Da Tang: Father, can I resign?

Chapter 383 Shanxi Park
"Mung beans, selling mung beans~"

On the bank of the Fen River, next to the temporary river port built by the Ming army, there was a new merchant.

He was dressed in ordinary cloth, carrying a load on his shoulder, and observing his surroundings with a pair of smart eyes.

The real identity of this businessman was a spy of the Tang army, a serious one, and he was completely different from the 5,000 "temporary workers" sent out by the Emperor with a stroke of his pen.

His mission was to investigate the situation first and pave the way for the subsequent actions of the five thousand comrades.

At first, this new "businessman" did not attract any attention.

Because there are just too many people here.

Millions of Ming Dynasty civilians came by boat from all over the country and landed in this small piece of land to move around.

No matter how capable the general contractor Xue Wanche is, and no matter how well-organized the river port is, it is impossible for so many people to disappear out of thin air.

Therefore, the river port is now crowded with people and the scene is somewhat chaotic.

"Buy some of the best green beans."

The spy was shouting his wares half-heartedly while sneaking into the crowd.

He saw many people like him, carrying baskets and selling to the new laborers, and he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Those people were not his fellow spies, but real locals.

After all, the land of the ancient Jin Kingdom is the core territory of China, and has been prosperous since ancient times.

The area near the Ming army's temporary landing site was not an uninhabited area. On the contrary, it was close to Yuci and other counties, and transportation was very convenient.

Therefore, people from the surrounding counties would naturally not miss the opportunity to join in the fun.

There was a constant stream of people coming to do business, making the scene even more chaotic.

Chaos is good, you can fish in troubled waters.

At this time, several large ships came from the south, carrying new laborers to the busy port.

The port suddenly became busy. Xizuo curled his lips and deliberately squeezed into the crowded place.

But he didn't realize that he was being stared at by several pairs of eyes.

"The top green bean... why are you guys pushing me?"

The spy just opened his mouth and pretended to sell to the civilians who had just disembarked, but he found that he had been surrounded by several people without realizing it, and had been squeezed under a tree intentionally or unintentionally.

"What do you want to do?"

The spy's heart skipped a beat.

My disguise was so perfect, how could it be exposed so quickly?
But at the critical moment, he remained calm and his eyes instinctively looked around.

There were about five or six people surrounding him. They had one thing in common: each of them was carrying a basket like him and dressed like local merchants.

This was a relatively empty corner, and he was surrounded on all sides. If the other party used force, he would have little chance of slipping into the crowd...

Just when he was thinking about how to get out, the leader of the other party spoke:

"Where are you from? Why haven't I seen you before?"

Just as the spy was thinking about how to answer this fatal question, the other party added:
"How dare you, a stinky outsider, come and steal our business?"

what?
The spy was stunned for a moment, and in just one second, ten thousand details flashed through his mind.

Am I overthinking it? Aren’t these people who came to cause trouble the Ming Dynasty’s counterintelligence agents?
It turns out that the people he encountered were just a few bullies who were bullying the whole city?
"Get out of here with your garbage beans! Otherwise I will sue you to the government and grind all your mung beans into bean powder!" the other party shouted.

The merchants in Yuci are very protective of their food.

The millions of Ming civilians who had just arrived were just ordinary people like them.

But there are also differences among the people.

The Ming Dynasty was not only prosperous, but also shared its wealth among the people, and ordinary families also had savings.

So, these conscripted laborers sounded miserable, but they actually had quite a bit of money in their hands.

In ancient times when people were well-off if they had enough food and were not hungry, this was not just hard labor, but the God of Wealth!

In addition, the Ming army did not restrict the civilians and local people from trading and interacting freely - after all, it was impossible to restrict them even if they wanted to, because there were a million people, and they were not obedient soldiers, but civilians.

This is equivalent to the Shanxi people, who are exhausted by the endless wars, being suddenly parachuted in by the millionaire God of Wealth and riding on their faces.

The Shanxi merchants' bloodline was immediately awakened.

After a long drought, they finally got a financial sponsor, so it is understandable that they are so crazy about protecting their food.

In ancient times, the population mobility rate was low and people would see each other everywhere. When they found a strange face and this despicable outsider was trying to steal their business, they would be very sensitive.

