Start with detective Li Yuanfang

Chapter 261: One of the Three Classics
"Two hundred cavalry guards, carrying crossbows, disappeared for no reason?"

Li Yan already knew that the Baiqi Imperial Army was gone, but after hearing what Cheng Wuzhong said, he couldn't help but become solemn: "What's the situation with these two people, please tell the leader Cheng."

Cheng Wuzhong's face was extremely ugly: "One is Zheng Sanlang, a native of Bozhou, who has practiced martial arts since he was a child, and has good skills, superb archery skills, and flawless shooting."

"One is Guo Wulang, a native of Jingzhou, also from a good family, with a stable personality and both civil and military skills."

"They are veterans who have been trained for many years. After going up the mountain, they attacked the village. Zheng Sanlang shot and killed the leader of the bandit. Later, according to others, they were nowhere to be seen. Now they are alive or dead..."

"I have searched the entire village and checked every corner, but I couldn't find the whereabouts of the two of them, nor did I find any clues left behind."

"These two people disappeared inexplicably, as if they were captured by ghosts..."

Li Yan waved his hand, and said solemnly: "The talk about ghosts is mediocre, so don't say any more! In my opinion, there is a secret behind this cottage, and the disappearance of the two of them may be related to this."

Cheng Wuzhong said: "I thought the same way before, but after searching carefully, I didn't find any secret passage..."

Li Yan smiled but said, "This village is not small. According to the size of the house, it is no problem to squeeze thousands of people together. Leader Cheng is short of manpower. In just over an hour, can you be sure that there are no secret passages?"

Cheng Wuzhong opened his mouth and finally said, "I'm not sure."

The biggest flaw of the Baiqi elite is the lack of manpower, but before that, there were [-] left at the foot of the mountain, and [-] went up the mountain, but they pretended to be something.

Now if we talk about a complete carpet search, it is not necessarily the case, but Cheng Wuzhong also has his own ideas: "Even if there is a hidden secret passage, there is still a possibility that one person will be taken advantage of by the thief, how can the two disappear together? Didn't even make a warning sound? If the thief really has this ability, he won't be killed by us!"

Li Yan nodded slightly: "This is indeed a problem, call the person who saw them last."

Cheng Wuzhong went to call, and soon led the three hundred elites back to him.

Li Yan looked at them: "Tell me one by one, when was the last time you saw Zheng Sanlang and Guo Wulang?"

The first imperial guard who spoke was short, with opposite fish eyes, and looked dazed: "We rushed up from the east side, and I shot and killed the sentry post and two patrolling thieves. Zheng Sanlang rushed forward faster than me." , shot several bandit leaders one after another, the first few were killed with one arrow, and the last one missed the vital point and was still shouting, so he rushed forward with a knife and beheaded the bandits..."

Listening to his description, Li Yan came to the battle site and saw the blood spots on the ground, the battle marks and the detached corpse. He couldn't help nodding: "It's really a brave man, then what?"

The dead fish eyed the guards and said: "Then Zheng Sanlang entered the village from this direction. After we parted, we haven't seen him."

Li Yan looked at the second guard.

This person has thick eyebrows and big eyes, with an honest temperament, like a hard-working black cow: "I am walking with Guo Wulang, and I just killed some thieves normally. After we dispersed, we couldn't see him anymore, but when we parted, he He seems to have noticed something and headed in this direction on purpose, I asked a question, but he didn't answer me..."

Li Yan followed him to the location on the southwest side again, the route appeared in his mind, and he nodded slightly: "Didn't you go with Guo Wulang?"

The Black Bull Guard shook his head and said: "I didn't care at the time, I went to kill the thief, and he disappeared as soon as I turned around, and I never saw him again."

Li Yan nodded slightly, looking at the last imperial guard.

In the end, this guy had dark skin, swollen eyes, sharp eyes, and an authentic Liangzhou accent: "I saw two people talking in front of the biggest room, and their expressions were a bit weird, but I passed by in a hurry , didn’t have time to ask.”

