The bright moon was in the sky, and the camp had calmed down after a commotion.

All the guards have been arranged to guard the surroundings of the camp, fortunately, they are leaning against Zhuma Lake behind them, and only two people need to be arranged to keep an eye on Zhuma Lake, which can save more manpower in several other directions.

Geng Shao and Fat Fish were on guard with their guards.

"Deputy Commander Wang, what do you think..... There is a mole in the ranks? A cold sweat broke out on the forehead of the shopkeeper Tian again.

Shopkeeper Dou frowned and said, "This ..... Probably not, right? ”

Yuwen Chengchao sneered: "Without a mole, there is no way to poison." I'm just curious now, how did the mole poison? ”

Hearing the sound of footsteps, Dapeng and Hopoe had already hurried back.

"Eldest son, there is no problem with horse feed and salt." Dapeng said: "I have personally checked it, and there are always guards around the car, and whoever approaches the car can be found immediately." ”

"So there won't be any problems with the horse feed until it's fetched." Yuwen Chengchao said slowly: "The time of poisoning is the time of ingredients. ”

The hoopoe immediately said categorically: "When the horse is pounding, several people are present, and if anyone makes a move, they will be discovered immediately." Son, I can vouch for this with a head! ”

"It's really weird." Ning Zhifeng looked puzzled.

"Not strange." Qin Xiao suddenly opened his mouth and looked at the hoopoe: "You just said that when you make ingredients, you need to add salt and water?" ”

"Yes." The hoopoe nodded and said, "With such concentrate, it is easier for the horse to replenish its physical strength." ”

"Where does the water come from?" Qin Xiao asked.

The hoopoe was stunned, and the others instantly understood something, and Zhao Yi, who had not spoken much, finally said: "You mean, the water is poisonous?" ”

"Fetching water from the lake." Hopoe pointed to Zhuma Lake: "Someone specially brought water from here, but ..... How can lake water be poisonous? ”

"The water in the lake is not poisonous, but when it is put into a bucket, it can be poisoned." Yuwen Chengchao said: "Who is fetching water?" ”

The hoopoe immediately turned around and shouted, "Niu Wa, Niu Wa, come here!" ”

A young man in his early twenties stepped forward, and the hoopoe pointed at the young man and said, "It's him who fetches water." ”

"You poisoned the water?" Yuwen Chengchao looked directly into Niu Wa's eyes.

Niu Wa was startled and said in shock: "No..... No, I.... I didn't poison it! ”

"Sheep baby, you tell you the truth, you fetch water from the lake, but there are any strange or unusual things that have happened." Hoopoe hurriedly said: "You can't hide anything, you have to tell the eldest prince." ”

Niu Wa's forehead was sweating, and after thinking about it, she said, "There's nothing strange about it." Suddenly thought of something: "Yes, when fetching water, Team Leader Ling stood on the side for a while." ”

"Team Leader Ling?" Yuwen Cheng's face sank: "Ling Zixiao? ”

The caravan was headed by Yuwen Chengchao and Qin Xiao was the deputy commander, but when they went out of the customs before, the trading house was led by Ling Zixiao as the escort.

"By the way, where is Ling Zixiao?" Dapeng frowned and said, "I haven't seen him tonight." ”

Yuwen Chengchao's face was grim: "Zhao Yi, Dapeng, you look in the camp, find Ling Zixiao, and let him come over." ”

The two of them immediately took the order and left.

"Eldest Prince, do you suspect that Team Leader Ling is the real murderer of the poison?" Shopkeeper Tian frowned and said, "He has been out of customs with us many times, for."

People are decent and should not do such a thing. ”

Shopkeeper Dou also nodded and said: "His family members are all in Fucheng, and they are poisoned in the water, isn't that looking for death?" He is a team leader in a trading house, and after a year, he earns enough money to support his family, how can he destroy his future? ”

Qin Xiao stared at Niu Wa and asked, "Ling Zixiao stood next to you, did you say anything?" ”

"Didn't say anything to me." Yangwa shook his head and said: "At that time, he just looked at the lake, as if muttering, saying that the enemy should not swim from the lake, I didn't dare to ask more, he didn't say anything, when I left with water, he was still standing by the lake." ”

"You carry two buckets of water, and when you fetch water, the other bucket is behind you?" Qin Xiao asked again.

The sheep baby nodded and said, "Yes." But he's not standing behind me, he's a few steps away from me, he should be ..... It shouldn't be that long. ”

Ning Zhifeng also frowned and said: "Eldest prince, Ling Zixiao was a guard of the Hou Mansion before, and then he was transferred to the trading house, he has been in the trading house for several years, although his personality is taciturn, but he has always been conscientious in his work, I don't think he will be poisoned." After a pause, he said, "It's not good for him." ”

"It stands to reason that he really didn't have a motive to poison." Yuwen Chengchao bowed slightly: "I don't want him to do it." ”

Shopkeeper Tian said a little strangely: "Eldest prince, they want to poison us and trap us here, why don't they just poison these horses, just give laxatives?" If the horses were poisoned, we wouldn't really be able to walk. ”

Yuwen Chengchao sneered: "The reason is very simple, they are very confident, and they feel that one day is enough to achieve their goal. In addition, there are nearly 100 horses here, among which there are pure Xiling war horses, Xiling war horses can not be bought by ordinary people for money in addition to paying tribute to the imperial court. ”

"Are they trying to steal our horses?" The shopkeeper Tian looked suddenly enlightened.

