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Chapter 213 Intelligence System
Lin Dangfeng saw that Li Chongjiu didn't say what the opportunity was to attack Yi County, so he didn't ask any further questions.

At that moment, Li Chongjiu deduced that things were going very well, and said immediately: "Shopkeeper Lin, if it weren't for your help this time, I would have no idea about capturing Yi County."

Lin Dangfeng laughed, and said: "Prefect, what did you say, we are not friends once or twice."

"Yes, it's not a one-time or two-time friendship." Li Chongjiu thought about it for a while, and with a plan in his heart, he asked, "Which counties does your Lin Family Chamber of Commerce mainly do business with?"

Lin Dangfeng listened to Li Chongjiu's question, and said: "It turned out that it was mainly Yanmen, Taiyuan, and Shangdang counties, and occasionally went to Shanggu, Zhuojun. This road is mainly out of the grassland to trade with Xi people. The farthest time is to go Mobei, after passing through the vast Gobi, the caravan lost half of its staff because of horse thieves and wind and sand after returning, and they will not leave from now on."

"But after Yanmen was plundered by the Turks, Liu Wuzhou occupied Mayi again. Now the business in the three counties of Yanmen is not easy to do, let alone go to Huaihuang Town after going out of Yanmen County. Where is it now? They are all Hu people, Liu Wuzhou's cavalry are easy to be plundered, and now we are going out of the fortress, we mainly go out of Shanggu, Zhuojun, and find Xi people for trade after arriving at Yuyi Town, or directly unload goods at Yuyi Town and hand them over to local sellers. "

After listening to Li Chongjiu's question, Lin Dangfeng came out perfectly.Li Chongjiu nodded. The Lin Family Chamber of Commerce used to be the most powerful chamber of commerce with Xi Ren.And they opened a five-bay two-story shop in Huaihuang Town, specializing in the sale of tea bricks, brocades, medicinal materials, and needlework from the Central Plains. At the same time, they bought horses and raw hides from herdsmen and sold them to the mainland.Many herdsmen and herdsmen in various ministries on the grassland have heard of the name of the Lin Family Chamber of Commerce.

Li Chongjiu thought in his heart that if the Lin Family Chamber of Commerce goes on like this, maybe one day in the future it will become the great leader of the Sui and Tang Dynasties.Now it depends on Lin Dangfeng's ability, and whether he is willing to support him.Talking about business matters, Li Chongjiu unconsciously talked a little bit more. Although he was not in this industry in the past, in terms of management, logistics, and cost utilization, business people always have inferences.

Li Chongjiu talked casually, but every time he could hit Lin Dangfeng's vital point. Occasionally, Lin Dangfeng couldn't solve some business difficulties.Lin Dangfeng wanted to write down every word of Li Chongjiu with a pen and paper.

Lin Dangfeng admired Li Chongjiu very much, and said: "Prefect, it's a good thing you don't do business, otherwise we will all have nothing to eat."

Li Chongjiu smiled, and asked again: "I'm just kidding, my knowledge is just on paper, and it's not as good as Shopkeeper Lin's years of experience."

Lin Dangfeng said sincerely: "Prefect, I really don't think you've ever done business. What you said just now, even if we've been doing it all our lives, we haven't even thought about it."

Li Chongjiu changed the subject and said, "Since shopkeeper Lin sells goods to the grasslands, do you have your own shops in every county?"

These words involved some commercial secrets, and Lin Dangfeng said directly without concealment: "Prefect, in the past, Yanmen, Jinyang, and Shangdang counties had herbal medicine shops, leather shops, whip shops, etc., but now there are The situation is not good, and now we have moved to Zhuo County and Bohai County. We have businesses in several counties in Zhuo County. In Ji County, we have four or five shops, and we have bought hundreds of acres of land. There are special people to collect rent. The situation in Bohai County is a bit chaotic now, but we still have three ships along the coast, specially transporting some silk goods from the south of the Yangtze River. In Shu, we also have a few purchasers, specializing in collecting Shu brocade and tea bricks."

Li Chongjiu nodded, which means that the Lin Family Chamber of Commerce has spread its hands everywhere.At that moment Li Chongjiu asked: "It's not easy for your Chamber of Commerce to open such a big shop in Ji County, so how do you build a relationship?"

At first glance, this question seems a bit confusing, but those who are in charge of it understand that this question is about who is behind the chamber of commerce.Since the Lin Family Chamber of Commerce has invested a lot of property in Jixian County, it must be under the care of officials from above.

Hearing Li Chongjiu's question, Lin Dangfeng shook his head, sighed, and said, "It turns out that we have opened up the joints of Guo Tongshou in Zhuo County, but unfortunately now..."

Li Chongjiu suddenly realized that Guo Tongshou was Guo Xuan. When he led more than ten thousand officers and soldiers to encircle and suppress the rebels a few months ago, he mistrusted Dou Jiande and died because the opponent falsely surrendered.Guo Xuan was finally beheaded by Dou Jiande.Li Chongjiu understood why the Lin family increased their investment in him now. It turned out that after Guo Xuan's death, they lost an official support. Now in order to maintain their business, they also increased their investment in Li Chongjiu.

As far as Lin Dangfeng and Li Chongjiu are concerned, the emotional investment between the two is very important, but what is more important is that Li Chongjiu is now the biggest support of the Lin Family Chamber of Commerce.After Li Chongjiu understood it, he said, "Since shopkeeper Lin has traveled all over the country and has properties in various counties, then I also want to ask shopkeeper Lin to do me a favor."

Lin Dangfeng showed a serious look at the moment. With Li Chongjiu's current status, it is usually not easy to ask for help.Lin Dangfeng said immediately: "Prefect, please tell me, I will help if I can."

