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The hot summer gradually passes, and as the night becomes cooler, the breath of autumn begins to become stronger day by day. With August, the August Festival gradually approaches ordinary families. August Festival is a traditional festival of sacrifices, which is about one day after Bailu, and worships the gods.

On this day, every household must hang yarrow, requiring that they cannot go to families with funerals or childbirth within seven days before the festival. On this day of the festival, the whole family needs to reunite and go out to the city to worship the mountain gods and river gods. In fact, it is an autumn outing. Since the white dew season is mostly around August 15, the August festival became the predecessor of the Mid-Autumn Festival later.

However, compared with the New Year, the August Festival can only be considered an ordinary small festival. Except for some families with time or conditions, most ordinary families have to work hard for life and it is difficult to reunite the whole family. At most, a string of yarrow is hung on the door of the house to indicate that the festival is coming.

There are two days left for the August Festival. Many families in Chang'an are preparing yarrow and preparing their families to go out of the city to enjoy the autumn, but the autumn rain is lingering, which makes the trip plan a little more annoying.

At this time, there was a hint of coolness in Chang'an sooner or later. This year's summer is particularly long, and it is almost time for the White Dew season. The rampant tiger of autumn came to an end with the arrival of the continuous autumn rain.

However, people are used to this year's hot summer. It is said that the hot summer is a sign of military disaster. Many people in Chang'an believe that there will definitely be a war in today's autumn.

The war that Chang'an people mentioned was the Northern Expedition of the Han army in Tianshui County, the area of ​​the Western Front. The second Northern Expedition of the Han army, which was supposed to have broken out this spring, was stranded because of the Battle of Jingzhou on the Eastern Front. As the situation on the Eastern Front gradually subsided, the atmosphere of war on the Western Front quietly appeared again.

The Han army's northern expedition lasted for more than two years and never succeeded. The people of Guanzhong gradually adapted to this atmosphere of war and no longer made a fuss about it. The normal day of life for everyone, the so-called war is just a drink chat by the guests in the tavern.

At noon that day, the west gate of Chang'an City was as crowded as usual, with guests coming and going from south to north and bustling. Under the management of the Sili School Commander Zhong Yao for more than ten years, Chang'an gradually recovered its prosperity before the Yellow Turban chaos.

Chang'an has a population of nearly 100,000, and there are more than 100,000 migrant workers, vendors, soldiers and other migrant populations, which have made this ancient capital rejuvenate on the land of Guanzhong, which has been ravaged by war.

Perhaps because the war took place in Tianshui County, it was far away from Guanzhong. Therefore, Guanzhong was not strictly guarded, and even loose. There were no soldiers guarding the city in front of the city gate. Only a few old officials squatted on both sides of the city gate and napped, allowing the caravans of wealthy families who went out of the city to enjoy the autumn to drive out of the city.

At this time, a large camel caravan full of goods slowly entered Chang'an City. These Sogdian merchants from the far Western Regions brought spices, gems, hubus and silverware from the Western Regions. They wanted to transport the silk from the Central Plains to the West. In the Roman Empire in the West, a piece of silk could be exchanged for the same weight of gold. The huge commercial interests made Sogdian merchants travel thousands of miles to the Central Plains to buy silk from the Eastern Han Dynasty.

This Sogdian caravan consists of five or six camels, with more than a merchant, most of whom have deep eyes and high noses, and are covered with the wind and frost of the Western Regions. These Sogdian merchants have their own place to stay. They came to a large warehouse about half a mile away from the city gate to unload the goods. Then the camels were to take them out of the city for foster care, while the people lived in the city.

The businessman is an old man about 60 years old. His face is covered with deep wrinkles, but his smile is extremely sincere. His name is Abad. He has been on silk for forty years and has experienced the vicissitudes of life. He can speak fluent Chinese and is well versed in the human world in the Central Plains.

He walked up to a young businessman and bowed respectfully, "Dignity Ma Gong, as agreed, it's time for us to break up."

The horse man was tall, wearing a wide-brimmed hat of a Sogdian, with short beards, clear appearance and extremely bright eyes. He also brought several followers of the same burly figure. It can be seen that they were not Sogdians, but Han people mingled in this large caravan.

This Ma Gongzheng was Ma Dai, the Han army captain. He was ordered by Liu Jing to contact the Qiang King Nangong, hoping that Nangong could launch a war against the Di people, so that the Di cavalry could leave the Cao army. However, after Cao Cao pacified Ma Chao, his troops were aimed directly at Hehuang and Liangzhou. The Di king Yang Qianwan and the Qiang King Nangong were afraid of the power of Cao Cao, and they all took Chang'an.

Although Nangong was willing to help Liu Jing, attack the Di people and weaken the support of the Di cavalry for Cao's army, because he was alone in Chang'an, he was worried about his son's safety, so he was always ambiguous and willing to sell his horse to Liu Jing, but he was reluctant to agree to attack the Di people, for fear of angering Cao's army.

Therefore, if the Qiang people want to attack the Di people, they must solve their worries for Nangong. Rescuing his son who was hostage in Chang'an will become the key to the Qiang people's troops.

Ma Dai came from Zhangye, disguised himself as a merchant and advanced eastward. He took advantage of the relaxed atmosphere formed by the armistice in the past few months to successfully pass Tianshui County controlled by Cao's army, and followed the Sogdian caravan into Chang'an City.

