An ox cart specially used for purchasing came out of Duke Yi's Mansion. The person driving the cart was the person who was usually responsible for purchasing. He slowly headed west, heading straight to the West Market. He said hello to anyone he met, and it was a normal peace.
There are no two days.
The West Market is very lively in the morning, with crowds of people and all kinds of shouts.
The carriage stopped, and three men jumped out of the car with their bodies hunched over, and hurried away with their heads lowered. They were dressed simply, with mustaches and businessmen. It was Qin Huaidao, Luo Zhang and Xue Rengui who had changed their appearance, each holding a knife.
Wearing a round-collared robe, the waist is girded, and the weapons are tied to the back and inside the robe.
Each person has a long knife and a dog-leg knife, both made by Qin Huaidao.
The three of them hurried on their way and continued walking for some distance after leaving the city.
Not long after, the sound of horse hooves was heard from behind. Jia Youcai and several guards came to beat the horses. They took 20 horses and sent them to Qinjiazhuang for foster care. It was inconvenient to keep too many horses in the house. No one knew that three horses were missing on the way.
, everything is planned.
Qin Huaidao and the others got on their horses and headed straight to the south.
The horse gallops all the way!
In the afternoon, the three of them passed through Lantian County and came to a small town at the foot of the Qinling Mountains. Beyond that was the post road into the mountain. There was only one bluestone road in the town and dozens of households. It looked a little deserted. The three of them held hands.
The horse walked slowly along, found a shop, sat down, and ordered some food.
After a hearty meal, the three of them continued on the road and bought some pancakes for dry food at a snack shop. Unknowingly, they came to a rice shop. Qin Huaidao stopped and looked at the rice shop, thinking silently.
"Young Master?" Xue Rengui shouted in a low voice.
"Brother Xue, there is only this one small town within a hundred miles, and the bandits also need food."
Xue Rengui's eyes lit up: "Young master, what you mean is that this rice shop is involved with bandits?"
"It's not clear whether this is involved, but one thing is certain. Bandits cannot rely solely on robbing to eat food. The people are poor and have no food to rob. There is only one possibility. Buy food. The town is so big. If you look at it, this is
This is the only rice shop where bandits buy a lot, so the shopkeeper of the rice shop must know."
"That makes sense, I'll go." Xue Rengui agreed, feeling a bit of admiration in his heart. He was obviously younger than himself, but not only could he fight, he was also so good at calculating. He was worthy of being the queen of the generals, not as good as him.
"I'll go." Luo Zhang stepped forward first.
After entering the room, Luo Zhang shouted: "Call your shopkeeper to come out."
The waiter in the store quickly said: "Sir, the shopkeeper is not here, what can I do for you?"
"Call him over."
"This?" Seeing that Luo Zhang's visit was unkind, the waiter didn't dare to agree.
Qin Huaidao followed him into the house and said calmly: "Buy grain, the quantity is large, you can't make the decision."
"In that case, please wait a moment, guest." The waiter quickly agreed and entered the backyard.
"Use your brain more." Qin Huaidao glared at Luo Zhang.
Luo Zhang smiled coquettishly: "Uncle is here, so there's no need."
"You!" Qin Huaida said it was hard to say anything else.
After waiting for a moment, a middle-aged man hurried over from the back hall, his eyes flickered, he cupped his hands and said with a smile: "Three guests, I am the shopkeeper of our shop, I wonder how much food you three need? I am not bragging, I can provide it in this area
A large amount of food is only available in our store, and it is of high quality and low price.”
Qin Huaidao saw that this guy had a sly look on his face and was not like a good person, so he deliberately scolded him with a straight face: "Shopkeeper, you sold grain to the bandits in the Qinling Mountains and caused trouble to the bandits. What crime should you do?"
"It's unfair, where do you start talking about this?" the shopkeeper shouted hurriedly.
"You know whether you have been wronged or not." Qin Huaidao was proficient in micro-expression observation and could see that the other party was guilty. He had confidence in his heart and shouted sternly: "I'll give you two choices, make atonement by performing meritorious service, tell the bandit's den, spare your life, or quibble to the end, or confiscate the house and destroy the family."
, which one do you choose?”
"This...this is unjust, sir."
