That night, Fan San returned to Lu Fengtai and reported carefully.
"Li Xia left the Taiping Inn and first found a weapons shop in the city. He spent twelve guan on a long sword. He also chatted with someone at the door of the weapons shop for a long time."
Lu Fengtai asked tirelessly: "Who are you talking to?"
Fan Sandao: "Those idlers from the Yinglue Society are always wandering around the weapon shop. When they see someone buying weapons, they come up and invite them to join the club..."
The Yinglue Society is one of the long-standing folk martial arts organizations in the Song Dynasty. Since the signing of the "Chanyuan Alliance" more than 250 years ago, the people of the Song Dynasty have become more arrogant to protect their homes and the country, and they have formed societies to practice martial arts. Su Dongpo said
This kind of custom is "wearing a bow to hoe, wearing a sword to chop wood".
Although during the reign of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, folk martial arts practice was banned due to continuous uprisings... However, in the past twenty years, Mongolia has repeatedly invaded the south, and the popularity of folk martial arts has increased again, and loyal and brave men have fought against it one after another.
In short, although the Song Dynasty has always been bullied by foreign enemies since the founding of the country, this was due to various reasons on the part of the court, but the people of the Song Dynasty did not bear this evaluation of "weak".
Lu Fengtai was also familiar with the people from the Yinglue Society in Luzhou City. Hearing this, he asked, "Has Li Xia joined the Yinglue Society?"
"No." Pan San said: "But he competed with Ma Qiuyang, the 'Luyang Swordsman', and Ma Qiuyang said that he had great swordsmanship and that he was an extraordinary young swordsman."
"That bullshit Luyang Swordsman is just a scoundrel." Lu Fengtai asked, "What else were we talking about?"
"Li Xia is a very strange person. He doesn't seem to understand the customs of the market very well. He seems very cautious. He asked whether the criminal who bought the sword violated the "Song Xingtong" and whether there was a curfew. In addition, the doctor of Xinghua Hall asked him if he was married.
I offered to marry my daughter to him, but he shook his head and refused..."
Lu Fengtai murmured softly: "Just looking at looks and bearing, Feng Miaoshou's daughter is really not worthy of him."
"Later, after Li Xia got familiar with these people, he asked them if they had seen any new faces in the city recently, and asked them to tell him if they met anyone with a strange accent."
"It's useless. If I could find those fugitives this way, I would have found them long ago... What happens next?"
"He bought some food and books, returned to Changfeng Lane, and practiced martial arts in the alley..."
"Practice martial arts?"
"so……"
Fan San squatted down, kicked his feet back, lowered his upper body, raised it up, and then jumped up quickly.
"I have also tried it. This action looks simple but very tiring. That guy is amazing. I can see that he is very tired but he never stops. If he doesn't have great perseverance, ordinary people really can't do what he does."
"And after that?"
"After practicing, he sat at a tea stall at the entrance of Changfeng Lane to eat. He gave the vendor a few copper coins, but ate the milk and eggs he had brought with him. After eating, he read a book."
"what book?"
"I have already bought a copy of "Three Dynasties and the Northern League".
Pansan took out a book from his arms and placed it on Lu Fengtai's desk, then continued talking.
"When it got dark, he lay down on the tea stall and slept. When the stall was closed, he peed in Changfeng Lane and then returned to the inn."
"Where's the urine?"
"I asked Feng Sheng to keep an eye on that place to see if anyone could contact him through urine stains at night..."
Lu Fengtai was thinking and didn't speak for a long time.
Until a few more subordinates came back and reported the whereabouts of the caravan guard that Nie Zhongyou secretly sent out.
"The man's name is Nie Ping. He is a distant clan brother of Nie Zhongyou, and he is the commander of the Imperial Army. He secretly left the inn today and went to the Zhucui Tower in the city... to engage in prostitution. He returned to the inn before dark. But he
I was extremely vigilant along the way, and we almost lost him several times.”
"visit a prostitute?"
"yes."
"Is it really just prostitution? Didn't you slip out of Zhucui Building?"
