Datang: Hiding private money, exposed by Xiao Sizi

Nanzhao Kingdom is one direction.

The Taoists in the Taoist temple still have one direction!
In addition, the rough intelligence Li Wencheng gave him made him even more confident.

No wonder Beichen put so much effort into killing Li Wencheng. It was because Li Wencheng could provide him with too much information.

"And one more thing!"

Li Wencheng suddenly looked at Shen Lian.

His eyes flickered as he said, "For these matters alone, Beichen didn't need to put in so much effort and come here in person. The reason he did this was because..."

"What?" Shen Lian asked.

Li Wencheng said: "I am in the Beidou Club. Because I am in Chang'an, I know Chang'an best among all the members. So in some matters, I am in direct contact with Beichen. Therefore... I know a secret of Beichen!"

"What secret?" Shen Lian asked hurriedly.

Li Wencheng took a deep breath, and a glimmer of madness flashed in his eyes.

If Beichen wasn't so heartless, he would never betray Beichen like this.

It's a pity... Beichen doesn't remember the old friendship, so don't blame him for revealing Beichen's biggest secret!
"What secrets do you know about Beichen?"

When Shen Lian saw Li Wencheng's resolute look, his eyes flashed and he asked with some surprise.

He felt that Li Wencheng would really give him a surprise. He suddenly had a hunch that perhaps the secret Li Wencheng told him was the most important thing for him to finally catch Beichen.

And this secret is absolutely extremely important to Beichen.

Otherwise, Beichen would not have risked coming here in person to deal with Li Wencheng, knowing that Chang'an was his home ground.

This time, I really made a lot of money!

Li Wencheng did not hesitate. After Shen Lian made him see with his own eyes Beichen's cold-bloodedness and ruthlessness, he only had thoughts of revenge against Beichen.

He took a deep breath, looked at Shen Lian, and said, "Beichen has many faces. You should be clear about this, right?"

Thousands of faces for thousands of people?

Shen Lian thought about it for a moment and understood what Li Wencheng meant.

He and Beichen have met once now.

We also had a conversation.

But although he met him once, the person he met was someone controlled by Beichen, not Beichen himself.

Therefore, "a thousand faces for a thousand people" should mean that Beichen can control many people, and no one can know his true appearance or true identity.

He said: "The puppet and Beichen's real body?"

Li Wencheng nodded slightly.

"Yes, in the Big Dipper Club, Beichen is most famous for his unparalleled strategy and his ability to have a thousand faces. So far, we still don't know what Beichen looks like... Let alone what he looks like, we even doubt whether the person who comes to every Big Dipper Club meeting is actually Beichen himself."

Shen Lian narrowed his eyes, thought for a moment, and suddenly laughed, saying, "You are right to doubt. Although I have not fought Beichen many times, I know what a cautious person he is."

"An old scoundrel like him would never put himself in danger. Hiding behind layers of mist and controlling everything is what he would do."

"So, it is very likely that the one you saw, no matter what the occasion, was not his real body."

Li Wencheng used to think that Beichen was a man of affection and loyalty.

Now... he completely agreed with Shen Lian's words.

He said, "That's right. When I was in Chang'an, it was not my intention to become a shadow and detect your intelligence."

"Being in Chang'an, I can better understand how terrifying you are, so if possible, I really don't want to contact you, or even detect anything about you, but... Beichen doesn't think so. Many of the orders against you, Shen Lian, were issued by him."

"And at that time, he and I were in personal contact, but... that was obviously fake."

"But, he is cautious. I am not stupid. As for the Beidou Society, perhaps only Kaiyang and Tianji are reckless because they come from gangster or martial arts families. The others... are smarter than the other."

"So I was not completely unprepared. I was also secretly investigating some things about Beichen. In the end... because I was in frequent contact with Beichen during that period, I finally discovered a secret of Beichen's thousands of faces."

"What secret?" Shen Lian asked hurriedly.

Li Wencheng looked at Shen Lian, his eyes gleaming, and he said: "Although Beichen has the magical method of a thousand people with a thousand faces, but a thousand people with a thousand faces, each time... he can only control one person, that is to say, he can't control two puppets at the same time!"

