Chapter 1: Ma Teng is delighted by Lin'er

  In the first year of Jianning, in February, in a mansion in Maoling, Fufeng, a young Han man furrowed his brow and paced anxiously around the courtyard, muttering to himself, "Hasn't it been born yet? Why is it taking so long?"

  He was about twenty years old, over eight feet tall, with a broad waist and a strong face, resembling the Qiang people from other tribes.

  His name is Ma Teng, and his style name is Shoucheng. He was from Fufeng, Mailing. He was a descendant of the Han Dynasty's General Ma Yuan, but unfortunately, the Ma family had been declining since their ancestor's time.

  By the time of Ma Teng's father's generation, although he also served as the magistrate of Tianshui and Lanzhou for a few days, he was eventually dismissed from office. After his father lost his official position, he stayed in Longxi and lived with the local Qiang people.

  Ma Teng was too poor to marry a woman of his own people, so he married a local Qiang woman instead. This is also why Ma Teng looked like a Qiang person, because his mother was originally a Qiang person and he had half Qiang blood.

  Later on, Ma Teng's mother died of illness when he was in his teens, and his father also passed away not long after his mother's death.

  Before his death, his father called Ma Teng to his bedside and said in a weak voice: "Teng, I'm going to die. Think of our ancestors, the heroes of the Ma family, 'A man should die on the battlefield, wrapped in horse hide' - what heroic words! Unfortunately, my descendants have fallen to this point, how can I face our ancestors?" As he spoke, Ma Teng's father couldn't help but shed tears.

  "Dad, you can't be blamed for this either!"

  "No, Teng Er, I am the sinner of the Ma family, I have no face to see my ancestors, and I am ashamed of my predecessors! But I won't have any chance to do anything anymore, I can only entrust it to you, you must promise me, you must restore the former glory of our Ma family!"

  "Dad, I promise. I will definitely try my best!"

  "Alright, your father believes you will definitely succeed. Over there is a box, inside are things left behind by our ancestors, now passed down to you, Teng, you must take care of yourself..." The last word was not yet spoken when Ma Fu's life slipped away.

  "Father, father, father!" Although he had prepared himself, Ma Teng was still overcome with grief at his father's departure. After kowtowing three times to his father, he stood up and wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes, saying to his father as if to himself: "I will definitely restore my family's former glory!"

  Afterwards, Ma Teng made preparations for his father's funeral. Although his father thought he had no face to see his ancestors, as a son, he still had to bury his father in their hometown. As the saying goes, "A tree that is a thousand feet tall will have its leaves fall back to its roots."

  Ma Teng sold all the things that could be sold at home and bought a coffin to carry his father's body back to Fufeng Maoling.

  After burying his father, Ma Teng used the little money he had to buy a house. Although the house was not big, at least it provided a place that could shield him from wind and rain, which was already quite good for a single man like Ma Teng.

  From Longxi, nothing was brought back, no, there is still one thing, that is the trunk left by the ancestor Ma Yuan. This thing, even if it falls to begging on the street in the future, Ma Teng dare not and cannot sell it.

  At that time, when Ma Teng was moving boxes back home, he didn't think much of the box. It wasn't until he started moving it that he realized how wrong he was.

  The trunk looked unassuming, old and worn out, but Ma Teng used all his might to move the trunk onto the car. He estimated that the trunk plus its contents weighed at least over 400 catties.

  It's true that the trunk weighs around 470 pounds, which is equivalent to a horse. An ordinary person can't move it at all. Generally, people have difficulty lifting over 100 pounds, let alone nearly 500 pounds.

  Ma Teng grew up in Longxi, where Han and Qiang people lived together, and was adjacent to the Qiang people's territory, so the local customs were fierce.

  The Qiang people are also fond of martial arts, and it can be said that almost every household in the local area has weapons. The Qiang people don't need to be mentioned, but the Han people have even more, after all, the place is not very peaceful. If you want to live a good life without knowing how to fight, then you can only suffer at the hands of others.

  Ma Teng was raised learning martial arts from a young age with the Qiang people, his mother was also of Qiang ethnicity and he had half Qiang blood, so learning martial arts was nothing unusual.

  And he has been deeply interested in martial arts since childhood, studying and practicing diligently every day.

  Although his natural talent was limited, fortunately, he made up for it with diligence and hard work. Ma Teng's martial arts skills, whether on horseback or on foot, were far superior to the average three-legged cat kung fu, and by today's standards, he could at least be considered a second-rate military general.

