The daily struggles of divorced women in ancient times

Xia Mianwan didn't have to wait too late, and Mrs. Yang's letter was delivered to Xia Mianwan.

Mrs. Yang was a meticulous person. Since Xia Mianwan had instructed to be more comprehensive, she also wrote down in the letter who were invited as mentioned in the post.

Xia Mianwan finished reading the letter and sneered.

Sima Zhao's heart.

This time, the invitations from the Zheng Mansion were sent to the wives of officials in the entire Yanzhou officialdom and the families of the four major businessmen, and no one else was invited.

Going to the Yang family and the Pei Mansion would cause too much noise. Xia Mianwan knew that her every move was now under close surveillance.

However, if he sent someone to deliver the letter, he was afraid that something might go wrong. Xia Mianwan was in a dilemma for a moment, but the message must be sent out immediately.

Xia Mianwan pondered for a long time, but couldn't think of any better way, so he had to go all out. At this time, Xia Mianwan had no background to rely on, and his shortcomings of having no one to rely on were exposed.

Xia Mianwan asked the Zhang family to prepare some food and put it in a lunch box. She dressed herself up and then let Ruzhu carry the lunch box and go out.

Ruzhu was stunned when she saw Xia Mianwan dressed up today. How was it different from being a different person?

"This is too romantic." Ruzhu muttered.

Xia Mianwan smiled and tapped Ruzhu's head, "Silly girl, this is exactly the effect I want."

Xia Mianwan went to Pei's house dressed like this and didn't attract the attention of those people.

Pei Yanxu was fine, but Mrs. Pei almost dropped her jaw when she saw Xia Mianwan dressed like this.

"Oh my God... Could it be that my Yan Xu asked you to dress like this? Don't listen to him, his taste is so unlucky!" Mrs. Pei couldn't help but complain.

Xia Mianwan couldn't suppress the smile on her face as she listened to Mrs. Pei's complaints. Pei Yanxu saw that she couldn't suppress her smile, so he kindly said, "If you really want to laugh, don't hold it back."

Xia Mianwan really laughed heartily with Mrs. Pei.

After laughing, even my depressed mood felt much better.

"Mother, Madam Xia and I have something to discuss. You should go back to your own courtyard and rest first." Pei Yanxu knew that there must be a deep meaning behind Xia Mianwan's dressing.

Madam Pei raised her eyebrows and asked, "Why are you still calling me Madam Xia? People have changed their minds for your unlucky tastes, and you're still calling me Madam Xia?"

Xia Mianwan couldn't help it. Pei Yanxu was speechless and had to say, "Mianwan, Mianwan, I call her Mianwan. Mother, please go back quickly!"

Mrs. Pei was satisfied. She grabbed Xia Mianwan's hand and smiled, "Mianwan, since my son calls me like that, I am being too confident. You should come over to see me more often."

After saying this, Mrs. Pei left.

"Didn't you tell Mrs. Pei?" Xia Mianwan asked.

Pei Yanxu shook his head. "No, I'm afraid if I do too much, my mother will be exposed. Besides, everything is speculation now. I don't want her to worry too much."

Xia Mianwan disagreed, "It's better to tell Madam Pei as soon as possible. After all, this is a fact that we have to face, and we have to guard against misunderstandings caused by asymmetric information."

"You have a point."

"Why are you rushing over here now? What happened?"

Xia Mianwan asked Pei Yanxu to close the door, and after making sure that no one was eavesdropping, she handed Mrs. Yang's letter to Pei Yanxu.

After reading the letter, Pei Yanxu frowned and his expression became more solemn. The situation seemed to be developing in the way he least wanted.

"You've also seen that the invitations sent by the Zheng family this time are all for the wives of officials. If you look closely, you'll find that not only the wives were invited, but also the mothers and daughters of the masters of various families. Isn't this... too weird? It's not a formal banquet, who would arrange a banquet for the young and old together? And merchants were also invited, the four richest and most connected families. Isn't this... too weird?"

"Do you suspect that the Zheng family wants to wipe out the whole family?"

Xia Mianwan nodded and said, "After they capture the officials' families and threaten them, there will always be those who can't bear it, and then they will have a lot more bargaining chips."

Pei Yanxu really couldn't imagine that the Zheng family dared to do it so blatantly. They really had wolfish ambitions!

"When is the banquet?" Pei Yanxu asked.

"Ten days later."

The banquet will be held ten days later, so the action will take place no later than ten days later.

"My people have gathered information that nearly 200 people have been coming into the towns recently. That means 2,000 people in ten days. There are 2,000 Japanese insiders alone. There must be tens of thousands of people in this offensive. It seems that Japan is coming to take a big bite out of my Chen State because it sees that the war has just ended." Pei Yanxu clenched his fists in anger. He had been accompanying the emperor in conquering the country until now, and he had never been so angry.

Xia Mianwan sighed. It was not easy to respond to an attack from tens of thousands of people.

"How many people can you transfer from the surrounding areas?"

"About 10,000 troops can be loaned out from the surrounding garrisons. Thousands of them have already broken up into small groups and quietly entered the city." After Pei Yanxu's secret guards came back, he stepped up his deployment.

"It's just... if Japan launches an attack with tens of thousands of people, plus the people under Zheng Xiaoyun's command, ten thousand people will be just a drop in the bucket." Pei Yanxu's face was grim, but even if he died in battle and suffered the pain of being cut into pieces, he would not retreat, and he could not retreat.

Xia Mianwan looked at Pei Yanxu's determined eyes and began to admire him a little.

Pei Yanxu is a true gentleman and a real man.

"There must still be hope. I have a plan, but I don't know if it will work in the end." Xia Mianwan stood up hesitantly and paced a few steps. This method was a risky move.

"You tell me, and we'll discuss it together." Pei Yanxu made a good point. As long as he thought someone was capable, he was willing to listen to their opinions, regardless of gender, age or status.

"Yanzhou City does have four major merchant families. They are well connected and are involved in various businesses. They also have their own background. I have a guess that Zheng Xiaoyun wants to control them. He may not want to completely betray the country this time, but to use this incident to achieve the purpose of party struggle, to get rid of you and me by the way. Why would the people of Japan cooperate with him? They must have promised him great benefits, and this benefit must come from the four major merchant families. And if the detention of officials' families is cleverly arranged, it can completely become protection of officials' families. Then... he doesn't have to spend any effort, and others will listen to him."

Pei Yanxu silently thought about the probability of what Xia Mianwan said. In fact, it made sense to say so. Zheng Xiaoyun was a general of the Chen Kingdom. With the military power he had now, it was impossible for him to overthrow the imperial power. Since it was impossible, how could he surrender to the pirates of a small country? However, Zheng Xiaoyun's dissatisfaction with the emperor had already reached a certain extent. The Zheng family and the royal family were suspicious of each other and played games. Therefore, Zheng Xiaoyun was so sensitive to his arrival.

He is now the emperor's most trusted minister. If he dies, especially at the hands of Japanese pirates, it will indeed be a blow to the imperial power and will also give the Zheng family some breathing space.

It was at this time that Pei Yanxu realized that the path of a lone minister was neither easy nor realistic. When the water is too clear, there will be no fish.

"If so...how to break the impasse?" Pei Yanxu muttered to himself.

Xia Mianwan's expression was not looking good either. "Zheng Xiaoyun, this bastard, dared to collude with the Japanese and harm the people of his own country for his own selfish desires."