The moon was clouded with a circle of dim wheels of light, the stars in the sky faded silently, the earth grew darker, and the cold winds of the spring night became cold and damp.

Wu Ming rushed out of the silent north entrance of the town at the fastest speed, chose the shortest straight-line distance to run across the rocky beach, and jumped on the stone pier to see two small wooden boats moored by the river.

Coming to the noisy flowing water, Wu Ming could still clearly hear the messy gunfire and chaotic shouts from the town, the sound of gunfire and shouts alarmed the boatmen resting on the wooden boat, and the two sleepy-eyed boatmen got out of the small cabin covered by the canopy one after another, and suddenly found a tall man with murderous aura standing in front of him, and he screamed in fright one after another.

The young boatman who was the first to get out sat on the bow of the boat with his feet weak, and the old boatman on the small boat next to him looked at Wu Ming in horror, his thin body swayed with the bumpy boat, but he didn't dare to move.

Wu Ming jumped onto the young boatman's boat and inserted the German made in his hand into the holster on his waist: "Please send me to the other side." ”

The boatman said "oops" twice, hurriedly got up and turned around on the spot, shivered a few times before remembering to untie the bow rope, picked up the pole and inserted it into the water in a panic, the small wooden boat swayed and sailed to the shore, rowed to the other side of the wide Raobei River, and only took more than five minutes to get on the dock on the opposite bank.

Wu Ming didn't get off the boat immediately, looked at the town on the opposite shore for a while, and then looked at the boatman who had already returned to his soul, and took out a piece of ocean and stuffed it into the boatman's trembling hand: "Thank you for your hard work!" It's not easy for you either. ”

"No hard work, no hard work! The money given by the uncle is enough, enough! Usually, we only charge three cents for ferrying, and only five cents during the flood season. The boatman's hand that grabbed the ocean was full of sweat, and when he saw that Wu Ming didn't mean to embarrass himself, he let go of most of his heart.

Wu Ming thought for a while and commanded in a low voice: "I guess you also guessed that the gunfire in the town just now was related to me, and I won't hide it from you, I put the first two shots, and someone will definitely chase after you, if they ask about you, they will say that I put a gun to your head and force you to hold the boat, and not only do I not give you money, but I also want to kill you, if they ask me what gun I use, you will say it as it is, remember?" ”

"Hey, hey!"

The boatman subconsciously responded, Wu Ming jumped off the boat a few steps onto the river bank, and did not turn back to the north. The boatman stared blankly at Wu Ming, who was gradually disappearing into the darkness, and shivered a few times in succession, only to realize that his chest and back were already soaked.

Wu Ming traveled hundreds of meters north along the riverside road, turned the bend and stopped to watch for a moment, quickly left the road and walked into the east path, trotted along the sheep intestine path under the hill, turned south and walked along the winding and undulating mountain road for more than half an hour, heard the sound of running water in front of him, immediately accelerated his speed and climbed the small hill in front, stood on the hill and looked at the town with torches across the river, tightened his belt and the rifle on his back, walked down the hill and continued to speed south along the riverside path.

Huanggu Town is still in a panic at the moment, the streets and alleys are running with heavily loaded officers and soldiers, all of them looking panicked as if they are facing a great enemy, there are burning torches on the street corners and trees on the side of the street, and the miscellaneous servants of the town government and the families of several local tyrants are divided into four groups, carrying birds and knives and leading the officers and soldiers to search from house to house.

Under the bright torches in the front yard, the body of Steward Wang and the seriously injured and unconscious garrison commander Yang Zhisheng were placed side by side, several officers and soldiers were covering the corpse with a white cloth, and everyone around was silent, only the heavy wheezing sound and the crackling sound of the torch burning were heard.

After the chaos, several Chen Mansion guards pulled out the carriage, and the officers and soldiers carried Yang Zhisheng, the head of the garrison, onto the carriage and rushed back to the city for treatment.

There was a cry in the bedroom of the main room of the Chen Mansion, the eldest lady who woke up leisurely hugged the fat brother and daughter-in-law who was in pain and cried and grabbed the ground, the second wife, the third wife, and the daughter-in-law Wang Yuehan were frightened in front of the bed, a group of maids stood in the house and trembled outside the house, and several mothers-in-law from the Wang family were shocked and suddenly felt that they had lost their backbone, and they ran back and forth while crying.

