readx; Like Chang'an, Chengdu also has the south city and the north market, of which the south city is equivalent to the west market of Chang'an, is the distribution center of bulk goods, grain, tea, cloth, livestock, etc., all kinds of bulk goods are as many as hundreds of kinds, all of which are transported in large quantities here and sold, and it has also become a gathering place for Chengdu businessmen. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The northeast corner of the south city is the horse shop, that is, the place where all kinds of livestock are sold, although it is called the horse shop, but mainly sells cattle, the land in the Bashu Basin is abundant, the water source is sufficient, the grain output is very high, and the Bashu farmers are relatively rich relative to the north, so the animal power is also used more commonly, almost every household has a ploughing cow.

The business of the horse dealers is also very prosperous, and from time to time large groups of farmers from other villages come to buy cattle.

There is only one shop selling horses in the horse shop, called the Maxima Shop, which is not because there are many mountains in Bashu, it is inconvenient to run horses, the Bashu Basin is also fertile and flat, and the key to the shop that does not sell horses is that in the past two years, the Southern Tang Dynasty has expanded its army and forcibly recruited private horses, resulting in a sharp decrease in the number of private horses, and many shops have no horse sources, so they have changed to sell cattle or sheep.

It is rumored that the proprietor of this horse shop is the son of Xiangguo Cui Yuan, although it is just a legend, but every time Cui Yuan comes to inspect the South City, the first one is to come to this horse shop, and some people recognize that the former shopkeeper of the horse shop is the second housekeeper of the Cui Mansion, this series of coincidences also implies that the horse shop and the Cui family are inextricably linked, and it is precisely like this, the government will never check this store.

But no one could have imagined that this horse shop has another identity, where the headquarters of the Jiannan Intelligence Hall is located, not only this horse shop, but also the two cattle shops next door are also the property of the Information Hall, from the shopkeeper to the guys, they are all members of the Intelligence Hall.

Of course, I didn't think it would be another important reason for the intelligence agency of the Northern Tang Dynasty, that is, these shops have a history of more than 100 years, which is actually the industry of the Han and Tang Dynasties, the Han and Tang Dynasties will be distributed all over the Tang Dynasty, mainly to do business, Chengdu is the third largest commercial city in the Tang Dynasty, and it is naturally the focus of the Han and Tang Dynasties, for more than 100 years, the Han and Tang Dynasties have established fifteen industries in various parts of Bashu, including shops, wine shops, gambling halls, green buildings, inns, cargo ships, docks, etc., and the business is prosperous. It has become an important source of funds for the Han and Tang Dynasty Associations, and there are four famous stores in Chengdu, such as Maxima Store, Huichun Tea House, Splendid Restaurant and Xiyu Gambling House.

Now that the Hidden Dragon Society has been disbanded, the Han and Tang Societies have been transformed into the Anxi Intelligence Hall, and now it has been changed to the Northern Tang Intelligence Hall, and the Chengdu Han and Tang Societies have become the Jiannan Intelligence Hall, with a total of three hundred and fifty-four members.

Of course, in addition to the members of the Intelligence Hall, there are some special characters in the Northern Tang Dynasty, who use special identities to enter the Southern Tang Dynasty officialdom, or enter the powerful mansion as staff, which can be said to be pervasive, but they are relatively deep and only play a role at critical times, and then there are some people who are pro-Northern Tang faction, but they are not controlled by the Northern Tang Dynasty, and they only help the Northern Tang Dynasty at the appropriate time, such as Cui Yuan, the left minister, Zhang Qining, the middle of the imperial history, etc.

These people with special identities contacted Chang'an through the Intelligence Hall, but they were not members of the Intelligence Hall.

The head of the Jiannan Intelligence Hall is called Shi Jingzhong, a native of Chengdu, who was originally a lieutenant general of the Longyou Army, followed Ge Shuhan into Shu, after Ge Shuhan was sealed to the two lakes, he was unwilling to leave his homeland, so he broke away from the Longyou Army, but soon led a part of the army back to Longyou, and took refuge in Li Guangbi, which was quite appreciated by Li Guangbi.

