Under the rule of Liguo, in addition to Diqiu Town, there are nearly ten settlements, and the Mazhuang in the southwest of it is closer to Xuzhou, but it is not on the canal and the official road, which is a remote place under the supervision of Liguo.

Early that morning, the sound of horses' hooves broke the calm of Zhuangzi.

Duan Tong, who came out to pick up dung with a basket on his back, stretched out his head to look outside the village, and then saw more than ten teenagers, all riding horses, accompanied by two dukes to the front of the village.

Duan Tong is only sixteen years old this year, and when he sees people of similar age, he can't help but look at them a few more times, and then lowers his eyebrows, slightly revealing an expression of inferiority.

Everyone is close in age, but others are freshly dressed and angry, but they are in tatters.

Then he quickly retreated into the short alley between the two houses, so that the group of people who had entered the Zhuangzi would not see him.

More than a dozen horses stopped after entering the Zhuangzi, and those people seemed to be looking at something. Seeing them like this, Duan Tong's heart tightened.

Recently, there has been an accident in Zhuangzi, so the errand or something came to run at two ends for three days, but what did this group of teenagers do with the errand officer, could it be that the son of a rich and noble family in Xuzhou Mansion came to see the excitement when he heard the news?

"This is it?" The man at the head of the boys asked.

The reason why he was judged to be the leader was because he was riding one of the tallest purple horses, and the rest of the people were always looking at him as if they were waiting for his orders.

Duan Tong quietly and carefully looked at the leader, and then secretly praised in his heart: What a young man!

The lips are red and the teeth are white, the face is like a jade, and the eyebrows are swordsman...... These adjectives are not understood, the only thing he understands is that this young man is really handsome, and he is better looking than the most beautiful girl in Zhuangzi.

"Back to the Ya, this is it, you see that room, it is Hu Hu's house, and the case of drought and thunder killing people happened in this house." An errand officer respectfully said.

"Call the chief, I have something to ask." Zi Li is right away, naturally it is Zhou Quan.

Xu Churen thought that he was recruiting smelters as a threat, and the case he asked him to take over was the case of the drought and thunder killing people in Mazhuang. Xu Churen thought that there was something strange about this case, but he was busy with political disputes and had no time to deal with it, so he took it out to make it difficult for Zhou Quan.

One of the errand officers ran to call the chief, and the other officer took Zhou Quan directly to Hu Hu's house. In this dilapidated Zhuangzi, Hu Hu's house is good, but now it is empty, and there is no half of it.

Zhou Quan got off the horse, Li Bao and Wang Qinian accompanied him into the house, and the rest of the teenagers stayed outside, not allowed to come to see the lively villagers.

As soon as he entered the courtyard, Zhou Quan smelled a pungent smell, and his face moved slightly, secretly remembering it in his heart.

A large hole was blown out in the roof, the wall also collapsed in half, and on the remaining doors and windows, Zhou Quan saw the charred black marks of the fire.

It looked like lightning struck down and split the house, killing the people in the house.

The doors on both sides were unharmed, but they were locked, and Zhou Quan pushed them, but failed to push them open.

"No one lives? This Hu Hu family has no family? Zhou Quan asked.

The errand officer didn't know, but there was a humane outside the door: "Some family members, it's just that thunder fell from the sky and hacked Hu Hu to death, where do the family members dare to live in this house and go to relatives and friends." ”

Immediately afterwards, an old man in his fifties walked in with a sad face, and the servant smiled and said: "Yanei, this is the chief of the horse village, this old man's surname is Kong, and it is said that he is still a descendant of the Confucian saint, hahahaha......"

The messenger was very proud of being able to call the descendants of Kong Sheng around, but after laughing twice, he felt that it was inappropriate, and hurriedly looked at Zhou Quan, and found that Zhou Quan's face was neither happy nor angry.

"Uncle Kong, tell me what happened." Zhou Quan said.

Although he had already inquired about the case before, Zhou Quan still wanted to listen again to discover something he hadn't noticed before.

The facts of the case are quite simple, the weather was very hot ten days ago, and when Hu Hu, the head of the family, was taking a nap, a drought and thunder suddenly struck down, which smashed the house and killed Hu Hu.

Because some time has passed, the corpse has been retracted, but there is an autopsy made by a pestle, and Zhou Quan has also seen it.

"It's strange that thunder can split people apart." Zhou Quan smiled and said.

Kong Li was smiling with a smile, but a trace of strangeness flashed in his old eyes, but Zhou Quan observed very carefully and noticed this detail.

"This Hu Hu is in the countryside, how is he a person?" Zhou Quan asked again.

Kong Li looked embarrassed and said vaguely: "Hu Hu is powerful......"

Before he finished speaking, he heard someone outside: "Get out of the way, you little rabbits dare to stop me?" ”

Zhou Quan frowned, the so-called "little rabbit cub" should be his array boy.

He glanced at Wang Qinian, Wang Qinian understood, strode out, and Zhou Quan continued to ask Kong Lizheng: "Lizheng, you continue to speak, tell the truth, don't shy away from it." ”

"This is Zhou Yanei, Kong Lizheng, if you don't talk well, beware of being caught in front of the governor to hit the board!" The official next to him shouted.

