There is an iron shop in Dongcheng, Jinzhou. The tinkling noises are heard every day and business is booming.
The iron shop only sells daily farm tools, not weapons. This is also the rule of all the iron shops in Jinzhou City. Of course, as long as the price is in place, orders will be accepted secretly.
"Master, I want to make a hoe." A middle-aged man came to the shop. The blacksmith looked up and saw that he was an ordinary farmer. He said, "Bring your own materials. It is better to have ready-made materials."
"I want it ready-made." The farmer looked embarrassed.
"Ten dollars," the blacksmith said casually. The farmer touched the corner of his clothes and asked, "Can I pay on credit?"
"Credit? That's not something I can do." The blacksmith pointed inside and said, "Go and ask the shopkeeper." The farmer thanked him and walked in. There were many shaped farm tools in the small room inside. , a stout man was busy tinkering, the farmer stuck his head in and asked: "Is it from the shopkeeper?"
"Whatever the customer wants to buy, our shop is the only one in the whole city of Jinzhou with fair prices..." The man said casually without raising his head, and the farmer cupped his hands: "We just came here because of its reputation. Dare you ask the shopkeeper if he can get credit?"
After hearing this, the man raised his head and glanced at the farmer: "What does the guest want to buy?"
"hoe".
"It's only ten dollars...where will the guests stay?"
"Thirty miles to the west of the city is Xujiazhuang." The farmer said and made a gesture. The man was startled, then stood up and wiped his hands: "There are others in the backyard. Guests can take a look first. If there is anything they like, they can write it down and take their fingerprints." But "after saying that, he took the farmer to the backyard.
"The Tatars mobilized their troops and quickly sent people out of the city to inform them. "After entering the yard, the farmer glanced left and right and whispered. The blacksmith raised his eyebrows: "Yesterday there was a big manhunt in the city. It has something to do with you." ?"
The farmer shook his head: "We just pass on word of mouth."
The blacksmith nodded slightly: "We have asked too many questions. Xiaosan'er came back from outside today and said that there is a large-scale manhunt outside the city, and there is chaos in the area of 20 miles. I'm afraid..."
"We are just passing on word of mouth." The farmer still said the same thing. The blacksmith hesitated to speak and finally nodded: "I will send someone there right now."
There is another sentence that goes by: "Fenglang lives in Xu, come quickly."
The blacksmith was startled, then nodded. The farmer picked up a hoe next to him and turned away.
After leaving the iron shop, the farmer seemed to look around intentionally or unintentionally, and then left in a hurry. This farmer was none other than Marco, who worked under Marco to harvest water at night. He was ordered by Chang Yu to spy on the streets with the city to pass on the military information. , although Zu Dashou and others had anticipated that the Tatars might attack Tashan Fort and had made preparations, they still had to pass on the news and make every precaution.
This can be regarded as fulfilling the last wish of the unknown Ming army.
On the other side, there is a ghost market in the south of the city.
Every city has a ghost market, some open late at night, and some open early in the morning. Here, all kinds of people are mixed, and all kinds of transactions can be done. Jinzhou City is no exception, but unlike other places, it is open during the day because of the Jinzhou curfew.
The name of the ghost market sounds scary, but on the surface it looks like an ordinary night market, or the Panjiayuan Flea Market. Of course, this is just what ordinary people see.
But things look different to people in the industry. The people walking around in the streets of this ghost city look ordinary, but they have different identities and backgrounds. There are thieves and gangsters, people from the yamen, and even military spies, who take action or Most of the things being traded are hidden from view, and none of the shops on the street are doing legitimate business on the surface but are clean in private.
When it was almost noon, two people who looked like tourists walked into the streets of the ghost market. The characteristics of tourists were very obvious. They were much rougher than ordinary people who had been wandering in the deep mountains and forests all year round. Most of them were tall and burly, and they walked like a rough man. Wild way.
Also, some of their clothes are in tatters like beggars, and some are wrapped in animal skins like hunters. But how to distinguish them depends on their attire, that is, the visitors are carrying something with them, such as rope sticks and deer bones. Sticks, ginseng pockets, short axes, coir raincoat clothes, bark kidneys, mountain vine hand hooks...etc. Anyone who sees these items hanging on his body must be a ginseng guest.
The two diners were both strong and strong, walking with a strong back and a strong back, but their expressions were solemn, as if they had something on their minds. They walked around aimlessly, neither entering the store nor asking about prices.
But soon someone came over and asked: "You two, what are you going to sell?" A guy with a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks came over and asked in a low voice.
