The eleventh year of the rising sun, July 14

It has been nine days since Liu Xin came to the imperial capital, and today was originally a rest.

Zhengyang cares about the number nine very much, and many things are related to nine, such as the official's rest for nine days and one bath.

Liu Xin's employment date is calculated from the day he first came, because Lao Liu Baihu passed away on the same day. According to the rules, from that day on, Liu Xin was already a Jinyiwei.

Therefore, the ninth day, the fourteenth day of the seventh month, should be his day of rest. But because the case of the Imperial Horse Supervisor was not solved, Liu Licheng canceled everyone's rest, and after the case was completed, he would rest again.

In the early morning of this day, Liu Xin had just arrived at the 100 households, and before he could order it, a fan from Dongchang came outside and handed a note written by Yuan Dongxiang to Liu Xin.

After ordering, Liu Xin came to the duty room, opened the strip and looked at it, and his expression was suddenly solemn.

The name Gui Qinchen was familiar to him, because this was one of the three remaining horse-raising eunuchs, and now only two were left alive.

Gui Qinchen turned out to be a martial artist in the Dacheng Realm, which is in line with the identity of the murderer of the Imperial Horse Prison murder case.

By this time, the case of the Imperial Horse Supervisor could actually be solved, although it did not meet the emperor's requirements for finding out the real culprit behind the scenes, but the case itself was already solved.

But Liu Xin faintly felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't say what was wrong.

And Yuan Dongxiang also pointed out this, so in the note, Yuan Dongxiang wrote that he would report this matter to Mi Yusong, the governor of Dongchang, and the case would not be over, because His Majesty the Emperor wanted the mastermind behind the scenes, not just a so-called real murderer.

Yuan Dongxiang asked Liu Xin to continue to track down Si Yanqing's whereabouts, this woman was able to embezzle the eight horse eunuchs, it could not be her own doing, and the whereabouts of this person could not be found on the household register, so she was even more sure that there was someone else behind her.

Liu Xin put down the note, thought of the two dice, took out the two copper dice from his arms, and fell into thought.

At this time, Senior Brother Cheng came in with a stack of books, of course he didn't come to deliver the books, he left Liu's house early in the morning, but he came to Baihu Office later than Liu Xin, just to receive information from the secret investigation team, and then he got an unexpected news.

When he came to the duty room, Senior Brother Cheng saw Liu Xin's expression and immediately understood: "You already know the news?" ”

Liu Xin bowed his head and pointed to the note sent by Yuan Dongxiang. Senior Brother Cheng glanced at the note and joked with a smile:

"With the support of the county king, the intelligence sources are stable."

Liu Xin was expressionless, handed the two copper dice in his hand to Senior Brother Cheng, and said, "Senior Brother Cheng, help me check, someone led me out last night, so he gave me these two dice, and also took me to a Shuntian gambling house, it is estimated that these two dice belong to this gambling house." ”

"Someone led you out!" Senior Brother Cheng was shocked, Liu Xin didn't tell him about it all morning.

After pondering for a moment, Senior Brother Cheng said in a deep voice: "I asked the secret investigation team to plant eyeliner near the Liu Mansion. ”

Liu Xin got up and said, "This is not in a hurry, the other party doesn't seem to have malicious intent." Please ask Senior Brother Cheng to check the details of this gambling house as soon as possible, I am going to report to my superiors about Gui Qinchen's death now. ”

Senior Brother Cheng said: "This matter is not small, Liu Licheng probably already knows." ”

Liu Xin smiled: "This is the consciousness of being a subordinate, I have self-cultivation as a subordinate!" ”

When he came to Qianhu, Liu Xin did not find Liu Licheng in the duty room, but found a scribe to ask, only to know that Liu Qianhu did not come to duty today, and they did not know where Qianhu went.

didn't find Liu Licheng, so Liu Xin wrote a note briefly describing what happened to Yuan Dongxiang and him.

Before leaving the Qianhu Office, he saw an old official running over, Liu Xin recognized this person, this old official was in charge of the logistics horses of Jinyi Guard, and he took three horses from him that day.

At this time, this person hurriedly came to find him, and Liu Xin already knew what was going on.

