Mu Chun heard someone calling him, and when he turned around, he saw that it was Xu Zengshou, who had just come out of the antique shop.
Xu Zengshou guessed that he had gotten some money from his brother-in-law, Prince of Yan Zhu Di, and took a half-worn fan and held it in his arms like a treasure.
Mu Chun caught a glimpse of Xu Zengshou coming to the antique shop in a horse-drawn carriage, so he got on his carriage without being invited and ordered the coachman to follow the carriage guarded by ten people in front from a distance.
Xu Zengshou opened the fan like he was presenting a treasure, and pointed at the calligraphy on the fan. "I've found a bargain today. This fan was written by Fan Z, one of the four great poets of the Yuan Dynasty. It's only fifty taels of silver. Isn't it cheap? Look at this calligraphy, it's definitely authentic—"
Mu Chun put away the fan and interrupted Xu Zengshou, "I'll take it to the palace and ask Fan Z's granddaughter to verify its authenticity. Let's talk business. What did you find out?"
Xu Zengshou spread out his hands, "Where's the IOU?"
Mu Chun took out a piece of paper folded into a square from his purse and waved it in front of him quickly, "I always carry it with me."
Xu Zengshou was relieved when he saw the faint red handprint on the note, and said, "Do you still remember that today, at the beginning of spring, the Ming Dynasty announced the third northern expedition, and your father Mu Ying took command and led the troops to the northern desert, winning a great victory?"
Speaking of his father, Mu Chun's nose was filled with cold air. "Of course I remember. When he returned victorious, the first thing he did was to order me to kneel in the ancestral hall. He also tried to whip me. He was disgusted by me for bringing shame to him in the Imperial College, so the next day he stuffed me into the Jinyiwei to guard the gate."
Xu Zengshou asked again: "Do you know how your father won?"
"Have you found out the person I asked you to find?" Mu Chun's eyes were filled with distrust. "That person died in the Second Northern Expedition. The Grand Marshal of that Northern Expedition was your father, Xu Da, Duke of Wei, so I asked you to find out. Why are you talking about my father?"
Xu Zengshou said: "Because these two northern expeditions are related to the person you are looking for..."
Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, a total of three northern expeditions were launched against the Yuan Dynasty and the Northern Yuan regime. The first was in the first year of Hongwu, when the Ming Dynasty had just been founded. Xu Da was the commander-in-chief of the expedition and won a great victory. He captured the Yuan Dynasty capital Dadu (now Beijing), and the Yuan Dynasty was destroyed.
The second Northern Expedition was led by Xu Da again, but the Ming Dynasty was defeated this time, and Hu Shanwei's fiancé died in this war. The Ming Dynasty was forced to negotiate peace with the Northern Yuan Dynasty. In order to show its sincerity in the peace talks, Emperor Hongwu even ordered the second prince, Prince Qin, to marry Wang Yinnu, the younger sister of the Northern Yuan Dynasty Prime Minister Wang Baobao, as the Princess Qin, in order to establish a political marriage.
The third Northern Expedition was at the beginning of the spring of the 13th year of Hongwu. Emperor Hongwu appointed Xiping Hou Mu Ying as the Marshal and led the Ming army stationed in Shaanxi to the Northern Expedition. The Northern Expedition went all the way to Lingzhou, Ningxia, without encountering the Northern Yuan army. Seeing that the Northern Expedition was about to get lost in the desert and grassland, at the critical moment, Marshal Mu Ying received intelligence from scouts: the Northern Yuan army was stationed in Nailu, preparing to bypass the Northern Expedition and attack the Ming border.
Mu Ying immediately marched rapidly, marching day and night for seven days, crossing the Yellow River, passing through Ningxia, and climbing over the Helan Mountains. When they were fifty miles away from the Yuan army camp, he divided his troops into four groups, surrounded the Northern Yuan army, and won a great victory.
Xu Zengshou dipped his finger in the tea and drew a map on the wall of the carriage. "Your father was here at the time... The Northern Yuan army was here, and your father didn't have clairvoyance. How could he be sure that the Northern Yuan army was here, cross the Yellow River, climb over the Helan Mountains, and take advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness to surround the Yuan army?"
Mu Chun had no interest in his father's great achievements. "Didn't you just say that? Because he got the information from the scouts!"
"Do you know who passed this information to your father?" Xu Zengshou did not continue speaking, but dipped his hand in water again and wrote the words "Wang Ning" on the wall.
It was a hot day, and Mu Chun seemed to be frozen, motionless. It took him a while to react, "You mean he is not dead, he is lurking in the Northern Yuan Dynasty, becoming a spy of the Jinyiwei, and the eyes and ears of the Northern Expedition Army?"
Xu Zengshou whispered, "This is a military secret. I found this secret letter in my father's study. Don't let it out."
Mu Chun nodded as if sleepwalking, and then shook his head, "It can't be such a coincidence, right? There are too many people with the same name in this world. The name Wang Ning is very common."
Xu Zengshou said, "The secret letter only mentioned Wang Ning, without detailing his place of origin. However, I have fulfilled my promise, so the IOU should be returned to me, right?"
As Xu Zengshou spoke, he quietly locked the door of the carriage, thinking that if Mu Chun refused to pay, no one would be able to get off.
Mu Chun was shocked and didn't notice Xu Zengshou's little move. He was thinking, should I tell Sister Shanwei
If this Wang Ning is the person he is looking for, this truth is more cruel to Sister Shanwei than a lie.
The man she was waiting for had already chosen the latter between love affairs and building a career, and abandoned her.
Her waiting, her persistence, her despair, and her attempt to enter the palace to seek a way out all became a joke.
