Early the next morning, Zhong Huan arrived at Taibai Restaurant. As soon as he entered the door, he was greeted by a short, fat middle-aged man, "Welcome to our restaurant, distinguished guests!"
Zhong Huan was slightly startled. He had been to Taibai Restaurant and had seen the boss several times. He was a tall and thin middle-aged man. How did he become a short and fat man?
"Where is your shopkeeper Liu Da?"
"My boss is not in the store and has gone back to the main store. My surname is Wu and I am the manager. I will take his place for a few days."
"Nonsense! He was still in the store yesterday."
Zhong Huan sent someone to the store yesterday afternoon to check it out. He was still there in the afternoon, so why did he leave overnight?
Zhong Huan became a little anxious and stared at Manager Wu in front of him with wide eyes.
The short fat man looked confused, "The shopkeeper often goes out, isn't it strange? The guest officer wants to see him for something?"
Zhong Huan took out the silver medal of the inner guard and said coldly: "The inner guard is investigating a case involving your big shopkeeper. Please ask him to go to the inner guard to assist in the investigation. I hope he will not cause trouble for himself!"
"This is hard to handle! He really went back." The short fat man said with a distressed look on his face.
"Where did he go?"
"He went to Pingjiangfu Main Store. Didn't we buy the Yi'an Teahouse next door? He and Xiao Liugui went back to report, and then considered how to merge the two restaurants into one and build a new Taibai Building."
"Who is Xiao Liugui?" Zhong Huan asked.
"He is the accounting clerk of the main store. His name is also Liu Gui, which is the same as our shopkeeper's name, so he is called Xiao Liu Gui. He was the one who came to sign the contract and bought the Yi'an Tea House the day before yesterday."
The truth was suddenly revealed, and it became so simple. Zhong Huan frowned and asked: "Who bought Taibai Restaurant five years ago? His name is also Liu Gui. Is he your shopkeeper?"
"No! It was Xiao Liu Gui's father, also named Liu Gui, who was the chief accountant of the main store. He passed away the year before last. After his death, his son inherited his father's name and changed his name to Liu Gui!"
"What do you mean? Why can't I understand it, and the name can still be inherited?" Zhong Huan was a little confused.
Manager Wu smiled bitterly and said: "Actually, it's very simple. Our proprietor's surname is Liu, and they are all domestic servants of my proprietor. They were not originally named Liu, but after they reached a certain qualification, they took their master's surname and changed their names to Liu Gui.
There are nice names like Liu Fu, Liu Lu, Liu Shou, etc., so there will be duplicate names, and there will be children who take the father's name. The villain is not a domestic servant, so he can only use his original surname."
Domestic servants are slaves in disguise. The law of the Song Dynasty does not allow slaves, but the powerful people used the workaround of recognizing their adopted daughters and signing long-term contracts to keep some of the more dependent servants, or called retainers. The master's family provided housing, and the servants also
A normal person gets married and starts a business, but he has always served his master, even for several generations. This is a domestic servant.
The biggest difference from slaves is that domestic servants can leave at any time and make a living on their own, but in fact, domestic servants are treated very well, and their masters trust them very much, including accountants, housekeepers, management of outside industries, etc.
The position is given to them. After a certain number of years and qualifications, they can still take the master's last name. For them, this is the greatest honor. Therefore, it is normal for two or even three Liu Gui to appear. This is not their real name in the first place.
.
After realizing this, Zhong Huan felt a little discouraged. After checking for a long time, everything was so logical and there was no problem at all.
"What is the name of our proprietor? What is his identity?"
"My owner's surname is Liu. I don't know his name. I only know that they have been big grain merchants in Bianliang for several generations. Their family wealth is very strong. In the first year of Jingkang, they transferred the family property to Pingjiang Prefecture to avoid Jingkang II.
years of calamity.”
There was no problem at all. Zhong Huan arched his hands, clasped his fists and walked away. He didn't notice that Manager Wu turned around and breathed a sigh of relief.