Li Chongjiu said: "I would like to invite the Lin family caravan to extend in all directions and have many ears when they are doing business in various counties. How about being my eyes and ears?" Lin Dangfeng suddenly understood what Li Chongjiu wanted. His own Chamber of Commerce as his secret work.

Li Chongjiu narrowed his eyes. As a businessman, it is a matter of course to travel all over the world, and it is easy to inquire about news.For example, others may not know how many officers and soldiers are stationed in a city, but a merchant who specializes in buying vegetables and rice for the officers and soldiers can infer the exact strength of the officers and soldiers based on how much rice they sell every day for a month.

Moreover, merchants also have a set of meticulous means of message transmission, where the price of the goods is reduced, and where the goods are in short supply, they will immediately know the news.In the ancient times when the news was blocked in the past, when a major event happened in Luoyang, it would take more than ten days to spread to Hebei.And the businessman is second only to the government, and the most well-informed. If Li Chongjiu wants to make a big deal in the mansion, he will get the news from the businessman the fastest.Li Chongjiu now wants to use the Lin Family Chamber of Commerce to set up his own intelligence network in Hebei to spy on the military situation of various forces, and then slowly expand it.

Lin Dangfeng knew that if he agreed, he would be completely on Li Chongjiu's boat, and the two sides would be completely tied together.This risk is high, but it is an opportunity with great rewards.Lin Dangfeng did not immediately agree, but said: "Prefect, this matter is very important. There are two brothers of mine in the chamber of commerce who are in charge together. I will ask their opinions and then reply to the prefect."

Li Chongjiu knew not to be too hasty, so he said immediately: "You can ask shopkeeper Lin to discuss it slowly." When the two were discussing, someone outside the door suddenly said: "Prefect, Shi Defeng is asking to see you!"

Li Chongjiu was surprised, Shi Defeng was originally in Yuyi Town, why did he come here suddenly.Immediately Shi Defeng entered the room, and after the two parties sat down, he said to Li Chongjiu impatiently: "Khan, according to the people sent by the Mukun tribe to tell us that the Mohefu tribe and the Qijia tribe have two Qin Jin of the Ministry has already surrendered to the Turks and handed over the hostages. Now they are training their troops, and it seems that they want to invade our pastures in the area of ​​Wuhou and Qinshui. Now the elders ask us to withdraw our troops from the south and return to the grassland immediately. attack."
Li Chongjiu secretly thought that it was not good. What he was most worried about finally came. Now that Song Jingang is still not calm, and there is a change coming from the northern border, isn't this a double-sided thing.It was not a sudden that the Mohefu tribe and the Qijia tribe surrendered to the Turks. Shibi Khan moved the Khan Court from Yudujin Mountain in Mobei to Tieshan, north of Yinshan Mountain in Monan (Note [-]).When Li Chongjiu heard about the relocation of the Turkic Khan Court, he knew that Shibi Khan's move was comparable to Emperor Xiaowen's determination and courage to move the capital to Luoyang. The opposition and pressure within the two clans were very strong.

This move requires absolute courage, but now that Shibi Khan has moved the Khan Court to Monan, he is expressing to the grassland tribes the determination of the Turks to go south and take over the Central Plains.Therefore, many tribes in the grassland who were originally convinced and dissatisfied, now went to Tieshan to meet Shibi Khan and show their loyalty to him.

Li Chongjiu asked: "Is this news reliable? It was Qiu Lihan who told us, so why don't the elders go to understand the situation at all?"

After hearing this, Shi Defeng said, "This incident happened very suddenly. The elders panicked when they heard this, and they didn't ask for further confirmation. They immediately asked Khan to transfer your troops and return to the grassland."

Li Chongjiu cursed inwardly that this is simply a one-sided statement, all from the mouth of the ugly man, this is the disadvantage of not having an independent intelligence system.Lin Dangfeng on the side said: "Prefect, if we deploy troops now, our attack on Yi County will fall short. Not only Fan Yang, but the entire Shanggu County may not be able to hold on."

Li Chongjiu said: "It's the coldest time on the grassland right now, even if the two departments are going to send troops, they have to go through this period, and since Qiu Lihan said so, the Mukun department must have been prepared long ago, go back and tell The elders cannot transfer troops now."

"This," Shi Defeng said immediately, "Khan, the elders have unanimously requested such a request, and please understand Khan."

Li Chongjiu knew that those elders were a big trouble.Those people acted like creditors, thinking that the [-] cavalry were lent to them, and if they were not careful, they would lose their capital, and they always wanted to take the troops back from the south.They are more concerned about the safety of their cattle, sheep and livestock. As for the Han people fighting in the south, it is Li Chongjiu's own business, and they will not worry about it.

Li Chongjiu said: "Okay, go back and tell the elders to withdraw within a month."

"One month?" Shi Defeng's expression changed immediately.

Li Chongjiu said: "I'm Khan, isn't there even a one-month deadline?"

"But within a month, the two may have already called."

Li Chongjiu said: "Tell the elders to let them move south. If this happens, I will do my best to compensate them for the loss of cattle, sheep and livestock."

Shi Defeng thought for a while, and said: "Khan, one month is too long, I can delay it for half a month at most, if it doesn't work, the elders won't be able to get through either."

Li Chongjiu thought about other strategies to slow down the army within half a month, so he said: "Okay, half a month, that's it for now."

Note [-]: Outu is the buffer zone of the boundary, according to the Hu people.

Note [-]: Tieshan is today Baiyun Obo, Inner Mongolia.

(End of this chapter)