In a daze, Wang Junlin heard a girl's scream that echoed through the sky. He knew it was the scream of Su Jingxiang's little maid, Xiao Yu'er. The little lynx jumped up and Wang Junlin also sat up.
Wang Junlin didn't know why the cute little maid was called Xiao Yu'er because she was born in the Western Region, but he knew that the little Yu'er must have screamed because she saw the eight corpses at the door of the tent.
Wang Junlin guessed that the little girl might have been frightened. But when he got out of the tent, he found that the little girl was not as unbearable as he imagined. After being frightened, he bravely ran into the tent to protect his young lady.
He ran away, and then he was probably told the truth by the young lady. He started to help his young lady get water to wash up, but when he looked at Wang Jun again, he felt a little scared.
Xiao Yu'er was born in a land of tigers and wolves like the Western Region. Although she has never killed anyone since she was a child, she has witnessed other people's murders and dead bodies more than once or twice. This can be seen from her behavior when the horse thieves came yesterday.
Even Wang Junlin discovered yesterday that Xiao Yu'er and their young lady Su Jingxiang can both ride horses and shoot arrows, which are somewhat different from the delicate eldest ladies from wealthy families in the Central Plains.
Right next to the nine corpses, Wang Junlin, Su Jingxiang, and Xiao Yu'er had eaten dry food and helped the little lynx breastfeed. Wang Junlin began to dress up Su Jingxiang and Xiao Yu'er.
Both girls had rouge and other cosmetics on them, which happened to be used by Wang Junlin. What surprised Wang Junlin even more was that they each brought a set of men's clothes. After Wang Junlin asked, he found out that these were Su Jingxiang's clothes.
They were prepared when they escaped from Shazhou City to get married, but before they could use it, they were found by people sent by the head of the Su family, Su Jingxiang's father Su Beitian, and they were forcibly sent back.
.
More than an hour later, a big man and two handsome young men, each riding a horse, leading a yellow sheep, and holding the little lynx, set off. They abandoned the carriage because it was the Su family's carriage.
There is a logo on it.
After walking for most of the day, in the evening, after a long journey, Wang Junlin and his party finally arrived at Shazhou City (later Dunhuang), an important town in the Western Regions.
From a geographical point of view, Shazhou City is indeed very dangerous. It is connected to the Tianshan Mountains in the north, with dangerous rocks and strange rocks that are difficult to climb; it is connected to the Tuolai River in the south. Due to tens of thousands of years of river erosion, the valley is dozens of feet deep and one or two miles wide.
The water flow at the bottom of the valley is rapid, and both sides are cut with knives and axes. Only birds can cross it. Further to the southeast, there is the ice-covered Qilian Mountains.
The area from the foot of the remaining mountains of the Tianshan Mountains to the Tuolai Valley is only about ten miles, which is the narrowest point at the western end of the corridor. As long as this place is occupied and controlled, you can attack when you advance and defend when you retreat. Not only will the three counties of Zhangye, Wuwei and Xiping be stable in the Sui Dynasty, but also the three counties of Zhangye, Wuwei and Xiping will be stable.
The entire central and western regions of the corridor are safe and secure. This is the key to the western part of the Hexi Corridor. By guarding this pass, the interior of the pass will be basically protected.
Therefore, after the Sui Dynasty captured the three counties of Zhangye, Wuwei and Xiping last year, the Sui Emperor and the imperial court had already begun to plot Shazhou City in the past six months. Yu Juluo, the general manager of Yongzhou, and Wang Junlin were in the sand table of the Hexi Corridor created by the latter.
There were many discussions on strategies and tactics on how to capture Shazhou City without being besieged by Tuyuhun and the Western Turks.
Therefore, Wang Junlin would be a little unwilling to watch Shazhou City fall into the hands of King Bailan of Tuguhun. However, he had no choice but to destroy King Bailan and the Su family first.
Marry, then sneak into the city and inquire about the specific situation.
The walls of Shazhou City are three feet and five feet long, in a square shape, with a circumference of ten miles. There are 30,000 households in the city and a population of 100,000. This is already a big city in the Western Regions, much larger and more prosperous than Gaochang City and Gaotai City.
Much more.
After paying the city gate tax, Wang Junlin took the slightly nervous Su Jingxiang and Xiao Yu'er into the city, and arranged for the two of them to stay in a relatively remote inn. Wang Junlin left the inn alone, using the cover of the crowd
, walking silently among all kinds of pedestrians.
The ethnic groups in Shazhou City are very mixed, with the Han, Rouran and Xianbei people being the most numerous. In addition, there are Tuyuhun people, Turks, Tubo people, Qiang people, etc. These people make a living in this city, and among the Su family and the Rouran people
, and under the protection of the Murong clan of Xianbei, everything was generally peaceful and there was preliminary order. The three forces divided the city into three parts, and each used cavalry patrols on their own territory to maintain public order.
Near Shazhou Nancheng Commercial Square, there is a civilian area called Shajia Lane. This is the intersection of the three forces. Dragons and snakes are mixed together, the people are chaotic, and the public security is extremely poor. Fighting on the street is just a common thing, and people often come out on the street.