Li Yan followed him to the house in the middle of the village: "Is this where the owner of the village lives?"

Cheng Wuzhong said: "It should be. A few good bows were also found inside, which are not something ordinary people can have."

Li Yan asked: "Have you searched the secret passage?"

Cheng Wuzhong said: "Our previous focus was to search here. More than a dozen people checked inside and out three or four times, and found no secret passages, no traces of fighting, not even blood, and the inside was clean."

Li Yandao: "To sum it up now, these two missing imperial soldiers came up from the east and southwest respectively at first, and after each dealt with the thieves, they rushed to the village, bumped into each other in front of the owner's house, and then disappeared. .”

"During the period, there were no screams for help, and there were no traces of fighting or blood in the village owner's house, so they disappeared inexplicably."

Cheng Wuzhong sighed, his face was ugly: "It's true, this matter is quite strange, why did we bump into it?"

Li Yandao: "You haven't met me for a long time... You have met me for a long time, listen to some advice, and you won't be like this!"

When Cheng Wuzhong thought of going down the mountain, this guy really asked him to send more people, and he was both ashamed and remorseful: "If all the people are dispatched, there will be no such accident."

Li Yan walked around the village owner's house, sniffed it suddenly: "What's with this scorching smell? Is there a fire inside?"

The imperial army with a Liangzhou accent shook his head and said: "There is no fire. If this village catches fire, it will be difficult to contain it. We all keep an eye on it, in case the thieves are in a hurry to burn everything."

Li Yan asked: "Can the leader of the thieves in the village be left alive?"

Everyone looked at each other and answered in unison: "No."

Li Yan asked again: "Is anyone else willing to explain?"

Cheng Wuzhong said: "I asked a few times, but I couldn't explain the situation clearly, so I stopped asking. If Li Jiyi wants to interrogate, we can bring them here."

Li Yan frowned: "Ordinary bandits don't know much important information. The key is the leader. It would be great if we left a few alive..."

Cheng Wuzhong hurriedly explained: "Forgive me, Li Jiyi, I am no better than the inner guard, and my style has always been the same. What's more, even if these bandits rob houses, there is no need for interrogation and accountability. How could they know about this in advance?"

The Imperial Guard with a Liangzhou accent also added: "His Royal Highness and the convoy of the officials are still behind, and this place is not far from the post road. How can His Highness and the officials take risks?"

Li Yan's eyes moved: "That's right, it's not far from the post road..."

He turned his eyes and looked at the watchtowers at the four corners of the village: "Leader Cheng, you specialize in art. You are a member of the army. In your opinion, don't you think there are too many watchtowers in this village?"

Cheng Wuzhong said decisively: "There are more than that. How can ordinary bandit dens have such a neat plan? This is definitely not something that ordinary bandits can lay out. After a little modification, it can be used as a military camp."

Li Yan nodded slightly.

When he went up the mountain and saw the stockade, he felt strange that this structure really resembled the fort built in the Song Dynasty.

One of the key abilities of the Yang family generals who are familiar to later generations is to build bunkers. This is true of Yang Ye, Yang Wenguang, Zhong Shiheng and others.

Suddenly seeing such a somewhat professional militarized fortress in the Tang Dynasty, which was still a lair of bandits, Li Yan felt strange before entering the fortress.

Isn't it good to have this ability to join the army, why waste it here?
Of course, it does not rule out the kind of people who are born in poverty, but are rejected by high-ranking families who are capable, and become bandits in a fit of anger.

So Li Yan said, "Let's go up to the sentry tower to see for ourselves."

At this time, the sun was almost setting, and the two of them came to the east and south to make sure according to the afterglow in the sky: "These two sentry towers are respectively observing two villages not far away."

Cheng Wuzhong nodded: "There are no fields in the village, and no livestock is raised. The rations of these thieves are naturally plundered from the mouths of the villagers."

