Yingping and the two states are only two hundred miles apart, the four of them galloped all the way, seeing that the Khitan tribal army is besieging Danzhou, the war in Danzhou is urgent, the Great Zhou soldiers are desperately defending the city, everyone is only watching, there is no way, and the heart is unconsciously added a little worry.

"The beacon fire shines on Xijing, and my heart is uneven. Yazhang resigned from the phoenix, and rode around the dragon city. The snow is dark and the flag is painted, and the wind is mixed with the sound of drums. Rather be a centurion than a scholar. Dugu Shuo suddenly remembered Yang Jiong's "From the Army", and unconsciously muttered a few words, which made everyone feel sorry for a while.

Pei Ce and Xu Gao persuaded each other, and Dugushuo's mood improved slightly, and then several people bypassed Danzhou and went straight to Yingzhou. At this moment, Yingzhou City has become the nest of the eight Khitan tribes, and the Khitan tribes have also gathered one after another, and many surrounding tribes and tribes have also fallen to the vigorous Li Quanzhong and Sun Wanrong.

The four of them explored around Yingzhou City for a long time, but they saw that the entry and exit were orderly, and the Han people in the city did not appear to be slaughtered. If you think that the rebellions of all dynasties and dynasties are just to fight against tyranny, the people are still needed in the world.

A few people looked around for some tattered clothes, disguised themselves, picked up broken bowls and sticks, and went to the city.

Fortunately, Li Quanzhong and Sun Wanrong were not tyrannical and cruel lords, and the four of them successfully mixed into the city. Dodging the Khitan armor patrolling the city, Chen Wuji led Pei Xu and the three of them straight to the dark guard pigeon room.

The pigeon house is located in the alleys of Far West City, which is more downtown but remote.

Although Dugu Shuo felt strange, he didn't say much, the three of them looked at each other, their eyes already understood, they didn't speak, and only followed Chen Wuji to investigate.

The courtyard is quite spacious, the upper and lower two-story thatched houses, surrounded by courtyard walls made of fences, the front yard is also a small porcelain shop, the backyard is scattered with cages, there are dead pigeons that have been dry all over the place, there are no traces of no one living inside and outside the house, Dugu Shuo has explored everywhere again, there are some blood stains on the table on the table of the grass house on the second floor, the tables and chairs have been turned over, and the porcelain has been broken in a room.

At that moment, a few people saw it and stood in one place. Dugu Shuo and Pei Xu were talking casually, Chen Wuji walked over and said with a smile: "I don't know what the adults have discovered?" Pei Ce was about to reply, Dugu Shuo preemptively said: "It should be destroyed when the Khitan Department intruded, the grass house upstairs is bloodstained, but there is no body of the secret guard, it is likely to be left when there is a frontal fight with the Khitan soldiers, the number of secret guards is far less than the Khitans, and they have to abandon it, there is a large amount of paper ash in the dark compartment downstairs, it should be that the secret guards burned some documents that could not be taken away when the Khitan attacked, and the pigeons in the backyard were cut off their necks by sharp weapons, and it seems that there must be a month of October!" From this kind of thing, there are no valuable clues! ”

Chen Wuji stared at Dugu Shuo, listened carefully, nodded slightly, and continued: "Alas, it's a pity that the Hu family brothers, the pigeon house in this Yingzhou has been ruined, alas······" Chen Wuji first said a few words about the Hu family brothers, and then said two words in a row, Pei Duxu and the three of them listened to it, and couldn't help but glance at each other, and then looked at Chen Wuji together, Chen Wuji suddenly lost his words, hurriedly lowered his head, and hurriedly pretended to be sad.

Dugu Shuo looked at Pei Xu and the others again, turned his head to Chen Wuji and said: "Lord Chen doesn't have to be sad, no one can foresee such a thing happening, and everyone doesn't want to see it, but now the war is urgent, and there is no news from Commander Yan, we have no choice but to go back to our senses to return to Your Majesty, and return the matter of Yingzhou to Your Majesty before making a decision!" Chen Wuji heard Dugu Shuo say that he wanted to go back to Shendu, and suddenly his eyes were a little brighter, and his spirit became brighter, but when he saw the three of them staring at him, he changed color sharply, and pretended to be embarrassed and said: "It is rare for the three adults to come to Pingzhou, and they should have done their best to fulfill the friendship of the landlord, but they came and went in a hurry, and it is not uncomfortable to teach people!" ”

