A gust of wind blew the snow particles, and people on the road wrapped up their clothes tightly. Jiang An opened his hood and raised his face to face the wind and snow.
"We're home." He said, taking a deep breath and looking at the city faintly visible in the wind and snow in front of him, "It's been a long, long time since I left home."
The attendant next to him wrapped his cloak tightly: "It's less than three months."
They walked slowly when they went there, and the return journey only took them half a month.
Jiang An stretched out his hand to catch the wind and snow: "Is it not long since autumn passed to winter?"
The attendant smiled and stopped refuting him. He turned around and saw Liu Fan sitting in the car climbing out and taking off his hat to blow the wind. He shouted: "Mr. Liu, you are going to die, so you can't catch the cold."
Liu Fan was a man who kept his word. Even after leaving Linzhou, he still pretended to be sick, his face was always painted yellow, his body smelled bad, he insisted on lying in the car, and he was not afraid of the bumps and he was about to die.
He felt the cold wind with a yellow face and ignored the follower's laughter: "It will snow so early this winter, it will be very cold."
Jiang An smiled and said, yes, yes. As he spoke, the team continued to march. Although it was windy and snowy, there were still pedestrians coming and going on the road. There were also busy farmers in the fields, pulling sheets of wheat straw to cover the newly sprouted trees.
Green crops.
"People can freeze, but they can't."
"Hey, people can't bear the cold. I saw that your family brought a cart of grass to repair the house. Your family has more people in our village."
"Don't you have a bad look in your eyes? My family didn't take more!"
The farmers who were busy in the fields were not idle chatting and laughing, but they were not all so kind. One woman yelled at the top of her lungs, and she was just scolding someone who had taken over her field and wanted to go to the village.
Chief, I'm going to sue the official.
Pedestrians on the road include mules and horses, women in carriages, and children on their backs. You ask me to give way, and I ask you to watch the road. It is noisy, but when you see their group of soldiers and horses coming, look at Chu He again.
The flag of the Zhenwu Army was among them, and no matter who they were, they immediately moved to the side of the road.
In wars in troubled times, military law takes precedence. Anyone who dares to disturb the march will be severely punished.
This is one of the rules that everyone, men, women, old and young, rich, homeless and beggars knew under the rule of Mrs. Chu. Announcements would be posted in cities, villages and towns, and the officers would constantly repeat the preaching. It was also common to see people being arrested for labor violations in violation of laws and regulations.
or deported persons.
Mrs. Chu was kind, and all the cities and towns under her rule had porridge sheds, so that people who entered here could always have something to eat to survive. However, Mrs. Chu was also a person with a bad temper.
She likes a good reputation, likes everyone to praise her and respect her, and likes everyone to listen to her and obey her, so once someone doesn't listen to her, she will get angry, beat, or kill people.
The roadside was noisy and noisy, and the road was narrow and crowded with people, but the queue flowed smoothly without any stagnation.
Liu Fan took a deep breath of the cold wind and snow, this is the taste of living and working in peace and contentment.
Liu Fan pretended to be ill and went straight to the capital without getting up when he arrived at the palace. Li Minglou got the news and came to see him in person.
"It's nothing serious, it's just that I'm tired and tired." Liu Fan said in a hoarse voice with a yellow face and half-closed eyes, "Linzhou can't decide to return to Beijing for a while. I'm afraid that my wife will be anxious and uneasy, so she doesn't dare to fall ill in Linzhou.
Zhouzhou, save your breath and come back to report."
Li Minglou said: "Mr. Liu, you are as cautious as you started. Thank you for your hard work."
Now that he was back with a breath, she asked in detail what His Majesty's orders were, what arrangements the court had, and how they could help.
Liu Fan also answered in detail in one breath. Needless to say, what happened on the road was that he entered Linzhou and met the emperor. How the emperor praised and expressed his feelings, how the court celebrated, and what difficulties there were in returning to Beijing.
"The difficulties are not small, but they are not many. It is just one thing: how to stabilize Linzhou and the people."
"It's too difficult to travel, especially now that Ankang Mountain occupies the Hedong Road, like a knife across the road from Linzhou to the capital."
"As for helping, Madam, guarding the capital is the most important thing."
Li Minglou said: "Then let's wait for His Majesty and the court to arrange it. Mr. Liu, please take good care of yourself, and I will send others to the capital to follow your orders."
