The suburbs of the imperial capital in spring are very beautiful, the grass is green, all kinds of small flowers are dotted in the meantime, there is a name called Meng Gong Pavilion at the three forks in the east of the city, although it is called Meng Gong Pavilion, but in fact there is no pavilion, just a bush of grass in.

Brother Tiger sat on the stone beside the road across the grass, his legs were wrapped in a spilled cloth, and there were faint blood stains on the cloth, and he was lazily basking in the sun.

Two little beggars squatted on the side of the road, with a broken bowl in front of them, and whenever they saw someone passing by, the two little beggars would go over with the broken bowl and chase after the pedestrians.

Beggars dressed in this way were everywhere in and out of the city, and beggars from outside the city tried to blend in with each other, and if they couldn't, they gathered in all corners of the city.

The carriage came from the city, Brother Hu's eyes narrowed, the carriage was marked with the sign of the Blessing Carriage Company, the carriage reached the fork and drove to the left, and soon disappeared into the grove not far away.

Brother Hu didn't move, he was still lazy, and the two little beggars came over with bowls, sighing and scolding, looking at the city gate with envious and expectant eyes.

According to the order of the imperial court, within 50 meters near the city wall, no trees or houses are allowed, and once the war is close to the imperial capital, within 1,000 meters, houses and trees are all cut down.

"It's still comfortable in the city. ”

"Who let the eldest brother join the gang newly, damn, Zhao Blind's coffin and coffin all occupy the good place in Piaoxianglou. ”

"I heard that the flower wine in Piaoxianglou costs dozens of taels of silver for a meal, and you say that these dozens of taels of silver can eat as many oil cakes as you can. ”

"Fool, what kind of oil cake, you know the oil cake, if you want to change me, just eat the big bun, the bun from the old Yang's bun shop, that taste!"

The little beggar was about to drool as he spoke, but Brother Tiger looked at them and smiled, his eyes suddenly widened, and they returned to normal in an instant.

Another carriage came out of the city, but it was another carriage, driven by a strong man in his thirties, and as he passed by them, a spring breeze blew by, and the curtains floated up, and at that moment he saw a familiar figure.

"Spare you like a ghost, or drink Lao Tzu's footwashing water. Brother Tiger sneered in his heart.

He still sat still, and after half burning incense, two men on horseback came out of the city, beating horses and passing by.

"It's done, it's definitely the last wave. Brother Hu concluded in his heart that this guy was too cautious, the first carriage was a temptation, and the second carriage was real, if he ran with the first carriage, then he didn't know where he was taken, but if he followed the second carriage, the two men on horseback might find him.

He looked at a puddle of waterlogged mud puddles on the road, which he had dug in a hurry, and there were a few more out of the grove, and these mud puddles could definitely carry traces far away.

"The two of you immediately ran back and told Brother Qi to let him come. Brother Hu instructed the two little beggars, and the little beggar turned around and ran to the north of the city.

Brother Hu moved slightly, still didn't follow it, but he also made some preparations, learned a lot of things in Liufu, he rubbed down the traces of the wheel, found out the characteristics, and then sat back in the same place, thought about it, and changed places.

Soon in the afternoon, Xiao Qi came over with more than a dozen little beggars and handed him a piece of cake, Brother Tiger was about to eat, and saw a mud monkey-like boy looking at it with a blank eye, so he broke off a piece and gave it to him, the little mud monkey bit happily, his mouth was stuffed full, and he was like a toad when chewing, and his nickname was also Toad.

Brother Tiger pulled Xiao Qi to the side and told him in a low voice, Xiao Qi looked at the grove and asked with some suspicion, "Can you catch up?"

Brother Hu nodded very confidently, Xiao Qi gritted his teeth and said, "Cheng, then catch up and go." ”

"You can't go. Brother Hu said, Xiao Qi was stunned, and Brother Hu said: "You have to stay, if I can't come back, you have to report the news." ”

"Can't you let them go?" Xiao Qi glanced at the really noisy little beggars, and Brother Hu shook his head: "We can't let them know about our affairs." ”

Xiao Qi thought for a while and nodded: "Then you be careful." ”

Brother Hu smiled, very confident, and called five or six little beggars, and Xiao Qi and five or six other little beggars stayed.

Brother Tiger paid attention to the rut marks and slowly followed, and the traces faded out of the grove, and soon disappeared.

But soon a small mud pond appeared in front of him, and the rut marks appeared again, all the way to a fork in the road, two roads on the left and right, and there were Zhuangzi faintly in the distance on both sides.

Brother Tiger went to the right with a little contemplation, the Zhuangzi here was far away, and the little beggars began to play and make trouble, but slowly they were all tired, and Brother Tiger was not in a hurry, so he stopped to rest.