Everyone present also showed relief.

There are more than 70 horses in the caravan, and although the Xiling war horse is very valuable, it is the horse used by the caravan to pull goods, and they are all very strong.

Although the Tang Dynasty and the Wutuo people trade frequently, they have never traded horses with each other, and the Tang Dynasty opened a horse market in the north, although there will be horse trade with the Tusun people, but the Tusun people are also very cunning, and they are never willing to take out the best horses to trade with the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, the price of horses in Datang is extremely expensive, ordinary horses are worth a lot of money, and if they are sturdy war horses, they can't be bought with silver.

Here belong to dozens of horses, and the value does not belong to the caravan caravan.

"The Vedas snatch horses?" Ning Zhifeng shook his head and said, "They have a lot more horses than us, there is no need to do this." Ordinary horse bandits could not have such guts. He sneered: "If there are really horse bandits here to rob it, even if we don't do it, the White Wolf King will not connive at it." ”

Shopkeeper Tian said anxiously: "Eldest prince, no matter who wants to attack the caravan, the form is already very dangerous. It is only two roads away from Kunlun Pass, if you send someone to ride a fast horse day and night to ask for help, will anyone come to the rescue? ”

"The Tang army entered the territory of the Vedas?" Yuwen Chengchao glanced at him and said coldly: "Brother Nalu Sheng has always coveted Xiling, and he can't find an excuse. If the Tang army ran to their territory, they would immediately say that we had invaded their territory, and then the opponents of the Vedic Khanate would not be able to speak. ”

Shopkeeper Tian smiled bitterly: "Are we going to wait here for death?" ”

Yuwen Chengchao also ignored him and said in a deep voice

"For this day, we must be on full alert. Everyone in the caravan has to prepare, the groom, the coachman and the porter, all bring me a knife, we also have nearly a hundred people, when the caravan guards will be the main force, and the others will cooperate to defend against the enemy, I want to see who dares to come and stroke the tiger's beard. ”

"If you can find Ling Zixiao, you may be able to ask some information." Ning Zhifeng turned to look at the camp, his face solemn: "I'm only worried that I can't find anyone who can't find him." ”

Everyone waited for a while, but saw Zhao Yi flying over, panting: "Big boy, it's not good.....!" ”

"What's going on?"

"At dusk, someone ..... Someone saw Ling Zixiao go to the slope on the left to be on duty. Zhao Yi gasped: "Dapeng and I went to the slope to look for him, only to find out ......!" Raised his hand and pointed to Qiu Po on the left: "Eldest prince, you better go and have a look!" ”

Yuwen Chengchao knew that things were not good, and walked up the slope quickly, Qin Xiao and Ning Zhifeng and others were agile and quickly followed, but Tian Shopkeeper and the others could no longer keep up with the speed.

Out of the camp, climbed up the hill, only to see Dapeng and another person standing on it, saw Yuwen Chengchao and others coming, Dapeng's face was also very ugly, turned his head to look at a place, several people went up the hill, but found that under the hill, a corpse was lying on the ground.

"It's the bodyguard of the trading house, called Zhao Dayong." Dapeng said: "I was arranged to stay here with another person before. At dusk, Ling Zixiao came up and replaced another person......! He gestured to the man beside him.

The man arched his hand and said, "Little Chen Yu and Zhao Dayong follow the instructions and watch the wind here." Before dark, Leader Ling came over and asked me to rest, and he came to watch the wind for me and asked me to come back in the middle of the night to replace. Just now they were looking for Leader Ling in the camp, so I brought them over here, only to find out..... Only to find out that Zhao Dayong had been killed, and Leader Ling was nowhere to be found. ”

"The eldest prince, it was really Ling Zixiao who was poisoned." Zhao Yi clenched his fists and said hatefully: "That dog-mother-raised, knowing that things would be revealed, so he ran away." ”

Qin Xiao walked over, looked at the wound, and turned around and said: "The eldest prince, the fatal wound was that his throat was cut, but there were strangulation marks on his neck, and his mouth obviously had traces of being covered by someone's force, if I guessed correctly, the murderer first covered Zhao Dayong's mouth from behind, worried that he would make a sound, and then cut his throat with a knife." ”

"It's so ruthless." Zhao Yi said: "They have been together for many years, and Ling Zixiao can actually do it." ”

Yuwen Chengchao stood on the slope, looking into the distance, in the middle of the night, the hills were undulating, and he really couldn't see far, so it was naturally impossible to see Ling Zixiao's figure.

"Why would he do that?" Ning Zhifeng sighed: "For the silver? Don't you even care about your family? ”

"Eldest prince, if Ling Zixiao really wants to escape, he can find a reason to go farther." Qin Xiao frowned slightly: "He can say that he can go to a farther place to reconnoitre, Zhao Dayong can't stop him, so he can escape quietly." He glanced at Zhao Dayong's corpse: "But why did he kill Zhao Dayong before fleeing?" There is no need to do this at all, once he is not careful, Zhao Dayong sees that he has killing intent or even shouts, he will be more troublesome. ”

"You're right." Yuwen Chengchao's face was solemn: "What do you think it will be because of?" ”

Qin Xiao thought for a moment before he said: "There is only one possibility, Zhao Dayong may know something that should not be known, and his killing is likely to be killed by murder." ”