Volume 17, Chapter 5, Goodbye King Yizhou

On the second day, Fang Ling accompanied Shi Baoliang to pick horses in the surrounding counties, and his superb horse skills immediately increased his status in Shi Baoliang's heart, plus He Zhong stood on the same front with him, Fang Ling became a celebrity around Shi Baoliang, and over time, he might be able to sit on an equal footing with He Zhong.

However, even though Shi Baoliang praised Fang Ling verbally and said that he valued him, his trust was still reserved, because he did not mention to Fang Ling that the King of Yizhou would come to Tancheng, and He Zhong did not take the initiative to disclose this matter.

All this was not out of Fang Ling's expectations, these two corrupt officials are very good at superficial work, and they are very good at talking about the truth, calling them brothers, but they have their own little calculations in their hearts.

Fang Ling didn't expect to gain all of their trust in such a short period of time, as long as he didn't doubt it, it was already good. And he also knew very well that Fang Zongao had always acted cautiously, especially the top secret like the Three Kings Gathering in Tancheng, even if Fang Zongao came here, even if Shi Baoliang had the opportunity to contact him, it would be impossible to bring himself.

Therefore, if you want to get in touch with Fang Zongao, you must go through other people.

After a few days, through the various information he collected, he locked on another important person-Yuan Zhixiang.

Although Yuan Zhixiang is only a district lieutenant, he is the deputy captain of the guard under Chang Bai, and his power is not much higher than the official position, as Chang Bai's henchman, he can naturally get all kinds of secret news, and Shi Baoliang obtained the information about the coming of the three kings from him.

Yuan Zhixiang is cautious and has a very smart mind, and he is highly valued by Chang Bai, but he also has a small shortcoming, that is, good gambling.

In the military, gambling is almost the only pastime for soldiers, so many officials turn a blind eye or even participate in it.

Of course, this kind of gambling is also very measured, first, only with their own people, and secondly, the stakes are not large, which will not cause unnecessary disputes.

With the identity of the celebrity around Shi Baoliang, Fang Ling successfully met Yuan Zhixiang, and then ran to the general's mansion every day to gamble with Yuan Zhixiang's subordinates for a day and a half.

Fang Ling was not good at gambling, so he accounted for the majority when he lost, but because the stakes were not large, he only lost a few dozen taels of silver in a day, which was just a drizzle for him, but for these soldiers, he regarded Fang Ling, who was a good gambler, as a rich man.

So in the next few days, Fang Ling almost didn't live in Shi Baoliang's mansion, but lived in the backyard of the general's mansion.

Fang Ling's generous moves, coupled with the support of Shi Baoliang, a general's relative, quickly became familiar with the guards. Shi Baoliang naturally didn't care about this matter, he wished that Fang Ling would get through more relationships and become his eyes and ears.

It's just that he didn't know that Fang Ling was playing his own calculations, and Fang Ling obtained a lot of useful and reliable information through the mouths of these gamblers, especially Yuan Zhixiang, including the King of Yizhou, of course.

Fang Ling tentatively proposed that he wanted to see the demeanor of the king of Yizhou with his own eyes, and such a trivial matter was accepted by the bold Yuan Zhixiang. So, on the night after the king of Yizhou entered the city, Fang Ling finally got the opportunity to contact him.