Seeing that in three days it will be the birthday of Emperor Li Qianshun of the Xia Kingdom, and the weather is beautiful. The wind and snow for many days have completely stopped, and the warm sun is shining brightly in winter. This makes the people in Xingqing Mansion, the Xia capital, feel like they are celebrating a festival. I walked out of my house, went to the market, and purchased my favorite products.
The most crowded place in the past two days is the Western Market, which has a dazzling variety of goods, from domestic livestock skins and cheese products to horses and ironware from the Liao Kingdom, and even silk porcelain from the Song Dynasty. It covers everything. Whether you are a wealthy aristocrat with a strong family fortune or an ordinary commoner, you can buy anything you are interested in in the West Market.
So when the market opened in the afternoon, the pedestrians here could already be described as jostling one after another. Sun Tu felt a bit like he was back in Bianjing as he was walking among the crowds. Although the bustling level here is far from comparable to Tokyo's Xiangguo Temple or several major markets, it is still lively enough.
However, when Sun Tu entered the West Market this time, he did not really want to buy any local goods, but had another purpose - to find the secret spies of the Song Dynasty hidden in Xingzhou City!
Even though it was impossible for the three kingdoms of Song, Liao and Xia to confront each other openly for many years, the fight secretly never stopped. Among them, the Xia people's spies were the most terrifying. They had caused turmoil in the Song and Liao Dynasties several times, especially the incident in Youzhou City, which almost overturned the Nanjing regime of the Liao Kingdom.
Compared with the boldness of Xixia's spies, Song's spies in the Xia capital are much more low-key. Their main responsibility is to find out Xixia's various strategies against Song through some clues, and to use them to defeat the enemy. It is possible to send the news back as soon as possible before using troops against Song Dynasty.
What's more important is that these spies are extremely well hidden. Even Sun Tu, who had been searching in Xingzhou for many days, found some clues yesterday and learned that they were in the West Market, so he entered the West Market today. Of course, this is also related to the fact that Sun Tu could not really move alone until these two days. Before, he often followed Xifeng around, or needed a guide to follow him. He only took leave in the past two days, and he was familiar with the streets and markets in the city. Only when one person came out in name did he dare to contact the secret spies of the Song Dynasty secretly.
But even so, Sun Tu was followed soon after he walked out of the door of his residence. Although the identity of the stalker is unknown for the time being, he has an ulterior motive and will not give them another chance this time. In addition, the streets were crowded with people today, so he only used a few tricks to get rid of the informants. By the time he entered the West Market, he was convinced that no one would know his whereabouts.
After following the noisy crowd for a long distance into the market and looking at a lot of goods from the north and the south, Sun Tu's eyes finally settled on the earthen wall in front of an iron shop on the side of his hand. The wall is now engraved with scrawled and inconspicuous graffiti. If ordinary people saw it, they would just think that it was some naughty child who took a stone and scratched it casually. But this was completely different in Sun Tu's eyes, because the seemingly ordinary graffiti was the contact mark of the Song Dynasty secret agent Suifeng organization, and the iron shop in front of him was clearly the stronghold of the Song Dynasty secret agent!
Who would have thought that the Song people, who had always strictly controlled the iron items in foreign trade and refused to leak any iron items, would actually let spies lurk in the Xixia capital as iron merchants
Sun Tu glanced around again and made sure that no one was following and peeking at him, then he walked straight away.
Entered the shop.
Because the Song people banned the circulation of ironware, and because their own technology was not too advanced, Xia's ironware has always been expensive. The dark ironware has no decorative function except for practicality, so the business of this shop seems to be very light. Even though there are people coming and going in the West Market today, almost every shop is full, but the ironware shop is full of people. There were almost no people in sight, except for a strong man who was half-lying on the counter and dozing off. When Sun Tu came in, he just glanced at him lazily.
Sun Tu's eyes only glanced at the hoes, sickles and other commodities leaning against the wall, and then he stepped forward and said: "Shopkeeper, I would like to ask you to help create an object."
"Oh, I wonder what the guest wants to build? Do you have any requirements?" Seeing that it was indeed a guest, the man cheered up and asked with a smile.
"A horse, an iron horse. An iron horse three feet seven inches tall and four feet long!" Sun Tu said a somewhat strange statement. The shopkeeper, who was still smiling at first, narrowed his eyes quickly after hearing this series of strange remarks, and replied: "This is not cheap, it will cost the same amount of gold."
"I don't have gold, but I have one penny, a big coin with a hole in it!" As Sun Tu spoke, he took out a coin from his sleeve and pushed it towards the other party along the counter. The shopkeeper only glanced at the money maker and then laughed: "Guests, please go to the back to talk. You have to explain your request to our blacksmith here in detail." As he said, he also used a thick knife inside. Someone shouted from the courtyard separated by the curtain: "Xiao Wu, please come out and watch for me. A distinguished guest has arrived today."
