Dengzhou was set up in the Tang Dynasty, and by the time of the Zhou Dynasty, it had developed into a prosperous commercial port featuring maritime commerce, but in the middle and late Zhou Dynasty, due to the southern invasion of the northern barbarians for many years, and the rampant bandits in the sea, the sea was not quiet, and the port of Dengzhou gradually declined. But after all, it is a year-old Dayi, the heritage still exists, although the business is not as good as in the past, but it is not completely defeated, and some commercial banks have also done well by their own means. The Four Seas Commercial Bank is one of the leaders, with his rich sources of goods and deep network resources, he firmly occupies the top spot in Dengzhou's business.

And said a few days ago, Hao Yongliang, the owner of the Four Seas Commercial Bank, received a big deal from an old customer, and the local buyer could not find a buyer for a while, so he asked several of his shopkeepers to go to the surrounding states to inquire about customers. In the afternoon of that day, he sat in the public house of the trading house, sulking at the letter he had just received from Laizhou.

"The owner, Wang Kongmu is visiting."

Just when he was angry, he heard the voice of the little guy outside the door.

Then I heard footsteps approaching, and the curtain opened and a man entered. But he was a man in his thirties, dressed in brocade clothes, and looking like a scholar.

"How is Kong Mu free today?"

When Hao Yongliang saw this person coming in, he immediately smiled, and hurriedly got up and left his seat to greet him.

"It's not for that matter, the land is narrow and the road is far away, and the forage is scarce, if you don't deal with it in time, I'm afraid it will be bad for the livestock, and the prefect has also asked about it, and then I'm in a hurry."

"Alas! I am worried about this matter under it, too. ”

As he spoke, Hao Yongliang handed the letter in his hand to Wang Kongmu.

That Wang Kongmu looked at it again, and couldn't help frowning, he thought for a while, and said slowly:

"If this matter cannot be done for a while, then we have to try to transport the animals back first, and then find a way."

"What Confucius said is very true, but there are many animals, and where to place them must be discussed, otherwise it is not appropriate to attract attention."

"What do you think of Maojiazhuang?" Wang Kongmu thought for a moment and asked.

"That's the best place, but I'm afraid it will cause trouble for your family Taishan." Hao Yongliang is obviously familiar with Maojiazhuang.

"That's fine, I'll just talk to him."

After that, the two discussed some details, and Wang Kongmu got up to say goodbye, and Hao Yongliang respectfully sent it to the door.

Who is this Wang Kongmu who makes the big proprietors of the Four Seas Commercial Bank so awe-inspiring. It turns out that this person's surname is Wang, a single name and a straight character, and he is a six-case Confucius in Dengzhou Mansion, although he is a clerk, but he is in charge of prison lawsuits, accounts, repatriation and other affairs, and he is quite powerful at hand, but the most important thing is that he is the prefect's henchman, and he takes care of some private affairs for the prefect, so he is also valued by everyone.

Let's say that in Sun Xin's hotel at the east gate of Dengzhou City, Sun Xin was facing everyone, and slowly told some things in front of and behind the scenes of the Four Seas Commercial Bank.

"The development of the Four Seas Commercial Bank depends on two points, one is that most of the goods he does are bought and sold without capital, and all of them are goods robbed by bandits at sea. The second is that he has a solid backer, and no one dares to touch him for many years in Dengzhou, which is the reason. In the past, it was Wang Kongmu of the government who often came into contact with him on the surface, but no one in Dengzhou knew that the surname Wang was a popular person around the prefect. ”

This Sun Xin is worthy of being a black and white snake in Dengzhou, and he has a thorough understanding of the foundation of the Four Seas Commercial Bank.

"In this way, this pirate has a lot to do with the Four Seas Trading House." Xiao Jiasui asked.

"Humph!" Sun Xin sneered, "Isn't it just a raccoon dog, then share each other, even if some people in the government are behind, how can they be clean." ”

"Brother, do you know how many bandits there are in this coastal waters, and which one has close contacts with these four sea trading houses?" Gu Haotian then asked.

"In recent years, there are many bandits in the coastal waters of Dengzhou, more than ten small people, more than 100 people, to say that the most notorious in this area is the cold-blooded yaksha of Black Mountain Island, which kills people very fiercely."

"Does the cold-blooded Yaksha have anything to do with the Four Seas Firm? Where is Montenegro? Who is the Cold-Blooded Yaksha? ”

Gu Haotian strongly felt that this Black Mountain Island must be involved in the incident with Duan Jingzhu, so he asked a series of questions anxiously.

"Whether there is any correspondence between the cold-blooded Yaksha and the Four Seas Merchant House, although I have not seen it in person, they will not be innocent, but I have never been to the sea, and I don't know much about the cold-blooded Yaksha and the Black Mountain Island."

Sun Xin has good power on land, but he doesn't have any connections in the sea, so he was stopped by Gu Haotian this time, so he had to shake his head helplessly.

"But I'm anxious, my brother is already ...... enough"

"Don't worry, I think of an insider." Sun Xin suddenly thought of someone at this time, and suddenly became excited, "Wait a while, that person will come to this place, and you will know when you ask." ”

At this moment, a man from outside came to report, saying that there was a man at the door who asked if the ancient minor official was here, and he didn't know how to answer, so he came in to report.

"What kind of man is it?" Gu Haotian hurriedly asked when he heard this.

"But a short, thin man." The guy replied.