Killing people, but because the cost of living here is cheap, it is still quite lively. Those small traders without much capital took various risks, or found some support, so they set up some stores on this street and started doing business.
Do business on the ground.
This place is no better than the main street in Shazhou. They sell daily necessities at cheap prices and the quality is naturally not very good. The sixth shop walking past from the west is such an ordinary place. The shop is an old one.
The waiter is an old waiter, but the shopkeeper is a new shopkeeper who just transferred the shop to his hands half a year ago.
This shop is the same as the shop used by Takesan and others in Gaochang City to hide. It is a weapons shop. The weapons are made on-site by the blacksmith in the backyard shop. The workmanship is rough, but the price is cheap. Generally, warriors of some worth don't have it.
I will buy this weapon.
Fortunately, there are always a few rich people, so this weapons shop without even a signboard can still survive. However, it does not dare to hire more people. The blacksmith is the shopkeeper, who is in his forties, and there is also a helper and clerk.
There is no one else.
There were not many customers coming in today, so the shopkeeper moved a wooden chair and sat at the door of the shop, staring at the various people passing by in a daze.
The reason why the clerk in the store is called an old clerk is because he has been working in the store for a long time. He was already working here when the previous shopkeeper was here. It is not that he is older. In fact,
But he is very young, still a young man in his early twenties.
The old man recently discovered that the new shopkeeper often stares at the door in a daze, or looks at the people passing by on the street. What is the shopkeeper looking at?
"Shopkeeper, I want to buy weapons." A man stood at the door of the weapons shop, blocking the bright and warm spring sun. The shopkeeper looked up at the visitor. He was stunned for a moment, then a little confused, but he waved his hand to signal him.
Go in yourself.
The man smiled slightly, showing a very ordinary face with bright eyes. He smiled, walked into the shop, and said to the yawning old man: "Man, I want to buy a weapon."
The old man put on a professional smile and said: "What kind of weapons do you want to buy? Our store only has a variety of knives, and only a few swords and bows. However, the knives in our store are all made by our shopkeeper himself. Although it looks like
It’s rough, but it’s practical and cheap.”
The man said: "Bring me nine long knives, four short knives, two daggers, a hard bow, and a sword, and give me the word "King" on the scabbards and scabbards, okay? In addition, I
I also need to order twenty knives."
When the old man heard about such a big business, he responded smoothly: "Okay, you can choose whatever you want. After you choose, our shopkeeper will naturally engrave you and customize what kind of knife. We will discuss it in detail with our shopkeeper later.
"
What the old waiter didn't notice was that the right hand of the shopkeeper sitting outside the shop, which was propped on the armrest of the chair, trembled slightly. Then he stood up and walked slowly back to the counter, waved the waiter to leave, looked at the customer with a smile on his face, and said
: "The amount of money the customer wants for the goods is not small. How will the transaction be carried out... This merchant, let's go into the inner room and discuss it later!"
"That's fine." The customer said with a smile.
The old shopkeeper asked the waiter to watch outside, and then led the guest into the back room.
This customer buying weapons was naturally Wang Junlin in disguise. He followed the shopkeeper into the back room, only to find that it was completely different from the meeting place he had imagined. The sky was clear and bright.
There was no tea, no greetings, the shopkeeper stared at Wang Junlin's eyes, and the doubts in his shrewd eyes became more serious. He looked at the person in front of him who looked like his lord, but obviously not. Finally, with a hint of caution, he said: "The guest is from the high platform.
From the city?"
Wang Junlin nodded.
The old shopkeeper made a gesture of invitation, and Wang Junlin nodded with satisfaction. He used to do business in the Western Regions. There were shops in cities like Shazhou and Gaochang City. They were also his bases for inquiring about information. It was also his base.
In preparation for the future development of the prototype of the intelligence system organization, he set extremely strict intelligence management regulations from the very beginning. The passwords for the set of connections just now were prescribed by him. Although it was cumbersome, it could ensure that it was foolproof.
It was only then that the weapons shop owner confirmed the identity of the other party, and then he completely relaxed and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
This shopkeeper is actually one of the more than two hundred craftsmen who Wang Junlin took in half a year ago. Because he is cautious and bold, Wang Junlin arranged for him to be in charge of the intelligence base here in Shazhou City. But Wang Junlin changed his mind.
His skills were really superb, and he hadn't seen Wang Junlin for a long time, so he didn't recognize him for a while.
The shopkeeper looked at Wang Junlin and said, "Your Excellency, was sent by Butler Wu?"
Wang Junlin smiled, shook his head and said, "I'm not from Wusi, can't Mr. Liu recognize my voice?"
The shopkeeper's face changed slightly. Now Wu Si is the chief steward of Wang Junlin's house. He is responsible for all business and intelligence strongholds. It can be said that he has a high position in Wang Junlin's private power. People from Gaochang City dare to directly
Among the four names that call Wu, apart from Wu San, the only one is Wang Junlin.
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