At dusk, Ren Ning rushed to Caopu County to meet Lei Er.
The three of them entered the inn and sat down to eat and chat.
Lei Er talked about what he saw in the east, which was very similar to what Ren Ning saw and heard.
When Xiao Gang heard what the two said, his eyes widened in shock, "Burn the medicinal field yourself, hide the medicinal materials, and then frame it for Nan Feng?"
"How is that possible? You must have been deceived."
Ren Ning glanced at him and said, "Xiao Gang, do you know the situation here?"
"Although I haven't been here before, I know something about it." Xiao Gang nodded and shook his head, "Brother Ren and Lei Er, do you know who owns most of the medicinal fields in Baihua County and Canglan County?"
"That's not very clear." Ren Ning and Lei Er shook their heads in unison.
"It's no wonder." Xiao Gang, a truly noble generation, suddenly realized.
"You know that iron and salt are almost all controlled by the imperial court or the royal family. Salt means fiscal revenue, and iron means military weapons. Anyone who dares to touch these two things will be killed."
"Medicine is not as exaggerated as salt and iron."
"But without medicinal materials, wounded and sick soldiers cannot be treated, and diseases within the territory cannot be controlled. So what if we have money and soldiers? We can't survive. Therefore, the royal family controls at least half of the medicinal fields."
Speaking of this, he looked strange.
"Most of us are surrounded by royal pharmaceutical companies. They don't have to pay taxes at all. Are you sure that the managers in the medicine companies will hide their output for tax cuts or subsidies? It's simply impossible."
"Furthermore, generally speaking, as long as the steward does not do well, such as not delivering enough medicinal materials every year, whether it is due to weather or man-made reasons, he will be directly replaced or even beheaded by the clan. He is just a small slave, no one will
He cares about their difficulties. Therefore, it is unlikely that he would burn medicinal fields to hide his output."
"If people from Nanfeng didn't come in and burn it..." Xiao Gang suddenly fell silent, "then it was the members of the clan who manage these medicine shops who joined forces to hide and deceive Your Majesty."
This is not something big-headed soldiers like them can touch.
The three of them stopped talking and picked up the food.
"After dinner, we will leave immediately while the city gate is open." Ren Ning said.
"Why?" Xiao Gang was speechless and almost choked on his food.
He subconsciously looked at the sky outside, "It's going to be dark soon. There's no way to get out of the city at this time, and it's hard to find a place to spend the night."
At that time, you will have to sleep in the mountains and forests, which is not a good feeling.
Lei Er patiently explained to him.
"We went everywhere today to ask about the status of medicinal materials, and we may have been targeted by someone. If our identity was really a caravan buying medicine, there might not be a problem, but we are not. For the sake of safety, we temporarily changed our place to rest to avoid being caught.
dumpling."
Xiao Gang perked up, "So there might be a war?"
These days, his hands are itchy.
Lei Er glared at him.
"Don't forget what Zhuangzi we were investigating just now? If something really happens, you can imagine who will come then? And how many people will there be?"
"There are only three of us and we don't have a lot of heads and six arms. If we don't want to disappear suddenly, we should eat and leave as soon as possible."
Xiao Gang finally reacted, trembling immediately and frantically eating his rice.
He died before leaving the battlefield.
Half a quarter of an hour later, the three riders left Caopu County through the south gate, ran forward for a while, turned around and headed east quickly.
Xiao Gang turned around and glanced far to the west.
Zhennanguan is not in Baihua County, but in Guangxin County next door, just to the southwest of Baihua County.
They are now heading east.
The sky gradually darkened.
After all, it is a border area. Except for the main post roads, other roads are full of potholes and difficult to navigate. But in Baihua County, the farther east the terrain becomes gentler, the faster the horse can run.
Passing by a hill with dense bushes, the three of them abandoned the road and climbed the mountain, found a secluded place, and then stopped to rest.
Look at what a good job you two have done. Not sleeping in a good inn, insisting on going out of the city to hide, makes me very nervous.
Xiao Gang did not dare to say this out loud, and followed Lei Er everywhere to put out warnings and eliminate traces.
More than half an hour later, the two of them came back, but Ren Ning was nowhere to be seen.
"Hey, where did Brother Ren go?" Xiao Gang touched his arms in confusion.
It was already late autumn, but the weather in the south was still extremely hot, so he was wearing very thin clothes. He had been burrowing in and out of the dense woods and shrubs, and had been cut several times by various plants, which made him feel numb and itchy.
Lei Er checked the three horses, took out some broad beans and handed them over. When Xiao Gang didn't want them, he threw them into his mouth and gnawed them.
He leaned against a small shrub and said, "Don't worry, you won't lose your boss even if you lose him. He has something to do, so you can have a good rest."
Xiao Gang nodded, chose a flatter place nearby, picked some leaves and made a bed, and then lay down holding his silver gun.
It's just that he couldn't sleep, and his ears were raised high.
I was looking forward to hearing something but worried about what I would actually hear. I had mixed feelings at the same time.
Lei Er didn't care, and fell asleep quickly after eating the beans.
After tossing and turning, Xiao Gang finally fell asleep after a long journey.
In the middle of the night, Lei Er suddenly opened his eyes.
It turns out that Ren Ning came back.
"Old Ren, what's going on?" Under the faint moonlight, he glanced at the telescope in Ren Ning's hand.
"Twenty people came from two miles to the west and are following the horse's hoof prints. They are pretty strong, at least they are not those villagers from Hanoi County," Ren Ning said.
The red value of this group of people is around 50. Under normal circumstances, they can be easily taken down without any effort.
Lei Er felt strange in his heart.
He didn't know how Ren Ning measured the opponent's strength, but he didn't ask.
"The other party is coming for us?"
"should be."
"Then kill them?" Lei Er's tone became sinister and bloodthirsty.
"Yes." Ren Ning nodded.
Lei Er immediately went to wake up Xiao Gang.
"What's wrong? It's so late at night." Second Young Master Xiao asked drowsily, still unable to open his eyes.
"Wake up! Bring your weapons. As you wish, there is a war." Lei Er said.
Xiao Gang suddenly woke up and listened carefully to what was going on around him.
However, except for the rustling of leaves in the wind and the sound of three horses, he heard nothing.
"It's still far from here. Let's ambush first." Lei Er said.
"Oh." Xiao Gang rubbed his hands together, "How many people are there?"
"Not many, only twenty! But those who came back are not Zhuang Ding, and they may be carrying cloud-piercing arrows or police sentries, so there may be pursuers later."
"So you have to strike quickly and ruthlessly, and you won't let go if you can kill me. Do you understand?"
Xiao Gang was taken aback and nodded quickly, then followed him to the foot of the mountain.
Ren Ning ignored them and found a good position by himself. He could not only help Lei Er and the others, but also observe further places.