Guo Song found Yu Xude the day before yesterday and ordered him to investigate the situation of the Sogdian merchants still in Zhangye City. The business of the Sogdian merchants in Zhangye City has basically stopped, and most of them have been transferred to Guzang County, Liangzhou. The Sogdian merchants will never
His character standing under a dangerous wall would be questionable if there are still Sogdian merchants in the city now.
Obviously, Guo Song is looking for spies from the Shatuo people. If the Shatuo people have no spies in Ganzhou, I am afraid that even a three-year-old child will not believe it. Some Qiang herdsmen have already favored the Shatuo people. What about Zhangye City?
The pigeon letter proved that the Sogdian merchants were the biggest suspects. They had a very good relationship with the Uighurs, and the Shatuo people were supported by the Uighurs. Sogdian merchants were able to operate in Beiting and Hexi controlled by the Shatuo people.
There is no resistance in the corridor. Once the Shatuo people have a request for information, will the Sogdian merchants from Zhangye not reciprocate the favor?
Most of the Sogdian merchants have moved to Liangzhou, and the Sogdian merchants who stayed in Zhangye are the biggest suspects. In history, there have been more than one incident where merchants secretly informed the enemy and opened the city gate.
Yu Xude took out a list and handed it to Guo Song, "This is the list of all the Sogdians who have not evacuated so far. There are twenty-four households in total. I have carefully screened them. Fourteen of them do have business in Zhangye and cannot leave."
"Open, there are still seven households who are unable to leave due to various other reasons, such as serious illness, poverty, etc. Finally, there are three households who are in low-level jobs and can't find any reason. They should leave, but they stayed."
Yu Xude has marked three special families of Sogdian merchants. Guo Song nodded. These three families are indeed very suspicious. If they are spies of the Shatuo people, do they have any other methods besides pigeon letters?
To tip off the Shatuo people?
After a long silence, Guo Song said slowly: "I will arrange this later, but I may need the cooperation of Yu County Cheng."
"In this humble position, I will give my full cooperation to you!"
........
Yu Xiancheng said goodbye and left. Guo Song paced back and forth in the tent with his hands behind his back. Now he suddenly realized that he lacked a special team like the Hidden Sword Pavilion. Many things required people with strong martial arts skills to investigate. This kind of martial arts is also
Unlike the scouts' fighting skills, you can't do everything yourself!
After pondering for a long time, Guo Song ordered: "Order the Scout Colonel Zhang Yun to come see me immediately!"
His subordinates rushed to report. Not long after, Zhang Yun hurried over, knelt down on one knee and saluted: "See you, Governor!"
"Let me ask you, are there any experts in the scout camp who are good at climbing over walls?"
Zhang Yun nodded, "There are such masters!"
Guo Song perked up and asked quickly: "How many people are there?"
"There are about thirty people."
"If I transfer these people away, will it have any impact on your scouts?" Guo Song asked again.
"There will definitely be a little impact, but it's not a big problem."
Guo Song thought for a while and said: "You immediately pick twenty people for me, and then pick a smart and capable brigade commander to lead the team. I need them now. Bring them to my tent after lunch."
"I understand your humble position, now go select elite soldiers."
Although Guo Song wanted to recruit better warriors, the situation forced him to select some elites from the army. He hoped that the people chosen by Zhang Yun would not disappoint him.
After lunch, Zhang Yun brought in twenty soldiers. The twenty soldiers lined up outside the tent. Zhang Yun introduced to Guo Song: "These twenty soldiers were all good at martial arts before joining the army. In the obstacle crossing assessment,
, can easily climb a ten-foot-high wooden wall, his qinggonggong is really impressive.”
He then pointed at a sergeant who was nearly thirty years old and said: "This is Brigade Commander Wang Yue, who is also the most skilled in martial arts among them."
Guo Song felt that the brigade commander looked vaguely familiar, so he asked, "Have we met before?"
The brigade commander said with some embarrassment: "I am also from Kongtong Mountain. My Taoist name is Wang Qingzi. I once fought against the governor at a martial arts conference. Fortunately, the governor showed mercy."
Guo Song laughed and said, "My name is Wang Qingzi. Which faction of the Zixiao family are you from?"
"My humble job is a Taoist priest of the Red Ape Palace. I was eliminated by the governor in the first preliminary round. I practiced martial arts hard for four years and reached the top twenty in the 12th Martial Arts Tournament. Then I returned to my secular life and joined the army!"
"I am very familiar with Lei Lingzi from Red Ape Palace."
"Reporting to the Governor, Senior Brother Lei Lingzi won the first place that year, and then he returned to secular life and disappeared without a trace. To be honest with the Governor, after that martial arts competition, many senior brothers and sisters who were highly skilled in martial arts were poached by major forces and took down low-level positions.
He is from Ganzhou and his parents are both in Ganzhou, so he came back to defend his hometown."
