In the fifth year of Taihe, October Jiashen, the beginning of Mao.

Jingzhao Mansion, outside Huayin County, location unknown.

The horizon was white, and a group of black horsemen galloped along the narrow official road towards the east, stacks of dead leaves shattered under their feet, and horses' hooves kicked up puffs of smoke and dust behind them.

There were ten black riders in this team, all of whom were covered in black, and they were like one with the night. The leader is covered with green armor, and under his crotch is a divine horse from the Western Regions, tall and mighty. The light of the torches on the wall of Huayin County in the distance was clearly visible, but the leading rider raised the whip to the north, and the black riders who followed him pulled the reins to the left, turned around, left the official road, and turned into a narrow dirt road.

A few days ago, it seemed to have rained in Huayin, and the dirt road was slightly muddy, and it stretched north to the woods, and it was deserted everywhere. The black riders will reach the end of the road, and their vision will suddenly become clear. Not far away, a lantern lamp reflects the outline of a rammed-earth courtyard.

The riders dismounted, led the horses to the side of the horses in front of the courtyard, and the leader of the black horsemen commanded one of them, "Keep the promise, watch the ......horses outside the courtyard," and the man sang, and tied the reins of the horses in turn.

The courtyard is small, and the rammed earth walls are no more than thirty paces wide. From the upper right corner of the door panel sticks out a rusted iron rod, on which hangs a pine plaque engraved with a small seal, the groove is dyed black with black lacquer, and the three words "Yulin shop" can be vaguely identified in the book with crooked and twisted "Yulin shop".

There is an inkstone-sized window on the door panel, which is covered with pine wood inside. The lead rider tapped three times on the door panel and hammered it twice. After a while, the small window was opened from within, and an alert eye flashed from within.

"Pipa?"

"There is no orchestra when you want to drink." A deep voice came from behind the bronze visor.

There was silence for a moment behind the door panel, as if to confirm whether the code was correct, and asked cautiously, "Order?" ”

The leading rider did not make a sound, but took out a nanmu order from the oblique pouch on his waist and flashed it in front of the small window.

The door panel was quickly removed this time, allowing the nine black riders to dodge in turn.

One hand behind the courtyard gate raised a lantern, and the leading black rider looked over, this was a guard wearing Xuan armor, and he bowed his hand slightly to the leader, "Liu Senjun has been waiting for Bai Gong here for a long time......"

At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the soldiers were on the border, the big army, the small was called the guard, the city was called, and the town was called. And Shou Capture Lang is a military official who lives in the Shou Capture City, but later An Shi Disaster, the big and small Shou Capture City gradually abandoned, turned into a place outside the law, and many Shou Capture Lang began to make a living as mercenaries for the government and wealthy merchants.

After saying that, Shou Lang stretched out his hand to the brick house and led the ten black-clothed men through the second gate. Behind it stood a low brick house, with no tiles on it, covered with only two layers of blackened thatch.

The keeper knocked lightly on the door of the brick house three times, and a slightly anxious response came from inside the house: "Come in!" ”

The lead rider ordered the rest of the black horsemen to wait outside the brick house, which was lit by candles, and there were several soldiers also covered with armor and swords at their waists.

The Liu Senjun who guarded Lang's mouth called Liu Jiulang was called Liu Jiulang, and he was a green robe with an inch of beard on the one hand, and the grade of the robe seemed to be seven grades. The man sat on the bed, chewing mint leaves in his mouth, and at his feet there was an iron stove with a charcoal fire. When he saw that the long-awaited visitor had finally arrived, he didn't get up, but stared at the visitor with a pair of squinting eyes, and asked in a rather unreserved tone: "What's your name?" ”

The person being questioned did not answer immediately, but took off his bronze visor, skillfully removed his drape, and threw it on a desk in the middle of the room, revealing a muscular figure wrapped in black.

"A certain surname Bai Mingkui ......"

"Bai Kui ......" Liu Jiulang subconsciously touched the scar on the corner of his mouth, he chewed on the unfamiliar name, kicked the Jun furnace away, and then got up lazily from the Hu bed: "You are the connector?" ”

Bai Kui nodded lightly, turning his slightly stiff neck, making some "click" sounds.

Seeing Bai Kui being so rude, the corners of Liu Senjun's mouth couldn't help twitching. This guy is just a connector, who does he think he is? Dare to ignore the dignified seven-grade joining the army so much. In normal times, he would have fanned this man away with his scabbard.

"Why did it take so long to get here?" Liu Shenjun said with displeasure on his face: "Lao Tzu has been waiting here for half an hour!" ”

Bai Kui took a step forward with his hands in his hands, his tall figure was one head taller than the army, and he asked in a deep voice, "Where is the fire master?" ”

Liu Jiulang spat the chewed mint leaf on the ground, turned around and pointed with his wide chin to the retreat room behind the brick house: "The old guy is sleeping ......," and then ordered Shou Lang to call the fire master up.

