Late Tang

Offended the princes and nobles, they hid in Dengzhou.There are also rumors that a high-ranking official in Luoyang took a fancy to Aunt Gongsun and wanted to take her as a concubine, but she refused, so she took the dance troupe to Shamen Island to avoid the limelight.Even more outrageous, it actually said that the current emperor was fascinated by Gongsun Da Niang's dancing skills, and wanted to welcome her into the palace as a concubine.

After hearing these legends, Li Jing just smiled lightly. He felt that Aunt Gongsun and her Sword Dance Pavilion were very mysterious, and it seemed that it was not just a place for singing and dancing as it appeared on the surface.Sword Dance Pavilion is very popular. It is said that from the opening to now, it is full of guests almost every night, and money flows in like water.In just a short period of time, there have already been incidents where rich businessmen competed for power and jealousy in Jianwu Pavilion, spending money like water to fight for wealth.

Originally, I thought that meeting that woman was just an encounter, but I didn't expect that she would suddenly come to my door today.Li Jing couldn't figure out why she came, but last time she was pretty nice, so Li Jing ordered her to be invited in.In order to express their welcome, they specially asked someone to prepare a small mutton hot pot, and brought up a jar of good wine.

In the flower hall of the town general's mansion, Li Jing specially called Yu Youniang, Li Huier, Xiao Yulou and Huang Yueying to accompany her.Although Aunt Gongsun is seven or eight years older than Li Jing, she is really too beautiful. Even if he can sit still, he has to worry about the bad influence of the rumor, and Gui Niang and Wan'er will inevitably worry about it.He simply called Li Huier and these women over. With them, there would be no need to worry about any gossip.

Everyone sat around a large round table, and on the table was a copper hot pot that was boiling and steaming. Inside the pot was boiling hot pot base ingredients. There were several plates of extremely thin mutton slices and several plates of fresh meat on the side of the pot. Vegetables, winter bamboo shoots, fresh mushrooms, tender spinach, Chinese cabbage, tender tofu, etc.There was also a small stove on one side, on which a shell of hot wine was scalding.

Several women sat around the round table very freshly, looking at the novelty hot pot.Especially the tumbling red bottom material in the hot pot, I was a little dumbfounded.People in the Tang Dynasty eat meals in separate tables, and usually each person has one case, and eats in separate meals.Where have I seen such a big round table and a large table of people eating together.And that hot pot is also very novel, it actually burns charcoal inside, and eat while cooking in the pot.Especially the red bottom material, it smells fragrant and spicy, which greatly increases the appetite.

Li Jing looked at everyone's expressions and felt a little funny in his heart.It is really pleasant to eat a hot pot in this cold weather. Although there is no chili in the Tang Dynasty, there are still many seasonings that may replace chili, plus cumin that has just been introduced into the Tang Dynasty.In the cold weather, it is so refreshing to cook a small mutton hot pot.Since he asked Blacksmith Wang to make this hot pot and spread the word about how to eat it, the most prosperous restaurant in Shamen Town is a newly opened hot pot restaurant, and there is an endless stream of people going to try it every day.In most of the officers' homes, there is basically a copper hot pot in every family. Even if you can't eat mutton every day, it is very refreshing to boil cabbage, spinach, or even tofu and radish.

The few women were still a little estranged when they met Aunt Gongsun at first, but they chatted happily after a while.Under the guidance of several women, Aunt Gongsun quickly learned how to eat thin slices of mutton in a hot pot.Drinking broth, simmering mutton slices, and drinking hot wine, in such a cold weather, life is like a fairy.

"It's delicious. The taste of this mutton hot pot is both fresh and spicy, and it also has a numbing taste. It's refreshing to eat in this weather and paired with a pot of hot wine. General Li, did you come up with this too?" Aunt Gongsun's nose was sweating profusely after eating, but she couldn't help but chopsticks frequently.