In the study, the distraught county magistrate Wang and Master Chen had already calmed down, and listened to the analysis and report of the two company commanders who had just rushed back with a calm face: "The murderer first attacked the sentry post in the west of the town, twisted the neck of one sentry, tied the other into a dumpling, snatched a rifle, a gun stab and all the bullets, and speculated from the two bullet casings found under the backyard wall that the murderer took advantage of my unpreparedness and quietly sneaked into the backyard of Chen's mansion, and fired cold guns at Tuanzao and Steward Wang, who were drinking in the pavilion, and fled from the north of the town immediately after succeeding; Just received an urgent report from the brothers searching the north direction of the town, the murderer fled to the dock, forced the boatman to cross the river with a gun, and then quickly fled north, the two boatmen confessed, the murderer was holding a shell gun in his hand, and a long gun was also carried behind him, we analyzed, the spear was obviously stolen from the west checkpoint of the town. ”

Wang Daohan's face was red and white, white and blue, the green tendons on his bright forehead protruded, and his teeth were bitten protrusively, obviously extremely frightened and angry.

He snorted coldly a few times, and loudly ordered the two company commanders to immediately send people to urgently notify the surrounding counties and towns, mobilize all their strength and strength to arrest the murderer, and waved his hand to let all the people in the hall retreat.

The officers and a few nursing masters left in a hurry, and Wang Daohan, who was still indignant just now, sat on the Taishi's chair, his face was pale and his hands and feet were weak, and it took a while before he raised his trembling hand, picked up the teacup and poured a large sip of strong tea, and turned to Chen Jiyao, who was lost in his soul on the side, with great concern:

"Brother, two deaths and one injury overnight is nothing, but one of them is the newly appointed security chief of the province, and the younger brother can't hide it even if he wants to, I'm afraid it will be in an uproar tomorrow, and the whole county will know about it! I knew this, when you sent that son of a scumbag to the county in August last year, I should have ordered him to be killed immediately, I originally wanted to wait for the rumors to pass and then quietly clean up the mess, but who knew that the red bandits suddenly robbed the prison, and then made today's tragic scene, causing huge damage, I dare to say, tonight this matter will definitely spread to Nanchang within three days, and then shake the whole province! The little brother was in chaos, and he couldn't regret it, and in August last year, the little brother risked his life to lead the troops to fight back, quickly restore order and pacify the eight directions, and secretly took out 20,000 oceans to fight up and down, so as to keep the black gauze hat of the county magistrate, and now there is such a big leak, the little brother's life is not good! ”

Chen Jiyao's face was full of pain: "Brother Xian, the foolish brother is also in turmoil, it's all because he did that foolish thing back then, and he coveted a few nights to give birth to that evil seed, and after knowing it, his relatives were hidden and didn't have the courage to eliminate hidden dangers, which led to today's situation, and the foolish brother regretted it and was shameless!" The foolish brother knows that he is guilty of a lot of sin, and he can't help the virtuous brother with anything, so he will prepare 20,000 oceans for the virtuous brother to relieve the ......."

Wang Daohan waved his hand again and again: "Brother, don't you know what the younger brother is?" If it weren't for my sister-in-law's narrow-mindedness, according to her brother's character, even if she was helpless and regretful, she would have brought Wu's mother and son back for resettlement, how to say that it was her own flesh and blood! If he had really done it back then, not only would it not cause a catastrophe today, but my brother would have had more children, but it's a pity, a pity! Don't say this, brother doesn't need to blame himself too deeply, you and my brother have respected and known each other for decades, and worked together, how could you have ever been polite in money? Although my Wang family can't say that they are rich in all directions, there is no problem with taking out 180,000 cash money, my brother doesn't need to worry about this, what I should worry about is how to control the impact, the younger brother is worried, I am afraid that this matter in front of me cannot be solved by money, if it is not done well, not only will the brother's reputation be damaged, but the future of the younger brother in this life will also be over! ”

"Brother Xian, is it really so difficult?" Chen Jiyao leaned out in pain.

"It's tricky!"

