The atmosphere in Anfu County, which had been depressed for many days, suddenly became lively. The common people took out the wounded bandit soldiers from their homes. The gentry, merchants, traders, and foot soldiers took to the streets to bring food and drink to the officers and soldiers. Some women saw that the soldiers were well-dressed.
It was dirty and torn, and I wanted them to take it off to help mend it and wash it. I think of the scenes of soldiers and civilians in various prefectures and counties under the rule of the Ming Dynasty. I have never seen the people support the officers and soldiers so much; it is not a bunch of officers and soldiers.
How noble, but what the bandits did was really inhumane. People have long been looking forward to the government deploying troops to regain the county.
Commander Liu's staff member was a down-and-out scholar with a mustache, which made his face a bit cunning. At this time, he was wondering, with a look of hard thinking on his face: "To be honest, I really don't understand these gangsters."
It's a good idea to grab such food and go up the mountain, but why are you standing outside the city and fighting with us? What kind of money do we have? We are all so poor... And where do these firearms come from? "
"Everything in the world is absurd, and many of them are like this." Commander Liu, the martial artist, said something quite philosophical, and then he turned over the matchlock gun and looked at it, "This thing is really exquisitely made! Mr. Qin
Come and take a look. Hey, there seems to be a mark on the iron pipe. This is a pipe made of red-hot iron and slowly forged and wrapped... But the inside is so smooth and straight, without a single burr. Could it be a little bit?
Drilled in? It’s incredible, how much effort it took to make this firecracker, it’s quite a valuable thing.”
The staff member surnamed Qin said: "Commander Liu, don't be interested in these guns. They will definitely be taken away by the superior officials. Not to mention you, even the prefect will not care about them. The governor will definitely send someone down to take them away. But we found them
We can think of something to do with the property left behind by the group of thieves."
The two looked at each other, and Commander Liu said calmly: "Then you have to pass it through the hands of the gentry of this county before the things are clean."
The staff was stunned for a moment. Unexpectedly, Commander Liu looked honest, but he was in tune with him. He smiled while stroking his mustache and said nothing. Then the staff whispered an idea: "The captured thieves must be separated, don't talk to each other."
To the magistrate. Rentou and Xiaoluo will report the number of gains to the Du Commander and Envoys Division, and the leader will be given to the people in the Inspectorate Envoys Division. Perhaps the officials of the Inspectorate Envoys Division can catch some more traitors and perform meritorious service. In any case, Mr. Liu and Dusi Shangfeng
Once we have contact, at least we will become familiar with each other, and it will be much easier to talk to each other in the future."
...However, the most important figure, Zhu Wenkui, the crown prince of Emperor Jianwen, was not captured by the army.
Wen Kui fled for a few days, and only Jiu Qi was separated from him. The strength he had finally accumulated was completely destroyed overnight. It started to rain one day, and he finally vented his emotions with a livid face.
He roared to the people around him: "Why is it that Zhang Ning succeeded in raising an army, but I was completely defeated?!"
No one could answer his question. Song He, a civil servant, had a lot of words in his mind, but at this point, what was the use of saying anything? So he didn't want to speak anymore.
A man next to him advised: "Emperor Guangwu and Uncle Liu were both killed on their own several times. The teacher said it well, before someone is about to be assigned a great responsibility, he must first starve his body and skin and deplete his body..."
After listening to this, Song He buried his head in silence. He really couldn't persuade the prince to say anything to help the prince regain his strength. At this time, Song He just thought that he could surrender to the King of Xiang. Unfortunately, he could not be trusted because of his status here.
At this time, there were two people around the prince who were spies from King Xiang's Ministry of Internal Affairs. One of them had been identified as a craftsman. The so-called craftsmen were all sent from Zhang Ning's weapons bureau in accordance with the previous prince's request; Wen Kui's people
I knew that one of these craftsmen might be a craftsman, so I always took precautions. But the other one, who claimed not to know the craftsman when he left the city, was actually a craftsman, but now everyone thinks he is some kind of servant from a stall.
The second spy had more opportunities to desert the prince. He secretly left some marks on the road, leaving clues for the spies from the Ministry of Internal Affairs who were following them.
In fact, Wenkui has now escaped the pursuit and suppression by the army, but has come into the sight of people from the "Ministry of Internal Affairs".
...Mrs. Yao, who controls the Ministry of Internal Affairs, has always attached great importance to the Wenkuina family and assigned her confidant Chunmei to take charge of this matter. At this time, Chunmei had already reported the details of the work to Mrs. Yao.
There were many people in the huge Chu Palace, but Yao Ji's place was extremely quiet, just like an empty courtyard. There was no one around, except for the teenage girl Xiaoyue at the door, who was decorating it gently with flowers.
Arranged porcelain vases.
Chunmei said softly: "Our people have figured out the location of the prince, and it is very easy to find him. Now we only need to send people there, without anyone noticing, and it is best to send a swordsman in white... The prince has just been defeated.
There were only a few people around him, and they were killed together. No one knew how he died. He was probably killed in the rebellion..." It was an important matter related to the royal family. Chunmei didn't want to say these words in her heart.
She had to bear the risk. But it was impossible not to say it. As the person promoted by Yao Ji in the original evil sect, and the strength of Queen Ma and Yao Ji was now clear, Chunmei had to determine her position; after saying this
After all, she became even more loyal around Yao Ji.
