How could everyone care about drinking tea? They kept asking questions.
Su Jin smiled and said: "That's what I speculated, please listen and see if it makes sense; Feng Jingyao arranged the whole thing in a flawless manner. As soon as the messenger of victory on the 26th arrived, Feng Jingyao knew it immediately. There is no doubt about it.
After careful consideration, he decided to transport the grain out of the city and hide it, but he could not use his men in the city, as this would leak the news, so he made up a reason to ask Guo Pinchao to help him open the door at night."
"Guo Pinshanshan didn't know what Feng Jingyao wanted to transport out of the city, but he probably wouldn't ask, and Feng Jingyao wouldn't tell him. Feng Jingyao then started arranging people outside the city to find hiding places. These things were time-consuming.
This is the reason why the grain was transported out of the city on the night of the 29th after receiving the news on the 26th. More than one million stones of grain were needed. Just hiring manpower and vehicles would require a large number of vehicles and transporters. Fortunately, only
Just transport the food out of the city and store it temporarily, and the rest can be done slowly, so I estimate that with three to four hundred people and two to three hundred carts that night, we can definitely do it."
Pan Jiang nodded and said: "Your Majesty is right. Your triumphant return was on the second day of the twelfth lunar month. He had time to properly hide the food shipped out of the city. But what I want to ask is, will the government officials and police officers on duty that night be able to hide it properly?"
Witness it, is Feng Jingyao not afraid of leaks?"
Su Jindao: "Do you remember what the official said? In the early morning of the second day, there was no trace of the person who was on duty at the city gate. Think about it, who among the policemen and government officials dared to leave the city gate without waiting for the handover to be completed?
?There is only one reason, and that is that they received an order to evacuate. Someone first ordered them to be on guard duty at night, and then ordered them to evacuate."
"The reason is very simple. Either transfer them to guard other city gates, or simply cancel the order and still have the guards on guard. Who would question the reason for the superior's order? The final result is naturally to just accept the order without asking why.
, so there will be no one at the north city gate that night, no soldiers, no police officers, the city gate is open, Feng Jingyao's grain transport convoy can naturally come and go freely, and no one knows about it. "
Everyone suddenly realized that if it was true as Su Jin said, the food was transported out of the city that night, and the order to evacuate was naturally given by Guo Pinchao. Guo Pinchao didn't know that he was transporting food out of the city, and even if he knew, he would take it.
Do.
Su Jindao: "Now to prove whether this guess is correct, we have to divide our troops into three groups to investigate and confirm it; I will assign it, Wang Chao Mahan, you two go out of the North City Gate towards Tianchang direction, and inquire along the way.
After November 29th, if anyone witnessed a large number of manned convoys transporting goods, Feng Jingyao would definitely relax his vigilance after the food left the city, and he would have to hide the food properly as soon as possible. It is very likely that he would not wait until night. If it was carried out during the day
, it will inevitably be seen by others, and what you want to check are these clues."
Mahan of the Dynasty raised his hands and said: "Don't worry, Master, as long as he really transported grain out of the north gate, we will definitely be able to find out the clues no matter day or night."
Su Jin nodded and said: "If you really find the trace, follow it all the way, but be sure not to make it public, so as not to alert the snake; I judge that there must be someone else outside the city to arrange manpower for him, and there must be someone else hiring the vehicle. Don't let this person
If people find out, if he destroys the evidence or moves the food again, then we will be passive."
Dynasty Mahan repeatedly agreed.
Su Jin turned to Pan Jiang and Pan Shiyi and said: "The two commanders, as the second line, secretly checked among the police officers and government officials on duty at the North City Gate that night to see if the situation that night was as we speculated. They then
Got two contrary orders."
Pan Jiang and Pan Shiyi cupped their hands and said: "I humbly obey my orders."
Su Jin clapped his hands and stood up and said: "As for the third route, I will go out personally to meet with Guo Tongpan. It is estimated that the Lord of the Palace will not ask about this matter, and he will not take the initiative to confess it.
As long as we gather the facts obtained from the three places, everything will be fine."
Everyone immediately stood up and went their separate ways.
…
Mahan of the Dynasty brought enough dry food and water and rode two fast horses out of the north city gate along the official road. The two of them left the city gate and walked north for several miles. In front of them was the rolling Shugang Mountain.
Surrounded by peaks, the official road winds straight into the mountains; just as Pan Shiyi said, this official road is very remote. There are almost no carriages and pedestrians along the way. The road is also rugged and bumpy, making it difficult to walk.
For a long time, almost no one was seen.
Mahan reined in the horse's head and asked: "Shall we go into the mountains? It is getting late. If there is no village in the mountains, we and I will have to go on the night journey."
Chao Chao rolled his eyes at him and said, "Are you still planning to sleep at night? I don't think I'm in a hurry. Could it be that you want to be lazy at this time?"
Ma Han muttered: "You are just lazy. Are you in a hurry? Why didn't I see it?"
