The administrative office of Datong Prefecture is called Yunzhong County, which looks no different from the city of the Song Dynasty. Yunzhong Water, a tributary of the Sanggan River, flows around the city, bringing water sources for the people of Datong Prefecture and Datong City.
Get a moat.
There is a well-decorated shop next to the east city gate. Judging from the style, it should be a Sogdian shop, specializing in selling Western valuables, gems, silverware and blankets.
The owner of the shop is named Commod. He can speak fluent Sogdian, Chinese, Khitan, Turkic and Jurchen. Of course he can also speak Xixia. He is a well-rounded businessman who thrives in the multi-ethnic city of Datong.
He often boasted about the far west, fearing that others would not know that he came from far away Samarkand.
But in fact, Commodore was from Zhangye. This was his biggest secret, and the only people who knew this secret were a few of his confidants, and it just so happened that these confidants were all Western Army intelligence spies.
Commodore is not an intelligence agent, he is an out-and-out businessman, but his family is in Zhangye and he will live in Zhangye in the future. The Western Army hopes that he can provide assistance, and naturally he cannot refuse.
His real associates all stayed in Zhangye to work. The five associates brought here were all members of the Intelligence Department. Four of them were Qiang and one was Han. The Han named Yu Shouzhong was the leader of the five.
The situation in Datong Prefecture is different from other places. They cannot take the initiative to collect information and can only collect it through the shopkeeper Commodus. Commodus can get good tea, and many tea-loving businessmen and officials in the city have become him.
Tea lovers, the place is packed with guests every day, and there is an endless stream of guests coming here to chat and drink a cup of good tea.
A lot of useful information is collected bit by bit in this way, and it can also be verified by each other to confirm the authenticity of the information, and then sent to Taiyuan Prefecture using Eagle Letter.
That morning, the door curtain rang, and a man wearing a fur hat and cloth robe walked in and asked loudly: "Is Dongzhu Kang here?"
This person's name is Yelu Qiyan, a Khitan, and a soldier from Datong Prefecture. After Datong Prefecture surrendered to the Jin Kingdom, except for the prefect who was replaced by a Jurchen, other middle and low-level officials remained unchanged. The Jin State could not send so many officials.
, this situation is the same in other places. The middle and low-level civil servants are basically former Khitans or Han people from the Liao Kingdom.
Commodore came out and laughed: "My old friend, why are you here today? Do you miss my good tea?"
"Come! Come! Come in and sit down."
Yelv Qiyan waved his hand, "I don't have time to sit down today. I came to inform you that the city will be searched in the afternoon. All the Mongols and Han people will be arrested. I know you don't have any Mongols here, but you
My friend Yu Shouzhong is a Han Chinese. If you don’t want him to be arrested, you must either leave the city quickly or find a guarantor.”
"Ah! What guarantee do I need to find?"
"Find three shopkeepers in this city to guarantee you. You are a Sogdian, so you can count as one, and find two more shopkeepers. The three of you will take the shop deeds and go to the county government office with Yu Shouzhong to guarantee him. You will have to pay ten guan of guarantee money.
."
"Is it so troublesome?"
"It's not troublesome to vouch for it now, but it will be troublesome to vouch for it if you are arrested. Go quickly! The arrests will start in the afternoon. Oh! Damn war."
Commodus hurriedly stepped forward to grab him and asked: "I know we are going to war with the Mongol people, but what does it have to do with the Han people?"
Yelv Qiyan looked both ways and lowered his voice and said: "Yesterday, I received an order from the Du Marshal to suspend the northern attack on the Mongol people."
"Why?"
"It is said that the spies from Taiyuan discovered that the Song army was massively increasing its troops. They probably wanted to take advantage of the war between us and the Mongols to attack the north. I don't know the details. This is a military secret. You can pass it on."
"You know I never talk nonsense."
"Hurry up and guarantee it! Fortunately, you only have one Han here. If there are a few more people, the guarantee will be useless."
"I know, I'll go right away!"
Yeluqiyan took a bag of tea and hurried away. Commodus was a little upset, so he hurried to the backyard and found Yu Shouzhong who was sorting goods in the warehouse.
"Yelü Qiyan came to me just now and the situation has changed. He said that he had received an order from Marshal Du to stop attacking the Mongols. Their spies discovered that the Song army was sending a large number of troops to Taiyuan."
