Guo Chuanlin mingled with the crowd and walked along the bustling long street to the south of the city. Shops were lined up in rows: restaurants, brothels, casinos, inns, mule and horse shops, jewelry shops, carpentry shops, blacksmith shops, silk and satin shops, and ready-made clothing shops. There are herbal medicine shops, tea shops, southern goods shops, shops, shops, etc., and they are full of people and lively.
This is the largest city in Jianghuai, full of a different kind of vitality.
At three o'clock in the morning, Guo Chuanlin bought four buns with diced bamboo shoots and pork buns from a Lao Cai bun shop. He stood on the side of the street, watching the flow of people passing by, and swallowed them in two bites. The meat buns had just come out of the cage and were very hot. When you bite into them, your mouth will be full of fat. The flavors of the skin and stuffing are so integrated that you won't let go even if you hit your mouth.
Guo Chuanlin crumpled the oil paper into a ball and threw it into the basket. After making sure that no one was following him, he walked into a deserted alley and walked around until he came to a large house. The door is ajar, and through the gap, you can see the courtyard, which is paved with stone slabs. There is a round stone table and four stone drum benches under the flower stand. The breeze is ruffling the hanging vines, as gentle as a lover's hands.
Guo Chuanlin gently opened the door and stepped across the threshold. Next to the concierge, a fat man was lying on a wicker chair, with his fingers clasped on his lower abdomen. He squinted his eyes as if he was concentrating, and snored loudly from his mouth and nose. . There is a low table next to the wicker chair, with an exquisite tin pot and two wine glasses, exuding the mellow aroma of rice wine.
That was the owner of Manor Min, Min Kui, an old man who had worked for the Han family in Yangzhou for decades. He was loyal to Han Bing. No matter whether he was rich or poor, he would never leave him. The world is changing and people's hearts are impetuous. Such loyal ministers are rare anymore.
Guo Chuanlin closed the door with his backhand and said with a smile: "Master Min, you have chosen a good place!"
The snoring suddenly stopped, and Min Kui woke up from his sleep. He tried hard several times, but he couldn't hold up his fat body, so he had to cup his hands and say: "Master Guo, please forgive me. There is no one to help me. I really can't stand up."
"Just lie down. I'll leave after saying a few words. I won't stay long. Did you buy this house?"
Min Kui hurriedly waved his hands and said: "How can I be so lucky! This house was originally the property of the Han family. This is the only place in Yangzhou that has not been taken away by the government."
"The courtyard is nice." Guo Chuanlin admired the layout of the courtyard. Every plant, tree, water, and stone was unique and gave off a peaceful and peaceful atmosphere.
"Yes, Mr. Han also likes this house very much. He stays here every time he returns to Yangzhou."
"Is there any news from Mr. Han?"
Min Kui's expression straightened, he lowered his voice, and repeated word for word: "Mr. Han asked me to tell the young master that not long ago, Hu Guanhai led the elite Huai army to the north, stayed outside Tianjing City for three days, then turned to the west, and went north with The Sichuan army formed a pincer attack and seemed to intend to attack the pincer pass."
Everything was as expected by Mr. Han. The weather was getting warmer and the Hu people on the Henghe River were ready to move. The Huai army had been mobilized to move north. Huaiyang was empty and there was only one Han army left. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity finally appeared. Guo Chuanlin nodded and said, "What else?"
Min Kui raised his body with difficulty, took out two oil paper bags, one white and one yellow, from his arms and handed them to him solemnly. "Here are two packets of salt. Mr. Han told me to hand it over to the young master in person. He said that the white packet is fine refined salt and the yellow packet is red clay salt used for feeding livestock. You must not make a mistake."
Guo Chuanlin put away the two packets of salt, glanced at Min Kui, and thought to himself: "It's a long way from prison to Yangzhou, and the news is transmitted so quickly. Mr. Han must have put a lot of thought into running this secret line." He inadvertently tested it. He said something and said: "Is it the flying pigeon delivering the message?"
