Two streets to the east of the Duwei Mansion, there is a mansion that is far less magnificent than the Zhenhou Mansion, but it is also magnificent in Turtle City.

Most of the houses in Turtle City are made of rammed earth, and there are not many houses that can be built with bricks and tiles one by one.

This mansion is the county guard of Zhen County.

After the war with the Woods, Xiling set up three counties, three marquis, one marquis town and one county.

The Xiling Imperial Protectorate is still preserved, and it is located in the city of Fengganfu in Yuwen County.

And the highest nominal governor on the Zhen County side is naturally the county guard Du Hongsheng.

The cold winter has passed, but the climate in Xiling has not fully warmed up.

In a spacious room in the east wing of the county guard's mansion, there is still a fire, the room is as warm as spring, Du Hongsheng likes to sit on the carved wooden chair on weekdays, at this time sits an old man in black fur, over sixty years old, white face beardless, holding a scroll in his hand to open it.

On the desk next to the chair, a stack of volumes was piled up.

Du Hongsheng stood in front of the old man very respectfully at this time, bowing slightly, and when the old man looked through the scroll, Du Hongsheng even breathed as lightly as possible.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the hand that opened the tome, and if he only looked at that hand, it was hard to believe that its owner could be an old man over sixty years old.

The fingers are slender, without any wrinkles, and even appear very smooth, at first glance, they look like the slender fingers of a young woman with flowers.

After a long time, the old man put down the scroll, raised his beautiful hands, and gently pressed the temples on both sides, and then asked, "How many more?" Compared to his old age, his voice was quite shrill and thin.

"At present, everything that has been counted has been presented to the boss." Du Hongsheng's body bent deeper: "The rest can be completely counted before tomorrow morning at the latest." ”

The old man bowed his head slightly, and smiled gently: "Lord Du, the population of Turtle City is quite large. ”

"Back to the old man's words, since the sage made a decree and resumed trade with the Vedas, Xiling has begun to flourish." Du Hongsheng said cautiously: "Turtle City is the only way to pass through the Xiling Trade Road, there are many business travelers who come here from all over the place, and many people around Turtle City also go to the city to find a livelihood, so the population in the city has increased. ”

The old man said "um" lightly, Du Hongsheng saw that the old man's face was calm, his body straightened slightly, and said softly: "Boss, Hu Cao has counted the population of Turtle City, and there are more than 300 people who are eligible for the current inventory..... The lower official was stupid, and he didn't know how to find out the person the boss was going to find. ”

"There's no need to rush." The old man said with a pleasant face: "After counting, check how many of these hundreds of people were born in Turtle City." The Great Heavenly Master observes the stars, Tianyue travels westward, and the original star position is in the east, so the Tianyue you are looking for was not born in Turtle City, but from the east, if the birthplace is Turtle City, it can also be ruled out. ”

Du Hongsheng hurriedly said: "What does the boss mean is that the Tianyue you are looking for came to Xiling from the Guannei and then lived here?" ”

The old man picked up the teacup on the table, looked calm, and took a sip.

"After the Vedic Rebellion, the first two years of Xiling were quite chaotic." Du Hongsheng said: "There are a lot of people who flow to Xiling from all over the country, and people come and go, and it is not easy to calculate the household registration. After settling down over the years, the men, women and children who have settled in the Turtle City have been registered, and there are roads in and out of the Turtle City, once they have been in the Turtle City for more than three months, they must be declared to the Turtle City and registered in the household, so if there are outsiders who have settled in the Turtle City, they can also be found. Raising his eyelids slightly, he only saw the old man's knees, and said softly: "Xia Guan came to take up his post four years ago, and he paid a lot of attention to the household register and put some effort into it. ”

The old man smiled and said, "If you can find Tianyue here, Master Du will be indispensable." ”

Du Hongsheng immediately knelt down and said respectfully: "The lower officials must do whatever it takes to find Tianyue for the boss." ”

"The Great Heavenly Master predicts that once Tianyue enters Beijing, my Datang will definitely prosper." The old man said with a smile: "For the sake of the well-being of the people in the world, the saint naturally wants to find Tianyue. If Tianyue enters Beijing, the saint must not let him enjoy all the glory and wealth, in addition, the saint also has a will, if anyone can help the court find Tianyue, it is also indispensable to add officials to the knighthood. ”

Du Hongsheng hesitated for a moment, and asked tentatively: "Boss, the Zhen Hou Mansion has many eyes and ears in Zhen County, if you let the Zhen family .....!"

"The imperial court trusts Master Du more." The old man always maintained a pleasant expression: "I came to Xiling, naturally I already know about it, looking for the news of Tianyue, they will also know, whether they want to contribute to the imperial court, it depends on whether the Zhenhou Mansion is willing or not." ”

Du Hongsheng hurriedly said: "The lower officials have already revealed the news of the search for Tianyue to Hu Cao according to the instructions of the boss, and they will soon spread the news." On the side of the Duwei Mansion, last night, Xia Guan had already recruited Han Yunong and two head hunters, and asked them to inquire, in less than two days, the news of the search for Tianyue should be able to spread to every corner of Turtle City, and Zhenhou Mansion should now know that the boss is coming, and also know that the boss is here for Tianyue. ”

"That's very good." The old man said with a smile: "Lord Du has to be more careful, as long as Tianyue is found in Zhen County, no matter who finds it, I can guarantee that you will return to Kyoto." ”

Du Hongsheng's eyebrows showed excitement, and he kowtowed: "The kindness of the boss will be remembered by the lower officials for the rest of his life." ”

"Let's get busy." The old man waved his hand and picked up another volume.

