After coming out of the general's mansion, Gu Yan hurriedly asked Gu Wu and Song Qi to buy a large carriage. With so many things, it would be too conspicuous to ride on horseback.
Song Wan had no objection to this. The silver needed to be well taken care of and protected.
When they were moving the silver, in order to save time, they took a shortcut and stepped directly on a patch of flowers planted by a lady from an unknown yard.
As soon as the sun rises, the miserable scene will be particularly eye-catching. I believe that it won't be long before Xu Lie discovers that his house has been robbed.
This time, Song Wan did not go to the courtyards of those ladies. There was not enough time, and even if she caught her now, she could not take her away. So she simply let them go.
In fact, the main reason was that Song Wan discovered that apart from the legal wife, the only people left in Xu Lie's backyard were the two concubines in the remote yard. When she was moving the silver, she took the time to pass by and found that there was not even a pot of flowers in the yard. It was obvious that they were not living a good life.
This Xu Lie is either not capable, or his wife is too strict and controlling.
Song Wan was more inclined to the former because she accidentally heard the shy sounds of Xu Lie and his first wife, which ended in less than a quarter of an hour.
I don’t know if he was just like this when he was young, or if he has always been like this.
But by the time Xu Lie discovered them, they had already left the tower and returned.
The time was about the same as Song Wan had estimated. Xu Lie indeed discovered the abnormality when he got up early to practice martial arts.
At this time of year, large fields of peonies were in full bloom, but they were trampled to pieces overnight, with large and small footprints all over them, making them look very messy.
The further Xu Lie followed the footprints, the heavier his heart felt. The sparse peony petals finally stopped at the door of the room where he kept his belongings.
What's more, the thieves were so arrogant that they didn't even close the door.
In the dark room, except for a few boxes of jewels, the other boxes were almost empty.
Xu Lie's clenched fists creaked. Who on earth had the courage to steal from his mansion?
After so many years in Tahui Pass, this is the first time that the mansion has encountered such a thing. Xu Lie doesn't believe that they are just ordinary bandits.
Those barbarians would probably be captured by the secret guards he arranged before they could even get close to the general's mansion.
Xu Lie was more inclined to believe that the person was sent by the emperor just to intimidate him.
Thinking of this, Xu Lie immediately asked people to investigate and try his best to catch the emperor's men.
Song Wan would never have thought that Xu Lie had even found someone to take the blame for them. If she knew that Xu Lie was going to put all this on the current emperor, she would definitely applaud.
The dog-eat-dog drama is quite interesting.
When the people inside and outside the pass woke up early in the morning and opened the door, they saw silver bills lying on the ground.
They rubbed their eyes, opened them, rubbed them again, and opened them again. It was still a silver note, not some piece of scrap paper.
In one of the farmers' families, an old farmer found the banknote. He bent down to pick it up with his hands shaking in disbelief.
He checked the banknote over and over again and confirmed that it was a real banknote, worth a full fifty taels.
He had never seen so much money in his life.
"Old woman! Old woman!" The old farmer was excited and frightened, and hurriedly shouted towards the house, "Old woman! Come out quickly! God has appeared!"
Song Wan and others, whom the old farmer called "God", had just left the tower and returned to the pass. They were resting at a tea stall and eating something to replenish their energy.
Before leaving the city, each of them disguised themselves, and when Xu Lie discovered that his house had been robbed, he would definitely arrange for someone to catch them.
It’s easy to deal with other people, but Gu Yan is worried about this face. Xu Lie and his personal soldiers must know it.
So Song Wan bought a piece of charcoal from an old man in the city, quickly adjusted Gu Yan's skin color, and helped him stick on a fake beard and a scary scar from his forehead to the left corner of his eye.
Now that Gu Yan is disguised, not to mention Xu Lie, even if his biological mother stands in front of him, she may not be able to recognize that this is her son.
Xu Lie did send people to search the city and strictly check all the main roads out of the city and the merchants coming and going.
Having lived in Tahui Pass for so long, the people were no fools. When they saw the sudden increase in the number of officers and soldiers on the streets, some families with good relations quickly connected the matter to the sudden increase in silver bills in their homes after exchanging information.
