As the sun wanes, smoke rises from the villages under the green hills.

Such a large village seems to be very quiet, as if the population of this village has decreased considerably.

Probably for the convenience of burial, there are dense mounds of graves on both sides of this official road, which are undulating and of different sizes, like mass graves.

This is the third village that Yan Yun has seen since entering the boundary of Heyuan County.

In the middle of the night, the crops have already been harvested, and someone is burning wormwood intensively, and the billowing smoke carries the fragrance of wormwood, as if he wants to dilute the strange smell in the air, and the person in charge of the command seems to be an elderly Lizheng.

As soon as Yan Yun lifted the reins, he rode his horse around the mound and walked towards the group of people who were burning wormwood.

"Official, what are you doing?" As soon as Li Zheng saw the token on Yan Yun's waist, he hurriedly greeted him.

"Uncle, can you take a step to speak?" Yan Yun jumped off the horse and pointed to the side.

"It's all right." Rizheng smiled reluctantly.

"In Xia Taiping County, I was here two years ago, when this place was still very prosperous, and I don't want to be like this now."

"Ah, yes."

"In the next way, I heard that this place is haunted, what is going on, and I hope the old man will say a thing or two."

"It turned out that this was the case, so many people died, and the county still didn't let it be told to the outside world." Li Zheng smiled bitterly and shook his head, obviously dissatisfied with this kind of order that wanted to cover up, "Actually...... Haunting started from Wangcheng, probably in the late spring and early summer of this year, the first printing and dyeing workshop in Wangcheng died for no reason, saying that it was fine before going to bed at night, only to find out in the morning that the person was gone, and he couldn't detect the injury, and asked some people to check, but there was no result, and it was transmitted to our Fuyuan County at that time, and the big guys were all strange to hear, who knows...... Hey......"

Of the 150 households under his jurisdiction, 30 of them were demoralized, and the largest number was four people, including his relatives.

Because Yan Yun is identity is tolerance, Li Zheng did not hide it, poured beans into the bamboo tube, and said it as it was.

Starting from the printing and dyeing workshop, three beggars died after a few days, usually the beggar died when he died, but because the cause of death of the previous two people was not clarified, he also invited a beggar to test, and he also did not know the reason. After that, there were always people who disappeared inexplicably, and at first thought it was an epidemic, so they invited Lao Langzhong to come and see, and made a lot of medicines, which were smoked and boiled for people to drink, but there were still people who continued to die. However, in such a large royal city, it doesn't matter how many people die, sometimes when the king gives an order, the sensation caused by the noon gate cutting off people's heads is much bigger than this. Therefore, although some people are not clear, the common people only think that it is evil and do not pay enough attention to it.

There was a blind man at the south entrance of the city who specialized in fortune-telling, and one day he ran to the house to report the case, saying that he saw someone holding a small flag to suck people's souls, and also described that the person holding the small flag was floating in the air, high and high, like a ghost, and the haunting of the royal city spread.

"You say a blind man can see?" Yan Yun couldn't help but interject.

"Yes, I can't tell how he saw it." Rizheng nodded.

"Why can't you tell?"

"The blind man also died three days later, unharmed."

So many people died in Wangcheng for no reason, Fu Yin had to investigate, otherwise he would not be able to explain, and there was not enough manpower, so he was drawn from nearby counties, that is, from this time on, the haunted things radiated to the surrounding counties.

The population density of several counties around Wangcheng is lower than that of Wangcheng, but the population is larger, and the geographical scope is also larger, as if this ghost who specializes in soul-sucking is also bold, causing more deaths among the people, sometimes as many as ten people in one night, and in serious cases, dozens of people are taken away for several nights in a row, and the famous merchant Gaojiazhuang in Fuyuan County is even more than 100 people without a single survivor.

During that time, everyone was in danger, and each village formed a night patrol, but with little success.

After carefully inspecting the scene of Gaojiazhuang, the former county governor of Fuyuan County found that there was a serious loss of property in Zhuangzi, and thought that the perpetrator was pretending to be a ghost, which could only show that the gangsters had clever means of committing crimes, and that's all, so they quickly investigated and arrested, and as a result, more than ten strong men were gone, including his son. The county was disheartened and resigned and went home. Later, a new official was transferred, and there was nothing he could do to catch ghosts, but he had a very good way of dealing with the people, strictly ordering the news to be blocked, and deceiving himself, as if the world would be too peaceful.

