As April approaches, the banks of the Yalu River are already full of youth and greenery.
But the fragrance of flowers and plants in the spring breeze is often overshadowed by the smell of livestock manure.
The dotted business gathering spots along the river, as well as the endless flow of cars and horses, form a sharp contrast with the peaceful pastoral scenery of the villages far and near.
The girl A Xue, wearing a straw hat and homespun jacket and trousers that cover up her graceful curves, carrying a basket full of medicinal materials, just like the common merchant men here, fish like a fish through the mule and horse market and the large piles of animals.
From the leather stall, I came to a small warehouse selling white ginseng delicacies.
"Only ginseng, not Dongzhu?" asked Ashue.
The waiter who was drying the ginseng straightened up. He didn't show any surprise at hearing the woman's voice. He just glanced sideways at A Xue and said angrily: "Are the two eyes painted on? Didn't you see that this is a mountain goods shop?"
But Ah Xue looked innocent: "If you don't collect the beads in the river, you will collect the beads in the sea, right?"
"I have never heard that there are beads in the sea."
"What good things are there in Ming Dynasty? Don't you know Hepu?"
Hearing this secret code, the waiter finally flashed his eyes, looked around, walked around behind A Xue, pretended to look through the top medicinal materials, and whispered: "Go in."
In a small room deep in the warehouse, Xu San took off the black hat often worn by North Korean merchants and looked at Ashue, whom he met for the first time.
Axue, who had been carefully taught by Zaohua about the liaison rules for intelligence personnel, knew that in this system, no matter how disparate the status between superiors and subordinates was, subordinates should look at their superiors when reporting, so that their superiors could judge their eyes and expressions at any time.
Ashue then looked directly at Xu San and began to say the second set of code words: "Brother, do you want to buy Haidongqing? After training, you can catch swans for the master."
Xu Sandao: "Can't the master catch it himself?"
"I'm busy killing Tatars, so I don't have time."
Xu San nodded to the waiter outside the door.
The moment the waiter closed the door, Xu San's face darkened: "How is Miss Mu?"
"Don't worry, Shangguan. Sister Mu is fine. There are Tatars watching her, and she is very careful when she comes in and out. My name is Axue, and I am a maid in Mang Gurtai Mansion. Sister Mu asked me to come out to sell goods in exchange for money. Look, Tatars.
Come on, she is relying on Sanbeile to like her, so she can do whatever she wants with me, so there will be no suspicion."
Xu San interrupted her: "Why did you follow Miss Mu?"
Axue lowered her gaze, flexed her nose slightly a few times, then quickly raised her eyes and said: "My sister was ruined by a soldier of Zhengbai Banner. The person who was originally engaged to her broke off the engagement, and that bastard of Zhengbai Banner
He came to pester him again and asked my sister to be his concubine. My sister was so angry that she stabbed him with scissors. Jia Laerzhen hanged her sister in front of the banner people. Mang Gurtai and Dege Lei were from Zhenglan Banner, and they were the same as Huang Taiji.
The worst thing to do is to deal with it. The servants in the house also like to talk about the bad things Zheng Baiqi did. After Sister Mu heard about it, she helped me kill the armored soldier. I... my parents died of exhaustion very early, and my sister is only older than me.
Two years old, but just like my mother."
Xu San fell into a brief silence.
He thought of his sister and nephew, as well as his brother-in-law Dong Wang, who died in battle by the Luanhe River on the day his great revenge was avenged.
Xu San calmed down: "Okay, continue talking."
Axue said: "Miss Mu found Yue Tuan with a red flag and came with her. The girl said that it would take a few days to get the goods before there would be any flaws. If there are enough people here in Shangguan, she would help her perform a play first.
The Jurchen Tatars trust her more."
…
Two days later at noon, Yue Tuo emerged from the felt tent.
The sun was shining so brightly that the river surface seemed to be sprinkled with gold.
