Water Margin people

Chapter 1496 Nishapur

Nishapur.

"You see, not only are the city walls high, but there is also a deep moat outside the city. The water flows down from the mountains and is extremely turbulent. It is impossible to hide and cross it.

"These walls are built with the finest stones. Artillery fire on them will probably have little effect."

"Also, look at the equipment of those soldiers. Although it is far inferior to our Qi army, it is better than the Western Region army we have seen along the way."

Ma Lin looked at Han Shizhong and said that just by passing through the city gate he realized that this fortress was not simple.

“It’s really a military fortress!”

Han Shizhong nodded. He saw all of this and realized how difficult it was to capture the city.

The two found a hotel in the city to stay in. Hotels in the West are completely different from those in the Central Plains. There are very few private rooms here, but more of them are large dormitories.

But this was exactly what Ma Lin and Han Shizhong wanted, so Ma Lin took out his iron flute and started playing.

These Westerners love music very much. They will dance unconsciously when they hear music. Music has become the key for Ma Lin to build up his network of contacts.

Han Shizhong showed his ruffian character and soon was mingling happily with all kinds of people.

The two of them each played to their strengths and listened to what the people around them said.

Ma Lin and Han Shizhong are both smart people. They have been exposed to and learning the local language during this period.

Although this place now belongs to the Seljuk Turks, most of the people here are Khwarezmians, and the main language is Khwarezmian.

Although Ma Lin and Han Shizhong were not good at speaking and could not speak the language, long-term study enabled them to understand some of it.

"Underground black market!"

"gamble!"

“Win money!”

"woman!"

“Good wine!”

Ma Lin and Han Shizhong understood the intermittent words.

"Money! Wine!"

Han Shizhong pretended to shout excitedly. From the words just now, he seemed to have heard that there was a lawless place under the city of Nishapur, and he was very interested in this.

"Money! Wine! Haha!"

The rest of the people also burst into laughter, with excitement in their eyes. What else could a bunch of vagrants do together except drinking and gambling?

Ma Lin just continued to play the flute, and the beautiful melody made the people around him dance unconsciously.

After a while, several people who were familiar with Han Shizhong wanted to take Han Shizhong to the underground city to have some fun. They walked out of the hotel arm in arm.

Ma Lin continued to play, and when he saw more people gathered around, he started to dance while playing.

Just as more and more people came, a middle-aged man in luxurious clothes walked in and looked directly at Ma Lin.

"Where are you from?"

The middle-aged man looked at Ma Lin's hair color and asked in surprise.

"My name is Ma Lulin, and I'm from the Le clan!"

Ma Lin stopped playing and saluted the middle-aged man. Although he had some Tibetan blood and looked like a Tibetan, he was not a real Westerner after all. It was easy to tell from his appearance, so Ma Lin called himself a member of the Le clan.

Ma Lin noticed that there were several guards holding scimitars around this middle-aged man. The presence of these people meant that this middle-aged man was not simple.

Since the destruction of the Big and Small Le clans, the Yuezhi people have been wandering around the west, but the Le clans are closer to the Central Plains after all, and their ethnicity also has some Central Plains characteristics.

“Your instrument is unique!”

The middle-aged man looked at the iron flute in Ma Lin's hand and spoke.

"This is a musical instrument from the East, called a flute!"

Ma Lin stuttered.

"Oriental musical instrument? Flute? Interesting. I'm going to host a banquet. Would you like to come and perform? These are the rewards!" The middle-aged man took out a small bag of coins and threw it to Ma Lin.

Ma Lin didn't rush to agree, but just reached out and took the bag of money.

"This is the city lord's younger brother!"

Someone beside Ma Lin whispered.

"The city lord's brother! Lord Dafit!"

Ma Lin was shocked. He didn't expect that he would be noticed by the city lord's brother just by playing a simple song.

"Thank you, sir!"

Ma Lin hurriedly thanked him. He came here to gather intelligence, and it would be better if he could get in touch with the upper echelons.

"Come with me! The party will be in the evening!"

Duffy nodded and took Ma Lin out of the hotel lobby.

Han Shizhong followed those local ruffians to an abandoned house, only to find that the house was in a very dilapidated state.

"Come on, let's go in and have a gamble!"

The leader smiled and lifted a wooden board on the ground, revealing a dark hole.

"Normally you have to pay to enter the dungeon, but let's take a shortcut!"

The leader smiled and went down with a lantern, and the others followed impatiently.

Han Shizhong stayed behind, but he did not hesitate and followed in.

After entering the tunnel in the dark, Ma Lin followed the firelight for a while. Not long after he went far, he could hear excited roars. After turning a corner, he saw that the view in front of him suddenly opened up, and colorful lights illuminated the entire space.

“This is actually a square!”

Han Shizhong looked at everything in front of him in surprise. These people actually built another city under the city.

"Let's start!"

The leading hooligans brought Han Shizhong to a ring, where they saw two giants trash-talking each other. Han Shizhong didn't quite understand the language, but from their tone, eyes and body movements he could tell they were greeting the family members on the other side.

"Place your bet!"

A small platform was surrounded by people holding up their hands and placing their bets.

Han Shizhong was not surprised. This thing also existed in the Central Plains. It turned out that all gamblers in the world were the same.

Han Shizhong also pretended to place a bet, but he looked around and found that other places seemed to be connected except here, and there were huge drainage pipes.

"Is this a sewer? The kind that connects the entire city!"

Han Shizhong was not dazzled by what he saw. He thought that this place could be used to hide troops during wartime, and they could reach every corner of the city at any time.

Roars and curses filled the entire venue, and the gamblers cheered and shouted madly.

The two strong men on the ring also started fighting with fists. Han Shizhong watched for a while and found that although the two strong men had only a few moves, each move was a killing skill, and they were decisive and intended to take the opponent's life.

"These barbarians are quite strong and extremely ferocious. It seems that they are used to seeing life and death."

Han Shizhong looked at the two people on the ring. If they were in the Central Plains, they would definitely be strongmen.

After a fierce fight, the winner was finally decided. Han Shizhong actually guessed right and exchanged a small bag of money for a large bag of money.

The people who came with Han Shizhong were all in disgrace. They had bet their entire fortune on the gamble, but ended up losing.

"He won three games in a row, how could he lose!"

One of them had lifeless eyes and a look of disbelief.

"Come on, I'll buy you a drink!"

Han Shizhong patted the bag of money and said with a smile that he wanted to get more secrets out of these people, and getting drunk was the best way to do that.