Bang doo, doo doo...... Seven or eight cavalrymen of the border army dressed in red jackets rode their horses despite the cold rain of early spring, and when they arrived at the gate of the Yamen of the General Army, Lao Yuan threw the waist card and threw it to the soldiers at the door, and said loudly: "The battalion of the general army of Xuanfu will not take back the town at night!" ”

At the same time that the guards at the gate took the waist card, these people had already turned over and dismounted in unison, and their movements were so skillful that they did not look like Han'er at all - well, they were indeed not Han'er, but authentic Mongols, but they had already been naturalized and had been in Ma Fang's army for almost ten years.

This situation may seem absurd to some descendants who do not know the history of the Ming Dynasty, but it was a very common phenomenon at the time. What's more, Ma Fang's troops have always been very Mongolian-like, and even behaved "more like Mongolians than Mongolians" in many cases.

Ma Fang's resume is full of positive energy: he was born into a peasant family, was taken as a slave by the Tatars at the age of ten, and worked in the steppe for ten years. At the age of 20, Ma Fang fled back to the Central Plains alone, joined the army under Zhou Shangwen, the commander of Datong, and later grew from a squad leader to a Mongolian nemesis.

Compared with the other two generals in the Jia, Long, and Wan years, although Li Chengliang's prestige and military exploits were also played, they were more or less flashy, and they came from the so-called "raising thieves to invite merit"; Qi Jiguang is invincible, but its most fundamental and outstanding ability lies in the construction of the army and the drill training, from the Qi family army and the later Great Wall tactics and the use of firearms, this is definitely a quasi-modern team, in other words, other people's soldiers may not be able to fight if they change their commanders, but the Qi family army is not, whoever takes it is easy to use.

However, Ma Fang is unique, he relied on his understanding of the habits of the Mongols when he was young, and often took the initiative to attack and "strike the enemy first" when most of the Ming army could only choose to defend in the face of the Mongol cavalry. From Xuanfu to Datong, from Datong to Huairou, he often plays a job of outflanking thousands of miles at every turn, as if he is a poor version of Huo Qu's disease.

At that time, in all the towns on all sides of the Ming Dynasty, there were both Han children and Mongolian athletes who were in Han - counting, on the contrary, there were more Mongolians who came to Han to make a living.

However, when the Han people go to Mongolia, most of them do some work such as reclamation, building cities, building roads and bridges, etc., while the Mongols come to the Han land, and the work they can do is even smaller, and nine times out of ten they will go directly to join the army - in addition to being good at riding and fighting, their talents in other aspects are really lackluster on the side of the Ming Dynasty.

Some historical researchers in later generations believe that the main force of the border army that was really capable of fighting in the late Ming Dynasty was actually not the Han Chinese, but the so-called "Mongolian mercenaries" - because these people were the main members of the generals in the north.

Although this statement is biased, it can also reflect the high proportion of Mongolian athletes in the Ming army at that time and the great strength they contributed.

One of the reasons why Gao insisted that the Mongolian problem could be settled "almost" without a war was the situation in the towns to the north.

There is a saying among the Han people that "the emperor does not send hungry soldiers", and this principle also works in Mongolia - it does not mean that if the descendants of your golden family shout, I will bring my own dry food and travel thousands of miles to work for you. Because it's all about selling my life anyway, even if I can't do anything but sell my life, at least I can choose to sell this life to the person with the highest bid.

Although the border army of the Ming Dynasty was poor, it was not difficult to deduct the salaries of those guards who could not fight to buy and support an obedient, capable of fighting, and mixed with many Mongols.

The soldier guarding the door quickly checked the waist card, hurriedly waved his hand to get out of the way, and politely handed the waist card back.

Originally, a few people planned to go directly to the White Tiger Hall without collecting the night, but unexpectedly, there was a voice from the inner study next to them: "Don't mess around, the old man is here, you little cubs come over." ”

The Mongolian athletes, known as the "little cubs", were not angry at night, but happy, and they all showed smug smiles on their faces - not that they had masochistic tendencies, but that they knew the habits of their own commanders, and the commanders would only call them "little cubs" to the best of the younger generations in the army.

It's a nickname, not an angry scolding.