The banknotes were most likely from the General's Mansion. It was unknown which good man was doing justice for the people. In order to prevent the officers and soldiers from finding the banknotes, everyone tacitly wrapped the banknotes in oilcloth, dug a hole in a hidden place in their home and buried the banknotes in it, intending to use them after the officers and soldiers finished searching and the news died down. Anyway, they had been poor for decades, and a year or two was nothing to them.
Tan Min returned to the general's mansion with the result that no one was found. Xu Lie was so angry that he overturned a set of tea sets.
In the study, Tan Min stood below, with a puddle of undried tea stains at his left foot.
Xu Lie paced back and forth before finally deciding, "Those people have probably already left the tower and returned to the pass with the silver. Losing the silver is a minor issue. First, take your men to help King Yu capture Song Qin. We've already lost Qi Fu. Since Song Qin is still alive, we can't let him reach Qiandi."
Tan Min bowed his head and accepted the order, "Yes, I obey your command."
Xu Lie suddenly remembered something and asked, "By the way, have the two boxes of gifts we sent to that Commander Jiang in Guizhou arrived?"
As long as we can take this person under our wing, it will be easy to deal with the Song and Gu families.
Tan Min replied, "According to estimates, the gift-giving team should be able to reach Qiandi within the next two days. General, you are the uncle of King Yu. How dare he, a mere lieutenant general, disobey you?"
Xu Lie also thought so. Jiang Zhen was not an ordinary general. He was severely scolded by the late emperor and then demoted to Guizhou. If someone said that he had no hatred towards the late emperor in his heart, Xu Lie would be the first one to not believe it.
The Song and Gu families were people who were highly valued by the late emperor. Even if Jiang Zhen treated them the same as other exiles on the surface, the hatred in his heart could not be easily resolved.
The two boxes of gold sent by Xu Lie actually pointed out a clear way out for the other party. If he did not want to spend the rest of his life guarding Guizhou, the best way would be to join King Yu's army.
Guizhou area.
After Song Wan and Gu Yanji suddenly left with a few people, it took Jiang Zhen several days to get used to it.
Now that there is a bumper potato harvest, he led his people to pick out the potatoes that can be used for seeds and store them according to the method Song Wan suggested.
He sold the remaining several hundred kilograms of poor quality rice to the villagers at the price of coarse rice, but only allowed each family to buy no more than three kilograms.
Jiang Zhen tried his best to ensure that everyone who wanted to buy potatoes could buy them. Of course, the villagers did not buy potatoes to eat. Such a high-yield crop was of course kept for planting.
If you plant 300 kilograms and you can harvest 3,000 kilograms, then if you plant 3 kilograms, you might be able to harvest 30 kilograms.
It doesn't matter if the variety is not good. Be careful. At worst, you can always get 20 kilograms. This is equivalent to the silver that could only buy 2 kilograms of coarse rice. After waiting for a year, you can buy 20 to 30 kilograms of coarse rice.
Twenty or thirty kilograms may not seem like a lot, but you have to know that the potatoes harvested can be planted again, and then thirty kilograms will become three hundred kilograms, which is enough for the family to eat for a long time.
Jiang Zhen remembered what Song Wan once said: after two years of continuous potato planting, the fields need a year to recuperate, but that doesn't mean nothing can be planted that year. Song Wan told him what can be planted, and he told the villagers about it, letting them decide for themselves.
According to Jiang Zhen's idea, even if nothing was planted in the third year, the harvest from the first two years alone would be enough to eat for several years.
The villagers obviously thought so too. The three pounds of potatoes they bought were not many. Some were planted in their own yards, and some were planted in a corner of the field.
The most families in Dadong Village bought potatoes. After all, Gou Wa's family still remembered vividly how they harvested more than 3,000 kilograms of potatoes from one acre of land.
Because Gou Wa's family was the first group to plant potatoes, they had 300 kilograms of high-quality potato seeds this year.
Gou Wa's mother decided that they would continue to grow potatoes next year, rotating the crops on the two acres of land. This way, before long, Gou Wa might be able to go to a private school to learn to read.
After the potato issue was resolved, Jiang Zhen was not idle either. Before leaving, Song Wan assigned a task to Song Yi and the others. Before she came back, the combat power of the 5,000 people Jiang Zhen hid in the back mountain had to at least double.
Jiang Zhen was previously worried about not being able to find someone to train these soldiers, and he himself could not stay away for a long time. Song Wan's task solved a big problem for him.
