Chapter 266: Costin (Two chapters combined)
Xia Dachuan has a helper, that is Xiuxiu.
Xia Dachuan could only check the men's side, but Xiuxiu could chat with the aunts and sisters.
It was Xiuxiu who discovered the suspicious points of the Lei family.
When she was chatting with a few aunts, she heard that there was no one with the surname Lei in Leijia Village, and then she discovered something unusual.
Not everyone can happen to step on a landmine like the nine members of the Lei family. After all, situations like the one in Leijia Village are very rare. There is no one with the surname Lei in Leijia Village. Who would have thought of that?
However, Xiuxiu soon found out another thing.
A sister-in-law said that when food was distributed that day, her husband heard a familiar name: Shan Po Shao.
The surname Shan is extremely rare, and people named Poshao are even rarer.
Two years ago, her husband went out to do odd jobs and collapsed on the roadside due to heatstroke. It was this Shan Po Shao who took him to the clinic. He is the benefactor of their family.
Two years passed in a flash. When her husband heard the name again, he was overjoyed and ran over to recognize her.
But the person he met was a stranger, who simply said, "It's just a coincidence."
Her husband was very disappointed and told his wife about it: "I didn't expect there would be a duplicate name like this."
The sister-in-law was just sighing, and although the speaker did not mean it, the listener took it seriously. Xiuxiu immediately told Xia Dachuan about this. Xia Dachuan found out that Shan Poshao did not come with his family, but came to the city with his two brothers to do odd jobs. When they encountered heavy rain and could not return home, they followed others to the mountain.
Because they came from the countryside to work in the city, all three of them had travel permits, which clearly stated: Shanposhao, Wanghe Village, Yuan County.
The surname Shan is not a common surname. In Tongzhou area, there is only one branch of the surname Shan in Wanghe Village, Yuan County. There are not many people, only ten households, and these ten households are all close relatives within the five generations.
Shan Popao was a native of Wanghe Village. The Shan Popao that the sister-in-law's husband met was also from Wanghe Village. The pass that Shan Popao has now is real, but whether the person is real is not certain.
Xia Dachuan followed Zhao Shiqing's instructions and did not alert the enemy. He treated all nine members of the Lei family equally and even arranged for several aunts whose maiden families were from Leijia Village, as well as the husband of that sister-in-law, to move elsewhere in the name of work.
The passes held by Shan Po Shao's two friends who were doing odd jobs together were not from Wanghe Village, but from other places. They met while working and were brought together from all over the place.
Xia Dachuan selected a group of young and middle-aged men to help repair the house. Among them were Shan Poshao and his three companions, as well as the Lei family. Although these people pretended not to know each other, their eyes could not deceive anyone.
They know each other!
At the same time, Xiao Yao and Dapang also discovered that Shan Po Shao and his three companions were secretly in contact with several other families, and those families were also in contact with other people.
They can hide it from people, but not from cats!
These people never dreamed that the two cats sleeping everywhere were actually spies.
Two days later, Xia Dachuan compiled a list based on the information Zhao Shiqing gave him.
There were thirty people on the list, twenty of them men and ten women.
Zhao Shiqing sneered: "Not bad, not bad, they all got in."
The next day was a sunny day. The men on the mountain continued to be organized to repair the houses, while the women washed clothes and quilts.
In order not to affect the adults' work, Zhao Shiqing asked the older female family members, including Mrs. Hao, to take care of the children.
The men and women who were working were also divided into several groups without realizing it.
In the evening, people were still busy. The host's wife brought food to everyone with her children. Because they had to work today, everyone ate where they worked. After the host's wife delivered the food, she left with her children.
At this time, Xiuxiu ran over and shouted to the women who were eating, "Those who have children should go back and pick them up. The aunts and the ladies have been tired all day, and it's time to let them take a break."
The women hurriedly finished their meal and went out in groups of three or four to pick up their children. They never came back, and others were also called away with various excuses.
These thirty people were not divided together, but were separated into several places. When they found out that the people who remained there were all their own people, it was already too late!
They are surrounded!
If there were thirty people together, it would be difficult to deal with them, but now they are separated. They are killers with high martial arts skills, but the guards besieging them are not ordinary people either.
Even though Xia Dachuan and the other twenty people were often abandoned by Zhao Shiqing, they were actually the real guards of the palace, not to mention the old man's four masters. These four were already the top masters in the world before being recruited by the old man.
More importantly, these thirty people realized something was wrong as soon as they started to act. Their skills were greatly reduced!
