Chapter Eleven Two Secret Letters

  Ma Teng, Pang Tong and Li Su sat in their respective seats, leisurely drinking tea.

  As I stepped in, Pang Rou picked up one of the letters on the table and handed it over to me, indicating that I should read this one first.

  I gave him a slightly strange look, pulled over a chair and sat down, unfolding the letter. The handwriting on it was very beautiful, with some familiar strokes, seemingly from just last month. It roughly said:

  "Three Generals as Mirrors:"

  The allied forces of the various lords of Kanto have attacked Lu, with tens of thousands of infantry and cavalry arrayed in the east. Although they are numerous for the time being, they will certainly not be able to last long. The Prime Minister has already dispatched Generals Xiong, Fu, and Tun, each leading elite soldiers to welcome the lords. The western army is fierce and brave, while the Kanto forces are like domestic chickens and dogs, and are not worth worrying about too much. I respectfully report this to the General.

  Moreover, Xiang Guo had ordered Ma Teng to lead his troops to provide reinforcements. Rou secretly informed the general that if he did not come, there would be no further discussion; if he came from the east, they should treat him as usual, but slightly restrict his power to prevent chaos and disorder.

  Wishing you good health and longevity, venerable elder.

  Confucius died on the eighteenth day of the second month in Luoyang.

  I breathed a sigh of relief, fortunately this letter arrived late, if it had been half a day earlier, one of the three Dongjins would have seen it, and when receiving us, they would have been slightly guarded, no need to prepare more, even if we were in the tent of the gathering, inside and outside, dozens of guards were inserted, we might have spent several times more energy.

  But now it's too late, the trend has already been established!

  "Li Ruo can indeed predict things thousands of miles away, but he underestimated it a bit." I smiled and handed the letter to Pang De.

  "Take a look at this." Old Dad's index and middle fingers overlapped, picking up another letter and tossing it to me.

  It's not easy to throw a postcard one zhang away casually, but Dad was in good luck today and didn't throw it crookedly.

  I reached out to take it, and opened it directly. This letter was even shorter, the font far less comfortable to read than Li Ru's, looking like every word was old and lean, subtly revealing a sense of loneliness - not that I understand calligraphy, but this font really made me feel uncomfortable all over, its owner must be relatively introverted and low-key.

  This letter has no heading and no signature, it simply says:

  "Ma Teng may have ulterior motives, and we must not allow his troops to enter Chang'an. If he comes, urge him to leave immediately, day and night, and station many soldiers to guard against him. Remember this well, or else the land within the passes will no longer be mine!"

  I was truly shocked: the letter from Li Ru just now could still be considered a reasonable and normal guess, but this letter has almost confirmed our purpose for coming east, it's as if we ourselves had written it.

  "If we let the letter writer guard Chang'an, we will come and go with our lives!" I applauded and handed it to Pang De and Ma Dai, both of whom changed color.

  "What's going on?" The older sister rushed in hastily, I don't know where she went, but surprisingly she was slower than me.

  "A death warrant." Pang De replied coldly, handing her both letters.

  The elder sister's face turned slightly pale and she exclaimed in a low voice: "There really is such a person who can predict things like a god!"

  "Who wrote the second letter?" I asked Li Su.

  "The little schoolboy came from under the ox's belly."

  "Niu Fu?" Ma Dai wondered, "He's just Dong Zhuo's son-in-law, what's so special about him?"

  Li Su took a sip of tea and said nothing.

  I'd rather die than believe that Niu Fu could have written something so brilliant from a thousand miles away. It must have been written by some other powerful figure. Are there any high-ranking officials in Dong Zhuo's camp?

  The answer seems to have only one possibility now.

  "Is it Jia Yu and Jia Wen?" I deduced the answer using the simplest elimination method.

  Li Su had not yet swallowed a mouthful of tea when it seemed to get stuck in his throat, and he began coughing violently.

  "What's Jia Xian?" Everyone was puzzled, this name wasn't a famous figure - there were probably two reasons: one, Jia Xian hadn't yet made a name for himself; two, it wasn't easy for people from the Western Liang to become well-known.

  Li Su punched himself in the chest and suppressed his cough: "How did General Shao find out?"

  "I'm just guessing." I really was just guessing.