Aunt Gongsun was wearing a light blue jacket and skirt today, and she wore a sable fur apron around her shoulders. She was so excited to eat that she simply took off the apron and continued eating when her body became hot.

When Li Jing saw Aunt Gongsun came in, she just drank and chatted, but didn't mention anything else. In her heart, she probably felt that Li Huier and the other women were present and didn't want to say it in front of them.

After another large plate of mutton slices was wiped out, Li Jing saw that the food was almost finished, so she invited her to the study to talk.Aunt Gongsun readily agreed, and Li Huier and the others stared at Li Jing with strange expressions, but Li Jing just turned a blind eye.

"Jianwu Pavilion is the hottest business in Tianjie now. Why does Aunt Gongsun have time to come to this poor place like mine? There is a saying that you can go to the Three Treasures Hall if you have nothing to do. I don't know what Aunt Gongsun is doing?" Li Jing cut straight to the point. When a woman came to him, she must have something to talk about.

Aunt Gongsun's eyes that seemed to be able to talk swept Li Jing's face a few times, and Li Jing was a little impulsive, secretly thinking that this woman is so powerful, no wonder even the emperor's heart is moved by him in the legend.

"The general seems to have prejudice against the slave family? Why does the slave family always feel that the general rejects people for thousands of miles?" Aunt Gongsun said in a charming voice.

Li Jing secretly bit the tip of her tongue, her mind was sober after drinking.

"It's just that Aunt Gongsun is too tempting. If I don't keep a little distance, I'm afraid it will be difficult to control. Since Aunt Gongsun came to the door today, there is still something to talk about."

Gongsun smiled: "As soon as the slave family saw the general that day, they knew that the general was extraordinary. Why don't the generals guess why the slave family came today?"

For these provocative words, Li Jing just pretended not to hear them, and simply stopped talking.

Sure enough, Gongsun also felt a little bored in this way, and put away that charming expression in a blink of an eye, and immediately became a dignified woman.

"Actually, I came today because I have something important to tell you. However, there is no pie in the sky. What price are you going to pay for it?"

"An important thing? What is it?"

"I can only tell you now that it is an important piece of information related to the fate of your Shamen Town."

intelligence?Li Jing was stunned for a moment.Could it be that Aunt Gongsun is secretly engaged in intelligence business?Or maybe she just overheard something about herself in the pavilion, so she wanted to come and sell it?

"To this day, I don't hide it from you. In fact, Jianwu Pavilion is not only a song and dance troupe, but also sells information. We have transactions with us all over the world. Whether it is business news or other news, we can buy and sell here. As long as there is valuable information, you can sell it to us. The more important the information, the higher the price. And You can also buy information from us, not only can you buy existing information, even if we don’t have it, as long as you can put forward the conditions, we can also get it for you.” Aunt Gongsun didn’t have the slightest dusty appearance at this time, but His face was shrewd and capable, full of leader temperament.

Li Jing was full of shock at the moment. He had made many guesses about Gongsun's real identity, but he never thought that Jianwu Pavilion was actually an intelligence shop, secretly buying and selling various plots.This news is really amazing, and what is even more amazing is that Gongsun will explain all this to him so straightforwardly.

"Shouldn't this transaction be very secretive? Why did you tell me this?"

Gongsun smiled: "For the vast majority of people, they only know that we are members of the song and dance troupe, and will never know our other identity. But for a small number of people, our identity is actually public. Yes, basically everyone in this circle knows our identities."

Li Jing understood that the vast majority of people he mentioned must be ordinary people, and the people in that circle must be the so-called upper class.

"Although the current status of the general is not enough to enter that circle, your strength and potential are enough. I am here today to attract the general into our circle. For this reason, as a welcome gift, I will give you today for free. The general sent you a piece of information that is very important to you. As a gift, I will not charge for this information."

"What information?" Li Jing asked in a deep voice.

Aunt Gongsun smiled, a little casually, so that Li Jing saw those bright white teeth shining like jade.

