Although Zhang Shun gave a guarantee in front of the coach, but the confidence in his heart is actually not enough, in order to pursue the pigeon that flew into the city, he spent a lot of manpower in the past two days to investigate, but never found anything, until yesterday evening he got a clue, someone heard the cooing of pigeons near Wulin Lane in the west of the city.

Zhang Shun sent fifty soldiers overnight to search for the chirping of pigeons near Wulin Lane, and it was not until dawn that he finally found and locked on the source of the sound.

Zhang Shun did not startle the snake, but sent someone to secretly keep an eye on this courtyard with pigeon chirping, and after reporting to Li Yanqing, Zhang Shun immediately took action.

Five hundred soldiers surrounded the courtyard, this is a very ordinary house, covering an area of about three acres, looks like a middle-class family, the surrounding area seems very deserted, the surrounding young and middle-aged people have joined the militia, the old people and children also try to live as deep as possible, there is not a single pedestrian in the streets and alleys.

After observing for a moment, no abnormality was found, Zhang Shun waved his hand, and several soldiers easily climbed over the wall and entered the courtyard, and after a while, the soldiers opened the backyard door and beckoned to Zhang Shun, Zhang Shun walked forward quickly and asked, "What did you find?" ”

"We found the pigeon!"

Zhang Shun was in good spirits, and then walked into the backyard with a large group of soldiers, only to see a small wooden house in the corner of the yard, and some soldiers took out a large bird cage from the wooden house, the bird cage should be covered with black cloth, but now it has been torn open, and it is a pigeon inside, Zhang Shun recognized at a glance, this is a very robust carrier pigeon.

"Did you go into the house and search it?" Zhang Shun immediately asked.

"There are already brothers who have gone."

Soon, several soldiers escorted an old man from the house, the old man was thin and gray-haired, but his spirit was very strong, he saw Zhang Shun and knelt down, "General, the villain is not a spy, just a businessman." ”

Zhang Shun immediately heard that his accent was wrong, not a normal pronunciation, he looked at the old man carefully, and suddenly asked, "You are not Han?" ”

"Villain, villain.... It is a party businessman. The old man bowed his head timidly, he knew that during the Great War, he had appeared with a carrier pigeon, and he could not tell if he had a mouth.

When Zhang Shun heard that he was from Western Xia, he was stunned for a moment, and immediately ordered left and right: "Search carefully and carefully for me, and I can't let go of a corner." ”

The old man kowtowed again and begged, "General, the villain is really a Western Xia businessman, he has been doing business in Taiyuan, and he has been in Taiyuan for more than ten years, and the surrounding neighbors can prove that this house was also bought by the villain ten years ago." ”

"If you are really a Western Xia merchant, I won't embarrass you, and after I prove your innocence, I will naturally release you, but you explain to me first, what is going on with this carrier pigeon?"

Zhang Shun pointed to the pigeon cage next to him, the carrier pigeon fluttered its wings in the cage, and chirped anxiously, it was locked up for too long, very eager to fly into the blue sky.

The old man bowed his head and said: "The villain is a fur merchant, the Han name is Li Guiyuan, the party name is called Na Pu Duo, is a native of Xingqing Mansion, fifteen years ago the villain came to Taiyuan and settled down to open a shop, my brother is responsible for receiving goods in Xingqing Mansion, this carrier pigeon is used by our two brothers to contact the news." ”

"Don't you know that Song Jun has issued a ban on pigeons?"

"The villain knew that on the day of the pigeon ban, the villain put the pigeon back in Xingqing Mansion, but a few days ago my brother got an important news and sent the pigeon letter to me."

"What's the important news?"

"It's just.... A business message. ”

"Say!" Zhang Shun glared at him.

The old man had no choice but to explain: "Today, a snow storm broke out in the northern grasslands, and a large number of sheep were frozen to death, causing the price of sheepskins to plummet. ”

At this time, the searching soldiers came out and bowed to Zhang Shun and reported: "No suspicious anything was found in his house, but a large number of old sheepskins were found in several warehouses, numbering tens of thousands, and from his account books and letters, he should have been a fur merchant." ”

"The villain is a fur merchant, and those sheepskins are stockpiled for several years."

The soldier handed Zhang Shun a roll of pigeon letters, which was a party item, which translated into the news that the old man said, which made Zhang Shun feel deeply disappointed in his heart, it seems that the old man is indeed a businessman, not the Jin State spy he expected, but he can't refer to the deer as a horse, and force the old man to be the Jin State spy, so he will be severely punished by the capital.

Zhang Shun suddenly moved, there were tens of thousands of sheepskins! He hurriedly asked, "The sheepskin should be a good seller this year, why don't you sell it?" ”

The old man smiled bitterly and said: "Where do I dare to take out these sheepskins, as long as they are discovered by Jin Bing, they will be snatched away immediately, if Song Jun wants them, I can sell them to you cheaply." ”

Zhang Shun nodded, this can be regarded as a harvest! Recruits just lack warm military blankets, and these old sheepskins can do the trick.