By the time these 5,000 men were almost done training, he still had people from several other factions. Jiang Zhen even thought about arranging Song Yi and others to the military camp to help him train the troops.
Jiang Zhen had experienced Song Wan's abilities.
The three boys in the family had been learning for less than two months when Jiang Zhen had a few sparring matches with them and was almost seriously injured by a kick.
In this regard, Jiang Zhen deeply felt that raising a son not only costs money but also costs the father.
When those little brats kicked their father, they showed no mercy at all.
When Xu Lie's men arrived in Guizhou, Jiang Zhen had just returned from Dadong Village. Yao Xu was working there, so he would occasionally go there to supervise in person.
When Wu saw Jiang Zhen finally coming back, she hurried to greet him.
It was Jiang Zhen's first time back home, and he was greeted so warmly by his wife. When he saw the rare gentle smile on Wu's face, he felt something was amiss, and his scalp tingled. "Madam, what happened at home?"
"My husband, this is someone sent by General Xu from Tahui Pass. Since you are back, I will take my leave first." Mrs. Wu was too lazy to deal with such occasions. If her eldest son was not there, she would not want to leave the yard.
If she had known that outsiders would be coming today, she might as well have secretly changed her clothes and gone to Dadong Village to chat with her two sisters.
"Tahuiguan?" Jiang Zhen's expression darkened as he supported his wife as they walked into the hall. His gaze fell on the unfamiliar face in front of him. "Is this brother General Xu's man?"
The visitor was a personal guard from Xu Lie's residence. He stood up, saluted, and said, "I am here on the general's orders to show Commander Jiang a clear path."
Jiang Zhen raised his eyebrows, "Oh?"
Seeing no resistance on his face, the personal guard knew there was a chance, so he continued with the task Xu Lie had assigned him. "The general happened to learn that Commander Jiang had governed Guizhou for many years, always fulfilling his duties diligently, but his chances of promotion were cut short by an edict from the late emperor. My general values his talent, so he sent us to assist Commander Jiang."
After hearing this long speech, Jiang Zhen's expression remained unchanged. "Are you here alone?"
The guards thought he was tempted, "The general knows that the people of Guizhou are poor, so he asked me to bring two boxes of gold."
After the guard finished speaking, he asked the people outside to bring in the big box, "Our general is very sincere."
When Jiang Zhen saw the two dazzling boxes of gold on the ground, his eyes changed slightly. He turned his gaze back to the three people opposite him, "Thank you for your kindness, General Xu. You three have traveled all the way here, and you must be so tired. Could I please set up a table for some food and wine so we can sit down and discuss the details?"
Seeing Jiang Zhen's understanding, the leading guard lowered his guard. He smiled and said, "Of course, our general needs your help right now."
Jiang Zhen smiled back, "I will definitely try my best."
Screw your inner self! If you want to stay so badly, go dig manure for me tomorrow!
After tricking the three people at the dinner table, Jiang Zhen simply and rudely asked his wife to put knockout drugs and muscle softening powder in the three people's wine pots.
Mrs. Wu glanced at the three people lying on the ground and frowned, "We can't let them live in the mansion like this."
After counting the two boxes of gold, Jiang Zhen thought for a moment and said, "Song Yi and the others recently said they wanted to make some dummies and sandbags. I think we should send these three to be used as real sandbags for the soldiers to train."
Jiang Zhen originally wanted to let the three of them go and accompany Yao Xu to dig manure, but he remembered that he was not Miss Song, and he could not control them. It would be bad if he ended up hurting someone.
Wu shook her head. "No, if you send them to the back mountain, how will you get back to the tower? Whether the three of them come here to negotiate with you or not, you have to let the people over there know what's going on."
"It's okay. I'll personally write back to Xu Lie when the time comes." Jiang Zhen wasn't stupid. "Since the three of them have expressed their desire to stay, that must be Xu Lie's intention. To win me over, Xu Lie must have asked them not to write back to him without my knowledge for the time being, as a sign of his sincerity in winning me over."
This gave Jiang Zhen time to exploit an opportunity. "Let the three of them be human sandbags. Xu Lie, that villain, instead of guarding the tower and returning to the pass, actually arranged for someone to poison the general and even tried to win me over. When the time is right, I'll kill him myself!"
Two boxes of gold are not enough. He will skin Xu Lie alive.