The common people have also discovered a pattern, these people who have been sucked by ghosts and died, the age is concentrated in the age of about fifteen to fifty years old, both men and women, there are very few dead people over fifty years old who have been sucked into the soul, and those over sixty years old are basically extinct.

Yan Yun heard what he was talking about, and suddenly realized, no wonder these graves appeared on the side of the official road, it turned out that there were fewer middle-aged people in the village, and many young people left home to serve in labor and military service, and the village did not have enough labor to carry the dead up the mountain and bury them.

Yan Yun asked: "Uncle, when the ghosts go to the surrounding counties, could it be that the royal city is not haunted?" ”

Li Zheng blinked his dim eyes, raised his head and thought about it, and said, "This...... It's hard to say, all the villagers are trembling all day long, taking care of themselves, and no one cares if the royal city is haunted or not. ”

"That's ......," Yan Yun nodded.

Among those who pounded wormwood was a scarred dysentery, quite young, and Yan Yun was talking to Li Zheng, and he listened with his ears open.

The dysentery tugged at his neck and said, "Official, it is not clear whether the royal city was haunted or not, but there were also many deaths. ”

Yan Yun said: "This little brother, come and talk." ”

The dysentery head is usually disliked by people, and he is called "brother" by the tolerance, he is a little indifferent, and he ran over with his farts and said, "The official was invited by the county master to catch ghosts, right?" ”

Yan Yun smiled and asked, "Oh? Can you see that? ”

The dysentery head showed such a look, and said unashamedly: "The official master dares to go on the road alone, he must not be afraid of ghosts, so he was invited by the county master, besides, those people in the county government, when they see people talking about people, they talk about ghosts, and they can't take half a sentence seriously, and the official has just come to our small village to find out, right?" ”

Seeing that he was so reasonable, Yan Yun had no intention of refuting it, and asked, "Little Brother just said that there were also a lot of dead people in the royal city, what did you mean?" ”

"Cut people at noon!" The dysentery head said without thinking about it, "In just this half a year, the two prefects have cut down the whole family because of the unfavorable investigation of the ghost case, and the tolerance has also been cut a lot, and now the prefect of Jingzhao is still empty...... There are also large and small officials, such as the Wuwei General's Mansion, the Hussar General's Mansion, the Guanglu Doctor's Mansion, the Imperial Captain and the like, the most miserable Yi three clans, the whole door is still light......"

When Yan Yun heard the name of General Wuwei's Mansion, a rush of blood rushed to his head, and he suddenly became murderous.

Li Zheng was startled and hurriedly stopped: "Bastard boy! Don't talk nonsense about such things, beware of the misfortune that comes out of your mouth! ”

The dysentery head was not convinced, and replied: "Uncle, these are all listed at noon, and there are also crimes, and I didn't say nonsense." ”

Li Zheng shouted: "The king's punishment of the officials of the traitor department and the generals who are unfavorable in battle, this is a major matter of the court, how can it be confused with ghosts?" ”

Immediately afterwards, Li Zheng said with a smile: "Official, my junior is an open-mouthed shabby, and I still hope that the official will ......."

This dysentery head is also very clever, and he quickly knelt on the ground and kowtowed three times, and said with a lot of tears and snot: "The official forgives the sins, the official forgives the sins." ”

Yan Yun woke up from his distraction, held back the anger in his heart, smiled reluctantly, and said: "The two of you have misunderstood, I just feel that there are so many people missing for no reason, and I am resentful in my heart. ”

The dysentery head suddenly burst into tears and laughed, got up with a bone, and said: "I knew that the official was invited by the county master to catch ghosts, uncle, you are really, you will be scared to death by you if you have nothing to do,"

"Farewell." As soon as Yan Yun gave up his hand, he was about to leave, but was stopped by Li Zheng.

"Official, it's not too early this day, just stay in this village for a while, and the old man will have a drink with the official."