Ma Hua, the general of the Yin Dynasty, was the most dazzling general after the Hu people invaded the Central Plains.

Ma Hua was born in a family of military generals, living in the northwest, when the Hu people invaded, he led more than 6,000 people to fight with the Hu army in the Xiliang territory for more than a dozen days and nights, and finally won a complete victory, and collected the remnants of the soldiers from all over the country, and the good news was spread frequently, and the Xiliang Pass was guarded, and the retreat of the Hu people was cut off.

Perhaps it was he who cut off the retreat of the Hu people, and the Hu people simply marched inland to the Central Plains. They divided into many teams and entered the Central Plains, intending to converge in the heart of the Central Plains, and Ma Hua was ordered to return to the dynasty and lead the army to snipe the Hu people. The Hu people were all light cavalry, coming and going like the wind, and the war was very difficult, but the troops of Youma Hua kept destroying the enemy, and the Han people still saw the hope of victory.

At that time, there were too many kings in the Yin Dynasty, and there were a few brothers who wanted to use the power of the Hu people to conquer the country, and then rule the world with them, the Hu people accepted their covenant and began to fight the towns in the west first, while the king of Liu and the king of Xiang began to constantly involve the team of the general Ma Hua.

They asked Emperor Wai at that time for his life, and led the local troops of the fiefdom to assist General Dangkou in suppressing Hu, among which the king also served as a supervisor. These two vassal kings with the same surname sent messages to the Hu people several times, allowing them to successfully evacuate the encirclement set up by Ma Hua in advance, and instead surrounded Ma Hua's army in Huaiyuan City.

In the first war of that year, there should be deceived to open the city gate, although Ma Hua personally led the army and the people to resist to the death, but there were heavy soldiers outside and spies inside, and finally lost. In this battle, 60,000 soldiers and civilians in the city died at the hands of the Hu people. Huaiyuan City is the most important hub town in Guanzhong area, as soon as Huaiyuan is opened, the Hu people drive straight into it, ravaging the Central Plains.

What is ridiculous is that the king of Liu and the king of Xiang later sent envoys to talk to Hu He, and proposed the blood letter of the covenant of that year, but the Hu people beheaded the past envoys and refused to admit that they had signed the covenant. Luoyang was captured, the royal family of the Yin Dynasty was killed, and the King of Liu, King Xiang and the King of Xiang were hacked to death by the ministers and generals who knew the inside story, and the Yin Dynasty perished.

This Western Hu tribe was numerous and migrated from the Western Regions to the Central Plains, eventually ruling the Central Plains for several decades.

General Ma Hua did not have a nickname until his death, but after the founding of the Great Chu Dynasty, the former emperor once posthumously sealed the nickname of "Loyal Warrior" of General Dangkou, but it has become a habit for people to call him "General Dangkou", so when it comes to the previous generation of Dangkou Generals, everyone knows which hero he is.

It is said that all the descendants of the Ma family died at the hands of the Hu people, how can this ghost face not be frightened after he now says that he is a general of Dangkou?

If he is really a loyal minister and a good general of the Yin Dynasty, the remnants of the Yin Dynasty will indeed not kill his family, so as not to chill the hearts of other bereaved ministers. It's just that in doing so, it's still inferior, and it's a little not bright enough.

Li Mao's father, Li Laoguogong, was the general he admired most in the past, and when he mentioned this past, he often sighed for the fall of this star. He once said that if he had succeeded in sniping the large army of the Hu people in the west, maybe the Yin Dynasty would not have been defeated so quickly. The two-hundred-year foundation of the Yin Dynasty has been completely destroyed by the Hu people since then, and the Han people have returned to the troubled times after a long period of peace, all because of the ambitions of the two vassal kings.

"After General Dangkou, why are you willing to do such a thing of hiding your head and showing your tail! If you defected to the emperor back then, for the sake of the old heroes, the emperor would have accepted it! Li Mao's face almost didn't read, "Qingben is a beautiful woman, but what a thief!" "That's it.

"When my grandfather died so unjustly, and many ministers were martyred, we, the descendants, are determined to return to the rivers and mountains, and fight hard in various places, waiting for the prince to come of ......age."

"The Prince?"

