Turbulent Times Chapter 72: Enter Shazhou City

In a daze, Wang Junlin heard a girl's scream resounding through the sky. He knew it was the cry of Su Jingxiang's little maid, Xiao Yuer. up.

The cute little maid was obviously born in the Western Regions, so Wang Junlin didn't know why she was called Xiao Yu'er, but he knew that the little Yu'er must have seen the eight corpses at the door of the tent that made her scream.

Wang Junlin guessed that the little girl might have been frightened. But when he got out of the tent, he realized that the little maid was not as terrible as he imagined. After being startled, he bravely ran into the tent to protect his lady from escaping, and then she might have been told the truth by the lady and began to serve him Miss Jia fetched water to wash up, but when she looked at Wang Jun, she became a little scared.

Xiao Yu'er was born in a place like the Western Regions where tigers and wolves are. Although she has never killed anyone since she was a child, she has witnessed other people's killing and dead bodies not once or twice. This can be seen from her performance when the horse thief came yesterday. figure it out. Even Wang Junlin found out yesterday that Xiao Yu'er and their young lady Su Jingxiang can both ride horses and shoot arrows, which is somewhat different from the delicate young ladies from the wealthy families in the Central Plains.

Beside the nine corpses, after Wang Junlin, Su Jingxiang, and Xiao Yuer ate dry food and helped the little lynx eat milk, Wang Junlin began to dress up Su Jingxiang and Xiao Yuer.

Both girls had cosmetics such as rouge, which happened to be used by Wang Junlin, and to Wang Junlin's surprise, they each brought a set of men's clothing. After Wang Junlin asked, he realized that this was prepared by Su Jingxiang when she escaped from Shazhou City before, but they escaped from Shazhou City. The sent people found them and forcibly sent them back.

After more than an hour, a big man and two handsome young men, each riding a horse, led a gazelle, and set off with a small lynx in their arms. They abandoned the carriage, because it was the Su family's carriage with a sign on it.

After walking for a long time, in the evening, after a long journey, Wang Junlin and his party finally arrived at the important town of the Western Regions - Shazhou City (later Dunhuang).

Geographically speaking, Shazhou City is indeed very dangerous. It is adjacent to Tianshan Mountain in the north, with dangerous rocks and strange rocks, which is unattainable; Erli, the current at the bottom of the valley is turbulent, and the two sides of the river are cut by knives and axes, and only birds can pass through. Further to the southeast is the frozen Qilian Mountains.

From the foot of the rest of the Tianshan Mountains to the Daolai River Valley, it is only about ten miles away. It is the narrowest point at the west end of the corridor. The county is stable, and the central and western regions of the entire corridor can be protected without any worries. This is the key to the western part of the Hexi Corridor. If you keep this pass, the interior of the pass can be basically guaranteed.

So, after the Great Sui captured the three counties of Zhangye, Wuwei and Xiping last year, the Sui emperor and the imperial court had already started planning for Shazhou City in the past six months. In the sand table of the Hexi Corridor created by the latter, Yu Juluo, the general manager of Yongzhou, and Wang Junlin often deduced and discussed strategies and tactics such as how to win Shazhou City without being besieged by Tuyuhun and the Western Turks.

So, Wang Junlin would be a little unwilling to watch Shazhou City fall into the hands of King Bailan of Tuyuhun. It's just that he has nothing to do at this moment, all he can do is destroy the marriage between King Bai Lan and the Su family, then sneak into the city, and then talk about it after inquiring about the specific situation.

The city wall of Shazhou City is three feet and five feet long, forming a square shape with a circumference of ten miles. There are 30,000 households in the city, with a population of 100,000. This is already a big city in the Western Regions, much larger and more prosperous than Gaochang City and Gaotai City.

After paying the city gate tax, Wang Junlin brought the slightly nervous Su Jingxiang and Xiao Yu'er into the city, and arranged the two of them to stay in a relatively remote inn. Under the cover of the crowd, he walked silently among all kinds of pedestrians.

The ethnic groups in Shazhou City are very diverse, with Han, Rouran and Xianbei being the most numerous, as well as Tuyuhun, Turkic, Tubo, Qiang and so on. These people make a living in this city, and under the protection of the Su family, the Rouran people, and the Murong family of Xianbei, they are generally in peace and have a preliminary order. The three forces divided the city into three parts, and each used cavalry patrols on its own territory to maintain law and order.

Near the Commercial Square in Nancheng, Shazhou, there is a commoner-inhabited area called Shajia Lane. This is the junction of the three factions, dragons and snakes are mixed, people are chaotic, and the law and order are extremely poor. Fighting on the street is just a common thing, and people often kill people on the street, but because the living expenses here are cheap, it is still quite lively. Small traders with much capital, risking all kinds of risks, or finding a reliance, set up some storefronts on this street and started a land-based business.