Guo Song nodded and entered the top twenty in the martial arts competition. This brigade commander should have good martial arts skills.
"Everyone comes in!"
Twenty soldiers walked into the tent and knelt down together to salute, "See you, Governor!"
"Everyone, get up!"
Guo Song called everyone to stand up and said with a smile: "The reason why I summoned you all is because there is a task that needs you to complete. I suspect that among the Sogdians in the city there is a spy from the Shatuo Army. Who is this spy?
We need everyone to dig it out."
Everyone was very excited, eager to try.
Guo Song said again: "Wang Yue!"
Wang Yue took a step forward, knelt down on one knee, "I'm here to serve you!"
"I will appoint you as the commander and lead twenty brothers to take action!"
"I humbly obey orders!"
Guo Song asked him to stand up and handed him the list, "This is a list compiled by Yu County Cheng. You can take it to Yu County Cheng and he will assist you."
Wang Yue took the list, and Guo Song pondered for a moment and then said: "Catching the Shatuo spies is one thing, but how to use them after catching them is even more important. You must report to me in time, remember?"
"Follow the order!"
Wang Yue agreed loudly and left with twenty soldiers.
.........
There is a Persian Di inn in the west of the city. It is an inn run by the Sogdians of Anguo. It is called Ancheng Di. It covers an area of nearly ten acres. When the Sogdian camel team arrived, this inn could also accommodate it.
Like other businesses, Anchengdi's business is very light, with basically no customers.
The door was closed, and business had been suspended. However, by chance, a Sogdian clerk came in and out of the small door, and people realized that the Sogdian people in this Persian restaurant had not evacuated and were still in the store.
Of course, it is normal for the store manager and the waiters not to evacuate. In case someone stays in the store, they need to be open at any time.
At night, the store was dark, and the shopkeeper and waiters seemed to have gone to bed early. At this time, several dark figures appeared outside the store. They climbed up the wall and hid in the back garden.
In a relatively secluded courtyard in the backyard, there was a row of wooden cages covered with thick cloth. A dark figure lifted the thick cloth, and there were pigeons cooing inside. "Found it!" the dark figure shouted in a low voice.
Several shadowy figures immediately took away the pigeon cages. It was normal for the Sogdians to have pigeon cages. They often used pigeon letters to contact Chang'an and Longyou. However, among the more than two dozen Sogdian merchants left behind, Wang Yue and the others only
A carrier pigeon was found in this Persian restaurant.
The reason why Guo Song did not order the Tang army to conduct a large-scale search directly was because he was worried that the Sogdians would destroy the carrier pigeons and other important items, which would affect his follow-up plans. Guo Song repeatedly told Wang Yue that he must find the carrier pigeons before taking any further measures.
action.
Before dawn, five hundred soldiers surrounded the Persian residence.
A tall and strong soldier took two steps back, rushed forward, and kicked open the door of the store. Soldiers from both sides swarmed in.
The shopkeeper and seven or eight waiters were sleeping. Before they could react, they were pushed down and tied up by the soldiers.
The general in charge of tonight's operation is Zhonglang General Li Bing, who is also Guo Song's confidant. He is about the same age as Yao Jin, about 27 or 28 years old, tall and burly. He followed Guo Song to Anxi when he was just a soldier.
, but he showed outstanding ability in commanding troops in Fengzhou, and was promoted repeatedly and became a rising star.
Li Bing ordered the soldiers to seize the shopkeeper and the waiter. Wang Yue immediately ordered his men to search the entire store.
"Thanks to General Li for this operation, I can't thank you enough!" Wang Yue expressed his thanks.
Li Bing knew in his heart that this Wang Yue was probably about to be promoted and he should not put on airs easily. He waved his hands and smiled and said: "You're welcome, they are all his brothers. General Wang has made a great contribution by catching Shatuo's spy this time."
Wang Yue shook his head, "Seizing the insider is only the first step in the governor's plan. Whether he can use the insider to take advantage of his plan is the key."
"I see. No wonder we must control the homing pigeons first."
Not long after, a soldier rushed to report: "We found two barbarians from the Western Regions, and they claim to be Sogdian businessmen."
Wang Yue sneered. As expected by the governor, there were enemy spies hidden in the residence.
He immediately ordered: "Interrogate the clerk and shopkeeper separately, why not be more harsh and see if they can recruit you?"
The soldiers split up to interrogate, only to hear bursts of screams, and someone cried: "I tell you, I tell you everything!"
After a while, a soldier came back and reported: "To the captain, a clerk has confessed that these two barbarians are not Sogdians, but Shatuo people. They have a close relationship with the shopkeeper. They lived in the shop in the backyard last summer."
The pigeons are also homing pigeons they brought here.”
After catching the Shatuo people's internal agents, the next step is to take advantage of the situation.