The ghost face ignored him, and then said, "Later, the Chu clan rebelled, and all parts of Jingnan rose up, and when we saw that the time had come, we also raised the banner of 'Yin' in Fenzhou, and began to recover all parts of Fenzhou on the one hand, and on the other hand, we contacted the clans who were once officials in the court, hoping to get assistance. ”

"Unexpectedly, these clans have long been frightened by the ruthless methods of the Hu people, and they can give money and food, but they are unwilling to borrow people and soldiers, and the Hu people have deployed heavy troops in the north, and we are not the opponents of the Hu people, so we have to turn light into darkness again, waiting for the opportunity to ......"

"Why do you think Jingzhou and Jinyang are so easy to recover? If we hadn't been in the north, the Hu people would have gone south and wiped you out. You got Jinyang and Jingzhou, as a rear, and began to recover the Central Plains, and the clan also supported it, we sent an envoy to form an alliance with Chu Yue, but the envoy did not return. Not long after, our troops in Fenzhou were also frequently attacked by unknown troops......"

"At that time, we knew that Chu Yue wanted to be the emperor. He wanted to find our master, and directly destroyed the lord of our royal division, completely tearing our group apart. Ghost Face looked disdainful, "It's just that he doesn't know the Dao, it's impossible for him to find our master, because even we don't know where the master of the Dao is hidden." ”

After Li Mao listened to the ghost face's words, his face suddenly became ugly.

Any courtier who falls into this kind of secret news involving the remnants of the previous dynasty and the former emperor will be at a loss. Especially when this incident is so weird.

"You are willing to confide in everything, can I understand that you are willing to submit to us?" Chen Yi looked at the ghost's face and the various scars on his neck, "You should be a hard bone, but you are willing to tell your history, I think you want to try the proposal that Li Guogong said and rescue the relatives at home......"

"You also think that recovering the country is a hopeless thing, don't you?"

Ghost Face didn't say a word, neither said yes nor said no.

He was taught by his father since he was a child to be loyal to the Yin Dynasty and to recover the rivers and mountains. Later, the rivers and mountains were recovered by others, and they became like rats crossing the street, as soon as they stretched out their heads, they were shouted and beaten and killed.

They are obviously orthodox, and they have shed blood and tears in order to recover the Central Plains, as a general, he has not gone on the horse to kill the enemy, but can only lead a group of assassins to do unsightly deeds.

After his father's death, the family members of their loyal servants were sent to live in a "safe" place, and his mother and brother were controlled, and there would be a monthly exchange of letters, the above people meant that they wanted their family to live a normal life, so that they would not bother, but they did not even know where their family was, and after a long time, it was inevitable that they would become resentful.

The ghost face's disobedience has actually been born for a long time, and over the years, he doesn't know how many of his own people like the "Red Lady" have been killed. They can kill the "Red Lady" now, and they will be able to kill the "Ghost Face" in the future.

What loyal ministers are left behind, in the eyes of these people, maybe they are already chess pieces that can be discarded at any time.

The people above have become more and more crazy, like moths to a fire. They look forward to natural disasters every day, ** can happen, Da Chu can be chaotic, and the world will rebel, and then they take advantage of the chaos to enter and succeed in one fell swoop.

But now that ten years have passed, Dachu is becoming more and more stable and peaceful, and there have not even been a few natural disasters. Although the clan and the royal power are constantly at odds, they still maintain a delicate balance.

He already faintly felt in his heart that the "Mandate of Heaven" was on the side of Da Chu, and Da Yin's qi was exhausted.

But he is the leader of the "dark people", and this matter can only be thought about in his heart, if he really wants to express it, I am afraid that the next moment his head will not be on his neck.

"Where the hell is your family?" Li Mao asked him.

"I don't know where my family is, but for more than ten years, I have received letters from home once a month. Once, in my brother's letter, I found grains of salt. Speaking of his family, Ghost Face finally spoke, "My younger brother has been smart since he was a child, and it is no accident that there is salt in the letter. ”

"Salt?" Even Chen Yi has no way to do it now. This salt is also divided into sea salt, lake salt, well salt, and mineral salt, which is different from the poison in the mouths of the assassins, and it is not possible to tell where it comes from experience.

