Brocade tears

"Old Guo, since I met you ten years ago, I have never seen you suffer such a serious injury. Who are you offending?"

"Oh...it's a long story, listen to me tell you slowly..."

To the east of the outer city of Nanjing, south of Xiaolingwei Daying Camp, there is a village built around the camp, called Zhou Village.The sergeants guarding the Xiaoling Mausoleum are hereditary, and the ancestors of the family have a close relationship with the Tai/Zu Emperor.At that time, Emperor Tai/Zu chose the surnames of Zhou and Li from his hometown Fengyang to guard his mausoleum. After 300 years of change, the Li family has been separated, and the remaining Zhou surnames have survived as most of the tomb guards in the Xiaoling Guard.Most of the residents in the village are family members of soldiers guarding Xiaoling, and most of them are surnamed Zhou, hence the name.In the past, the sergeants spent their days practicing in the camp. When they were on vacation, they would leave the camp and return to the village to reunite with their families.

On the third day of May, before dawn, the injured Guo Dayou rode his horse all the way to Zhoucun. Taking advantage of the dark and before anyone went out for a walk, he knocked on the courtyard door of a family in the south of the village.The yellow dog in the yard barked when it smelled the smell of strangers and blood.The owner of the house was woken up, put on his clothes and went out, pressed the yellow dog, and opened a gap in the door on guard, and saw Guo Dayou whose body was stained red on half of his body outside.

He was taken aback and welcomed Guo Dayou into the house.Without further ado, he quickly healed his wounds to stop the bleeding, boiled water to wipe his body, and changed into clean clothes.After he was busy, he was finally able to sit down and ask questions, and there was a conversation between the two before.Guo Dayou recounted the events before and after he left Beijing in detail, and the middle-aged man fell silent.

"Old Zhou, what's the matter, do you have a way into the city? I also want to contact Brother Tong in the city, and ask him to help me find someone, and ask him something." Guo Dayou asked.

Lao Zhou pondered and replied: "It's okay to bring you into the city. Anyway, I'm born to open Tongjimen every day to go to work in the city. It's just that you have to hide your identity so that you won't be recognized by others. We have to keep a low profile. As for Brother Tong ...I haven't seen him for a few days, and I don't know his current situation, so don't be impatient after entering the city, and I'll help you find out."

Guo Dayou was overjoyed and said sincerely: "That's really grateful to Lao Zhou. I don't want to thank you for your kindness. If you have anything to do in the future, just ask me Guo Dayou."

"Hey, no matter what, they are all brothers who have been on the battlefield together. Why be so polite. You are a person who is going to do great things. We veterans are all pointing at you. I hope we can live a good life in the future."

"Brothers are all watching me, I don't dare to slack off in the slightest." Guo Dayou lowered his eyes and said slowly.

……

On the third day of May, at the beginning of noon, in the courtyard of Chengxian Street.

Lv Jingshi and Daoist Luo, who went out to buy food, have been back for a while, and Meng Yan, Sui Er, and Han Jiaer, who are diligent in their hands and feet, quickly prepared a table of meals in the kitchen.When the meal was ready, Meng Zixiu and Bai Yuyin had almost finished talking about the past, and a group of eight people sat around the dining table and began to eat with their chopsticks.Everyone was starving, especially Meng Kuang and the others. They hadn’t even eaten a single rice since yesterday evening. Now that they could eat a hot meal, they felt happy from the bottom of their hearts. Eat extremely fast.

Daoist Luo and Meng Zixiu also ate a lot with them. When they were eating, the table was very quiet, only the sound of chopsticks colliding and chewing could be heard.After the turmoil and clouds, everyone showed a look of satisfaction on their faces.Sui'er and Han Jia'er had been maids in the palace for many years, and they were used to doing work immediately when they saw work in front of them, so they quickly removed the leftovers, made tea and served them on the table.While drinking tea to digest food, they talked about things.Of course, the center of the topic revolves around the second elder brother Meng Zixiu.

Meng Kuang was the first to speak, and she had been planning for a long time: "Brother, tell us, what exactly have you investigated over the years. Why do you seem to know many secrets?"

Mencius laughed and said, "I really have to tell you from beginning to end. I'm afraid I won't be able to finish it in a day and a night. Let's postpone the discussion. You have to hide in this small courtyard for two days, and you have plenty of time to talk about it." ...I want to say a few important things about our current situation."

