Chapter 667: Citywide Search

Like Chang'an, Chengdu is divided into southern and northern cities. Nanshi is equivalent to the western cities of Chang'an. It is a distribution center for bulk goods for people's livelihood, such as grain, tea, cloth, livestock, etc. There are hundreds of types of bulk goods, which are all transported in and sold here in large quantities, and it has also become a gathering place for Chengdu merchants.

The northeast corner of the southern city is the horse shop, which is the place where various livestock are sold. Although it is called the horse shop, it mainly sells cattle. The land in the Bashu Basin is rich, the water source is sufficient, and the grain output is very high. In addition, the farmers in Basin are relatively rich compared to the north, so the animal power is also used more widely, and almost every household has a plowing cattle.

Maxing's business is also particularly prosperous, and from time to time, large groups of farmers from other places come to buy cows.

There is only one shop selling horses in the horse shop, called Qianli Horse Shop. This is not because Bashu has many mountains and inconvenient horse racing. The Basin is also fertile and has a flat terrain. The key is that in the past two years, the Southern Tang Dynasty expanded its troops and forced the recruitment of private horses, resulting in a sharp decline in the number of private horses. Many shops have no horse source, so they have changed to selling cattle or sheep.

The reason why Qianli Madian survived was that it was inseparable from its background and background. There were rumors that the owner of this Madian was the son of the Prime Minister Cui Yuan. Although it was just a legend, every time Cui Yuan visited Nanshi, the first one was to this Madian. Some people recognized that the former shopkeeper of the Madian was the second housekeeper of the Cui Mansion. This series of coincidences imply that the Madian and the Cui family had a close relationship. This is true that the government never checked this store.

But no one expected that this horse shop had another identity. The headquarters of Jiannan Intelligence Hall was not only this horse shop, but also the two cattle shops next door were also the industry of the intelligence hall. From the shopkeepers to the servants, they were all members of the intelligence hall.

Of course, I didn't expect it to be another important reason for the intelligence agencies of the Northern Tang Dynasty. These shops have a history of more than a hundred years. This is actually the industry of the Han and Tang Dynasties. The Han and Tang Dynasties are distributed in various parts of the Tang Dynasty, mainly doing business. Chengdu is the third largest commercial city of the Tang Dynasty. This place is naturally the focus of the Han and Tang Dynasties. Over the past hundred years, the Han and Tang Dynasties have established fifteen industries in various places in Bashu, including shops, taverns, gambling halls, brothels, inns, cargo ships, docks, etc. Every family has boomed and has become an important source of funds for the Han and Tang Dynasties. In Chengdu, there are four famous stores, including Qianlimadian, Huichun Tea House, Jinxiu Restaurant and Western Regions Gambling Hall.

Now the Hidden Dragon Society has been disbanded, and the Han and Tang dynasties has transformed into the Anxi Intelligence Hall, and now it has been changed into the Northern Tang Intelligence Hall. The Chengdu Han and Tang dynasties has become the Jiannan Intelligence Hall, with a total of 354 members.

Of course, in addition to the members of the Intelligence Hall, there are some special figures in the Northern Tang Dynasty. They either entered the officialdom of the Southern Tang Dynasty or entered the powerful mansion as their staff. They can be said to be omnipresent, but they lurked deeply and only played a role at critical moments. Some of them are pro-Northern Tang factions, but they are not controlled by the Northern Tang Dynasty. They only help the Northern Tang Dynasty at the appropriate time, such as the Left Prime Minister Cui Yuan, the Censor General Zhang Qining, etc.

These people with special identities contacted Chang'an through the Intelligence Hall, but were not members of the Intelligence Hall.

The head of Jiannan Intelligence Hall, Shi Jingzhong, was a native of Chengdu. He was originally a general of the Longyou Army. He followed Geshu Han into Shu Han. After Geshu Han was sealed in Lianghu, he was unwilling to leave his hometown, so he left Longyou Army. However, he soon led part of the army back to Longyou and surrendered to Li Guangbi, which was highly appreciated by Li Guangbi.

He participated in the final battle with the Tubo army for Dafeichuan. After the war, Li Guangbi had planned to attack Chengdu directly, so he sent him to lead a team of scouts to sneak into Chengdu. Although the plan was cancelled, Shi Jingzhong was left in Chengdu and served as the leader of the intelligence hall.