Therefore, the Yuci merchants, who were on high alert, discovered the Tang Dynasty spies who had sneaked in at the first opportunity.

"This..." The spy didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

No, big brother, this basket of green beans is just a prop, not to steal your business...

However, he couldn't possibly tell the other party the truth, saying that he was not here to steal business but only to gather intelligence and so on.

As a professional in the business of "spy", he can only play the role of "traveling merchant" to the end.

"Report to the police? If you have the guts, go ahead and sue me!"

He immediately put his hands on his hips, pretending to be someone who is not easy to mess with, and shouted in a hoarse voice:

"My most holy and wise Emperor of the Ming Dynasty has long since abolished the road permits, allowing merchants to travel freely in and out of various places!
"What do you Shanxi natives know? If you dare to stop me again, I'll report you to the government for bullying!"

As a spy, it is very easy to control a few ordinary people.

This set of rhetoric left the other party speechless for a moment.

Their understanding of Ming laws is limited to the level of "life for life", and of course they cannot compete with professional spies who have conducted in-depth research on this.

Moreover, this cunning stranger deliberately made his throat bang loudly, attracting the attention of others, making it difficult for them to drag him into a corner and beat him up.

"Forget it, stop arguing."

The honest and well-off Ming Dynasty man took the initiative to come over and smooth things over for them.

"Why bother fighting? With so many of us here, you won't be afraid of running out of business."

"Yeah, you only brought so few beans, it's not enough for us to share if we each buy one."

With the enthusiastic help of Brother Daming, the spy finally got rid of the harassment of local profiteers and successfully infiltrated the camp of civilians.

Unlike what you might imagine, this is not a pigsty where tens of thousands of strong men gather together.

Instead, it was built in a new town next to Yuci County.

Rows of houses are lined up neatly.

A closer look reveals that the appearance of these houses cannot be said to be exactly the same, but the difference is not too big, which makes people with obsessive-compulsive disorder very satisfied.

The materials for building the houses were all pre-made in the Ming Dynasty. They were just transported to the local area and reassembled like building blocks.

A thin bamboo fence was built around the periphery of this "new city", which was a typical way to protect against good people but not bad people.

Although the materials and craftsmanship are still very primitive, it already has the prototype of a "migrant workers' dormitory". This large area surrounded by bamboo fences is the "park".

But in Datang, who needs a bicycle when you can live in a free dormitory for migrant workers? The "predictable housing" in the park, although extremely low cost and quick to build, can make it easy for residents to live here comfortably for a month or so.

"This is... an overnight city? A city built in one night?"

Naturally, spies don't understand things like "industrialization", "economy of scale", and "labor productivity".

He didn't understand anything, but he was shocked.

The reputation of the Ming Dynasty craftsmen is well-deserved. It has only been a short time since they created a new town...

"Where's your ID card?"

The spy was trying to get into the new city along the "main road" when he was stopped by a "checkpoint" on the side of the road.

The "sentinel" standing guard at the checkpoint is not a professional soldier, but a civilian. He has no armor on his body, only wears cloth, and has a strange round "helmet" on his head.

He didn't know what a "safety helmet" was, and naturally had never heard of a "work badge" and was stunned for a while.

Just at this moment, a few workers came over with their arms around each other and took out a wooden sign from their pockets with a string of numbers engraved on it.

I don't know where the sign was hit, and several digits on it are blurred and unrecognizable.

However, the "sentinel" just took a quick glance and waved his hand casually, letting those guys in.

Although the spy had never seen an ID card, at this moment an idea suddenly occurred to him - these wooden plates with numbers on them were the proof of the civilians' identities!
All we can say is that the Ming Dynasty had some ideas in terms of management and anti-espionage, but at the same time it also had many loopholes.

It’s just a broken wooden plaque with a few words carved on it, who can’t rub it with their hands!

As for the fact that the numbers don’t match, will it be discovered?
Haha, the Ming Dynasty officials may have developed a cryptographic anti-counterfeiting system based on numerical patterns.

But looking at the lazy and sloppy look of this "sentinel", does it look like he will conduct a thorough investigation?

"My work badge fell on the way. I'll go back and look for it."

