If something went wrong, there must be a demon, so Huang Qiong had better be more cautious. Thinking of this, Huang Qiong did not hesitate at all and ordered to Lieutenant Zhao: "Search this mountain village carefully immediately to see what the villagers took with them before leaving, and also see if we can find one who has not left." people."
"Remember, you are not allowed to take the sheep. If you find someone, please do not scare them. Bring them directly to the king. Also, immediately send someone to lead these horses to a hidden place. You must also be on guard if strangers approach here. No need to ask for instructions, just arrest them first and talk later.”
After that, he didn't care about the others, and walked towards the nearest home first. After opening the door and looking carefully, Huang Qiong found that this family was leaving in a hurry. Apart from food and livestock, almost nothing else was taken away. The chickens and ducks left in the yard were unable to be taken away and even screamed when they were hungry.
The farm tools in the yard were even thrown all over the floor. The scene before him told Huang Qiong that this was definitely not accidental. For farmers who have worked hard for a year and can only barely feed themselves after paying taxes on the harvest, no one would do this. The disappearance of these villagers can only be said to be deliberate.
After Huang Qiong pondered for a moment, he turned around and asked Captain Zhao, who had been following him: "Captain Zhao, what you just said is correct, something must have happened here. Tell me, is it closed?" Did the defenders find out that we were coming and forcefully relocate the villagers here?"
"Your Majesty, according to the military customs, as long as the enemy troops have not arrived when defending the city, scouts must be sent out within fifty miles to detect the enemy's situation. The general thought, if it was really done deliberately by the defenders, then it means that they have already Our whereabouts have been discovered and preparations have even been made.”
"At least judging from the clues that have been revealed so far, the general believes that the possibility of changes in the Hulao Pass defenders is now very high. There are three thousand elites in the gate, but we only have 500 cavalry in our hands. Once something abnormal happens, the prince will It’s too dangerous. The general recommends that you take your brothers and retreat some distance away.”
"Let's see if we can sneak into the pass and get a feel for the situation inside the pass. That Chiang Kai-shek has only been in office for a short time, so I thought he might not really be able to control these three thousand men. The general is in Hu." There are still many old acquaintances in the prison army. After the general enters the prison, I will find a way to contact them. "
"The general doesn't believe it. If Jiang Dutong really defected to the rebels, would the three thousand elites in this gate be willing to follow him? The general's old acquaintances and character are still clear to him. They are definitely not the kind of people who follow others' influence. The general thought, with them as internal agents, even if Jiang Dutong really betrays us, we can still have certain contingency measures."
Before Huang Qiong could answer Captain Zhao's words, Fan Jian had already walked around the village. Fan Jian, who didn't know when he came back, said: "No need, something happened at Hulao Pass. Now inside the pass You must be closely checking strangers. Although you grew up here, you can't hide the aura of fighting for the rest of your life."
"And no one can guarantee whether your old brothers have changed. Lao Zhao, people are changing all the time. No one can guarantee whether those old brothers of yours have changed now. Now you enter the detention center , just take the initiative to send them to their door. Your Majesty, the sword went around the village and found a lot of horse hoof prints in the village. "
"And every household, except for the lack of food, did not lack anything else. But almost every house found traces of being kicked. In addition, Jian also found this in the village." After saying that, Fan Jian handed the thing in his hand to Huang Qiong. Huang Qiong took it and took a look, only to find that it was the hairpin worn on the helmet of the Daqi soldiers.
Seeing that Huang Qiong clearly recognized this thing, Fan Jian pointed to the hairpin on the helmet of Captain Zhao next to him and said: "Your Majesty, look at this hairpin and the hairpins on the heads of the soldiers of Xiaoqi Camp. What's there? no the same?"
Hearing Fan Jian's words, Huang Qiong picked up the hairpin and looked at it carefully, but did not find any difference other than the color. However, Huang Qiong suddenly picked up the hairpin and smelled it carefully before saying, "No, there is a smell of blood on this hairpin."
Seeing that Huang Qiong noticed something was wrong with the hairpins, Fan Jian nodded and said: "Your Majesty, according to the imperial court customs, the hairpins of the four major battalions are all red. This black hairpin, according to the regulations, should be the local The guards. Although the garrison at Hulao Pass is directly under the jurisdiction of the Dianqian Division, it can also be regarded as a local guard."
"And within a few dozen miles around, there are no other garrisons except the Hulao Pass garrison. Therefore, the hairpin tassel sword thought it should belong to the Hulao Pass garrison. Jian thought that we should search it carefully. Look where there are traces of blood around here. Since this hairpin smells like blood, there will definitely be some traces found around here."
Looking at Fan Jian in front of him and the hairpin in his hand, Huang Qiong immediately ordered Captain Zhao to execute it without any hesitation. Sure enough, not long after, several sergeants who were digging and searching near the village came over and told them that they had found several bodies hastily buried in a depression in the east of the village. Judging from the clothes on their bodies, they are all Daqi soldiers.
