Chu Huan and his entourage went out of Huzhou, and then entered the territory of Taiyuan, if Huzhou is mountainous, then Taiyuan is more watery, Taiyuan lakes are vertical and horizontal, fertile and wild, and the road in Taiyuan is much smoother than the roads in Huzhou.

Taiyuan has always been an important government in the northern region of the empire, one of the four granaries of the empire, Chen Yangcang, is located in the territory of Anyi Road, as the capital of Anyi Road, Taiyuan City's grain storage since the establishment of the country, has been in the forefront of the northern region of the empire, the wind and rain are smooth, it stands to reason that the people here should live a good life, but in fact, the finance of Anyi Road has always been very difficult, because the imperial court knows that Anyi is very famine, and the harvest is very good, so once the imperial court wants to requisition grain and grass, the first thing that comes to mind in the northern region is Taiyuan Mansion.

Taiyuan Mansion has requisitioned a lot of grain and grass, but as the glorious family of the empire, the Huang family of Anguo Gong has always enjoyed the treatment of exemption from paying taxes, but at least one-third of Anyi's wealth belongs to the Huang family, so that the tax grain and grass levied can only be apportioned to other places.

However, there is one thing that cannot be denied, Taiyuan City is definitely one of the most prosperous cities in the north of the empire, although it is adjacent to Xishan Road, but Yunshan Mansion, the capital of Xishan Road, is definitely not as prosperous as Taiyuan Mansion.

Chu Huan had not yet appreciated the prosperity of Taiyuan Mansion, and he was less than two days away from Taiyuan City at this time.

The prosperity of Taiyuan City does not mean that all places in Taiyuan are lively and prosperous, at least the road that Chu Huan is walking on now seems to be very secluded and depressed.

After separating from Yun Dali, Chu Huan tried his best to find a place to live before dark, and it would naturally be better if he passed through the town, otherwise he would also find a village to settle in.

It's not that he's worried about what the black shop in the wilderness can do to him, he just doesn't want to get into trouble before he reaches Taiyuan Mansion.

This road does not look deserted, but it is uninhabited, it will be dark, but there is no sign of the town, Chu Huan thought that he could only find a village to settle in.

A gust of wind passed, Sun Zikong couldn't help but cover his nose and said, "Master, do you smell it?" ”

Chu Huan nodded, when the gust of wind blew, a rancid smell immediately penetrated into his nostrils, Chu Huan looked in the direction of the wind, there seemed to be a forest in the distance, Chu Huan reined in the horse, and the square behind him was understanding, urging the horse forward, and said, "My lord, I'll go over and see what's going on." ”

Chu Huan thought for a moment and nodded, the forest was not far away, but the sun was setting, and the sky and the earth were dim, so it was a little blurry, Chu Huan could clearly see Ma Zheng's shadow, Ma Zheng arrived at the edge of the forest, and soon returned, showing a little excitement, "My lord, there seems to be a family on the other side of the forest, we can stay there." ”

"Oh?" Chu Huan raised his eyebrows, "How many families are there?" ”

"There are about twenty families." Ma Zhengyu said: "But I didn't see anyone." ”

Chu Huan said in a low voice: "Let's go over and take a look, if it's convenient, let's stay here for a night at night, I'm afraid there is only this village nearby, if it is not accepted here, we can only spend a night in the wild." ”

If it was the usual season, Chu Huan didn't care about sleeping in the wild, but now that it was winter, it had become very cold at night, and it was originally a long-distance journey, and if it was to keep the body out of the cold at night, it would consume a lot of energy, so it would be very helpful to find a place to drink a cup of hot water to rest, which would be of great help to the recovery of physical strength and energy.

Approaching the forest, Chu Huan felt that the rancid smell was getting worse and worse, disgusting, and there was something strange in his heart, Sun Zikong had already pulled a cloth towel and covered his nose, as if he couldn't stop the smell, and covered it with his hands, and when he arrived at the edge of the forest, he saw a village next to the woods, and there were more than 20 houses scattered and scattered, mostly made of rammed earth, which was the most common ordinary settlement.

The life of the common people is made at sunrise and rested at sunset, but at this time it has already sunset, but this village is extremely secluded, death-like silence.

"It doesn't seem like there's anybody." Ma Zhengdao: "I didn't see anyone in the village, and at this time, it should be time to light the lights." ”

Chu Huan bowed slightly, in fact, he had already seen the strangeness here, there were more than 20 rooms, none of them were lit, and there was no one to see at all, it stands to reason that there are more than 20 families, this village is not small, and there is no such dead silence.

"Is it an abandoned village?" Sun Tzu Kongqi said.

