Chapter eight hundred and thirty eight roundabout investigation
Since the opening of Xi'anmen Street, it has had little impact on the West Market. The West Market is mainly a distribution center for bulk goods, such as grain, oil, tea, meat, livestock, etc. Its business scope basically does not conflict with Xi'anmen Street.
But Xi'anmen Street has had a great impact on the East Market. All kinds of jewelry, jade, fine porcelain, silk and satin, etc. sold in the East Market are basically available on Xi'anmen Street, and Xi'anmen Street has all kinds of food, drink and entertainment.
There are so few in the East Market that everyone is willing to go to Xi'anmen Street for shopping.
Another reason is that the main customers of the luxury goods sold in Dongshi are royal relatives and aristocratic officials. Since the Jingyuan Mutiny, a large number of imperial relatives and aristocratic officials moved south, and Dongshi has encountered changes.
Although Zhu Si's nouveau riche high-ranking officials spent money lavishly, which made Dongshi popular for a short period of time, this luxury was rootless after all. It didn't take long for it to cool down, and Dongshi fell into a complete desertion.
But the real fatal blow to Dongshi was Xi'anmen Street. The goods there are of high quality and affordable, and they sell small profits but quick turnover. You can also eat, drink and have fun while shopping. It is deeply loved by the middle and upper class people. Although Dongshi
Luxurious but pursuing huge profits is disgusting.
Since last year, business in the East Market has plummeted, and it is deserted every day. Many shops cannot survive and have to close down. The remaining shops are also suffering, and they are looking forward to the return of spring in the East Market.
On the corner of the porcelain shop, there is a porcelain shop specializing in white porcelain, called Wangxiaobai Porcelain Shop. It was once quite famous in Chang'an, but now it is deserted, with only one shopkeeper and a few clerks supporting it.
At noon, the store door creaked open, and two tall men walked in from the outside, led by a bearded man.
The shopkeeper was overjoyed and hurriedly greeted us, "Welcome to our shop!"
These two big men are Wang Yue and his men. They have long been eyeing this porcelain shop. This is an intelligence point set up by Tian Yue in Chang'an. On the surface, it looks no different from normal merchants, but
They have been collecting intelligence on Chang'an for the past few years.
Wang Yue also sent people to monitor them and found that they mainly collected business information and some official personnel changes, and had little involvement in military aspects.
In order to make use of this intelligence point in the future, Wang Yue never alerted the enemy, but this time the situation was urgent and he couldn't care less.
"Do you have official kiln white porcelain here?" Wang Yue asked.
"Yes, there are some, but very few. If a customer only wants one or two, I can get them. If there are more, I won't have them. The shop mainly sells exquisite products from folk kilns."
"Xing kiln no longer supplies the imperial court, why are official kilns still so rare?"
"The guest officer doesn't know that the official kiln has been closed for three years, and all it sells now are stock."
"Why did the kiln stop?" Wang Yue asked strangely.
The shopkeeper smiled bitterly, "It's not because of the war."
Wang Yue nodded, "I want to buy a batch of porcelain and I need the shopkeeper to give me a reference. Can I ask the shopkeeper to come to my shop and take a look."
"What do you want your guest to use it for?"
"Pack wine!"
The shopkeeper immediately understood that this was also an imitation of Meishou wine. Since Meishou wine was packaged in celadon, many wine merchants followed suit. However, later they were unable to sell at a high price and this trend gradually subsided. Currently, only Meishou wine is the only one.
Shoujiu and Jiannan Shaochun both use fine porcelain to serve wine.
The shopkeeper was excited. It would take at least a thousand pieces to bottle the wine! This is a rare big customer.
"Is your house far away? If it's not far, I can go."
"Not far away, right at the gate is Gaosheng Inn."
"That's no problem, I'll go with you."
The shopkeeper ordered the waiter and followed Wang Yue out.
"What's your name, this proprietor?" the shopkeeper asked with a smile.
Wang Yue chuckled, "My surname is Wang, and I am from Tongzhou."
"It turns out it's Dongzhu Wang. Tongzhou is not far away. Isn't this your first time in Chang'an?"
"Of course not, I come to Chang'an often."
"I wonder what Dong Wang wants me to see?"
Wang Yue smiled slightly, "I made a few molds to see if I can bake a batch of white porcelain according to the molds."
"You need to take a look at it. If some things are too tricky, such as animal heads, bird heads, etc., then they really cannot be burned."
"That's not the case!"
The three of them arrived at Gaosheng Inn. Wang Yue waved his hand, "Please!"
The shopkeeper had no suspicion and followed Wang Yue directly into the inn. They came to a private courtyard at the back.
"Shopkeeper Ding, please wait a moment!"
Wang Yue went straight into the house, where the shopkeeper Ding of the porcelain shop stood waiting in the courtyard. At this time, several burly men appeared behind him and blocked the courtyard door with their hands crossed.