The spy quickly came up with a plan in his mind for a large force to infiltrate the enemy. He found an excuse to escape and quietly returned to the Tang army camp along the mountain path.

The next few days.

In Daming's "temporary park", a few strangers would appear from time to time, speaking with a Guanzhong accent, and the work badges in their hands were worn out beyond recognition due to "wind and sun".

And all these suspicious guys were allowed into the park without exception.

After all, this place is home to so many laborers and local residents who come in and out every day, and there are no facial recognition time clock machines. Who could check so carefully?
Just show me a wooden sign, that's enough.

Needless to say, many of these newcomers who sneaked in with suspicious documents were fake "civilians" disguised as Tang Dynasty soldiers.

If a group of 5,000 people were to head south, they could only take the main road, where they would definitely be intercepted.

However, if 5,000 people acted separately and took small paths, they could still do it without being noticed among the mountains in the Shanxi highlands.

…………

"Captain Wu...Captain Wu, will we be discovered? Will we be beheaded if we are discovered?"

"Don't panic, we are soldiers! Can't we defeat those civilians?"

"But we have no weapons, and the other side has a million people."

"...Anyway, if you're afraid, don't come. If you come, don't be afraid! Just follow me!"

At the entrance of the park, a group of civilian laborers disguised as Tang soldiers walked over nervously and took out wooden signs stiffly.

"Go in, go in."

The gatekeeper didn't even bother to look at them and just waved as they entered.

call……

The Tang army breathed a sigh of relief and clenched their fists secretly.

Once they relaxed, they began to look around.

As a result, when they looked out, they saw a horrifying scene that almost made them stop breathing—

"Corporal! How did you send the troops' armor?"

Amid the sharp roars of his men, the young leader of the Tang army realized that he was actually wearing a full set of Tang army armor!
Because they were too nervous, the group didn't even notice this loophole which was bigger than a black pot!

What made them even more jaw-dropping was that the Ming civilians didn't even notice anything was wrong and just let a Tang army armored man come in so brazenly!

Are they luring others into a trap, or have they relaxed to a certain extent?

The Tang army's "spies" wandered around the park for several days in a state of anxiety.

…………

In this way, day after day, gradually, five thousand Tang heroes smoothly sneaked into the Ming camp.

The whole process was smooth and beyond their imagination.

At the beginning, these "spies" who had just changed their jobs were still very reserved. They walked with their heads down, avoiding people and looking evasive.

After their suspicious behavior was not noticed by the other party, they quickly became bolder and completely integrated into the group.

Because the park was constantly expanding, they even built houses for themselves with prefabricated panels under the command of the contractor. They ate Daming's rice and lived in Daming's houses, and settled down temporarily.

Now that we have gained a firm foothold, the next step is to naturally create trouble!

Was it passing on information to the outside, committing murder and arson, or doing something else bad?

But for now, there is not much they can do.

After all, a commoner is a commoner. It is impossible for him to know any military secrets. He can't even explain why he came all the way to Shanxi.

The Ming army's barracks and the civilian labor camp were completely isolated, and a strict access control system was implemented. The personnel of both sides (except for a certain compound talent who was both a fighter and a rioter) had no intersection, so it was a pipe dream for these Tang army spies to sneak in.

Because of this, even if they did some "small things" such as murder and arson in the park, it would not affect the main body of the Ming army and could be easily extinguished in one go.

Not only will the effect be limited, but it will also waste 5,000 new troops.

Therefore, the biggest role they played in the past few days was to eat the rice of the Ming Dynasty - although it didn't matter much to the wealthy Ming Dynasty.

However, these spies were not in a hurry.

Since she's already in Princess Iron Fan's belly, why worry about not having the chance to cause trouble?

They can wait!

When the Ming army is not at home, are the 5,000 Tang troops still afraid that they will not be able to cause trouble in the rear?

Even if they don't have weapons, with a hammer each, 5,000 organized people can kill millions of unorganized civilians!

…………

However, just as the Tang army heroes were patiently waiting for the opportunity to slaughter the farmers.

The Ming army had not moved yet, but the next day, the order to transfer them arrived first.

"Ah? Send us to Puzhou to build roads?"

The spies gathered around the bulletin board, feeling inexplicably as if they had been defrauded and sold like pigs.

(End of this chapter)