn at least 50,000 taels of silver a year in this position. If he made less than that, he would be wasting his time longing for the position of Governor!
Just when Ma Jingui was thinking about making money, he suddenly learned that the newly appointed governor Gao Zhenji was also secretly investigating some of his affairs while investigating the Sun family.

Hearing that someone wanted to dig up his past, Ma Jingui immediately became alert. Gao Zhenji was his successor as the prefect of Kangyin, and the reforms implemented by Gao Zhenji in Kangyin touched his interests. The two of them had a feud because of this. Ma Jingui also relied on his deep network of contacts in Kangyin to give Gao Zhenji a great embarrassment!

So there is no doubt that Gao Zhenji took the opportunity to investigate Sun Xiuquan to investigate himself. Ma Jingui knew without hesitation that Gao Zhenji had bad intentions.

Ma Jingui was also very angry that Gao Zhenji wanted to get rid of him just a few days after he became the governor.

In the past, Ma Jingui was afraid that Gao Zhenji was sent by the imperial court, so he did not dare to be too strict on some things for fear of causing resentment from the imperial court.

However, after being promoted by Ye Mingsheng to be the governor of Huainan, Ma Jingui, who thought he felt trusted, had no scruples and went straight to Gao Zhenji, telling him that if Gao Zhenji did not stop the investigation and hand over all the evidence he had found, he would make Gao Zhenji pay the price.

At that time, Ma Jingui was very proud of himself. He felt that Gao Zhenji didn't dare to fight with him at all, so he could only do what he said!
But unfortunately, he underestimated the young man Gao Zhenji. With the help of Wu Jia, Gao Zhenji finally chose to draw his sword. However, because Gao Zhenji controlled the military force of the Censorate, the situation made Ma Jingui very passive, and many of his subordinates and cronies were sent to the Censorate's prison.

Ma Jingui was also not idle. He directly made trouble for Wu Jia. For a while, the two sides fought back and forth, and it was very lively. At the critical moment when the two sides were fighting openly and secretly, Gao Zhenji left Shouchun and went directly to Jiangnan to ask Ye Mingsheng for orders.

After learning about this situation, Ma Jingui was also very nervous. He knew the current situation in Huainan. Even though he and Gao Zhenji were fighting each other, in fact, neither of them could do anything to the other. The real decision-making power was in Ye Mingsheng's hands!
Compared to Gao Zhenji who left without hesitation, the older Ma Jingui did not have the energy to go to Jiangnan. However, he immediately sent people to Jiangnan to report Gao Zhenji to Ye Mingsheng...

Now the people he sent to Jiangnan have not returned yet, but there is news that Gao Zhenji is already on his way back to Shouchun, and most importantly, it is said that Gao Zhenji has obtained the arrest warrant issued by Marshal Ye himself!
After hearing this news an hour ago, Ma Jingui felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He didn't understand why Marshal Ye, who obviously trusted him and asked him to replace Murong Yuliang as the governor of Huainan, would believe Gao Zhenji's lies and want to kill him?
At this time, Yang Zecheng looked at Ma Jingui who was still hesitant, and said anxiously:

"Sir, don't hesitate any longer. Marshal Ye's order is a death warrant. If you don't fight hard now, you will only be killed!"

Listening to Yang Zecheng's words, Ma Jingui was still a little hesitant. If Marshal Ye really gave the order, he knew that even if he tried his best, there would not be much hope. Instead, it would cost him and his family a greater price. So after hesitating for a moment, he said:
"Do you think it's possible that Gao Zhenji deliberately leaked the news to deceive me?"

Yang Zecheng was also very helpless when he heard this. As Ma Jingui's advisor, he knew too well how greedy Ma Jingui was and how many evil things he had done to satisfy his desires. As long as Gao Zhenji put some of Ma Jingui's problems in front of Ye Mingsheng, with Marshal Ye's style of doing things, Ma Jingui would never be able to escape!

But he is Ma Jingui's master after all. He eats Ma Jingui's food and wears Ma Jingui's clothes. Ma Jingui has treated him well over the years, so at this moment, Yang Zecheng is also trying his best to find a way out for Ma Jingui.

Seeing that his most trusted advisor Yang was silent, Ma Jingui knew that Gao Zhenji was unlikely to deceive him, so he gritted his teeth and began to preach:

“Zecheng, just tell me what I should do now…”

Seeing that Ma Jingui had finally made up his mind, Yang Zecheng took a deep breath and said, "Master, the first thing is that Gao Zhenji must not be allowed to return to Shouchun. Release all of Niu Er's gang, and let them incite civil riots to frame Gao Zhenji. Finally, on Gao Zhenji's way back to Shouchun, let Niu Er lead the rioters to kill Gao Zhenji. In short, the bigger the commotion, the better!"

