Daming Yinghua

Chapter 395 Taking the bait

As soon as Yue Tuo finished speaking, several Zhenglan Banner men behind Mu Zaohua who were both monitoring and protecting her rushed up.

But the two Korean vendors selling miso soup and rice reacted faster. They threw down their cooking utensils and stepped in front of the horses in three steps at a time.

The horse dealer who had been squatting on the ground to eat also jumped up. Almost at the same time as the North Korean hawker, he climbed on the horse's back, twitched the reins, yelled at his mouth, clamped down on the horse's belly, and ran wildly towards the mountain col in the southwest of the Yalu River.

It turned out that they were in a group, and even the number of horses was exactly one for each of them.

The guards of Zhenglan Banner saw that the enemy had run far away in an instant, so they had to give up the pursuit.

"They are not Koreans, they are Han people." Mu Zaohua walked to the food stall and looked through various small bowls and jars, and said to Yue Tuo, "The year before last, I escaped from the men named Zheng and sold them in Yiju. The stolen jewelry was exchanged for money and sent to Mongolia. That year, I knew that in Kuandian in the north, some Liao people who had enemies with your tribe gathered near Yizhou and became bandits. They gave it to women during the annual trade. The real person poisoned him and took away his property."

Yue Tuo stared at Mu Zaohua with a sullen face.

"Yes, this is it," Mu Zaohua handed over a small jar, "arsenic. I was at the Luoma Market yesterday, and I felt that something was wrong with this group of people. They didn't attract customers very much, and they didn't show off their horses. Jurchen merchants greet you."

"Master, look!" The servant next to him also shouted.

Yue Tuo looked for the sound and saw the crows flying over to peck at the rice on the ground. They raised their necks one after another, shook their heads in strange postures, and then fluttered their wings to fly, but they only reached a height of more than one foot and staggered. After flying for a short distance, they all fell down and twitched on the ground.

Mu Zaohua said: "The rice in soybean soup is boiling hot. When arsenic is heated, it will have a strong smell of garlic, so it cannot be put directly into the soup. But the kimchi made by Koreans already has a strong smell of garlic. When arsenic is mixed in, it will have a peculiar smell. It’s hard to smell it.”

Yue Tuo had no doubt that there was poison in the rice, so he just said coldly: "Are you good at poisoning?"

Mu Zaohua shook his head: "I'm not good at it. I stayed here that year and listened to the horse thieves bragging in the tavern. Yizhou is the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and the Han people don't have to hold their tail between their legs. Yue Beile, after you men succeed in killing people and stealing goods, if you do it again The drink is so high that it’s better than a hen laying eggs, and it cries louder and can be heard from a long distance.”

"You slave, why are you talking to your master?" Yue Tuo's personal followers yelled.

"Miss Mu is not a slave. She is a bannerman like the girl from the Tong family." Yue Tuo made a gesture to stop her from following him. The frost on his face gradually faded away and he said to Mu Zaohua, "You know I will come to Yizhou too." ?”

Mu Zaohua said calmly: "I originally thought it was Tong Xiyu and the others who came. After all, if the Tong family's dog came to my house to steal something, it couldn't be that he really wanted to elope with my female coat."

Yue Tuo's eyes moved slightly. In addition to being sharp and alert, this Chinese woman is also unabashedly upright, as if she is brave enough to block things with soldiers and cover them with water, so she doesn't need to hide her actions.

Yue Tuo smiled and said, "My slave stole from a man. It turns out that my master has seen it a long time ago."

There was sarcasm in young Belle's tone.

He actually doesn't like the Tong family as much as his uncle Huang Taiji. Although the Tong family went deep into the south of the Yangtze River in the Ming Dynasty with him to carry out espionage strategies, and this time they also used men to find out Mu Zaohua's itinerary. But in Yue Tuo's view, the Tong family is different from Mu Zaohua. Mu Zaohua is like a female leopard, able to charge into a tiger and wolf army like the Sichuan soldiers, kill her old master who failed her, and even save the Dege people. The Tong family are like dogs, wagging their tails at the feet of their Jurchen warriors, begging for merit and food.

Moreover, in the early summer of that year, Tong Fengnian failed to take Aya and her daughter on the boat leaving Chongming Island.

Several loud gongs sounded in the distance, indicating that the market was open today.

Mu Zaohua said cheerfully: "Since I am a bannerman, I have to abide by the rules set by the Great Khan. When Baylor arrives in Yizhou, there is only one master in Yizhou, and the other merchants are all slaves. If Baylor is the same as me, a slave , I came here to buy copper, and I will lead the way for Baylor."

Yue Tuo blurted out: "Aren't you afraid that Sanbeile will be angry?"

Mu Zaohua suddenly darkened her face: "Why are you angry? Sanbeile has an upright character. If we, Zhenglan Banner, want to build a good cannon, do we have to hope that the other flags will fail to fire?"

Yue Tuo's expression froze, but he quickly changed the meaning of approval and nodded. But then he changed the meaning of approval and nodded: "Okay, I'll be with you."

……

Mu Zaohua and Yue Tuan walked around various market entrances for a long time. They passed several large gatherings of North Korean traders, but Mu Zaohua did not go up to talk.

"Yue Beile, you can't deal with these Koreans."

"Huh? Why?" Yue Tuan was about to ask.

"You see, they only buy fur goods and mountain delicacies from northern Liaoning, but the cotton they sell seems to be from Lu. This shows that they travel between Yizhou and Pidao and must be very familiar with the people of the Ming Dynasty. The man named Zheng The evil woman gave Mao Wenlong an idea. Dongjiang Town should strictly prohibit the private delivery of copper and iron swords, and offer heavy rewards to inspect such transactions. When I came here two years ago, I saw Mao Wenlong's soldiers arresting the dealers selling Qi's swords. So, if. If we ask rashly, we may soon become prey in a trap.”

While answering her questions, Mu Zaohua looked at the new merchants with piercing eyes. Finally, she sighed helplessly: "Today, these Koreans seem to have been brought by the Iron Mountain of Propaganda. Let's wait a little longer."

This whetted Yue Tuo's appetite for two days.

On the third day, Mu Zaohua finally started acting with the intelligence agent sent by Xu San.

"Yue Beile, look at those two Koreans in blue robes. The straw bags in front of them contain dried seafood, which are called tauto. They should have come from the Japanese market in the south of North Korea. That is to say, , they often deal with Japanese traders, and they don’t go to Pi Island, otherwise why wouldn’t there be seafood from Pi Island.”

At this time, Yue Tuo felt that Mu Zaohua was indeed very experienced in running the docks. He had already regarded her as a guide to blaze a trail, and hurriedly signaled: "Okay, you go and ask."