When the fire jumped up on Crouching Ridge, Wang Quan, Dutou, Controller of Crane in the Song Dynasty, and his brothers were sleeping soundly in a common people's home near the Guanyi Station in Jingui Town.
Since meeting Han Qing half a month ago, he has been secretly tracking Han Qing with a few of his brothers.
Although he couldn't be like the super agents in later movies, he could watch Han Qing's every move, including eating and going to the toilet. At least, he could see where Han Qing had been recently.
Which people have mastered it?
Including Han Qing's secret collusion with County Lieutenant Chen Dong, and under the cover of the latter, they traced and observed most of the process in Ding'an County to find out the truth about the fire in the military grain depot. Moreover, for the young man's calmness and boldness, they also tracked and observed most of the process.
Very impressed.
"This boy is indeed Han Zhongwu's grandnephew. He is simply born to be a crane controller!"
"Don't talk nonsense. I am a student from the Imperial Academy. Even if I join the Crane Control Division, I will at least start as a captain. How can I start from an ordinary Crane Controller!"
"You're so brave. If I were wanted by both black and white police at the same time, I wouldn't have time to run away. How dare I turn around and fight back!"
"He was also driven into panic. He originally wanted to take his wife back to meet his family. But as a result, all the roads heading east were covered with bounties for him!"
"Damn it, when we were offering rewards for the Feilong envoys and Liao assassins, I never saw the officials at all levels being so serious!"
"On the huge Yongxing Military Road, not a single official thought about carefully investigating the case of the fire in the military grain depot. Instead, everyone worked together to cover up the news and embarrass a junior. Alas..."
"No wonder we, the Song Dynasty's army of hundreds of thousands, can't defeat the 20,000 Xiang Yaozi. With such bastards behind me, I can't feel at ease on the battlefield."
"What's going on over there in Bianliang? How many secret folds have we handed over? Why hasn't there been any reaction yet?"
"Not only us, but crane controllers from other places have also been sending secret reports to our superiors in the past two years. But the superiors don't know what they are thinking, and they always ignore them!"
"well--"
In addition to admiration, everyone would inevitably put themselves into Han Qing's position to speculate on what would happen next. The more they thought about it, the more they felt heavy in their hearts.
The civil and military officials of the entire dynasty were "asleep". For so long, they did not make any reaction to what happened on the Yongxing Military Road.
The Han family in Bianliang didn't know what kind of trouble they were in. For so long, they were indifferent to the Yongxing army's gang up and down to hunt down their nephew!
Something is wrong, something is very wrong.
Even if the Han family has given up on Han Qing, the court cannot allow the Yongxing military route to continue to rot!
Officials are said to be wise and wise when they are crown princes, so it is unlikely that they would be deceived by treacherous ministers to this extent.
Prime Minister Lü Mengzheng was born as the number one scholar, and had been in charge of the central government during the reign of the late Emperor. He must not have been a weak official. (Note: Lü Mengzheng's official position is Zhongshu Shilang and Hubu Shangshu, Tongping Zhangshi, which is equivalent to the prime minister.
)
Since the two of them knew that Yongxing's military road was so corrupt but did not take timely action, they must be playing a big game!
But as the two heads of the entire Song Dynasty, you only have fun playing big chess, but you still don't give a word of truth to the people below you. Isn't it chilling to everyone?
After all, people are not chess pieces, they all have emotions and desires. You can’t just take it out of the jar, put it on the chessboard, and feed it to your opponent without considering whether they are willing!
I felt uncomfortable, and it was inevitable that everyone would lose energy when doing things. Therefore, no matter how hard Wang Quan tried to encourage him, after leaving Ding'an County, the crane controllers under him were somewhat unable to keep up with Han Qing's footsteps.
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Fortunately, Han Qing had to worry about Dou Rong's physical condition and the endurance of Dou Sha, a half-year-old child, so he kept walking slowly. And most of the time, he walked the official route. Wang Quan and others barely managed to avoid losing him.
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However, the brothers' reaction speed and hand and foot movements became slower and slower. Even if Wang Quan didn't urge them every day, no one would want to move.
