"Damn, where are all those imperial wines?" Zhao Zheng rubbed his eyes vigorously and looked at it twice, but it was still empty, not to mention the imperial wine, there was not even a wine jar!

This really surprised Zhao Zheng's expectations, in the game, Yujiu should be in this secret room, but there was nothing in front of him.

Could it be that there is a discrepancy between reality and the game? Or is there something else here?

Zhao Zheng was puzzled, frowned and walked to the front, looking for clues, and found that there were many circular marks on the ground, and the traces looked very clear. He bent down to take a closer look, and saw that the traces were very new, and the jars must have just been removed.

Could it be that the Cao family changed their strategy and moved all the imperial wine here to other places? If they moved away, why did they send so many people to guard it?

Zhao Zheng continued to check the surroundings while guessing, his eyes scanned the surroundings and found an unusual place, in the corner of the wine cellar, there was a boxy trace, although this mark was not easy to detect, it could not escape his eyes. Based on his previous experience, he guessed that this square trace was probably some secret door.

He walked to the corner, leaned over and groped for the square marks, snapping his fingers into the cracks in the dirt, and with a little force, the gaps were opened. As he expected, this is really a secret door, which can be opened, and there is another space underneath. He flipped the square lid open, pushed it aside, and shook it with a fire breaker. Leaning on the firelight of the bean, I could see the situation below, and this side was a wooden ladder, leading to a rough tunnel to the ladder.

It is likely that the sake that was originally stored here was moved down this tunnel, but. This speculation is somewhat paradoxical. If the Cao family wants to hide the imperial wine more safely. The tunnels should have been better hidden. It shouldn't be as flawed as it is now, directly exposed.

Zhao Zheng couldn't figure out the mystery, so he decided to go down and take a look first. He climbed down the ladder, which was not long. After gaining a foothold in the tunnel, he reached the way with a fire breaker, which was crudely dug and pitted on all sides, and the space was narrow. It gives people the feeling of rushing to work.

The tunnel seemed to be very long, and the light of the fire fold could not reach the end, Zhao Zheng walked forward step by step, and came across a broken wine jar halfway through. The wine jar looked like the Cao family's, and the sharp fragments were scattered on the ground, and the wine inside had already volatilized, and there was no wine in sight.

The vanishing imperial wine, the mysterious tunnels, and the broken wine jars are all really strange.

Zhao Zheng connected these strange clues together, and suddenly it dawned on him. got a bold guess - the Cao family's imperial wine was probably stolen by another group of people digging tunnels! And it should be within a few days, otherwise the Cao family would have found out a long time ago!

Someone dug a tunnel that led to the Cao family's wine cellar. Stealing all the imperial wine, in the process of transporting it, he was too flustered, and broke one of the jars of imperial wine.

This speculation is really fine, and there is a great possibility.

"Isn't that unlucky? I wanted to steal a drink, but someone else got the first time? Zhao Zheng was frightened by this speculation, if this was the case, it would be a little too tricky, he spent so much effort, and he didn't get anything!

He couldn't fully confirm this guess for the time being, but in order to verify it, he quickened his pace and walked briskly down the tunnel, walking for a long time, until he finally reached the end of the tunnel.

At the end of the tunnel were rockfalls and dirt, blocking the road, and there were some obvious scorched black on the stone walls, which looked like traces of gunpowder.

Zhao Zheng leaned to the wall, put his nose to the charred place, and sniffed hard, and sure enough, there was a little bit of saltpeter and sulfur.

Judging from this situation, this tunnel should have been blown up. This tunnel is so long, it should have left the scope of the Cao family by now, even if someone detonates the gunpowder here, it will not attract the attention of the Cao family.

The collapse blocked the tunnel, and from the extent of the collapse, it was difficult to dig it through, even if Zhao Zheng was a martial artist, he couldn't do anything about the large pile of stones in front of him for a while.

The people digging the tunnels did this deliberately, most likely to cover up where the tunnels were going, making it impossible to find out where the tunnels ended. This rough tunnel should not have been dug by the Cao family themselves, if it was dug by the Cao family, it would definitely be dug more neatly, and it would not be like this.

