Zhuo Wangsun stood far away in the shadow, with the east gate of Chengdu in front of him. A long motorcade was lined up along the city road. It was very long, with a hundred or ten vehicles. The vehicles were covered with thatch.
The goods inside were well covered and bundled very firmly, and you could tell at a glance that they were going to take a long way.
The county soldier guarding the gate yawned and glanced at the convoy: "Which company is it from? Do you have a warrant?"
The housekeeper of Zhuo Mansion glared: "Are you blind? Didn't you see the mark of Zhuo Mansion?"
"It turns out they belong to the Zhuo family! Hehehehe!" The county soldier smiled, waved his hand, and a dozen more people came out of the doorway behind him. The weapons in their hands were very simple, but their momentum was not weak at all.
"What are you going to do?" The butler took a step back, and the escorts driving behind him immediately rushed up.
The county soldier guarding the gate glanced at him: "I was ordered to inspect, what? You still want to fight back? Come, let's see who is afraid of whom! Send someone to go!"
When the housekeeper heard this, he knew that just using the name of the Zhuo family would prevent him from leaving Chengdu, so he hurriedly walked out: "Here, we have something to discuss. We are from Li Sima. He entrusted our Zhuo family to transport some goods!"
With that said, the steward handed a money bag in his hand to the county soldier.
Weighing the money bag in his hand, the county soldier chuckled: "That's right! Does Li Sima's goods have Li Sima's warrant?"
"Yes, yes!" The housekeeper took out a slip of paper from his arms and handed it over.
After looking at the bamboo slips, he weighed the money bag again. The butler wisely took out another bag, and a smile finally appeared on the face of the county soldier: "Is this right? If you have a warrant, I will do the same for you! Brothers,
Open the city gate!"
"Squeak...!" There was a sound, and the heavy city gate was opened. The steward quickly urged the driver to get out of the city quickly. He was pulling so many goods and must not stay in Chengdu for a long time. If he was discovered, Li Cheng's
You can't hold back your reputation.
Zhuo Wangsun watched the convoy leave the city, then turned around and walked back. The first time he got home, he came to the wing in the front yard. The room was still dark, and there was a strange person inside. It was late at night when he came.
, asked Zhuo Wangsun for a secluded room, never went out during the day, and did not light a lamp at night, completely hiding himself. Except for Zhuo Wangsun, no one else in Zhuo Mansion knew that such a person existed.
"Already sent away! I'm watching out of the city!" Zhuo Wangsun stood at the door and said to the black figure inside.
The shadow was right next to the wall, all dressed in black, with a serious face: "Very good, I will leave in a moment. Nothing will happen to those soldiers."
"Do you want to prepare anything?"
"No need!" The shadow waved his hand, and Zhuo Wangsun quickly bowed and retreated.
The steward of the Zhuo Mansion is responsible for escorting the goods, and their destination is Liujia'ao, twenty miles outside Chengdu. As long as the goods are delivered to Liujia'ao, his task will be completed, and these things will have nothing to do with the Zhuo Mansion.
The steward walked at the end, constantly urging the driver to speed up. There were a total of 103 oxen and carriages, all equipped with armor, which could arm two thousand people.
When they left the city, it was late at night and it was still full moon. The weak skylight could not illuminate the road clearly. They did not dare to light a lamp, so they could only walk as fast as possible in the dark and rely on their memory.
"How far is it?" The housekeeper wiped the sweat from his head, stretched his neck and looked forward.
A driver replied: "We should be there soon, turn the mountain pass in front and you will find Liujia'ao!"
"Oh, okay, hurry up, we can rest when we get to Liujia'ao!"
Arriving at Liujia'ao safely, the housekeeper was as tired as a dog. He had never felt this way when delivering goods before. This time he was not only afraid, but extremely afraid. Death was nothing. If something went wrong with these goods, it would not be death.
It was so simple for him. The housekeeper didn't want to stay in Liujia'ao for a moment, and immediately went back after completing the handover.
Looking back at Liu Jia'ao, the housekeeper sighed: "I have been worried for so many days, but I can finally sleep peacefully today!"
He ran back to Chengdu in one breath, but Zhuo Wangsun was still awake. As soon as the housekeeper stepped in the door, Zhuo Wangsun's eyes opened: "How is it? Is everything okay?"
The housekeeper quickly took out a piece of silk from his arms and held it to Zhuo Wangsun with both hands: "Everything went well, here is the receipt!"
Zhuo Wangsun took a deep breath, glanced at the receipt, and put it in his arms: "Very good, thank you for your hard work. Go down and have a rest! I will invite Li Cheng here tomorrow. I want to talk to him about my distant niece."
"Here!"
That night, Zhuo Wangsun and the housekeeper both slept very well and had good dreams. They had never slept so well in the past few months and got up very late. Sitting on the couch, they yawned.
The maid hurriedly came over to wash Zhuo Wangsun.
The housekeeper knocked on the door and said outside: "Master, Li Sima is in the lobby. When will you see him?"
"Come so fast?" Zhuo Wangsun thought for a while: "Let him wait for a while, I will come right away!"
"Here!"
Li Cheng's face was calm and he was sitting in the lobby leisurely drinking good tea. He had only drunk this kind of tea a few times from Su Ren. Su Ren said that the annual output of this top-quality fried tea is only
A few kilograms, apart from what was left to him, even less was sold outside. In Shu County today, the price of this top-quality fried tea is a little more expensive than gold.
