The old couple of the inn quarreled endlessly over the Wanhualou Demon Cave, and gradually rose to the level of each other's feelings, and the topic became farther and farther away, and in the end it was already a short period of time, and I don't know what year it was about.

As the saying goes, it is difficult for a Qing official to cut off family affairs, in the face of the quarrel between the two elders, Zhao Bufan chose to ignore it, and went straight to eat with Zhu Lian, but he knew that this kind of quarrel was getting more and more persuasive, but it was better to let the two elders quarrel enough, and when they quarreled, they naturally stopped arguing, and from the words they revealed when they quarreled, Zhao Bufan also knew a lot about the so-called magic cave in Wanhualou.

Obviously, in a large area centered on Nanhe Town, Wanhualou has a great reputation, and they are not excessively hidden, or they are unable to hide because of too frequent activities, which leads to many people knowing the existence of Wanhualou, but it is not specific, it is all rumors.

After listening quietly for a long time, until there was no longer any valuable information, Zhao Bufan and Zhu Lian said goodbye and left, and found a room to rest.

Entering the house, Zhu Lian closed the door and sat on the edge of the bed a little worried.

"Extraordinary, how should we start to check Wanhualou? This Nanhe Town is so deserted that we can't even see a dog, how can we check?"

"It's a bit of a trick. ”

Zhao Bufan smiled, sat down at the table and poured himself a glass of water, drank it himself, and his eyes gradually flashed: "Although it is not easy to do, it is not without gains, and the messy rumors in the mouths of the old couple still reveal a lot of information." ”

"Message? What message, why didn't I hear it? Do you still believe that it's all made of human bones?"

Zhu Lian's charming eyes blinked, looking very dazed.

Zhao Bufan smiled: "Who asked you to listen to this, you have to find the information that coincides in the rumors." ”

"Overlapping information?"

"Not bad!" Zhao Bufan tapped his jaw lightly, and said with a smile: "Relying on the current rumors, we obviously can't find the specific location of Wanhualou, but there are several overlapping information in the rumors, first of all, the Wanhualou Demon Cave should be the Wanhualou General Hall, there is no doubt about this, and the area of the Demon Cave is very large, there should be a lot of people inside, and even the people of Wanhualou frequently appear in Nanhe Town and the surrounding areas. ”

Zhu Lian rolled her eyes, looking particularly delicate. "What's the use of this information?"

"How could it be useless?"

Zhao Bufan's pupils opened slightly, and his eyes were sharp: "The large number of people means that the materials they need are very large, and the people of Wanhualou are also people, they always have to eat, drink and have fun when they hide in the mountains, so there must be a stable supply channel, which also proves from the side why they frequently appear in Nanhe Town and its surrounding areas, that is to say, this was the place where they used to trade materials with the outside world." ”

Zhu Lian understood a little, and his expression gradually became solemn: "You mean, at present, Nanhe Town and the surrounding areas are desolate because of Wang Qing's rebellion, and commerce and trade are cut off, so they will definitely look for new sources of materials, and we can follow this clue to find out their location?"

"That's right!" Zhao Bufan pursed his lips and chuckled, and then said: "Not only that, we can also make the target smaller, since the material demand of the Wanhualou Demon Cave is so large, and it is hidden in the deep mountains, it is definitely not very convenient to transport, so will they buy it from the people in a scattered manner?"

Zhu Lian shook his head: "Definitely not, it will inevitably cultivate a few fixed businessmen, and they will use them as intermediaries to purchase on their behalf." ”

Zhao Bufan continued: "Then these businessmen are also people, they have done things, paid risks and labor, and they must also plan for themselves, so they must make money, that is to say, they will get rich quickly, so what do you think they will become with the support of the huge power of Wanhualou, plus those hidden businesses that they operate by themselves?"

Zhu Lian completely understood, and a smile appeared on his face: "They will be rich." ”

"That's right, so we're looking for the rich, and it's not an ordinary rich family, we want to find the richest people around, especially the mysterious and low-key people...... And do you remember the old couple downstairs who said earlier that the door was destroyed?"

"Remember!" Zhu Lian nodded.