Seeing that everyone's attention was focused on himself, Mencius corrected his thinking and continued:

"You should have guessed that the people who are ambushing outside the city to intercept and chase you are the people of King Lu. I have confirmed this from Feng Bazong when I entered the city this morning. Feng Bazong told me that he controlled Chaoyang yesterday. The person at the door and the Taiping Gate is Gu Yanxiu, a thousand householder from Nanjing Jinyiwei. He is the brother-in-law of King Lu and the third son of the Gu family, a wealthy family in the southeast. "

"Brother, we met a very powerful master of using Ma Chan yesterday. Do you know who it is? This person should also be a trusted subordinate of King Lu." Meng Kuang asked.

"Ah, you are talking about Qin Xiaofeng, the master of martial arts raised by King Lu. There is a large group of private soldiers in the palace of King Lu. Some of the private soldiers are very outstanding. Most of them are from the army. They have killed people on the battlefield. Gao Qiang. While guarding King Lu, these people will also do dirty work for him. This Qin Xiaofeng is from the middle of the capital. Showing excellent martial arts talents, he has practiced a powerful horse-shooting and horse-fighting kung fu, and a black iron long lance in his hand is a magical weapon specially crafted by craftsmen who took time and effort, and it is extremely sharp." Mencius Xiu eloquently explained.

"Second Brother... Where did you know this?" Meng Yan was very surprised.

Mencius replied: "I have been investigating King Lu for many years, and I should have started investigating King Lu not long after I left home and arrived in Nanjing. Otherwise, I would not have rescued Yuyin. I know that her family was murdered because of King Lu. As for why King Lu was investigated, I will tell you slowly in the future, and I am not in a hurry right now."

He paused, looked at Lu Jingshi and Han Jiaer, and continued: "I heard that you came to the Nanjing Internal Officials Supervision and Procurement Bureau from the middle of Beijing, and now because Lu Wangshou is arresting people in Nanjing, if you show up brazenly There is a risk of being arrested and interrogated in the Bureau of Official Supervision and Procurement. Because none of us know how much information King Lu has about you. Therefore, it is temporarily impossible to take up the post, and it depends on changes in the external situation. .”

Lu Jingshi and Han Jiaer looked at each other and nodded. Mencius Xiu made sense, and they also understood the current situation.

Meng Zixiu immediately comforted him: "Actually, you don't need to worry. Although King Lu is hunting Yuyin right now, he should be forced to stop soon. Today is already the third day of May, and the day after tomorrow, the fifth day of May will be the Dragon Boat Festival. Nanjing City holds a large-scale dragon boat race every year. The venue is on the Qinhuai River. At that time, all the gates of the city will be wide open. Officials and people in the city will come out to worship, climb Zhongshan Mountain, and go boating on the North Lake. There are many vendors around, and everyone will go to the city to go to the market. Lively. This is a folk custom that has lasted for many years. It is impossible for King Lu to seal off the city at this time. You can leave Nanjing City.

There are two more difficult issues to deal with. One is how to arrange Lu Jingshi and Han Jiaer, and the other is how we can find Guo Dayou.Ah Qing, you are still in the mission arranged by Jin Yiwei, you have to find Guo Dayou as soon as possible, and you can't let him find us first.Otherwise, let him catch me with you, and the Meng family's years of hard work will be in vain.We still have to think of a suitable reason for how you got into the city.The best way is to stay out of the city until the Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of the lunar new year, so as not to let Guo Dayou know that you have entered Nanjing.But this is beyond our control, and we still have to be fully prepared.I guess Guo Dayou will try his best to get into the city as soon as possible. He should also have an intelligence network in the city. Only when he enters the city can he launch his intelligence network to find you. Our time is limited. "

Daoist Luo couldn't help asking: "What arrangements do you have? Evergreen."

Mencius pondered and said: "If you want to know whether Guo Dayou has entered the city, you have to continue to rely on Feng Bazong's intelligence network. I speculate that Guo Dayou is most likely to leave the Tongji Gate. Now that things have happened, he will definitely pretend to be a commoner and hide his identity. Entering the city, and Tongji Gate has a large number of civilians coming in and out every day, so it is the most convenient for him to mix in. In fact, I still want to find An Xifan. Since Guo Dayou has contacts with Qingliu, the official department of the court, maybe An Xifan It is also the person he will seek refuge in. It’s just that I have already left Nanjing and headed north, it seems strange to turn back so soon, and I can’t find a better excuse to meet An Xifan, so I still give up.”

"If you can't do it openly, then do it secretly. Let's split up. I'll follow An Xifan. Second brother, you and Daoist Luo continue to contact General Feng." Meng Kuang said.

