History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 41 Bingfang’s Secret Letter
The noose seemed to have been carefully placed around her neck, instantly lifting the girl into the air. She reacted quickly, her hands immediately grabbing the tightest spot and desperately trying to pry it off, while her legs kicked and struggled, but her efforts were too weak compared to the force.

But then the rope was pulled back sharply, and the woman fell silent.

The rope is loose.

The body fell.

If someone were to stare intently at the wall above, they would notice a raised section where a burly man in dark clothing was seen descending upside down. Just as he found what he was looking for on the corpse, a giant arrow struck him with a "thud," piercing his left thigh.

The man screamed in terror, attracting the patrolmen. He didn't dare scream again. In a short time, sweat, tears, and snot covered his face, which was contorted with pain. He knew that someone who could shoot an arrow so accurately in the dark could easily take his life if they really wanted to.

The other party is asking him to choose between the secret letter and his destiny!

He let go, discarding the secret letter he had just found. When he pulled the arrow out by force, he knew he had made the right bet.

The enemy did not fire a second arrow, sparing his life.

As the moon moves, if someone continues to observe, they will find that the spot where the girl died is not illuminated by moonlight all night.

Cui Xueguan.

In a secluded courtyard next to the side gate lived Cui Wengnian, who was the old steward who had been temporarily assigned to manage the lodging of the Xianbei female students.

The old man from the clan who taught Cui Zhixue the Erya in his spare time was also this man.

As midnight approached, he was reading a book as usual.

The door was half-open, and the servant E Xun stood outside the threshold and announced, "Old man, the Cowherd has arrived."

"Tell him to come in."

Niu Langjun unloaded his bow and arrows before entering the house. He bowed, handed over a small bamboo tube with both hands, and first recounted what had happened in Bingfang Street an hour earlier. Then he explained, "That place was too dark. By the time I aimed at the thief, Bingfang's spy was already dead. Remembering what Weng instructed, I only shot the thief to wound him. Only after I was sure he was gone did I go and get this."

“Well done, we shouldn’t have any lives on our hands.” Old Cui took the bamboo tube, pried open the bamboo stopper with a knife, and saw that it was filled with silk. He said to the Cowherd, “It’s a secret letter. You’ve been watching since the third day of the new year, you must be very tired. Stay here tonight. Are you hungry? Go on, let E Xun take you to the kitchen.”

After the other party left, Cui Weng pulled out the silk from the bamboo tube. The entire silk was filthy gray, with bloodstains mixed in with the grime. There were eight characters written on it in one breath, the handwriting was messy and hurried, which showed that the person who delivered this secret letter was in a critical situation at the time.

Based on the intentionally spaced spaces between the characters, the first column of the two columns should be punctuated as: 不舌、世、殳.

The second column is punctuated as follows: Shi Luo, Lan, Wei.

The structured writing suggests that two messages are being conveyed.

Before Cui Weng could even think about it, he noticed something amiss. He moved the candlestick closer and discovered that under the character "尉" there was another inconspicuous, incomplete character, which must have been hastily smeared with blood using his fingernail.

Is the structure of this incomplete character: left "日" (sun) and right vertical stroke... or vertical stroke with a left-falling stroke?
He wasn't in a hurry to analyze the word. Adding words to secret letters usually meant the sender wasn't sure if the clue was reliable, and by the time the recipient finally decided to add it, it was too late.

So the most important thing is still the eight words above.

Bingfang Brothel had been operating in Pingcheng for decades, secretly trading information—both political news and personal grudges. From the opulent Xiao Qi in the south to the nomadic Rouran in the north, Bingfang's business grew increasingly large. Could it be that the previous prefect was unaware of this? Old Cui thought it impossible. As for having Niulangjun keep an eye on Bingfang's surroundings, it wasn't to disrupt the new prefectural government's investigation, but rather because he had been buying information from Bingfang. This information concerned a secret he had longed for for decades, and just when it seemed it was about to arrive, Bingfang was investigated.

Unfortunately, he guessed correctly that Bingfang's spy had escaped outside. Tonight, Niulangjun successfully caught up with him, but the secret letter he brought had nothing to do with his deal with Bingfang.