"You don't know, we have a salt pan in Shudi...... I suspect that my brother and mother are there. "Oniface has been ambushing near Gyeonggi, but it's not that he is ignorant of his own people's layout. For so many years, there must have been a source of income for the above to maintain the drills and training of soldiers, the supply of personnel, and the expenses of various activities.

Many of the remnants of the Yin Dynasty knew about the geography and humanities of various places, and although some private mines and salt were banned back then, they were naturally quickly used to restore the country.

"You still sell smuggled salt?" Li Mao suddenly remembered the copper coin around Lu Mo's neck, "Are you still privately minting official money?" You guys are so daring! ”

"Our emperor is not Chu Rui." Ghost Face twitched his cheeks, "What kind of private salt official money, didn't you all take it from us?" ”

"It's really you!"

"I don't know what kind of private money is minted, you say yes, that's it."

"Well, that's all a side story. Ghost face, you quickly talk about the salt field in Shudi, and we can also plan. Chen Yi was afraid that Li Mao and Ghost Face would argue, so he hurriedly interrupted the topic, "If you want to rescue your family, you must cooperate with us." ”

"Before we cooperate, I would like to remind you a little bit. Your house...... No, many families in the capital have our people, and we were arrested by you, so naturally we can't hide it from the eyes of those who have a heart. We didn't die immediately, but everyone knows that the poison sac must have been opened, and if you want to fool their eyes to buy time, it's best to pretend that you have been tortured to extract a confession and nothing has been forced out. ”

"If a corpse is gone, all the salt works and other industries in all parts of the country will have to be evacuated, and you will not find anything......"

"You're just competing with my master right now. I can tell you about the strongholds in Gyeonggi and the salt works in Shudi, but if you want to know more, you have to let me see my family first. Ghostface sneered and said, "If you think that you can force something out with torture, you might as well try to see if it is easier for me to die or easier for you to torture." ”

Li Mao thought that he had excellent self-cultivation, and he couldn't help but change his complexion.

"Mr. Chen, please preside over the overall situation here, I will enter the palace immediately......"

"There are also our people inside and outside the palace. We were arrested in your house first, and then you entered the palace to meet the Holy One, do you think they will not know what happened to the Dao? Ghost Face continued to laugh at Li Mao.

He had already risked his life, and he was sure that Li Mao would not kill him, so he got up casually. He hated himself in his heart for being controlled by others, and now he could only talk about comfort.

Li Mao and Chen Yi knew his mentality, and now they still want to use him, and they don't want to intensify the conflict anymore, so they simply didn't hear his provocative language.

"Otherwise, let the old lady enter the palace?"

"Every time my mother enters the palace, something big happens in our house. The stakes are high, and I'm afraid my mother will be scared. She had already fainted once a year ago. Li Mao vetoed Chen Yi's proposal.

Li Mao thought for a while, and suddenly remembered Li Rui, who was reading with him in the palace.

"Yes, Rui'er is going home on vacation today, and she will return to the palace before the palace gate closes tonight. I wrote a letter by hand and asked Rui'er to find a way to hand it over to the emperor. ”

Li Rui has to go home every five days, isn't this the most inconspicuous way to send letters?

Li Mao went out of the court, asked the general to go to Qingcang Courtyard to spread the word, asked Li Rui to wait in the foyer for a while, he prepared something to hand over to him, and asked the subordinates in the torture room to bring pen and ink, and wrote in the interrogation room.

Whether it is the remnants of the previous dynasty, the matter of the salt farm's private salt, the various strongholds near Beijing, and the spies of various families, these are all major matters related to the country's social affairs, and they cannot be solved by Li Mao alone.

According to Oni-face, there are no less than 10 dark spots in central Beijing, and there are many in the Gyeonggi area. These places need to be controlled, and until the salt works are exterminated and Ghostface's family is rescued, no news can leak out, and no one can notice anything unusual.

Li Mao has no one and does not have the strength to do this.

I'm afraid that even the saints will find it tricky.

Li Mao buried his head in his head, suddenly raised his head, and asked the ghost face.

"Your surname is Ma, what's your name?"

"......" Ghost Face glanced at Li Mao with a complicated expression, he hadn't used this name for many years.

"My name is Ma Xing, the prosperity of the country and the country."

Li Mao nodded, and continued to write in the letter, "Ghost Face, real name Ma Xing, is the grandson of Ma Hua, the general of Dangkou......"

