/p> Walking up to the Wangqin Tower in the northeast of the Han Palace, Zhu Gaoxu looked at the direction of the northeast and the direction of the Beijing Division, but it was impossible to see the Beijing Division.

His gaze crossed the Kunming city wall in the distance and looked at the clear sky, and he could only faintly see the distant mountain shadows. The shadow of the mountain may be Phoenix Mountain.

The horizon was blocked by the shadows of the mountains, and only then could he feel the blockage of the southwestern border.

According to the Ming Dynasty etiquette system, the prince's mansion built this Wangqin building for the children of the Zhu family to miss the emperor and clan relatives who were far away in Beijing.

However, Zhu Gaoxu stood here, neither missing his parents nor his brothers and sisters, he only thought about Miaojin. Most of the people he cared about in the Ming Dynasty had come to Yunnan Mansion with him, except for Miaojin.

Wang Gui and the others have been leaving Yunnan for nearly a month, so they should be almost in Beijing at this time, right? The speed of the march of the squad is much faster than the march of tens of thousands of men; As long as you pass through the mountainous areas of Guizhou, most post roads can be ridden on horseback and travel hundreds of miles a day.

…… Yellow Dog and several other eunuchs stood silently behind Zhu Gaoxu, because Zhu Gaochu was holding on to the railing, there he was stunned, and no one dared to disturb him.

Standing alone on a high place, he thought about a lot of things.

A long time ago, he was an angry young man, and the anger hidden in his heart could not be resolved, blaming the whole society and being cynical all day long. Then he is impatient, careless and irritable in doing anything, and feels that everyone is sorry for him; All kinds of desires and hopes cannot be satisfied, and they hope to do a big thing and get rich overnight. The good thing is that people always grow.

At this time, Zhu Gaoxu decided not to alarm Shen Xu for the time being, but to be patient first, find out the matter clearly, and then weigh it.

He "looked at his relatives" for a long time, sighed in front of several eunuchs, "I don't know if my father and queen mother are in good health", and then went downstairs.

There were two rows of eunuchs and palace maids standing downstairs, and Zhu Gaoxu waved his hand and said, "You are all scattered, and the yellow dog will go to the front hall with me." ”

"Yes, lord." The crowd stooped down and replied.

The yellow dog hugged the dust and said, "Does the prince want the slave and maid to prepare the chariot?" ”

"Walk over there." Zhu Gaoxu ordered. After the war, he was a little lacking in exercise, and it was easier to gain weight if he didn't exercise his muscles.

This palace was only built according to the specifications of the ordinary prince's palace, and it was indeed large, and the circumference was said to be more than three miles. When Zhu Gaoxu walked near the Duanli Gate, he was sweating.

When I came to the palace office on the west side of the Duanli Gate, there were more than a dozen soldiers left behind, and they all came up to salute. Zhu Gaoxu went to the public seat inside and sat down, and directly asked someone to bring up all the recitals and newspapers in the past few days.

Not long after, Wang Bin and Hou Hai also came in to pay a visit. One of them is a commander and the other is a warden, and in addition to the errand of guarding the palace, they all have their own offices.

Zhu Gaoxu kindly asked them to find a place to sit and continued to look at the file on the table.

After a long time, Zhu Gaoxu suddenly raised his head and said, "Why didn't anyone report this report to me from the Mufu West Base?" ”

Hou Hai and the others immediately stood up and stepped forward, Hou Hai couldn't wait to take a piece of paper to read first, and then handed it to Wang Bin next to him.

It was a report from the stronghold of Banyan Street, west of Mufu, about a middle-aged woman who had entered and exited a mansion on the east side of the street twice in three days.

"The prince forgives the sin, and the subordinate thinks that the woman is just a slave; The spy guarding the palace has nothing to report, so he wrote it to give an errand, and such trivial matters dare not bother the prince......" Hou Hai said busily.

Zhu Gaoxu glanced at him and said, "No matter what it is, it is composed of such trivial things. We can't just guess or let others say what they say. ”

Hou Hai and Wang Bin bowed together: "The lower official (the last general) is negligent. ”

Zhu Gaoxu said quietly: "Usually the people who go out of the house to buy are men. Will the women in our Han Palace's palace often go in and out of the palace? ”

The two of them were stunned, and only then did they look at Zhu Gaoxu with admiration.

Zhu Gaoxu pointed to the piece of paper and said: "Send the Quan Yong team to find out the bottom of this woman, whether she is a slave or maid in the Mu Mansion." ”

They hurriedly said: "The lower officials will obey the order!" ”

Zhu Gaoxu said very uneasily: "When you ask your brothers to follow, don't just follow her arrogantly, you can use the method of tracking in batches...... Forget it, I'll go there in person, you two, and then call Liu Ying and other generals who guard the palace to follow me, I'll demonstrate it first, and you can learn to use it next time. ”

Hou Hai said with a bitter face: "The lower officials are incompetent, and such a trivial matter requires the prince to come out in person." ”

"If you don't sweep a house, how can you sweep the world?" Zhu Gaoxu said casually, "This is not a trivial matter, I am teaching everyone tactics." ”

At this time, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but think of the "unknown force" again, the person who followed the Mu family's little lady.

……

Yang Sheng, the horseman of Mu Mansion, where he lives, is located in the row of houses on the west side of Mu Mansion.

Yang Sheng is almost fifty years old this year, he originally had no name, and the name given to him by the hundred households after joining the army, there are many people like him, so the names of the Ming sergeants are mostly victorious, brave, military, martial, loyal and other words.

