In a blink of an eye, it was the Spring Festival of the sixteenth year of Shaoxing.

This is Yang Congyi's second Spring Festival in the Song Dynasty, and it is still boring. A heavy snowfall made the sky and the sky white, and then it fell intermittently for more than ten days, and the weather seemed to be colder. At this time, the happiest thing is to guard the stove, and no one will go out, and no one will go anywhere.

However, how can there be such a good thing, if everyone's wish comes true, won't the world be chaotic?

Yang Congyi's happy moment guarding the stove was disturbed, and the official came to tell him that Chen Zhixian had an urgent matter to find him and asked him to go directly to the study.

Although it was cold outside, Yang Congyi had to wrap his cotton clothes tightly to see Chen Zhixian, after all, it was Chen Zhixian who paid him his salary.

When I came to Chen Zhixian's study, I saw that he was upset and restless.

Seeing Yang Congyi enter the house, Chen Zhixian said directly, "Yang Zhutou, I called you here today because I have an urgent matter for you to do." ”

Seeing that Chen Zhixian was in such a hurry, Yang Congyi was a little surprised, "My lord, what happened?" ”

Chen Zhixian sighed and said, "The murderer of the Xiaosongpo robbery has escaped from prison. ”

Yang Congyi was shocked and said, "Prison escape? Aren't they all imprisoned in Huaining? There is a garrison of the imperial court over there, how can they escape from prison. ”

Chen Zhixian said, "What's the use of the garrison, how can there be people on duty in the cold weather." Of the twenty-four prisoners, one was killed, and the remaining twenty-three escaped from prison, and there was a heavy snowfall that night, and after dawn there was no trace of the prisoners, and there was no clue at all, and even how they escaped from the prison is not known. Master Li thought that it was the Xiaosongpo robbery and that the accomplices were not caught, and that they were the ones who launched the robbery, so the case was sent back to Taihu County and the case was solved within 10 days. At that time, this case was tried by Master Zhang after he escorted the prisoner to Huaining, and I did not participate in it, how to know if there were still bandits who had slipped through the net. ”

Yang Congyi thought for a while after hearing this, and said, "Of the twenty-four prisoners, one died, how did this die?" Was he killed by the guards while escaping? ”

Chen Zhixian said, "That's not it, it is said that he was killed in prison." What are your thoughts on this? ”

Yang Congyi said, "If a person dies in prison, it is impossible for him to be killed by the guards, and it is very likely that the person who robbed the prison or the co-defendant killed someone to vent his anger." We tried the case because we caught one of them, and the prisoner confessed to the other twenty-three. Now twenty-three have run, and only one has died, and this dead prisoner is probably the one who confessed to his accomplices. My lord, I remember that Lord Zhang promised to spare that person's relatives, but I don't know what the result was? ”

Chen Zhixian thought about it for a moment and said, "Master Zhang seems to have told me about this and arranged for the family to move out of Taihu County." Later, when other cases were heard, I forgot about it, and I didn't know if the family was still there. Everyone else involved in this case has been exiled thousands of miles away, and this family is the only one who can be found in a short time. Go and meet them and see if you can find any useful clues. ”

Yang Congyi got up and said, "I understand." ”

Chen Zhixian advised, "Don't publicize this matter, so as not to cause panic." Take a few reliable men with you, and bring them back to the yamen if necessary. ”

Yang Congyi nodded yes and left.

Although he lived in the yamen for several months, he ran outside for a long time, and there were not many people in the yamen who had deep friendships, so he could only find two people who looked stronger and looked stronger to go together. Explain to them that the task sent by the magistrate is to go out to a long distance, and meet at the gate of the yamen after half an hour.

The two catchers are not familiar with Yang Congyi, but they have also heard some rumors about him, and I heard that the magistrates are polite to him, this yamen will not come if he can't think of it, and he hasn't shown up for almost a month before the end of the year, if it weren't for the county lord looking for him, it is estimated that he would still be holding the stove at home. So they were still very willing to have a relationship with Yang Congyi, and when they heard that they were going to go on a mission with them, they didn't care about the half-foot-deep snow outside, and agreed.

Yang Congyi went back to change his clothes, packed his things, brought knives and guns, and met the two catchers at the yamen.

The place to go is very far, the heavy snow closes the road and can only walk, if it goes well, it will take four or five days to come back, and it is impossible to solve the case within ten days, but at present, we can only start from the relatives of the prisoner to find clues. Time was pressing, and there was no delay, so he set off immediately after meeting up with the two catchers, and headed north, and should be able to drive twenty or thirty miles before dark.

Under the leadership of Yang Congyi, the three of them rushed all the way, at first they felt cold when the cold wind was blowing, but after walking for a while, not only was it not cold, but they also felt hot.

Yizhu quickly bent down and grabbed a handful of snow and ate it, and asked, "Brother Yang, why are we in such a hurry?" ”

Yang Congyi hesitated for a moment and said, "The felons who were detained in Huaining three days ago escaped, and one of them lives in Lianhua Village, Taihu County, and the above asked us to cooperate in solving the case within a time limit. It is very dangerous for prisoners to escape, and we must capture them and send them back to prison as soon as possible, otherwise we cannot afford to have an accident. "I didn't tell them all the information.

