Jiang Fan crouched down and carefully pressed himself against the door, listening to the conversation in the room.
"Just look at the appearance..."
"That's right, that Miao girl only looked at her appearance, so she came for her because Li County Lieutenant was handsome." Hao Xiuyang said, his voice was old, with a disrespectful smile, "How can there be so many gods, ghosts, old Taoist priests?
It’s just a way to make ends meet.”
"Master knows about that Miao girl?"
"Well, Asha, a young girl, likes to take care of flowers and plants since she was a child. For example, there is a kind of grass in Lingnan, which often grows on the graves. It is called the 'ecstasy grass'. It can emit a strange fragrance, kill the souls, and make people around
When the living creature loses its mind and dies, the grass absorbs the flesh and blood from the soil.
If people mistakenly enter a place where there are many ecstasy grasses, they often walk in circles there, which is called "ghost beating the wall". The Miao girl often uses similar flowers and plants for divination, so the Miao people call her "Tongsi". After her husband died,
After being stimulated and dealing with these poisonous flowers and weeds for a long time, I became delirious."
Li Xiling said: "Master is saying that she used this to stun the government officials and enter the county government office?"
"It's not just dizziness. If you often smoke her incense, you will go crazy. Others don't know it and think they are possessed by evil spirits, so they seek help from experts to exorcise the evil spirits."
"Then Lieutenant Li is really not the reincarnation of her husband?"
"Do you believe this? Even the old Taoist Taoist priest who exorcises ghosts doesn't believe it. He just wants to reassure people."
Hao Xiuyang said this, and then said: "Miao villages often have wizards and Tongsi, and there are many mysterious and mysterious things. Some old Taoists can understand it, but some do not. However, your way and mine may be true, and their witchcraft must be
is fake."
Li Xiling said: "Whether he is reincarnated or not, Lieutenant Li should know clearly, right?"
"Is it true that you are better than me?"
"After all, disciples are also cultivators."
"..."
Outside the house, Jiang Fan listened to this, and the doubts in his eyes gradually disappeared.
He had heard a lot about all kinds of things in the old Miao village, and he was quite afraid of the deep mountains and old forests to the south. It turned out that these old Taoist priests usually pretended to be magic, but they didn't know what they were doing.
In the room, Hao Xiuyang and Li Xiling were chatting casually.
Li Xiling looked around and saw that Hao Xiuyang had finished writing the word "someone" on the table with tea.
The doubt in his eyes grew stronger...
~~
Li Xia also pondered deeply after listening to Jiang Fan's report.
He didn't feel strange when he met a talkative Miao girl. Miao territory was full of mysterious things. But when he met two smart Taoist priests who agreed to make gunpowder for him without saying a word, he felt strange.
Especially that expression...
He could understand the crazy woman's logic, but he couldn't figure out the thoughts of the two Taoist priests.
He always felt that the eyes of the two Taoist priests... seemed to see that he was reborn and wanted to slay demons and defend the Tao.
I feel a little guilty for no reason.
"Brother Li, aren't you going to bed?" Han Qiaoer sat in the public room and yawned.
"Is Qiao'er really okay?"
"It's okay, I just had a long, sweet dream this morning..."
"Okay, how about you go live in Jiang Di's house for a while?"
Han Qiaoer was a little unhappy and pursed her lips.
"Why?"
Li Xia didn't explain, and said: "Let's go and talk to Mrs. Mou together..."
~~
That night, Li Xia woke up twice. When he opened his eyes, he always thought there would be a Taoist priest standing at the bedside, saying, "The old Taoist wants to rid the world of you, a monster like you."
There was nothing to say that night. After Li Xia inspected the camp the next day, he thought about it and walked to the firearms workshop.
…
Hao Xiuyang casually took a bottle of prepared gunpowder, lit the fuse and threw it out.
A "bang" sound exploded in the empty field.
He smiled and asked, "What do you think, Lieutenant Li? This fireball is not difficult to make."
"The power is too small." Li Xia asked, "What is the formula?"
"Fourteen liang of sulfur, seven liang of nest yellow, two and a half kilograms of flame salt, one kilogram of maru, one liang of dry paint, one liang of arsenic, one liang of setting powder..."
Li Xia frowned after hearing this and asked, "Isn't it too complicated?"
He felt that the old Taoist priest was not so much refining gunpowder as he was refining elixirs.
"How do Lieutenant Li think it should be matched?" Hao Xiuyang looked like he was smiling but not smiling.
Li Xia said: "It's because I don't understand that I asked the Taoist Master for help."
He thought about it and asked Hao Xiuyang to eliminate all kinds of unheard of items from the formula, mainly using sulfur, nitrate and other raw materials to try it.
Hao Xiuyang agreed very simply, but his eyes were still strange.
Li Xia thought for a while and simply asked bluntly: "The Taoist Master seems to have something to say to me? Why don't we talk openly and honestly."
"Why did Lieutenant Li say this?"
"I see that the Taoist priest always looks at me strangely."
Hao Xiuyang paused for a moment, as if he didn't expect Li Xia to be so straightforward. He smiled "haha" and waved his hands and said: "Maybe the county captain has a demon in his heart, so he is afraid of the old Taoist's behavior. It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. As time goes by, the old Taoist may be able to become a county official."
Wei exorcises demons..."