Chao Chao scolded: "You can smell a pickled elbow ten miles away. I keep my anxiety in mind. Today is already the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month. I have been here in Yangzhou for almost two months. Things are not over yet."
No, do you really want to celebrate the New Year here? The old lady hasn’t seen the young master for half a year. The young master doesn’t say anything, but he sighs a lot recently."
Ma Han scratched his head and said: "That's right, and brothers Xiao Sui'er and Zhao Hu are still in the capital, and we have to go to the capital to pick them up. Speaking of which, it's the New Year and I don't have the time to do anything. It's no wonder that the young master has no idea.
of."
Chao Chao said: "Let's go, this time our task is the most important. Don't just think about eating. The two of us must find the hiding place of the food. Even if there is no progress on the young master's side, it can be considered done. I said it
, we brothers will all follow him to do big things in the future, so we need to be smarter and more experienced in the future, so we can’t make him disappointed."
Ma Han said: "Then what are you waiting for? Let's go, the worst we can do is spend the night in the mountains, light a fire and put it in the grass and deal with it with a cat."
The two rode horses forward and entered the mountains along the official road. This official road was built according to the terrain, using the path between two hills. It could be used if it was slightly widened. However, in such a steep and remote place, pedestrians
Merchants are absolutely afraid to leave, otherwise there will be bandits blocking the road in the mountains. Although this is only a small peak on the west side of Shugang Mountain, the grass is still deep and the forests are dense. When the wind blows, the pine waves on the slopes on both sides are like thunderous waves crashing on the shore.
.
The mountain peaks blocked the sunlight. Under the cover of the dense trees, it seemed to get dark very quickly. The official road was in disrepair for a long time and many places had collapsed. However, the dynasty soon discovered that something was wrong and walked through several landslides.
There are actually no large stones on the official road, the largest ones are only fist-sized gravels, and there seem to be traces of manual smoothing in some places.
When Wang Dynasty told Ma Han about this, Ma Han also felt strange.
"Could it be that the mountains on both sides are mud and rock mountains? There are no big rocks?" Mahan asked.
Wang Chao squinted his eyes and pointed at the huge crumbling rocks on the mountain wall and said: "Look over there, that big rock is about to fall. Most of the landslides are the exposed parts of these rocks. If it is a mud mountain with a hillside With such dense grass and trees, the tree roots and grass roots alone are enough to grasp the mud and rocks and prevent them from falling. It is precisely these protruding exposed rocks that are easy to fall."
Ma Han raised his big finger and said: "When did you become Wang Qingtian? You actually know so much and can think so carefully."
Wang Chao said: "When you stay with me, as long as you put your mind to it, you can always learn some skills that are different from ordinary people. Just tell me whether what I say is right or not."
"You'll know if you're right after you try it," said Ma Han. After saying this, he dismounted his horse, tied his belt, and climbed up the hillside like a monkey.
Chao Chao said: "What are you doing?"
Mahan said: "You stay away, I'll go to the hillside to see if the soil is compact, and then I'll go to the rocks to see if it's tight."
Wang Chao quickly pulled the horse to the side of the road, looked up and watched Mahan's figure disappear into the dim forest. After a while, Mahan appeared on the exposed and protruding rock, shouting down: "You said You're right, the soil on the hillside is tight and the tree roots and grass roots can hold it tightly, so it will indeed not collapse. However, this stone has been loosened by wind and rain."
Wang Chao said: "That's it, try to see if you can kick the rock until it collapses. Let's see if there will be big rocks on the road after the collapse."
Ma Han said loudly: "Go further and I'll stamp my feet."
As Wang Dynasty walked further, he saw Ma Han exhaling and making noises, stomping his feet several times. The protruding rock was originally loose, but collapsed under the force, rolled along the hillside, and knocked down more than a dozen trees. Afterwards, large pieces of debris rolled down the official road.
The situation was completely different from the previous landslides. The official road was immediately covered with large and small stones, the big ones were as big as millstones, and the small ones were broken into powder.
After all the remaining stones were gone, Wang Chao stepped forward to take a look, and immediately had a suspicion. Needless to say, the big rocks in the landslide must have been cleaned by people, otherwise in this situation, even if people were crawling over, let's talk about the carriages and horses. Not easy anymore.
Mahan said excitedly: "Does this mean that the convoys transporting grain have passed by since then? Otherwise, who would come to clean them up?"
The imperial court thoughtfully said: "Not necessarily. These official courts recruit civilians every winter for renovations. We don't know whether it is the government's work. It's a pity that the sand and gravel are dry and hard, and the marks of ruts and hoofs cannot be seen clearly. However, At least we know that someone has been cleaning up this road recently, which can be regarded as a clue."
Ma Han said: "Hey, the two of us are really like a pair of head catchers. I found that we two brothers are really capable of being detectives and investigating crimes."
Wang Chao laughed loudly and said: "Let's go, Ma Da will catch you. There may be bigger clues ahead."