This was Guo Song's first visit to Shuofang Jiedu Mansion. Jiedu Mansion and Lingzhou Governor's Mansion were together, and they were actually two brands with one team.
In the past two days, tens of thousands of people from Mingsha County have just fled to Lingwu County to avoid the war. The government has been extremely busy. Almost all officials have gone out to resettle the people, leaving the front gate of Jiedu Mansion deserted and deserted, with only a few standing guard.
soldiers.
Although Guo Song came to retaliate, he did not intend to go to Duan Sanniang, but went directly to Duan Xiushi.
Guo Song hesitated for a moment, and finally stepped forward and said to the guard guard: "I want to see Mr. Duan, please inform me."
The guard guard had seen him a long time ago. It turned out that this young man came to see the envoy. The soldier looked him up and down and saw that although his clothes were half-worn, he was tall and had extraordinary equipment.
The soldier did not dare to look down upon him, so he asked, "Is there an agreement?"
Guo Song shook his head, "I'm here to return Duan Shijun's bow, and I have important military information to report to him. There was no prior agreement."
The gatekeeper thought for a while and said: "In this case, usually Duan Shijun's staff should be notified first, and they will decide whether to introduce Duan Shijun on behalf of the master. We have no decision-making power, but the three staff are not in the official office. Duan Shijun
I also left the house early in the morning. If the young master is in a hurry, you can wait for a while. If you are not in a hurry, you can come back in the afternoon, when they are usually there."
Guo Song nodded, "Thank you very much!"
He doesn't have time to wait here, so he might as well wait until the afternoon!
Just as Guo Song was about to leave, he saw a carriage approaching at high speed, escorted by more than a dozen cavalry. The carriage passed in front of Guo Song and suddenly stopped with a 'Gah!', the curtains of the carriage were opened, and inside the carriage,
He is a middle-aged man about fifty years old, wearing a gauze hat, a lavender official robe, and a leather belt around his waist. He has fair skin, clear eyes, and a foot-long black beard under his chin.
Quite elegant.
The person who came was none other than Duan Xiushi, the governor of Lingzhou and the imperial censor, Shuofang Jiedushi. He leaned out of the window, pointed at the bow in Guo Song's arms in surprise and asked: "Young Master, why is this bow in your hand?"
?”
Guo Song saw this official wearing a purple robe and a goldfish bag on his waist. He was at least a third-rank official. He estimated that this person was Duan Xiushi. Guo Song hurriedly stepped forward, bowed and saluted: "Excuse me, your Majesty, you are the governor of Shuofang.
General Jinwuwei Duan?"
"I am Duan Xiushi, who are you?"
Duan Xiushi took a look at Guo Song and saw that he was tall and strong, with a heroic appearance and deep eyes, and he felt a little favorable in his heart.
His eyes fell on the iron-spine bow in the other person's arms again. How did the iron-spine bow hanging on the wall of his study end up in the hands of this young man?
"I am from Xiaguo Song Dynasty and a native of Mingsha County. I would like to return this bow to Duan Shijun."
Guo Song respectfully handed over the bow. Although he had always been unruly, he also had to distinguish between occasions and objects. If he acted coldly and indifferently in front of the world-famous Duan Xiushi, then
He is no longer rebellious, but stupid.
Duan Xiushi took the bow and saw that the strings were strung up. He was even more surprised. There was actually someone in Lingzhou City who could shoot a two-stone bow?
A two-stone bow has a power of two hundred and forty kilograms. Some people may be able to draw the walking bow, but this is a riding bow!
"Are you from the Guo family?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Duan Xiushi immediately realized that the other party said that he was from Mingsha County, so he was not from the Guo family in Lingwu County.
"Can you use this bow?" Duan Xiushi asked curiously.
"I was reckless. I didn't know it was the bow left by General Gao, so I took the liberty to put on the bow string. Please forgive me, Commander Duan!"
"It's okay! Shoot an arrow and let me see." Duan Xiushi handed the bow to Guo Song again.
A soldier next to him immediately pulled out a spiked arrow and handed it to Guo Song.
"My bow skills are crude and I don't want to make you laugh, so I'd better skip shooting!" Guo Song refused to take the arrow.
"I am presumptuous. If the young master refuses, then I can only feel regretful."
Guo Song saw that he was in a high position, but he did not put on airs for a commoner like him, and he had a good impression of him. He thought for a while and said: "Then shoot an arrow. The common people's bow skills are crude. Please don't laugh at me!"
Guo Song looked around and saw that there were no birds flying in the sky, but he only saw a big tree sixty or seventy steps away. He bowed slightly and said, "Just shoot the branches, little fellow!"
He pulled out a four-inch-long small wrist knife from his boot. This was a wild boar tusked wrist knife given to him by his uncle Liang Wu. It was made with iron mixed with Gaza. It was very sharp and heavy. Guo Song
Like it very much.
He flicked his hand and saw a flash of cold light. Sixty steps away, a branch fell with a 'click!'
"Good sword skills!" Duan Xiushi cheered.
But before the branch fell to the ground, Guo Song opened his bow and shot out an arrow. The arrow was like lightning, nailing the branch that had not yet fallen to the trunk to the trunk.