Sure enough, the old official said that Liu Xin had received three horses, and if there were no special circumstances, it was time to return the stables.

Liu Xin coped with two sentences, saying that he would return it before the next duty today, and the old official thanked him repeatedly, turned around and went back.

Liu Xin looked at the back of the old official, the smile on his face gradually disappeared, and he remembered that the three horses that day were confiscated by the Thousand Households of the Outer North City, and the Thousand Households of the Thousand Households of the Outer North City were Shao Shiwang.

I didn't expect it to be right again.

Liu Xin returned to the Hundred Households, and he already had a plan in his heart. He called Luo Bei, who was practicing martial arts alone in the backyard square. Luo Bei points on time every day, gets off duty on time, and practices swords by himself when he is free.

found Luo Bei together, in fact, it was a fox and a fake tiger, and he used the tiger skin of the king of the county. Luo Bei seemed to be a martial arts idiot, and he was not very interested in things other than martial arts, Liu Xin came to him, and he only muttered a few words, saying that Liu Xin had influenced his cultivation, but then quickly followed Liu Xin and was silent.

The two of them found a carriage and swayed all the way to the outer city, where the yamen of the Thousand Households in the Outer North City was located in Chongbei Fang, outside Chongwen Gate.

The place is easy to find, Liu Xin and Luo Bei got out of the car, and saw that the yamen of the Thousand Households in the Outer North City stood on a bustling street, and the face of the Thousand Households in the Outer North City looked much more atmospheric than the inner city, and the area was not small.

When the two guards at the door saw Liu Xin wearing a fish and dragon suit, they recognized this as a hundred households from the costume at a glance, so one of them stepped forward excitedly, first hugged his fists and saluted, and then politely asked Liu Xin for his intentions.

Hearing that Liu Xin was looking for his own thousand households, he said that Shao Qianhu did not come to duty today.

When Liu Xin heard this, he suddenly became suspicious in his heart, how could the two of them not be on duty today.

Immediately, Liu Xin asked if there were any hundred households, and the captain immediately said that there was a Xin Baihu who happened to be in the Qianhu office, and this Xin Baihu was Shao Qianhu's deputy and assisted Shao Qianhu in handling official business.

As soon as Liu Xin heard it, he knew that this Xin Baihu was Shao Shiwang's little secretary, and it was estimated that this Xin Baihu was in charge of Shao Shiwang's complicated affairs. This is the same as that of the Thousand Households in Neidongcheng, and Liu Licheng rarely deals with some chores, which are all completed by Cheng Guotao.

The role of this Xin Baihu is similar to that of Cheng Guotao.

Liu Xin entered the Thousand Households and was led all the way in by the school captain.

There are more clerks in the outer city than in the inner city, and they seem to be very busy when they walk.

When he walked through a side hall, Liu Xin saw several burly men in blue clothes sitting together, and it seemed that there were two brocade guards sitting there talking to them.

Because it was just a quick glance, Liu Xin didn't take it to heart.

When he arrived at the duty room, he found that Xin Baihu was not there, so the captain asked Liu Xin and the two to stay for a while, and he went to look for Xin Baihu.

After the people left, Liu Xin looked at this duty room, I don't know if this is Shao Shiwang's duty room, compared to Liu Licheng's one, this room is much bigger. There are also a lot of calligraphy and paintings on the walls, which are not ordinary when they look at them. In addition to the case shelf and bookshelf on the side, there is also a Bogu shelf, on which a lot of antiques are placed.

"The thousands of households in this outer city are living quite wealthy." Liu Xin quipped.

Luo Bei's eyes on the side only fell on the weapon rack in the corner of the duty room, and he turned a deaf ear to Liu Xin's words.

Liu Xin immediately swept his gaze, but saw that there were only three weapons on the weapon shelf:

A sword, the scabbard is dark blue, engraved with wave lines, and the ends of the scabbard are also inlaid with sapphires, which is very expensive at first glance.

A long spear, the body of the gun is mostly composed of jet-black hardwood, and the middle and tail of the gun are wrapped in a layer of dark gold metal coat, and the first reaction at a cursory glance is that the trench is pressing.

