The First Uncle of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 84: Trying to Change
After staying in the palace for a few days, Ma Xun and Liu Shuning returned to the Prince's Mansion again. I don't know how other people felt, but Ma Xun felt like he was alive again and had a sense of being liberated.

"Uncle." Chang Mao came to visit, holding a crescent-shaped sword in his hand. "The Tartars have been defeated, why should I learn martial arts?"

Looking at the depressed Chang Mao, Ma Xun encouraged him, "How come the war is over? The Yuan Emperor is still in the north, and the Tartars still have a small court. We all have to fight."

Historically, it was Chang Mao's uncle Lan Yu who completely disbanded the small Northern Yuan Dynasty court at Buir Lake, which marked the demise of the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

Chang Mao was about to cry, "Deputy General Zuo even destroyed the Tatars' lair, and captured the Yuan ruler's concubines and descendants. My sister said this is like Fenglangjuxu, comparable to the Guanjunhou in the Han Dynasty!"

The more he talked about this, the more sad Chang Mao felt. "The general chased Wang Baobao away, and my father killed Yuan Pingzhang. The Tartars were all destroyed by them. How can I achieve success in the future?"

The older generation is too strong, and as a younger generation I feel some pressure. It’s because these people have made such great contributions. They are like a mountain in front of us, and no matter how hard we try, it is basically difficult to surpass them.

"There is still a chance. If we can't surpass them, we should try our best not to be a dog's son." Ma Xun advised seriously, "It is said that a tiger father will have a dog's son. Go and fight Yuan Taiwei Nahachu in Liaodong."

Just don't follow your father-in-law Feng Sheng when the time comes, or you might make a big mistake and get exiled.

Just when Chang Mao felt a little more confident, Chang Sheng and Chang Sen came running over with guns.

Ma Xun was very angry, "What are you doing? You guys are here to attack my uncle's house, right? Who taught you to carry knives and guns?"

Chang Sen was a straightforward child. "My second brother said that my uncle wanted to test our martial arts."

"I see the eldest brother is here with a knife, something must be wrong!" Chang Sheng gave his own opinion, "The eldest brother is here, so I have to come too, and the third brother will follow!"

These three boys were of mischievous age and were familiar with Ma Xun, so they didn't show any courtesy at all.

Seeing them carrying knives and guns, the guards in the mansion let them in without asking any questions. And those who wanted to send their visiting cards politely were not allowed to wait outside the door.

Chang Wan also came, but fortunately she had no weapons in her hands, "Uncle, where is aunt?"

"In the inner room." Ma Xun pointed to the inner house and said, "Go and talk to her. If you have some friends, you can call them over to talk to her. Otherwise, she will stay in the room alone reading."

Chang Mao immediately said, "Uncle, my aunt doesn't know the people here very well. They are all from eastern Zhejiang. We should go find the daughters of the wealthy families in eastern Zhejiang. They have a good relationship with my aunt."

This is also true. Before Ma Xun came to the capital, Liu Shuning and Chang Wan had almost no friendship.

"Oh, right, we can also call the girl from the Deng family over to talk." Ma Xun remembered and said, "We can also call the eldest girl from the Xu family over if she has nothing to do. Forget it. When the time comes, we will go to your house and call your aunt over as well."

Chang Wan pursed her lips and smiled, "Uncle, aunt is our elder, we will feel uncomfortable if she goes."

"Uncomfortable?" Ma Xun said jokingly, "Let your aunt be the bad guy, you have to learn to control your brothers' wives. I don't care about others, but as an uncle, I have to take care of these nephews' wives."

Chang Mao and others were not surprised. Everyone knew that the girl from the Deng family and the second prince were childhood sweethearts.

But is the eldest daughter of General Xu going to be promised to the third prince?
But it's normal if you think about it. The Xu family's promise is either to the third or fourth prince, who is of the right age. General Xu's contribution is there, and everyone knows that the royal family will inevitably marry with nobles.

Therefore, the legitimate sons and daughters of these noble families who were of marriageable age had no intention of getting engaged privately, and they all waited until the royal family had made arrangements first.

Chang Wan went to talk to Liu Shuning, and since the three boys from the Chang family came to the door with weapons, Ma Xun might as well teach them some martial arts since he had nothing to do anyway.

Seeing the sharp and fierce sword in Chang Mao's hand, Ma Xun was a little worried. He felt that he might not be able to win.

Chang Sheng's spearmanship seemed to be clever, but it was also very tricky. Ma Xun felt that if he could withstand the first few moves, he might be able to hold out for a while.

The third brother Chang Sen's shooting skills were average, and he looked solid in basic skills, but he was very aggressive. Ma Xun felt that he had suppressed him from the beginning, and Chang Sen had no chance of a comeback.

He Da came over and whispered, "Uncle, Chang Sen is the most evil person."

Ma Xun was stunned for a moment and asked quickly, "What do you mean?"

"Uncle, the third brother is holding back." Chang Mao said immediately, "Look at him using the gun. He never uses his full strength. It's true that the gun stabbed out, but he was able to change his moves."

He Da also said, "From what he said, I think he also likes to use hidden weapons."

