Chapter 354 It must be Prefect Lin
If Zijuan is woken up, she definitely won't be able to sneak out tonight.
She has no bodyguards with her now, and this is not the palace; she is unfamiliar with the place. Even if she were to bring Zijuan along, Zijuan would not allow her to go out for safety reasons.
Moreover, the place she was going to was Shuimiao Village, where a battle between government troops and mountain bandits was very likely to be taking place.
The two little ones nodded, indicating that they understood.
Sheng Sheng gently patted the two little ones' heads and led them out, crouching low and tiptoeing.
With less than half a birthday left until midnight, the streets were nearly deserted, and Stone was finally able to appear openly outside, overjoyed.
"Master, master, hurry up and get on! Stone can't wait to run around!"
"good."
Sheng Sheng and Shi Tou often played like this when they were in the palace. When they had nothing to do, they liked to ride Shi Tou around.
It's a pity that when they were in the palace, Shi Tou wasn't as big as he is now. Sheng Sheng was still a six-year-old child. Shi Tou could carry her on his back, but he couldn't run with her.
Now that Stone is five months old, his increased size has brought many inconveniences, but also many advantages.
For example, it looks more imposing.
For example, it can carry Sheng Sheng while running.
The stone will continue to grow until it becomes the same size as its parents, or even larger.
It will definitely be even more impressive than it is now.
Sheng Sheng simply couldn't imagine how cool she would look riding a big tiger; she would surely charm countless girls!
"Yan Hu, lead the way, we're going to Shuimiao Village."
"good."
With Yan Hu leading the way, the three little ones ran to the city gate, avoiding the crowd. Perhaps because of the incident at Shuimiao Village, the city gate, which should have been closed, was still open.
A group of soldiers guarded the city gate, while an older man paced back and forth outside the gate, looking towards Shuimiao Village with a somewhat solemn expression.
Sheng Sheng, along with Shi Tou and Yan Hu, hid in a corner and heard the man say, "I wonder how it is. Those Black Wind Stronghold people are really despicable; they actually tried to massacre the village! Fortunately, our prefect arrived in time, and reinforcements have just arrived as well. This time, we should be able to crush Black Wind Stronghold, right?"
"It's hard to say. Black Wind Stronghold is really strange. Every time, we manage to escape unscathed. And this time it was too sudden. How could they just go into the mountains like that?"
"Yes, at least there was a plan before, but this time it was too sudden. In my opinion, after the prefect led his men to drive away those bandits, he should have held back and planned carefully..."
Sheng Sheng listened silently for a while and roughly summarized the situation in Shuimiao Village.
After the bandit who escaped from Lan Yun's hands returned to report the news, Black Wind Stronghold indeed sent people to Water Temple Village to settle accounts again.
Upon hearing that his younger brother had died, the leader of Black Wind Stronghold immediately led twenty men back to Water Temple Village, intending to massacre the entire village to vent his anger.
Fortunately, Prefect Tang and his men arrived at Shuimiao Village ahead of time and protected the villagers.
The leader of Black Wind Stronghold rarely ventured out of the mountains in person. If it weren't for the death of his younger brother, Scarface, he would never have come down the mountain to expose himself to the authorities.
Prefect Tang was not about to let this opportunity slip by, and immediately ordered a pursuit. The Black Wind Stronghold members were not to be trifled with either. During the battle, the Black Wind Stronghold took advantage of the chaos to take the scarred man's body away and then fled.
Prefect Tang wanted to lead his men to give chase, but was persuaded to stop by Assistant Prefect Lin.
Lin Tongzhi said that they would not be able to catch up with the bandits in a short time, and the two sides would definitely engage in battle in the mountains.
In the mountains, they are not at an advantage over the people of Black Wind Stronghold, and they don't know if the people of Black Wind Stronghold have left any backup plans in the stronghold.
Therefore, Lin Tongzhi temporarily persuaded Tang Zhizhou to take a conservative approach and transfer more personnel over, just in case.
Thus, the current scene unfolded, with a team of two hundred men being temporarily transferred there, seemingly determined to take down Black Wind Stronghold tonight.
Sheng Sheng guessed that it was probably because Xie Yun was still waiting in the prefectural government office, and the Crown Prince's identity made Prefect Tang feel too much pressure.
Moreover, Black Wind Stronghold had just suffered heavy losses, with at least half of its members killed or wounded. If they didn't seize this opportunity to take Black Wind Stronghold in one fell swoop, it would be hard to explain.
After all, they had taken care of the deputy chieftain that afternoon, and at least twenty or thirty other bandits had died.
Unless there's something else going on behind Black Wind Stronghold, if they can't take it down under these circumstances, then Prefect Tang's job as prefect is over.
Prefect Tang was well aware of the situation, which is why he made the hasty decision to suppress the bandits on this dark and windy night.
Sheng Sheng, however, was somewhat worried.
Based on the information they currently have, there's a high chance that Lin, the assistant prefect beside Prefect Tang, is not a good match.
Whether Prefect Tang's advice when he planned to pursue the bandits was a genuine desire to consider a more comprehensive and safer approach, or simply an expedient measure for the bandits... remains unknown.
Considering Tang Zhizhou's previous attitude towards Lin Tongzhi, it was probably because Lin Tongzhi had served under Tang Zhizhou for ten years. Although Lin Tongzhi's failure to report the information disappointed and angered Tang Zhizhou, he did not think of anything else.
Indeed, it was a full ten years, and Lin Tongzhi was Tang Zhizhou's right-hand man.
Let alone ten years, even if someone suddenly came up to her now and said that Zijuan was actually a traitor, Shengsheng would not believe it.
etc……
Sheng Sheng suddenly thought of a particularly important question.
"The officers and soldiers just said that every bandit suppression operation by the government is planned. That is to say, the officers and soldiers' strategies, numbers, and even their every move are all arranged in advance, and there will not be much change in actual combat."
So why is Black Wind Stronghold always able to escape danger? What if it's because the government's plans were leaked to them beforehand...?
Sheng Sheng frowned in thought, pacing back and forth.
"That's right! That explains why we can never capture Black Wind Stronghold, and why the government always suffers heavy losses... because their plans were already told to Black Wind Stronghold in advance! If there's someone in the government connected to Black Wind Stronghold... it must be Magistrate Lin!"
As the Assistant Magistrate, Lin held a position equivalent to that of a Prefect, and therefore absolutely had the right to know about the government's plans.
Moreover, his high status means he won't face too many restrictions on what he can do.
Most importantly, Prefect Tang trusts him, and Prefect Tang would never believe that someone close to him is colluding with the bandits!
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