Tibet.

Chapter 1311 First Clue
Halfway through the journey, an emergency occurred in the county, so County Magistrate Zhou had to return. He asked County Lieutenant Yang to accompany the internal security department throughout the investigation.

Liu Wutong didn't care. He found that County Lieutenant Yang was the one who was truly familiar with the situation at the lower level.

The port area of ​​Penglai County is very large, covering thousands of hectares. There is only one flat official road leading into the port area. It is surrounded by rocks, mud pits and overgrown weeds. A long wall has been built to surround the port area, but the wall is very old and in disrepair, with large sections of collapsed wall visibly visible to the naked eye.

Yang County Magistrate introduced to Liu Wutong: "The wall was built during the reign of Wu Zetian, but it is meaningless. Merchants have to take the official road to transport goods. Animals and carts cannot go anywhere else. Smuggling fishing boats will not unload their goods in the port area. They will just find a bay outside and land."

Liu Wutong nodded and asked, "How many fishing boats are there?"

"At least thousands of them!"

Liu Wutong was shocked. "How can I check this?"

County Lieutenant Yang smiled and explained, "In fact, there are also captains here. These fishing boats are basically one gang per village. They choose a captain and will come forward to deal with any problems. Fighting for fishing grounds is commonplace. The general only needs to ask the captains, they know everything."

"How many bows are there?"

"About thirty or so!"

Liu Wutong was a little worried and said, "I'm afraid they might be tempted by their own interests and won't tell the truth!"

The county lieutenant narrowed his eyes and smiled: "Don't worry, General, we have a way!"

"Could you please tell me what's a good idea, County Lieutenant?"

The county lieutenant whispered, "These boats often fight over fishing grounds, and the conflicts are deep. Moreover, they know each other well. If you give them a little profit, they will definitely come and accuse each other of something bad!"

Liu Wutong secretly admired that these low-level officials still had a way.

The county lieutenant summoned more than 30 captains for a lecture, asking them to tell the truth about the suspicious foreigners in the past one or two months, as well as the foreigners who smuggled into the Tang Dynasty. They must not conceal anything, and violators would be severely punished.

After the lecture, the county lieutenant arranged for the head of the police to spread the news. There would be rewards for exposing the truth, with the highest reward being a fixed fishing spot. A fish spot is a stall selling fish in the market, which is very important to fishermen. If they do not have their own fixed fishing spot, they have to rent someone else's stall every time, which is very expensive and really painful for them.

The next thing was simple. They didn't need to talk, but just waited for the captains to expose each other. On the one hand, it was to retaliate against each other, and on the other hand, it was to see if they could get some rewards.

The county lieutenant's method was indeed effective. People came one after another to expose and report each other, saying all kinds of things, but the only target that the internal guards were paying attention to was a dozen or dozens of young and strong people who sneaked into the Tang Dynasty.

The next morning, Liu Wutong was listening to a report from Laizhou, and the person reporting was his son Liu Xiaoshi.

The young boy has grown up. Liu Xiaoshi is now over 20 years old. He is tall, mighty and agile. He has also joined the Internal Guard and followed the deputy envoy of investigation to Laizhou for investigation. He was ordered to rush to Dengzhou to report to his father.

"We found a clue in Laizhou. A month ago, a Khitan fishing boat capsized. The Laizhou fishing boat rescued a dozen Khitan fishermen and brought them back to Laizhou, preparing to report to the authorities the next day. As a result, the fishermen who rescued the fishermen were killed the next day, and the dozen Khitan fishermen disappeared without a trace. General Peng opened the coffin and performed an autopsy and found that the fishermen who were killed were stabbed through the heart with a very cruel and precise sword. General Peng concluded that the dozen Khitan fishermen were professional killers."

Liu Wutong nodded and asked, "Have you sent the eagle letter to Chang'an?"

"already sent!"

At this moment, a question came from the courtyard, "Excuse me, does General Liu of the Internal Guard live here?"

Liu Wutong walked out of the lobby. It turned out to be the county lieutenant Yang Liao, followed by two people.

"Does County Lieutenant Yang have any clues for me?"

Yang Liao nodded, "Today we have a clue that General Liu is interested in!"

He turned around and waved. Two fishermen came forward and bowed together. Yang Liao smiled and said, "They can provide clues!"

Liu Wutong immediately said, "Come in and talk!"

Several people walked into the lobby and sat down around a table. Liu Wutong smiled at an older man and said, "I saw you yesterday. Your last name is Guan, and you're a captain!"

The captain nodded and said, "The information I provided to the general yesterday was useless. When I went back last night, my cousin Guan Wulang came to tell me some information. I thought it was useful, so I came to find County Lieutenant Yang early in the morning."

The slightly shy young man next to him was Guan Wulang. Liu Wutong smiled at him and said, "You say!"

Guan Wulang said cautiously, "My brother-in-law is a fisherman from another village. About a month ago, he accompanied my sister back to her parents' home. We drank together and he told me a story. Their boat received a big business and helped dozens of Japanese samurai sneak into Dengzhou, earning several hundred taels of silver."

Liu Wutong perked up and asked, "Are you sure it's a Japanese samurai?"

"He said they were definitely Japanese. We have seen them many times and can tell them apart. These dozens of Japanese were carrying swords, so he thought they were Japanese samurai."

"Who is your brother-in-law's captain?"

"Huang Yu!"

County Lieutenant Yang nodded and said, "I know this Huang Yu, nicknamed Big Yellow Croaker. I saw him yesterday. Rumor has it that he is a smuggling broker!"