Li Yan was noncommittal, and quickly came to the sentry tower in the north. Looking at it from a distance, his eyes suddenly became serious: "Leader Cheng, come and see, what is that place?"

At this time, it is time to test the eyesight. Li Yan has the double bonus of shooting the sky wolf with the strength of bowstring and the eye consciousness with the strength of consciousness. Cheng Wuzhong has a good vision of [-], but it is still blurred, so he can only shake his head and say: "I don't know. "

Li Yandao: "That's where Tongguan is!"

Cheng Wuzhong's expression changed.

Tongguan is the east gate of Guanzhong, the first danger in the territory, the east and west throat, needless to say its importance, it has always been a battleground for military strategists.

According to the distance, the convoy of the prince and Baiguan will arrive at Tongguan around this time tomorrow, and then formally leave the customs.

But he thought about it, and said again: "But it's not right, Tongguan is no longer what it used to be, why did the thieves set up this sentry tower and pay special attention to it?"

This time it was replaced by Li Yanyiqi: "How to say?"

Cheng Wuzhong explained: "I once went to Luoyang, and when I passed Tongguan, I saw that there is no obstacle to pass the customs now. The water level of the Yellow River has changed, and the river has receded directly, turning into a large river bank. If a large piece is produced, the carriages and horses can pass unimpeded."

Li Yan suddenly said: "So that's the case."

There are many such things, such as the Anshi Rebellion, but also because of the continuous erosion of the Yellow River, Hulaoguan could no longer be close to the river and mountains as before, guarding the east-west hubs, so it was quickly broken by Anlu Mountain and pushed all the way to Luoyang.

Tongguan was also abandoned by the moody Yellow River. In history, when Wu Zetian was in power, this area was hit by an earthquake. Most of Tongguan’s defenses were destroyed by the earthquake. The imperial court simply did not repair it, moved the place directly, and built another Tongguan .

Li Yan thought for a while and said, "Let's go to the last sentry tower."

Before night fell, the two rushed to the west guard tower.

This time there is no need for Li Yan to remind, Cheng Wuzhong said coldly after looking over, "This sentry tower is for watching the post road."

Li Yan nodded: "The people who built this village have a very big plan!"

Cheng Wuzhong turned his head and looked down at the camp below: "So, what secret did Zheng Sanlang and Guo Wulang discover and were silenced by the thieves?"

Li Yan looked at the ordinary-looking houses: "There is a possibility."

"But one thing Cheng Lingjun said is correct. The two hundred elites disappeared together, but there was not even a cry for help and a fight, and no blood was left in the house..."

"To do this, either the thief's martial arts are unbelievably strong, he can instantly control the two vigilant people, kill them, and drag their bodies into the secret passage for disposal, or they must cooperate with each other!"

Cheng Wuzhong turned his head suddenly when he heard the words, and said sharply: "Is Li Jiyi suspicious of my brother Baiqi?"

Li Yan said solemnly: "Leader Cheng, you need to abandon your personal relationship when encountering a case. If you really think about Baiqi's brotherhood, you should track down the clues and find the truth, otherwise it will not only be Zheng Sanlang and Guo Wulang who will be rescued." Hope, once the crime of losing the crossbow is committed, it will be all of you who will suffer!"

Cheng Wuzhong's chest heaved violently, his face was cloudy, and he said in a deep voice after a while: "Thank you Li Jiyi for your reminder, I understand, but if someone in Baiqi is really in collusion with the thief, the scope of the search is too big!"

Li Yan acted as if you hadn't met the market: "One hundred suspects is definitely not a wide range, let alone shrinking it further!"

"During the previous battle, there was chaos inside and outside. If there was a murderer in Baiqi, he would not be able to ensure that he would not be seen by others when he was walking with the victim. When you ask, the safest way is naturally to say everything speak out."

Cheng Wuzhong's eyes were fixed: "Isn't the suspect the last to see the three of them?"

Li Yan's heart was turbulent, but his tone was still flat: "Yes, the initial suspects are the three just now!"

(End of this chapter)