Chapter 101 Extraordinary People

"If my guess is correct, those bandits who have lost their country are obviously two groups, escaping in batches. We are only chasing the two who can ride horses."

Outside the second pavilion, after hearing Hei Fu's analysis, Wei Shi Anpu frowned and said, "Where are the remaining six people?"

"The other six people must be hiding in the mountains and forests beside the road."

The stable official was a little angry: "Since only two people can ride, why did they take away more than ten of my horses!"

Hei Fu said: "This is the cunning of the bandit leader Ao. He first burned the stable garden, causing shock to the township officials, and led a large group of people to chase. You should know that in addition to the five of us and the five horses, the guards of each pavilion also rushed here on foot after hearing the news. In this way, the military equipment in the west of the entire township is empty, and the six people may be able to walk west at night and escape into Yunmengze! That is the most likely shortcut to leave Qin territory on foot!"

He looked at the sky. It was almost 12:00. In another hour or two, the sun would set. By then, it would be the time for the six people to escape at night.

Then the question came again. As the mastermind of everything, in which direction would "Ao" be?

Hei Fu thought to himself: "He knew to use the Jingquan to confuse the clerk to investigate the case, and took advantage of the time difference to raid the stables and seize the horses, and then used this to lure us to chase... These strategies are linked together, and only a wise and brave person can do it. Ao's identity is becoming more and more mysterious. I don't believe that he is just an ordinary refugee from the State of Chu, a person who is willing to be a farmer. He has been keeping a low profile for more than a year. Perhaps it is for today that he has fooled all the Qin officials in the township!"

"Who knows, this man is also a spy from the State of Chu!"

But this is just a guess. Hei Fu can only say to everyone that Ao directed the state's destruction and horse theft incident. He is a cunning and daring villain. The person who rushed over on horseback must be him!

Heifu bowed to Anpu and said, "Wei Shi, please take one person back immediately and tell all the guards in the village not to come all the way. Set up sentries at various intersections leading to Yunmengze to prevent anyone from escaping at night!"

Anpu nodded and rode back with the village headman. Ao, as the main culprit, must be arrested, but the other six people must not be allowed to escape.

Heifu, Shuwu and Judian continued to chase along the road. Judian was the first, but after turning a small hill, Heifu found that he stopped in front.

"Jiu Dian, what happened?"

"The horses' hooves separated here, and the hoof prints of the horses were messy. We continued along the main road, but one horse left alone and ran towards this small road."

Shu Wu asked hesitantly, "Could it be that the thief leader let a horse go alone?"

"It's unlikely. Please look, the hoof prints are very heavy, and there must be a person sitting on it! Although there are many hoof prints on the main road, they are all lighter, which clearly shows that no one is riding!"

Ji Dian is an expert in horse breeding, so he can naturally judge it, but just in case, Shu Wu still chased along the main road alone. Two miles ahead is a pavilion at the easternmost end of Anlu County. Shu Wu said that if he didn't find the thieves, he would go there to ask for help and chase the lost horses back.

Hei Fu and Ji Dian rode on the small road. Although the main road was a muddy loess road, it could at least accommodate two carriages running side by side. After turning off the fork, they could only move forward along a path in the barren fields where the ruts could barely be identified. It was slightly wider than the ridge of the field and could only allow one horse to run. Because it was not often used, the path was covered with dense weeds, the pale yellow flowers had already bloomed, and the brown autumn grasshoppers crawled on the ground...

Although the road was not easy to walk on, Judian relied on his superb riding skills and still rode very fast. Once he found something, he would immediately get off to investigate.

But he was seen holding a warm pile of horse manure excitedly, not feeling dirty at all, and shouted to Heifu in the distance: "Heifu Pavilion Chief, we have caught up! This horse manure is hot, just a moment ago!"

As he said that, Judian did not wait for Heifu, got on the horse again, and accelerated forward.

Heifu threw the wooden chips in his bag in the middle of the road as a sign to guide the reinforcements behind. He was a little relieved that Judian had come with him. Although he could read footprints, he could only read people and had no idea about the information revealed by horse hoof prints...

But Heifu was still a little worried. With Ao's cunning and resourcefulness, would he have any tricks up his sleeve?

"Shi confessed that when Ao left the hunter's house, he took away a few wooden traps in addition to the sword and money..."

Thinking of this, Heifu hurriedly shouted to the front: "Judian, be careful!"

But it was too late. As soon as he finished speaking, suddenly, on the small road where the weeds covered the horse's hooves, the gray horse that Judian was riding stumbled and fell!

The gray horse neighed, swung its front feet, and knelt on its hind legs, throwing Judian off the horse's back and smashing him heavily to the ground!

Heifu went over to take a look and found that the horse's hind leg had stepped on a wooden trap! The wooden nail was deeply embedded in the horse's skin, and blood was dripping.

And Judian also held his leg and cried out in pain. When he was thrown out, his leg was injured.

"Judian, are you okay?" Heifu helped him up and found that Judian's ankle was sprained. It hurt when it touched the ground.

"Heifu Pavilion Chief, don't worry about me. Go and chase the thief. He must be in front!"

Judian said angrily: "This little thief not only insulted me again and again, but also played with the officials and soldiers of the whole township like a monkey. If we don't arrest him, we will be ashamed to be Qin officials!"

"Yes, Heifu is willing to do it for Judian!"

Heifu also knew what was more important. After settling Judian, he continued to chase!

This time, whenever he couldn't see the road conditions, he carefully bypassed them.

But even without the traps, the path was still difficult to walk on. The ground was soft and full of cracks. There were half-buried tree roots and hidden stones everywhere. At the back, even the wheel tracks filled with water disappeared.

This was the end of the border of Anlu County. Further ahead was a mountainous area that neither Qin nor Chu could control. There were no registered people there, only some barbarians who had lived there since who knows when.

Hei Fu found himself shuttling through the rolling hills, crossing fallen trees and tangled thorns, and going deep into the bottom of the narrow ravine. The heavy branches with wet leaves slapped his face again and again.

He was even a little confused about the directions, and even began to doubt whether the thieves were still in front of him.

Finally, after riding through a bush, he saw a black horse at the foot of the steep mountain in front of him, staying where it was, quietly chewing grass...

There was no one on the horse's back.

But when Heifu looked up, he saw that on the woodcutter's path leading up the mountain, among the dense trees, there was a thin man in coarse linen clothes, carrying a bow on his back, struggling to climb up!

Heifu immediately dismounted, took the crossbow hanging on the side of the horse, loaded the arrow and strung it in one go, raised his hand to aim at the thief who was halfway up, and pulled the trigger without hesitation!

Unfortunately, his archery skills were far inferior to his swordsmanship. The crossbow arrow was a little off and shot at a tree on the left side of the man, shaking the branches, dropping pine cones, and also alarming the man.

He turned around, and Heifu found that the man had a topknot, a short knife in his mouth, a dark face, and a short beard under his chin. When he saw Heifu chasing here, a trace of surprise flashed in his eyes.

After nearly ten days of investigation and speculation day and night, today, Heifu finally saw the murderer who had imagined countless times in his mind!

"Ao!" Hei Fu once again raised the bowstring and aimed it at his back, while quickly approaching, he shouted the name of the murderer.

"Why don't you surrender?"

Ao was not afraid at all, he bit the short knife, smiled at Hei Fu, and then, he used his hands and feet to speed up the mountain!

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