Walking north, you can sometimes see the Cao family and government officials. These people search and interrogate house to house indiscriminately. Sometimes they don't even let passers-by go, making the north of the town uneasy. Even Zhao Zheng, who is passing by, is worried.
He was stopped once and interrogated for a few words. He did not embarrass the person who was questioning him, he just casually said a few words and dealt with it.
Zhao Zheng walked around the north of the town based on his feelings. During this period, he eavesdropped on many people's conversations, but could not get any useful information. He unknowingly walked to the north exit of the town. This town has no city walls and is completely outward-looking.
It's open and you can come and go at will. If there were a city wall here, I'm afraid it would have been blocked by the government and the Cao family.
At this time, a group of people and horses ran in from the outside of the town. They were led by several government servants. It seemed that there was something urgent. They kept whipping the horses and whipped the horses into galloping.
This group of people came back from the north, and the carriage transporting wine also escaped to the north. There may be a connection between the two.
Zhao Zheng felt that something was fishy and decided to follow him to find out more. He went around the corner of the street to a quiet and deserted place, opened the stable and warehouse, pulled out a white horse from it, turned over and got on it. He rode to catch up with the team.
The officer did not pursue him too closely and kept a certain distance.
The officials rushed back to the yamen and filed in on horseback. As soon as they entered the courtyard, they shouted: "Master Qi, things have progressed! We found three abandoned carriages and several dead horses by the river in the north. Look,
It looks like what a wine thief left behind!"
Zhao Zheng vaguely heard what the officer said, and quickly reined in the reins, slowed down, and listened carefully.
The courtyard of the yamen became noisy. The yamen officials reported to the county magistrate what they saw and heard in the north, detailed the location of the carriage and the surrounding situation, and asked the county magistrate to make a decision. The county magistrate thought this was a very useful
After hearing the news, he immediately issued two orders. One was to notify the Cao family immediately, and the other was to rush to the location of the carriage to check and, if necessary, pull the carriage back.
Zhao Zheng listened briefly to the conversation in the courtyard and decided to take a look at the carriages before the government and the Cao family. He turned around and galloped towards the north, running out of Gujing Town and following the location mentioned by the Yamen servant.
Went to that riverside.
It is located under a hillside cliff, and the river is about five meters above the ground. If you don't stand on the cliff and look down, you can't see the riverside at all.
On the river bed and under the river water, three broken carriages and the corpses of several horses were quietly laid out. Because the weather was still cold and the river water was bitingly cold, the corpses of the horses were basically well preserved, and their bodies could be clearly seen.
These horses were obviously hacked to death with sharp weapons. The three carriages fell very close to each other. Two were located on the sand bed by the river, and one sank to the bottom of the river, with only its crooked carriage exposed.
Wheels.
On the riverside, there were three government officials guarding the place. These people were of too low status and did not dare to mess with these things. They just stood guard by the side to prevent other people from approaching.
Zhao Zheng rode a horse and looked down from a high position, observing for a short while.
The size of these three carriages is just enough to hold seventy jars of wine. It seems that they should be the carriages used by wine thieves to transport wine. But I don’t know why these wine thieves abandoned the carriages here. Could it be that these thieves
Did they switch to other carriages during the escape? Or did they switch to other modes of transportation? The real answer is unknown.
Zhao Zheng had the intention to stay and wait for the Cao family and the government to arrive and see if there was anything left in the carriage. However, if he did this, he would be easily discovered by others and get into unnecessary trouble. For safety reasons, he did not
He took the risk and turned his horse around, leaving the river bank and returning to the road.
Those thieves must have been very thoughtful to commit such a big case. The possibility of leaving any useful clues on the carriage is really low. Even if people from the Cao family and the government came, they probably wouldn't be able to find anything.
Zhao Zheng was riding a horse and walking on the road. After walking a few steps, he met the Cao family and the government officials who were rushing to the river bank. This group of people was huge and consisted of dozens of people. It seemed that they paid great attention to the few people on the river bank.
A carriage. The people at the head of the team were clearly Cao Xuan and the local county magistrate.
This team treated Zhao Zheng as an ordinary passer-by and ran past Zhao Zheng without paying much attention. The smoke and dust raised by the team enveloped Zhao Zheng. Zhao Zheng pulled the reins and moved away from the road and stopped.