Liu Jiulang put his hands on the paddle, he didn't want to be bored, so the two sides were silent, and the brick house fell silent for a while, only the swaying of the fire candle and the beeping sound in the iron furnace.

Fortunately, the awkward atmosphere did not last long, and after a while, the fire master with a silver beard and a wrinkled face was brought into the brick house by the talented guard.

After the fire master saw Bai Kui, before saluting each other, he first nodded his chin without paying attention to Liu Jiulang.

The rule of the catcher is that the firemaster will connect with the customer, and after the firemaster accepts the commission, he acts as an intermediary and then hands over the commission to the catcher. Because this commission was extremely difficult, they found Liu Jiulang, who could enter and leave the palace, to complete the commission.

Liu Jiulang looked Bai Kui up and down for a long time, and said mockingly: "You group of 'ghost soldiers' are really interesting, you have to run outside the city when you meet, about late at night, are you really so small?" ”

The fire master sensed the mismatch between the two, and hurriedly said to the mud: "Don't say a word, time is pressing, there is no room for delay, I don't know if Liu will join the army in the imperial city?" ”

Bai Kui didn't say a word, Liu Jiulang pursed his lips, stuffed two mint leaves into his mouth, and then turned around and took out a long sword-like thing rolled up with brocade silk from behind the bed.

"In order to get this thing, you can scrap a certain dark pile, pay the money first, and then deliver the goods!"

The fire master knew that it was illegal to privately possess the map of Chang'an without permission, and he could be punished with a sentence of 3,000 miles. And secretly possessing the map of the imperial city is a felony comparable to rebellion! I'm afraid that in order to get this map, it will be much more tortuous than Liu Shenjun's understatement of "scrapping a dark pile".

Bai Kui silently took out a piece of cloth from his arms and handed it over under Liu Jiulang's suspicious gaze.

Bai Kui, who had been silent all the time, finally spoke: "Changmingfang, the shopkeeper of the Bingliu Warehouse, give this thing to him, and he will be responsible for paying you......"

"This ......" Liu Jiulang was stunned, thinking that this was not in accordance with the rules. But he glanced at the fire master, and saw the fire master bow his head lightly at him, but did not say anything.

Liu Jiulang pulled the cloth over and found that there were some characters on it that he could not read, perhaps in Sogdian, or Kang Chinese.

"You brought this thing out of the Imperial City yesterday," Bai Kui suddenly asked, "Has anyone noticed?" ”

Liu Jiulang's expression seemed to be greatly insulted for a while, and he said without thinking: "Of course not!" ”

"Really?" Bai Kui stared at him intently, his eyes seemed to shoot a sharp sword.

Liu Jiulang was stared at by this, and the figures of an old man and a young man suddenly flashed in his mind, he was speechless for a while, and couldn't help but turn his face away, not intersecting with Bai Kui's gaze: "That person, it won't affect ......"

"Who the hell saw it!" Bai Kui raised his voice, and his tone was aggressive.

"Out, out...... When he was in Chongmingmen, he was seen by a Taoist priest......"

"Daoist?" Bai Kui's eyebrows frowned: "Which Taoist priest?" ”

"I don't know what his name is, anyway, he took a little Taoist boy and went straight to the dormitory......" Liu Jiulang argued, his tone was very affirmative: "The saint does not respect the Buddha and worship the Tao, and the Taoist priests in the palace are not favored, and it will never have an impact!" ”

The fire master noticed that Bai Kui's cheeks were tight, he swallowed his saliva, gently persuaded him, and then tried to change the topic: "Don't think about this in advance, it's better to take a closer look at the map to see if there is a mistake......

Liu Jiulang untied the red rope tied to the brocade silk and put it on the table. Inside is a long scroll, as the map slowly unfolds, the fire master can't help but be surprised, this copy of the map is so fine, the palace walls of the palaces and the corridors around the canals, are carefully delineated, and even the doors between the palace walls are marked with cinnabar, no less than the original collection of the imperial city.

Liu Jiulang's tone was not without confidence: "This map ...... How is it? ”

"The picture is indeed good...... Bai Kui stared intently at the map, "but...... One thing missing......"

"What's that?"

Liu Jiulang wondered, didn't he remember that there was anything else mentioned in the previous commission that he needed to pick up, could it be that this guy was deceiving here?

With the cold light flashing on Bai Kui's cuffs, a cold smile flashed at the corner of his mouth: "Your necklace is on the head!" ”

Several black riders outside the brick house heard a terrible howl from inside the house, and several crows perched on the thatch of the roof fluttered their wings and flew away, and then the whole courtyard fell silent again......