Chapter 85 Exploration
Afterwards, the three of them discussed the arrangements for the next day. Seeing that it was late at night, they spread their clothes on the wooden board and went to bed.
The next day, Mei Junrong woke up early and reorganized the team.
He selected fifty people to stay and go to Mangshan with Zhu Dafeng to handle the follow-up matters of the rescue. He and Liu Lanhua led the rest of the guards to Laoyashan to investigate.
————
At the same time, Zhao Mingyue, who had stayed up late with Xue Qi to write the manifesto of condemnation, went to Zhao Zhuo early in the morning to confess his crime.
Zhao Zhuo was discussing matters with Xie Qinjian in the study.
Just as the uprising was about to begin, one hundred of his soldiers were killed in Yuzhou, leaving not a single one alive. Those who could do this were definitely not an ordinary gang.
The thought that there might be such a powerful army lurking in the dark made him extremely worried and he could not sleep well all night.
"Qin Jian, tell Fang Qian to catch the murderer immediately!"
"Yes." Xie Qinjian agreed, and then said comfortingly, "Your Highness, don't worry too much. I think this is most likely done by the bandits in Mangshan."
This was the conclusion Xie Qinjian came to after thinking about it all night.
Zhao Zhuo frowned, "Bandit?"
"The captured women disappeared. It's obvious that this group of people came here to rescue people. I don't think anyone else would do such a thing except the female bandits in Mangshan."
"If that's the case, then it's not directed at me and Lao Yashan?" Zhao Zhuo breathed a sigh of relief.
Xie Qinjian smiled confidently and said, "Your Highness, you're just too concerned. Laoya Mountain has long been closed to the elements. No one is allowed to enter the mountain, and no one will know the secrets within. Even if someone accidentally enters the mountain, they will never return."
Zhao Zhuo was quite relieved to hear this. He grabbed Xie Qinjian's hand and said affectionately, "Qinjian, thanks to your advice, I am able to prepare for the rebellion today. When I become emperor in the future, I will appoint you as prime minister!"
Xie Qinjian felt a wave of disdain in his heart. He didn't want to be a prime minister. If he wanted to be one, he would be the emperor. When Zhao Zhuo rebelled, he would find an opportunity to let him die on the battlefield and take over his troops.
But she looked very happy and said in a fake tone: "Thank you for your trust in me, Your Highness. However, the reason I helped Your Highness was not for power, but to overthrow Queen Mother Chi and avenge the humiliation I suffered in the past."
Hearing that he was indifferent to fame and fortune, Zhao Zhuo trusted him even more.
At this time, the voice of the palace guards rang out from outside the door, "Your Majesty, Princess Fuguang requests an audience."
Thinking of yesterday's unpleasantness, Zhao Zhuo's face darkened. He turned around and walked to the armchair and sat down, "Let her in."
Zhao Mingyue entered the study, walked up to Zhao Zhuo, bowed, and said with a humble look, "Uncle, I was careless last night, so I came to apologize. This is the punitive manifesto I wrote overnight, please take a look."
Zhao Zhuo had never taken Zhao Mingyue seriously. He thought that as a princess, she had no one to rely on and could only beg him to escape the marriage. Now that he saw that she had really submitted to him, he couldn't help feeling proud.
He smiled and said, "That's fine. My niece is young and hot-headed, and doesn't know much about the world. You can't just judge by appearances. I'm only interacting with the Xiqi people to use them. When my mission is accomplished, I will of course drive the Xiqi people out of our Darong territory."
Zhao Mingyue smiled slightly and looked at him with admiration, "Uncle is really smart!"
Zhao Zhuo saw her sincere expression and felt even more happy. He laughed heartily and took her manifesto. After a casual glance, he shook his head and said, "Your manifesto is not well written."
Zhao Mingyue immediately became nervous, "Uncle, please give me some advice."
"When Empress Dowager Chi was in power, it was like a hen crowing at dawn. Why wasn't this written down? And the death of the late emperor, I think it was most likely Empress Dowager Chi's fault. Furthermore, she persecuted meritorious officials like Li Mian and Zhen Ruicai. She's truly despicable! She even promoted female officials, corrupting the court, which led to drought and made life miserable for the people. All of this needs to be written down!"
Zhao Mingyue didn't want to write this manifesto in the first place, but she had to do it in order to gain Zhao Zhuo's trust. When she heard Zhao Zhuo distorting the truth and slandering her mother, she was so angry that her chest seemed to explode.
Why can't women be in power? Farting hens crow at dawn, but I think men are the roosters laying eggs!
What kind of heroes are Li Mian and Zhen Ruicai? They have done so many evil things, they deserve to die!
Droughts happen every year, so why is it that A Niang is being warned by God? If it weren't for the male officials embezzling the disaster relief funds and exploiting them at every level, so many people wouldn't have died!