He participated in the final battle with the Tubo army for Dafeichuan, after the war, Li Guangbi originally had the intention of directly attacking Chengdu, so he sent him to lead a team of scouts to infiltrate Chengdu, and finally although the plan was canceled, Shi Jingzhong was left in Chengdu and served as the head of the intelligence hall.

Shi Jingzhong is about forty years old, burly, majestic, at a glance you know that he is a very cheerful and righteous person, he is the big shopkeeper of the Maxima store, but he generally does not ask about specific business affairs.

Although Shi Jingzhong has a rough appearance, but his other side is as careful as a hair, this rescue of the Xi and Zhao families was planned by him, every detail was taken into account, for this plan, he prepared for nearly two months, so that he could accumulate thick and thin, and succeed in one blow.

At this time, Shi Jingzhong was sitting in the backyard room listening to his subordinates report on the details of the rescue, and the person who reported was the thin man, who was the person in charge of the entire operation, named Zhou Ping, an old scout of the Anxi Army, with a military rank of captain, and was very experienced, and he was also one of the five branch masters of the Chengdu Intelligence Hall.

"Last night's rescue went very smoothly, the guards were not alarmed from beginning to end, the two families got on the boat and went directly into the Minjiang River, according to the plan, they should have arrived in Jintang County, where there is our inn, which can hide for a while."

Shi Jingzhong nodded, "Although this matter was done neatly, it also invisibly told Nantang that there are our spies in Chengdu, and they will definitely search for them, go and tell the brothers, suspend all actions, and wait for the limelight in the past few days." ”

As soon as he finished speaking, he only heard the fierce sound of horses' hooves outside, and only heard the director of Nanshi shouting outside: "Listen to every household, the army is coming to search for the fugitive, everyone collect the money and obey the search!" ”

Shi Jingzhong immediately stood up, "Sure enough, it started, you immediately inform the brothers to hide the weapons, be quick, this search must be extraordinary." ”

"We've stowed away everything suspicious."

"No! Tell everyone to check again, there can't be the slightest flaw, go quickly! ”

Scout Zhou Ping didn't dare to delay, and immediately turned around to carry out the order, Shi Jingzhong also took out a horizontal knife and a pair of bows and crossbows from the bed, and hurriedly walked to the backyard.

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A large-scale search has been launched in the whole city of Chengdu, the escape of the hostages of the Xi and Zhao families made Li Heng furious, he not only ordered the execution of eighteen guards, but also the Dali Temple Shaoqing Li Kaiyuan, who was fully responsible for the matter, dismissed him from his post and questioned the guilt, but in this way his anger still did not subside, he ordered a city-wide search, even if he could not catch the escaped prisoners, he had to catch a few Northern Tang spies lurking in Chengdu City.

This time the search was very strict, and every household could not let it go, this time Li Heng was ruthless, and did not hesitate to mobilize 80,000 troops into the city to search.

Bands of soldiers ran down the street and began to search from house to house, and a group of soldiers kicked open the door of an inn, and the soldiers rushed in, and there was a burst of chickens and dogs, and from time to time there were shouts of soldiers and begs for mercy from the innkeeper......

Another group of soldiers rushed into a large liquor store, and the chaos in the liquor store was heard, only the sound of tables being overturned and dishes falling and smashing, many diners rushed to the door, and those who fled more slowly were knocked to the ground by the soldiers, bleeding profusely.....

There was even a serious incident of a cabinet shop next to Beishi being looted by soldiers.....

Just a moment after the city bureau noticed, an army of 3,000 people marched into the south city, the south city is a place where merchants from all over the country gather, belongs to the key search area, as the army entered the city, the gate began to rumble shut, no one was allowed to enter and exit, the 3,000 army as a unit, a team of fifty people, a total of sixty teams, began to conduct a thorough search of hundreds of shops in the south city.

There were twenty-one shops in the horse shop, and perhaps because the horse shop was not as oily and smelly as the jewellery shop, there were four armies ordered to search the horse shop, but in fact only two groups of soldiers came, and they began to search one by one, starting from the end of the house.

