The ideal is very plump, and the reality is very skinny. The arduous search continued all day, and still found nothing.

After sunset, all the idlers who came to help dispersed after receiving the reward. Seeing that Xiao Jing was still pondering on the rock, he didn't dare to disturb his uncle's attendants, so he had to wait on the side.

Xiao Jing's face was devoid of the anxiety and restlessness of the day, and his calm appearance made people feel that he was sitting at the desk of the newspaper office to handle official business.

There were no bodies, no blood, and no signs of falling......

After frowning and thinking for a long time, Xiao Jing stood up abruptly and said, "Go, go back." Take all the things that Shao Ning has written down these days, and I'm going to look at them one by one, understand? ”

In the night, several people left in a hurry, but they didn't know that there were a pair of eyes in the dark who witnessed everything silently......

Gaoluan County Ya, back hall.

Master Fang took a sip of tea and said to the subordinate in front of him: "I already know about the matter, you can go down." ”

The subordinate responded, but said hesitantly: "Master, the people under this matter may not have done a thorough job, in case something goes wrong...... Do you want someone to find an excuse to kick the guy out of the house, or just lock him up? ”

Lord Fang shook his head and smiled: "It's okay, this Gaoluan County is the place where this official has worked hard to manage, how can outsiders take advantage of it so easily?" Let him go, but see what storm he can make. As for the previous incident...... Your people have done a good job, and when this turmoil passes, I will be rewarded, so you can go down. ”

The man immediately looked overjoyed, and went away with great gratitude. As soon as he walked away, a woman came out from behind the curtain, and with an anxious look on her face, she said worriedly: "Master, I wonder how the family's business is going?" It's been a while since the collapse of the ground, so can the work start again, our family is still pointing to it. ”

Master Fang slammed the teacup on the table and said angrily: "I have my own arrangements for family affairs, what are you doing as a woman with many tongues?" It's an eventful time, what if you're being targeted? Let's wait for the limelight to pass! ”

As soon as he finished speaking, he dodged out of the room.

The moment he crossed the threshold, Master Fang raised the corners of his mouth and smiled, and said softly to himself: "Who made this official the Qingtian Lord of Gaoluan County?" ”

……

After returning to his residence and sleeping for two hours, Xiao Jing got up from the bed. Lighting the oil lamp, he flipped through the records left by Shao Ning one by one, and read each page carefully several times, lest he miss something.

Turning somewhere, he was suddenly stunned. Although the paper was written about the customs and local products, a thought flashed in front of his eyes.

Gaoluan County is a large agricultural county, and there are many high-quality water and dry lands. As a result, it has always been a high-class county, and officials who serve here can be well evaluated at the end of their term of office as long as they are not too stupid.

The prefectures and counties around Gaoluan County are even worse, many places are poor mountains and bad waters, vast land and sparsely populated, and the only industries that can be used are smelting and forging.

Xiao Jing had passed by the neighborhood several times when he was on a business trip in the past and wrote down a lot of information. He was under the impression that the counties where the blacksmith industry was very developed did not actually produce coal, and people had learned to smelt iron from coal nearly a thousand years ago, and the technology of using coke had been born for hundreds of years.

So the question arises: how did the local blacksmith work?

The answer is already on the horizon: buy coal from nearby!

Xiao Jing, who was suddenly enlightened, slapped his hand on the table heavily, and the entourage around him was startled by his sudden move.

After analysis, he felt that he had the key to open the door to truth.

In those years, coal mining technology was relatively backward, and it was easy to excavate coal mines that were exposed to the surface or shallow underground. Needless to say, the former sometimes had to dig out mines, and even simple ventilation shafts had to be built.

The depth of three or four zhang is really nothing, and the wells in many places are deeper than this, but once the ground collapses happens......

The structure of the mine lacks sufficient support and reinforcement, and if it collapses, everyone working in the mine will be buried alive!

That's it!

Xiao Jing got up and paced around the room. Another point that doesn't make sense: if the mine has produced a large number of casualties, why did the two men find nothing suspicious when they visited the county?

Even if Lord Fang could cover the sky with one hand in Gaoluan County, it would be impossible to suppress the matter in such a short period of time.

Only men are allowed to go to the mines. If dozens or even hundreds of men died in the county at once, then countless families would face a tragic fate after losing their main labor force, and it would be impossible for anyone to comforting all the families of the victims seamlessly in a moment and a half, so that Xiao Jing did not even find the slightest sign.

After thinking for a moment, a clear look appeared in his eyes.

If it weren't the labor of the county that killed or injured, there would be no such problem! As for who died...... Hehe, wasn't he almost kidnapped and sold to the mountains as a coolie when he was on a business trip with Shao Ning for the first time?

At this point, everything has a reasonable explanation.

Xiao Jing summoned his entourage and whispered a whisper, and the master and servant left the residence separately, and several figures quickly disappeared into the vast night.

It's dawn. Time flew by as usual, and soon the sun was setting in the west.

Xiao Jing, who was walking on the rugged mountain road, gasped for breath. After a short rest, he took another step forward.

If his assumption is correct, then the hidden coal mine must be somewhere in the middle of nowhere. It wasn't hard to find it, and he had a lot of ideas anyway.

He probably knew the tricks of the ancients to conceal information, and those common routines were those. As long as you go among the people and ask questions in a targeted manner, there is nothing that cannot be asked.

This time, Xiao Jing didn't make much effort to inquire clearly: there is a mountain col ten miles southeast of the county seat, and legend has it that there are fierce beasts that hurt people, and some people say that it is the forbidden land of the mountain god, and mortals must not set foot in it, otherwise they will definitely die.

Before, no one had come back from anyone who had strayed in or who had gone to rescue them, so no one dared to go there anymore.

Xiao Jing couldn't help but sneer: If it weren't for the rats pretending to be ghosts, Lao Tzu would pull out his eyeballs and give people a bubble to step on!

What a beast, a forbidden place, it's clear that someone is doing something unseemly inside! Driven by profits, they could have carved out unknown paths to pull the coal out, so that it would become an independent small kingdom...... What a good calculation!

Besides, the place where Shao Ning's shoes were found wasn't too far away...... Could it be that he discovered something first, and then he was poisoned?

Xiao Jing, who gritted his teeth and gurgled his teeth, quickened his pace.

Just as he was approaching the col, a figure suddenly jumped up from the long grass.

He instinctively wanted to dodge, but the man moved faster. In just a moment, Xiao Jing, who was hit hard in the back of the head, was unconscious.