After coming down, I looked back and stared at the tall and powerful Cao Xuan. If the Cao family failed to find the stolen royal wine this time, they would be in serious trouble.
Back in the town, Zhao Zheng lost his goal and could only continue to try his luck everywhere, asking for information from some beggars and gangsters. However, the information he got was either useless or false, with no substantial progress. Wait until later.
At that time, the Cao family and the government officials pulled the three carriages by the river back to the town. After Zhao Zheng heard the news, he quickly ran over to join in the fun. He took a closer look at Cao Xuan's expression and found that Cao Xuan was locked in a tight frown.
He frowned and his face was as dark as water. It seemed that his previous guess was indeed correct. There were no important clues left on the carriage. If important clues were found, Cao Xuan would not have this expression.
Zhao Zheng shook his head, completely losing interest in the three carriages, and went to inquire about the information elsewhere. After half a day of inquiring, he did not make any substantial progress. In this case, he began to try to put himself in someone else's shoes, assuming that he was that person.
What would a group of thieves do? After changing his mind, he actually came up with some clues.
If he were a thief, he would definitely not continue to use those three carriages to transport wine. That would be too obvious a target. No matter which escape route he chooses, he will be targeted. If he wants to transport the wine, he can only use other means of transportation.
Method. Presumably it was for this reason that the wine thieves abandoned the three carriages.
But in this era, apart from horse-drawn carriages, there is no better means of transportation. If you switch to other horse-drawn carriages, it will be meaningless, and it will still be easy to be targeted.
Therefore, instead of taking huge risks to transport the royal wine out, it is better to find a place to hide it in Gujing Town, and wait until the limelight has passed before transporting the royal wine out in batches. Since even such a long tunnel has been dug out, what else can we do?
What's the harm in digging a wine cellar?
If this guess is true, the group of thieves should still be staying somewhere in Gujing Town, dormant and watching the development of the situation.
Of course, this is just a guess. No one knows whether it is correct or not.
Zhao Zheng didn't have any good clues at hand, so he continued to think along this guess.
If that group of thieves is still in the town and you want to find them, you can only ask around who are the immigrants who have recently moved to the town, and start investigating from these people. For such powerful thieves, the locals of Gujing Town
No, they can only be from outside. They should have stayed in the town for a short time. We just need to find all the people who meet this condition.
This was a good idea, but it was no different from finding a needle in a haystack. In such a big town, there were probably thousands of households that had moved in recently. He didn't know how long it would take to investigate, and he didn't have that time.
He can only continue to do this based on the idea of trying his luck. If he doesn't have this luck, forget it, his luck is not very good in the first place.
In this way, he changed the direction of the investigation and started investigating from the north of the town where the possibility was greater. He asked the locals who had moved here recently. This so-called recent period covered a very long period of time. As long as it was a
Those within 20 years are considered recent. There are many such people in the local area. He quickly found out many people, and then screened out some people who seemed unlikely, leaving only some who were suspected of stealing alcohol.
The target of the thief will be retained for further investigation later.
Time passed very quickly, and it was night in a blink of an eye. The sun sank to the west, casting a layer of beautiful red clouds on the distant mountains to the west.
Zhao Zheng was only focused on looking for the wine thief. He didn't even eat at noon. His stomach was already hungry and he kept growling. He secretly wrote down the residences of more than a dozen suspicious objects, then found a tavern and had a big meal.
I had a big drink and filled my stomach.
After it was completely dark, he returned to the north of the town. Based on what he learned during the day, he sneaked into the homes of the suspicious people one by one. These people all moved within a year, and they had a large number of family members and were involved in committing crimes.
Conditions. Relying on his extraordinary dexterity, he jumped into the courtyard walls of these houses and eavesdropped on what was going on inside the houses. He eavesdropped on each house for a short period of time. If he could not hear any suspicious conversation, he would go to the next house to continue.
eavesdrop.
He inquired about several houses in succession, but he didn't hear anything useful. Instead, he listened to a lot of boring homely talk. There was also a family where a couple was quarreling and making a fuss.
As the night deepened, every household fell asleep, and what he heard became less and less. Even if he jumped into the yards of these suspects' homes, he could only hear the snores of deep sleepers, not even commonplace words. He was a little worried.
Frustrated, I planned to inquire about three or two families one last time, and then go back to sleep.
