This is the first year that Nurhachi has established himself on the mountain. It will be several years before Mao Wenlong leads the Dongjiang Army to manage Pi Island and contain the military power of Houjin. He is indeed just a small officer near Liaoyang.
But at this moment, Zheng Haizhu had no time to be surprised that the Zheng family had a relationship with Mao Wenlong.
She was even more worried about whether she could use the information accumulated in the past two years to deal with it if Mao Wenlong mentioned the past events of her brother Zheng Hailin's life.
Han Ximeng had already made up his mind, and bowed to Mao Wenlong and said: "Since the general is an old friend of the Zheng family, and he said that he was going to Nanhui Guards Station in Songjiang Prefecture on errands, then we and Mr. Huang will follow the general back to Songjiang. Mr. Huang ,what do you think?"
Her last sentence was to ask Huang Zunsu.
Huang Zunsu also understood that although the two women were smart and brave, it was taboo to walk alone with a rough warrior like this. It was more comfortable to have his half of Songjiang's parents and officials around.
By this time in the Ming Dynasty, the military system was already controlled by civilians. Civilians could point their noses at military commanders. Huang Zunsu was a Jinshi in Xinke and had been awarded an official. His status was far above that of Mao Wenlong, a small garrison in the border town.
However, after Huang Zunsu learned Mao Wenlong's identity, he was not arrogant. He was still humble at this moment: "We can go with General Mao, so we can feel more at ease when we go to Songjiang. Thank you, General."
Mao Wenlong returned the gift lightly, his heart fluctuating slightly.
He was arrogant and experienced in martial arts. He had already noticed that the inspection department and the gangsters' den were wearing the same pants. He was quite confident in fishing out the woman named Zheng from the gangster's den. When he got to the gate of the village, he let the inspection department lead the way. The boy went in to get around. Anyway, he didn't want the bandit leader to hand over the young lady, so he just wanted the maid back.
But now the situation has changed drastically.
The bandit leader was executed, but there were actually other civil servants and military generals in the court.
That pretty boy named Ma is from the Sichuan Army.
Well, the pretty boy is actually not fair.
There was a dark murderous look on his face, but he said to the little girl named Zheng that he was grateful for saving his life and that he would be repaid in the future.
What, is this mixed with friendship?
Forget it, what the hell, what I am going to do to the Zheng woman later is for the sake of the soldiers and people of the border town, so that they have a clear conscience.
When Mao Wenlong thought of this, his calculations were settled, and the flesh under his cheekbones relaxed.
He turned around and saw the stables on the side, and Da Lala said to Ma Xianglin: "Brother, is there a carriage in the village? Let Huang Daguan and the others sit in it, and I will drive and escort them myself."
…
After Mao Wenlong and his entourage drove away, Ma Xianglin suddenly felt exhausted after the excitement was exhausted.
"Cut off Qiu Wanliang's head, pickle it with lime, and bring it back to the stone to pay tribute to dad." He ordered his subordinates.
Then he said to his servant who had been following him to lurk in the bandit's den for more than half a year: "Go and ask the third lady to prepare things. Mr. Cui's people will be here in just a stick of incense upon seeing our signal."
"yes."
Not long after, the servant led a young woman in her early twenties to Ma Xianglin.
"Has the third lady cleaned up the backyard?" Ma Xianglin sat on the stone pier, squinting at the busy scene of the Sichuan soldiers counting surrendered prisoners and gathering the family members of the bandits, and asked the woman in an indifferent tone.
The woman has curved eyebrows and apricot eyes. She is charming and beautiful, with a soft and romantic look.
The white cheeks and hands were stained with blood, which was shocking.
The woman glanced at Ma Xianglin, who was as arrogant as usual, and curled her lips disdainfully: "General Ma no longer needs to address me as Third Madam. I am just a slave whom the imperial concubine respects. The general can just call me Amber. As for Qiu Wanliang's backyard , the first two ladies, and Lao Qiu’s flesh and blood, I didn’t keep any of them, including the one born between me and Lao Qiu.”
Ma Xianglin heard the last half of the sentence and then cast his eyes on her face.
In the eyes of others, General Ma, who had seen many scenes of flesh and blood, could not help but express surprise to the woman: When you talked about killing your own baby who was less than one year old, your tone was completely the same?
