Fenghou

Chapter 441 Clues
Li Hua, the steward, was brought to the lobby, and Chen Qing gave some instructions to Niu Gao and Liu Cui, and then they left quickly.

"See Jiedushi for humble positions!"

Chen Qing stared at Li Hua like a knife, he didn't like this manager very much, he didn't like him from the beginning, he was dishonest.

Now Chen Qing suspected that this person was an eyeliner planted by Ren Zhongqun in Didao County.

"Li Hua, what is your relationship with Ren Zhongqun?"

Li Hua trembled all over, and said for a while, "I don't understand what Jiedushi means?"

Chen Qing's voice turned cold, "Do you know what my nickname is? Both the Jurchen Army and the Puppet Qi Army call me a monster. I haven't killed anyone for a long time. Don't challenge my patience."

"Humble job means knowing Ren Zhongqun, but it doesn't mean anything!"

"I'll ask you, what's your relationship with him?"

"The villain is from his hometown."

"Well, tell me everything you know about Ren Zhongqun."

"Qi Jiedu envoy, Ren Zhongqun was about forty years old, a native of Huangzhou, very good at smelting. He went to Xixia when he was in his twenties. I heard that he had been in charge of smelting gold and silver in the Wensi Academy of Xixia. An official, Ren Wensiyuan judge, two years ago the Xixia Army occupied Guizhou Silver Mine, Ren Zhongqun was sent by Xixia to Guizhou Silver Mine as the general manager, I met him at this time, and had dinner with him a few times, don’t The friendship is gone."

"Let me just say it straight! One hundred thousand catties of rough silver was embezzled by Ren Zhongqun. Neither the Xixia people nor I got it. I want to find this person and find the silver. Tell me, where will he hide the silver?"

Li Hua was so startled that he couldn't close his mouth from ear to ear, and said for a while, "He is so bold and reckless, stealing [-] catties of rough silver, I can't believe it."

"It's not a question of whether you believe it or not. I have to find Silver. I hope you can tell me the clue."

Li Hua thought for a while and said: "The humble officer does know a clue, and it is very likely that he transported the money to Huangzhou."

Huangzhou?Chen Qing was slightly taken aback, "Why?"

"Because his brother Ren Dejing is the prefect in Huangzhou."

"Wait a minute!"

Chen Qing interrupted him, "Who appointed this Ren Dejing as magistrate?"

"Reporting to Dutong, Ren Dejing was originally appointed by the Song Dynasty as the governor of Xi'an Prefecture. After he surrendered to the Kingdom of Jin, the Kingdom of Jin continued to let him take charge of the government affairs of Huangzhou and Xi'an Prefecture. Now it is the puppet Qi who appointed him as the governor of Huangzhou. It is also in charge of the government affairs of Xi'an and Kuozhou."

"So the Xixia people haven't occupied Huangzhou yet?"

"Huangzhou, Kuozhou, and Xi'an prefectures happen to be the Hehuang Valley, which is rich in food. The Jin Kingdom attaches great importance to it and does not allow Xixia to occupy the three prefectures. Now they are still under the control of the Puppet Qi."

This news was really unexpected for Chen Qing. He thought Xixia had already occupied the entire Xihe Road, but he did not expect that Huangzhou, Kuozhou and Xi'an Prefectures in the west were still in the hands of the puppet Qi.

"Are there any troops in Huangzhou, Kuozhou and Xi'an?"

"I heard that there are, but I don't know how many low-level jobs."

Chen Qing rolled his eyes, looked at Li Hua and asked, "Don't Xixia people know about the relationship between Ren Zhongqun and Ren Dejing?"

"I also asked Ren Zhongqun this question, and he said that Xixia people don't care about this issue, and of course they don't know."

Chen Qing took a sip of tea and said lightly: "I understand, you step back first!"

"Retire from humble position!"

Li Hua retreated, Chen Qing watched his back go away, and then ordered: "Bring me Hu Yanlei!"

Not long after, Hu Yanlei hurried over, knelt down on one knee and saluted, "See Dutong!"

Hu Yanlei also just came back from Lanzhou, and he brought news from Lanzhou that Cao Baozong had been recalled to the capital by Xixia Zi, probably because of a discussion about the redemption of [-] prisoners of war in Gongzhou.

