Chapter 617: A Smarter Opponent

Tongzhou from the beginning of the Sui Dynasty is the starting point of the Grand Canal, but the Yuan Dynasty opened the Tonghui River, goods can be directly from the waterway to the capital, the prosperity here is still limited, and now the Tonghui River is silted, the cargo ships must be moored at the Tongzhou wharf, and then transported to the capital by land, so the capital is moved, here is not only twice as lively as before. Due to the large number of merchants coming and going, coupled with the various flows of people going to and leaving Beijing, the inns here are almost full every day, and even the Chase bunk of the last inn is full of porters.

Although there is also a curfew, because the exchange of grain ships is the most important, the curfew in Tongzhou is much looser than in the capital, and people can still be seen walking on the streets at night. Some inns leave a gap between two door panels for guests who disembark in a hurry at this time, while many inns hang out full red lanterns and cover the front of the door tightly. Zhang Yue searched for a few streets in a row, and then saw a small inn with a half-open door, and hurriedly rushed over with Peng Shisan.

The shopkeeper at the back of the counter was looking down to prepare for the plate, and when he heard a movement, he hurriedly raised his head. Seeing several burly men with weapons who broke in at once, he almost thought that he had met a strong man, until he saw that a tired man was following behind him, so he let go of his thoughts, put down his abacus and turned forward from behind the counter with a smile on his face. Seeing that the young man at the first table was still asleep, he was so angry that he immediately slapped the back of the head.

"Who hit me!"

The young man jumped up, saw the shopkeeper glaring at him, and out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a guest at the door, and hurriedly shrank his head and retreated to the side. Hearing the shopkeeper's kind words to others, he had to complain in his heart about the old guy's meanness, and then he realized that he had just seen that this group of people had no luggage, not like a merchant who went south and north, and not like a scholar who went to Beijing to take the township test.

Zhang Yue looked at the fact that the lobby was quite clean, and bluntly asked for four guest rooms. As soon as he heard this request, the shopkeeper suddenly showed an embarrassed expression. This group of people is so popular, I don't think it will be a bad person, but his inn is just a small business, two upper rooms, three middle rooms, five large shops, and now there is only one middle room left. Afraid that these guests were rich and noble people who could not be provoked, he hurriedly explained the truth with a smile.

Seeing the stout man looking up and down the stairs, he hurriedly said, "Childe, at night, I can't let people vacate the house." At present, there are many people outside the boundaries of Tongzhou, and I am afraid that there are no empty houses in other places. If it's not convenient for you, I have a room of my own, so I can tidy it up and show ......it to your family."

Since he knew that there was no guest room, Zhang Yue agreed: "Then it's bothering the shopkeeper, we all missed the time to return to the city, and temporarily stayed outside for one night." Lao Peng, bring those few wild meats, just for dinner. ”

Only then did Peng 13 take out a pair of pheasants and three hares from his coat, both of which were the trophies of the previous beating sticks in the woods, and he still held two arrows in his hands. And when the shopkeeper saw these wild things with arrow wounds, he couldn't help but be startled again, thinking that there were Tongzhou guards and several guards stationed near Tongzhou, and almost all of those mountains and forests were covered by these soldiers, and most of the people in Beijing went out to hunt to the north. Doubts are doubts, he immediately ordered the gang to go to the back to clean up and prepare food, and then went to the door panel, and found some snacks to come out to feed everyone's hunger. After all, it would take half an hour for all this game to be made.

When the meal came, everyone was divided into two tables, because they were too hungry, Zhang Yue was certainly feasting, and everyone else was eating quickly. Just when the wolf-swallowing sound was heard in amazement by the shopkeeper, there was a sudden knock on the door outside, and the young man stepped forward to move the door panel, but someone squeezed in quickly.

"Old Han, I came to your place again to drink and eat...... Hey! ”

Squeezing in the door was a thin old man in a blue cloth shirt who was nearly half a year old, but as soon as he saw Zhang Yue, he was immediately taken back in surprise, and almost tripped over the high threshold. Seeing Zhang Yue also looking at him, he couldn't help but smile wryly, and the scene he had seen at the camp gate before came to his mind. The group of most rebellious hereditary officers were so majestic on weekdays, but at that time, most of them had blue noses and swollen faces, and Zhang Chao was not even covered with mud all over his body. Although Zhang Chao is well-known for his martial arts, it will not be so easy to fight a dozen at a time. In this case, it is mostly because of helpers.

What kind of skills do these helpers have to have to clean up those people? There are only five people here, and there are nearly twenty of those young master officers, and the martial arts are not all sparse!

"Childe, I didn't expect to bump into you here again."