Amber turned around and watched Qiu Wanliang's head being cut off by the soldiers, and said with a smile: "Congratulations to General Ma for getting his revenge."
Ma Xianglin didn't pay attention to her anymore. He stood up suddenly and walked toward the village gate.
Two knights in brocade clothes protected one man and one horse in the middle as they entered the bandits' stronghold.
The man was only in his twenties. He wore a black hat, a white face and no beard. He was dressed in a crimson suit, with unicorn patterns embroidered on both sides of his snow-white collar.
Ma Xianglin went up to meet the man, stood in front of the man's horse, cupped his hands and said, "Eunuch Hu."
When eunuch Hu Fang saw that Ma Xianglin had no intention of helping him, he snorted quietly in his throat and turned over to dismount.
Seeing that Ma Xianglin did not kneel down and worship, a stern look flashed in his eyes, and he teased in an unfair voice: "Hey, General Xiao Ma doesn't like the blood flowing everywhere in the ground, and is afraid of soiling his shirt?"
Ma Xianglin's knees were still straight, and he said neither humble nor arrogant: "There was indeed a fierce battle last night. The brothers have not yet cleaned up, and it stained my father-in-law's eyes."
Hu Fang glanced at him sideways: "General Xiao Ma thinks too highly of our family. Our family is just running errands for the noble concubine and husband Cui, how can we be so particular."
After saying that, he walked straight to Amber, his expression suddenly changed from sinister to pity.
"Amber, you have made great achievements this time and suffered great grievances. Both the imperial concubine and godfather are thinking about you."
Amber curtsied in return, expressionlessly took a small bundle from her shoulder, held it in both hands and handed it to Hu Fang, saying, "Thank you, Concubine, and Mr. Cui for your concern. This is Qiu Wanliang's secret account. I have checked it. Jin Fifty pieces, more than 300 pieces of ramie and gauze each, and more than 800 pieces of silk. After the stolen goods were sold, part of the money exchanged for them was stored in several banks in the six prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River, and part of it was shipped to Guangfu. The money deeds in the south of the Yangtze River are all I haven’t found the ones here in Guangfu yet, I only heard that they are close to the place occupied by the Francois (referring to the Portuguese).”
Amber was originally kept outside the palace by Concubine Zheng, and was directly assigned by the eunuch Cui husband. Therefore, when repaying the accounts, she did not show any condescension to Hu Fang, Cui husband's adopted son, and always called herself "I".
Hu Fang stared at her.
Even though her temples were messy and her face was stained with blood, her embarrassment could not hide her peony-like appearance.
The young eunuch felt agitated for a moment, and when he went to take the bundle in her hand, he held her hand pretending to be unintentional.
As if being pricked by a needle, Amber quickly retracted her palms and dropped the bundle to the ground.
Ma Xianglin on the side stepped forward, picked up the baggage, patted it, handed it to Hu Fang and said: "Eunuch Hu, put it away. Nothing else is as important as this baggage."
Hu Fang smiled calmly, touched his beardless chin, and asked again: "By the way, the Jinyiwei brothers who were ambushing nearby told our family that a small group of soldiers came to the stockade at dawn, but when they left, there was an extra carriage. Who is it?"
"It was a border general from Liaodong, named Mao Wenlong. The Ministry of War sent him to South Zhili and Zhejiang to contact some firearms matters. Not wanting to meet the son of an old friend who reported to the officials for help, he came over and took away the old friend's sister who was kidnapped by Qiu Wanliang. , and a Songjiang Mansion official who was kidnapped by Qiu Wanliang."
"Mao Wenlong? Never heard of it. What was the official's name? Why was he robbed?"
Ma Xianglin said: "My name is Huang Zunsu. He is a new scholar this year. Because he accused Shen Tonghe from Wujiang of cheating, Shen's father asked Qiu Wanliang to kidnap him."
"Huang Zunsu..." Hu Fang's expression changed, "This is this person. Although he is in the top three, the Holy Emperor has paid attention to him because of the report. The Holy Emperor has read this person's article and originally wanted to keep him in the capital. I heard that he was from the Donglin School, so I came to Nanzhili. General Xiaoma, it's a pity that our family came a little late, otherwise, the Sa family will order someone to send a message to you and kill this Huang Zunsu in the chaos!"