He wrote a very long letter, because he had to start from someone crawling on the bed, and then found that the red lady began to write, he did not write the part where the red lady said that the sister-in-law was wrong, but used the Spring and Autumn penmanship to write the red lady as the remnants of the Yin Dynasty, and was a spy who had been ambushed in his house for many years.

Chen Yi kept polishing him on the side, Li Mao and Chen Yi checked again and again, and felt that what they said was very clear, and there were no omissions or inappropriateness, so Li Mao covered the end of the letter with the seal he carried, sealed the letterhead with fire paint, and stuffed it into his arms.

Li Mao left the torture room and hurried to the Splendid Courtyard to look for his son first, but found that his son was not there.

"Where's Ming'er?"

"I'm going to the front to send Rui'er." Fang was making small clothes with a few embroideries, and when he heard this, he immediately put down the needle and thread, "Does the master have anything to find Ming'er?" ”

"Oh, I'm afraid that Li Rui is not used to living in the palace, and I want him to bring some things into the palace."

Li Mao originally wanted Li Ming to send the letter and things to Rui'er, but now that Li Ming is not here, he is the only one who will deliver it in person.

I just hope I don't startle the snake.

Fang followed Li Mao into the inner room, saw her husband rummaging in the house, and then took out a box of "Three Kingdoms Killing" to look left and right, and hurriedly said with a smile: "The old lady has already prepared a pair of chess and cards at home for him to take away, why does the old man still want him to bring this." ”

As soon as Li Mao heard this, he immediately put down the card box in his hand.

He picked up a box of dim sum and was just about to open it, when Fang Shi said:

"Master, no outside food is allowed in the palace."

Li Mao patted his head, the palace was not allowed to bring any food from outside the palace into the palace to prevent being poisoned.

"Idiot, Li Mao wants to bring something for Li Rui to take away, you can't even see it."

Fang's smile froze.

Her voice had been gone for so long that she thought it wouldn't be there.

"Master......" Fang thought for a moment and found a box of broken silver from the cabinet in the back. Li Rui is now in the palace, and it is not okay to bring more silver with him. In our family, even if we support the small kitchen to fry a small dish, we still have to send some extra money to the kitchen, not to mention Li Rui in the palace. ”

She pointed to the box.

"Master, I don't think it's okay to bring anything else, let's bring silver."

Sanxiu was in the outer room, her voice was quite loud, and Li Mao knew that she couldn't carry heavy objects, so she took the box to the table. Fang gently took out the freshly beaten silver bills one by one, revealing the bottom of the box, pointed at Li Mao, and made a "put in" mouth.

As soon as Li Mao saw that Fang's heart and he were so connected, he smiled at Fang's family, took out the letter from his arms, and put it in the silver box.

Everything else will be inspected when entering the palace, and only the silver will only be glanced at casually. Which of these companions did not enter the palace with a pile of gold and silver? Even the emperor acquiesced in such a move

- No one is willing to let their children suffer.

Li Mao and his wife put the silver cakes and silver bills one by one, and filled the gaps with scattered gold and silver.

Li Mao hugged the silver box, not to mention, it was quite heavy, not to mention a hundred taels, even if Li Rui spent money in the palace like running water, it would be enough for ten days and half a month.

"Then I'll go." Li Mao took a few family members and walked to the front yard with the silver box in his hand.

Parvis.

Li Rui, who was waiting for Li Mao to deliver something in the foyer, looked at the sky.

The house he returned home before the palace gate was locked yesterday must rush back to Shangyang Hall today before the palace gate is locked. They accompanied the prince to study, and they all attended classes at the same time, and if they rushed back to the palace early in the morning, they would have to delay the class early tomorrow morning.

If it is not early today, Li Mao has not yet come, and he is a little anxious.

"Dad too, if you don't send it sooner or later, you won't send it until you leave." Li Ming pouted.

"My uncle has to go to court every day, and when he comes home, I'm gone. Now that I am studying with me in the deep palace, he is in front of the court, it is rare to meet once, since my uncle is free to come back today, I will wait for a while, it will not be in the way. Li Maozhi said that Li Ming was anxious for himself. If you are late or absent from class, you will be beaten and punished.