A smile appeared on Min Kui's sweaty and greasy face, and he said: "Scare! How can pigeons fly so far? They have already been shot down to make soup! Master Guo, Mr. Han has specially taken care of such confidential matters. Keep it tight-lipped.”
Pigeons can't fly so far, so that's not necessarily the case. Du Wei's pigeon with iron feathers and strange eyes is very spiritual. Not to mention being locked up in Yangzhou, it doesn't matter how far it is. Guo Chuanlin's heart moved and he said: "If it's not a pigeon, then it's a bird of prey like an eagle."
Min Kui's face changed slightly and his eyes flickered, obviously he had broken the connection between them.
Guo Chuanlin knew that his guess was correct. He patted Min Kui on the shoulder and said meaningfully: "Master Min, it is most important for you to be in the middle to deliver the news. There must be no mistakes, be it pigeons or hawks. Just in case. If it fell into the hands of others and ruined Mr. Han's important affairs, it would be difficult to atone for it by a hundred deaths."
Min Kui's heart trembled. Guo Chuanlin spoke and acted more and more like Mr. Han. He raised his body, his neck and back were in unbearable pain, his body was trembling with fat, and there was dense sweat on his forehead. He said with a smile: " Don’t worry, Master Guo, all correspondence will be in coded words, so the news will never be leaked."
"Send a message to Mr. Han for me. The things have been received. Everything is ready here. Everything is going well. Now it's up to Zhao Shuai." After saying the last sentence, Guo Chuanlin turned and left. Min Kui breathed a sigh of relief. He lay back heavily, the wicker chair creaked loudly, and he huffed and puffed, thinking over and over in his mind, unable to figure out what riddle the two of them were playing.
Guo Chuanlin was a smart man, so he guessed it right after he let it slip.
Min Kui was not so fat when he was young. He traveled to and from the north as a trader and saw foreigners taming falcons. He first thought of using birds of prey instead of pigeons to convey messages. Birds of prey soared high in the sky, out of reach of hunters' bows and arrows. They flew like arrows and shot towards the sky. Evening arrival is far beyond the reach of homing pigeons. He asked the acquaintance Hu Shang in a roundabout way, and gradually realized the difficulty. Birds of prey are no better than homing pigeons, and conveying letters is no better than hunting rabbits. Once they are allowed to fly high, how can they still be commanded? Min Kui put this idea behind him until many years later, when the Qingcheng sect was destroyed and Han Bing escaped, he wandered around the world. In order to avenge his hatred, he spared no expense and manpower and ordered him to start arranging the matter.
Eagles, eagles, kites, vultures, harriers, ospreys, falcons, owls, and doves have violent temperaments and are difficult to capture, and it is even more difficult to tame them. It took Min Kui more than ten years of work, and countless birds of prey died before he was able to train them. A pair of goshawks that work together. Han Bing wanted to provoke King Huai to rebel, and it took a long time to deliver the message, which he couldn't afford to delay. With this pair of goshawks, starting from Jiaguan, if everything went well, it would only take a day and a night to deliver the secret message to Yangzhou.
Han Bing is stationed at Jiaguan, Min Kui is lurking in Yangzhou, and Guo Chuanlin contacts the King of Huai. This hidden line is crucial. If there is a flaw in any link, years of painstaking planning will be in vain. Han Bing is playing a big game of chess. Whether he can win the trust of King Huai and prompt him to launch an army to raid Tianjing and ascend to the throne in one fell swoop depends on Guo Chuanlin's methods and luck.
Everything is done in advance, otherwise it will be ruined. Han Bing prepared for the rainy day and considered everything carefully. The only thing he didn't expect was that Guo Chuanlin rescued Li Qixian halfway. The weight of Qin Rong's chess piece suddenly became lighter. a lot of. It is hard to find such a person who is courageous, capable and capable of change. Among the rebels, no one is more suitable than Guo Chuanlin. He is not a "crow", but he is better than a "crow".
