Chapter 79: If they can't find it, they will all go to jail
Li Si looked ahead with a look of despair, his eyes filled with anger and sadness of being abandoned by his loved ones.
Bu Wei only wanted to find out the whereabouts of Li Xinyuan and his companions. Seeing that Li Si was hesitant to answer, he exerted more and more force on his hands.
Every time the whip fell, Li Si couldn't help but tremble, but even if the man was beaten to pieces, Li Si could only say "I don't know".
"You'd better tell the truth. If you want to avoid physical pain, tell our boss where Li Xinyuan and the others went."
An officer following behind Bu Wei suddenly spoke. Ran Qingxuan stared at the officer, feeling an indescribable strangeness in his heart.
"They didn't take me with them when they ran away. Do you think I would know where they went?"
"Boss, Li Xinyuan has clearly abandoned his daughter. He certainly wouldn't be stupid enough to tell her the escape route. Instead of wasting time on her, it's more important to find someone quickly."
Bu Wei also understood this truth, and with a gloomy face he retracted the whip and prepared to think of another way.
Ran Qingxuan took the opportunity to step forward and spoke in a low voice.
"Sir, the gates of Xiaoweishan County haven't been opened yet, so they definitely won't go there. There are only a few roads going back and forth, and Li Xinyuan and his men can't run far with an injured son.
We will lend you the donkey cart. You should go along the way we came first to look for them and see if they will go towards the official road. Maybe they will ask for help from the merchants on the official road. ”
Bu Wei thought about it for a moment and felt that what Ran Qingxuan said made sense. They had no way to return to Beijing and the county gate was not open. The most likely candidate was to ask Shangguan Dao for help.
"Bu Fei, take three people on the donkey cart and follow the way you came to the official road. Make sure you find the person."
"Yes." Bu Fei knew the situation was serious, so he solemnly called three officers to pull the donkey cart.
Unexpectedly, before the group of prisoners set off, a burst of hurried footsteps were heard from the direction of the county town in the distance, and it sounded like there were quite a few people.
After taking a look, Bu Wei scolded the somewhat agitated prisoner, walked to the side of the road and waited for a while, then he saw a group of constables and yamen runners running towards them.
"The government office is handling this matter. Please get out of the way!"
Bu Wei didn't know what these yamen runners were here for. He thought to himself that he hadn't had time to report the escaped prisoner yet, so why did these people come first?
"Brother Bu, why is it you?"
The leader, a man in his forties, dismounted from his horse, turned around and asked the yamen runners behind him to go first, while he led his horse and walked quickly to Bu Wei.
Seeing that it was an acquaintance, Bu Wei breathed a sigh of relief.
"Brother Liao, where are you going in such a hurry?"
Liao Ning was the chief constable of the county government office and was also familiar with Bu Wei. Upon hearing this, he whispered to him.
"Something happened on the official road. A group of escorts were about to rob the owner's goods. I have to go over and check the casualties to avoid causing panic among the people."
Bu Wei was surprised, but when he heard that they were going to the official road, he immediately became anxious.
"Brother Liao, when you go to the official road, can you help me keep an eye out? Three of the prisoners I'm escorting have escaped..."
"How could you be so careless? If you can't find it, you'll be in trouble!"
Bu Wei had so much trouble that he couldn't express it, so he could only ask him for help.
"I have sent people to look for him on the official road. Brother Liao, please help keep an eye out when you pass by the official road."
As the head of the police, Liao Ning knew the consequences of the guards being careless and causing the prisoners to escape and not be found. If he was not familiar with Bu Wei, he probably would not have dared to agree so easily.
"That's enough, kid. I'll go to the official road first to deal with the escorts. If they're not there on the road, I'll send someone to look for them."
"Thank you, Brother Liao. To prevent the prisoner from escaping again during the chaos, I have to personally take him to the city to guard him. If... I can't find him, I will have to report back to the county magistrate."
Bu Wei had a bitter look on his face, and Liao Ning knew that once he informed the county magistrate, all the officials would be thrown into jail first. He patted Bu Wei's shoulder and comforted him.
"Don't think too much. I'll have my men look for it after I finish dealing with the matter."
"Thank you very much."
Bu Fei had already driven away on his donkey cart. Liao Ning jumped on his horse and caught up with the yamen runners. After giving a few instructions, he chased after Bu Fei.
Bu Wei clenched his fists and solemnly ordered the group of prisoners to get up and enter the city.
The group walked for half an hour and finally reached Weishan County at the foot of Xiaowei Mountain at daybreak.
It was not too early, and some people in the city who had gotten up early to sell vegetables saw the police escorting a group of people, and immediately dodged to the side.
"It's so unlucky so early in the morning."
Some people among the people murmured a few words, but the escorts were not surprised. Shang Jia, who was walking in the front, had a dark face. After listening to the people's instructions, he just wanted to leave here quickly.
The officers often escorted prisoners and knew Weishan County very well. They led the group of prisoners for nearly half an hour before stopping at an inn on the edge of the county town.
The prisoners were instantly delighted when they saw the inn. After all, they had been traveling all day yesterday and did not rest until after midnight at night.
It was too late and no one had the energy to complain. But when we woke up in the morning, everyone was soaked by dew. The clothes were not warm to begin with, so they were even less wearable.
Moreover, many people had started to cough uncontrollably along the way, obviously because they had caught a cold after sleeping outdoors last night.
Bu Wei and the remaining officials were not much better off. They had not fully recovered from eating poisonous grass by mistake, and they had to rely on one breath to keep going yesterday.
I thought I could take a short rest after entering Weishan County this morning, but I didn't expect the Li family to escape.
Qian Zheng saw that Bu Wei looked very bad and walked up to the prisoner.
"You can rest here for now, but I can't let you stay here for free. A double room costs five taels of silver, and a large dormitory room costs two taels of silver..."
"If you don't have money, are you still not allowed to live here?"
Someone couldn't help but ask, and Qian Zheng snorted coldly.
"If you don't have money, you can live in a different way. There's a carport in the backyard, so you can live there as you like!"
When Ran Qingxuan heard this, he sneered in his heart and couldn't help but complain in his heart.
There were many women and children in the team. They had no spare clothes, and if they wanted to dry them they needed a room with a closed door. But now one tael of silver was a huge sum of money for these people, let alone three taels of silver.
Sure enough, when they heard the price, many people sighed with bitter faces.
"Sir, our house has been raided, how can we afford a place to stay?"
"Yes, sir. We all caught a cold last night after sleeping outdoors. If we continue to live outside, it will cost us our lives, won't it?"
"Please, sir, please be merciful and give us a place to dry our clothes!"
Bu Wei's throat felt a little itchy and he couldn't help coughing repeatedly. When Qian Zheng saw this, he immediately reached for the whip at his waist.
"Do you think you are the only ones like this? We, the officers, also stayed outside last night. You are all so hypocritical. Do you still think you are the masters and wives of the officials?"
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