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The sunlight in late April was already somewhat bright. The willow branches in front of Meixiang Tower looked weak and fragile, swaying softly in the wind.
Li Xiangjun wore a gold-thread butterfly hairpin with kingfisher feathers on her hair, a gold-thread thin emerald green gauze, and a pleated skirt with green grass and water mist, which made her exquisite figure look like a bud about to bloom.
She leaned on the couch, smelling the waft of incense, and carefully handed over a letter sent by Qin Mu via the post. Qin Mu had been away from Nanjing for more than a month, but he would send her a letter every three or two days.
Each letter contained only a few greetings, or sometimes even no greetings, just a poem. Unconsciously, receiving and reading Qin Mu's letters had become a part of Li Xiangjun's life and the thing she looked forward to most every day.
The letter was unfolded. The handwriting on the paper was a little sloppy, as if it was written in a hurry. There was only one poem "Shengchazi" on it. When Li Xiangjun saw it, she was a little dazed and muttered:
The short flame picks out the withered flowers, the sound of the water clock becomes silent after a long night. I am tired of dancing but hear the rooster crow, and secretly feel the green silk is wet.
The sky and water meet in darkness, and a corner in the southwest is white. Yu crosses Huanhua Creek, and the distant dream is light and powerless.
This short song blends emotion with scenery, describing the scene of waking up at night, feeling overwhelmed with sorrow of separation, and unable to sleep. It is filled with a faint but actually strong sense of longing, and after reading it, one becomes dazed and gradually develops a mixture of resentment and sorrow of separation.
Compared with the poems Qin Mu sent before, this "Shengcha Zi" is not the most outstanding one, but each poem is an accumulation of emotions, and finally this "Shengcha Zi" became the last wave to break through Li Xiangjun's emotional defense line.
Although Hou Fangyu had disappointed her greatly in the past month or two, she still found it hard to let him go for the time being, because in the past few years, Hou Fangyu had always been the model for her fantasy of a talented man and a beautiful woman, and he was the necessary path to her ideal life.
Although she knew she was wrong, she couldn't just let go of several years of feelings. So when Qin Mu came to say goodbye and expressed his feelings in a poem, Li Xiangjun still did not respond positively.
Although Qin Mu had left Nanjing, the letters he sent every two or three days not only made Li Xiangjun unable to forget him, but also tilted the balance in her heart little by little. She couldn't help but try every possible way to find out Qin Mu's news.
Fortunately, there was a lot of news about Qin Mu. After he arrived in Jiangxi, he recruited refugees and wiped out bandits wherever he passed along the way. After the news was passed back to Nanjing by merchants and travelers, people talked about it with relish.
When she heard the news, Li Xiangjun couldn't help but think of Qin Mu's bold words that day: Why don't men take Wu Gou and take over the fifty states in Guanshan
Qin Mu proved with facts that he was not just a big talker, but what did Hou Fangyu and the others do besides getting drunk and singing sadly at Taoye Ferry? Comparing the two, the difference between the two is obvious.
The accumulation of these things bit by bit made the balance in Li Xiangjun's heart tilt little by little. Finally, when Qin Mu sent her another letter full of lovesickness, her emotions overflowed the bank of her heart and poured out all over the ground.
"Daughter, what are you doing?" After receiving the report, Li Xiangjun's adoptive mother Li Zhenli hurried to Li Xiangjun's room.
"Mom, I want to redeem myself." Li Xiangjun answered as she took out all her valuables.
"Daughter, are you crazy? Tell me, why did you do this? Was it because of Qin Mu?" Li Zhenli's voice suddenly rose, with an expression of disbelief.
"I don't want to lie to my mother. I did it for Qin Mu." Although Li Xiangjun is petite, she has a strong character and is very opinionated. Once she makes a decision, no one can dissuade her.
Li Zhenli knew her character very well, so she had to persuade her kindly: "Xiangjun, although you are a prostitute, I have worked hard to cultivate you for so many years. You are proficient in everything from playing the piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry and songs. You are not comparable to ordinary brothel girls. Qin Mu is young, handsome and talented. He went to work alone this time and managed to defeat thieves one after another. If such a person is in love with you, I would not wrong you, and I should not stop you. But you redeem yourself like this, and send yourself to me without any name or status. What is this? You must not do this."
"I will never forget the kindness of my mother in raising me. No matter what others say, I have made up my mind."
"No, I mean no. Qin Mu wants to marry my daughter. Unless he carries a sedan chair to redeem you, I will never agree."
"Mom, in this world, the Tartars are spying on us from outside, the rebels are causing chaos inside, the Ming Dynasty is in danger, Qin Mu is a cunning man, he only wants to serve the court and support the country, where can he get the money to redeem his daughter? Mom has always been chivalrous and wise, kind and righteous, do you want him to extort money from the people to redeem his daughter?"
Li Xiangjun was not praising Li Zhenli blindly. Li Zhenli was indeed a person with a bold and chivalrous character. She once lost thousands of gold coins in one night and smiled calmly. Most of her friends were famous people of the time. Qin Mu was outstanding in both literature and martial arts, and was indeed someone Li Zhenli admired. After hearing what Li Xiangjun said, she didn't know what to say for a moment.
