The sound of the flute and flute cannot be heard clearly, and the old rain in the rivers and lakes is scattered into dust.
There are only two lines of tears in my life, half for common people and half for beauty.
——Wang Shinai's "The Flute's Complaints"
…
Princess Qingluan said: "How do you meet Mr. Fu?"
Bai Fu said: "On the way back to Fengxiang from Suiyang, when I interrogated An Lushan's confidant eunuch Li Zhu'er, he told me that before An Lushan rebelled, he paid a lot of money to buy a group of spies and lurked in Chang'an City.
These spies had different identities: some were eunuchs and maids bribed by An Lushan by taking advantage of the convenience of entering and exiting the palace; some were important ministers of the court and officials of the six ministries; and some were ordinary people who wandered around the streets and alleys of Chang'an.
After the puppet Yan army captured Chang'an, this group of spies used An Lushan's secret order gold medal to seize a large amount of wealth, supplies and sophisticated weapons.
After Chang'an was recovered, they disappeared out of thin air and lurked without anyone noticing."
Princess Qingluan asked: "Did Li Zhu'er reveal the names of these people?"
Bai Fu shook his head and said: "These people are in single-line contact with An Lushan, and only An Lushan himself knows.
An Lushan left Chang'an and before returning to Fan Yang, he needed to tell his eldest son, An Qingzong, about the secret agents lurking in Chang'an.
But if Anqingzong was left with a list, he was afraid that the list of spies would be accidentally discovered by Anqingzong's wife, Princess Rongyi.
Finally, An Lushan came up with a way and paid a lot of money to hire a skilled painter to paint the portraits of these spies on the walls of a temple in Chang'an. Of course, the murals were specially treated so that ordinary people would not be able to see them.
The real faces of these people.
Only through a method of viewing paintings called "image identification keys" can the secret agent's appearance, identity and method of activation be found in the murals.
Before returning to Fanyang, An Lushan taught the Anqing Sect the secret of the "Picture Appraisal Key". The Anqing Sect could find the necessary characters from this mural based on the "Picture Appraisal Key" and dispatch these spies at any time.
After Fan Yang raised an army in Anlu Mountain, the Supreme Emperor killed An Qingzong and Princess Rongyi. Later, An Lushan was murdered by Li Zhuer, An Qingxu and Yan Zhuang.
Since then, the clues to the murals and the "key to identifying the paintings" have been lost, and the identities of these spies have disappeared and no one knows them anymore.
Now, Shi Siming, An Qingxu and other snobbery parties are looking for ways to activate this group of hidden spies. As long as they exist, the Li Tang Dynasty will never be peaceful.
When An Lushan was alive, they had the handle on these spies, so they swore allegiance to the puppet Yan and did not dare to have any second thoughts. But once An Lushan died, these people were like wild horses and kites with no strings. They no longer had any scruples.
Currently, these spies are observing in the dark and making a choice: hide their identity and hide in the city from now on, or join the new leader and wait for an opportunity to seize Li Tang's kingdom.
Since they have a large amount of wealth, materials and sophisticated weapons in their hands, they can become extremely wealthy and powerful in an instant.
Or, you can join a certain force, follow the example of Wu Zhao’s father, the warrior Yu, and hand over military supplies and sophisticated weapons to fund the rebels in exchange for the founding of the country.”
…
Princess Qingluan said: "Didn't Mr. Li Mi look for this mural?"
Bai Fu said: "Of course I have looked for it. But there are hundreds of large and small temples in Chang'an City and thousands of murals. It's not easy.
What's more, the other party had tampered with the mural, and without the "authenticating key", it would not be easy to learn the secret. That's why Mr. Li Mi asked the "catcher" Mr. Shuliu to come out.
I have to say that Mr. Daozi is really a genius who came up with such a method of hiding people. If it weren't for accidental collision, no one would be able to find out these lists.
The immortals in this mural are not inconsistent with the Daluo Jinxian in the murals we usually see. Even if you lie next to it and look at it for ten years, you still won't be able to discover the secrets hidden in it.
Only by copying the painting intact and looking through the sunlight can we see the clues behind the scroll.
The eighty-seven figures on the back of the scroll should be the portraits of this group of lurking spies. Although I don't know some of them, I can roughly judge their identities from their clothes, accessories, and objects in their hands.
Those who wear golden crowns are either relatives of the emperor or princes and nobles. Those who play piano and chess are only from famous families; those who have axes and saws in their hands are either woodcutter or carpenters. Those holding scales should be market traders. Those who play with abacus, I guess
He is the shopkeeper of a certain shop..."
"So, Wu Daozi should also be one of the secret agents?" Princess Qingluan asked.
Bai Fu shook his head and said, "Probably not, otherwise he wouldn't have exposed his identity because of Aunt Gongsun."
"If it weren't for the secret agent, how could An Lushan have been left alive?" Princess Qingluan was puzzled.
When Bai Fu heard this, he felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
Bai Fu pondered for a moment and said, "Your Highness, that's a good question! I may have made a wrong guess and preconceived it from the beginning.
Let us recreate the scene:
If I were An Lushan, first of all, I would find someone who has nothing to do with me on the surface to handle this matter.
Secondly, I will put forward the request: 'Hide the real person'. It will be difficult for ordinary people to discover, and it will also allow Anqing Zong to grasp the true identity of the spies based on a certain 'key', so that he can dispatch them.
Therefore, I guess Wu Daozi may not know that the proprietor behind the scenes is An Lushan, but he just happened to come up with a solution. Through this whimsical conception and ingenious painting skills, he successfully won this job."
"If that's the case, then An Lushan should have found someone else." Princess Qingluan guessed along Bai Fu's train of thought.
"Yes, who will be the other loser? Is it Huangfu Zhen?" Bai Fu said to himself: "No, if Huangfu Zhen loses and Wu Daozi wins, then Wu Daozi, as the winner, has already proven
Since he is the number one painter in Chang'an, he has no motive to kill Huangfu Zhen?
Could it be that what Wu Daozi said before was all false? The real reason is that Huangfu Zhen won and won the job, which made Wu Daozi lose face?
If this is the case, then the mural painted by Huangfu Zhen is the key to hiding these spies, and it is the mural that truly hides the secret.
So, Huangfu Zhen was not killed by Wu Daozi or Gongsun Jiao, but was silenced by An Lushan?"
Bai Fu was so dizzy thinking about it that he didn't know what was going on.
Bai Fu asked Princess Qingluan to return to the palace first, and he would think about it carefully.
After seeing off Princess Qingluan, Bai Fu came to an independent courtyard in the southwest corner of the Bashu Guild Hall.
After Bai Fu knocked on the door, a man in his thirties welcomed Bai Fu into the courtyard. This man had a fair complexion and an unattractive appearance, but his eyes were bright and lively. At first glance, he was an extremely shrewd person.
Bai Fu cupped his hands and said, "Excuse me, Brother Tang Wu."
The visitor smiled and returned the greeting. This person was Tang Kui, the fifth son of Tang Gu, the head of the Tang Clan in Sichuan, and the fifth brother of Bai Fu and Xiao Tang Li.
The situation was difficult and delicate. Tang Gu, the head of Tang Dynasty, sent Tang Kui to Chang'an to take charge of intelligence work. At the same time, he assisted the Sichuan gang leader Huang Zhen to integrate the Jianghu forces in Chang'an.
Bai Fu briefly recounted the previous situation and said: "Fifth brother, I want to check Huangfu Zhen's origins, the process of his rise to fame in Chang'an painting circles, and the specific details of his assassination.
I want details, the more precise the better, even if they seem completely irrelevant to the case."