Danyang County is located in the east of the Yangtze River, adjacent to Jinling County and Jiangning Mansion, this area is mountainous and hilly, dense forests, the famous Lushan is located in Danyang County.

It was early winter, most of Danyang County was already cold, the fields in the early morning were covered with a layer of white frost, this morning, on an official road outside the quarrying town of Dantu County, close to the Yangtze River, a team of more than 500 people of the Plum Blossom Guard cavalry galloped forward, headed by the Plum Blossom Guard General is the Chuzhou Plum Blossom Guard General Huangfu Wujin.

Huangfu Wujin came from Donghai County, and joined the 500 Plum Blossom Guards who had arrived from Jiangning Mansion in Dangtu County, and they immediately rushed to Quarry Town.

Huangfu Wujin received an urgent pigeon letter from Sergeant Li Baisha Meihuawei, so he personally led people to Danyang County, which has always been a high-grade pig iron production area, especially the fine iron required for casting weapons is mainly produced in Danyang County.

There are many mountains here, there are large and small mines and smelting workshops distributed in the valleys and valleys, Li Baisha came here, obviously to obtain good fine iron, but also a coincidence in the dark, he came by sea boat, the original plan was to take silver from Jiangning Mansion directly along the river to Danyang County, buy pig iron and then leave directly from the Yangtze River, I don't know the ghost.

Unexpectedly, a run broke out in Jiangning Mansion, and the three Donglai money villages were smashed and burned, so that his plan was forced to change, and he had to rush to Weiyang County to withdraw silver, so that he was discovered by Meihuawei.

Two Meihuawei spies also discovered Li Baisha's five large ships, and they knew that Li Baisha would not return to Weiyang County, so they urgently sent a pigeon letter.

Huangfu Wujin waved his hand, the cavalry slowed down, and the quarrying town three miles ahead was already faintly visible, he turned back to another pro-soldier captain Luo Sheng and said: "I'll take two brothers to the town to have a look, you take the brothers to find a hidden place nearby, don't be discovered." ”

Luo Sheng agreed, and led the cavalry to another path, while Wu Jin changed clothes with the two sergeants and headed towards the town.

Quarry town is also called quarry rock, is a low hill, abrupt in the river, the cliff is in the air, choke the big river to rush, the water flow is turbulent, the terrain is dangerous, since ancient times it is the place where the soldiers must fight, the north is Cuiluo Mountain, the quarrying town is located in the west of the hills, it is a big town with more than 400 households.

Because this is the main road of water and land transportation in the south of Jiangning, the business in the town is prosperous, there is an endless stream of merchants, there are more than 100 shops of all sizes, inns, green buildings, wine shops, teahouses and so on can be seen everywhere.

Wu Jin took two sergeants along the stone street to find a target in the town, the main stone road in the town was full of people, very lively, and the guys of the shops on both sides also shouted and bought and sold in the official dialect of Jiangning Mansion, and most of the shops sold all kinds of iron tools.

Although the imperial court has banned the private trade in pig iron, this ban has been in place a few years ago, and it has never been strictly enforced, but it is strictly controlled in the important big cities of Beijing and Jiangning Mansion, and this kind of quarrying town has always been a small place that has always been based on the trading of pig iron.

In addition to the shops that sell pig iron equipment, there are also some trading houses and pig iron brokers, they are going to do big business, in fact, from some small details can be seen the weakness of the imperial court law here, such as almost all kinds of pig iron shops sell all kinds of long knives, and even guns, halberds, knives and other long weapons, which are strictly prohibited by the imperial court, but they are sold openly here.

"General, there!"

A sergeant with sharp eyes saw the inn diagonally opposite, and the word 'Yuelai' was written on the inn sign, which was exactly the inn they were looking for.

Wu Jin walked in with two soldiers, and the Plum Blossom Guard, who happened to be in charge of tracking, walked out of the back room and met them head-on, the sergeant was stunned for a moment, he hurriedly stepped forward and knelt down on one knee to salute, "See the general!" ”

"Get up quickly, don't be seen."

The sergeant nodded, pointed to the back room, and led the three of them into the room, but there was no one in the room, so Wu Jin asked, "Where is your companion?" ”

"Back to the general, he went to follow the other party's leader, and we have broken up for two days."

"Who is the leader of the other party, and where is his money?" Wu Jin asked a little strangely.

The sergeant smiled bitterly and said: "We don't know if the other party is Li Baisha, but this person must be at a very high level in Baishahui, after arriving in Dangtu County, he took a dozen people to the southwest, and some others took silver carts to Quarry Town to buy pig iron, and their five big ships just arrived two days ago, and they were moored on the river outside Quarry Rock. ”

"How are they buying?" Wu Jin asked again.

"General, this area is rich in high-grade iron ore, you can buy fine iron here, their 300,000 taels of silver are all used to buy iron, the general price is one tael of silver can buy ten catties of high-grade refined iron or twenty catties of ordinary pig iron, this time they bought all of fine iron."

"Three million catties of refined iron!"

Huangfu Wujin was taken aback, "Can they buy so much?" ”

"It's not a family that can buy it, they found a broker, who is said to be the largest pig iron dealer in the local area, and he will do the goods, and the pig iron is being shipped from all over the country one after another in the past two days, and it is estimated that in another day or two, their goods will be complete."