It's nothing to suffer from the flesh and skin on the body, but the skin is really panicked.

"The master is here." The man at the door came into the house.

Li Ming and Li Mao hurriedly silenced and waited for Li Mao to enter the hall.

Li Mao entered the front hall with a dozen curtains, and asked his subordinates to bring the silver box he was holding and handed it to Li Mao.

"Uncle, I am studying in the palace, I am considered a guest, I don't need to spend money on food and clothing, the palace people in the palace of His Royal Highness are very well-behaved, I didn't ask my nephew for benefits, and the amount that my grandmother gave me is enough." As soon as Li Rui received the silver box, he was taken aback by this weight.

Although there is another clan on the □ side of the main hall named Xiong Ping, he carried a bag of silver as soon as he went, but he lived in the palace for a long time, and he was different, he took a box of silver to the palace, and others didn't know what kind of extravagance he had become!

"You think I'll always give you so much silver? If I give it to you, you will keep it, you can use it well, don't spend it all at once! Li Mao smiled and patted Li Rui's head, "You have to socialize occasionally, and the people you interact with are all famous sons, now the monthly case is no longer enough, I will give you a separate case silver in the public school when I go back, you can't have to pay for it every time you go out to eat tea, right?" ”

When Li Rui heard Li Mao's kindness, he hurriedly thanked him.

In fact, he had enough money to spend, but this was Li Mao's intention, and he gladly accepted it.

"Next time you go home, you're going to take me out to play! You're a big deal now! Li Ming shouted from the side.

"Okay, okay, you can eat me."

Li Mao sent his nephew out, and when he got on the horse, he whispered in his ear:

"There is a letter in the box, and when I arrive at the palace, I will try to give it to the saint."

Li Rui listened to Li Mao's words, and his heart was shocked, but his movements did not stop, and he got on the horse and held the reins naturally as usual, without letting people see anything unusual at all.

"Uncle's direction, nephew is measured, and he won't give the palace people the impression of spending lavishly." Li Rui nodded at Li Mao, signaling that he had heard.

"If only you knew what I meant." Li Mao stroked his beard and smiled with satisfaction.

"Let's all get on the horse and set off, there is still half an hour before the palace gate is about to be locked, we have to go to the palace city before the palace gate is locked!" Li Rui turned around and shouted to a few companions, glanced at the silver box again, and saw that it was properly placed on Qingshuang's horse, so he took the lead and marched in the direction of Miyagi.

When he arrived at the entrance of the inner city and the palace city, Li Rui dismounted and took out the palace card of the Shangyang Palace. The goalkeepers guarding the door all knew Li Rui as a companion, and immediately politely came over to check the things he brought into the palace this time.

The palace door was about to be locked, and these people checked it quickly, and when they saw the box of silver, they only opened it and looked at it, and found that it was full of scattered gold and silver, and they immediately closed it.

They are different from the officials guarding the palace gate and the city gate, they will not see the money open, and take the opportunity to ask for the silver money. On the contrary, in order to avoid suspicion, they simply checked the money and immediately returned the property.

"Master Li, the eunuchs in the palace also have unclean hands and feet, your silver is so scattered, it's best to keep it carefully, don't steal it and don't notice it." A palace gate guard kindly reminded him, "Come in, we're going to close the palace gate." ”

Li Rui thanked him for his kindness, his family couldn't follow him into the palace, he held the box of silver alone, carried a burden, and began to move to the Shangyang Hall of the East Palace.

His Royal Highness Chu Chengxuan has three companions who take turns on vacation, and the clan Xiong Ping lives in the palace for a long time. As soon as Li Rui stepped into the gate of Shangyang Palace, His Royal Highness greeted him with Qiu Mu, Qin Bin and others.

"I thought you wouldn't be able to come back before the palace gate was locked this time, you made me lose money in a bet, and you have to compensate me for my losses!" Qin Bin looked at Li Rui with a smile and a box on his back, "It seems that my family stuffed a lot of things when I went home this time, I really envy me and wait." ”

Although Qin Bin is the eldest son, he is not the only son in the family, his family does not run any business, so his monthly routine is tightened by his mother's card, he has two sisters above him, he is about to get married, and he has to use money everywhere to prepare the dowry, and Qin Bin's net worth is the poorest of the four companions.

