The border between Daliang and Donghu is a feudal city, which is currently garrisoned by the Guangyuan Army. It would take three days to arrive from the capital at the earliest, and it was already noon on the fourth day when Shen Ming, Xuan Shaoning, Bai Luoyao, and Mu Qingyuan arrived at Fengju City.

The bluestone paved city gate is written "sealed", there are soldiers patrolling on the head of the city, entering the city, the layout of the four vertical and four horizontal is simple and clear, and the general's palace is located in the center of the city. Shen Ming and his entourage first wanted to pay a visit to General Yang Jie.

"Let's investigate the case, and we'll go to the General's Mansion when we arrive, how should we say anything at that time?" Mu Qingyuan didn't quite understand Shen Ming's intentions.

Shen Ming explained: "Old General Yang is a close friend of the master, we can directly reveal our identities and get the help of the Guangyuan Army, and the special position of the seal, even if we don't go to the meeting, General Yang will know our whereabouts sooner or later." ”

"In that case, we'll listen to Senior Brother Shen." Bai Luoyao was still dressed as a man four days ago, she said to Xuan Shaoning and Mu Qingyuan, and the two nodded.

Before the four of them came to the general's mansion, Shen Ming handed over the name post, and the guard general said as soon as he saw the book on Qingshan Academy: "Since a few people are from Qingshan Academy, they can enter directly without passing the message." ”

"Thank you very much!" With that, Shen Ming walked straight towards the mansion.

Sure enough, there is a relationship, since you can directly enter the meeting, it seems that Senior Brother Shen's opinion is really right, Xuan Shaoning said secretly in his heart. After entering the mansion, Xuan Shaoning felt very familiar, and the reason why he was familiar was because the layout of the mansion was very similar to the mansion of King Yu in Yecang City: directly in front was the school martial arts field, the rear was the council hall, and finally the study and bedroom, which were practical and simple.

Walking through the school martial arts field, Yang Jie's figure was already in sight.

"Old General Yang, meet Shen Ming of Qingshan Academy!"

Hearing the voice, Yang Jie walked out of the hall, only to see that he was still dressed in a military uniform with white hair, and laughed heartily when he saw Shen Ming, "It turned out to be Baishi's tall feet, Shen Ming, we haven't seen each other for three years, right?" ”

"Old General Yang is old and strong, and he can still remember the time so clearly!"

"Hahaha, you, don't call me the old general, I can still guard the feudal house for many years."

"That's right, I'll call General Yang, and I will never add the word 'old'!" Bai Luoyao said with a smile: "I am Bai Luoyao, a disciple of Qingshan Academy, see General Yang!" ”

Yang Jie looked at the three young people behind Shen Ming with great interest, "The air is lofty, full of energy, although I deliberately changed my voice, I still can't hide the identity of your daughter's family." ”

Seeing that his identity was easily revealed, Bai Luoyao was not embarrassed at all, but said with a smile: "I said that General Yang's sword is not old, but I didn't expect his eyes to be so sharp!" ”

"Sure enough, it's a disciple of Qingshan Academy, the old man likes it!" Yang Jie's eyes turned to Xuan Shaoning, "Captain Xuan, let's meet again." ”

"Xuan Shaoning saw General Yang, we can be regarded as fighting side by side!" Xuan Shaoning respectfully greeted him.

"That is, the old man was very satisfied with your performance at that time, and later heard that you were promoted to lieutenant, and the old man was very happy, but the old man thought that you still have a great future!"

"Thank you General Yang for affirmation, the last general will never slack off!"

"Who is this?" Seeing Yang Jie ask about himself, Mu Qingyuan also replied loudly, "In Xiamu Qingyuan, he is also a disciple of Qingshan Academy, and the two of them are classmates!" ”

"Well, compared to the two of them, you are a little more bookish, Qingshan Academy has always been both civil and military, and the imperial court needs talents like you."

"Thank you General Yang for your compliment, and you should work hard!"

"The three of you, one General Yang, I can't get off the stage." Shen Ming pretended to ask.

"Hahaha, Shen Ming, if you stay and drink with the old man, the old man will forgive you!"

"But it's disrespectful"

"Okay, come on, prepare wine!"

When following Yang Jie into the backyard, Xuan Shaoning got to know him further, and a few words of conversation had already doubled his affection for Yang Jie. There was only one cypress planted in the backyard, and the banquet was placed under the cypress.

