More than a moment later, twilight fell on Liangzhou City again, and it was probably not until summer that the days here could be longer. There were only a few horses in the steadfast stable, and if you counted them, there were probably not more than twenty horses. It seems that what Xu Jian said is true, these are the only horses trained in their stable.

"It seems that Lord Xu's business has really not been good in recent days, and there are only a few horses left. "Long Xiang Heavenly Dao.

Xu Jian smiled bitterly: "I'm not afraid of adult jokes, since the beginning of the spring, there hasn't been a single business in the rudder, and the villain is in turmoil at present." Coupled with the rumors in Liangzhou City's recent album, someone in the rudder has already run away in secret. ”

Long Xiangtian said: "Lord Xu Helm won't send someone to recover it?"

Xu Jian said: "Follow people to mix the rivers and lakes together, if there is no money to take, how many people will be righteous and angry? As for the horse trainers, they are assigned by the gang, and the horse trainers are gone, and I still need to ask the gang for them, and those who do chores run away just to make me wait to do more work. ”

"Don't talk about that, Lord Xu. Tell me how to see horses," Long Xiang Heavenly Dao.

Xu Jian smiled: "Hahaha...... The villain deserves to die, and he poured bitter water out on the adult. The villain will talk to the adult. ”

After that, Xu Jian drove three horses out of the stable in the courtyard, and said: "My lord, please see, although this snowflake is a breed of horse matched by a first-class horse, its legs are relatively thin, although its complexion is white but a little turbid, and its body width is not up to the standard of a horse, it can travel 150 to 200 miles a day, and ordinary people will buy this horse." This black husper, tall and bright-skinned, with thicker legs than a well-rounded horse, could travel 400 to 500 miles a day, and most of these horses were sold to the light cavalry of the army. This brown horse, the same size as the black horse, except that the upper legs are thicker, can travel 700 to 800 miles a day, and can be sold to scouts, post officers, or postmen. As for the horses, there is none in this stable. But...... The horse is an inch taller than the brown horse, and has a handsome body, shiny skin, and legs that are half a circle thick, and the horse needs to be matched with a good breed or go to the Tianshan, Kunlun and the former Mongolian borders to find wild horses. ”

Long Xiangtian looked at the three horses and said, "How much do these horses cost?"

"The snowflake is one tael of silver, the black horse is two taels of silver, and the brown horse is two and a half. Xu Jiandao.

"In this way, I am afraid that the royal horse will not cost much silver. "Long Xiang Heavenly Dao.

Xu Jian said with a smile: "The price of a royal horse may be more than enough to buy three horses, and a royal horse may cost ten taels to twenty taels of silver." ”

Long Xiangtian was puzzled: "How can it be so expensive?"

Xu Jian said: "My adults don't know, the grade of the horses in my stable is limited, and the best is like this." It is really difficult to breed this royal horse, and it is difficult for me to breed 200 horses in a year. Before the horse is sent to the capital, it will take some time to feed the forage, and the groom and I need to find the best to serve, saying that the worst royal horse is sold for ten taels of silver, and sometimes the gang feels a little lost. ”

"I see, interlaced like a mountain. Long didn't know about this horse trade, and asked a layman, don't laugh at Lord Xu. "Long Xiang Heavenly Dao.

Xu Jian said: "How dare the villain make fun of the adult. ”

Long Xiangtian approached the stable, carefully looked at the horses behind the stable, and said, "How much did you send to the imperial court for the sale of the imperial horses this time?"

"The amount recorded in the helper and the book is about one hundred and twenty horses, twenty taels of high-grade royal horses, and the rest of the amount is not remembered. Xu Jiandao.

Long Xiangtian nodded, and then was silent for such a calculation, to say the least, there are 1,400 taels of silver, this money is enough to support at least half a year's expenses of the gang, even if the rest of the gang's business is at a loss, Yuma's business will never lose money. The departure of the trainer has led to a sharp decline in the number of horses he has trained, so a lot of business has been lost, and now the robbery of the horse must be a heavy blow to the Northwest Jockey Club. Long Xiangtian speculated that the horse trainer's resignation from the affairs of the gang and the robbery of the royal horse would not be two unrelated matters, and then asked: "Master Xu, how many horse trainers in your gang have left?"

