It's really hard to just farm peacefully.

Chapter 191

On the night Jiang Yan followed Xiao Li's caravan out of Zhongyang County, the information on the walls of shops along the street was quickly copied to the residence of an official in the inner city.

The lights were on in the study. The man sitting at the desk took out a manual that had been updated just two months ago and concentrated on translating it one by one.

"Huh?" the man called over the guards outside the door and asked, "Did you find anything unusual today?"

The guard recalled the whole thing carefully and said with certainty, "No."

The man, still confused, stared at the results he had checked over and over again. He then stood up, put on his robe, and strode out of the courtyard. "I'll go check it out myself."

After a while, the man squatted in the corner and, using the bright moonlight, quickly noticed a difference in the engraving techniques between the two adjacent messages. He then carefully felt them with his hands and found that the engraving time was also inconsistent.

The man suddenly realized that there was a sudden change.

Thinking about how he was delayed yesterday and failed to send his subordinates out to check immediately, which resulted in the action being delayed for a day, the man whispered to the guard beside him, ordering him to notify everyone as soon as possible to make preparations and to capture alive the descendant of the old thief Wu who might pass by.

Wu Shande was a notorious treacherous prime minister of Northern Jin during the reign of the previous emperor. After the previous emperor's death, he was even more severely criticized as an old thief for his cruel methods of eliminating dissidents.

Because of an assassination attempt, the old thief Wu hid in the imperial city and was protected by the army. In addition, the families of several prefecture officials were trapped in the capital as hostages because they did not have time to evacuate. Therefore, although there were undercurrents in Northern Jin, it was still able to maintain superficial peace.

However, the old thief Wu could bear it, but his only offspring could not stand the loneliness.

Five days ago, the person behind the man accidentally learned that Wu Dande's only son Wu Fusui, under the guidance of someone with ulterior motives, had sneaked out of the capital with his guards, and traveled around in disguise.

There are many mountains and exits, so it is difficult to trace the whereabouts once entering the forest. Therefore, they secretly sent many people to observe the exits of the main mountain roads so that they can obtain the whereabouts as soon as possible.

The man waited for several days but there was no news. He never expected that today he would receive news that "he was nowhere to be seen" and "his route was unknown and he was going back to his hometown".

It didn't matter if the route wasn't clear. Wu Laozei's hometown was in Muping County, Zhongyuan Prefecture, and Zhongyang County was on the route. Given Master Wu's notorious pampering and extravagance, there was no way he wouldn't go into the city for supplies.

The man thought, let's just sit back and wait.

……

The morning dew had not yet dissipated, and the members of the Xiao Li caravan, who were the first to enter Pingling County, sensitively noticed that something was wrong around them.

However, within two days, although the gatekeepers at the city gate perfunctorily checked the belongings as usual, they kept looking at the faces of the people entering the city from time to time.

"They are looking for someone. I wonder what big thing has happened." Mrs. Mu frowned, put her hands on her hips, and walked around unconsciously in the room they temporarily rented in the guesthouse.

After hesitating, Boss Li said, "Why don't we just leave today and talk about it later?"

Madam Mu gritted her teeth and said, "Alright. You take a few people with you to ship out more goods, and I'll take the others to prepare some food. We'll avoid going into the city if we can."

Merchants in Pingling County sensed something was amiss early on and became very vigilant. They refused to buy anything except food and medicinal herbs, and the grain shops also sold much less.

After a while, Boss Li returned to the guesthouse with a serious expression. Only one or two items were missing from the goods he had taken out. Most of them were either unwanted or sold at a high price by those who took advantage of the situation.

Mu Niangzi soon returned with her men. Their backpacks contained a few bags of grains and vegetables, but not much, only enough for the caravan to use for two days.

Everyone left Pingling County without stopping. When Jiang Yan walked out of the guesthouse, he turned his head to glance at the new mark that appeared at the foot of the wall.

She thought that time was too tight and she didn't have time to find a public message board, and she didn't know if her message would be noticed if she engraved it here.