Pei Ce listened, patted Chen Wuji on the shoulder and said, "He has come to the Shendu in the future, but he must get drunk with Brother Chen!" Chen Wou-Ki couldn't help but shrink his shoulders at this beat, Pei Ce also hurriedly withdrew his hand, Chen Wou-Ki hurriedly smiled: "That's nature!" That's nature! Dugu Shuo saw it, pretended to draw Pei Ce's attention for Chen Wuji and said: "Lord Chen knows where the secret guard of Yingzhou is, and he must have some contacts, but he doesn't know who the secret guard of Yingzhou is?" ”

When Chen Wuji heard this, he knew that his words just now were exposed, so he defended himself in a sloppy manner: "The humble position is actually not familiar with the secret guards in Yingzhou, but they are both engaged in the porcelain business, and there are some rumors between them, so I know that the owner of this shop is surnamed Hu, so I guess that the head of the secret guard should be the Hu family brothers!" ”

Dugu Shuo listened, nodded again and again, and said: "I see, it seems that Lord Chen is indeed a careful person!" ”

At that moment, a few people said a few more polite words, so they took advantage of the fact that the city gate had not yet been sealed, and sneaked out again, and turned the horse to the direction of Danzhou, after Danzhou, Pei Xu and others said goodbye to Chen Wouji, bypassed Danzhou, avoided the official road and went all the way to Luoyang, and Chen Wouji went to Pingzhou.

The three of them walked all night, knowing that someone was going to follow them behind them, so they deliberately unhurried, and let people follow them all the way, leading the people who were following them to the depths of the dense forest.

There is a dense forest in the mountains from Danzhou to avoid the official road and take the path, during which the trees are overgrown, the road is rugged, and the beasts often haunt it.

The three of them caught some wild things in the forest, made a fire and roasted them, and pretended to rest, deliberately relaxing the vigilance of the people who were following them. In the middle of the night, the three of them pretended to be attacked by wild beasts, scattered and slowly groped up, besieged the person who was following them, and after careful interrogation, they learned that it was Chen Wouji's person, who had followed behind him since he left Pingzhou, and followed him all the way here.

Dugu Shuo still wanted to interrogate carefully, but Pei Ce raised his knife and killed the two of them, and the angry Dugu Shuo didn't say anything to Pei Ce for a long time, but fortunately, Xu Gao mediated in the middle, and the two didn't say a few words until noon the next day.

The three of them returned to Yingzhou City and found the so-called secret guard pigeon house that Chen Wou-Ki took them to investigate.

Xu scolded angrily, only saying that the Khitan soldiers were brutal and unreasonable. Dugu Shuo comforted: "Brother Xu, don't be angry, this place is clearly for me to see!" The Dark Guard's loft is not here at all! Pei Ce listened, and also agreed, agreeing with Dugushuo's opinion. Xu asked puzzledly: "How can the two adults see it, a certain eye is clumsy, and there is really no refutation!" Dugu Shuo smiled and said: "Not to mention who arranged it, but as far as this place is concerned, it is really full of loopholes····· Dugu Shuo said, leading the two to the backyard.

Xu Gao looked around, turned his head and said, "Where is there a loophole, how can I not see it yet!" Pei Ce looked at Xu Stomach, patted his shoulder and said, "It's right if you can't see it, because you have grown a big man in vain and have an empty head!" When Xu Gao heard this, he raised his fist and was about to swing it, but was blocked by Dugu Shuo, and said with a smile: "Hey, hey, if Brother Xu is reckless, you can only guess the loopholes yourself······" Xu Gao listened, put down his fist, and said again and again: "That's it, if I let me guess, I can't guess, but I will go crazy because I always think about it in my heart, it's better to say it quickly!" Dugu Shuo glanced at Xu Stomach, then at Pei Ce, and said, "Let Master Pei talk about it!" ”

When Pei Ce heard this, he was interested, rolled up his sleeves, cleared his throat and said: "Let's talk about these pigeons first, if you look closely, you will find that they were all cut down one by one, and they were deliberately placed on the ground after being killed!" ”

Xu Gao said suspiciously: "What's wrong with this?" ”

Dugu Shuo smiled and said, "If you are a secret guard and are intercepted, will you kill these pigeons one by one?" ”

