"So here's the problem," in the lobby behind the closing door, the main members of the restaurant except for the two cooks were all sitting in the lobby, around a round table, listening to the shopkeeper Gu's instructions: "Business is not good, what can I do to find out information?" Everyone present is their own people, everyone brainstorms and sees if there is any way..."

Before he finished speaking, Wei Laosan's loud voice rang out: "My lord, what kind of business are you doing, let's go directly and wipe Li Jinglong's neck, isn't this battle easy to fight?" The commander is gone, the dragons in Texas City are leaderless, and when the time comes, the prince's army will go south..."

Gu Huai was speechless, and couldn't figure out what Wei Laosan had learned in the past six months with him... At first, I wanted to let this fool run the hall just to make those soldiers make less trouble, but now I look like a plague god.

Gu Yu, who had been playing with the dagger, flipped his wrist, the dagger disappeared, and his young face was full of disdain: "You know a fart, where in this world is there a coach like Li Jinglong?" You slaughtered him, how can this battle be fought? ”

"Reasonable," Xiao Man, who had a gloomy face, interjected, "I heard that many generals in the army are still worried about the crime of the imperial court to punish Li Jinglong." ”

Speaking of this, Gu Huai's attention was also successfully diverted, and he raised his eyebrows, thoughtful.

There are some things that the spies under his hands are not clear, but he understands the reason, the reason why Li Jinglong was not punished, the news has already spread in the palace city of Jinling, it is Huang Zicheng and Qi Tai who came forward to protect him, this is undoubtedly good news for the Yan army, just like Gu Yu said, if Li Jinglong is replaced, where can he find a general who can defeat the battle with an army of 500,000 in hand?

So Gu Huai didn't have the idea of poking this thing out at all... Although there is room for operation in Jinling City, Pei Xi may also help stir up the bloody storm so that Jinyiwei can see the light of day again, but Jinling City will certainly be chaotic, and Li Jinglong will not be able to escape, and when the time comes, Huang Zicheng, Qi Tai, and Li Jinglong will fall together, and the loss will be long-term interests after all.

These are good people... spared no effort to dig a pit for Zhu Yunwen, but these people were still chosen by Zhu Yunwen himself, Zhu Di and Gu Huai watched from the sidelines and applauded, where are they willing to let others dig out Zhu Yunwen?

But there's still bad news after all... The imperial court is really going to increase its troops.

I don't know what method Qi Tai, the secretary of the military department, used to persuade the stingy ghost of the household department, this time the increase in troops reached 200,000, and the troops of Yingtianfu and Hejian were empty, and the border army could not move lightly, where did these 200,000 come from?

Further south.

The three prefectures of Baoning, Shunqing, and Chengdu, as well as the three prefectures of Wuchang, Xiangyang, and Jingzhou, gathered enough troops and ordnance to go north together.

This is no longer what blood can be described, it is simply playing with life, the transfer of local government soldiers is not so easy, the soldiers have to eat grain when they go north, and the grain in the three prefectures between the rivers is not enough, so they have to bring their own grain and grass, eat while walking, and when they really get to Texas City, the time spent is nothing, and the food eaten is enough to fight another battle.

The gathering of 200,000 troops can definitely be completed in this winter, that is to say, the pressure faced by the Yan army will not decrease but increase after the beginning of spring, and this time it is impossible for the Yan army to give the southern army a chance to encircle Beiping step by step, that is to say, when spring comes, it is the time when the Yan army goes south and the southern army fights a decisive battle.

The commanders of both sides realized this, so Li Jinglong was training his troops and waiting for the army to assemble, and Zhu Di was not idle.

If nothing else, this battle is probably the most changeable battle in the Battle of Jingyan, five or six out of ten of the imperial court's active troops are gathered here, Zhu Di also temporarily reached a peak after absorbing Daning's troops, if the imperial court wins, Zhu Di will have no place to get troops, and can only be trapped and die in Beiping; And if the Yan army wins, north of the Yellow River... It has really become Zhu Di's territory, and it is no longer a dream to rule by rowing the river.

Thinking of such a small restaurant that he took over, the information obtained would directly affect the direction of the next big battle, and even Gu Huai, who had been mentally prepared, couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.

He settled down, stopped the gossip between a few spies, and tapped on the table: "It's almost December, according to the past, the ice and snow in the north will melt in February, Li Jinglong will not let go of this opportunity, so we only have three months." ”

"There are not many spies going south, this is Dezhou City, and the methods used in Beiping before can't be used here, and in the next few days, every piece of information needs to be obtained by you in person, remember, every piece of information will increase the probability of victory."

"The so-called secret spy is to give up honor and identity, give up life and future, go to the most dangerous places, use all means to obtain useful information, no one will remember you, even if you die in Texas, Beiping will only give your family a pension amount, don't think that you have done anything before, just think that you think of yourself as a hero, you can bargain with me here!"

