From the eighth year of Zhizheng period, Xuzhou was promoted to the general administration by the Yuan Dynasty. Its status was similar to that of Yangzhou. Later, Xuzhou was conquered by Li Er and all administrative agencies were abandoned.
A year ago, Tuotuo defeated Sesame Li, captured the city of Xuzhou, and massacred all the people in Xuzhou, leaving Xuzhou an empty city.
Later, Tuotuo's army was stationed between Xuzhou and Pizhou, and all the rebel armies who were inquiring about Tuotuo's movements were based in Pizhou.
The same is true for Jiangdu Army.
Jiang Dujun's intelligence work in Xuzhou has been carried out for a long time. Although it is not as good as Liu Futong and Du Zundao, it has also developed a small stronghold in Pizhou.
On the surface, this stronghold is a coffin shop. The shopkeeper and four clerks in the shop are all Jiangdu Army scouts. Among them, the shopkeeper has the highest military rank and is a centurion.
In addition to these five people, there are three other spies.
One person works as a waiter in a restaurant. The other infiltrates into a small gang in the abandoned area in the east of the city. The last person is unlucky and is recruited by Yuan soldiers to become a member of Tuotuo's million-strong logistics army.
The centurion of the coffin shop was named Yang. He had received an order a few days ago to pick up a man named Fu Youde, help him complete the task, and also received a portrait of him.
A few days later, Fu Youde came over and learned some information about the Tuotuo army from him, and then he said goodbye and left without even leaving an address.
From then on, Fu Youde never came again. Yang Baihu wanted to cooperate with him, but he stopped coming once, so he ignored him.
On this morning, it was drizzling in the sky, the cold wind was howling, the temperature had dropped below zero, and crystal-like icicles formed under the eaves.
A group of caravans wearing coir raincoats and bamboo hats passed through the east gate and entered Pizhou City. It was Geng Si and his party behind Qiao Village.
Geng Si raised his hat brim and saw that the street at the city gate was sparsely populated, half of the shops on the left and right were closed, and there was a lot of mess and filth on the ground, but no one was cleaning it.
Since Geng Si took charge of the city gate guard, he has often patrolled Jiangdu Street and has long been familiar with the prosperity of Jiangdu Street. At this moment, seeing the bleak scene in Pizhou, he felt quite emotional.
In fact, Pizhou, like Xuzhou, is one of the important cities that the Grand Canal passes through. It is also located between the Yangtze River and the Yellow River. The land is fertile. It has been regarded as the Central Plains region since ancient times and is the richest land in the world.
However, since the Jialu River Regulation, the river channel has been diverted southward, and the people in Huai'an have suffered from floods.
In addition, Xuzhou was massacred and a large number of people were unable to escape, which resulted in the former prosperous place becoming desolate.
Today, there are less than 20,000 households in Pizhou, which is worse than the average Xiazhou. All industries in the city are withered, thieves, robbers, and bullies are rampant. Ordinary caravans dare not enter the city without hiring more than a dozen martial artists to protect them.
So Geng Si pretended to be a caravan and just entered the city, and immediately attracted a dozen pairs of eyes hiding in dark corners.
Geng Si had long known that the public security in Pizhou was bad, so he deliberately ordered the caravan to stop and pulled back the cloth covering the mule cart. It turned out that it was all filled with fodder.
The eyes in the dark corners all showed disappointment, looking past Geng Si's motorcade, looking forward to the appearance of the next fat sheep!
The motorcade continued to move forward, first resting at an inn, and then set off again in the evening, driving into the coffin shop.
After Geng Si entered the shop, Yang Baihu immediately reported to him about Fu Youde.
Cooperating with Fu Youde is also one of the current tasks of the Military Intelligence Agency, and except for Geng Si, no one else even knows what his task is.
After listening to this, Geng Si asked: "Have any major events happened recently in the Tatar camp? Especially related to Jialu!"
Yang Baihu said: "I haven't heard of it."
Geng Si waved his hand and said: "From now on, you will be responsible for investigating and investigating the news about Jia Lu. If there is any situation, report it immediately!"