He came to the next house. It was rumored that there were two people living in this courtyard, a grandfather and a granddaughter. The number of people was a bit small. Logically speaking, they could not meet the conditions for committing a crime. It was only because this family was very close to another suspicious person, so he stopped by to take a look.
In fact, it didn't hold much hope.
The family slept late, and the lights were still on in the room. The soft light spread on the window lattice paper, showing a pale yellow color.
Zhao Zheng leaned against the cold corner, took off the wine bottle hanging from his waist, opened the lid and took a sip, tasting the wine while eavesdropping on what was going on in the house. There were two people living in this family, a grandfather and a grandson, which naturally reminded him of Qibao.
The Lin family’s grandfather and grandson in the county also don’t know how they are doing.
"How long did it take me?" At this time, a woman's voice suddenly came from the room. The speaker must be the granddaughter of this family.
"Almost a quarter of an hour." An old voice replied, it must be the woman's grandfather.
"This lock is really difficult to solve, even harder than the 'Pisces Lock'."
"Of course, this is the 'My King's Ten Thousand Years Light Lock'. It is the lock in the former palace, specially used to lock the treasure house. If you can unlock this lock within a quarter of an hour, then you
In terms of lock picking, he is completely accomplished."
"Oh, give me another quarter of an hour and I won't be able to open it."
"You are still far behind, learn slowly. We are a college graduate in this industry." The old man's tone was half encouraging and half proud.
"Humph, I won't learn if I can't learn it. Anyway, we made enough money this time. Five people will share it. The money given to me is enough for me to spend my whole life. The risk of doing our business is too great. If
One day I missed it, and I don’t even know how I died, so I didn’t want to do it anymore.” The woman said disdainfully.
Zhao was eavesdropping on the conversation between the grandfather and grandson outside. The more he listened, the more he felt that something was wrong. Isn't unlocking something related to theft? He put down the wine bottle in his hand, cheered up, and looked at his eyes.
Lights flickered in the dark night.
"I don't know how many times I had this thought when I was young, but every time I spent all my money, I had to go back to my old business. This is my life, or the life of our family." The old man
Go on.
"That's because you spend money too lavishly and don't know how to save, so you don't have enough money. I spend much less than you do, and I made enough money this time. Besides, even if I spend all the money, I won't be able to spend it."
I can find someone to marry and let him support me. I'm old enough, it's time to find an in-law." The woman said disapprovingly.
"Oh, my granddaughter is falling in love with spring."
"Bah, you're disrespectful. Don't say it so harshly. I'm not a female cat."
"Wanting to get married is nothing but love for love. Don't worry, I'll take care of this matter. I'll find you a young man with good skills in the industry and let him marry you. In this way, we will have six people."
"Bah, bah, bah! I won't marry a colleague! I already said I want to change careers, how can I still marry a colleague? I want to marry an innocent family."
"If you don't want to marry a colleague, then who do you want to marry?"
"I haven't thought about this yet."
"Strike while the iron is hot, think about it now. I am also an old man in the world, and I know a lot of people. Maybe I know the kind of guy you are looking for."
The woman seemed to be attracted by this. She pondered for a while and then replied: "I want to find a man who is handsome, has better martial arts skills than me, and has a lot of wealth. It is best to be one or two years older than me."
"What a beautiful idea you have. Where can I find such a man?" the old man said, pouring cold water on him.
"There are too many people in the world to count, how could there be none? Besides, my requirements are not very high, and I didn't say I wanted to marry the emperor."
"There must be such men, but..."
"Just what?"
"It's just that I've already married a wife, so it's not your turn."
"Look, you are talking about me, as if I can't get married. Don't forget my ability. As long as I want, I can dress myself up like a fairy. I don't believe any man can not be tempted.
"
"I know you are very capable, but you can't just pretend to be your bed partner for the rest of your life, right?"
The old man's words seemed to prick the woman's mind, and the woman fell into silence after hearing it.
When Zhao Zheng heard this, he couldn't hold it in any longer. The conversation between the grandfather and grandson sounded strange. Although he didn't say it clearly, it sounded very much like thieves. He straightened up slowly.
He leaned towards the window, stretched out his finger, dipped it in saliva twice, and gently placed it on the corner of the window, soaking the window lattice paper, and then applied a little force to poke a small hole. He put his head over and narrowed his eyes.
