Chen Anning was about to reflexively fight back.

In the dark night, sharp arrows suddenly pierced through the clouds and fog.

The bandits who chased close to them were instantly hit by arrows and fell off their horses, and were immediately trampled into mud by the hooves of the horses that came from behind.

Chen Anning looked in the direction where the sharp arrow was shooting.

A man and a horse, in the hazy moonlight, holding a longbow, gradually approaching.

It's Xie Xun.

The bandits also recognized him.

With a 'retreat', like the wind, it was gone in an instant.

Chen Anning grabbed his horse, glanced at the fleeing bandits, and then looked at Xie Xun, who had already approached, "The case of the official ship has been solved?" ”

"How can it be so fast." Xie Xun glanced at her quickly, and after making sure that she was not injured, he walked with her to the village where the bandits were stationed at the foot of Zhanggong Mountain, and asked about the situation.

After Chen Anning roughly said it, he also asked him: "The case has not been solved, why did you come back so soon?" ”

"It's also this gang of bandits who hijacked the officer's ship." Xie Xun said.

Chen Anning looked at him suspiciously.

Xie Xun took out a drawing from his arms and handed it to her, "This is what the official ship looked like after it was hijacked." ”

Chen Anning took the picture, opened it and looked at it twice.

The moonlight was light, and even though she had excellent eyesight, she could only see a rough idea.

Put away the picture and ask him, "Tell me about the situation." ”

"The official ship was hijacked while it was moving." Xie Xun stated without emotion, "The hijacking process is roughly that the ship was stopped for some reason while it was in motion. Later, the officers and soldiers and migrant workers on the official ship were killed, and the grain was carried out. ”

"Judging from the fact that there is only slight damage to the official ship, there should be an internal response on the official ship."

Chen Anning said: "That's 200,000 catties of grain. ”

Yes, 200,000 catties of grain.

The robbers must have more than one ship.

But there won't be too much either.

Too much will cause congestion in the canal, and it is easy to expose the tracks.

The two glanced at each other, and Xie Xun said, "There should be three or four." ”

Chen Anning nodded, three or four should be just right.

But......

Chen Anning asked: "What is the basis for what you just said that it was the same group of robbers?" ”

"It's just speculation for the time being." Xie Xun said, "I asked, this gang of robbers has been rampant between Huainan Road and Jiangnan Road, and there are a large number of them. The imperial court ordered the suppression of bandits many times, but all of them ended in failure. This time, it was the official ship with the largest carrying capacity that was hijacked, and ordinary robbers could not eat it. ”

Chen Anning questioned: "This gang of robbers is a merchant ship again?" ”

"I've asked Wen Baolin to take my token and check the talismans issued by the county households along the way." Xie Xun said, "Whether there is an official ship or not, we will soon know." ”

Chen Anning nodded and didn't ask again.

Return to the village where the bandits of Zhanggongshan were stationed.

Xie Xun went to interrogate the two bandits brought back by the secret guards, while Chen Anning went to visit the rescued child.

The child has woken up.

Sitting on the bed, his face was yellow.

Wen Huan was holding the water and feeding him in small sips.

Seeing Chen Anning, Wen Huan got up and said, "I don't know if he can eat, so I'll feed him with water first." ”

Chen Anning walked over, touched his forehead, checked his pulse again, then took out the porcelain bottle, poured out the pills and fed them to him, carefully laid him flat on the bed, used a dagger to cut the clothes on his wound, asked Xu Zan to fetch a basin of water, clean up the wound, and crushed two pills and applied them to the wound, tore off the corners of Xu Zhan's clothes and wrapped them carefully, before saying: "You can drink some light porridge or soup first." ”

"Am I not going to die?" The rescued child asked cautiously.

Chen Anning looked at his clear eyes and nodded: "I can't die for the time being." ”

After the rescued child was visibly relieved, he asked, "...... them Are they all dead? ”

Chen Anning nodded, "Yes." ”

The rescued child's eyes darkened, "Thank you for saving me." ”

Chen An was silent for a while before saying, "It should be that I thank you for giving me the opportunity to save you, and at the same time, I'm sorry that we came too late and couldn't save them." ”

It was probably the first time that the rescued child heard such words, and he was very overwhelmed and said, "You, you are officials? ”

"Yes." Chen Anning softened his voice and quickly changed the topic, "How long have you been here, do you remember?" ”

"I've been here for seven years." The rescued child replied in the affirmative.

Chen Anning asked again: "Then what is your name, do you remember?" ”

The rescued child pursed his lips and replied for a long time: "Zhang Qiang." My dad wanted me to be as strong as Big Bull, so he gave me this name. ”

Chen Anning touched his head, "You said you've been here for seven years, so how old were you when you came here?" ”

"Eight." Zhang Qiang replied.

Chen Anning's heart sank.

I came here when I was eight years old, and now I'm fifteen.

But his appearance is clearly only eleven or twelve years old.

Xu Zan and Wen Huan were also a little uncomfortable.

Wen Huan had already turned his back and secretly wiped away his tears several times.

Chen Anning suppressed the depression in his heart and continued to ask, "How did you come here, do you remember?" ”

"When I went home to fetch water for my father, someone asked me for directions, and I told him, but he said he didn't understand, so I asked him to show him the way. I thought it wasn't too far, so I led him away. As a result, when he left the village, he was put into a carriage and brought here. Zhang Qiang said almost without any hesitation.

This memory is so profound for him that it is still as clear as it is after seven years.

Chen Anning touched his head again, and his voice became gentler, "Do you know how many children have been robbed here like you?" ”

Zhang Qiang thought about it for a moment before replying, "I don't know how many there are." I only know that the children who were robbed and the good-looking ones were all sent away, and I heard them say that they were sent to the flower building. The physically strong ones were also sent away, as if they were sent to practice martial arts. There were also some sick and weak people, who heard that they were sent to some inn and were boiled and eaten. The rest, like me, who don't take any of them, will be left to do rough work. ”

"You planted all the fields outside the village?" Chen Anning asked.

Zhang Qiang said yes.

"Sleep, no one will rob you anymore." Seeing that his expression was gradually tired, but he was afraid to sleep, Chen Anning comforted him softly, "When the injury is healed, we will send you home." ”

Zhang Qiang responded well and slept with peace of mind.

Chen Anning waited for his breathing to stabilize and the soft voice on his face disappeared, and it was slowly replaced by a layer of frost. After asking Wen Huan to help take care of him, Chen Anning took Xu Zan to inspect the village, and then walked towards Xie Xun, who was interrogating the two bandits.

"This is where they are staying." Xie Xun handed over the paper with the location in mind.

When Chen Anning looked at it, Xie Xun continued: "It's confirmed, they are the people of King Anbei." ”

Chen Anning's eyes froze.

Xie Xun kicked the bandit who was beaten in front of him and his nose was swollen, "Your luck is good, this one captured is a small leader, and his left arm is just tattooed with a flame totem." ”

Chen Anning didn't wait for him to finish speaking, and kicked at the little leader, "Don't play dead for me!" Say, "Where are the children whom you have taken got?" ”