The daily struggles of divorced women in ancient times

Just when Pei Yanxu was working on infrastructure construction in full swing, Zhai Qiang, his covetous neighbor, finally launched the first attack on Tongyu Pass.

A'Tuye was indeed brave and good at fighting. The soldiers guarding the Tongyu Pass consumed a large number of firearms on the first day. Zhang Pengcheng and Jiang Dingcheng sat together all night to discuss how to deal with the situation.

Something happened at Tongyu Pass, Pei Yanxu was called there overnight, and martial law was imposed throughout the city.

Fortunately, the first batch of supplies that Jiang Dingcheng requested has arrived. No matter how powerful Atuye is, Pei Yanxu is certain that they are empty shells.

After a series of battles, even though Atuye was a genius, he could not withstand such consumption. Jiang Dingcheng saw Pei Yanxu and said the same thing, "Master Pei, a good cook cannot cook without rice. It's all your fault that there is no rice in my pot!"

Pei Yanxu had a headache from being scolded, so he had to go and deliver the second batch of supplies that were prepared in the warehouse for emergency use.

Pei Yanxu stayed in Tongyu Pass for three days before returning to Pei Mansion.

Xia Mianwan saw Pei Yanxu's tired look and hurriedly asked people to prepare water. Because of Atuye's sudden attack, the wind in Xiyang became stronger, and the mountain people who had been attracted here returned to the mountains vigilantly.

"Madam, A-Tuye must have an insider, he wants to consume our forces." Pei Yanxu said firmly.

Xia Mianwan was puzzled, "Why do you think so?"

Pei Yanxu touched his chin and said, "The people of the Atuye sect seem to attack fiercely, but in fact they appear and disappear mysteriously, and they always stop when they see an advantage. They consumed a lot of our oil and rockets on the first day. If this continues, it will not be a good thing, because our supplies are limited."

"But Atuye has also been through a series of battles, so he can't compare to us in terms of supplies." Xia Mianwan said.

Pei Yanxu sighed and said, "But they can use the whole strength of Zhai Qiang, and we only have one granary in Xiyang. The emperor has given me everything he can give in the short term, and in the end it still depends on Xiyang itself. Moreover, A Tuye seems to be sure that there is only one granary in Xiyang in Tongyu Pass, otherwise he would not dare to consume it so recklessly. As you said, in a protracted war, Zhai Qiang cannot defeat the entire Dachen, but if he can be sure that he is only attacking Xiyang, there will be no problem."

"There is an insider..." Xia Mianwan blurted out.

Pei Yanxu also thought so. He discussed with Jiang Dingcheng and Zhang Pengcheng for a whole night and did not find anything unusual in the army. They were sure that their military supplies were not satisfactory, but they knew nothing about their plan to defend the city. They only knew to move forward recklessly and run away if they could not win.

"There must be an insider, but there shouldn't be any problems in the army." Pei Yanxu pondered.

Xia Mianwan frowned and took the papers handed over by Ruzhu. Suddenly, an idea flashed in her mind. "My husband, since the people are not in the army, they must be in the city. There are not many people who can know or guess that the military supplies are insufficient. I will invite these wives to come again to test the waters."

"I don't think they are the wife of an official..." Pei Yanxu guessed.

"No matter whether it is true or not, I will spread it in a small circle and then confirm who it is in the end." Xia Mianwan put forward his own ideas, and then explained them to Pei Yanxu in detail one by one. Pei Yanxu felt that this was indeed a way, and Xia Mianwan had to be the one.

"Then it's up to Mrs. Lao."

After coming up with a plan, Pei Yanxu hurriedly ate a mouthful of food, took a shower, and then hurried back to the military camp.

Xia Mianwan started writing posts with Ruzhu and Rumeng.

On the second day, early in the morning, officials and their wives from various families arrived at Pei's house early. Xia Mianwan's invitations were arranged with a time difference, so every two or three officials and their wives who arrived were arranged in one place. Each small room contained different food and pastries, which was called a tasting.

Because of the time difference, these officials and their wives had no idea what Xia Mianwan was up to. It was not until plates of exquisite pastries were served that they stopped speculating and decided to just try it first.

The officials' families were taken to taste the dishes in each room. Xia Mian arrived late and came in halfway through the tasting. He explained that Tongyu Pass should take the initiative to attack Zhai Qiang and end the war with war, and then told them the time. The most important thing was to ask the officials' families to donate some food.

Xia Mianwan spoke very cryptically, and the information he gave in every room was almost the same, with only subtle differences.

Originally, it was easy to see the flaw in this matter, but Xia Mianwan asked for too much, and she said it seriously, even saying that those who donated grain today would be given dividends when her shop opened.

This sounded both real and fake, and the ladies were still confused. They went home and told their husbands about it.

On the other hand, Pei Yanxu told Jiang Dingcheng about the plan he and Xia Mianwan had set up. Although Jiang Dingcheng felt that the success rate was not high, he still felt that it was worth a try. Catching the traitor as soon as possible would be beneficial to them. So, Jiang Dingcheng started to act in cooperation with Pei Yanxu.

At the agreed time, Jiang Dingcheng ordered his deputy general to lead his men to prepare, pretending that an attack would occur the next day.

When the time came, the deputy general sent out several elite soldiers to secretly ambush at the edge of the bushes, released smoke bombs, and then hit the ground hard with bamboo.

At night, he couldn't see the people clearly, there was smoke, and he could hear thousands of footsteps. Atuye really thought the news was correct and ordered his men to prepare to kill him. He received the news in advance that Zhai Qiang was going to attack, so he set up a trap in advance. Just when Atuye thought the battle was about to start, he fired a flare into the sky. With a "bang", the flare exploded, and Atuye led his men to prepare for the battle.

However, even though the gongs and drums had sounded and the footsteps were right before their eyes, the army of Da Chen remained silent.

Atuye was on high alert. After a long while, even the sounds of thousands of footsteps died down. Atuye finally realized that he had been deceived.

After the deputy general sneaked back with his elite troops, he told Pei Yanxu and Jiang Dingcheng about the situation. Jiang Dingcheng and Pei Yanxu looked at each other and quickly took out the letter that Xia Mianwan brought.

The letter recorded in detail what happened in every room of the mansion during Xia Mianwan's stay that day. Pei Yanxu and Jiang Dingcheng compared the various situations today and basically determined that the news came from the room of Madam Cen, Madam Liu and Madam Qin at that time.

Jiang Dingcheng asked: "After locking down these three people, can the range be narrowed down further?"

Pei Yanxu shook his head and said, "We can only lock on these three people. As for the rest, I'm afraid we have to check their backgrounds and eliminate them one by one." Xia Mianwan was afraid that time was too tight and there were too many characters. It would be difficult to lock on only one person and he was afraid of arousing suspicion, so he only designed this method. The rest depended on background checks.