After Ling Yuanhang came back from the grain store, he didn't go out again in the guest canteen. He took a pen and sketched on paper. On his paper, there are Wei Zhonghai, King An, Shang Jin, the Warat people, the bandits in the nearby mountains, Hu County Order, Chen Military Quartermaster, and the person who went back to his hometown in Yanping County to transport materials, blades, food, and money. What kind of connection do these seemingly unrelated people and things that are scattered all over the world? Thinking of the secret power in the mouths of Wei Zhonghai and Wei Zhongping's brothers. Ling Yuanhang wondered, are these bandits their secret power?

Thinking of this, Ling Yuanhang made up his mind, he wanted to find out who those bandits in this mountain were? How many of them were there? They didn't work or rob, where did their money come from?

Ling Yuanhang began to take people to wander around and around Yanping County, and sometimes he took people to the mountains to hunt prey, wanting to take this opportunity to learn about the hundreds of miles of Taihang Mountain around it. After two days of walking in the mountains, they really had a good harvest, first of all, he met a woodcutter who often collected firewood on the mountain.

As soon as the woodcutter heard that Ling Yuanhang was from the capital and wanted to go into the mountains to hunt, he said to Ling Yuanhang: "Young man, you just need to go around the outer area of more than ten miles, don't go there, you can't go." ”

Ling Yuanhang said: "Big brother, why can't you go inside, can't there be a tiger inside?"

The woodcutter is a hearty person, after he said a few words to Ling Yuanhang, he felt that this young man was also a cheerful person, and he liked it a lot, and besides, this person was not a local, so he also told the truth: "Haven't you heard that there are bandits here?"

Ling Yuanhang said: "I've heard about it, but didn't it say that this gang of bandits doesn't rob the common people?"

The woodcutter said: "They don't rob the common people, and everyone thinks so." But lad, I have seen those who went in, but those who did not come out. I don't know if this person died inside, or if he also became a bandit inside. These bandits are more than twenty miles away from us in the mountains, and I never dare to go any further. Even sometimes people who meet them come down to buy food, and I hide from afar, and I guess they should go down the mountain to buy food again in the past two days. I have to sell some firewood today, but I can't help it, and I don't have land, so I can only rely on selling some firewood to make a living. They're going down the mountain these days, and I'm going to have to avoid them. ”

Ling Yuanhang asked Ah Yuan to give the woodcutter five taels of silver, and the woodcutter was very happy, he couldn't sell a tael of silver in five days. This time, he can buy some pork for his wife and children. The woodcutter happily thanked Ling Yuanhang, and happily explained to him what he knew on the mountain, and went home to buy meat for his wife and children.

Ling Yuanhang and a few people surveyed the woodcutter and told them the direction and path of the bandits going down the mountain, and then returned to the city.

In the past two days, Ling Yuan Aerospace took Ling Yi and the others, who had just returned from General Feng, to squat on the mountain. That night, when they finally arrived, these people were just as the woodcutter had said, they all went down at night, and at dawn they could go to the barn shop to buy grain.

There were more than twenty people in this group, all of whom had sabers on their bodies. The leader was a young man of average stature, almost thirty years old. A man beside the young man said angrily, "Big brother, this time I also want to go to the Qinglou and taste the taste." I don't want to look at the food outside. Gotta change it. ”

The young man was happy, he turned around and kicked the man and said, "Old Five, look at your little interest, okay, this time, let's go to the Qinglou first, and then go to buy food." Damn, I live in the mountains every day, living a monk-like life, and I can't even see the shadow of a woman. ”

Another fat man said: "Wu military quartermaster, I sometimes wonder at that time, you say, why is our army in the mountains?" ”

The young man, that is, Wu Junxiu, said: "What's strange about that, didn't the general say, good steel should be used on the blade." We are a special force they have trained, and the general said that once we can go out of the mountain, it will be the time for us to enter the capital, and that will be the time for us to be promoted and make a fortune. ”

The twenty or so people walked away with a smile and a smile. Ling Yuanhang waited for them to go far before coming out. He could already roughly judge that this group of bandits was an officer and soldier, this was not the army of the imperial court, so this should be the secret force in the mouth of Weizhonghai. So how do you know how many people there are?

Ling Yuanhang thought about it, and then he divided all the people he brought, and asked them to go to these nearby county grain stores to see how much grain this group of people bought every month.

After everyone came back, they gathered together to summarize all the news they had heard, Ling Yuanhang didn't know how to calculate this account in detail, he kept it all in his mind, and was ready to ask someone who understood it when the time came. But he could do the math of an approximate number, and the group would have to be five thousand, to say the least. If King An secretly brought this group of people into the capital, then this force would be too afraid. If the imperial court is not prepared, the consequences will be unimaginable.

Ling Yuanhang basically determined the ownership and number of these people, but now there is another question, that is, where does the money come from. When he set off, the prince gave him two carrier pigeons. He carried it with him on the road, but never used it, and this time he wrote a letter on a piece of tissue paper, tied it to the pigeon's leg, and let it go.

