"Sir, General Ma is here and has entered Xinping Fort." Zhao Wu came to Liu Heng and reported.
As soon as General Ma and his party entered Xinping Fort, someone immediately sent the news to the general's mansion.
Liu Heng put down the official document in his hand and said to Zhao Wu: "This is the first time that General Ma has come to our Xinping Fort since he took office. Please prepare yourself and come with me to greet him."
After changing into his Shangguan uniform, he was accompanied by Zhao Wu and other guards and arrived outside the gate of the general's mansion.
As soon as he left the mansion, he saw cavalry approaching in the distance.
These cavalrymen all wear cloth armor, which is very different from the black breastplates of the Tiger Banner cavalry.
The only cavalry from outside that could appear in groups at Xinping Fort was Mr. Ma and his party who had just arrived at Xinping Fort.
More than a dozen horses appeared on the street. Even if the horses were not able to run as fast as they could, the sound of the horses' hooves was so loud that it could be heard from a distance.
As these cavalry approached, some soldiers holding fire guns appeared on the walls of the houses on both sides of the guard's mansion. There were also several more shooting holes on the walls of the courtyard wall. The muzzle of a walking gun came from the shooting The hole sticks out.
Not only riflemen appeared, but also tiger crouching cannons and cannon-wielding gunners appeared on the roofs of houses on the street.
General Ma, who was sitting on horseback, saw these sudden fire guns and tiger squatting cannons, his face turned pale, and a thin layer of sweat appeared on his forehead.
Even though he knew that these people were Liu Heng's subordinates and belonged to the Datong army, he, the commander-in-chief, could not help but feel frightened.
He tried his best to control the panic in his heart and rode his horse to the gate of the general's mansion.
There were several people standing in front of the gate of the Shoujiang Mansion. One of them was wearing a military general's official robe. Although he had never seen this military general, he knew that the other person was Datong East Road guerrilla general Liu Heng.
After getting off the horse, he walked quickly towards Liu Heng and greeted with a smile on his face: "Master Liu."
"Your Majesty, Liu Heng, I'd like to see you, Commander-in-Chief." Liu Heng clasped his hands and saluted Commander-in-Chief Ma.
When General Ma took up the post of Commander-in-Chief of Datong, the Tiger Character Banner had already been recruited. He sent someone to send General Ma to Zhi Jing, but he did not go to Datong to visit him.
This time was the first time he met General Ma.
"Haha, Mr. Liu is too polite. You don't need to be so polite. You and I are both military men. We don't have as many cumbersome etiquette as civil servants." Mr. Ma held Liu Heng's arms with both hands, and then patted Liu Heng's affectionately. Back of hand.
Liu Heng stood up straight and said with a smile: "My lord, it must be very hard to come here all the way. Why don't you go to the mansion to rest first and drink a cup of tea to relieve your fatigue."
"That's fine, I'll just ask Mr. Liu for a pot of fragrant tea." General Ma agreed with a smile.
General Ma, accompanied by Liu Heng, walked into the general's mansion one after another.
The personal guards who came with him to Xinping Fort were entertained by other people, but they did not follow him into the garrison's mansion. They were taken elsewhere to rest by people arranged by Zhao Wu.
Liu Heng accompanied General Ma to the side hall.
After the two people sat down respectively, the person below presented them with two cups of fragrant tea. Love 999
"Master Liu, you are also the guard of Xinping Fort now, and you don't even have a maid to serve you. This is too inappropriate. If you are reluctant to spend this money, I will pay for it for you. I will definitely find a few maids who are willing to serve you." Come on." General Ma didn't see a woman since he entered the general's mansion, so he joked with a smile.
Liu Heng put his hands together, clasped his fists and said, "Xiaguan thanks you in advance for your care, but I am used to it. If there is a woman around me suddenly, I won't be used to it."
"You don't know the goodness of women. Once you taste the goodness of it, I'm sure you'll wish you had a woman by your side to serve you all the time." Mr. Ma said with a smile.
Hearing this, Liu Heng smiled and did not intend to continue talking about this topic. Instead, he said: "My lord, try this tea. This is a new tea that my servant sent people to get from the south. It tastes very good."
"The tea I drink is purely peony chewing. I can't taste the taste." Ma Zongbing said with a smile. He picked up the tureen in his hand, put it in front of his nose and smelled it, and then said, "Don't mention it, it smells good." It's very fragrant, even more fragrant than the tea I drank at the Governor's place last time."
Liu Heng said with a smile: "If your Excellency likes it, I will ask you to prepare more, and we will take it back with you to taste it when you return."
"Haha, forget it, forget it, no matter how good the tea is, it is a waste to give it to me. To me, drinking tea is not as good as drinking. Just drink the sorghum brew and drink it in one sip. It's like there's a fire in your stomach. That's called A comfort." Mr. Ma pursed his lips.
Liu Heng said with a smile: "It turns out that your Excellency likes sorghum wine, so I will ask someone to load a few more jars in the car and send them to Your Majesty's house."
"I know that the winery that produces sorghum wine is your own property, Mr. Liu, so I won't be polite to you. I will accept this wine." Mr. Ma said with satisfaction.
Liu Heng, who was accompanying him, smiled and said, "You're welcome, sir. From now on, whenever you need it, I will immediately arrange for someone to deliver wine to your house."
"Haha, okay, I like to drink the sorghum wine from your Tiger Flag. I won't have too much." General Ma said, stroking his beard and laughing.
Liu Hengpai laughed twice and said immediately: "The official has asked someone to prepare a banquet. You must have a few more drinks soon."
"Is the wine at the banquet made from sorghum?" General Ma asked.
Liu Heng nodded and said with a smile: "Sorghum brew, and high-quality sorghum brew, it is stronger than ordinary sorghum brew, and it is more enjoyable to drink."
"Haha, okay, I like strong liquor. We are all military generals, and strong liquor is more suitable for us. Unlike those civil servants, all of them are formal. When drinking, they only like to drink rice wine that has no taste. It's boring. Awesome." General Ma said.
Liu Heng said with a smile: "Strong wine is good. A sip of it can keep you warm in winter."
"You're right. Not only do we like to drink strong liquor, but the Mongolians in the north also like to drink it. I have been dealing with the Mongols, so I must have sold a lot of this wine to them." General Ma suddenly called out to Liu Heng.
Liu Heng paused for a moment. He didn't expect that the other party would suddenly call him that. He said calmly: "The Tiger Character Banner and the Mongolians do have some business dealings. Of course, your share will be paid every month." Delivered on time.”
The Tiger-Character Banner was recruited by the imperial court, and he became a military commander in Datong. However, the relationship between the Tiger-Character Banner and the officialdom of Datong did not change because of this. The Zhi Jing that should be sent every month was always a penny. , divided out as before, except that Zhang Huai's share was replaced by General Ma in front of him.
"That's not what I meant." Ma Zongbing waved his hand and said immediately, "I am open and honest in my work. I know that, in fact, I came here this time to persuade you to just make money with peace of mind. Mongolians have a bad temper, so there is no need for us. Go mess with them.”
Upon hearing this, Liu Heng knew that the other party was about to get down to business.
However, he frowned and said, "My lord, I don't quite understand what you mean."
"We are our own people, so I will tell you straight." Ma Zongbing said, "Brother, you shouldn't go to the grassland to build any forts. Not to mention wasting money, the key is that these things you build are of no use at all. Therefore, we offended the Mongols in the north."
After hearing this, Liu Heng understood that the General Ma in front of him was here to persuade him to stop building the fort.
