The emperor was about to report his intention to Li Chong when he saw five or six people carrying large baskets and walking on bamboo shoes from a distance. As they walked, they shouted: "It's time to eat, it's time to eat, everyone, take a rest.
This is a good-quality steamed bun with large white noodles. It has just come out of the basket and is still hot, so take advantage of it while it's hot!"
Passing by Li Chong, a commoner opened the quilt covering the basket, and a wave of hot air mixed with fragrance hit his nostrils. Welcome to reading
"Magistrate Li, please take a few to eat first. There is white rice porridge in the wooden barrel at the back. The younger one will bring you a bowl later."
Li Jian nodded and said, "I'll treat everyone to dinner first. I have guests here."
As soon as Wang Chao smelled the aroma of the white flour steamed buns, his stomach growled. When he left Lanruo Temple in the morning, he just ate a few pieces of dry food with water and rushed all the way to Tianchang County. He was already very hungry.
Li Zhong smiled and said: "I'm afraid that Brother Dynasty hasn't eaten yet, why don't you eat some steamed buns first to make up for it. You came unexpectedly and I didn't prepare anything. I'll have a banquet in the evening. I hope you don't mind."
Chao Chao had been waiting for this sentence for a long time. Hearing this, he laughed and said: "The white-flour steamed buns are quite good. I almost salivated when I smelled them. If that's the case, you're welcome."
After saying that, he put his big hands into the basket, grabbed five or six big steamed buns, and devoured one in two mouthfuls.
The common people who delivered the meal blinked at the sight. Li Chong chuckled, reached for two steamed buns, and led Wang Chao to sit down on the pile of dried mud. While eating, he asked: "Brother Chao Dynasty, what do you want from me?"
What's the important matter? Your young master is fine. I heard that he took over Feng Laohu's home in Yangzhou? Nothing went wrong."
Wang Chao munched on the steamed buns and said vaguely: "Fortunately, the young master took action, what could possibly go wrong? Those scoundrels actually dared to resist. The young master used a move of thousands of horses galloping, and then the gang of grandsons were killed.
It was stepped on and made a splash."
Then he briefly told Li Zhong what happened that day.
Li Zhong slapped his thigh and said, "Hey, Brother Su is courageous, capable of both literary and military skills, and his actions always amaze people. If it were me, I would never be able to do it. I really admire him more and more.
"
Chao Chao chuckled and said, "You two are really like this. The young master talks about admiring County Magistrate Li all the time, and County Magistrate Li says he admires the young master all the time. Are you always praising each other like this when you become an official?"
Li Chong laughed loudly and said, "It's just a matter of sympathy."
Chao Chao said: "Things didn't go so smoothly. Although Feng Jingyao was taken, the old thief was as strict as a needle and refused to reveal the location of the food hoard. The young master had no choice but to look for clues on his own, and there was no need to investigate.
Go, the clues will go straight to you. Chang County is coming this day; that’s why I came to ask for help from County Magistrate Li; I guess the young master will come soon."
Li Zhong was shocked and said: "What? Is it actually related to me, Tianchang?"
Wang Chao then told Li Zhong the clues he had followed and searched, and asked: "County Magistrate Li, do you think this grain will be transported to Tianchanglai?"
Li Zhong put down the full head in his hand and stood up, walking back and forth on your pile of mud. He left a mess of footprints on the half-dried mud. He suddenly stopped and said, "According to what you said, I'm afraid this food is really real."
It’s time to arrive in Tianchang; however, the gates of Tianchang County have been sealed recently, and all carriages and horses entering the city will be searched day and night. Not to mention such a large amount of food, 1.8 million dan, what if I transported it into the city?
Don’t you know?”
Wang Chao rubbed his hands and said, "What should we do?"
Li Chong pondered for a moment and said: "If the food is transported to other places via Tianchang and just transits outside the city, it will be troublesome; but my Tianchang has hills to the southeast and Hongcao Lake to the west. If you go west and east across the border, you have already left Yangzhou.
It is under the jurisdiction of the Yangzhou Prefecture, and as soon as you leave the official road of the county under the jurisdiction of Yangzhou Prefecture,
They were absolutely unable to pass through the inspection checkpoints set up by the Imperial Guards sent by the imperial court. Moreover, according to what you said, they only used two to three hundred carts to move back and forth, which shows that they cannot transport food very far at all; so it is almost possible
For sure, the food is hidden in Tianchang."
Chao Chao said: "But you also said that you will be rewarded when food enters the city. How do you explain this?"
Li Zhongdao: "It's right not to enter the city. The people transporting food must also know that the county is very strictly guarded, so they simply hide outside the city. There are many rural towns outside the city. You can find dozens of rooms in any hidden village.
The stacked houses make it harder to be discovered."
Chao Chao said: "Then let's send people to check quickly. Tianchang is only so big, I'm afraid it won't be difficult to find."
