Tibet.

Chapter 1347 Discovering clues
Li Chenghua hurried back to the Inner Guard. She immediately summoned twenty Inner Guard generals and deployed an operation to strictly investigate all music and dance halls. She also sent an eagle letter to Luoyang, requesting the Luoyang Inner Guard to organize a strict investigation at the same time.

An hour later, dozens of internal security soldiers rushed to various districts in the city to conduct investigations.

Music and dance studios have two major functions. One is that they are schools to cultivate music and dance talents. Families in Chang'an believe that girls should learn some skills so that they can marry well in the future, so they send their children to learn music and dance.

But there were also young ladies from poor families who were sent directly to music troupes by their parents. In fact, they were sold to the music troupes and trained by them. After they finished their studies, they started to perform for the music troupes to make money. The Pipa girl in "Pipa Xing" is this type.

The second major function of music and dance halls is theater performances. They are equivalent to theaters in Chang'an. When the middle class in Chang'an go out to meet friends, they either go to restaurants to eat and drink, or go to music halls to listen to music and watch dances.

When a wealthy family holds a banquet, they usually invite dancers and musicians to entertain guests, and the same applies to weddings and funerals.

This resulted in the establishment of many music and dance studios in Chang'an, with more than 200 of them. Most of them were in the model of front-store-back-workshop, with performances in the front and training and cultivation in the back.

Of course, the flesh trade is also one of the main businesses of music and dance halls. If you take a fancy to a musician or dancer, you can pay some money and take her away. As for those pipa girls who have no personal freedom, they have to do whatever the manager tells them to do and they have no choice.

Dance and music are inseparable. Music halls and dance halls are actually the same thing, just with different names.

The largest concentration of shops was in Pingkangfang, with more than twenty shops. When the internal security arrived, every shop was closed for inspection, and all girls under the age of sixteen were gathered together for questioning.

It does not mean that the owner of the museum will be arrested and interrogated if the girl was sold. These are two different things. If there is a sales contract and the origin is clear and true, then the owner of the museum will first be warned and given a deadline to restore the girl's freedom and restore her civilian household registration.

The internal security forces are now focusing on checking girls of unknown origin, especially those under the age of fourteen. If the owner of a music hall cannot produce a contract and cannot explain his origins, the girl will be taken away. If there are more than three people of unknown origin in a music hall, the owner will also be taken away.

At the innermost part of Pingkangfang there is a music house called Xiaoyuexian. This music house also had a team of internal guards come to check, but the door of the music house was closed and there was no one inside. The captain in charge asked the residents around and they all said that it was crowded the day before yesterday morning, but they didn't know why it was closed today. Other music houses were also unaware of this.

But there is one thing that all other music halls know, that Xiaoyuexian Music Hall is just a school, and its members are all young ladies around ten years old, about fifty in total.

The captain felt something was wrong and immediately reported it to his superiors. Li Chenghua, who happened to be patrolling in Pingkangfang, rushed over after hearing the news and ordered the door to be broken down for a detailed search.

The internal security soldiers broke down the door, rushed in, and began a thorough search.

Soon they discovered something unusual. This music hall actually had seven or eight dormitories, each with more than a dozen small beds with bedding. Each bed also had a small box, but the boxes were empty. There were a pile of unwashed bowls in the kitchen, and the dining table was not cleaned. It was a mess, as if someone had just finished their meal and left.

At this time, a soldier brought up a middle-aged woman who was the cook for this music house.

"I was fired by them at noon the day before yesterday. All the people working in the music hall were fired by them. I don't know where they went!"

Li Chenghua asked, "How many of these students are there? Are they all locals?"

The cook shook her head. "I remember there were 55 people in total. They were probably not locals. They came from other places. I wonder where they found them from?"

It was becoming more and more in line with the target of the internal security investigation. Li Chenghua asked again: "What is the name of the owner?"

"The owner's surname is Kang, and he is a Hu person."

"What about the other stewards? Are there any locals?"

"The second steward is a local, his last name is Ma, his home seems to be nearby, but I don't know exactly where. The driver knows, and he is the second steward's cousin."

Li Chenghua asked again: "Where is the driver's house? Do you know?"

"I know. It's in the square."

Li Chenghua immediately ordered his men, "Take her to find the driver, and then go directly to the second steward to bring her over."

"Follow the order!"