Shi Jingzhong is about forty years old, with a burly figure and a mighty appearance. He knew at a glance that he was an extremely cheerful and righteous man. He was the shopkeeper of Qianlimadian, but he usually only asked about specific transactions.

Although Shi Jingzhong has a rough appearance, his other side is as careful as his hair. The Zhao family's actions were planned by him in this rescue seat, and every detail was taken into account. For this plan, he prepared for nearly two months before he could accumulate strength and succeed in one blow.

At this time, Shi Jingzhong was sitting in the backyard room and listening to his subordinates report on the details of the rescue. The person who reported was the thin man. This man was the person in charge of the entire operation, named Zhou Ping, an old scout in the Anxi Army. He was a lieutenant and had a lot of experience. He was also one of the five branch owners of the Chengdu Intelligence Hall.

"The rescue last night went very smoothly, and the guards were not alarmed from beginning to end. The two families got on the boat and went directly into the Minjiang River. According to the plan, they should have arrived in Jintang County, where our inn can be hidden for a while."

Shi Jingzhong nodded, "Although this matter was done very neatly, it also invisibly told Nan Tang that Chengdu has us spies here, so they will definitely search for it and tell the brothers to suspend all actions and wait for the limelight to come after these few days."

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a fierce sound of horse hooves coming from outside, and the head of the Nanshi City shouted outside: "Listen to all households, the army is coming to search the fugitives soon. Everyone keeps the money and obey the search!"

Shi Jingzhong immediately stood up, "It's true. You immediately notify your brothers to hide your weapons. Soon, this search must be extraordinary."

"We have already kept everything suspicious."

"No! Ask everyone to check again, there is no flaw in it. Go quickly!"

The scout Zhou Ping did not dare to delay and immediately turned around to execute the order. Shi Jingzhong also took out a horizontal knife and a pair of crossbows from under the couch and hurried to the backyard.

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A large-scale search has been launched throughout Chengdu. The escape of the hostages of the Xi and Zhao families made Li Heng furious. He not only ordered the execution of eighteen guards, but also dismissed Li Kaiyuan, the young minister of Dali Temple who was in charge of the matter. However, his anger was not calmed down. He ordered a search across the city. Even if he could not catch the escaped prisoners, he would catch several North Tang spies lurking in Chengdu.

This time the search was very strict and no one could let go of every family. This time, Li Heng made up his mind and mobilized 80,000 troops to the city for search.

Teams of soldiers were running on the street and began to search from house to house. A group of soldiers kicked open the door of an inn. The soldiers rushed in, and there was a scattering of soldiers and the inn shopkeepers from time to time.

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Another group of soldiers rushed into a big diner. The diner was in chaos. Only the sound of the table being overturned and the sound of the dishes falling down were heard. Many diners fled by the door. Those who escaped slowly were knocked to the ground by the soldiers, and their faces were covered in blood.

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Even a serious incident occurred in a cabinet next to Taipei City where soldiers robbed them.

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Just after the city office notified, an army of 3,000 people entered Nanshi. Nanshi is a place where merchants gathered from all over the country and is a key search area. As the army entered the city, the gate began to rumble and shut, and no one was allowed to enter and exit. The three thousand troops were united, fifty people were divided into sixty teams, and began to conduct a thorough search of hundreds of stores in Nanshi.

There are twenty-one stores in Maxing. Perhaps the horse store is not as oily as the jewelry store and has an unpleasant smell. There were four troops ordered to search Maxing, but in fact only two teams of soldiers came, starting from one end and one after another, starting from one end to another.

These soldiers also had a brief training before the search, mainly telling them some key places that they need to search, such as cellars, warehousings, stairwells, top floor lofts, separate cottages in the backyard, etc.

But there is a must-find version of the soldier. If there is a large gold-edged nanmu box inside, it must be opened, and it will be filled with money in it. The shopkeeper's room should pay attention to the cabinet mezzanine, and there are some locked small boxes under the bed. Even if you don't have money, there will be important documents. When you get these documents, the people in the store will naturally redeem them with money. The cellar is a place for goods, especially jewelry stores, porcelain stores, etc. Their boxed goods are often placed in the cellar; the other is the female family room, which needs to be mentioned, but you can take the opportunity to search for women, take advantage of the female family, and tease them, and take away some gold and silver jewelry.

Therefore, conducting a search of the city is actually an opportunity for soldiers to make a small fortune. Every household will give more or less money. If the search is a little looser and there is no money, they will search strictly. Hoes and kitchen knives will also be said to be controlled weapons.

