The guards pinned the last man to the ground and broke both his legs.
Grandpa Zhen and Zhen Fugui's legs went weak without them realizing it. Zhen Fugui asked in a trembling voice, "Is there something wrong with these people?"
He realized that if there wasn't something wrong, these guards wouldn't have been so ruthless.
The guard pursed his lips and nodded: "They are Northern Hu people!"
"Boss! Look what this is!"
Despite his fear, Grandpa Zhen searched around and suddenly noticed a soft leather object next to a corpse.
Zhen Fugui looked in the direction of the sound and picked up the soft leather bag. Everyone looked at him nervously.
Realizing the importance of this item, Zhen Fugui unconsciously swallowed.
He wiped his hands on his body before unfolding the soft leather cover.
“This…” Zhen Fugui looked at the parchment in her hand in utter shock.
He rubbed his eyes in disbelief, and after confirming that he wasn't seeing things, he suddenly burst into uncontrollable laughter.
"Father! Father! We've done a great service! This is a map of the Northern Hu people's army!"
"What!"
The others widened their eyes and stared intently at the parchment in Zhen Fugui's hand.
Grandpa Zhen excitedly snatched it away and saw that it was indeed a map showing the deployment of the Northern Hu people in the Xinyang area.
Meanwhile, the secret guards discovered another parchment, which contained a detailed record of the geographical distribution of various counties in Anqing Prefecture.
The records are very detailed, suggesting that these northern barbarians traveled directly from Xinyang Prefecture to Anqing Prefecture in secret.
While passing through Anqing Prefecture, he secretly recorded the situation within its borders so that he could coordinate with the Northern Hu people outside the prefectural city.
Zhen Fugui couldn't help but feel fortunate that they had been robbed by this group of people!
Otherwise, if they had succeeded, where would the peaceful life the people of Anqing Prefecture have now come from?
"Father, what do we do now?" Zhen Fugui asked Grandpa Zhen, looking at him with a confused expression.
Grandpa Zhen gave him a light tap on the head, exasperated, and said, "What else can we do now? Of course, we have to hurry back to the city and deliver this message to Xiao Yuan!"
"Ah! Yes, yes, that's right, Father, let's hurry to the prefectural city!"
The men tied up all the Northern Hu people. Those who were already dead had their heads chopped off by the guards and put into boxes. The bodies were buried directly in a deep pit.
Those who were still angry were tied up and their mouths were gagged to prevent them from biting their tongues and committing suicide.
These people are to be taken back for interrogation in order to obtain more information.
On the other side, Zhen Wanwan and her companions hurriedly borrowed more than twenty government officials from Chen Yong.
They conducted a thorough search to find Zhen Fugui and his group.
Unfortunately, these movements seem to have been deliberately concealed.
With a professional tracking expert present, and several people including Zhen Wanwan explaining, the scene didn't look like a kidnapping.
It was as if they left voluntarily.
Zhen Wanwan frowned, unable to understand why.
"Uncle Wang, do you remember when you came back, weren't my father and elder brother at a disadvantage?"
Wang Fu had a worried look on his face, and his mouth was so hot from worry.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead and said with absolute certainty, "This old servant remembers that after the old master fell, he immediately fainted. The master and his men protected the grain, and several people were injured. The amount of blood gushing out was quite frightening."
"When the master saw that the situation was not good, he told me to come back and report the news. When I escaped, I looked back and saw several masked men suddenly appear and fight with the thieves."
"At that time, I was being chased by thieves. I dared not stop, fearing it would delay my call for help and cause trouble for the old master and the master. So I ran back without looking back..."
Zhen Wanwan became more and more confused as she listened. In the end, Wang Fu didn't know what position his father and elder brother held either.
Zhen Wanwan thought for a moment, then turned her gaze toward the city of Fucheng, and suddenly remembered something.
She hurriedly said, "We were so focused on the fact that Father and my elder brother had an accident in Guangling County that we assumed they were still nearby, but we forgot that Father and my elder brother were originally supposed to be escorting grain to the prefectural city."
"If nothing had happened to them, they would have sped up their efforts to deliver the food."
As for why they didn't wait for them to come, Zhen Wanwan thought it was probably because the situation was urgent and they couldn't afford to wait for them.
Of course, it cannot be ruled out that her father and older brother were indeed arrested.
But after thinking about it, with the people Zhu Yuan had arranged, even if something really happened, he figured he could still save Old Master Zhen and Zhen Fugui's lives.
