Ma's Mansion

The remaining mat had been removed, and some snacks, fruits and vegetables were brought to the kitchen. Zhou 2 people sat down next to the mat, quietly drinking the hot tea delivered below.

Ma Jin picked up the celadon cup, spread the lid of the cup, blew the tea floating in the cup, and then savored the fragrant tea and looked at Zhou An who was drinking tea next to him.

A cup of West Lake Longjing, which can be sold for one tael of silver outside, was swallowed by Zhou An in two or three mouthfuls, and then raised his sleeves and wiped his mouth generously.

Ma Jin smiled on his face, not sneering, he was not that superficial, and he was not much better than Zhou An a year ago.

However, after entering the government, I had to attend various occasions. For the sake of my identity, I paid more attention to my own demeanor. After a long time, I couldn't beat it.

The reason why Ma Jin laughed was because Zhou An showed this action in front of him, indicating that he had begun to stop treating himself as an outsider.

He knew from his previous memory what Zhou An had done before, and he was completely different from the restraint he had when he was chatting in the main hall.

………

Putting down the cup, Ma Jin gave the two plates of fruits and vegetables in front of Zhou An and said with a smile.

"Try it, this is the snack that our Dingxianglou specializes in. Now we can't buy it if we don't come in line in advance."

After a banquet, seeing Ma Jin being kind to him and his father Zhou Fuhai taking care of him, Zhou An relaxed a lot of nervousness and restrained thoughts, and his words and deeds gradually became natural.

Zhou An was born as a martial artist, and there were not so many twists and turns. He thanked him, picked up a piece of snack handed over by Ma Jin and stuffed it into his mouth. His eyes suddenly lit up and he gave him a thumbs up.

"tasty."

"If you have some delicious food, eat more. This snack and the dough I just made of Bao Bao. The fat white man who toasted you just now is my eldest apprentice."

Ma Jin personally added tea to Zhou An, and then pointed to the snacks on the table to introduce Zhou An.

Seeing Ma Jin pouring tea for him, Zhou An stood up in a hurry and said that he didn't dare to take the teapot and did it himself. But Ma Jin stopped him. He heard Ma Jin introduce Bao Bao and quickly responded.

"I have heard from my father that he is the chef of Dingxianglou at a young age. His skills are no worse than those of the imperial chefs in the palace. The chefs in several branches have to listen to his orders, which is really true."

Ma Jin laughed, waved his hand at Zhou An, and said, "I can't take it seriously. Because this kid is the first to me, I have the deepest relationship with me. Uncle Zhou usually likes him and always praises him for everyone.

If the boy heard your words, his eyes would definitely hit his head again."

Although Ma Jin could not be honest, his expression and tone were obviously full of pride in Bao Bao.

Including Liu Mian and Ma Jin took twelve disciples, but his favorite is undoubtedly Bao Bao, the eldest disciple.

He is sensible, filial, pleasing, sweet-mouthed, good-looking, and knows how to take care of his junior brother and acts fairly. He is deeply loved by his junior brothers.

In addition, Bao Bao was Ma Jin's first disciple and the founding disciple of Ma's family, so Ma Jin was more favored.

Zhou An praised Bao Bao, which was considered a mistake to flatter Ma Jin. Ma Jin's eyes became even softer.

………

After chatting for a few moments, Ma Jin and Zhou An returned to the main topic. Ten days later, the Ministry of War will arrange positions for Zhou An.

In the capital city, including the Imperial Army, the Ministry of War, the four camps in the southeast, the west and northeast, the Nine Gate Admiral’s Office, the city defense, etc., Zhou An, who is of nearly a dozen large and small departments, may have gone to work.

The position of the eighth-rank Qianhu is too low, and any department may have a vacancy. If you don’t prepare in advance, Zhou An will be sent to a scattered yamen. It would be better to stay in Shanhaiguan and transfer back to the capital in vain.

Therefore, Ma Jin was planning to find some connections and get Zhou An to a capable department, so that it would be easy to get promoted and could be used at critical moments.

The military officers department in the capital that Zhou An could serve just now belonged to the Imperial Army and the Ministry of War, but the threshold for these two departments is also high.

With Ma Jin's current strength, if you want to impose Zhou An in these two departments, you have to rely on external forces, such as Yan Yi and the Eighth Prince.

This is nothing. Not to mention the Eighth Prince, there is no itch if there are too many lice, and there is no worry if there are too many debts. It is even easier for Yan Yi to be here. He is a hardcore in the Suwang Party and his future brother-in-law. It is not a matter of one sentence to ask Yan Yi to arrange a few thousand households.

But Ma Jin had his own considerations. First of all, as the deputy censor in the palace, he had the power to inspect the access control affairs of the palace. To avoid suspicion, it was not easy for Zhou An to join the imperial guards. Moreover, Niu Ben was already in the Tiger Guards, so it was a waste to get Zhou An in it.

There were too many officials in the Ministry of War. A small eighth-rank thousand household could not even slap in it. Zhou An entered the Ministry of War. It was just that his reputation was good and he was empty, and it was not helpful to Ma Jin.

...

The two best departments are not suitable, so let’s go to the next round. In addition to the Ministry of War and the Imperial Guard, the four camps and the Nine Gate Admiral’s Office are the best, and the Nine Gate Admiral’s Office is better.

It is also coincidental that there are many acquaintances in the Jiumen Admiral’s Office of Ma Jin. For example, Liu Mian’s father Liu Deng was from the Jiumen Admiral’s Office, and Zhou An also took care of him after taking office.

Moreover, the Nine Gate Admiral's Office, Wei Wu's capital city, and also in charge of the guards, arrests, inspections, bans, etc., were of great power. If Zhou An really entered the Nine Gate Admiral's Office, it would also be beneficial to Ma Jin.

Ma Jin told Zhou An about his thoughts, but he had no objection. He had decided the place to go, and the rest depends on how Ma Jin operates it.

………

The next day

Ma Jin forced Zhou Fuhai to take a few days off and asked him to accompany Zhou An out for a few days. He left the capital for several years and must have wanted to see the changes in the capital.

After Ma Jin took office from the palace, he was met with Ding Chi and Dong Lichun who came together.

The two told Ma Jin that Tongrentang had almost done it and that the apprenticeship had already been recruited. Although the doctor in the hall had not done it, they were still very surprised. Today, they were here to deliver the first sample of the medicine, and the other was to ask Ma Jin for orders.

The shelves of the medicine shop were all set up, and the two in charge, Ding and Dong of course were concerned about Ma Jin's actions.

...

Ma Jin understood their feelings and carefully asked about the efficacy of the medicine. After getting familiar with it, he told the two of them to give him a few days and he would go to find a list.

Ding and Dong left, and Ma Jin touched the three bottles of medicine left behind in his hand, thinking about whom he should look for.

This time, the new drug focuses on sword wounds and gold-killing drugs and burns. The biggest official customer is the army of hundreds of thousands of soldiers, and military drugs are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War.

Coincidentally, the two things about Tongrentang Order and Zhou An's appointment happened to be together.

Zhou An’s affairs are easy to handle, and any director of the Ministry of War can make the decision.

But orders are not that easy. If you work hard for hundreds of thousands of troops, you will involve hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. There are too many aspects involved. If you don’t have a high power in the military, you won’t even be qualified to raise them.

Ma Jin thought about it for a long time in the study and decided to ask Yan Yi for help, otherwise tens of thousands of taels of silver would be spent.

...

ps: Please give me some recommendation votes, and there are more than 1,000 more than 30,000. The nineteen honors look so uncomfortable...
Chapter completed!