Chapter 585: There Are Traces of Imperial Guards in Yanzhou

Time goes back to July 25th.

A small mountain village under the jurisdiction of Sheng County, Yanzhou.

This village is also called Tao Village. Every household in the village has peach trees. When the peach blossoms are in full bloom in spring, it is like a ten-mile sea of ​​peach blossoms. Now it is midsummer, and the peach blossoms of all the trees have fallen, replaced by lush greenery.

This village is located at the foot of a mountain called Helan Mountain. There is a small fenced courtyard closest to the foot of the mountain. Two thatched houses stand quietly in the courtyard. The previously neat and thriving nursery is full of weeds, and the fence is also covered with vines.

The two thatched houses in the courtyard look like they have not been lived in for a long time. The eaves are full of spider webs, which look a little desolate.

Tap tap tap.

A group of slow footsteps approached from afar, and two staggering figures came to the fence and stopped.

The two figures looked like an old couple in their fifties, wearing very simple clothes. Both of them were hunched over and looked very haggard. The old woman was holding a pottery jar, her eyes were red, her face was sad, and she was muttering: "Son, we are home, we are home."

"Who are you?"

Just then, an old man carrying a hoe, who seemed to have just returned from working in the fields, looked at the two figures parked outside the fence, frowned and looked carefully. After a moment, the old man was surprised and said: "Shigen, Yingzi?"

Hearing the voice, the old couple raised their heads and looked sideways. The old man looked at the old man in a daze, and then said: "Uncle Youtian?"

"Shigen, it's really you." Hearing this familiar voice, Cui Youtian put down the hoe and said in surprise: "Weren't you taken to the city by Xiaohua? Did you go to enjoy your life? Why did you come back? Gangzi didn't come back? "

Hearing this "Gangzi", the old couple was even more hurt. The old woman lowered her head and looked at the pottery jar in her arms, and said incoherently: "Son, Uncle Youtian is calling you, wake up, Uncle Youtian is calling you."

Cui Youtian stared at the pottery jar in the old woman's hand in astonishment, and said in surprise: "Shigen, what's Yingzi like?"

"Gone, Gangzi is gone, it's all Xiaohua that bastard, it's all her, if it weren't for her, how could Gangzi die, how could he commit suicide, Gangzi." The old man called Shigen by Cui Youtian sobbed with a sad face, and then looked at his wife beside him and cursed:

"It's all your fault. If you hadn't given birth to that bastard, how could Xiaogang die, how could he die"

As he said, Shigen kicked the old woman next to him.

The old woman was kicked to the ground without any preparation. Her clothes were opened a little, revealing her scarred skin. But she was holding the pottery jar firmly in her hand. She lay on the ground and cried, "It's all my fault, it's all my fault, my son, I'm sorry for you."

"Give me back my Gangzi."

"Shigen, stop it." Cui Yougen hurriedly grabbed Cui Shigen. Maybe because of his old age, his brain was a little slow to react for a while, and he said after realizing it, "You said, Gangzi is dead?"

Cui Shigen ignored his uncle. After opening Cui Youtian's eyes, he bent down and tried to take the pottery jar held by the old woman, but the latter refused to let go.

"Give it to me."

He grabbed the pottery jar from the old woman, took the pottery jar, opened the fence, and walked towards the thatched house. The old woman got up and hurried to follow.

Cui Youtian looked at the backs of the two people, a little confused, but through the few words just now, he could guess that Shigen's family might have encountered a big thing.

He put the hoe outside and followed them. He and Cui Yougen were from the same family. Seeing the pitiful appearance of the two, he felt sympathy and helped them clean up the yard.

In the process of cleaning up the ground, he learned that the jar contained Cui Gang's ashes, who died by hitting the wall. It seemed that it was because of Cui Shigen's eldest daughter Xiaohua.

Cui Shigen left Tao Village for many years and never came back during this period.

When he left, the villagers were saying that Xiaohua took them to the city to live a good life. Some people said that Xiaohua became a concubine for the master in the city, and the crow turned into a phoenix.

Because of this, Cui Shigen's relationship with the village became weaker.

On the day when Cui Gang was buried, only Cui Youtian's family and relatives of Cui Shigen came to see Cui Gang off.

Cui Gang was buried in the Helan Mountains.

The day after Cui Gang was buried, Cui Gang's mother also passed away.

Some people in the village said that Cui Gang's mother missed her son too much and died of excessive grief.