Xu Jian said: "My lord comes with me", he led Long Xiangtian to the house again, and in a study on the side of the hall, he took out a book and Long Xiangtian, and said: "The names of the horse trainers who resigned in the rudder are all in this book, if it is useful for adults to investigate the case, please take it." ”

Long Xiangtian took the book and said, "At this time, it's almost time for dinner, please forgive me for disturbing Lord Xu Duo for a long time." I'll go back to the government office later. ”

Xu Jian said: "My lord's words are serious, why bother." In the past few days, strange things have happened frequently in the Ganliang generation, and many people have been lost in my gang, and now the royal horse has been robbed again, and everyone in the gang is panicking. It must not be a trivial matter for the imperial court to lead a thorough investigation of the case, and we will definitely do our best to help the imperial court. The helm of the Northwest Jockey Club is located in the small town of Huibu outside Longxi, if you want to know more about the Jockey Club, you can go to the helm to ask the helper. ”

Long Xiangtian immediately bid farewell to Xu Jian and returned to the city with his guards.

There was no cloudy sky, and as soon as it was dark, the moon rose again.

In the back hall of the prefectural office, Ouchi and local officials gathered again to discuss matters. Yang Zhutou flipped through the book retrieved by Long Xiangtian, and after reading it for a while, he said: "Lord Long, the person in this book probably only knows one person, and it is this white skin." ”

"Yang catches the head, please tell me in detail," Bai Yang said.

Yang Zhutou said: "This white skin is just his name, he doesn't seem to have a name." This guy was originally a gambling bastard in this Liangzhou city, who had stolen the people's horses and sold them as gambling books because of his gambling debts. How do you know the West

President Ge of the Northern Jockey Club came here, and happened to sell a few new horses with me in the patrol house, and then talked about this person, and President Ge felt that this person had a talent for horse training, so he asked me to wait for the thief to be released, and President Ge was willing to sign a guarantee and compensate a better horse and the tenant who lost the horse. In this way, I waited until I let that guy go, and Lord Hu also knew about it. ”

"It's true, it's been a year and a half since this happened. President Ge and the lower officials' letter of guarantee is still included, this person has indeed not committed adultery since then, I heard that he is a horse trainer of the Northwest Jockey Club, and he has a lot of money every month, but I don't know if his gambling problem has changed, if not, these months of money will not be enough for him to spend. Hu Zhifu said.

Chen Renhai said: "Gambling house? Hu Governor's Mansion, the imperial court has a law that a city gambling house is not allowed to open for gambling for an hour every day, and it is not allowed to open again after the application time, and the opening time must be after the hour." And the imperial court also has a limit on the amount, the maximum bet shall not exceed five taels of silver, and the amount of silver set by the gambling house shall not exceed twenty taels...... Is this gambling house in Liangzhou City against the law?"

"There are only three gambling houses in Liangzhou City, and they all follow the law. Hu Zhifu said.

"Is there a dark fang that violates the law?" asked Chen Renhai.

After thinking about it, Governor Hu said, "This ...... I don't know that the patrol room has reported the night market after the night patrol every day, and no gambling houses have been found to be open at night on the curfew days and ordinary days. ”

Long Xiangtian said: "This President Ge thinks that he has lured the wolf into the house, and his business is probably going to be ruined by this guy." ”

Chen Renhai asked, "Brother Long is saying that this white skin is related to the disappearance of the imperial horse?"

"The trainer left the gang, and the horse was robbed. These two things are by no means two unrelated things, but premeditated. "Long Xiang Heavenly Dao.

"Brother Long deduced that someone had separated the horse trainers from the Northwest Jockey Club, and together with some disciples of the Shaxi Gang, they robbed the royal horses together, and also attacked the East Road military camp. Chen Renhai said.

"That's right, we need to find this white guy so we can move the case forward. Long Xiangtian stood up and tapped the name on the page.

Bai Yang said: "Is what Master Xu said true? If he is lying, or if he pretends that it is difficult to do business, but secretly transports the horses out to blame others, and deliberately leads us down the wrong path, what should we do?"

Chen Renhai said: "Lord Xu Helm is lying...... Governor Hu once said that they hadn't been in the horse business for a long time......"

