In the backyard of Zhai Mansion, a Dongchang fan discovered that there was something wrong with the rockery. After tearing it down, he discovered a secret passage. After entering the secret passage, they found the gold storage room of the imperial convict Zhai Tang, which was filled with gold, silver and jewelry. The imperial convict Zhai Tang was hiding here, holding a lot of gold ingots on his body, but his lips were chapped. When he saw him, he shouted "thirsty, thirsty, thirsty".
Among the crowd in the square, the imperial convict Wang Dayu was identified by his servants. He was wearing a green robe and a small hat. He was a little better than the other captured imperial convict Liang Jiabin. At least he was not wearing women's clothes.
When the city was broken last night, he happened to be patrolling the warehouse and was not in his own house. However, he did not escape punishment because of this. When he knew that reporting could exempt him from guilt, his close servants immediately exposed him.
However, the other two imperial prisoners, Fan Yongdou and Huang Yunfa, were still not discovered, and the investigation of personnel in the square continued.
This personnel investigation is not just about investigating the eight major Shanxi merchants. Including other merchants doing business in the city, they will also be investigated, and those who engage in treason will not be spared.
After listening to the report of his subordinates, Hong Chengchou finally frowned.
It has been confirmed before that when the army attacked the city, all eight Shanxi merchants held discussions inside Zhangjiakou Fort. However, so far, there are still two imperial prisoners, one of whom is the main criminal, who have not been found.
Hong Chengchou knew that the emperor hated these eight Shanxi merchants with all his heart. These two people must be caught.
Just as he was thinking about it, suddenly another soldier came to report that a secret passage was found in Fan Yongdou and Huang Yunfa's mansion. It was very long and led to the outside of the city.
"Is this because he knew that his sins were serious and he was afraid of retribution one day, so he dug such a long secret tunnel?" Hong Chengchou couldn't help but sneered after hearing this.
You must know that the foundation of the city wall is very deep. If you want to dig under the city wall, the price you have to pay is not ordinary high.
After finishing speaking, Hong Chengchou turned to look outside the city with a slightly cold gaze, and immediately ordered: "Send an order to detach some cavalry troops and send them outside the city with a louder noise. Let me search for them and drive out these snakes and rats! "
He didn't have much worries. He had already thought of this possibility beforehand. Although it was not necessarily a secret passage, in order to prevent them from escaping, a dragnet had been set up. He did not believe that the two prisoners could escape. .
Following his order, groups of cavalry troops drove out of the city, starting from the city wall, searching everywhere from near to far.
On a remote hill about ten miles away from Zhangjiakou Fort, there is a group of Emperor's powerful Ye Bushou lurking here. The soldiers took turns scanning everything around them, while the others were resting.
"You said that if 20,000 troops surround a castle, the people inside should be unable to fly. I guess our energy has been wasted, right?"
"Who knows, since the Governor has an order, we have to guard it until we receive a new military order."
"These Shanxi merchants are really greedy for money. They actually do business with our mortal enemy of the Ming Dynasty and sell military supplies that are strictly prohibited by the imperial court. They are really brave!"
"No, the money they earned was all stolen from our Ming Dynasty by Jianlu. Do you think their consciences won't be uneasy if they hold that money?"
"Conscience? Haha, their consciences must have been eaten by dogs! Damn it, fortunately the emperor was wise and found these Shanxi merchants, otherwise, we would have been fighting the Jianlu in a daze!"
"..."
Obviously, these Ming soldiers were all very angry with those Shanxi merchants who had taken advantage of the captives. Being stabbed in the back by someone you protect is even worse than the hatred towards Jianlu.
Suddenly, a soldier on duty shouted: "Brothers from the Hussars Battalion have come out. It seems that some imperial prisoners have escaped."
Hearing this, other soldiers who were resting and chatting also went over to take a look. Sure enough, they found that in the distance, there were cavalry looking around. Obviously, there should be a prisoner who escaped, so he took such action.
Immediately, these Ming soldiers cheered up without stopping at night. There were originally two people on watch, and two more people were immediately added. Their eight eyes stared in all directions, searching everywhere like eagle eyes.
Not to mention, about a quarter of an hour later, a soldier on duty suddenly pointed in a direction and said in a surprised voice: "Look, there is someone over there!"
The other three officers on duty heard the sound and turned around to look. Sure enough, they saw three people hiding from the cavalry officers who were searching in the distance. They sneakily hid in places where it was inconvenient for the cavalry to walk. While walking, they bent down and kept walking. He looked up at the Ming army soldiers in the distance.