She clenched her fists, wanting to punch Zhao Zhuo in the face right then and there. Then she remembered Xue Qi's warning to her last night: a little impatience can ruin a big plan. She immediately suppressed her anger and said with a smile, "Uncle is right. I'll change it when I get back."
Zhao Zhuo felt more and more satisfied when he saw how obedient she was. He was cunning by nature and always treated his subordinates with both kindness and force, giving them a sweet reward after a beating.
Thinking that Zhao Mingyue would have to come forward to encourage the soldiers later, she immediately said slowly, "Don't worry, your niece can write slowly. Are you used to living in Fuxiang Garden?"
Zhao Mingyue smiled and nodded, "I live very well. I heard from General Xie that he specifically instructed his men to prepare this garden. He is really thoughtful."
Zhao Zhuo was stunned for a moment, then reacted, a hint of displeasure flashed in his eyes. Xie Qinjian actually took credit in front of Princess Fu Guang behind his back?
Xie Qinjian didn't notice Zhao Zhuo's expression. When he heard Zhao Mingyue praising him, he was delighted. Has the princess seen the reality clearly and is planning to surrender to him?
He accepted the compliment with a smile, "Princess, you are too kind. It's just a simple favor."
Zhao Mingyue looked up at him and asked with a smile, "I'd like to take a stroll around Yuzhou City. I wonder if General Xie is free to accompany me?"
Xie Qinjian was stunned for a moment before he reacted, "Ah? Great! It's my humble honor to be able to accompany the princess!"
Feeling proud in his heart, he knew that Zhao Mingyue could not resist his charm. Look, after ignoring her for just half a day, she came to him on her own initiative.
But he didn't notice that Zhao Zhuo's face had turned completely cold.
Seeing that there was nothing else, he and Zhao Mingyue took their leave.
Zhao Zhuo's eyes flickered between the two departing figures, his heart filled with wonder. When did these two get together? Was it during the time when they were welcoming Zhao Mingyue to Yuzhou City?
He sat on the armchair, his eyes deep in thought.
Xie Qinjian, currently serving in the Military Affairs Department and in charge of Yuzhou's defenses, was fully aware of his rebellion plans. Zhao Mingyue, a princess of the imperial family and possessor of the emperor's secret decree, was the perfect person to accuse Empress Dowager Chi.
If these two people join forces, wouldn't Zhao Zhuo be out of trouble?
However, Xie Qinjian should not have the ambition to rebel. At this critical moment, he should not doubt his confidants, which will make his subordinates feel disheartened.
However, the seeds of doubt had already been planted, and whether or not to suspect Xie Qinjian was not something Zhao Zhuo could control.
————
Bang! Bang! Bang!
As dusk approached, the sound of knocking on doors spread from the front of the village to the back, and the shouting of the clan leader's eldest son Liu Dali also spread from the east end of the ridge to the west end of the ridge.
"Everyone, go to the ancestral hall for a meeting! One person from each household, come. Stop messing with the land and go quickly!"
The men all poked their heads out of the house, "Did the women get released?"
Liu Dali walked hurriedly and ignored their questions.
Someone speculated, "It shouldn't be. Someone went to the government office yesterday to ask, and they said that everyone was taken to Yuzhou City and they're probably not coming back."
"What should I do? There's no one to clean the house, and my father is sick. There's no one to take care of the baby!"
"It's all the fault of those female bandits on the mountain. I told you they should be killed, and now something bad has happened."
"There were few women in the village to begin with, and now, all the wives we bought and daughters we raised are gone. You unmarried kids can just expect to be single for the rest of your lives!"
The men grumbled and followed Liu Dali towards the ancestral hall with a depressed look on their faces.
From a distance, everyone saw candlelight shining through the ancestral hall, and heads swaying inside, indicating that quite a few people were already standing there.
Liu Dali walked into the ancestral hall and said to the man standing in the center of the hall, "Father, everyone has been called here, it's time to talk."
Clan leader Liu Dongdong looked at the men in the village and sighed, "Today, the bandits sent a letter saying that the women in our village are in their hands. They want us to pay money to redeem our lives, twenty taels per person."
The men immediately started to make a commotion. "What? Twenty taels?!"
"The wife I just married has already spent all the money my father saved for decades. Now I don't even have another father!"
"That's right. In the early years, my mother sold all the cattle in order to marry me off. Now we have to plow the fields ourselves, and the harvest is not good. Asking me to pay so much money all at once is like asking me to die."
Everyone argued for a long time, saying that they couldn't come up with the money, and even if they could, they wouldn't be willing to use it to redeem their wives and mothers.