"Okay, that's it. Yuyin, take this opportunity to copy the tattoo on your back with Miss Sui'er and Xiao Ai, and let Miss Sui'er study it carefully."

"Okay." Bai Yuyin nodded.

Mencius finally said: "Everyone go to rest, after an hour, we will start to act."

Meng Kuang mentioned Bai Yuyin's tattoo to Meng Yan and Sui'er shortly after he learned about it.Meng Yan, Sui'er, and Han Jiaer also saw her tattoos when they were bathing in the bathroom of the small courtyard on Chengxian Street.Sui'er only took a rough look, and she knew in her heart that this tattoo was completely consistent with the drawing principle of the painting of ten thousand beasts and one hundred flowers, and some kind of code was concealed in the way of hiding the picture.After Meng Zixiu arrived at the small courtyard on Chengxian Street, Bai Yuyin also mentioned to him about the tattoo and informed Meng Kuang and others.

In fact, Meng Zixiu had seen the tattoos on Bai Yuyin's body a long time ago. His relationship with Bai Yuyin was closer than everyone imagined, but he kept his etiquette and did not break through the last step.He thought about this tattoo carefully, but still couldn't figure it out, and now he finally came across Sui'er who could untie the picture, and the opportunity was precious, so he immediately made arrangements.

Everyone went back to their rooms to rest, and Mencius asked Meng Kuang to talk in detail in the east room alone.Seeing that his second brother was so mysterious, Meng Kuang's heart suddenly rose.In fact, up to this moment, she has not disclosed the relationship between herself and Sui Er to her second brother, and Daoist Luo doesn't know either.It's not that she wants to hide it, it's just that she hasn't found the right time since her second brother came back.I don't know if the second brother has already seen it, and Meng Yan should not have found the opportunity to tell him about it. Could it be that Bai Yuyin told the second brother?Will he object to the matter between himself and Sui'er?Meng Kuang knew in his heart that this was by no means something that could be easily accepted, it was indeed too outrageous, if the second brother could not accept it, she really didn't know what to do.

Unexpectedly, Meng Zixiu didn't mention this matter to her at all, but unexpectedly mentioned a person-Tang Fu'an, the weaving eunuch admiral of Nanjing Weaving Bureau.

"Ah Qing, this Tang Fu'an is probably the real murderer who killed our father and brother." He said.

Meng Kuang looked at his second brother in surprise, speechless.She has always identified Zhang Jing as the murderer of her father and brother, but she did not expect that her second brother would give her an answer that was completely unimaginable, and she knew nothing about Tang Fu'an.

"More than 20 years ago, he was not the admiral weaving of the Nanjing Weaving Bureau, but the palm print eunuch of the Da Nei Weaving and Dyeing Bureau. He had a goddaughter who was raised among the people. She was extremely intelligent and talented. The embroidery and weavers were superb. And invented a very magical way of embroidery to pass secrets. She loves to do two things, one is drawing embroidery, and the other is drinking tea in Beijing Zhongbaixiang Pavilion. Opposite Baixiang Pavilion is the student who entered Beijing for the exam The hall where they live together, she often observes those moves for fun. Tang Fu'an originally wanted to send this girl to the palace for a draft and become a concubine to consolidate his own power. But this goddaughter fell in love with a The son who went to Beijing to take the exam was named Bai Xianshi. Regardless of Tang Fuan’s objection, he married Bai Xianshi privately for life and even became pregnant. He also taught Bai Xianshi the method of embroidery and transmission of secrets. Tang Fuan had no choice but to He tried his best to cover up the matter. Bai Xianshi was selected as a Jinshi and went to Nanjing to serve as an official. This woman followed Bai Xianshi to Nanjing and married him. After that, she gave birth to a son and a daughter for Bai Xianshi, and her daughter was Bai Yuyin.

Originally, this matter should come to an end, but never thought that ten years ago, Lu Wang, who was only 14 years old, had a catastrophe.On the eve of his wedding, he entered the inner palace in the name of visiting the Empress Dowager Li. He actually used alcohol to rape the Concubine Rong, who had just been drafted into the palace at that time. The incident took place in Shoukang Palace. I went to the Palace of Compassion and Shoukang to pay my respects to the Queen Mother and several concubines.It was a coincidence that Tang Fu'an was in the Shoukang Palace at that time selecting new clothes for the concubines, and this matter was caught by him.After waking up, Lu Wang knew that he had caused a catastrophe, so he asked Tang Fu'an to save him.Tang Fu'an's ambition that had been suppressed for many years immediately swelled, and he immediately helped King Lu manage his affairs up and down, threatening the Wang family not to mention the matter, and covered it up.Tang Fu'an took advantage of this incident to climb up the high branch of King Lu, and later became King Lu's follower. He even arranged for King Lu to have private meetings with the Wang family many times, so that the Wang family became pregnant and gave birth to the third daughter of the emperor. , Wang also used this to confer the title of Concubine Rong.