Ma Dai bowed and smiled, "Thank you, Abad, I hope we will have a date in the future."

"There will be a period later"

Everyone said goodbye to Ma Dai, and Ma Dai left the caravan with a few followers. They walked east and soon came to Nan'an Street in central Chang'an and found a small hostel at the end of the street. The hostel had no signs, and it looked ordinary from the outside, without any attractive place, and the business was very light.

But before Ma Dai went to Chang'an, he learned that this light-business hostel was actually an intelligence point located in Chang'an by the Han army. This time, Nangong Boyu, who was to rescue Nangong's elder, this hostel will play a great role.

Walking into the hotel, a lazy guy came out, "The shop has been cleaned these days, and I won't be there for the time being, so I'll go somewhere else."

Ma Dai took out a token and shook it in front of the guy. The guy's face suddenly changed, and his lazy state was wiped out. He quickly walked to the gate, looked outside, then closed the gate, and said to Ma Dai: "Please follow me."

He asked his entourage to take a rest outside, and he took Ma Dai into the inner courtyard, came to a room, knocked on the door, "Shopkeeper, they are here."

"Please come in" a gentle voice came from the room, and I heard that I was not very old.

Ma Dai pushed the door and entered the house. The house was clean and tidy. A taxi in his teens was sitting. He was tall and thin, and looked quite smart between his eyebrows and eyes. He stepped forward and smiled and bowed, saying, "Welcome General Ma"

"You know me," Ma Dai asked in surprise.

The soldier nodded, "I have received a quick message from the French military advisor in advance and knows that General Ma is coming."

He smiled and introduced himself, "I'm the next person named Zhou Zhi, a native of Chang'an. He was originally a general's servant. He was ordered to come to Chang'an to establish this intelligence point two years ago."

"It turned out to be Mr. Zhou, he was rude."

Ma Dai bowed and the two sat down. At this time, Ma Dai had a clear understanding in his heart. Since Zhou Zhi already knew that he was coming and must have known his mission, he asked tentatively: "Mr. Zhou knows my mission."

Zhou Zhi nodded, "The French military advisor has explained in the letter. I have already asked in advance, but there will be news tonight. Please rest first and we will talk tonight."

Ma Dai came from Zhangye County, and was exhausted and exhausted. He nodded and smiled, "Then I'll trouble you."

At night, the guy took a lantern and led Ma Dai to the daytime room. In addition to Zhou Zhi, there was another person in the room. He was a middle-aged man in his forties and was quite fat. He nodded respectfully to Ma Dai and smiled all over his face.

After Ma Dai sat down, Zhou Zhi then smiled and introduced to him: "This Manager Qiu is the shopkeeper of Wangyue Tower, the largest tavern in Chang'an. Wangyue Tower is the industry of the Tao family in Jingzhou. General Ma knows it."

Ma Dai then suddenly realized that Zhou Zhi opened a small and light-hearted hotel, but his subordinates were all alone. Ma Dai was still wondering how they collected information and found out that they were using the Tao family's business in Chang'an.

Zhou Zhi understood his thoughts and added with a smile: "Not only the Tao family, but also several major trading companies in Hanzhong County, all cooperate with us. We must act in a low-key manner, so that we can be more hidden."

Ma Dai nodded, "I understand."

At this time, Manager Qiu smiled and said, "I have found out about the son of Qiang King Nangong. He lives in the county yamen and has a dedicated person to take care of him. In fact, he just monitors and rarely goes out."

"How old is this hostage?" asked Ma Dai.

"He is about nine years old, named Bo Yu. Zhong Yao treated him well and specially hired a Confucian scholar to teach him how to read and read. In addition, he also had a follower, surnamed Jiang, and his son accompanied Bo Yu to study. The two were almost the same age."

Manager Qiu’s introduction is similar to Ma Dai’s understanding, so there should be nothing wrong with that, this person.

Ma Dai pondered for a moment and said, "How can I get in touch with this child?"

Zhou Zhixiao asked, "Can you start with the Confucian scholar who taught them to read?"

"no"

Manager Qiu immediately shook his head and denied, "That Confucian scholar is a doctor of Chang'an. He and Zhong Yao are close friends and will not help us, but we can start with the follower named Jiang. I have a way to let him come to our tavern."

Ma Dai thought about it and asked, "What is the name of this entourage? What kind of person is this?"

Manager Qiu smiled and said, "He is a member of the Jiang clan of Tianshui's most prominent clan. The Jiang clan of Tianshui is actually a Qiang man. This person's name is Jiang Jiong."

"It turned out to be him," Ma Dai said in surprise.

Manager Qiu and Zhou Zhi looked at each other, and they asked together: "General Ma knew this person."

Ma Dai nodded, "This person turned out to be aide to the guard Wei Kang. My brother killed Wei Kang while fighting for Ji County. Jiang Jiong ran away. Unexpectedly, he became Nangong Boyu's entourage. I'm afraid this matter will be difficult to deal with."

Ma Dai was very worried. Jiang Jiong was Wei Kang's confidant aide. His brother Ma Chao killed Wei Kang. Is this Jiang Jiong still willing to help him?
Chapter completed!