The new army of Jinyiwei set out from the capital, left Juyong Pass north, and then headed northwest, heading straight to Datong.

It took more than 700 miles from the capital to Datong. The new army of Jinyiwei traveled a hundred miles a day. It took only seven days to arrive in Datong.

Hong Chengchou, who was in Datong, learned about the arrival of the Jinyiwei New Army, and personally led a group of civil and military officials out of the Datong city gate to welcome Gao Shixin and his group outside the city.

Seeing Hong Chengchou personally greeting him, Gao Shixin did not dare to neglect him and quickly ordered all the soldiers to dismount and hike forward.

"Director Hong, don't be fine!" Gao Shixin rushed to Hong Chengchou quickly.

Hong Chengchou quickly saluted: "The official has met Governor Gao!"

"Director Hong, there is no need to be too polite. Take my official into the city!" Gao Shixin helped Hong Chengchou up with a smile.

After entering the Governor General Xuanda, the sensible Hong Chengchou gave his superiors to Gao Shixin, and he sat a little below the left side of Gao Shixin to show his respect for the imperial envoy.

Gao Shixin did not directly investigate the affairs of the eight great masters of Shanxi merchants, but instead gave a polite greeting. Hong Chengchou is a smart man, so he naturally knew that such things could not be said in public.

That night, Hong Chengchou held a banquet at the Governor General's Office of Xuanda, and invited Gao Shixin and his group to have a banquet. After the banquet ended, Gao Shixin invited Hong Chengchou to have a separate conversation at the inn where he lived.

"Governor Gao, the subordinates are incompetent. The court told him to thoroughly investigate the affairs of the Shanxi merchants. The subordinates cannot find their handle." Hong Chengchou said to Gao Shixin with an apology.

Although Hong Chengchou was not an expert in handling cases, he still learned about some of the situations of the Eight Great Masters of Shanxi merchants: "Governor Gao, they had warehouses in Zhangjiakou and Shahukou, and were engaged in trading with Mongolians, exchanging tea, salt, cotton and grain with Mongolians for horses. This matter was an openly legal transaction allowed by the court, but the officials always felt that there was something wrong with it."

The problem must be something, but I couldn't find the problem for a while. Gao Shixin searched the memories stored in his mind, and he remembered something: the Eight Great Masters of Shanxi smuggled grain and iron tools to the Hou Jin through the grassland, but only part of it, most of the food was transported openly to the north, and then transported to Liaodong through Shanhaiguan.

When smuggling food, iron and other contraband products went to the Later Jin Dynasty, in addition to the help of the Mongols of the Korqin, there were all people working in the border troops, civil servants and generals within the Ming Dynasty. Even Gao Shixin, who had been a man for two lifetimes, could not find another smuggling channel for the Eight Great Masters of Shanxi merchants.

Sun Degong was once a channel for smuggling for the Eight Great Masters of Shanxi merchants, and it has been destroyed, but the Eight Great Masters of Shanxi merchants must have more than one smuggling channel, and there are other channels that need to be dug out.

Gao Shixin said: "We can check their warehouses in Zhangjiakou and Shahukou to see if there are any prohibited items hidden in the imperial court that were explicitly prohibited from leaving the customs, and then check their trade volume, and then we can excavate these group of profiteers who funded Jiannu!"

Hong Chengchou said helplessly: "Governor Gao, it would be great if it was that simple. Not to mention the various complex interest relationships behind these profiteers, if we really went to their warehouse, we might have gained nothing. They would not be so stupid to put prohibited items on the surface and wait for us to investigate."

"Let's do this. Tomorrow morning, we will first investigate their warehouses based on the reason why the Jinyiwei handled the case to see if we can find any contraband in the warehouse." Gao Shixin said.

The next day, before dawn, Gao Shixin, together with Cai Jiuyi and ten powerful Jinyiwei spies, disguised themselves as civilians, took the lead and set out from Datong. Hong Chengchou took his two thousand Fubiao camp Ming army and the five hundred Jinyiwei new army assigned to him by Gao Shixin, and followed him.