Moreover, the scene is indeed chaotic, but there is no information about any of their people being killed.
You can't just rob someone without causing any injuries or deaths...
Qu Huaiyuan agreed, "Zhen Niangzi is right. Uncle and the others may have already gone to the prefectural city."
Wang Fu scratched his head, unable to understand, but he firmly believed what Mr. Qu and Mrs. Zhen had said.
"Should we head all the way to the prefectural city to find the old master and the eldest master, or stay here and wait for news?"
Zhen Wanwan's eyes flickered slightly as she looked resolutely in the direction of the prefectural city.
"Uncle Wang, you should take the constables back first and let your family know you're safe!"
"And what about you, Zhenniangzi?"
Zhen Wanwan glanced at A Yue and Qu Huaiyuan, and said calmly, "We need to go to the prefectural city!"
A-Yue pursed her lips, looking at Zhen Wanwan with a hesitant expression.
"Ah Yue? What do you want to say?"
A-Yue looked at Zhen Wanwan with concern and said, "In this way, it is inevitable that there will be spies from other people in the city. If you go there, my lady, I'm afraid you will expose your identity."
At that point, Zhen Wanwan would easily find herself in danger.
After all, using Zhen Wanwan to threaten Zhu Yuan was a foolproof tactic.
Therefore, A-Yue was worried about Zhen Wanwan coming over.
It wasn't that she lacked confidence in her martial arts skills, but rather that it's easy to dodge a spear in the open, but difficult to guard against an arrow in the dark.
No matter how careful she is, there will always be someone who finds a loophole.
If those small loopholes put Zhen Wanwan in a dangerous situation, she would have no choice but to atone with her death.
Zhen Wanwan understood A Yue's concerns. She patted A Yue's hand and said softly, "A Yue, it's not that I'm too confident or look down on my abilities."
"Believe me, if those things really happen, I definitely have a way to get out unscathed!"
She had a lot of valuables on her, although apart from a small pistol, none of them were particularly dangerous.
But it's more than enough to deal with enemies who use cold weapons.
Seeing that Zhen Wanwan insisted, A Yue didn't say anything more.
She obediently stood up behind Zhen Wanwan again.
Seeing this, the yamen runners who had come with them naturally dared not say anything, and obediently stood aside, watching them leave before returning.
"Brother Qu, do you want to go back, or come with us to the prefectural city?"
This trip might take several days. Aunt Qu is still at home, with no one to take care of her. Zhen Wanwan isn't selfish enough to force her to leave with her.
Without the slightest hesitation, Qu Huaiyuan said, "Of course I'll go!"
How could a grown man like him possibly feel at ease letting two women go to such a far and dangerous place alone?
After bidding farewell to Wang Fu and the yamen runners, Zhen Wanwan, along with A Yue and Qu Huaiyuan, drove the carriage towards the prefectural city.
About fifteen minutes after they left, Zhou Dashan and his brothers, along with Dongzi, encountered Wang Fu and his group who were walking back.
They learned about Zhen Wanwan and her two companions' plans from Wang Fu, and also learned about the situation of Zhen's father and son.
Zhou Dashan's eyes were slightly red. He felt very guilty. He had been by Zhen Fugui's side when she was escorting the grain.
But unfortunately, he had something to do this time and couldn't go with us, which led to the accident.
He felt extremely guilty at that moment, secretly blaming himself. If anything happened to Grandpa Zhen and Zhen Fugui, he would never be able to forgive himself for the rest of his life.
Dongzi's eyes were also red. The Zhen family took good care of him in every way. After Zhen Fugui started managing the granary, he would be called to help with odd jobs whenever needed, so that he could earn extra money for the family.
In the village, his wife also works at the soap factory. The whole family is able to live so easily thanks to Zhen's family.
If he had known that Grandpa Zhen and Zhen Fugui would encounter such a thing, he would have accompanied them to escort the grain even though he had broken his leg!
"Brother Hanzi! Let's hurry and see if we can catch up with Zhenniangzi and the others!"
After recovering from his grief and self-reproach, Zhou Dashan nodded and said, "Dongzi is right. We need to hurry and find Zhenniangzi and the others!"
After the attack on the Zhen family father and son, they all realized that Anqing Prefecture was not safe either.
There are only three of them, Zhen Wanwan and her group. If something happens, there will be no one to help them.
They traveled together, so even if something happened, they would be there to protect them.
Considering the seriousness of the matter, Zhou Dashan and his group quickened their pace, even skipping the time spent drinking water along the way.
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