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 any signs of weakness.
"Don't rush to argue," Chen Anning looked at Zhu Cen, "Please send Mr. Zhu a letter to Mr. Tang in Guangling Mansion and ask him to help find Fan Dahai. In addition, please send someone to Mr. Zhu first. Explore around Zhang Gongshan and see if you can find out the general location of this group of bandits."
Zhu Cen left in a hurry.
When he was far away, Chen Anning ordered Xu Zan, "Immediately arrange for secret guards to go to Zhanggong Mountain to find out the whereabouts of the bandits. Then have someone prepare their horses, and we will set off immediately!"
After Xu Zan also arranged to go, Chen Anning looked at the young man. After thinking about it, he chose to tell the truth: "Your parents have opened an inn here for more than ten years, and the total number of murders is no less than three hundred. No matter what their reasons are, Those who are killed for reasons cannot escape the death penalty."
The young man said: "I know."
"Not for yourself, just to atone for the hundreds of people who died on their behalf, I need you to do something." Chen Anning said, "While we are going to Zhang Gongshan, you must assist Mr. Zhu in investigating this case, and in addition, we will Give those bones a good burial.”
The young man nodded in agreement.
Chen Anning thought about it and realized that there were only two things to do now. One is to go to Zhang Gongshan to arrest Fan Dahai, and the other is to find the murderer who poisoned the diners and the people who came out of the pit. The latter matter involved Chai Shiming or other officials. Given her status, she was not suitable to intervene. It was best to leave it to Zhu Cen or wait for Xie Xun to come back to deal with it, so she didn't think much about it.
"I will protect myself." Seeing Chen Anning looking over, Wen Huan said immediately without waiting for her to speak.
Chen Anning laughed: "You can go if you want."
Xu Zan made arrangements to come back. When he saw Wen Huan coming with him, he couldn't help but persuade him: "This trip is likely to be dangerous, so you'd better stay."
"You can stay if you want." Wen Huan said disapprovingly, "I can learn the Three-Legged Cat Kung Fu, but you don't know anything."
Facing Chen Anning's teasing eyes, Xu Zan coughed 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 I was the one who saved you when you fell into the water?"
Xu Zan's face turned red instantly.
"Let's go." Chen Anning was afraid that if they continued talking, they would laugh out loud. After hurriedly greeting Zhu Cen and getting on his horse, he said to Zhu Cen, "I would like to trouble Mr. Zhu to handle the case at the inn."
Zhu Cen looked at Xu Zan and Wen Huan and reluctantly said, "Then you should be careful."
Chen Anning nodded and rode 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 finally arrived at Huapi Lake at the foot of Zhanggong Mountain as the sunset faded.
Zhanggong Mountain is not high, with an altitude of less than 100 meters, but it has a large area and beautiful mountains and rivers, making it very pleasant.
How could a bandit from Fandahai choose such a place as his foothold?
Chen Anning became suspicious. After looking around, he asked Xu Zan: "Have all the secret guards entered the mountain?"
Xu Zan nodded, "They set off before us and were faster than us. They must have entered the mountain... The people sent by Master Zhu are here. I will ask them first."
Xu Zan rode towards the officials.
He came back after a while and said: "I'm sure, there are indeed bandit activities in Zhanggong Mountain. However, they are not here all the time. They only occasionally operate here for a period of time."
"What an accidental method?" Chen Anning asked.
Xu Zan said: "It is said that it will come once every three to five months."
Three to 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 come to collect money from them every month. What does this mean? It means that the base camp of these bandits may not be here, but there must be a long-term den here. Go there Ask who they asked."
After Xu Zan left, he came back and said, "They made inquiries in a village at the foot of the mountain."
At the foot of the mountain, the village...
Take another look at the environment of Zhanggong Mountain.
Chen Anning immediately rode towards the officials and said, "Where is the village? Lead the way!"
Although Xu Zan didn't know the reason, he saw that the officers were taking their time and didn't take them seriously. He immediately said with a cold face: "Hurry up and lead the way!"
The officers then straightened up their expressions and led the way.
soon.
The officials took Chen Anning to the village where they had previously inquired about the news.
but……
"Hey, where are the people?" Looking at the empty village, the officials were dumbfounded.
"There's someone there!" Xu Zan's sharp eyes saw a man lying on the haystack at the end of the village, and he immediately rode over. When he got closer, he saw more than a dozen children lying around the blood-red haystack. He quickly got off his horse and looked through them one by one. After reading, he said to Chen Anning with a gloomy face, "They are all dead."
Chen Anning was checking the body of the child lying on the haystack.
The body was still warm, indicating that he died not long ago.
The village was less than three miles away from their previous location.
In other words, after the officials left the village, the people in the village or the bandits killed the children and then fled.
Looking at the skinny bodies of these children and their calloused hands and feet, it is obvious that they are all coolies captured by the bandits.
Chen Anning glanced at the blood stains around him, followed the blood stains out of the village, and said toward the southwest: "Chase!"
After leaving the village, following the horse's hoof prints, they passed through the fields, and soon the body of a child appeared in everyone's sight. Chen Anning flew off the horse, felt the body temperature of the child, and immediately got back on the horse, "Keep chasing!"
In this way, with the corpses of children appearing from time to time, everyone quickly chased away from Zhang Gong Mountain and chased them to several unnamed mountains nearby.
At the foot of these unnamed mountains, the bodies of seven or eight children were stacked on top of each other. One of the children was even breathing! Chen Anning quickly dismounted, tapped the acupuncture point near the child's wound, and force-fed him a pill. He immediately took out the silver needle, sealed the wound, and then carefully laid him flat on the grass aside.
Let two officials stay and watch him.
Chen Anning followed Xu Zan, Wen Huan, 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 more lush than that of Zhanggong Mountain.
Not long after entering the mountain.
Everyone saw a group of abandoned horses and the bodies of more than a dozen children.
The horse could not go any further up the mountain.
After checking a dozen corpses and finding no survivors, Chen Anning asked Xu Zan and Wen Huan to walk slowly, while she led the secret guards to use Qinggong to quickly pass through the dense forest and chase towards the top of the mountain.
"Be careful!" When chasing to a mountain col, Chen Anning keenly sensed something was wrong, but her reaction was slower. The several secret guards rushing in front of her had become bloody targets.