He then thought of his goddaughter who had been married for many years, and remembered that his goddaughter had another daughter who was almost an adult and could be dedicated to King Lu.So he immediately sent someone to Nanjing to contact Bai Xianshi's family and encourage them to marry Bai Yuyin, who was only 14 years old at the time, to King Lu as a concubine, but Bai Xianshi's family sternly refused.In his anger, he sent people to harass his door several times, causing the stubborn Bai Xianshi to decide to fight back.He immediately entrusted his friends in Beijing to investigate Tang Fu'an, and he actually found out about Lu Wang's scandal and Tang Fu'an's role in it.In addition, he had long been investigating the property status of the emperor's relatives and relatives, and immediately wrote a book about the impeachment of King Lu and Tang Fu'an.This book almost killed King Lu, his relationship with the Wang family is a secret that must not be revealed, otherwise no matter how much his imperial brother loves him, he will never be spared this time.As a result, Bai Xianshi, who was too upright, caused a fatal disaster.

And the person who helped Bai Xianshi investigate this matter in Beijing was a person we thought had committed suicide—Li Xuming, the third son of Li.

Li Xuming escaped by feigning death, and handed Sui'er into the hands of our father and brother, who were subsequently hunted down by Tang Fu'an.Because Tang Fu'an received false information, he mistook Sui'er for Bai Yuyin, thinking that they were going to escort Bai Yuyin to escape.Our father and brother fought fiercely with the people sent by Tang Fuan outside Beijing. The battlefield stretched for several miles. In order to disperse the pursuers, our father and brother took the risk of hiding Sui'er in a tree hole in the hills outside the suburbs.Do you still remember that the tree hole was the place where you used to hide prey when you went hunting with your father and brother.I guessed that the Mongolian sweat medicine in Sui'er's kettle should have been given by his father and brother. The purpose was to stun her and keep her from running around, because they had already discovered the pursuers at that time.But... In the end, they didn't come back alive, and Sui'er, who was in a coma, was also kidnapped by the Nanya Jinyiwei sent by Zhang Jing who followed all the way.And the person who came up with the poisonous plan to mislead Tang Fu'an with false information and make his father and brother compete with Tang Fu'an's snipe and clam is Wang Daoming, the current governor of Nanzhen Fusi.

Ah Qing, you once asked me where I found out so many inside stories.That's because I belong to an organization that was secretly formed before Zhang Juzheng's death. It doesn't have a formal name, but most of them are officials from the Qing Dynasty and people with lofty ideals from the people. Let me use the name "New Party" 'On behalf of that.Bai Xianshi is a member of this organization and can be said to be one of the founders.This organization has been expanding to people from all walks of life in North Korea and China. Li Laosan, our father and brother also joined later.

Before Zhang Juzheng's death, the New Deal was blocked and it was difficult to continue. He didn't want to waste his life's hard work, and he knew that the biggest obstacle was those cancerous royal relatives. Therefore, since the eighth year of Wanli, he has been organizing credible officials from all over the country to investigate the distribution. The property situation of the major royal relatives in the country.The precious information was finally collected, and Bai Xianshi's wife drew it into a secret embroidery map, cut it into pieces bit by bit, compiled the sections into a sequence, and finally let Sui'er embroider the finished product.In fact, Sui Er shouldn't have done this, Bai Xianshi's wife was the original candidate, but at that time she and Bai Xianshi had already become the first targets of King Lu, were framed and imprisoned, and it was difficult to continue.

Ah Qing, this is the truth of the matter. "

After listening to the second brother's narration, Meng Kuang felt his scalp go numb, and remained silent for a while.The reason for the nine years of life and death that the Meng family went through was to cover up Lu Wang's dirty affairs after drinking.Meng Kuang only felt that something in her heart was broken for a moment. All her beliefs in this dynasty were collapsing and dissipating, and her heart was chilling.

What on earth was she trying to endure in the army for nine years?She is a soldier, and her duty is to protect the dynasty from danger.But God!What is she guarding?

The world was spinning, and Meng Kuang closed his eyes.