'A day or two', Wu Jin pondered for a moment, and the navy of Jiangning Mansion should also be able to arrive tomorrow morning.

Just then, the sergeant outside the door ran in, "Governor, a donkey cart has come from outside, carrying a wounded man, who seems to be our brother. ”

Wu Jin was startled, got up and walked out quickly, only to see that a donkey cart had slowly entered the inn compound, and the shopkeeper was coaxing outward, "The donkey cart is not easy to come in, who wants you to come in!" ”

Wu Jin stepped forward quickly, only to see a man wrapped in a quilt lying on the board of the donkey cart, his face was pale, it was another sergeant who had gone to follow Li Baisha.

"What's going on?" Wu Jin hurriedly asked the old style of driving the donkey cart.

The donkey cart is a thin old man, he hurriedly shook his head and said: "I don't know, I found him in the ditch next to the official road, he was injured, he said to send him here thank you, I came." ”

"Where is the official road?"

"Master, I am from Xiang'an County, Lujiang County, and I found this master on the official road outside the county."

At this time, the wounded sergeant slowly woke up, and when he saw Wu Jin, his eyes were first surprised, and then he showed a look of shame.

"General.... Humble and incompetent, no .... You can keep an eye on him. ”

His breath was faint, Wu Jin waved his hand to tell him not to say any more, he slowly uncovered the sergeant's bedding, only to see an arrow shot into his stomach, and the shaft of the arrow had been cut off, revealing an arrow.

He frowned, and immediately ordered his men to carry him into the house carefully, and ordered the shopkeeper to go and ask the best doctor in town, and when he saw that the handlebar was looking at him with blank eyes, he took out a silver ingot of fifty taels from his horse bag, handed it to him, and thanked him, and said, "Thank you, old man, for saving my brother, this ingot of silver is your reward." ”

The handlebar style was stunned, staring directly at the ingot of silver, he had lived to such a big age and had seen such a big ingot of silver, for a while, he swallowed a mouthful of saliva, "This silver, all for... I? ”

Wu Jin didn't have the heart to talk to him, so he directly stuffed the silver to him, "Old man, go back!" ”

Holding a heavy ingot of silver in the handlebar, he always felt ashamed, so he explained with a dry laugh: "It is estimated that the brother was injured by the white-clothed soldier." ”

Wu Jin was already about to enter the house, and when he heard his words, he couldn't help but stop, turned around and asked, "What white-clothed soldier?" ”

"Don't you know? We are close to Chaohu Lake, my home is at the foot of Ziwei Mountain, I know that there is a farm in the middle of the mountain, there are thousands of white-clothed soldiers in the farm, I heard that there is also a farm in the west of Chaohu Lake, there are thousands of white-clothed soldiers in it, they are armed with knives, guns, bows and arrows, they can often be seen at the foot of the mountain, the attitude is very fierce, ordinary people can't afford to provoke, your brother is estimated to be shot and injured by them. ”

This unexpected news made Wu Jin suddenly think of the matter entrusted to him by the prince, and traced down the private soldiers raised by the king of Chu in Chuzhou, and he secretly wondered: "Could it be these white-clothed soldiers?" ’

"Old man, where is the accent of this white-clothed soldier, is it your local?"

"Nope! No! I heard them speak, the accents are very mixed, most of them are northerners, there are more people in Huaibei, I heard that there is a catastrophe over there, many people run to our side, and the white-clothed soldiers have a very similar accent to them. ”

Wu Jin thought for a while and asked, "Then do you have real soldiers over there?" That is, officers and soldiers. ”

"There are officers and soldiers, they are all military soldiers, one is in Hefei County, the other is in Kaihua County, anyway, we don't have it in Xiang'an County."

"Then does your county master know about these white-clothed soldiers?"

The handlebar thought for a while and said: "It stands to reason that everyone on our side knows that they sometimes go into the county to buy things, and they also wear white clothes and carry knives, in groups of people, I think the county lord should know." ”

Wu Jin arched his hand, "Thank you, old man!" ”

The handlebar type took the silver and left, Wu Jin was just about to enter the door, but he saw a guy next to him who wanted to speak and stopped, and estimated that he had heard the conversation between himself and the handlebar style, so he asked him with a smile: "Do you also want to make money?" ”

The guy looked smart, he was caught up in Wujin's words, and scratched his head a little embarrassedly: "If Gongzi is interested in those white-clothed soldiers, I have a way to find them." ”

This news lifted Wu Jin's spirits, "Have you also seen the soldiers in white?" ”

"Nope! I haven't seen them, I've only heard about them, but I have a way to find them. ”

It is really necessary to rely on the head snake outside, this sentence is too right, Wu Jin hurriedly beckoned to him, "You come in and talk, you said it well, I have a reward." ”

Wu Jin led his men into the room, which was two rooms, inside and outside, and the wounded sergeant was lying on a small bed in the outer room, and a brother was cleaning his wounds with salt water, and the pain made him convulse.

"How is he, does it matter?" Wu Jin asked with concern.

"He brought our Meihuawei's wound medicine, the disinfection was timely, and the bleeding stopped, fortunately, it is estimated that he will not die, but he will have to lie down for at least three or four months."

Wu Jin nodded, comforted the soldier a few more words, and then took the man into the inner room, he sat down and smiled slightly: "Say it!" Is there any way you can find them? ”

(To be continued)