Although the matter was over, He Sima and Captain Li were depressed and unable to sleep.
"Sir, did our money just go to Chong County for nothing?"
He Sima said angrily: "Didn't you see the situation just now? No one here knows that the thing was stolen from my room. How dare I take it back in front of everyone?"
Lieutenant Li obviously didn't think so, "Your Excellency, you are worrying too much. I don't think they have any intention of exposing Your Majesty."
"What do you think? Do you think these two sects will cover up this matter in order to curry favor with me? Even the Governor may not be able to win their favor. I am a little Sima, and tonight's incident will give away the clues. If they get into the hands of the other party, they just turn a blind eye because they are afraid of trouble. If I don't know how to show appreciation and forcefully seize the property, we will all want to leave Chongjun. What's more, the governor is still keeping a close eye on me. We are here, do you want to cause trouble for the Governor?"
"Of course I don't dare, but if we just leave like this and don't give an explanation, I'm afraid it won't be easy for the Governor to tell us what to do."
Thinking of this, He Sima became angry, "Huh! It's not like the three stupid pigs he sent were not careful in their work. They actually leaked the action plan, attracting masters from the two factions to ambush. If it weren't for the fact that the monks from the two factions got some information, Deviation, let me use myself as bait to hold back all the troublemakers. Those three stupid pigs may not even be able to enter the gate of the county magistrate's house. Even so, things will still be messed up, and we will suffer from exhaustion."
"Sir, although the three of them are stupid, I'm afraid they didn't set off the flames. It was obviously unnecessary. Maybe it was set off by the mysterious person who took action?"
"Mysterious man? Could it be the news he spread? Could it be the work of the governor? No! If so, we must have been targeted. This is not a place to stay for a long time. Send someone to report to the governor quickly. I hope that the three What a stupid pig for not revealing more information."
"My lord, what you said makes sense. Is it in the form of a letter or a verbal message?"
He Sima was startled, thinking that if it was really the governor's arrangement, once the letter was intercepted, it might be used as evidence. "In case the letter is intercepted, I might have to trouble Li Duwei to go there in person. When we get to the state capital, we have to pay attention to details." Inform the Governor of the situation here. As for the funds, I will make up for it in the remaining cities. Doesn’t the governor of Zijun want to keep his official position? Let’s bleed him.”
tuk tuk
Suddenly there was a knock on the door, and the two people in the room immediately stopped talking and looked at each other, but they didn't know who was visiting in the middle of the night.
Lieutenant Li took a step forward and looked through the crack in the door, but it was Chang Shouyi, the governor of Chong County who should have been drunk and unconscious.
Not knowing what this person's purpose was, Lieutenant Li slowly opened the door.
The Nachang County Sheriff first looked into the room and saw He Sima himself here, then he held his hands and said, "I have something to discuss with you. I wonder if your Excellency is free."
"If you have any questions, let's wait until tomorrow. Your Excellency has important matters to deal with." Captain Li showed no intention of getting out of the way.
The governor of Chang County is not in a hurry. The position of Sima is to place the derogatory person. Although the official position is high, it has no real power. No matter whether this person once held an official position in Tianfu or came to Longzhou to work for some important person, it will not matter. He would like him as a little county governor, otherwise he wouldn't need to pretend to be drunk during the banquet. He really couldn't stand He Sima's condescending attitude.
But this time it was different.
The governor of Chang County was confident and said: "I learned that your Excellency seems to have lost a lot of property."
He Si immediately turned cold. As expected, there are still serious people looking for trouble. If he can't deal with this matter, his career in this life will stop here, and he won't even think about returning to Tianfu.
Lieutenant Li had no choice but to give way to the entrance, instead of being as tough as before.
Sheriff Chang didn't seem to notice the embarrassment of the two people in front of him. He kept talking after entering the room, "Master He didn't know something. I just found out about a major case after I woke up from the wine. After being reminded by Lieutenant Chengdu, I was shocked." Cold sweat, but I didn't expect that a vicious incident of assassinating a state Sima actually happened in my jurisdiction, so I came here to apologize to Lord Sima.
In addition, I would also like to ask your Excellency how to properly handle the property seized this time. You must have a way to teach me. "
He Sima was not sure what Chang Shouyi was going to do for a moment, so he could only follow the words and said: "You don't need to ask me about these things, just act according to the law."
However, the governor of Nachang County bowed his head and said, "My lord, I'm telling you the truth. This subordinate neglected his duties and actually caused half of the property to be lost."
"What! Who took it away? I'm going to catch him right away." Captain Li was overjoyed and went to recover the property. At that time, he only said that he had not found the thief. By swallowing the money, he could be considered safe. The Governor's property.
Sheriff Chang trembled and ignored Captain Li, but waited for He Sima's response.
He Sima thought: "The county guard's mansion is heavily guarded. How did it get stolen?"
"But I don't know. Lieutenant Chengdu only said that the thieves put their belongings on the carriage and fled from here. The direction should be towards the official road to the north."
He Sima understood immediately and just looked at the lost thing without chasing after it. It was obviously the work of Governor Chang. He couldn't help but secretly scold Captain Li for being stupid. If he acted the way he did, the Sheriff of Chang County would be accused of dereliction of duty.
