Qiu Yizhi in Tongguan is also paying attention to the trend of the war at any time.

After Qiu Yizhi rescued Dai Luanxiang from Quanshan Si and almost persuaded him to surrender Zheng Rong, he took Wei Chi Lianghong and Zhao Chengxiao to lurk in the market town on the west side of Tongguan. He was really bold, and after disguised himself as a passing merchant, he chartered two rooms in a rather lively inn and observed the situation in Tongguan every day.

I saw that the daily inspection of Tongguan did not show any signs of relaxation, but the opening time was greatly reduced - from the beginning of the opening of four hours a day, until only one hour was opened at noon every day, until the last opening time was temporarily designated by the above, and there was no fixed time.

Therefore, the merchants who came and went to Tongguan were less than one day a day, but the imperial army gathered here, and they requisitioned residential accommodation, and the original residents either left their hometowns to join relatives and friends, or could only sleep on the streets, which actually made this town built on the customs a miasma.

However, the hotel rented by Qiu Yizhi was a business in the name of Lang Zhong of the military department of the imperial court, and although these court officers and soldiers were domineering, they were not stupid enough to forcibly occupy this place. It's just that the owner of this hotel is a black-hearted profiteer, who knows that there are strange goods to live here, and the price of the room has increased every day by two or three times compared to when he first came here.

Qiu Yizhi entered the customs this time differently, very well prepared, brought gold jewelry with a value of tens of thousands of taels of silver, and was not afraid of the price increase, so he said that he was the son and nephew of Zhou Cijing, vice president of the Guangyang Chamber of Commerce, and lived here.

Zhou Cijing's name is famous in the north and south, and the hotel shopkeeper sees Qiu Yizhi's generous hand, and his speech is also gentle, which is quite in line with the Confucian business style of the Zhou family, so he does not doubt it, and serves carefully every day.

Qiu Yizhi lived comfortably, and with the two guards of Wei Chi Lianghong and Zhao Chengxiao, he was able to focus all his attention on the military situation.

However, with the impermeable barrier of Tongguan, even if he is as smart and clever as Qiu Yizhi, he can only guess from the clues.

He saw that a large number of officers and troops had gathered in the west of Tongguan, but he had never seen them switch to attack—presumably because the officers and troops had suffered a big loss outside the pass, and they were unable to organize an offensive again, so they could only turn defense into attack, and first rely on the moat to stabilize the defense line.

He also saw that although the atmosphere near Tongguan was tense, and there was a faint momentum of a big war about to break out, but he never saw the Youyan army come to attack - it should be his father-in-law Zheng Rong's cautious mistake again, and he did not dare to easily send troops to challenge without full preparation, which formed the current stalemate.

However, before Qiu Yizhi sent troops south to make the emperor Zheng Yao destroy the Great Wall, he repeatedly discussed with his father-in-law Zheng Rong and his master Zhong Likuang: although his family is known as "rebel", he has always been a "thief".

Therefore, Qiu Yizhi thought that he was the only force that his father-in-law Zheng Rong could rely on on the left side of Tongguan, and there were more than 80 elite soldiers around him, so he might be able to help him more or less, and help his father-in-law succeed as soon as possible, take Tongguan, and point directly to the capital.

So he pondered for a long time, and finally thought that he really had an acquaintance in this Tongguan who might be useful, so without saying a word, he greeted Wei Chi Lianghong and Zhao Chengxiao, and came in the direction of Tongguan.

The weather was fine on this day, and the cold rain finally stopped after a few days, but the ground was still a little muddy.

Qiu Yizhi and the others slid step by step, approached Tongguan, and saw that the flag was waving on the pass, and the soldiers were patrolling around, as if they were waiting for a battle, and they really couldn't attack easily. I also saw that there were countless soldiers guarding the pass, which was far from being comparable to the few listless guards who had passed through Tongguan a few times before.