It was supposed to be an outsider who was digging this tunnel, and as for the purpose of the excavation, it was already obvious.

Considering all the circumstances, Zhao Zheng felt that his previous guess was correct, there was a thief more powerful than him who spent a lot of work to dig out a tunnel and end the Cao family's imperial wine nest, and the time of the crime should be very close, no more than five days at most.

This thief is really black, and he actually stole all the imperial wine, and did not leave a jar. You must know that the Cao family has to pay tribute to the imperial court every year, if you can't hand over the same amount of imperial wine, you will be punished, if the emperor is angry, just a word can kill the Cao family, this is not a joke.

The Cao family's imperial liquor is well-known all over the world, although it does not dare to sell it publicly, but the price is extremely high on the black market, and a jar can be fried for 8,000 to 10,000 silver. Judging from the traces left on the cellar ground before, there were at least sixty jars of imperial wine there, and these imperial wines together were worth at least more than 500,000 taels of silver, which was by no means a small amount.

If the news of the theft of the Cao family's imperial wine spreads, then this batch of stolen imperial wine will be sold at a higher price. Think about it, if it was a wine that the emperor wanted to drink but couldn't drink, what would it taste like when it was in his mouth? Out of this mentality, there will be many wealthy people who are happy to pay for this batch of stolen imperial wine.

In the game, although there is a task of stealing imperial wine, you can only steal one jar at a time, and you can't steal too much. Aside from this mission, there was nothing related to the massive theft of the wine. Zhao Zheng didn't know who had stolen the imperial wine, and if he knew that the imperial wine had been stolen by someone else, he wouldn't have made such a great effort to sneak here.

There were too few clues left at the scene, and Zhao Zheng couldn't guess who stole the imperial wine. There are two options before him. Or continue the in-depth investigation. Either get out of here quickly and don't wade into this troubled water. After thinking about it, he decided to choose the former and continue his in-depth investigation.

The reason why Zhao Zheng made such a decision was because he was a little unwilling and didn't want his efforts to come to naught, and secondly, because the sense of justice was overflowing, and he didn't want to see the Cao family being wiped out by the emperor because of this. The Cao family has a big business. There are many people, both old and young, and if they are all sent to the execution ground for this kind of thing, it will be a little too pitiful.

This was one of the reasons why he didn't like the feudal system, and some of the associated criminal laws were too cruel.

Of course, his investigation is an investigation, and he must grasp the scale of it, and he must not let himself fall into it and get into trouble. It would be best if you could get the imperial wine and help the Cao family. If the investigation doesn't come out of the way, there's no way to do it. He could only do his best.

Zhao Zheng made up his mind, carried his buoyancy all his strength, quickly retreated to the mouth of the tunnel ladder, and climbed up. He deliberately did not close the lid so that it would be easier to leave a clue for the Cao family so that the Cao family could discover this place directly. The Cao family is a local snake, deep-rooted, and it is related to their own safety, if they investigate it, they will definitely be more attentive and faster than Zhao Zheng.

He left the Imperial Wine Cellar, took a few jars of ordinary Jiuzhuchun wine from other wine cellars, and stored them in the warehouse, if he really couldn't get the imperial wine, then he could only try his luck with these ordinary Jiujiu spring wine. He put away a few wine jars and left the wine cellar, and the Cao family warrior above was still asleep, unaware of everything.

He walked to the Cao family's martial arts, clicked a few acupoints on the other party's body, lifted the sleeping acupoints, and hit the other two acupoints that suppressed internal force and caused paralysis.

The martial artist of the Cao family woke up after a while, blinked his eyes, and when he saw Zhao Zheng in a black mask, he gasped, and immediately wanted to do it, but because he was restrained, he couldn't move at all.

Zhao Zheng pulled out a sword and poked it down hard, the tip of the sword pierced the wall, crossed the neck of the Cao family's martial artist, and cut off a strand of hair.

