Xue Panzhi's gossip red mansion

Madman Ridge is literally the same, and the local Miao people will not enter it.I don't know when, there have been rumors that there are cave immortals. As long as the people passing by are caught by the cave immortals, they can't come back. Even if the body returns, the soul is lost.

Normally, Daoling would not let outsiders go, for fear that something would happen to them.But when the three-year exchange meeting is coming, everyone in the village is busy with their own affairs, especially the strong labor force of each family, and they have no time to spare.Xue Pan's skills are good, and after a few months of getting along, Dao Ling has also figured out some of the other party's character, and he is reliable, so he agreed to go forward with them.There were several other strong men on the same road, afraid that something might happen.

"This place didn't have this name at first. I heard from the older generation that it used to be Guidao Ridge. There was a god preaching on the high stone in the mountain, and he got the name by unifying all laws. But then there was a mountain torrent. The high stone rolled down, and the night became a barren place full of trees. A cave fairy came and took root in the cave. Like other legends of falling caves, young unmarried women cannot pass by alone, or they will die. It's easy for Dongxian to take a fancy to him and become a concubine." Dao Ling told Xue Pan and Xie the rumor, but there was a strange expression on his face.

Xue Pan felt that Dao Ling didn't believe such legends, "Brother Dao, don't you have other opinions?"

Dao Ling glanced at the strong men behind him, and lowered his voice, "Brother Xue, let's talk about this later."

Such an attitude made Xue Pan and Xun a little puzzled. Is there anything in it that Dao Ling can't tell his own people?

Madman Ridge is not close to Cangliu Village. They walked for more than an hour to get there, and the scene in front of them was very barren.Big trees with dead vines, stones scattered among the weeds, deep pits that fell accidentally, no wonder no one came for a long time.When we arrived at the cave where the accident happened, everyone held torches and entered in groups.

Xue Pan carefully observed this cave. In the Leiming Mountains, there are many such caves. Most of them are naturally formed, and the scale is not large. The one in front of him is only ten meters deep.There is a lot of moss on the cave wall, and the ground is still damp, but there is no fairy in the cave.Dao Ling and the strong men said something, they searched again, but still found nothing, so they had to leave.

"Brother Dao, this place is so remote, who discovered Miss Chu?" Xue Pan thought about the topography of Madman Ridge, which is not a place where people often set foot.

"I have to start from the beginning. The cause of the matter is still at the exchange meeting. Brother Xue and Wu, you may not know that this exchange meeting is very important to our several Miao villages." Dao Ling talked about the exchange meeting.

As far as the distribution of Miao people is concerned, there are some in Yunnan, Qianzhou, and western Hunan. They are not under the direct jurisdiction of the imperial court. Every place has its own chieftain, and the chieftain in each area is selected from several major Miao villages. , and then report to the imperial court, which will be formally canonized by the emperor.It’s just that the Miao people are divided into raw seedlings and mature seedlings. Those that have been in communication with the Han people like Cangliu Village are called mature seedlings, while those in the closed mountains are raw seedlings. Raw seedlings also have chieftains, but most of them have not been approved by the imperial court. .

There will be a difference between big and small years for exchanges. The small year is the Spring Festival every year, and everyone travels on their own, while the big year is a few villages for raw and mature seedlings. Once every three years, they are selected in the twelfth lunar month to exchange goods. Between chieftains and chieftains Also gathered at this time to discuss the development of the local Miao Village.

"Usually no one comes around Madman Ridge, but these days, because Kalanzhai, where the exchange meeting is held, is behind the mountain, we took a shortcut from Madman Ridge in order to hurry. In the morning , Xiaochan was discovered by the villagers who were going to Kalanzhai, and now she is still unconscious, so she hurried back and told about the accident."

Xie asked, "Brother Dao is inconvenient to say just now, could it be that something like this has happened before?"

Dao Ling looked around, and those strong men went back first. He lowered his voice, "Brother Xi, Brother Xue, do you believe that there are cave immortals in this world?"

This is really hard to say.Not expecting them to come back, Dao Ling himself denied it first, "Maybe it's because I often run business outside, I don't really believe in this cave fairy's statement, let alone the cave. You don't know, three years ago The same thing happened. Just a few days before the exchange meeting was to start, two girls in the village fell into a cave, and a man also passed out outside the cave when he went back to find them. I asked privately People from other villages heard that something like this happened in Kalan Village. After those people woke up, they couldn’t remember anything, which was good, but the one in Kalan Village was crazy.”

This kind of thing also happened during the exchange meeting three years ago. Could it be that the cave fairy still chooses the time?Xie already suspected that this was someone's suspicion, "Didn't you investigate carefully?"

Dao Ling smiled wryly, "Brother Wu, this is the Miao Village, not the outside. As you can see, there were no clues just now. Everyone is busy before and after the trade fair, so there is no time. The key is that everyone in the Miao Village Believe that there are such things as Dongxian, if you have any doubts, don't show it."

