Sui Zhou, who was walking in front, interrupted their bickering and asked, "The number of people I brought here tonight is limited, and they are all coming down with me now. Dare to ask Mr. Wang, is there someone from the West Factory guarding the Shuyi Building outside?"
In this dark passage that can only move forward by bending over, Wang Zhi's voice is very calm: "You still need to say, when I came down, people will seal up the brothel, and they can't find any trouble. ."
Sui Zhou calmed down a little, and stopped talking, and concentrated on exploring the road ahead. Apart from the sound of breathing and footsteps, there was no other sound in the suffocating secret passage.
The group of people walked in a hurry. They walked for about half an hour. The air here is thin and completely isolated from the ground. Only the end and the end are connected. Or extinct, so weak that it is almost negligible.
Tang Fan is not as skilled as the others, and this feeling is definitely more obvious than others, but in order not to fall behind and become a burden, he just gritted his teeth and kept silent. He accidentally kicked a stone under his feet, and the person followed him forward. Staggering, but the clothes on the back were pulled in time, and the shoulders were supported by a hand, pulling the figure back, so as to avoid the fate of being dropped by a dog.
He didn't have to look back to know that it was Wang Zhi who helped, but the boss was reluctant and didn't want to go against his upbringing, so he could only say in a loud voice, "Thank you!"
There was a laughter behind him, followed by Eunuch Wang's sarcastic words: "If you don't want to thank you, you don't have to force it, you civil servants just want to save face and suffer, you know that you will put a foot on your ass and let you knock the person in front of you by the way. , what a spectacle!"
Look, Eunuch Wang's mouth is so cheap, and it's not for others to thank you, and it's not for others to thank you. Tang Fan was so angry that he didn't care about him in the same way, and he didn't talk back, just hurrying away.
Seeing that he couldn't pursue the victory, Wang Zhi was rather bored, so he could only curl his lips and call Jin to withdraw his troops.
The Freehand Tower is located in the northeast of the capital, not far from the city gate, but this secret passage is really long. As everyone walks, they are secretly frightened, thinking that those who can dig this tunnel are also interested. Go on like this and wait until you get out. At that time, I am afraid that they are already in the outskirts of Beijing. If the thieves set off half an hour earlier than them, and if there is someone outside to meet them, if they want to catch up now, I am afraid it will be very difficult.
Everyone was so tired with sore backs and sore legs, especially Tang Fan, but a cold gust of wind blew in front of them, but it lifted everyone's spirits. Knowing that the exit was not far ahead, they all quickened their pace.
Sure enough, after walking for another quarter of an hour, I heard Xue Ling whispering: "It's here!"
He handed the candle in his hand to Sui Zhou, and jumped up and out of the hole in three strokes.
The others followed suit and climbed out of the cave one after another like him.
The wind outside was whistling, like a knife, but everyone was bored under the dark passage for a long time, and when the wind blew, they all felt refreshed.
The moon is still bright tonight, Tang Fan looked around, and saw that they were in a forest now, and the entrance to the hole was right under a slope, with stones blocking it and trees beside it. It's not that I just walked out of the long and stuffy dark passage just now. I'm afraid it's hard to believe that entering through this hole can lead directly to the utility room of a brothel in the capital.
Not only Tang Fan, but everyone, like Tang Fan, instantly felt an incredible sense of absurdity.
After a while, Suizhou said: "Going back is the capital, they should have left the woods and headed forward, they thought they had built a secret passage, and when they left the capital, the sea and sky would be vast, and they brought a group of children with them, and they will definitely have to rest at that time. Sharpie, we are going faster, maybe we can catch up with them!"
Naturally, everyone had no objection, so they walked out of the woods and walked along the official road.
The trouble is, they don't have horses, and they rely on their feet to travel. No matter how fast they go, they will definitely not get anywhere. Fortunately, they just walked for about a quarter of an hour when they found out.
