Ma Mao was not unwavering. In order to dispel the suspicion of King Wu, he even married a woman from Wu. But he will never forget the year when plague and famine broke out in his hometown at the same time. That year was the first year after his wife got married, and she and she had not yet had a child. She could have left her and her parents-in-law, who were already sick, and left this barren place, but her wife was determined and never left her. Fortunately, the plague was not terrible, and the court distributed relief food in time. The family finally survived the nightmare-like days.
And it was from that year that Ma Mao made up his mind that even if he risked his life, he would let his wife live a life of a master. Later, he joined the army and fought several tough battles on the border. , and was finally promoted to a village chief.
Later, he even passed the selection process and came to Luoyang, the imperial capital, and became a lieutenant guarding the capital.
Ma Mao, who had already lived a peaceful life, was accidentally noticed by General Wuwei, the current general Cao Shuang, during the reign of the late Emperor Qinglong. It was this encounter that changed Ma Mao's fate. At that time, Emperor Ming deliberately arranged for a group of talented people with high martial arts skills to go undercover in Sichuan and Soochow, waiting for opportunities to serve the country. Ma Mao, who had martial arts skills, stood out.
Ma Mao still remembered that a lieutenant named Guo Xiu was selected together with him. However, Ma Mao had not seen Guo Xiu in Wudi in recent years, so he guessed that Guo Xiu probably went to Sichuan. .
Originally, the reluctant eyes of his wife and children made him want to give up this dangerous mission, but Ma Mao, who had vowed to repay his wife, could not refuse General Wuwei's order, and he did not want to give up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. After all, I embarked on this road with an uncertain future.
In this way, ten years have passed. Ma Mao has regretted, wavered, and been confused, but the only thing that remains unchanged is his attachment to his family.
"Your Majesty, your Majesty? If you don't eat it while it's hot, the soup will not taste good when it gets cold!"
Ma Mao, who was lost in thought, was called back to his senses by the vendor, and then he finished the bowl of mutton soup, which is rare in Wudi.
At this moment, he suddenly noticed the secret mark on the wooden pillar on the corner of the street not far away that had not appeared for a long time.
He followed the inconspicuous but simple sign that he could recognize clearly, and arrived at a busy city in the west of the city, where he obtained this latest mission in a corner that was invisible to others.
This is of course the extremely arduous task assigned by General Cao Shuang.
After reading the news, Ma Mao took a breath. It was obvious that he was frightened by this mission. It took him a long time to come back to his senses. He knew in his heart that this was a narrow escape. He thought of Luoyang far away. After leaving his wife and children, his eyes were already filled with tears.
It seems that this day will come sooner or later, but it has finally come!
Soon after, Zhu Zhen, the commander of Fujie, Yu Qin, governor of Wunan, Zhu Zhi, general of Yamen, who was also a Wei spy like Ma Mao, all learned about this terrible mission from Luoyang through their own different methods.
Several people have their own hidden secrets. They have not been very familiar with each other until they saw this mission. Only then did Ma Mao, Zhu Zhen, Yu Qin, and Zhu Zhi understand each other's undercover identities.
In the most unobtrusive way, a few people found a secluded place to sit down in a very ordinary but very safe restaurant in the city.
The business of this wine shop is not good, and since it is not a meal time, there are not many drinkers, so the few people are not worried about the conversation being leaked.
Ma Mao had the best idea, so he quickly formulated a plan:
"Although we each have troops and horses in our hands, it is difficult to get close to the leader of the thief on weekdays. If we want to take action, there is no hope unless the leader of the thief leaves the palace. I have made inquiries clearly. In three days, the leader of the thief will leave Thailand. In the first palace, go to the imperial garden for hunting and visit Yuanhua Temple and Tiger Circle Temple. When the emperor enters the temple, the ministers, generals and accompanying ministers will be waiting outside the gate, and this moment is the opportunity we have been waiting for!"
As the commander of the Talisman Festival and in charge of the emperor's seal and the Talisman Festival, Zhu Zhen had a rough understanding of Ma Mao's plan after listening to Ma Mao's words:
"Brother Ma's clever plan, I will prepare an 'imperial edict' in advance. After the thief's leader enters the temple, I will control all the officials outside the temple in the name of capturing the thief. Brother Yu Qin and Brother Zhu Zhi can then lead the 'no one' It's difficult to camp', immediately enter the garden and watch to capture and kill the leader of the thief. After we succeed, we will set fire to the garden, and Brother Ma will lead more than a thousand troops under his command to quickly blockade the Imperial Garden and Canglong Gate. Then a big thing will be accomplished!"
Ma Mao clapped his hands, nodded and whispered:
"What Brother Zhu said is in line with my plan. After we succeeded, we first lied that His Majesty was stabbed by a thief and urgently needed to return to the palace to rest. Then we sealed the palace in the name of Emperor Suwei, blocked the news, and secretly sent envoys immediately. We only have to wait ten and a half days to enter the Central Plains, and then we will have the opportunity to return to the Central Plains and resume our lives!"
Yu Qin, who has always been brave, has determination in his eyes:
"Yes, even if we die for the country this time and cannot survive, our wife, children and mother in Luoyang can be supported by the court for life, so there is no need to fear death!"
After the four people clarified their plan, they immediately started to make preparations separately.
There is an abyss in front of them, and behind them are their wives, children, and mothers. Life or death is a matter of success or failure. In this one move, a few people who have been lurking for more than ten years and have regarded death as home have just stepped into the gate of hell.