Liu Fandao: "Madam, no need. I have left some manpower over there to listen to the court's orders. If anything happens, they will report it back. The court is very busy now. Sending people there will only disturb them. Besides, those gentlemen are all
We are still in Linzhou, they are more familiar with the capital than we are, so it is convenient for the court to ask them if there is anything we need."
Since he said this, Li Minglou nodded: "Mr. Liu has made arrangements, so I won't worry."
Li Minglou asked the two doctors to watch here and left with others.
Although Liu Fan was pretending to be ill, it was almost as if he was really ill. It was a bumpy journey. He was a scholar after all. After taking medicine, he fell into a drowsy sleep. He didn't know how long he had slept. First he heard someone knocking on wood, and then again.
Someone rubbed hard on his face...
Liu Fan opened his eyes and saw Jiang Liang's old wrinkled face and his hand on his face.
"You can't wipe this thing off your face." Jiang Liang said, wiping it twice with his hand and holding it up in front of his eyes, "You actually have such skills."
Liu Fan ignored him and closed his eyes, but couldn't sleep anymore. Jiang Liang poked him.
"But your coffin is not well made."
"Do you want me to make a good one for you again?"
Liu Fan glared at him: "I'll find it for you first. You'll need it before me."
Jiang Liang laughed and twirled his sparse beard: "I don't know how. I'm not like you, asking for trouble."
This was about his trip to Linzhou. Liu Fan closed his eyes and ignored him, but Jiang Liang refused to let him go and poked him again.
"Stop sleeping, you've been sleeping for two days, tell me quickly, how is Linzhou?"
Liu Fan closed his eyes and said, "Didn't I tell you that Linzhou is very good and arrangements for returning to Beijing are in progress."
Jiang Liang smiled: "You are not me, don't imitate my lies. Linzhou is so good, why do you have to run back alive and don't let my wife send more people?"
Liu Fan opened his eyes, looked outside through Jiang Liang, and clenched his hands tightly under the quilt.
Because the emperor is cowardly, arrangements need to be made for his return to the capital, but he must issue an order.
Because Cui Zheng was hegemonic, he had the final say on what the emperor wanted to do and what the court wanted to do.
Because the generals are scheming, Xiang Yun is hiding his selfish motives, Li Mingyu is young and arrogant, and Zhang An and Wang Lin Yaowu are not showing off their power. What they want is not to quell the chaos and calm the people, but to seize power and greed for credit.
Because the imperial court is empty and the officials are doing nothing, thinking about the past and thinking about the future, but don't look at the present.
Because the family is domineering, sitting at the foot of the world, taking advantage of the chaos to keep slaves, infringe, seek huge profits, and be lawless.
Because the people over there are obviously alive, but they don’t want to live well, and they don’t know how to live well.
Liu Fan slowly told what he saw and heard in Linzhou.
Jiang Liang stopped laughing and asked: "Then you are saying that the imperial court and His Majesty cannot be allowed to return to Beijing now?"
Liu Fandao: "If we let them return to the capital now, they will cause chaos in the capital. If the thieves are not put down, the capital will be in danger."
When the emperor returns to the capital, the court is in power, and the aristocracy is running rampant, the laws and rules of the Chu State will inevitably disappear. Even if there are hundreds of thousands of powerful soldiers at that time, if Ankang Mountain comes to attack, the capital will most likely fall into chaos and chaos from within.
Taiyuan Prefecture is an example.
"I will give my wife some advice, and then I will personally dissuade Your Majesty."
Jiang Liang said: "You risked half your life to go to Linzhou and you understand this?"
Liu Fan looked at him, what did he mean?
Jiang Liang smiled: "I don't want to go to Linzhou, I know that."
Liu Fan ignored his bragging and fell asleep to recuperate his energy.
Jiang Liang poked again and found that he couldn't wake up. Liu Fan really fell asleep this time.
Jiang Liang didn't bother him anymore. He got up and walked out, standing in the corridor and distracted. Unexpectedly, the lady said not to worry, but it turned out that she really didn't need to worry. Seeing that Liu Fan had made this trip, he ran back early and changed his mind.
Let His Majesty return to Beijing.
However, the madam said that His Majesty also knew about it. He always felt that the madam had other arrangements, but he couldn't figure out what she meant...
He came to Mrs. Chu to report about Liu Fan. As soon as he walked to the front of Haitang Palace, he heard the sound of breaking teacups.
"That's too much!"
Yuanji's voice sounded angry.
Jiang Liang stopped and asked the guard in front of the palace gate: "Is there anything wrong here, madam?"