Several soldiers suddenly opened their mouths and were dumbfounded. Duan Xiushi stroked his beard and admired, this archery skill is simply superb, almost as good as the tall and handsome man back then.
He immediately looked at Guo Song with admiration, "Are you really from Mingsha County?" He didn't believe it, how could there be such a skilled archer in Mingsha County, but he had never heard of it.
Guo Song nodded and said, "My father is Guo Huaishan from Mingsha County. But when he was five years old, he went to Kongtong Mountain to become a Taoist priest. Not long ago, he came down from the mountain to return to secular life."
Duan Xiushi suddenly realized that the opponent was a Taoist priest from Kongtong Mountain. No wonder he was so good at flying knives. However, Kongtong Mountain didn't seem to use bows and arrows. How did he develop his archery skills? Moreover, it was a riding bow shooting method. Duan Xiushi still had no idea.
"Why is this bow in your hand?"
Guo Song smiled slightly and said: "This is a gift from your love to Liang Wu. Liang Wu did not dare to accept the bow of General Gao, so he asked me to return it to the envoy."
Duan Xiushi chuckled, "That's it!"
His love for talents grew, and he quickly asked: "The Lingzhou Martial Arts Competition will be held in a few days. Can Young Master participate?"
Guo Song nodded, "I will fight for the Liang family."
"Okay! I'm looking forward to seeing you again in style."
Duan Xiushi was very methodical in his work. He would not have seen Guo Song's excellent archery skills and immediately recruited him under his command. This was not his style of doing things.
There must be rules in everything. If he recruits Guo Song now, it will make people think that there is some insider transaction between him and the Liang family. It will be reasonable for him to recruit Guo Song after he shows his talents.
As for this bow, he really couldn't give it to Guo Song as a favor. It was the only souvenir Gao Xianzhi left for him. He also collected several good bows himself, which he could give to him as a reward.
Seeing that the other party had no intention of retaining him, Guo Song handed the bow back to Duan Xiushi, then took out a bamboo tube from his arms and handed it to him, "This is a piece of information I accidentally obtained yesterday. The other half should be in the black market arms dealer."
Li Ande is in the hands of Li An, he has not left yet, so you can send someone to arrest this person immediately."
He bowed, took his knife from the soldier, turned around and walked away.
Duan Xiushi looked at his back and said to himself: "Young Taoist priest named Guo Song. I seem to have heard of this person somewhere?"
Without thinking about it for a long time, he opened the bamboo tube that Guo Song left for him. Inside was a roll of paper. He unfolded the paper and took a closer look, and his expression suddenly changed.
He immediately gave a stern order: "Send people to arrest Li Ande quickly. Don't let him escape!"
What Guo Song gave him was actually half a city defense deployment map. Important secrets about soldiers, equipment, etc. were on the other half. If Xue Yantuo got it, the consequences would be unimaginable.
………
Li Ande was still waiting for Xue Yantuo's spies to come and trade with him. He asked his nephew to bring the other half of the picture to Mu Ze, the shopkeeper at the Yinshan Inn next to the Yellow River ferry yesterday, so Mu Ze should come and trade with him today.
He paid a high price to get this map from an official of the Ministry of War. He knew the value of this map. With this map, he could find the weaknesses of Shuofang's army and capture Lingwu City effortlessly.
Yes, he sold it to Xue Yantuo for five hundred taels of gold. He felt it was not expensive at all.
After collecting the gold, he should leave the Tang Dynasty and return to his hometown. Li Ande originally planned to take Kangbao to Samarkand to find his family for ransom. Now he exchanged Kangbao for the sword of alliance between the Great Eater and the Persians, and obtained
If he goes to Baghdad, he will definitely get a heavy reward from the Caliph.
It is very likely that, as his nephew said, he will become the chief tax collector of Anguo, that is, the native emperor who rules Anguo on behalf of Dashi.
The more Li Ande thought about it, the more beautiful it became. He was already a little impatient. Why didn't Mu Ze come?
All his belongings had been packed, dozens of camels were tied in the yard, and there were more than a dozen servants. As soon as Mu Ze arrived and the transaction was completed, he set off.
At this time, there was a sudden rush of footsteps in the yard. Li Ande quickly stood up and went out to greet them. As soon as he reached the door, he saw a large group of Tang Army soldiers coming in. He was shocked, turned around and ran away.
A crossbow arrow came with a "whoosh!" and hit him in the thigh. Li Ande screamed and fell to the ground. He hurriedly took out a brocade bag from his arms and tried to stuff the defense plan hidden in the brocade bag.
Swallow it in your mouth to destroy the evidence of guilt.
But it was too late. Before he could untie the knot on the brocade bag, the brocade bag was snatched away by Duan Xiushi's personal soldiers. Then several soldiers rushed up to knock him down to the ground and tied him up.
"Search thoroughly for me!"
Duan Xiushi's personal troops waved their hands, and dozens of soldiers rushed into the room and began to rummage through boxes and cabinets to search for suspicious items.
The Guardsmen opened the brocade bag and found that it was indeed the city defense deployment map filled with all kinds of important information. His heart suddenly dropped. The map was not sent away, and Lingwu County kept it.