But she had worked so hard to raise Li Xiangjun, and had put in no less effort than raising a princess. She had always treated Li Xiangjun as her own daughter. Now Qin Mu not only didn't spend a penny, but didn't even come. How could she be willing to just give her daughter away like that
Therefore, no matter what Li Xiangjun said, she just refused to agree.
Since she couldn't win over Li Xiangjun, she raised the redemption price. She knew very well how much private money Li Xiangjun had, so she raised the price by half. Li Xiangjun, thinking of her kindness in raising her for so many years, didn't want to compete with her over the redemption money, and she was at her wit's end.
However, the next day, after Bian Saisai learned about Li Xiangjun's situation, she not only used all her private money to support him, but also borrowed money from everywhere and managed to raise enough money to redeem Li Xiangjun.
On the third day, after Li Xiangjun paid the ransom money in full, Li Zhenli still didn't want to let her go. Li Xiangjun was heartbroken, and in full view of everyone, she ran headfirst into the pillar next to her, with blood splattering on the fan, looking as beautiful as a peach blossom. She wanted to die to make her determination clear.
In less than half a day, the news spread throughout Nanjing, causing countless people to sigh. Various legends about Li Xiangjun and Qin Mu soon spread throughout the entire Jiangnan region, causing many infatuated men and resentful women to feel overwhelmed and shed countless tears of sadness.
In May of the 16th year of Chongzhen, Zhang Xianzhong led tens of thousands of troops to the west to take Hanyang, crossed the Yangtze River from Yadanzhou, and quickly captured the city of Wuchang.
Wuchang was the seat of the palace of Zhu Huakui, the King of Chu. The officials guarding the city fled upon hearing the news, and the soldiers recruited by the King of Chu acted as an internal supporter of Zhang Xianzhong and opened the city gates to welcome him.
After Zhang Xianzhong executed the King of Chu, he and his subordinates shared his flesh and ate it. At the same time, he "took all the gold and silver in the palace, worth millions, and loaded them into hundreds of carts." He distributed more than six million taels of silver and summoned refugees from all over the country.
In Wuchang, Zhang Xianzhong called himself "King of Daxi" and established the Daxi regime. He set up six ministries and five military governors' offices, and appointed local officials. "Wuchang was renamed Tianshou Prefecture, Jiangxia was renamed Shangjiang County", and he held imperial examinations to recruit talents. A total of 30 Jinshi and 48 stipend students were admitted, all of whom were granted prefectural and county positions.
When the news came, Jiangxi was in a state of panic and officials at all levels were in a state of panic.
At this time, Qin Mu had just arrived in Ganzhou. This news was exactly the same as Qin Mu's prediction, and the time and place matched perfectly.
Huo Sheng, Cui Feng, Ning Yuan, and Ling Zhan pulled Meng Ke aside and whispered for a long time. During this time, they glanced at Qin Mu from time to time with extremely complicated eyes.
Finally, Huo Sheng approached Qin Mu and asked carefully, "Sir Qin, is it true that Zhang Xianzhong led 200,000 troops to attack Yueyang in August, and then swept across Huguang and pressed into Jiangxi?"
Qin Mu asked calmly, "What do you think?"
"How did Lord Qin know all this?"
Qin Mu just glanced at him coldly and had no intention of answering at all.
If Qin Mu's previous words had not been confirmed, this cold and arrogant look alone would have been enough for Huo Sheng to stab him. But now, Huo Sheng did not dare to look him in the eye. He felt that Qin Mu was even more unfathomable, and his body could not help but bend down a little.
He still had some hope and asked, "Besides Zhang Xianzhong, can Lord Qin tell me anything else?" He still had some doubts as to whether Qin Mu was actually Zhang Xianzhong's man and thus knew Zhang Xianzhong's battle strategy in advance.
Although this possibility is not great, one must know that the battlefield is ever-changing. Even Zhang Xianzhong himself probably doesn't know what he will do in a few months.
Qin Mu looked up at the sky, and after a while he said in a deep voice: "In October, Li Zicheng broke through Tongguan, and Sun Chuanting died. In the first month, Li Zicheng proclaimed himself emperor in Xi'an Prefecture, named Li Jiqian as the founding emperor, and established the country's name Dashun."
Huo Sheng subconsciously looked up at the sky and saw white clouds floating, the sun shining brightly, the endless sky vast and deep, with infinite mystery in its calmness. He instinctively felt that there was a huge eye in the sky, watching his every move. He didn't know why he suddenly had this feeling, but at this moment he really couldn't bear the inexplicable psychological pressure and lowered his head.
At this moment, Qin Mu's voice suddenly came to my ears again: "Don't blame me for not warning you. This is a secret of heaven. If you leak it out casually, you will be punished by heaven."
Huo Sheng's heart inexplicably palpitated when he heard this, and he looked up at the sky again.
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ps: Recruiting talents, asking for recommendations and rewards!
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