The bright moon was in the sky, and the camp had calmed down after a period of commotion.
All the guards have been arranged to guard the surroundings of the camp. Fortunately, the back is against Zhuma Lake, so only two people need to be arranged to keep an eye on Zhuma Lake, which can save more manpower in other directions.
Geng Shao and Pang Yu led guards to be on strict alert.
"Vice Commander Wang, do you think there is a traitor in the team?" Cold sweat broke out on Shopkeeper Tian's forehead again.
Shopkeeper Dou frowned and said, "This... shouldn't be possible, right?"
Yuwen Chengchao sneered: "Without a traitor, there is no way to poison. I am just curious now, how does the traitor poison?"
Hearing the sound of footsteps, Dapeng and Hoopoe had already returned quickly.
"Master, there is nothing wrong with the horse feed and salt." Dapeng said, "I have checked it myself, and there are always people guarding the car. Anyone approaching the car will be discovered immediately."
"So there won't be any problems with the horse feed before taking it." Yuwen Chengchao said slowly: "The time to poison is when the ingredients are mixed."
Hoopoe immediately said resolutely: "When the horse was being pounded, there were several people present. If anyone makes any moves, they will be discovered immediately. Sir, I can guarantee this with my head!"
"This is really strange." Ning Zhifeng looked confused.
"Not surprising." Qin Xiao suddenly spoke and looked at Hoopoe: "You just said that salt and water need to be added when making ingredients?"
"Yes." The hoopoe nodded and said, "Such fine materials make it easier for horses to replenish their physical strength."
"Where does the water for the ingredients come from?" Qin Xiao asked.
Dai Sheng was startled, and the others understood something instantly. Zhao Yi, who had been silent until now, finally said: "You mean, the water is poisonous?"
"Water is brought from the lake." The Hoopoe pointed to Zhuma Lake: "There are people who carry water from here, but...how can the lake water be poisonous?"
"The water in the lake is not poisonous, but after it is poured into the bucket, it may be poisoned." Yu Wencheng asked: "Who draws the water?"
The hoopoe immediately turned around and shouted: "Niu baby, Niu baby, come here!"
A young man in his early twenties came forward. Hoopoe pointed at the young man and said, "He is the one who fetched water."
"Did you poison the water?" Yuwen Chengchao looked directly into Niu Wa's eyes.
Niu Wa was startled and said in horror: "No...no, I...I didn't poison!"
"Sheep boy, tell the truth. Did anything strange or unusual happen when you were fetching water from the lake?" Hoopoe said hurriedly: "You can't hide anything. You must tell the eldest son everything."
Niu Wa was sweating on his forehead, and after thinking for a while, he said: "There is nothing strange." Suddenly something occurred to him: "Yes, when we were fetching water, Team Leader Ling stood aside for a moment."
"Leader Ling?" Yu Wencheng's face darkened: "Ling Zixiao?"
The caravan was headed by Yuwen Chengchao and Qin Xiao was the deputy commander. However, when leaving the customs before, the trading company always used Ling Zixiao as the escort leader.
"By the way, where is Ling Zixiao?" Dapeng frowned and said, "I haven't seen him tonight."
Yuwen Chengchao's face was stern: "Zhao Yi, Dapeng, search the camp, find Ling Zixiao, and ask him to come over."
The two immediately took the order and left.
"My lord, do you suspect that Team Leader Ling is the real culprit of poisoning?" Shopkeeper Tian frowned and said, "He has been out of seclusion with us many times. He is a decent man and should not do such a thing."
Shopkeeper Dou also nodded and said: "His family members are all in Fucheng. If he poisons the water, isn't that asking for death? He is the leader of a trading company. After one year, he has earned enough money to support his family. How can he destroy his own future?"
Qin Xiao stared at Niu Wa and asked, "Ling Zixiao was standing next to you, did he say anything?"
"He didn't say anything to me." Yangwa shook his head and said, "At that time, he just looked at the lake and seemed to mutter that the enemy would not swim from the lake. I didn't dare to ask more, and he didn't say much.
, when I was carrying water and leaving, he was still standing by the lake."
"You are carrying two buckets of water. When you are fetching water, the other bucket is behind you?" Qin Xiao asked again.
The Yangwa nodded and said: "Yes. But he is not standing behind me. He is a few steps away from me. He should...should not have such long hands."
Ning Zhifeng also frowned and said: "My eldest son, Ling Zixiao was a guard of the Hou Mansion before, and was later transferred to the trading house. He stayed in the trading house for several years. Although he has a quiet and stoic personality, he has always been conscientious in his work. I don't think he will
Poison." He paused and then said, "It won't do him any good."
"Logically speaking, he really has no motive for poisoning." Yu Wen Chengchao nodded slightly: "I don't want it to be him either."
Shopkeeper Tian was a little strange and said: "Master, they want to poison us here, why don't they just poison these horses and just give them laxatives? If the horses are poisoned, we really won't be able to leave."
Yuwen Chengchao sneered and said: "The reason is very simple. They are very confident and feel that one day is enough to achieve their goal. In addition, there are nearly a hundred horses here, including pure Xiling war horses. In addition to paying tribute to the court, most people want to spend money on Xiling war horses."
Money can’t even buy it.”
