When night falls, there is no longer the hustle and bustle of the day in Wujiang County, and the vendors on both sides of the street have already set foot on their way home, and the shops are closed one by one, leaving only a few shops with lights on.

In the salt market in the northwest corner of the county, it is usually deserted here, and the salt shops have long been closed at this time, but today it is a little strange, it has reached the moment of the hour, and the Li salt shop is not closed, but the store is brightly lit.

In Li's salt shop, the shopkeeper Bai Yuan sat on the edge of a brazier, and there was a charcoal fire burning in the brazier, and the fire flickered and dimmed, and it was also cloudy and sunny on Bai Yuan's face.

"I don't know what happened to Ah Fu about this?" Bai Yuan said to himself.

"Mr. Bai, it's so late, and it's not closed?" Suddenly, a bright voice came from outside the salt shop.

Bai Yuan raised his head and looked out, but saw a burly man standing at the door, wearing an official uniform, carrying a knife in his hand, a faint smile appeared on Tie Qing's face, and a pair of eyes like torches were looking around at everything in the salt shop.

"Who should I be, it turned out that Lieutenant Mao County had arrived, and the old man was disrespectful, disrespectful, and disrespectful." When Bai Yuan saw this person, he immediately stood up, his face was full of smiles, and he arched his hand at this person again and again, "County Lieutenant Mao, it's cold outside, please come in and bake the fire, warm up!" ”

This burly man's surname is Mao Mingbao, the word Shuozhen, Xingyang Yang Wuren, twenty-five years old, is the county lieutenant of the county, mainly responsible for the security of the county and the arrest of thieves.

Mao Bao didn't mean to go in, stood at the door of the store and arched his hand: "Mr. Bai is polite, Mao led people to pass by here at night, and when he saw that the lights were still on here, he was a little curious, and came to see if there was anything wrong, that's all." By the way, Mr. Bai, it's so late, why don't you go home yet, the ordinary salt shop has long been closed, why is it still open today? Could it be that Chengdu is so late, and there are still people who want to buy salt? ”

Bai Yuan said with a smile: "Lieutenant Mao is really joking, it's so late, how can anyone come to buy salt, the guy in the store, Ah Fu, went back to the countryside to visit relatives, and said that he would come back tonight, I will wait for him here, and when he comes, I can go back." ”

"It's this time, maybe I won't come back, Mr. Bai might as well go home early and rest." Mao Bao said.

Bai Yuan said: "It's all waiting for this time, and I don't care about waiting a little longer, if he doesn't come back when he arrives, then the old man really wants to go back, and he can't wait for him here all night." ”

Mao Bao smiled and arched his hand: "Mr. Bai, Mao still has official business, so I won't bother much, I will leave first, and if I have a chance another day, Mao will invite Mr. Bai to drink together." ”

"It's easy to say, it's easy to say, Lieutenant Mao walks slowly, and the old man will not be sent far!"

"Mr. Bai stays!"

As soon as the words fell, Mao Bao turned around and left, yelled at a team of officials waiting outside the salt shop, and a group of more than ten people left the salt market and walked forward according to the patrol route.

Under the leadership of Mao Bao, the group just walked out of the salt market, and heard a rapid sound of horses' hooves in the distance, which was exceptionally clear in this silent night.

Although Wujiang County is not a big county, but there are a lot of rich households in the city, last year the Liang people Shile established the Zhao State, the power is getting bigger and bigger, often have the intention of going south to attack Jin, the imperial court and Zhao friction on the border is constant, and Zhao often sends spies to go deep into the Jin realm to sabotage. In addition, some lawbreakers also took advantage of the opportunity to do whatever they wanted, burning, killing and looting, and doing all kinds of evil.

Half a month ago, a horse thief appeared in the city, killed the official in charge of guarding the horses, and stole the only thirteen official horses in the county office. The county magistrate was very angry about this matter and strictly ordered Mao Bao to investigate the matter thoroughly, but the modus operandi of these horse thieves was very clever, and Mao Bao investigated it for a long time and had no clue.

At this time, he suddenly heard the sound of horses' hooves, and Mao Bao couldn't help but be shocked, and immediately remembered the matter of horse thieves.

Seeing that the sound of horses' hooves was getting closer and closer to here, Mao Bao immediately made a decision, and hurriedly ordered his subordinates to extinguish the torches in their hands, scatter in all directions, and hide in the shadows, preparing to take down all the horse thieves.

Today, the moon was bright and the stars were scarce, and the whole land was shrouded in a silvery gray moonlight, and although there were no torches, the situation on the street could still be faintly seen.

The sound of horses' hooves approached, and Mao Bao hid in the dark and opened his eyes wide, seeing a total of five tall horses driving towards him, all carrying a knight with five big and three thick horses on their backs.

The five war horses lined up, hugged each other in front and back, and all walked towards Yanshi, and their speed gradually slowed down a lot.

Seeing this, Mao Bao was overjoyed in his heart, and said secretly: "God really helps me!" ”

From the main road in the city to Yanshi, it is necessary to make a turn, these five war horses slowed down, and were about to turn, when they suddenly heard a loud shout, and more than a dozen officials emerged from all directions, rushing over like a swarm, and the weapons in their hands were flashed out, aiming at the five knights.

