Give you a spring

Fengdu is the second largest capital of Daqi after Linjing. It is located in the southwest of Linjing. Because of its easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack basin terrain, the founding emperor of Daqi chose this place as an important military location, such as Changqiang, Common weapons such as spears, cannon carriages, and gunpowder were all manufactured here, and then transported to the frontier via Ningyao and other places.

In addition, there are two rivers in the east and north of Fengdu. The abundant water resources provide convenience for the capital in terms of transportation and irrigation. Many businessmen have come here to do business after seeing the excellent geographical environment of Fengdu. .Therefore, Fengdu is also an extremely rich and developed capital.

Fengdu is about 100 miles away from Linjing City, and if you hurry up, you will arrive in about a day.The four of Pingwei set off at noon and arrived just at Xu time.

Tightening the rope, the horses leisurely stopped outside the city. Ping Wei looked at the long line of people waiting to enter the city, and was about to get off the horse to follow, when he saw someone waving at them in the distance.

He Zhou was beside him, stared intently for a while, then turned his head and said, "He's a man in official uniform."

Ping Wei got off the horse neatly, led the horse and walked over slowly.

The other three followed behind him.

The man was standing outside the gate of the city. He was about thirty years old. He was tall and thin like a bamboo pole. His skin was dark. His official uniform seemed to be too baggy, which seemed a little unsuitable for him.

He carefully looked at the person who came over, and asked, "Is it the Fifth Prince?"

"Well, you are?" Ping Wei walked up to him and asked.

"You Buqing, the official governor of the capital, received His Majesty's order this morning that the Fifth Prince would come to investigate the theft of Ningyao's medicine, so he came here to assist His Highness." You Buqing saluted Ping Wei first, then glanced back , four people dressed as officers and soldiers walked slowly towards Pingwei and his party - holding the horse ropes in the hands of several people.

You Buqing said, "The lower officials have already prepared the other courtyard in advance, Your Highness has been traveling for a day, where should we go to rest first?"

Ping Wei turned around and looked at Guan Yue and Liang Jingzhao, both of them looked exhausted, and nodded, "Okay, I'm sorry to trouble you, my lord."

The four of them walked on the streets of Fengdu, similar to Linjing City, with many restaurants and stalls on both sides, but probably Linjing City has stricter management, with clear regulations on the distance between each stall and what to sell, while Fengdu There are obviously no such rules, and it looks a bit disorganized.

"Has your Highness been here before?" Seeing Pingwei looking at the streets on both sides, You Buqing asked very gently.

"No," Ping Wei confessed, although he and He Zhou have been to many places, but most of them are poor and small places, such as Fengdu... This is the first time for a capital like Fengdu.

"Do you need a map of Fengdu later?"

Ping Wei was stunned for a moment, then chuckled, "Okay."

He paused, and glanced back at Liang Jingzhao, who was yawning and didn't notice him.So he looked at You Buqing beside him, and asked with a smile, "By the way, do you have any special dishes here? What's the most delicious?"

Liang Jingzhao at the back blinked, stopped and looked ahead.

You Buqing was stunned, and said, "Five-spice smoked fish, eight-treasure duck, fried rice cake with shredded pork with shepherd's purse, and stewed hoof noodles are all famous dishes here. If your highness wants to go to a restaurant to eat, Tongfu Restaurant and Wanbaotang are the best. Two teahouses that are very popular recently."

He looked forward while talking, and pointed, "Wanbaotang is over there."

Ping Wei followed his line of sight, and there was a lot of voices, which seemed very lively.

"Your Highness, do you want to eat now? The official can ask someone to open a private box, so you don't have to wait for a table," You Buqing said while looking at him.

Ping smiled, "No, let's go to the residence now. As for the Wanbaotang you mentioned, can they pack it?"

"OK."

"Let's have someone pack the food to our place, I'm just hungry." Ping Wei said.

You Buqing responded, and looked at a follower behind him, who immediately walked towards Wanbaotang.