The soldiers were also given brief training before the search, mainly telling them about the key places that needed to be searched, such as cellars, utility rooms, stairwells, attics on the top floor, huts in the backyard, and so on.

But among the soldiers, there is a must-search version, the account room, if there is a large box of Phnom Penh Nanmu inside, it must be opened, and there are ten ** money inside; In the shopkeeper's room, you should pay attention to the mezzanine of the cabinet, under the bed, there are some small locks that are locked, even if you don't have money, you will have important documents, and when you get these documents, the people in the store will naturally take money to redeem them; The cellar is the place where the goods are placed, especially jewelry stores, porcelain shops, etc., and their pressed boxes are often placed in the cellar; The other is the women's room, needless to say, the benefits are needless to say, but take the opportunity to search the women's relatives, rub oil and flirt, etc., and take away some gold and silver jewelry.

Therefore, the search of the whole city is actually an opportunity for the soldiers to make a small fortune, and every household will give money to a greater or lesser extent, give money, and the search is more lenient, and if there is no money, they will be strictly searched, and the hoe and kitchen knife will also be said to be a controlled weapon.

"Who is the shopkeeper of this horse shop?"

As soon as the inspection inside the horse shop was completed, a fierce voice came from outside, and a lieutenant with fifty soldiers appeared at the gate menacingly.

The horse shop was located in the middle of the horse shop, and according to the order, it should have been the last to be searched, but the lieutenant was more shrewd, and saw at a glance this unusual shop, everyone else sold cattle and donkeys, but this one sold horses.

Unusual means that there is oil and water to fish, this captain led his subordinates straight to the horse shop, Shi Jingzhong saw that the search team came to the door, so he gave the second shopkeeper a look, and the second shopkeeper hurriedly greeted him.

"Master Jun, the villain is the shopkeeper of this store, and the villain's surname is Han."

The lieutenant glanced at it and saw a few good horses tied to the door as signboards, so he rubbed his nose and said, "His mother stinks, it turns out to be a horse shop, is there any private sale of war horses?" ”

Shopkeeper Han hurriedly laughed, "Master Jun said that he was joking, the small shop only sells animal power, where can you dare to sell war horses!" ”

"That's not necessarily, your store is very suspicious, you have to search it well!"

The lieutenant waved his hand, fifty soldiers rushed into the horse shop, began to rummage through the boxes and cabinets to search, the captain had a gloomy face, and did not drink the tea poured for him, this search is not as good as before, no matter what, you have to pretend, to get the money is also the last, the captain has a number, first search to see if there is any oil and water, there is really no oil and water, and then use his horse to make a fuss, the captain knows in his heart, whether it is a war horse or not is up to him.

He walked directly to the backyard, which was home to two large stables, and in the middle of the stables was a small door, and he pointed to the door with a knife and asked, "What's behind the door?" ”

The shopkeeper Han who accompanied him hurriedly said: "Behind the horse shop is a small river, and this door leads to the small river. ”

The door was hidden, and the lieutenant stepped forward and kicked it open, only to see that there was all grass outside, and a path in the middle led to a small river three feet away, and there was a very small wharf, on which a boat was bolted.

The lieutenant didn't know what to think, so he stepped forward to look at the boat, and there was a small boat tied to the back of the horse shop, which was indeed a bit strange, the boat was quite dilapidated, and it always felt that it would sink after a long walk.

The hearts of the shopkeepers Han on the side were about to jump out, their weapons were hidden in the small river below this ship, if they really wanted to search this boat, it would be easy to find.

"What do you want boats for in your horse shop?"

Sure enough, the other party also felt a little strange, and the shopkeeper Han hurriedly smiled: "Master Jun, it is used to transport forage at this time, you see, there is still forage on the boat!" ”

The lieutenant stepped forward, and sure enough, he saw some forage scattered in the cracks of the ship's plank, as if this was the case, how could there be no forage in the horse shop, and it was far less convenient to transport forage in a cart than to transport forage by boat.