With one eye, use the other eye to look into the small hole and look at the situation inside the house.
The room is small, with a table in the middle, and the grandfather and grandson sit face to face. On the table, there is a brass oil lamp and a "copper shell drip" for timekeeping. The ancients mainly relied on two tools to keep time.
, one is a large corona, and the other is a "copper shell drip".
The copper shell drip leak is composed of two water containers, one at the top and one at the bottom. A small hole will be drilled in the bottom of the upper container. Every once in a while, a drop of water will fall from it and fall into the lower container. The lower container
There is a small arrow with scales standing on it. There are a hundred scales on the arrow. Each scale represents a moment. A moment is about a little more than fourteen minutes in modern times. One hundred scales is exactly one day.
Zhao Zheng's position was at an angle. He could see the young woman's front from the side and the old man's side, but he could not see the old man's face.
I saw the young woman playing with a large lock weighing several kilograms in her hand. The structure of the lock looked extremely complicated, no less complicated than a modern lock. The young woman had many tweezers, awls, and hooks in her hand.
A kind of small tools, she is using these tools to try to unlock the lock, but has not been successful so far.
This lock is already very complicated, but after the woman has something to worry about, it becomes even more difficult for her to do it.
Zhao Zheng moved his eyes and stared at the woman's face. After seeing clearly, his pupils suddenly shrank, and he was very surprised.
He recognized this woman, or just recognized this face. He had seen this face several times in the game, so he was very impressed.
The woman's face is ordinary, a typical popular face, with a few small pockmarks on the tip of her nose. This face is actually fake, made from a human skin mask, and is not the woman's true face. This woman is extremely good at changing faces.
Rong Shu has many human skin masks on hand, most of them are women, ranging from 80-year-old women to young girls, and this popular face is just one of them.
Among the many human skin masks of a woman, there is an extremely enchanting and beautiful human skin mask. Its face is flawless, with no flaws to be found. It is simply the standard appearance of a man’s dream lover. Because of this human skin mask, the woman
Just now he said the big words "As long as I want, I can dress myself up like a fairy". In response to this, the old man said something like "You can't pretend to be with the person next to you for the rest of your life."
Come and wake up the woman.
In fact, the old man is right, no matter how beautiful the human skin mask is, it is just a human skin mask after all. A woman can rely on this human skin mask to charm a man for a while, but she cannot rely on this human skin mask to deceive a man for a lifetime. Relying on human skin
The feelings gained by the mask have changed.
This woman's name is Xu Ruyi. She relied on the most beautiful human skin mask to rank tenth on the beauty list of "Jianma Jianghu". Since this is a human skin mask and not her true face, her ranking is only
It's so low. If we just talk about beauty, her face is not inferior to the top three.
In addition to being good at the art of disguise, Xu Ruyi is also a thief. In fact, not only her, but all five members of the Xu family are thieves! She grew up in a den of thieves and was influenced by her parents and grandfather since she was a child.
I spend all day learning theft skills, and I really can’t even think of becoming a thief.
The five members of the Xu family are grandfather Xu Tai, father Xu Chu, mother Zhao Ying, daughter Xu Ruyi and youngest son Xu Ling. This family of five is collectively known as the "Five Ghosts Who Move Mountains". In addition to this big nickname, Each member of this family of five has a separate nickname. Xu Tai is called the Immortal Ghost, Xu Chu is called the Charming Ghost, Zhao Ying is called the Soul-Snatching Ghost, Xu Ruyi is called the Painted Skin Ghost, and the youngest Xu Ling is called the Elf Ghost. The names of their family The nicknames are all self-proclaimed, and only a small number of people in the theft industry know about them. Outsiders rarely know the details of their family.
These "Five Mountain-moving Ghosts" have done many cases and stolen many valuable treasures. There are several tasks in the game related to them. Zhao Zheng has done one of the tasks. The main point of the task is to see through the painting. In order to complete this task, he used Xu Ruyi's disguise technique and memorized all the skin masks owned by Xu Ruyi, so tonight he recognized Xu Ruyi with just one glance.
The Five Ghosts of Moving Mountain specialize in stealing for a living. Just now Xu Ruyi claimed that he had just made a "business". It seems that the royal wine must have been stolen by their family. There is no suspense. (To be continued. Please search for Piaotian Literature and Novels. Better updates faster!)
