Cheng Jin shrugged and said, "The price doesn't matter, as long as I like it." As he spoke, he asked, "Is there any better silk?"
The shop waiter nodded repeatedly and responded: "Yes, yes, yes, as long as the general... doesn't care about the price, even the top-quality silk and satin, our silk and satin shop has stock. General, do you want to take a look now?"
"Of course." Cheng Jin raised his head and said.
"Then... the general has to wait for a while. I'll go get it from the back and come back soon." As he spoke, the waiter went downstairs in a hurry.
After he left, Gao Mucheng looked at Cheng Jin and asked in a low voice: "General, do you see anything unusual about this place?"
Cheng Jin shook his head slightly, looked around and said, "This is just an ordinary silk and satin shop, there is nothing unusual about it."
Gao Mucheng rolled his eyes and said, "When the waiter comes back, I will test him again."
Cheng Jin raised his eyebrows and looked at Gao Mucheng in confusion, wondering how he planned to test him, but Cheng Jin didn't ask any more questions.
After a short time, the waiter returned, followed by a well-dressed middle-aged man and two young men dressed as servants. The middle-aged man was the shopkeeper of the silk and satin shop, and he also knew Gao Mucheng. After arriving on the second floor,
With a smile on his face, he stepped forward quickly, bowed to the ground, and said, "I wonder if General Gao is here to greet you, so why don't you greet him from afar?" As he spoke, he turned his eyes away, looked at Cheng Jin again, and asked: "
I don’t know who this gentleman is…”
Before Cheng Jin could answer, Gao Mucheng introduced him on his behalf: "My brother's surname is Cheng. He is a person close to the king and a high official in a prominent position. Don't neglect me, shopkeeper."
"I don't dare, I don't dare! I don't dare!" The shopkeeper repeatedly raised his hands, nodded and bowed.
Gao Mucheng smiled, waved his hand and said, "Shopkeeper, sit with my brother while I go pick out some silks and satins."
"Okay, okay, okay, General Gao, feel free to choose. If there is a suitable one, the shop will sell it to General Gao at the original price. Ah, there is also Mr. Cheng."
"Haha!" Gao Mucheng laughed and praised: "The shopkeeper is still a good person!" As he spoke, he walked to the counter and said to the waiter: "Brother, help me introduce it. That one is good and cheap."
The waiter said hurriedly: "Don't worry, General Gao, I will definitely help the general choose the best quality and the cheapest."
"That's very good." Gao Mucheng responded, and then asked casually: "Have you heard about the assassination of the king last night?"
The waiter's heart tightened. He glanced at the manager subconsciously and nodded: "Of course I've heard about such a big thing. I wonder if the assassin has been caught?"
Gao Mucheng waved his hand and said: "Not yet, let the assassin run away." After a pause, he pointed to a piece of silk and praised: "This one is good, smooth and beautiful."
"General Gao has a good opinion. Many customers like this model, but the price is a little expensive." The waiter said with a troubled expression.
"Forget it, my monthly salary is far inferior to that of my brother." As he spoke, he glanced at Cheng Jin, and then asked: "By the way, what's going on in your store recently?"
Are there any familiar spiritual cultivators here to visit?"
The waiter didn't even think about it and blurted out: "No!"
Gao Mucheng's hands playing with the silk visibly stiffened, and then he laughed and asked, "You are not a spiritual cultivator, and you don't know the art of insight. How do you know that there must be no spiritual cultivators among your customers?"
"This..." The waiter didn't expect that his casual reply would be caught by Gao Mucheng. He hesitated and didn't know how to answer. The shopkeeper who had been paying attention to them frowned secretly, walked forward, and slapped the back of the waiter's head hard.
He slapped his face hard and reprimanded: "You don't understand anything, what are you talking about?!" After saying that, he smiled apologetically at Gao Mucheng and said: "General Gao, the young man is not very sensible. If you make any mistakes,
, I hope General Gao will not blame you."
Gao Mucheng looked up and smiled and said, "I'm just asking casually. If you find anyone suspicious, you must report it to the county capital as soon as possible. Do you understand?"
"Yes, yes, yes! You must pay close attention, little one."
At this time, Cheng Jin also came over, selected a few more high-quality silks and satins, paid the money, and then left with Gao Mucheng. After the two of them left the silk and satin shop and walked some distance away, they winked at each other and got in.
In a small alley on the side of the road.
Cheng Jin took out the broken silver found in the silk and satin shop and compared it with the broken silver that Gao Mucheng had picked up earlier. It was exactly the same. He did not express his position immediately, but asked Gao Mucheng: "General Gao, how do you feel?
?”
Gao Mucheng said seriously: "On the surface, it seems that there is nothing wrong with the Satin Village, but I always feel that something is wrong."
"That's right! I feel the same way." Cheng Jin murmured: "Maybe this is intuition! You said the owner of the silk shop is called..."
"Call Meng Pingan!"
"Do you live in the county town?"
"Yes, just to the east of the city."
"Let's search for it this evening and verify it to see if your intuition and mine are correct." Cheng Jin looked at the broken silver in his hand and said quietly.