What appeared in front of them was a three-way intersection, two official roads and one small road.
The three roads naturally lead in different directions.
Wang Zhi was very familiar with the capital, but when he got out of the capital, he was a little blinded. Seeing this, he couldn't help frowning and said, "There are three paths, which one do they take?"
Xue Lingdao: "These two official roads, one leads to Shunyi and Huairou area, the other goes through Changping to Xuanhua Mansion. The other small road goes around a large circle and finally goes to Tianjin Wei, but because of the detour, and it is not far ahead We have to pass through a deserted village. Many people died in that village because of the plague many years ago, and most of the living people have moved away. Now it is still deserted, and few people will go that way.”
Wang Zhi said depressedly, "Damn, there are three paths, how do you choose?"
Xue Ling also felt embarrassed, even if they were divided into three groups to catch up, but because there were no horses, they couldn't walk fast, and the effect was a drop in the bucket.
He said to Suizhou: "Brother, why don't we go back to find a few horses and then split up to chase? Jinyiwei has guards all over the place, and they can also pay close attention to them."
There was no way out, but Sui Zhou didn't speak, he looked at Tang Fan, who was squatting not far away to study the rut.
Among this group of people, Tang Fan is the most anxious, because A-Dong is also among the lost children. Although Suizhou is usually a little restrained in his feelings, he also does not want to see A-Dong being abducted by human traffickers. .
But Wang Zhi was also very anxious in his heart, and he was several times more anxious than Tang Fan, Sui Zhou and others.
You must know that he came back from the front line for the secret order given to him by the emperor: to investigate suspicious elements in Wansui Mountain, and to find Zhu Yong's young daughter.
Wansui Mountain was only stacked when the palace was built during the Yongle period. It is located to the north of the palace, also known as Jingshan. In the city of Beijing, only standing on Wansui Mountain can command a commanding view and see the whole picture of the imperial city. Therefore, emperors of all dynasties are very taboo, and the mountain is basically full. Someone is guarding.
But not everyone can't go up. Like Li Zilong, the demonic Taoist before, he bewitched a group of internal officials to take him up there. Since then, the emperor has always been suspicious, always feeling that someone is standing on Wansui Mountain watching him. Very insecure.
A few days ago, he had a dream that someone was on the Wansui Mountain, and he felt very uneasy, so he asked Dongchang and Jinyiwei to investigate, but they couldn't find out the reason. The emperor couldn't believe their conclusion, so he brought Wang Zhi back from the front line and asked him check.
Wang Zhi rushed back in a hurry, and had people stay on the Wansui Mountain for a few days. After checking it again, he found that there was nothing suspicious at all. As a result, the case of Zhu Yong's young daughter's disappearance happened again.
In order to avoid the emperor's dissatisfaction, he felt that the West Factory was ineffective and could not do anything. Of course, Wang Zhi had to work hard to solve the case and find Zhu Yong's daughter to show his ability. Let the emperor feel that Xichang is still useful, and secondly, it is also to appease Zhu Yong who is on the front line.
He came back in a small way, and not many people know about it. It is not appropriate to publicize it. He will definitely rush back to Datong in a few days. Otherwise, if the Dongchang finds out, Shang Ming might make it worse, and the emperor will put him in prison. The army was replaced, and Wang Zhi was asked to concentrate on finding someone, and the fun would be great.
Therefore, Eunuch Wang's time is very precious. The case will be solved in two days at the latest. The longer it takes, the worse it will be for him.
Therefore, at this moment, his heart can be called burning with anxiety.
He badly instructed his subordinates: "Go to the nearby station to find some horses!"
"Wait!" Tang Fan said, straightening his waist, he walked back and asked Xue Ling, "You said just now, that path leads to a deserted village?"
Xue Ling: "Yes."
Tang Fan: "How far is the desolate village from here? Is it at least possible to get there?"
Xue Ling said: "It's not far, it takes about a quarter of an hour to walk there."