Tonight, although Wang Quan had guessed in advance that Han Qing deliberately stayed in the post house that only accommodated officials, he must have ulterior motives. However, Zhang Shigui, the crane controller who was responsible for secretly watching the post house at night, was still in the cold wind.
I dozed off.
Until just now, the fire suddenly illuminated the window!
"What's going on? Where's the fire?" Wang Quan was very vigilant. He felt the window become brighter in his sleep and sat up suddenly.
"It must be a mountain fire!"
"It won't burn on a cold day. It won't be long before the cold wind blows it out!"
"It's just a matter of burning two or three mountains. The fire seems to be far away from here."
…
The other brothers who were staying at the farmhouse with him were awakened by his actions and struggled to sit up, yawning and muttering in a low voice.
"I'm afraid this fire may not be a mountain fire! Forget it, let's talk about it tomorrow morning!" Wang Quan's mentality was also affected by his subordinates and became a little slack. He did not urge everyone to get up immediately, but frowned and slowly lay down again.
However, before his back hit the floor, the door had been pushed open by someone. Zhang Shigui, the crane controller on duty, rushed in with a cold wind, "Everyone's head, all head, it's not good, Han Qing
, Han Qing, his wife, and brother-in-law are all missing!"
"What did you say? You disappeared? Didn't I tell you to keep an eye on Guanyi?" Wang Quanji shivered, and his sleepiness disappeared in an instant.
"Subordinate, I have indeed been keeping an eye on Guanyi. But Han Qing's skills are extraordinary!" Zhang Shigui didn't dare to say that he had fallen asleep just now, so he lowered his head and explained with aggrieved face, "He used to do it all the time.
Come on, walking into someone else's house is like going to the market. I don't even dare to blink an eyelid tonight..."
"Where did he go? When did he leave? How did you find out that he left?" Wang Quan knew that this was not the time to hold people responsible, so he asked in a deep voice while quickly packing up his belongings.
When he finished speaking, he already had most of the answers, "Oh my God! He went to set a fire. He set the fire on the top of the mountain. I'm afraid it's not the territory of the Red Lotus Sect!"
"It's not clear when they left through the back door. My subordinates saw the fire, and then heard the chaos in the official post. They took the opportunity to go inside and check the stables. They found that all their horses were missing!"
Zhang Shijie did not dare to make the same mistake again and again, so he quickly reported in a hoarse voice.
At this time, the outline of the entire incident was perfectly presented in Wang Quan's mind.
It was Han Qing who heard some news about the Red Lotus Sect in Ding'an County, so he came here to take revenge on the Red Lotus Sect.
During the day, he moved into the official post under the false identity of an official, just to hide his identity from others. But in the middle of the night, when no one was paying attention, he took his wife and brother-in-law to a cottage of the Red Lotus Sect, and stayed there.
Later, another fire was set off.
This kid is so talented!
After suffering a loss from the Red Lotus Sect, he punched him back without resorting to the family's strength!
After dawn, the Red Lotus Sect is stationed in various churches in Gyeongju, and they will definitely go out to capture him. (Note: There was a clerical error in the last two chapters, and Gyeongju was written as Huanzhou. It will be revised after three days. I hereby inform you and ask for it.
Readers forgive me.)
However, he was able to take advantage of the Red Lotus Sect's large scale and lack of timely communication of information from various churches to turn around and go to other states and counties to continue causing trouble and setting fires.
Just as he was nodding secretly in admiration, the crisp sound of gongs came to his ears again, "The water has leaked, Crouching Tiger Ling has leaked. Every household should be careful! The weather is dry and the fire is easy to spread!"
However, it was the archers and village warriors from the Jingui Town Inspection Station who began to remind the people to be more vigilant and guard against fires.
Wang Quan didn't know how many people in the town were followers of the Red Lotus Sect. Therefore, in order to avoid exposing his identity, he did not dare to immediately lead his brothers to leave the farmhouse where they were staying and continue to track Han Qing.
However, he had no intention of continuing to sleep soundly. He simply got up, pretended to be frightened, and went to the street to observe the fire.
