Chapter 85: Chicken Feather Letter Mu Xue stood in the field and looked into the distance, the warm wind was blowing...

Mu Xue stood in the field and looked into the distance. The warm wind gently blew the hair on her forehead. It was the spring breeze.

Watching Dorji and his party walk further and further away until they could no longer be seen, she gathered her hair, turned around and said calmly, "Let's go back."

Although she was not used to it at first, for example, when she was having dinner facing the sunset, she would think that Dorji was still by her side at this time yesterday, making jokes or praising her with a smile, but after waking up and seeing the fresh sunlight in the room, this melancholy became less serious.

To be honest, Lonely Fang is the companion who has been with her the longest.

On the first day of the new year, Mu Xue was surrounded by people and went to Wuliang Temple to burn incense and pray for blessings.

In the sunlight, the colorful prayer flags undulate like waves.

The main hall of the temple has been recently renovated. The tall and spacious temple exudes the scent of lacquer and new wood, intertwined with Buddhist incense.

After paying homage to the Bodhisattva, the lama in charge of the seal welcomed her to the inner hall to rest.

"Thanks to the Buddha's blessing, the princess seems to be more calm and relaxed." said the lama in charge of the seal.

"What do you mean?"

"When I first met the princess, she looked a little worried, but now she looks better."

At that time, the fourth and fifth princes were escorting the princess to her wedding. When the princess bowed before the Buddha, her young face showed a little confusion. Now, the confusion has disappeared like the dissipated Buddha smoke. Although she is still calm, she has a sense of indifference and determination.

It seems that the little princess has grown a lot in the past two years.

Mu Xue curled her lips slightly: "After all, times have changed."

She glanced at the attendant behind her. The attendant understood and came forward with a plate covered with bright red silk, holding a scroll of scriptures.

The Seal-holding Lama glanced at it and said in surprise: "This is..."

"This is a sutra specially given to me by the Living Buddha. It is said to be very precious. I am not smart enough to keep it in my hands, so I am afraid it will be ruined. I might as well give it to Wuliang Temple. It can be regarded as a blessing from the Buddha and a merit of mine."

With such a precious gift, how could the Seal-Holding Lama not be happy? Even the smile on his face became much more sincere.

"I have heard that the princess will build a palace in Guihua. When it is completed, I will definitely bring all the lamas to chant sutras for you. May the princess be safe and auspicious!"

After visiting the temple, the banquet followed.

The chief, Shi Musen, drafted a letter and sent it to three places. The letter sent to the Golden Tent of the Tumed tribe was specially written in Mongolian.

The horses left the city and carried the messenger all the way to the depths of the grassland. Adhering to the habit of nomadic living, the Tumed people still stayed on the grassland.

Tumed Taiji accepted the invitation but didn't say anything. Since the princess wanted to be taken to the banquet, he would go. After being reprimanded by the emperor a few years ago, he had been depressed and spent his days drinking. He didn't have any ambitions, but just muddled through.

Actually, it was nothing. At least for him, the summer pasture and the winter pasture were still the same. He could graze when he needed to, rest when he needed to, and worship Buddha when he needed to. Although he couldn't manage things, he had some free time. He didn't want to manage the affairs of Guihua City, and he couldn't manage them. Some officials sent from the capital had come before, and now there was a fourth princess, so there was no change.

On the contrary, Tumed Taiji's favorite granddaughter, Urentuya, was very angry. "The princess who married into Khalkha built a princess's palace on our land south of the desert. Grandpa, I want to go too. I want to take a good look at what Bodage Khan's golden branches and jade leaves look like."

"If you want to go, I'll take you, but you can't say anything." Tumed Taiji knew that his granddaughter was always straightforward and said whatever she wanted, and she was still young, so he reminded her. "After all, she is a princess. If you provoke her for no reason, what if she brings trouble to our tribe?"

"I know, but I won't say it to her face."

It was a very sunny day when the banquet was opened. The sky was high and blue, with only a few very light clouds floating in the air.

Mu Xue specially changed into auspicious clothes and wore oriental pearls on her ears to show her respect.

All regulations are based on those in the palace, except that local ingredients are mostly selected. After cooking, the dishes are served on fine imperial porcelain.

When everyone was present, Mu Xue raised her glass, said a few auspicious words, and then invited everyone to have a drink.

The wine was good, and the food was delicious. The guests feasted on the food, but Mu Xue took this opportunity to take a closer look.

Whether it was the general leading the military camp or the governor of Guihua City, these were all people she had met and were relatively familiar with. On the contrary, during the banquet, people like Tumed Taiji, who were dressed in Mongolian clothes, particularly caught her attention.

Taiji was already old, with a broad waist and a big belly. He looked exactly like the Mongolian Taiji in the portraits. Beside him was a tall young man, also wearing a felt hat. Chuyi looked at him and thought he was a young man, but when Muxue looked at him carefully, she felt that his face was a little too gentle. After taking a closer look, she realized that it was a young girl dressed in a heroic manner.

The girl seemed to notice someone was looking at her. She raised her head suddenly, frowned, and met Muxue's gaze.

Mu Xue smiled, lowered her head and took a sip of wine.