"Who is the shopkeeper of this horse shop?"

As soon as the horse shop was inspected, a fierce voice came from outside. A lieutenant appeared at the gate with fifty soldiers.

The horse shop is located in the middle of the horse shop. In order, it should be the last to be searched, but the lieutenant is smart and can see this unique shop at a glance. Others sell cows and donkeys, but this one sells horses.

What is different means that there is good fortune to be reaped, so the captain led his men to the horse shop. When Shi Jingzhong saw that the search team came to the door, he gave the second shopkeeper a wink, and the second shopkeeper quickly greeted him.

"June, the villain is the shopkeeper of this store, and the villain's surname is Han."

The captain glanced at the door and saw a few good horses with signs tied to the door, and rubbed the rosacea and said, "It smells so bad. It's actually a horse shop. Is there any private sale of war horses?"

Manager Han quickly laughed, "June is joking. The small shop only sells animal power, so how dare you sell war horses!"

"That's not necessarily the case. Your store is very suspicious. You need to search it!"

The captain waved his hand, and fifty soldiers rushed into the horse shop and began to search through boxes and cabinets. The captain had a gloomy face and did not drink the tea he poured for him. This search was no different from before. He had to pretend to be the last one. He had to take the money. The captain knew it. He searched it first to see if there was any oil or water. There was really no oil or water. Then use his horse to make a fuss. The captain knew it was up to him to decide whether the war horse was the final decision.

He walked straight to the backyard, where there were two large stables, and there was a small door in the middle of the stable. He pointed to the door with a knife and asked, "What is behind the door?"

Manager Han, who was accompanying him, hurriedly said: "There is a small river behind the horse shop, and this door leads to the small river."

The door was covered in vain. The captain walked up and kicked open the door. He saw that there were weeds outside, with a small path in the middle leading to a small river three meters away. There was a very small pier with a boat tied to the pier.

The lieutenant didn't know what he was thinking, but walked up to look at the boat. It was indeed a bit strange that a small boat tied behind the horse shop. The boat was quite dilapidated and always felt that it would sink after not long.

Manager Han, who was standing by, was about to jump out of his heart. Their weapons were hidden in the small river below. If they really wanted to search the ship, it would be easy to find.

"What do you want a small boat to do in Madian?"

Sure enough, the other party also felt a little strange. Manager Han quickly smiled and said, "June, you see, there is still grass on the ship!"

The captain leaned forward and saw some forage scattered in the gaps in the boat boards. It seemed like that. How could there be no forage when opening a horse shop? It is far more convenient to transport fodder by using a large truck than by shipping fodder.

He stretched out his feet and kicked the boat. The hull was swaying, which was quite solid and could be used to transport fodder. However, he did not notice that the manager Han next to him was frightened, and he did not notice that a rope had been exposed from the stern of the boat. If the rope was pulled up, he would find many things that were enough to shake the Southern Tang Dynasty court.

At this moment, a subordinate called him in the backyard, "Captain, please come here!"

The captain left the boat and turned around and walked back to the backyard. Manager Han secretly breathed a sigh of relief and quietly wiped the sweat from his forehead. He glanced at the rope tied to the stern of the boat and cursed with bad luck. He couldn't see it at all, but why was it exposed today? Fortunately, God favored him and was not discovered by the other party.

In fact, it was not God's favor, but Shi Jingzhong on the second floor saw that the situation was relatively critical and took emergency response measures temporarily, which worked.

The captain walked back to the backyard and asked, "What's the matter?"

The subordinate secretly gave him a bag, and the captain took it, and felt his hand sinking, and the bag almost landed, "What is this?"

His subordinate whispered in his ear: "Two hundred silver dollars."

The captain was shocked, and he opened it and looked at it. It was indeed a bunch of silver dollars. His grandmother's, so this store would definitely not do good things.

His subordinate pointed at Shi Jingzhong not far away, "He is the shopkeeper in the store, and he gave it to him."

Shi Jingzhong smiled and bowed to him. Manager Han next to him walked forward and said with a smile: "That is our boss, Cui Xiangguo's nephew."

"So that's it. Since it's Cui Xiangguo's store, why not say it earlier, it's a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!"

The captain laughed dryly and waved his hand immediately, "I'll tell you brothers to end!"

The subordinates immediately ran out to call people. The captain glanced at the stable and thought to himself: "If there are no war horses among these horses, my name will be written in reverse, "A profiteer!"

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To be continued...