"Impossible," Bai Shan said: "All the military households are registered. Since you said he brought his mother with him, it cannot be a deserter. Otherwise, if he returns to his hometown, the district chief cannot not know that he will be punished if he takes in a deserter and conceals it.
Sitting together."
"I'm about to die, why did I lie to you?" Ba Bo said angrily: "When he came back, his bag contained armor. I was a soldier before, I can tell by touching it."
Bai Shan looked at him and asked, "Are you the deserter?"
Ba Bo:......
He lowered his head and took a big bite of the chicken and said, "I'm going to die anyway, so there's nothing to hide. Yes, I'm a deserter. I haven't dared to go home since I escaped. I just live by stealing."
Bai Shan still frowned, feeling unreasonable, "How can deserters dare to return to their hometown? Most of them are wandering around like you. Maybe they will change their identities after they have money, but they will never dare to return to their hometown openly. Once discovered, the commander and
All the neighbors will be arrested."
Bapu himself was a deserter, and of course he knew this, so he frowned, but quickly relaxed and said nonchalantly: "I don't need to lie to you. If he hadn't been a deserter, how could he have armor at home?"
He said: "He is in full health, his limbs are not broken, and he is young, so it is impossible for him to retire."
Bai Shan pondered for a moment, "Qijia Village, Maozhou?"
Ba Bo ignored him and continued to chew the chicken.
Bai Shan and Man Bao looked at each other. Magistrate Tang had said that there must be a demon when something goes wrong, and that's what the book said.
Man Bao asked, "Are you familiar with Maozhou? Why did you flee to Maozhou?"
"I'm not very familiar with it. I'm most familiar with Yizhou and Mianzhou," Ba Bo said. "I'm from Mianzhou, my hometown, but I don't dare to run back for fear of being recognized by acquaintances. As for me, I usually just walk around Yizhou."
I walked around and touched a few money bags to spend, but life in Yizhou has not been easy in the past two years. The new county magistrate was very ruthless. Several times I was caught just after I succeeded. In the end, I had no choice but to escape.
"
In fact, Bapu had been evading military service for many years, and his life was easy in the meantime. But just when he was saving money and preparing to return to his hometown to change his identity, the Jianwei Weir burst and the price of food soared.
All spent.
After the floods passed, life quickly became better when he first arrived in Yizhou City. Although there were few people in Yizhou City at that time, wealthy families began to come back.
He stole a lot of money.
But after Magistrate Tang took office, his life became difficult. The defense in the city became much stricter. Magistrate Tang found him a place to live several times. He had no choice but to hide in Tibet, and finally had to leave Yi.
Zhoucheng.
Babu didn't hide anything, but he was more bragging about the things he had stolen. "It's good to leave Yizhou. Things are easy to steal in Maozhou. I stole a box from a house."
It’s a pawn shop, but it’s a pity that it’s hard to get rid of it. When I went to the pawn shop, I happened to bump into someone from their family. One of them was stabbed without paying attention, and it took a lot of effort to escape.”
"Do you know how big the movement was? Seventy or eighty people arrested me, but I finally escaped by running into the mountains."
Bai Shan didn't believe it, "Seventy or eighty people can't catch you even though you're injured?"
Man Bao said: "There is blood from the wound. I can find you just by following the blood stains, right?"
Ba Bo said proudly, "That's because God protected me. They stopped chasing me after I entered the mountain."
Bai Shandao: "Then you arrived at Qijia Village?"
"That's right," Bapu sighed, "Actually, I'm not a bad person. Old woman Ban saved me. I originally planned to give her a jade bracelet that I brought out, but her son came back from outside and held mine in his hand.
Wanted portrait, as soon as I touched his baggage, I knew it was armor. The wound on my stomach has not healed yet, so I will definitely not be able to defeat him..."
Bai Shan and Man Bao were still deep in thought. Ba Bo simply took the cup and poured a glass of wine to the side. He murmured: "Brother, if you listen to me, you will pretend that you haven't seen me, and I will pretend that I don't know that you are..."
Deserters, if everyone goes his own way, nothing will happen today."
"You refused to listen and insisted on arresting me to get the reward. Didn't I kill you because I had no other choice..."
Bai Shan's face suddenly became serious and he interrupted, "Are you familiar with Qijia Village? Do you think there are any deserters in that village besides the son of the old woman?"
Ba Bo rolled his eyes angrily and said: "You think deserters are big carrots, they are everywhere. If I meet one, I will be unlucky. Moreover, I am running for my life. When I get to the old woman Ban's house, I will die."
I haven’t gone out much, what if someone sees my face?”
Bai Shan looked at Ba Bo seriously and said: "If you don't go out during the day, you will always go out to take a look at night, right? As a thief, how can he not be familiar with the environment he is in?"
"Hey, I know the young man very well," Ba Bo said with a smile, "That's right, I did go out at night, but I didn't see anyone."
"Did you notice any difference in their village?"
Ba Bo finally felt that something was wrong. He came up to see Bai Shan and asked, "Why, do you think there is a problem in their village?"
His eyes lit up and he grabbed the railing, "Does that mean I don't have to die?"
Bai Shan said calmly: "Didn't Mr. Xu say that you also killed an official who arrested you? Do you think you can survive?"
When Ba Bo heard this, he was discouraged. There was nothing to hide from Bai Shan. He waved his hand boredly and said, "What difference can there be? Except that their village is richer, there is no difference."
"How do you know their village is rich?"
"Of course I know," Ba Bo said: "There are many families who light up lights at night, and many families have dogs. It can be seen that they are wealthy families."
Not everyone can afford to light an oil lamp. Now that Lao Zhou's family is so rich, Lao Zhou is reluctant to light an oil lamp at night.
When you are poor, you can count the number of times you light oil lamps throughout the year on the palm of your hand. Therefore, if many people in the village have lights on, it means that the village is very wealthy.
The female prisoner who had been silent all this time suddenly said in a hoarse voice: "Qijiacun has no money."
Bai Shan and Man Bao looked back at her, "How do you know?"
"Oh, the one she escorted to Beijing with me is from Maozhou." Babu replied.
Bai Shan's eyes lit up when he looked at her. The female prisoner did not hide anything and said: "I have an aunt who married in Qijia Village. Because their village is in the mountains, they are notoriously poor. It is impossible to have
money."
Ba Bo sneered and said: "If they don't have money, their village can light oil lamps and raise dogs, but their houses are still made of half stones?"
The female prisoner stopped talking again.
Bai Shan took Man Bao and bowed to the female prisoner and said, "Thank you very much."
He said to the two of them: "You guys eat slowly. We will come see you in a few days. Man Bao and I will leave first if we have something else to do."
After that, he took Manbao and left.
Man Bao asked him, "What's wrong with you?"
Bai Shan pulled her into the carriage and then whispered: "I suddenly remembered that iron ore book. There were several entries with the word "Qi" written on them. I used to think it was the surname of the person who carried the iron, but
Now that I heard Ba Bo say this, it may be that Qijia Village means the place where the iron tools go."
"What if we guess wrong?"
"Whatever," said Bai Shan, "tell Magistrate Tang and Magistrate Yang to investigate. What if they find out?"