Seeing such a formation, Qiu Yizhi was also inexplicably a little panicked in his heart, and he didn't dare to approach, but grabbed an officer in a hundred uniforms and asked: "May I ask this official, Ruan Wenlong, who was originally on an errand here, Ruan Qian is always on duty today?" ”

The hundred households turned their heads to look at Qiu Yi and asked, "Who are you, what is the matter with Ruan Qian?" ”

Qiu Yizhi hurriedly bowed his hand and said: "Down is a distant relative of Ruan Qian, doing some small business, and he happened to pass by here, so he was going to come over to visit." ”

The hundred households thought to themselves: Where did this Ruan Wenlong come from such a relative who was doing business, he just wanted to ask him to save his face to go out of the customs. He was also straightforward, so he said: "Well, let's put it this way, now is the time when the two armies are fighting, and the passes here are extremely tightly guarded, and the opening and closing of the doors are all personally responsible for the newly transferred former enemy marshal General Bai Wenbo Bai. Regardless of whether you are a relative of President Ruan Qian, you must also go out of the customs according to the rules. ”

Qiu Yizhi is such a smart person, from the simple two sentences of the hundred households, he heard two extremely important news: one is that the imperial court has transferred the general Bai Wenbo to replace the dead Qian Qing to command the battles of the armies; Second, Bai Wenbo's defense of Tongguan is very rigorous, and he does everything himself, so I am afraid it will be difficult to find flaws.

Seeing that the young man in front of him seemed to be in deep thought, the hundred households said again, "In that case, then please go back first." If you want to get out, I'm afraid you can only prepare in advance, send more people to take a look, and set off as soon as you see the door open, this is the right way. ”

Qiu Yizhi listened to the words of these hundred households, but it was also like this, so he arched his hand and said: "Domeng has instructed!" It is really Ruan Qian's relatives in the next place, and if President Qianqian happens to be on duty today, he still bothers this adult to go in and say goodbye. As he spoke, he took out a gold ingot from his sleeve and handed it to the hundred households.

The hundred households took the gold, weighed it, and knew that the weight was not light, so he said: "This young master is really generous, in this troubled world, no relatives and friends can trust it, only gold and silver, then I will be disrespectful...... He stuffed the gold into his pocket while continuing, "As for Mr. Ruan Qian, he is indeed not on duty today. If this young master really wants to see him, he has to go to his house. ”

Qiu Yizhi hurriedly asked where Ruan Wenlong's family lived.

The hundred households received such a large ingot of gold from Qiu Yizhi, and thought that a thousand presidents were not high-ranking officials and dignitaries, and the location of their residence was not a secret, so they told Qiu Yizhi Ruan Wenlong's address.

Qiu Yizhi followed the address of the hundred households, took Yu Chi Lianghong and Zhao Chengxiao, and effortlessly found a courtyard with a door lintel that was not wide.

According to the rules of the Han Dynasty for two hundred years, only the commanders and inspectors above the 1,000 generals can be regarded as official officials of the imperial court, and they have an official service issued by the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Households; In the eyes of Shangguan, Qianzong, Baihu, Shichang, etc., are just soldiers, and they only have soldiers' salaries on weekdays.

Therefore, although this Ruan Wenlong has the fame of Qianzong, and he relies on the convenience of being in charge of Tongguan to eat and take cards on weekdays, he seems to be very poor - I saw that the wall of the courtyard where he lived looked very old, the plaster plastered in many places on the wall had peeled off, and a hidden wooden door was also pitted, as if a gust of wind could blow it down.

A few childish voices came from inside the door: "Dad, I want to eat meat!" I want to eat meat! ”

"It's just, it's been a long time since I opened meat!"

"If you don't have meat to eat, you might as well eat fish!"

