Chu Nanzhi cautiously poked his head out and saw that the carriage was parked deep in a mountain road surrounded by peaks. There were streams all around, and the environment was very quiet.
Li Ce looked around vigilantly, and first said to Chu Nanzhi: "Sister-in-law, there is Niujia Village ahead, but something seems wrong. We seem to be being followed."
Chu Nanzhi looked at the road at his feet again, and calmly ordered: "Tell everyone not to panic, speed up and enter the village, and wait until you get to the village to make plans."
Li Ce also carefully inspected the surroundings. The roads here were alternating between sandalwood streams and the roads were narrow. If a fight broke out here, he would definitely suffer the loss, so he obediently shouted at everyone and continued on his way quickly.
When he saw the dilapidated thatched houses and some rotten beams in the village, Li Ce asked everyone to stop.
Chu Nanzhi led Peng Pai and Ma Laifu out of the car, carefully watching for any movement around them.
As soon as we arrived at the entrance of the village, a breeze blew in, and we smelled a familiar smell of rust, mixed with the rotten air, which was very unpleasant.
Chu Nanzhi stopped and took a deep breath, savoring the strange smell. Then she was suddenly shocked: this was the smell she was looking for, and it was exactly the same as the food in the inn the day before yesterday.
Although it is mixed with rotten leaves and wastewater, as long as your sense of smell is sharp enough, you will definitely be able to detect the odor hidden inside.
The government officials smelled the disgusting smell in the village and quickly covered their noses and diffused the surrounding air with their hands.
Peng Pai also pinched his nose, squinted his eyes and complained: "I didn't expect that after eight years, no one would dare to move back to live in this village. Everywhere is stinky."
Ma Laifu rubbed the back of his head in confusion: "Ahem, I remember that the village Brother Zhu brought me to last time was definitely not this village."
"Could there be other villages also infected with the plague?"
Chu Nanzhi asked puzzledly.
"That's not true."
Ma Laifu replied thoughtfully: "I remember Brother Zhu said that there was also a problem with the salt well in Majia Village. He said he wanted to check it out, so I went with him."
Chu Nanzhi asked again: "Where is Majia Village?"
Ma Laifu looked at a river outside the village and pointed: "It should be in the upper reaches, not too far away."
Chu Nanzhi looked at the river not far away and asked casually: "Does this river flow into the village?"
"good."
Peng Pai nodded and said: "I heard that in the past, this village used water from this river for washing and cooking. The end of this river is in the west of the village, and the sealed salt well is also there."
"Then let's go into the village."
Chu Nanzhi looked around at everyone and reminded: "Everyone, please be careful."
The group of people tiptoed into the village. The government officials held the sabers around their waists tightly in their hands, ready to deal with emergencies at any time.
For a time, everything was covered with soldiers.
When everyone stepped into the village, they were moving and being careful when they suddenly heard a rustling sound of stampeding.
When Li Ce saw this, he motioned for everyone to stop and gathered tightly around Chu Nanzhi.
The stamping sound got closer and closer, and the sound became clearer.
In just a moment, some men in black with sharp weapons in their hands began to disperse from the abandoned huts and beams, and surrounded them from all directions.
Li Ce took a closer look and saw that there were about twenty or thirty people. He couldn't help but sneered mockingly: "How dare people like this come here to act wild."
While clenching his fists, he turned to look at Chu Nanzhi and said with a wicked smile: "Sister-in-law, don't move. Give me a chance to practice my hands. It's been a long time since I stretched my hands and feet."
"Be careful."
Seeing his confident look, Chu Nanzhi reassured him and signaled to him, ready to appreciate this guy's skills.
But just as Li Ce was flexing his muscles and gearing up to try, suddenly a stream of arrows whizzed from all directions unexpectedly.
"alert."
Li Ce was startled, and quickly drew out his sword to protect Chu Nanzhi, telling everyone to be careful.
Just when the first wave of arrows stopped, everyone looked around and realized that those who were shot were all masked men in black.
"This is interesting."
Just as Chu Nanzhi sneered, he saw a branch arrow continue to shoot accurately at the men in black who were about to come over.
The scene fell into chaos again.
Chu Nanzhi looked sharply at the place where the arrow flew, searching carefully, and found some vague figures on the top of the beams in the distance.
When his eyes returned to the man in black on the ground, all he saw were corpses lying on the ground unable to move.
Seeing that all the men in black were shot dead, Chu Nanzhi quickly shouted to everyone: "Leave one alive."
Li Ce understood the idea in his heart, and quickly reacted in his mind by taking the big knife in his hand and throwing it straight at a flying arrow. The light of the knife flashed through the air, and the incoming arrow hit the knife, making a sharp "chi" sound, and the big knife
They fell to the ground together.
Li Ce strode to the last surviving man in black, grabbed the man's trembling arm, lifted it hard and threw it directly in front of Chu Nanzhi.
Chu Nanzhi bent down and was about to check, when he suddenly saw a fat unknown object being thrown straight over from behind the hut like a parabola.
Taking a closer look, he turned out to be a middle-aged man with a fat head and big ears.
Li Ce picked up the machete on the ground and prepared to chase the people behind the hut. Chu Nanzhi waved his hand quickly: "No need, these people have no ill intentions. Since they are not enemies but friends, there is no need for us to provoke them."
"good."
Li Ce responded, knelt down next to Chu Nanzhi, took a closer look at the middle-aged man who was thrown over, and couldn't help shouting: "Kang Mingtang."
"Kang Ming Tang?"
Chu Nanzhi also looked surprised: "It's Kang Mingtang who is competing with Sun Wuji for official positions?"
"It's him."
Li Ce angrily grabbed Kang Mingtang, who had a fat head and big ears, and angrily shouted: "You sent these men in black?"
"Yes, yes, it is the nursing home of the common people and the care for the dead."
Kang Mingtang was covered in injuries, his nose was so bruised and his face was so swollen that he could hardly see his true face. He endured the pain from everywhere, and just after he finished replying, he couldn't help but grinned and moaned in pain.
Li Ce clenched his big fists and said angrily: "Okay, yesterday you boasted in front of me that you are a first-class good citizen of Haikang County, but today you dare to send someone to assassinate the county government official. Please tell me honestly, who
Instigated you to come?"
Kang Mingtang gritted his teeth and rubbed his body that was about to fall apart, not daring to say a word.
Li Ce picked up the gleaming sword. Before he could scare him, Kang Mingtang was so frightened that he peed his pants. He quickly replied with a grimace: "I'll attack, I'll attack, strong man, spare your life."
He had just been beaten up by someone, and then thrown here from the roof. How could he withstand this person's iron fist?