  "Did General Shao know Jia Yu before?" Li Su asked disbelievingly again.

  "It's impossible, I've been in Rong City since I was a child, and I've never seen what Jia Yu looks like." This is indeed the truth.

  Li Su's eyes widened: "Jia Yu is indeed a gentleman of Guazang!"

  I shuddered violently: "Really?!"

  Li Su nodded: "Jia Xu's parents are said to still be living in Guzang City..."

  His parents? I had a sudden inspiration and jumped up from my seat without listening to his nonsense.

  "Zhao Cheng! Zhao Cheng!" Zhao Cheng was originally my personal attendant, but after finding Xiao Shuang and Er'er, he naturally retreated to the second line, serving as the head of the imperial guard. When going out on expeditions, it's not safe for him to bring them along, so Zhao Cheng is once again inseparable from me.

  Zhao Cheng poked his head out from outside the door: "Young master, what instructions do you have?"

  "You must immediately send someone back to Wuwei, no, I don't trust others, you personally hurry back and dispatch more people to search for Jia Yu's parents in Guzang. Once found, quickly invite her to come to Chang'an City! Hurry!" I urged impatiently, wishing to use Lady Jia's influence to coerce Jia Yu into serving our army: a first-rate strategist, just thinking about it makes me salivate!

  Zhao Cheng stood outside the door, showing no intention of leaving.

  "Hurry up and get ready, don't just stand there like a fool!" I was getting angry: this old Zhao had only been slightly neglected by me for the past two months - actually, it wasn't even neglect, we were together every day, but I had handed over all the trivial matters to the two little maids to take care of, and his workload was much lighter than before - now he couldn't even be ordered around?

  "Cough," someone suddenly groaned behind him, so gloomy that Ma Teng could only say, "Chao Er, you're too impatient."

  "Hurry?" I disagreed. "Jia Yu has great talent, we must find his parents as soon as possible and get him to join our army!"

  "What's the point of looking? Is it worth the trouble?" Xiaodai also hummed in response.

  "You think you're the only one who matters, don't you? One Jia Yu's head is worth a thousand of you!" I mercilessly criticized the ignorant and fearless young man.

  Xiao Dai retorted in a huff: "I didn't say I looked down on him, I just said there's no need to go to great lengths to find him."

  "Do you know Jia Yu's parents?"

  "Super child, you forget so quickly! The tutor who taught you to read and write when you were young, wasn't he Jia Yu's father?!" My elder sister Ma Wen couldn't bear my forgetfulness either, and chimed in.

  "Jia, Master Jia?!" I was stunned, unable to utter a word for a moment.

  That old man who is so stubborn that he's a bit intimidating, is actually Jia Yuanchun's father?!

  "I've never heard anything about his children before..." I muttered.

  "It's probably because you fell asleep while listening to the lecture." The elder sister curled her lips in disdain at this brother who didn't pay attention in class, "Master often praises his son Jia Yu for being talented and having a good memory, he was familiar with the classics from a young age and could recite them from memory, often using him as an example for us to follow."

  "Ah, ah..." I dryly laughed twice, my heart filled with endless regret: If only I had known that Jia Yu's uncle was actually my mentor, I would have definitely coerced him into being mine when I was 7 or 8 years old. Maybe then...my mother could have been spared?

  As I thought of this, I suddenly felt a pang of heartache, a feeling that had been absent for so long.

  It has been four years since Jiuquan was destroyed and my mother died a terrible death. Every time I think about it, I feel only anger and sadness. But now, I also feel regret: I regret that in my youth, I did not pay attention to gathering intelligence, and let Jia Yu, this powerful man, slip away from me without even noticing him.

  I unconditionally blamed myself without distinguishing between right and wrong.

  A deep and profound sense of powerlessness suddenly surged up throughout his entire body.

  It was as if last year in Jincheng, when I pierced Han Zhuo under the city wall of Yunwu, that kind of exhaustion after a fierce strike, with all four limbs shattered.

  "Then you lead a few people to invite Master Jia and his wife, and be harmonious." I sighed and instructed Zhao Cheng.

  Zhao Cheng clutched his fists tightly and walked away quickly.

  The sound of horseshoes echoed outside the camp and gradually faded away.

  ——

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