Wen Huan said: "I also know where it is, I can take you there." ”

Zhu Cen looked at her dissatisfied.

Wen Huan also looked at him without showing weakness.

"Don't be in a hurry to fight first," Chen Anning looked at Zhu Cen, "Please ask Lord Zhu to send a letter to Lord Tang in Guangling Mansion and ask him to help check on Fan Dahai." In addition, please trouble Lord Zhu to send someone to explore the surroundings of Zhang Gongshan to see if he can inquire about the approximate location of this nest of bandits. ”

Zhu Cen hurriedly went.

When he walked away, Chen Anning instructed Xu Zan again, "Immediately arrange for the secret guard to go to Zhang Gongshan to find out the whereabouts of those bandits." Then let the people prepare the horses, and we will set off immediately! ”

After Xu Zan also arranged to go, Chen Anning looked at the young man, and after thinking about it, he still chose to tell the truth: "Your father and mother have opened an inn here for more than ten years, and the total number of killings is not less than three hundred. Whoever they killed, regardless of the reason, will not escape the death penalty. ”

The young man said, "I know. ”

"Not for yourself, but simply to atone for the hundreds of people who died on their behalf, I need you to do something." Chen Anning said, "During our visit to Zhanggongshan, you have to assist Master Zhu in verifying this case, and then bury those white bones properly." ”

The young man nodded in agreement.

Chen Anning thought about it, and there were only two things to do at the moment. One is to go to Zhang Gongshan to arrest Fan Dahai, and the other is to find the murderer who poisoned those diners and people who came out of the pit. The latter case involved Chai Shiming or other officials, with her identity, it was not suitable to meddle, and it was the best policy to hand it over to Zhu Cen or wait for Xie Xun to come back to deal with it, so she didn't think much about it.

"I'll protect myself." Seeing Chen Anning looking over, Wen Huan didn't wait for her to speak, and immediately said.

Chen Anning smiled: "If you want to go, you can go." ”

Xu Zan arranged to come back, and when he saw Wen Huan also going with him, he couldn't help but persuade: "This trip is very likely to encounter danger, so it's better for you to stay." ”

"If you want to stay, you will stay." Wen Huan said disapprerovingly, "I can still do three-legged cat kung fu, but you don't know anything." ”

Facing Chen Anning's playful eyes, Xu Zan coughed lightly twice, and muttered: "How can I be the same as you, I am ......"

Wen Huan interrupted him: "What's the difference? Have you forgotten that when you fell into the water, I saved you. ”

Xu Zhan's face turned red in an instant.

"Let's go." Chen Anning was afraid that if they continued to talk, he would laugh out loud. After hurriedly beckoning to get on the horse, he said to Zhu Cen, who came back, "It's time to trouble Lord Zhu to deal with the case of the inn." ”

Zhu Cen took a look at Xu Zan and Wen Huan, and reluctantly said, "Then you should be careful of everything." ”

Chen Anning nodded and drove away.

Xu Zan and Wen Huan followed closely behind her.

Zhanggong Mountain is nearly seventy miles away from the inn.

Everyone worked hard all the way, and when the sunset was gone, they finally arrived at Huapi Lake under Zhanggong Mountain.

Zhanggong Mountain is not high, the altitude is less than 100 meters, but the area is large, and the mountains and rivers are beautiful, it is very pleasant.

How could Fan Dahai, a bandit, choose such a place as a foothold?

Chen Anning was suspicious, and after looking around, he asked Xu Zhan: "The secret guards have all entered the mountain, right?" ”

Xu Zan nodded, "They set off before us, and their speed is faster than us, so they must have entered the mountain...... The people sent by Master Zhu are here, so I'll go and ask them first. ”

Xu Zan beat his horse and walked towards the officials.

After a while, he came back and said, "It's confirmed, Zhang Gongshan does have bandit activities." However, they are not always here, and only occasionally move here for a while. ”

"What's the occasional method?" Chen Anning asked.

Xu Zan said: "I said that I would come once every three or five months." ”

Three or five months?

Chen Anning shook his head, "That's not right." ”

Xu Zan asked, "What's wrong?" ”

Chen Anning: "The old couple said that Fan Dahai's people would go to them every month to collect cash. What does this mean? It shows that the base camp of these bandits may not be here, but there must be a long-term den here. Ask who they are asking for. ”

After Xu Zan went, he came back and said, "They inquired in a village at the foot of the mountain. ”

At the foot of the mountain, the village......

Take another look at the environment of Zhang Gongshan.

Chen Anning immediately rode towards those officials, "Where is the village, lead the way!" ”

Although Xu Zan didn't know the reason, he didn't take it seriously when he saw that the officials were slow, and immediately said with a cold face: "Don't hurry up and lead the way!" ”

The officials and messengers looked straight and led the way in front.

Soon.

The officials took Chen Anning to the village where they had inquired about the news.

But......

"Huh, what about people?" Looking at the empty village, the officials were dumbfounded.

"There's someone there!" Xu Zhan's eyes were sharp, and when he saw a person lying on the haystack at the end of the village, he immediately hit the horse over. When he got closer, he saw more than ten children lying around the blood-red haystack, he quickly turned over and dismounted, looked through them one by one, and after reading it, he said to Chen Anning with a gloomy face, "All of them are dead." ”

Chen Anning is examining the body of a child lying on a haystack.

The body still has temperature, which proves that the time of death is not long.

The village was less than three miles from their previous location.

In other words, after the officials left the village, the people of the village or bandits killed the children and fled.

Looking at the scrawny bodies of these children, as well as their calloused hands and feet, it is clear that they are all coolies who have been captured by the bandits.

Chen Anning glanced at the surrounding bloodstains, and after chasing them out of the village along the bloodstains, he said in the southwest direction: "Chase!" ”

Coming out of the village, following the horseshoe prints, through the fields, soon the body of a child appeared in everyone's field of vision. Chen Anning flew off the horse, touched the child's corpse temperature, and immediately returned to the horse, "Keep chasing!" ”

In this way, with the corpses of children appearing from time to time, everyone quickly chased away from Zhanggong Mountain and chased to several nearby mountains that could not be named.

At the foot of these unnamed mountains, the bodies of seven or eight children were stacked on top of each other, and one of them was even breathing! Chen Anning quickly dismounted, lit the acupuncture point near the child's wound, and forcibly fed him a pill, immediately took out a silver needle, sealed the wound, and then carefully placed him on the grass on the side.

Let the two officials stay and watch him.

Chen Anning followed Xu Zhan, Wen Huan, as well as eighteen officials and more than twenty secret guards, and immediately chased towards the unknown mountain.

This unknown mountain is obviously higher than Zhanggong Mountain, and the vegetation is also more lush than that of Zhanggong Mountain.

Not long into the mountain.

The crowd saw a herd of abandoned horses and the corpses of a dozen children.

The horse could not go any further up the mountain.

After examining more than a dozen corpses and finding no survivors, Chen Anning asked Xu Zan and Wen Huan to walk slowly, while she took the secret guards to quickly pass through the dense forest and chase towards the top of the mountain.

"Be careful!" When chasing to a mountain pass, Chen Anning keenly sensed that something was wrong, but she still reacted a little slower, and the few secret guards who rushed in front of her had already become blood targets.