This village is not small, and before it is close, Qin Xiao estimates that there are thirty or forty families in the village.

This is already a relatively large village in Xiling.

There is a pond at the entrance of the village, leading the horse across the pond, and then I saw a few people at the entrance of the village talking to each other, one saw Qin Xiao and others coming, and immediately reminded his companions, and the others immediately did not speak, looking at Qin Xiao's side, their expressions were very strange.

Qin Xiao was young and good-looking, so he naturally took the initiative to step forward and arched his hand: "I'm sorry to disturb a few." ”

A few people didn't speak, just looked at Qin Xiao, Qin Xiao saw that the other party was not enthusiastic, and was a little embarrassed, but he also knew that a few strangers suddenly came to the village, and the other party didn't know the details, so he naturally wouldn't be too enthusiastic.

"We're darts." Qin Xiao had already thought of how to deal with it.

"The village does not accept outsiders, and if you go thirty miles to the east, it will be the county seat." One said: "There is nothing to eat in the village, and it is difficult to keep people." ”

"On our way, one of our companions fell ill." After all, Qin Xiao had been in the Jiazi prison, with a smile on his face, and said obediently: "It's getting late, I want to spend a night in your place, boil some hot water to rest, and ask a few people to make it convenient." ”

Someone saw that Qin Xiao and several people were all carrying knives, looked at each other, and one asked, "Who are you?" ”

Twenty taels of silver is certainly not a small amount.

The villagers' eyes lit up, like a hungry wolf seeing its prey, and Qin Xiao suddenly felt that something was wrong in his heart.

Qin Xiao could also see that although these people were wearing cotton jackets, they were very shabby, they were all sewn patches, and they all had yellow faces and thin muscles, as if they couldn't eat enough all year round, wondering if the people in the pass were so poor.

He didn't talk nonsense, took a silver ticket and handed it over, still smiling: "We don't live in vain, this is twenty taels of silver, please accept it." ”

Qin Xiao was amused in his heart, secretly thinking that if these people really had bad intentions, even if there were dozens of strong men, they would not be afraid here.

After the villagers dispersed, Qin Xiao beckoned a few people to the dilapidated house, tied the horses, and entered the house, a musty smell penetrated into the nose, the house was destitute, there was no furniture, fortunately there were beds in the left and right rooms.

Although it is common for people to love money, these people do not hide their desire for silver, and they really do not hide it in the slightest.

One of them stretched out his hand to take it and said, "I am the chief of the village, there is an empty house over there, no one lives in it, you can live in it, but you will leave early tomorrow morning." Stretching out his hand and pointing to a dilapidated house not far away, before Qin Xiao could speak, the man said again: "Remember, don't go out at night, there are dozens of strong men in the village, but I'm not afraid of you." ”

"There's one over there." Yuwen Chengchao said in a low voice.

A few people looked over, only to see Yuwen Chengchao pick up a stone from the side of the gate, and behind the door panel, there was indeed blood stains.

Qin Xiao lit the lamp, but heard Yuwen Chengchao suddenly say, "Do you smell blood?" ”

"The smell of blood?" Several people were surprised, Han Yunong looked around, suddenly walked to the wall, squatted down, Qin Xiao took the oil lamp over, but he had already seen that there were blood stains on the wall, but the blood stains had dried up, and it was obviously dealt with by someone, leaving not much blood.

stepped forward and sniffed it, took a finger and rubbed it, and his face was solemn: "The time is not long, at most half a month." ”

"There have been fights, even ..... Murder. Yuwen Chengchao said softly.

"There is blood on this stone." Yuwen Chengchao took it and handed the stone to Han Yunong, after Han Yunong took it, he saw that the stone was not big, but there were many edges and corners, and there were two edges and corners stained with blood, and they were also dry.

He made up

Qin Xiao went to the back to find firewood, lit a fire in the house, and said to Du Hongsheng: "My lord, I'll go boil some hot water." When he got outside, he saw that Han Yunong and Yuwen Chengchao were still checking in the house, and asked in a low voice, "Du Wei, is this weird?" ”

"It's weird." Han Yunong often handled cases in Xiling, and at this time he couldn't help but investigate the scene, and Yuwen Chengchao held an oil lamp to illuminate on the side.

Du Hongsheng's body was weak, although Qin Xiao felt that this room was very weird, but he still helped Du Hongsheng into the room first, the bedding on the bed was torn and dirty, and even exuded a strange smell, and he couldn't find a new futon for a while, so he could only say: "My lord, I have wronged you, you rest first, I will go to other villagers to see if there is any bedding to buy." ”

Du Hongsheng said weakly: "No need, I've worked hard for you." I couldn't support it, so I lay down on the bed.

"No more than half a month." Han Yunong frowned: "If there is a murder, it should have been reported to the police, and the scene of the crime cannot be dealt with immediately after the incident." Unless the official messenger had already come and taken away the prisoners, the villagers dealt with it, but they did not clean it up. ”

Yuwen Chengchao said in a low voice: "Captain, the villagers in this village are a little strange, when we came into the village, did you find that several villagers were hiding behind the windows to peek at us, their eyes were ...... I can't describe it, it's just very weird and eerie. ”

"This house has been treated, but there are still remnants left, and it can be concluded that there was a murder in this house." Han Yunong said with great certainty: "I checked the path of the bloodstains, from the room to the door, if the judgment is not wrong, at the time of the incident, the fight should have started from the room, someone wanted to escape, but he was seriously injured in the house, someone has been chasing behind, whether the person rushed out of the house is not yet determined, but to escape the person has been attacked." ”

"Is this happening recently?"

