Shopkeeper Qian was asked to sit down, and he said with a look of shame on his face: "I have collected a lot of information about Jiangnan in the past five years, including officialdom, taxes, economy, people's sentiments, the city walls and topography of various counties, and I also collected the military defense situation.
He lost a lot, so Liu Shining sent troops to attack Changzhou. I told him that Changzhou had no troops to garrison and there was a lot of food in the city. Unexpectedly, he suffered a big loss. Now he wants to hold me accountable. Today I received a pigeon letter,
Liu Shining wants me to go back and report on my duties, but I have no official position at all. I am just an ordinary businessman. What duties do you want me to report on?"
"Is Liu Shining in Xuanzhou now?" Li Bing asked.
"Not in Xuanzhou, he is in Xunyang County, Jiangzhou, where his father is buried. He must observe mourning for at least three months. Now the army and the people are talking about him a lot, so he has to pretend?"
"What discussion?" Li Bing asked again.
"His father was supposed to be buried after seven or forty-nine days in the dojo, but he changed it to twenty-one days before being buried. Not only that, before his father was buried, he sent troops to attack Jiangnan and suffered a disastrous defeat. The entire army and soldiers were
The people are very dissatisfied with him and say that he is unfaithful, unfilial and unjust."
Li Bing nodded, "He was indeed too impatient. He wanted to give us a head-on blow while our footing was unstable, but he ended up hurting himself. So does Shopkeeper Qian know how many troops there are in Xuancheng County?"
Shopkeeper Qian shook his head, "I don't know. I'm only responsible for collecting intelligence about Jiangnan. I don't know much about Liu Shining. It was my father who wrote to me about everyone's dissatisfaction with Liu Shining."
Li Bing thought about it and asked quickly: "Then how did your father give you the letter?"
"My father sends people to deliver letters, but I can also use pigeon letters to communicate with my family. We also have a branch in Qu'a County. There are several carrier pigeons there, which are specially used to communicate with the family."
"We want to know about the garrison situation in Xuancheng and even Xuanzhou. Can we ask your family for help?"
"No problem, we are willing to serve the imperial court!"
At this time, Wang You asked from the side: "Shopkeeper Qian just said that he has collected a lot of information about Jiangnan. Is there any record of this information?"
Shopkeeper Qian nodded quickly, "Of course they are all here. I can hand them over if you need them."
Li Bing took two steps with his hands behind his back and said to Shopkeeper Qian: "The most urgent thing now is that I want to know the situation of the troops stationed in Xuancheng and Xuanzhou. Please ask Shopkeeper Qian to rush to Qu'a immediately to send the letter."
"I can leave at any time, but... I just have to ask the general for help!"
"Tell me! What's the matter?"
"There are three guys in my shop. Two of them were brought by me from my family. They don't know anything. The other one is called Zhao Qiang. He is an intelligence spy sent by Liu Shining. His mission is to monitor me, and he
He is very skilled in martial arts, so we dare not provoke him, so we beg the general to eradicate him for us."
Li Bing nodded, "No problem, I will send someone to kill him for you now."
.........
When Wang You followed shopkeeper Qian back to the shop, a clerk came up to him and said: "Shopkeeper, some government officials came just now and asked Zhao Qiang to go to the county government office. It seems that one of his friends committed the crime and asked him to testify!"
Shopkeeper Qian immediately understood that General Li had used a covert method to get rid of Zhao Qiang for him.
He said coldly: "Let him go. You are responsible for what you do. Don't expect me to protect him!"
Everyone knows that Zhao Qiang has a good background and is often rude to the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper has been dissatisfied with him for a long time, so the shopkeeper's attitude is not surprising.
Wang You entered the shop and said with a smile: "Yes, literati like this kind of shop. If there are any good Four Treasures of the Study, I will buy one myself."
Shopkeeper Qian said quickly: "I have the best Xi ink, Xuan pens, rice paper, and She inkstones. I will give a set to Mr."
“There’s no need to give it away, as long as the item is good and the normal price is fine!”
Shopkeeper Qian hurriedly went to the back room to get something. Wang You looked through the rice paper carefully and found that the paper was really good, and the quality was even better than the white linen paper used to make imperial edicts.
"Good paper!" Wang You couldn't help but praise.
A waiter next to him introduced: "This is actually not the best. There is a kind of paper that is much better than it. You will know when the shopkeeper takes it out later. It is thin and thin, like a layer of skin, and is extremely tough.
The output is very rare, and we generally don’t sell it.”
Wang You suddenly remembered what His Highness the King of Jin had entrusted him with. After taking Xuanzhou, he took a look at the good paper produced locally. The clerk's introduction made him full of expectations. Maybe His Highness the King of Jin would be satisfied with the paper, which is as thin and tough as skin.
Not long after, shopkeeper Qian brought out two large portable boxes. He first handed the red lacquer box to Wang You, "These are the things that Mr. asked me for. They are all inside. And these are the four best treasures of the study in our store. According to normal
The price is fifteen guan per set, sir, just give me ten guan."