As soon as everyone sat down, Yang Jie got straight to the point, "You definitely didn't come here to see the old man and me this time, anyway, what is the matter?" ”

Xuan Shaoning and the three of them all looked at Shen Ming, and Shen Ming raised his head and drank the wine in his cup, "Old general, we are here to investigate a case, but this case is bizarre and may involve many people, and I hope the old general will forgive me." ”

"The old man can trust Qingshan Academy, and he can trust Baishi's apprentices and grandchildren, the old man only thinks that you are here to drink with the old man, and the other old men don't ask, if you can use the old man's place, you might as well say it directly!" Yang Jie said as he filled the four of them with wine again, "Old man, I would like to toast you again." ”

"Okay, General Yang, please!"

When he left the General's Mansion, Xuan Shaoning's admiration for Yang Jie deepened.

"With General Yang's approval, we will be able to do things much more smoothly in the future." Mu Qingyuan didn't expect Yang Jie to be so generous and bold, and he suddenly felt a lot more confident in his heart.

Shen Ming said to Bai Luoyao: "Bai is in charge, our medicinal material business can count on you." ”

Bai Luoyao smiled and cleared his throat, "Shen Guan's family, the two pharmacists, follow me back to the Bai family's pharmacy first." ”

In order to expand the medicinal herb business, the Bai family will set up pharmacies in places with a large volume of medicinal herbs, these pharmacies sell medicines on the surface, and secretly can also store and purchase medicinal materials, and at the same time collect information. The Bai family's branch shop is located on a long street in the south of the feudal city, the door is not big, and the interior is two bays, and there are only three shopkeepers and men. Bai Luoyao led the three of them into the back hall of the pharmacy, and the shopkeeper immediately greeted him, "Childe, according to your instructions, I have been sending someone to secretly observe the east gate recently, it turns out that every five days, that person will appear on time to trade stones with the Donghu people, but he began to appear irregularly half a month ago, and he has never appeared again after occasionally appearing a few times." ”

"The east gate is the east gate of the feudal city, where it has always been a bazaar set up by the Great Liang to trade with Donghu, exchanging whether there is or not, and that Wu Zhe has been trading stones at the east gate." Bai Luoyao added after the housekeeper.

"Half a month ago, it didn't appear anymore? Could it be that something happened half a month ago that made this Wu Zhe dare not show up again? Mu Qingyuan muttered to himself.

And this information seemed to be a missing link in the chain of clues being picked up again, Xuan Shaoning said: "I think I know why he didn't show up", looking at everyone looking at him, he continued: "Half a month ago, King Ling went to Pingzhou to investigate the case, and found out the fact that Lu Yanhui concealed the stone to make a profit, and Lu Yanhui mastered the Pingzhou Quarry, where the best quality stone for the beam was produced. ”

As soon as the words came out, everyone suddenly became enlightened.

"You mean, what Wu Zhe traded with Donghu was the stone produced in Pingzhou?" Mu Qingyuan immediately said this conjecture, and Bai Luoyao took over the conversation, "And the reason why Wu Zhe stopped showing up half a month ago was because Lu Yanhui had an incident in the east window, and he immediately hid when he got the news." ”

"Therefore, Lu Yan will conceal the amount of stone from the imperial court, and secretly hand over some of the stone to Wu Zhe to trade with Donghu, the stone in Pingzhou is priced by the imperial court, and selling it to Donghu can make a lot of money." Shen Ming said the purpose in one word.

"If this is really the case, I am afraid that it will be difficult for Lu Yanhui alone, there must be someone behind him!"

"Luo Yao is right, King Ling already suspected that someone in the court had colluded with Lu Yanhui to seek silver taels from the court, but he didn't expect to entrust the Wu family to sell the stone to the Donghu people." Xuan Shaoning finally connected the two things together.

"Senior Brother Shen, now that we want to confirm this conjecture, we must first find Wu Zhe, but he is hiding, what should we do?" Mu Qingyuan asked.

"It's hard for us to find him, but it's easy for him to find us."

"Luo Yao, what do you mean by this?"

"Wait, in less than three days, I will definitely let Wu Zhe come to the door to ask for medicine!"

In the next three days, Bai Luoyao took the three of them to visit the Fengju City, and learned about the size of the city, the customs, and the vertical and horizontal streets.

"Luo Yao, this is the third day, and the feudal city is not big, we have almost shopped, are you sure?" Looking at the waning sunset, Mu Qingyuan looked a little anxious.

"Isn't it the third day yet?"

"But what if, by tomorrow morning, the man still doesn't come to the door?"

"Then find another way!"

"Hey, you're ......"