But an old woman who buried Cui Gang's mother knew that the cause of Cui Gang's mother's death was not simple, because she knew that Cui Gang's mother's body was full of bruises and scars caused by punches and kicks.

She suspected that Cui Shigen had beaten her to death.

When he was in the village before, he beat Cui Gang's mother a lot, and everyone in the village saw it.

But it's better to have a small matter than to have more. The old woman was also from Tao Village, and her husband's family was also surnamed Cui, so she simply turned a blind eye and said nothing.

In August, when Cui Youtian went to visit Cui Shigen, he found that the latter was hanging on the beam of the house. When he put Cui Shigen down, Cui Shigen had already died.

Cui Youtian sighed and told the villagers about Cui Shigen's suicide.

Perhaps because they had talked about Cui Shigen's family a lot in the past and felt guilty, every family in the village contributed some money to bury him next to the graves of Cui Gang and Cui Gang's mother.

August 5.

Several burly men came to Tao Village and asked people about Cui Gang. By chance, the person they found was Cui Youtian.

Cui Yougen frowned: "Who are you Gangzi?"

"We are friends of Sister Cui Gang. Her sister asked us to come here to find him. Has Cui Gang come back?" said the leader among the strong men.

"Xiaohua's friend?" Cui Youtian frowned, then changed his face and said, waving his hoe in the air: "Quickly leave, Taocun doesn't welcome you, Xiaohua is a harm to others, if you don't leave, don't blame the old man. "

Hearing this, several big men looked at each other. Before setting off, the superiors had told them that Yanzhou was not their own territory and they had to be careful and keep a low profile.

The strong man at the head thought about it and said with a smile: "Old man, don't get me wrong. We are good people. It was Cui Gang's sister who asked us to take him over to enjoy the blessing. We don't have any ill intentions?"

"Enjoying happiness?" Cui Yougen snorted coldly: "Gangzi is already dead, and he was killed by Xiaohua, so what kind of happiness do you enjoy?"

At this time, Cui Yougen saw some villagers coming and shouted: "Come quickly, people, these are evil people brought by Xiaohua to cause trouble for Gangzi and his family."

"What?"

"They've all been laid to rest and they still don't deserve to be left in peace."

"Come on, come on."

When the villagers heard this, they were filled with indignation and surrounded these strong men.

"Boss, what should I do? If we go back like this, we won't be able to do business." The strong men looked well-trained at first sight. Looking at the people coming over, they all formed a fighting formation back to back. One of the strong men Han whispered to the leader.

"Let's go first, and then we can ask more slowly."

As the leader spoke, he suddenly shouted: "Don't move. We are from the Yamen. Cui Gang is related to a murder case. Do you want to be put in jail?"

As soon as these words came out, the villagers in Taocun were really scared and did not dare to move.

In their eyes, the Yamen was more terrifying than the King of Hell, and they did not want to be associated with the Yamen.

At the same time, they were also suspicious. Since these people were from the yamen, why didn't they wear yamen clothes?

Seeing that they had been frightened, the strong leader didn't stay too long and left with his people.

The villagers didn't dare to chase him. They just had suspicions. If the other party was true, they didn't dare to gamble.

The reason why the strong men left first was not because they were afraid of the villagers, but because they were afraid of disturbing the local government.

They are not from Yanzhou. They sneaked over from Huaizhou secretly. They are gangsters. If their identities are exposed this time, they will be in trouble.

At night, they quietly visited Cui Youtian's home, took control of Cui Youtian's family, and immediately said, "Let me ask you an answer, as long as you cooperate with us, nothing will happen to anyone?"

Cui Youtian was frightened and nodded hurriedly.

"Very good. You said Cui Gang died before, is that true?"

"Really."

"How did you die?"

"His sister Xiaohua was killed."

"You fool me."

"No, I don't dare. It was Shi Gen who told me that Xiaogang committed suicide because of his sister."

"Who is Shigen?"

"Cui Gang's father."

"Where are the others?"

"died."

"died?"

"Well, the mother who just died a few days ago and committed suicide by hanging from a beam is also dead and buried in the back mountain."

The atmosphere was silent for a moment.

The leader of the strong men asked: "When did they come back?"

"It was at the end of last month, I forgot the specific time, but it didn't take long anyway."

"Where is the back mountain?"

"It's Helan Mountain, the mountain behind the village."

"Let them go and let's go."

A noodle shop in Shengxian County.

