"Where are the people?"
"Hiding in the outer city."
"Can I leave the city?"
"Young master, I don't know. Now this city defense is useless. If you want to get out, there are many ways."
Zuo Mengeng packed up his pen, ink, paper and inkstone, followed Zuo Fu, climbed the wall from the backyard and left Zuo Mansion.
The layout of Linqing City is very different from all other cities.
This was originally just a county with a brick city. But later it became a transportation thoroughfare, became increasingly prosperous, and was upgraded to a state government.
The population has expanded to one million, and the small brick city can no longer accommodate so many people.
So outside the Brick City, Luo City was built.
Nowadays, even Luocheng is no longer enough to live in, and more residents simply live outside the city.
This is also the inertia of past dynasties. As long as peace lasts for a long time, the city wall will become an obstacle.
Today, Brick City has become the residence of dignitaries, wealthy businessmen, and ordinary residents have moved to Luocheng and outside the city.
The Huitong River flows through the south of Zhuancheng and meets the Wei River at the southwest corner.
However, in order to collect taxes from the customs, the government dug a water channel at Nanshuimen Pass.
This waterway is different from the Wei River that flows to the northwest, but flows in the northeast and connects with the Huitong River outside the south gate of Zhuancheng.
In this way, the Wei River and the Huitong River formed a triangular island in Luocheng.
This place is also called Linqing Tucheng.
Linqing Chaoguan is on this island.
The purpose of this is to divert ships passing through the canal.
Otherwise, there will be too many ships going south and north, which will easily cause congestion.
After the diversion, ships going north take the Weihe River and pass straight through the customs; ships going south turn into Huitong River after passing Beiqiao Pass, pass in front of Chaoguan Yamen, and enter Weihe River at Nanshuimen Pass.
It can be said that Luocheng is the economic and living center of Linqing, and it is extremely lively.
The busy traffic also resulted in the absence of a night ban in Linqing. The warehouses near Chaoguan Pier were busy all night long. Tens of thousands of stevedores loaded and unloaded various goods, which had to be transported before dawn.
Under this prosperity, entering and exiting the city became an urgent problem.
Both Brick City and Luo City are accessible at will, but if you want to go outside the city, you still have to pass through the city defenses.
However, a large number of workers live outside the city. In order to facilitate entry and exit, a mysterious business was born locally.
"Master, let's go through the Ruyi Gate."
Zuo Mengeng didn't understand.
"What is Ruyimen?"
Zuo Fu was surprisingly well-connected to these people of all three religions and nine schools of thought.
"Go in and out as you wish, don't worry about life or death."
The two passed by the brightly lit Chaoguan Pier, turning a deaf ear to the sounds of silk and bamboo on both sides, and soon turned into a secluded alley.
Not far after entering, a person flashed in the dark shadow next to him.
“A good friend asks for money or directions?”
Zuo Fu threw a piece of silver over casually.
"Ask the way with money, and return home with peace of mind."
A wooden sign with red flowers was thrown over there.
Zuo Fu took it and continued walking inside with Zuo Mengeng.
When he was about to turn a street corner, Zuo Fu took out two face towels from his arms and motioned Zuo Mengeng to cover his face.
"Why?"
"Ruyimen is just doing business of coming in and out. As for who comes in and out, they don't care, they just need to pay. It would be troublesome. It's better for everyone to be strangers."
When Zuo Mengeng heard this, he didn't expect that this underground business was quite rigorous.
The two of them covered their faces and walked out of the street corner. After a few steps, a yard door next to them was pushed open, and a skinny guy, also with his face covered, waved to them.
Zuo Fu took advantage of the situation, followed by Zuo Mengeng.
After entering the courtyard, the man led him into a room. It was empty, there was nothing there.
The man walked to a wall and broke it open with his hand. The earthen wall without any trace turned over, revealing a dark passage.
Zuo Fu still didn't hesitate and walked in first. Zuo Mengeng had no choice but to follow him. Even though he was curious, he couldn't see anything.
I thought that since it was a secret passage, it must be dark and cramped.
But when he got inside, Zuo Mengeng realized that something was wrong.
This secret passage was actually spacious enough for horse racing, and the road was flat. Oil lamps were lit every few steps, illuminating the inside as if it were daytime.
Not far away, I saw two or three masked men holding knives sitting quietly.
Presumably, he should be a master of maintaining order in this secret passage. If anyone dares to cause trouble here, he will be chopped into pieces with a knife.
It was late at night, and obviously they were not the only ones walking through the Ruyi Gate.
What came over was a motorcade. About a dozen wheelbarrows were pushed, covered with cloth, and they didn't know what kind of goods they were.
Next to each car was a muscular man, his hand always on the hilt of his knife, ready to fight at any time.
