Liu Xu, Xi Huaren and Lu Feng walked on the streets of Dengzhou.

This thousand-year-old city, although it has now regained its prosperity, cannot hide the wounds it once suffered, and many places in the city have left traces of swords and fires, as if silently telling the ancient city of the catastrophe that suffered not long ago.

During their unannounced visit in the morning, Liu Xu and the others questioned many people and asked them a lot about the pirates they knew.

The catastrophe more than 20 days ago left an indelible impression on many people in Dengzhou. As soon as they chatted, all the people were filled with righteous indignation. Many of the people of the city lost their relatives and children in that disaster, and many lost their wealth and wealth. When Liu Xu asked, many people were complaining about the cruelty of those pirates, and some people were scolding the uselessness of the officials and soldiers.

Through a morning conversation with the people, Liu Xu generally learned some information. According to those people, the group of pirates who attacked Dengzhou more than 20 days ago rushed into the city, and immediately burned and looted, only for money and women, and did not want to occupy the city and defend it. The Xiang army and the township soldiers organized by Wei Honggui of Zhizhou actually never fought with the pirates at all, and the pirates had enough of looting, so they got on the boat and crossed the sea and withdrew. And according to the people, those pirates were talking in a whisper, and everyone couldn't understand them, and they seemed to be all Fan, not the Great Song Dynasty at all. Liu Xu also learned that in the middle of the islands in the northern waters of Dengzhou, in addition to Shamen Island, which is close to Dengzhou, the government still has the ability to govern, and the other more than 30 islands, the government is beyond the reach of the whip and has no ability to govern.

Liu Xu and the three of them only found out these situations from the mouths of the people. From the information obtained from the level of the common people, it is not possible to know exactly where the pirates attacked the city. After the three of them had dinner at noon, Liu Xu thought of Cui's family. Liu Xu estimated that with the strength of the Cui family, its store in Dengzhou must not be a simple store, and perhaps from the Cui family, he could learn more about pirates.

According to the address given by Cui Ye, Liu Xu and the three came to a Cui family's shop on Zhonglou Street in Dengzhou. With the strength of the Cui family and the wide range of its business, the Cui family has more than one store in Dengzhou, but according to Cui Ye, this store is the general number of the Cui family's Dengzhou store, and the general person in charge of the Cui family in Dengzhou is also the chief shopkeeper of the Cui family store in Dengzhou, which is located in this store.

Liu Xu came to this shop, the name is Hengyuantai, a pair of gold-lettered signboards shining, when looking inside, it is a cloth and satin shop, the store is very large, the store is spacious and bright, a piece of exquisite cloth and satin hanging around, it can be seen that the strength is not ordinary.

The three of them walked into the lobby, and a young man who looked very shrewd and capable, greeted the three of them quickly: "The three guest officers want to buy cloth and satin?" ”

Liu Xu said: "We don't buy things, little brother, bother to ask, Cui Haicui's big shopkeeper is here?" Cui Ye told Liu Xu that the shopkeeper of the Cui family's store in Dengzhou is called Cui Hai, and he is also the old steward of the Cui family.

Seeing that although the three of them were dressed as businessmen, their eyes were sharp, their temperament was tough, and they were not as cautious as businessmen, so he said politely: "Cui Da shopkeeper is in the back hall, I don't know what the three of them are looking for Cui Da shopkeeper, the boy is good to report!" ”

Liu Xu lowered the jade pendant that Cui Lao gave him from his waist, handed it to the young man, and said, "Little brother, you take this jade pendant to Cui Da Shopkeeper, Cui Da Shopkeeper will meet me!" ”

When the young man saw Liu Xu say this, he knew that this jade pendant must be a valuable thing, so he took it carefully, let the three of them sit for a while, and ordered another young man to serve tea, and quickly took the jade pendant and ran to the back hall.

The young man went for a while, and a middle-aged man with a round face and a slightly haired appearance, dressed in a slanted copper coin robe, quickly followed the young man out.

When Liu Xu and the three of them saw the man, they guessed that it must be the shopkeeper Cui, and they all stood up.