Xu Gao thought for a while and said, "No, I will open the cage and release the pigeons!" As he spoke, he shook his head and said, "That may have been killed by the Khitans!" Dugu Shuo smiled and pointed at Xu Yu and said: "It's also a little progressive, if the pigeons are not killed by the secret guards, they are killed by the Khitans, although the Khitan tribes in Yingzhou gradually tend to the Han people, but they still retain the Khitan hunting habits, so they kill but do not abuse the animals, they feed on animals and birds, and also use pigeons to deliver news, so these pigeons will never be killed by the Khitans!" ”

Xu Gao listened, nodded again and again, and said thoughtfully: "This means that these pigeons were deliberately tortured and killed by someone and placed on the ground to lure us!" Dugu Shuo listened, only smiled, and said: "Although we can see many pigeon nests on the ground, but we can't smell the smell of pigeon droppings, maybe you will say that it was cleaned up by the secret guards, but the smell of feces is formed over time, it is impossible to smell a little bit because of the removal, so this is not a pigeon house at all, based on this alone, it can be concluded that this is not the secret guard pigeon house!" ”

Dugu Shuo said this, Pei Xu and the others listened to it, and nodded again and again, Pei Ce looked at Dugu Shuo and asked, "When did Brother Dugu start to suspect this Chen Wuji?" ”

When Xu Gao heard this, he asked in surprise: "Are you saying that this Chen Wuji is fake?" "Fake, no, no, he is real!" Dugushuo said. So why are you suspicious? Xu Gao asked again.

Dugu Shuo thought about it, then smiled and said, "Let's put it this way, I have never been to the mansion of Lord Wu!" ”

When Pei Xu and the others heard this, they seemed to drop their jaws in shock, and they couldn't speak for a long time with their mouths open. Dugu Shuo looked at it and asked the two, "What, how surprising is this!" ”

"That means that from the very beginning you knew that there was something wrong with this Chen Wou-ki, and you deliberately followed him, right? What a Dugu Shuo, really a scheming and sinister person, even deceived the two of us! Pei Ce pretended to be angry. Haha, that Chen Wuji pretends to be smart, thinking that he has the chance to win, but he doesn't know how to calculate everything, and there are omissions! Dugu Shuo said again.

"Then why did he do it? Could it be that he also participated in the rebellion in Yingzhou? No, he must have seen you, otherwise he would have recognized you! Xu Gao said again.

"Haha, this is even easier, because he has the portraits of the three of us in his hand, no matter which one of us takes the face towel first, he will have the same set of rhetoric, but it just so happens that he saw me first, and I happen to have never been to the mansion of Lord Wu, if it weren't for this layer, I wouldn't have doubted him so quickly!" Dugushuo said lightly with a smile.

"How could he have our portrait?" Xu Gao looked at Dugu Shuo and asked.

"That's the problem, he doesn't know us, but someone gave him a portrait of the three of us, which means that the person behind him is sure that we will go to him, and we will find him!" Dugu Shuo said, even he felt that his back was numb, as if he was staring at it with a pair of eyes.

Pei Ce said: "There are really people in the inner guard who participated in the Yingzhou rebellion, and they know everything about us!" Pei Ce said, taking a deep look at Xu's stomach, and the three of them only felt that their scalps were numb, and their hearts were in a mess, pacing back and forth.

"The top priority is to find the Yingzhou Secret Guard pigeon house and see if we can find some clues?" Dugushuo said.

"Yingzhou City is so big, it's not easy to find a secret guard pigeon house!" Pei Zer said.

"What do you think would be the most likely thing if the guards were forced to leave the loft?" Xu Gao asked suddenly.

Pei Ce held his chin, listened to Xu's words, and suddenly said with a light in his eyes: "Yes, Brother Xu is right, if I am a secret guard, when someone threatens the safety of the pigeon house, I will take away the important documents and letterheads, and burn the remaining fire, and will never leave it to the Khitans or the people who robbed me!" ”

"That means that if we look for the yard destroyed by fire in Yingzhou City, we may be able to find the pigeon house of the secret guard." Dugu Shuo suddenly became excited, and said to the two, Pei Xu and the two looked at it, only to feel that Dugu Shuo was as happy as if he had won a sum of money. Pei Ce also tried his best to echo and said: "What Brother Dugu said is very true! The three of them were quietly searching in Yingzhou City, and in less than two days, they really found a courtyard that had been burned by fire, and all the houses around them had been looted by the Khitans, and the houses were empty. The Khitans set up a military camp not far away, and the three of them had to hide their whereabouts first and wait for the opportunity to move.

