Just as various news spread wildly in Qingniu County, Chen Xiaobei led people to Doupo.
Standing on the steep slope and looking forward, a large area in front was covered with ashes. This was all the work of the fire they set that day.
"Zhang Xiaobei, why are they all burned down?" Everyone asked at once.
Chen Xiaobei pretended not to know and shook his head, "I don't know either, maybe it was when Zhu Meng and the others were leaving. Okay, everyone is leaving. We are tired after a night, so we will take a rest here first."
After walking all night and all morning, the villagers were naturally exhausted. Fortunately, the tents on this steep slope were still basically intact. They dragged some quilts out of them and found a sunny place to pile them up. They sat on them with their clothes on and squinted for a while.
no problem.
Listening to the snoring of the villagers around him, Chen Xiaobei didn't feel much sleepy.
Chen Xiaobei's thoughts were a little confused.
He went over what happened recently.
I got involved in too many fights between the prince, the imperial advisor, and the princess.
This ran counter to my original intention when I first came here, which was to be a happy farmer.
But now the fight between the prince and the prince seems to be coming to an end. Zhu Meng has gone to Jizhou. The next step is that after the prince has solved Qingniu County, he will probably go to Jizhou as well.
Therefore, he must not go to Jizhou because he will marry Huang Ying soon.
With Cui Hongyu, Huang Ying, and Chen Qiaoer, I have more and more worries.
So it's better to be safe and sound, and let the wife and children stay warm on the bed.
Thinking of this, Chen Xiaobei felt sad and tears flowed out again.
He thought of his previous life. After his tragic death, how would his parents spend the rest of their lives? It must be miserable.
While thinking about it and crying, Chen Xiaobei fell asleep in a daze until he was awakened by a movement.
When he opened his eyes, he saw that there were not many villagers around him. The village guard Chen Xiaowen was sitting not far from him, fiddling with the crossbow in a bored manner. The clicking sound was caused by him.
Seeing Chen Xiaobei open his eyes, Chen Xiaowen said somewhat apologetically, "Brother Xiaobei woke you up."
Chen Xiaobei smiled and shook his head, "It's okay. By the way, where are the others? Why are they all missing?"
"Oh, they all went down, and when they saw you weren't awake, they couldn't wait any longer."
After hearing this, Chen Xiaobei felt a little dumbfounded. He was too impatient.
Thinking of this, he stood up and moved briefly.
"Let's go, let's catch up and take a look."
After walking forward for seven or eight miles, a complete tent appeared next to it. The fire burned such a large area. Of course, Zhu Meng suffered a great loss. No wonder he went directly to Jizhou.
I got into several tents and took a look. Except for some bedding, there were no other items inside. I don’t know if they were collected or taken away by the owners themselves.
After walking about two miles further, there were too many personal belongings in the tent, which proved that they had been plundered.
Chen Xiaobei recalled the order he had given when he came into the mountains, and he was only allowed to bring food.
It can be seen from the lack of movement of these various personal items at the scene that the people who searched for personal items must not be villagers, which means that someone has already arrived in advance.
Chen Xiaobei's mind immediately flashed that they met Qi Chong when they just came down the mountain that night.
Could it be them? Yes, they are the only one who has the most reasonable explanation.
After walking further, we could see the villagers of the village for more than a mile. Several people had just emerged from a large tent, each carrying a heavy baggage in their hands.
Seeing Chen Xiaobei coming, these people beamed with joy.
"Chief Xiaobei, the person living here must be a general. There's a lot of meat, yes, and there's also wine. I really can't stand it."
Chen Xiaobei opened the curtain first and walked in. It was very spacious inside.
Although the bedding was also spread on the ground, it could be seen that it was covered with animal skins.
There is a wooden pillar next to it with animal skins on it, which is enough to prove that the owner of the tent is definitely not an ordinary person.
Chen Xiaobei sat on this animal skin chair for a while. It was not as comfortable as he had imagined. It was even harder and a little uncomfortable.
There were two jars of wine next to it, one of which was open and almost empty after shaking, and the other jar was not even opened.
Chen Xiaobei walked out holding the jar of wine.
"Let's drink this wine tonight and kill two birds with one stone."
Hearing his words, everyone cheered again.
"Yes, let's drink tonight, don't miss out on the appetizers."
Everyone was chatting and laughing as they moved forward. Unknowingly, it was getting dark and piles of bonfires were lit on the mountain.
Chen Xiaobei and Chen Dachun counted from the beginning to the end and then back again. They were relieved that no villager was left behind.
Although it only took less than half a day, everyone gained a lot, so everyone was very luxurious in the evening, taking out the things they searched for and eating them.
There is no shortage of wine, everyone has a jar.
Chen Xiaobei held up the wine jar and said to the crowd, "Although we are open to eating tonight, we must be careful when drinking. Someone must be on duty at night. We cannot all fall asleep. We may be coaxed by wild boars or eaten by tigers.
We don’t know yet.”
After hearing this, the villagers agreed repeatedly, "Don't worry, we don't drink much there."
After all, of course Chen Xiaobei knew that people who drink too much would never say they drank too much, so he had to be fully prepared.
While everyone was drinking, he called Chen Dachun over and said, "Arrange the personnel to stand guard for the rest of the night. Don't make any mistakes with so many people here."
As the saying goes, some people are happy and some are sad. Chen Xiaobei was drinking happily here, but some people started to feel uneasy.
In the evening, various news spread to the county government and reached Wang Lei's ears.
These news made Wang Lei unable to sit still.
He sent someone to call Wang Heng to discuss countermeasures.
Wang Heng frowned and thought for a long time, then clasped his fists and said.
"Brother, these news came from the common people, which reminded me of something."
"Oh, then tell me."
"Brother, do you still remember why we came?"
"Of course we remember that we followed General Wang Long to take charge of Qingniu County because Zhu Yan was killed."
At this point, Wang Lei suddenly understood and slammed the table.
"You're saying that the murderer is still in the city, and that it was the murderer who spread the news."
Wang Heng nodded, "Yes, Marshal, this murderer is not only in the city, but he must also be in contact with people outside the city in some way."
"Yes, pigeons. Only pigeons can complete the transmission of information without us knowing anything about it."
After listening to Wang Heng's analysis, Wang Lei nodded approvingly.
"You are right. Send an order immediately, asking the soldiers to pay close attention to the sky while standing guard. If you find any pigeons flying, follow them immediately to see where they are flying."
A large invisible net has spread across Qingniu County.