Tang Fan asked again, "Then out of the deserted village, are there any other villages where you can rest?"
Xue Ling shook his head: "No, because there was a plague in that deserted village, it was later said that passersby met ghosts there. After leaving the village, it was basically a road in the wilderness, and it took a long circle to go to Tianjin Wei. , many people who go to Tianjin Wei would rather go to Tongzhou than suffer this crime in vain."
Tang Fan nodded: "That's right, just go to the deserted village and don't need to look for a horse."
Xue Ling was stunned for a moment: "You said those people would go to the barren village? That's the way that dogs don't go!"
In other words, a little unbelievable.
Tang Fan pointed to the ground and said, "There are new ruts here, and since there are few people there, there are fresh ruts. Obviously, the other party has just left soon, except for those thieves, no one will take the road to the deserted village in the middle of the night. of?"
Xue Ling said: "These two ruts are too shallow. There are also new ruts on the other two official roads, and they are deeper. How can we conclude that they must be heading towards the deserted village? Maybe they are intentionally leading us to something else. Road, delaying our time."
Tang Fan shook his head: "No, since they are doing illegal activities, they must be afraid that people will find out, especially when there are many children in the carriage, and the sound of the carriage is very loud when it is walking. There are sawdust, only the road leading to the deserted village is missing, and the ruts are somewhat irregular, indicating that they are likely to wrap the wheels with cloth strips. Only the carriage that really carries children needs to be so troublesome. The ruts on the other two roads should be just a suspicion."
When everyone thought about it, it seemed that this was the case.
Wang Zhi was cautious, but still didn't dare to put all his hopes on Tang Fan's judgment, so he said: "You guys go after them first, I'll take people to find the horses, split up to chase the other two roads, and then come back and join you. "
Time was running out, Tang Fan and the others didn't say any more, they agreed, and they parted ways. Suizhou and Tang Fan first chased in the direction of the deserted village, while Wang Zhi asked his men to look back for the horses, preparing to split into two groups and take the other two paths.
If it was as Xue Ling said, they walked for about a quarter of an hour when they saw a village not far ahead, with the moonlight shining on it, reflecting the dry thatch on the roof.
It stands to reason that in a populated village, even if every household is sleeping now, it will definitely give bystanders a different feeling. For example, a dog will bark twice occasionally, and a pig in a pigpen may occasionally bark twice. children may cry twice.
But whether it's from the windows that have been in disrepair or some houses that are so dilapidated that even half of the roofs are missing, they are all sending a message to Tang Fan and the others: the village in front of them is indeed a barren one.
However, what makes everyone feel strange and inexplicable is not because the place has been deserted for a long time and there is no one inhabited, but that there is still a faint light in those houses.
The faint candlelight shone through the dilapidated windows, faintly swaying, as if someone was reading at night and sewing clothes under the lamp.
In the middle of the night, in a haunted and deserted village, candles are still lit in many houses. What kind of scene is this
Xue Ling has been in Beizhen Fusi for many years, and consciously exercised a pair of iron courage. As a result, when he saw this strange scene, his scalp suddenly exploded, and his back was densely packed with goose bumps, and the cold hair stood on end.
He whispered: "This village has no name, everyone calls it Xujia Village, because most of the people who lived here were surnamed Xu. Later, many people died in the plague, and the few remaining survivors moved overnight. They left. At that time, it was said that the government sent people to burn the corpses. It took two days and two nights to burn them clean, and they didn’t care what graves were erected for them. At that time, they wanted to burn the village, but it rained after a little fire. , this happened three times in a row, it is said that those who died of the plague were still haunted, and they refused to let people burn the village, and the government did not dare to start again, so later this place was completely abandoned, and generally no one would choose I went this way because it was really scary."
A guard in Jinyi who followed Suizhou asked anxiously, "Is there really a ghost?"
