Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 118

"My lord! There are about 60 shi of grain in the cellar, and they have been interrogated clearly. One of these two is the housekeeper of Wang Hongtao's family, a big grain gentry in Sizhou, and the other is the grain business owner of Huang Dongming's family, a big grain gentry in Chuzhou." Big shopkeeper. The food hoarded in this place belongs to these two families. The Wang family occupies 35 shi, and the Huang family occupies 25 shi. Moreover, these two families are relatives by marriage and have been friends for generations. This place also has [-] guan each. A total of [-] guan was given to Puzhaowang Temple as incense money, so the monks in the temple lent this place to the two families." Li Junhao said straight to the point.

Ye Chen was also surprised when he heard that, 60 shi of grain was a big deal, which already accounted for one-tenth of the total grain raised in the Kaifeng plan.This is probably not enough for Sizhou to raise enough. In such a short period of time, at least two or three states are needed to purchase enough grain.And this can only be done by the cooperation of the real tyrants with huge local power and the government.

"Do the monks in the temple know about the hoarding of a large amount of food here?" Ye Chen asked with a frown.

"According to the two housekeepers, the two of them borrowed this deserted house for two and a half months, and they also had an agreement with the monks in the temple. The monks are not allowed to come here, and their food guards are not allowed to go to other places in the temple. place. Therefore, the monks in the temple should not know about the hoarding of a large amount of food here." Li Junhao said.

Ye Chen thought for a while, and couldn't help frowning, and said, "So much food, don't disturb the monks in the temple, how did they get here?"

Li Junhao smiled slightly and said: "About this point, my lord, please take a look at the back of this yard with the villain and you will know."

Ye Chen nodded, followed Li Junhao through the corridor of this small courtyard, and walked out through the small door in the backyard. What he saw made him startled, and then suddenly realized.

Outside the small gate in the backyard is a slope of more than 40 degrees. Below the slope, about a thousand steps away is a sparkling lake. The pier and the back door of this courtyard.

In addition, apart from the relatively gentle shore on the side of the small lake facing the Yangchang trail, the left and right sides of the small lake are actually steep cliffs, making it difficult for pedestrians to pass through.On the other side, there is a waterway connected to the small lake. I don't know where it leads.

"I see! This secret passage is not very secret, but if the monks in Puzhaowang Temple keep their eyes closed, and tourists and pilgrims will not come to this barren house, so carrying it up and down can be deceptive. "Ye Chen said.

"It's just...the monk who led the four members of Sun's family to this deserted house must have something wrong, and the fire before was too coincidental." Ye Chen said.

"Your Highness means that someone knew that His Highness would be at Puzhaowang Temple today, and specially staged this good show, presenting all this in front of us." Li Junhao asked.

The light in Ye Chen's eyes flickered, and he said, "Whether it was done for me or not, I'm not sure yet. We need to find the monk who brought the four members of the Sun family to this barren house. We should be able to get the answer from him."

Except for Li Junhao and Xu Fangyi, the guards behind them immediately looked vigilant, holding the knife handle, watching everything around them with wolf-like eyes, ready to strike at any time.

Seeing this, Ye Chen smiled slightly and said: "Don't worry, first of all, it is impossible for the thieves from Tianyi to discover our tracks, otherwise Miss Sun's family and the maid Xiaomo would not be ordinary women at that time, but two top men in Tianyi. The master is the master. In addition, this may also be a coincidence. Someone discovered the hoarding of food in advance and wanted to announce it to the world. But this person does not want his identity to be known, perhaps because he is worried about Wang and Huang. The revenge of the Er family and the people behind them set the fire again, and attracted the four members of the Sun family here. I want to use their mouths to tell all this."

Li Junhao and Xu Fangyi obviously also had guesses about this, and they were not surprised by Ye Chen's speculation, they just nodded as usual.

"My lord! Then how to deal with this matter?" Li Junhao asked the urgent matter.

Ye Chen looked serious, glanced at the guards, and said to Li Zhong, the head of the guards: "Choose two with the best riding skills, take my waist card, ride a fast horse to Chuzhou, and find Kaifeng Mansion Wang Xin Hu Zhengyi and two adults, tell them everything here, and say that it is a great gift from me."

Li Zhong agreed, and briefly discussed with the guards for a while. The two guards stepped forward and greeted Ye Chen. Ye Chen said solemnly: "Do you understand the purpose of this trip?"

The two looked at Ye Chen's expression, looked at each other, immediately knelt down on one knee, performed a military salute, and said in unison: "My lord, don't worry, the subordinates will send the news even if they die."

Ye Chen showed satisfaction on his face. This is what he wanted. He untied his badge from his waist, handed it to the two of them, and said, "Very well, take the four best horses and change them on the way. , go back quickly."

The two took the badge, turned around and left quickly.