Yang Baihu took the order.
There is a wooden cabinet in the accounting room of the coffin shop. When the machine is pressed, the wooden cabinet can move to the side, revealing a hidden small hole in the back, which contains an account book.
There are only names and identities in this account book. These names are the informants that Yang Baihu and others worked hard to develop.
Geng Si rummaged through the book for a long time and found a valuable informant named Mo Jiu, who was a leading soldier in the Tuotuo Hou Army.
He immediately decided to start with this gang leader to learn about the intelligence of the rear army commander.
Tuotuo divided the Xuzhou army into five groups, led by five commanders, so there were five military camps stationed along the Grand Canal, stretching for more than fifty miles.
Among them, the rear army camp is located in the southwest, and the management is very loose. As long as you give some money to the captain guarding the camp gate, you can leave the camp at any time.
After Mo Jiu received the news from other informants of Geng Si's faction, he bribed the captain of the Yuanmen that night, came to Pizhou City, and met Geng Si in a private room of a restaurant.
Mo Jiu is only in his forties, but he looks like an old man in his sixties, with gray hair, shriveled skin, a thin figure, and a pair of eyes that are cloudier than the inferior wine sold in the pub.
"Humph, why are you in such a hurry to call me out? The gatekeeper today is Zhou Peipi, and I spent half a catty of salt just to come out! Hey! Who is your boy? Who is Yang?" As soon as Mo Jiugang sat down, he stopped talking.
Live and shout.
Pizhou was so poor that the people had no money in their hands, and their precious banknotes were no more than toilet paper, so grain and salt became the currency in circulation.
Geng Si didn't waste any more words. He took out a small bag of salt and handed it over. Mo Jiu weighed it and found it weighed two kilograms. He suddenly smiled and said, "I wonder what your Master Yang's orders are?"
Geng Si said slowly: "Are you the leader of the rear army?"
"Yeah!"
"Then do you know about the commander-in-chief of your rear army? No matter what it is!"
Mo Jiu rolled his eyes and said: "Aren't you kidding me? How can I, a young leader, know about the commander? I don't even know his name!"
Geng Sidao: "One piece of news is a pound of salt."
Mo Jiu's eyes flashed sharply, and he said happily: "Seriously?"
Geng Si still didn't talk nonsense, took off the baggage on his body, took out five bags of salt, and placed them neatly on the table.
Mo Jiu's eyes flashed with strange light and he said hurriedly: "I have seen him once from a distance. He is quite fat and his skin is whiter than that of women. I seem to have heard someone call him Snow Palm Envoy. His name should be Xuexue!"<
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Geng Si nodded and said: "He is fat and has fair skin. His name is Xuexue. Very good. This counts as three pieces of news." He pushed the three bags of salt in front of Mo Jiu.
Mo Jiu was overjoyed, weighed the three packets of salt, opened it and took a taste, stuffed it into his arms with satisfaction, grabbed his head with both hands, and murmured: "I'll think about it again, let me think about it..." <
/p>
Geng Si said slowly: "At this time tomorrow, I will still wait for you here. Every piece of news is worth a pound of salt, so you should try to find out as much as possible!"
After a pause, he said coldly: "My source of information is not just you. If you dare to provide false information, I will chop you into pieces and feed you to the dogs!"
Mo Jiu smiled and said: "I understand the rules, just wait, I will definitely bring more news tomorrow!"
Geng Si nodded, stood up and left.
Mo Jiu called the waiter over, banged the table and shouted: "Hurry up and bring the best wine in your store, then go to Qianji Restaurant on Mingren Street and buy a roast goose for the master!"
That guy was the spy who was hanging out in the restaurant, and he left with a smile.
Geng Si returned to the coffin shop at two o'clock in the morning. As soon as he entered the house, Yang Baihu came over and said solemnly: "Big shopkeeper, we just heard the news. Jia Lu was found guilty and imprisoned!"
Geng Si's eyes lit up and he said slowly: "It seems that Fu Youde has succeeded! Now that he has succeeded, we can concentrate on our own affairs. From tomorrow on, you will be responsible for investigating the intelligence of the former battalion coach!"