"You know I have goods?" The younger man looked a little surprised, and the man chuckled: "Looking at the two of you, you know that not only do you have goods, but also big goods."
"How are you sure that we have big products?" The older man snorted, and the man made a stroke on his eyes and chuckled: "This is called eyesight. When you visit the city, you always go to the regular customers' stores. If you go to the ghost market, it means that the shop that is a regular customer does not give you a good price, or there is a large product that they cannot eat."
The two diners looked at each other and were silent for a while. The man looked at his words and said, "It's not convenient to talk outside. Let's go inside and have a cup of tea to warm up?" He pointed to a shop next to him.
The shop didn't have a name either, so the two customers followed him in. They casually looked at the scattered objects in the shop: "Those are all for outsiders to see." The man with the sharp mouth and monkey cheeks said and led the two of them to the side room in the backyard, where he had his own small room. The man made some tea and asked, "How do you call me two in Huo Sanshan?"
"My name is Wu Da, and this is my brother, Wang Er," the two visitors said casually. Huo Sanshan glanced at their faces and said, "Looking at their accents, they are not from around Jinzhou."
"I'm originally from Hebei. I lived outside the customs a few years ago and made a living by picking ginseng." Wu Da picked up the teacup and blew a few breaths, then drank it all in one gulp: "Your teacup is too small."
Huo Sanshan was startled, then laughed loudly: "We call this a cup, not a bowl. This tea must be sipped slowly."
"No need to use a bowl to have fun." Wu Dadu muttered, and Wang Er also echoed. Huo Sanshan thought to himself, these two mountain villagers know a lot about pranks, but the more such people are, the happier he is, because it is easy to get an advantage.
"You two, bring out the goods and open our eyes." Huo Sanshan stared at Wu Da with a smile on his face.
"No more." Wu Da sighed. Huo Sanshan was startled and frowned: "What do you two mean? Are you just kidding me?"
"To be honest, I didn't come to this ghost market to sell goods." Wang Er quickly said. Huo Sanshan was furious and stood up with a slap in the face: "What kind of place do you think this ghost market is, and who do you think I, Huo Sanshan, am?" , come here to play with me in broad daylight.”
"Master, don't worry. How dare we play tricks on you? We originally had goods, but others deceived us. Today we come to this ghost market not to sell goods, but to find them." The way is here, if Mr. Huo has a way to help us find that person, we will definitely thank you very much."
When Huo Sanshan heard this, his brows furrowed into knots, and he looked at Wang Er and said, "Can you tell me in detail what's going on?"
Wang Er quickly spoke up, saying that his two brothers followed an old boss and came across a century-old ginseng plant in the mountains. It was roughly estimated to be a five-hundred-year-old treasure. This was simply the treasure that ginseng pickers dreamed of all their lives. However, Huaibi was guilty. The news that they dug up the treasure was known by a group of colleagues, who actually wanted to kill him... In the end, the boss and several other partners were killed, and he and the two of them escaped...
After wandering around several places, I came to Jinzhou City to prepare for the sale. After wandering for several days, I still couldn't find a good buyer. I wanted to ask about the price at the ghost market the day before yesterday, but someone took it away before I even entered.
"How did you cheat him?" Huo Sanshan became curious.
"The man took the initiative like Mr. Huo and asked if there was any goods. The two of us told the truth and showed the goods to the man. The man said it was a good thing and asked us for a price. We asked for one. One hundred taels, he said it was a large amount and he couldn't make the decision himself, so he had to show it to his employer."
"Then what?" Huo Sanshan asked.
"Then, we followed him to the back door of a big house. He went in with his ginseng and asked us to wait outside. However, no one was there when we waited, but when he did, he was beaten up and almost got arrested. Go to jail," Wang Er said with a sad face.
Huo Sanshan was startled. How could he be so bold as to be so bold and silent?
"Then, you didn't report it to the official?"
"We were beaten by the officials." Wu Da said with a look of hatred on his face: "Master Huo thought it was a group of military lords who beat us. It was only after we were beaten that we realized that the big house was actually the palace of the prince. !”
Ah, the General Military Mansion. Huo Sanshan's expression changed: "You mean, that man entered the General Military Mansion with the five-hundred-year-old treasure?"
"Yeah." The two nodded vigorously.
"You went in and never came out?"
"Yeah that".
Huo Sanshan was silent for a while while holding the teacup, then suddenly put down the teacup and waved to the two of them impatiently: "Let's go, let's go quickly."
He actually started chasing people away.