In the middle of the night, the silence was quiet, and the three of them touched in, the front and back yards of the store, the yard was empty, but it was filled with the pungent smell of dung, and by the faint light of the fire fold, several bird cages made of bamboo and wood were scattered on the ground.

The front yard shop is divided into two floors, the upper floor is lodging, and the lower floor sells porcelain. The main body of the building has been burned by the fire, and the black rafters remain, and the doors and windows are still unburned.

The first floor was seriously burned, and Dugu Shuo probably deduced that the fire started from the first floor and gradually spread to the second floor.

Pei Ce quietly came over and held the fire fold close to Xu Stomach's face, Xu Stomach was startled, and couldn't help screaming, and scolded in his mouth: "Old Xu, be careful, you almost burned me!" As he spoke, he fluttered his face, but he didn't know that the sound was very loud, Dugu Shuo turned around and hurriedly covered Pei Ce's mouth, and when he leaned over and looked out, the Khitan soldiers had been disturbed by the sound, and four or five raised their knives and rushed over.

Dugu Shuo grabbed Pei Xu and the two sleeves left and right, and hurriedly went to the backyard, Dugu Shuo scolded as he walked: "Pei Ce, are you trying to kill us?" The Khitan camp is just a stone's throw away, this time it is already extremely risky, why are you so loud, I'm afraid that the Khitan soldiers can't find us? ”

Pei Ce snorted in his nose, and said in his mouth: "Dugu Shuo, how can you not blame Xu Stomach, if he hadn't held the fire and burned it on my face, would I have been able to make a sound?" Pei Ce said, as if he had a stomach of grievances, Xu Jie listened, he wanted to laugh, but he was afraid of being scolded by Dugu Shuo, so he simply didn't say a word, and ran straight forward, the more Pei Ce looked, the more angry he became, and he kicked the back of Xu Stomach's ass.

When the Khitan soldiers arrived, the three of them had turned out of the backyard, saw a courtyard not far away, jumped over the wall at night and went in, and disappeared, the Khitan soldiers thought it was a night owl, although they ignored it.

When the three of them saw that the Khitan soldiers were not chasing, they relieved themselves.

By the moonlight, the two thatched huts in the courtyard were dark, but one room was actually lit with a faint light. The three of them looked at each other, and they all drew their knives, held them with both hands, and slowly approached, the door of the grass hut was hidden, and through the crack in the door, they saw an old man of about the age of Mo Gu sitting on a bench and smoking a dry cigarette.

Dugu Shuo put away the knife, pushed the door in, the old man suddenly heard the sound of the door behind him, looked back, only saw three Han people, smiled slightly, turned his head, and gently knocked the smoke on the soles of his shoes.

Dugu Shuo saw that the old man was calm and calm, so he said: "Old Uncle Haihan, the three brothers and I were chased here by the Khitan soldiers, and there was no way out, so they panicked for a while and broke into the old man's house. The old man didn't look back, waited for a knock, coughed and said, "Come in, kid!" ”

The three of them waved their hands and thanked each other, committed themselves to come in, and closed the door of the thatched hut with their hands!

Dugu Shuo looked around, and there was only the old man in the house, so he asked curiously, "Why is the old man here alone?" Other loved ones? ”

The old man slowly looked up at the three of them, and he didn't say anything, he poured a bowl of water by himself, and motioned to the three of them to drink the water and pour it himself, Pei Ce was not polite, and said, "Don't say it, I don't feel thirsty, the old man is really a little thirsty!" As he spoke, he sat on the bench opposite the old man, poured himself water and drank it, Xu Gao saw it, stretched out his hand to stop it, but was stopped by Dugu Shuo, Xu Gao looked at Dugu Shuo, and Dugu Shuo only shook his head.