"And the distance he can control these puppets is also limited. It doesn't mean that he can control the puppets in Chang'an just because he is in Yangzhou!"

"If he wants to control the puppet, the distance is..."

Li Wencheng paused, took a deep breath, and said, "It must be within ten miles! In other words, if you encounter Beichen's puppet, within a ten-mile radius, the real body of No. 1 must be hiding within this range!"

Suddenly, Shen Lian's eyes flashed with a sharp light when he heard this.

Without any hesitation, he looked directly at the Dog and said, "Immediately dispatch people to investigate the area within a ten-mile radius of the Taoist temple. Focus on investigating all the Taoists in the Taoist temple, the inns and restaurants within a ten-mile radius, and some empty houses!"

"Yes!"

Xu Gou quickly agreed and ran out without any delay.

Li Wencheng glanced at Shen Lian and said, "Beichen may have moved away. You may not be able to catch him."

Shen Lian raised the corner of his mouth and said calmly, "It's just a try. If you can catch him, you'll be extremely lucky. If you can't catch him, it doesn't matter. Anyway, Beichen has no chance to escape from Chang'an City at this time. If I, the Lord, make trouble in Chang'an City, it will definitely make him extremely alert and frightened. He won't be able to sleep well tonight."

"It would be nice to make some noise and give him a nightmare, don't you think? After all... he doesn't know what I, Shen, know."

"What if he senses the danger and becomes panic-stricken? I can't sit still anymore and accidentally reveal my true identity. Wouldn't that be better? So, I'm going to stay here anyway. I have to have dreams. What if they come true?"

Li Wencheng felt that what Shen Lian said made a lot of sense and he was speechless.

However, thinking about what Shen Lian said that this would make Beichen unable to sleep well, have nightmares, and be frightened... thinking about it this way, it really feels good.

After all, Beichen has always been high and mighty, as if he was in control of everything. He has never seen Beichen anxious.

Although Beichen cannot be caught now, being unable to let him sleep well can make him feel better to some extent.

"Anything else?" Shen Lian asked.

Li Wencheng continued to nod and said, "There is one more."

"That is Beichen's Thousand Faces. Not just anyone can be his puppet. He needs to spend at least ten days to cultivate the Gu worms who he wants to make his puppet. Therefore, the people who become his puppets must have frequent contact with him for at least ten days. Otherwise, the distance is too far and the Gu worms cannot be given the proper stimulation and feed. The Gu worms cannot grow up at all and cannot obey his control."

Shen Lian narrowed his eyes slightly. Beichen had made Yaoguang a puppet before, and since both of them were members of the Beidou Society, it was not difficult for him to get along with Yaoguang for ten days.

What about the Taoist tonight?
Under normal circumstances, this Taoist priest should always stay in the Taoist temple, right?
So if what Li Wencheng said was true, Beichen needed to control this Taoist priest for at least ten consecutive days. Does that mean... Beichen had stayed in the Taoist temple for quite some time?

Or, has the Taoist priest ever left the Taoist temple for a long time and stayed with Beichen all the time?
Beichen had said before that the Taoist had some relationship with him, and that he might be able to find some clues about him from the Taoist... Is that what he meant?
Shen Lian couldn't be sure for the time being.

But there is no doubt that if everything Li Wencheng said is true, it will be a huge help to me.

This will undoubtedly allow me to investigate in a more targeted direction when I encounter Beichen's puppets again in the future.

Once or twice, Beichen was able to escape.

But if it happens three or four times, that may not be the case.

After all, every time Beichen takes action, no matter how cleanly he handles it, he will find some clues.

As more clues appeared, it was just like Tianquan, Yuheng and others before.

They have nowhere to hide!

No wonder Beichen wanted to kill Li Wencheng as soon as possible.

Beichen should be very clear about what kind of threat Li Wencheng would pose to him if he told him the secret he knew.

That's why he spent so much energy trying to kill Li Wencheng.

But unfortunately, he failed in the end.

Shen Lian smiled and said, "Li Wencheng, the information you gave me is very useful. And because you took the initiative to give it to me, when I try you, I will use my power and let Jingzhao Yi and Dali Temple consider your punishment according to your initiative."

