Returning to the center of the city at night, the time had passed, the long letter lights on the street were still bright, and the figures on the side of the road had gradually thinned out.

It stands to reason that the city should also have a curfew at this time, but due to the developed commerce and trade of Chaomen, people in the city like to travel at night, so the curfew has long existed in name only.

According to his past memories, Qiu Shaohu walked to the edge of the southern city, where shops and houses were mixed, making it convenient for people to buy many necessary materials, and at the same time, it also inadvertently gave birth to many strange transactions.

Qiu Shaohu looked at a shop with a plaque of "Lianshengtang", and couldn't help but say to himself: "This store has not been sealed by the official family, which is also rare." ”

"Who has nothing to do with my business? Have the ability to stand up! The shopkeeper Zhao Lin sat on a sled-like thing and "moved" it out of it, and there were four wheels under the "sled" to drive the belt to move on the ground, which could be used as a substitute. But the reason why Zhao Lin can't put it down is not because he can't walk normally, but because he can save effort.

Yes, he's a standard lazy guy.

"An old friend came to see you, don't you want to catch up?" Qiu Shaohu stepped in first uninvited, and Zhao Lin urged the sleigh behind him to follow immediately: "Don't be, it's no good for me every time I see you." Say, what do you want this time? ”

Zhao Lin was met by Qiu Shaohu last time with Lianmo, and they didn't intersect for a long time, and it was more of a combination of interests.

"Buy weapons." Qiu Shaohu simply stated his purpose.

"Guest officer, you are in the wrong place, we are doing serious business, you look at what I have on the shelf, there is everything in firewood, rice, oil and salt, and the guy will not sell anything." Zhao Lin said with a dignified face.

"None for sale?" Qiu Shaohu said: "So there is still one?" ”

"Okay, Lianshengtang has undertaken to build a batch of ordnance, but it was specially ordered by the palace and supervised by the officials, but it can't be sold out at all. If you accidentally spread one or two pieces, you will not be able to protect your head. Zhao Lin can only be honest.

Qiu Shaohu walked to the counter, opened a secret compartment from below, flipped a few pages in Zhao Lin's embarrassed face, and said: "I can see, the month before yesterday, you asked for a total of 1,000 catties of good iron, 800 catties of blazing sand, 100 catties of charcoal, and other scattered things from the official family, but in the end, you only handed over a total of 200 short knives and 100 spearheads to the official family, is the difference in the middle a bit too much?" ”

"Refining weapons, it is inevitable that there will be material loss...... Zhao Lin's confidence is becoming more and more insufficient.

"Really? Then I'll send this real account book to the table of the government, do you think they believe it or not? Qiu Shaohu seemed to be smiling.

"Okay, I'm afraid of you, follow me!" Zhao Lin had no choice but to surrender, "I'll just say it's okay to see you." You hide a knife in your smile, and the whole thing is a wolf in human skin. ”

Zhao Lin walked to an inconspicuous place around the corner, pulled a bracket, and suddenly, the shelves in the original store immediately retreated to the back, and one cabinet after another popped up under the originally sealed ground. It turned out that he had hidden the contraband he was selling next to the original goods.

"I didn't lie to you this time, all the stock is really here." Zhao Lin sat on a sleigh and took Qiu Shaohu to browse the things on the shelves everywhere, "What kind of weapon do you want?" Axes, hooks, forks, kidnappers, meteors - sorry, none of these. There are only a hundred knives left from the official's house last month, and there are no other choices. You can see, these are all standard ordnance for the Royal Guards. ”

Zhao Lin casually took out a single knife out of the sheath and threw it to Qiu Shaohu, Qiu Shaohu caught it, and saw that this was a standard Yanling knife, with a slender blade and a slightly curved handle, suitable for one-handed chopping.

Qiu Shaohu said, "Don't be ordnance." ”

"Huh?" Zhao Lin was unexpected.

"Zhaoguo is now lax in armament, and the quality of ordnance is cutting corners. Like this knife yours, the spine is too thin, and the blade is not strong enough, and it is not as good as the ancient knife left over from the Zhao Kingdom a hundred years ago. ”

Qiu Shaohu stroked the details of the blade with his hand, and could feel the roughness on it.

