After rebirth, I made the princes cry

On the second day, Fu Bai came to invite Ying Shu to go to Chilou.

Yingshu had already "seized" Fubai from the chief official, but Fubai was still nominally under Wang Lan's command, and Chilou was Wang Jie's residence. Fubai could not obey Wang Jie's orders. Yingshu was a little surprised and asked Fubai, "Did the old man go back on his word?"

Fu Bai was still somewhat uncomfortable with Yingshu's way of asking questions.

But he understood why Yingshu asked, and answered dryly, "Earlier, the great lord and the eldest son were discussing matters, and the servants in the eldest son's courtyard came to tell him that Xinsu Jun was coming to visit. The great lord asked Xinsu Jun to go to the study to serve tea, and later the eldest son invited Xinsu Jun to Chilou, so the great lord asked the servants to invite Wu Niang to Chilou."

Yingshu then knew why Sikong Yuehu came.

She also knew that apart from her, only her grandfather and eldest brother knew about the plan to launch a surprise attack on Hanzhong.

In the courtyard, in front of the flower hall, when Li saw Yingshu coming in, she hurried forward to greet her. Although she knew yesterday that Yingshu had returned home, she thought that Lian Prajna Residence and Fifth Sister only went for a stroll with Third Uncle, so she was tactful and did not rush to disturb Third Uncle's family. At this time, she took Yingshu's hand and said softly: "My husband and Xinsu are in Ruohuazhai. I will keep an eye on them and don't let anyone disturb them. Fifth Sister, go and discuss business with them first. I will send Fifth Sister back to Xianyue Residence in a while."

Yingshu never dared to rush around in Chilou, but she knew where her eldest brother's study, Ruohuazhai, was. She didn't need a guide. She smiled and responded to her eldest sister-in-law and went straight to Ruohuazhai.

Sikong Yuehu actually came to see Yingshu today.

"Your Highness, please take your time to discuss this with your fifth sister." Even Wang Jie avoided it first.

He didn't go far, but just stood beside a clump of green bamboo outside Ruohuazhai, with his back to the study.

"There's no need to avoid my elder brother, right?" Ying Shu retracted her gaze and looked at the person who had turned the tables and placed a seal carved out of black jade in front of her.

"Although I don't avoid Duan Zhi in some matters, Duan Zhi actively avoids them." Sikong Yuehu's eyes were fixed on the seal: "This is the order of the head of the Flying Eagle Department. Upon seeing this order, all spies of the Flying Eagle Department must obey orders. Father ordered me to personally hand this order to the female minister. Some time ago, I have already taught the female minister in detail about the translation method of the secret book. When the female minister returns to the palace in the future, father will personally hand over the spy list, the Chang'an spy agency and other records to her."

To be honest, Yingshu is a little uncomfortable with the title of female minister.

In ancient times, specifically during the Han Dynasty, female minister was actually the title of a female official in the palace, with duties similar to those of the female historian. However, some female ministers also had the privilege of reviewing memorials and documents. Although they were still female officials, different from court officials, the privileged female ministers actually had greater powers than many formal officials.

The title of female minister itself has no positive or negative connotations, and Dayu does not have a female minister. However, Yingshu always feels that being called female minister is still limited to female officials in the inner court, but her position is Shangshu Lang, which is very different from the nature of female minister.

"First there was the female counsellor, then there was the female chancellor. In my opinion, both of them are outstanding women in the current dynasty."

Ying Shu panicked. Was her dissatisfaction so obvious? Sikong Yuehu actually saw through it at a glance.

"It's rare for Xinsu-kun to say something pleasing to the ear."

"Madam Xue recommended herself and won the trust of General Zhou. I think you haven't heard about Madam Xue's recent work as the female minister yet, right?"

Yingshu hadn't seen Xue Xuanqing for a long time, but she had just met Xie Liuniang in the palace not long ago. She hadn't heard her mention the female strategist who was currently assisting Deng Ling Zhou Lang, her husband.

"Is it something I can hear?" Yingshu asked.

"Even the female minister has the top-secret information of the Flying Eagle Department. It's okay to hear about this."

"Then I'm all ears."

"Madam Xue is General Zhou's counselor and occasionally goes in and out of the military camp. Although her presence as a woman will attract the attention of other subordinates, she does not mind it. Because she is a woman, going in and out of General Zhou's inner house and talking with Xie Shaojun will not cause gossip. Madam Xue is very attentive and Xie Shaojun trusts her very much. Xie Shaojun is willing to tell Madam Xue about the servants in the house, their backgrounds, and what responsibilities they are responsible for.

It was also a coincidence. General Zhou's mansion had an official slave who was in charge of purchasing. Once, Madam Xue saw this official slave turning into an alley in the market. Madam Xue knew that there were only a few small shops in that alley, and the goods sold were generally only for the daily needs of ordinary people. She was suspicious and quietly followed him in, but the official slave was gone. "

Having said this, Sikong Yuehu paused intentionally.

