Early the next morning, Zhou Rong went downstairs to find Xiao Er, gave Xiao Er half a penny, and asked Xiao Er to go to the old man in the east of the city to make twenty baked cakes and wrap them so that they could be taken on the road.

The crowd marched quickly until half a day before they reached the end.

Qinghu and Zhou Rong led the horses to feed the water and plants, and at the same time paid attention to the movements around them, while Xiu Wuji pretended to be a ranger, and was sent by Wang Sima Jingwen to inquire about the situation of the farmers near Wugong Temple.

Sima Jingwen, Mu Yixue, Gu Rong, and Murong Jia went to the port to inspect it.

The four of them first climbed to a high position of the embankment, and then saw that the embankment and the ferry at the end of the port had been damaged by the war over the years, although the traces of the old ferry port were still clearly visible, but the trees and weeds around it were luxuriant, and it was inaccessible at a glance.

Looking along the embankment, the river around the end of the mouth is noticeably wider than the rest of the river, and the surrounding area is relatively flat, and a large road with weeds stretches outward, faintly recognizable.

It was the frost season, and there was some light rain the day before yesterday, and a cold wind blew, and Yi Xue couldn't help but shiver.

Sima Jingwen said to Mu Yixue with concern: "Yun'er, beware of catching a cold, let's put on the cloak!" ”

Yi Xue smiled and said, "It's okay, this wind is blowing cool." Xu was blown at first glance and was not very adaptable. ”

Murong Jia looked at the two of them, a complicated smile appeared on his face, and he wanted to say a few words, but he finally held back.

At this time, Sima Jingwen pointed to the place where the road and the river intersected and said: "The foundation here is compacted, and there are only scattered weeds. ”

"What King Langya said is good, but there is a lot of rain in the south of the Yangtze River, and there are not many traces that can be left, and those people will definitely clear the obvious ruts on the spot. You see that there are too many weeds on the road, and the rain washes out, even if it is crushed, the weeds can grow up in a few days, fill in and cover the traces, I'm afraid we need to investigate carefully. Gu Rong pointed to Yundao and said.

Mu Yixue reminded everyone: "This embankment and ferry port are a little slippery, you need to be careful under your step." ”

Everyone carefully inspected the surrounding environment along the embankment and ferry, looking for clues left by the handling and vehicles, and looked for about an hour without clues.

Murong Jia picked up a few stones from the ground and flew into the water continuously, and the surface of the river was splashed one by one, and then it expanded outward.

Murong Jia plucked another weed, put it in his mouth, looked at the circles of water on the surface of the river and said, "I haven't seen any trace for a long time, I'm afraid that we are looking for the wrong place, do you want to expand the scope and look down again?" ”

"Prince Murong doesn't know that the official ship full of grain, where the draft is not enough, it can't get to the shore, the reason why we want to build a embankment here and set up a ferry port is because this place can meet the needs of the boat cargo ashore, and the road you see is also dedicated to transporting goods, so this is right."

"Ah", suddenly the soil under Yi Xue's feet loosened and slipped, and the person was almost planted in the river, Sima Jingwen and Murong Jia reached out to grab it at the same time.

Sima Jingwen grabbed Yi Xue's arm first and said nervously, "Be careful." ”

Yi Xue smiled: "Lord Xie, it's okay, it's my own carelessness." ”

After speaking, his face turned red and he pulled his arm out of Sima Jingwen's hand.

Murong Jia breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Yi Xue was fine, put away his nervous expression, and replaced it with his usual cynical expression: "I just reminded others to be careful, but now I almost fell into the water and became a drowning bird." ”

Yi Xue glared at Murong Jia and said, "Listening to your tone, I fell into the water, are you still happy?" ”

"Of course I'm happy when you fall into the water, but someone is distressed." Murong Jia glanced at Sima Jingwen playfully, and couldn't help but make this unnutritious joke.

Yi Xuewei glared at Murong Jia again and didn't speak again.

Sima Jingwen looked at Mu Yixue, who had always been polite to him, but he and Murong Jia were talking and laughing freely, and his heart was pantothenic, and he couldn't help frowning.

He took a deep breath and said: "It's better for everyone to be careful, now the weather is cold, although this Jiangnan is much warmer than Luoyang, but it is not good to fall into the water and suffer from the wind cold." ”

Sima Jingwen said while signaling Yi Xue to pay attention to his feet, and glanced at the soil that Yi Xue had slid under his feet just now, only to see a few particles drawn under Yi Xue's feet.

Sima Jingwen half-squatted down, picked up the particles and twisted them with his hands, and there was a grain of rice twisted out of the soil.

Jingwen's movements attracted everyone's attention, and they all squatted down to observe the soil on the ground.

"Lord Wang, there are traces of ruts here," Gu Rong said.

Sima Jingwen and Murong Jia turned to Gu Rong's direction together, and carefully raked the soil with their hands: "It seems that these people have covered a layer of soil in order to cover up the traces. Sima Jingwen said.

"These 20,000 stone grain, according to the conditions of loading and unloading at this ferry, two ships can dock at the same time, if you get off the ship, carry it, get on the car, it will take at least two hours to complete it, dozens of carriages on the mound back and forth, ruts will leave a ditch mark. In the process of carrying and loading the grain sack, it is inevitable that rice grains will fall out. These people are in a hurry, and covering up the traces with soil is the best way. After a period of time, the ground will be tamped after the rain beats, so you can't see it unless you pay special attention. Gu Rong analyzed while checking the ruts and the condition of the dirt.