When the middle-aged man saw the three of them, he also hurriedly walked over to greet him, and handed back the jade pendant given by Cui Lao to Liu Xu, and said loudly: "When the distinguished guest comes, I hope to forgive me." "Cui Hai is also the old man of the Cui family, he knows Cui Lao's jade pendant, and he also knows the weight of this jade pendant in the Cui family. Seeing that although it was a young man who came with this jade pendant, he didn't dare to underestimate it.

Liu Xu also hurriedly bowed and said, "Shopkeeper Cui is polite!" ”

"I don't know what Childe is called?"

"Kid Liu Xu, the word is open, Cui Ye and Brother Cui are the sworn brother of the kid!"

Cui Hai bowed respectfully and said, "Oh, it turned out to be Liu Gongzi, I have heard Gongzi for a long time, I didn't expect Liu Gongzi to be so young, I will be lucky!" Although Cui Hai has lived in Dengzhou for a long time, he also knows a lot about Qingzhou, after all, his Cui family's roots are in Qingzhou. Cui Hai knew that the secret skills of his Cui family's newly opened Yunmen Shochu Shop and Tianxia Xian Restaurant in Qingzhou were provided by this Liu Xu, and this Liu Xu is now known as the first genius in Qingzhou, and he is a righteous brother with his own Young Master Sun, and he is a servant of the Cui family, so he must be respectful.

"Shopkeeper Cui is polite, Shopkeeper Cui is also an elder of the boy, so the kid will call Shopkeeper Cui Uncle Cui. Uncle Cui, you just call the boy Yunkai, don't call him the son anymore, hehe, it seems to be raw! ”

Cui Hai was happy to see that Liu Xu was kind. The two chatted and poured out a lot of raw points. At the moment, Liu Xu repeatedly asked Cui Hai not to call him Liu Gongzi, but Yunkai. At the moment, one of the two is called Uncle Cui, and the other is called a virtuous nephew, and the conversation is very speculative.

Cui Hai asked Liu Xu about the purpose of coming to Dengzhou, and Liu Xu told Cui Hai that he came to Dengzhou to buy a batch of seafood, and wanted to launch seafood dishes in Tianxia Xian Restaurant after he returned. I came to Cui Hai by myself, mainly to ask Cui Hai to help purchase a batch of seafood in Dengzhou. Of course, Xi Huaren and Lu Feng were there, Liu Xu had already explained that in order to make a better secret visit, this time the three of them were pretending to be merchants buying seafood in order to inquire about pirates. Therefore, it was not strange for the two to hear Liu Xu say this.

Tianxia Xian is also the Cui family's industry, Cui Hai listened to Liu Xu's intentions, and he was obligated to help purchase seafood.

Cui Hai pondered for a moment and said: "It is incumbent upon Uncle Cui to help Yun Kaixian's nephew purchase seafood. However, Dengzhou seafood is most famous for its sea cucumber and abalone from Salmon Island. However, the sea cucumber and abalone under the sea near Salmon Island have long been fished. Most of the sea cucumbers and abalone on Salmon Island are fished by fishermen on the seabed of the surrounding waters. Nowadays, piracy is rampant, and few fishermen dare to go to sea, and this sea cucumber and abalone are difficult to buy. It's all kinds of fish and seafood, because of the rampant pirates, the fishermen go out to sea to catch a lot of fish, and the price is not low. At this time when the pirates had just attacked the state city and were rampant, it was really not a good time for the virtuous nephew to go to Salmon Island to buy seafood. ”

Hearing Cui Hai mention pirates, Liu Xu wanted to inquire more about the pirates he knew, and now Liu Xu asked Cui Hai about the pirate attack on the state city more than 20 days ago and the details of the pirates in the waters north of Dengzhou that he knew.