Sui Zhou said solemnly: "No one has lived here for a long time, which just gives some people a chance to pretend to be a ghost. If those people really go this way, maybe this is a trap they set up to make us suspicious. , everyone be careful, don't get caught in an ambush instead."
Tang Fan said, "Look, not every one of these houses is lit with candles."
Suizhou nodded: "First, start with those houses that are not lit up. Don't scatter, everyone, follow me."
This is when the character of a leader can be demonstrated.
When someone else was in Suizhou's position, and there were subordinates around him who could support him, he must have said, "Go over and see what's going on" or something.
But what Suizhou said was "you follow me".
An officer who is willing to take the lead will naturally be loved by his subordinates. Suizhou can eat well in the Beizhen Fusi, which is not unreasonable.
There were only four or five rooms without candles, so everyone showed their weapons and checked them one by one.
Because of all the weird situations ahead, everyone raised a 120,000-point vigilance in their hearts, clenched the embroidered spring knife in their hands, their bodies were extremely tense, and every time they kicked a room, they stared at the wrong thing , for fear of what floods and beasts would break out from it.
Naturally, Tang Fan doesn't need to do anything at this time. He's behind, but it's a bit redundant.
At this time, everyone's eyes have already adapted to the dim environment in the suburbs, and they also have some adaptability, so that they can't see anything. Those houses without candles were naturally pitch-dark. After Suizhou and the others kicked the door, they found that there was nothing inside except simple furniture. Some people's beds were also piled with one or two quilts, embroidered in spring. With the tip of the knife, the quilts that had been brittle for a long time shattered, and some people's chairs were already shaky, and they collapsed with a slight touch.
In this way, when we checked the fifth room where the candles were not lit, everyone was not as nervous as before. Although they were still mentally alert, they finally relaxed a little bit.
"Big brother, there is a carriage parked behind the house!" A Jin Yiwei was in charge of guarding the periphery of the house. At this time, he came from the back of the house and hurriedly reported.
When Suizhou and the others heard the words, they went around to the back, and saw that there was indeed a carriage parked between the backyard of this house and the mountain wall next to it.
Taking a closer look, as Tang Fan said earlier, the four wheels were covered with a thick layer of cloth.
It is very likely that those people have escaped here.
It's just that the carriage is still there, but the people are gone. It's okay for a few adults to say that they are all from the Nancheng Gang. Maybe they have kung fu and it is easy to escape, but the problem is that these people also bring a group of children. , where can you hide
At this moment, they heard Tang Fan shouting in a low voice behind him: "There is someone there!"
Tang Fan didn't come with them to see the carriage, but still stood at the door of the room to check the details. At this time, it was naturally the easiest person to spot movement outside.
Sui Zhou's reaction was extremely fast, from when Tang Fan spoke, to when he turned around, to when he could clearly see where Tang Fan was pointing, and locked the opponent's position, it only took a few breaths.
Under the moonlight, a dark shadow came out from a room not far away without a candlelight. It moved fast, almost desperately trying to run forward. In short, if Tang Fan was asked to chase him, he would definitely not be able to chase him. Up.
But Tang Fan couldn't catch up, so naturally someone could.
The opponent is faster, Suizhou is faster than him!
It was too late, but it was too soon, Suizhou flew out, his figure rose and fell, and the embroidered spring knife in his hand was not idle, and threw it directly at the opponent.
A scream echoed in the wilderness, and the man was stabbed in the shoulder and fell heavily to the ground!
At this time, Xue Ling and the others also chased after him, and directly pressed the man who was still trying to escape from the wound to the ground, and then pulled the Embroidered Spring Sabre from his shoulders. The man screamed like a pig. Completely stopped.
Xue Ling grabbed the front of his shirt and said viciously, "Tell me, where are your accomplices and those children?!"
The man groaned: "I, I don't know..."
Seeing that he was still stubborn, Xue Ling made an effort and directly broke the caudal phalanx of his right hand.
"Ah!!!" The man's entire face was contorted in pain, and his eyes showed great fear.