Xue Pan understood the reason Daoling wanted to turn around and talk to them alone. Miaodi's beliefs were different from those of the Han people. What was unreasonable in his own eyes was taken for granted in the eyes of the Miao people. How could he break anything as an outsider.Just forget it? "Brother Dao, it's hard to do this. If this matter is artificial, then what is the purpose of the people behind the scenes, and no one will pursue it?"

"I also checked. After the exchange meeting three years ago, I checked the Madman Ridge area, but unfortunately found nothing. Then the comatose person woke up. Except for no memory of that night, everything is fine. Since nothing else happened, everyone didn't pursue it further. Brother Xue, it's normal to fall into a hole here, you understand."

Xue Pan is a little confused, isn't this letting go, if there is really a cave fairy, it's fine, if there is no such thing as letting danger lurk.But he looked at Dao Ling as if he wanted to find out, and now he understood why the other party agreed that he and Xun came, and this was to find a helper. "Brother Dao wants to investigate this time?"

Dao Ling also knew that Xue Pan had seen through his intentions and did not hide it, "That's exactly the case. I can't possibly let them know that there is such a danger. Brother Xue, Brother Xi, can you and Brother Wei help me?" With a helping hand, find out who is behind the scenes? Why is he doing this?"

Xie didn't answer, he was not an enthusiastic person and would take the initiative to participate in such things.But they happened to meet by coincidence, they were acquainted with Daoling in Miaodi, if they refused directly, it would affect their future friendship.

Dao Ling looked at the thoughtful look of the two, and straightened his expression, "You two, don't tell lies in front of real people. You didn't come here for the sake of sightseeing. The day I met you, something happened on the official road. A big case, many people died, don't you two want to know who did it?"

Xie and Xue Pan did not expect Dao Ling to guess this matter. They had already contacted Zuo Liang in Zunyi, but they still had no clue. The power of the government here is weak. Bu Chengdaoling knows the inside story.

Xun immediately became serious, and his aura changed accordingly, making people feel pressure in vain, "Brother Dao, do you know who did it?!"

Dao Ling sighed in his heart, as expected, just as he and the patriarch guessed, these people were not simple characters. "Brother Xi, it's not that I deliberately hid it from you, but that this matter is really complicated. As long as you know, it's not for you."

"The other party is your enemy in Cangliu Village? He's going after you." Xue Pan didn't care if he was coming after him or not, as long as he thought that the cause of Su Peng's death was unknown, he couldn't stop investigating this matter.

Dao Ling nodded and shook his head, this matter is still speculation, without any evidence. "I can't tell now, but there are several Bai family members who died on the official road. They came to discuss business with us. They have made an appointment to meet in Huan Shun Town at the foot of the mountain. And our own people also want to Those who passed by that road, but because a horse gave birth in the morning, the time to go out was delayed. Otherwise, it is hard to say whether it will catch up with that time."

Xue Pan now understood that Dao Ling did not ask them to investigate the problem of Madman Ridge at all this time, but he suspected that there was a connection between the falling of the boulder and the cave of Madman Ridge, and this is what he wanted to help place, because the suspect is likely to be inside the stockade.

Now Xue Pan laughed, "Brother Dao, although we have been taken care of by you in Miao Village, this matter is obviously complicated. You want us to investigate two things. This is either a dead person or a coma. You are a person who stays out of the matter, why take this risk."

Daoling's expression didn't change at all, and he said sarcastically, "Brother Xue, you don't have to pretend to be confused, don't you come here just to find out the situation of the Miao Village, can you let the government put this place under the imperial court in the future! The imperial court is unwilling The Miao village is far away, has its own chieftain, and has already started to mobilize troops, if the emperor is not old, I am afraid that our peaceful days here will be gone long ago!"

As soon as these words came out, the atmosphere suddenly cooled down. I didn't expect that this layer of window paper would be directly pierced.

Xue Pan is also a thick-skinned person, he doesn't care if the other party finds out, he can always feel something if he is not stupid.He glanced at Xun's face that had turned into a paralyzed face, and it was better to speak by himself, "Brother Dao can't say that, is there a king in the world, the Miao and Han are mutually beneficial, and you are not doing it with the outside world." Business. Wouldn’t it be more convenient if they all belonged to the imperial court? Moreover, Zangliu Village is no longer the number one compared to the other Miao villages. They cooperate with the Gu family, and you cooperate with the Bai family. The Bai family is going downhill. In the past few years, your life has not been easy. If you really follow the court and open a commercial market, it means that the whole Daqing is standing behind you. Everyone has a wide range of choices, and many difficulties can be solved, right? ?"

Dao Ling looked at Xue Pan's sincere smile, he was not really angry at all, not to mention why he, a Miao man, was close to the Han people, it is really hard to live in the deep mountains, and their situation is worse than what Xue Pan said Difficult, because the chieftain here does not face Cangliu Village at all, so after several considerations, he came up with the idea of ​​relying on the mountains.

"Brother Xue, take it as the prerequisite for our cooperation. I don't ask your real identities, but I will give you a piece of news. This matter is by no means a contest between two forces, but a melee between several parties. What I already know is the capital city Historian, the historian who just died Sanfang, is the one who cooperated with the Gu family."