High Above

"Yisu Grain Association... is not a very famous chamber of commerce. It's a trick to actually get golden nuts. I didn't see peninsula olives, which means the supply comes from the east."

Ian thought in his mind that there were only a few large-scale grain-producing areas in the empire. For example, only Nanling had a large-scale orange planting industry. If there were large quantities of oranges sold in the entire empire, it would definitely be the same as Nauman City. Related to the big grain merchants.

The same is true for golden nuts and peninsula olives, which are specialties of the eastern and northwestern parts of the empire respectively. The background of a grain society can be seen.

Ian's expression moved slightly. He glanced at the sample grains in the store, then glanced at the warehouse, and he understood: "Sure enough, there are no golden nuts in the warehouse - this is a prop used to disguise his background. Now Nanling Food disaster, how can people buy such luxury goods in large quantities? And when other people see that he can get golden nuts, at least they won't immediately think that he is related to Feiyandi."

"Moreover, there are actually two sublimated people helping to transport grain at the warehouse? Are you kidding me? It's just that the big chamber of commerce has this kind of treatment. Where did Yi Su Lianghui get such a background!"

So, Ian said directly: "Boss, do you still sell nuts here?"

He pretended to say casually: "How much can it be sold for, and how do you calculate the price?"

The shop owner stopped the pen in his hand. He glanced at Ian and felt that he was not amusing himself, so he said: "It depends on the customer how much you plan to buy. If you buy more, the price will be higher. If you buy less, the price will be lower."

The last time Ian heard such words was the last time.

He could hear the perfunctory tone in the boss's mouth, so he deliberately approached the golden nuts, stretched out his hand to touch them and said, "Are these golden nuts produced in the Aiwei Plain or in Qingye City? The color is a bit dull, and the texture is average, and Fresh golden nuts are different.”

"Um?"

The boss's beard curled up and he looked at Ian, feeling that he might be looking for trouble.

He opened his mouth, intending to say, 'Don't buy it, just don't touch it with those dirty hands! 'But because the target was Ian, looking at the other person's white hands, everyone felt that those hands were much cleaner than his nuts, so he just paused for a moment, and then said impatiently: "I said this , Do you want to buy it? Our Nanling and Didong are not connected by water, so they can only go by land. Except for those big chambers of commerce that have cold dry chain transportation, which small chamber of commerce like ours does not have this quality? "

"If you really want to buy it, you are cowardly saying this. If you think it is not worth it, it may be because your family's conditions are too good and you have never eaten the coarse grains of our common people and have never done business."

"My store is small, and the prices are not high. The taste is just as delicious. Every store you go to has the same price, and there is no better quality."

The store owner said this with a bit of sarcasm, not directly yin and yang, but it was also because of the unusual dress and appearance of Ian and Qingchao beside him.

"Really?" But Ian broke his guard with just one sentence: "I don't believe it."

"This guest."

At this point, if the store owner still can't see that Ian and Qingchao are here to cause trouble, then he is out of his mind. He shook his head and stood up: "Our store operates on a small budget, and it is indeed a waste if we cannot sell high-quality goods." Our problem - I apologize to you here!"

He made a bow gesture, then pointed at the store door: "But you see, I am still doing business with other grain teams here, so I condescend you to come to our place to waste your time. In order not to trouble you, please."

This is considered an eviction order. Generally, those who come to stir up trouble will not continue to entangle themselves at this point. The boss has done such a good job, and when the law enforcement team comes over later, they will definitely suffer.

"I will accept your apology?"

But Ian smiled slightly: "I just want to trouble you - as for business, I think it's better not to do it."

"Qingchao——"

Under the gaze of the boss, whose expression changed, he deliberately said in a long voice: "Go and check the food in the team outside the door. There must be parasitic plant seeds from Feiyan Land mixed in it."

"And these nuts, put them away. There are nobles from the eastern part of the empire who are covering up espionage. This is a big fish."

"You?!"

The store owner was confused, not because he was wronged, but because everything Ian said was true - but how did Ian know? !

——Furthermore, this unreasonable tone, the confident intimidation, and this arrogant attitude...

——Inspector Knight? !

