Late Tang

Qiu Shengong, who had just been promoted to be the third general on the left side of the left wing of the Zhanbing Battalion, took his brothers to the Phoenix Wharf to pick up the goods early in the morning. It was delivered to Salmonella early this morning.But until noon on that day, there was no cargo ship from Dengzhou at all.

Qiu Shengong personally led a group of people to row a speedboat to the sea to meet him, but he still didn't see the ship with the red carp flag in the letter even when he arrived in Dengzhou.He personally went to Dengzhou Wharf, and the people at the wharf replied that there was such a ship, but it had already set sail early in the morning.He went to the Governor's Mansion to ask Song Wen again, and Song Wen answered the same way.

When it was dark, Qiu Shengong returned to Shamen Town and brought back a puzzling news to Li Jing. "According to the inquiring news, the boat carrying our weapons did leave the Dengzhou Wharf early in the morning. Many people who fished along the coast in the morning also confirmed that they saw the boat and it was traveling in the right direction. , It’s coming towards us.” He said, “But after sailing not far from Dengzhou Water City, it seemed to suddenly disappear. After that, no one saw the boat again.”

"Could it be that Wang Jin intercepted that boat and robbed our cargo?" Wang Zhong asked.

"Or the people on the boat took our goods and ran away!" Lin Wu said, "But I think since the boat belongs to Song Wen, and the people on the boat are also his people, then it is unlikely that they kidnapped our cargo." The goods fled privately." He looked at Li Jing who had been sitting at the top and had not spoken, waiting for his judgment.

Li Jing also frowned. He had spent a huge sum of 1000 guan to buy this batch of weapons when he was still poor.For this reason, he also borrowed a usury loan of [-] guan from the Xiao family, and he will repay [-] guan in three years.In addition to these, he also agreed to accept ten Xiao family children into the Shamen town army.Just yesterday, the ten children of the Xiao family had landed on the island.Not only ten selected outstanding Xiao family children came, each of them also brought a team of family generals.Including the maids and guards who came to serve Han Xiaoshi, there were more than [-] people.It was the Han family's fleet of ten ships that sent them here, and the fleet also brought a large amount of food and even extravagant living utensils.

That scene left many people on the island dumbfounded.Even if Li Jing knew that the Xiao family's money was not so easy to borrow, she would be amazed at the result.Where did the Xiao family send their children here to hone their training? Those who didn't know thought they were coming to change their minds and take over his army and territory.

There were nearly 600 people, and Li Jing could tell that although most of the guards of these Xiao family disciples were young people in their twenties, they were all strong and healthy, with a good foundation in martial arts.What made Li Jing even more vigilant was that the servants in the servants of the Xiao family were all stubblers who had experienced life and death.Their eyes were sharp and their bodies were steady. When they stood there, a bloody smell would naturally flow out of their bodies.These people are hard stubble, and they are probably elites selected from the army and caravans.

The official number of soldiers in Shamen Town is only three hundred, and the ten children of the Xiao family brought nearly six hundred family members.If it wasn't for Li Jing's desperate expansion several times, he might not have as many people as these Xiao's children.The Xiao family's ambition for Shamen Town is clearly revealed.Even though they may not have the ambition to seize power and seize the island now, they have the idea of ​​deploying people.

Li Jing originally planned to be tough and only keep the ten Xiao's children, but their servants sent them back.However, Mrs. Xiao took the initiative to find him, and first said that the children of the Xiao family are all dudes, like to show off, and so on.Then the topic changed, and it was pointed out that the island was not safe. Not long ago, pirates attacked, and the town of Shamen was almost in danger.So I asked Li Jing to let them keep their own Ding team.

Of course, as compensation, the Xiao family is willing to waive the debt owed by Li Jing.In addition, he is also willing to provide Li Jing with a loan of 20 guan, which is also a three-year loan period. After the maturity, the principal and interest will be returned together, but it is 50 guan.And she also specifically stated that the children of the Xiao family will be in Shamen Town, and everything will be done in accordance with the military rules. In addition, they are responsible for their equipment, food, etc. by themselves.Even the pensions and allowances for the dead and wounded in battle, as well as the rewards for combat, etc., are not in the charge of Shamen Township.

Mrs. Xiao's words both inside and out revealed that the Xiao family just wanted to borrow Li Jing's territory, and Li Jing would help train an excellent guard team and hone the meaning of the younger generation of the family.This proposal moved Li Jing a little. Now he is short of money and people.Facing Feng Zhang and Wang Jin's siege, and the new city has not yet been repaired, he always has a sense of insecurity.

The Xiao family is the largest gentry family in the south of the Yangtze River, cooperating with them will inevitably mean seeking skin from a tiger and taking millet out of a fire.The Xiao family's money is not easy to get, but after thinking about it several times, Li Jing agreed to Mrs. Xiao's proposal.All because of the 4000 troops in Li Jing's hands now.With this new army in hand, Li Jing couldn't believe that the hundreds of members of the Xiao family could still produce flowers on this small island.

