The sun is setting in the west, and smoke rises from the villages under the green mountains.
Such a large village seems very quiet, as if the population of this village has decreased a lot.
Probably for the convenience of burial, there are clusters of graves on both sides of the official road, with undulating heights and different sizes, shaped like mass graves.
This is the third village Yan Yun saw after entering the boundary of Heyuan County.
In the streets, the crops have been harvested, and some people are burning mugwort in a concentrated manner. The thick smoke carries the fragrance of mugwort, as if to dilute the strange smell in the air. The person in charge seems to be an elderly Li Zheng.
Yan Yun picked up the reins and rode the horse in a circle around the graveyard, heading towards a group of people who were burning mugwort.
"My lord, what do you do for me?" Li Zheng saw the token on Yan Yun's waist and hurriedly came up to meet him.
"Old man, can you lend me a moment to speak?" Yan Yun jumped off the horse and pointed to the side.
"It doesn't matter." Li Zheng said with a forced smile.
"I'm hunting Yuantai in Taiping County. He came here two years ago. At that time, this place was still very prosperous. I didn't expect it to be like this now."
"Hey, yes."
"While walking down the road, I heard people say that this place is haunted. What is going on? I hope my father-in-law can tell me something."
"It turns out that this is what happened. So many people died, and the county won't let anyone tell the outside world." Li Zheng smiled bitterly and shook his head, obviously dissatisfied with this order that was trying to hide everything. "Actually... the haunting started in the royal city. , probably in the late spring and early summer of this year, two people died for no apparent reason in a printing and dyeing workshop in the upper part of the city. They said they were fine before going to bed at night, but they found out in the morning that they were gone. No injuries could be found on the corpses, so they invited some more People checked but found no results. At that time, the news reached our Fuyuan County, and everyone was thinking it was a surprise. Who knew... Sigh..."
This person was in charge of 150 households, of which 30 households were depopulated. The largest household had four people, including his relatives.
Because Yan Yun was a public servant, Li Zheng didn't hide anything, poured beans out of a bamboo tube, and told the truth.
Starting from the printing and dyeing workshop, three more beggars died within a few days. Normally, beggars died, but because the cause of death of the two previous people had not been found out, they also invited a widower to come for examination, but the reason was also unknown. After that, people kept disappearing inexplicably every now and then. At first, they thought it was an epidemic, so they invited an old doctor to come and take a look. They made a lot of medicine, including smoke and soup, but people kept dying. However, in such a large royal city, it doesn't matter how many people die. Sometimes the king gives an order and the shock caused by beheading at the Meridian Gate is much greater than this. Therefore, even though some people left inexplicably, the people just thought it was evil and did not pay enough attention to it.
There was a blind man at the south entrance of the city who specialized in telling people's fortunes. One day he ran to the mansion to report that he saw someone holding a small flag to suck people's souls. He also described the person holding the small flag floating in the air, coming and going high. Just like ghosts, the news that the royal city is haunted spread like this.
"You said a blind man can see?" Yan Yun couldn't help but interrupt.
"Yes, I can't tell exactly how he saw it." Li Zheng nodded.
"Why can't you explain clearly?"
"The blind man also died three days later with no injuries on his body."
So many people died for no reason in the royal city, so the governor had to investigate, otherwise he couldn't explain it. Since there were not enough manpower, he transferred people from nearby counties. From this time on, the haunting incident spread to surrounding counties.
The population densities of several counties around the Royal City are lower than that of the Royal City, but they have larger populations and a larger geographical area. It seems that this soul-sucking ghost has become bolder, causing more deaths among the people, sometimes as many as ten people in one night. In serious cases, dozens of people were taken away for several nights in a row, and hundreds of people from Gaojiazhuang, a famous merchant in Fuyuan County, were left alive.
During that time, everyone was in danger, and night patrol teams were formed in each village, but with little success.
The former county magistrate of Fuyuan County carefully inspected the scene in Gaojiazhuang and found that there were serious property losses in the village. He believed that the perpetrators were pretending to be ghosts, which could only show that the gangsters were clever in committing crimes, and nothing more. The police investigated and arrested more than ten strong men, including his son. The county magistrate was so disheartened that he resigned and went home. Later, a new official was transferred, who had no ability to catch ghosts, but was very good at dealing with the people. He strictly ordered to block the news and deceived himself and others, as if the world was peaceful.