Zhao Bufan continued: "I heard from the quarrel between the old couple that this person used to be the richest man in Nanhe Town, and earlier the old couple said that he was killed because he offended Wanhualou, but no one knows the specific reason, so I think this person is likely to be one of the former connectors of Wanhualou, perhaps because of internal contradictions, so he was destroyed." ”

Hearing this, Zhu Lian gradually had many thoughts in his heart, and laughed softly: " So the reason why the rumors of Wanhualou spread, maybe it is from these outside joints leaked out of the mouth, and then it was spread by the people more and more evil, and since the Wanhualou Demon Cave is very large, and it is located in the deep mountains with heavy humidity, then there must be a lot of craftsmen when it was built, and it is also necessary to ask people to repair it regularly on weekdays, so there must be some craftsmen who know the situation inside, and it is impossible to be all wiped out, if they kill tens of thousands of people at every turn, who can still hold it down, the court has already turned the world upside down, can we also think of a way from this aspect？”

Zhao Bufan quickly shook his head: "If you want to build a foundation in the deep mountains and build a temple, if it is not for the slow accumulation of hundreds of years, the craftsmen you need will be less than 10,000, and it is indeed impossible to wipe them out, but those craftsmen will not be the surrounding people, after all, Wanhualou will also take into account the issue of confidentiality, so it should be to invite craftsmen from all directions to come over, and let them leave immediately after the construction is completed. ”

"That's right!" Zhu Lian thought for a while, and then asked, "Then let's still look for the clue of supplies?"

Zhao Bufan stood up with a smile, walked slowly to the bed, and seemed to have no spirit to continue talking, so he lay down directly: "This is indeed the best way...... Forget it, let's get some rest early!"

Zhu Lian's eyes suddenly widened: "Can you take off your shoes first and then sleep, can't you see so much mud?"

Zhao Bufan was so sleepy that he replied weakly: "Where can I manage so much when I go out, I will leave after sleeping for a few hours, and what shoes will I take off?"

“......”

In Zhu Lian's reprimand, Zhao Bufan quickly fell asleep.

A few hours later, at nightfall, Zhao Bufan and Zhu Lian got up to freshen up, asked the old couple at the inn to get something to fill their stomachs, and directly gave them two taels of gold.

Although gold and silver are not as important as food at the moment, as long as the old couple can survive until Wang Qing's traitors are pacified and the government can operate again, then they can rely on this capital to re-establish their homes.

When they asked about the situation of the surrounding wealthy families, the two knew everything, and drew them a scribbled map to depict the location of the surrounding towns and villages, so that they would not be blind to search.

Zhao Bufan is naturally very happy, now it is deserted, there is no one on the road to ask for directions, it is not generally difficult to find a place, you will get lost if you don't pay attention to it, now that you have a general direction and location, it will naturally be much easier.

After that, according to the information provided by the old couple, Zhao Bufan and Zhu Lian quickly launched an investigation.

They started from the local rich family in Nanhe Town, and went all the way to the northwest along the Wudang Mountains, in order to save time, they couldn't manage too much this time, they basically forcibly lurked in, and when they caught someone, they began to ask about the family's situation.

At present, almost no one is in these wealthy mansions, and the family has fled to a foreign place to avoid trouble, usually leaving only a few loyal old servants to watch the house, planning to wait for the war to come back, so it saves Zhao Bufan a lot of work, since there is no one at home, it is impossible to continue to supply materials to Wanhualou now, and there is no need to spend too much time investigating one by one.

After searching for more than ten days, the two found nothing.

On the twelfth day, they came to Shiyan Town in Junzhou, which was only more than 100 miles away from Wudang County, the capital of Wang Qing's rebels.

Perhaps it is precisely because of the proximity to the capital of the rebels that Wang Qing intends to gain a long-term foothold, so he did not loot these places, but followed the example of the government to govern, so that the living environment here is far better than that of Xiangzhou, not prosperous, but it is also orderly.

Zhao Bufan and Zhu Lian walked through so many towns and villages along the Wudang Mountains, but only here seemed that everything was normal.

This raised alarm in their hearts.

Business and trade are carried out normally, which means that it also has the conditions to provide materials to Wanhualou.

The two of them walked around the town, and soon found an inn near the market in the west of the city.

While eating, they also took the opportunity to inquire about the wealth of the town from the store, and quickly locked on three targets.

Two of them are local hereditary owners for several generations, and the last one is Zhou Yuanwai, who has started by business in recent years, and this Zhou Yuanwai has attracted Zhao Bufan's attention.

Since Wanhualou is Yang Jian's cultivated minions, it only flourished after Yang Jian gained power, although they may find someone who is already rich as a trader, but this kind of hereditary rich family may not be willing to take risks, and even the relationship is complicated and not easy to control, so it is better to cultivate a person and firmly control it.