"I'm sure, he was in the Zhucui Building from the beginning to the end. We asked the prostitute and Nie Ping told him all about himself."
Lu Fengtai took a few steps and asked, "Fan San, what do you think?"
"Two possibilities. One is that Nie Zhongyou sent Li Xia to contact those fugitives, and Nie Ping sneaked out just for prostitution; the other is that Li Xia was a cover-up, and Nie Ping was looking for an opportunity, and he did not leave our sight.
Not really doing anything."
"I'm asking what you think."
"Nie Ping." Fan San said: "Nie Ping is the one who really knows how to contact fugitives. Of course, we can keep an eye on both of them..."
~~
The next day.
Li Xia got up early and ran around Luzhou City.
He finally got more freedom.
After he left the death row and took off the shackles on his body, this time he was free to leave Nie Zhongyou's sight and move around outside.
He also thought about whether to take the opportunity to escape and stop venturing north with Nie Zhongyu.
But he immediately rejected the idea.
Keeping promises is one thing, but if he leaves Nie Zhongyou, an official, he can only become a fugitive, which is an even worse choice.
So, the current problem is just how to find those people from Dali?
…
After morning exercise and eating, Li Xia pulled up the sleepy Bai Mao.
"Take you for a walk around the city."
Bai Mao didn't know anything about the Gao family in Dali. He thought he was staying in Luzhou City just to rest. When he got up, he rubbed his eyes and complained non-stop.
"Liu Jinsuo's snoring was so crazy. If it weren't for my mother, I would have left. There is no reason to suffer this. The life-locking golden gun, oh, it really locked up my life..."
Li Xia seemed not to have heard anything and took Bai Mao all the way to the vicinity of Changfeng Lane.
His eyes kept scanning the nearby crowd. Then he took out the bronze medal from his arms and held it high.
"How about we watch a sideshow over there, and then go to a restaurant for a meal... I said, why don't you leave?" Bai Mao asked, "What are you doing?"
Li Xia didn't answer and said, "Want to eat at a restaurant? Do you have money?"
"You didn't?"
"I don't."
Bai Mao rolled his eyes and said with a smile: "It's not difficult to be rich, but is it possible?"
"There are people protecting us, so what are we afraid of?"
"Hee, that's settled...but what are you doing standing here holding this up?"
Li Xia didn't answer. This bad habit seemed to be passed down from Nie Zhongyou.
After his eyes wandered for a while, he seemed to have discovered something, put down his hand, and put the bronze medal into his arms.
"Let's go."
After walking with Bai Mao for a while, Li Xia suddenly whispered: "I'm bringing you out today because Nie Zhongyou has something to ask you to do... Do you see the man over there wearing a coarse cloth with a short collar?"
"I saw it."
"Don't you think it's strange? He's wearing broken straw sandals, but he has a purse hanging around his waist."
Bai Mao whispered: "It's a little strange."
"Go and steal him..."
After giving orders to Bai Mao, Li Xia took a few steps back, walked to the side of the street and stood, continuing to scan the pedestrians on the street.
His eyes were as sharp as his age, like an eagle looking for prey.
Suddenly, someone shouted from the other side of the street: "Thief?!"
"Come here, there's a thief!"
Li Xia turned around and took a look, and saw that the man in a coarse cloth had tightly grasped Bai Mao's hand and was shouting loudly.
Not far away, there were several police officers coming here.
With just a quick glance, Li Xia withdrew his gaze and scanned the pedestrians on the street again...
~~
"Stealing something!"
"Catch him!"
Several policemen rushed forward and held Bai Mao down. The scene became chaotic.
"It's unfair. I didn't steal anything from him. I just bumped into him accidentally. It's true!"
Bai Mao shouted, and then shouted to the sky: "Go back quickly and ask your brothers to save me. I was wronged..."
"Stop talking nonsense! Take people back!"
"..."
In the crowd, Fan San watched this scene and winked at his companion Feng Sheng, signaling him to report the matter to Lu Fengtai immediately...