"Herod—"

The horses were frightened and let out a long neigh, and the two front hooves were raised high, and the knights on horseback were equally frightened, and one of them was not paying attention, and they were lifted off their horses and fell heavily to the ground.

Gao Fei and Ah Fu were carrying on the back of the same horse, Gao Fei lay on the back of the horse, the road was very bumpy, the first time he rode a horse, he only felt more uncomfortable than motion sickness, the world was spinning, and he vomited more than ten times on the road, and he almost vomited out of his bitter gall. At this time, as soon as the horse was frightened, he was also lifted off on the horse's back, but when he landed, fortunately, there was Ah Fu's meat pad to block it, and he was not hurt at all, but he felt a tumbling in his abdomen, and one side of his face opened his mouth and vomited.

"Take down all these horse thieves!" Mao Bao put a cold-glowing knife on the neck of one of the big men, and the rest of the servants pressed the spears they held against the chests of the others.

"County lieutenant, there's a child here!" One of the officials suddenly noticed that there was a child lying on the ground, and he hurriedly cried out.

Mao Bao glanced at the child, then glared at the gang angrily, and gritted his teeth with hatred: "Okay, you gangsters, not only stealing horses, but also daring to snatch children, it's just lawless!" ”

Ah Fu had just reacted, his chest had been pressed against Leng Sensen's sharp spear, he knew Mao Bao, and hurriedly shouted: "County Lieutenant Mao, don't get me wrong, we are not horse thieves, you can look carefully, I am Ah Fu, a guy from Li's salt shop!" ”

When Mao Bao heard this, he became even more angry, and yelled at Ah Fu: "Okay, Li Afu, your master treats you well, you actually eat inside and outside, collude with this gang of horse thieves, and do the business of horse theft." Say! Did you do the theft of thirteen official horses in the official stables for half a month? ”

Ah Fu's surname is Li, and he is the slave of Li Cheng, the owner of Li's salt shop, when he heard Mao Bao say this, he hurriedly waved his hand and said: "Lieutenant Mao, you can't spew blood, even if I, Li Afu, have the courage to steal horses." Lieutenant Mao, all this is a misunderstanding, we are not horse thieves, we ride all the horses of the Li Mansion, if you don't believe it, you can inspect them one by one, the horses of the Li Mansion have imprints on their buttocks, these are also the family members of the Li Mansion, we went out to run errands together, but we came back a little late. ”

Mao Bao frowned, and shouted at his subordinates: "Light the torch!" ”

The torches were soon lit, and under the light of the fire, Mao Bao personally inspected the five horses, and sure enough, they found a brand with the word "Li Fu" on the left buttocks of the horses, not only that, but also a number with numbers on the right buttocks of the horses, which were two, five, six, eight, and nine.

In this way, it was really a misunderstanding, Mao Bao mistook Li Afu and others for horse thieves. Rao is like this, Mao Bao didn't have the slightest intention of apologizing, waved at his subordinates, asked them to put away all their weapons, and then said to Li Afu: "Don't ride a horse at night in the future, the law and order has not been peaceful recently, there has just been a case of theft of horses from the official office in the city, my duty is to see people riding horses at night, it is easy to regard these people as horse thieves." Fortunately, it's okay today, and if something happens, you're to blame! ”

No matter how angry Li Afurao was in his heart, he didn't dare to go against the county lieutenant Mao Bao, he just bowed his head and bowed his waist, and he was there to accompany him.

Mao Bao saw that Li Afu and the others were indeed not horse thieves, so it was inconvenient to stop them, after all, this person was from the Li Mansion, and it depended on the owner to beat the dog, even if it was the county magistrate, he had to give Li Cheng, the owner of the Li Mansion, a few thin noodles, not to mention him.

"Keep patrolling!"

With Mao Bao's order, the officials lined up again, and under the leadership of Mao Bao, they continued to patrol according to the patrol route.

But Mao Bao had just taken two steps, and suddenly stopped, he looked back at Gao Fei who was sitting on the ground, and asked, "Who is this child?" ”

"Oh, my nephew, just picked up from the country." Li Afu replied.

Mao Bao didn't ask any more, turned around and continued to walk forward.

Li Afu looked at Mao Bao and the other patrol team leaving, and finally breathed a sigh of relief, he was low just now, but now he suddenly came to the spirit again, and boasted to the four big men: "Isn't his surname Mao a county lieutenant, what is the spirit, wait for the master to come one day, see how I clean him up!" ”

The other four big men also looked at each other, and everyone understood what was going on psychologically, but no one broke it, and they also cooperated with Li Afu and echoed a few words.

Li Afu stood up from the ground and glanced at the half-dead Gao Fei, this kid vomited many times along the way, making his clothes full of vomit and stinking to death. If Mr. Bai hadn't ordered him to catch him alive, he would have treated him well, and he would have thrown this child into the wilderness to feed the wolves.

"Bring this kid in, Mr. Bai should be in a hurry!" Li Afu led the horses and commanded the remaining four strong men.