Wu heard him keep calling him "I" so vulgar that she couldn't help but pinch him and said, "Speak properly, you're not going to stop calling me that!"
Jiang Zhen was caught off guard and was pinched hard. He cried out in pain. Fortunately, his sons were not there. Besides the two of them, there were only three people sleeping on the floor in the dining room. Otherwise, where would he put his face?
"Then what should we do with these two boxes of gold?" Wu asked again.
"Xu Lie is so stingy. He just gave me these two small boxes just to win me over." Ever since he had done two big deals with Song Wan, Jiang Zhen was no longer the man who spent every penny carefully. Two boxes of gold were not a lot of money for him.
Seeing his disgusted expression, Wu rolled her eyes at him and said, "Come on, you're so ungrateful. Since you don't want it, I'll send my son to his master's house later."
When Jiang Zhen heard that she wanted to take the gold away, he immediately refused, "This is Xu Lie's way of winning me over. Even if I don't want it, it still belongs to me."
Mrs. Wu chuckled twice, "If the Song and Gu families weren't here, why do you think they would spend so much gold to win you over?"
Jiang Zhen pretended to cough and said, "You don't have to send them all. At least leave one box for me. I still have to help the late emperor raise troops."
Although Zhang Sheng and others are helping him now, he still has to figure out the big deal.
It wasn't that Wu didn't feel sorry for her husband at all. She knew how hard he had worked over the years to fulfill the will left by the late emperor.
"Then keep one box, and use the rest as apprenticeship gifts for the three children. We were in such a rush to apprenticeship that we didn't even prepare any."
Jiang Zhen had no objection now. "My lady is very considerate. You chose gold as the apprenticeship gift. Miss Song will definitely like it."
Wu pushed him, "Now that it's settled, get rid of them quickly. It's annoying just looking at them."
Xu Lie never imagined that the three people he sent to Qian would eventually become human sandbags. At this moment, he still had Jiang Zhen's handwritten reply in his hand, in which he expressed his willingness to join King Yu's camp, but Qian was a barren land, and the tasks he had assigned might not be so easy to complete.
Jiang Zhen had learned the essence of Song Wan's blackmailing skills.
The letter was talking about the lack of silver from beginning to end, but the more Jiang Zhen said this, the more relieved Xu Lie became. Any problem that could be solved with money was not a problem. He put the letter away and called another confidant to prepare five more boxes of gold, silver and treasures to send to Guizhou.
It was just as Jiang Zhen expected. In order to gain his trust, Xu Lie specifically instructed them before the three of them left that if the matter was successful, they should not reply to the letter back to the tower in a short period of time, and should reply secretly when the time was right.
When Jiang Zhen's letter arrived, Tan Min had already left with his men for three days.
Xu Lie thought that when Tan Min caught Song Qin, if all the members of the Song family were still alive, maybe they could be used together.
Song Wan and his party waited outside the pass for two days before Tan Min brought his men out of the city. Just as Gu Yanji had expected, they were heading towards Suizhou. A small number of people took a detour to Xiangzhou to look for them. If they couldn't find them, they could go directly to Jinzhou to wait. A few people were left behind in Suizhou, and most of the remaining troops followed him straight to Yizhou.
Obviously Xu Lie thought that Song Qin would take the Yizhou route, so Song Wan and Gu Yan rode their horses hurriedly and followed Tan Min's team all the way.
Song Qi and Gu Wu were driving the carriage, and the rest of the people were sitting in the carriage guarding two boxes of gold and silver.
Yun Zhuo opened the curtain and poked his head out, talking to Song Wan and Gu Yanji. "At this rate, we should be there soon. Zezhou isn't far from Yizhou. Do you want to come to my house and play for a few days?"
Yun Zhuo had always kept the sauerkraut fish and boiled fish business in mind, and his aunt must also want to meet the man who had turned Yao Xu's family upside down.
Hearing his aunt say that except for her yard, all other yards were looted by her, Yun Zhuo thought that this might be the fate between his aunt and Song Wan.
Song Wan replied, "Okay, I'll go to your house and play after I find my second brother."
Yun Zhuo nodded, "I'm sure we can find them! My eldest brother used to tell me about your two brothers a lot. I can let your second brother and my eldest brother spar with each other when the time comes."
When Song Wan heard about the possibility of sparring, she was eager to try and said, "I can also spar with your elder brother."