Yang Baihu said: "Yes!"
……
Jia Lu was sitting in the prison car, his hands bound by the shackles no longer feeling. The moonlight was hazy and the stars were like water. He looked at the night sky dreamily, as if he could no longer feel the cold.
The prison car was located next to the stables, and the horse manure pile was less than ten feet away from the prison car. Even the soldiers guarding the prison couldn't bear the smell and hid far away.
There seems to be no other sound except the sound of horses grazing.
No, there were still footsteps, coming right behind Jia Lu, but he was too lazy to turn around and look, not even interested in asking a question.
"Jia Gong! How could they do this to you!"
Hearing this angry voice, Jia Lu finally reacted and slowly turned his head. With the help of the moonlight, he finally saw the appearance of the person behind him.
"General Dong, it's rare that you come to see me." Jia Lu said in a hoarse voice.
Dong Tuanxiao walked over slowly, his face as deep as water, and said: "Jia Gong, let me ask you something first, is the content of that letter true or false?"
Jia Lu hit the prison car with a wooden yoke and said angrily: "Of course it's false. You should have seen me leaving that day. How could I know about Ye Xian and Yesu's plan, let alone reveal it to the Haozhou rebels!"
Dong Tuanxiao nodded and said: "So, someone has indeed framed you!"
Jia Lu suddenly became silent.
Dong Tuanxiao said in a deep voice: "Don't worry, I will fight with the Prime Minister with all my strength on this matter! To convict you based on a trumped-up letter is simply unreasonable!"
Jia Lu smiled bitterly and said: "There is no need to argue. Your Majesty has given the Prime Minister the right to kill first and report later. Since he has made up his mind to make me a scapegoat, no one can stop this!"
Dong Tuanxiao's expression changed: "You mean, he forged that letter?"
Jia Lu said coldly: "What else? He has been blocking the news about Ye Xian, isn't it just to prepare such a letter?"
Dong Tuanxiao said sternly: "Then we can't let him do whatever he wants, otherwise the battle of Shahe will happen again!"
Jia Lu stared at Dong Tuanxiao and sighed: "The general is the one who really cares about the country. It's a pity that I was deceived by the old thief Tuotuo before, and actually helped him to exclude the general!"
Dong Tuanxiao waved his hand and said: "There is no need to mention the past. I will go to King Xining and King Jing and ask them to administer justice!"
Jia Lu said anxiously: "It's useless to look for them! They are all Mongolians and members of Tuotuo's party. How can they speak for us Han people?"
Dong Tuanxiao hesitated and said: "Then let's go find Chahan Timur? I heard that this man is a loyal and righteous man!"
Jia Lu sighed: "It's useless. Although Chahan is the commander-in-chief of the right army, he is a Naiman and started as a volunteer. He has always been despised by the Mongolian nobles! Now there is only one person in the five military camps who can check and balance Tuotuo!
”
"Who?"
Jia Lu said in a deep voice: "Xue Xue, the commander-in-chief of the rear army!"
Dong Tuanxiao frowned and said: "Xuexue is Hama's younger brother, and Hama and Tuotuo are as close as brothers. How could Xuexue go against Tuotuo?"
A gust of cold wind blew, and Jia Lu trembled all over, trembling and said: "That happened in the past. When Bie'er Qiebuhua and Tuotuo fought, Hama did stand on Tuotuo's side. Later, Bie'er Qiebuhua argued with Tuotuo.
After Hua died, the two of them were at odds, and now the person Tuotuo is most afraid of is Hama!"
Dong Tuanxiao took off his cloak, stuffed it into the prison car, covered Jia Lu, nodded and said: "I said why Tuotuo made Xuexue the rear army coach, it turned out to be this reason!"
Jia Lu said: "Xuexue must be resentful towards Tuotuo because she was left behind in the rear army. As long as you tell him about the letter, he won't sit idly by and ignore it!"
Dong Tuanxiao took a deep breath and said: "Okay, I will go to the back camp to find Xuexue now!"