He stretched out his foot and kicked the boat, the hull of the boat swung a little, it was still sturdy, and it could be used to transport hay, but he didn't notice that the shopkeeper Han next to him was frightened, and he didn't notice that a rope had been exposed from the stern of the boat, if he pulled this rope up, he would find a lot of things, enough to shake the Southern Tang Dynasty.

Just then, one of his men called out to him in the backyard, "Captain, please come here!" ”

The captain dropped the boat, turned around and walked back to the backyard, the shopkeeper Han secretly breathed a sigh of relief, quietly wiped the sweat on his forehead, he glanced at the rope tied under the stern of the boat, and secretly cursed unlucky, usually I can't see it at all, how did it be exposed today, fortunately, God favored it, and was not discovered by the other party.

In fact, it was not God's favor, but Shi Jingzhong on the second floor saw that the situation was more critical, and temporarily took emergency countermeasures, which worked.

The lieutenant walked back to the backyard and asked, "What's the matter?" ”

The subordinate quietly gave him a bag, and the lieutenant took it, only to feel that his hand sank, and the bag almost fell to the ground, "What is this?" ”

His subordinates whispered in his ear, "Two hundred silver dollars." ”

The lieutenant was startled, he opened it and looked at it, sure enough, it was a bunch of silver dollars for white flowers, his grandmother's, this shop definitely doesn't do good.

He pointed to Shi Jingzhong not far away, "He is the big shopkeeper in the store, and he gave it." ”

I saw Shi Jingzhong arching his hand to him with a smile, and the shopkeeper Han next to him stepped forward and said with a smile: "That's our big shopkeeper, Cui Xiangguo's nephew." ”

"I see, since it's Cui Xiangguo's shop, why don't you say it earlier, it's a misunderstanding, it's a misunderstanding!"

The lieutenant laughed dryly, and immediately waved his hand, "It's the end of the brothers!" ”

The subordinates immediately ran out to call someone, and the captain glanced at the stable, and secretly thought: "If there is no war horse among these horses, Lao Tzu's name will be written upside down, Annihilation Shang!" ”

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The city-wide search in Chengdu was the strictest since Li Longji moved south, and all good and low, nobles and nobles, were searched, even officials living in the city were no exception.

But there is no absolute in everything, there are also officials who can be exempted from search, except for Li Heng's son, the rest of the officials who are exempt from search are less than ten people, mainly Xiangguo of the political hall, such as Wang Heng of the right minister, Cui Yuan of the left side, etc., among which Li Zhen, the secretary of Zongzheng Temple, is also one of the few high-ranking officials who are exempt from search.

Li Zhen, the king of Siqi, can be regarded as Li Heng's confidant, although his mansion in Chengdu was not searched by the soldiers, but he has just received news from the flying pigeon that his mansion in Chang'an has been confiscated by the imperial court, and his ten thousand hectares of fertile land in Jianghuai will not escape the confiscation.

Li Zhen couldn't help but be shocked and angry, that is to say, he now has no property except for his family wealth in Chengdu.

Li Zhen paced back and forth in the study with his hands behind his back, this news was tantamount to a bolt from the sky to him, although he took refuge in the Southern Tang Dynasty, but he, like all the officials and clans, was not optimistic about the prospects of the Southern Tang Dynasty, and it was only a matter of time before the Southern Tang Dynasty was destroyed by Li Qing'an, so he left himself a way back, if the Southern Tang Dynasty was not good, he would return to Chang'an to be his rich and idle king, but the news from Chang'an shattered his dream.

Just when he was anxious, his housekeeper came to report: "Mr. Yan is here!" ”

Mr. Yan is Yan Kai, now he is the staff of King Peng Li Zhi, he was originally the staff of King Qing, after King Qing died in Anxi, he fled back from Anxi, came to Chengdu to seek refuge in King Qing's son, Li Li, the servant of the Ministry of Officials, was recommended by Li Li to Li Li, King Peng, and gradually gained trust and became Li Wei's military adviser.

When Li Zhen heard that he was coming, she couldn't help but be shocked, and hurriedly said, "Hurry up and invite Mr. Yan in!" ”

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(To be continued)