In response to them, it was an extremely rough man's voice: "Eat, eat, eat, know how to eat!" I'm almost out of food, and I still want to eat fish and meat? Get out of here, find your mom! ”

When Qiu Yi heard it, she recognized that it was Ruan Wenlong's voice, and she didn't knock on the door, so she pushed the door in and said loudly: "Ruan Qian is so poor, it's really admirable!" ”

Although Ruan Wenlong was a little familiar with this voice, he couldn't guess who it was, so he hurriedly asked in a loud voice, "Who is coming to visit?" So saying, he got down from the kang, put on his cloth shoes, and walked out of the door.

"Ruan Qian is really a noble person, and he is also an acquaintance with Qian in Xia, and he also met a few days ago, why don't you know him?" Qiu Yizhi said with a smile.

Ruan Wenlong walked out of the room in a panic, but saw Qiu Yizhi, the righteous son of Zheng Rong, the king of Youyan, standing in his dilapidated courtyard, and was stunned for a long time before he tried to lower his voice and said, "What time is it?" How dare Your Highness come here? ”

Qiu Yizhi didn't answer, and said with a smile: "When I came from afar, didn't Ruan Qian invite me to have a cup of tea?" ”

Ruan Wenlong didn't expect Qiu Yizhi to say such an inappropriate sentence, but he had no choice but to invite him, Yu Chi Lianghong, and Zhao Chengxiao into the house, and invited them to sit down next to a very shabby table, take out four crude pottery bowls, pour hot water, and drink water to themselves without saying a word.

Qiu Yizhi picked up the tea bowl on the spot, dipped his lips in the tea slightly, and knew that this tea was really inferior, so he smiled: "As the saying goes, 'I don't want to be a marquis of ten thousand households in the next life, I only want to take care of Tongguan', which means that Tongguan is heavy in oil and water, and it seems that it is all fake." I didn't expect Ruan Qian's life to be so simple, hehe, it is really a clear stream. ”

Although the power in charge of Tongguan is not large, it is extremely effective, and those who need to pass through the customs on weekdays can't help but compliment Ruan Wenlong a few words, but no one has ever said that he is honest and simple. Therefore, for the first time in his life, he heard such flattery, and he was speechless.

But listening to Qiu Yizhi, he continued to ask: "It is said that the war is fought with swords and guns on the surface, but in fact, it is the supply of money and food. It stands to reason that the imperial court has fought with the prince for half a year, and Ruan Qian should have been promoted, why did he become more and more difficult? ”

Qiu Yizhi's words finally hit Ruan Wenlong's sore spot, and he sighed and said: "Your Highness is a master, how do you know that the villain's life is difficult?" It is true that the military salaries issued by the imperial court are like rivers and seas, but most of them have been deducted by the generals. It's the villain's turn, as long as it's paid in full and on a regular monthly basis, thank God. His Royal Highness also knows the situation of the villain, just with the salary of more than one or two silver per month from the imperial court, how can he support this family of five people, large and small, and not rely on the merchants who enter and exit the checkpoint to pay filial piety on weekdays and live with some silver? He sighed and said, "But at present, the soldiers are in chaos, and the merchants who come and go to Tongguan are only a fraction of what they usually do, and they are staring at it tightly, so where do they get the silver?" ”

Qiu Yizhi heard that Ruan Wenlong's words were still full of copper smell, and what he said was quite honest, "haha" laughed twice: "Speaking of which, you and I are now our own masters, but enemies who do not share the sky." Mr. Qian is complaining to me here, doesn't it seem appropriate? Saying that, Qiu Yizhi still reached into his arms, took out two extremely heavy ingots of gold, put them on the table, and continued, "Forget it. Mr. Ruan Qian and I still have some friendship, this little caution, please accept it! ”

When Ruan Wenlong saw these two ingots of gold, his eyes suddenly emitted golden light, and his hands held down the gold tightly without obeying the call, and hurriedly thanked him in his mouth: "Then Your Highness has really relieved the villain's urgent need!" If the villain hasn't entered the project, the three children in my family will only be able to eat bran for the next half a month. ”

Qiu Yizhi smiled, and was about to speak, but heard Yu Chi Lianghong on the side say: "There seems to be someone outside the door!" ”