A Xuanhua axe, the whole body is dark silver, the handle and the axe body are integrally formed, and the handle is wrapped with animal skin. The hammer mark on the axe body is very obvious, showing irregular fine lines, which is a pattern that can only appear in a hundred steels.

The first feeling after seeing these three weapons was that they were expensive, and then Liu Xin's pupils contracted slightly, and he realized that these three weapons had a lot of origins.

Luo Bei on the side had already retracted his gaze at this time, glanced at Liu Xin, and happened to see the constricted pupils in Liu Xin's eyes, and his face showed a trace of surprise.

With only a hundred households, could he see that these were three top-level weapons?

Luo Bei had such a thought in his heart, and immediately erased this thought, and silently said in his heart that it was impossible.

The three weapons on the weapon rack in this duty room in the Thousand Households in the Outer North City are not ordinary.

In the eyes of a true master, a weapon built according to ordinary skills, materials, and techniques can only be called unpopular.

Really good weapons can be divided into four levels in the eyes of masters, which is also the recognized classification of the current martial arts group.

From low to high, they are four to one class, of which the fourth class is called: master

This level originally represented the highest level of weapons in the rivers and lakes, and after Emperor Wu City unified the rivers and lakes, it scavenged too many refining skills and techniques, and at the same time, it also brought together a large number of masters of refining weapons. These people used to fight on their own, each with their own inheritance, gathered in one place, and there were a large number of official resources to teach each other, and the level of refining weapons has improved rapidly in the past ten years.

Therefore, the fourth-level master-level weapons, with reference to the previous works of these masters, can even reach this level if they are made by their disciples.

But even if a weapon of this level has fallen behind, there are still countless people on the rivers and lakes who are eager to get a weapon like this, which can already be called a sharp weapon and can improve their strength.

The third is the standard

The transformation of standard weapons also occurred after the unification of the rivers and lakes in Emperor Wu City. Because of the integration of technology, the level of the official construction bureau has risen significantly, and some special standard equipment far exceeds the so-called master level in terms of practicality, compatibility and other basic aspects, the most typical of which is the standard weapon embroidered spring knife of Jinyiwei. The embroidered spring knife is the most typical standard equipment, but because the materials are extremely particular, even if it is in the brocade clothes, only 100 households and above can have the real 100 refining embroidered spring knives, that is, the level of the standard.

The second is called the Emperor

This is an official forging method that is a level higher than the standard, and unlike the system, the system can be manufactured in batches, while the imperial object is individually refined by a senior refining master. It represents the highest level of official standards. Because generally speaking, weapons of this level will be rewarded by the royal family as a royal gift to meritorious officials, or for royal use, so it is called royal use.

The first is exquisite

The weapons at this level are all created exclusively, by the world's most skilled forgers, and each one is a work of last generations. Perhaps limited by the material and craftsmanship, its practicality will not be much higher than that of the imperial vessel, after all, the latter represents the highest level of skill. But in other respects, the significance goes far beyond the object itself. Among them, the more representative is the fish intestine sword, the sword that Jing Ke stabbed the king of Qin at the beginning.

At this time, the three weapons that appeared on the weapon rack in the Thousand Households in the Outer North City can basically be concluded to be the imperial weapons and the best of the weapons. After all, the Exquisite Weapon is not necessarily stronger than the Imperial Weapon in terms of practicality, and the latter is more about the blessing of prestige.

There are three imperial vessels, Shao Shiwang is worthy of honor, and the background is profound, comparable to the average royal family!

Liu Xin thought like this, and when he heard footsteps coming from behind him, he retracted his thoughts, turned around, and just saw a middle-aged man wearing a hundred fish and dragon suits walking in, this person had a broad figure, a round face, and a shrewd appearance.

In terms of temperament, he is quite similar to Cheng Guotao.

"Hahaha, this is Liu Baihu, what kind of wind blew you here, my Thousand Households in the North City are really full of brilliance. It is said that Liu Baihu is young and talented, and he is talented, and this is true when he sees it today. ”

Xin Baihu smiled and led Liu Xin to sit down, looking at Luo Bei curiously, Liu Xin introduced in a timely manner:

"This is Luo Bei, a confidant of the king of Yongzhou County, who has been guiding the work in my hundred households in the past few days."