Wang Daohan shook his head painfully, and his two beards shook together with the loose flesh and skin on his face: "Brother also knows that in August last year, the red bandits broke through my Shangrao County, and the younger brother took the lead in using his life to quickly extinguish the disaster, and secretly dissolved the money, but the province not only did not punish but gave a reward, which is a great luck in misfortune." ”

Wang Daohan poured down his mouth of tea to moisten his throat: "In November, the two counties of Hengfeng and Yiyang in the west suddenly rioted against the red bandits, and the leaders of the Red Party such as Fang Zhimin, Shao Sanyanzi, and Huang Ruizhang of Hengfeng in Yiyang instigated thousands of restless mud legs to occupy the two counties, echoing with the leaders of the red bandits at the junction of Jiangxi, Fujian and Guangdong, and the momentum shook the whole country. The magistrates of the two counties were immediately dismissed from their posts and punished, and three of the six garrison captains and police chiefs were shot! ”

"Huh? The punishment of the province is so severe? Chen Jiyao was even more worried after being stunned.

"Yes! Last year, the central government attached more importance to Jiangxi's armed forces, and called Chairman Lu Diping three times to inquire about the specific situation of the red bandits in Jiangxi, and Chairman Lu issued two important instructions to exterminate the red bandits and protect the territory and the people, and set up an inspection team to inspect the whole province, which was the first time he expressed his position since he assumed the chairmanship of the province. It was just that such a major event occurred, alas! Wang Daohan sighed weakly.

Chen Jiyao's heart was full of guilt and anger, he was silent for a moment and slowly stood up, walked back and forth in the hall a few times, and slowly regained his senses: "Brother Xian, this matter must be cautious, Brother Fool thinks that while carrying out the round-up with all his might, it is best to have this matter related to Fang Zhimin and others in Yiyang, claiming to the outside world that today's attackers are not one person, but a group, who came from the territory of Heng and Yi counties to commit the crime, the reason is that the virtuous brother took the lead in the process of Shangrao's rebellion in August last year, and decisively killed a number of Communist Party leaders. The communist party power in the whole territory of Shangrao was completely swept away, so it was subjected to the bloody revenge of the communist armed forces today, so it may be spared. ”

"Tall! The elder brother's words made the younger brother suddenly open up, and the problem was solved! The elder brother is indifferent and far-reaching, and he always doesn't want to be an official, it's a pity, it's a pity! Wang Daohan was so excited that he got up, shook the hem of his robe and stood upright, and saluted Chen Jiyao respectfully.

Chen Jiyao hurriedly stepped forward and held it up: "Brother Xian, why is this?" I'm ashamed of my foolish brother......"

Wang Daohan's face reappeared: "Brother, junior brother will write an emergency report, send someone to Nanchang as soon as dawn, and then immediately convene an emergency meeting, so that the insiders and all officers and soldiers will strictly abide by confidentiality and unify their voice." ”

"Slow!"

Chen Jiyao took Wang Daohan's hand and said very worriedly: "Brother Xian, there is another thing to trouble Brother Xian, send someone to send Yuehan to Nanchang as soon as possible to accompany Kang'er, you can no longer stay at home, Yuehan received a new education, her personality is soft on the outside and strong on the inside, she stays at home alone, and she is gradually decreasing, plus she has had frequent accidents in the past few months, and she has met that evil seed several times, and she is worried about the life-saving grace of that evil seed, if we don't try our best to hide it, I can't say that it has already been short and long outside, and the foolish brother is worried all day long!" Your sister is impatient, very suspicious, she doesn't like Yuehan very much, her mother-in-law and daughter-in-law have their own grievances, and there is such a big thing today, your sister must be very sad, if Yuehan continues to stay at home, she will definitely make trouble and not be at peace! ”

Wang Daohan nodded frequently, thinking deeply: "Since this is the case, let's send Yuehan girl to Nanchang as soon as possible, this matter is very troublesome, alas!" ”

As he was talking, there was a sudden sound of broken dishes in the inner room, followed by Wang Yuehan's painful screams and the eldest lady's painful scolding, and the inner room suddenly burst into crying and screaming.

Wang Daohan and Chen Jiyao were dumbfounded for a moment, looked at each other and ran to the inner room together.