Yue Tuo squinted his eyes, and suddenly he seemed to be back in Chongming Island two years ago.
It was also about this season. He finished making a wooden cart for the daughter of Aya, a widow from the Ming Dynasty, and pulled the cart with her to catch crickets by the river. When he looked up, he saw the mighty Yangtze River, as bright as white.
That was a rare moment for a spy in a foreign land to forget the conspiracy in his heart.
Yue Tuo walked to the Yalu River, then stood still and looked around.
The actual controller of Yizhou was the general of the Ming Dynasty, so the Han people and the Koreans were completely different from the Liao people who were plundered as slaves by the Jurchens in Jianzhou.
When they passed by the Jurchens, they straightened their backs and acted as if nothing had happened. They would never immediately retreat to the side in panic and simply lie down like the wrappers in the Eight Banners Niulu.
"Even the Han people here look like those in Chongming."
Yue Tuo was startled by the emotion that arose again, and was annoyed that he seemed to be possessed by an evil spirit.
He came here to run errands for his uncle Huang Taiji, who always valued him, not to get in touch with the crowd of Nikans.
Tong Xiyu, the one in the Tong family who is more arrogant than many Jurchen girls, let his servant hook up with Mu Zaohua's female boss. Jilantai. Jilantai told them that Mu Zaohua came to Yizhou's mutual market this year.
Not only did they have to sell fur products and treasures, but they also had to buy copper from the Japanese through Korean merchants.
Huang Taiji immediately deduced that Mu Zaohua should be helping Mang Gurtai build anti-cannons before Zhengbai Banner.
The Tong family volunteered to come to Yizhou to see the situation, but Huang Taiji only assigned them to go to the pass in the west to find old contacts and obtain the copper of the Ming Dynasty, while leaving Yue Tuo to go to the Yalu River alone to look for Koreans.
Yue Tuo understands that his uncle seizes every opportunity to make meritorious deeds for himself. Maybe one day, his father Daishan offends his grandfather Nurhachi, and Uncle Huang Taiji can take the opportunity to make a suggestion and assign the Zhenghong Banner to Yue Tuo's name.
If the uncle inherits the two yellow banners from his grandfather, and their uncle and nephew command five banners, brothers Mang Gurtai and Dege will no longer pose a threat.
Thinking of this, Yue Tuo cheered up, smoothed the braid on the back of his head, put on his fur hat, turned around and walked back to the temporary felt tent.
The warm breeze brings a strong fragrance.
"What does it smell like?" Yue Tuan asked a follower.
"Master, it's Korean people who make soybean soup with millet soaked in it. Please hurry up and get a bowl for your master?"
Yue Tuo looked in the direction of his finger. There were two Korean stoves selling food a few dozen steps away, and several Korean merchants who looked like horse dealers were squatting beside them, carrying pottery basins and devouring their food.
"I went over too, just to ask if they knew anyone who sells copper."
Seeing that business was coming again, the North Korean vendor quickly added a large bowl of rice with soybean soup, and diligently scooped up a large spoonful of kimchi and piled it on the rice, saying in Chinese: "It's delicious, it's delicious."
It was the first time that Yue Tuo saw Korean people eating, and it was okay to smell the aroma of soybean soup. After all, the Jurchens could also make bean paste, but this kimchi was really red and attractive, and it was very different from the sauerkraut that the Jurchens were used to eating.
no the same.
Yue Tuo's appetite suddenly increased, so he picked up the chopsticks and went to pick up the kimchi.
Unexpectedly, among the few merchants who were looking nearby to buy food, one of them suddenly leaned forward, raised his hand and lifted Yue Tuo's pottery basin.
"You can't eat it! They're going to poison you!"
Yue Tuo instinctively jumped to avoid the splash of hot miso soup and the pottery basin that hit the ground.
Looking closely at the face of the woman who was speaking, Yue Tuo lost his voice and said, "Miss Mu?!"