When Xin Baihu heard that it was a cronie of the king of Yongzhou County, his eyes immediately showed a fine light, and his smile was even stronger, and his buttocks ejected before he could sit hot, leading Luo Bei to sit down.

Luo Bei waved his hand indifferently, and said expressionlessly: "No need, I am now Liu Baihu's entourage." ”

Xin Baihu was slightly stunned, then smiled again, and when he sat down again, his butt only lightly touched the chair. He smiled and asked, "Liu Baihu, Luo... Luo Shaoxia, I heard the captain say, you are here to find Shao Qianhu, it's really unfortunate, he is not here today, he should go to Beizhen Fusi for a meeting. ”

It turned out that he was going to a meeting, no wonder even Liu Licheng was not in the Qianhu Office, but why didn't the clerk know that Liu Licheng was going to the meeting, this would be estimated to be a temporary idea, if it was a regular practice, then the clerk should not be unaware.

Liu Xin didn't want to waste his tongue with Xin Baihu, so after a little greeting, he went straight to the point and explained his intentions.

Xin Baihu frowned after hearing this, he seemed to be a little hesitant, but the corner of his eyes swept from Luo Bei's body, and then the hesitation dissipated, he stood up, arched his hand and said, "Liu Baihu, you wait." I went to the scribe and asked if it was really our men who took the horse away, and I would return it. ”

Xin Baihu summoned a captain and gave a few orders, the captain left in a hurry, and Xin Baihu explained with a smile on his face when he came back: "If it was really our people who led the horse away, Liu Baihu must not blame." This outer city is different from the inner city, where three religions and nine streams gather, and everyone has it. If our captain patrolling the street saw our Jinyiwei's horse at a glance, of course he would ask about it, and Liu Baihu also said that in order to carry out the task at that time, you were not with the horse, and in order to be safe, the captains of the street patrol took the horse away. ”

Listening to the perfunctory explanation, Liu Xin just smiled and didn't say anything, and after a while, a lieutenant reported, Xin Baihu came back after listening, and said with a smile that the horse was found, and then said that he would arrange someone to send the horse to Wenxuanfang Baihu, and his attitude was very good, but Liu Xin knew that Xin Baihu was looking at Luo Bei's face.

It is rumored that Shao Shiwang is a little greedy and is a Pixiu who only can't get in and out, Liu Xin originally planned to take a lot of trouble, but with Luo Bei's tiger skin banner, the matter was easily solved.

Politely rejected Xin Baihu's enthusiastic retention, and on the grounds of official business, Liu Xin and Luo Bei left the Thousand Households in Outer North City.

When Liu Xin and Luo Bei walked away, Xin Baihu's smile suddenly turned cold, he waved his hand to beckon a captain, whispered a few commands in his ear, and the captain left in a hurry.

On the way back to the 100 households in Wenxuanfang, Luo Bei asked, "Did you do your own business in the name of the king of the county?" ”

Liu Xin looked back at Luo Beidao puzzled: "Your county king asked you to follow me, didn't you just let me do things in his name?" ”

Luo Bei was dumbfounded.

Liu Xin smiled, at this time the carriage was about to pass through Chongwen Gate, Liu Xin saw the figure of Senior Brother Cheng from the open carriage curtain, and the latter was walking towards the outer city at this time, brushing with the carriage that Liu Xin was riding.

Liu Xin's mind moved, and immediately stopped the carriage and asked Luo Bei to go back to Baihu to practice swords, while he got out of the car and chased after Senior Brother Cheng.

Luo Bei glanced at Liu Xin indifferently, and didn't care where the latter went, what he was going to do, he was happy, he just went back to practice swords, the Zhengyang martial arts competition was held in less than two months, and he was going to participate on behalf of Yongzhou Wei for the king of Yongzhou County. In this martial arts competition, he is determined to win the top three rankings, so that the king of Yongzhou County can win the gamble with the princes and princes.

Liu Xin, who hurriedly caught up with Senior Brother Cheng, changed into regular clothes in a restaurant, and immediately learned the information of Shuntian Gambling House from Senior Brother Cheng.