Cui Haidao: "Speaking of the pirates who attacked the city, as far as I know, the composition of that group of pirates is probably very complicated, among them seems to be Goryeo, there are also Japanese people, and there seem to be some Han people, I am afraid that it is a joint operation of pirates in the northern seas." ”

Liu Xu asked, "Could it be that there are still many bands of pirates in the northern seas?" ”

Cui Haidao: "Well, the pirates in the northern waters are now mainly divided into two groups. One group occupies Huangcheng Island and Chin Island, which are more than 100 miles north of Salmon Island. Huangcheng Island and Qin Island, located between Liaodong of the Khitan and Dengzhou of the Great Song Dynasty, this group of pirates mainly collected animal skins, animal tendons and ginseng from Liaodong and used them to exchange grain, tea, cloth, etc. with our Great Song Dynasty merchants. These grains, cloths and other things, they not only used for their own use, but also used to go to Liaodong in exchange for things. This group of pirates also went out to sea to fish and planted crops on the island, never disturbing the people of the Great Song Dynasty. Strictly speaking, they can't be considered pirates, they should be called smugglers. The merchants and people of our Great Song Dynasty welcomed them very much, and they regularly came to Shamen Island to trade with the people of our Great Song Dynasty, and both sides were mutually beneficial. When they landed, the people and merchants of the island not only did not raise their officials, but also tried their best to cover them up. The pirates who attacked my Dengzhou City that time should not have been them.

The Lime Island, more than 100 miles northeast of Salmon Island, was occupied by the Japanese who had wandered here from the Japanese civil strife. These Japanese people robbed merchant ships and hunted down fishermen at sea, and did all kinds of evil. Yeondondo Island is located on the road between Goryeo and Dengju, and in the past, these Japanese people often robbed the merchant ships of our Great Song Dynasty and Goryeo for trade. In December of the previous year, that is, in December of the third year of Chunhua, Xiao Hengde, who was left behind in Liaodong, led an army of 800,000 to the east to conquer Goryeo. In May last year, he defeated the Goryeo army in Anbuk Province. The king of Goryeo sent an envoy to ask for peace. Goryeo "Feng Liao Zhengshuo", paid tribute to Liao, and broke off diplomatic relations with our Great Song Dynasty, and Liao gave Goryeo Jurchen the hometown. The current government was furious, so they expelled the Goryeo envoys and severed commercial relations in Goryeo. Many merchants in Goryeo made a living from trade with our Great Song Dynasty, and now that our Great Song Dynasty has cut off trade with Goryeo, they have cut off their way of livelihood. As a result, these Goryeo maritime merchants colluded with the Japanese to do evil at sea. The elite of our Great Song Forbidden Army was used to fight against the Liao thieves, and the navy was weak, and it was difficult to go to sea to exterminate these pirates, so these pirates became more and more rampant. ”

Finally, Cui Hai said: "Twenty days ago, the pirates who attacked my Dengzhou City must have been these Japanese and Koreans. Since the founding of the Great Song Dynasty, the Koreans have had trade contacts with our Great Song Dynasty, and there are probably many Koreans in Dengzhou. I think it was these Koreans who acted as an internal response to lure those pirates to attack the city. As for the Han Chinese among those pirates, it is not known which part they were. ”

Liu Xu said secretly: The relationship between the Cui family is really not ordinary, and even the details of the pirates are so well understood. It seems that he came to find this Cui Hai to understand the situation, and he came to the right place. Combined with what he learned from the people, Liu Xu estimated that Cui Hai's analysis should be almost the real situation. It turned out to be the internal response of those Koreans in Dengju. Without the collusion of local officials with pirates, Liu Xu was much more at ease and less stressed.

Liu Xu said to Cui Hai: "Since the little nephew is here, I don't want to go home empty-handed." I don't know if Uncle Cui can help my little nephew contact to purchase a batch of seafood. ”

Cui Hai pondered for a moment and said: "Yun Kaixian's nephew, I can't hide it, my Cui family's business involves a wide range of things, and it is indispensable to deal with all forces, those people in Qin Island, we have also traded." Now they are not afraid of pirates, and they are the only ones who dare to go out to sea to fish and fish for abalone cucumbers. Tomorrow happens to be the day they come to Salmon Island to trade. At that time, I will send an old man in the store to introduce you to see if there is suitable seafood or other commercial goods, you can buy some, and you will not go home empty-handed. Yun Kaixian's nephew, what do you think? ”

Liu Xu hurriedly said: "So, thank you Uncle Cui, little nephew!" ”