Huo Shuangde, the eunuch of Xichang, was familiar with the rules of the government, and overnight, he made a confession, making it an indisputable evidence, and then asked for 500 cavalry from the patrol camp, and early in the morning collected hundreds of infantry troops from other official offices, known as 3,000 horse steps, and went straight to Tiejiazhuang after leaving the city.

Seven accomplices led the way, and they did not need to detour the capital.

The cavalry was fast, and soon after noon, they arrived at Tiejiazhuang, surrounded by a line, waiting for the infantry behind, and at the same time sent a leader into the village to persuade them to surrender.

The persuader was unlucky, and soon after entering, he came out, and only one head came out, and the body was left inside.

The officers and soldiers were taken aback, and immediately retracted their front, no longer surrounding the entire manor, and the remaining six leaders swore that there were not many people in the village, at most a hundred, but the officers and soldiers refused to attack, but sent people to Ximatun to arrest the villagers and inquire about the details.

Yuan Mao hoped for a quick victory, but he did not have the authority to command the soldiers, so he could only go to the eunuch Huo Shuangde.

"Don't worry, what we want is the goods...... I mean to wait for the infantry army to arrive, and then talk about it, and leave the matter of fighting to the generals, and your duty is to search the village later, and everyone will do their jobs. ”

Yuan Mao had no choice but to persuade Huo Shuangde and the generals who led the team to block the various access roads in Tiejiazhuang as much as possible.

The infantry army was still on the road, and the villagers of Ximatun arrived as soon as they called, they were all military households raising horses, and they had long been disgusted with the arrogance of the sledgehammer, and they rushed to provide information without waiting for the officers and soldiers to ask, and were even willing to take people into the village from the small road.

After tossing for nearly half an hour, the general was finally convinced that there were only about sixty or seventy people in the village, and only half of them could really participate in the battle.

The battle was not fierce, and the people in the village were not captured, but after putting dozens of arrows, they were attacked from the side by the officers and soldiers, and they fell into a panic.

Officers and men are the best at fighting this kind of battle, and without waiting for the general's order, they charge one after another, vying for the head.

Huo Shuangde shouted loudly in the back: "People can be killed, but things are not allowed to be touched!" No one is allowed to touch it! ”

When the infantry arrived, the battle was almost over, and the officers and men were eager to fight for merit and rushed into the village to sweep through.

The entire army of Tiejiazhuang was annihilated, but the big iron hammer and Yang Jiuwen were not among them, and they fled early in the morning, leaving dozens of Zhuang Ding and fellow Jianghu to block the officers and soldiers.

The officers and men were concerned about the head, and there were many disputes, and the infantry troops who arrived later were very dissatisfied, and sent people to negotiate with the cavalry generals of the patrol battalion, so that they had to grab a little credit.

Huo Shuangde and Yuan Mao led a small team of officers and soldiers, escorted six people into the village, and went to the cellar first.

The cellar was built in one room, with two doors and two locks, and Huo Shuangde transferred a team of officers and soldiers to pry the locks open, and then retired the officers and soldiers, leaving only Yuan Mao and a guide to go in to check.

The cellar was deep and dark, divided into a number of small rooms, each with a name on it, and there were more than thirty of them.

The leader held a torch and introduced them one by one, and when he saw his name, he couldn't help but sigh and asked, "I have also made meritorious service to the official family, can you leave me a little bit of the goods here?" ”

"Perhaps." Yuan Maoke didn't care about this kind of thing, and after a cursory inspection, he found that there were really a lot of valuable "goods", cloth, tea and wine, porcelain, etc., and even salted fish, bacon and other things.

However, there were very few gold, silver and jewelry, so little that Yuan Mao was worried, and he didn't know how to answer the eunuchs outside, "Where is the silver?" ”

The leader with the torch was puzzled, "Silver...... Aren't they all here? ”

"So little?"