"Needless to say, there is definitely something wrong with those three people!" A Ye Buzuo clapped his hands excitedly, "And our military order is that as long as they are human beings, they will be arrested."
The leader, Xiao Qi, nodded and immediately ordered: "Leave the two of them to continue watching. The others, follow me to arrest them."
At this time, the three people didn't even know that they had been discovered. They were still stealing the cavalry in the distance, and then continued to run away with their heads down.
"Is there food, is there water?" Suddenly, the man walking in the middle sat down on the ground, raised his head and asked the other two.
The man walking in front turned around when he heard the sound, saw him sitting on the ground, and said quickly: "Master, if I remember correctly, there is a small river not far ahead. You can drink some water. As for food, I didn't bring any food." .I only have some broken silver and copper coins here."
The man behind also said: "Master, I only have broken silver and copper coins here, and there is no place to buy food here, so I can only endure it for the time being."
Hearing this, the man sitting on the ground couldn't help but sigh and said: "If I had known this, I should have brought some food when I escaped."
At this point, he said "Alas" again, and then sighed: "In the early years before the development of China, it was not uncommon for people to live in the open air. But I have never felt like I am today, feeling tired, hungry and scared..."
At this point, he suddenly realized that what he said would undermine the confidence of the two servants. So, he did not dare to say the word "fear" and immediately changed his words: "But don't worry, when we escape, we will get 20,000 yuan each." Two, sir, I will never break my promise."
Hearing this, the two servants were obviously excited. The leader immediately said: "Don't worry, sir. Let's take a drink of water and cushion it first. Once we avoid the cavalry, I will give the master a blow." The rabbit will satisfy your hunger, and it’s guaranteed to be delicious!”
"Yes, just those cavalrymen, don't even think about catching us. Don't worry, sir. The two of us have been following him for many years, and we will definitely be able to take him out." After hearing this, the other person immediately followed suit.
If these two people were not his confidants, they would not follow him to escape from the secret passage. Therefore, he also knew these two close servants and knew that they both had some abilities.
Thinking like this, he nodded and said: "Okay, sir, I'm naturally relieved. We will definitely be able to escape, right?"
"Yes, sir, don't worry!" the two servants replied almost in unison.
But at this moment, another voice rang out: "Hey, are you so sure? Where do you get your confidence?"
Hearing this, the three people were as frightened as rabbits. They jumped up. When they heard the sound, they saw that eight Ming army soldiers had surrounded them. Three of them were pointing bows and arrows at them. As long as they dared to move, the arrows would probably hit them.
Upon seeing this situation, the faces of the three people turned green. No matter what they did, they never thought about where these Ming army soldiers came from?
"Fellow military lords, we...we are just ordinary people passing by, we are not bad people!" The master suddenly had an idea and immediately begged for mercy.
While speaking, he also said to the other two people: "All the military lords have worked hard, take out all the silver you have, and at least show respect to the military lords!"
The two servants heard this, understood in their hearts, nodded quickly, and then wanted to take action.
However, as soon as the two of them moved, they felt a pain in their feet, and then they saw two arrows nailed to their feet, and the arrow feathers were still trembling.
"Ah!" With two screams, the two servants couldn't help but fall to the ground, holding the arrows and howling like wolves.
The officers and soldiers of the Ming Army had actually been lurking here for a while. They had heard the conversation between them, so how could they possibly believe that they were ordinary people. These two powerful men wanted to make some moves, so they were naturally not polite.
As Ye Bushou, his sense of danger is much sharper than anyone else's.
This sudden situation almost scared the old man to death. Subconsciously, I squatted on the ground with my head in my hands, my legs and feet shaking involuntarily.
The cavalry in the distance saw the movement here and had already come over here.
"Tell me, who are you? What are your names?"
Xiaoqi didn't see any reaction after what he said, so he stretched out his foot and kicked the old man, knocking him to the ground. At the same time, he sneered and said: "You dare to bribe us with broken silver, you are really cowardly! "
Hearing this, the old man was suddenly startled, then suddenly realized, he quickly got up again, looked up at the little flag, and said in a flattering manner: "This military master is a common man who is ignorant. He should not insult the military master with broken silver." Yes. I have a lot of money. You can have as much money as you want. I ask the military men to be noble and free the common people. The common people can give you as much money as you want!"