  Being able to lift 500 catties with both arms is already very strong, and people born with divine strength are few in number. And freaks like Xiang Yu, the Overlord, only exist in legends.

  Ma Teng moved the trunk back into the house and wanted to open it to see what was inside. But upon closer inspection, he found that the trunk was locked.

  He thought: My father didn't give me the key to unlock it, it seems that maybe some ancestor lost it, and later generations never opened it again, so the lock was rusty. If I want to open the lock, I can only destroy it.

  He thought for a moment and then used his hand to force the lock, with a loud "click", the lock broke, Ma Teng hurriedly looked inside the box.

  What entered one's line of sight was a full box of things. On the left side there was a pile of bamboo slips. After taking a look, there were six volumes in total.

  In the middle is something wrapped in red cloth, on the right side there is also a piece of cloth wrapped around something, and a black thing that looks like a stone.

  On the red cloth in the middle was a letter, but it wasn't a paper letter, it was a silk book. Ma Teng picked up the silk book and unfolded it to take a look, only to see that it was written:

  I have two things that I love most in my life. One is the drumstick and golden hammer in my hand, weighing 320 catties. With this hammer, I will travel all over the world to meet heroes, and few can be my match.

  The second is the fish-scale purple-gold thin armor worn on the body, weighing about thirty catties. On the sandy field, it has helped me resist countless knife edges.

  I now pass these two objects on to my descendants, but the hammer is not a divine power born of heaven and those who love the hammer cannot use it. If none of my descendants can use this hammer, I hope they will find someone with good fortune to pass it on to, only those with good character and who love their country and people are eligible.

  At that time, I can give you a volume of my hammer method to learn from. There is a total of one volume of hammer method and five volumes of military books in the box. The hammer method is a hundred and eight routes of drumming hammers that I created myself, this hammer method is applicable to all hammers in the world, not just the drumming hammer alone.

  The Art of War is the culmination of my life's experience in commanding armies, having fought in over three hundred battles, big and small. I hope that future generations will study it and gain some insight, so as to expand the territory of the Great Han.

  Thin armor, my later generations can all wear it, on the battlefield can ensure your safety. Also, in my later years, I accidentally obtained a piece of meteorite from outside the sky, weighing about 120 catties, unfortunately, no one in this generation can melt it, and can only entrust it to future generations for use.

  A man should die on the border, wrapped in horse hide and buried. I hope that future generations will take this to heart! The final signature is Ma Yuan.

  After reading the silk book of his ancestors, Ma Teng was a little hot-blooded. This can't be blamed on him, at that time, no matter who thought that if they could open up territory and expand their borders, they would all have a passion like Ma Teng's, let alone he was in his youth, a passionate young man.

  Unfortunately, this is just a thought, nowadays Ma Teng can't even afford to eat, how can he think about it, before going to open up new territories, he would starve himself to death first. So he doesn't think much about these things anymore, just thinking of doing something to make a living, the taste of having no food is really unbearable.

  He started going up the nearby mountain to cut firewood for a living, and then sold the firewood in the nearby market, barely making ends meet, day after day.

  One day, he saved a woman who was surrounded by wolves on the mountain. Fortunately, there were not many wolves at that time, and he ran very fast, or they might not have come back. However, Ma Teng still got hurt, and the woman bandaged him as soon as she saw her benefactor injured.

  After Ma Teng recovered from his injury, the woman he saved continued to visit him at home. Although the Eastern Han Dynasty did not have as many restrictions on women as the Song and Ming Dynasties, it was still rare for a woman to be so bold. This shows that this woman's courage is comparable to that of modern people.

  In this way, the two of them sparked a romance, but when the girl's parents found out, they were strongly opposed to their relationship.

  The girl's surname was Liu, and her name was Liu Yuanyuan. She was only 28 years old, which is equivalent to 16 years old. Although the Liu family in Maoling was not a prominent or aristocratic family, they were still a respectable family in the local area. How could they possibly marry their precious daughter to a poor young man who had nothing?

  Ke Liu Yuan was determined to get married, and at home she would cry, make a fuss, and even threaten to hang herself. In the end, her mother was so worn down that she had no choice but to agree to the marriage.

  Her mother agreed and her father didn't say anything. Her father was famous far and near for being under his wife's control, and her mother's words were more effective than an imperial edict.

  Helpless, he had to marry off his daughter, the bride price was not much, but instead lost a lot of dowry. Her father was heartbroken for several days and never gave Ma Teng a good face again.