Two days later, the carrier pigeon returned, and Ling Yuanhang took down the prince's reply, which had only one line on it: "The capital has been prepared, and other things will be left to others to do, and my father has ordered someone to go to Fujian to check the silver mines." You can go to Gangnam, but you must report your whereabouts. ”

Ling Yuanhang understood at a glance. This is to let yourself do your own things first, but the direction of the prince is confirmed, you can do your own things, but if possible, you can help you help, yes, the prince must know where he is at all times, he has set a range for himself.

But this time he is also free, after all, there is someone to investigate this matter, which has nothing to do with him. It seems that the silver of the private soldiers comes from silver mines, and it is illegal to open mines privately in this imperial court, and this Wei family is bold enough. This court has a lot of things, and even this has been found out.

Ling Yuanhang thought about it, and he had almost gone to the northeast and northwest, but he really didn't go to Jiangnan. Although Aru grew up in the north, she may have really left the north for the south. Then go south and look for it again, anyway, I was going to go there in the first place.

This time, Ling Yuanhang easily took his more than 30 people to Jiangnan. They searched in Jiangnan for more than two months, but they did not find any trace of Yaru. On this day, he took Ling Yi and others to Yangzhou.

Yangzhou is the most prosperous place in the south of the Yangtze River, can Yaru go here to develop her restaurant business? Ling Yuanhang always felt that Yaru was in which corner of Yangzhou.

He decided to stay here for a while and look for it here. They did not look for the best inn in Yangzhou, but found a medium-sized inn on the edge of the city to stay.

The next day, Ling Yuanhang did not go to Yamen to inquire about the newly opened shops in Yangzhou in the past two years, but took Ah Yuan and Ah Er to walk on the most prosperous main street in Yangzhou. He first led people into a teahouse next to him.

The business of the teahouse is very hot, and it seems that there are really a lot of idlers in Yangzhou.

He saw that there was only one guest at the table, and he walked over. While he was sitting there listening to people's lectures, he asked the young man opposite: "Little brother, is the business in Yangzhou very good, I walked through this street and felt that no matter which shop it was, it seemed to be very popular." ”

The little brother on the other side looked at him and said, "This son, listen to your accent, it's from the capital, right?"

Ling Yuanhang smiled and said, "Yes, come here to see what business is good to do." ”

The little brother looked up and down and said, "If you want to talk about Yangzhou, it is the richest place in the south of the Yangtze River." There are also a lot of people who come here from all over the world to do business, just see if you can do it. What business do you want to do, Childe?"

Ling Yuanhang said: "I want to open a restaurant, restaurant or something, I don't know if Yangzhou is good at doing business in this area?"

The little brother became interested: "Restaurant restaurant, as long as you do well, this business will be profitable." There are so many people from all over the world, you can make money just by opening a small restaurant here, but it's just a matter of earning more and earning less. ”

Ling Yuanhang said: "If you want to open a restaurant or restaurant, you must first understand the market, have you opened any new restaurants here in the past year?" ”

The little brother said, "Yes, there are a lot of new ones." There are big ones and there are small ones. ”

Ling Yuanhang sat up straight and asked, "Let's see, is there anything that is quite distinctive or popular?" ”

The little brother began to count: "Son, listen well: what Sichuan small hot pot, Northeast dumplings, Shandong Shanxian mutton soup, good things to come to the restaurant, Shunshun Shun Restaurant, Jiangnan medicinal food, etc., a lot." It's all very placed, and these places are full every day. ”

Ling Yuanhang said: "What are the good restaurants here? Are there any new restaurants or anything like that? I'll try them." ”

The little brother said: "The largest restaurant in Yangzhou is the first floor in Yangzhou, but I now feel that the title of the first floor in Yangzhou is a bit unworthy of the name." ”

Ling Yuanhang said, "Oh, how do you say that?"

The little brother said: "A few months ago, a new welcome restaurant was opened here, and this restaurant is even more popular than the first floor in Yangzhou. ”

Ling Yuanhang came to the spirit: "Little brother, then tell me what are the characteristics of this restaurant." ”

The little brother said: "What are the characteristics, let me think about it, in fact, I have only been to this restaurant once, but I am very impressed." First of all, this restaurant is different from other restaurants in that their guys are all very good-looking, and their clothes are all the same color. And from the shopkeeper of their restaurant to the young man in their restaurant, they all wear the same hat, the appearance of that hat, a little special, but it looks good. According to their own words, this was specially made for them by their host. This is to prevent them from losing their hair in the food, and their host says it's called hygiene. ”

Ling Yuanhang stood up suddenly, just because the word "hygiene" was a word that Yaru often liked to say, his Aru was a very smart woman, and he would often hear a lot of new terms in her little mouth. Hygiene is one of them, and she often says that her daughter's sentence is: "Jiahui, we have to pay attention to hygiene, come and wipe your little hands and mouth." This must be the restaurant opened by his Aru, Ling Yuanhang was very excited at this time.