Tang riddles

Hu Tuo ran in the dark dense forest with one foot deep and one foot shallow. He has been running for more than two quarters, but he has not yet seen the shadow of Yun'an Village.

He suspected that he might have lost his way again, but he clearly remembered that when he was chasing Shen Sui with Qianhe, he saw flames near here, which should be inhabited.Was he heading in the wrong direction?

Hu Tuo didn't believe in evil, he was born in the desert, grew up in the desert, he could cross the vast sand sea, how could a small dense forest trap him.He firmly believed that he was not going in the wrong direction, and planned to continue on for a while to try.If it doesn't work, he will go back the same way.

After another half a cup of tea, Hu Tuo pushed aside a section of bushes that towered between his chest and abdomen, and suddenly a gust of wind blew in his face, which made his hairs stand up and his chicken skin stand on end.He shivered subconsciously, only to feel that this sinister wind penetrated into his bone marrow, chilling the bottom of his heart.

Slowly crossing the bushes, he finally walked out of the dense forest, and the terrain in front of him opened up.However, a lonely and desolate scene unfolded in front of him, with ruins everywhere, collapsed wooden beams and tile houses, charred black rafters, and thatched roofs that were smashed into carbon powder.This is a barren land, which has been lonely for many years after experiencing a big fire.

Hu Tuo was walking among the ruins in a daze. He didn't know what happened here, but he could roughly tell that it used to be a large-scale village. From some remnants in the ruins, it can be seen that the villagers here were engaged in Most of them were carpenters. There were a lot of large timber in the ruins, which had not been completely burned, and the original appearance could still be seen.Next to a certain ruined wall, there are still logs that have been burnt into charcoal on the outside.These were cut down in whole sections and transported here from the mountains.But as if overnight, this place was completely destroyed, and no one moved these large timbers.

Hutuo can even see a half-formed big boat on the open space in the southwest corner of the village. Straight to the river.But now, the keel was overturned on the ground, and several of the wood had been broken, and traces of swords were seen on it.Similarly, the keel has also turned into coke. Although it has not been completely burned, its appearance is still horrible.

In the ruins of this village, Hu Tuo searched around, but failed to find anything useful.There is no long rope, and no one to call for help, and what is left to him is a useless scene of the underworld.

The atmosphere here was so cold and gloomy that Hutuo felt that the robes on his body were blowing through the wind, which made him shiver continuously.The Yin wind was howling, whistling in his ears, Hutuo thought, it was probably the cry of a wronged soul.He may be the only living person who has visited this place for many years. This scene is reflected in his eyes and stored in his mind. If the people in this village have spirits, they must hope that they will not forget that they have been here. In such a ruin, this place was once the tomb where the souls of the whole village returned overnight. Probably, no one left this world voluntarily.

Sighing, Hutuo left anyway, he couldn't stay here for long, Dalang and Sanniang were still waiting for his rescue.In the dark night, he stood on the hillside and looked down. He vaguely saw the distant riverside as if there was a fire.

……

"There is a Zhoujia Village near here. More than ten years ago, the entire village was wiped out overnight. I speculate that the cave full of hanging coffins we are in now is the burial place of the entire Zhoujia Village. "At the same time, on the hanging coffin, Zhang Ruohan asked again how Shen Sui found himself. Shen Sui thought about it and started from the beginning.

"I have read the summary of the county annals given to me by Sun Fei, the magistrate of Fengjie County. Today's Yun'an Village was just built more than ten years ago, and all the veterans and their families who moved in were retired sailors. Yun'an Village It is a semi-militarized village. The people in the village are all sailors. They are sailors in wartime. In non-wartime, these people build boats and fish for business. They moved here later. However, in the year when Yun’an Village moved here, in the census of Fengjie County, there were no more than 80 households in Yun’an Village. For some reason, the population was wiped out. And Yun’an The records of moving to the village are vague and vague, and it was Sun Fei himself who discovered something was wrong after more than ten years of investigation. This shows that someone covered up the fact that there were more than 80 households living here."

"This week, more than 80 households in Zhoujia Village were silenced overnight. They must have been involved in some huge secret incident. Do you have a clue?" Zhang Ruohan asked softly. Breathe to speak.Although his body was terribly weak, the pain and cold had been relieved a lot.In this person's arms, even though she was on a cliff tens of feet high and surrounded by countless hanging coffins, she felt an unprecedented sense of peace and warmth.