"Master Gu is right, although the surface of this soil is compact, but because it rained a little last night, the soil by the water's edge is a little soft, and I almost slipped into the water."

Sima Jingwen stood up, clasped his hands, and looked in the direction of the river.

"Lord Wang, since this is the place where the official grain goes ashore, it means that our expectations are good, and this grain will definitely be hidden in the Wugong Temple and the tomb of King Shanyang." Gu Rong also straightened up and said.

"Wugong Temple is only five miles away from this ferry, and now that it has passed, we are afraid of attracting the attention of nearby farmers, so we will rest here first, eat some dry food, and wait until it gets dark, and then it is not too late to go." Mu Yixue said.

"Miss Yi Xue is right," Gu Rong agreed.

When Murong Jia heard this, he turned around and shouted, "Zhou Rong, bring the dry food you prepared, and Qinghu will bring my water and cloak." ”

"Okay!" Zhou Rong and Qinghu smiled at each other and agreed.

Murong Jia took the water, took a big sip of it, and returned the water bag to Qinghu, who took a piece of skin from his horse and spread it on the ground, Murong Jia picked up a piece of baked cake and lay on the skin, crossed Erlang's legs and ate it.

Mu Yixue took the baked cake, took a sip of water and walked towards a bluestone on the top of the embankment, she found a flat place to sit down, and Zhou Rong followed behind.

After a short time, Xiu Wuji came back, and Sima Jingwen asked, "How is the situation?" ”

"The subordinates investigated around the Wugong Temple, there were about seven or eight households, these farmers are about two miles away from the Wugong Temple, and there are also five miles away from the tomb of the King of Shanyang, and some are scattered. The hysterical farmer is better now, and his son is fine. ”

Murong Jia jumped up from the ground and asked eagerly, "Wuji, come and hear it, those two farmers really encountered ghosts?" ”

At this time, Yi Xue and Zhou Rong came over, and Zhou Rong took water and baked cakes and handed them to Xiu Wuji.

Wuji took a big sip, and then said while eating: "They looked for the little pig and found the vicinity of the tomb of the king of Shanyang, when they were about a mile away from the tomb of the king, they suddenly saw a little white light floating in the air, about a dozen, the farmer's son was curious and wanted to take a closer look, and he didn't want to suddenly two female ghosts dressed in white and cloaked floated in front of them, the father and son were so frightened that they couldn't tell why they appeared in their yard later, they couldn't tell it, but it was a ghost. ”

"When did the farmer see the ghost?" Gu Rong asked.

"It's about the time of the day."

"When the time comes, this ghost also came out too early!" Gu Rong said.

"What's wrong?" Murong Jia asked

"According to the disappearance of this official grain from Huaishui, and then to the end, it will be almost as soon as the end of the day and the beginning of the day to go ashore, carry off the ship and then load the car, if the tomb of the king of Shanyang is a place to hide grain, and the vehicle will be transported over for half an hour, then this haunting is too early." Gu Rong analyzed

"Listening to Lord Gu say this, this ghost seems to have made trouble earlier, does this haunting have nothing to do with the loss of food?" Murong Jia seemed to understand and echo the way.

Mu Yixue listened to the conversation between Gu Rong and Wuji, staring and thinking......

"Master Gu's analysis is good, but it works for them to prepare in advance."

"Let's hear it," Murong Jia was interested again.

"Although their boat only arrived at the same time, but from the ferry to the tomb of King Shanyang for several miles, it is inevitable that there will be passers-by and nearby farmers, so in order to prevent accidents, they sent people to light white lanterns in advance, pretending to be ghosts, and prepared to scare away these people as long as passers-by appear as soon as it gets dark."

"Then why are these lanterns floating?" Gu Rong asked puzzled.

"It's not difficult, these people are afraid that they are martial arts masters in night clothes, flying at night with white lights in their hands, under the reflection of the lights, from a distance, it seems that a team of lanterns are fluttering up and down in the air. If you encounter a curious person, a martial arts master who is hiding nearby and pretends to be a female ghost will fly out and scare the curious person away. Sima Jingwen replied.

"Oh, I see." Gu Rong nodded.

"It's called pretending to be a demon. Alas, I said Master Gu, you are in charge of the number one sect in Jiangnan, and the masters in the Suyi Sect are like clouds, and you don't understand martial arts at all, which is also a strange thing. Murong Jia asked in a slightly playful tone.

Gu Rong was not angry, and said with a smile: "I have been good at literature since I was a child, but I didn't practice martial arts, and I joined the army at the age of twenty in Dongwu Wenchen. This Suyi Sect was originally the royal secret guard of Sun Wu, built by Sun Quan, the lord of Wu, when my grandfather was the prime minister of Sun Wu, my uncle was the commander of the secret guard, and later the Eastern Wu was destroyed, and my father and uncle took in the remnants of the secret guard, which became the current Suyi Sect, and now it is taken over by me. ”

"I see, then you are our key protection object along the way." After speaking, Murong Jia laughed, and Gu Rong also laughed.

"Alright, it's time for us to go."

So everyone got on their horses and set off for Wugong Temple.

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