"This ...... Robbery, that's it, who has nothing to do with so much gold and silver on the road? They don't bring it, we have nowhere to grab it. Every time I get some silver, everyone divides it on the spot, and it is difficult to maintain a living, let alone savings. The leader sighed, and looked very aggrieved.

When the two of them came out of the cellar, Yuan Mao pulled Huo Shuang aside and whispered a number, trying to exaggerate as much as possible, and the eunuch frowned slightly, "Are you kidding?" With so little, how can it be divided? ”

"Captain Hu and I just want to make meritorious contributions, and this thing should be regarded as filial piety to the supervisor and the factory father."

Huo Shuangde still frowned, "Can the factory man fancy this bit of silver?" It's not enough to stuff his teeth. ”

"Yes, yes, the supervisor will collect it first, and it's not too late to save more and then honor the factory father."

Huo Shuangde was still not very happy.

Yuan Mao had no choice but to say: "The supervisor visited the Tongzhou patrol camp and inadvertently discovered that some military households were robbers and had been suffering for many years, so he advocated a crusade and wiped out the bandits. ”

The eunuch finally smiled, "It's not 'unintentional', it's 'intentional'." ”

"Of course, the supervisor has been secretly visiting for a long time, and he is well versed in the chaos of the military guard."

"Hehe, in fact, it doesn't matter what the reward is, the key is to let the factory know that I am also doing things."

"Without Director Huo's decision, how could there be today's victory?"

"The silver...... If you look for it again, there may be something hidden. ”

"Yes."

"You used to be the retinue of Lord Yuan of the former mansion?"

"Yes, I stayed in the Yuan Mansion for a while."

"Well, then you must be a person who understands the rules, and you will take someone down later, register and make a book, and you can take whatever you want, haha." Huo Shuangde patted Yuan Mao's shoulder and expressed satisfaction.

An old scribe in the patrol camp was assigned to make a book, he knew the rules better, and followed behind, Yuan Mao said what he wrote, never looked at it more, and did not write a word more.

Guan Dazi's room has a little more gold, silver and jewelry, it seems that he is not so generous to his friends, Yuan Mao picked weapons, bottles and cans and other things to record, gold and silver only reported one-tenth of the amount, he is well-informed in Jinyiwei, and knows what to do.

After checking one by one, Yuan Mao was very disappointed, there was no clue here that Hu Guiyang expected, so he had to go out of the kiln first, and let the officers and soldiers carry everything out, put those on the register on one side, and put those who were not on the register on the other side.

According to the rules, the officers and soldiers who came with him always scored some benefits, Yuan Mao wanted to discuss with Huo Shuangde, but he couldn't find anyone, and after asking, he learned that the eunuch took someone to search elsewhere.

Yuan Mao shook his head secretly, the eunuchs of the West Factory are not easy to mess with, Hu Guiyang is luring the wolf into the room, but there is no food in the room that can make the wolf full, how to send the wolf out is really a big trouble.

There was chaos in the village, where soldiers from different government offices were looting goods, and some generals were gathering in the hall and shouting openly for merit.

Yuan Mao listened outside the door for a while, shook his head, and quickened his pace to find the eunuch.

In the bedroom of the sledgehammer in the backyard, Yuan Mao found someone, "Director Huo, you have to take care of something." ”

"Hmm." Huo Shuangde was flipping through a letter, and there was a pile on the table in front of him, which was obviously the personal belongings of the sledgehammer.

"There are too few people in the village, too many officers and soldiers have come, and the merit of killing the enemy is not enough to distribute, and the generals are discussing whether to take the villagers of Ximatun to fill the number. This matter is extremely inappropriate, Director Huo ......"

Huo Shuangde hummed twice, still reading the letter intently, put down one, picked up another one, and didn't listen to what Yuan Mao was saying at all.