Unexpectedly, Yao Ji hesitated for a while and rejected the intention of sending someone to assassinate the prince.
Chunmei was a little surprised after hearing this. She thought that Yao Ji would never let go of such an opportunity. Others didn't know. Didn't she know that Mrs. Yao had prejudices against Queen Ma and the others? Chunmei could only say: "Madam, what you said makes sense.
After all, that person's identity is the prince, and he shouldn't be plotted in the mountains by such an unknown person like his subordinates."
"Identity?" Yao Ji suddenly smiled sweetly, covering her mouth gently with an elegant and romantic movement, but there was something slightly frightening in her eyes, "Wen Kui really has the title of prince, but in the palace in front of him
There is another person who is the emperor."
"Yes, yes." Chunmei no longer knew how to answer. Mrs. Yao seemed to have reached the point of despising the things that everyone in the world revered.
Yao Ji gradually faded her smile and said thoughtfully: "If I had such an opportunity in the past, of course I would not let him go, and I would definitely take the opportunity to eliminate a threat. But now, I feel a little disdainful of him.
It's eye-catching. I don't have any likes or dislikes towards Wen Kui. When I was in the palace, he was only a few years old. What's there to care about a child? The only thing I care about him is that his biological mother is Queen Ma.
That's all; the only thing he's useful to me is that I can attack Queen Ma through him..."
She paced back and forth carefully, then suddenly stood still and said calmly: "Stay here and ask someone to follow him. He was defeated so miserably in Jiangxi, and many of his men were caught. How dare he go to those people below?"
He needs to take refuge in his hometown? The best place for him to go right now is Queen Ma's place. If he causes trouble outside, he will naturally look for his mother."
"Madam is wise, I will do as you say."
Not only Yao Ji is paying attention to this matter, but Zhou Mengxiong from Lizhou has also heard about it. The reason is that Zhou Mengxiong, as an old subordinate of Emperor Jianwen, grew up watching Wen Kui. This is the second reason. Secondly, he was originally ordered to escort the arms.
It was Zhou Mengxiong who personally handled the matter for Wenkui when he was in Changsha Mansion. He always paid attention to the development of things that he had done. Zhou Mengxiong knew about the news of Wenkui's defeat in Anfu no later than Yao Ji.
Zhou Mengxiong also knew something more. The army that escorted the craftsmen with arms and ammunition was his men, so it was impossible for people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to sneak into the craftsmen and hide it from the generals of the escort army.
He had already had a premonition that Prince Wen Kui would be in trouble and might not die in the hands of the army, but in the hands of Yao Ji. Because a person like the prince would not charge into the battle even if the war went against him.
, it is still very easy to escape from the battlefield; however, it is easy to dodge open guns and hidden arrows, and the real danger lies in invisible places.
Zhou Mengxiong still has some old feelings for Jianwen and his son. If he can save Wenkui, he will be obliged to do so. But after thinking about it, there is no possibility of saving him... I am afraid only the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Internal Affairs knows where Wenkui is, and Zhou Mengxiong is
He cannot interfere with the Ministry of Internal Affairs at all. He holds the political power in Changde, Changsha, Lizhou and other places. The Wuchang Battalion currently has more than 10,000 troops and has enough power. He must not touch the secret agents of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
thing.
I had to sit back and watch, unable to do anything about it.
The news of King Xiang's "Wenbiao" defeating the Shenji Camp of Beijing Camp in Jiujiang Prefecture has been reported to all the armies and mansions under his rule. At present, in the world, apart from the imperial court in the capital, the King of Xiang Group is the most powerful; even the King of Han in Nanjing
, in Zhou Mengxiong's opinion, it was just superficial and seemed to be powerful. The era of Emperor Jianwen was long in the past, and even if a little hope suddenly arose, it was quickly covered up by new forces.
Water flows down and people go up, and people always have to look forward. Zhou Mengxiong had some old feelings for Emperor Jianwen, but he did not want to split with the Xiangwang Group... In fact, Zhou Mengxiong felt that he was not really that powerful.
He has always suspected that the purpose of the King of Xiang's entrustment of heavy powers was just to contain and balance the Yao family, and he did not completely trust himself. If he made too many mistakes in his behavior, the place with high power would be even more dangerous.
Zhou Mengxiong has been thinking about Wen Kui over and over in the past few days. Suddenly one night he woke up: If he were in Yao Ji's situation, how would he deal with Wen Kui? Just assassinate him secretly? It seems that Wen Kui is worth more than
Here it is.
Zhou Mengxiong thought about the big and small things that happened a long time ago: when his daughter Erniang had just passed the Zhu family gate, Yao Ji once asked Erniang about the place where Emperor Jianwen lived in seclusion. However, Zhou Mengxiong once told Erniang to keep it a secret.
It was out of loyalty to Emperor Jianwen. Mrs. Yao was also a well-behaved person. She only asked once and found out that Mother Tuesday wouldn't tell her, so she never mentioned it again, and she didn't have the style of stalking and bullying. This happened later.
It faded away.
Will Wen Kui go back to find Queen Ma? Will Yao Ji find Queen Ma through Wen Kui?
Zhou Mengxiong made countless guesses in his mind, and always felt that there was something to be done about this matter... Of course, he was not doing it for Queen Ma. He was only somewhat loyal to Emperor Jianwen, and he didn't care at all what happened to a woman like Queen Ma.