Be a master through ancient times

The portraits of Jia Kun, Zhou Qingbin and the previous missing persons were immediately reproduced in large numbers, and soon, government notices were posted all over the surrounding areas.

Because the bounty was enough, someone soon came to the yamen to report the news. The man was a shopkeeper, who claimed to have seen the person in the portrait in a remote village, and said that village was very xenophobic. It took me only a quarter of an hour to get into it, and I was eager to drive people away.

The local county magistrate immediately retorted that, according to the salesman's description, that village did not exist at all. The local county annals never recorded it, and no government officials ever collected taxes there.But the shopkeeper insisted that there was a place there, and said that if he didn't believe it, he could lead the way.

Chu Ci and Master Fan looked at each other, and both found something unusual in each other's eyes.The two immediately made a plan to deploy troops, trying to capture Zhou Qing and Jia Kun directly.

The people from the navy yamen fumbled through it all night, only to find out when they got to the place. The entrance here is very narrow, it is a gap between two big mountains, probably only one or two people can pass through at a time, and I don’t know how the shopkeeper found this place here.

People from the Navy Yamen entered the mountain road through the cracks one by one. They found that the place they just entered was relatively narrow, and it became wider as they went in, but it didn't look like it was formed naturally, but was widened artificially.

Xu Qinwei suddenly became vigilant, and told his brothers to be careful, and then walked lightly, and walked further inside.

I don't know who bumped into what, but the bell of "Dingling, Dingling" suddenly sounded in the cave. This sound sounded very penetrating in the silent night. Xu Qinwei secretly screamed in his heart. The exit was lit with torches.

"Who is it?!" A rude voice asked sharply. As the voice approached, a figure slowly appeared in front of everyone's eyes. A black-faced skinny monkey in commoner clothes looked at everyone vigilantly, waiting to be seen clearly. After they got dressed, they quickly threw the torches at them, ran out, and rang a gong standing outside the cave.

"Kang bang" several times shook the sky, Xu Qinwei was in a bad mood, immediately drew out the knife at his waist and swung it forward, shouting: "Come on, don't let them go!"

When the guards saw him running out, they immediately drew out their knives and followed him.

This is obviously not an ordinary village, there must be a lot of shady activities hidden in it, maybe it is the lair of those people, if they can be caught, they will definitely be promoted and rich!

When everyone came outside, they found that the dark-faced man who had knocked on the gong earlier had been kneeled down by Xu Qinwei.Someone took out a rope from his clothes, and tied him up with three strokes.

"Continue to go inside, don't let anyone go, the masters can tell the good from the bad, we just arrest people!" With an order, the crowd scattered and surrounded the center of the village from every corner, like a group of people who heard the news. Like a bloody lion...

"My lord, a total of 43 people were caught last night, including 36 young and strong people. That Zhou Qing and Jia Kun didn't seem to be among them, so they escaped." Xu Qinwei was a little annoyed. Even though they were careful last night, they still exposed them in advance. Let those thieves get the letter and escape.That salesman obviously didn't say that there are bells in the cave!

"Very good, bring those people up!" Master Fan didn't mind that much, the monks couldn't run away from the temple if they ran away, and there was something wrong with the village at first glance, would those two people run away after they were asked later?

After a while, a large string of "zongzi" was brought to the lobby. When the group of people saw Mr. Fan in official uniform, they yelled wronged, claiming that this group of officers and soldiers came to arrest them for some reason, and they were just ordinary people.

"If you are all ordinary people, there will be no good people in the world." Lord Fan sneered.

"My lord said that we are not ordinary people, so what evidence do you have? Even if you are an official, you can't slander others with red lips and white teeth!" A man shouted, and the voice spread from the lobby to the ears of the people outside the door. Some people nodded after hearing it, and seemed to agree with what he said.

"Xu Qinwei, did you find anything when you arrested these people yesterday?" Master Fan asked in a low voice. Xu Qinwei shook his head in embarrassment. Nothing was searched outside, and no tunnels were found.

"..." Mr. Fan was speechless for a moment. Although they behaved strangely, catching thieves and taking stolen goods is really difficult to do without evidence, so they can only deal with taxes. If you haven’t handed it over, it’s a capital offense.”

"Your Excellency is wronged! How dare we evade taxes? If there are officials to collect taxes, we will have to pay them even if we sell everything. It's just that we have been waiting for year after year, but no officials come to our door at all." The man had a look on his face. It's bitter, the common people outside the door can't help feeling a little sympathetic, indeed, it's not that they don't pay.The county magistrate at the side couldn't sit still, and if he continued speaking, he might be charged with a crime of negligence.

Mr. Fan understood his hint, took a deep breath, and changed the subject: "Would ordinary people set up traps at the entrance of the village? Why did you sound the gong to warn when the official's personal guards went yesterday? If it wasn't for the secret Illegal activities, why are you so vigilant?"

"Your Excellency, our village is located in a remote place. From time to time there will be beasts coming down the mountain, or the water bandits from the side of the mountain near the sea will come and wander. If we are not vigilant, even the nest may be taken away by others. We are looking forward to the government in our dreams. We can get rid of those water bandits." The man said in tears, this time it was Master Fan's turn to be unnatural, after all it was their job to eliminate water bandits.

"Are all the people in your village here?" Chu Ci, who had been sitting quietly at the bottom, asked suddenly.

The man who had been answering just now looked suspiciously for a few times, and seemed to think that this handsome scholar was not capable, so he just nodded perfunctorily.