When Xiao Qi heard this, he was also stunned. What he just said was just a retelling of what they had said before, and he had no other thoughts. However, when this person spoke, he seemed to think that they were too few.
When the old man saw their expressions, he misunderstood again, and said quickly: "The grassroots' surname is Huang, and their given name is Yunfa. They can do a lot of business here. Money is really not a problem. How about 20,000 taels per person?" No, thirty thousand taels?”
With a little hope, Huang Yunfa, one of the eight Shanxi merchants, looked at the small flag, then looked at the others, and thought to himself, your monthly military salary is only a little money, if I spend tens of thousands of taels, it will be fine. ?
Xiaoqi was stunned after hearing this, looked at each other with several other colleagues, and then asked with a somewhat unbelievable look: "Are you Huang Yunfa? The one with the same name as Fan Yongdou, Wang Dengku and the others?"
After hearing this, Huang Yunfa didn't answer yet. His two servants thought there was hope and rushed to answer: "Yes, our master is one of the most famous Shanxi merchants. Mr. Huang Yunfa has a huge family fortune. No. No, no, I have a lot of wealth, I can definitely pay all the military masters."
"Yes, you military masters, don't worry. When I do business, I, Mr. Huang, talk about integrity!" Huang Yunfa felt a little more confident, and his expression became calmer and said, "Whatever I promise to you military masters, I will definitely give you. I will definitely not default on my debts!”
As soon as he finished saying this, before he could say anything else, he saw Xiaoqi and other Ming army officers suddenly laughing together, as if they were laughing very happily.
When Huang Yunfa and his two servants saw each other, they were startled for a moment, and then they also started laughing. Regardless of whether they were really laughing or fake, they were all laughing together.
In their opinion, these soldiers are so happy knowing that they can make a fortune!
But suddenly, Xiao Qi suddenly stopped laughing, with a serious look on his face, and shouted in a cold voice: "It's really effortless to break through iron shoes and find nowhere. Do you know that you, Huang Yunfa, are the emperor's designated criminal? You are plotting to rebel, and you still want to bribe us with money?"
Huang Yunfa was just about to stand up. When he heard this, his feet softened and he fell to the ground again. He never expected that he would be the emperor's designated criminal, and he would be accused of treason. I was stupid enough to reveal my identity just now. It's over, it's all over...
Not far away, the sound of horse hooves could be heard, and the cavalry officers also arrived.
At the same time, on the outside of the Great Wall, there was a mountain col. Five people came out, holding horses, standing still, and then looked back behind them. For a moment, the expression of the leader seemed a little complicated.
"Master, you can keep the green hills without worrying about having firewood." A man who looked like a housekeeper advised the leader, "The imperial court must have dispatched troops on such a large scale, so it is inevitable that we will win, but we still escaped. One day , we will be back.”
"That's right, Master!" Another person also said, "With the friendship between Master and the Qing Dynasty, and the fact that I can take refuge in my family, we won't end up there even if we go to Liaodong."
"Yes, Mr. Fan is on the side of the Qing Emperor, but he is a famous person and will definitely speak for him." Another servant also advised him.
Needless to say, this master is Fan Yongdou who escaped. The escape route he left for himself was to leave the country and flee to Liaodong if something happened. Therefore, he even prepared horses and food in the mountains. This time, he really used them.
Turning back, seeing that there were still servants who wanted to talk, he immediately shook his head and said: "Don't worry, I actually have arrangements and a house over there in Liaodong. The Emperor of the Qing Dynasty also promised that he is welcome at any time. I'll go over. Just..."
Having said this, he turned to look in the direction of Guan Nei again, and then sighed and said: "The foundation of many years is just gone, and the family and children are also left there. I wonder what will happen? Forget it..."
At this point, he suddenly cheered up a little and said: "If the old one doesn't go, the new one won't come. Someone in my family will come back one day!"
After finishing speaking, Fan Yongdou took the lead in getting on his horse and said to the servants without hesitation: "Let's go to Liaodong!"
Then, with a "drive" sound, the horse galloped forward, slowly accelerating, heading towards the grassland, with the goal of Liaodong.
When his servants heard this, they all got on their horses and galloped behind their master.
Far away from the mountains behind us, there is endless grassland in front of us. Our sight is no longer blocked, and there is no end in sight.
However, Fan Yongdou, who was running at the front, suddenly reined in his horse and braked suddenly. He ignored the horse's pain and neighed, and looked ahead in astonishment.
