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MTL - I Was an Abbot in Ancient Times-Chapter 48
In the early morning of the second day, Lin Zhao boarded a boat to Feng County, which arrived at noon.
Feng County is not so much a county seat as it is a village with a population of no more than 1,000 households, and its specialty cloth strands and colorful noodles.
When Lin Zhao set foot on this area, he found that every household around him was weaving cloth strands, drying dough twisted into butterfly shapes at the door, red, green, yellow, and colorful.
Quite live and work in peace and harmony.
With Qingtou, I found a noodle stall on the side of the road, and ordered two bowls of colorful noodle soup with green onion and seaweed. While eating the refreshing noodle soup, I observed the foreigners who bought cloth in Feng County.
But this time, both locals and foreigners are eating lunch, and it is impossible to tell which one may be a private salt dealer.
He could only silently remember that the nearby stalls were eating lunch like them, and they looked more like faces from outsiders. In fact, it is easy to distinguish the locals from the first-time foreigners. For example, he and Qingtou are so unfamiliar in the crowd. For example, the table next to them is also eating and looking at the surrounding environment. The locals will not see it that way.
But it was obviously impossible for the private salt dealers to come here for the first time, and Lin Zhao didn't know how often they would come to Feng County to buy a batch of cloth.
The only way to find Lizheng here is to buy a large amount of cloth, and see if he can get anything out of him.
If you buy cloth locks many times and in large quantities, the locals here must have an impression.
"Hey! Monk!"
A rough and ear-piercing provocative sound sounded, Lin Zhao and Qingtou turned their heads to follow the prestige.
"You, a monk, still eat meat!"
Lin Zhao looked at the chopped green onion, seaweed, and noodles in his bowl, where did he see the meat dishes? Is this person looking for faults on purpose?
"I don't like you guys who eat vegetarian food and recite Buddha's name the most, but secretly drink and eat meat with the incense money offered by the villagers!" He obviously came from the same background as him, but he cheated the respected people by being upright. Good day.
There was resentment and jealousy in his voice.
Lin Zhao looked at the dry biscuits in his hand, and then at the clothes he was wearing. The forty-year-old middle-aged man had nothing but sloppy and greasy all over his body.
He understood, he was suffering from red-eye.
He patted the back of the opposite Qingtou's hand, and gave a signal with his eyes, "Don't pay attention to him, we have other important matters when we come out this time, don't make any troubles."
After eating, Lin Zhao and Qingtou walked on a small path, and felt that someone was sneaking behind them.
"Someone is following us."
"what!"
"Shh, don't make a sound."
Lin Zhao lowered his head and leaned closer to Qingtou's ear and said, "You will follow what I said later..."
The two came to an alley.
"Boss, can what you say come true? If you get caught..."
"What are you afraid of! The cowardly bird can't grab food, that man has a way, as long as he can talk to him, the money will come like water!"
"Then when is he coming?"
"It's only been a few days, wait patiently, he will definitely come to buy the cloth again, the last time there was an accident with the goods, he will definitely ship again."
"But... this is selling private salt—" "Shh! Don't say that word! Be careful, kid!" Lin Zhao patted Qingtou on the head.
On the other side, the forehead of the middle-aged man who was leaning against the wall and pricking up his ears was covered with sweat. It turned out that he was selling illegal salt, that's why! He wiped the sweat from his forehead, rolled his eyeballs, thought of something, and showed a determined smile.
After the slight sound of footsteps left, Qingtou asked with some concern.
"Abbot, if he goes to sue the government, he will be in trouble."
"No, he needs money, how can I let this goldfish slip away from my hands." He deliberately lowered his voice at the noodle stall before, but not so that the middle-aged man could not hear him, and deliberately revealed a few words Key words, which seem mysterious and intriguing, are just to lure him into the bait.
A middle-aged man who has no ambitions and no money will definitely want to know what way they are planning to make money.
Lin Zhao guessed right, the middle-aged man is called Qian Laoliu, his family property has been sold out because of gambling, and he is more willing to get a share of the pie than to report Lin Zhao.
"Having him is equivalent to having an extra eye. Moreover, such people often have the most secret ways and know how to deal with those people best. You have been staring at him these days, and I will go find Li Zheng."
For the next few days, Qingtou stared at Qian Laoliu, and found that he was very active in inquiring about the people who bought the cloth recently, and even borrowed money to invite a few local ruffians to eat.
One day at noon, Qingtou saw him walking out of a small restaurant very happily, humming a little song, as if he had obtained some happy information.
Sure enough, one day later, Qian Laoliu sneaked out to wait outside the gate of a large courtyard.
This compound is a workshop of several joint ventures specializing in the production of cloth strands, and it is one of the largest exporters of cloth strands in Fengxian County.
At the same time, Lin Zhao also locked the yard from Lizheng.
He found Qingtou who was hiding in the grass and patted him on the shoulder. Qingtou was startled by Lin Zhao, pointed to the yard, and told Lin Zhao in a low voice that Qian Laoliu had gone in with a man with a scar.
Sure enough, it didn't take long to see the two walking out.
The man with the scar said a few words to Qian Laoliu, and then walked down a path first. Qian Laoliu stood there for a while before he realized it, and immediately followed with a happy expression on his face.