Shen Sui replied: "That's a long story. I once looked through the archives of Dali Temple, and the records said: 14 years ago in the late spring of April, Sima Zhang Yue of Jiangling Mansion, with his wife, two daughters, and his wife The four of them returned to their hometown in Xiazhou and returned to the province. On the way back to Jiangling, they encountered a flood in the river, capsized the boat, and all fell into the river. Later, the bodies of Zhang Yue, his wife, his wife and sister were found, but the two daughters So far, his whereabouts are unknown, neither alive nor dead.

Sun Fei, magistrate of Fengjie County, did not find out the names of Zhang Yue's wife and sister-in-law from the Kipzhou household files transferred by the Jingnan Jiedu envoy.The two men seemed to disappear out of thin air.The family records of Zhoujia Village were wiped out, and the disappearance of Zhang Yue's wife and sister-in-law files after the Zhang Yue case in Xiazhou happened exactly at the same time.I have every reason to believe that Zhang Yue's wife, wife and sister are not from Xiazhou, but from Zhoujia Village.The deaths of five members of Zhang Yue's family were also directly related to the Zhoujia Village extermination case. "

"Is this a bit far-fetched? After all, there is no direct evidence for Zhang Yue's incident." Zhang Ruohan said.

"Yes, but there is no doubt that the two cases are related incidents. The bodies of Zhang Yue and his wife and sister-in-law were washed up on the bank of the Jiangling River. They were swollen and completely deformed from the soaking. According to Wu’s judgment, they had soaked in the river for at least twelve hours. If they fell into the water and died on the way back to Jiangling from Kipzhou, no matter what, the time would not have been so long. From Fengjie to Jiangling, it takes about twelve hours to float by self-flow. Many timber merchants know that during this time, logging is prevalent in Kuizhou, and timber is transported to the southeast, relying on timber to flow in the river.

Moreover, according to Wu's judgment, the cause of their death was not drowning. There was no sand in their nasal cavity and lungs, and they had already held their breath before falling into the water. It is likely that they had been drowned to death.With so much indirect evidence, I can already confirm that the Zhang Yue case is related to the Zhoujiacun extermination case. "

"But what does this have to do with Zhu Yuanmao? There is also the case of Zhu Yuanmao's cousin Lu Zixiu's family being wiped out. Could it be that Zhu Yuanmao wiped out the Zhou family village? The surviving Zhou family also wiped out Lu Zixiu's family, and finally killed Zhu Yuanmao?" Zhang Ruohan asked.

Shen Sui smiled and said:

"You're right, these are two cases of revenge. Buddhists always say when is the time to repay the grievances? Isn't this just retribution? However, it was not Zhu Yuanmao who destroyed the Zhou family village, but Lu Zixiu who destroyed the Zhou family village. And Lu Zixiu The family was not killed by Zhou Da's family."

"How do you say that?" Zhang Ruohan looked at Shen Sui suspiciously.

"The case of Lu Zixiu's extermination happened a year and a half ago. At that time, Zhou Da was still serving in the Gyeonggi area, so he didn't have the conditions to commit crimes." Shen Sui explained.

……

Kutuo saw that not far from the end of the river beach, there was an abandoned shipyard[Note], and the fire was illuminated from the shipyard.

He quickened his pace and walked towards the abandoned dock.He walked in a hurry when he came out, and he didn't have time to bring a weapon. Now he only has a riding whip and a machete at his waist that never leaves his body.

Vaguely, he smelled a dangerous atmosphere.The people in the dock don't seem to be good people.This is the wild sense of smell he has cultivated in the desert for many years, and he has always believed in his own judgment.

When it was very close, he slowed down and put his hand on the handle of the knife.The dock is a hundred feet high and several shots deep. It was built with the help of natural caves. Now most of them are empty. The wooden and bamboo scaffolding on all sides are scattered, and several places have broken and collapsed.There were several piles of logs piled up in the corner, which were already covered in ash.

There was a brazier hanging on a shelf inside the dock, and the firelight shone into the night outside through the gap. This was the source of the firelight he saw.Hutuo's cheeks were reddened by the light of the fire. Recently, he has been traveling hard and neglected to take care of himself. The beard and beard on his face have grown several inches. His face with deep eyes and high nose is still handsome, and his beard has added a bit of vicissitudes to him. with maturity.He tried his best to tie his curly brown hair into a bun, but helplessly, there were still a few locks hanging uncomfortably on his forehead.His face was dirty and there were a few scratches, making him look quite embarrassed.A pair of green eyes looked vigilant and dignified.