"If you refuse to repent, your crime is unforgivable, kill me!" Qin Huaidao gave Xue Rengui a look. Such skills were beyond the reach of Luo Zhang, a martial idiot who only knew how to fight and kill.
Xue Rengui understood the idea and slowly pulled out the dog-leg knife, staring coldly at the opponent's neck, as if he could take action at any time. Doing so would put pressure on the opponent. When the opponent's eyes twitched, Xue Rengui suddenly yelled:
"kill--"
The dog-legged knife was raised high and slashed towards the opponent's neck, as if to kill him.
Where has the shopkeeper seen such a formation before? He had no scruples when he saw the action. He thought it was the government coming to investigate the case, so he panicked and shouted quickly: "Spare your life, sir, I know where the little one is."
The dog-legged knife suddenly stopped, and the sharp blade was pressed against the shopkeeper's neck. A stream of blood spilled out. If he had been a little later, he would have been dead. The control of the force was so exquisite that it was incredible.
Qin Huaidao nodded with satisfaction, looked at the shopkeeper and said: "You only have one chance, think about it before you think about it. We can find this place, so we naturally have a good grasp of the situation. If you dare to talk nonsense, watch your head carefully."
Luo Zhang looked over in surprise - what did he master, why didn't I know?
However, Xue Rengui saw that it was blackmail and understood it. He kicked the shopkeeper on the ground and shouted with a fierce attitude: "Speak quickly, otherwise you will be treated as a bandit and beheaded!"
"I said, I said..." The shopkeeper was in a panic. He didn't know it was blackmail. He really thought that Qin Huaidao had grasped the situation. Otherwise, why would he come directly to the door? He quickly knelt down and kowtowed while shouting: "My lord, my lord."
Mingjian, there is nothing you can do about it."
"Tell the important point and don't talk about anything else." Qin Huaidao shouted.
"Yes, yes, yes... let's get to the point." The shopkeeper was very frightened and said quickly: "I buy grain from time to time every month. I came here yesterday. I don't know where exactly it is. I just sell grain.
Nothing has been done."
"How do you know they are bandits?"
"Sir, almost all the villagers nearby know each other, and no one would buy so much at once, let alone transport it to the mountains after buying. Who else but bandits could there be? I also want to report to the official, but I'm afraid.
, please be merciful to me, the little one has no choice. If he doesn’t sell the grain, they will kill his whole family.”
"How many people and cars each time? What kind of cars?" Qin Huaidao asked.
"Every time, there are twenty or thirty people. They come at dawn, buy something and leave immediately without stopping. They use horse-drawn carriages, about thirty. No matter how many there are, I don't know how small they are."
Qin Huaidao stared at the other party and observed, and after making sure he was not lying, he said: "Remember, if you don't want to die, forget what happened."
"I understand, I'll take note of it," the shopkeeper replied repeatedly.
The three of them walked outside and followed the bluestone road out of the town. Xue Rengui said with admiration: "Young Master, they are really involved. Why didn't any of the officers and soldiers from the imperial court who came to encircle and suppress them think of this? Otherwise, these gangs would have been wiped out long ago.
bandit."
"Have you thought of it?" Qin Huaidao asked.
Xue Rengui smiled: "No."
"Why?" Qin Huaidao asked.
"I didn't think about it." Xue Rengui said truthfully.
Luo Zhang said: "I didn't think about it at all. Our officers and soldiers of the Tang Dynasty are only responsible for fighting. Even the logistics are handled by someone. They just kill and it's over. Why do you think so much?"
Qin Huaidao looked at the winding Qinling Mountains ahead and said: "This is the habit of thinking. To be a general, you must not only understand the weather, the favorable terrain, and manage people, but you must also learn to change places in order to understand the opponent's psychology. The art of war has this saying: Know yourself and know the enemy
, a hundred battles are inevitable, and victory or defeat often depends on what is happening outside the battlefield."
"Young Master, I am familiar with military books. 'Victory or defeat often depends on what is outside the battlefield.' It sounds quite reasonable. I wonder which military book it comes from?" Xue Rengui said curiously.
"You may not be able to read this military book."
"what book?"
Qin Huaidao got on his horse and said with a serious expression: "Enter the mountain and drive!"