There are still ten days before the New Year, and the business in the West Market is gradually reaching a climax, with huge crowds and bustling people. Although there are newly opened shops in every square, the people of Chang'an have a deep-rooted concept that the things bought in the West Market must be cheap.
The West Market mainly sells wholesale products, so if you buy them at wholesale price, it will definitely be cheaper.
Li Chenghua stood at the gate of West Market. She had a big head. There were too many people in West Market. How could she arrest the suspect?
Internal guards were posted around the Cangzhou cloth store, most of whom were dressed as clerks from various shops around. Even the clerks in the Cangzhou cloth store were all replaced by internal guards.
It was already noon, and the target was still not seen. As time went by, everyone became a little discouraged.
At this moment, a man in black clothes and a bamboo hat walked slowly to the stall of the Cangzhou cloth shop. Because of the business in the last few days of this year, all the shops had set up their stalls, led by several clerks.
Responsible for shouting.
The man in black looked at the name of the store and flipped through the goods sold at the stall. A waiter came forward and said with a smile: "I wonder what the customer wants to buy?"
The man in black looked both ways, lowered his voice and said to the waiter: "I want to buy 500 pieces of cotton produced in the grassland!"
The expressions of the three clerks changed drastically. One clerk immediately jumped on the man in black. The clerks from several shops gathered around him. Seeing that the situation was not good, the man in black turned around and ran away, but it was too late and he was pushed to the ground by the clerks.
, covered his mouth and quickly tied him up with a rope.
In the distance, a young woman's face changed, then she turned around and disappeared into the crowd.
The man in black finally broke free from the hand covering his mouth and shouted like a pig, "I am Wang Qian, the scoundrel of West City, and I am not a spy!"
Li Zengquan, the commander of the inner guard, was shocked. He stepped forward and grabbed the hair of the man in black. He gritted his teeth and asked, "Who are you?"
The man in black was so frightened that he trembled all over, his nose was filled with tears and mucus, and he cried: "I am really Wang Qian, the scoundrel of the West City, and Mayor Zhang knows me!"
Shopkeeper Liu Zhan recognized Wang Qian and whispered to Li Zengquan: "This man is indeed a well-known rogue in the West City, and he is not the person the general wants to arrest!"
Li Zengquan was furious, slapped him on the face more than a dozen times, and shouted angrily: "You damn bitch, how could you ask about the grassland producing cloth?"
Wang Qian was so frightened that he knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly, "I received ten taels of silver, and someone asked me to ask."
"Who asked you to ask?"
"He's a man, about thirty years old, with very dark skin. He should be from the grassland."
"Where did you ask this person to ask?" Li Zengquan asked again.
"At the gate of West Market!"
"Damn it!"
Li Zengquan immediately ordered: "Block up both ends of the cloth row. If you find any dark-skinned men, arrest them all!"
Li Zengquan also has rich experience, and he believes that this prairie man will definitely be observing nearby.
Hundreds of internal guards took action quickly. In fact, they had already been deployed. After the order was issued, they immediately blocked the entrances and exits at both ends of the cloth store. Thousands of people who came to buy cloth for the New Year were immediately blocked in the store.
The people didn't know what was going on, so they screamed and shouted in fright. The streets suddenly became chaotic, and the shops secretly complained. Now all the business was over.
Li Zengquan shouted loudly: "Everyone, please don't panic. Please be quiet. We are arresting spies and we will never arrest people indiscriminately!"
After shouting twice, the panicked crowd finally calmed down, and Li Zengquan ordered again: "Let the women, children and the elderly out first, and the remaining men will be released one by one!"
A large number of women, children and the elderly were released, and the remaining men were sorted out by shopkeeper Liu, cloth shop clerk and scoundrel Wang Qian. Basically, all Han Chinese with fair skin and weak bodies were released, leaving more than a hundred
A strong, dark-skinned man.
At this time, Li Chenghua came over on horseback and asked: "How is the situation?"
Li Zengquan said with a face full of shame: "I reported back to Dutong that the other party was very cunning and bribed a rogue from the West City to join us, which exposed us when we arrested him."
Li Chenghua pointed his riding crop at the more than a hundred men sitting on the ground, "Will the target be here?"
"The Turkic man from last time has not been found so far. I can only say that it is possible that his accomplices are inside, but I feel that there is little hope."
"Even if there is little hope, we still need to conduct a strict investigation!"
Li Chenghua was very worried. They had encountered a powerful opponent this time. It was very likely that the person sent by the opponent was a woman or an old man who had just been let go.
Li Chenghua was right to worry. A young woman hurriedly walked out of the West Market gate, got into a carriage parked outside, and whispered: "The situation has changed, leave quickly!"