"Are they trying to steal our horses?" Shopkeeper Tian looked like he suddenly understood.
Everyone present also looked relieved.
The caravan has more than seventy horses. The Xiling war horses are certainly valuable, but even the horses used by the caravan to pull goods are also very strong.
Although the Tang Dynasty and the Utuo people had frequent trade, they never traded horses with each other. The Tang Dynasty opened a horse market in the north. Although they would trade horses with the Tusun people, the Tusun people were also very cunning and never traded horses with each other.
He was willing to trade with the Tang Dynasty for his fine horses.
Therefore, horses were extremely expensive in the Tang Dynasty. Ordinary horses were worth a lot of money. If they were strong war horses, they could not be bought even with money.
There are dozens of horses here, and their value does not belong to the caravan's goods.
"The Wutuo people are robbing horses?" Ning Zhifeng shook his head and said: "They have many more horses than us, so there is no need to do this. Ordinary horse bandits cannot have such courage." He sneered: "If there are really horses here,
If bandits come to rob, even if we don't take action, the White Wolf King will not condone it."
Shopkeeper Tian said anxiously: "My lord, no matter who wants to attack the caravan, the situation is already very dangerous. We are only two roads away from Kunlun Pass. If we send people to ride fast horses day and night to ask for help, will it be possible?
Is someone coming to the rescue?"
"The Tang army entered the territory of the Wutuo people?" Yuwen Chengchao glanced at him and said coldly: "Brother Nalusheng has been coveting Xiling, and he was worried that he could not find an excuse. If the Tang army ran into their territory, they would immediately
They will say that we invaded their territory, and then those who oppose the war in the Utopia Khanate will be speechless."
Shopkeeper Tian smiled bitterly and said, "Are we going to wait here to die?"
Yuwen Chengchao ignored him and said in a deep voice: "We must be on full alert for this day. Everyone in the caravan must be prepared, including horsemen, cart drivers, and porters. They all need to bring knives to me. There are nearly a hundred of us.
When the time comes, the caravan's guards will be the main force, and the others will cooperate to defend against the enemy. I would like to see who dares to stroke the tiger's beard."
"If we can find Ling Zixiao, we might be able to ask some questions." Ning Zhifeng turned to look at the camp with a solemn expression: "I'm just worried that he can't be found."
Everyone waited for a moment, then saw Zhao Yi running towards him, panting: "Young Master, something is wrong...!"
"what happened?"
"At dusk, someone... someone saw Ling Zixiao going on duty on the slope on the left." Zhao Yi gasped: "Dapeng and I went to the slope to look for him, only to find...!
He raised his hand and pointed at the hill on the left: "Master, you'd better go and have a look!"
Yuwen Chengchao knew that something was wrong and quickly walked up the slope. Qin Xiao, Ning Zhifeng and others were quick to catch up, but Shopkeeper Tian and others could no longer keep up.
After leaving the camp and climbing up the hillside, I saw Dapeng and another person standing on it. When he saw Yuwen Chengchao and others approaching, Dapeng's face was also very ugly. He turned to look at one place. Several people climbed up the hillside.
But they found a corpse lying on the ground under the hillside.
"It's the bodyguard of the trading house, his name is Zhao Dayong." Dapeng said: "I was arranged to guard here with another person before. At dusk, Ling Zixiao came up to replace the other person...!" Pointing to his side
That person.
The man cupped his hands and said: "Little Chen Yu, and Zhao Dayong followed the instructions and stayed here to watch the wind. Before dark, leader Ling came over and asked me to rest. He came to look after me and asked me to come back later in the night to replace them. Just now they
I was looking for Team Leader Ling in the camp, so I brought them here, only to find... I found out that Zhao Dayong had been killed and Team Leader Ling was nowhere to be seen."
"Young Master, it was really Ling Zixiao who poisoned me." Zhao Yi clenched his fists and said bitterly: "That son of a bitch knew that the matter would be exposed, so he ran away."
Qin Xiao walked over, looked at the wound, and turned around and said: "Master, the fatal injury was his throat being cut, but there were strangulation marks on his neck, and his mouth was obviously covered with force. If I guessed correctly,
The murderer first covered Zhao Dayong's mouth from behind, fearing that he would make a sound, and then cut his throat with a knife."
"The attack is so ruthless." Zhao Yi said: "They have been together for many years, and Ling Zixiao can actually do it."
Yuwen Chengchao stood on the slope and looked into the distance. In the night, the hills were undulating. He couldn't see very far, so it was naturally impossible to see Ling Zixiao's figure.
"Why did he do this?" Ning Zhifeng sighed: "For money? Don't you even care about your family?"
"Young Master, if Ling Zixiao really wants to escape, he can find a reason to go further away." Qin Xiao frowned slightly: "He can say that he should go to a farther place to investigate. Zhao Dayong cannot stop him, so he can do it quietly.
He glanced at Zhao Dayong's body and said, "But why did he kill Zhao Dayong before escaping? There is no need to do so. If Zhao Dayong accidentally sees that he has murderous intentions and even screams, he will instead
It will be more troublesome."
"You are right." Yu Wen Chengchao's face was solemn: "What do you think it is because of it?"
Qin Xiao thought for a moment and then said: "There is only one possibility. Zhao Dayong may know something he shouldn't know. He was probably killed and silenced."