Seeing Liang Jingzhao behind him, he nodded in satisfaction, and Ping Wei really knew what he was thinking.Guan Yue who was next to him glanced at him helplessly. When His Highness talked about eating, his voice was obviously different from usual and became much lighter. Lord Guan said silently in his heart, two foodies.

He Zhou stood next to Pingwei and didn't respond to the conversation between the two. As long as the topic didn't involve Pingwei himself, he didn't have any big mood swings.

The few people quickly came to the other courtyard that had been arranged in advance—it was spacious and grand, with a total of four rooms, just enough for them...four people.

When He Zhou heard You Buqing said that they could share a room each, he raised his eyes and gave him a faint look.Master You noticed it. He had noticed this taciturn man before, and the other party had always regarded him as nothing, giving him a sense of arrogance and arrogance. He thought he would continue to be ignored.Unexpectedly, the other party reacted to his words now, You Buqing looked back suspiciously, but it was a pity that He Zhou didn't look at him again.

After visiting the entire courtyard, several people returned to the front hall, and Ping said softly, "Please trouble your lord, we can do the rest by ourselves." He paused, and then said, "Before the packaged dishes are delivered Come on, if I have a few words, I will talk to the adults first."

"Your Highness, please speak."

"When did you send the gunpowder to Ningyao?" Ping Wei raised his eyes, staring at You Buqing without blinking.

Master You calmly said, "The fire medicine was made on the seventh day of the first lunar month, and it should have been sent to Ningyao on the same day, but on that Friday, the transportation team had to rest on Saturday and Sunday, so it was postponed until the next Monday of the tenth day." Let's go again."

Guan Yue thought for a while and asked, "According to what we know, the people in Ningyao said that it should have been delivered on the first day of spring, that is, on Tuesday. Are you close to Ningyao? You can deliver it in just one day." Five carts of medicine delivered?"

His question seemed to be on point, and You Buqing, who had always known everything about them, showed embarrassment at this moment, hesitated and said, "...the people at Ning Yao must have said something wrong. , although we are not far from there, but because Ningyao is a remote and poor mountainous area, there are muddy roads along the way, it is difficult for a carriage to walk, and it will take a day and a night to get there, so to be precise, the medicine delivery The carriage should have arrived in the early morning of Tuesday, the twelfth day of the first lunar month..."

Guan Yue was a little speechless, he thought the real situation should be that the people in Fengdu were lazy and drove there slowly, slower than the original time.But he didn't say anything on his face, and said succinctly and clearly, "I see."

"Someone had an accident during the transportation, is it someone from your side?" Ping Wei asked.

"Yes, five carriages and accompanying soldiers, a total of ten people were found dead in Ningyao."

"Where is the body?"

"About 100 meters after entering Ningyao's entrance."

Ping Wei thought for a while, "Where's the corpse? Should it be sent back to you, or to Ning Yao?"

You Buqing didn't expect him to ask this, and said, "Send the body back to us, but..."

He looked at the fifth prince opposite in embarrassment.

Ping narrowed his eyes slightly.

You Buqing said awkwardly, "It has already been burned. It has been more than a week since His Highness came here. Although it is winter and the temperature is very low, the dead body cannot be kept for so long. The next official allowed the yamen to burn it... .”

He Zhou had been listening attentively to their conversation, frowned after hearing this, and looked at Ping Wei.Ping Wei asked directly, "Isn't there an ice cellar?"

"It's just a few ordinary people who died... There's no need to be put in the ice cellar," You Buqing said with a lack of confidence.

He Zhou raised his eyebrows. Ordinary people should know that if they could look at those corpses, they might be able to deduce from their wounds how skillful the person who killed them was, what weapon they used, and the approximate number of people, so they could deduce that the murderer might be a group of people. what kind of person.

Normally speaking, in such a large amount of gunpowder theft, even if only a few soldiers died, the corpses should not be burned so hastily. Besides, these officials reported to the emperor afterwards, and the higher authorities would definitely send people down to investigate after they knew about it. .

