I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

Chapter 107: Spying on Intelligence (Please subscribe)

"Boss, I went to the west area of ​​Yongning Acropolis today for a walk and found that many blacksmith shops there were making weapons such as swords, guns, bows and arrows.

I pretended to be a merchant who wanted to buy ironware, and said I wanted to make iron pots and knives for sale.Unexpectedly, the master of the blacksmith shop said that it would be impossible to make them. Now they only make swords and guns, and they are all taken over by the Xuanfu Si Yamen. "

At the cargo station in Yongning Acropolis, a small flag officer of the Imperial Guard bowed and said to Liu Beiyu.

"Why do they need so many swords? Do they really want to rebel?"

Liu Beiyu said in confusion. To be honest, he was confused when he received this task. This southwestern chieftain was difficult to treat. The chieftains had troops and could also set up cards to collect taxes.

It is common to disobey the court. It is really like "a small rebellion occurs every five years and a major rebellion occurs every ten years." But why do the superiors insist on investigating this Yongning Guard.

"It's possible, otherwise why would we make such a sword, but there is no evidence. People in this city are very wary of us now, and they don't understand the language, so it's difficult to communicate."

Another small flag officer next to him also complained.

Liu Beiyu knew that this was the truth and came out in a hurry. They had been active in the capital. When they came here, they were not familiar with the place, they didn't understand the language, and they didn't know much about the local customs, so they could only investigate slowly.

"Don't complain. Compared with us, it would be more dangerous for Yang Yishan to go to Liaodong. Not only would he have to track down spies, but he would also send undercover agents to build prisoners."

Everyone was silent after hearing this, and they were secretly glad that what Liu Beiyu said was reasonable. Compared with Yang Yishan, they could not be called dangerous at all.Liu Beiyu looked at everyone and felt that it was time for him to come up with an idea.

"Now that we have found the possibility of She Chongming causing rebellion, let's continue to collect evidence. Since he is already refining weapons, he must train troops on a large scale. There will definitely be movement during the training.

I think so, we are pretending to be merchants. In the past few days, except for the people who are guarding Yongning Guard, the rest of us are pretending to be traveling merchants. We will go around the prefectures and counties around Yongning Guard in the name of selling goods. We will definitely find something. Clues.

Brothers in Yongningwei, don’t be idle. Although we don’t understand the language, there are also imperial officials and Han people living in this city. You can use the excuse of doing business to establish good relations with them. These people have lived in Yongning for many years, and the She family They must be clear about his actions. "

Seeing Liu Beiyu's arrangement, everyone nodded in agreement.

Don’t waste any time once you have a plan, prepare it immediately and start taking action tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.
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Yongning Xuanfu Division is originally located at the junction of Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan provinces. It is an important transportation thoroughfare with many trades going back and forth, and the locals are accustomed to it. This also provides a natural cover for the actions of Liu Beiyu and others.

Fifty miles east of Yongningwei is Dishui Village.

Although chieftains were established in the southwest in the early Ming Dynasty, Han people were encouraged to immigrate, and garrison camps were also set up. Dishui City was where the Han military garrison was at that time.

However, the military garrison was later destroyed, and much of the land was occupied by senior guards officials and turned into private fields. There are still many people who continue to cultivate their lives.

In Dishui City, people are coming and going. Now is the three-day market held once a month. The surrounding villages come to the city early every month on these days to exchange what they have.

At the market center in the west of the city, a young traveling merchant came here early with a mule, found an open space, unloaded the goods on the mule one by one, and spread them neatly on the tarpaulin.

There are many traveling merchants like him who come to the market every time, and they also bring many items that are rare in the local area. The locals are also happy to see them and find them rare.

People were coming and going in the market, and the vendors who finally got here started to sell, hoping to get business. There was an endless stream of bargaining, and it was a lively and prosperous scene.

However, this person seemed to be doing business for the first time and rarely hawked. The items on the floor were some scissors, cooking knives, and even iron pots and other in-demand items, so he had no worries about selling them.

This made other street vendors nearby look jealous, but no one else had the ironware he sold, so there was no competition.It wasn't until lunch time that someone couldn't help but ask:

"My little brother looks unfamiliar, but this is the first time I've come to Shuidi Village."

A middle-aged vendor on his left asked him curiously when he saw him selling like this.

"Yes, my family is also engaged in this business, but I have never gotten started. It was not until a few months ago that I started selling with my elders. A few days ago, my uncle said that there was a market in Dishui Village, so he thought of letting me come and walk around to get familiar with it. .”

The young merchant responded with a smile when he heard this.

"Hahaha, I'm just saying, this little brother looks very young and doesn't make a sound in the crowd, he looks like he's just taking things as he comes."

Seeing him talking, another foot trader in his 50s on the right laughed and joked.

"Haha, old man Li, please don't laugh at me. Who hasn't been here since they were young? I heard others say that the first time you hawked, you were so nervous that you couldn't even speak. You were like that shy little girl. Hahaha."

The middle-aged vendor walking by suddenly started joking, and everyone around him burst out laughing.

"Hey, Zhang Sheng, don't say that. Although I am nervous for the first time, in our business, we need to open our mouths and shout to get business, don't you think so?"

Old Man Li didn't care and started teaching business tips directly.But as soon as these words came out, Zhang Sheng shook his head, and then turned his attention to the young man's stall.