"Master, you have to send someone with a large sum of money to Jiangnan. You must take good care of Song Haibo, Ye Kui, Zhang Shuang and others around the Marshal, and let them speak well of you in front of the Marshal!"

"Finally, you pushed a few people to take the blame, saying that they did all these things behind your back and you had no idea about them. You were also very angry about this and wrote to Marshal Ye asking him to punish you for your negligence!"

"When everything is almost done, you can come forward to quell the civil unrest. This way, there is a chance that a big incident can be reduced to a small one!"

Ma Jingui thought about it and finally said with a ruthless look in his eyes:
"Zecheng will do as you say. Since Gao Zhenji won't let me live, I will make him die without a burial place!"

"Zecheng, what do you think of giving Song Haibo, Ye Kui, and Zhang Shuang 10,000 taels of silver each?"

Hearing the figure of 12,000 taels, Yang Zecheng knew that Ma Jingui was being stingy again, and said helplessly:
"Sir, ten thousand taels of silver may be a lot for others, but these three people are the Marshal's close ministers. Ten thousand taels of silver is not enough for them!"

"I think one person would need 30,000 taels of silver. In addition, it would be best if you could take care of Marshal Ye's attendants as well!"

"Zecheng, doesn't this add up to 100,000 taels of silver?"

"Sir, if this matter is not handled properly, it will lead to the destruction of the entire family. You must give away all your wealth in exchange for peace!"

Ma Jingui felt that what Yang Zecheng said made a lot of sense and said:

“Zecheng, you are right. That’s the truth. However, I only have 50,000 or 60,000 silver notes here at most. The rest I have are some land deeds, antiques, gold and silver objects…”

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Yijing, Ye Mansion

Looking at the baby in the cradle in the courtyard, Murong Qingwu couldn't help but smile even though she was feeling depressed.

Yesterday, Ye Mingsheng's instructions were sent from Jiangnan, and the current Anqing Deputy Governor Bai Changjiu officially replaced Wei Qing as the second-rank Anqing Governor.

The appearance of this order officially announced that Murong Qingwu's expectation that her cousin Murong Hui would succeed Wei Qing had completely failed and became a disappointing bubble!

Although Murong Qingwu had expected such an outcome after learning that Gu Sansi was helping Bai Changjiu, she still hoped in her heart that Ye Mingsheng would choose Murong Hui for the sake of his newly born son and give Murong Hui a chance to govern a region and show his talents!

However, the miracle did not happen in the end. Ye Mingsheng finally chose Bai Changjiu as most people expected!

When this news reached back to the Ye Mansion yesterday, Bai Yuanyuan was happier than during Chinese New Year. She gave each of the maids and nannies in her courtyard five taels of silver as a reward, and even the servants who congratulated her were each given one tael of silver. In the end, she spent over a hundred taels of silver in one day. She was really generous!

Bai Yuanyuan was as happy as Murong Qingwu was disappointed. However, when she saw her son Xiaoba's sweet face while sleeping, Murong Qingwu felt much more relieved.

The son born to Murong Qingwu is already one month old. Originally, it was time to name the child, but because Ye Mingsheng was on a southern tour and had not yet returned to Yijing, the matter of naming was temporarily put on hold until Ye Mingsheng returned to Yijing to officially name him.

Although the official name still needs to wait for Ye Mingsheng to choose, the child's grandmother Ye Cui gave the little grandson a nickname, Xiaoba!

The reason why he is called Xiaoba is that among Ye Mingsheng's many children, Jingren is the eldest, Jingcheng is the second, Xingtong is the third, Jingxuan is the fourth, Kexin is the fifth, Yiren is the sixth, and Jingheng is the seventh, so this child is the eighth, so Ye Cui gave him the nickname Xiaoba!

To be honest, Murong Qingwu didn't like the nickname Xiaoba and thought it sounded bad, but on the one hand, her son was indeed ranked eighth, and on the other hand, Ye Cui was very satisfied with the name she had chosen.

So in order to please Ye Cui, even though Murong Qingwu didn’t like it, she had to accept this nickname. The only thing that made Murong Qingwu feel relieved was that Ye Cui seemed to like this youngest grandson very much...
(End of this chapter)