"Team leader, why don't we be thirsty for a bowl of tea before we go on the road?" Zhang San, who was following Liu Bantou, saw that there was a tea stall on the side of the road, so he made a suggestion to Liu Bantou.

Liu Bantou nodded, wiped the sweat on his forehead, and had a headache. I walked back and forth more than a dozen times in a radius of dozens of miles in Datian, and I also asked many people, and the hundreds of people in the Jiang family just couldn't see anyone alive or dead, and they didn't have any clues or clues.

"A few officials, please." Seeing that it was a few official masters, Dr. Tea hurriedly ran out of the tea shed, nodded and greeted Liu Bantou and them.

This tea stall is not very large, that is, five or six tables, a dozen wooden stools, and then there are a number of large porcelain bowls on the table. Originally, there were two groups of guests in the tea stall, and one of them saw that it was a group of officials who came in, threw a few copper plates on the table, and hurriedly escaped from the other side of the shed.

Zhang San laughed when he saw this scene, but he saw that the three people in the innermost part of the shed were still as if they had no eyes, sitting there without movement, still drinking their tea, ready to open their eyes, slapped the table and told them to get out.

Liu Bantou, who was walking behind him, "snorted" and said, "Don't be too troublesome." ”

Because Liu Bantou saw the three people sitting there, although the clothes on their bodies were not very bright, they were unusually neat and uniform, and they did not have that kind of submissive look on their faces, and the three of them sat straight, it is estimated that they were either military men or subordinates of large families, and they could not be easily provoked.

After Liu Bantou sat down, Zhang San and the others pulled a few benches around him, and Dr. Tea hurriedly replaced the better tea bowls in front of everyone, grabbed a wooden scoop, and scooped tea from the large bucket of tea to fill it one by one.

Liu Bantou looked at the leaf stalks flying up and down in the tea bowl, frowned and blew it with his mouth, took it up and drank it all in one gulp, then he felt thirsty, put down the bowl, and then said, "In the past few days, I have also searched all over this field......

Speaking of this, he felt as if someone was watching him from behind, he stopped, turned his head to look back, but didn't find anything, the three guests at the back table were still drinking their tea unhurriedly, and they didn't even change their sitting movements, so they thought they were suspicious, so they turned their heads back, and then said, "This Jiang family is ......."

Zhang San and the others listened to Liu Bantou talk about this case, and they couldn't help but frown sadly, if it weren't for the mercy of the soap brothers in the yamen when they were playing the board, they didn't need to talk about checking for clues everywhere, even if they could get up.

"Team leader, the townships around Datian have been investigated, and there is no clue at all, I am afraid that after I go back this time, I will be beaten in a few days." Li Si, who was at the same table, said with a bitter face.

Zhang San subconsciously touched his buttocks, this 3rd day comparison, 5th day comparison, thinking that every time at this time, the county magistrate sat in the lobby, patted the shocked wood and shouted, "Wait for the treacherous and scumbag!" The deadline for this **** has arrived, and you still haven't gotten anything, it's clearly a false errand, stealing and cheating. ”

Then when they came down, they were called by the old man to serve as soap servants on the left and right, pressed five or six of them to the ground, raised their sticks and beat them down heavily.

"I'll think about it later, but what clues have been ignored by us?"

Everyone fell silent again, picked up the tea and drank it slowly, and after a while, an old official put down the tea bowl and whispered, "Team leader, I'm afraid this is really ......."

He didn't say what it was, but everyone here could understand it, but he just thought of the stubborn temper of the county lord, who has always respected ghosts and gods and stayed away. ”

Naturally, in this way, this ghost and god theory did not dare to mention it again in front of the county magistrate. However, everyone thought that if it weren't for the ghosts and gods, how could the hundreds of people of the Jiang family disappear overnight.

And the most frightening thing is that Jiangjiazhuang seems to have been dug into the ground, not only all valuable belongings have disappeared, but even the pots and pans and beds and straw mats in those people's rooms have also been swept away.

Several wooden doors into the courtyard were destroyed by a huge force, as if they were collapsed by a stone trampoline crossbow, but there was no slightly larger stone to be found at the scene, but two ruts were found on the ground that I don't know what had been crushed by something, there were two feet wide, very much like the traces of a knife and axe, and it continued from the front of the village gate to the third courtyard.

At this time, another young poor man suddenly remembered something, put down the tea bowl and said, "Team leader, the little one thinks about it, it seems that there is still a place I haven't explored yet." ”

"Where?" Hearing him say this, all of a sudden, these officials, including Liu Bantou, looked at him, wanting to hear what he would say later.