After another young man came out to replace him from the counter, the strong man led Sun Tu into the courtyard behind the store. Different from the deserted scene in the front, the backyard was in full swing, with several stoves burning brightly, and a few big men sweating profusely as they beat the utensils, and the sound of clanging could be heard endlessly.
Sun Tu and the man passed by the blacksmiths, but no one stopped to look at him. The two of them kept walking and soon entered a room that looked like a counting room. It wasn't until the door was closed that this person looked at Sun Tu with vigilant eyes: "Are you coming from the east? Did you come with Mr. Li? Do you have any credentials?"
"I didn't come with Li Shilang on an envoy, but I am indeed from the Song Dynasty!" Sun Tu looked at the other party calmly. He knew that the Li Shilang he was talking about was the Song Dynasty Zheng who was on an envoy to Xia State to celebrate Li Qianshun's birthday. Envoy, Li Qing, the Minister of Rites: "As for the voucher, isn't that money enough to prove my identity?"
The coin he pushed over just now may not look ordinary, it even has a corner missing, but it is a key token of Sui Feng, the secret spy organization of the Song Dynasty. Only with this thing, coupled with the completely illogical incision just now, can the Song Dynasty secret agents in other countries believe that he is one of their own. And because the coin was ordinary, even if someone found it, nothing would be noticed.
This set of incisions and tokens for contacting Sui Feng were taught to Sun Tu by Tong Guan when he was in Nanjing that day, so that he could contact Sui Feng's spies there and obtain the defense map. But Tong Guan never expected that after coming to Xixia, Sun Tu would use this method to get in touch with the spies here.
But the person in front of me frowned at this moment
Lai: "You... are not my Sui Feng person, are you? We had other preparations before. As long as you are my Sui Feng person, there will be proof at this time!"
"Huh?" Sun Tu was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect that there were other tokens here, unlike the secret spies of the Liao Kingdom. At this time, he could only admit: "This set of mine was originally used to contact the secret agents planted in the Liao Kingdom. There is no such thing as being used by spies. But because the matter is so important, I can only take the liberty of asking you to help me."
"Who are you? What do you want to do here?" After hearing the words, the other party's face became more solemn and he stared at Sun Tu and asked.
"My name is Sun Tu, and I am in the Military and Horse Supervisor on Jingdong East Road. I came to Xia Kingdom by chance this time. But I have already gained the trust of Xia Kingdom's important officials, so I want to take this opportunity to cause trouble here. I want to bring some news so that Xixia can be in chaos and we, the Song Dynasty, don’t have to be distracted in the past few years!" Sun Tu simply stated his purpose: "But it’s hard to do it with my own strength. That’s why I thought of asking for your help.”
"Sun Tu..." The strong man said the name again: "I seem to have heard of your name. Are you famous in the Song Dynasty?"
"This... has nothing to do with what we are going to talk about. I just want to ask if you are willing to take the risk with me to do something big in Xingzhou City?" Sun Tu, however, only cared about the other party's attitude and continued to ask.
"Do you know my responsibilities and code of conduct in Sui Feng?" The strong man did not rush to answer the question, but changed the topic. After seeing Sun Tu shake his head, he answered by himself: "My name as Sui Feng comes from the saying 'Sneak into the night with the wind, moistening things silently'. We lurk in other countries and seldom do anything other than inquire about information. Because only in this way can we ensure everyone's safety, and at the same time, we can stay here for a long time and obtain more valuable information. Do you understand what I mean?"
"I know that Sui Feng's secret agent from the Liao State was able to obtain the border defense map only through decades of infiltration, and what you are seeking is not small." Sun Tu nodded to express understanding, but then The conversation changed again: "But things have priorities. If taking a risk can bring more benefits to the Song Dynasty, it may even be better than letting you lurk here for decades. Are you willing to take the risk with me? Don't worry, If you don’t have some assurance of success, I won’t let you risk it in vain!”
The strong man's face immediately showed a thoughtful expression, and after a while he hesitated and said: "But our duty has always been to lurk and gather information, so this is disobedience..."
"I will not accept your fate, not to mention that the situation in other countries is changing rapidly. This is a great opportunity for you to make an immortal contribution to the Song Dynasty. Are you really willing to miss it in vain?" Sun Tu looked at him with a solemn expression. He asked: "Of course, if you really don't dare to take risks, I won't force you! Just pretend I haven't been here today."
"You don't need to provoke me. Since I abandoned my family and came here, I have already put life and death aside. Tell me, what do you want to do here!" After all, this person is still a little moved. After all, if it weren't for Because he loves Da Song, how could he come here to lurk
But Rao was mentally prepared. After Sun Tu revealed his purpose, he was so frightened that his face changed and he almost screamed: "You... are so brave!"