Li Cheng couldn't taste the tea, and it tasted bitter in his mouth. The housekeeper stayed beside Li Cheng, talking indifferent words, looking very happy and excited. When Zhuo Wangsun came, he was already in the morning. He walked squarely,
With a smile on his face: "Li Sima came so quickly!"
Li Cheng stood up quickly and saluted Zhuo Wangsun: "Shopkeeper Zhuo, naturally it will be faster to call you, but I also have something to see Shopkeeper Zhuo today, so I came faster."
"Oh? Haha!" Zhuo Wangsun smiled: "Li Sima is more anxious than me. My niece will come to Chengdu in a few days. I will discuss it with his father then. Don't worry, Li Sima will never do what he promised.
Regret, not to mention that Li Sima did me such a big favor yesterday."
"Let's put this aside for now, I'm talking about another thing."
"Oh? Another thing, what's the matter?"
"Does Shopkeeper Zhuo know that bandits made trouble in Chengdu last night?"
"Bandits?" Zhuo Wangsun was shocked: "There are a few mountain villages outside Chengdu, but they have never been to Chengdu. Besides, there are more than a thousand county soldiers in Chengdu. How dare those people do such things?"
"Hey! Who says it's not the case? But it's still here!"
The housekeeper glanced at Zhuo Wangsun and said to Li Cheng: "Li Sima, can you tell me clearly? What we merchants are most worried about are these bandits!"
Li Cheng nodded, thought for a while and said: "It's not a big deal. Last night, a group of bandits suddenly attacked Liujia'ao in the east of the city. It was already morning when the report was received. Early in the morning, the prefect sent a school captain
I took someone there, but I don’t know what the situation is like? These..."
"Where?" Zhuo Wangsun stared at Li Cheng with wide eyes.
"Liujia'ao in the east of the city!"
"Last night?" The housekeeper had already lost his voice: "Do you know which bandit family it is? How many people are there?"
Li Cheng shook his head: "The captain hasn't come back yet, so I don't know the specific situation. Yesterday I heard Shopkeeper Zhuo saying that he wanted to transport goods out of the east gate. I wonder if there is any problem? Shopkeeper Zhuo should send someone to take a look, just in case..."
The housekeeper had already rushed out of the door, running so fast that he almost tripped over the threshold.
Zhuo Wangsun lay down on the Taishi's chair and said nothing. He didn't listen to a word of what Li Cheng said later. It was as if there were hundreds of flies swirling in his head, and he felt panicked. When will Li Cheng leave?
Yes, Zhuo Wangsun didn't know. When he woke up a little, the housekeeper stood in front of him with a sad face.
"Master! It's over, it's all over!"
Zhuo Wangsun completely collapsed and fainted as soon as he raised his head.
Wen Dang, Chang Shi, Tang Meng and a group of Shu County officials sat blankly in the hall. Su Ren stood in the hall and was reporting on the bandits in Liujiaao.
"According to preliminary estimates, the number of bandits is very large, definitely not less than 500, and all of them are brave and good at fighting. However, the strange thing is that the losses suffered by the people of Liujia'ao were not great. Only a few huts were destroyed, and the personnel were even more.
No one was injured, and the food and belongings at home were not even looked at. However, a caravan temporarily staying in Liujia'ao was poisoned. From the driver to the guard, no one survived, and the goods were also looted. Preliminary estimates are that these bandits were rushing to the area.
Went with those goods."
"Cargo? Do you know whose caravan that is? What is it transporting?"
Su Ren shook his head: "I don't know whose caravan is carrying it. The goods transported should be soldiers' armor. There are traces on the ground, and the people can also confirm that the bandits took a long time to move those soldiers' armor. They can see clearly.
Clearly!"
"Hmph! Besides the Zhuo family, who else can transport armor and more than a hundred vehicles?" Chang Shi was furious: "I asked him to sell armor to us, but he said he didn't have it. Now it's a good thing, he actually sent a large number of soldiers to us.
It's a foreign trade, maybe the Zhuo family gave these soldiers to the bandits on purpose!"
Tang Meng said: "Master Chang Shi cannot make random guesses. Before there is any evidence, it is better to be cautious. Captain Su, can you send someone to trace the whereabouts of those soldiers?"
"My subordinates have already sent people! There should be news soon. It is not easy to transport or hide thousands of sets of soldiers and armors."
Wen Dang nodded: "There are many mountains in Sichuan, and bandits emerge in endlessly. Although there have been fewer in the past two years, there are still some. These bandits do not engage in production but wreak havoc. They are the source of trouble. If they are not eradicated, how can they be worthy of the people of Shu County?
This time, I robbed thousands of pieces of armor, which made me even more powerful. Commander Tang, you are the Commander-in-Chief of Shu County. It is your duty to arrest the bandits. It is up to you whether you can stabilize Shu County."
Tang Meng stood up quickly: "The prefect taught Tang Meng to remember that he must do his best for the people of Shu County!"
Wen Dang nodded. Tang Meng turned to Su Ren and said: "Su Lieutenant, this incident in Liujia'ao happened under the jurisdiction of Chengdu. As the captain of Chengdu, you have a heavy responsibility. This matter will be handled by you with full authority. Be sure to
Clean up those bandits and leave no one behind!" (To be continued)