Li Yan already knew that some members of the Hundred Cavalry Forbidden Army were missing, but after hearing what Cheng Wuzhong said, he couldn't help but look solemn: "What is the situation of these two people, please lead the army to speak frankly."
Cheng Wuzhong's face was extremely ugly: "One is Zheng Sanlang, a native of Bozhou. He has practiced martial arts since he was a child. He has good skills, superb archery, and perfect shooting."
"One is Guo Wulang, a native of Jingzhou. He is also from a good family. He has a stable character and is both civil and military..."
"They are all veterans who have been trained for many years. After going up the mountain, they invaded the village. Zheng Sanlang also shot and killed the bandit leader. Later, according to others, there was no trace of them. Now they are alive and dead..."
"We have searched the entire village and checked every corner, but we can't find the whereabouts of the two of them, nor have we found any clues left behind."
"These two people disappeared inexplicably, as if they were taken away by ghosts..."
Li Yan waved his hand and said solemnly: "The rumors about ghosts are just nonsense, no need to say more! In my opinion, there is a secret behind this cottage, and the disappearance of the two people may be related to this."
Cheng Wuzhong said: "I thought so before, but after searching carefully, I didn't find the secret passage..."
Li Yan seemed to be smiling but not smiling: "This village is not small. According to the size of the house, it is no problem to squeeze in more than a thousand people. Leader Cheng is short of manpower. In just over an hour, can we be sure that there is no secret passage?"
Cheng Wuzhong opened his mouth and finally said: "I'm not sure."
The biggest flaw of the Hundred Cavalry Elites was the lack of manpower. It happened that they had left seventy at the bottom of the mountain and thirty at the top, but they ended up pretending that something was wrong.
Now if we talk about a complete search, it is not necessarily the case, but Cheng Wuzhong also has his own thoughts: "Even if there is a hidden secret passage, it is still possible for one person to be taken advantage of by the thief. How could the two of them disappear at the same time?
Didn't even make a warning sound? If the thief really had this ability, he wouldn't have been killed by us!"
Li Yan nodded slightly: "This is indeed a problem. Call the last person who saw them over."
Cheng Wuzhong went to call and soon led three elite hundred cavalrymen back to the front.
Li Yan looked at them: "Tell me one by one, when was the last time you saw Zheng Sanlang and Guo Wulang?"
The Forbidden Army who was the first to speak was short, with dead fish eyes, and looked dumbfounded: "We rushed up from the east side. I shot the sentry post and two patrolling thieves. Zheng Sanlang rushed ahead of me.
, one after another, he shot several leaders who gathered the bandits. The first few were killed with one arrow. The last one missed the vital point and was still shouting. He rushed forward with a knife and beheaded the thieves..."
Listening to his description, Li Yan came to the battle site and saw the blood spots on the ground, the traces of the battle and the body with separated heads. He couldn't help but nodded: "He is really a brave man, what next?"
The Dead Fish Eyes Imperial Guard said: "Then Zheng Sanlang rushed into the stronghold from this direction. I haven't seen him since we separated."
Li Yan looked at the second imperial army.
This man has thick eyebrows and big eyes, and has an honest and courteous temperament, like a diligent black cow: "I was traveling with Guo Wulang, and I just killed some thieves normally. After we dispersed, I couldn't see him anymore, but when we parted, he
He seemed to have noticed something and went in this direction. I asked him a question, but he didn't answer me..."
Li Yan followed him to the southwest side again. The route appeared in his mind and he nodded slightly: "Didn't you go with Guo Wulang?"
The Black Bull Forbidden Army shook his head and said: "I didn't pay attention at the time. I went to kill the thief. As soon as I turned around, he disappeared and was never seen again."
Li Yan nodded slightly and looked at the last imperial soldier.
The last one also had dark skin, bubbly eyes, and very sharp eyes. He spoke with an authentic Liangzhou accent: "I saw two people talking in front of the largest room. Their expressions were a bit weird, but I was in a hurry.
I passed, but I didn’t have time to ask.”