The fire spread quickly, and in the time it took to speak, it already lit up half of the sky.
Although it is more than ten miles away from Wohu Ridge, most people in Jingai Town are still worried that Mars will be blown by the mountain wind. They have dug out well water and braved the cold wind to splash wet thatched roofs of their houses.
A small number of large families lived in tile-roofed houses. However, they did not dare to take it lightly. Each of them sent servants to pour well water around the yard to prevent neighboring small houses from catching fire and causing disaster for themselves.
There were also some strong men with heavy faces who did not care about their own houses. Instead, they held sticks and simple knives, led horses and mules, called donkeys, and walked out of the town in twos and threes.
No need to ask, Wang Quan also knew that these people must be followers of the Red Lotus Sect.
However, the archers and village warriors of Jingui Town turned a blind eye to these guys who were obviously behaving abnormally, and allowed them to swagger out of the town and attack Crouching Tiger Ridge.
Observing these details, Wang Quan suddenly had an idea.
He quietly returned to the farmhouse where he stayed, and after waiting for a while, he estimated that the previous wave of Red Lotus believers had gone far away. He led everyone and the horses out quickly.
He also followed the example of the group of Red Lotus cultists, swaggering through the noisy crowd on the street with a straight face, and headed straight for the outskirts of the town.
Along the way, he met archers and village warriors from Jingui Town many times. They tried to block the way, but he glared back directly, and no one dared to "meddle in other people's business."
After leaving the town, Wang Quan immediately took several of his subordinates and rode straight to where the fire started.
There was no need to worry about taking the wrong path, as the firelight clearly pointed out the direction for him.
At this time, the roads and alleys were all illuminated by firelight. Every plant and tree was as clear to human eyes as it was during the day.
Along the way, they met many times with other Red Lotus believers who rushed to put out the fire. Because they came from different villages, the believers were not familiar with each other, so Wang Quan and others did not have to worry about their identities being exposed.
The master of arts is brave, so Dutou Wangquan and his crane controllers walked to the edge of the fire scene and then secretly stopped.
There are already people everywhere around the fire. A rough count shows that the number is no less than five hundred. On the mountain roads leading to the surrounding villages, there are still followers of the Red Lotus Sect, riding horses, mules, and donkeys, trying to put out the fire together.
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When they saw that half of the mountain had been burned into "candles", the former village had been engulfed in flames, and all the believers had given up. They gathered together in twos and threes and asked each other about the cause of the fire.
"It seems that someone came in in the middle of the night and set the fire. The opponent's soldiers were strong and they killed the helmsman and the inspector. Then they set another fire!"
"It seems that nearly a hundred people came in together to kill each other. The brothers couldn't stop them at all!"
"That group of people were really cruel. They hacked most of the brothers on duty to death!"
"According to the brothers who escaped, the leader is an expert and knows how to use palm thunder!"
"The helmsman was struck by lightning before he could summon God!"
…
Some believers arrived earlier and spread the news they had heard from hearsay.
"Boy, you have the guts!" Wang Quan heard the discussion of the believers. Although he didn't completely believe it, he couldn't help but secretly raised his thumb again.
Now that things have happened, he is more and more convinced that his decision to deliberately let Han Qing go was the right one.
That kid is definitely born to be a Crane Controller. Maybe he will become a Crane Controller one day.
Like his seniors who listened to others praising their juniors, Wang Quan continued to eavesdrop on the discussions of the believers. The more he listened, the more proud he became.
At this moment, three familiar words suddenly came to his ears, "...Konghe Division..."
Quickly turning his head, he looked towards the source of the sound. He saw a short man with a short beard and a wretched appearance, foaming at the mouth and telling his companions, "I must have heard you right! Deputy Hall Master Feng just interrogated the kidnapped people.
The guy in the tree. They all insisted that it was the imperial court who sent the He Controlling Division. Moreover, the He Controlling Division’s people even tried to persuade them..."
"Damn, I've been fooled! This kid has such a damn dark heart!" Wang Quan's mood suddenly took a turn for the worse. He didn't have time to listen carefully, so he turned around and picked up his brother, and hurriedly rode away while no one was paying attention.
