"Impossible," Bai Shan said, "All military households are on the register. Since you said that he took his mother with him, it is impossible for him to be a deserter. Otherwise, when he returns to his hometown, it is impossible for the head of the village to know that if he takes in a deserter, if he conceals it, he will be punished." Even sitting."
"I'm about to die, what did I lie to you for?" Bapu said angrily, "When he came back, there was armor in his bag. I was a soldier before, so I knew it when I touched it."
Bai Shan sized him up and asked, "Are you the deserter?"
Babu: ...
He lowered his head and ate a mouthful of chicken and said, "I'm going to die anyway, so there's nothing to hide. Yes, I'm a deserter. Since I escaped, I dare not go home again. I just live by stealing."
Bai Shan still frowned, feeling unreasonable, "How dare deserters go back to their hometown? Most of them are wandering around like you. Maybe they will change their identities when they have money, but they definitely don't dare to return to their hometown in an open and honest manner. Once discovered, the village chief and Neighbors will be imprisoned."
Bapu himself is a deserter, of course he is aware of this, so he frowned, but quickly let go, and said indifferently: "I don't need to lie to you, if he wasn't a deserter, why would there be armor at home?"
He said: "He is all about it, his hands and feet are not broken, and he is young, it is impossible to retire."
Bai Shan pondered for a moment, "Qi's Village in Maozhou?"
Bapu ignored him and continued to eat the chicken.
Bai Shan and Man Bao looked at each other. County magistrate Tang said that if something goes wrong, there must be a demon, and it was also written in the book.
Man Bao asked, "Are you familiar with Maozhou? Why did you escape to Maozhou?"
"I'm not very familiar, I know Yizhou and Mianzhou the most," Bapu said, "I'm from Mianzhou in my hometown, but I dare not go back for fear of being recognized by people I know. As for me, I usually go shopping in Yizhou. I went shopping and touched a few purses to spend, but the past two years in Yizhou were not easy, and the new county magistrate was very ruthless. Several times I was checked by people as soon as I got it. In the end, I had no choice but to escape. "
In fact, Bapu escaped military service for many years, and his life was easy in the middle, but when he was saving money to return to his hometown to change his identity, the Jianwei Weir broke the embankment, and the price of food skyrocketed. It was spent.
After the flood was over, when he first arrived in Yizhou City, life soon got better again. Although there were few people in Yizhou City at that time, rich people began to come back.
He stole a lot of money.
But after Tang County Magistrate took office, his life was difficult. The defense in the city was much stricter, and the Tang County Magistrate found a place to live several times. He had no choice but to hide in Tibet, and finally had to leave Yi state city.
Bapu didn't hide anything, but he boasted more about the things he had stolen, "It's fine if you leave Yizhou. Things in Maozhou are quite easy to steal. I stole a box from a family's house." It’s a pity that it’s hard to get rid of it, when I went to the pawn shop, I happened to bump into someone from their family, and one of them accidentally got stabbed, and it took a lot of effort to escape.”
"That movement, do you know how big it was? Seventy or eighty people arrested me, and I finally escaped by running into the mountains."
Bai Shan didn't believe it, "Seventy or eighty people still can't catch you when you're injured?"
Man Bao said: "The wound is bleeding, you can be found just by following the blood, right?"
Bapu said complacently: "That's God bless me, they chased me into the mountains and stopped chasing me."
Bai Shandao: "Then you arrived at Qi's Village?"
"That's right," Bapu sighed, "Actually, I'm not a villain. The old lady Ban saved me. I planned to give her a jade bracelet that I brought out, but her son came back from outside with my bracelet in his hand." Wanted portrait, as soon as I touched his bag, I knew it was armor. The wound on my stomach is not healed yet, so I definitely can’t beat him... "
Bai Shan and Man Bao were still contemplating, but Ba Bo simply poured a glass of wine to the side, and said in a babbling voice, "Brother, if you listen to me, you shouldn't have seen me, and I wouldn't know you were Deserters, everyone went their own way, so there will be no such thing as today."
"You didn't listen, and you still insisted on arresting me to get the reward. Didn't I have no choice but to kill you..."
Bai Shan's face became serious in an instant, and he interrupted him, "Then do you know Qi's Village well? Do you think there are any deserters in that village besides the old lady Ban's son?"
Bapu rolled his eyes angrily and said: "You are a big radish when you are a deserter, you can find it everywhere. If I run into one, I will be unlucky, and I am running for my life. I haven't been out much, what if someone sees my face?"
Bai Shan looked at Bapu seriously and said: "If you don't go out during the day, you will always go out at night to have a look, right? As a thief, how can you not be familiar with the environment you are in?"
"Eh, Mr. Xiaolang is quite familiar," Bapu said with a smile, "it's true, I did go out at night, but I didn't see anyone."
"Do you feel any difference in their village?"
Bapu finally felt that something was wrong, so he leaned over to look at Bai Shan, and asked, "Why, do you think there is something wrong with their village?"
His eyes lit up, and he grabbed the railing, "Does that mean I don't have to die?"
Bai Shan said indifferently: "Didn't Master Xu say that you also killed an official who arrested you? Do you think you can live?"
Bapu was discouraged when he heard it, but he had nothing to hide from Baishan. He waved his hands boredly and said, "What's the difference? Except that their village is richer, it's no different."
"How do you know that their village is rich?"
"Of course I know," Bapu said, "There are quite a few families with lights on at night, and many of them have dogs. It looks like they are rich."
Not everyone can afford to light oil lamps. Now that Lao Zhou's family is so rich, Lao Zhou is not willing to light oil lamps at night.
But when you are poor, you can count the number of oil lamps lit throughout the year, so many people in the village are lit, which means that the village is rich.
The female prisoner who had been silent all this time suddenly said in a hoarse voice, "Qi's Village has no money."
Bai Shan and Man Bao looked back at her together, "How do you know?"
"Oh, the one she escorted to Beijing with me is from Maozhou." Bapu replied.
Bai Shan's eyes lit up when she looked at her, and the female prisoner didn't hide it, and said, "I have an aunt who married in Qi's village. Because their village is in the mountains, they are notoriously poor. money."
Bapu sneered and said, "Without money, their village can light oil lamps and keep dogs, but the houses are still built of half-stones?"
The female prisoner stopped talking again.
Bai Shan pulled Man Bao and bowed to the prisoner, "Thank you very much."
He said to the two of them: "Eat slowly, we will come to see you in a few days, Man Bao and I have something to do, so we will leave first."
After all, he pulled Man Bao and left.
Man Bao asked him, "What's wrong with you?"
Bai Shan pulled her into the carriage and said in a low voice: "I suddenly remembered that iron ore brochure, in which several whereabouts were written with the word Qi. Hearing what Bapu said today, it may mean Qijia Village, where the iron wares go."
"What if we guess wrong?"
"Whatever," Bai Shan said, "Tell Magistrate Tang and Magistrate Yang to investigate, what if they find out?"
Man Bao thought so too.