Lin Zhao and Qingtou were also careful to follow from a distance, because they were afraid of being noticed by the people in front, they didn't dare to get too close, but they lost their follow unexpectedly.
After a half hillside.
The scarred man threw the middle-aged man down by surprise, folded his arms, and pressed his knees firmly on his back.
"Who sent you?" he asked darkly.
"Hey! Take it easy, no one sent me. Brother, brother, hero, I just admire you and want to eat some meat with you."
The movement of the scarred man suppressing the middle-aged man and the shouting of the middle-aged man spread to the back of the hillside, and fell into the ears of Lin Zhao and Qingtou who were about to leave.
The two quietly lurked in the grass again.
"Where did you hear that?" The man with the scar suspected that the porter had leaked the news.
"I heard something from a brother, so... Brother, you believe me, I'm not here to spoil your business."
A dark light flashed in the eyes of the man with the scar when he heard the words, it was indeed the porter who said it.
He thought for a while, then let go of Qian Lao Liu. "Okay, I'll trust you for the time being. It's just...whether you can do it or not, you won't know until you meet the head of the family."
"Okay, okay! Thank you, big brother, for your support and introduction! Little brother remembers big brother's kindness, and will definitely repay big brother in the future!"
The scarred man smiled and snorted at the same time. "follow me."
The man with the scar came to the river, took Qian Laoliu on a bamboo raft, propped up the penny and paddled away.
"Abbot, what shall we do now?" Qingtou asked worriedly as the two stood on the bank and watched their backs go away.
At the most critical moment, seeing that they were about to go to the salt mine stronghold, were they going to be lost again?
"It's okay, we'll catch up." Lin Zhao said calmly, returned to the ferry at the beginning, found an old man who was also fishing with a bamboo raft, and gave him a tael of silver.
The man with the scar walked along the small river in Fengxian County. The reason why he paddled the bamboo raft was that he estimated that the place he would go to would be very remote and the river would become narrower and narrower.
The old man is a native of Feng County, and he has been rowing boats for most of his life. He knows the branches of the surrounding rivers very well. As soon as Lin Zhao said that he knew the small river from the east to the south.
The bamboo raft led the two of them across a narrow river channel. The dense grass on the bank covered the water surface tightly. Lin Zhao carefully pushed away the sharp cutting leaves that were blowing towards him, and finally saw the scar of the knife again. and Qian Laoliu's figure.
Their bamboo raft stopped at a river beach, and the two jumped ashore and went up a steep mountain road with lush grass. The grass on the mountain path grew taller than people, and quickly hid their figures again.
Lin Zhao and Qingtou jumped ashore after them, and then disappeared into the grass.
When the faint and dizzy weeds receded and the naked space was seen again, Lin Zhao found that they had arrived at the entrance of the salt mine stronghold.
The man with the scar had already taken Qian Lao Liu into the barrier and went inside.
There were four or five strong men guarding the entrance. Before their eyes swept over, Lin Zhao grabbed Qingtou in time and hid in the grass again, narrowly avoiding the danger of being discovered.
That's it. Lin Zhao was very clear in his heart, and then asked Qingtou to go back the same way to inform the Zhizhou master to bring more people.
"What about you, the abbot?"
"I'll stay here just in case something happens."
Seeing the hesitation and worry on Qingtou's face, he urged, "Go quickly! Don't waste time." Qingtou had no choice but to hurry down the mountain.
On the other side, Qian Laoliu, who was brought to the head of the family by the scar, was pressed down as soon as he arrived at the place. Scar's eyes signaled that he would press the person to death, and said to the head of the house:
"This person knew the porter who escaped, and it is very likely that he knows where the porter is hiding."
"It caused me to lose the goods and attracted the attention of the government. This Gou San is really good!" The head of the family gritted his teeth when he thought of the porter.
"I, I don't know! I don't know Gou San, the porter at all," Qian Laoliu immediately shouted for grievances when he heard that something was wrong.
At this moment, he had realized that Scar had deliberately lied to him, in order to know the whereabouts of the porter.
They thought he knew the man! In order to keep their secrets from being exposed, these desperadoes resorted to all sorts of vicious tricks.
Thinking that he was about to be severely tortured, Qian Laoliu immediately told the story of how he met Lin Zhao and the others and eavesdropped on him.
The head frowned and pondered for a while. He had dealt with all kinds of people for many years, and knew that this timid Qian Laoliu could not lie.
"Scar, did you sweep your tail clean when you came up?"
Dao Scar was also surprised, this time he focused on Qian Lao Liu, afraid that he would run away halfway, so he didn't pay much attention to the back.
"I'm going right now!"
"You, you are still not cautious in doing things. Tell me to go down, step up the guards and patrol, and don't leave alive when you see strange faces."
Qian Laoliu on the ground turned pale when he heard the words, knowing that he might be killed this time, let alone seeking a lot of money, it is hard to say whether he will leave here with his life or not.
Before Scar left, he kicked Qian Laoliu hard and knocked him to the ground. When he thought that he might be followed, Scar was filled with hostility.
His face was full of clouds, and he led the two of them to search along the mountain path up, even the surrounding grass.
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