"This is strange." Chu Ci smiled, and after attracting everyone's attention, he said, "If everyone is here, why are there only men in your village and no women? Could it be men in your village? Will they have children?"

Everyone suddenly realized, no wonder they always thought they were a little weird before, so it was so!

The man's face stiffened, and he replied: "Of course not, we are afraid that those women and children will be in danger, so we have already let them hide in a safe place."

"Oh? The village where I grew up is not safe, but other places are safer? You said you were afraid they would be in danger. Where did the danger come from? Could it be that you got the news in advance that someone would arrest you yesterday? I don't know, but now the people The news is so well-informed." Chu Ci smiled again.

"Yes, please tell me quickly, what is the reason for this?" Master Fan got excited, these tricksters are good at sophistry, almost let them get away with it.

"This..." The man hesitated and couldn't speak, his eyes rolled around, as if he was thinking of a countermeasure.

"Don't think about it, Zhou Qing, you dare to talk sweetly in this court, do you really think we can't see it?" Chu Ci's light words were like a muffled thunder resounding in the clear sky, and the black-faced man froze immediately, with eyes in his eyes It was full of unbelievable, he didn't understand how Chu Ci recognized him, obviously he was completely different from the one in the portrait now.

Lord Fan and Xu Qinwei also looked at Chu Ci in bewilderment, not knowing why he was so sure, the officials below also took out the notice and carefully compared the difference between the black-faced man and Zhou Qing.

"How did you recognize me?" Zhou Qing said in a deep voice, his expression suddenly became somber and stern.

After being exposed, he didn't even quibble, and just admitted it?With this kind of psychological quality, can he be a spy?Chu Ci shook his head, it seems that the ability of these spies is worrying.

"First, a group of ordinary people who have never seen the world came to the lobby and met the officials, and they were so frightened that they were speechless, but you didn't see panic at all, and there was no awe in your eyes. When you spoke, you answered fluently, as if you had already thought about the answer. This shows that you are a firm person, you must have seen some scenes, and you are not a commoner at all."

"Second, your face and hands are dark, but when you turned your head to me, the skin behind your ears was fair, and the two parts look very different, so I guess you put these The exposed body was painted with pot ashes or other dyes, and some facial features were camouflaged. Ordinary people don’t need to do this at all, unless the person has already left a record with the government, and they will do it for fear of being exposed.”

"Recently, Zhou Qing and Jia Kun have been looking for Zhou Qing and Jia Kun from all over the world. You must have encountered a lot of obstacles in your travels to inquire about the news, so you will show up in disguise. You should be very proud of cheating the officials last night, so today in court You will answer by yourself." Chu Ci watched him carefully for a long time just now when he was answering, and found that there would be a few traces of pleasure in his eyes from time to time, as if everyone was drunk and the only one was awake.

Zhou Qing's pupils shrank, and he fell to the ground slumped, never expecting that it was because of this reason that he showed his secrets.But he still didn't give up and asked, "Then why don't you think I'm Jia Kun?"

Chu Ci said: "Of course it is also possible, but your limbs are intact, which is not the same as the Jia family's confession. And your family said that you are left-handed. I just noticed that there are many more calluses on your left hand than on your right. , which means that you usually like to use your left hand. To sum up, who are you if you are not Jia Kun?"

The others were temporarily detained, and only Zhou Qing was left in the lobby.The Yacha called for a basin of water and tried to scrub his face and hands clean, but he couldn't get the black thing off.

Zhou Qing's deeds were exposed, and he didn't want to hide any more. He took out a bottle of medicinal powder from his sleeve and poured some of it down. Then he splashed a handful of water on his face, and his black face instantly turned white. .

Chu Ci's expression was finally a little surprised. It seems that the black thing is not pot ash, but a kind of good thing that does not take off makeup. Only the makeup remover made of that medicinal powder can be washed off.

"Zhou Qing, what on earth have you been doing in secret for so many years? What happened to that village? I ordered you to come quickly and don't hide anything!" Master Fan looked at the kneeling man with unfriendly eyes. Zhou Qing at the bottom was very angry that he was almost fooled by this troublemaker.

Zhou Qing just lowered his head and knelt on the ground without saying a word, with an expression of resignation.In this picture of a dead pig not afraid of boiling water, Mr. Fan was so angry that his orifices almost smoked.

"Okay, since you don't want to drink a toast, don't blame me for being rude!" Mr. Fan waved his hand, and someone from below came over with a pair of torture tools, and quickly put the thing on Zhou Qing. on the finger.

Seeing that he was about to be executed, Zhou Qing suddenly shouted: "My lord, I say, I say!"

"Wouldn't it be better to get acquainted earlier?" Master Fan signaled the Yacha to stop.

Zhou Qing looked at him and around, then lowered his voice and said, "My lord, I don't dare to hide anything, but there are so many people here, I'm afraid to tell you something..."

Judging from what he said, this matter may be very involved. Master Fan thought about it for a while, and said directly: "This case is complicated, and the government still needs to examine it carefully, so let's withdraw for the time being!"

After arriving in the back hall, Zhou Qing explained everything that happened since he got on the flower boat, including how the flower boat owner forced them to compromise and how he asked them to inquire about the news.Some of the news is of great importance, and if it is leaked out, it will definitely cause turmoil among the people.

Lord Fan's expression became more horrified the more he listened. He never expected that such a thing would happen to the seemingly peaceful Nanmin Province under his rule.