During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, the population had gradually increased. However, the population in the entire north was still relatively sparse.
This is due to the long-term depression in the north since the Song and Yuan Dynasties, as well as environmental factors such as temperature, wind, sand and water sources. Even Huangcun outside Beijing is now just a village with more than a thousand households, and there is no human habitation for several miles around.
In the second half of the night, the northwest wind gradually stopped, dark clouds blocked the moonlight, and the surrounding area was dark.
Wang Hongyu felt keenly that someone had been staring at him just now, and there was even obvious hostility.
However, as soon as I stopped and observed the night outside, I could no longer notice this feeling at all.
After walking around and around, I found that towards the west, there were no insects in the grass. This feeling of being stared at seemed to come from this direction.
It turns out that there is someone hiding in the grass in this direction.
He rolled his eyes and thought of a good idea.
When walking the next circle, Wang Hongyu yawned, chose a position between the two sentries, chose a large car, and sat down with his back facing the dark grass.
It's extremely quiet behind the scenes, without any buzzing of insects, which is perfect for taking a lazy nap.
Wang Hongyu leaned on the cart and fell asleep soon after. His sleeping posture was quite relaxed and he was not at all defensive.
The dark grass moved on its own, and three thin and vicious killers came out, two holding knives and one holding a crossbow, and quietly approached Wang Hongyu little by little.
Their eyes were fixed on the target, and finally a sinister smile appeared.
The knife-wielders attacked from both sides and made way for the crossbow-wielding accomplices.
The crossbow made a sound when fired, and if it didn't kill him with one blow, it would definitely attract sentries, so the two knife-wielding men approached cautiously, and saw that they could cut off Wang Hongyu's head in only three steps.
The three of them looked at each other, the crossbow pointed at the target, and the two knife-wielding men rushed forward.
"Crack!"
Two knife-wielding killers fell down at the same time.
The crossbow-wielding killer hurriedly observed and found that there were ropes installed between several large cars to trip people, making it difficult to guard against them in the dark.
Just like that, the killer started the crossbow, and the crossbow bolt shot out with a whoosh towards the position he had just aimed at.
With a "thud!" sound, the crossbow arrow penetrated straight into the thick wheels of the cart. Wang Hongyu was no longer in the same place just now!
"The fish takes the bait! Sichuan soldiers kill the thieves!"
Wang Hongyu was fishing just now, and Meng Biao also led dozens of people to ambush behind the cart. As soon as he heard that the thief had been hit by the trip wire, Wang Hongyu rolled away from where he had just been sleeping, picked up the hammer and smashed a crawling
Get up the thief's head.
Meng Biao and others rushed over, using their sabers and crossbow arrows to chop down another man holding a knife, and shot to death the third thief who was trying to escape.
After cleaning the battlefield, Wang Hongyu and Meng Biao looked extremely cold.
These three attackers, all dressed in black, had very professional weapons. They were obviously not stealing food or robbing things, but were specifically here to kill people.
However, no clues could be found.
Two of the killers were dead, and the other one was stabbed. Seeing that the situation was not good, he decided to commit suicide by cutting his wrists.
Meng Biao carefully inspected the weapons left behind by the killer. Both steel knives had five iron rings on the back, which were obviously uniform weapons. The crossbow was well made, and the materials seemed to be made of rattan and bamboo from the southwest.
Common elm wood in the north.
The rest don't have any useful clues.
The Sichuan soldiers were all on alert in the middle of the night. When it got dark, they woke up the hired villagers, took the corpses of the thieves and immediately headed for the Tongzhou army gathering place.
Zhou Dunji and Zhang Shenwu received the news from Kuai Ma and personally led their troops to greet them.
After exchanging information and inspecting the bodies and weapons, Zhou Dunji didn't have much clue. But after thinking about it for a while, he thought that there was a person who might know something.
"As for the killer, I will ask someone to come forward and let her investigate the relevant clues."
He smiled again, patted Wang Hongyu on the shoulder and said: "Third brother, Liangxiang has done a great job this time. With this batch of food, military expenses have been preserved, and the training, morale and discipline of the soldiers will not be affected for the time being.
Big brother will inform the whole army and let everyone know that you, the acting commander, are really capable."
"Thank you, brother! The third brother gets along very well with Brother Meng Biao and the sentry sergeant. Later, I want to practice martial arts together, form formations, and do some new training."
"Okay, but let's do it one by one. You've been working hard all night and came to Tongzhou without eating in the morning. Eat some rest later and we'll discuss it in detail tomorrow."
...
It was evening, and the Tongzhou Grand Canal, more than ten miles away, seemed very busy with ships of various sizes traveling between the north and the south.
From south to north: there are bulk supplies such as grain, salt, and cloth, as well as sought-after commodities such as silk, ceramics, lacquerware, and tea. From north to south: there are ironware, coal, leather goods, and many other specialties, as well as ginseng, mink fur, oriental products, etc.
Pearls are rare commodities that are highly priced and sought after in the South.
Although the total amount of materials transported from the south to the north was large, in the late Ming Dynasty, a large number of ordinary merchants and boat people were involved. They would not return south empty-handed and lose money, so they always returned to the south of the Yangtze River carrying various goods that were easy to sell in the north.
The Grand Canal connecting the two capitals made the economies of the north and the south inseparable at this time, greatly enriching the lives of people in the north and the south.
However, most of the officials gathered nearby are not good people.
In a luxurious restaurant, several generals from Ji Town walked in wearing casual clothes with serious faces.
They knew that this restaurant was expensive and was often a place where powerful people met and discussed matters. This time they came here specifically to meet people and discuss important matters.
"Is this possible?" A military general looked around and asked unconfidently.
"If you don't want to be robbed of your job by those guys from the Southern Army and the three sides, you have to do this even if it doesn't happen." A rather majestic general spoke.
"Don't worry, this matter will only do us good and not bad." A scribe who seemed to be quite wealthy greeted them and said confidently.
He led the military generals in civilian clothes up the stairs and made many twists and turns, completely breaking away from the noisy crowd and arriving in a quiet private room.
There was already a person sitting inside. He looked to be in his 30s. Although he was a civil servant, he had an aura of being capable.
He stood up and said: "The wine and food have been prepared. Come and taste it with me. I brought fine wine from the capital on a special trip."
"It's really a good wine... let me guess, it's a fine wine produced in Suqian no more than 3 years ago or around the 20th year of Wanli?" The rich scribe took a whiff of the wine and guessed directly.
"Hahaha, you are worthy of being the owner of Tongcang. As long as the goods are shipped to and from the Grand Canal, they cannot escape your notice. This wine was produced in Suqian in the 21st year of Wanli."
"Hey, I am just a doctor in the grain hall, and there is also a warehouse assistant above me. I don't dare to call him the master of Tongcang."
The rich scribe pretended to be humble and polite. He was the second-in-command of the Tongzhou Granary at that time, and he was a doctor in the Ministry of Household Grain Hall and a highly educated Confucian scholar.
It was also the tall man who engaged in smuggling in Liangxiang. This chapter has been completed!