Fangzhou belongs to the Guannai Road, close to the Guanzhong Plain. Take the Luoshui Road to the north and enter Fangzhou at the first stop.
On the east bank of Luoshui River, not far from Central County, there is a medium-sized manor covering an area of about 5,000 acres. This is the manor of the Doulu family in Fangzhou, called Qilin Manor.
After Zhu Si seized Guanzhong, he began to carve up the manors of the powerful and royal family on a large scale. Except for a few manors in Guanzhong, Zhu Si did not dare to touch them. In just a few months, all the land in Guanzhong was divided up.
At that time, Zhu Si's attention was still in Guanzhong and he had no time to take care of the inner roads. When he freed up his hands and wanted to attack the states in Guan, the threat of the Jin army had arrived. Due to pressure, Zhu Si finally did not attack the states in Guan.
The Doulu family's Qilin Manor and the Changsun family's Changqing Manor thus escaped disaster. The Guanlong family secretly transported their respective families' gold, silver, soft goods and other properties to these two manors and hid them.
It was not until the Guanlong family returned to Chang'an from Chengdu that these properties finally came to light.
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Qilin Manor is mainly farmland, which is irrigated by Luoshui River. In addition, the land is fertile and the grain output is very high. The wheat yield per mu is close to three stones of grain.
These wheats were usually sold directly to the court at a price of 20 cents per dou, and the court sold them at 30 cents per dou at three coarse shops in various places. Excluding the costs of storage, transportation, sales, etc., the court basically made no money.
.
There are still five thousand shi of wheat in the warehouse this year. These wheat were not sold to the court, but a purchase agreement was signed with a grain merchant.
Zhou Min led the inner guard cavalry to arrive at the central county on the afternoon of the third day of the first lunar month. They changed the banner of the Chang'an Garrison and stationed at the military camp in the central county.
In the big tent, Zhou Min said to the deputy general Deng Wenyuan: "Both Commander Wang and I believe that Yuan Wei is likely to show up when extracting property, but due to his caution and cunning, he will not show up in a major capacity and is probably a servant.
, so it is very important to identify him.”
"But....."
Deng Wenyuan worried: "None of us know Yuan Wei, how can we identify him?"
"So we must tighten the net so that no one can escape."
Deng Wenyuan thought for a while and then said: "If we have just a thousand soldiers to control a manor covering an area of 5,000 acres, I'm afraid it will be a bit difficult."
Zhou Min nodded, "I know, but if there are too many troops, it will be easy to be discovered, so we have two top experts on the outside to hold the formation, sent by His Highness King Jin. With them here, there shouldn't be a big problem."
Deng Wenyuan thought for a moment and then said: "General, I'm afraid it's not enough to have an outside line. There must be an inside line inside the manor, otherwise we won't be able to seize the opportunity to attack."
"There are insiders. I was about to say that Dou Luliang, the steward of the manor, is one of ours. Two of our brothers are also stationed among the patrolling men around him. In addition, the thirty strong men involved in carrying food are also our brothers. Once
If the other party enters the manor, we will get the news immediately."
After a pause, Zhou Min continued: "But we must also be prepared for the other party to enter the manor in batches. For example, the chief steward Zhang Li is one group of people, and Yuan Wei is another group of people, so we cannot move out too early and must wait for the other party.
Start moving the box, that's the signal to attack."
"Has the general thought of it? In fact, we are betting on a chance. If the Yuanwei does not come, we will not be able to scare the snake by taking action."
Zhou Min nodded, "Commander Wang and I have considered this issue. If the other party does not open the box and inspect the goods at the manor, then we will hold back. If the other party does not open the box and inspect the goods, then we will arrest him, and even Yuan Wei will be arrested."
If he doesn’t come, the person who transported the treasure must be his confidant, and we can also get Yuan Wei’s hiding place from him. This is a strategy we have repeatedly weighed. There is no absolute certainty in any strategy. We can only choose the best option.
A promising strategy.”
"The general is right, I understand the humble position!"
...........
The Qilin Manor also began to get busy. All farm tenants were required not to enter the manor before the tenth day of the first lunar month, making the manor very deserted.
On the morning of the fourth day of the first lunar month, Doulu Baowu rushed to the manor with several followers. He was the trader of grain and the deliverer of the Yuan family's property. He had to be present at both deliveries.
Doulu Baowu is about forty years old, very tall, with cold eyes and good looks. It can be seen that he was also a jade tree in his youth. When he was young, he was known as the Golden Crown Prince, Yuan Xiao, the Jade Sword Prince, and Dou, the Silver Fan Prince.
Wei and Prince Baima Duguqian are known as the four great princes of Chang'an, and they especially have a close friendship with the Yuan family.
"Everyone who is irrelevant to the farm must be cleared out!"
Doulu Baowu inspected the manor on horseback, pointed to a few houses in the distance with his riding crop and asked: "Who lives over there?"
Doululiang looked at it and said: "Those are not residents. They are for the villagers who patrol at night to rest. They are a few empty houses."