Chen Qing calmly listened to Wang Hao and Zhong Huan's report, nodded and said: "If there is nothing fishy about this matter, don't spend too much energy on it, let's stop here!"
Wang Hao quickly bowed and agreed, but Zhong Huan stood there without moving. Chen Qingxiao asked: "Commander Xiao Zhong, do you have any doubts?"
"Reporting to Your Highness, I still feel a little bit wrong about being in a humble position, but I can't tell what's wrong. It's just an instinctive feeling."
Chen Qing smiled slightly and said: "Trust your intuition, think about it, what feels wrong?"
"I feel humble. That manager Wu answered so perfectly. He dispelled all my doubts. Therefore, he explained all the doubtful things perfectly, which made me feel uncomfortable."
Chen Qing nodded, "There is no perfect thing in the world. Too perfect is actually imperfect."
"Yes! That's what it feels like."
"Then what are you going to do?" Chen Qing asked calmly.
Zhong Huan pondered for a moment and said, "Beizhi plans to use a two-pronged approach. On the one hand, he will send people to Bianliang and Hepingjiang Mansion to check the background of the grain merchant named Liu. On the other hand, Beizhi wants to find out who leaked the news and made shopkeeper Liu leave overnight."
Chen Qing praised: "The idea is good, let's keep checking it like this!"
Wang Hao and Zhong Huan immediately said goodbye and walked out of Prince Yong's Mansion. Wang Hao punched Zhong Huan on the shoulder and said with a smile: "You performed well today. A person who is better than someone who is good is better than someone who is good at it."
Zhong Huan said apologetically: "It was only temporary that I felt something was wrong about my humble position. I did not deliberately conceal my control!"
"You have good acumen. Who do you plan to send to Bianliang and Hepingjiang Mansion?"
"Reporting to the commander, Bianliang Beizhi plans to send Qin Kuangming to investigate. The Pingjiang Mansion is more dangerous, so Beizhi plans to go there himself."
Wang Hao nodded, "Go ahead! I hope to hear your good news soon."
The grassland in September is when the war horses are fat and strong, and it is also the hunting season for the nomads. Since the Mongol tribe was defeated by the powerful Jin soldiers and was forced to surrender to the Jin Kingdom, the Jin Kingdom continued to exert pressure and lobbying, using both soft and hard tactics to demand
The Mengwu tribe sent troops to Datong Prefecture.
Some tribal leaders among the Mengwu tribe were beguiled by the Jin envoys and believed that they could go south to plunder the Han people's population and property. The seven tribes jointly sent 20,000 cavalry and began to go south to harass the outskirts of Datong Prefecture.
In the wilderness more than 20 miles away to the east of Datong Mansion, a mighty team was seen heading west, with as many as 20,000 to 30,000 people. The people in the team supported the old and the young, driving the big team
Each cart was filled with old people and children, each carrying a load. Everyone looked frightened. They were people who had fled from Yingxian County.
The small city of Yingxian County was continuously attacked by tens of thousands of nomadic cavalry. It was already in danger. Nearly half of the two thousand soldiers defending the city were killed. It happened that the nomadic cavalry had lost its logistics and retreated to the logistics camp fifty miles away for supplies. Seizing this opportunity, the entire county
The people surged out of the city and evacuated towards Datong City.
The Western Army guarding this people was the commander Li Mai and he led a thousand cavalry. Li Mai felt very uneasy in his heart. When they came out, they were seen by enemy spies and rushed back to report. In terms of time, they left.
After a whole night and a half, if the other party wanted to pursue him, this time would have come.
"General, look!" one of his soldiers shouted pointing into the distance.
Li Mai saw a long black line appearing in the distance. This was the Mongol cavalry chasing them.
Li Mai immediately summoned a thousand cavalry, raised his sword and shouted: "Brothers, the time has come to protect our country and protect our country. Protect your fellow villagers from retreating and follow me to fight the enemy!"
"Kill the enemy!"
A thousand Western cavalrymen were excited, raised their spears and shouted. Under the leadership of Li Mai, they fearlessly attacked the 20,000 enemy troops galloping from the east.
