Because it specializes in mutton dishes, Beiguo Restaurant opened by Su Changsheng quickly attracted the attention of Zhao Gou, who was deep in the palace.
It is definitely not an easy thing to specialize in mutton dishes these days, because the import channels are completely monopolized by the Ming Dynasty. If you want to eat mutton, you need to trade with the Ming Dynasty.
The Ming Dynasty sent sheep all the way from the grasslands to the south of the Yangtze River for sale. The asking price was not as high as usual. It was basically one of the top products exported by the Ming Dynasty to the Southern Song Dynasty. Therefore, mutton dishes became an absolute favorite in the Southern Song Dynasty. The aristocratic dishes are beyond the reach of ordinary wealthy people.
Instead, the popular dishes are mainly based on various kinds of river fresh food and seafood.
However, Beiguolou is said to have a very good relationship with merchants from the Ming Dynasty, and can obtain high-quality live sheep. The supply of mutton is guaranteed, and it tastes extremely delicious and has a very light smell, which is very suitable for the tastes of the dignitaries of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Its main dish [fresh fish and mutton] is said to be so delicious that even diners accidentally bite their tongues, and is widely sought after by the rich and powerful.
As soon as his reputation became famous, Zhao Gou, an old Kaifeng man, couldn't sit still. Zhao Gou sent someone to ask the cook of Beiguo Tower to come into the palace to cook mutton dishes for him.
Su Changsheng was so happy that he immediately sent the best cook and spy in the Beiguo Tower into the palace to cook mutton for Zhao Gou to eat. Zhao Gou couldn't stop eating the top-quality fish and mutton, and had to walk with the help of a chamberlain after eating. Xiaoshier.
Despite this, Zhao Gou couldn't help his appetite. He had to eat [fresh fish and mutton] at least five times a month, and asked the top chef of Beiguo Tower to come to the palace to cook it for him freshly, using the best ingredients and spices.
In this regard, Zhao Gou was never stingy. He was willing to pay more than a hundred dollars every time. When he was happy, he would reward the chef with dozens of dollars. It was like spending a lot of money.
Afterwards, Zhao Gou happily rewarded Beiguo Tower with a bowl made of gold, which Su Changsheng placed at the highest place of Beiguo Tower as a "treasure of the tower".
Beiguo Tower became an instant hit and became the first choice place for the Southern Song Dynasty’s dignitaries to gather, have fun and show off. You must eat mutton, and you must eat fish and mutton. If you don’t eat fish and mutton, you have never been to Beiguo Tower. It's like being a bumpkin.
As a result, Beiguolou's business was booming, and the fish and mutton dish became a limited edition. You must make a reservation. If you don't make a reservation, you can't eat it. .
What? You are a powerful person and you want to go through the back door?
Please, come here to eat fresh fish and sheep, who is not a powerful person?
The only one who can use the back door is the Supreme Emperor! You, please wait in line!
Also, who can compare with Zhao Gou?
Su Changsheng made a lot of money in the Southern Song Dynasty by relying on the increasingly prosperous chain restaurant business, and then used the money to develop and expand the Second Operation Team of the Skynet Army. It set up groups and teams in many state capitals and gradually expanded the intelligence network in the Southern Song Dynasty. The core area is laid out.
In line with the principle of darkness under the lamp, the headquarters of the Second Operation Group of the Skynet Army was also brought into Lin'an City by Su Changsheng to develop its own intelligence work in the core area of Southern Song rule and under the eyes of the Southern Song emperor.
I have to say that Su Changsheng's approach is very characteristic of Su Yonglin.
Relying on the special advantages of Beiguo Tower, he was not only able to get close to the top dignitaries of the Southern Song Dynasty, become familiar with them and become the number one figure, he could also easily know the current hot political topics and hot political trends in the Southern Song Dynasty court. .
In fact, it was not that he deliberately sent people to inquire about the information. It was because the bureaucrats in the Southern Song Dynasty had no sense of confidentiality. They would spit out everything they should and should not say as long as they drank a few cups of yellow soup.
I had just finished discussing things with the emperor in the morning. I came to Beiguo Tower in the evening. After a few glasses of wine, my face turned red. I couldn't tell the difference between east, west and north, so I started to talk about what happened in the court.
The voice is very loud and the words are spoken clearly, I'm afraid you can't hear me.
The guys who deliver the food are all well-trained professionals who have an eye for all directions and an ear for all directions. As a result, in this kind of drinking situation, there is no place to display their skills.
Without any effort, you can directly know what the Southern Song Dynasty court wanted to do, as well as the internal struggles and content of the struggles in the court, etc.
Then about five days later, this information will appear on the table in the commander's office at the Zhongdu Skynet Army Headquarters.
In almost half a day, some important news will appear on Su Yonglin's desk for him to know.