The guard didn't hide anything from him and lowered his voice: "Some news has just been sent from Linzhou."
That doesn't look like good news! Jiang Liang looked at Haitang Palace. This was the first time he heard Yuan Ji get so angry in front of his wife.
...
.......
There were not many people sitting in Haitang Palace, but in the face of the angry Yuanji, no one stood up to persuade him.
"Miss, we conquered the capital with great difficulty." Yuanji paced back and forth in the room, "Before they come back, we need to drive Miss away first."
Jiang Ming frowned: "I really didn't expect that the imperial court would have such an idea."
Fang Er said: "That Xiang Yunlai's intention is very clear. He is here to replace the young lady."
Li Minglou looked at the urgent letter in front of the case. As soon as Jiang An came back, he told her that the court had not yet decided when to return to the capital, but asked Xiang Yun to come to the capital first. As for what he was doing, he could not find out at that time.
Just now, Li Mingyu sent new news by urgent letter from Linzhou Feige. Xiang Yun set off in a very secretive way, claiming to be exploring the road. Xiang Yun kept the confidentiality to the extreme, and Li Mingyu tried his best not to pry.
He realized his true purpose, but at the same time as he set off with Xiang Yun, Cui Zheng wrote a letter to Han Xu in Shannan Road.
Han Xu was his home here. When Zhongli saw the letter, Cui Zheng asked Han Xu to come to Linzhou and also asked him to ask Mrs. Chu to also assist in garrisoning Linzhou.
Li Minglou was a little curious: "Do you think Han Xu will write to me? When I went to Linzhou, he was right next to me in the palm of my hand."
She laughed after saying that.
The last time she asked Jiang Liang to write a letter to continue borrowing troops, she sent two pairs of shoes with the letter, one pair of men's shoes and one pair of women's shoes. The women's shoes were pretended to be hers, and the men's shoes were given to Han Xu. The size was Jiang Liang's.
Made with his own feet... Afterwards, Han Xu wrote back and did not throw back the offensive shoes. He only said not to send anything more.
Zhongli sent a message saying that Han Xu had hidden women's shoes, and Han Xu wore men's shoes on his feet to avoid being discovered.
The reason why Han Xu is willing and daring to pretend to interact with her now is because she can't touch or see her. If he really went to Linzhou, he would be in front of her every day.
Does Han Xu dare?
Yuan Ji couldn't help but said angrily, "Han Xu, the thief, is not a good person either. For the sake of his righteousness, he will risk his life to deceive the young lady."
When he said this, he felt sad and angry. Whether it was the court, Han Xu, or Xiang Nan, the lady saved their lives, guarded the people, fought in battles, and stabilized the country. However, they only wanted to trick the lady and treat her as a human being.
.
The letter written by Han Xu may already be on the way.
Li Minglou hurriedly comforted Yuan Ji: "Uncle Yuan Ji, I already said it was a lie. If I don't fall for it, it will be fine. Let's not be angry."
Even now, the young lady is still thinking about comforting others. Yuanji's eyes turned sore, he turned his head and looked away, and stopped talking.
Jiang Ming took over and said: "Even if Han Xu can be looked down upon by the young lady, it is natural for the young lady to refuse such a big thing as vacating the capital. The key to this matter still lies with Xiang Yun."
First, use Han Xu to deceive. If you use candy to deceive, you will be good to me and everyone will be good. If you can't be deceived, then you will use a big stick. If you are not good, I will make you even worse.
Thinking of this, Yuanji became even more angry.
"The donkey is about to be killed before we finish grinding it! How dare Cui Zheng do this? How can your majesty ignore it?"
Jiang Ming and Fang Er couldn't hide their anger. Yes, they never dreamed that the imperial court would treat them like this. Although they knew that the soldiers and horses defending the Dao had different intentions, that was the imperial court, and they were fighting for the imperial court of Daxia.
Before they were rewarded for their merits, they were plotting against them.
Compared to these three grown men, the girl Li Minglou sitting in front of the case did not have any sadness or anger at all, and even had a slight smile on her lips.
What's so sad and angry about this? She has already experienced more sad and angry things, so this incident is not surprising at all.
She has been waiting, and now the wait is here, which is good.
"Xiang Yun is on the road with only ten thousand soldiers and horses." Yuan Ji stopped pacing and said coldly, "We will kill him on the way."
Regardless of Xiang Yun's purpose, if Xiang Yun comes to the capital, he will find out their true identities.