Liu Wutong asked in confusion: "Dengzhou obviously has no navy, and the stowaways can go ashore by themselves, so why do they need to find a broker?"

Yang County Lieutenant smiled bitterly and said, "Reporting to the general, it's not that the government doesn't care about smuggling, but the coastline is too long and the government is short of manpower and can't handle it, so they implemented a reward system for reporting. If the smugglers don't have brokers and secretly go ashore by themselves, they are unfamiliar with the place and the language, so they are easily caught by the villagers and sent to the county government to receive the reward.

In order to successfully smuggle, you must find a broker. This big yellow croaker is a smuggling broker, but there is no evidence. The Huang family is a wealthy family in Penglai, so it is difficult for the government to deal with it!"

Liu Wutong made a prompt decision and said: "Go find this Huang Yu immediately!" Calling him Huang Yu is not as good as calling him Da Huangyu. This man with a fish head and fish brain on the bow is about forty years old and looks like a cunning person.

But no matter how cunning he was, he did not dare to confront the internal security soldiers. When the internal security soldiers carried him into the compound, he was so scared that he wet his pants. He thought he was being used as a smuggling broker.

He didn't dare to hide anything and honestly explained what happened a month ago.

This big yellow croaker was a fisherman on the surface, but in reality he was a smuggling broker who specialized in helping Silla people and Japanese to smuggle into the Tang Dynasty.

"That day someone introduced me to a business that brought in more than 20 Japanese. I thought it was the same as usual, so that night I took a few men to Sanshan Island under the cover of darkness. Sure enough, there was a big ship. We picked up 25 people, all Japanese. They were not tall, but they were all very strong. They carried knives, and some even carried two knives. I took them ashore from Shark Bay and took them to the official road. I prepared ten days of dry food and water for them, as well as a dozen donkeys. Then they walked along the official road. I don't know what happened afterwards."

"Who introduced the business to you?" Liu Wutong asked.

"One of my cousins, Mr. Huang, the owner of Donglai Restaurant!"

“Are these Japanese the ones he introduced to the business?”

"Yes!"

Liu Wutong immediately turned around and said to his son Liu Xiaoshi: "Take the two brothers and secretly control Manager Huang. Don't alert the enemy!"

"Follow the order!"

Liu Xiaoshi hurried to the county town with two soldiers.

Liu Wutong asked again: "Can those Japanese speak Chinese?"

"There were two people who could speak Japanese very well. I thought they were from the Tang Dynasty, but they also spoke Japanese with everyone else."

"Can you understand Japanese?"

Huang Yu lowered his head and said, "After more contact, I can understand a few sentences."

"What else did you understand?"

"It seems...it seems like they came from Bohai Kingdom."

"what!"

Liu Wutong was shocked. "Are you sure they are Japanese from Bohai?"

Huang Yu was so scared that he quickly waved his hands, "I'm not sure, I just heard them mention Bohai Kingdom once!"

"Will the restaurant's owner, Mr. Huang, know about this?"

"I don't know. He won't tell me anything. He just comes to me when he has business, gives me the time and place, and then gives me the money. I don't ask anything else."

Liu Wutong realized that this information was very important. If they were Japanese from the Bohai Kingdom, then it would definitely be closely related to the situation in Liaodong.

Huang Yu was caught by the Internal Guards for smuggling. His confession was accurate and the evidence was conclusive. Lieutenant Yang ordered his men to take Huang Yu back to the county government office to be questioned. He then took Liu Wutong and a large group of Internal Guards to the Donglai Restaurant in the county seat.

Liu Wutong led a large group of internal guards to the Donglai Restaurant. At this time, Manager Huang had been placed under house arrest in the manager's room by Liu Xiaoshi.

When Manager Huang heard that it was the Internal Security who came to investigate him, he was so frightened that his whole body went limp and he couldn't stand up.

Liu Xiaoshi handed a notebook to his father. This was what they found in the shopkeeper's office. It was filled with densely packed records of smuggling.

The earliest record of smuggling can be traced back to fifteen years ago. Of course, there must have been smuggling even earlier, but it was not done by Shopkeeper Huang.

According to Manager Huang, as early as the beginning of the Kaiyuan period, Donglai Restaurant was the smuggling base in Dengzhou, where mainly people from Silla and Japanese smuggled into the Tang Dynasty.

There are two ways of smuggling. One is to take a smuggling boat to the open sea and then be picked up by a bow like Huang Yu. The other is to come with a merchant ship. This method is more troublesome. Huang Yu has to arrange people to send the smugglers to the designated county, usually to Luoyang or Chang'an. Most of the smugglers are young girls who were brought to the Tang Dynasty by human traffickers.

"The Japanese were contacted by a Bohai merchant named Su Qi. He paid 20 taels of silver per person, 25 people in total, 500 taels of silver. Then I handed the rest to Huang Yu. I don't know what those 25 Japanese looked like. They left directly after landing. I don't know where they went."

"Where is the businessman named Suchi?"

"I don't know him. This is the first time I've come into contact with him. He paid the money all at once and never showed up again?"

"How do you know his name is Su Qi?" Liu Wutong asked again.

"I don't know his real name, but the name he gave me is Suqi!"

Shopkeeper Huang took out a business card from the drawer and handed it to Liu Wutong.

Liu Wutong took a look and said, "The owner of Longhe Trading Company in Longquan Prefecture, Bohai State, is Su Qi."

That afternoon, an eagle carrying an eagle letter slowly took off, circled in the air for several times, and flew towards Chang'an.

(End of this chapter)