More than twenty days have passed since they escaped from the post house. During these days, Zhaotong was under martial law, and countless soldiers patrolled back and forth every day to catch people. No one was burned to death in the big fire in the post house, but more than thirty people were injured or killed while trying to avoid being hunted down by these people.
Even someone as good-tempered as Tang Yuan became very gloomy and irritable, and was especially cold when talking about these things.
Zhao informed the government that Tan Zhengtong had written a letter to confess his guilt, but in this letter of apology, he had already said that the imperial envoy's team was completely wiped out, which directly confirmed the death of the crown prince.
Xiao Heng's original guess came true - if there was no permission from the local senior officials, how could all the people in the post station be replaced by assassins? This matter was clearly a conspiracy from inside and outside, and it was fortunate that Xiao Heng insisted on hiding at the first time instead of going to the government.
After the news from the government came out, the number of officials and soldiers on the streets suddenly increased, and countless people patrolled every day.
It seems that even the local garrison is already controlled by the person behind the scenes.
Tang Yuan and Tang Qingfeng went through several chases before they successfully reunited with Xiao Heng, but Miss Mu San and Mu Qinglu have not been found yet. They were anxious - without Mu Qinglu, even if they survived, the battle on the front line would still be difficult.
The only thing those old men in the Mu Mansion recognize is bloodline.
But no matter how anxious they were, they had no other options, because the government was pressing on step by step. Under the guise of finding the assassin and avenging the crown prince, they began to search and impose martial law in the city step by step. Anyone who could not prove their identity was locked up and arrested.
At first, they were able to bribe some merchants with silver in exchange for identities and avoid pursuit. But later, the government's searches became more and more stringent, even to the point of searching house by house to check for strangers, and their situation became increasingly difficult.
It became increasingly difficult to leave the city. They paid a tragic price of 19 casualties before escaping from Zhaotong City.
Many people are still missing.
Thinking of this, Tang Yuan, who was always calm and composed, couldn't help but shed tears: "If this continues, we will have no way out."
This hiding place was something they had spent a lot of effort to obtain. The reason why the pursuers left just now was because they had already discussed this place with the villagers, and some villagers guaranteed them, saying that they came from Kunming and had lived here for five or six years. Everyone in the village knew them, so the matter was resolved.
But even so, he was still being targeted.
Today, Qingkun was embarrassed when he went out, and was followed when he came back, which further illustrates this point.
But he couldn't stay in this place for long. Looking at the people in the room, Tang Yuan sighed, feeling quite helpless as if he had reached the end of his rope.
Although he has been through hundreds of battles, a general has no soldiers under him, so even if he has thousands of skills, he can hardly display them!
The atmosphere was stiff and depressing, and no one spoke for a while.
In the silence, Xiao Heng, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke up: "The time is almost right."
opportunity
Tang Yuan was a little confused. They had been forced into a desperate situation. Even hiding had become very difficult for them. Everyone outside believed that the Crown Prince was dead. As long as they revealed their identities, they would be beheaded. They couldn't even save their lives, but Xiao Heng was talking about the timing.
He didn't know when it would be.
Xiao Heng glanced at Su Rong, and Su Rong smiled and said to Tang Yuan: "Prince consort, you forgot that the inspector will be here in the next few days."
This is also the reason why the officers and soldiers in Zhaotong have been frantically searching for people in recent days - if they can't find anyone, the Inspector General will come to Zhaotong.
The inspector has a low official rank, but he can report directly to the emperor, so he has always been feared by all local officials. Recently, the censor who is inspecting Yunnan is about to arrive in Zhaotong. Once an inspector arrives, he usually stays for more than ten days. It can be seen how nervous Tan Zhengtong and others have been these days.
Tang Yuan immediately understood what Xiao Heng meant, but he couldn't help but frowned: "Even if that's the case, the inspector only brought more than 30 guards with him. What can these people do?"
Things have come to this point. For Tan Zhengtong and others, it doesn't matter if they kill one more censor. After all, they even dare to kill the crown prince.
"They can't kill us, so we don't have to hide anymore." Xiao Heng smiled, but his eyes were cold: "Forget it, sit down and listen to me."
As the night fell, the lights in the prefectural government office were on. In the signing room, Tan Zhengtong still had no desire to sleep. He paced back and forth anxiously until there was a knock on the door. He then raised his voice impatiently, "Come in!"
Lord Yuan and Secretary Zhan came in.
Both of them looked exhausted.
But now Tan Zhengtong no longer cared about these things. He just asked in a deep voice: "Have you found the person?!"
Zhan Changshi shook his head, and Lord Yuan also shook his head with an unpleasant look on his face: "Not yet..."
In response to them, Qin Zhengtong smashed a pen holder.
A crisp sound of shattering rang out, and Qin Zhengtong went a little crazy: "What on earth are you doing? Didn't you say that searching every household would definitely yield results? How long has it been now? More than 20 days have passed, and apart from catching a few unknown people, you haven't even caught the shadow of the Crown Prince! What's the use of you?!"
Zhan Changshi lowered his head and said nothing.
Lord Yuan was a little unconvinced: "We searched house by house without any delay or slacking off. Maybe they hid in the mountains. How can we find them in such a short time?"
Yunnan is mountainous. Hiding in the mountains is like disappearing into the ocean. How can it be easy to find the place
But now these explanations seemed like provocations to Qin Zhengtong. He sneered at Lord Yuan and said, "That's your business! Besides, if they hide in the mountains, who knows when they will come out? If they show up where they shouldn't be, don't think you can stay out of it. At worst, we'll all die together! Do you think Lord Wei can save you?!"
Lord Yuan's brother-in-law, Lord Wei, is the general of Yunnan. It is precisely because of this that the soldiers of Zhaotong Guard can be used by them.
But this alone is not enough. The Inspector General will be coming from Qujing in the next few days, and the documents have been delivered. According to the rules, the local authorities must give him a grand welcome.
If Xiao Heng and the others jumped out at this time, would it be necessary to kill another censor
Although the Crown Prince was going to be killed anyway, it didn't matter if there was one more Censor, but first the Crown Prince died, and then the Inspector Censor also died in Zhaotong. No matter how high-sounding the excuses were, he, as the prefect, could not escape blame.
He looked at Lord Yuan coldly.