"Have you heard? A group of refugees from Milia City fled to Wine Barrel Town."

"Didn't those guys from the Empire block the tunnel?"

"I heard they crossed the Dibia Mountains."

"impossible!"

"There seems to be a secret passage."

"I think there is something wrong here. Maybe there is no secret passage at all. In fact, the empire deliberately let these people come here!"

"Why do you say that?"

"Don't forget that there seems to be a plague in Miria City now. If some Miria people flee to our side, could it be that those guys in the empire deliberately let people infected with the plague come here so that we can also be affected by the plague?

infect."

"I'm afraid the big shots have also thought of this. I heard from Jason who was delivering the goods that the Royal Army has sealed off Wine Barrel Town and is now sending some doctors there to check for the plague."

"Why not just kill them, isn't that much simpler?"

"I heard that some of those people came from some big families."

"Oh~~!"

…

In the Old Shoe Upper Tavern, these porters drank cheap sour fruit wine and chatted about the latest hot topics. This was their only entertainment activity during their break. They needed to relax and regain their strength as soon as possible until the next whistle sounded and the train entered the station.

Button Town is located to the north of Lanxi. Because it gradually formed a town centered on the button factories opened by several businessmen, it was named after Button Town. However, those button factories have now been relocated to other places.

Most of the land in the town was built into cargo holds, and almost all the original factory workers became porters at the train station.

The changes in Button Town began six months ago when the French Imperial Army made a surprise attack on Milia City. The United Kingdom built fortifications in the Dibia Mountains to resist the Imperial Army's southern invasion. However, Lanxi was too far away from the front line, so it would not be able to respond in time if something unexpected happened.

To support the front line, the United Kingdom transformed several towns north of Lanxi and near the Dibia Mountains into paramilitary towns to support the front line.

For example, the nearby Musaizi Town was transformed into a recruit training base, Bison Town was also transformed into an equipment repair center, and Button Town, due to its geographical advantage, is located at the intersection of several railways, so it became a supplies

center.

At the beginning, the people of Button Town were very dissatisfied with the urban transformation. In their opinion, their status as workers was much higher than that of porters, and the work of porters was also much more tiring than that of button workers. If they did not have the skills on hand,

Whatever savings there were, the residents of the town would probably have left long ago.

However, with the completion of several new railways, the newly built railway station began to operate, the number of trains increased, and a large amount of materials were transported here and distributed centrally, and the originally desolate town became prosperous. The town

Residents with industries quickly realized the benefits of the town's transformation. Rising housing prices was one of them. The arrival of a large number of new residents also made the originally vacant rooms available for rent collection, and those button factory workers who became porters also

I found that although my work was a bit tiring, I was making more than ten times as much money as before, and my original resentment and dissatisfaction also disappeared.

However, prosperity brings not only money, but also chaos. In the past, the most serious crime in the town was just a fight in a tavern. But now, in less than a month, there are

Four murders occurred, making it difficult for people in the town to adapt. Many people have decided to move out once they make enough money.

Some people can leave if they want to, but some people can't leave if they want to. Old Shoe Bang Peter, the owner of the Old Shoe Bang Tavern, is such an unlucky guy.

Old Shoe Bang used to be a soldier of the United Kingdom. He had to retire due to a leg injury. However, he received the care of his former comrades in arms, got a quota as a civil servant of the Royal Government, and was assigned to be the station master of the old railway station in Button Town.

The old train station in the past is not as good as it is now. It takes almost two days for a freight train to pass here, and it takes only three days for a special train from the button factory to stop here to load goods. Therefore, being a stationmaster at such a train station can only earn a little salary.

Salary, there can be no extra money.

Until Button Town was renovated, the old train station began to expand, and several new tracks were added. Lao Xie Gang felt that the train station was going to prosper, and his pocket as the stationmaster should also become fatter.

Unfortunately, before Lao Xie Bang could figure out how to make use of his position as webmaster, his position as webmaster was replaced by another person, and all he received was a relatively good amount of compensation.