Without any hesitation, the store owner turned around and rushed into the back room as quickly as possible under the blank gazes of the waiter who had not yet reacted and the person in charge of the grain team outside. At the same time, he shouted loudly: "The plan is exposed - —”

He originally planned to say more, to remind the two accomplices behind him.

But he felt a chill coming from behind.

He felt his thinking begin to slow down.

He felt frost creeping down his back.

Then……

He lost consciousness.

And a cyan sword light cut through the frost and snow, and rushed towards the two sublimated people behind the shop who suddenly changed their expressions and were about to turn around and run away.

Taking back the hand that froze the grain shop owner, Ian didn't pay much attention to Qing Chao's movements.

With Qingchao's strength, it can only be said that it is a piece of cake to deal with two spies who have not reached the peak of the first level.

In fact, it was indeed the case. Ian only heard three sword sounds of "ding ding ding", and Qing Chao came over with two Feiyan spies who were stabbed in the chest and were still alive but with only one breath left. .

"Boss, do you want to take a breath, or do you want to kill one and leave only one for interrogation?"

His tone was relaxed and he didn't take it seriously at all. The vitality of the sublime can also ensure the survival of life, so there is no need to be too spoiled to them.

In terms of combat, Qingchao is a well-deserved genius. After all, he is a man who can improve the average strength of the Harrison Port Guards by a few months of teaching.

"Very powerful." Ian also nodded slightly and praised: "There is no need to kill them. These two are probably not from Feiyandi, but sent by the conspirators from the empire - the greater credit lies in On them."

After speaking, he turned his head and looked at the person in charge of the food team: "Go and inform the local garrison - let's just say that the patrol knight has caught Feiyan's spy."

"Don't worry." Ian smiled, which made the person in charge, who looked suspicious and a little uneasy, calm down subconsciously: "You won't be punished for being late for delivering food."

"On the contrary, maybe you can make a big contribution."

It is indeed a great achievement.

Under the torture of the Nanling garrison who came later to hand over to Ian, the dejected grain store owner confessed to the fact that he had colluded with Feiyandi.

As for the reason for the collusion, it is actually very simple - his chamber of commerce was originally financially supported by the mountain people, and the rebellious mountain people were their big customers before the rebellion.

In addition, Feiyandi also reached an agreement with the Great Chamber of Commerce of the Eastern Territory of the Empire behind him... There is a food shortage in Nanling. Only food from other places can be sold in, and it can be sold at a high price.

Needless to say, this kind of tacit understanding is understood by everyone.

There will always be some people who will sell out the interests of the empire for money, not to mention that the empire is so big that it is difficult for all parties to have empathy, and there may even be regional discrimination.

The Eastern Province still has a greater hatred for Cangtian Royal Court, and the others are somewhat indifferent.

"Thank you very much for your help, sir! Your acumen has really helped us a lot!"

After the captain of the local garrison saw Ian and learned the identity of Ian's inspector knight, he immediately came over to thank him: "I am so negligent that I turned a blind eye to the spy in front of me! If it weren't for you, my lord, I'm afraid I'd wait You’re about to make a big mistake!”

"It's nothing. They hide it very well."

In this regard, Ian also helped to calm down a few words: "If I hadn't become suspicious of this temporary chamber of commerce and went to observe something wrong, it would be impossible to discover it through normal investigation alone."

"However, it seems that the spies in Feiyandi are very rampant."

"That's true!"

At this point, the captain couldn't help complaining.

In recent times, due to the cold treatment of the National Conference and Nauman City, various special warfare movements in the Flying Flame Land have intensified outside the Agate Stone Plain.

Not to mention the electromagnetic communication shielding centered on Qianggang Mountain, they even controlled dragons to interfere with homing pigeons, and provided advanced weapons to the rumored bandits. Even those rural cults took a sum of money and started to get excited and cause chaos. stand up.

Due to its strategic geographical location, the Indoshan Gorge has been the hardest hit area for various riots - a few days ago, a rural cult held a ceremony at a hotel. It's hard to say whether the effect was effective. The room was full of animal blood. The boss felt like crying without tears, and most of the soldiers handling the scene felt nauseated.

"That's really disgusting."

Ian said sincerely that he has really become a lord in recent times, and of course he understands that these trivial harassments may not be able to shake the foundation of a territory, but they are enough to shake the fragile nerves of the administrator.