Yu Shouzhong is about 27 or 28 years old. He is tall, strong and powerful, with extremely sharp eyes. He looks like a powerful character at first glance and will leave a deep impression on people. No wonder Yelu Qiyan got the news and quickly notified Commodity.
Guaranteed, if someone is arrested, a strong man like Yu Shouzhong will definitely bear the brunt.
Yu Shouzhong frowned and said, "If the news is true, we will notify Taiyuan immediately."
"Let's confirm the news later! I want to vouch for you first. Qiyan is here to tell me that people will be arrested in the city this afternoon. Mongols and Han people, if you don't want to be arrested, go to the county government office to vouch for it. The three shopkeepers can
I guarantee one person, and you come with me quickly."
Yu Shouzhong knew that Yelu Qiyan was the highest-ranking official they could contact. Although he was a Khitan, he was very righteous and his information was generally correct. More importantly, once martial law started, they would not be able to spread the word.
out.
"Okay! I'll make arrangements and I'll go to the county government office with you."
He arranged for several of his subordinates to send intelligence immediately, and then followed Commodore and two other Khitan shopkeepers to the county government office.
Yelv Qiyan was indeed right. The city gates were closed, and a large group of Jurchen soldiers appeared on the street. Teams began to search door to door, arresting the Mongol spies and the Han spies. Of course, they could not tell whether they were spies, so they arrested them first.
Then screen and distinguish one by one.
Except for those with county government guarantee certificates who do not need to be arrested, all other Han and Mongol people will be arrested.
The city was suddenly in a state of panic, and people were constantly being pushed out of their houses and arrested in groups. Many Han people tried their best to explain that they had lived in Datong Prefecture for decades and were not Song Army spies. They heard 0 Jurchen soldiers
When he got tired of it, he slapped her in the face a few times and didn't dare to say a word.
What is more difficult to distinguish are the Mongol tribesmen from the grasslands. There are thousands of nomadic merchants from the grasslands living in the city, including Mongol tribesmen and Kelei tribesmen. In addition to the merchants' families and subordinates, there are tens of thousands of them.
many.
The Jurchens couldn't tell the difference between the Mongol tribe and the Kle tribe, so they arrested them all, which immediately triggered a strong resistance. The nomadic men on the grassland were relatively tough and fought the Jurchen soldiers with their swords. But how could they be the opponents of the Jurchen soldiers?
After dozens of people were killed, other grassland people had no choice but to accept their fate and be captured, including women, children and the elderly.
A group of Jurchen soldiers rushed into Commod's shop. Commod was extremely shrewd and hid the expensive goods at noon. The shop was filled with some local products, pottery pots, sheepskins and old furniture.
There are more than a hundred sheepskins, worth more than two hundred dollars. If the soldiers really search for them, they will not gain anything at all. They will definitely cause trouble.
The leader of the Jurchen centurion looked at the store. He was not very interested in the goods in the store, so he asked sharply: "There is a Han in your store, where is he now?"
Commodus quickly took out the guarantee letter he had obtained at the county government office in the morning and said with a smile: "The Han people under my command are Datong locals, not Han people from the Song Dynasty. This is the guarantee certificate from the county government office."
The reason why the county government was willing to issue a guarantee certificate was because many officials in Datong Prefecture were Han Chinese from the Liao Dynasty. They wanted to ensure that they and their families would not be caught, so they left this hole.
The centurion looked at the certificate and said in a gentler tone, "Is he the only Han Chinese?"
Commodus can speak fluent Jurchen and explained: "There are six people in the shop including me. Four of the five waiters are Dangxiang Qiang and one is Han. They are all hired by me locally.
."
The centurion winked at his men and said, "Go and have a look!"
A group of Jurchen soldiers went into the backyard to search. They said they were looking for people, but in fact they were looking for valuable things. After a while, a group of soldiers came out and shook their heads. This meant two things, indicating that they did not find any extra Han people or anything valuable.
thing.
The centurion was really disappointed. His eyes fell on a thick pile of sheepskins, and he pointed at the sheepskins and said: "Conscripted for military use!"
A dozen Jurchen soldiers stepped forward carrying the sheepskins and left.
"What a bunch of robbers!"
Commodore cursed in a low voice, and he was relieved to think that Yu Shouzhong had not been taken away.