Long Xiangtian's words interrupted Chen Renhai, who was still thinking, "I don't think so, when I talked to him today, his words were very relaxed, and he didn't feel nervous at all. I took the opportunity of seeing the horses to find out the truth about him, and he told me all about the horses, and hid them from me, and if he had lied, he would have been on guard against me, and would not have told me so much about them. In addition, when I returned to the palace, I had already walked along the street in the market town and asked if there were any horses coming in and out of this place recently, and the people said that this rudder did not move at the beginning of spring, and only the people who walked away, but not the horses that walked. ”

Chen Renhai nodded after hearing Long Xiangtian's words, he trusted Long Xiangtian's judgment. Then he said: "Yang Zhutou, tomorrow and others will search for the nearest gambling house and arrest this white skin." ”

Bai Yang said: "Brother Mei, please also write to Feige and Ganliang Mansion, and let Brother Li plan to go to sea from Ganliang Mansion to quickly distribute it to various states and counties to catch this white skin." ”

Long Xiangtian said: "Also, let Brother Li send someone to go back to the northwest horse club to explore the matter of the imperial horse." We immediately sent 1,000 soldiers and horses to the Hui Department, and first took the official road to Ganliang Mansion to join Brother Li. ”

Bai Yang said: "There is still someone in the government who needs to be in charge, so it's better not to follow Ren Chaoxian and Yu Wenfeng." ”

Chen Renhai said: "Brother Li's injuries are not yet complete, so you can't lead the troops alone, if there is danger, he may not be able to deal with it alone." ”

Long Xiangtian said: "I led the troops to the Ganliang Mansion overnight to meet Brother Li, you wait here to investigate carefully, if there is this white skin news flying pigeon contact." ”

The night still passed slowly. After about three days in this way, the town of the Hui Department has not yet dawned and there are troops rushing to come last night when Long Xiangtian and others arrived in Longxi is already four watches, Longxi is only less than two minutes away from the town where the Northwest Horse Club is stationed in the Hui Department, so Long Xiangtian and others did not stop the horse, and the military horses went straight to the town of Huibu. On the way, Li Defei and Long Xiangtian said that the people who patrolled the house searched for many unsent letters in General Zhou's room, and the dates were all consecutive until yesterday. This made Long Xiangtian think about it again, could it be that what he wrote that night was also a family letter? It's a pity that Li Defei didn't remember the content of the family letter, because Long Xiangtian was in a hurry, Li Defei didn't bring the family letter, and handed it over to Ren Chaoxian to manage.

A large number of troops poured into the town, and the peace of the town was shattered. The dogs on the street barked a few times, and then they also avoided each other. The residents in the house knew that the army was here, so they also understood that most of the town had an accident, although Long Xiangtian left 900 people to temporarily camp outside the town, and he and Li Defei led a total of 100 soldiers and horses to the town, but with so many soldiers and horses, the people were still afraid. In this quiet town, the common people are living their own life, once the war in the northwest has frightened them, although the border is still a little far away from them, but the horror rumors of the war at that time have made them feel that whenever there is an army, there must be an accident.

The Northwest Jockey Club is very conspicuous, and there is only one place in the town that is slightly more stylish. The plaque on the house reads "Ten Thousand Horses Galloping". There were two stone lions standing under the steps, Long Xiangtian and Li Defei arrived at the door of the house together, and his soldiers dismounted and went to buckle the door.

As soon as the door opened, the little servants saw that there were some soldiers in armor in front of them, and the little servants said: "Ladies and gentlemen, I don't know what is going on in the house?"

Long Xiangtian said: "Little brother, Da Nei investigates the case, and we need to talk to your shopkeeper." ”

When the little guy saw Long Xiangtian's words, he brightened his waist again

Pai immediately replied: "Wait a minute, the little one will report immediately." ”

When he was young, the door opened, and President Ge stepped forward to salute Long and Li, and said, "The two adults came to the house to investigate the case, and they missed the distance, and I ask for forgiveness."

Li Defei immediately stepped forward to pick up President Ge and said, "The helper doesn't have to be like this, I'm just here to understand the case." ”

President Ge said, "Okay, okay...... Two adults, please"

Long Xiangtian turned his head and said to all the soldiers: "Wait here", and all the horses and sergeants stood up.

In the hall, Long Xiangtian informed President Ge of the matter of going to the rudder that day, and after hearing this, President Ge said: "Lord Xu is right, in fact, he is not the only one here, and many rudders have no business to do for a long time. Strange to say, the trainers will leave the club at all costs, even if I tell them that they must train the horses that have not been trained for the month, but they would rather pay for the horses than leave. ”

Long Xiangtian asked, "It's so abnormal, can the helper know why they left?"

"They are bent on leaving, and no matter how much they ask, they will not tell the truth. I thought that other horses would poach them, but I had sent to inquire and they had not hired any of my trainers. The trainer is probably half gone, and some of the rudders are not even a single person left. In this way, after the gang gathered, adjustments were made, and it was time to transport the royal horse, if the royal horse was sent to Ganliang Mansion, we would have two thousand taels of silver in the account, and if we took out one thousand five hundred taels, we could go to hire a new horse trainer or train some new horse trainers from the gang, but this royal horse ......," said President Ge.