Yuanji already knew what it meant to Li Minglou to find out his identity, and he would never allow such a thing to happen.
Fang Er stood up: "Using troops and horses may not necessarily lead to success. I'd better go in person."
He is better at assassination, and sometimes has an advantage when working alone.
Li Minglou hurriedly stopped him: "This won't work, it's too risky. As long as we use soldiers and horses, we will leave clues. Even if we kill Xiang Yun, we still fulfill the wish of the court and have more excuses to get rid of us, not to mention now
The Ankang Mountain bandits are still watching with eager eyes, we can't start the chaos by ourselves."
Yuanji sighed: "Miss, you know this, don't they know it?"
But they don't care.
Because these places were not conquered by them, they don't care. She cares. She can't let the people here get involved in the war and suffer countless casualties. Li Minglou pinched his fingers.
"Don't worry, the soldiers will cover up the water and the earth." She said, "Even if he comes and comes to our territory, will we be afraid of him?"
As for being identified.
"He can come to the capital city boundary, as long as he is not allowed to enter the city."
That's true, the capital is under their control, and they know that Xiang Yun has come with bad intentions, so they have been prepared. The worst-case scenario is to kill Xiang Yun, and then it will be said that the assassins of the Ankang Mountain rebels will kill him.
, Yuanji and the other three nodded in response.
Li Minglou looked down at his fingers, and even if they didn't take action, Xiang Yun might die on the road.
Zhou Yan from Jiangling Mansion sent news that Xiang Qiubeard had left Jiangling Mansion.
Xiang Qiubeard had no contact with her, and she did not write him a letter asking him to take care of himself or not to do dangerous things, because this matter had nothing to do with her after Xiang Qiubeard left Dou County.
This is Xiang Qiubeard's own business.
He did this not for Mrs. Chu, but for himself.
How could she point fingers? That would be an insult to him.
Li Minglou put aside these matters and read another letter: "Madam and Jin Ju have already set off, right?"
Mrs. Wu was supposed to be brought here a long time ago, but Mrs. Wu fell ill with a cough and was restless day and night. Magistrate Wei hired many doctors to nurse her back to health, and the winter ended.
"We're already halfway there." Jiang Ming said with a smile, "Madam has not gotten sick again. She will speed up in the next few days, and we can arrive in ten days at most."
Li Minglou said: "No need to speed up, just walk slowly."
On the tenth day, she pinched her fingers. Then she could write a letter to Wu Yaer and ask him to come to the capital.
"Uncle Ming," she said, "write a letter to Governor Wu and let him arrange the time."
Jiang Ming sighed, but then he suspected that he didn't understand: "Miss? I write? Or you..."
Li Minglou lowered his head and looked through the documents on the table: "Aren't all the letters to Wei Dao written by someone? Just write one to him by the way."
By the way? But Wu Yaer never stopped going inside, Jiang Ming asked again, and Yuanji grabbed him.
"I understand, I'll write it." He said, "Miss, please take a rest."
Li Minglou lowered his head and read the documents attentively, not paying attention to their words and humming.
Jiang Ming was taken out by Yuanji and continued to ask: "Aren't all Wu Yaer's letters written by young ladies? Why..."
Yuanji interrupted him: "Wouldn't it be better if the lady didn't write to him? What else do you want to ask?"
Good or bad, since that guess, their hearts have not let go for a day, and they have been restless day and night. Jiang Ming said: "But we have to know why?"
Fang Er said: "I'm not interested anymore."
Not interested anymore? Yuanji and Jiang Ming looked at him.
"Miss, that painting has also been put away." Fang Er said, "I have already told you that you are overthinking it. Even if Miss likes this Wu Ya'er, it is just a fresh picture. When Miss was young, most of the governors gave it to her.
Give her a lot of fresh things. If she likes them, she will keep them for a few days, but she will throw them away in the end."
That is because the young lady is so new to Wu Ya'er that she doesn't even bother to write him a letter, just like she did in the beginning.
Yuanji and Jiang Ming breathed a sigh of relief.
"That's good, that's good."
.......
.......
Li Minglou looked at the document. In fact, she had not read every line of the document. She lowered her head, hiding her gaze from wandering.
She sighed softly.
She had already put away the paintings Wu Yaer had given her, and was not wearing the socks he had given her. The clothes he had left here were also put in another box, and she did not write to him again.
But why, when she is eating, when she suddenly wakes up from sleep, when she is doing things, when she is looking at the scenery outside with her chin in her hands, when she hears the maids laughing, she will think of him?