One Piece of Song Dynasty

"However, Uncle An, we can also try to lure you into a trap. Uncle An, please come here and we will do this."

"Okay, a certain family will do as the master says."

"Uncle An, have you heard from Gao Ping recently?"

"Yes, a certain family is about to show it to the young master. This is the secret message from Gao Ping's visit this time."

"Oh, let me see."

Through Gao Ping's secret letter, I knew that Master Cai was indeed dissatisfied with the soap incident. Gao Ping received my secret letter more than half a month ago and went to visit Cai Mansion with a thousand taels of gold.

"This little brother, whom we met last time, is coming to visit Grand Master Cai today. Please let me know."

"Oh, you must be the retainer of Li Xin, the magistrate of Hui'an County, Quanzhou Prefecture. You wait here, I will go in and inform you."

A quarter of an hour later.

"The Grand Master has agreed to see you. Come in with me."

Gao Ping led people into the study and saw a handsome young man standing next to Master Cai.

"This is my fifth son Cai Chi. He is also the consort of the current official family and the husband-in-law of Emperor Maode." Taishi Cai introduced.

"I've seen Consort Cai." Gao Pinggong cupped his hands and said.

"Tell me, why do you want to see me today?"

"I came here to apologize to Master Cai on the order of the head of the family."

"Oh, what is your master's fault? They are all the emperor's people. How dare I blame you?"

"The grand master misunderstood. How could the master of the family forget your great kindness? He said that you promoted him. Without your promotion, the Zhongguan people would not have gone to Quanzhou to announce the decree and found out that soap had brought him in. It became a tribute in the palace, so this incident was purely an accident. The owner of the family accidentally made soap. He only wanted to sell it in Quanzhou to make some small money. He did not expect that this soap would be discovered by Zhongguan people and become a tribute. I also ask the Grand Master to give you a clear warning."

"Oh, is that so?" Taishi Cai had the same expression.

"It's like this. In order to apologize to the Grand Master, the master ordered me to donate one thousand taels of gold to the Grand Master."

"Oh." Taishi Cai drank tea without looking at Gao Ping and said nothing.

"The head of the family also said that since soap has been favored by the officials, such a good thing cannot be without the grand master. Our Li family does not have the ability to win the entire soap market, so the head of the family wants to give the land north of the Yangtze River to the grand master. Business.”

"Okay, then I will accept this thousand taels of gold. Tell your master that if you have any difficulties, you can tell me and I will help him solve it."

"The head of the family really wants to ask the Grand Master to help solve a problem. Since the soap has become a tribute, it will inevitably be coveted by people with ulterior motives. Therefore, the head of the family wants to increase the number of Xiang barracks in Hui'an County for protection."

"Okay, I know. I will go and explain it to the emperor."

"Grand Master, from now on, soap supply to the north will be supplied by sea route instead of land route. The land route is long and there are many bandits on the road and it is unsafe. Taking the sea route from Quanzhou to Dengzhou is short and safe, and the ships carry a heavy load, but it requires the help of the navy. So, Please ask the Grand Master to deal with the matter."

"Okay, I'll take care of this matter."

"Thank you, Grand Master. The younger one will leave first."

"Well, you go back first."

After Gao Ping left.

"Father, Li Xin is smart enough to leave the entire market in the north to our Cai family."

"This Li Xin is also a good person. He obviously dedicated it to the emperor himself. It must be said that the Zhongguan people found it and dedicated it to the emperor. However, he knew that it would be bad for him to offend me, so he gave me something that I couldn't refuse. The advantage is that I can't vent my anger on him and still have to help him do things. You see, from now on Li Xin will wear two sheep's clothing, the emperor's and ours, and the benefits are indispensable."

A few days later, the housekeeper of the Cai Mansion found Gao Ping and told him that the Grand Master had asked the Emperor to agree to expand the Hui'an County Xiang barracks from the original to , and the source of troops should be from refugees.

"Uncle An, please go back first and act according to the strategy we agreed on."

"Okay, sir, I'll go back first."

After the housekeeper left, I went to find Zhang Hu.

"Zhang Hu, the emperor has agreed to expand our county's military camp from to . We can expand the army openly."

"Sir, that's great."

"How many people are there in the Xiang Barracks now?"

"The troops have been replenished, but didn't Young Master let someone secretly recruit an extra hundred people some time ago? There are now six hundred people, but the newly recruited one hundred people have just been trained not long ago."

"Okay, let's do one thing first in the next few days, and after that is done, we will recruit troops."

"Okay, sir, tell me."

"I got news from the housekeeper. What we did a month ago still angered some people, so they may want to take revenge in the next few days. However, I judge that their purpose is not mainly for me, but for our workshop. , that is, tribute.”

"Well, whatever the young master says, we will do it in the military camp."

"The housekeeper and I devised a plan to lure you into a trap. We transferred people from the original people in your military camp to the county government office to protect me and brought half of the crossbows with us. We had to bring them here quietly without being discovered. Although I judge that they are mainly here for tribute, but they are prepared to strengthen my security and confuse the enemy, making them think that we have been fooled. Of course, I will also transfer people from our hospital team, but they They won’t really come, they will just show off during the day, and they will quietly return to the workshop at night; there are also your remaining people, leaving people in the military camp, and the new people will stay. , the other people should bring their other half of the crossbows and disguise themselves as an ambush around the workshop. However, you have to select people from the families of the soldiers to put on military uniforms and put on a show in the military camp so that no one can discover the people inside the military camp. Most of them are gone.”

"Yes, sir, I know what to do."

"And in the past few days, you should pay attention to strangers near the barracks and county offices, and see if you can find any clues or their residences. If you find their residences, don't act rashly, just keep a close eye on them."

"Well, I understand, little one."

Just like this, the next day, a hundred soldiers from the Xiangba camp and more than people from the nursing team came to the county government office in a big way, and put the area around the county government under martial law. However, the people from the nursing team quietly sneaked back at night. Mansion.

After a few days, there was no movement, and the assassin's residence was not found. Everyone seemed to be relaxed, but in fact, they were tight on the inside and loose on the outside. The number of patrols around the county government office was also reduced, and the soldiers were also relaxed.

However, the assassin's lack of action in the past few days gave me time, allowing Zhang Hu to calmly move the three hundred soldiers to the vicinity of the workshop. At this time, there were two groups of people ambushing around the workshop, one of which came to attack the workshop. One group of people are Zhang Hu's people, the mantis stalks the cicada and the oriole follows, it depends on when the mantis will take action.