"General Wen, let's go back like this and we can do business." Before a strong man could finish his words, he was slapped on the back of the head by his companion next to him.

Wen Heng, who was sitting opposite, said in a deep voice: "How many times have I told you, when you come to Yanzhou, call me boss, not your position."

He glanced left and right and saw that no one was paying attention here, so he whispered: "This Yanzhou is not our territory. Once your identity is exposed, you will probably die. Do you want to harm everyone?"

"Boss, I was wrong."

"The above just asked us to confirm whether Cui Gang has come back. If he does, take him back to Linzhou. But now Cui Gang is dead and we have confirmed it. What to do next is none of our business."

…

When Wen Heng and his party went back, they suddenly encountered a large group of caravans. In addition to the caravan's own guards, there were also many accompanying escorts. Pedestrians on the road were hiding on both sides of the road. Wen Heng So do they.

After the caravan passed by, a strong man asked curiously: "What is this escort? It requires so many bodyguards and guards."

"No, these are not bodyguards." Wen Heng frowned.

"It's not an escort, what is that?"

"They are all in the army. Did you see the shoes they were wearing? They were all military boots."

"People from the army?" Wen Heng's men became curious and asked, "Since we are from the Yanzhou Army, why are we pretending to be bodyguards?"

"In my opinion, this is not the Yanzhou Army. The Yanzhou Army's military boots are not of this standard. Instead, they look like the Forbidden Army."

"Forbidden Army? Impossible. How could the Imperial Army appear in Yanzhou?"

"That's why I'm surprised."

…

A few days later.

On the outskirts of Yuan County, Yanzhou is the city and county closest to Huaizhou.

"Huh, I can go back soon. Counting the time, the provincial examination has already started, right?"

"The provincial examination on the 10th is now on the 13th."

"Boss, look, it's the caravan we met on the road before."

A strong man pointed at the carriages and horses lining up to enter the city not far away and said.

Hearing this, Wen Heng glanced over and frowned.

This is Yuan County, not the capital of Yanzhou or those prosperous cities and counties. How could the caravan come to such a place? Although Yanzhou and Huaizhou allow people from both sides to travel back and forth, there is no trade between the two sides.

In this case, commercial activities between the two sides are illegal.

Of course, the government of both sides will turn a blind eye to such behavior, but the premise is not too much.

But now it is so large that it is impossible to turn a blind eye.

And this also confirms Wen Heng's previous guess.

This caravan is strange.

Wen Heng entered Yuan County with doubts in his heart.

Not long after they entered the city, the city issued a ban, allowing only entry but not exit.

In the next two days, more and more caravans and escorts came to Yuan County, and Wen Heng became more and more uneasy.

"Not good, something must have happened. We must report to An Guogong as soon as possible when we are in Yuan County." Wen Heng said in a deep voice.

...

Before this, Jiangnan, that is, three days before the imperial examination.

According to the order from above, the spies in Jiangnan were preparing to make a big commotion.

They decided to attack the treasure ship from Jiangnan to Huaizhou.

This treasure ship has been traveling back and forth between Jiangnan and Huaizhou since the end of last month, and is responsible for transporting candidates to Huaizhou to take the imperial examination.

Their mission is to create an accident, sink the treasure ship, and kill everyone on board.

In this way, the party responsible for the treasure ship, "Chen Mo regime", will be held responsible for this matter.

And these candidates in Jiangnan all have some status in Jiangnan.

If they all died, it would definitely cause an uproar in Jiangnan, and at the same time give a big gift to the imperial examination of "Chen Mo regime".

It's a pity that they died before they could succeed.

Because it is impossible to create such a big accident with the spies in Qinhuai City alone, so it is necessary for the spies in all of Jiangnan to be dispatched and assembled.

In this way, Chen Mo was responsible for having people keep an eye on the people in Qinhuai City, and he just happened to follow the clues and found the location where they assembled.

Finally, the Fish Scale Guards were dispatched to wipe out the entire group.

In the dungeon where the Fish Scale Guards held criminals.

A man with tattered clothes and blood all over his body was tied to a cross-shaped wooden stake.

Under the leadership of Nangong Xian, Xiao Quan came to the man.

When the man saw Xiao Quan, he immediately became excited and said with blood in his mouth: "Master, save me, save me, I am Xiao Ge, these people caught me here without knowing the truth, Master, you have to make a decision for me."

"Shut up." Xiao Quan shouted coldly.