"I believe Luo Yao."

Xuan Shaoning's words made Bai Luoyao's eyes change significantly when he looked at him, like a drizzle in summer, which made people feel refreshed, she lowered her head slightly, speechless but pursed her lips.

"Childe, you're back, there's a sick person here!" As soon as the housekeeper saw the four of them coming back, he greeted them and said loudly, and at the same time made a color, and everyone was immediately interested.

"Oh? We're all about to close, what kind of patient is it? Bai Luoyao said in a low voice, and at the same time walked to the counter and looked at the person who came, who was a man who looked like a house slave, with an anxious face.

"You're the white boy, right?"

"It's down there!"

"I hope you will come to the rescue of our master!"

"What's wrong, look at your anxious look."

"My master had abdominal pain two days ago, it was relatively mild at first, but then it became more and more serious, and today I can't get out of bed, I have invited a few doctors in the city to see, but I can't say a clear word, I heard that the Bai Gongzi of the Bai family pharmacy is here, we also hurriedly came to ask you to take a look, no matter how much medical money, my master can give it!"

Looking at the flustered expression of the servant, Bai Luoyao looked back at the three of them, and pretended to be embarrassed, "Although my Bai family is dealing in medicinal materials, I am still not proficient enough in this medical skill, and even the doctor is helpless, and I am afraid that I am powerless!" ”

"Bai Gongzi, you can do it, if I can't invite you, little one...... The little life can't be saved......" As he spoke, the servant knelt down in front of Bai Luoyao and cried. Bai Luoyao hurriedly helped him up and said: "As the saying goes, 'a man has gold under his knees', how can he kneel down easily, how did this saving become a harm?" ”

"My master has a quick temper, the doctor I asked before is useless, the master has already scolded me fiercely, he said that if I can't find a good doctor again, let people beat me to death!"

"How can this be true? The doctor saves people, this trip is settled, you are here for a while, I will go and prepare. ”

"Good, good!" As soon as he heard that Bai Luoyao had agreed, the servant nodded gratefully as if he had seen a savior.

When Bai Luoyao took Xuan Shaoning and Mu Qingyuan to Wu Zhe's hiding place, Shen Ming also walked in the direction of the General's Mansion from the back door of the pharmacy.

Wu Zhe's servants and the three of them bypassed most of the feudal city and came to an ordinary house in the north, which was the farthest away from the Dongmen Market, saying that it was ordinary and really ordinary without any characteristics, and there was no difference between most of the people in the city, and the interior of the house was even more simple than ordinary people's homes, and no one could have imagined that the son of the richest man would live in such a place. The three of them met each other with their eyes, and followed the servant into the innermost bedroom.

As soon as he pushed the door in, the strong smell of herbs mixed with the sound of moans filled the whole room, making the already well-lit room even more heavy and depressing, a maid squatted near the door and was carefully boiling the medicine, Xuan Shaoning saw a person curled up on a bed in the middle, and the moaning sound came from his mouth.

"Childe, I've invited the head of the Bai family's pharmacy!" The servant suppressed his excitement and ran over to support the person on the bed, "Childe, look", following the direction of the servant's finger, the man slowly raised his head, and happened to meet the eyes of the three people. Although his face is a little yellow, his eyebrows and eyes are still very clear, this person is Wu Zhe! When they saw the real person appear in front of them, the three of them couldn't help but twitch in their hearts, the fact that Wu Zhe was transferred was already in front of them, so would all their conjectures be true?

"Doctor, help me!"

Wu Zhe seemed to use all his strength to squeeze out such a sentence, and then his face became even more ugly because of the pain. Bai Luoyao put down the medicine box, sat on the edge of the bed and motioned for the servant to step back, and asked, "Seeing that Gongzi has been covering his abdomen with his hands, but the pain here is unbearable?" ”

"Exactly ......"

Bai Luoyao stretched out his hand and gently pressed Wu Zhe's abdomen, Wu Zhe immediately inhaled cold air in pain, and then Bai Luoyao took the pulse again, "Childe, but I have been depressed recently, my heart is panicked, I don't know how to eat, and I can't sleep on a pillow?" ”

Wu Zhe's eyes widened a little, looked at Bai Luoyao and nodded, "Can ..... I started having abdominal pain the day before yesterday. ”

"It is the son's long-term anxiety and anxiety that causes this abdominal pain, and the crux is still in the heart!" Bai Luoyao opened the medicine box, took out an emerald green medicine bottle, handed it to Wu Zhe and said, "Childe might as well take two pills of this pill first, it can temporarily relieve the pain." Wu Zhe didn't want to think about it at all, snatched the medicine bottle in Bai Luoyao's hand, poured out two black pills with a slight tremor in his hand and put them in his mouth, swallowing them vigorously without drinking water.

