Li Chenghua immediately divided his troops into two groups. One of them went to monitor the Laoqiang leather goods store in the West City, while she herself went to the county government office to investigate the changes in the leather goods store.
Chen Feng, the chief bookkeeper, took out a thick store registration book, put it on the table and said: "These are all stores in the West Market. All the information is here. If it is changed, we will also have a record here."
Li Chenghua turned to the fur goods store. There were about a dozen stores here, all selling fur goods. The second store was Grassland Fur Store. There was no record of any changes. The last change was three years ago, and the owner was changed to Pang Hongwei.
.
In other words, the Lao Qiang Leather Goods Store had not made any changes in the county government. Li Chenghua basically confirmed that the Lao Qiang Leather Goods Store was the Tibetan people's intelligence point.
Li Chenghua immediately rushed to Prince Qi's Mansion to report to Li Ye.
Li Ye met him in the living room. After listening to Li Chenghua's report, he slowly said: "The Tibetan intelligence point is just a handle I need. I plan to clean up the Liu family and find an excuse to intercede with others.
"
Only then did Li Chenghua understand her lord's intention, and she immediately said: "I understand, I understand. Having liaison with Tubo is the best crime. The key is Liu Yuan, the second son of the Liu family. He is the grandson of the Pang family. He must be the one who brought the Pang family's family to justice."
The shop was used as an intelligence point for Tubo, and I suspected that Liu Yuan was currently hiding in Pang's house."
Li Ye shook his head, "Don't doubt it. There must be conclusive evidence. Capture Liu Yuan and ask him to explain. If you find evidence that the Liu family colluded with Tubo, I can deal with the Liu family with thunderous means."
Li Chenghua pondered for a moment and said: "On New Year's Eve, Liu Yuan will definitely return to the Liu Ancestral Hall to worship his ancestors."
Li Ye nodded, "This is a good opportunity, but he must first determine his foothold."
"I understand the humble position!"
The next morning, Li Chenghua came to the West City and found Xie Sen, the deputy commander of the inner guard. Xie Sen was about thirty years old, a native of Jingzhao County, and the same hometown as Li Chenghua. He was transferred to the inner guard from Li Ye's personal guard.
He has become a very capable cadre of Li Chenghua.
Xie Sen commandeered the second floor of a shop opposite the Lao Qiang Leather Goods Store, and took several of his men to closely monitor every move in the Lao Qiang Leather Goods Store. Behind the Lao Qiang Leather Goods Store was an inland river, and another surveillance point was set up at a store across the inland river.
Inside the store.
The Laoqiang Leather Goods Store is under constant surveillance day and night.
Li Chenghua came to the surveillance point, pretended to look at the goods, and flashed his badge to the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper quickly took her in, and it turned out to be a gold medal for internal defense. The shopkeeper immediately guessed who this woman was, she must be the legendary Qiao Rakshasa.
The leader of the inner guard.
The shopkeeper and his wife are both honest people. They dare not neglect the internal guards, so they have no choice but to cooperate.
Going up to the second floor, Li Chenghua met his deputy Xie Sen, "How was it? Did you gain anything?" Li Chenghua asked.
"Reporting to the commander, there is no trace of them being Tubo spies on the surface. There is no trace. They are just running a normal business. There are six shopkeepers and waiters in total. They are all Qiang people and can speak fluent Chinese. But I suspect that they are actually Tuyuhun.
people."
"What's the reason for suspicion?"
"They all cover their faces with black hair when they go out."
The Tuyuhun people are composed of Xianbei and Qiang people. The former are the ruling class and the latter are ordinary residents. Therefore, the Tuyuhun people are also called Xihai Qiang people. Their appearance and customs are similar to those of the Longyou Qiang people. However, the Xihai Qiang people are influenced by the Xianbei people.
Everyone likes to cover their faces with black curtains, mainly to protect themselves from wind and sand. It has become a custom. Longyou Qiang people do not have this habit.
More importantly, Tuyuhun has been conquered by Tibet. The Xihai Qiang people are from the Tubo country, while the Longyou Qiang people are from the Tang Dynasty. Their political stances are completely different.
Therefore, everyone thought that this leather goods shop owned by the Qiang people was owned by the Longyou Qiang people. If they had known that they were Xihai Qiang people, they would have reported it long ago.
At this time, a subordinate came to report, "A Pang family member is coming from the other side!"
Everyone hurriedly stepped forward and looked through the bamboo curtains at the shop opposite. They saw two people standing in front of the shop. A middle-aged man in his forties, dressed as a housekeeper, and behind him was a warrior in black with the words written on his back.