Li Yan followed him to the house in the center of the village: "Is this where the village owner lives?"
Cheng Wuzhong said: "It should be the case. Several good bows were found inside, which are not something ordinary people can own."
Li Yan asked: "Have you searched the secret passage?"
Cheng Wuzhong said: "Our previous focus was to search this place. More than ten people checked it three or four times inside and out. No secret passages were found, and there were no traces of fighting. There was not even blood. It was clean inside."
Li Yan said: "Now to summarize, the two missing Forbidden Army soldiers initially came up from the east and southwest sides respectively. After solving the thieves each, they rushed into the village, bumped into each other once in front of the village owner's house, and then disappeared.
.”
"During this period, there was no sound such as any screams for help, and there were no traces of fighting or blood in the village owner's house, so he disappeared inexplicably."
Cheng Wuzhong sighed with an ugly face: "That's true. This matter is quite strange. Why did we hit it?"
Li Yan said: "You haven't met me a long time ago...if you met me a long time ago, you wouldn't be like this if you listened to some advice!"
When Cheng Wuzhong thought of the man at the foot of the mountain, who really asked him to send more people up, he felt ashamed and regretful at the same time: "If all the people were dispatched, this accident would not have happened."
Li Yan walked around the village leader's house and suddenly took a sniff: "What's going on with this burnt smell? Is there a fire inside?"
The imperial guard with a Liangzhou accent shook his head and said: "There is no fire. If this village catches fire, it will be difficult to contain. We are all keeping an eye on it to prevent the thieves from being desperation and destroying both the stone and the stone."
Li Yan asked: "Can the leader of the thieves in the village be left alive?"
Everyone looked at each other and answered unanimously: "No."
Li Yan asked again: "Are the others willing to explain?"
Cheng Wuzhong said: "I asked several questions, but they couldn't explain the situation clearly, so I stopped asking. If Li Jiyi wants to be interrogated, we can bring them here."
Li Yan frowned: "Ordinary bandits don't know much important information. The key is the leader. It would be nice if only a few were left alive..."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Cheng Wuzhong hurriedly explained: "Li Jiyi, please forgive me, my cavalry is no better than the internal guards, my style has always been like this, not to mention that these thieves are just robbing homes, there is no need for interrogation and accountability
, how could you know about this in advance?"
The imperial guard with a Liangzhou accent also added: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the Baiguan's motorcade are still behind. This is not far from the post road. How can we let His Highness and the Baiguan take risks?"
Li Yan's eyes moved: "Yes, this place is not far from the post road..."
He turned his gaze and looked at the sentry towers at the four corners of the village: "Leader Cheng, you specialize in martial arts. You are in the military. In your opinion, do you think there are too many sentry towers in this village?"
Cheng Wuzhong said flatly: "There are more than that. How can an ordinary den of thieves have such a neat layout? This is definitely not a layout that ordinary thieves can lay out. After slight changes, it can be used as a military camp."
Li Yan nodded slightly.
When he went up the mountain and saw the stockade, he felt strange that the structure really resembled the fortress built during the Song Dynasty.
We must know that one of the key abilities of the generals of the Yang family and the generals of the Zhong family, who are familiar to later generations, is to build forts. This is the case for Yang Ye, Yang Wenguang, Zhong Shiheng and others.
Suddenly, in the Tang Dynasty, he saw such a professional militarized fortress, which was also a lair of bandits. Li Yan felt strange even before he entered the fortress.
Isn't it good to join the army if you have the ability? Why waste time here?
Of course, this does not rule out the kind of people who come from poor backgrounds, are capable but are rejected by wealthy families, and become bandits out of anger.
So Li Yan said: "Let's go to the sentry tower and see for ourselves."
At this time, the sun was almost setting. The two of them looked at the afterglow on the horizon and first went to the east and south to make sure: "These two sentry towers are observing the two villages not far away."
Cheng Wuzhong nodded: "There are no fields in the village and no livestock. These thieves naturally rob the villagers of their food rations."