"Although you have to open your mouth, sometimes it's better not to hold the goods. Iron tools are hard to come by these days. Little brother, where did you get them?"

It turned out that the reason why he struck up a conversation was because he saw what the young vendor was selling.

You must know that the Yongningwei blacksmiths are now controlled by the Anning Xuanfu Si Yamen, and their business is monopolized by the She family. As a result, ironware used by the people can only be purchased from other places.

Scissors, kitchen knives, iron pots and other items are in short supply now. The demand in the villages of Yongningwei is very high, and the prices are high and they are easy to sell.

"Oh, these. I have an uncle who is doing business in Luzhouwei in the north. There are a lot of iron ores and iron tools there, and they are cheap to buy. Fortunately, he bought me some goods so that I can sell them better. .”

As soon as this statement came out, the eyes of the people around him suddenly shone. They thought that if they could win over this young merchant well and use his connections to help themselves get some iron supplies, wouldn't it be possible to make more money? This would be a fortune. What a great opportunity.

Thinking of this, people around him began to get acquainted with him one after another, chatting and getting close to each other, and some people explained to him the precautions when selling.Fortunately, this young vendor is also patient and respects these people. He is very useful to these seniors, and he even spends his money to teach them, and they have become closer to each other.

There were three days in the market. The first two days saw the most people coming, and the merchants' business was also the best. On the last day, almost everything was sold. Everyone thought that they had to settle the iron business with the young merchant quickly, so the total business was That's right, let's just put together a bill and find a restaurant to have some drinks and talk about it.

"Brother Zhang, Uncle Li, thanks to your care these past few days, my first trip out went so smoothly. Come here, let me respect you."

"Okay, okay, everyone has a first time. I guess we will need more care from you in the future."

After drinking and drinking, everyone's feelings instantly increased a lot.Zhang Sheng saw that the atmosphere was about the same, so he winked at Old Man Li.

Old Man Li understood instantly, picked up the wine and filled a glass for the young merchant, then filled himself up, raised the glass and said:
"I'm the oldest here and have the thickest skin. In fact, I invite you to drink today because we have something to ask for."

When the young merchant heard this, he quickly picked up his wine glass and said:

"Li Bo, please don't do this. You have helped me a lot these past few days, and I am very grateful. I am also worried about how to repay you. Whatever you say, I will do my best to help you."

As soon as he saw the drama, Old Man Li immediately raised his head and poured down the wine, and then expressed his idea of ​​asking him to buy some ironware from Luzhou so that they could also sell it and make a profit.

"Huh, what did I think? This matter is easy to handle. Leave it to me. My uncle told me that he heard that there was a shortage of iron here, so it was very expensive. That's why he asked me to sell Tantan. If someone wants to buy in large quantities, he also has the connections."

Everyone was overjoyed when they heard this. It was much easier than they thought.But the young merchant asked again:
"Speaking of which, I'm also curious. I've been doing business in Yongningwei in the past few months, and I've seen quite a few blacksmith shops, but why is there such a shortage of ironware?"

The people present looked embarrassed when they heard this, but thinking that others had agreed to help them make money, they thought it was okay to tell the truth, so they whispered:

"Don't ask randomly. This blacksmith shop has been taken over by the She family. We must provide weapons to the She family every month. If you don't hand it over in full, you will be fined and beaten, or arrested and imprisoned."

"I've heard about this, but it's not serious. I haven't heard of any war happening here. Why are there so many weapons?"

As long as the first sentence of any secret is spoken, the rest of the secret will be easily concealed.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Sheng looked around and saw that there was no one around him, then he leaned close to him and whispered:

"Don't spread this matter randomly. I heard that the She family is going to cause chaos."

When the young merchant heard Zhang Sheng's words, his expression flashed with joy, and then he pretended to be surprised and said:
"It's impossible. The She family has been guarding Yongning for hundreds of years, how could they rebel?"

Seeing that he didn't believe it, the old man Li next to him became dissatisfied and started talking quietly.

"This is all obvious. You are still too young, and your family did not give you any instructions when you came out. This court has humiliated the She family in every possible way.

Thirty years ago, the She family was involved in civil strife. At that time, the Sichuan military officer Guo Cheng and the general Ma Chengwen sent troops deep into Luohong (a place name), the ancestral home of the She family, to plunder the She family's property. The ninth generation of the She family had accumulated Looted everything.

20 years ago, Sichuan Secretary Zhang Shenwu and General Zhou Dunji once again led troops into the Yongning Xuanfu Division. In the name of continuing to pursue the official seal of the Yongning Xuanfu envoy, they once again plundered and raped women.

Even when She Chongming, the current Xuanfu Secretary, succeeded him as Xuanfu Secretary, he was made things difficult by the court in every possible way, which made She Chongming jealous and always wanted to avenge the She family.These are all open secrets. "

"It's common for chieftains to cause rebellion in our court. If it ever happens, I think She Chongming will be the next Yang Yinglong of Bozhou. It won't be a big deal."

The young merchant was dismissive, which made the people sitting there feel angry and wanted to argue with him.

　I'm really sorry, I'm a bit stuck. I can only finish two of the three chapters promised, and I still owe one chapter, which I will definitely make up this week.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)