Chen Qing said to him: "How many people under your command can you transfer now?"

"There are more than a hundred people."

"Now you need to do two things. First, send someone to secretly monitor every move of Li Hua, the warehouse manager, and report directly to me; second, send someone to Huangzhou, Kuozhou and Xi'an, especially Huangzhou, It’s best for you to lead your men there.”

The reason why Chen Qing doubted Li Hua was because Li Hua showed his weakness. First of all, he knew too much. No reason, how to let him know?
Secondly, Li Hua is from Didao County, so how could he get involved with Ren Zhongqun from his hometown?Secondly, Jin Guo did not allow Xixia to get involved in the Hehuang area. Even Wu Hongwei didn't know about this matter, but he knew about it as a small warehouse manager.

Chen Qing began to suspect that Li Hua was actually an undercover agent sent by Ren Dejing. Who was Ren Dejing?The famous Xixia warlord in history almost seized the land and land of Xixia. Such an ambitious person would have no idea about Lintao Mansion?
Hu Yanlei nodded, "I understand!"

Chen Qing continued to instruct: "A batch of silver from the Guizhou Silver Mine, about [-] catties, fell into the hands of Ren Zhongqun and Ren Dejing. Your key point is to find Ren Zhongqun, pay attention to him, and know the whereabouts of this batch of silver. That's the task I want you to go to Huangzhou."

Hu Yanlei nodded silently, he felt the pressure on his shoulders.

"When will Dutong attack Huangzhou?"

Chen Qing shook his head, "I won't think about it in the short term, but I'm still concentrating our forces to deal with Xixia, and we'll talk about it after we understand the situation!"

In the palace of Xingqing Mansion, Emperor Li Ganshun angrily reprimanded Cao Baozong, "It is absurd to send troops to Gongzhou. They sent troops hastily without establishing a complete logistics supply point, and went south rashly without comprehensive information. In the end, [-] troops became prisoners of war. I need money and food to redeem them, you don’t know that this year’s locust plague has caused us heavy losses, and the little surplus left in the treasury has been squandered by your haste, you have let me down so much!”

Cao Baozong lowered his head and didn't dare to take a breath. He didn't even dare to mention the silver mine in Guichuan County. If the emperor knew that the silver was taken away by the Song army, he would have to kill himself.

But what was he afraid of, why did he come here?
Li Qianshun asked again: "You just said that the Song army captured Lintao Mansion, so did the Song army also snatch the batch of silver from Guichuan County?"

Cao Baozong was so frightened that he hurriedly explained: "The silver mine in Guizhou County is directly under the jurisdiction of Wensiyuan, and the humble officials don't know much about the silver mine."

"Hmph! I have already asked Wensiyuan. Wensiyuan is only responsible for mining and smelting, and you are responsible for safety. How could you not know?"

Cao Baozong had no choice but to continue to shirk his responsibilities, "When the humble official took over, Li Dudu told me that the Guizhou Silver Mine was directly under the Wensiyuan, and the [-] guards at the mine were also arranged by the Wensiyuan, and were not under the control of the humble official. Your Majesty, please learn from me!"

Li Qianshun stared at Cao Baozong bitterly, guessing that the batch of money was already in danger, so Wensiyuan and the army shirked responsibility from each other.

Li Qianshun hated it very much, but there was no way.

He took two steps with his hands behind his back and asked, "What are you going to do next?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the target of this minister is still Gongzhou. As long as he wins Gongzhou, he will cut off the connection between Chen Qing and the states along Xihe Road. Now whether Chen Qing occupies Lintao or Hezhou, this minister doesn't care. Weichen will concentrate manpower and material resources to build three supply army cities between Dingxi County and Longxi County, hoard food and supplies, and then concentrate troops to attack Longxi County, so there is no need to redeem [-] prisoners of war for the time being. Twenty thousand prisoners of war will be rescued at the same time."

When Li Qianshun heard that he didn't need to pay for the ransom, he said to Cao Baozong: "This winter, you need to strengthen your intelligence and grasp Chen Qing's every move. I hope to bring good news to me when spring begins tomorrow."

"My humble minister obeys the order and will never let His Majesty down!"

Cao Baozong heaved a sigh of relief, and he was relieved that the emperor did not pursue the matter of the batch of silver.

(End of this chapter)