Ordinary people have also discovered a pattern. The ages of those who died after their souls were sucked by ghosts are concentrated between fifteen and fifty years old. This is true for both men and women. There are very few dead people who have their souls sucked by ghosts over the age of fifty, and those who are over sixty years old. are basically extinct.
When Yan Yun heard what Li was saying, he suddenly realized that it was no wonder that these graves appeared in clusters beside the official road. It turned out that there were fewer young people in the village, and many young people left home to perform labor and military service, so the village did not have enough labor to kill the dead. Carry it up the mountain and bury it.
Yan Yun asked: "Old man, if the ghosts have arrived in the surrounding counties, is it possible that the royal city is no longer haunted?"
Li Zheng blinked his dim eyes, raised his head, thought for a moment, and said, "Well...it's hard to say. All the villagers are trembling all day long and have too much time to take care of themselves. No one cares whether the royal city is haunted or not."
"That's true..." Yan Yun nodded.
One of those who was teasing the mugwort was a man with scars all over his head. He was quite young. He listened with open ears as Yan Yun and Li Zheng were talking.
Tu Litou pulled his neck and said, "My lord, I don't know whether the royal city was haunted or not, but a lot of people died."
Yan Yun said: "This little brother, come here and talk."
He was usually disliked by others and was called "brother" by the official. He was a little proud. He ran over and bowed and said, "Is the official invited by the county magistrate to catch ghosts?"
Yan Yun smiled and asked, "Oh? You can see this?"
Rui Litou showed an expression that was indeed the case, and said shamelessly: "If the official dares to ride alone on the road, he must not be afraid of ghosts. That's why he was invited by the county magistrate. Besides, those people in the county government office, when they see others, they say People say ghosts and ghosts, and even half of their words are not true. The official just came to our small village to find out, right?"
Seeing that what he said was so reasonable, Yan Yun had no intention of refuting, and asked: "Brother just said that there are also many dead people in the royal city. What do you mean?"
"Behead people at the Meridian Gate!" Yan Litou said without thinking, "In just over half a year, the two prefects beheaded their entire families and a lot of their official employees due to unfavorable investigation of ghost cases. Now Jingzhao The prefect is still vacant... There are also officials of all sizes, such as the Wuwei General's Palace, the Hussar General's Palace, the Guanglu Doctor's Palace, the Imperial Colonel and so on. The most miserable Yi tribe is that it is easy to kill everyone. …”
When Yan Yun heard the name of General Wuwei's Mansion, a rush of blood rushed to his forehead, and he suddenly became murderous.
Li Zheng was startled and quickly stopped him: "You bastard! Don't talk nonsense about such things, be careful of trouble coming from your mouth!"
However, Yu Li was not convinced and replied: "Uncle, these are all listed on the Meridian Gate, and they also list the charges. I am not talking nonsense."
Li Zheng said sternly: "Your Majesty punishes officials who commit crimes and generals who fail in battle. This is a major matter for the court. How can it be confused with ghosts?"
Immediately afterwards, Li Zheng said with a smile: "Master Guan, I am just a shabby person who talks unabashedly. I hope Guan Ye..."
This poor man was also very clever. He quickly knelt on the ground and kowtowed three times. With a lot of tears and snot in his nose, he said, "My lord, please forgive me. My lord, please forgive me."
Yan Yun finally woke up from his daze, suppressed the anger in his heart, forced a smile, and said: "You two have misunderstood. I just feel that so many people are missing for no reason, and I feel resentful in my heart."
The man suddenly burst into tears and turned into a smile. He jumped up and said, "I knew that the official was invited by the county magistrate to catch ghosts. Uncle, you are so scared that I will be scared to death by you even if I don't do anything."
"Goodbye, both of you." Yan Yun cupped his hands and was about to leave, but was stopped by Li Zheng.
"My lord, it's getting late now, so I'll stay in this village for a while, and I'll have a drink with you."