The little mud monkey was full of energy, looked left and right, found that there was no one, blinked into the ground on the side, and after a while, he came out with two cucumbers that were still relatively immature.

"Helmsman, cucumber. ”

The little mud monkey stuffed it into Brother Tiger's arms, Brother Tiger looked left and right, wiped it, and bit it violently, it was very crisp, but it was not ripe, and it was almost hot.

Seeing this, the other beggars were swarming to go, but Brother Hu hurriedly stopped them and let the two of them go.

"This melon is not ripe yet, just go to two people, break one per person, don't break too much. ”

The two little beggars touched in, and the surroundings were quiet, and no one could be seen, but Brother Hu felt a little uncomfortable, and always felt that he had missed something.

The little mud monkey seemed to never be able to eat, stuffed something in his mouth, and said vaguely: "Master Helm, this melon... It's crispy. ”

Brother Tiger smiled, patted on his head, and a group of people were biting cucumbers there, he ate cucumbers, and his eyes were rolling around.

"The Zhuangzi in front of me doesn't know if there is anything to eat. The little mud monkey swallowed the food hard, turned its head and looked expectantly, but in fact, it was not clear at all, and only a faint shadow could be seen through the ripening crops and trees.

The beggars' favorite is spring, summer and autumn, when they can't get by, they can always find something to eat in the field, even if it is vegetable leaves, they can be dealt with indiscriminately, and the most terrible thing is winter, many beggars die in the heavy snow.

After resting for a while, the big guy got up again, ate something, and had food in his stomach, and the little beggars' interest rose again, and they were shouting along the way, in the eyes of the little beggars, since they followed this big brother, they were able to eat most of the time, and last winter, none of them starved to death and froze to death.

After a few Zhuangzi in a row, Brother Hu didn't pass, and a small Zhuangzi appeared in front of him, the uneasiness in Brother Hu's heart became stronger and stronger, and he hesitated, but still took someone over.

This Zhuangzi looked small, smaller than the few Zhuangzi they passed, hidden in a few bamboo groves, and in the fields outside the village, the unripe sorghum grew gratifyingly.

"Master Helm, can that Zhuangzi work?" the little mud monkey looked at the Zhuangzi suspiciously, and then looked at the big Zhuangzi in front of him.

"You don't understand this, there are many people in the big Zhuangzi and few people in the small Zhuangzi, so it's easy to get something out. The other big beggar said and wiped his nose.

"As far as you know, slugs. The little mud monkey replied unconvinced, and ran forward as he spoke, so a group of people followed, and suddenly, Brother Tiger found a new rut, from the mud pit to this, the distance was already very far, and the traces brought out by the mud pit were long gone, but there was a new rut on the side of the road, this rut was inconspicuous, half on the grass on the side of the road, half in the dirt, but Brother Tiger recognized that it was the trace of the second rut.

This discovery greatly increased Brother Hu's confidence, and he took the little beggars to the front of the village and sang the lotus flower to the village gate.

Not long after singing, an old man came out, and the old man carried a basket and divided two nests for each little beggar.

The little beggars smiled happily, thank you uncle, Brother Tiger took them away, the little mud monkey couldn't walk halfway, Brother Tiger carried him on his shoulders.

"You are only allowed to eat one, and then another one in the evening. Brother Tiger commanded loudly, and the little beggars happily agreed.

After walking away, the Zhuangzi was no longer visible, so Brother Hu breathed a sigh of relief, wiped the beads of sweat, looked back, and his heart fell into his stomach.

When he approached the village, the feeling of danger was very strong, but when he got to the front of the village, the feeling faded, this feeling was very strange, but it was so real, until this, the feeling disappeared completely.

In order to be realistic, but also to learn the lesson of the last time, he took the little beggars to two more Zhuangzi, sang outside the village for a long time Lotus Fall, and one Zhuangzi came out and gave a little nest.

Singing the lotus flower in front of Zhuangzi is not just anyone's business, only the beggars can do it, if other homeless people do this, and the beggars will find out, then they will definitely fight; besides, the beggars can't come every day, every day, then who can stand it.

"What's wrong?"

"Back to the Lord, it's okay, a group of beggars have come to ask for food, and they have already been sent away. ”

Wang didn't speak, the man who came to pay a message turned around and retreated, and the shopkeeper Zhang on the side frowned: "There has been such a thing before?"

