With such doubts in mind, Xianwu led his men to go around to the back of Zou Ji Blacksmith Shop.
However, just as they walked to the back door of the blacksmith shop, Xianwu and the others suddenly heard dragging and grunting sounds coming from the blacksmith shop across the wall.
Everyone paused, hesitating whether to meet up with their companions first to find out the details, or to go into the blacksmith shop to find out what was going on, when they heard low scolding and the cracking sound of whips coming from the blacksmith shop again.
The voice made Xianwu and others change their expressions. Xianwu made a gesture, and the others immediately used the force to jump onto the wall.
The tall man in the yard who was cursing and whipping someone turned his head suddenly when he heard the noise and saw the palace guards climbing over the wall.
His face changed drastically. He let go of the middle-aged woman who was holding on to the tree and rushed to the front yard of the blacksmith shop.
The guards of the palace did not hesitate, jumped off the wall and started to act separately.
Two people chased the tall man to the front yard, while the rest of the people searched the yard separately.
Xianwu, who kicked the door open and came in, did not follow them. He walked up to the middle-aged woman with a bruised face and torn coat, and reached out to help her remove the rag that was blocking her mouth.
"Help, help, sir!" The middle-aged woman didn't care about her bound feet. She stretched out her hand covered with countless small wounds and grabbed the hem of Xianwu's clothes. "Save my man and son!"
Xianwu took out a dagger and cut the ropes that bound her feet. "Where are they?"
"They were taken away by those damned bastards. Wuuwuwu..." The woman pointed to the front yard of the shop. "They came to pick up the custom-made farm tools, but ended up loading my husband and son into the truck and taking them away."
Xianwu asked again: "How long have you been walking?"
"Not long, not long," the woman said, fearing Xianwu would not go after them. Wiping her tears, she said to him, "It'll probably only take a cup of tea. They're driving an ox cart, so they definitely haven't had time to leave the city yet."
When she mentioned the time, Xianwu immediately remembered the ox cart that aroused the suspicion of the guards in the palace.
He breathed a sigh of relief and was about to speak when the guards who had searched the rooms, cellars, etc. appeared in the yard one after another.
The leading guard was holding a young chubby baby in his hand. The child's chubby white face was full of fear, but his little hands were obediently covering his mouth tightly.
"Xiaotie!" The middle-aged woman stumbled over to her son, "Xiaotie, are you okay?"
"Mom, wah--" the chubby kid cried heartbreakingly. He opened his arms and threw himself into the arms of the middle-aged woman like a young swallow flying into the forest. "Little Tie, be good. Listen to what Mom says."
The middle-aged woman burst into tears. "Mom knows, Mom knows. Don't worry, Xiaotie. Your father and brother will be fine."
Xianwu took advantage of the moment when the mother and son were crying and hugging each other to briefly tell the leading guard what the middle-aged woman had just mentioned.
Without saying a word, the leader of the guards left two guards to protect the mother and son, and then immediately took Xianwu and the other guards to chase the tall man.
The two palace guards who followed the tall man left marks for them along the way, so it was easy for everyone to catch up with the tall man who had escaped before.
At this time, the tall man was being attacked from both sides by two guards from the palace. He was one against two, and those two were both guards from the palace. How could the tall man be able to defeat them?
He was already at a disadvantage, and when Xianwu and the others attacked him with such force, the only thought left in the tall man's mind was to "run".
Despite being stabbed by the palace guards who were fighting with him, the tall man ran towards the city gate without looking back before Xianwu and others surrounded him.
However, what made him despair was that he had just run for less than a cup of tea when another team of palace guards emerged from the alleys in front of him, on his left and on his right.
The team of royal guards in front of him even had four of his companions under guard.
The tall man was outnumbered and was quickly captured by Xianwu and others.
Xianwu sent a message to the guards who stayed at the blacksmith shop and the middle-aged woman, and then brought the blacksmith and his eldest son back to the palace.
From the father and son, Xianwu and others learned that three days ago, these five people approached Zou the blacksmith and said that they were mountain people who came out of Qiaojiaao to buy farm tools and wanted to order a batch of farm tools from Zou's Blacksmith Shop.
Blacksmith Zou checked the household registration documents they brought according to the rules, and after finding that there was no problem, he accepted their business.
However, what Zou the blacksmith hadn't expected was that this group of people not only bought the goods without paying, but they were even greedy and wanted to take the goods away from the seller. This was simply outrageous.
He and his eldest son who was helping him were caught off guard and knocked unconscious by the other party. It was not until the guards of Zhenbei Palace discovered that the ox cart was indeed suspicious, followed it for a while and unexpectedly captured the four people escorting the cart that they were able to escape safely.
It’s because those people were too greedy and actually loaded most of the ironware in the blacksmith shop onto the cart.
They don’t even think about the fact that ironware is so expensive these days. Which normal village can buy so much ironware at once?
There is also the Zhenbei Palace. In order to prevent the outflow of ironware, the Zhenbei Palace has always strictly controlled the blacksmith shops in the territory.
In this northern region, under the watchful eyes of the Zhenbei Palace, which ironware shop would dare to ignore the quota and sell so much ironware in one go? Don't you want your head anymore?
How could they not attract attention when they were driving two carts of ironware around the city?
Zou the blacksmith, who had suffered an unexpected disaster, narrated the whole incident in detail, and complained madly that these lunatics deserved to be arrested, but Xianwu and others heard something unusual from the four words "household registration documents".
They exchanged glances in tacit understanding, and then the guards immediately withdrew and rode quickly to report to the King of Zhenbei.
At the same time, Yu Zizhen, who had just returned home, was called by Princess Zhenbei to be lectured by her. Because he didn't want to listen to her nonsense, he blatantly began to pretend to be unconscious.
"Oh my! Who's been talking non-stop? It's making me dizzy. No, no, I'm not feeling well again. I'm afraid I won't be able to leave on time."
Princess Zhenbei was so angry that she fell backwards, "You!"
Yu Zizhen didn't hide her high spirits at all. She stood up and waved to Princess Zhenbei with a smile. "If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving first. I advise you not to do anything behind my back. You know, whether I can leave on time depends on whether the things I bought can be delivered to my yard on time."
After saying that, Yu Zizhen put her hands behind her back and went back to her yard to wait for the delivery. As for the sound of porcelain breaking behind her, Yu Zizhen said that anyway, the things were not hers and she did not drop them, so she did not need to care and was not responsible.
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