Suddenly, someone shouted, "Chief, there are so many people in our village. Why don't we just go up the mountain and fight? Can't a group of men like us defeat a group of women?"
Someone immediately responded, "That's right, let's go straight up the mountain and wipe out those bandits. The government will reward us!"
Liu Dongdong remained silent and did not respond immediately, as if he was thinking about whether this would work.
As the patriarch, he was the richest in the entire family. His three daughters-in-law were all captured, and the total amount was sixty taels of silver, which was neither too much nor too little, and he could come up with it if he gritted his teeth.
As for going up the mountain to fight bandits, "Don't joke. If you push the bandits too far, they'll kill everyone. Where will you find a woman to marry? I'm afraid you won't be able to marry one for thirty taels!"
Everyone was speechless, and the atmosphere in the ancestral hall suddenly became solemn.
Liu Dali said, "Hurry up and get the money together. Sell mules, sell horses, sell grain, sell land. Even if you have to borrow money, you can always get twenty taels!"
Since the clan leader said so, they could not say anything else. They just cursed in their hearts, cursing the bandits and the women in the house. They had already spent money to buy it once, and now they were asked to spend money to buy it again. It was simply a jinx!
Liu Dali had the same idea in his heart. It was not that he was reluctant to spend the money, but he was simply tired of Hu Xinghua's sallow face and wanted to marry Fang again.
In the first few years after Hu Xinghua married him, she was unable to conceive. Whenever he went to the ancestral temple to kowtow to his ancestors, he would feel a chill down his spine. Later, when Hu Xinghua finally gave birth to two sons, he no longer felt the chill down his spine, but instead felt a surge of warmth.
These two sons made him stand up straight, and he finally dared to look up at the tablets of his ancestors.
For this purpose, he even spent money to ask the village teacher to help him choose the names of the two ancestors. The last one was called Guangzong and the other was called Yaozu.
Hu Xinghua probably realized from these names how important these two sons were to him and his family.
So, she changed her submissive attitude of the first two years and started to boss him around. He couldn't talk back, and as soon as he said anything, Hu Xinghua would take her son back to her parents' home.
But his father loved his grandson as much as he did, and was very lenient with Hu Xinghua, asking him to coax her every time, which made it impossible for him to open his mouth even when he wanted to divorce his wife.
And what he just said to the villagers was also what Liu Dongdong asked him to say.
Therefore, as soon as the others left, Liu Dali couldn't help but ask, "Dad, why don't we go fight the bandits? What if we redeem the people and the government comes to arrest them again?"
Liu Dongdong said slowly, "The government isn't going to arrest you, so why are you worried? If we really go to fight the bandits, how could that group of people in the village sell their land?"
Liu Dali suddenly realized that his father's purpose was to buy land.
Farmers value land more than anything else and would not sell it unless they had no other choice. But now, if they still want women, they have to sell it.
"Dad, you are still smart!"
Liu Dongdong's cloudy eyes flashed with a cunning light. "With more land, we can make more money. We want to bring honor to our family. We want to take the imperial examination in the future. How can we do that without money?"
————
Zhao Mingyue asked Xie Qinjian to accompany her and spent two days strolling around Yuzhou City, visiting every corner of the city.
That day, Xie Qinjian sent Zhao Mingyue to Fuxiang Garden and told her those words of feigned affection as usual. Zhao Mingyue suppressed her nausea and said goodbye to him with a smile.
Back in the room, Xue Qi was standing in front of the table, staring intently at the map of Yuzhou City spread out on the table.
Hearing the voice, Xue Qi came back to his senses, with a questioning look in his eyes, "How was the investigation today?"
Zhao Mingyue didn't waste any more time. She walked forward and drew a line on the map. "There are one hundred men guarding each of the four gates in the city. The Bingma Division is here, with five thousand soldiers stationed there. Add to that the one thousand soldiers from the Governor's Mansion, and the defense of the city alone totals six thousand men, not to mention the Xiqi soldiers outside the city..."
Xue Qi frowned slightly, staring intently at the map in front of him, muttering, "If we want to capture Yuzhou, relying solely on the 1,000 men of the Golden Crow Guard is far from enough. Furthermore, if anything were to happen in Yuzhou, the nearby counties of Sanping and Qian'an would surely send troops to support us."
Zhao Mingyue hadn't expected this. She was stunned for a moment, and then her expression became serious. "Master, it seems we must come up with a foolproof plan - is there any news from Mei Junrong?"
Xue Qi was about to answer when he heard hurried footsteps outside the door. Then, Zhao Yuzhang pushed the door open and said in a serious tone, "Something happened to Mei Junrong!"
"What?" Zhao Mingyue was surprised.
"She led people into Laoya Mountain yesterday, but until now, no news has come out. All sixteen people who entered the mountain have lost contact!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