"It's really fate to be able to bump into it twice." Zhang Yue looked at this fast-talking veteran, and suddenly remembered the previous incident in the forest, so he bowed his head and said, "Since you are here to find the shopkeeper to drink, I happen to have snacks here, let's sit down together, I happen to have something I want to ask." ”

"You're laughing, how dare I be. If Childe has anything to say, just ask me Lao Ma is. ”

The old horse glanced at Zhang Yue and found that there seemed to be some information hidden in the smile that he couldn't figure out, so he hurriedly lowered his head and sat down, his posture lower. Somehow, he gradually felt as if he was under a lot of pressure, and for a moment he regretted what he had said at the camp gate before. Seeing his actions, the shopkeeper Han felt that something was wrong, so he pushed away the young man next to him, stepped forward to pour soju for everyone, and then tiptoed behind the counter.

"Looking at your expression, Brother Ma, you probably saw them return to the camp. They went back a little late today, and there were some mistakes, did they alarm others? ”

It's not just a shock, it's a commotion! Lao Ma became more and more sure that it was Zhang Yue's black hands, and secretly swallowed his saliva and said cautiously: "It is common for them to go out of the city to hunt, and it is normal for them to be late, but ...... It's just that they all said that they were startled by the horses while hunting, and there were people who fell somewhere, so Commander Chen naturally got angry and taught people a lesson, and the rest was nothing. ”

Zhang Yue was only worried that these people would not be able to bear the trouble of finding Zhang Chao as soon as they went back, and when he heard this, he was relieved. He still had those two arrows in his hand, and with other methods, it was still easy to hold on to these young master officers. It's just that there are far more than a handful of people in the army, and if you want to solve the problem, you have to start from the overall situation.

"Then do you know when they started to trouble Zhang Chao?"

At this moment, the old horse only felt that the vest was cold and hot. Before, this question was nothing, but now this question clearly shows that the master in front of him is not an ordinary person. Although he wanted to be vague, he was defeated by a pair of gentle but extremely firm glances from Zhang Yue.

"Zhang Qianhu went to Tongzhou Wei and heard that he was demoted, his father is an earl, this time he has made a great contribution, the title is very likely to be hereditary, but he has no share, so at the beginning, those officers were very good with him, but everything like eating wine and finding women was called him. But because Zhang Qianhu eats and drinks well, he rarely goes to fool around, and gradually the relationship is a little colder. Just ten days ago, it seemed that there was a sudden commotion between the two sides, and there were several fights in a secluded place, and a lot of unpleasant words came out......"

"So when did this sudden commotion start? Or, who started the trouble first, and what strange things happened before the trouble, or was it a strange omen? ”

Zhang Yue's series of questions made Lao Ma's forehead sweat, he involuntarily picked up the wine glass in front of him, drank the soju in one go, and then grinned at the vigor that came out of his throat. Pressing his hands on his knees, he easily calmed the panic in his heart, and then racked his brains to recall.

"It was about the thirteenth of May, and the first thing that began to make trouble seemed to be the commander of the matter, when he came back drunk with two companions, and cursed and said that someone had cut them off. happened to meet Zhang Qianwai out, so he stepped forward to provoke, but the result was naturally not good. Later, things got bigger and bigger, and our people heard some clues. Alas, it is difficult for us military households to get the lives of a hundred households in our lives, but there are a bunch of three-grade commanders in the barracks......"

Listening to Lao Ma chattering as he spoke, Zhang Yue couldn't help but fall into deep thought. Sure enough, this kind of thing was not deliberately spread, it was impossible for it to spread in Tongzhou Wei suddenly, and someone must have deliberately done it. Even if the lower-level military families agreed with this, they were not as angry as those hereditary officers. You must know that there are many fathers, brothers and sons in the army, and this military family may be too hard to flee because of being a soldier, and those officers are all living on this money and food. If so, the sea of people he has offended!

Because of the relationship between the British duke, coupled with his first few times and three times to deal with the army and make meritorious contributions, so the nobles regarded him as their own people, such as Anyuan Marquis, Wu Anhou, etc., and regarded him as their own nephew, and now this news has spread so widely, I am afraid that it is not just as simple as ruining his reputation. So why did you make such a show?

By the way, as long as the nobles think that he is troublesome, and that he is turning his elbow out, he will lose their trust, and even if there is something at stake, he will not be able to speak in front of them. And at this moment at stake, that's the real intention of someone else's plan! You must know that the British public can't be entrenched, and there are many nobles in the Beijing division leading the troops!

"It's really a more clever opponent, and ordinary people probably won't think so far."

Thoughtfully burst out with such a sentence, Zhang Yue raised his glass and drank it all. The spicy soju swirled in his throat and fell into his stomach, bringing with him a burning sensation. He lowered his head and put down his wine glass, and smiled at the honestly frightened old horse: "Thank you Brother Ma for your honest words today." For this coincidence, come, I toast you! ”

Peng Shisan, who was on the side, never touched a drop of wine. Chewing on the pheasant slowly, he couldn't help but think of the arrow he had pulled away with his knife. Although it is indeed two, and the last name is indeed engraved on the arrow, and it is the standard feather arrow in the army, but in that dim light, how could those two guys shoot the arrow accurately?