A white word "Pang".
The soldier whispered: "Just now the shopkeeper called the middle-aged man Pang Butler."
"If you want fifty pieces of high-quality sheepskins, be sure to send them over in the afternoon. This is a deposit of ten guan, and the rest will be paid on delivery."
The middle-aged man handed a leather bag to the shopkeeper, who nodded, "Don't worry, Butler Pang, I will definitely deliver it!"
Butler Pang left with the warrior. The shopkeeper looked around, then took the leather bag and went into the back room.
Li Chenghua sneered, "There is something in that leather bag!"
Xie Sen whispered: "Now we can take action and catch them all."
Li Chenghua shook his head gently, "Don't worry, if we start now, we will scare the enemy away. I want to find Liu Yuan first and arrest him before I take action."
Xie Sen suddenly felt something in his heart, "That housekeeper Pang just left may be a breakthrough."
Li Chenghua smiled and nodded, "We thought of going together."
Steward Pang is called Pang Fu, and he is the chief steward of the Pang family.
The Pang family is a merchant family attached to the Liu family. Like the Luo family, the Pang family mainly deals in livestock and fur goods, and has dealt with the Qiang people for many years.
The head of the family was named Pang Hongwei. He had a sister who married Liu Shengdian as a concubine and gave birth to a son, Liu Yuan. He changed his name to Pang Wuyuan. He surrendered to the Tubo in Shanzhou and became a Han official of the Tubo government in Lanzhou.
Li Chenghua's thinking was very clear. Since the Pang family sent Pang Fuli to contact the leather goods store, he always knew Liu Yuan's whereabouts.
Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, and every household is extremely busy, including Pang Fu. Although he is the head butler of the Pang family, he also has his own family. His actual surname is Shan, and he has his own ancestors. Pang Fu is just his working name, but
To make ends meet.
Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, the host's family is going to worship their ancestors, and Pang Fu has to be there to serve them, so he has to worship his ancestors in advance, and today he will worship his ancestors.
He hurried back to his home. As soon as he entered the yard, someone suddenly pinched the back of his neck. He grimaced in pain and couldn't scream.
He was dragged into the living room, which was brightly lit. His parents, wife and two sons were all tied with their hands behind their backs, their mouths were blocked with rags, and they were standing against the wall. A big man in black clothes used a force on each of their necks.
Holding the knife against his head, there was endless fear in his eyes.
Sitting in the living room was a woman in armor, in her thirties, good-looking, with a snow-white complexion, but her lips were painted black, and her eyes were cold. She was playing with a throwing knife in her hand, and there were five or six big men standing behind her.
Pang Fu was pushed to his knees on the ground. The woman said coldly: "I am the commander of the internal guards. I am the Qiao Rakshasa who kills people without batting an eye. I only want to ask you one thing. If you tell a lie, one of your family members will die."
,Do you understand?"
Pang Fu was so frightened that he trembled all over. He immediately understood that the incident in the leather goods shop must have occurred, and the other party found out that it was a Tibetan spy.
"I confess! I confess! The old Qiang leather goods shop is a Tibetan spy."
Li Chenghua snorted, "Of course I know that's a Tibetan spy. I want to ask if that's not the case. If I want to know Liu Yuan's hiding place, how can I find him?"
Pang Fu hesitated for a moment, then Li Chenghua winked and moved the knife slightly forward. Pang Fu's father immediately screamed and blood was seen on his neck.
Pang Fu was so frightened that he shouted: "He is hiding in the back house of Pang Mansion."
"I want to catch him without taking a chance, what should I do?"
Li Chenghua raised his hands and looked at Pang Fu. If he hesitated again, his father would be dead.
Pang Fu was so frightened that he cried: "He will go back to Liu Mansion to worship his ancestors tomorrow afternoon, and I will be responsible for arranging the carriage."
"Does Liu Mansion know that he is going back?"
"His father Liu Shengdian asked him not to go back, but he must go back. The Liu family probably doesn't know."
Li Chenghua nodded, "What's in the leather bag you gave to the leather goods store this morning?"
Pang Fu was so frightened that he froze. The other party even knew this. He quickly said: "It's a bunch of information collected by the Liu family. After Liu Yuan has reviewed it, I will send it over."
"He trusts you?" Li Chenghua snorted.
"He grew up in Pang's family, and I have always taken care of him."
Li Chenghua waved his hand, and the soldiers withdrew their swords. Pang Fu also collapsed on the ground, unable to say a word.