The generals took the cook away. Not long after, Tiger Guard General Wang Qian hurried back and clasped his fists and said, "Reporting to the commander-in-chief, I went to other music houses to investigate the news of this music house and found that its former name was Daguang Music House, and it was only changed to Xiaoyuexian Music House last year."

Li Chenghua's eyes lit up. Wasn't Daguang Music House one of the gangs that Xu Wuliang had mentioned?

At this time, the subordinate came to report, "The driver has been missing since the day before yesterday, and the manager named Ma Er is also missing."

"Did you say where you were going?"

"The driver told his family that they were going to Longyou."

Li Chenghua was basically certain that these were a group of abducted child slaves.

She immediately ordered the Tiger Guard General Wang Qian: "General Wang, lead 500 cavalrymen to chase west along the Xianyang Road. All the carts on the road must be checked!"

"I humbly obey my orders!"

Wang Qian led 500 cavalrymen to leave Chang'an overnight and pursue westwards.

There is a mansion covering an area of ​​about five acres in Yanshoufang. The owner is Liu Qinggui, a big businessman in the wine business. Normally, a businessman is not qualified to live in a mansion of five acres, but in the second year of Zhide, Liu Qinggui donated five thousand strings of money to Emperor Li Heng to support the Tang army and was named earl, so he is qualified to live in the mansion of five acres and can also marry three concubines.

After the liquidation of titles last year, Liu Qinggui was no longer eligible for the title and was stripped of it, but the court allowed him to keep his house and concubine.

Liu Qinggui has been a little uneasy these days. He is a wine merchant in name, but in fact he is one of the biggest human traffickers in the Tang Dynasty. Since the Tianbao period, he has colluded with several Sogdian merchants to sell tens of thousands of girls to the West and made huge profits.

Now that the imperial court has implemented the abolition of slavery, his business of trafficking girl has become difficult. It doesn't matter if he doesn't do it, he can just do the last few deals and retire from the business forever, but he is afraid that his past deeds will be exposed.

He also knew that selling Tang Dynasty girls to the West was the greatest evil, and once discovered by the imperial court, the lives of his entire family would be in danger.

Liu Qinggui had been feeling uneasy ever since the abolition order was issued, but what really frightened him was what happened last night. The inner guards were searching various music halls in Chang'an for underage girls, especially girls of unknown origin. Once any of them were found, the owners would also be arrested.

Liu Qinggui immediately realized that the imperial court had discovered the trafficking of girl children and began a targeted search. It was found that the music house was indeed the place where Liu Qinggui trained the girl children. He trained them until they were eleven or twelve years old, and then sent them to Samarkand. Then, they were sold to the nobles in Western countries by Samarkand merchants. The musicians from the Tang Dynasty were extremely popular and expensive.

However, the music houses that cooperated with him were basically not in Chang'an City, but in various county towns in Jingzhao Prefecture. They were relatively hidden. There was only one in Chang'an, Xiaoyuexian Music House, which was actually opened by him. Another Hu person from Kangguo also accounted for 30% of the shares.

Fortunately, they had just sent a group of 55 girls away the day before yesterday, and just one day later, the incident in Chang'an happened.

At this time, Liu Qinggui's eldest son Liu Jiao hurried back and reported to his father: "I have inquired and found that a total of 17 music hall owners were arrested last night, but they have nothing to do with us. Those who know your father are not in Chang'an at the moment, so please rest assured!"

Liu Qinggui breathed a sigh of relief. He was indeed very secretive and never intervened directly. It was always the three Sogdian barbarians who came forward and he hid behind the scenes to control everything. Unless these three barbarians were caught, no one could give him up.

Among these three people, Liu Qinggui was most worried about Kang Shibai, the manager of Xiaoyue Xianlefang. This guy just left Chang'an the day before yesterday, and he must not be caught by the inner guards.

Liu Jiao saw his father's worry and comforted him, "Don't worry, father. When they arrive in Longyou, there will be special smuggling informants to pick them up, and they will definitely not be caught."

Liu Qinggui nodded. The most difficult place in Longyou is the Wushaoling checkpoint. Once you pass that checkpoint, you will be completely safe.

Liu Qinggui said to his son, "I estimate that the internal guards will soon investigate all the counties in Jingzhao Prefecture. You should immediately notify those music houses and arrange all my young ladies to go to the countryside. Go and notify them now!"

"My child obeys!"

Liu went there in a hurry.

Liu Qinggui sighed, walked to the window and looked to the west. Once Kang Shibai and his companions entered the Hexi Corridor, they would be safe.

(End of this chapter)