Dugu Shuo looked at the dilapidated table and stool in front of him and asked: "Now that the Khitan has occupied Yingzhou City, but the old man still lives here, aren't you afraid of the Khitan soldiers?" ”

When the old man heard this, he snorted coldly and said, "What are you afraid of the Khitan soldiers?" It's just a death! When the three of them heard this, they couldn't help but admire the old man in their hearts, and they were about to praise a few words, but the old man said: "The soldiers of the Great Zhou Dynasty are terrible, they caught the men in the city to be soldiers, and the taxes at both ends in three days, and the land tax was levied on the people, and this year's drought has not laid much grain, and it is not enough for them to pay, and the people in the government will have to collect the land if they have no food to pay taxes, and the people in the city are afraid that they have long been looking forward to the Khitan soldiers coming!" ”

When the three of them heard this, they didn't expect it to be so, and they were speechless for a while, and they didn't know how to comfort the old man, so they had to lose their smiling faces and smile. Dugu Shuo listened to it, and suddenly his heart swelled, and he became sad. Xindao: But I didn't know that in the Great Zhou, the people had such a hard time, and the imperial court spent a lot of money to build the Ming Hall, completely ignoring the hunger of the people.

Pei Ce couldn't bear it, so he took out all the silver coins in his arms and put them on the old man's table, and said: "Old Uncle Haihan, I have come from afar, and I have never brought a lot of silver, only these, we want to borrow here for a night!" ”

The old man looked the three of them up and down, put the silver in front of Pei Ce's eyes with a smoking gun, and said with a smile: "Child, you have received this old mind, look at the three of them are also extraordinary laymen, don't dislike this grass house is shabby and shabby, just stay, no need for silver, there is no food in the grass house, I heard that the Khitan people have issued a notice in the west of the city, tomorrow the Han people in the city can get a liter of corn, it's early tomorrow, I'll go and see, drink more water tonight!" ”

When the three of them heard this, they felt sad again, became more and more indignant, and cursed the officials of Yingzhou. Pei Ce scolded: Thinking that Zhao Wenhui has served as the assassin of Yingzhou for many years, only caring about filling his own pockets, and completely ignoring the life and death of the people of Yingzhou, he is really innocent.

That night, the three of them slept with the old man on the grass hut and the kang together. Because it was a few days of running, the snoring of Xu's stomach was already like thunder, and the noise made Pei and Xu unable to sleep, so they only lay down and chatted a few words.

As he spoke, Pei Ce remembered the secret guard pigeon house at night, so he asked Dugu Shuo: "Although the pigeon house was burned, all the objects inside were neatly placed, and even the porcelain on the shelves was not broken, which means that they did not withdraw in a panic after the conflict with the Khitan soldiers, but left calmly!" Dugu Shuo listened, pondered for a long time, and said: "I don't think things are so simple on the surface, the first floor seems to be neat, or it may be an illusion, we didn't go upstairs because of the broken stairs, I don't know what the situation is, but from the backyard, the cage seems to have been deliberately destroyed, it may have been deliberately set on fire, but I don't know how the fire burned and suddenly extinguished, only the stairs were burned, and the upstairs did not collapse!" ”

Pei Ce said: "Could it be because of the rain? The old man suddenly said: "Yingzhou has been dry for several months, where is the rain?" Both of them were shocked, Dugu Shuo suddenly turned over, and asked urgently: "Drought for months?" Didn't I see that the Yingzhou report said that it was the only one that didn't rain last month? ”

The old man coughed, and said, "It has not rained for five or six months, the crops have not been harvested, the war has been ignited, and now we are already starving all over the field!" ”

When Pei Ce and the others heard this, they endured their indignation and couldn't help but feel sad again.

The old man said again: "The one you two said was burned by the fire, it shouldn't be the porcelain shop on the front street!" It was a fire that suddenly started during the day, and many people saw it, but there was no water to put it out, and the big guy pulled the soil to put it out, and it burned for a long time before it was extinguished! ”

"Later?" Pei Ce heard that the old man knew, and asked eagerly.

The old man smiled and said, "Later, the people from the government came to investigate, and they didn't hurt anyone, and no one reported the loss, so it's over!" Dugu Shuo listened and asked, "Was the fire before the Khitan siege, or after the Khitans came?" ”

The old man thought for a while and said, "At that time, there were no Khitans, it seems that it took a long time for the Khitans to come!" ”

When Du Pei and the others heard this, they only sat up in shock, disturbing Xu Gao, who was sleeping on the side, and Xu Gao suddenly shouted: "It's time to eat!" In the dark night, the two looked at each other with disdain!