  Days passed day by day, and more than a year had passed in the blink of an eye. In February of Jianning's second year, Ma Teng's wife Liu was about to give birth. Ma Teng was exactly twenty years old this year, and his wife Liu was seventeen years old.

  For the first time as a father, Ma Teng looked very nervous and anxious. The delivery room only transmitted his wife's cries, but there was no sound of the child. Just as he was anxiously pacing back and forth, the sky which had been clear just a moment before suddenly became overcast with dark clouds, as if something was brewing above.

  A flash of lightning cut across the sky, striking the delivery room with a loud crash, creating a huge hole in the roof. Just as Ma Teng was about to rush into the delivery room, he heard a loud and clear cry of a newborn baby coming from inside.

  At this time, an old voice echoed behind him, "Heavenly omens have indeed appeared! Congratulations, congratulations, you've got a descendant, the Ma family has an heir!"

  Ma Teng broke out in a cold sweat, because when he turned his head to look at the approaching person, the person was already speaking and had come from the doorway. The doorway was at least a dozen or so steps away from where Ma Teng was standing, but by the time the person finished saying "heavenly omen", they were already beside him. But Ma Teng hadn't seen clearly how this person had arrived, it was as if he took one step and suddenly appeared ten or more steps closer, which was truly frightening.

  Only to see the newcomer with crane hair and childlike face, with a fairy wind and Taoist bones, it is impossible to tell his age from his face. Ma Teng hurriedly clasped his fists and said: "Please forgive me, elder, I want to visit my wife and children first. If there's any neglect, please forgive me."

  "Alright, alright. Since you're here, let's go together then, please," said the newcomer.

  Ma Teng felt particularly uncomfortable, is it your son or my son? How can you say it like I'm going to your house to see your son, although he thought so in his heart, but he didn't dare show it, because he knew that the old man next to him was not a good person, mysterious and unpredictable, better not to provoke.

  "It's just as I thought," said the old man, "please come this way." With that, Ma Teng and the visitor walked together towards the delivery room.

  Just as he was walking to the door, the midwife and the nurse came out of the delivery room. As soon as they saw Ma Teng, they congratulated him, "Congratulations, Mr. Ma! It's a little young master, both mother and son are safe!"

  "Alright, someone come and take these two old ladies down to rest. And while you're at it, hurry up and repair the roof!"

  Ma Teng is no longer the poor young man he used to be, now he has a considerable amount of family property. After all, his wife's maiden home in Maoling is also considered a landlord, and casually giving Ma Teng dozens of hectares of land is enough for their expenses. Even the large mansion they live in now was part of the dowry from his wife's family.

  As he entered the house, he saw his wife lying on the couch holding their newborn baby. Walking up to the couch, Ma Teng grasped his wife's hand, "Yuan'er, you've worked hard, you're the meritorious subject of my Ma family."

  "It's not hard work." Then his wife Liu said, holding up the child: "Shou Cheng, look at our son, he looks just like you, this eyebrow, and this nose."

  "But I think he looks more like his mother, and much better looking than me."

  "He's more handsome than you, and he's also my son. I just don't know how many girls he'll flirt with when he grows up."

  "Of course, the more the better." Ma Teng said with a smile.

  "You, why don't you teach your son well? What kind of father are you?"

  "It's not like that, it's actually for our Ma family to prosper."

  "You haven't named the child yet."

  The sudden voice startled the couple, Ma Teng was fine, but his wife Liu was frightened. She didn't know how this old man appeared or who brought him here. Liu asked in confusion: "Shoucheng, who is this..."

  "He is, he is... " Ma Teng said in his heart, who knows who this old man is? He came by himself, I don't know him.

  "The old man is from Nan Hua." The newcomer said, then ignored them and stared at the child.

  "The name of the child has been thought out long ago. I hope our son will achieve great things, surpassing all his predecessors, so let's call him Ma Chao." Ma Teng said with a smile as he looked at the child.

  Perhaps nobody noticed that Ma Chao's current expression was one of wide-eyed astonishment, a look of utter surprise. As for why Ma Chao looked like this, there was certainly a reason.

  If you were a university graduate from the future, and it rained heavily when you went out to find a job, and you took shelter under a big tree to avoid the rain, and just happened to be struck by lightning, and just happened to have been struck through time and space, and just happened to have been reborn in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and again just happened to have been reborn as your favorite character with the same name and surname as yours, Ma Chao, what expression would you have?

  The plot requires Ma Chao to be born eight years earlier than in history. As for the personal part, there is no lack of fictional elements, so please understand. What Nan Hua came to do, you can all guess.