Tangning never expected that she would meet Mr. Xu here.
This man has quite a reputation in the capital. He is the most trusted adviser around King Kang. Because of his existence, King Kang has not been defeated in the struggle with King Duan for so many years.
Later, King Kang committed regicide and rebelled during the heaven-sacrifice ceremony, and everyone related to King Kang was implicated, but the court has not caught Mr. Xu until now.
To this day, he is still one of the most wanted criminals by the court.
With King Kang's defeat, Tang Ning had almost forgotten about this man, but she didn't expect to see him here.
He looked at Mr. Xu and asked, "So you are hiding here."
Mr. Xu held a folding fan, smiled and said, "This is Xu's home, so what does it mean to hide?"
Tang Ning looked him up and down and asked, "Aren't you a Han?"
Mr. Xu said: "It used to be."
In Xiaowan City, Han people accounted for a large proportion. This is because Xiaowan attracted a large number of scholars from Chen State at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
If he had surrendered to Xiaowan a long time ago, how could he stay with King Kang all these years? Tangning looked at him deeply, and her heart was filled with waves.
If Mr. Xu was Xiaowan's undercover agent beside King Kang from beginning to end, then Xiaowan had been plotting against Chen Guo at least twenty years ago.
It was very possible that he was the one behind King Kang's rebellion. Tangning originally thought that King Kang was jumping over the wall in a hurry, but now it seems that what happened back then was more complicated than he imagined.
Under Tang Ning's scrutinizing eyes, Mr. Xu's expression remained unchanged and he said, "I haven't seen you for a long time. I never thought that Mr. Tang is already the leader of the Allied Powers in the Western Region."
Tang Ning had been wary of the person named Xu. Hearing this, she smiled and said, "Tang also didn't expect that Mr. Xu is actually an official from Xiaowan..."
Mr. Xu smiled slightly and said, "Master Tang, please follow me in. Mrs. Tang and Miss Tang have been waiting for a long time."
Tangning looked at him suddenly and asked, "Do you know the purpose of my coming?"
Mr. Xu said: "Mrs. Tang and Miss Tang are here. The purpose of Master Tang's coming here is naturally self-evident."
Although Tang Ning didn't know what kind of medicine Xu was selling in his gourd, it was easy to tell from his words that Niang and Tang Shui seemed to be living a good life here.
As long as they are fine, no matter what conditions Xiaowan offers, they can be negotiated.
Mr. Xu put away the folding fan in his hand, pointed to the city, and said, "Please follow me."
Tangning inadvertently glanced away and caught a glimpse of the inscription on his folding fan. Finally, she noticed something that he hadn't noticed just now. She looked sharply and said in a slightly startled tone, "It turns out it's you!"
There was a poem on Mr. Xu's folding fan. What shocked Tang Ning was not the content of the poem, but the handwriting.
This handwriting is very ugly. As a scholar, it is a shame to write such handwriting. This kind of person can't even pass the provincial examination, and obtaining fame is just empty talk. The examiner saw his handwriting and did not tear up his examination paper, which was already extremely restrained.
Already.
However, this ugly handwriting was very familiar. Including when King Kang rebelled, the owner of this handwriting reminded him many times, which helped Tangning a lot.
Tang Ning had guessed countless possibilities for this person's identity, but she never guessed that the person who informed him in advance that King Kang was going to rebel was actually the most trusted adviser around King Kang.
Even if his identity is Xiaowan's undercover, he should be happy to see Chen Guo in more chaos or fall into the hands of a mediocre person like King Kang. This will give Xiaowan a greater chance, so why would he specifically remind him?
Tang Ning was filled with doubts one after another. She looked at Mr. Xu and asked, "Why do you want to help me?"
Mr. Xu smiled and said, "Master Tang will know about it later."
It would have been better not to say this. The meaningful smile on his face made Tangning's doubts deepen.
After entering Xiaowan City, Tang Ning temporarily suppressed the doubts in her heart and carefully observed this legendary city.
Xiaowan developed and expanded by conquering other countries. In other words, most of the people he saw on the street were citizens of countries that had been annexed by Xiaowan.
However, Tang Ning could not see the sadness and indignation of the ruined country and family on their faces. The pedestrians on the street, the merchants in the shops, and even the vendors walking on the street all had smiles on their faces.