"Speak or not?" Xue Ling didn't have much patience to deal with him, and broke one of his ring fingers.
"I said! I said!" The man was crying. "They fled up the mountain with those children!"
Xue Ling shouted: "You're lying! Why did they abandon the carriage and choose to go up the mountain instead!"
"No! I didn't lie!" A knife was stabbed in the shoulder, bleeding was bubbling, and two fingers were broken. The man was crying bitterly, just like the old prostitute who had his nails pulled out before, no matter how hard the bones were, in Jinyiwei There is only surrender in front of him. "Because there are too many people, the carriage is broken, the front wheel is cracked, and it will fall apart if they go further, so they have to stop here and flee to the mountain! They also have children with them, and they can't go far, you guys Go after it now, and you can catch up!"
Xue Ling asked again: "Then why are you alone here?!"
The man was panting: "They, they let me stay here, light up those houses, to scare you off, to delay some time..."
Asked here, there was basically nothing to ask, Suizhou gave Xue Ling a wink, the latter understood, the knife hilt hit the back of the man's head hard, and the man fell to the ground softly.
Suizhou said to Tang Fan: "This person can't die yet, you help him bandage, we go up the mountain to find someone, you stay here."
Tang Fan nodded and said no nonsense: "Okay, leave it to me here, you all go!"
He has no kung fu, and his feet are not fast. He can only be left behind as a burden when going up the mountain. If there is a conflict between the two sides, Tang Fan knows that he will not be able to help. It is better not to go if he goes. Come here, you can also meet.
Sui Zhou and the others hurried away.
Tang Fan peeled off the man's coat, rolled it into a strip, passed through the other's armpit, made a few laps, tied it tightly, and stopped the bleeding first.
The deserted village under the moonlit night was cold and silent. The cold wind passed through those broken doors and windows. The sound was like a ghost crying. It really lived up to the rumors that it was haunted. There was a seriously injured and unconscious person lying next to it. Among them, it is inevitable that there is an illusion that there is only one person left in the world.
At this time, coupled with the shadows in the house, the bright or dark candle shadows, the atmosphere is really good, if you say that there is no ghost here, then no one will believe it.
Thinking of this, Tang Fan felt a little strange. As usual, the wind was so strong outside, and the windows and doors were broken. Those candles should have been blown out long ago, but at least half of them are still lit up now. Destroyed, it can be seen that this Nancheng Gang, who was left to scare people, was really careful when setting it up.
They came in a hurry just now, and they were afraid that the longer the time dragged on, the thieves would run away. Once they left the capital, it would be much more difficult to find them again, so whether it was Tang Fan or Suizhou, they could only find the decision in a very short time.
There was nothing to do at the moment, and Tang Fan had time to think about these details.
He picked the nearest house and pushed in.
After the babbling sound, the door opened, and Tang Fan found that the candlestick was placed beside the window. There was a wall in front of it, so it was not directly exposed to the cold wind. There was also a white lampshade on the candlestick, on which was placed It is pressed against a small piece of wood, and the wind does not blow in, and the candle flame is naturally difficult to extinguish.
Tang Fan approached, picked up the wooden board, and found that it was full of lamp oil, and the wick was thicker than usual, no wonder it didn't go out.
With a thud in his heart, he immediately thought of something wrong!
The village has been abandoned for many years, where can such a bright new lamp oil and such a thick wick come from
These people deliberately wanted to escape, so they chose this road. Even if they had planned, how could they even bring the lamp oil and wick with them
At this moment, there was a commotion outside, and he didn't have time to think about it. He turned around and strode out, but saw that the outside was clean.
They were put together!
Tang Fan's heart sank, and before he had time to think about it, he was hit hard on the back of his head, and he also fell forward and fell unconscious.
It's really feng shui turns, that man was knocked on the head by Xue Ling just now, and now it's his turn.
This was Tang Fan's last thought before he fell into a coma.