The catcher said, "Felon? It can't be a murderer, right? Shall I go with the three of you? ”

Yang Congyi said, "Don't be so cowardly, we are going to find the relatives of the prisoners." It is reported that the whereabouts of the prisoner are unknown, and he may not return home, and even if he does, the three of us need not be afraid of him. ”

The other caught the knife on his waist and said, "What Brother Yang said is that I haven't seen any difficult people in the past few years, just a prisoner, and there is really nothing to be afraid of." ”

Yang Congyi said, "This mission is mainly to find people, and there will be no danger." Have you been to Lotus Village? ”

One of them said, "I've heard, I passed by a place when I was on a mission last year, and I heard that the next village is Lotus Village. It's a bit far from here, and the road is not easy to walk, so it will take three or five days. ”

Another catcher said, "Is it three days or five days?" ”

Yang Congyi said, "No matter how many days, let's rush over as soon as possible." Settle down in the village ahead tonight. ”

There is nothing to say about catching fast, this task is really hard, and at the end of the month, I must ask the magistrate for a few more rewards.

The three of them rushed to the village after dark, explained their intentions, and settled at the village chief's house.

The next day, before dawn, the three of them set off again, all the way over the mountains and mountains, until midnight to find a place to settle. In this way, they hurried away at dawn, and rested when they could not see the road, and finally arrived at Lotus Village in the afternoon of the fifth day.

When they arrived in the village, Yang Congyi and the three found the village chief to identify themselves and asked about the birthmark man's family.

The village chief told them that the family had come from the north, and that they lived far away, and that they rarely interacted with the villagers, and that the child had been fooling around outside all the year round, and that since they heard that he had been arrested by the government last year, their family had stopped interacting with the people in the village, and now they don't know what is going on with their family.

After learning about the situation, Yang Congyi and the three of them asked the village chief to take them to find the family without taking a break, and the village chief told them that it was not early, the mountain road was not easy to walk, it was easy to go up the mountain and difficult to go down, and they would not be able to come back in the afternoon and evening.

Hearing what the village chief said, Yang Congyi and the three of them gave up the idea of rushing over immediately, because if they couldn't come back at night, they could only live in the birthmark man's house, and he died in prison, if his family was resentful, it would be too dangerous, so he would wait until tomorrow morning to go again.

They were exhausted after five days of running, and went to bed early that night in the place arranged by the village chief.

Early the next morning, Yang Congyi got up and went to the village chief and asked him to find someone to help lead the way.

The village chief had already made plans, pointing to his grandson and saying that he often went up to the mountains to hunt and was familiar with the conditions in the mountains.

Yang Congyi saw that the child was only a teenager, but he looked good with a bow and arrows on his back, and it was not easy to hunt at a young age. Anyway, it's to lead the way, as long as you know the way, anyone can go. He thanked the village chief and took the child with him.

Yang Congyi went back to wake up the two, he was so tired these days that he didn't want to get up when he fell asleep.

Pack up your things, and under the guidance of the child, set off quickly. They are very worried in their hearts, if they can't find useful clues, they will suffer in vain these days.

Yang Congyi saw that the kid was very agile, so he asked, "Little brother, when did you start hunting, and what kind of prey do you usually hunt?" ”

The boy said, "It's been a long time, I can hunt rabbits and pheasants, and in a few years I will be able to hunt wild boars." ”

Yang Congyi smiled, "It's not a small tone, wild boars are not easy to fight." What is your name? ”

The kid said, "Zhang Dulin." ”

Yang Congyi said, "Wood Forest? Who gave you such a name. ”

The child said, "My mother gave birth to me in the woods, and it was already dark when I was born, so my grandfather named me Twilight. ”

Yang Congyi smiled dumbly, "It turned out to be this Dusk Forest." ”

The child asked, "Big brother, are you from the city?" ”

Yang Congyi said, "Yes, we are from the city. ”

The child asked, "Is it fun in the city?" I've heard that there are a lot of fun things that I haven't been there yet, can you take me there? ”

Yang Congyi smiled, "This is not good, such a long way, how can you come back, we don't have time to send you back." You're so young, and grandpa won't let you go. ”

The child was a little disappointed and asked instead, "Are you here to catch the bad guys?" I don't think their family looks like a good person, and the person with the scar on his face looks so ugly. ”

Yang Congyi said, "If you don't look good, you don't necessarily mean that you are not a good person." How many people are in their family? ”

The child said, "I don't know, I haven't been to their house." Yesterday I saw two people going up the mountain, there must be several people in their family, you should be careful, don't be beaten by them. ”

Yi Zhu said with a quick smile, "We are from the government, who dares to fight." ”

Yang Congyi said quickly to the two catches, "It's time to come, don't be rude if you can ask for news, don't make trouble." ”

The two said yes, since someone took the lead, they listened to the order, let them do what they wanted, and it must be right.