Wang You took out a stack of white paper from the box. It was indeed white, thin, and as tough as skin. Wang You smiled and said, "How many of this kind of paper are there?"
Shopkeeper Qian smiled bitterly and said: "This kind of paper is homemade by our Qian family. It was only made three years ago. The maximum annual output is a hundred catties. It is generally not sold to the outside world. The store only has five catties. If Mr. likes it, five catties will be fine."
for you."
Wang You shook his head and said with a smile: "I don't like it, I think His Highness King Jin will like it. You sell me five kilograms and I will donate it to His Highness!"
Hearing that it was for His Highness the Prince of Jin, shopkeeper Qian quickly took out the remaining four kilograms of white paper and carefully put it in a big box. Wang You counted a total of thirty taels of silver, and he paid thirty taels of silver.
Let the attendant carry the things and leave.
Watching Wang You walk away, the waiter wiped his sweat and said: "Shopkeeper, this official position is not small!"
"Coming from Chang'an, we have a great background. If our business is favored by His Highness, Prince Jin, we might go to Beijing to open a store!"
The eyes of several waiters are full of longing, everyone wants to go to the capital!
At this time, shopkeeper Qian suddenly slapped his forehead and said urgently: "Hire a carriage for me quickly. I have something urgent to go to Qu'a County!"
.........
The war horses fully recovered their strength after three days of recuperation, and the 10,000 cavalrymen arrived one by one to begin adaptive training. That evening, Li Bing was instructing the cavalry training on the training ground when he suddenly heard someone calling him.
Li Bing turned around and saw Wang You standing on the edge of the school field waving to him. Next to him was a short, fat, middle-aged man. Li Bing recognized him at a glance as shopkeeper Qian whom he had met a few days ago.
Li Bing quickly urged his horse to the side of the school field. He dismounted and walked forward and asked, "But is there any news from Xuanzhou?"
Wang You nodded and smiled: "Exactly!"
Li Bing was overjoyed and quickly took the two of them back to the tent.
Returning to the main tent, Li Bing read the intelligence. As he expected, there were 13,000 enemy troops in Xuanzhou, but not all of them were deployed in Xuancheng, but most of them were deployed on the eastern border of Xuanzhou.
Among them, 5,000 were deployed in Liyang County to defend against the enemy's attack on Xuanzhou from the direction of Jiangning and Changzhou. Another 5,000 were deployed in Sui'an County to defend against the enemy's attack on Xuanzhou from the direction of Huzhou. Finally, there were 3,000
People were stationed in Xuancheng County.
"Shopkeeper Qian, how did your family get this information?" Li Bing asked.
Shopkeeper Qian bowed and said: "Reporting to General, I have an uncle who is currently serving as Cang Cao in the Xuanzhou Prefectural Government to participate in the military. He knows these troop deployment plans. This is not a secret within Xuanzhou."
This is also true. The troops at the front rely on Xuanzhou for logistical support. The people in charge of logistics know exactly where and how many troops are deployed.
Li Bing quickly came to the sand table and looked at it carefully for a moment. He turned back and said with a smile: "Does the military counselor see any characteristics of Liu Shining's deployment?"
Wang You walked forward slowly and said: "It can be seen that he is obviously lacking in troops, especially in the defense of Liyang County. He wants to use Liyang County to defend both the Jiangning front line and the Changzhou front line, but Liyang is not in these two areas."
It is the only way to pass through the two lines, but it is located in the middle of the two lines. If the defense is done well, both sides can be defended. If the defense is not done well, neither end can be defended."
"When the military advisor said the defense was well done, did he mean sending out a large number of scouts?"
Wang You nodded, "That's what I mean, but no matter how good the defense is, it has no meaning against the cavalry. Even if their scouts find the cavalry, when they go back to report, the cavalry has passed, so I support the general's use of cavalry. This is what I mean.
The cavalry's breakthrough ability is very strong."
"But the intelligence says that Xuancheng is also defended by three thousand soldiers."
Wang You laughed, "Three thousand soldiers are nothing compared to ten thousand cavalry. The cavalry's momentum is enough to overwhelm them."
Li Bing thought for a moment and then nodded, "We can send troops overnight!"
Wang You pointed at Jiangzhou again and said: "We are rushing to attack Xuanzhou. Liu Shining will definitely come to rescue. Jiangzhou must be empty. Why doesn't the general send another army and take the opportunity to capture Jiangzhou?"
"The military advisor is talking about the waterway?"
Wang You nodded, "Use naval escorts. If Liu Shining is not fooled, then land in Wuhu County and completely wipe out the Xuanzhou defenders!"
After walking a few steps with his hands behind his back, Wang You smiled slightly and said, "Let me plan carefully and put down a few more buttons. We must let Liu Shining lead the army to rescue Xuancheng!"