"This restaurant... It seems that I was still too tolerant of you before, forgetting your original identity, and now you are just running the hall, accounting office, purchasing, and doing chores! If I see you behaving in a way that doesn't match your identity, I'll go back to Beiping! ”

Gu Huai glanced at Wei Laosan coldly: "Especially you!" ”

Several people at the table were all stunned, since they received this task and hurriedly went south, Gu Huai has always been very gentle, they thought that the adults had changed their sex all of a sudden, so these days they have let themselves go a little, Wei Laosan even dared to choke in the lobby, but until this moment, they knew that Gu Huai was still the original chief officer... The life and death of the spies who controlled the entire secret spy department not only stood behind and gave orders, but the chief officer who went to this battlefield with them.

Several people were awe-inspiring, Gu Huai stood up and glanced at Gu Yu: "Where is the place to buy vegetables?" ”

……

“... The color is about yellowish-black, relatively flexible, and the length is very long, like a rope. ”

In a small alley, Gu Huailian described something to Gu Yu with a comparison.

This alley is a more famous vegetable alley in the city of Texas, many farmers like to rush to the first moment of the city gate in the morning to carry the burden to come in and sell, or sell to the shop that specializes in collecting vegetables, many dignitaries and nobles are in this alley to buy vegetables, the picture is fresh, although the time is already in the afternoon, but there are still many stalls selling dried meat.

Since the restaurant has been opened, the daily vegetables, meat and wine are either supplied by a fixed person, or they go to the street to buy them themselves, as for Gu Yushi, who was originally in charge of torture in the secret spy department, his hands were covered with blood, and he was not suitable to do this, so it was not in Gu Huai's consideration, and now the secret spy department is short of manpower, although Zhu Di has ruthlessly allocated a large amount of funds and transferred many elite soldiers in the army, but the secret spy cannot be refined overnight, and this kind of major event is better to be done by the originally powerful spy.

After listening to it for a long time, Gu Yu finally reacted to what Gu Huai was saying: "Big... What did the shopkeeper say about Khumbu? ”

"Khumbu?" Gu Huai frowned.

"Yes, Khumbu, there were people in Beiping who sold it before, and many people liked to buy it to make soup and drink."

"It should be that, is there anyone selling it here?"

Gu Yu looked around and pointed to a stall: "Shopkeeper, please see, that is." ”

He walked over with Gu Huai and picked up a long strip of dry goods, Gu Huai stretched out his hand to take it, only to feel that there was a big gap with his impression.

But it should be the same thing... Gu Huai was hesitant to lick it in his mouth to see the taste.

When the stall owner saw the business coming to the door, he introduced it very enthusiastically: "Guest, this kombu soup is fresh, and the whole Texas has goods from me, do you want to buy some?" ”

"How much do you have in stock of this?"

"If you go back to the guests, this thing came from the Yongping Mansion by the sea, and I still have a lot of them at home, how much do you want to buy from the son?"

"Bring me some first, if it's the kind of thing I want, I'll have all the rest of you."

Paying the money and paying the bill, Gu Huai bought a few of these dry goods, then took Gu Yu back to the restaurant, went directly to the back kitchen, first boiled the water in an iron pot, and then put down this suspected kelp, and then turned to low heat to slowly dry the soup.

Turning off the heat, he dipped his fingers in the crystal at the bottom of the pot and tasted it.

Well... That's right.

Gu Yu on the side was a little curious: "My lord, what is this?" ”

Gu Huai didn't answer, just rolled up his sleeves: "Wash the dishes." ”

It only took a short time, the fish soup cooked by Gu Huai himself was freshly out of the donkey, and a few spies who heard the movement here and rushed to the kitchen to watch the excitement looked curiously at the door, Gu Huai beckoned them to come over, and then put some freshly refined crystals in the fish soup.

"Taste it."

Wei Laosan, who was rushing to the forefront, stopped all of a sudden, his face became complicated, he looked at the fish soup, and then at Gu Huai, and scratched his head: "My lord, this is for me... Poison test? ”

He asked tentatively, "Aren't we going to open a restaurant?" What if this thing eats the dead? ”

Gu Huai's face was expressionless: "Do you want to taste it?" ”

Wei Laosan turned his head to look, and the rest of the people all took a few steps back, only he stood alone in front, Gu Huai handed over the soup spoon, he took it with a painful face, and tasted it tremblingly.

Then the pain turned to horror.

"It's... What kind of poison is it? Why is this soup so delicious? ”

Gu Huai didn't bother to pay attention to him, and glanced at Xiao Man: "Tomorrow you are in the back kitchen, staring at those two cooks, and telling them that from today onwards, this thing must be added to every dish, don't let them know how this thing is made, and don't let them take this thing out of this restaurant." ”

"Also, it's not poison."

Gu Huai paused, remembered the delicacies he had eaten in his previous life, and sighed with some emotion:

"It's MSG."