No, Cui Weng pondered the word "Wei" (尉), and before he could fully deduce the contents of the secret letter, he dared not be sure that it was unrelated to the matter or the person he was concerned about.

Clearing his mind of distractions, Cui Weng began to analyze the secret letter.

The first message: Not tongue, world, shu.

Based on the orchid he almost killed before the New Year, he first deduced that the word "不舌" meant "not alive".

Those who have done shady business with Bingfang will know a secret code rarely used by this flower shop: adding clay unsuitable for orchid growth to the flowerpot, and then sending the orchid, which is dying the more it is grown, to the buyer through a reliable channel, thus reminding Bingfang that the flower shop is in trouble with the law.

The closer the clay is to the flower roots, the harder it is to escape legal trouble. As a result, even if buyers really want to buy flowers, they will avoid Bingfang.

After receiving a pot of "dead" orchids, Cui Weng never visited Bingfang again.

The character “舌” is missing the water radical (氵) compared to “活”. Therefore, if we add the water radical to the following characters “世” and “殳”, we get “泄” and “没”, and the meaning of the message becomes clearer.

Put together, the first message can be translated as: Bingfang's arrest by the state government was due to an insider "leaking" information, but this traitor has "not" been found so far.

This message certainly doesn't mean there are no traitors, otherwise the way secret letters are written would be to place the character "殳" before the character "世".

Cui Weng looked at the second message: Shi Luo, Lan, Wei.

Fortunately, he knew that "Shi Luo" was the original name of the former governor Mu Tai; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to get any clues out of it.

Mu Tai's name "Tai" was bestowed by His Majesty, but this traitor failed to live up to His Majesty's expectations of him. After arriving in Pingcheng, he rebelled without officially taking office.

Since the message on the silk begins with Mu Tai, it suggests that the buyer is a remnant of this traitor's forces. It's unlikely that they are enemies; Mu Tai has two sons, the eldest is dead, and the younger has been exiled to Liangzhou. These are not difficult pieces of information to obtain, so there's no need for him to buy information through Bingfang.

The remnants... combined with the previous secret message, the mastermind behind Bingfang is about to be revealed!
It was either the property of the previous governor, Lu, or the property of the former Grand Tutor, Yuan Pi.

If we delve deeper, the remnants of the rebels were certainly not entangled in the matter of Mu Tai's trial and subsequent execution, because it was His Majesty himself who came to Pingcheng to try the case that year.

The deeper the night, the clearer Cui Weng's mind became. The remnants buying information about Mu Tai in Pingcheng must have happened during Mu Tai's stay in Pingcheng to assume his post… up until this thief was captured!

Before being captured... before being captured!
Old Cui has an idea!
At that time, Pingcheng was controlled by rebels, the city gates were tightly closed, and people were in a state of panic. Then, overnight, the rebels were overthrown. Some people said that Mu Taixian realized that things were going to fail, so he relied on his superior martial arts skills to abandon his comrades and escape from the west of the city alone. As a result, he was captured alive by a person with even stronger martial arts skills.

Mu Tai was the mastermind of the rebellion. After he was captured, the rest of the rebels became a disorganized mob and were quickly captured as well.

Could the second message on the silk be about the warrior who captured Mutai alive? Is the villain still resentful and wants to find this warrior to kill him to vent his anger?
The age of following one's heart: seventy years old.

Mu Tai: As mentioned in Chapter 10, when Mu Tai took over as the governor of Hengzhou, he conspired with the former governor, Lu Rui, to plot a rebellion. Also involved were Marquis Anle, Yuan Long, and General of the Valiant Cavalry, Yuan Chao. Before the rebellion, Yuan Long and Yuan Chao informed their father, Yuan Pi. When Emperor Xiaowen personally tried the case, he only executed Yuan Long and Yuan Chao, and demoted Yuan Pi to commoner status [see Volume 14 of the Book of Wei]. The details about Cui Weng, the secret letter, etc., in the novel are all fictional; please do not take them too seriously.

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(End of this chapter)