This place is no different from the main street in Shazhou. It sells daily necessities, the price is cheap, and the quality is naturally not very good. The sixth shop from the west is such an unusual place. The shop is an old shop, and the clerk is an old clerk, but the shopkeeper is the new shopkeeper who just transferred the shop to his hands half a year ago.

This shop is the same as the shop used by Gaochang Cheng Wusan and others to hide. It is a weapon shop. The weapons are made by the blacksmith in the small shop in the backyard. The workmanship is rough, but the price is cheap, generally some worth Soldiers will not buy this weapon.

Fortunately, there are always a minority of rich people, so this weapon shop without even a signboard can survive. But I dare not hire more people. The blacksmith is the shopkeeper, in his forties, and there is another helper and buddy, and no one else.

There were no customers today, so the shopkeeper moved a wooden chair and sat at the door of the shop, watching all kinds of passers-by outside the shop in a daze.

The reason why the guy in the store is called an old guy is because this guy has been working in the store for a long time. He has been working here when the previous shopkeeper was here, not because he is old , but actually very young, a young man in his early twenties.

The old man recently discovered that the new shopkeeper often stared at the door in a daze, or watched the pedestrians coming and going on the street. I wonder what the shopkeeper is looking at?

"Shopkeeper, I want to buy weapons." A man stood at the door of the weapons shop, blocking the bright and warm spring sun. The shopkeeper looked up at the person who came. He was stunned for a moment, and then he was a little puzzled, but he waved his hand and signaled him to go in by himself.

The man smiled slightly, revealing a very ordinary face with bright eyes. He smiled, walked into the shop, and said to the yawning old man, "Man, I want to buy a weapon."

The old man smiled professionally and said: "What kind of weapon do you want to buy? Our store only has all kinds of knives, and only a few swords, bows and arrows. However, the knives in this store are all made by our shopkeeper himself. , although it looks rough, it is practical and cheap.”

The man said: "Give me nine long knives, four short knives, two daggers, a hard bow, and a sword, and engrave the word "King" on the scabbard and scabbard. In addition, I want to order twenty knives."

When the old man heard about such a big business, he responded smoothly: "Well, you can choose whatever you want. After you choose, our shopkeeper will naturally engrave you, what kind of knife you customize, and we will talk to our shopkeeper later. Talk about it.”

What the old man didn't notice was that the right hand of the shopkeeper sitting outside the shop, which was propped on the armrest of the chair, trembled slightly. The guest said: "The amount of money the guest wants is not small, how to deal with it...... This merchant, let's talk in the inner room!"

"That's fine too." The customer said with a smile.

The old shopkeeper ordered the assistant to watch outside, and then led the guest into the back room.

The customer who bought the weapons was naturally Wang Junlin in disguise. He followed the shopkeeper into the back room, only to find that it was completely different from the place he had imagined for the meeting. The sky was clear and bright.

There was no tea, no greetings, the shopkeeper stared at Wang Junlin's eyes, and the doubts in his shrewd little eyes were even heavier. He saw that the person in front of him looked like his own lord, but it was obviously not, and finally said with a trace of caution: "Guest Is it from Gaotai City?"

Wang Junlin nodded.

The old shopkeeper made a gesture of invitation, and Wang Junlin nodded in satisfaction. He used his business in the Western Regions to set up shops in cities like Shazhou and Gaochang City, which were also his strongholds for inquiring about news. , It is also the embryonic form of his plan to develop the intelligence system organization in the future, so he has set extremely strict intelligence management regulations from the very beginning. The password for this set of connections just now was stipulated by him.

It wasn't until this time that the shopkeeper of the weapons shop confirmed the identity of the other party, and the whole person relaxed completely, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

This shopkeeper is actually a blacksmith among the more than 200 craftsmen of various colors that Wang Junlin took in more than half a year ago. Because he is cautious and bold, he was arranged by Wang Junlin to be in charge of the intelligence base here in Shazhou City. It's just that Wang Junlin's disguise technique is really superb, and he hasn't seen Wang Junlin for a long time, so he didn't recognize him for a while.

The shopkeeper looked at Wang Junlin, and said, "Your Excellency, was sent by the Martial Steward?"

Wang Junlin smiled, shook his head and said: "I am not sent by Wu Si, can't Mr. Liu hear my voice?"

The face of the shopkeeper changed slightly. Now Wu Si is the chief steward of Wang Junlin's mansion. He takes care of all the business and intelligence bases. It can be said that he is a high-ranking member of Wang Junlin's private forces. People from Gaochang City , Dare to call Wu Si's name directly, except for Wu San, there is only Wang Junlin.

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