In normal times, Yuan Mao would wait patiently, but the officers and soldiers outside were ready to move, and they would attack innocent villagers at any time, so he had to hurry up, "Director Huo, Ximatun is a military tun, it is difficult to guarantee that the news will not be leaked, if it is ......"

Huo Shuangde's gaze finally left the letter, and looked at Yuan Mao with a happy face, "This trip is too worthwhile!" ”

"Supervisor, killing people and risking merit is not the best policy......

"Risk-taking? Where did the work come from? This is a real achievement. Huo Shuangde shook the letter in his hand, stopped immediately, carefully put it back in the letter, and then held the stack of letters on the table in his hand, "With them, gold, silver, and heads are all unimportant." ”

"What clues are there in the letter?" Yuan Mao's heart moved, and he was also happy.

Huo Shuangde shook his head with a smile, "Go and tell the people outside, don't fight for merit, the West Factory will reward them, divide all the stolen goods in the village, and just leave a little as evidence." ”

Yuan Mao was taken aback, Huo Shuangde was obviously an extremely greedy eunuch, and it was surprising that he became so generous.

"Go, go." Huo Shuangde urged impatiently.

Yuan Mao was anxious to save the villagers, so he had to go to the hall first to convey the "kindness" of the eunuchs in the West Factory.

Yuan Mao came to Huo Shuangde to reply, the eunuch was very satisfied, and was about to leave, "I have to go back to the West Factory as soon as possible to meet the factory father." ”

"It's getting dark, I'm afraid I won't be able to enter the city."

Huo Shuangde looked very anxious, "Then I have to go first, find a store outside the city gate, and enter the city early tomorrow morning." Don't leave it at that, Hu Guiyang, you go back and squeak. ”

Yuan Mao wanted to know what was written in the letter, but his status was low, so he didn't dare to ask, so he had to get out of the way, "This area is relatively deserted, and I'm afraid it's not safe to walk at night, so I'll find some people to escort the supervisor." ”

"Uh...... Well, not too much. ”

Yuan Mao went to the general of the Tongzhou patrol camp again, and asked for fifty cavalrymen to escort the eunuchs of Xichang, and delayed as much as possible during the period, hoping to find a way for Huo Shuangde to reveal the truth.

Yuan Mao never thought of a way, but the delay plan was still useful, and he waited for Hu Guiyang and Fan Dajian.

The two rushed to Tiejiazhuang after nightfall, and Xiao Zhoucang and Zhang Wuchen, who had recently changed careers to become a Taoist priest, also followed.

Zhang Wuchen didn't want to come, he was revered in the City God Temple, and he had money to enter, and he already planned to stay for the rest of his life, but Hu Guiyang asked him to obediently obey the order in a few words, "Isn't it okay to be a monk and put on a Taoist robe, do you have a degree?" Is there your name in Tongzhou Province? ”

Zhang Wuchen was stunned for a while, put away the fortune-telling incense burner, and honestly followed the captain of Jinyi to set off.

Knowing that Hu Guiyang had arrived, Yuan Mao breathed a sigh of relief, immediately greeted him out, and whispered Huo Shuangde's abnormality.

Hu Guiyang didn't come for this, but he also felt that this matter was important, and Huo Shuangde found clues about He Million and others from the letter, and wanted to take credit alone.

Huo Shuangde was already in a hurry, and he was about to have a seizure when he saw Yuan Mao, and when he saw Hu Guiyang also coming, he couldn't help but be stunned, "Why are you kid here too?" Didn't I tell you? Your identity is not suitable to participate in the banditry. ”

Yuan Mao observed carefully and was very interested in how Hu Guiyang found out the truth from the eunuchs.

Hu Guiyang greeted him with a smile and arched his hand: "I'm sorry, Director Huo." ”

"Hmm...... Sorry for what? ”

Hu Guiyang stepped forward, suddenly made a move, grabbed the eunuch's right arm, and at the same time strangled his neck, and then said to Yuan Mao: "Take the letter." ”