Apart from anything else, if the construction team led by Xia Hui was like the construction team here at Xiakou and was intimidated every three days and unable to start work, Ian would have been so angry that he would personally lead the team and dig three feet into the ground even if he wanted to fly. Fireland's spies cannot be dug out.

Just like this time - the food and seeds provided by the Yisu Chamber of Commerce are mixed with some seemingly insignificant 'junk'. These junks are a special invasive species, parasitic plant seeds that can damage the growth of local wheat seedlings. As soon as it sprouts, it will spread quickly, and one seed can damage an entire farmland.

Is this a big deal? As long as the lord reacts quickly, he can harm a field at most.

But if this happens in dozens or hundreds of fields...

Ian thought about it and felt his brain getting hot.

"No, no matter how smart a person is, he is only one person in an administrative position. My time is limited."

Ian murmured to himself: "The auxiliary management AI must be online as soon as possible, otherwise one Xia Hui leader will be enough for me - go back and give Adelbert more funds."

Ian, who had never felt scared even when facing Archduke Thorin, was indeed a little scared when facing trivial matters in the territory.

Time passed and it was evening.

With the cooperation of the local garrison, the food team quickly prepared safe food without any problems and continued towards Qianggang Mountain.

Everything seemed perfect.

But a certain swordsman was a little confused about Ian's actions.

"grown ups."

Under the setting sun, in the carriage of the grain team that was on the road again, Qingchao asked Ian with some confusion: "Is your operation a bit too grand? Although there is nothing wrong with it, don't we have to keep a low profile?"

"Although it is not mentioned that you are the lord of Xiahui, anyone who is interested will soon know that you are going to Qiangang Mountain after checking the identity of the patrol knight!"

"In this way, no matter what your purpose is, boss, won't it be exposed to the eyes of Feiyandi and the mountain people?"

"Not bad." Ian couldn't help but feel happy when he heard that Qingchao could give such a smooth analysis.

He said seriously: "That's how you need to think more and ask more questions."

"As for why there was such a big fuss..."

Ian raised a finger and shook his head slightly: "From the beginning, my departure from Xiahui Territory has not been hidden from Feiyandi."

"Have you forgotten? There are still a few Feiyan spies in our territory. I deliberately kept them and did not deal with them."

"This time, when I left the territory, I deliberately let them know the news... The exposure here is just to once again locate the time and place for Feiyandi."

"Huh?"

Qingchao was confused: "If that's the case, why..."

"It's just to make the mountain people and Feiyandi believe that the spies they stayed in Xiahui Territory are useful."

Ian said calmly that his plan does not focus on the present at all, but on the future: "Because my real big move is not to go to Qiangang Mountain to negotiate with the Dragon Worship Cult this time... but to possible raids in the future. Midla Dominion.”

"As long as the mountain people and the Flying Flame Land can accurately obtain the intelligence and movements on my side, then they will relax their vigilance against me - and I will use these spies to pass on false information and plan to raid the Midela Dominion in the future. At that time, both the mountain people and Feiyandi thought that I would not do this."

At this point, Ian smiled and nodded to Qingchao, who was stunned: "Intelligence deception does not need many times, only one crucial time is enough."

"Do you understand? Sometimes, you just have to deliberately expose some flaws to make the enemy believe in your reliability."

“Then, when it matters most, tell them I have everything under control!”

"I see……"

If Qingchao realized something, he suddenly said: "It makes sense - the feeling can be used in swordsmanship! Indeed, it can make the enemy mistakenly think that he has mastered the reality of my swordsmanship, and then induce him to use his sword to attack my weakness. And I will attack his weaknesses in turn..."

Qingchao's swordsmanship experience has increased!

Ian: "...You are really a genius in this area."

Forget it, he completely gave up on cultivating Qingchao into an all-rounder.

As a swordsman, you only need to learn mathematics well, and other liberal arts content...just let it happen.

After laying the groundwork for this strategic deception and catching a few Feiyan spies, Ian and the food team had a smooth trip.

Soon, they arrived at the entrance of the Avud tribe in the southern part of Qianggang Mountain.

And here, Elder Manya Avod is waiting for Ian personally.