I think that when he followed Mu Gong into Yunnan twenty years ago, he was still very young; Now he is getting old, the old wound on his leg has not been cured, and the person is lame, fortunately Mu Fu misses the old and left him to take care of the horses for the elderly.

Going out from the back door on the east side of the courtyard, there is a street, and on the opposite side is the high wall of the Mu Mansion. This street is usually not walked, and the intersection has been blocked by a gate, and outsiders cannot enter.

Outside the west gate of the courtyard, there is also a wider street, with banyan trees planted on both sides; The streets were a bit damp, and the sky was obscured by lush tree branches. If it's early in the morning or late in the morning, the street is not very visible.

When Yang Sheng was not in the army, his family was surrounded by walls and he couldn't marry a daughter-in-law. After the battle, the person was middle-aged, his legs were lame, his face was a little crooked, and his brothers in the army had found him a few women, most of them were widows with a few babies, all kinds of widows, blind, lame, and crazy, so Yang Sheng has not married a wife until now. But he didn't think it was anything, so many of the brothers he knew were dead, and at least he was still alive.

…… Two months ago, Yang Sheng met a woman in the city, estimated to be in her thirties and forties, the woman was dressed in tatters, but she still had charm. The woman cried and said that her daughter was sick and had no money to get medicine, so she came up to beg for money. Yang Sheng gave a copper plate, but she said that it was not enough, and she wanted to do short-term work for him and ask for more money.

Yang Sheng was arranged by Mu Fu to live in a yard alone, neither farming nor trading, he just took care of the horses, and was about to refuse...... And the woman said that she had lost her husband, and that he was a widow and that he was a widow. So Yang Sheng brought her back.

The woman cleaned his yard spotlessly and cooked very delicious food.

…… More than a month ago, the woman brought her daughter with her, saying that the owner of the house had kicked them out, and begged Yang Sheng to take them in for a while before leaving. Yang Sheng was very surprised when he saw Wang Xiaoniang, because the girl looked like a fairy, but her face was very pale, so white Xiaoniang and Yunnan are rare.

Wang Xiaoniang is a little old, it seems that she may be twenty years old, but she is not married. The woman said that her daughter was sick and kept herself in the house on medicine. At first, Wang Xiaoniang was like a mute and barely spoke, and her face was cold.

Yang Sheng felt very strange and asked them where their husband's house was and where their mother's house was, but they didn't say it clearly.

But the mother and daughter didn't live long and disappeared again, as if they had never come.

Yang Sheng looked at the door every day, but never saw them again. It wasn't until recently that the woman appeared, saying that she had gone back to her hometown, returned to Kunming, pawned the house, and then put on an apron and went to cook.

Yang Sheng hurriedly bought a silver bracelet and wanted to explain the words, but the day before yesterday he held back for a long time and didn't say anything.

When she comes again, she must take out the silver bracelet! Yang Sheng muttered in his heart every day.

…… After waiting for a few days, the woman finally came again.

She looked at the unwashed coarse dishes on the table, the dirty clothes on the bench stained with horse manure, frowned slightly, went into the stove room, picked up the apron and put it on, and then began to clean up.

"Hey......" Yang Sheng's face actually felt very hot, and his tongue seemed to be knotted.

"What's the matter with Brother Yang?" The woman turned to look at him.

Yang Sheng was stunned and didn't hold back a fart, he stretched out his hand from his arms and held a silver bracelet, only to find that the bracelet was actually pinched a little flat by him.

The woman looked at the bracelet and seemed to understand something immediately, she shook her head and said, "Brother Yang, it has only been long since my late husband died, and it is not good now." ”

"When's the time?" Yang Sheng finally said a word.

The woman said, "Wait a little longer, and I'll go back and talk to the little girl." ”

Yang Sheng nodded hurriedly and said, "I have to say something." ”

The woman said softly, "Is the Mu family short of slaves and maids?" If you can ask the little girl to find something to do in the Mu family, there will be a way out in the future. ”

Yang Sheng stuffed his head and stuffed the silver bracelet into the woman's hand, "Take it first, I'll buy it later." ”

The woman received it and asked again, "Brother Yang, can you say hello to the housekeeper?" ”

"It's good to get married, I saved some money and gave her a dowry." Yang Sheng glanced at the woman, "I'll ask the steward." ”

The woman suddenly showed a smile and said kindly: "If the little girl can settle down in Mu Mansion, I will often live here with Brother Yang in the future, and I can take care of the little girl." ”

Yang Sheng thought for a while, and then said, "The steward has to ask the details." ”

The woman finally spoke: "We are all from Dali, and so are our mothers. Brother Yang said, a friend of the Shang Gang will help your matchmaker. ”

Yang Sheng said again: "I'll ask." ”

The woman tidied up the house and began to cook lunch again. Yang Sheng finished lunch and was about to go to the stable, he didn't forget to leave a bowl of food, asked the woman to bring it back to Wang Xiaoniang, and asked the woman to close the courtyard door before leaving.

In the bedroom where she had lived, she stood by the back window for a long time before she put the cold meal in the box and carried it away.

Walking out of the small courtyard of the Yang family, there is a street with many banyan trees planted on both sides. The woman walked briskly along the side of the street with a food box, and when she reached the foot of the largest banyan tree, she saw a woman burning incense and candles under the tree.

There was always incense ash under the big banyan tree, and she had noticed it a long time ago, but she didn't know what kind of fairy the tree was regarded by the people nearby.

(End of chapter)