Doulu Baowu nodded and asked: "How many villagers are there in the manor?"
"The eldest son knows that the imperial court has strict orders that no more than twenty people are allowed in the manor. We are the top, and there are exactly twenty people."
"Hmph! This court's control is too broad. It has to control the land and the slaves. It has offended the public. How long can it last?"
Doululiang didn't dare to say anything. This eldest son hated the King of Jin very much. Anyone who dared to say a good word about the King of Jin would immediately turn his face. The reason was, on the one hand, related to the Yuan family, and on the other hand, he had a lot of people in his name.
A manor in Guanzhong was also occupied by Zhu Si. Later, when it was taken back by the Jin army, it was not returned to him. Instead, it was given to the Jin army officers as a reward for military merit. Doulu Baowu has always been worried about this matter.
At this time, Doulu Baowu suddenly remembered something and asked again: "Is it enough for twenty villagers to carry food?"
Doululiang shook his head, "The villagers are responsible for patrolling and not allowing outsiders to enter the village. To carry food, I also found thirty young men from nearby villages to come over for two hundred coins a day. This was how they were done before."
"Are these people reliable?" Doulu Baowu asked doubtfully.
"Why are they so unreliable? They are all nearby farmers. This is not the first time I have contacted them. They are just here to move grain and make money. No matter who you sell it to?"
Doulu Baowu was right when he thought about it. It would be even more unreliable to find someone in the county.
He pointed his horsewhip at the east warehouse and said, "They are not allowed to participate in the east warehouse. They are only responsible for transporting grain. Do you understand?"
"I see!"
At this time, a follower came galloping on horseback. He rushed forward and clasped his fists and said, "I would like to inform you, Mr. Zhang, Dongzhu and the others are here!"
Doulu Baowu was startled that he had arrived so early, and he asked again: "How many people are here?"
"Seven or eight people came, all riding horses."
Doulu Baowu nodded and said to Doulu Liang: "Let them rest and drink tea first, and then open the granary!"
"Master, how do you transport the food?" Doululiang asked after hesitation.
Doulu Baowu was also a little confused, because he had agreed before that the other party would be responsible for transporting the food, but they only came with seven or eight people. How could they transport the food?
"Don't worry so much for now. Let them rest first. We will talk about transporting food later."
When they came to the gate of the manor, they saw that there were only seven or eight men in black on horseback outside. There was not a single grain truck. The man in black at the head was an old man in his sixties, who was the chief manager Zhang Li.
Zhang Li is one of the twelve chief stewards of the Wei Tanghui. Now there are only eight. Zhang Li succeeded Kang Hongxin as the chief steward of Guanzhong. In fact, Zhang Li is not as good as Kang Hongxin, such as Zou Yong, in terms of considering things carefully and doing things flawlessly.
Zhang Li didn't know about the big event of being arrested in Sanyuan County. He thought Zou Yong was in direct charge of the Yunzhou base, so he didn't ask anything about it.
If it was Kang Hongxin, even if it was not under his control, he would still send a pigeon letter to the Yunzhou base to confirm. In this regard, Zhang Li is not as meticulous as Kang Hongxin.
"I didn't expect Boss Zhang to arrive early. Welcome!" Doulu Baowu greeted him with a smile.
Zhang Li smiled slightly and said, "I'm really embarrassed to have Mr. Doulu come to this remote place during the New Year."
"Where! Where! Please go to the manor and warm yourself by the fire and rest!"
Doulu Baowu invited everyone to a small house in the manor. A brazier had been lit in the lobby, and hot tea and hot soup were prepared. Everyone sat down around the brazier and took swigs of hot tea to drive away the chill in their bodies.
Doulu Baowu asked: "Are we going to transport the grain away today?"
Zhang Li smiled slightly and said, "It's freezing cold now and the roads are blocked by heavy snow. How can the food be transported?"
Doulu Baowu was startled and asked in confusion: "Since we are not transporting food today, what are we doing at the manor?"
"Master Doulu, haven't you thought of it yet?"
Doulu Baowu pondered for a moment and suddenly realized that transporting the grain was just a pretense. Their real purpose today was to transport one hundred and twenty large boxes.
"I understand. The chief steward is here for the one hundred and twenty boxes. Why not go take a look now!"
Zhang Li shook his head and said, "Wait a little longer. After our team transporting the boxes arrives, they will inspect the goods on the spot and transport them away. It will probably arrive in the afternoon or evening."
Doulu Baowu remembered something and said quickly: "We thought we would be transporting food today, so we specially recruited thirty young people from nearby villages to carry the food. If we don't need the manpower, I will ask the steward to dismiss them."
Zhang Li pondered for a moment and asked, "Are these thirty people reliable?"
"They are all farmers nearby. In the past, every time the manor sold grain, we would ask them to carry it. They only paid 200 coins a day. They only worked to make money and didn't care about anything else."
Zhang Li nodded, "Then let them stay. We also need manpower to carry big boxes at night."