"It should be Brother Shi Qian, bothering to bring him in."

Gu Haotian was overjoyed when he heard it, it turned out that he left a code on the road that he had made an appointment with Shi Qian all the way, but he didn't expect him to find it so quickly.

After a while, a person came in from outside the door, and everyone saw that it was not Shi Qian and that again. But he said that Shi Qian took his subordinates to leave Liangshan first, and rushed to Dengzhou all the way day and night

locked the target on the Four Seas Firm, and then stared at it to death, unexpectedly that there would be a major discovery that night, so he was more attentive. In the past few days, the clues have accumulated more and more, and he is anxious to report to Gu Haotian, who knows that he will not arrive for a long time, so he often goes to the vicinity of this official road to investigate, and today I happened to see the code left by Gu Haotian, and immediately pursued it all the way here.

"The petty officials have been waiting for me so hard, why have I been gone for a long time?" Shi Qian asked as soon as he entered the door.

"I was delayed for two days in Laizhou, and rested for another night in Dengyun Mountain, so I was a few days late."

Gu Haotian explained, and then introduced the time change to Sun Xin and the uncle and nephew of the Zou family.

So everyone sat down again, and Shi Qian talked about what he had gained recently.

"I waited until Dengzhou for only one day, and I felt that the Four Seas Commercial Bank was the most suspicious, and the next night I saw something in this commercial bank, and I no longer had any suspicions."

"What is it?"

"War horses, at about midnight that night, I saw more than ten war horses in the backyard of the trading house."

"War Horse!"

Gu Haotian listened, his heart moved, he silently calculated for a while, on October 27, he got the information that the merchant ship had an accident, and calculated forward and backward at this time, Duan Jingzhu met the bandits when he moved to the Four Seas Commercial Bank to find the war horse, during which there should be seven or eight days, the sea bandits robbed the war horse, and then sent some horses over, it only took four or five days, and then the horses were sent to Laizhou It would take four or five days, just in time and there was no conflict with the discovery of Shi Qian and Yan Shun's seizure of the horse, so he agreed with Shi Qian's judgment.

"Do you know where and who sent the horses to the trading house?"

Everyone in Sihai Commercial Bank already knew it, and this information was what Gu Haotian wanted to know the most.

I also wanted to find out about it, thinking that the horses must have come from the sea, and in the next few days I used to inquire at some of the wharves by the sea, but to no avail. Later, on the contrary, on a naval dock, two military men happened to listen to gossip, saying that what Wang Kongmute was not a thing, and the third watch called people in the middle of the night, but did not give half a copper plate, I heard it and went over to make some small money, and found out that it was the war horse that was on the shore that night. ”

"It's this Wang Kongmu again, it seems that this person is the key figure in this incident, as long as you start with him, there will be results." Xiao Jiasui looked at Gu Haotian and said.

In fact, everyone also understands in their hearts that this Wang Kongmu must be an insider, but after all, this person is a prefect celebrity, and he must be cautious about his actions. And Gu Haotian didn't think about it for a while, and it was not appropriate to say more here, so he stopped the topic.

At this time, the sound of Gu's sister-in-law calling for dinner sounded outside, and everyone got up together to eat. A few people went out of the back hall, but they could hear the shouting in a courtyard next to them.

"Brother Teng Huan, it's a lot of gambling inside, let's go in and touch our luck."

Zou Run was originally a gambler, and his hands were itchy all of a sudden, so he picked up Teng Hu and went there.

"Brother, forgive me, but I have rules here, and I am not allowed to bet."

Teng Jian thought about the discipline of the escort team, and although his heart was itchy, he quickly refused.

"There are many rules, and there is a lot of fun."

Zou Run said regretfully, but his heart was itching, a pair of eyes kept turning inside, and suddenly he found an acquaintance, so he shouted:

"Splash Li San, tonight is good luck."

"How are you so well-behaved tonight, is it possible that you are not afraid of itchy hands, hurry up and come over to play two."

A reply came from inside. Everyone looked for sounds, but saw a man of eighteen or nine reclining on the gambling table, but saw that his face was purple and black, his clothes were disheveled, his hair was loose, and he looked cynical.

"Little official, the insider I just said is this guy." At this time, Sun Xin whispered on the side.

"He ......"

The petty official Hugh looked at him as a scoundrel, but in fact he was shrewd and tough. His real name is Li Bao, he was originally a member of the Xingren Mansion in Jingdong, and he was three in the family, with a strong nature, and he liked to fight unevenly, and was known as 'Splash Li San', and now he is working in the Dengzhou Water Division. It's just that the current Dengzhou sailors are weak and corrupt, and there is no one to govern, but they have ruined the good offspring on this casino table. ”

Sun Xin saw that Gu Haotian was a little unconvinced, so he introduced it in detail, and sighed with deep regret at the end.

"Xingren Mansion Cheng clan, Li Bao."

Gu Haotian always felt that this person's name was very familiar, but he thought about the names of the big and small people in the Water Margin, but none of them sat down.

"This son is very familiar with the coast of Dengzhou, and he must be very clear about Montenegro Island."

Sun Xin saw that Gu Haotian was silent for a long time, thinking that he still didn't believe it, so he said again.

Along the coast, on the sea, Gu Haotian suddenly thought of something, could it be that person ......, he immediately opened his eyes, stared at the man who seemed to be decadent, as if he had found a rare treasure, without blinking.