"Where, this is my year-old monthly routine, and my uncle was impatient to give it to me again and again, and asked me to bring it in with him." Li Rui shook his head and sighed, "Small gambling is pleasant, big gambling hurts your body, Qin Dalang, you are so poor, don't gamble all the time." If His Highness wins the pants and doesn't have to wear them, won't he still pull us! ”

"He can't wear my pants!" Qiu Mu is a skinny child, and Qin Bin is burly, so naturally he can't wear it.

"He can't wear mine." Xiong Ping smiled and compared his waist, "I'm fatter than him." ”

"Looking at it this way, I'm afraid I can only wear Li Rui's." The eldest prince joked with a smile, "In order to leave a few pairs of pants for Li Rui, I still don't ask Qin Bin for a few bets and lost money." ”

Chu Chengxuan has become familiar with several children in the past few days, and he no longer calls himself "Bengong" or "Ben Prince", but uses "I", and they are not allowed to use honorific titles.

They were still teenagers, but after changing their words, the relationship was really much more intimate, and they even dared to make jokes.

"Your Highness is merciful!" Qin Bin immediately thanked Dade, "I'll be exempted from this time, how about it?" ”

"That's not good, don't you still have pants?"

This time, everyone laughed.

The palace people in the Shangyang Hall took Li Rui's burden and silver box, and put the things into his bedroom first. Li Rui asked a few palace people to go down, and these palace people thought that Li Rui wanted to hide the silver, so they retreated obediently.

Li Rui took out the letter from the silver box, stuffed it into his middle coat, repeatedly confirmed that it would not be seen, then closed the silver box, casually stuffed the box into a drawer, locked it, and walked out.

Li Rui and Chu Chengxuan ate and lived together, Li Rui came back before the palace gate was locked, and he had dinner with them before dinner. After the meal, he found a gap and whispered to the eldest prince:

"Your Highness, I have something important, can you talk about it alone?"

Chu Chengxuan was easy-going and gentle on the outside, but he was by no means confused in his heart, and immediately understood that Li Rui was afraid that he had brought some news, so he nodded and took Li Rui to his bedroom.

The palace people around Chu Chengxuan were all put by the queen after being transferred to his side, not only shrewd and capable, but most importantly, they were all loyal.

As soon as he came in, he gave a certain eunuch a look, and the eunuch leader immediately retreated with the palace people, and personally guarded the door, so that the two of them could talk with confidence.

Li Rui didn't open the letter, so he just took out the letter and showed it to the eldest prince, and didn't talk about the content of the letter.

"Before I left the house, my uncle hid this letter in a silver box and secretly instructed me to bring it into the palace and give it to the Holy One. My uncle did it so obscurely, I think either I have a spy at home, or I have eyes and ears outside the palace, and I can't act rashly. This matter should be urgent, otherwise my uncle should have handed it over to His Majesty after the court tomorrow, instead of letting me send it to the palace. ”

Li Rui slammed to the ground.

"Please help me, Your Highness!"

Chu Chengxuan took the letter and nodded.

"Don't worry, I'll go to the queen mother. Today is the first day of the new year, and my father will definitely go to my mother's place in the evening. ”

The first day of the first day of each month is the "Yuan Day", which is the day when the emperor and empress have sex, and Chu Chengxuan said that he went to find the queen mother, but in fact, he went to find the emperor.

Chu Chengxuan hurriedly left the East Palace with a few palace people and went to the Kunyuan Palace.

At this time, the emperor happened to have dinner with the queen, and when he heard that the eldest prince asked to see him, both of them were curious.

Come to the harem at this time, what can you do?

Chu Chengxuan met with his father and handed over the letter from Li Mao. Chu Rui took it apart in a place where there was no one and took a look, the more he looked at it, the more his face turned blue, and after reading it all, he put the letter in his arms, turned around and commanded outside:

"Call Xie Yifan over."

Xie Yifan is the chief of the forbidden army in the palace and the leader of the secret agents. Chu Rui called Xie Yifan, handed him the letter in his hand, arranged many matters, and then said to him:

"Notify Zuixiaolou and send people to control the dark spot in the capital first."

"Yes!"

The author has something to say: this chapter seems too serious? Well, I'll control the pace. The next chapter gives you some joy.