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A month later, Cao Shuang estimated that the news about Ma Mao and others would soon reach Luoyang, so he would go to the official office of Xun Xu and Xun Gong Zeng almost every day to inquire.
But Cao Shuang didn't get the answer he wanted.
A few days later, there was still no news. Cao Shuang understood that once Ma Mao and others succeeded, they would definitely report to Luoyang as soon as possible, so at this moment, no news is the biggest bad news.
Cao Shuang has basically guessed the outcome of Ma Mao and others.
Two months later, the school official who was hiding in Soochow came to the news that Soochow officials had been strictly guarded against but could not contain it:
General Ma Mao, Zhu Zhen, the commander of the festival, Yu Qin, the governor of Wunan, and Zhu Zhi, the tooth general, suddenly attacked when the Lord of Wu and his ministers entered the garden to hunt. The Lord of Wu was in the garden, but the ministers were waiting outside the door. Upon entering, Zhu Zhenzhi proclaimed an edict and detained all ministers. Yu Qin, Zhu Zhi and others entered the garden to attack power. Ma Mao, the external governor in charge of the imperial army in the outer city, divided his troops to prepare to occupy the palace and Shitouwu. At the critical moment, General Zhuge Ke led the elites of the Forbidden Army battalions such as the "Jiefan Camp", "Hu Shi under the Car", and "Suwei Tiger Cavalry", and restrained Ma Mao and others with lightning speed. . Ma Mao, Zhu Zhen, Yu Qin, Zhu Zhi and others were all killed on the spot.
Cao Shuang read the information sent by the school affairs office and sighed, feeling quite unhappy.
Sun Quan is still alive. It seems that his goal of making achievements on the battlefield will not be achieved in the short term.
After another long while, Cao Shuang, who did not say a word, ordered Yan Shi and Sun Qian, the tent governors standing beside him:
"Go to the treasury to get forty pounds of silver and forty bolts of silk, and send them to the wives and children of Yu Qin, Zhu Zhen, and Zhu Zhi of Changpingfang, Ma Mao, Shizifang, in the western suburbs. In addition, they will be paid monthly. They distribute rice, firewood, meat and vegetables on time, you two should handle this matter yourself!"
Yan Shi and Sun Qian received the order and turned around to make arrangements, but Cao Shuang stopped them again:
"I will check in the future. If the money of these four families is even a little less, please think carefully and go and do it!"
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Although Ma Mao and others' plan failed completely, it was not without effect.
Sun Quan's health had improved slightly, but after experiencing this incident, he became frightened, angry, worried and became ill, and his oil gradually ran out. This time, several senior officials of the Wu Kingdom and nearly half of the elite imperial army participated in the rebellion, which also had an immeasurable negative impact on the already precarious Soochow Empire.
Prince Sun He and Lu Wang Sun Ba both fell out of favor, Sun Quan ran out of oil, Lu Yi died suddenly, and people in the government and the public were panicked. Today, Soochow seems to be on the verge of collapse.
On this day, the school affairs secret agent lurking in Wu State was drinking and listening to the news at Wangjiang Tower, the largest restaurant in Jianye City. When he was drinking slightly, he suddenly noticed a table of diners with strange accents under the attic. These diners ordered a tableful of mutton and soup cakes, and the drinks they ordered were all the strongest wines in the area. Judging from their accents, it was neither Jiangnan Wu dialect nor Luoyang Yayan.
The school official was well-informed, and after just a few glances, he guessed that the diners at the table were aliens from Liaodong!
The school official's guess was not wrong. The group of diners feasting and drinking downstairs were the Gaoguli envoys from Liaodong. They came to Wu this time to carry out a secret mission.
The group of people were talking and talking, as if they were talking about some secret. After looking around, they began to chatter in Gaoguli language. Although the school official couldn't understand what those people said, he was gifted with a good knowledge and a strong memory. He forced himself to remember every nonsense they said.
Not long after, the school official transliterated the language he had memorized by force into Chinese characters with similar pronunciations and sent it to Luoyang.
After Cao Shuang got the secret transliteration file of Gaogouli, he immediately launched an investigation. He sent Xun Xu, Bi Gui, Ding Mi and others to work separately and found many Gaogouli people scattered in Luoyang. The results of their investigation Although they were not exactly the same, they were all very similar. What they found was quite astonishing news.
The high position palace of Dongchuan King in Gaoguli had the intention to rebel against Wei and join forces with Wu, secretly attack You and merge, and go straight to the Central Plains!
Cao Shuang did not dare to delay, so he immediately sent a message to Guanqiu Jian, who was guarding the border of Youzhou in the northeast, and secretly ordered Guanqiu Jian to make plans, secretly deploy, and wait for an opportunity to wipe out Gaogouli's invading army, and wait for an opportunity to counterattack when the time was right. .
After Guanqiu Jian received the order from Luoyang Cao Shuang, he was really shocked. Fortunately, there was no obvious change in Gaoguli at this moment, and everything was still in time. He did not dare to delay and immediately began to deploy.
Guanqiu Jian, who had been deploying troops, arranging food and fodder, and working on maps until late at night, now looked at the flickering candlelight on his desk, and for no reason thought of the poems he wrote when he first went to Youzhou, and couldn't help but recite them casually. Recited:
"There are mountains of worries and burdens, who can bear them for me..."