Gao Mucheng said with an expression of embarrassment: "General Cheng, Mr. Meng and the county chief have a good relationship. Once troops are sent out to search, I'm afraid... I'm afraid that they will alert the other party early and make them prepare. Moreover, the county chief will also
You may not agree."
"Hmph!" Cheng Jin sneered and said, "How can we allow a mere county chief to ruin such a big thing as ours? I will ask General Wu to second my brothers directly under the army."
"This is the best." Gao Mucheng felt relieved. With the direct army dispatched, there would be no resistance like Wang Song. Furthermore, the direct army was much stronger than the county army, so it would be more reliable for the direct army to take action.
There was nothing to say at night. When the time came, Cheng Jin led 20,000 soldiers of the direct army, led by Gao Mucheng, and went straight to Meng Ping'an's mansion.
Meng Ping'an is a well-known wealthy man in Changdu and even the entire Zeping County. His family has a large business and his mansion is surprisingly large. Even if he compares it with the county capital, it pales in comparison.
However, no matter how big the Meng family's house is, it can't withstand the siege of 20,000 troops. After the 20,000 direct army officers and soldiers rushed to the Meng family's mansion, they immediately surrounded the house with three floors inside and three floors outside.
Ball torches and pitchfork pine illuminated the outside of the Meng family's mansion as brightly as daylight, making the large mansion seem to be sinking into a brazier.
There was such a big commotion outside. It was impossible for the people inside to be unaware of it. Soon, a servant opened the door of the house a crack and poked his head to see what was going on. When the servant saw clearly the huge crowd of soldiers outside, he was frightened.
His face was as pale as earth. Without saying a word, he closed the door of the house, turned around and ran inside to report the news to Meng Ping'an.
Cheng Jin and Gao Mucheng could see clearly. The former sneered and ordered around, "Knock on the door. If no one answers, just break the door open for me!"
"Follow the order!" The subordinate sergeants stepped in to take the order, strode forward, raised their fists, and smashed the door of the house. At the same time, they shouted loudly: "Open the door, open the door! If you don't open the door, we will smash the door.
Got it!"
After knocking for a while, no one came to open the door. The sergeant directly under his command was furious and muttered: "Damn it, if you don't drink the toast, you will be fined with wine!" As he spoke, he waved to his companions around him and said: "
Smash the door!"
As he shouted, a dozen strong men from the Feng Army came over immediately carrying hammers. The hammer has a wooden stake on top and a wooden stake hanging below. When using it, people pull the wooden stake below and use the push force.
It generates impact force with inertia, and its principle is similar to that of the Thunderbolt Car designed to break through city gates, except that it is lighter and can be carried by manpower.
Under the strong impact of the hammer, the door of the house quickly became shaky. At this moment, someone inside shouted loudly: "Stop! Stop it quickly -"
Hearing someone shouting, the Feng soldiers in front of the door grabbed the wooden stakes and stopped the collision. Immediately afterwards, the door of the house was opened, and a large group of servants ran out from inside to protect the courtyard. One of the leaders was an old man who looked like someone.
He is over sixty years old, with gray beard and hair, but he is extremely well-maintained, his face is rosy and not a single wrinkle can be seen on his face.
Seeing this old man, Gao Mucheng's eyes suddenly lit up, and he whispered to Cheng Jin beside him: "General Cheng, that old man is Meng Ping'an."
Cheng Jin did not respond, but looked at the old man with cold and gloomy eyes, and nodded slowly at the same time.
The old man was obviously a person who had seen the world. After he came out, he saw so many soldiers outside. His face was not nervous at all. He calmly and calmly bowed his hands around and asked: "Old Meng Ping'an, I don't know if all the military masters are here late at night."
What's the point of visiting?"
"We want to search for assassins!" a wind soldier captain replied coldly.
"Assassin? Where did the assassin come from in the old man's home? There must be a misunderstanding!" The old man smiled at the Feng Bing captain and said: "What's more, the old man's home has been searched several times. If there was an assassin hiding, he would have been caught long ago.
Come out!"
"Don't be wordy! It's not up to you whether there are assassins or not. Get out of the way!" Captain Feng Bing was not polite at all. He waved his hand forcefully and pushed the old man as far as he could. If the servants around him hadn't taken action quickly enough, they would have pushed the old man away in time.
Hold on, he will fall to the ground on the spot.
"Bold!" The old man's face turned red with anger, and he said angrily: "I have a close relationship with the county chief. If you wait until something happens in the old man's home, once the county chief finds out about it, I'm afraid he will not be able to eat you!"
Before the soldiers around him could answer, Cheng Jin, who was behind him, had already thrown his head back and laughed. Before urging the horse, he reined in the horse in front of the old man, stared down at the old man for a while, and said, "You thought you got to know the county chief?"
Does this mean you have a gold medal to avoid death? Even if you move the King of Heaven out today, we will still search him!" As he spoke, he waved his hand to the wind soldiers around him.
The soldiers obeyed the orders, and people rushed forward in droves.
Seeing this, the old man immediately opened his arms to stop the soldiers. Then he raised his head and said to Cheng Jin in a trembling voice: "General, don't bully others too much. If you insist on searching the old man's house, we will call the county chief."