"What?" Upon hearing the report, Huang Qiong couldn't help being surprised, and hurried over with a few people around him. When I saw these corpses with dead eyes open, wanting to accuse something. Wang Dalong, who was following Huang Qiong, suddenly knelt down and cried sadly: "Brother Liu, Third Brother Wang, Brother He, how could it be you?"
Seeing Wang Dalong's uncontrollable sadness, Huang Qiong knew that the matter was now serious, and quickly motioned to Liu Hu and Captain Zhao beside him to help him up immediately. After he calmed down a bit, he said, "Dalong, what, do you know all these people?"
"Returning to the prince, these people are all good brothers who fought together on the battlefield when I was in the border army. They were transferred back the year before I was there. At that time, I even teased them. After all, what happened to them? How much money did the Ministry of War spend to transfer such a good position? If the young one is not doing well, he will come to them to fight against the autumn wind. "
"Although these people's skills are not as good as those of Xiao Xiao, they are all veterans who have fought a hundred battles for the rest of their lives. But Xiao Xiao did not expect that they did not die on the battlefield of the border army, but died inexplicably here at Hulao Pass. My lord, you must avenge them." Wang Dalong seemed to have a deep relationship with these people, and he burst into tears when he answered Huang Qiong.
Compared to Liu Hu, who had a good relationship with Wang Dalong and quickly comforted him. Fan Jian ignored the crying Wang Dalong, but walked to the corpse and took a closer look before saying: "My lord, you see, their fatal wounds are all on the back. Judging from the depth of the knife edge, almost all of them were fatal with one blow. This shows that whoever did it did it when they were unprepared.”
"In other words, the people behind the scenes should be people they are familiar with. Otherwise, according to Dalong, these people are all veterans who have returned from the battlefield. If they are not extremely familiar people, they will not They were so careless and got away with it. And there was only one wound on their backs, which shows that they were all killed without resistance."
"There are no signs of being tied up on their hands. This means that they were not killed elsewhere and then moved here. My lord, I am afraid someone deliberately did it to them to die here. And they can To calmly transfer them here and look for opportunities to kill them, it would be very difficult for others except the Lord Tong to do it."
Having said this, Fan Jian turned to Wang Dalong and said: "Wang Guard, this is not the time to be sad. Can you tell me what kind of people your brothers are? They are now serving as commanders in the Hulao Pass Army. Do you know what position he holds? Dalong, if you want to avenge your brothers, just tell us the truth."
"Among them, before the border army was transferred back, Liu Sange was a captain, and the other two were Baihu. According to the rules for officers of the border army to be promoted after internal transfer, their current positions should be quite high. . At least Prince Wang and Brother He are certain to be promoted to captain. As for what positions they hold now, I really don’t know.”
"And there is nothing to say about their character. They are all well-known men. None of them are descendants of aristocratic families. They all came up from the battles of the big soldiers. They are also loyal to the court. This is I can guarantee it with my head. We men who fought hard on the battlefield don't have as many tricks as the Guards."
Regarding Fan Jian's inquiry, Wang Dalong did not hesitate at all and answered decisively. And this tone is somewhat choking. If Fan Jian doesn't believe what he says, he will find Fan Jian to fight for his life. This kind of upright man cares very much about what others think of him.
The excitement in Wang Dalong's tone meant that Fan Jian's city would not have the same insight as him. He just patted Wang Dalong on the chest and said: "Dalong, don't worry too much. The sword is just asking. As the saying goes, people of the same species flock together. Dalong is an upright man, and the brothers he associates with are naturally the same. Same kind of people.”
After saying that, Fan Jian turned to Huang Qiong and said: "Your Majesty, according to what Dalong said, these people are definitely the military attachés who hold real power in the garrison. Since they can allow Jiang Dutong to do it secretly, it is enough to show that he does not have all the control at the moment. The garrison at Hulao Pass. It is very likely that a few people were the biggest obstacle to his rebellion, which is why he was allowed to do such a cruel thing."
"Judging from the blood stains on these three people, they should have been killed no earlier than yesterday. Judging from these signs, Jiang Dutong should have made up his mind to defect to the rebels, but it is estimated that he did not make this determination for a long time. President. So when we got rid of these military attachés, we were obviously in a hurry."
"The reason why the villagers here were forcibly moved to the pass is probably because he wanted to cover up these things. To massacre the village, at least he doesn't dare to do it now, and there is no need to do it. This also shows that this guy is still somewhat taboo. There are some things that we dare not let go of. Otherwise, what we see in this village will not be like this."
"Your Majesty, although Jian is not familiar with military affairs, we also know that it takes a certain amount of time to prepare a large army from receiving the imperial decree to gathering and setting off. Your Majesty received the imperial decree yesterday and set off with 500 elite cavalry that afternoon, marching alone day and night. Go to danger. We rushed outside Hulao Pass this morning. Chiang Kai-shek may not have expected this. The scouts from fifty miles away did not see Jian on the way here."
Having said this, Fan Jian turned to Captain Zhao and said, "Jian once read several military books when he was at home in his early years. Jian is not very clear about military affairs. Captain Zhao is a veteran, so he should know that this scout is a cavalryman." Or infantry? What difference will there be?"