Kong Lizheng's expression changed slightly, he was just an old man in the countryside, he was frightened, where did he dare to hide it, and said at the moment: "Hu Hu is very good at fighting, Zhuangzi is a little afraid of him, he travels extensively, and has dealings with scoundrels in ten miles and eight towns, and even the heroes and heroes of other prefectures and counties have many contacts with him." ”

Although Lao Lizheng was telling the truth, he was still a little vague, but Zhou Quan still understood what he meant when he didn't say it directly.

This Hu Hu should be a domineering character in the township.

It makes sense why his house is better in a poor village.

"Does Hu Hu have any enemies in his hometown?" Zhou Quan asked again.

Lao Lizheng smiled awkwardly: "This ...... It's hard to say. ”

"What's not to say, there is something, there is nothing!" The official scolded him, he followed Zhou Quan to do things, and he had already taken several mos for the reward, so he was so concerned.

"Hu Hu's temper ......"

Lao Lizheng's words were just said this, and suddenly there was a commotion outside, followed by a crisp sound of "horn", it seemed that someone had taken a slap, and then heard the sound of shouting.

This time, Zhou Quan couldn't stay any longer, he strode out, and saw the array of teenagers who were guarding him swarming up, pushing several big men to the ground.

Wang Qinian had a palm print on his face, and there was blood at the corner of his mouth, it seemed that he was the one who was slapped. But now, he was raising his leg and kicking a man on the ground so hard that he screamed.

"Little rabbit, kick well, kick well, there is a kind of kick to death, if you don't kick to death, grandpa and you are not finished!"

The man screamed and scolded at the same time, and after Zhou Quan stepped forward, Wang Qinian stopped and stepped aside: "This person is quite unreasonable, I shared it with him, but he beat me!" ”

Zhou Quan knows Wang Qinian's character, this young man prefers to play yin, don't look at the soft-spoken words, but the means of doing things are ruthless, and the big man dares to beat him, so he has to endure hardships.

"Tie people up, plug their mouths, and bring them back for careful interrogation later, Hu Hu's death may be related to these people." He ordered.

"What, Hu Hu is dead?"

The scolding big man's mouth was still not clean, but when the array boy came to gag him, he reacted and said in shock.

"Shut up!" Before he could say more, he was gagged by a mass of rags, and his eyes were so choked that they were about to bulge.

The big man still wanted to speak, but he was blocked so tightly that he could only hum. The two companions beside him shouted at this time: "Misunderstanding, misunderstanding, we are friends of Hu Hu, and we came to see him......"

"Keep your hands and feet neat!" Seeing that the young man in the array was a little hesitant, Wang Qinian scolded in a soft voice.

The young men's men suddenly sped up and blocked the mouths of the other two big men.

Seeing Wang Qinian showing a hint of a smile, Zhou Quan also chuckled in his heart, obviously after receiving a slap, Wang Qinian wanted to take revenge, so he had to bring these three men back.

This kid has never been a big-hearted man.

After tying up the gag, Wang Qinian personally started to search the bodies of the three big men. As a result, he only touched it twice, and his face changed slightly: "Da Lang! ”

Zhou Quan looked over and saw Wang Qinian take out a dagger from the arms of the cheap-mouthed big man. The dagger was dark and looked a little dirty, but the edge was sharpened!

Not only the cheap man, but also the other two men, the short blades were also found. This is not a folk knife such as a pig-killing knife, but a murderous weapon that those strongmen and gangsters like to use!

In addition to the blades, there were some bits and pieces, a few pieces of money, and some scattered silver.

"Tie it tight." Zhou Quan saw these short blades, and secretly said in his heart that he was lucky, fortunately, the array boy learned some skills from Zhou Fu and Du Gou'er, and they locked the joints of these three men as soon as they made a move, otherwise if they took out the blades, they were afraid that there would be casualties.

"Uncle Kong, have you ever known these three people?" Zhou Quan turned around and asked that Kong Lizheng.

Kong Li is frowning, these three people are not a good thing at first glance, and now they are captured by Zhou Quan in the horse village, they can't help Zhou Quan, and they will come to find trouble in the horse village in the future.

Therefore, after listening to Zhou Quan's question, he said loudly: "The little old man is old and dizzy, and I can't remember if I have seen these three people......"

The old man was pushing back and forth when he spoke, and he was not happy at all, Li Bao was already a little angry at this time, glaring at him viciously, and he just wanted to rush over and pry his mouth open.

That is, Zhou Quan is patient, not only talking to him in a good voice, but also complimenting him from time to time. The three men were tied under the eaves, and Li Bao's eyes swept over them, looking into the distance a little bored.

Then his gaze froze, for in the shadows between the two houses, he saw a figure shrink back abruptly.

Since he learned the skill of scouting scouts with Di Jiang, Li Bao's vigilance has increased greatly, he deliberately pretended not to see the figure, and looked away again, only paying attention from the corner of his eye.

It didn't take long for the figure to creep out again, as if to spy on them.

Li Bao remained silent and moved a few steps to the side, the figure kept staring at Zhou Quan, not noticing that Li Bao had already walked around the wall of the courtyard. A moment later, when Li Bao appeared behind the figure, he was still probing his brain towards Zhou Quan.

"Who are you?"