"Childe, this heart disease still needs heart medicine, and I hope that Childe can relax his mind, I will prescribe some medicine to relieve my mind, and let the servant go to the pharmacy with me to retrieve it, and take it on time every day."

"Okay, let's go!"

"Wait!" Wu Zhe stopped the servant who had already opened his legs, and then looked at Bai Luoyao with some incredulity, "Bai Gongzi, your medicine is really effective, I don't hurt much anymore now!" ”

"Oh? That's a good thing! ”

"Again..... Give me some more pills, and I'll give you as much silver as you want!" ”

"Childe, this medicine is about gradual progress, but you can't be in a hurry."

"No! Who can guarantee that the disease will not come back again? Before Bai Luoyao put the medicine bottle into the medicine box, it had already been snatched by Wu Zhe, seeing this scene, Xuan Shaoning was about to make a move, but was stopped by Bai Luoyao's eyes.

"Go away, who dares to stop the Guangyuan Army from enforcing the law!"

With a commotion outside the door, I saw a person in military uniform walking over proudly, Xuan Shaoning recognized at a glance that the person was An Haoran, the commander of the Guangyuan Army, but An Haoran didn't look at Xuan Shaoning at all, walked straight to the bed, and asked loudly: "Are you Wu Zhe?" ”

Seeing that the visitor recognized him, Wu Zhe was obviously very surprised, and stammered and explained: "Master Jun, you ..... You've mistaken someone, little ...... The small one is just a businessman. ”

An Haoran unfolded a portrait he carried with him, and checked Wu Zhe and the person in the painting several times in front of everyone, "It's you, that's right, if you have something to say, go back to the general's mansion with me!" Come, take this man and all his men! ”

"Hey, Master Jun!"

Before Wu Zhe could finish speaking, two soldiers had already stepped forward quickly, and one of them cut Wu Zhe's hands behind his back and tied them with hemp rope. An Haoran arched his hand to Bai Luoyao and the three of them, "A few are doctors, the Guangyuan Army was ordered to arrest the fugitives from the imperial court, forgive me!" After saying that, he waved his hand and left.

As the whole room slowly became deserted, Mu Qingyuan finally couldn't help but ask: "Luo Yao, I know that Senior Brother Shen went to find General Yang, but .......?"

"Why did Wu Zhe get sick, you want to know it?" Bai Luoyao gently tore off the fake beard above his lips, "Wu Zhe is a southerner, and he is not used to the diet in the north, there is a restaurant called 'Nan Wei Ji' in this feudal city, the most famous is his family's sweet juice meat, Wu Zhe has to send someone to buy it every two days, and the medicinal materials needed for this dish are my Bai family's whiskers, and every month 'Nan Wei Ji' will come to the Bai family pharmacy to purchase, and just three days ago, this year's new moon worship red arrived, I sent someone to take advantage of the night to put the moon worship red into the well water of Wu Zhe's residence. ”

"Sumu is a spice that can add to the deliciousness of food, so what is the purpose of this moon worship?" Xuan Shaoning had already thought of the connection between these two medicinal herbs, but Bai Yuehong had never heard of it.

"Moon worship red is a kind of herb that grows next to the mountain stream, because its growth can remove the debris in the stream and is taken by people to purify the water source, our Bai family pharmacist found that even if the moon worship red cannon is made into powder, it still has the effect of purifying the water quality, however, after becoming a powder, once it is shared with the beard wood, it will cause abdominal cramps, the reaction is violent, the patient often has unbearable pain and recurrence, only about five days before it slowly fades, but there is a good medicine for the treatment of this disease, that is, the lotus core, the pain stops immediately after taking it."

Bai Luoyao explained, and Xuan Shaoning and Mu Qingyuan suddenly realized.

"I see, Luo Yao really deserves to be the head of the Annan Bai family!"

"Qingyuan, Senior Sister Yin in Qingshan Academy taught us a lot of medicinal material knowledge at the beginning, but now that you have less contact, you will gradually forget it, and I deal with medicinal materials every day, so I am naturally familiar with it."

"Not only did I help catch Wu Zhe, but I also played him a good trick, Luo Yao really has you!"

Facing Xuan Shaoning's praise, Bai Luoyao blushed slightly, "It's good to catch someone."