The messenger pointed to the east with his hand, "Team leader, we have visited several townships in the south, west, and north of Daejeon Township, and now only the east side is gone. ”

"East!" Zhang San, who was fast-talking, immediately shouted, "Li You, a few miles to the east, isn't it the seaside, and there are no people along the way, how can you check this." ”

"By the sea!" When Liu Bantou heard this, his eyes couldn't help but light up, he hadn't thought about it before, whether it was possible that the case was committed by a good man at sea, but considering that the Jiang family's hundreds of people and hundreds of pigs, cattle, horses and sheep were gone, plus countless other goods, a small group of pirates could be defeated, but they could eat it if they didn't see it, unless it was the "Wufeng Ship Owner".

It's just that last time I heard that the imperial court was recruiting the "Wufeng Ship Owner", so after thinking about it, he didn't think about it anymore, and usually only went to the land to investigate, and went to the city gate society rats in various places to inquire whether it was a case committed by a good man on a mountain, but unfortunately he didn't have a clue at all.

However, when Li You and Zhang San mentioned it again today, Liu Bantou thought of the "Wufeng Ship Owner" he had heard of, and it is said that he first started his business by selling illicit salt in partnership with fellow villager Xu Weixue, and after failing that, he went to the coastal areas of Zhejiang and Fujian to engage in other smuggling activities.

More than a decade ago, he privately built a brig in the border of Guangdong, specializing in the smuggling of sulfur, saltpeter, raw silk and cotton cloth and other materials embargoed by the imperial court, and frequently traveled to and from Japan and the southeast coast, and even Siam.

"By the way, only the 'Wufeng Ship Owner' has this kind of strength, I heard that he has thousands of men and horses under his command, and more than 300 large ships, so if it is said that the 'Wufeng Ship Owner' sent people to break through Jiangjiazhuang, and then plundered all the Jiang family and many goods, then it makes sense."

Thinking of this, Liu Bantou slapped his thigh, startling everyone who was talking about it, "Bantou!"

"Tomorrow, I will go back to Jiangjiazhuang to the east to investigate, if it is a sea bandit who captivates people, then no matter the road or the trail, there will be clues, and then we can give an account to the old man."

"The team leader is really wise!"

"I'm saved."

These officials in the tea shed immediately became excited, and they all used tea instead of wine to compliment Liu Bantou.

Liu Bantou also laughed happily, the haze that has shrouded his head in the past few days seems to be about to disappear, so he did not refuse everyone's "persuasion to drink", so he drank a few large bowls of tea, although the stomach was already ringing, but he still felt that this tea was extremely sweet.

Drinking and drinking, suddenly Liu Bantou said "Huh", put the tea bowl on the table with a "bang", and there seemed to be some spiritual light flashing in his head.

"Team leader!" Several other officials looked at each other, not knowing what Liu Bantou remembered.

Liu Bantou pressed his hand, telling everyone not to make noise, he had to think about it, just now he seemed to have missed a key detail, so everyone looked at him quietly.

After Liu Bantou closed his eyes and thought for a while, he remembered that something was wrong just now, he opened his eyes, looked at the few people in front of him, and asked softly, "Don't make a noise, are the guests at the back table still there?" ”

Everyone looked at each other in surprise, and then Zhang San replied, "Team leader, the guests at that table are gone." ”

"Gone!" Liu Bantou hurriedly turned around to look back, and found that the table was already empty, and there were only three tea bowls left on the table, as well as a few copper plates.

"Gone, when did you leave?" Liu Bantou shouted loudly, he stood up "ho", and looked outside the shed, where were there any figures, those three people had already disappeared without a trace.

"Team leader, what's wrong?" When Zhang San and the others saw that the team leaders all stood up, they all hurriedly stood up and took out their respective guys.

"When did they leave?" Liu Bantou did not answer their question first, but asked a rhetorical question.

When did they leave, Zhang San and the others really didn't notice, and they couldn't answer at once, and the last thing was that the messenger named Li You replied, "Team leader, it seems that they only left when you said, 'I will go back to Jiangjiazhuang tomorrow to inspect the east'." ”

Speaking of this, Li You also hesitated a little, recalling that they walked silently at that time, and there was a lot of discussion here at that time, so he just glanced at it and didn't pay much attention to it.

"Hate, run away for these thieves!" Liu Bantou slapped the table hard, and the tea in several tea bowls on the table jumped out and spilled on the table.

"Thief!" Everyone was said by Liu Bantou to be ignorant, and they didn't know why.

Liu Bantou looked at everyone and said, "Didn't you wait for a few people to notice, those three people are wearing hats on their heads?" ”

Everyone nodded, and as soon as they entered the tea shed, they found that several of them were wearing hats on their heads.

"Do you feel strange about waiting?"

When Liu Bantou said this, everyone really felt a little strange, because they wore clothes and hats like this, and they didn't look like the subordinates of some big families, and the ordinary subordinates all wore square scarves, and few wore hats.

"Have you noticed the short mustaches on their sideburns?"