Yun Zhuo's mouth twitched, "My brother doesn't hit women."
Song Wan uttered an "oh" and gave him a cold look before saying, "I don't hit women either, but I do hit men."
Yun Zhuo: "..."
Suddenly I felt sorry for my brother.
Tan Min and his men rushed all the way and finally arrived in Yizhou after a few days.
After checking into the inn, he ordered someone to deliver King Yu's handwritten letter to Prince Yi's mansion.
A quarter of an hour later, Song Wan and his group arrived at the inn opposite where Tan Min was staying.
After running around for several days, Song Wan finally had the chance to rest. She asked for a private room and called the waiter to order a large table of delicious food.
After the meal was served, Gu Wu, who had gone out to inquire about the news, also came back.
"How?" Gu Yan asked anxiously.
Gu Wu replied, "My master expected that as soon as Tan Min arrived in Yizhou, he would send someone to deliver a letter to Prince Yi's Mansion."
"It seems my second brother is still a popular target." Song Wan couldn't help but wonder, "We're in Guizhou, so why hasn't King Yu sent anyone to kill him? My second brother just disappeared, and yet he sent so many people to look for him? Is King Yu just too idle?"
"Maybe your second brother discovered something in Prince Yu's Mansion." Gu Yan frowned anxiously. What secrets did Prince Yu's Mansion hide?
"I think so too. King Yu must have done something bad and was discovered by my second brother!" Song Wan nodded in affirmation.
Qi Wu agreed wholeheartedly. "When King Yu first captured me, they cut open the people who were protecting me in front of me, bleeding them to death, in order to force me to produce the token that symbolized the head of the Qi family."
They were all left by that man by his side, and he didn't even know of their existence until he was caught by King Yu.
Thinking of that man, Qi Wu felt very complicated. He was a good emperor and had always tried to be a good husband. His sister loved him very much, but it was because of him that his sister closed her eyes completely without even having time to look at Ping An.
After knowing that he and his sister were poisoned by the same poison, Qi Wu's first thought was to leave the capital. He wanted to return to Jiangnan, to go home.
It seemed that only in this way, the man would not die, and his sister would live well in the palace, but he died in the end and was buried with his sister in Jiangnan.
Song Wanminjue sensed the rebellious disciple's low mood and thought he was afraid. As his master, she had to take some responsibility, so she comforted him, "Don't be afraid. When my second brother gets some news, I will help you catch them. You can cut as many times as you want!"
Qi Fu's eyes were red as she said awkwardly, "...As a girl, could you please stop talking about fighting and killing all the time?"
Song Wan picked up the extra chopsticks and slammed him hard on the head, comforting this ungrateful and rebellious disciple in vain. "How can you talk to your master like that? Be careful or I'll have Gu Yan beat you up!"
Qi Wu hissed in pain, but he still fought back, "He promised that man to protect me. He's a minister, so he wouldn't dare disobey the emperor's order and beat me!"
Gu Yan hurriedly picked up a bowl of meat for Song Wan. After hearing Qi Fu's words, she smiled and said, "The late emperor asked me to protect you well, but he also asked me to educate you well. I believe the late emperor does not want to see you go astray like disobeying your master and elders."
Qi Fu was anxious. "Gu Yan is anxious because you value women over friends."
Song Wan defended Gu Yanji, "Why are you using random words at such a young age? I am your master, and Gu Yanji is my man, so you have to call him, call him——"
Song Wan was suddenly stuck in the middle of her conversation. She leaned over to Gu Yanji's ear and asked, "He calls me Master, what should he call you?"
Gu Yan coughed anxiously, her ears reddening, "You can call me Master's Wife."
Song Wan tilted her head, "Men also call me Master's Wife."
Gu Yan hurriedly replied in a low voice, "Okay."
Unexpectedly, Qi Fu laughed at him after hearing this. "Gu Yan is so anxious for you to be her man that you are even willing to be called Master's Wife. Do you have any bottom line?"
Yun Zhuo, who had been watching the fun from the side, couldn't help but sigh that Miss Song was indeed different from others. He had heard his eldest brother mention the Gu family guarding the southwestern border more than once before.
Isn't it said that the young general is a terrifying figure? Why does he act like a little wife in front of Miss Song?
Brother, the information is wrong.
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