"But where am I going to find you an ancient knife? I'm not an antique seller. Zhao Lin said helplessly.

"Weapons ordered by big families, don't you?" Qiu Shaohu said indifferently: "There are also those martial arts training sects, they will not have many weapons ordered at one time, but the quality must be absolutely fine." After all, the lives of soldiers belong to the officials, but their lives are their own. ”

Qiu Shaohu stared at Zhao Lin closely, he believed that this profiteer must have more inventory than he thought.

"If you don't scrape my skin, you won't stop." Zhao Lin said hatefully, but still picked out the new Yanling knife from another cabinet and threw it to Qiu Shaohu.

Pulling out the scabbard, you can see that its workmanship is really much better, not only the shape is more capable, the three-foot blade is shining silver, as dazzling as a mirror; The blade has a ripple-like pattern, and it is extremely smooth, and the center of gravity is further back, making it more suitable for chopping and holding.

"This is what Kang Jing's Sima family ordered from me once before, but it seems that they have ordered too many at the same time, so I forgot to pick up this batch, and it will be cheaper for you." Zhao Lin said: "But the price can't be cheap. ”

"Five of the same batch, no scabbards." Qiu Shaohu put this one aside and said, "Do you have bows and arrows?" ”

"There are more than a hundred arrows left, but there are really none."

"What about firearms?"

"You still want firearms? Since the imperial court suffered another defeat in Dingguo last month, this kind of thing has become more and more strictly guarded. Not to mention firearms, you can't even get the raw materials for gunpowder. Zhao Lin followed and said, "You don't still want armor, do you?" That's not true. The sword is still a small fight, and the hidden armor is discovered, and I will not be able to protect my real head. ”

In the end, he even cried a little.

"I don't need to look for you." Qiu Shaohu said: "I still need some other things, you can help me remember it." ”

"What?"

"Cinnabar, mercury, lime...... These cost three pounds each. Qiu Shaohu said a series of materials, all of which Zhao Lin wrote down. None of these are contraband, and they are all ready-made.

After Qiu Shaohu finished speaking, he swept between the cabinets at random to see if there was anything else he needed, and when he saw something, his eyes moved, and he said, "What is that?" ”

He pointed to a fist-sized "waterwheel" in the cabinet.

"Well, it's kind of a gate-based insurance agency." Zhao Lin rowed over on a sleigh and said, "A recent novelty, the big families in Chaomen City often have heavy iron doors in order to prevent theft, so it is inconvenient to open and close. But as long as you have this, you just need to attach this side to the door and fix the other side, and it will ......"

Zhao Lin demonstrated as he spoke, put a wooden stick on top of the bracket, and then he put the gear up, touched the switch, and "snapped", the wooden stick was bounced out far away, "In this way, the door can be bounced open, and the switch can be used to pull the door back in reverse, and no more manpower is needed." Don't look small, but the strength is very large, and hundreds of pounds of doors can support it. ”

"Give me four of these things, and the arrows I just mentioned, I want as many as I want." Qiu Shaohu said: "By the way, bring me ten short knives with that batch of ordnance." ”

"Didn't you say you didn't want ordnance?" Zhao Lin said.

"I'm useful."

Qiu Shaohu had purchased everything he needed, and at this moment, a deep voice suddenly came from behind him:

"Shopkeeper, I've got this book back for you."

Qiu Shaohu was a little surprised, not only because he didn't feel the other party's breath at all just now, but also because he didn't even notice the other party's footsteps.

When he turned around, he saw that the other party had passed by his side in a hurry, more unpredictable like a shadow.

When he walked in front of Zhao Lin and put down a book, Qiu Shaohu noticed some details of the other party. It is an old man of medium stature, his hair is half black and half white, his face is very clean and there is no messy beard, and the clothes on his body are also very neat, the only fly in the ointment is that he has a lame leg, and he walks one tall and one short, which is very eye-catching in the crowd.