Not to mention some political issues and open political struggles that occurred in the court, such as who was fighting with whom in the court, Su Yonglin had already known about the news that there were some minor frictions and unpleasantness between Zhao Gou and Zhao Xin and they did not return to Lin'an for a long time. .
One-way transparency equals yes.
Su Yonglin even knew that Zhao Hao had fallen in love with eating because he had been depressed recently, and liked to relieve his depression through overeating. Within two or three months, his originally lean body was completely out of shape and he became a typical middle-aged greasy man.
When Su Yonglin heard that Zhao Min had become a middle-aged greasy man, he was so frightened that Su Yonglin quickly ordered fitness equipment from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, planning to squeeze out some time for physical exercise every day in the future to maintain his figure, so as to avoid losing his shape and suffering from three highs.
Of course, as an experienced spy king, Su Changsheng not only relies on restaurants to gather information, but also arranges for his subordinates to work as handymen in various government offices in Lin'an City through some social connections, and collect information on the way.
Officials don't know how to clean, and eunuchs only serve the royal family. There are so many government offices in Lin'an City that still have to hire some professional handymen to handle the massive chores.
These handymen were the group of people besides officials who were most likely to have access to important information from the Southern Song Dynasty court.
But the Southern Song Dynasty court had no defense against them.
The reason is very simple. Judging from the education level of the Southern Song Dynasty, it is impossible for a mere handyman to be literate.
Even if top-level intelligence related to national defense was placed in front of them, they thought it was today's recipe.
What should we be wary of when it comes to humble handymen who don’t know a single word of Chinese characters?
After Su Changsheng learned this inside information, he arranged for some literate spies to pretend to be illiterate and work as odd jobs in the government, and they worked in a lot of people who were not part of the official establishment.
Moreover, these spies have now successfully entered the Lin'an Mansion, the Sixth Ministry, the Privy Council and other government offices to work, and often bring meaningful information to Su Changsheng, who will then pass it on to Su Yonglin.
Moreover, the Southern Song government has not yet noticed the leakage of intelligence, and it is still unclear whether, how many, and where Ming spies are in Lin'an City.
Their counterintelligence work could not be said to be impressive, at least it could be regarded as non-existent.
In contrast, every one of the spies placed in Zhongdu City in the Southern Song Dynasty lived under the strict supervision of the Skynet Army.
It's not that they can't pretend well. In fact, these Southern Song Dynasty spies are also somewhat professional and live well in Zhongdu City.
It’s just that they don’t have a deep understanding of the society of the Ming Dynasty, and they don’t know the identity certification system that was widely used in the Ming Dynasty, so it is impossible to hide their identity and enter Zhongdu City. They can only enter Zhongdu City as merchants and followers of the Southern Song Dynasty. It was fully exposed.
Moreover, the Ming government passed the "Secrecy Act" early at the request of Su Yonglin, which strictly restricted officials in certain departments from disclosing information to irrelevant people. For some key departments, it strictly restricted contact with the outside world, which completely restricted the public. Disappear.
Under such circumstances, the information obtained by the spies of the Southern Song Dynasty was basically on the same level as the chattering uncles and aunts on the street. They relished stories such as "The White-Haired Girl" and "The Rooster Crows in the Midnight", and in passing they scolded the despicable and shameless people. of superiors.
To be honest, with the level of security and secrecy of the Southern Song Dynasty that was better than nothing, Su Yonglin felt that it was possible for him to directly send people into the palace of the Southern Song Dynasty to give Zhao Hao strong medicine and turn him into the second Sun Yuanqi.
Lu You obviously didn't know all this, nor did he know the Ming Dynasty's intelligence network in the Southern Song Dynasty, but Su Yonglin had a certain amount of trust in him, so he decided to let him get in touch with Su Changsheng, and asked Su Changsheng to secretly protect Lu You.
If someone wants to do harm to him, then they must protect him and send him and his family safely to Zhongdu.
Such an autonomously awakened former Southern Song official was of great significance to the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, the [passive awakening] landowners and gentry of the Ming Dynasty were also of great significance to the Southern Song Dynasty.
In late September of the fourth year of Hongwu, with the return of the Southern Song envoys to the south, the Southern Song government gradually became aware of the situation in which a large number of upper-class people enriched the Southern Song Dynasty as a result of the previous revolutionary wave sweeping the Central Plains.
As thousands of squires successfully crossed the man-made and natural blockades and entered the Southern Song Dynasty and were known by the government, the rulers of the Southern Song Dynasty were ecstatic and thought they had discovered the loopholes in the Ming Dynasty's rule, and discovered that the Ming Dynasty would soon be Complete proof.
In ancient times, tyranny was fiercer than tigers, forcing people to hide in the mountains and risk being eaten by tigers to avoid tyranny. Now these Ming Dynasty landowners and gentry are fleeing south, which just proves how tyrannical the Ming Dynasty was. How cruel and unpopular is it?