Gao Shixin disguised himself. He painted his face black, and then he had a fake beard. He wore a businessman's hat and was dressed in a businessman's outfit, looking like a middle-aged shopkeeper. Cai Jiuyi disguised himself as a accountant, while the other ten Jinyiweis were dressed in a suit, with a total of twelve people. The "shopkeeper" Gao Shixin rode a horse, and the "shopkeeper" Cai Jiuyi rode a carriage, and a Jinyiwei drove the carriage by a Jinyiwei, and the other nine drove the carriage led by three mules.

It took more than 400 miles from Datong to Zhangjiakou. Gao Shixin and his friends walked for six days and arrived at Zhangjiakou. However, Hong Chengchou and his army would take two days to arrive, so Gao Shixin and others found an inconspicuous inn in Zhangjiakou Fort to stay first.

Wu Zhongming, a secret spy from the Jinyiwei who was sent to Zhangjiakou in advance, saw Gao Shixin, who was disguised as a civilian, and his group moved into the inn, so he, dressed as a shopkeeper, also moved into the inn.

More than half a year ago, Gao Shixin secretly ordered the Jinyiwei to open a business in Zhangjiakou, called Dadewang. On the surface, it was a business, but in fact it was the Jinyiwei Intelligence Station, which secretly monitored the Eight Great Masters of Shanxi merchants. Since Luo Sigong fell and Gao Shixin came to the stage, he has opened secret intelligence stations in many places, including Tianjin, Shanhaiguan, Shenyang, Liaoyang, Jizhou, Zhangjiakou, Datong, Shahukou and other border areas, as well as Xi'an, Yan'an, Yulin, Hequ and other places that are prone to civil rebellion, as well as Nanjing, Suzhou, Changzhou and other Donglin Party core areas in the south of the Yangtze River.

The secret intelligence station does not belong to the local Jinyiwei Qianhu Office. It is an independent agency directly responsible for the commander of the Jinyiwei, and is specifically responsible for the collection of various intelligences. Under the change of Gao Shixin, the local Jinyiwei Qianhu Office and Baihu Office have become a combination of the Discipline Inspection Commission, the Independent Commission for Corruption, the Urban Management Bureau Outside Processing Bureau, the Taxation Bureau, and the Daily News, and even the functions of the Agricultural Bureau and the Agricultural Machinery Factory are included.

Speaking of which, the Jinyiwei Thousand Household Office and the Hundred Household Office in various places are a hodgepodge, a hodgepodge that increases income to the Ming Dynasty's inner treasury, and an integrity agency used to arrest criminal officials.

The secret intelligence station is an existence that even the local Jinyiwei does not know. It is often a shop, a warehouse, etc. The secret intelligence personnel are all skilled personnel selected from the North and South Town Fushi Department and sent them to various places, and then develop a group of reliable people from the local area to serve as military remuneration.

With the efforts of Gao Shixin, the spy leader, the power of the Ming Jinyiwei was unprecedentedly powerful, far exceeding the scale of the Taizu and Chengzu periods back then. The number of intelligence personnel from all over the country alone exceeded 100,000! In some places, the personnel under the jurisdiction of the secret intelligence station even exceeded the local Jinyiwei Hundred Houses Office.

Such a powerful intelligence agency made the Ming Dynasty's intelligence sources wide and accurate, and gained the upper hand in intelligence wars with the Later Jin, and achieved strategic transparency to the Later Jin.

During this period, how powerful were the intelligence personnel of the Ming Jinyiwei? Even what Lao Nu ate in the morning, how many times he took a day, and what Lao Nu's sons said today. It can be said that as long as the Later Jin Dynasty formulated a military plan, Gao Shixin's Jinyiwei would know it soon.

However, through the information sent from all sides, it was shown that the Later Jin Dynasty could still obtain food under the strict seal of Xiong Tingbi and the tight surveillance of the Jinyiwei! This is confusing.

However, the Jinyiwei Intelligence Station vaguely found a clue. The eight Jin merchants accounted for a very small proportion of the channels for obtaining food in the Later Jin Dynasty, and the newly appointed Liaodong Military Preparation Road may be related! Moreover, the Liaodong Military Preparation Road has become a confidant around Xiong Tingbi!

This is a time bomb, and it may explode that day! Gao Shixin decided to get rid of this time bomb, but that guy was very cunning and did not let the Jinyiwei catch the evidence.
Chapter completed!