Zhang Shun immediately asked the soldiers to report to the capital commander, and asked Li Yanqing to come over to take a look, and he couldn't make the decision whether to buy these sheepskins.

Not long after, Li Yanqing hurried to Wulin Lane with more than a dozen personal soldiers, Zhang Shun reported to him the seizure of carrier pigeons, Li Yanqing nodded, praised Zhang Shun a few words, and went to check the old sheepskin piled up in several rooms, he turned back and asked Li Guiyuan: "What is the market price of sheepskin?" ”

"The small sheepskin is 850 wen a piece, the ordinary sheepskin is 550 wen, and the old sheepskin is 1,000 wen a piece, this is the market price in November last year, and now there is no market, and there is no market price."

Of course, this is the price of iron money, if it is copper money, the price will be half cheaper, but now there are almost no copper coins in the northern market, they are all iron coins, gold, silver and copper coins are pressed at the bottom of the box, people are unwilling to take it out, and the price changes day by day, there is no accuracy at all, Li Yanqing can also accept the other party's asking price, but he is a little strange.

"Why is lambskin more expensive?" Li Yanqing asked puzzled.

In addition, women's warm underwear must be sewn into lambskin, and women's boots should also use lambskin, so the price of lambskin is expensive, and it is very popular in the south."

Li Yanqing nodded, "I want all these sheepskins, you can tell me a price!" ”

Li Guiyuan hesitated and said: "After a little strategy, you can pay the silver!" ”

"Yes, but it must be calculated at the northern price of one tael of silver to five thousand wen."

Now the price of silver is different in various places, generally the silver price in the north is expensive, the silver price in the south is low, and now the silver price in the south of the Huai River is unified, according to the silver price of Lin'an, one or two silver to three thousand Wen.

The imperial court promulgated a new money law last summer, and all under the rule of the Great Song Dynasty, all Zumo shall prevail, that is to say, the consistent money is 1,000 Wen, and the consistent money in the past is 770 Wen, which is called Provincial Mo, because the price of silver has skyrocketed, making the money system more chaotic, and the court has simply unified the money system.

The official price of Lin'an is one or two silver and three thousand Wen, to the Central Plains, the official price is gone, only the market price, one or two silver to four thousand Wen, Taiyuan and Hebei silver is less money and cheap, plus the war continues, one or two silver is worth five thousand Wen, this is the exchange ratio of copper money, if it is iron money, the silver price will be doubled.

Li Yanqing smiled slightly: "Then it's decided!" I don't want your concession either, so I will buy ten old sheepskins for one tael of silver at the market price in November last year, and if this price is acceptable, our business will be closed. ”

Li Guiyuan was very painful in his heart, in Lin'an, three sheepskins can be exchanged for one or two silver, and he also knew that his goods were urgently needed by the army, so he said that he was preferential, but he actually wanted to sell it at a high price, but the pain was painful, Li Guiyuan also knew that he could only accept this price, at least this is still the market price, if it is a golden soldier, he will not give himself a penny, and he will be requisitioned directly.

He sighed and said, "So be it!" I have a total of 30,000 old sheepskins in exchange for 3,000 taels of silver, but can the envoy send troops to protect my safety? ”

Li Yanqing smiled faintly, "As long as you are in Taiyuan City for a day, no one will dare to touch you, if you feel that there is too much silver to carry, I can exchange it for three hundred taels of gold for you, and you can choose between silver and gold." ”

Li Guiyuan thought for a while, "Then gold!" ”

Gold is easy to carry, and the gold of Western Xia is more valuable, one tael of gold on the black market can be exchanged for fifteen taels of silver, and he does not suffer a loss.

After talking about business, Li Yanqing invited Li Guiyuan to the lobby again, and he took the pigeon letter and asked: "The letter said that there was a serious snowstorm in the northern grassland, why did you go to Liaodong to buy lambskins?" ”

In terms of strategic thinking, Li Yanqing is a hundred times stronger than Zhang Shun, Li Guiyuan said casually, Zhang Shun did not hear the problem, but Li Yanqing immediately grasped the essence of the problem, Liaodong!

"Returning to the scriptures, this is what my brother said, in fact, I don't know what it means, why do you want to go to Liaodong, it should be that my brother got some news from some merchants."

Merchants have always been the most well-informed group, Western Xia has always had a lot of business dealings with the Liao State, after the fall of the Liao State, this kind of business dealings continued between Xia Jin, this Li Guiyuan's brother must have gotten some news.

Li Yanqing is more interested in the situation in Liaodong, if a snow disaster breaks out in Liaodong, then the Jin country is inevitable, a country has suffered a serious natural disaster, what can be used to support a large-scale war?

If the news of the snow disaster in Liaodong was true, the war would not have lasted long.

Thinking of this, Li Yanqing instructed Li Guiyuan: "You continue to send a letter to your brother, ask about the situation in Liaodong, and report to General Zhang immediately after replying to the letter." ”

"The villain got it!"

Li Yanqing immediately returned to the official office, and he also needed to ask Lin'an to help him understand the situation in Liaodong.