The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 84 Prodigy Ma Yu
"Yes, we need Mr. Ma's help." Wu Jialiang was really simple and direct. His style was completely different from other officials. Other officials appointed by the court would beat around the bush in their sentences, but Wu Jialiang was a bandit and spoke directly: "We originally planned to persuade the magistrate and lieutenant of Laiyang County to take action, but those two people are idle and just want to get by. They don't care about the banditry. We can't rely on them, so I want to contact the gentry and wealthy families in Laiyang County directly."

Ma Sheng thought for a moment and immediately understood: "King Gong wants me to provide the troops? Alas... Although I can organize and drive away a lot of local militia, my fighting capacity is worrying. I can't defeat the bandits in three rounds."

Wu Jialiang: "Your men don't have to take action, my men will handle it."

Ma Sheng was surprised. "Ah? Prince Gong wants to take action? Then what use is there for me?"

Wu Jialiang: "Just don't mess with us."

Ma Sheng was a little confused and couldn't figure out what this meant for a while.

But at this moment, a child of five or six years old came in from outside the gate. It was the young Ma Yu, Ma Congyi. He was holding a large pile of bamboo slips in his arms. The bamboo slips were blackened by smoke, but he held them in his arms like treasures.

When Yue Wenxuan saw this scene, he laughed in his heart: The little guy is quite capable. He actually got into the ruins and found Wang Bi's version of "Commentary on Laozi's Tao Te Ching".

As soon as Ma Congyi entered the hall, he spoke up: "Fourth Uncle! They are bandits themselves. Hundreds of them coming here, won't it cause chaos along the way?"

When he said this, Ma Sheng let out a "Huh!" and finally understood. He didn't expect that his reaction was not as fast as his six-year-old nephew's.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but smile at Ma Congyi: "The adults are talking, why are you eavesdropping?"

Ma Congyi: "This matter concerns everyone here, including my nephew."

Ma Sheng didn't say much. He knew that his nephew, though young, often had mature opinions, so it was okay for him to listen here. His eldest brother wanted the child to have more perspective and experience, so he allowed him to come to his house often to play.

The journey from Mouping County to Laiyang County is not short, and it is really tiring for a six-year-old child, but he does not think it is hard, but enjoys it.

Because he often traveled outside, his vision and experience far exceeded that of his peers. At a young age, Ma Congyi knew about the sufferings of the people and had a basic understanding of the current situation on the Jiaodong Peninsula.

Ma Sheng himself was still undecided about how to face King Gong, but when he saw his nephew disrupting the situation, he simply let him do what he wanted. If his nephew said something wrong, he could just say that he was just a six-year-old kid and laugh it off, so as not to offend King Gong.

Ma Congyi put the bamboo slips on the ground and faced Wu Jialiang. "Uncle, it sounds a bit mysterious that Prince Gong came to Laiyang to suppress the bandits. I just learned a new phrase a few days ago: the thief cries 'stop thief'."

Yue Wenxuan smiled in his heart: This is interesting.

Wu Jialiang looked at the child in front of him with a mixture of laughter and tears. The child spoke in a domineering manner. Ma Sheng had just politely called him "King Gong" for fear of offending anyone, but the child blurted out the word "thief" as soon as he opened his mouth, without considering whether it would offend anyone.

Fortunately, he is not the real King Gong's man, so naturally he would not get angry with a child for this title.

Before joining Song Jiang, Wu Jialiang was a private school teacher in Dongxi Village, Yuncheng County, Jizhou. He was extremely skilled at interacting with children, and when he did, he naturally revealed his teacherly demeanor, smiling as he recited: "From 'A New Account of the Tales of the World,' Falsehood and Cunning: When Wei Wu was young, he and Yuan Shao were good friends and knights. One day, while watching a wedding, Wei Wu sneaked into the host's garden. At night, he cried out, 'There's a thief!' Everyone in the bridal chamber came out to watch. Wei Wu then entered, drew his sword, and abducted the bride. Returning with Shao, he lost his way and fell into some brambles. Shao was unable to move him. He shouted again, 'There's a thief!' Shao was in a hurry and threw himself out, and they both escaped. The idiom 'the thief crying 'stop thief'' comes from this passage."

Ma Congyi: "Yeah? Uncle is a thief, but he's also educated."

Ma Sheng was also surprised to hear that Wu Jialiang could recite "A New Account of Tales of the World" by heart: "How could there be such a person among the thieves? He can recite the corresponding classic source by just saying a random idiom? I can't do that."

Wu Jialiang smiled and said to Ma Congyi, "Master Ma, the idiom in 'A New Account of Tales of the World' refers to a real thief pointing out someone else as the thief in order to exonerate himself. You used the wrong idiom to describe Prince Gong's suppression of bandits."

Ma Congyi asked, "What's wrong?" Wu Jialiang replied, "Even you know that Prince Gong is a thief. How could anyone in Jimo and Laiyang counties not know that? Even if Prince Gong points to someone else as the thief, it won't absolve him of his guilt."

Ma Congyi lowered his head and thought seriously. After several seconds, he looked up and said, "Yes, I used the wrong idiom."

After saying this, he immediately added, "Then why did Prince Gong want to suppress the bandits?"

Ma Sheng was also thinking, yes, why did Prince Gong want to suppress the bandits? Could it be that he came to Laiyang to burn, kill and plunder under the pretext of suppressing the Laiyang bandits?

Wu Jialiang: "Of course it's to resist the Jin!"

As soon as the words "resist the Jin" were uttered, Ma Sheng and Ma Congyi's expressions instantly became serious.

The Ma family suffered heavy losses during the invasion of the Jin army. Their village and fortress were burned down and are still being rebuilt.

When talking about the gold thieves, naturally there is no good face to be given.

Wu Jialiang said, "The Jin thieves kidnapped the two emperors and brought them back north last year, but no one can predict when they will come again."

Yue Wenxuan said secretly: As long as the butterfly wings don’t flap vigorously enough, the winter of the golden thieves will come!

Wu Jialiang pointed at the burned-out buildings of the Ma family, then at the commentary on the Daodejing (Tao Te Ching) that Ma Congyi had just salvaged from the ruins, and said aloud, "Does the Ma family plan to be burned down again when the Jin thieves come next time?"

Ma Sheng's face looked grim.

Ma Congyi said, "Of course I don't want to."

Wu Jialiang: "We, the Jimo righteous army, were defeated by the Jin bandits once before, but we don't want to be defeated again this time. We must stabilize the countryside and stockpile more military supplies before the Jin bandits arrive. If we don't eliminate those Laiyang bandits, how can we have peace in the countryside? If the countryside is not peaceful, where will the military supplies come from? Without military supplies, the next time the Jin bandits come, we will all die together."

Ma Sheng frowned deeply.

Ma Congyi shouted, "Uncle, what you said is very good!"

Wu Jialiang: "Like I said earlier, the phrase 'the thief crying thief' is not the right one to use."

Ma Congyi: "That's totally wrong."

He turned to Ma Sheng and said, "Fourth Uncle, we are descendants of General Ma Yuan, the founding general of the Han Dynasty. We should also help the Han Dynasty resist the Jin Dynasty."

Ma Sheng is not a six-year-old child and will not be fooled so easily.

He thought to himself: What if King Gong is just talking nice words and actually comes here to rob, burn and loot? If I send troops to help him, wouldn’t that be aiding and abetting the evil?

(End of this chapter)