Li Yan did not comment, and quickly came to the sentry tower in the north. Looking at it from a distance, his eyes suddenly became solemn: "Let's take a look at it, Chief Cheng, what is that place?"
At this time, it was time to test his eyesight. Li Yan had the double bonus of Gongxian Jin's Shooting Heavenly Wolf and Weishi Jin's vision. Cheng Wuzhong's good eyesight of 2.0 points was still blurry. He could only shake his head and said: "I don't know.
"
Li Yan said: "That's where Tongguan is!"
Cheng Wuzhong's expression changed.
Tongguan is the east gate of Guanzhong, the first dangerous place in the territory, and the throat of east and west. Needless to say, it is important. It has always been a battleground for military strategists.
According to the distance, the convoy of the prince and the officials will arrive at Tongguan around this time tomorrow and then officially leave the customs.
But he thought for a while and said: "But that's not right. Tongguan is no longer what it used to be. Why would the thieves set up this sentry tower and pay special attention to it?"
This time it was Li Yanyiqi: "How do you say it?"
Cheng Wuzhong explained: "I once went to Luoyang and saw when I passed Tongguan that there is no obstacle to crossing the pass now. The water level of the Yellow River has changed. The river receded directly and turned into a large river beach. There is an empty space between the city gate and the river bank.
If a large piece is removed, the carriages and horses can pass unobstructed."
Li Yan suddenly realized: "That's it."
There are many such things, such as the Anshi Rebellion, which was also due to the continuous erosion of the Yellow River. Hulao Pass could no longer rely on the river and the mountains to guard the east-west link as before, so it was quickly defeated by Anlu Mountain and pushed all the way to Luoyang.
Tongguan was also abandoned by the moody Yellow River. In history, during Wu Zetian's reign, this area was hit by an earthquake. Most of Tongguan's defenses were destroyed by the earthquake. The imperial court simply did not repair it, and directly moved the place and built another Tongguan.
.
Li Yan thought for a moment and said, "Let's go to the last sentry tower."
Before nightfall, the two rushed to the west guard tower.
There was no need for Li Yan to remind him this time. Cheng Wuzhong looked over and said coldly: "This sentry tower is for viewing the post road."
Li Yan nodded: "The people who built this village had great plans!"
Cheng Wuzhong turned his head and looked down at the camp below: "So, did Zheng Sanlang and Guo Wulang discover some secret and were silenced by the thieves?"
Li Yan looked at the ordinary-looking houses: "It's possible."
"But Leader Cheng was right about one thing. The two elite hundred knights disappeared together, but there was not even a cry for help or a fight, and no blood was left in the house..."
"To achieve this, either the thief's martial arts are incredibly strong and he can instantly control the two vigilant people, kill them and drag their bodies into a secret passage for disposal, or they can cooperate inside and outside!"
Hearing this, Cheng Wuzhong suddenly turned his head and said sternly: "Is Li Jiyi doubting my brother Baiqi?"
Li Yan said seriously: "Leader Cheng, you need to put aside personal feelings when encountering a case. If you really care about the brotherhood of Baiqi, you should follow up on the clues and find the truth. Otherwise, not only Zheng Sanlang and Guo Wulang will be without rescue.
Hope, once the crime of missing crossbows is committed, all of you will be affected!"
Cheng Wuzhong's chest heaved violently, his face was gloomy and uncertain, and after a moment he said in a deep voice: "Thank you Li Jiyi for the pointer, I understand, but if someone in Baiqi really colludes with the thieves, the scope of the search will be too large!"
Li Yan looked like he had never seen the market: "A hundred suspects is definitely not a wide range, let alone it can be further narrowed!"
"During the previous battle, there was chaos inside and outside. If there was a murderer in Baiqi, he could not ensure that he would not be seen by others when he was walking with the victim. When you ask, the safest way is to naturally tell him everything he can.
speak out."
Cheng Wuzhong's eyes narrowed: "Aren't the suspects the three people who last saw them?"
Li Yan's heart was filled with turmoil, but his tone remained calm: "Yes, the initial suspects are the three just mentioned!"