Lao Xie Bang was a smart man, and he did not overreach himself to pursue the post of stationmaster. Instead, he took the compensation and took out a loan from the bank and opened a tavern near the train station to supply porters.

Affordable cheap sour fruit wine.

Because of its good location, you don't have to be far away from the train station when taking a break, the price of wine is also very low, and enough food is available all day long, the Old Shoe Upper Tavern quickly became a favorite resting place for porters and nearby civilians.

.

Originally, the old shoe gang thought that he could rely on this tavern to live a quiet life, but he never thought that more than a month ago, a secret department under the royal government found him, recruited him into the department, and made his tavern a success.

He established an intelligence station and specially equipped three low-level intelligence officers to assist him in collecting intelligence.

Lao Shoebang himself did not want to be the head of such an intelligence station, but facing the power of the Royal Government, he had no choice but to benefit from his status as the head of the station, which allowed him to know some secret things that ordinary people did not know.

And these things can even save his life in some cases.

For example, in the sealed warehouses built in the town, there are actually no supplies at all, and all the supplies are disguised.

In the view of the United Kingdom military, if the French Empire army is ready to formally attack the Dibia Mountains defense line, it will inevitably send airships to fly over the Dibia Mountains and directly destroy the material distribution towns supporting the front line like they attacked Miria City.

, so the kingdom deliberately set up a fake supply center in Button Town to attract the attention of the empire. The real supply center was actually located elsewhere.

Although Lao Shoe Gang was very dissatisfied with the Royal Government's approach of putting the residents of Button Town in danger, he also knew that he could not do anything because the three low-level intelligence officers were nominally his subordinates and were actually under surveillance

Meaning. As long as he reveals a little bit of dissatisfaction, maybe what awaits him that day is a dagger that cuts his throat.

Lao Xie Gang couldn't use his own information to save the civilians in the town. All he could do was use his foresight to save himself, so he paid special attention to the various news that the porters and civilians talked about in the tavern, because in these

There may be some signs of war in the news.

At the same time, he also pays special attention to some new faces, because he knows very well that if the empire wants to launch an attack, it will definitely send spies to investigate Button Town in advance. After confirming that this is a supply center, it will launch a series of devastating strikes.

Some of the rumors circulating in Button Town in the past two days are just some after-dinner talk in the eyes of ordinary people, but in the eyes of the old shoes, these rumors are signs before the war. Because if that can allow ordinary people to cross Dibia

If the secret passage in the mountains is real, then it means that there is a fatal loophole in the United Kingdom's defense line. The imperial army can bypass the defense line of the Dibia Mountains and directly attack the Lanxi area, and the nominal material center button

The town is naturally the primary target of the imperial military.

For this reason, the suspicious Lao Shoebang spent this period of time paying special attention to the new faces who had just appeared in the town and eavesdropping on their conversations. This approach did allow him to discover a few spies, but these spies were not from the empire.

, but some mysterious forces that he doesn’t know about.

Today was no different for Old Shoe Gang. He took over from the bartender who stayed behind last night and stood at the counter, pouring a glass of sour fruit wine for the night shift porters who had just got off work, and then eavesdropped on these people's complaints and gossip.

After two batches of drinking porters were changed, a tall figure who just walked in from the door caught Lao Xie Bang's attention, and also made Lao Xie Bang wary.

"A soldier must be a professional soldier." Lao Xie Gang quickly made a judgment in his mind.

Although Lao Xie Gang's ability to collect and organize intelligence is average, his vision is outstanding. His long begging career as a child gave him the ability to judge a person's identity and occupation from his behavior.

He had never told anyone about this ability.

The tall figure who came in, whether it was the way he walked or the temperament on his body, made Lao Xie Gang think of soldiers for the first time, and then he habitually guessed whether it was a spy sent by the imperial army.

The reason why Lao Xie Gang did not think about the United Kingdom soldiers is because in the United Kingdom, except for disabled soldiers like him, any other soldiers, even free mercenaries and caravan security guards who have received sergeant training, are all banned.