Li Xia also smiled and looked at Hao Xiuyang again, with a calm and fearless look in his eyes.
~~
A few days later.
Han Qi'an flipped the chips, took a note of a line of numbers, and handed them to Li Xia.
"Li Xiling's calculations are accurate. This person is not simple."
"He doesn't know how to make gunpowder?"
"yes."
"He doesn't look like a Taoist priest, does he?"
Han Qian said: "It's true that he doesn't look like a Taoist priest, but more like a scholar."
Li Xia nodded, feeling the same way.
Li Xiling first pointed out the omissions in several workshops, and then seemingly casually told Han Qi'an that if he wanted to smelt iron, he should buy iron stone from Dali, and the coal for iron smelting could be mined in Qingfu County. So Hao Xiuyang pretended to survey.
Fan, it is said that there is coal in Guihua Township, Qingfu County.
Later, Li Xiling also suggested that Li Xia's approach of recruiting refugees from everywhere to build bridges and build roads in Qingfu was inappropriate. He believed that what should be done was to "open up wasteland and tax exemptions", so as to attract and relocate a large number of refugees to settle in Qingfu. On the contrary,
Recruiting labor cannot make people settle down.
In addition, there are many small things, such as casually calculating how much of each kind of goods Li Xia needs to bring to the south for smuggling, and how many mules he needs... The problem is that no one told him about the smuggling.
It can be seen from the total clues.
This man refused to make gunpowder with peace of mind all day long, and he didn't know how to make gunpowder. He only wandered around Li Xia's workshops and observed everywhere.
"The strange thing is that with his intelligence, he should not be able to see that he is in a bad situation for partying like this." Han Qian said: "For example, now, it is impossible for Alang to let him go."
"Um."
"I have been thinking recently, why did he do this? Or maybe he wanted to join Alang."
"I'm just a county captain, I'm only seventeen after the new year."
"Smart people can see Alang's abilities." Han Qi'an said: "Li Xiling is a smart man. I watch his actions. He has been an official. His official position is not lower than Jiang Chun and Fang Yankai."
Li Xia said: "I can think of three possibilities. First, as you said, he is a person who committed a crime and hid in the world; second, he was sent by Jia Sidao and had no intention of covering it up from the beginning..."
"What about the third possibility?"
Li Xia was silent for a while and did not say anything. Instead, he asked, "Has Jiang Fan been found out?"
"not yet."
"I'll go see him."
Han Qi'an pondered: "Alang seems a little anxious? Even if he is sent by Jia Sidao, we don't have to rush to expose it."
Li Xia thought for a while, walked out, and said only three words.
"so awkward."
Han Qian was stunned for a moment, not quite understanding...
Hao Xiuyang was still experimenting with the formula of gunpowder, and the gunpowder workshop hadn't heard any explosions for a long time.
Li Xiling was sitting in the yard, holding a piece of leaf and blowing the tune, which was quite pleasant.
Li Xia walked over, stood behind him, listened for a while, and said, "Daoist Li is very proficient in music?"
"It's time for the county captain to see that I am not a Taoist priest," Li Xiling said.
"That is?"
Li Xiling turned his back to Li Xia and asked, "Can you tell that I have a Zhejiang accent?"
"It's not obvious." Li Xia thought for a while and asked directly: "You look at me strangely, why?"
"Because I recognize the county captain." Li Xiling said, "The county captain doesn't recognize me?"
Li Xia was silent for a while.
Li Xiling suddenly said: "My ancestral home is Weizhou, Sichuan. I followed my father to Lin'an Prefecture in my early years. Later, because I was from the same hometown as Xie Xianggong, Xie Fang's uncle, I joined his house as the emperor. Until you overthrew Xie Xianggong, I offended Ding Daquan and was expelled from Lin'an.
I wanted to return to my hometown, but western Sichuan had fallen to the Mongolian army, so I went to Yuqiu Mountain to look for Taoist Hao, but I didn't want to be detained by the county captain again."
"Really?" Li Xia asked, "My hometown fell? Where did Uncle Xie Fang go?"
"Xie Xiang went to Jiangxi to live in seclusion. I don't want to go because I am not familiar with the place."
"How did you meet Mr. Hao?"
"When Mr. Xie was in Lin'an, he had an old acquaintance with the contemporary Tianshi Mr. Guanmiao..."
Li Xia seemed to believe it, but asked again: "What do you want to do?"
"Want to do something for the county captain?"
"Why?"
"To make a living." Li Xiling said, "If the county captain doesn't believe me, just keep sending people to keep an eye on me."
“There is a saying that ‘no doubts will be raised’.”
"Don't worry, the county captain may trust me in the future." Li Xiling smiled and said, "My wife and son are in Xuzhou now. Can the county captain send someone to pick him up?"
"Do you have a son?"
"Yes, he is a little two years older than the county captain. He is quite talented in literature, and he may be able to do his best..."
After a conversation, Li Xia was a little unsure about Li Xiling's identity.
But no matter how doubtful he is, he can only wait until someone is sent to Xuzhou to pick up his wife and children. Maybe there will be answers.
~~
It was night, Hao Xiuyang listened for a while, confirmed that no one was outside the house, and asked: "You came out with a false identity, are you not afraid that this guy will expose you?"
"Testing." Li Xiling said, "He failed to expose it today."