In addition, the officials who had just left the city to greet them, including the guards that Tang Ning saw walking past them, were all men and women. Although the proportion of women was smaller, it could also show that Xiaowan had already reached a certain level in some aspects.
In front of Chen Guo.
Along the way, everything she saw made Tangning curious about the leader of the Xiaowan Kingdom. There was no doubt that he was a pioneer with advanced consciousness.
In Tang Ning's eyes, this kind of advancement in consciousness is even more valuable than the twenty years it took him to develop Xiaowan from a small country of a few hundred people to a superpower with a population of hundreds of thousands.
After walking for a long time, Tangning looked at Mr. Xu again and asked, "Where are my mother and the others?"
Mr. Xu said: "They are in the palace. Don't worry, Mr. Tang. Xu can guarantee that they have not suffered any injustice here."
Tangning snorted coldly and said, "You caught them here for no reason. Isn't this making them feel wronged?"
"I'm afraid Master Tang has misunderstood." Mr. Xu smiled and explained patiently: "It was a fierce battle between us and Dayue Wusun. Mrs. Tang and Miss Tang accidentally led people into the battlefield. In order to avoid them
They were accidentally injured, so our army brought them back."
Although this was different from the news Tang Ning received, Tang Ning did not have much doubt about Mr. Xu's words.
Firstly, he seemed to have always been kind to her, and secondly, he would know whether his words were true or false when he saw them later, and there was no need to lie to them.
Mr. Xu continued: "Later, we also sent people to the capital to deliver the message, but at that time, Mr. Tang and his family were no longer in the capital, so we had to wait here for you to come."
At that time, King Duan's rebellion failed and Tangning and his family were evacuating the capital, so Xiaowan's people naturally couldn't find them.
Tangning felt a little embarrassed. She looked at Mr. Xu and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, I misunderstood you."
"It doesn't matter." Mr. Xu smiled and said: "Master Tang values love and righteousness. Xu knew that you would definitely come, but he did not expect that Master Tang would cause such a big commotion just two months after he came to the Western Regions.
…”
Tang Ning chuckled and said, "Mr. Xu made a lot of noise before he left the capital..."
Mr. Xu did not deny it. He shook his head and said: "Emperor Chen once did something wrong. This is just a small punishment for him..."
Tang Ning glanced at him and forced her son to rebel against me, almost overthrowing Chen Guo's regime. This was actually just a small punishment...
Tangning looked at him and asked, "This was originally a good opportunity for you to take revenge, but you told me about King Kang's rebellion. It seems that you don't plan to stop yet..."
In fact, he didn't need to think about it to know that Xiaowan was so anxious to unify the Western Region, didn't he just want to deal with Chen Guo?
I don’t know what Chen Huang did back then. The price he paid now is not small. If Xiaowan’s goal is achieved, the entire northwest of Chen State will face the threat of the Western Regions.
Tang Ning's mood was a bit complicated. No matter what, Emperor Chen was his father-in-law, and Chen Guo also had many relatives and friends of his. He was unwilling to see Chen Guo wiped out.
However, Xiaowan was kind to him, and Emperor Chen must have done something very excessive to the leader of the Xiaowan Kingdom back then. The motivation inspired by hatred is endless, which Tangning herself understood very well.
Perhaps it was with this kind of hatred that he developed Xiaowan into such a behemoth in twenty years, with the purpose of revenge against Chen Guo.
Tang Ning took a deep breath and walked into the palace with Mr. Xu with mixed emotions.
When he walked to a certain hall, Mr. Xu looked at him and said, "Mrs. Tang and Miss Tang are inside."
Tang Ning, old beggar Old Zheng and others walked in. He was not worried about any ambush inside. The mere Xiaowan Palace could not stop old beggar Old Zheng and several elders.
When he walked into the palace, he saw two figures who were thinking about each other.
A square table was placed on the soft couch in the palace. The mahjong made of jade was raised and lowered, and crisp sounds came from the square table from time to time.
Tang Ning stood at the door of the palace, looking at Tang Yu and Tang Shui, who were sitting on a soft couch, accompanied by two female officials, and behind them several maids holding round fans.
The group of servants suddenly felt a little sad...