Mr. You's rash way of handling things will inevitably make him start to doubt whether the other party has anything to do with this matter.

What he thought of, the other three also thought of, Ping Wei said warmly without changing his face, "I see, does Master You have a route for the carriage team? I want to find out exactly where they will pass."

You Buqing nodded, "The lower officials will send someone to do it immediately."

"What time is it?" Ping Wei looked at Guan Yue, who immediately went to look in front of the clock, and said loudly, "Xu Shi four quarters."

"Okay," Ping Wei looked at You Buqing again, "I will give my lord an hour to sort out all the documents and files related to the theft of Ningyao Huo medicine, including the route map of the carriage, the identities of the ten deceased and what types of them they were. □□Stolen, all these must be sorted out, send someone to hand it over before the four quarters of the day, is there any problem?"

Pingwei looked at You Buqing with oppression in his eyes, and the other party quickly bent over and assured him in a low voice, "I will definitely handle it well."

"Well," Ping Wei replied, took the package and seemed to want to go to the room.

You Buqing was also very self-aware, and left immediately with a few entourages.

Liang Jingzhao saw the people leaving, and immediately went to Ping Wei's side and said in a low voice, "This You Buqing seems unreliable, but he burned the corpse casually, where should we start?"

Guan Yue said, "When he brings the file over, we can check the route of the carriage and start searching from there. He just said that the person was killed in Ningyao. We can also go there to have a look. The scene may still be there. Leave some clues."

Jing Zhao disagreed, "It has been more than a week since the incident happened. Even if the scene has not been cleaned up, after so many days, no amount of evidence will be destroyed."

Pingwei said "hmm", looked at He Zhou next to him, gently touched his finger, and asked, "What do you think?"

He Zhou looked into his eyes and said, "I don't think you should fully believe what You Buqing said. Before we came, we guessed that so many carriages disappeared in Ningyao at once, and it is likely to be related to the local officials, or even the people who sealed the capital. The officials are all related. If You Buqing is really related to this matter, then the content of the dossier he sent may contain misleading information, trying to delay or prevent our investigation."

"It makes sense," Guan Yue nodded.

"But we also have to take a look," Ping Wei said softly, still looking at He Zhou, "on the one hand, we will check the information on this matter ourselves, and on the other hand, we will compare the information with the one sent by Mr. You. If there is any discrepancy , and start to investigate from that point of difference.”

"Okay," Liang Jingzhao responded immediately, and asked Ying, "I'll check it out, how about it?"

Ping looked at him with a smile, "Brother Liang, how do you want to find out?"

"I want to find out who the ten people were who were killed. Generally speaking, to transport such a heavy and powerful gunpowder, the requirements for the soldiers in charge will be a bit high, and the number should not be so small. Here... I think the problem is big." Liang Jingzhao said, "Assuming he sends out ten soldiers with high martial arts skills, then the people who can kill them are by no means ordinary people, as long as they catch these soldiers At this point, I will check Fengdu or the nearby people with good skills, and maybe I can find some clues related to this matter. Moreover, if the ones sent are only some shrimp soldiers and crab generals, they are not strong enough to transport these people. Approved fire medicine...."

He paused, looked at Pingwei, and said slowly, "It proves that there is something wrong with Fengdu."

Guan Yue nodded as he listened—he was not familiar with Young Master Liang, and he was able to invite him to investigate the case earlier, thinking that maybe it was just because the other party was good at it, but after hearing his meticulous analysis now, his impression of Jingzhao Something has changed.

Ping Wei said, "Well, then Beijing can do as you like. Everyone is tired after a long day of driving, why not go back to the room to rest, wait for the food to be delivered, and then go to the dining hall to have dinner together?"

"it is good."

Liang Jingzhao and Guan Yue walked towards their room, and He Zhou also walked to Ping Wei's side and went with him.