Although Ma Fang was anxious, he still had a big grin on his face, and scolded with a smile: "What's the matter, I went to Beijing with the money given by Lao Tzu, and I was an hour late when I came back today!" Did you go to the flower street and willow lane, and everyone was so cool that they couldn't walk or ride a stable horse? ”

Everyone laughed, and the leader replied with a smile that he didn't accept that night: "How can you be handsome, the little ones know the measure, of course they have to go to Huajie Willow Lane, but if you play to the point that you can't ride a stable horse, you don't need to talk all the time, let's screw off our heads and give them to the handsome night pot!" What are the rules of our Ma Jiajun, who is not clear to the brothers? ”

Ma Jiajun's rules are: You can fight, other small problems Lao Tzu can endure it, if you fight and shrink your eggs, Lao Tzu will simply cut this egg Z and send you into the palace to wait for Grandpa Banzai.

This...... Very bandit, but very effective.

If someone thinks that Ma Fang's temperament is really full of death, and such an official will have an accident sooner or later, it is a big mistake, because Ma Fang is a typical rough and fine.

In terms of being an official, Ma Fang sometimes seems to be a "very unruly" person. When Qiu Luan, the chief soldier of Xuanda, was in office, although he fought straw bales, he was shrewd in holding money, and the local generals in Shanxi had to give gifts according to the custom every New Year, which was called "winter ceremony". And Ma Fang not only did not participate, but often avoided it under the pretext of "working overtime during the New Year". Later, Qiu Luan was convicted, and the imperial court "settled accounts after the autumn", and Ma Fang became a rare "clean white" among local officers in Shanxi.

Yang Shun, the governor of Xuanda, who succeeded Qiu Luan, was even more a bastard, whenever the Mongol cavalry invaded, he would only retreat and seek peace, and only after the enemy retreated, he would come out to chase after the enemy. What's even more outrageous is that he actually ordered his subordinates to often slaughter fleeing Han people, cut off their heads and shave their hair to pretend to be Mongolian soldiers to fill their borders. Ma Fang angrily resisted this beastly behavior and strictly ordered his subordinates to "dare to kill those who take the merits and behead them".

Because he "didn't go on the road", when Qiu Luan was there, he once took away his surprise attack on me; When Yang Shun was there, he was also punished for "sitting on the defeat of the battle".

Although a lot of "small shoes" have been worn, Ma Fang, who seems to be "not on the road", is actually a "very good" person in the officialdom, and his bumpy military career has not only created his iron backbone on the battlefield, but also achieved his well-behaved temperament in life.

does not "honor" Qiu Luan, because he knows that Qiu Luan is "reckless and greedy, and it is difficult to last long"; resisted Yang Shun's "killing good", but also because he understood that this move "will attract resentment, and it will inevitably be sinful".

In fact, when the imperial history was in time, several military department Shangshu Wang Bangrui and Zhao Jin were all friends with him, and Wang Chonggu, a famous general who recently served as the governor of Xuanda, even regarded Ma Fang as a "close friend".

Ma Fang guarded a place every time, in addition to careful training and defense, but also paid attention to the collection of local rare native products, to give gifts to the "superior leaders", hard work finally rewarded, Ma Fang after the selection of generals to train troops, the armament, from funds to weapons are all supported by the bigwigs, every time "elite soldiers and good weapons are excellent". In the past, Yan Song's eldest son, Yan Shifan, also looked at Ma Fang very accurately, and once warned Yang Shundao: "(Ma Fang) Although he is reckless on the surface, he is as meticulous as a hair, and he is also strategic, and he cannot be cited as an enemy." ”

At this time, Ma Fang saw the attitude towards himself for a few nights, and knew in his heart that these innocuous words had narrowed the distance between himself and them a lot, so he asked: "Okay, gossip, the old man asked you to go to Beijing to learn about the recent movements of the imperial court, especially the situation on the side of the old Gaoge, have you found anything?" ”

That night, he did not close his head and restrained his smile, but the words of his answer made Ma Fang stunned, because he said: "There is nothing particularly worth mentioning in the imperial court, but when it comes to the old ...... I don't know if it's a matter of Elder Gao Ge - his nephew was chosen to be the prince's companion - this happened yesterday. ”