"I had a small hammer, but I didn't bring it this time." Chang Mao said proudly, "My father said that you have to be careful when hitting someone. The third child listened to him and likes to use hidden weapons."

Ma Xun was speechless for a moment. After all this time, I may not even be able to beat Chang Sen. If I am not careful, I may be ambushed or capsized in the gutter! Thinking of this, Ma Xun became even more depressed. He has some martial arts skills, but they are basically equivalent to farm skills and barely self-defense. Not to mention fighting against Xu Da and Chang Yuchun, he can't even beat these little guys now!

He can’t beat the older one, nor the younger one. Is he going to beat the five-year-old Muchun? He’s his grandson’s generation!

Don't be polite to the Chang brothers. Ma Xun asked, "Chang Mao, I'll take you north in a few days. Do you want to go?"

Chang Sheng quickly said, "Uncle, take me with you!"

Chang Mao nodded vigorously and said, "Uncle, I will kowtow to you first, but you must take me with you!"

Chang Sen also knelt down, but it was useless. This time, he would only take Chang Mao with him. It was not because Ma Xun was partial to him, but because Chang Mao was of the right age and needed some experience.

These things were originally done by Chang Yuchun and Lan Yu, but it was nothing to take them out for a walk. Moreover, they were following the emperor, and if nothing unexpected happened, the three Chang brothers would all become honor guards in two years.

The so-called honorary guards are all children of meritorious officials. In order to become the imperial guards, they have to stand guard and patrol in the palace. After gaining some experience, they can be sent to serve in the governor's office or local guards.

After Chang Lan yelled, the Chang siblings hurried home to eat, and Ma Xun's house became quiet.

Ma Xun smiled and looked at Liu Shuning, "Is my sister asking you to help look after these nephews' wives?"

Liu Shuning said with some concern, "I am originally from eastern Zhejiang, and I am not very familiar with the people in Huaixi. I don't know which family has a suitable woman or what her character is like."

"You are from Huaixi now, and you are my wife." Ma Xun said with a smile, "Chang Wan hasn't entered the palace yet, so you can go with her to have a look. She will be able to take care of this matter sooner or later, so you two can just take a look and tell me the truth when the time comes."

Liu Shuning nodded. It would be more appropriate for her to do some things, after all, she has the status.

Marrying into the royal family is not a trivial matter, and there are many factors to consider. Ma Xun and Liu Shuning, who seem to be close and independent third parties, sometimes still have some say and can give some reference and suggestions.

Liu Shuning looked at Ma Xun and asked, "Husband, is there anything I should pay attention to when I return home this time?"

Ma Xun said directly, "Follow me, there's nothing for you to worry about. I don't even know all the people in my hometown, so just follow me and call people. You are more familiar with other etiquette than I am."

Ma Xun was not very familiar with his relatives in his hometown of Suzhou. He only knew that there were brothers from the Wu family, who were cousins from Ma Xiuying's uncle's side.

Ma Xun thought for a moment and said, "When the time comes, I'll burn more paper money in front of my mother's grave and talk to her. The old man is really something. He didn't tell me the location clearly. I can't find it even if I want to. There's no way I can even talk about a cenotaph."

Liu Shuning nodded obediently. She had heard Ma Xiuying say this. She didn't know where Ma Xun's mother's remains were buried. All that was buried in the ancestral tomb in her hometown was a wooden hairpin.

All Ma Xun needs to do now is to live a stable life, and he doesn't need to worry about the affairs of the court.

The struggle in the Secretariat was fierce, and some people did want to drag him into it, but Ma Xun would not be fooled. Others' fierce struggles had nothing to do with him.

Some people also debated whether the emperor should go to Beiping. Even though it seemed that Ma Xun was the first to propose this, he retired after his success. This was inevitable because Zhu Yuanzhang was determined to go to Beiping.

Ma Xun stayed at home peacefully, sorting out materials with Liu Shuning to further improve his nursing studies.

Nursing is not simply about boiling gauze to disinfect it, or simple debridement, etc. Acupuncture, decoctions, hot compresses, sublingual medication, enema, etc. are all things that need to be learned.

So don’t underestimate the ancients. Zhang Zhongjing and others knew about enema, and they had accumulated a lot of literature and experience.

What Ma Xun is doing now is to organize some knowledge into books to form some systematic and relatively complete systems under the current level of productivity. Some dignitaries will definitely be taken care of more carefully, but some ordinary soldiers will also benefit from it.

Ma Xun doesn't care whether he is the founder of nursing or not. What he is doing is to standardize nursing and institutionalize this discipline so that it can continue to develop further in the future and train more professionals in batches.

It is not just nursing that needs to be standardized, but many disciplines also need to be summarized and accumulated. After all, some scientific heritage has technology and experience, but unfortunately there are some problems in inheritance and development.

The low status of craftsmen is one of the things that worries Ma Xun the most.

Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty had just been founded, and even if what he did seemed to be unorthodox, it was not particularly out of line. If he made a good effort to reverse the trend at this time, he might really have a chance to change things.

Ma Xun thinks these things can be done, and he is very willing to try to make some changes.

(End of this chapter)