With the rise of Zhongdu, prosperity also left Luoyang, Luoyang, which was once prosperous, also began to wither, the population from the maximum of more than one million people to more than 500,000, almost halved, the merchant ships from the south no longer came to Luoyang, but went directly to Zhongdu, the business of all walks of life was very deserted, and a large number of shops closed down. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

The fur shop in Luoyang South City is a typical example of Luoyang's decay, when it was most prosperous, there were 20 big shops in the fur shop, and the business was very large, but now it has closed down eighteen, only two can be maintained, there is basically no business in the daytime, customers are scarce, and the streets are deserted.

The closed shops could not be rented out, so they were left empty, and became a gladiatorial arena for rats, snakes, and wild cats.

The last two fur shops supply ordinary sheepskins, which are of high quality and low price, and are deeply loved by the people of Luoyang, and are called 'Beiyuan Leather Stores'.

Coincidentally, another shop also has the word 'North' in its name, called 'Kitayama Fur Shop', and no one knows if the two shops are related.

In contrast to the 'Beiyuan Fur Shop', which only supplied cheap sheepskins, the 'Beishan Fur Shop' was mainly engaged in high-end goods, and the royal palace and magnates of Luoyang City bought from it.

The furs supplied in its shop are all fine furs, and you can even buy some precious furs, such as a rare white tiger skin on Wang Shichong's seat, which is dedicated to Wang Shichong by this shop.

To some extent, the other shops of the fur shop were quickly crushed by these two shops, and the whole street became the domain of these two shops.

This is, of course, the means of the new Luoyang Intelligence Agency Hou Zheng Lu Ping, who first took a fancy to the location of the fur shop, located in the northwest corner of Nanshi, with the Cao River behind it, which is both remote and convenient to transport.

Lu Ping bought two stores, and used the price below the cost to carry out vicious competition, quickly defeated all the peers who were already difficult to do business, and at the same time he sent 2,000 yuan a month to Wang Shiyun, who was greedy for money, as a protection fee, and presented a rare white tiger skin to Wang Shichong through Wang Shiyun, which won Wang Shichong's praise, and thus established a relationship with the upper echelons of Luoyang.

In just one month, Lü Ping crushed all his peers and rented five shops around him as his warehouse, which gave him hundreds of rooms, making his shop as complicated as a labyrinth, and he hung the flag of Wang Shiyun on the door of the shop and the cargo ship, and no one dared to search his shop and cargo ship.

Lu Ping's subordinates only have more than thirty people, he doesn't need too many subordinates, his intelligence system is different from Chang'an, he takes the upper route, as long as there is enough money, what information he wants, someone will naturally provide it to him.

At noon that day, Lu Ping came to the Tiansi Pavilion Restaurant, where he had a long bag of elegant rooms, and the bartender who greeted the guests at the door knew him, and hurriedly stepped forward to salute, "Lu Ye is here!" ”

Lu Ping nodded, "Is my guest here?" ”

"It's already here, and the villain has already taken him to the room to wait."

Lu Ping casually took out a handful of money and handed it to him, "Take it to tea!" ”

The bartender immediately smiled, and accepted it with a thousand thanks, Lu Ping is very scheming, he does everything for a purpose, for example, this bartender is bought by him, as long as Wang Shichong's inspection team arrives, the bartender will run to the private room on the third floor in time to inform him, so that he can avoid a lot of risks.

Lu Ping came to the easternmost private room on the third floor, which was his long private room, and Lu Ping pushed open the door and walked in.

There was a short man about thirty years old sitting in the room, and when he saw Lu Ping coming in, he quickly stood up, and Lu Ping smiled: "Let Master Xu wait for a long time." ”

This person's name is Xu Shanming, a minor official of the Luoyang Imperial Court, who is the head of the Ministry of War, and is the lowest official in the Ministry of War, responsible for keeping various archives and maps of the Ministry of War.

However, although his official position is low, he can provide some confidential information that Lu Ping needs.

Xu Shanming did not wear an official uniform in order to avoid suspicion, and it can be seen from his clothes that his family is in dire straits, he wears a half-worn fine linen gown, a plain scarf that has been washed a little whitish, old black boots that have been cracked on his feet, and a leather belt around his waist has not been used for many years.

Lu Ping knew that his family had many children, all of whom were still young, and there were two old people, and the whole family of ten people relied on Xu Shanming's meager income to survive, and Zheng Guo's finances were scarce, and Wang Shichong had recently expanded his army by 30,000.