Du Hongsheng got up, bowed back, thought of something, and asked again: "Boss, for so many years, there are not many people who have moved into Zhen County from outside to settle in Turtle City, and Xia Guan personally went to check the qualified men who moved from outside, but ..... Xia Guan dared to ask, in addition to being born in October, he will be seventeen years old this year, if there are any other clues, even if there is a trace of clues, it will be much easier to find. ”

The old man groaned slightly, and finally said: "Wine, Tianyue is a good wine, and wine is indispensable for a day." ”

Du Hongsheng raised his eyebrows and arched his hand: "Thank you, boss, there are not many young people who are greedy for a cup of good wine, with this clue, the lower officials understand how to do it." ”

He stooped out of the room, and when he reached the door, he stood up straight, and saw a slender man standing beside him, wearing a hat, and his whole person exuded a yin owl aura.

This is the attendant who came with the boss, although Du Hongsheng didn't know what his identity was, but he didn't dare to have the slightest slackness, and arched his hand to the hat man, who just nodded slightly, didn't look at Du Hongsheng much, went straight into the house, and closed the door with his hand.

Du Hongsheng could only smile bitterly.

Although he is the county guard of Zhen County, the county guard of Xiling is not as comfortable as a small county commander in Guannei.

When he was transferred from Kyoto to Xiling, Du Hongsheng was like ashes, he only felt that it was no different from the army and the army, and he had no power in his hands, but what kind of basket was going to happen here, and the first person to be convicted was him, the county guard.

If the boss of the house shakes his finger in Kyoto, countless heads may fall to the ground, so even if it is the person who leads the horse for him, it must not be taken lightly.

What's more, the hat man can enter and exit the boss's house at any time, and he is naturally the boss's cronies, such a person, don't say that he is a small Zhenjun county guard, even if he is a feudal official, he will not dare to show the slightest rudeness in front of such a character.

The man with the hat went into the house and closed the door, and took off the hat, and on his left eyebrow, there was a very clear scar, which started from his forehead and extended to the corner of his eye, so that his left eye looked very strange, as if it was closed.

"The old man thinks they can find it?" The hat man stood in front of the old man, his expression was calm and calm.

When he entered the door, the old man didn't even raise the corner of his eyes, obviously knowing that this person was the only one who could enter without telling him at this time, so he put down the scroll in his hand and said with a smile: "No!" ”

The man didn't show any surprise, "oh", the old man pointed to the chair next to him, then picked up the teacup, and said slowly: "Xiling said that it is not big, it is not small, if you really want to hide a few people here, it may take three years and five years of hard work, and there may not be the slightest clue, not to mention that the person may not be in Xiling." ”

"In that case, why is the boss making a big splash in Turtle City?" The man with a hat sat down on the chair, but his body was straight: "If the person you are looking for is really in Xiling, the boss does this, shouldn't you startle the snake?" ”

The old man smiled and said, "When hunting, I will bring a hound." The role of the hound is not only to hunt the prey, sometimes it is to let it disturb the prey, once the prey finds that the hound appears, it will panic, so as to expose its whereabouts, at this time, the hunter is good to hunt. ”

"If that person is in Xiling, the movement here in Turtle City will disturb him?"

"If the prey lurks still, it will be difficult for us to find him, no matter how capable we are." The old man said slowly: "Our chance, when the prey can't hold it, jumps out by itself." ”

The hateman's eyes were cold: "The boss thinks the prey will jump out?" ”

"It's just a gamble." The old man sighed lightly, with a smile on the corner of his mouth: "At least in this gamble, our chips far exceed each other's. He gently stroked his smooth fingers and said softly: "We played the first chess piece, and the opponent will participate in this game whether he wants it or not." ”

"The old man has always been very good at chess." The hat man said sincerely.

The old man smiled: "In Xitai's mouth, he rarely praises people. After a slight pause, he said: "We are in Xiling, and we are making a big move, if the other party is really here, we will definitely suspect that we already know their whereabouts." Of course, they will also suspect that we are scaring us, but whether it is true or not, they dare not bet, if that person is really here, they will not risk letting him stay here, and they will definitely do everything they can to keep him away from this place. ”

"So as long as they act, it's our chance." The hat is humane.

The old man bowed slightly: "Our bow and arrow have been opened, just waiting for the hound to disturb the prey, once the prey jumps out, it is the time to hunt." ”

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ps: Speaking of two things, the Tang Dynasty in the book is purely empty and has nothing to do with the Tang Dynasty in history. Second, the whole book will be very long, the picture scroll will unfold slowly, and the story that I think is the best will be told step by step. In the end, I still ask for a collection of monthly passes!