The martial artist of the Cao family looked at the sword next to him, and he was much more honest.

"Let's play a quiz game, I'll ask you questions, and you will answer. If you actively cooperate and answer all the questions, as a reward, I can ask you a question in return. Zhao Zheng was not discussing, but ordering, and without waiting for the Cao family martial artist to reply, he asked to himself, "How long have you not checked the situation in the wine cellar?" ”

"Why should I tell you?" The Cao family martial artists glared angrily and did not cooperate.

"After I stunned you, I went to this wine cellar, opened the secret door in the wine cellar, and found the place where the imperial wine was stored, only to find that the imperial wine inside was gone, not even a jar was left, and all of them were moved. I want to figure out what's going on, whether your Cao family moved the wine themselves, or if someone else moved the wine. If it's the latter, I'd like to know how many days you've not checked the cellar, and from that, you can roughly deduce when my colleague was stealing. ”

"Hmph, if you don't lie to me there, I won't be fooled by you, our Cao family's imperial wine is hidden in an extremely secret place, how can you easily find it." The Cao family snorted coldly, not believing Zhao Zheng's words.

Zhao Zheng didn't mind, and directly said the mechanism that opened the secret door, as well as the location of the secret door. After hearing this, the martial artists of the Cao family changed color, because Zhao Zheng was completely right.

"You see, I'm not wrong. I know where the wine is hidden, so there's no need to lie to you, and there's no need to get it out of your mouth, if I had gotten the sake now, I would have run away a long time ago, so why waste time here with you. Your family's imperial sake is really gone now, it's all gone, if you still don't believe it, I can take you to see it. Zhao Zheng mentioned the Cao family's martial artists and returned to the secret room of the wine cellar.

When the martial artists of the Cao family saw the empty secret room, they were so frightened that they almost turned their backs, and said with a pale face: "This, where is the imperial wine here?" ”

"Listen to your tone, the imperial wine here was indeed not removed by your Cao family itself, but by outsiders." Zhao Zheng held the Cao family martial artist in his hand and said depressedly.

"Our family's royal sake has always been here, and it never moves around." The martial artist of the Cao family said and looked at the entrance of the tunnel in the corner of the wall, and exclaimed, "When did there become a big pit there?" ”

"That's not a big pit. It's an authentic one. Your royal wine must have been stolen from there. I'll take you there again. Zhao Zheng carried the Cao family's martial artists over and let them see the tunnel below with their own eyes, and then said, "This tunnel is very long, it should have extended beyond the scope of the Cao family, the tunnel was blown up from the halfway, and it is impossible to judge where the end is for the time being." ”

"Damn thieves! Damn thieves! Cao Jiawu shouted angrily.

"Don't scold, at least not in front of me. I'm here to be a thief, but ...... Alas, it's all tears, and I haven't even caught a jar of wine. Zhao Zheng sighed and knocked on the head of the Cao family's martial artists, "You should tell me by now, how long have you not checked this wine cellar, and why haven't you found out that the imperial wine has been lost until now." ”

"The last time I checked the sake was two days ago." The martial artist of the Cao family replied with a bitter face.

"It's only been two days, and it's not that long. There is still hope that the lost sake will be recovered. Let me ask you a few more questions, how many people are there in this wine room? ”

"Very few people know about this secret room. No more than five people. ”

"Have you heard any sounds of digging tunnels lately? Or do you notice anything else weird? ”

"This tunnel is underground, and the sound of excavation is not too loud, and it is not heard at all on the ground. In the Cao family, probably only the head of the family can hear such a small voice, but it is estimated that he didn't take it seriously, otherwise he would not ignore it. As for strange things, I haven't noticed anything strange these days, and everything is normal in the Cao family these days. ”

"Probably the people who know about this secret room have leaked the news, which has attracted the attention of the thieves, so you should check from this tunnel and these people first."

"Who did you learn about this chamber?" The martial artist of the Cao family suddenly asked.