Zhao Lin was already familiar with the other party, so he went over to help him with ease, the old man seemed to be borrowing books, he came to return a copy of the Tao Te Ching at this time, and borrowed a copy of the Diamond Sutra again. After paying the rent, he wrote his name on the borrowing roster, Wu Jingxing, and then left here.

When Qiu Shaohu found that when he left, although he was lame, there was really no sound on the ground with his two feet.

"What a weirdo who borrows different books every time, and it's completely confusing." Zhao Lin said.

"You're still in the business of borrowing books?" Qiu Shaohu said.

"It's a gift of flowers." Zhao Lin picked up the last page of the book and gestured to him: "Do you see this symbol?" This is the pattern of the official study of Chaomen City, the official family has a decree, saying that all the residents of Chaomen City, the books of the official study can be read at will, but the people from the outer city are not allowed to enter. Since you don't need to register your name to borrow books from the study, of course there are people like me who will lend the books from the study and then lend them to people who can't borrow them in the first place. ”

Qiu Shaohu didn't pay much attention to what Zhao Lin said, but he noticed the symbols on the book, and his eyes were slightly condensed.

He remembered the book given to him by the old liar Tang Xun, which also had the exact same symbol on it! It turned out that the book was also from the study, but the other party said "give it to him".

"Is there a book related to the stars in that study?" Qiu Shaohu thought of another thing.

"Yes, I happen to have one here, do you want it?" Zhao Lin said, and handed him a copy of "Rough Explanation of the Heavenly Calendar", "This book is the observation of Kang Jingxun Tianjian, although it is superficial, but there are all kinds of star markers, and it should be the most accurate book in recent years." ”

Qiu Shaohu couldn't wait to take it, flipped through the cumbersome prefaces, and went directly to the star map at the back.

But just by looking at it, I couldn't help but be stunned.

This book, which is known as "the most accurate astrology book in recent years", does not correspond to the star map he got himself.

Especially in the central Juntian position, the three stars that should exist are scattered, and only some lone stars are left in the corners of the edge.

……

"Please show the Taoist chief tea." Di Ying invited a Taoist priest to sit in the elegant room at the top of the restaurant, and the two were facing each other across the table, but Di Ying inevitably played the drum in his heart.

He investigated the affairs of the Lingchuan Sect, and it took great pains to find a Taoist master, who was said to know about the entry of the Lingchuan Sect. But after seeing each other, he almost didn't find anything, which couldn't help but make him scratch his head.

"Since the donor invited the poor to come, he has his own important matters to discuss." The Taoist priest wisps the dust and slowly proceeds.

"Dare to ask Dao Chief, are you okay when you come in the Lingchuan Sect?" Di Ying said in a deep voice.

"What is good? What's bad? Since the monks stay out of the matter, why should they stick to appearances? The Taoist priest said.

Here it is again, every time he asks the right question, this Taoist priest plays dumb riddles and mixes it up, but he keeps saying something else without asking.

Di Ying was inevitably impetuous.

"Amitayus longevity, the donor's heart has been messed up, and he is not in my generation after all." The Taoist priest smiled slightly, and the dust swept over directly.

Di Ying was startled, and before she moved, she only felt that it was suddenly dark in front of her, as if she was in the depths of boundless purgatory, and her body was cold. After that, he had a sharp pain in his chest, as if he had been hit hard. When his eyes returned to normal, he saw that he had fallen to the ground, and the Taoist priest was standing not far away and talking to another person in the private room.

"Demon Dao, you dare to plot against me!" Di Ying was furious, but his chest became more and more irritated, making him cough non-stop.

"No, the donor has another purpose, so why complain that others also have the same thoughts for you." The Taoist priest shook his head and said.

"What is he going to do? Are you going to kill it directly? The other man said gloomily.

"Don't worry, he's still useful, and he will come to check on us, which must show that there is someone else behind him." When the Taoist priest waved his hand, a black shadow flew out of his embroidered robe and crawled towards Di Ying on the ground.

Di Ying only saw that it was a black armyworm, which first climbed up his ear, and the feeling of ice and stickiness was extremely uncomfortable, and then it seemed to burrow into his ear and crawl into his throat, slowly becoming confused.