"The last time you lectured Feng Ming and Liu Qi on Tianjie, there is trouble. There is no movement from Feng Zhang. But Liu Qi's uncle, Dengzhou Navy Youyi Envoy Wang Jin, has already made a move. He wants to deal with it. You, you have to be careful."

Li Jing's heart moved, and he hurriedly asked: "Wang Jin wants to make a move, how should he do it?"

Gongsun smiled: "It's only within these three days, just be careful. As for how to do it, this part does not belong to the category of free gifts. If you want to know, you have to pay."

"As long as it's worth the price, I'll buy it for how much." Li Jing was a little surprised when he heard that Wang Jin had already made a move.Although he taught Liu Qi a lesson, he still released him after all.In his mind, the Wang family should have weighed things up and decided not to offend each other in the end.What he was really guarding against was Feng Zhang. He didn't expect that now that Feng Zhang was silent, Wang Jin did first.

"For the first sale, I'll give you a half-price discount, three thousand coins."

The value of this information is very high, Li Jing frowned slightly, feeling a faint pain in his heart.But this is not the time to be stingy, he gritted his teeth and nodded, "Deal."

"The general is indeed bold. I have made this friend." Aunt Gongsun said with a hearty smile, "Wang Jin has already written a letter to Cyclops, the head of the pirate who often robs the sea in the Duli Township of Liaodong, asking him to come here tomorrow. , Cyclops will lead a pirate fleet disguised as a caravan into Shamentang Bay, and then go ashore from Shikou Wharf, west of Shamen Town, to make a surprise attack at three o'clock in the morning."

Li Jing's face became very ugly, "Number of people, ships?"

"A total of thirteen ships, big and small, and five hundred pirates."

Li Jing carefully asked a few more information, such as the one-eyed dragon's strict background, rumors in the world and so on.Aunt Gongsun received Li Jing's [-] guan information fee, but she never refused to Li Jing's inquiries, and she got what she asked.

In the end, Li Jing got the news that this one-eyed flood dragon was a big pirate who once looted around Dengzhou.He was originally a team leader of the navy, but later he fled to the sea and became a pirate because he led a boat to rob a caravan at sea.Within a few years, a large team of thousands of people and dozens of boats was assembled near Dengzhou.But later, Wang Jin, the navy commander, led a team to encircle and suppress, and the one-eyed jiao's lair was destroyed and fled.It is also said that Cyclops was captured by Wang Jin that time, but Wang Jin did not kill him, but arranged for him to stay in the sea as a pirate.

After that time, the Cyclopedic Jiao ran to the vicinity of Liaodong Island and regrouped, unexpectedly quickly regained its strength, and became even more powerful in the Duli Town area.However, according to Aunt Gongsun, Cyclops has long been a dog loyal to Wang Jin. The reason why he regained power so quickly is also because Wang Jin secretly supported him, gave him money, weapons, and even boats. That's why I got up so fast.

Now that Wang Jin wanted to deal with Li Jing, he didn't intend to do it himself, but wrote a letter to Cyclops, asking him to bring the pirates to enter the Shamentang Bay as a fake merchant fleet, and then prepare to attack Salmon Island at night and kill Li Jing.Everything is ready, the Cyclops has brought thirteen ships, and five hundred pirates have come to kill them.

Li Jing couldn't imagine, if Aunt Gongsun didn't tell him this information in advance today, would he be able to stop the pirates from attacking?Even if it is blocked, how much will it cost?Just now he was still feeling sorry for Sanqianguan, but now he feels that it is very worth the money, even super value.

"How did the aunt know this information? Why did you tell me?"

"Jianwu Pavilion's information has always been accurate and never wrong. We have our own sources of information, so it is inconvenient to disclose this. As for why I tell you, firstly, it is appropriate to sell you this information, and secondly, I think you are very There is potential, and I also believe that we will have more cooperation in the future."

Li Jing solemnly bowed to Aunt Gongsun: "Thank you, Auntie!"

(To be continued)