Wang nodded and sighed softly: "There are more and more homeless people in the imperial capital, and in order to fight for territory, the beggars and the homeless people have fought several times, and the government doesn't care, and people's lives are like mustard." ”

The shopkeeper also sighed, it is said that this year's wind and rain are smooth, seeing that the snow outside the plug has melted, the army is ready, ready to go out of the customs to fight, and raise the monarch's prestige outside the territory, but, in order to supply the army outside the Saiwai, the people are more bitter, although the court has not increased, but the people have borne more labor than in the past.

Don't underestimate this month, this time is the time of farming, the people are forced to do labor, resulting in the barren fields, the overwhelmed people either flee, or even people into the door of the noble clan, become their shadows, the court once again lost a large number of taxes.

After sighing for a while, Wang looked up and asked, "This time you are in Bingzhou, what is the prospect of this operation?"

"It's hard to say, let's open it in five or five. The shopkeeper Zhang said that this time he walked from Yangzhou to Jizhou, and then to Youzhou and Zhou, and walked along the northern border of the Great Jin Dynasty, the purpose of which was to observe and evaluate the prospects of this out-of-the-jam operation.

"Fang Hui is strict in governing the army, and the state border army is the elite of the world, although Fang Hui goes, but the spirit is in, if the king of Taiyuan wins and returns, this battle has a seventy percent chance of winning, but if the war is delayed, and deep into the desert, the consequences are unpredictable. ”

"It's not that the consequences are unpredictable, it's a sure defeat. Wang added with a wry smile: "Moreover, if the war is lost, the court situation will be chaotic immediately, but Gongzi hopes that the court situation will not be chaotic, so this time we must ensure that the King of Taiyuan wins, otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable." ”

Shopkeeper Zhang was silent for a while and nodded, and then sighed softly, to strategize and win a thousand miles, only Gongzi can do it, but unfortunately Gongzi can't control the court.

"It's difficult, the king of Taiyuan is quite brave, the disadvantage is that he is stubborn and self-serving, and he makes difficulties lightly, if he is not careful, I am afraid that he will fall into the trap of others, if he wants to win, unless he lets the second senior brother take command. ”

Wang smiled bitterly, looked up at the west, and whispered half-loudly: "He is the most difficult of us, for so many years, he has struggled alone in that bitter cold place, to this extent, the difficulty is beyond our understanding." ”

The shopkeeper Zhang was silent for a while, sighed softly, looked at the white clouds, and said softly: "I don't know when I will be able to show my mind and enjoy the world." ”

Looking at the white clouds who were also looking at the sky, he said half-loudly: "It's almost over." ”

"This time out of the fortress battle, no matter whether you win or lose, the emperor will speed up the implementation of the new policy, and Gongzi will have the opportunity to enter Shangshutai, and when the time comes, drive away Pan Lian, and Gongzi may take control. ”

Shopkeeper Zhang was slightly stunned, and turned his head to look at him puzzled: "What about Pengzhu and Juyi?

"The real trouble is only Pengzhu, this prince, the emperor's close minister, the emperor trusts him too much, but his weakness is that he is a lonely minister, except for the emperor, he has no other assistance, whether it is the court or the local princes. ”

Shopkeeper Zhang nodded slightly, and breathed a sigh of relief: "In this way, Childe has already figured out how to deal with Pengzhu." ”

"The boss has already gone to Bingzhou, you have to go to Jizhou again, strive to get food, and transport it to Bingzhou as soon as possible, the more the better. ”

"The boss has gone to Bingzhou?!" Shopkeeper Zhang was startled and looked at him: "What about the safety of the son? Liu Hanke is still in Yangzhou!"

"Childe and Liu Han reached an agreement, we handed over the courtyard of the rice mill to the Hanhai Trading Company, and we will no longer make a move on Liu Han, junior brother, your guess is wrong, Liu Han is not a wolf's tooth. ”

Wang's tone was very calm, but the loss was still obvious, the courtyard of the rice mill had always been managed by the old boss, and it was usually taken care of by the servants who had been with the old boss for decades, but since the servant was suddenly killed, the house was idle until it was transferred to the Hanhai Trading Company.

For the murder of the old servant, Gongzi was very nervous, hoping to personally preside over the investigation, the biggest suspect is the owner of a grocery store on the corner of the street, and left the imperial capital on the day the old servant was killed, the results of the investigation are shocking, that person is actually suspected of internal security.

After reporting to Childe, Childe immediately ordered to stop the investigation, and according to his wishes, this yard was abandoned like this, but Childe asked him to send someone to sell it.

Childe's move is to fish, which shows that Childe doesn't believe that it was the internal guards who did it, and someone is suspicious and trying to make them retreat.

But the opponent was very cunning, and he was never fooled, and finally gave way to Hanhai Trading Company.

(End of chapter)