After waiting patiently in the inn for two days, at noon on the eighteenth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar, Shi Ran left the inn again as if nothing happened, and went to the "Koufuju" restaurant where he met Fan Wucheng and Liu Yunyan's family.

Entering the "Koufuju", Shi Ran chose a seat near the window on the second floor to sit down, ordered a few signature dishes of the restaurant at random, and slowly poured himself a drink. When he was almost finished, Shi Ran put down his chopsticks, sat up straight seemingly casually, twisted his head outward, and said in a low voice while pretending to enjoy the street scene outside the window: "Master Zhang ordered Shi to send a message to Boss Fan, hoping that Boss Fan can spread the news of the recent movements of the Beiping Army as soon as possible, as well as whether it will go south to intervene in the changes in the situation when there is a change in Kaifeng, so that Kaifeng can make plans accordingly." ”

"Don't worry, Master Shi will definitely bring the message next. As for when the news will be transmitted, I still need to go back and ask the Fourteenth Master next time before I can reply to the hall master. One step ahead of Shi Ran, Fan Xiaowu, who was sitting back to back at the table next to Shi Ran, also turned his head and pretended to look at the street scene outside the window, and replied softly.

"That being the case, then Shi will go back to the inn and wait for good news, and meet Brother Fan here in two days." After Shi Ran finished speaking, he turned around, continued to pour himself and drank all the wine in the pot, and called the shopkeeper to settle the bill and leave. Fan Xiaowu, who was at the table, sat for a while, estimating that Shi Ran had already walked away, and then returned to Fan's Mansion with the money for wine and food.

In the afternoon of the same day, in the secret room of the Fan Mansion, Fan Wucheng listened to Fan Xiaowu relay Zhang Yan's message from Shi Ran, and thought about how to reply to the other party. Of course, what Fan Wucheng was thinking about at this time was not whether to agree to provide the other party with the information he needed, but when to provide relevant information to the other party, what proportion of true and false content in the information provided, and so on. After all, although he could not participate in all meetings and decisions related to military operations as Fan Wucheng, he was still qualified to know about the general policies of the crossing team. Therefore, now he didn't need to bother to inquire at all, and he knew very well how the crossing team reacted when there was a great change in the Later Zhou regime, as well as the attitude towards those who tried to plot the usurpation. Therefore, for Fan Wucheng, what needs to be considered now is how much real and valuable information is provided to "Feiyantang", rather than the question of whether to give or not.

If at the beginning of the agreement with Zhang Yan, Fan Wucheng would still be entangled in whether to provide information to the other party, whether he would be sorry for the trust of his brothers by providing various information to the other party, and whether these news would cause damage to the work being carried out by the Beiping Army and the interests of the crossing team, even if most of this news was false information made up by himself. Then, as he has been in contact with "Feiyantang" for a long time, the number of messages provided to the other party has increased, and the proportion of real news has become larger and larger, and this kind of entanglement and uneasiness has become weaker and weaker, and the so-called "bottom line" that he adheres to has become lower and lower. So much so that when he provided the "Feiyantang" with information about the Northern Expedition of the Beiping Army, he not only passed on to Zhang Yan the information he had inquired about the combat objectives, troop routes, and commanders of the Northern Expedition, but even told the other party the size of the troops and the armament of the left and right Route Armies of the Northern Expeditionary Army, as well as the numbers of some of the participating troops obtained through the noble and other internal lines. Fortunately, Zhang Yan's side was only a private spy agency serving Zhang Yongde's personal interests, and Zhang Yongde's goal was only to seek to seize the power of the Later Zhou Dynasty, and he did not have a clear position on the conflict between the Beiping Army and the Khitans, nor did he have any good feelings towards the Khitans, let alone use the Khitans to contain and suppress the Beiping Army - after the Battle of Youyun, the status of the Khitan Army in the minds of almost all Later Zhou generals, including Zhang Yongde, could be said to have plummeted, and no one thought that the Khitan Army could now have the strength to fight with the Beiping Army. It's not worth ruining one's reputation in order to use such a liliang - otherwise, once Zhang Yan's side leaks information about the Northern Expedition of the Beiping Army to the Khitans, then even if the Khitans are still unlikely to cause substantial and serious damage to the Northern Expeditionary Army, they can at least take some effective measures through the part of the opponent they have mastered, or at least as they did in the later stage of the first phase of the Northern Expedition. The implementation of stricter policies such as clearing the wilderness and retreating the population within the established offensive range of the Beiping Army made it difficult for the Beiping Army to achieve other results except for occupying a few empty cities - at least not as easily as it is now to capture tens of thousands of Khitans.

Although experiments have proved that the theory of the so-called "boiled frog in warm water" is a fallacy within the scope of natural science, if we look at it from the perspective of a person's psychological changes, such a theory has a certain amount of truth. After all, compared to a frog in a basin of water, the human mind is compromised. The frogs in the basin are physiologically unable to tolerate the rise in water temperature and will inevitably break away from the basin as quickly as possible. However, people who are in a dilemma and hesitant can actively or passively adjust their psychological bottom line according to the needs of their own interests, compromise with themselves again and again, and lower their psychological bottom line again and again, so as to comfort and forgive themselves, keep themselves away from the uneasiness of conscience, and reduce the guilt of betraying their brothers, so that they can live with peace of mind and live freely. It is precisely because of this psychology that Fan Wucheng can leak secrets again and again, complete self-forgiveness again and again, and obtain psychological comfort, and still enjoy the trust of his brothers, the respect of his subordinates and businessmen from all sides, and the money, rights, identity, status and many other benefits brought to him by the crossing team, without being unable to eat, sleep, or wake up in the middle of the night.

Of course, as a businessman, as a successful businessman, Fan Wucheng values his own private interests the most, and he will never allow anything to affect his vested interests. Therefore, although Fan Wucheng is no longer as hesitant and hesitant as he was at the beginning to provide all kinds of news for "Feiyantang", he still avoids and does not touch some news that involves the core interests of the crossing team, or involves his personal core interests, and is likely to damage these interests, so that his core interests will not be affected. Therefore, when faced with the question of whether the Beiping Army will go south to intervene in the political situation in Kaifeng, which is likely to affect the "Jianye No. 1 Operation Jihua", he will still be cautious and think about his vested interests and the dividends that he may get from the crossing team in the future.

After bowing his head and thinking for a long time, Fan Wucheng finally raised his head again and said to Fan Xiaowu: "You go and reply to that Shi Ran, just say that this matter is very important, and I need enough time to listen to the news, and I can give him a definite answer in five days." ”

"Yes, villain obeys." Fan Xiaowu replied respectfully.

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