Li Chong laughed dumbly and said: "Do you think I have hundreds of people who can be used? You saw it when you went back to Bagong Mountain. All the government officials and officials could only collect a hundred or so people, and the soldiers stationed in Tianchang couldn't do it.
One hundred and fifty people can't be transferred all, and public security in the city is a big deal; even if I transfer them all, these hundreds of people won't be able to search much of the area."
Chao Chao said: "A few hundred people are not enough?"
Li Zhongdao: "Although this county is small, there are twelve small towns outside the city and more than five hundred villages. How do you think we can search?"
Chao Chao scratched his head and said: "That's true. According to what County Magistrate Li said, a large-scale search seems to be impossible. It's better to do this. I will return to Yangzhou immediately and mobilize a thousand or eight hundred soldiers to help."
Li Chong waved his hands and said: "Then what can we do? Yangzhou is in a time of turmoil, and the city needs manpower to guard the city in case someone makes trouble. It is unwise to mobilize troops at this moment."
Wang Chao languished: "Not on the left, not on the right. Are you just sitting here and eating steamed buns?" Wang Chao sat down on the mound, and the steamed buns in his mouth were no longer so delicious.
Li Zhongdao: "Brothers of the Dynasty, don't be anxious, there are still ways."
Chao Chao jumped up and said, "What can I do? You always say half-sentences and leave half-sentences behind when you speak, which makes you unhappy."
Li Zhong rolled his eyes and said, "What can you do if you are impatient?"
"According to your young master's inference, this group of food transporters are not from Yangzhou City at all, are they?"
"Yes, the young master said that since Feng Jingyao deliberately moved the people away from the gate of Beicheng, he naturally did not want others to know and leak the news; and the captured Feng Jingyao's men could not explain the reason no matter how they were tortured.
"So the young master concluded that this group of people were hired from outside. They didn't understand the whole story. Maybe Feng Jingyao just paid a high price to hire them to do work, so naturally he wouldn't talk nonsense."
Li Zhongdao: "Your young master's analysis is very reasonable. In all likelihood, these people are from Tianchang County. Only they can be familiar with the routes in this county and will not go to Yangzhou City to talk nonsense."
Chao Chao said: "Yes, magistrate Li said, find these people?"
Li Zhong shook his head and said: "I'm afraid it will be difficult to find people. These people may be rural people. Are we going to visit aimlessly again? No way!"
"Then...doesn't that mean you didn't say anything?" Wang Chao was depressed again.
"The monk can run away, but he can't run away from the temple. We don't look for people, we look for cars!" Li Chong said with a smile.
"Looking for a car? You mean a big truck transporting grain?"
"Exactly, the trucks transporting grain cannot be handled by the small flat trucks used by ordinary farmers. Besides, if you said there are animals pulling it, it must be a big truck; the trucks that haul water and dung in the countryside are all made up of random things.
The best carts are flatbed carts pulled by oxen. Such carts cannot withstand the heavy load at all. When empty, the frame will fall apart, let alone when loaded with heavy objects such as grain." Li
He smiled again.
"Yes, it must be a sturdy cart like the ones used at car dealerships and docks. There is no problem at all in stacking more than a dozen bags of grain at a time. County Magistrate Li is really smart. He is almost as good as my young master in this skill."
Wang Chao pointed his fingers and praised.
Li Chong couldn't help but smile bitterly. This dynasty always puts its own young master higher than others. Even if it praises others, it is always just a little bit worse than his own young master.
"This county is barren. Although it is adjacent to the river in the south, there are only two wharves. Most of the other places are dangerous shoals, which are not suitable for opening up waterway wharves. There are few wharves and there are not many vehicles. There are only four car dealerships in the city and other small ones.
The truck dealer has no ability to provide two or three hundred large trucks to haul goods, and since we don’t want people to know about the food transportation, the people who transport the food will only choose one of these four, and will never hire them on a large scale, so we
You only need to check these four car dealers and you should be able to find out who hired the frames to transport goods."
"Oh, this is good, this is basically a done deal." Wang Chao Da Le; The three of them finished the steamed buns in their hands, patted their buttocks and said: "Without further delay, County Magistrate Li, let's go back to the county seat to do things.
"It's best if we catch the culprit as soon as the young master arrives and kneel in the lobby waiting for him; we also let the young master know our methods."
Li Chong chuckled and said, "It seems that the brothers from the Dynasty are eager to make contributions. This county does not need to prove anything to your son."
Chao Chao said: "Aren't you and my young master brotherly friends? As brothers, you have to worry about your brother's worries, right?"
Li Jiao nodded and said, "That's just a sentence."
However, Wang Chao's next sentence immediately let the cat out of the bag: "Even if brothers want to warm their wives' beds, they are true brothers if they don't even frown."
Li Chong did not dare to say anything, so he quickly put down his trousers, put on his basket shoes, said hello to the people around him, and led the dynasty towards the main road.