The United Kingdom has recruited them. After some training, these soldiers were deployed in key areas outside the Black Forest to prevent the French Empire army from relying on the special barrier of the Black Forest to launch a surprise attack.

When there are no current professional soldiers in the United Kingdom, it is suspicious that this professional soldier wearing shabby clothes to hide his identity suddenly appears in an important material center town like Button Town.

While suspicion arose in his heart, Lao Xie Bang also tapped the code with his fingers to notify other intelligence officers in the tavern to pay attention to the strong man in front of him.

However, what the old shoemaker didn't expect was that after entering the tavern, this strong man walked directly to the bar, then placed a gold flange with the new hairstyle of the United Kingdom on the table, and said: "Bring me a glass of wine, and stop by."

A little food, and the rest for me to get some news."

The old shoe boss accepted Jin Flan, served a glass of ordinary wine and a white bread set, and then asked casually: "What do you want to ask?"

The strong man took a sip of the wine and asked while eating the bread set: "When will there be a train to Port Lyon from here?"

"Going to Lyon?" Hearing a question that was completely different from what he was thinking, Lao Xie Gang was stunned for a moment, but quickly returned to normal and said: "If you want to go to Lyon, it is best to go to the central station in Lanxi. There is a special bus service there.

The trains to Lyon run three times a day, or you can take a boat. There are no passenger trains specifically bound for Lyon in Button Town, only trucks."

"You can also take a truck." The strong man took out another gold flange and put it on the table and explained: "I heard that the central station in Lanxi was affected by the wartime system, so buying tickets requires a voucher issued by the Royal Government. Most people need to

I'm afraid it will take some time to get the voucher. Sometimes when I go to Lyon, I don't have so much time to waste, so I can just take the freight train."

The old man was silent for a moment, accepted the gold flange, then took out a coaster, wrote a few words on it, handed it to the strong man, and said: "There is an empty train bound for Lyon this afternoon, you can go to the train station

Find Bucktooth Bailey and give this to him, and he should be able to help you get into the car, but the price is not cheap."

"Thank you." The strong man took the coaster, put it in his pocket, quickly ate the set meal and ale in front of him, then turned around and walked out of the tavern.

"Looks like another idiot who was scared to death by the empire!" An intelligence agent disguised as a tavern waiter walked up to Old Shoes and said disdainfully.

In the past few months, countless people have been frightened by the French Empire's offensive. Many people secretly transferred their property and then made various disguises to escape the United Kingdom and seek refuge in foreign countries.

At first, the United Kingdom paid special attention to this matter and even promulgated a series of wartime decrees with a prohibitive tone. However, they soon discovered that doing so could not effectively prevent those who wanted to leave, and would only punish those who did not want to leave.

The people who left caused some trouble, so many temporary wartime decrees were canceled, leaving only a few targeted decrees.

Obviously, this intelligence officer regarded the strong man as a cowardly deserter, and thought that the old shoe upper's behavior just now was a bit surprising.

Lao Xie Gang did not accept the judgment of his subordinate, and still ordered as he thought: "Send someone to follow him, contact the railway and Lyon, and monitor him until he leaves the United Kingdom.

."

Seeing Lao Xie Gang making such a decision, the intelligence officer couldn't help shouting in a low voice: "You are crazy, you are wasting manpower..."

Before he could finish speaking, Lao Xie Gang turned to the intelligence officer with a cold face and said, "Don't forget, I am the person in charge here, you just need to obey my orders."

"Of course, you are the leader and you have the final say." Even if the intelligence officer disdains Lao Xie Bang in his heart, he still does not dare to resist in the face of the superior-subordinate relationship in the system and will honestly follow Lao Xie Bang's instructions.

Do.

Seeing that his men were suppressed, Lao Shoebang was relieved. Although he insisted on monitoring the strong man, in fact, his judgment on the strong man's behavior was no different from that of his own men, and the same

He believed that the other party was not a spy, but an ordinary person who wanted to leave here. But his intuition told him that this person was a little weird, so he made the decision to monitor him. As for whether his proposal would be implemented
Chapter completed!