There are few shipyards in the entire Datang Dynasty, and such docks formed by natural caves are extremely rare, and can only be seen in Kuizhou, where the shipbuilding industry is very developed.

The wind in the river became colder, and Hu Tuo tightened his robe with a large lapel.Seeing several spare torches under the brazier, he took one, lit it, held it up, and slowly walked into the depths of the dock.

In the depths of the dock, it was getting darker, and the firelight cast Hutuo's shadow on the cliff, showing a strange posture.He saw traces of human life in the deepest part of the dock.There is a simple bamboo house built crookedly in the dock.Outside the bamboo house, next to the door, there is a small clay stove made of mud bricks, and an iron pot that has been repaired twice is placed on it.The fire was extinguished, the pot was clean, and there was nothing.In the wooden basin placed on the side, there is half a basin of clear water, soaking two bowls and two sets of chopsticks.Sticking to the outer wall of the bamboo house, bundles of dried firewood were piled up.

On the wall of the bamboo house, there are fishing nets, and just under the dock not far from the bottom of the bamboo house, there is a small boat tied to it, which is the boat of the poorest fishermen.

Hutuo unconsciously swallowed his saliva, clenched the scabbard on his back, stood in front of the bamboo house, and shouted:

"Fisherman, is there someone here!"

After waiting for a while, no one answered.He frowned, and shouted again:

"Disturb the fisherman, I have something urgent, ask the fisherman for help!!"

Still no one answered, Kutuo raised his hand towards the door, intending to open it and enter.Just when he put his hand on the door, "click", the old and dilapidated door creaked open, and a terrifying face appeared under the firelight.The gloomy and strange look on this face made Hutuo take half a step back in shock.

A pair of puffy eyes with swollen eye bags stared at him, his rough and yellow cheeks were covered with wrinkles, and he had a large fish-like mouth with drooping corners, and his thick lips were purple, which couldn't hide the broken yellow and black teeth.The upturned nose was tilted aside, as if someone had broken the nasal bone.It was so ugly that he couldn't bear to take a second look.He was born extremely thin, with a stooped back, and his height was not as high as Hutuo's chest and abdomen.

"Who..." This person's voice was extremely hoarse, with a feeling of weakness, like a faint echo from the underworld.

From the clothes and appearance of the man, Kuta could barely tell that he was a man about 40 years old.He swallowed again, cleared his throat and said:

"Fisherman, do you have a long rope in your home? It needs a very, very long rope, at least thirty feet long. I'm waiting for emergency use."

This extremely ugly man stood at the door and stared at Hutuo for a while, which made Hutuo tremble all over.Finally, without saying anything, he turned and went back to the house.Hu Tuo stood there, a little at a loss, did this person agree to him, or did he not?But looking at the half-open door, Hutuo decided to wait there for a while.

But after a while, there was no movement from that person. Hutuo's heart was attached to Dalang and Sanniang, and he couldn't wait any longer.He put the torch into the brazier hanging under the eaves outside the bamboo house, turned around and held down the handle of the knife, and slowly opened the door with the other hand.

"Squeak", the door opened with difficulty, and an unpleasant smell rushed over, like the smell of rotten fish and rotten shrimps piled up together and rotted after being exposed to the sun.Hu Tuo was almost fainted by Xun, held his breath forcibly, frowned tightly, and stepped in.

The scene inside the house is clear at a glance, there is a wooden bed, two stools, and nothing else, the house is barren.A person was lying on a plank bed.The man was sitting on the edge of the bed, motionless.

"Fishermen..." Hutuo trembled in his heart.

"The rope you want is in the corner, take it yourself." The man said weakly.

Hu Tuo glanced around the room, and he really saw several bundles of ropes in the corner, which must be enough to add up.He was overjoyed, picked up the rope, hurriedly said "Thank you, Yujia!" and left immediately.

In the dark night, he ran like a leopard, panted like a cow, and quickly left this extremely weird dock with a nervous feeling of fleeing.

The author has something to say: [Note] According to records, the earliest dock in my country appeared in the Northern Song Dynasty.Here is to graft the things of later generations into Datang.

Now that the main clues of this case are basically given, is the thinking clearer?