This Shuntian gambling house is one of the largest gambling houses in the imperial capital, with a deep background, and one of the owners is the most mysterious, but the secret investigation team still found it. This person surprised Liu Xin very much, because he had just left this person's thousand households.

"Shao Shiwang even opened a gambling house, and he turned a blind eye to the law that pro-soldiers are not allowed to engage in business." In addition to lamenting the constant bad relationship between him and Shao Shiwang, Liu Xin was also a little surprised, Shao Shiwang's courage was even greater than he imagined. Although he also has the title of earl in addition to Jinyi Wei Qian, which is a deep-rooted hereditary title, but the earl is only the lowest level of the title, and his ancestor is just a pro-army commander who follows the side of Emperor Wuyang. But his courage is really big.

Senior Brother Cheng nodded and frowned: "This Shao Shiwang is the largest and most mysterious owner of this gambling house, and the other three owners are just ordinary rich people. For his identity, the business of this gambling house is a little too big, in the imperial capital, such a birthday of the day to make money, the number of people staring at it is unknown, if there is not enough energy, it is impossible to maintain. But this Shuntian gambling house is not only one of the few gambling houses in the imperial capital, but also the largest of them. ”

After a pause, Senior Brother Cheng looked at Liu Xin, his eyes were solemn: "Shuntian Gambling House has seven branches in the outer city, but they are all ordinary gambling houses. The one in the bargain room in the inner city is the only gambling house in the inner city. It is not only a gambling house, but also a restaurant, but also a place to find flowers and willows. ”

Liu Xin thought about it and nodded silently, he just glanced at it in the moonlight last night, but that small building occupies a lot of land, the shape is exquisite, and the doors and window frames are all hollowed out with detailed patterns, which is different from ordinary gambling houses.

The ordinary gambling house is a small door, with a sign hanging at the door, engraved pai gow sieve, and the door is separated by a curtain. And the Suncheon casino is much more exquisite.

Liu Xin suddenly thought that the purpose of Senior Brother Cheng's trip to the outer city was also for this Shuntian gambling house, and there was anything special about this gambling house.

Liu Xin asked Senior Brother Cheng about the purpose of going to the outer city, Senior Brother Cheng looked at Liu Xin, and helplessness flashed in his eyes: "Senior brother, I am going to be lazy, and I was caught by you, a hundred households, hey." ”

Liu Xin said in a deep voice: "Senior brother, don't make trouble! ”

Senior Brother Cheng straightened his face and said, "I won't joke with you, the secret investigation team found out that the shopkeeper of this Shuntian gambling house in the inner city is a woman named Gui Wanqiu. This Gui Wanqiu is Shao Shiwang's outer room, and he lives in the outer city on weekdays. Because of the mysterious person who led you out of the Liu Mansion last night and deliberately exposed this Shuntian gambling house to you, I decided to personally investigate this woman named Gui Wanqiu first. Now the purpose of this mysterious man is unclear, and you can't act rashly. ”

The mysterious man was like a heavy stone that smashed into Liu Xin's heart. He came to the imperial capital for only nine days, who would find him?

Is it someone related to the case of the Imperial Horse Supervisor, or is it another character who has already realized his identity.

Hey, if you have a hidden identity, you will become suspicious, it's really unpleasant, Liu Xin muttered in his heart.

"Senior brother, since you want to investigate, I'll go with you. That mysterious man pulled Suncheon Gambling House into my sight, still in such a simple and crude way, he must have wanted me to investigate. If I don't do anything, but find out everything, this mysterious person or the mysterious organization behind him will definitely have some suspicions, and it will be detrimental to my identity when the time comes. Liu Xin frowned, the case of the Imperial Horse Supervisor was still hidden in the fog, and a mysterious person suddenly appeared, the water in the imperial capital was really deeper and more turbid than imagined.

Senior Brother Cheng thought for a while: "You're right. Moreover, I care more about the woman's last name. ”

Liu Xin was stunned for a moment, then reacted immediately, and said in a deep voice: "Gui! ”

Senior Brother Cheng nodded and said solemnly: "At this juncture, such a coincidence is worthy of our attention!" ”