"Cartilage powder, there's cartilage powder in the rice!"
It was indeed cartilage powder, which Murong Linlang gave to her apprentice for self-defense before leaving Beijing.
There's no way around it. My own disciple knows that his martial arts skills are mediocre. This packet of cartilage powder represents the master's love for his disciple.
These people are all masters. Although the cartilage powder is colorless and tasteless, Zhao Shiqing is still worried that they will notice it. The masters in the storybooks can tell whether it is poisonous just by taking a bite. What if the cartilage powder takes effect before a bowl of rice is finished, and these people find that they can't even hold chopsticks, wouldn't that alert the enemy?
She didn't want to take any risks, so she didn't release much cartilage. As expected, these people didn't notice it until they took out the short blades hidden on their bodies and realized that they had no strength at all.
At this time, they were not even as strong as ordinary strong men. After just a few rounds, they were tied up with cowhide ropes.
This was the first time in Zhao Shiqing's life that she personally commanded a battle. Of course, Miss Zhao Er believed that as long as there were more than ten people, it would not be a fight, but a battle!
She said to Ling Bo, "Ling Bo, this is a bloodless battle, right?"
Ling Bo: "Second Miss is so amazing!"
Zhao Shiqing shook his head triumphantly and said to Xia Dachuan and the others, "Don't lift the alert for now. Conduct a surprise interrogation overnight."
The interrogation lasted a whole night. The guards increased their patrols and the mountain was in a state of panic.
However, the disaster victims living in the mountains slept very soundly. After a busy day, they fell asleep as soon as their heads touched the pillows.
The next morning, it started raining again. The victims were glad that they had repaired the roof and dried their clothes yesterday, so they didn't have to work today, so they gathered together to chat.
As they chatted, they found that a lot of people were missing.
"Hey, where's the Lei family? Did they move to a new place?"
"You just discovered it. I discovered it early this morning. They live in the same room with me, but I didn't see them when I woke up this morning."
"And the Wang brothers, were they called to work? Both of them are very strong."
"Shanpo Shao isn't here either."
The women were more careful and noticed the abnormality earlier than the careless men.
"Let me tell you, the daughter-in-law of the Lei family didn't come back to sleep last night."
"Really? If they didn't come back to sleep, where else could they go? They can't go and sleep with her husband, right?"
"How is that possible? There are rules on the mountain. If they dare to go, her husband won't dare to let them stay."
......
Until the second and third day, these disappeared people never came back. Some people ignored them, some asked around, and some quietly prepared to leave.
The guards caught several people who wanted to leave. On the surface, they had no contact with the thirty people, but the guards found hidden weapons on them.
The weapon of one of them was actually a soft sword, which was wrapped around his waist. If he was not searched, it would not be discovered at all.
Another person saw that something was wrong and fled in a panic. He ran towards the teahouse and happened to see the owner's little daughter playing in front of the teahouse. The man rushed over and picked up the little girl.
The man's large, iron-like hands clamped around the little girl's delicate neck, and he yelled at the guards who were chasing him, "Stand back! If you dare take a step forward, I'll strangle her to death!"
Before he could finish his words, a sound of something breaking through the air came from behind his ear. He was startled and wanted to dodge, but it was too late. A thin willow-leaf flying knife pierced the back of his neck. His hand loosened and the little girl fell to the ground.
Zhao Shiqing walked over slowly. Murong Linlang's martial arts skills were average, but she was good at using hidden weapons. Miss Zhao Er also learned a lot from her master.
Ling Bo took the lead and stabbed the man through with a knife, then stood aside. Zhao Shiqing pulled out the flying knife from the back of the man's neck, wiped the blood with the man's clothes, and put it into the leather bag with care.
Wei Ren said that he used a stone to kill someone for the first time. He put the stone in a brocade box and kept it for more than ten years.
Although this was not her first time killing someone, it was her first time using a throwing knife to kill someone, so she wanted to keep this throwing knife as a treasure.
How should I put it, I'm just very excited.
After this, the alert on the mountain was finally lifted.
Including the dead, a total of 35 people were arrested.
Among these thirty-five people, two committed suicide, one was killed, and the rest were alive.
However, among these survivors, only two finally confessed. The others would rather die than surrender, with their lips tightly closed, and refused to say a word even under severe torture.
Fortunately, there were still two people willing to confess.
Just as Xiao Zhen and Zhao Shiqing guessed, these people came from the mountain gate.