Shopkeeper Ding suddenly felt something was wrong and turned around to run away, but two big men held his arms on one side and the other on the right.
"What are you going to do?"
Shopkeeper Ding shouted anxiously, "Here comes someone——"
Before he finished speaking, Wang Yue's entourage stepped forward and punched him hard in the stomach. Shopkeeper Ding felt his stomach churn, tears and snot flowed out from his nose, and the severe pain made him arch his body like a shrimp.
Two big men carried him into the house. This was a contact point for the Jin Wei Mansion and was temporarily borrowed by Wang Yue.
Wang Yue sat behind a wide table and said coldly: "Dingjiao, did you think that this day would happen?"
"I don't understand...what are you talking about?" Shopkeeper Ding said with his face flushed in pain.
Wang Yue winked, and the two big men put him down. Shopkeeper Ding immediately collapsed to the ground.
Wang Yue stepped forward and suddenly said in front of him: "You know who I am, I am Wang Yue, the commander of the internal affairs, you should have heard of me!"
Wang Yue pulled the beard on his chin, revealing a thin face. Shopkeeper Ding recognized it immediately, and a trace of fear flashed in his eyes.
"You are Tian Yue's subordinate. You once went to Hexi to buy a war horse named Li Jiao. You also went to Taiyuan to buy sheepskin and your name was Wang Jiao. I guess this Dingjiao is not your real name."
Shopkeeper Ding's face was ashen and his eyes were full of despair.
Wang Yue said calmly: "You should also know in your heart that once we find out, you will definitely die, including several of your associates. But I want to give you a chance."
Shopkeeper Ding shook his head, "You will be disappointed. I am only responsible for inquiring about business secrets and buying some important supplies. It does not involve military affairs. We all do our own thing. Military-related spies are a different group of people. I have never contacted them.
Pass."
"I'm not talking about your business!"
Wang Yue said slowly: "I want to know about Agent Li Wujun."
Shopkeeper Ding was startled. This result surprised him. He hesitated for a moment, then immediately shook his head and said, "I know nothing about their situation."
Wang Yue's eyes were so sharp, and from shopkeeper Ding's slight hesitation, he knew that he had the news he wanted.
"Cast him!" Wang Yue ordered coldly.
Two big men lifted him up and pulled off his pants. One big man pulled out a sharp knife.
Shopkeeper Ding was so frightened that he lost his mind and said repeatedly: "I said it! I said it!"
Wang Yue snorted and said, "It's enough to say no earlier. Do you have to force me to take action?"
Shopkeeper Wang was covered in cold sweat and whispered: "Dingkun Restaurant may be their home base. I dealt with them once three years ago."
"Dingkun Restaurant in Anrenfang?"
"Exactly!"
Wang Yue said: "I will let you go back first. You just go about your business. As long as the content of your investigation does not involve military affairs, I will not embarrass you for the time being. You can take care of yourself."
"Yes! Yes!" Shopkeeper Ding agreed repeatedly.
Wang Yue asked people to follow him back to the store to buy some porcelain, in case he wanted to spread the news.
Wang Yue had no time to waste. He immediately ordered: "Gather a thousand soldiers immediately."
.........
A quarter of an hour later, a thousand internal guard soldiers rushed into Anrenfang and surrounded the Dingkun Restaurant near the square gate. Three hundred soldiers rushed in to arrest people. Now that lunch time has passed, it is the afternoon rest time.
There were almost no guests, except for a dozen drunken scholars sitting in an elegant room on the third floor.
When the shopkeeper saw the large group of soldiers rushing into him, he turned around and ran away to the backyard. After running a few steps, he was knocked down by the soldiers who were chasing him. Several soldiers held him down and tied him up with ropes.
More than a dozen waiters were also captured. One of them came out of the kitchen brandishing a kitchen knife and tried to break out. He was shot by more than a dozen arrows and was shot dead on the spot.
More than a dozen scholars who were eating were escorted downstairs, their faces turned pale with fear, and they were taken back for investigation and interrogation.
At this time, Wang Yue strode in, and a general knelt down on one knee to report: "Commander Qi, we received some important information in the shopkeeper's room. We found two boxes of gold in the cellar, and there were
Li Moojun’s seal.”
Four soldiers brought up two wooden boxes, and the seals read: 'King Zhao has sealed it, two thousand taels of gold!' The same goes for another large box.
Wang Yue walked up to the restaurant owner and said coldly: "You shouldn't need me to find any more evidence!"
The shopkeeper snorted, "I operate my business in compliance with the law. I don't understand what you are talking about?"
"Looks like he's another bastard who won't cry until he sees the coffin. Take them back to the barracks and interrogate them separately."
Wang Yueheng made up his mind that he had no time to quarrel with them and must use torture to force them to reveal Tie Huolei's secret.