Oh, it turns out that there are people in this world who are abandoned by the whole world just like me...
Seeing Mu Chun sitting still like an old monk in meditation, Xu Zengshou rushed over to grab the IOU from the purse. When he opened it, he was dumbfounded: there was almost nothing on the paper, only a red handprint.
"Where is the IOU I wrote?" Xu Zengshou asked.
Muchun said, "You've already eaten it. The IOU you stole that day was real, not toilet paper. If I hadn't made a fake one, you definitely wouldn't have agreed to help me."
Without the fake IOU, Xu Zengshou would not have risked going to his father's study to peek at military secrets.
All is fair in war. Xu Zengshou pointed at Mu Chun and said, "You, you, you... you lied to me."
Mu Chun opened the door and looked at the carriage speeding ahead. "It's not considered cheating. You don't have to pay back the money."
Mu Chun was in the carriage but his mind was already flying away. He roughly guessed why Jinyiwei commander Mao Xiang wanted to drive Hu Shanwei out of the palace.
Hu Shanwei, a book copyist in the market, would never have any intersection with Wang Ning in his life, and they would live their own lives separately.
But it was different to be a court lady in the palace. If this Wang Ning was the same Wang Ning, and Wang Ning's intelligence was the key to her father Mu Ying's victory in the third Northern Expedition, and the emperor would reward her for her merits and grant her titles and titles in the future, Hu Shanwei would definitely discover the truth about her fiancé.
What will happen then
Wang Ning abandoned his personal feelings, lurked in the Northern Yuan Dynasty, provided intelligence, and helped the Ming Dynasty turn defeat into victory. This was an act that everyone praised.
If Sister Shanwei accuses Wang Ning of being ruthless, others will in turn accuse her of being ignorant of the overall situation, not understanding the overall situation, being narrow-minded and womanizing.
But what did Sister Shanwei do wrong
The carriage in front stopped and ten plainclothes Jinyiwei dismounted. Hu Shanwei and Jiang Quan walked into a bookstore. After about a cup of tea, the two got on the carriage with a few books and rushed to another bookstore.
When passing by Hu's Bookstore, Hu Shanwei did not get off the car. Jiang Quan did not say anything and went to the bookstore alone.
The baby's crying was so piercing that it reached the carriage. After a while, Jiang Quan came back with a book and the carriage continued to move.
Jiang Quan said: "It's a boy, and he looks very healthy. Shopkeeper Hu likes him very much. He holds the baby in his arms when collecting money. The boy wet his clothes, but he still smiles."
As expected, the father got what he wished for and had a son in middle age, and he was very happy about it.
Hu Shanwei thought she didn't care anymore, but when she heard Jiang Quan say that, her heart still ached. When she was young, her father also doted on her like this. After her mother died, the family was destroyed, and the father and daughter depended on each other. Family affection was the motivation for each other.
But now her father's happy life can no longer accommodate her, she is redundant. Without her, this family will be better and more harmonious.
Then... let's do this.
Tears welled up in her eyes. It must be because the carriage was too bumpy. She almost cried. Hu Shanwei didn't want anyone to see her vulnerable side, so she clenched her fists and forced herself to hold back tears.
Jiang Quan was of age and had a lot of experience, so he was the most understanding person. He knew that Hu Shanwei was enduring, so he made the excuse that it was stuffy in the carriage, walked out, and sat next to the coachman.
Sure enough, as soon as Jiang Quan left, Hu Shanwei's tears rolled down, and each drop fell on his fist, burning his hands like boiling oil.
The carriage passed Chengxian Street and turned into a quiet alley, taking a shortcut to Gongyuan Street. On both sides of the road were large trees that could be hugged by two people. They were planted here hundreds of years ago, showing the lingering charm of the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties. The shade of the trees here blocked the sky and was much cooler than the bustling streets.
Jiang Quan, who was sitting next to the coachman, heard the suppressed, kitten-like sobbing in the carriage had stopped. He knew that Hu Shanwei had stopped crying and she could go back.
Jiang Quan sighed in his heart: What a poor girl, she has a home, but it is better to have no home.
Jiang Quan leaned back and changed to a half-squatting position, intending to return to the carriage.
But the moment she lowered her head, a sharp arrow suddenly shot out and passed through her hair. With a bang, it pierced the neck of the coachman sitting next to her!
If Jiang Quan hadn't lowered her head, the arrow would have shot right through her neck!
The driver loosened his grip on the reins and fell off the carriage, dying on the spot. The carriage suddenly lost control. Jiang Quan screamed and rolled and crawled into the carriage.
The accident happened too quickly, and there was no time to collect the driver's body. Ji Gang, the leader, immediately jumped from the horse's back to the carriage, took over the driver's position, grabbed the reins again, and shouted loudly: "Don't stop, keep moving forward! If we are trapped here, none of us can escape!"
As soon as he finished speaking, more arrows fell from the sky, and seven out of the ten Jinyiwei were shot off their horses in an instant!
Not only that, the two horses pulling the cart were also hit by arrows in the abdomen. In severe pain, the two horses ran like mad and were out of control.
Sharp arrows rained down. Ji Gang, who was wearing plain clothes and no armor, knew that the reins were useless anyway, so he simply huddled into the carriage and squeezed together with two frightened female officials.
Ji Gang yelled, "If you two hold each other, the carriage will flip over!"
In a panic, Jiang Quan and Hu Shanwei hugged each other. Ji Gang pushed them into the space under the seat and used the cushion to cover their heads. At this time, the two horses were shot by arrows and fell to the ground, and the carriage overturned. Ji Gang's head hit the wall and he fainted on the spot.