He Sima suddenly became enthusiastic and said: "Brother Chang, don't worry, I will set off tomorrow to help you recover your property. But I can't guarantee that I can recover all the property, so I can reduce the reported property as appropriate. After all, there is no People know."
Sheriff Chang was overjoyed and leaned over and said, "Thank you, sir, for teaching me. I will only write half of the documents to be reported."
"Is this possible? Don't delay Brother Chang."
"What is this? No one has seen how much money it is. Maybe there is only one layer of gold, silver and jewelry, and the bottom is full of stones."
He Si immediately smiled broadly and said, "Brother Chang is right. Brother Youwei can help you. Just write this document like this and there won't be any trouble."
"Yes, then I will go back and write a draft for your Majesty's review. I won't disturb you anymore. I will excuse myself."
After Chang Shouyi left, Captain Li was still a little puzzled and asked, "Sir, the sooner you chase the thief, the better, otherwise there will be no trace tomorrow and we won't be able to find him."
"No need, the Lord Sheriff has already made arrangements for us. We will set off tomorrow. Lieutenant Chengdu and the other half should be waiting halfway."
"Your Majesty, what you mean is that half of the money they directed and performed will be returned to us? Then why not return more?"
"Half is already a lot. We have to leave some for others. The plan remains unchanged tomorrow. You will still go back and report to the governor. You should also mention the matter of Governor Chang. People have helped us, and they will reciprocate. Just want to Send your belongings back together to avoid long nights and dreams."
…
When You Ziji returned to the inn, he was not worried that anyone would follow him due to his skills. As for the person living in the stable, no one in the inn would pay attention to him. He spread the haystack and went to rest directly.
Early the next morning, You Ziji fetched some well water, washed himself, and left the inn. I used the remaining copper coins to buy a few steamed buns and took them with me, preparing to leave Chongjun and move on.
He intentionally passed by the Sheriff's Mansion and happened to see several carriages leaving with great fanfare under the banner of He Sima.
You Ziji didn't know what happened last night, but seeing He Sima leaving in such a hurry, he thought it might not go well. However, there were no accompanying civilian officials in He Sima's team, so Governor Zhou's official position should be stable.
He no longer paid attention to the matters here and turned south.
Longzhou is mountainous. After leaving the city, You Ziji plunged into the mountains again. He didn't know how long he walked. Seeing that the sky was getting dark and there was no sign of anyone moving nearby, he had to camp in the wild.
He was experienced at this and followed the valley hoping to find water.
However, today's luck seemed to be bad. Even when it got dark, there was no good luck. Heavy fog rose in the forest, blocking the view.
As a result, You Ziji did not dare to continue exploring. The mountains were steep. If he lost his footing and fell off the cliff, even with You Ziji's current strength, he might not be able to survive.
Fortunately, there are lush trees nearby, and there are many towering ancient trees reaching into the sky. They are probably higher than the fog, enough to avoid wild beasts looking for food at night.
You Ziji jumped up and used all four limbs together. The strange movement technique he had developed seemed to be more suitable for this situation, and his speed was a bit faster than usual.
A moment later, You Ziji was already standing on top of the tree crown. As expected, the scope of the thick fog was highlighted. The surrounding scenery was unobstructed, as if he was above the sea of clouds.
The stars and moon above the sky are shining brightly, making the night not look very dark.
When You Ziji saw a thick fog at night, he thought it was going to rain. Now it seems that there will definitely be no rain. He can only wait until tomorrow morning to collect some dewdrops on the leaves of plants to relieve his thirst.
As for tonight, I can't even eat dry food without water, so I can only endure it and rest hungry.
You Ziji leaned on the treetops, his eyes slightly closed, feeling the different atmosphere of the night. Suddenly he frowned, opened his eyes and looked into the distance.
The restlessness there seemed to be a bit loud. You Ziji couldn't resist his curiosity and slid down the tree trunk. He saw many animals appearing in the forest. Blue sheep and bison fled into the distance in groups, and there were also some animals among them. Jackals and even iron-eating beasts.
With so many types of animals mixed together, could there be some powerful monster chasing them behind?
After a while, when all the animals left the place, the forest finally returned to calm, but it was even more dead than before.
The fog became thicker and thicker. You Ziji felt something was wrong and hurriedly climbed up to the treetops again. This time, he found something strange. There were lights flickering in the distance, as if someone was living there.
Suddenly, there was another commotion under the tree. You Ziji hurriedly restrained his breath and looked down, only to see that the thick mist retreated automatically, revealing the creatures inside.
It's not a scary monster, but a group of snow-white wolves, patrolling around like a leisurely pace, looking noble and holy. But appearing in this thick fog is very strange no matter how you look at it.
They seemed to be looking for something, sniffing the air with their noses, but in the end they found nothing and left. You Ziji was afraid that the wolves would return and did not dare to stay here any longer. However, it was difficult to find the way under the heavy fog at night, so he returned to the treetops and counted the distance to the house with lights in front of him, and calibrated the direction.