But they do not completely belong to the mountain gate, because in the incident many years ago, the eldest branch of the family was wiped out.
Although they died, two of their close associates escaped during the incident. One was the military advisor Wang Yin, and the other was Shan Ye's bodyguard Quan Gang.
Seeing that they could no longer stay in Dayong, the two of them went to Daru!
When they first arrived in Lu, their situation was very difficult, and the sons of the Lu king were fighting each other to the death.
By chance, the two rescued the third prince of Daru. Upon learning that they had assisted the descendants of Emperor Ai and murdered many Yong officials, the third prince became intrigued and treated them as honored guests. The military advisor, in particular, became Daru's teacher, teaching him the Han Chinese military tactics.
With the help of these two people, the third prince of Daru was even more powerful. He contributed money and manpower, allowing the two to learn from the experience of the mountain gate. It took nearly twenty years to build a second mountain gate in Daru.
The third prince of Dalu named it Haidongqing.
Over the years, Haidongqing has made great contributions to the third prince. Of the fifteen sons of King Daru, only three are left now, and the other twelve have all died at the hands of Haidongqing.
The other two saw that the situation was hopeless and turned to the third prince. Five years ago, the third prince sent Haidongqing to assassinate the old king of Daru and the prime minister, and became the new king of Daru.
However, the Saker Falcons did not sit idle. They continued to help King Daru eliminate dissidents and consolidate his throne.
But the more people he killed, the more suspicious King Daru became.
Just two years ago, Quan Gang was beheaded in his own home. The murderer was his new beautiful concubine.
After killing Quan Gang, the concubine committed suicide with a knife.
When military advisor Wang Yin saw Quan Gang's body, he knew that King Dalu's sword had already been swung towards them.
They did too much for King Darlu and knew too much.
The Saker Falcon is no longer the Saker Falcon of the past. The power of King Daru has infiltrated it, just like this beautiful concubine, who is King Daru's person.
Military strategist Wang Yin had actually been prepared for this. Unlike Quan Gang who only knew how to fight and kill, he knew that this day would come sooner or later.
Therefore, he has been secretly looking for Shan Ye's descendants. The Han people are different from the Daruk people. The Han people need a name and an origin.
So many years ago, while he was training Daruk killers, he also trained a group of Han killers. These people were either descendants of Han people who had lived in Daruk for generations, or orphans he sent people to adopt in Dayong.
"We entered the country from Yan. After entering, we heard rumors of floods in Tongzhou and reported it to the military advisor. The military advisor told us to disperse and lie in ambush, avoiding the eyes of the mountain gate, and wait for the military advisor's secret order.
Until two months ago, we suddenly received a secret order to come to Tongzhou.
The purpose of coming to Tongzhou is, first, to create chaos, the more chaotic the better, ideally to cause the victims to riot, and second, to protect and take away someone. As for who this person is, we don't know. Someone will bring that person here when the time comes, and we will escort that person to Dalu."
Zhao Shiqing asked, "How many of you are here? Who is the leader?"
The man said, "Our leader is Brother Jin Twelve, also known as Lei Dabao. I don't know how many people there are in total, I only know that there were fifty of us who entered the city. After discovering that there was another force in Tongzhou, Brother Jin Twelve decided to take advantage of your plan and follow you up the mountain."
"Fifty people? Apart from the thirty-five people who went up the mountain, where are the other fifteen people?" Zhao Shiqing asked.
The man shook his head: "You should ask Brother Jin Twelve about this. I don't know."
The 12th Brother Jin mentioned by this person, also known as Lei Dabao, looked like he just wanted to die quickly and refused to say a word.
Zhao Shiqing thought of someone. She walked to the room where Jin Twelve was being held captive, looked at the man pretending to be deaf and dumb, and asked, "Fairy Cao has confessed. She said the person you're taking away is surnamed Yang, and his name is Yang Shengqiu. Is that correct?"
Brother Jin Twelve's tightly closed eyes suddenly opened. He looked at Zhao Shiqing in disbelief and finally spoke, saying his first words after being captured.
"Cao Wuniang was captured by you? How is that possible!"
Zhao Shiqing smiled and thought to herself that Fairy Cao's real name was Cao Wuniang. This Haidongqing was modeled after the mountain gate. Just like the mountain gate, the higher the ranking, the higher the martial arts and the higher the status in the gate. Jin Twelve was the leader of this operation and ranked twelfth, while Fairy Cao was ranked fifth, and her status was obviously much higher than his.
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