Yingshu was still listening attentively.

For some time, she and Sikong Yuehu had already made peace with each other, but she discovered that this man had a little habit. When he talked about unimportant things, he liked to keep the audience in suspense, which made the audience ask questions anxiously. Only then would he be satisfied and continue to tell the story. She thought this little habit was quite interesting, so she was willing to please him, but now she doesn't want to please him anymore.

Without being asked further questions, Sikong Yuehu did not keep the question in suspense.

"Madam Xue thought that the official slave must have entered a store, and since he disappeared so quickly, the store must be near the entrance of the alley. So she entered the first store at the entrance of the alley, pretending to select goods while observing. Not long after, she saw the official slave coming out of the store not far away. Madam Xue waited for the official slave to pass by before entering the store.

The shop sells mutton soup. As it was not meal time, there was only one customer, who was paying the bill, but he only took two sips of the big bowl of mutton soup. After the customer left, Madam Xue heard the owner muttering, wondering if too much salt was added to the mutton soup. She took a sip and shook her head, saying that it was obviously delicious.

Madam Xue asked the shop owner, saying that she had just seen an acquaintance come in. However, when she came back from the pottery shop at the entrance of the alley after agreeing on the price with the owner, she didn't see the acquaintance anymore.

The shop owner then told Madam Xue that a person had indeed come in just now. He was dressed exactly as Madam Xue had described, and his height and age also matched. However, he was not here to eat, but to see the previous diner. He said a few words, handed the diner something, and then left.

This time Sikong Yuehu did not pause intentionally, he drank a sip of tea to moisten his throat: "Based on this alone, Madam Xue certainly would not suspect that the official slave had bad intentions. After all, he is an official slave, so he must have relatives and friends. The master would not be so harsh that the servant would not contact relatives and friends when doing things outside. So she just told Xie Shaojun to pay more attention to the official slave.

About a month later, Madam Xue went to the military camp and met a handyman. She recognized the handyman as the customer who met the official slaves in the mutton soup shop. The handyman obviously recognized Madam Xue at the time and was quite frightened. Madam Xue did not hide it from General Zhou. As a result, the handyman had a fight with another handyman in the army over a trivial matter. This handyman was not a military household but a hired handyman. If he committed a crime, he would be dismissed.

It is not easy to hire this kind of menial servants in the army. Of course, they seek relatively generous salaries, and as hired workers in the military camp, they do not have to bear taxes. Therefore, they attach great importance to this job. But this manial servant was obviously trying to get away from it. Madam Xue offered another suggestion, asking General Zhou to pretend not to notice. Then, Madam Xue told me the story in detail.

I kept an eye on the servant and checked his background. On the surface, there was nothing suspicious about him, and the servant had no intention of leaving Jiankang. However, I did not let my guard down. I followed the clues and found a secret spy planted by Northern Zhao in Jiankang. "

Ying Shu was shocked just now: "Northern Zhao's spies actually penetrated into the military camp?"

"There are too many survivors who have migrated south, and it is really hard to prevent spies from sneaking in. However, this group of spies does not want to harm General Zhou. No matter if they are servants or official slaves, it is impossible for them to assassinate him."

"That's hard to say. Aren't the government slaves responsible for purchasing? What if they poison the food?"

"The official slave is not a spy. He was just bribed by the spy. He didn't dare to poison. He just provided the servants with information about who visited General Zhou's residence, who was turned away, and who met General Zhou. The recent actions of this group of spies from Northern Zhao are precisely for the establishment of diplomatic relations between Northern Han and our dynasty. I had already used the spies of the Flying Eagle Division in Northern Zhao to spread the news that Jiang Tai intended to detain the Lord of the Palace. The Prime Minister of Northern Zhao, Gong Xianglu, fell into the trap and reported to the monarch of Northern Zhao that Jiang Tai must not be allowed to use the descendants of Emperor Shenzong to claim that 'the Mandate of Heaven' was his'. However, the monarch of Northern Zhao was still hesitant, so he ordered the spies to take action to determine whether there were any unusual movements in the central army of our dynasty."

Ying Shu had been trained by Sikong Yuehu for a while, so she was more sensitive to military and political affairs. "What Bei Zhao is worried about is that if they go to war with Bei Han, will our dynasty take advantage of the opportunity and launch a surprise attack on Luoyang?"

"Yes." Sikong Yuehu affirmed: "Last year's battle in Yizhou frustrated the morale of Northern Zhao, and Northern Qi's attitude was also extremely ambiguous. Although Northern Zhao had a legitimate excuse to attack Northern Han, this was a civil war in the north, and Northern Zhao could only win the support of Northern Jin at most. Northern Zhao would certainly worry that the main force would attack Tongguan, and our army would take the opportunity to advance to Luoyang. I had a plan to dispel Northern Zhao's concerns, and it happened that Madam Xue helped me to arrest a spy from Northern Zhao. If our dynasty really wanted to recapture Luoyang, of course we would use this spy to mislead Northern Zhao, but we eliminated the spy completely."