"It's getting late. You can go down now. During this time, you can continue to recall. If you can think of any important information about Beichen or Beidou, you can report to me at any time. I will reduce your sentence as appropriate."

Hearing this, Li Wencheng sighed, as if letting go of everything, and bowed to Shen Lian: "In that case, thank you, Lord Shen!"

Shen Lian nodded slightly, then waved his hand and had Li Wencheng taken away.

This time, Li Wencheng is really going to be imprisoned in the Dali Temple prison.

After Li Wencheng left, Shen Lian took a deep breath, sat on the chair, put his feet on the table, and closed his eyes.

While resting, he reviewed the plan.

It can be said that he has considered every aspect very carefully.

But there was one unexpected place.

That was Di Renjie. He did not anticipate the existence of a person with extremely high kung fu skills like the Judge in the Beidou Society, which allowed the person being judged to escape.

Otherwise, this time, except for No. 1, the entire army would have been wiped out.

However, the Judge's escape had no impact on his overall situation, so it wasn't a big problem.

But this also requires him to be vigilant and never underestimate his opponents.

If he plans again next time, he will not make the same mistake again.

After reviewing this incident, Shen Lian began to think about the information Li Wencheng gave him.

He first thought about the possibility that Li Wencheng was lying, and then analyzed the information one by one.

Until the secret about Beichen.

Just like that, Shen Lian fell asleep unknowingly.

When he woke up again, it was already daybreak.

He slapped his head and blamed himself angrily: "I didn't come home at night, and I don't know how my wife will blame me."

At this moment, Xu Gou strode into the office.

Looking at Shen Lian who had just woken up, he said, "Master, we have already found out the information about that Taoist priest. This person... has some issues with his identity, and he is also related to a case we encountered before."

"Case? What case?" Shen Lian asked curiously.

Xu Gou took a deep breath and said in a deep voice: "The silver case, Taiji Hall, and the prophetic stone tablet unearthed in the back mountain!"

Dali Temple, in the office of Shaoqing.

When Qin Zulai heard Lu Shisan's report, all kinds of memories about the military pay case suddenly emerged in his mind.

The military pay case was a very important case that Shen Lian handled before he became a lord.

The case was caused by the loss of military pay transported by Cheng Yaojin, and then a headless man disguised himself as Xiang Yu and stole the military pay.

The cause of this case is not complicated, but in the process of solving the case, one hidden truth after another was discovered, as well as a prophetic stone tablet whose function was unknown, which showed its uniqueness.

This case is related to the Big Dipper.

So Shen Lian had a very deep memory of it.

But he didn't expect that such a case, which had been over for a month, was mentioned again by Xu Gou today.

And the reason is because of a puppet controlled by Beichen!
Could it be that the military payroll case still contains some secrets that I have not yet solved?
Shen Lian narrowed his eyes slightly, and his active brain went over every detail of the military pay case. Then he looked at Si She and asked, "What exactly happened?"

Sishe did not delay and said directly: "The Taoist controlled by Beichen is called Wuyazi."

"He is not a Taoist from Haoyue Temple. He is just staying at Haoyue Temple recently. According to Haoyue Temple, this Wuyazi was released from prison half a year ago."

"And the reason why he was able to come out is thanks to the young master."

Shen Lian's eyes flickered, and he suddenly asked, "Is Wuyazi a Taoist priest from the Taiji Hall?"

This was the only interaction Shen Lian had with the Taoist priest during this period.

So after listening to what Xu Gou said, he guessed all this.

Xu Gou nodded and said, "Yes, Wuyazi is the Taoist priest of Taiji Hall, and he is also the head of Taiji Hall. He was imprisoned in the dungeon because of the grain robbery case. He was released only after the young master solved the case a month ago."

"Then, because the Taiji Hall fell into disrepair, the Taoists were scattered everywhere and difficult to find, so Wuyazi came to the Haoyue Temple. With some past friendship and his status as a Taoist, he temporarily lived here."

"Inside the Haoyue Temple, he almost never left the temple, nor did he have much contact with other people. He seemed a little withdrawn. And the chess match between him and the young master last night... The Taoists in the Haoyue Temple were not aware of it. They didn't even know that Wuyazi had left the temple."

(End of this chapter)