The carriage turned around and quickly left the West Market
In the carriage, Anan asked: "Junior sister, how is the situation?"
The young woman closed her eyes and ignored him. Anan had no way to deal with her, so he stopped asking any more questions.
The young woman is called Ping Gu. She is Ashina Chengqing's female disciple and his mistress.
Pinggu and Anan were originally lovers. Five years ago, Anan was sent out to do business. When he came back a few months later, he found that Pinggu had been occupied by Ashina Chengqing.
He did not dare to resist his master, so he had to knock out his teeth and swallow them in his stomach, silently accepting this cruel reality.
At first, Pinggu still had some memories of her old relationship, and kept urging Anan to elope with her, but Anan refused and acted too cowardly. She gradually became cold-hearted, so she severed the old relationship and began to follow her master loyally.
The Zoroastrian Temple in Buzhengfang was named by the people of the Tang Dynasty, and they themselves called it Guangming Temple.
At this time, in a room at the end of Guangming Temple, Ashina Chengqing moved a cabinet to reveal the tunnel behind it.
At this time, emergency escape tunnels were found in many wealthy households in Chang'an. They were also common in temples and Taoist temples. It was normal for Guangming Temple to have tunnels.
But the tunnel has special meaning to Ashina Chengqing. He relied on the tunnel to escape death several times.
So wherever he goes, he has to look for tunnels and leave a way out for himself.
At this time, footsteps were heard outside. Ashina Chengqing was startled and quickly pushed the cabinet back up to cover the tunnel.
"Master!" It was the voice of his eldest disciple Ananda.
"Come in!" Ashina Chengqing sat on the wide chair.
The door opened, and several disciples walked in. The one who walked at the front was the eldest disciple Anan, followed by the female disciple Ping Gu, and then the other two disciples.
"How about the West Market?" Ashina Chengqing asked.
"As expected by Master, the inner guards set up a dragnet. The disciple bribed a rogue to contact him and activated the ambushed inner guards."
Ashina Chengqing nodded, "What then?"
Anan looked back at his junior sister, and then he didn't know. The junior sister refused to say anything.
Ping Gu stepped forward and said: "The store clerk and the surrounding clerks were all dressed as internal guards. After the scoundrel said those words, the internal guards took action. Then they blocked the entrance and exit of a street and arrested many ugly and black people.
, they let go of the men, women and children who looked like senior brothers, and the apprentice was able to escape!"
Ashina Chengqing chuckled, "Although your senior brother is a bit darker, he is not ugly. It seems that Tian Chengsi has run out of energy. Even such a secret information point has been exposed."
"Then what should we do? Are we still going to assassinate Li Ye?" Anan asked.
Ashina Chengqing pondered for a moment and said: "There's something I didn't tell you. The task of assassinating Li Ye was not the request of Tian Chengsi and the others, but the request of the Daguangming Temple."
Everyone looked at each other, and Pinggu couldn't help but ask: "Why did Da Guangming think of eradicating Li Ye? They should have nothing to do with each other!"
Ashina Chengqing said slowly: "The Daguangming Temple captured Bahan because of the decline of Suiye. Now Li Ye has sent another five thousand troops to Suiye. Once Li Ye unifies the world and resolves the internal affairs, he will inevitably resume management.
Conquering the Western Region will take back control of Bakhna and Tochara, which will seriously damage the interests of Zoroastrianism. Zoroastrianism does not want Li Ye to become the lord of the Tang Dynasty!"
Everyone nodded silently, and Anan asked again: "But what should we do?"
"Wait patiently, I believe the opportunity will definitely appear!"
Li Chenghua apologized to Li Ye with a frustrated face and reported her failure today.
Li Ye waved his hand and said: "Victory and defeat are common matters for military strategists. You cannot always be a victorious general."
Li Chenghua sighed and said: "Later, a shopkeeper revealed that a young woman was sneaking around and had been hiding next to his shop to observe the Cangzhou cloth shop. Only then did he realize that the person coming today was a woman, and she should also be blocked by us.
He lived there, but we let him go again."
"Okay! Okay! If it doesn't work the first time, try it a second time. They will eventually take action."
Li Chenghua smiled bitterly and said: "There are no clues at all now, and Chang'an is so big, I really don't know where to start the investigation?"
Li Ye pondered for a moment and said: "I will introduce you to someone, the former demon Taoist Shi Jingzhong. This person has a wide range of connections. He is a Turkic noble. If the other person is a Turk, then Shi Jingzhong may be able to provide some clues."
Li Chenghua nodded, "I'll go find him in the afternoon."
"He is in Luoyang now. It may take a few days before he comes to Chang'an. You can send someone to wait for him at Guangcheng Palace outside the city."