The troops of the Xiao family settled down on the island, but Mrs. Xiao had no intention of leaving. There were thousands of Xiao family members on the island. Finish.But at this time, a thousand sets of equipment disappeared.

For a moment, Li Jing also wondered in his heart whether Song Wen made these weapons or not and didn't want to give them to him.But after thinking about it in his heart, he couldn't figure out why Song Wen did this.Compared with Song Wen's suspicion, Wang Jin is obviously more suspicious.The ship disappeared within the sphere of influence of Wang Jin's navy, and the relationship between him and Wang Jin is well known to everyone.Although the two have just reached a non-aggression agreement.But that was just a few verbal agreements, and there was no evidence in black and white.

"General, don't think about it too much. This must be Wang Jin's good deed. Let's gather our troops now and go to Dengzhou Water City. We might as well chop Wang Jin up with one knife, and it will be over once." Li Shugen, the head of the right wing of the battle camp, said loudly. , almost raised the knife and walked away.

"Don't be impulsive!" Li Jing stopped Li Shugen, this incident was very obvious on the surface, and everything pointed to Wang Jin.But the more this happened, the more Li Jing felt that there was a problem with this matter.Wang Jin has just reached an agreement with himself, and it can be regarded as a compromise with himself.Now even half a month has not passed, how could Wang Jin make such a sudden move.Even if he really did it, why did he make it so obvious?

"Who benefits, who suspects!" Li Jing tapped lightly on the table, "You say, if these weapons are robbed, according to the development of the situation, who will benefit the most?"

Zhang Hong stroked his goatee and pinched his teeth, with a heartbroken look on his face.The disappearance of a thousand sets of weapons for which huge sums of money had been paid was like his daughter being kidnapped. "According to the current situation, if we believe that Wang Jin is the one who intercepted our weapons based on our existing suspicions. Then we can't react in two ways. Either we fall out with Wang Jin, and we fight each other with Wang Jin. Or, We will bear with it for the time being, but we will find another opportunity to retaliate, tooth for tooth, blood for blood. But no matter what the reaction is, the non-aggression agreement we have reached with Wang Jin now will be shattered, and our two families will have to fall into open and secret wars Among them, there is no end to death."

"We and Wang Jin are going to die together, who will benefit from it?"

"Song Wen!" Wang Zhong said.

"Feng Zhang!" Lin Wei also expressed his opinion.

Li Jing suddenly thought of Li Rui. Since Gongsun Lan suspected that Li Rui was an ambitious guy, could it be him who did this?He stole these weapons and kept them for future rebellion, and he could also make the relationship between himself and Wang Jin tense again, and even fight directly.If he and Wang Jin fight, then this move may even trigger the overall situation, and eventually drag Song Wei and Wang Jingwu into the muddy water.In this way, can Li Rui break the situation in Ziqing Town and take advantage of the chaos?

Song Wen, Feng Zhang, and Li Rui are all suspects, but it seems impossible for all three of them.Li Jing fell into confusion for a moment.

But the more so, the more Li Jing smelled a conspiracy.His intuition told him that someone seemed to have dug a hole in front of him and was waiting for him to jump down.He is trying his best to restrain himself, not to mess up, not to mess up.Once you are in a mess, you may really fall into the enemy's conspiracy.

What should I do?Make up your mind and move.

Li Jing's heart suddenly brightened, the situation was unclear, and he stood still.What he needs most now is to figure out the situation, find out who intercepted his goods, take the goods back first, and then deal with the hidden enemy.

"Zijun, Xuancheng." Li Jing called the two generals from the reconnaissance capital, "Immediately send out your people, secretly go to Daxie village, Dengzhou water city and Dengzhou city to inquire about the news, and find a way to find out who is missing. Where is your cargo ship, and where is our cargo!"

"Yes." The two shouted out.

Wang Zhong asked: "Then what should we do now?"

"Wait!" Li Jing spit out a word, "No one is allowed to move without my order. Everyone go back separately and hurry up to train soldiers and horses. The situation is getting more and more unstable. We can only hurry up and train an elite soldier." Stand firm!"

When the meeting is over, everyone will leave.After Li Jing and other generals left, they went back to the house and changed into a set of ordinary silk long gowns, and put on a hard-footed fringe. They went to the back and called Wang Shi, "Go ask some brothers to change into ordinary clothes, let's go Phoenix Street."

Fenghuang Street is Tianjie. Li Jing felt that the name Tianjie was a bit taboo, so he ordered to change it to Fenghuang Street.Wang Shi didn't ask the reason, but nodded responsibly, greeted a group of servants to change into ordinary clothes, and drove a carriage to Fenghuang Street.

(To be continued)