Later, when they were chatting, Taiji told her that the girl was his granddaughter Urentuya.

"She is younger than the princess, but she is as good at archery and horse racing as the boys."

Muxue has always had a good impression of this kind of heroic girl, as she does not have such a straightforward personality. Unfortunately, from Wuren Tuya's eyes, Muxue was sensitive and felt that she might not like her.

That was all. She did not talk to the Mongolian princess, but turned around and said a few words to the general and the governor.

After the banquet, everyone went back to their homes.

Riding out of the city, Tumed Taiji asked Wuren Tuya: "Why? Don't you like the princess?"

Wuren Tuya curled her lips and said, "Are you a little disappointed? I thought Bodag Khan's princess should be more outstanding. But look at that princess, she is so gentle and silent, not very generous. I guess she can't even race horses or bend bows."

"She wasn't born on our grassland, so you can't force her." Tumed Taiji said, "In that case, you should have less contact with her. We shouldn't have had too many interactions."

"That's true."

No matter what others think, Mu Xue doesn't care. She has a lot of things to do. After the banquet, a new round of business begins. She has to keep an eye on the official market of sheep and horses, and urge Da Shengkui and others to arrange for the transportation of Mobei sheep along the Beijing Sheep Road to Shangjing. At the same time, she asked Yunqi and Fan Yuqi to go to the capital to continue to keep an eye on the copper business.

Afterwards, she went to the Yanzhi field beside the Qingshui River for a tour, paying special attention to the farmland and chatting with the farmers.

The work of Mu Sen and the eunuchs of Guanzhuang over the past year has been very effective. Many plank houses have been built in this large piece of land, making it look a bit like a village.

"Since you have settled down, you will have to stay here for at least three to five years. You can also bring the women in your family over." Mu Xue said, "We had no place to live before, but now that we have a place to live, it doesn't matter."

The farmers stared at each other in amazement. The eunuch in charge of the farm replied, "What the princess said is true. However, they still got a permit to come here. According to the previous rules, only men can get a permit to come here to farm."

"There is such a rule?" Mu Xue thought for a while, "This is not difficult. The old rules are the old rules. Now that I am here, there should be new rules. I have made a note of this."

Later, she prepared to write a letter to Emperor Kangxi, which began with a bunch of compliments, and then emphasized the fact that female family members could get tickets to pass through Shaohukou and enter Guihua City.

The general meaning is to ask Khan Ama to be careful. Since she has settled here, after the princess's mansion is opened, she will need some maids to serve her. However, most of the naturalized people are men, so it is difficult to find a maid to mend clothes. In the long run, it will be difficult for her, the princess, to add more people to serve in the mansion. I hope that you can grant her some quotas for female relatives, at least the female relatives of her subordinates can come over.

It took two days to write this letter. Mu Xue suddenly thought of Mrs. Fan in her entourage, Zhou Qiniang. She seemed to have a child? Now that she was close to home, she should let her go back to see her child.

Zhou Qiniang was a very shy and quiet person. Although she was good at painting, she didn't take the initiative to approach her most of the time. When she opened a school tent in Mobei before, I heard that she taught some painting courses.

According to Zhou Qiniang's personality, if she didn't say so, she probably wouldn't dare to come to her directly and say that she wanted to go home to visit her relatives. Besides, Fan Yuqi and Yunqi went to the capital to buy copper together. Without her husband by her side, Zhou Qiniang would certainly not dare to come to her on her own.

Mu Xue thought so and ordered someone to call Zhou Qiniang over. She said to her, "You haven't been home for a long time. Why don't you go back and rest and see your child?"

Zhou Qiniang was so moved that she kept thanking him. "Thank you for your understanding, Your Majesty. Thank you for your understanding."

Mu Xue immediately ordered a donkey cart to be prepared to take her back.

However, before leaving the city, they received a letter sent from the capital at full speed. There was a chicken feather stuck to the letter box. Mu Xue saw it and her face changed slightly. This was a sign that she and Yun Qi had agreed before, that only when there was something very important would the letter be sent in this way.

Something went wrong with business in the capital?

Mu Xue quickly opened the envelope and read the letter carefully.

As expected, something had happened, regarding the copper purchase. In the capital, a royal merchant named Zhang, together with several merchants, submitted a petition to Emperor Kangxi through the Ministry of Internal Affairs, requesting that they undertake the purchase of copper and were willing to lower the profit by one percentage point.

His Majesty allowed them to take over the copper processing affairs in several areas, and even part of the affairs previously undertaken by the Fan family were allocated to Zhang Huangshang.

After reading the letter, Muxue frowned.

Such a small profit margin may not be considered as a big deal by ordinary businessmen, but how could Emperor Kangxi appreciate it? It is definitely not for this reason.

Given the intelligence of the Fan family and Yunqi, they wouldn't just tell her the bad news without her having any clue.

Mu Xue frowned and read the letter carefully again. On the back of the letter, she saw a faint mark, like a decorative pattern.

This kind of pattern has never been used in communications before.

She looked at it against the light and found that it was vaguely a variation of two words, Donggong.

East Palace?

Mu Xue suddenly understood that Zhang Huangshang was the prince's man! This made sense.