"If my prediction is correct, those traitors from the country are obviously in two groups, and they are absconding in batches. The only ones we are chasing are two people who can ride a horse."
Outside the second pavilion, hearing Heifu's analysis, Wei Shi Anpu frowned and said, "Where are the remaining six people?"
"The remaining six people must be hiding in the mountains and forests beside the road."
Mang Dian was a little angry: "Since there are only two people who can ride, why did they take away more than ten of my horses!"
Heifu said: "This is the cunning point of the thief leader Ao. He first burned the stables, which shocked the village officials and led a large group of people to chase. You must know that except for the five of us and the five cavalry, the soldiers of each pavilion
After hearing the news, they rushed here on foot. In this way, the entire west side of the township was empty of weapons. Those six people might be able to go west by night and escape into Yunmengze! That would be the only way to leave Qinjing on foot.
, the shortcut most likely to succeed!”
He looked at the sky and saw that it was almost time for the pounding. In an hour or two, the sun would set. At that time, it would be the time for the six people to escape at night.
So the question comes again, as the mastermind of everything, "Ao", in which direction will he go?
Heifu thought: "I know how to use thorn coupons to confuse Shi Qian to investigate the case, use the time difference to raid the stables to seize the horses, and then use this to lure us to chase... These strategies are linked together, and it cannot be done by anyone but a very wise and brave person.
Also, Ao's identity is becoming more and more confusing. I don't believe that he is just an ordinary refugee from Chu State, a person who is willing to be a mediocre farmer. He has been inactive for more than a year. Perhaps just for today, he actually turned into a farmer.
All the Qin officials in the whole township were making fun of him!"
"I'm not sure, this person is still a Chu spy!"
But this was just a conjecture. Heifu could only say to everyone that Ao was a cunning and bold villain who directed this horse-stealing incident. The man who rushed over on horseback must be him!
Heifu raised his hand to An Pu and said: "Wei Shi, please bring one person back immediately, so that all the soldiers in the village do not come over, and set up sentries at various intersections heading to Yunmengze to prevent anyone from escaping at night!"
An Pu nodded and rode back with the head of the village pavilion. Although Ao, as the main culprit, had to be caught, the other six people could not be allowed to escape.
Heifu, Shuwu, and Mangdian continued to chase along the road, with Mangdian leading the way, but after turning a hill, Heifu found that he had stopped in front.
"Mang Dian, what happened?"
"The horses' hooves parted here, and the horses' hoofprints were messy. They continued along the road, but one horse left alone and ran towards this path."
Shuwu asked hesitantly: "Could it be that the thief leader let a horse go alone?"
"It's unlikely. Look, you two, this horse's hoofprints are very heavy. There must be someone sitting on it! Although there are many horse hoofprints on the road, they are all relatively light. It's clear that no one is riding on them!"
Mangdian was an expert in raising horses, so he could naturally tell that, but just in case, Shuwu chased him alone along the road. Two miles ahead was a pavilion in the easternmost part of Anlu County. Shuwu said
If he didn't find the thief, he would stop by and ask for some manpower to recover the lost horses.
Heifu and Mangdian rode on the small road. Although the main road was a muddy loess road, it could accommodate two carriages running in parallel. After turning off the side road, they could only follow a path through the desolate fields, and could barely make out the ruts.
The path is forward. It is slightly wider than the field ridge and can only allow one horse to run. Because it is not often used, the path is covered with dense weeds. The small light yellow flowers have bloomed and brown autumn grasshoppers are crawling on the ground.
Climb away...
Although the road was not easy to walk, Mang Dian relied on his superb riding skills and still rode very quickly. Once he discovered something, he immediately came down to investigate.
But I saw him excitedly holding a piece of warm horse dung, which was not dirty at all, and shouted to Heifu in the distance: "Heifu Pavilion Commander, we have caught up! This horse dung is boiling hot, and it only takes a moment."
Before!"