Lu Ping seized this point and secretly enveloped some low-level officials with a little favor and a small favor.

The two sat down, and Lu Ping said with a smile: "I heard that this month's Yulu of the imperial court is going to be delayed until next month?" ”

Xu Shanming sighed lowly, "I haven't made money for three consecutive months, and my family can't open the pot last month, and I don't hide it from Lu Dongzhu, and now my family can only rely on my mother and wife to help people do laundry." ”

"I know that Director Xu is having a hard time, so I want to do business with Master Xu."

Xu Shanming perked up and hurriedly asked, "What can I do for Dong Lu Dongzhu?" ”

"I need three maps, which are the army garrison maps of Shuyang County, Nanyang County, and Xiyang County, and there should be copies of them in the Ministry of War."

Xu Shanming's face changed greatly, he didn't expect it to be this request, this is a military secret of the Zheng Dynasty, so who is this Lu Dongzhu?

He lowered his head for a while and asked, "Isn't Lord Lu afraid that I will denounce it?" ”

Lu Ping said lightly: "I have six children, and the people whose parents are still around don't dare to report me, Master Xu, am I right?" ”

Xu Shanming's face was red and white for a while, and he sighed and said: "What Proprietor Lu said is very right, I don't dare to cause trouble, but Proprietor Lu's request is too embarrassing for me." ”

Lu Ping took out a small cloth bag and put it on the table, untied the cloth bag, and inside it turned out to be ten ingots of yellow and clear gold, and the bright golden light made Xu Shanming's eyes dazzled.

"What does that mean?" Xu Shanming asked in a trembling voice.

"Here is a hundred taels of gold, I will pay a hundred taels of gold after I get the map, if Director Xu doesn't do anything, I will go to Master Yang, he can also help me get the map, but Director Xu will have no money."

Lu Ping said that the Yang master book is Xu Shanming's top boss, originally a businessman, after bribing Wang Shiyun with a sum of money, he got the eight rank of the head of the Ministry of War, he spent money to buy the official and naturally wanted to get the capital back, so he asked his subordinates for bribes, Xu Shanming had no money to give him, and he couldn't get benefits, this Yang master book gave Xu Shanming small shoes all day long, and the officialdom was difficult, if he didn't want to support his family, he really didn't want to do it.

Xu Shanming stared at Huang Chengcheng's gold, and asked in a low voice, "Is it Chang'an or Zhongdu?" ”

"Medium!"

Xu Shanming's heart was slightly relieved, he was from Liang County, and he was from the Northern Sui Dynasty, so it was not a betrayal, and he thought that his mother and wife washed until midnight every day, and their lives were very difficult, if he had this money, he could resign and return to his hometown.

Two hundred taels of gold! I can't earn it in my lifetime.

Xu Shanming's heart was crossed, and he grabbed the gold with trembling hands, he panicked and stuffed the gold into his clothes, and asked, "When does Lu Dongzhu want it?" ”

"The sooner the better!"

Xu Shanming thought for a while and said, "I can't take a copy, but I can draw a new copy, and I'll give you the map at noon tomorrow at the latest." ”

Lu Fang was overjoyed and hurriedly asked, "How sure are you?" ”

"This is originally my business, and besides, Master Yang went to Hongnong County on business, and he will not be able to come back until the day after tomorrow, and I am alone in the official room for the past two days, so it is not a big problem."

Speaking of this, Xu Shanming said timidly: "I will never betray Lord Lu, I am old and young, and they all depend on me to support me, I only implore Lord Lu Dong not to ...... afterwards."

Lu Ping laughed, "Don't worry! I will use you in the future, as long as you do things for me obediently, maybe after the Northern Sui conquers Luoyang in the future, you can still be awarded the title of Langzhong of the military department. ”

"Then I'll take my leave."

Lu Ping nodded, "This time tomorrow, I will wait here for Master Xu!" ”

Xu Shanming saluted and hurriedly walked away with his waist in his arms, and walked out of the door of the room, he thought that he had a hundred taels of gold in his arms, and he was so happy that he jumped so high that his heart was full of joy and ran away like a rabbit.

Lu Ping looked at him from behind and walked away, and couldn't help but shake his head, this Xu Shanming didn't realize how important the information he provided was, although this person's official position was humble, he had access to confidential information, this was a loophole in the Luoyang Imperial Court, and the next step was to let this person get the Luoyang City Defense Map for himself, and the Ministry of War should also have a copy. (To be continued.) )