"It seems that this anti-court force is the one who opened the knife...... From this point of view, the enemy is not simple. He knew that he was helping the business to turn around, and when he was waiting for the training season, he poached many of your trainers for a lot of money, so that you could not supply the horses, lost customers, and robbed the horses. But why is this? Just to let us and others come? If you want to prove the rumors, you attacked the military camp on the East Road, and went to great lengths to rob the imperial horse, why?" Li Defei asked.

Long Xiangtian also fell into deep thought, and asked after a while: "Helper, have you offended other sects in the rivers and lakes recently?"

President Ge pondered for a while and said, "Our Jockey Club is only doing business, and we have not collided with the interests of the rest of the gangs in the northwest, let alone exonerated it. ”

"The Shaxi Gang has nothing to do with you?" asked Long Xiangtian.

President Ge said: "The Shaxi Gang only sells cattle, sheep and jewelry, and has little to do with horse traders like us. Except for the horses that I bought at the beginning of the year, there were only a dozen or so horses, and most of them were inferior. Nothing else. ”

"Who is the person who is doing this business with them?" asked Long Xiangtian.

President Ge said: "It was done by his subordinates, and he is also helping at the moment." It's the helmsman of the Longbei Branch, and he's come to help him hand in the account recently, do you have anything you want to ask him?"

Long Xiangtian nodded and said, "Let him come to the hall, and I will ask him later." ”

President Ge immediately sent someone to the backyard to invite the man, and when he was young, the man went to the hall, and when he saw President Ge and Long and Li, he immediately went forward to pay a visit. President Ge said: "Lord Zhang, the adults of the imperial court came to help Zhong investigate the case today, and they want to ask you, and they will say what to the two adults if they know anything, do you know?"

Zhang Duo said, "What do you want to ask about the two adults?"

Long Xiangtian said: "When doing business with the Shaxi Gang, did their people come to talk, or did they ask someone to come?"

"At the beginning of the year, it seems that on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, someone from the Shaxi Gang came to negotiate with us about buying a horse, which is also the biggest business we have done since the beginning of the year. In addition to the people in the Shaxi Gang, there are also some businessmen. Zhang Duo said.

"Merchant, can there be a surname Yu?" asked Long Xiangtian.

"The businessman surnamed Yu, it seems that there is none. There are only two horse merchants, who are from the Middle Plains. Zhang Duo said.

Li Defei understood Long Xiangtian's meaning, and Long Xiangtian still suspected that the shopkeeper had come here, and attacked them twice with the Shaxi Gang. Li Defei continued to ask, "Can Master Zhang Helm remember the appearance of these two people?"

Zhang Duo said the appearance of the two according to his own thoughts and his own memory, but most of these appearances are indeed visible to ordinary people, and the appearance of the shopkeeper itself is also featureless, except that the age said is similar to that of the shopkeeper, the rest seem to be inconclusive.

Subsequently, Long Xiangtian asked Zhang Duo to return to the backyard, and the two horses agreed to be suspicious, one surnamed Wang and the other surnamed Zhang, if the two can be caught, the case may be able to advance.

Li Defei said: "Why don't I wait to bid farewell to the gang leader first, and after leaving the gang, I will go to Longxi to rest the horse first, and then discuss this case." ”

Long Xiangtian nodded and got up, and the two immediately bid farewell to President Ge and walked out of the gate together. The soldiers and horses then left the town. When he was about to arrive in Longxi City, a carrier pigeon hovered over the team, Long Xiangtian immediately sent the scout to pick up the carrier pigeon, only to see that the carrier pigeon wrote: "The Shaxi Gang is fighting, the gang leader is injured, and he has been rescued." Chen Renhai. ”

Seeing this, Li Defei said: "Something happened to the Shaxi Gang......?

"Someone must have instigated it, I will go to Longxi City at this moment to bring enough water and dry food, and return to Ganliang Mansion first. Let's discuss the matter"

Before it got dark, a thousand troops and horses left the city of Longxi. An hour later, with a chill, it was completely dark. The wind and sand were still in the night, and although they were not as violent as when they were ambushed, the horses were running so fast that the wind blew on their faces like knives.

Out of nowhere, another storm broke out in the desert, and the sound of crackling and chirping followed.