Saying that, Mang Dian did not wait for Hei Fu, mounted his horse again, and accelerated forward.
Heifu threw the wooden chips in the sack in the middle of the road as a sign to guide the reinforcements behind him. He felt a little lucky that Mang Dian came with him. Although he could learn from footprints, he could only read people.
The information revealed by the horse's hoofprints is completely unknown...
But Heifu is still a little worried. With Ao's cunning and scheming, will he still have any backup plans?
"When Shi confessed, he said that when Ao left Orion's house, in addition to swords and money, he also took away several wooden animal traps..."
Thinking of this, Heifu quickly shouted to the front: "Mangdian, be careful!"
But it was already too late. Just as he finished speaking, suddenly, on the path where the grass had covered the horse's hooves, the gray horse that Mang Dian was riding suddenly stumbled and tripped!
The gray horse neighed, swung its front legs wildly, knelt down on its hind legs, lifted the stable book off the horse's back, and smashed it to the ground!
Heifu quickly went over and took a look, and it turned out that the horse's hind leg had indeed stepped on a wooden trap! The wooden nail was deeply embedded in the horse's hide, and it was dripping with blood.
As for Mang Dian, he was holding his leg and crying out in pain. When he was thrown out, he injured his leg.
"Mangdian, are you okay?" Heifu quickly helped him up. After trying, he found that Mangdian's ankle had been sprained, and it hurt when it touched the ground.
"Chief Heifu Pavilion, don't worry about me, hurry up and chase the leader of the thief, he must be right in front!"
Mang Dian said angrily: "This little thief not only insulted me again and again, but also treated the entire township's officials and soldiers like monkeys. If we don't capture him and bring him to justice, we will be ashamed to be officials of Qin!"
"No, Mr. Hei is willing to do the work for you!"
Hei Fu also knew which was more important, and after setting up the stables, he continued to mount his horse and chase!
This time, whenever he couldn't see the road conditions, he would carefully avoid them.
But even without the trap, the path is still difficult to walk. The ground is soft and full of cracks. There are half-buried tree roots and hidden rocks everywhere. At the back, even the water-filled ruts have disappeared.
Already.
This is the end of the border of Anlu County. Beyond that, there is a mountainous area that neither Qin nor Chu has control over. There are no households there, only some barbarians who have been living here since I don't know when.
Heifu found himself traveling through rolling hills, over fallen trees and tangled thorns, and deep into the bottom of narrow ravines. Heavy branches sandwiched with wet leaves slapped him in the face again and again.
He couldn't even tell the difference between north, south, east, and west, and even began to wonder if the thief was still ahead.
Finally, after riding through a bush, he saw a black horse staying on the spot at the foot of the steep mountain ahead, quietly chewing grass...
There was no one on the horseback.
But when Heifu raised his head, he saw that on the woodcutter's path going up the mountain, among the dense trees, there was a thin man wearing burlap clothes, carrying a bow on his back, and struggling to climb up!
Heifu immediately dismounted, took the hand crossbow hanging on the side of the horse, loaded and cocked the crossbow in one go, raised his hand to aim at the thief who was halfway up, and pulled the hanging knife without hesitation!
Unfortunately, his shooting skills were not as good as his swordsmanship. The crossbow arrow missed a bit and hit a tree on the left side of the man. It shook the branches and caused the pine cones to fall, which also alarmed the man.
When he turned around, Heifu found that this man had a bun, a short knife in his mouth, a dark face, and a short beard under his chin. Seeing Heifu chasing him here, a trace of surprise flashed in his eyes.
After nearly ten days of tracing and day and night speculation, today, Heifu finally saw the murderer who had been imagined in his mind countless times!
"Ao!" Heifu picked up the loaded crossbow again, pointed it at his back, and shouted the murderer's name as he quickly approached.
"Why don't you just catch me without mercy?"
Ao was not afraid at all. He bit his dagger, smiled at Heifu, and then used his hands and feet to climb up the mountain quickly!