Ye Chen wanted to quietly hand over the captured important witnesses and the physical evidence here to Wang Xin and Hu Zhengyi of Kaifeng Mansion. Before that, he didn't want to alarm the Huang and Wang families, as well as the Sizhou government.Dou Shihai, the prefect of Sizhou, has been in office for many years. These grain gentry can hoard so much grain. If there is no participation of the prefect of Sizhou, Ye Chen will never believe it.

However, in order to prevent Dou Shihai and the Huang and Wang families from jumping over the wall in a hurry, they killed people and silenced them.This matter should be concealed as much as possible. Fortunately, the suspicious fire at Puzhaowang Temple at noon drove away all the pilgrims. The scene of Ye Chen and his party rescuing Sun Xueying and Xiao Mo was not seen by others.

In addition, Ye Chen had a vague feeling that he couldn't hide it for a long time in other people's land.

But fortunately, the Puzhaowang Temple itself is very close to the junction of Sizhou and Chuzhou, more than 40 miles away from Sizhou City, and only about a hundred miles away from Chuzhou City.Back and forth, galloping at the fastest speed regardless of horsepower, without wasting time in between, within half a day, Wang Xin and Hu Zheng would bring people over.

Thinking of this, Xu Fangyi suddenly pointed to the entrance of the waterway on the other side of the small lake below, and said, "My lord! There is a boat coming."

Ye Chen turned around and saw a small boat sailing in from the entrance of the waterway on the other side of the small lake at the foot of the mountain, heading for the simple pier here.

"My lord! I have already asked the butler and the big shopkeeper before, someone will deliver food once a day, and this is the time." Li Junhao said.

With a wave of Ye Chen's right hand, everyone hurriedly retreated to the small courtyard with Ye Chen, so as not to be seen by the people below.

Ye Chen stood at a blind spot below the broken hole, looked at the boat on the small lake, and suddenly remembered something, frowned, and said, "Is the food delivery person bringing it up, or the person above going down to get it?"

Li Junhao said: "This point has already been asked, and the people below will bring the food up."

Ye Chen looked relieved, and said: "It seems that there are at least two people on this boat, brother Li and Mr. Xu! You two changed your clothes with theirs, and after you control the person who delivered the food, you will follow to deliver the food." The people who went down and caught the other people on the boat."

Li Junhao and Xu Fangyi nodded in agreement.

But the next scene made Ye Chen and the others change their expressions.

After the boat in the small lake stopped at the simple pier, a person came out and stood on the bow and looked up along the narrow path, and then shouted something. He exited the small lake at a fast speed and disappeared along the waterway.

Li Junhao's face was ugly, and he said: "I was deceived by these two old thieves. It should be the people above who went down to get food. Sigh! They should have sent people to ambush near the simple pier before."

Ye Chen sighed, and said: "Within a hundred steps near the pier, there is not a single bare tree. It is difficult for us to hide people. The housekeepers and shopkeepers of this kind of big family are all old foxes. What they said, It really shouldn't be taken lightly."

"Shut up those two old thieves and three thugs in the cellar. Our people hide, be vigilant, and send out guards. Old Xu, you and Shiwa, and call a few more people to take the vegetarian food that the monk prepared for us. Zhai moved here. In addition, you take some money, go around the temple, chat with those monks, and see if you find anything? It is best to find the monk who led the four members of the Sun family here. "Ye Chen said.

Wang Hongtao, the largest grain gentry in Sizhou, has lived in Sizhou for more than ten generations. His descendants have spread all over Jianghuai, all walks of life, government and localities, and their influence is intricate and deep.In addition, Wang Hongtao's daughter married the son of Dou Shihai, the prefect of Sizhou, and the two became in-laws. Together, they covered the sky in Sizhou with one hand.

Wang Hongtao received a message from Dou Shihai last night, saying that the deputy imperial envoy, Xiang Fu Bo Ye Chen arrived in Sizhou, asking him to be more careful, and told him the number of Ye Chen and his party.Wang Hongtao was cautious, and sent people to watch the only way to Puzhaowang Temple early in the morning. He didn't get any people who matched Ye Chen and his party to go to Puzhaowang Temple, but he said that Puzhaowang Temple was flooded today and drove away all the pilgrims. come out.

Wang Hongtao was relieved at first, but then instinctively felt that something was wrong, something was wrong.So he told the people who ate at noon to be smart, and if there was something wrong, report back quickly.

As a result, not long after, the confidant who delivered the food ran back with a look of panic, and really brought bad news.

Wang Hongtao called the person in charge of guarding the sentry on the road to Puzhaowang Temple, and asked more carefully. After learning that there were fifteen knights escorting two carriages to Puzhaowang Temple, his expression changed, and he hurried out of the mansion to find Dou Shihai.

(End of this chapter)