Ying Shu nodded.

Eliminating the enemy's spies is a routine operation, because this is just one of them. Eliminating this one will not stop the enemy spies from continuing to spy. If Dayu wants to go to war against Northern Zhao, since one of the spies has been identified, it will not be in a hurry to alert the enemy and will definitely take advantage of it to pass false information to Northern Zhao.

"I actually didn't expect that besides my fifth brother, even my third brother would volunteer to be an envoy. Northern Zhao will soon know about this. They are sure that if Jiang Tai really dares to forcibly detain the prince and the two princes of our dynasty, our dynasty will definitely not let it go. Since our dynasty is determined to go to war with Northern Han, it will definitely make friends with Northern Zhao and will certainly not rashly go to war with Northern Zhao."

In short, the current progress is of great benefit to the strategy of surprise attack on Hanzhong.

"I used to offend the female minister a lot, but I had changed my opinion of her long before this decision. I never thought that women were inferior to men. Whether a person is wise or timid, knowledgeable or dull, has nothing to do with gender. Today, my father asked me to hand over the seal of the Flying Eagle Department to the female minister in person. This is a formal ceremony. The Flying Eagle Department will at least have two top leaders before the delegation returns safely."

Yingshu completely understood why Sikong Yuehu told her about Madam Xue's heroic feat, because during this period of time, His Majesty hoped that she and Sikong Yuehu would trust each other and cooperate with each other tacitly. His Majesty did his best not only to achieve the strategy of surprise attack on Hanzhong, but also to ensure that the prince and her returned home safely.

Yingshu solemnly put the black jade seal into her pocket with her hands.

"Take Wen Ji with you as well." Sikong Yuehu said calmly, "That bird may not be of much use, but it doesn't hurt to take it with you. I will also have the trainer who raised Wen Ji disguised as an envoy guard and obey my orders. Lady Minister, although it is your duty to protect the Palace Master, please remember that your safety is equally important to Dayu."

After Sikong Yuehu finished speaking, Yingshu was still thinking about her sister-in-law.

It was unknown when she would return. If she could not return safely before May of the 14th year of Jianxing, her eldest sister-in-law might not have escaped the fate of going to Guangde Temple in Xixialing to pray for blessings but died in a natural disaster. The eldest brother was deeply in love with his eldest sister-in-law. After her death, he was unwilling to remarry for several years. Later, under the pressure of his grandfather, he had to marry Wansu's cousin Lu Miaoru.

Even Wansu had passed away by then.

Miaoru is the daughter of the Lu branch of Fanyang. The marriage between the Wang and Lu families was initially based on the desire for harmony, but who would have thought that Miaoru would ask to leave and insisted on divorcing her eldest brother. Yingshu then learned that although her eldest brother had remarried under the order of his grandfather, he had never consummated the marriage. Miaoru admired her eldest brother, and for this reason, she did not want to see him suffer from self-blame.

Miao Ru married far away, and before the marriage she went to the palace to see her. Miao Ru said that she was not unwilling, she was willing to give up, and the divorce was for "rebirth", as long as this was the case, she and her elder brother could be relieved.

But Miaoru eventually died of childbirth complications.

Her husband was leading the army to war at the time, but her mother-in-law complained that she did not "contribute" and believed that as long as Miao Ru was willing to beg the Queen Mother, the Queen Mother would not let her son go to war. At that time, Miao Ru was bullied by her mother-in-law and did not receive proper care and nursing, which led to premature birth. The child survived, but she died of hemorrhage.

If the eldest sister-in-law survived, Miao Ru's fate would have changed. Ying Shu naturally hoped that her eldest brother would not be lonely and miserable, but how should she persuade her eldest sister-in-law not to go to Xixialing in May next year?

At that time, the eldest sister-in-law went to Guangde Temple in Xixialing to pray for the safety of her eldest brother. If her eldest brother did not accept the overseas assignment the next year, the eldest sister-in-law would not worry about his safety and of course would not go to Xixialing. However, in the 14th year of Jianxing, Yingshu was pregnant and Danmei died in an accident. She lived in a daze during that time and had no idea why her eldest brother was sent abroad. She did not know the details, and there was no reason for her eldest brother to stay in Jiankang next year for no reason.

Yingshu then chatted with her sister-in-law: "Sister-in-law, have you heard of Guangde Temple in Xixialing?"

"Of course I have heard of it. My mother is a loyal follower of Master Tanlan, the abbot of Guangde Temple. This story happened thirty years ago!"

Li smiled and took Yingshu's hand. As soon as she finished saying this, she walked into the Crescent Moon Residence. Seeing Jiafu coming towards her, she didn't finish the story in one breath. She smiled at Jiafu so hard that she couldn't even close her mouth.