"If what I expected is correct, those thieves are obviously two groups, absconding in batches, and we are chasing only two people who can ride horses."

Outside the second pavilion, listening to Heifu's analysis, Wei Shi Anpu frowned and said, "Where are the remaining six people?" ”

"The other six people must be hiding in the mountains and forests by the roadside."

The stable was a little angry: "Since there are only two people who can ride, why do you want to take away more than ten of my horses!" ”

Heifu said: "This is the cunning of the thief leader Ao, he first burned the stable, causing the townsmen to be shocked, and leading a large team of people to chase after him." You must know that in addition to the five of us and five horsemen, the pavilion guards of each pavilion also rushed over on foot after hearing the news. In this way, the western part of the entire township is empty, and those six people may be able to go west by night and escape into Yunmengze! That is the shortcut to leave the Qin Realm on foot, and it is most likely to succeed! ”

He looked at the sky, and it was almost time, and in an hour or two the sun would set, and then it would be time for the six men to abscond by night.

Then the question arises again, in which direction will "Ao", as the mastermind of everything, be?

Heifu said in his heart: "I know that I used Jing Coupon to confuse Ling Shi to investigate the case, and took advantage of the time difference to raid the stable to seize the horse, and then lure us to chase after it...... These strategies are linked one by one, and people who are not wise and brave can't do it, and Ao's identity has become more and more mysterious. I don't believe that he is just an ordinary fugitive from the Chu State, a person who is willing to be a mediocre cultivator, who has not been conspicuous for more than a year, maybe just for today, he actually played the Qin officials in the whole township! ”

"Maybe, this person is still a spy of the Chu State!"

But this is just conjecture, and Heifu can only say to everyone that Ao commanded this incident of stealing horses from the state, and he is a cunning and daring villain, and the person who rushed over on horseback must be him!

Heifu bowed his hand to Anpu and said: "Wei Shi, please take one person back immediately, let all the pavilion guards in the township not all come over, and set up sentry posts at various intersections to Yunmengze, so as to prevent someone from absconding at night!" ”

An Pu nodded, and then rode back with the head of the township pavilion, although Ao had to be caught as the main culprit, but the other six people could not let them escape.

Heifu and Shuwu and Dian continued to chase along the road, and Dian took the lead, but after turning a small hill, Heifu found that he had stopped in front of him.

"Stable, what's wrong?"

"Here the horses' hooves parted, and the horses' hoofs were mixed up, and they continued along the avenue, but one of the horses left alone, and ran towards the path."

Shu Wu asked hesitantly, "Could it be that the thief leader let go of a horse alone?" ”

"Unlikely, please look at the two of you, this horseshoe print is very heavy, and there must be a person sitting on it! Although there are many horseshoe prints on the main road, they are all lighter, and they are clearly unridden! ”

The stable is an expert in raising horses, so he can naturally judge it, but just in case, Shuwu still chased along the road alone. Two miles away, there was a pavilion in the easternmost part of Anlu County, and Shuwu said that if he didn't find the thief, he would go over and ask for manpower to chase back the lost horses.

Heifu and the stables rode down the path, which, though muddy and loess, could accommodate two carriages in parallel. After turning the fork in the road, they could only follow a path in the middle of a barren field, barely recognizable with rut marks. It is slightly wider than the ridge and can only allow a horse to run, because it is not often walked, and the path is overgrown with dense weeds, the small pale yellow flowers have bloomed, and the brown grasshoppers crawl on the ground after autumn......

Although the road is not easy to walk, but the stable is superb in riding, still riding very quickly, once there is something found, immediately come down to investigate.

But he saw him excitedly pinching a soak of warm horse manure, which was not dirty at all, and shouted to the black man in the distance: "Heifu Pavilion Chief, we have caught up!" This horse manure is piping hot, only a moment ago! ”

As he spoke, the stable did not wait for Heifu, got on his horse again, and accelerated forward.

Hefu threw the wooden chips in the blanket in the center of the road, as a sign to guide the reinforcements behind, and was a little glad in his heart, but fortunately let the stables follow, although he can learn the skin from the footprints, but he can only look at people, and he is completely ignorant of the information revealed by the horse's hoof prints......

But Heifu is still a little worried, with Ao's cunning and resourcefulness, will there be any back-ups?

"Shi confessed that when Ao left Orion's house, in addition to the sword and money, he also took a few wooden beasts and ......"

Thinking of this, Heifu hurriedly shouted to the front: "Stable, be careful! ”

But it was too late, and he had just finished speaking, when suddenly, on the path where the grass had not crossed the horse's hooves, the gray horse on which the stableman was riding suddenly lost his front hooves and stumbled!

The gray horse neighed, swayed its forefeet, fell to its knees on its hind legs, lifted the stables out of his horse's back, and slammed them to the ground!

Heifu hurriedly went over to take a look, and it turned out that the horse's hind legs had really stepped on a wooden beast trap! The wooden nails were deeply embedded in the horseskin, dripping with blood.

And the stable, who was also holding his leg and screaming in pain, broke his leg when he was thrown out.

"Stable, are you alright?" Hefu quickly helped him up, and after trying it, he found that the ankle of the stable was sprained, and it stinged as soon as it touched the ground.

"Pavilion Chief Heifu, Hugh wants to take care of me, hurry up and chase the thief leader, he must be in front!"

The stable said angrily: "A little thief, not only insulted the old man three times and twice, but also played the officials and soldiers of the whole township like monkeys, if we don't arrest him, we will be ashamed to be Qin officials!" ”

"No, Heifu is willing to do the work for the stable!"

Heifu also knew which was more important, and after setting up the stable, he continued to chase after him!

This time, whenever he couldn't see the road conditions, he carefully avoided them.

But even if there were no beasts, the path was still not easy to walk, the ground was soft and full of cracks, and there were half-buried roots and hidden stones everywhere, and at the back, even the water-filled ruts were gone.

This is the end of the border of Anlu County, and further on, there is a mountainous area that Qin and Chu cannot control, where there are no households, only some barbarian people who have lived here since I don't know when.

Hefu found himself weaving through the rolling hills, over fallen trees and tangled brambles, deep into the base of the narrow ravine, heavy branches clapping damp leaves over and over his face.

He was even a little confused about the south, east, west, and northwest, and even began to wonder if the thief was still ahead.

Finally, after riding through a patch of bushes, he saw a black horse at the foot of the steep hill ahead, which was staying where it was, quietly munching on the grass......

On horseback, empty.

But when Heifu looked up, he saw that on the woodcutter's path up the mountain, among the dense bushes, there was a thin man in burlap clothes, with a bow on his back, struggling to climb up!

Heifu immediately dismounted, took the hand crossbow hanging on the side of the horse, loaded the arrow and wound it in one go, raised his hand to aim at the thief who had climbed halfway, and pulled the hanging knife without hesitation!

Unfortunately, his archery skills were far inferior to those of the swordsman, and the crossbow bolt was a little off, and it hit a tree to the left of the man, shaking the branches and causing the pine cones to fall, which also alarmed the man.

When he turned around, Heifu found that the man was wearing a bun, a short knife in his mouth, a dark face, and a short beard under his chin, and a trace of surprise flashed in his eyes when he saw Heifu chasing after him.

After nearly ten days of tracking and guessing day and night, today, Heifu finally saw this murderer who had been conceived countless times in his mind!

"Ao!" Hefu picked up his winding crossbow again, aimed it at his back, and shouted the name of the murderer as he approached briskly.

"Don't you want to be caught?"

Ao was not afraid, he bit the short knife, smiled at Heifu, and then, with both hands and feet, accelerated to climb the mountain!