Ma Zheng shook his head and said, "I don't see it." If you look at the fence over there, it looks like it has only been built recently, and you see, this fence has been built for the most part, and it has not yet been completed......! Before he finished speaking, he heard his grandson say in a lost voice: "My mother......!" The voice was a little frightened, Chu Huan was looking at the village, heard Sun Zikong's voice, and hurriedly turned his head to look, but saw Sun Zikong's expression was panicked, as if he had seen a ghost, frowned and asked, "What's the matter?" ”

"Master, you ...... Look at ...... over there! The grandson's empty eyes were full of horror, he raised his hand and pointed into the air, and everyone followed his fingers to look over, and soon, everyone showed surprise.

Now it is early winter, and there are no leaves on the trees, they are all bare branches, but Chu Huan and the three of them found at this time that there was a tall tree in front of them, and there were many branches of the big tree, and on one of its sticking out of the branch, there was a hairy corpse.

The branch was like a spear, running through the corpse, the corpse was not a human corpse, it was furry, and it was in an extremely high position, if it wasn't for Sun Zikong's reminder and not to look closely, it really might not be able to find it.

"It seems to be...... Like a dog! "Ma Zhengdao.

Chu Huan looked at it intently and nodded slightly, "It's a dog." He wondered who had put the carcass of a dog through the branches. Was the dog hung up after death, or was it dyed alive by a branch through the body? To be able to climb such a tall tree, and to be able to hang this dog on a branch, is not something that ordinary people can do.

"Be careful, everyone, it's weird here." Chu Huan said in a deep voice, he knew that ordinary villagers could not have the ability to hang the dog corpse on the branch, although the branch was not thin, but it was not extremely thick, it stretched out from the trunk of the tree, ordinary people wanted to hang the dog corpse on it, they could only climb on the branch and carry the dog corpse over, and the bearing capacity of the branch was not very strong, Chu Huan estimated that he would be able to bear fifty or sixty catties of things when he touched it, and the adult weight far exceeded this weight, if he was not careful, the trunk would break, and if he fell from such a high place, he would be seriously injured if he did not die, Ordinary villagers would never have taken such a risk.

"My lord, look over there, there's another one!" Liu Suifeng said suddenly: "That seems to be a dog ......!" ”

Chu Huan looked over, and sure enough, he saw that there was a dog corpse hanging on the branch of another big tree.

Chu Huan was surprised, he didn't say much, turned the horse's head, and galloped out of a distance, Sun Zikong and others saw this, and they didn't understand why, but they saw Chu Huan galloping out of more than two hundred meters, reined in the horse, turned his head, and looked at the woods from a distance.

Chu Huan looked at it carefully and breathed a sigh of relief, although this scene was very weird, but after all, no human life was implicated, what he was most afraid of was that there were still human corpses hanging on top of the treetops.

He rode to the village, Sun Zikong and a few people knew that things were strange, and they all galloped behind Chu Huan, and a group of four people rode to the village, and there was silence in all directions, Chu Huan reined in the horse, first swept it, and then approached a house, passed by the door, and looked inside from the window, only to see that the house was empty, leaving a few old and dilapidated pieces of furniture piled up in the corner, and the house was uninhabited.

Several other people also dispersed at this time, checked in the village, and then gathered around Chu Huan, all shaking their heads, Chu Huan understood what he meant, obviously there was no one living in this village.

There was no one in the village outside the dog corpse, and the surrounding cold environment made the atmosphere extremely weird.

"Get off the horse, let's live here." Chu Huan turned over and dismounted, led the horse to a house, Sun Zikong was a little surprised: "Master, can you live here?" ”

"Why can't you live?" Chu Huan smiled faintly: "These houses are empty, and they are very warm when there is a fire inside, are you still willing to be frozen outside?" ”

He handed over the reins of the horse to Sun Zikong, and let Sun Zikong be tied outside the door, although Ma Zheng and Liu Suifeng were a little apprehensive in their hearts, but since Chu Huan had made such a decision, he would naturally not disobey it.

A fire was lit in the house, there was no shortage of wood, wood for heating could be seen everywhere in the village, several people sat down around the fire, married dry food and came out, Sun Zikong finally couldn't help but ask: "Master, what do you say is going on here?" He couldn't help but glance out of the window, it was dark outside, Sun Zikong always felt that there seemed to be a pair of eyes staring at him in the darkness, although Chu Huan was beside him, he still felt a little hairy on his body, and said in a low voice: "How did those dogs get hung on the treetops?" Why is there no one in this village? ”

Chu Huan said: "Naturally, there were people in the village before, but not long ago, they just left. ”

Sun Tzu was stunned and said curiously: "How does the master know that they have left not long ago?" ”

"Didn't you go to the kitchen just now?" Chu Huan touched his chin and said, "The dust in the stove can still be seen, and they will only be away for about ten days at most." ”

"That is, they left five or six days ago." Sun Tzu Kongqi said: "This is a good village, why should they leave it behind? ”

Chu Huan leaned against the wall, took off the water bag on his waist, took a sip of water, and said, "Then I'm afraid it has something to do with the dead dogs hanging from the treetops in the forest outside the village." ”