Han Yunong shook his head and said, "Without evidence, we can't wear hats indiscriminately." But there is something quirky about this village. When you enter the village, everyone is in the house and does not come out, but the adults are fine, there should always be children playing outside in the village, do you see children? ”

Both shook their heads.

"I found out too." Han Yunong said: "But I thought it was outsiders entering the village, and they were wary. ”

"Could it be that outsiders lived here before, and then the villagers killed the outsiders for money?" Qin Xiao remembered the greedy looks of the villagers when they saw the silver tickets before, and now that they thought about it, they all felt weird.

Qin Xiao arrived at the kitchen, fortunately there was a yellowed wooden bucket, but there was no water in the tank, so he said hello to Han Yunong and went out to get water from the pond.

The sky had already darkened, Qin Xiao walked past a few houses with a wooden barrel, deliberately slowed down, and looked to both sides out of the corner of his eye, and sure enough, he found that behind the window, there were eyes staring at him, in this deserted village, being stared at from behind the window, Qin Xiao actually felt that his hair stood on end, and he was uncomfortable

"Let's be careful." Han Yunong said: "Rotate on duty at night, and when it is dawn, we will leave." ”

The actual people also knew in their hearts that even if the villagers here had evil intentions, with the skills of three people, it was more than enough to deal with these villagers.

"What's wrong?" Yuwen Chengchao saw that Qin Xiao was a little nervous, and couldn't help but ask.

Qin Xiao smiled bitterly: "You are right, they hid behind the window and looked at me, goosebumps stood on my body, and my heart was beating hard until now." ”

Wear.

When he went to the pond to get water, when he came back, those eyes were still staring at him, Qin Xiao quickened his pace and returned to the house, relieved.

Han Yunong took the dry food, and Zhang Rang prepared enough skills for a few people, enough to eat for half a month, Qin Xiao first fed Du Hongsheng a little, and then went over to sit down with Han Yunong and the two to eat dry food with hot water.

"How is Lord Du?" Yuwen Chengchao asked.

Yuwen Chengchao smiled: "Don't be afraid, we have knives in our hands, I don't believe they really dare to attack us." ”

Qin Xiao arrived in the kitchen, washed the pot first, then boiled half a bucket of hot water, and found two worn-out rice bowls, after washing them, he carried the wooden barrel to the room and fed Du Hongsheng half a bowl of hot water.

Han Yunong sighed: "If it weren't for the two of you, Lord Du and I would be afraid that we would lose our lives." Showing a hint of shame: "Fan Ziqi secretly trained so many cavalry in Xiling, but we don't know anything, we are really incompetent. ”

"The lieutenant doesn't have to blame himself." Yuwen Chengchao smiled bitterly: "I am a member of the Yuwen family, and even our Yuwen family doesn't know anything about it. ”

Qin Xiao said: "It should be overworked, and it is not a big problem to rest well." ”

"That's good." Yuwen Chengchao said: "Lord Du is a civil official, and this continuous bump is really not easy. ”

"At least that's the number. On the night of Chinese New Year's Eve, three hundred cavalry entered the city in Guicheng, and there were only a few more on the side of Fengganfu City. Qin Xiao said: "That night, there were at least two hundred people in Heiyang City, so that counting, there are still a thousand death-wing cavalry, if there is no capital, Li Huo will not dare to act rashly." Then he also smiled bitterly: "When Zhonglang and I arrived in Fan County, Fan Ziqi sent silver and grain, and I thought that he had really taken refuge in the imperial court. The granary of Black Sun City stored a large amount of grain, and I really thought it was given to the general, but now that I think about it, it was the military rations they themselves used to supply the rebels. ”

Yuwen Chengchao said: "But I don't know how many people there are in the Deathwing Cavalry, and now it is estimated that it is likely to have reached a thousand." ”

"The Fan family is in Fan County, and the Kunlun guards are his people, and they have been secretly in contact with the Woods." Qin Xiao said: "Their war knives are very sharp, I heard that they are made of refined iron ore from the Wutuo side. There are many mines in Fan County, they secretly build armor and weapons, and the Fan family covers them up, how can we know? ”

Han Yunong said: "Although the Fan family is not weak in financial resources, they have to build weapons and equipment, and they need to store food, and the number of cavalry trained secretly will not be too much, and with their family background, they will not be able to support a large number of cavalry." ”

"But now that Xiling is controlled by them, the Zhen family's wealth will certainly be taken away by them, and even the family wealth donated by the Yuwen family will all fall into their hands." Qin Xiao frowned and said: "In addition, the Xiling family is afraid of the knives in the hands of the Fan family, and will inevitably take the initiative to donate money, with this silver in their hands, they will quickly recruit troops and horses, and even buy a large number of weapons and equipment from the Wutuo side." ”

Yuwen Chengchao clenched his fists, his expression was cold, and at this moment, he suddenly heard a terrible cry outside, like a ghost howling, the three of them were all heartbroken, and they got up at the same time.