As the two sides passed each other, Zuo Mengeng bumped into one of them.
The man was thin, with a rather soft figure, and the robe he wore was very luxurious. After being hit, he immediately stared at him, fearing that the followers would rise up with an order.
Zuo Mengeng cupped his hands, indicating a misunderstanding.
The man snorted softly.
"Be careful and show your highlights."
Although he tried his best to lower his voice, it was still high-pitched and harsh.
Zuo Mengeng didn't want to get into trouble, so he apologized again and left with Zuo Fu.
The man stood on the spot, staring at Zuo Mengeng. It wasn't until Zuo Mengeng disappeared that he turned around and followed the convoy.
After walking a long way, Zuo Mengeng raised his palm, put it to his nose and smelled it.
The pungent smell of gunpowder smoke rushed straight into his mind, making him suspicious.
Who on earth transported so much gunpowder into the city at night?
That person was obviously a man, but the rich incense on his body was even more excessive than that of a brothel girl.
Seeing that the secret passage was revealed, Zuo Mengeng had no choice but to put away his suspicion.
The other end of the secret passage is already in a residential area outside the city.
When you come out, you will find an inconspicuous house, the outline of which is not visible at night. I believe that if we search again during the day, we will have a hard time finding it.
Zuo Fu was the first to lead the way, twisting and turning in the houses. Even if someone was following him, he would probably be lost.
Arriving outside a courtyard, Zuo Fu pushed the door open and entered. After Zuo Mengeng entered, he closed the door again. He put his eyes against the crack of the door and looked out for a moment, very cautiously.
The sound of opening the door had already alarmed the room. Zuo Rong came out and when he saw it was them, he led them inside.
This is a private house with two entrances. The outer room is fully equipped with pots, stoves and tiles, and the inner room has an earthen kang.
On the ground in the middle, a person was tied tightly to a chair. He had already woken up, but his mouth was blocked with a rag, and he could not make any sound except whimpering.
It was the Wenxiang cultist who was knocked unconscious by Zuo Mengeng during the day.
Seeing Zuo Mengeng come in, the man seemed to have lost all his strength and suddenly became limp.
Zuo Mengeng walked over and pulled out the cloth from the man's mouth.
"Want to die or live?"
The man was breathing heavily, but his face showed no fear.
"If you want to kill or behead me, please do as you please. Dog thief, Ran Deng Buddha will definitely punish me with immortal punishment to avenge me."
Zuo Rong flew up and kicked the man in the stomach, causing him to vomit out bitter water.
"Master, give him to me. If you don't believe it, he won't be able to speak."
Zuo Mengeng looked calm and just said: "Open his mouth."
Zuo Rong and Zuo Fu went over, and they worked hard to open the man's mouth.
Zuo Mengeng held the ball of cloth in his hand, opened it, twisted it into a long strip, and placed it near the man's mouth.
"It's not too late to tell now."
The man's head was restrained and he couldn't move. He looked at the strip of cloth with disdain in his eyes.
Zuo Mengeng didn't hesitate for a moment and directly thrust the cloth into the man's mouth.
The strip of cloth quickly penetrated the throat, and the hard and rough surface scratched the delicate surface of the throat, causing the man to immediately twist. His body was shaken like an electric shock, his face turned red quickly, his eyes turned white and he was close to fainting.
The most uncomfortable thing was the overwhelming discomfort caused by the strong discomfort in his stomach. The pungent smell went against the trend, but it was blocked again, and his heart was about to explode.
Zuo Mengeng waited for thirty breaths before taking out the cloth.
The man immediately bent into a shrimp, and the sound of retching mixed with the sour smell that rose to the sky. His mouth and nose were filled with disgusting yellow water. His eyes were also covered with hot tears and could not recover for a long time.
Seeing the miserable condition of this man, Zuo Rong and Zuo Fu felt numb in their hearts and did not dare to look at Zuo Mengeng.
Where did the young master learn such horrific punishment?
But Zuo Mengeng didn't feel that he had done such a great thing and said, "Come again."
Zuo Rong and Zuo Fu quickly went up and opened the man's mouth again.
Zuo Mengeng replaced the cloth with a clean other end and inserted it into his mouth again.
After this time, the man became even more unbearable and vomited out all the residue in his intestines and stomach. The smelly gastric juices flowed from the mouth to the ground, but he didn't even have the strength to spit it out.
Zuo Mengeng threw away the cloth, turned around and found a clean piece of cloth.
"Open his mouth."
The man's expression was extremely frightened, he was swinging back and forth crazily and howling incessantly.
"Spare my life...spare my life, I said...I will say anything...wuwuwuwu..."
Such a big man looked worse than a dog after a complete breakdown.