"I found it myself, not from someone else. I advise you, don't make up your mind on me, you can't find anything on me, you will only waste your time. Zhao Zheng thought about it and brought the Cao family martial artist up again, "I finished asking what I wanted to ask, and you also asked me a question, and we are clear." I'm going to bring you up now, and I'm going to shut your mouth again, and I'm going to alarm the people in your house, and they're going to come and save you." As for how to deal with the theft of the imperial wine, that's not my business. ”

After Zhao Zheng finished speaking, he tore off the sleeve of the Cao family's martial artist, stuffed it into the other party's mouth, brought it back to the entrance of the wine cellar, and threw it on the ground. He walked out of the cellar, then jumped out of the Lingquan Garden, brazenly walking against the wind on the walls and roofs of the courtyard. Soon a nurse spotted him, screamed, and began to chase him. The commotion was getting louder and louder, and the noise resounded through the night sky, and some of the nursing homes chased after Zhao Zheng, and some of the nursing homes went to Lingquan Garden.

Zhao Zheng deliberately exposed his figure and let the Cao family know about the loss of Lingquan Court and the theft of imperial wine. Relying on his superb light skills, he easily got rid of the pursuit of the Cao family's nursing home, escaped and escaped into the complicated streets.

He calculated, it should be a while before Cao Xuan came back, and it was safe for the time being. He used this time to go to the approximate location of the collapse of the tunnel, and searched the street for a while, trying to find the specific location of the detonation of the gunpowder, but found nothing. He didn't dare to delay any longer, so he hurried away after looking around and couldn't find it, returning to the inn where he was temporarily staying.

Gujing Town is destined to be a sleepless night tonight, and the news of the Cao family's theft will soon spread.

Zhao Zheng definitely can't go out tonight anymore, so he can only wait until tomorrow to pay attention to the theft of the imperial wine.

……

In a certain upper room of the Drunken Cloud Pavilion, Cao Xuan was lying on the bed with his sturdy body exposed, his clothes on the side, and the huge wine jar on the ground. A delicate, mature warbler lay on his chest, stretching out her hand to play with the rough skin like a stone. This celebrity warbler has a good appearance, and has a natural charm, and is the kind of woman who is very charming.

Cao Xuan had just experienced some clouds and rain, and his skin was covered with a layer of wet sweat, and after some venting, he was now very satisfied, his mind was empty, and he didn't want to think about anything.

"Bang bang bang......" Suddenly someone knocked on the door, and the voice of a junior of the Cao family rang out, "Family master, something is wrong, someone sneaked into our house tonight, injured people, and stole some valuable wine." ”

"What?" Cao Xuan's thick eyebrows raised, pushed away the good friend who was lying on him, sat up from the bed, and got dressed as quickly as possible. The liuying next to him sensed the seriousness of the matter, did not interject much, and hurriedly put on his brightly colored clothes.

Cao Xuan pushed the door out, looked at the junior outside the door, and said urgently: "You tell me the details in detail, what happened at home when I was away." ”

The younger generation of the Cao family told the situation he knew, but he didn't mention the loss of the imperial wine, because he didn't know about it at all, and the Cao family had already blocked the news of the loss of the imperial wine, and only a small number of core personnel of the Cao family knew.

When Cao Xuan heard this, he was furious, and quickly left Zuiyun Pavilion, without even riding a horse, and directly used light skills to rush home. After a martial artist reaches the Sixfold Heaven realm, his speed will be greatly improved. Although Cao Xuan practiced the spirit burning technique of emphasizing strength and ignoring speed, the speed of his feet was also not slow, even much faster than Zhao Zheng, and he returned to the Cao family's compound with a brisk walk.

The Cao family's compound has long been a mess now, every house is lit up, and the guards walk around with torches, and the lights and firelight converge together, illuminating the night sky as bright as day.

Cao Xuan is the backbone of the family, and after he came back, he immediately stabilized the chaotic situation at home. He communicated with his family a few words, learned more about the situation, and then went straight to the most important Lingquan Garden. He met with the two men who were guarding the Lingquan Court, and they called him to a secluded place and explained the truth. (To be continued.) )