Chapter 27, Tracking overnight

Zu Zhao said nothing more. He took the reins, installed the bow and dagger, and put on the horse.

When the children saw it, they didn't say a word, and then jumped on the horseback.

With a light drink, Zu Zhao took the lead in running out of the backyard gate, and the children of the ancestors came one after another. The burning fire formed a long line in the dark, and the sound of horses' hoofs replaced the anger in the knights' hearts, which was even more turbulent than the torch in their hands.

The place where Gao Hong and others were attacked is Bali Fort, 30 miles northeast of Xu Wu County. Zu Zhao led the children to gallop all the way under the night, first passing through the county town, then to the suburbs, and then through a sparse forest. Gradually, there were fewer and fewer people, and there were only boundless hills ahead.

Balibao, like Xihe Bridge, is a market place where people in nearby Tingxiang spontaneously gather, but because it crosses the county boundary dozens of miles east, it is not as prosperous and lively as Xihe Bridge. Zu Zhao and others traveled for an hour. When they came to Balibao, they could only see countless desolation, and it seemed that they could not even see half of the people within a hundred miles.

"A Cheng, take a few people to walk north for a while. The terrain there is higher and you can see more clearly. Don't be too far away.

On the back of the horse, Zu Zhao pressed the hilt of the short sword around his waist and ordered it in a grim tone.

"Yes." A Cheng nodded and waved to several ancestors to follow him closely. They adjusted the direction of the mount and left the brigade and headed north. The two teams are not too far away and can take care of each other at any time.

The team continued to move forward for half a miles, and Zu Zhao, who was leading in front, subconsciously slowed down, and the team behind him slowed down. Since we are here to search for the bodies of the victims and other available clues, we must be careful.

At this time, someone from the team running north suddenly shouted: "Look, there is movement under the tree in front of you."

This sound made everyone take a deep breath. Some people subconsciously reached out to grab the bow on the horse's back, and some even pulled out their daggers or raised their long guns. The crowd looked in the direction indicated by the sound. Sure enough, there seemed to be a dark shadow shaking back under a lonely tree in front of them.

Zuzu Zhao subconsciously kicked the horse in the stomach and accelerated his speed. After a while, as the distance approached, he faintly recognized the shadow as a horse without a master through the light of the stars and moon.

"Be careful, everyone." He immediately shouted, "Azhong, Abin, go around from the side."

"Yes, big son."

"Let's see if there is any other movement around the spot." Zu Zhao added.

The team gradually fanned around the tree, and the few people on the outermost kept looking around, beware that the thief would appear at any time.

A group of people came to the tree, and several older children did not dismounted. They took people to occupy several high positions nearby and held high torches to expand the light range further. The hilly terrain at a glance is like a blackened silk cloth, thick and sticky. Except for the sound of the big and small night wind, there is no other movement.

Several children around Zu Zhaohao jumped off the horse and took three steps and two steps to the tree. Under the light of the other children around them, they saw a brown horse stopping there at a loss. The horse's head was put on the reins, and there was also a pair of leather cushions on the horse's back. Not only that, there are many scars on the horse's belly and buttocks, but the wound has been frozen and no longer bleeding.

"Sir, this horse... seems to be the horse on our village..." A son immediately said.

Zu Zhao remembers clearly that the mounts of the thief are all miscellaneous horses, and this is a horse more than seven feet tall in front of him, which is obviously the horse on his own village.

"You guys, take a look around. Ah Cheng, you continue to look forward for a while. With this in mind, he gave the order decisively.

"Yes."

"Everyone, come with me."

A group of children quickly launched an orderly action. One group of people continued to look for the northeast slowly, while the other group urged the mounts to take broken steps and scattered to explore around.

Zu Zhao carefully checked around the horse in his hand and had many questions in his mind: since the thief robbed the horse, why did he let the horse run away? Unless the place of the incident is further away from here!

In a moment, a shout came from not far away: "Come on, find Zu Sange and the sixth uncle of Daxingli, come quickly."

Zu Zhao frowned. At present, he is completely sure that the place of the incident was here, but why didn't the thief take away the horse? He temporarily suppressed this doubt, told the three children to stay under the tree, and took the others to the place where the call came.

Just a hundred steps south of the tree, several children are gathering together with torches. Two children crouch on the ground not far away and lay a dusty corpse beside them. Under the reflection of the surrounding firelight, it can be recognized that both of them are the victims of the attack of their ancestors.

"The third brother was shot through the throat with an arrow. It's really cruel." The older son squatting in front of the first body said, his tone was very solemn and desolate.

Zu Zhao squatted down in front of "Zu Sange" and checked the feather arrow nailed into the other party's neck.

"Torch." He suddenly found something.

A son close to the left rushed forward and lowered the torch in his hand.

"This arrow is all black, and even the arrow feathers are dyed black." The older children were surprised.

Zu Zhao touched the arrow feathers of the arrow. The feathers were not ordinary chicken feathers and goose feathers, but like some kind of bird feathers. Although bird feathers are not rare, they are much more expensive to make. He couldn't help guessing whether this arrow was a special sign of the archer? If so, it is not difficult to find the whereabouts of the archer, and you can even speculate that the other party is an absolutely confident and arrogant person.

"take out the arrow and put the body in place." He ordered, and then stood up and walked to another corpse.

There was nothing unusual about the second corpse, but died of an ordinary blade.

In the next half hour, the children of the ancestors successively found the remains of other victims, a total of seven people, and the number of them was complete. However, in addition to the two bodies first found, two others were killed by black arrows. One hit the chest and penetrated the heart, and the other directly shot one eye, all of which were killed with one arrow.

After inspecting these three strange bodies, Zu Zhao suddenly felt that this matter was not a small matter, and the person who attacked the ancestral horse team was by no means an ordinary thief. Three arrows were fired in the dark, killing three people. What a sharp eye and arrow.

"Acheng, can you find any trace of the thief?"

After placing all the remains in leather, Zu Zhao asked Acheng, who had just returned from a distance.

"We found some blood stains and horseshoe footprints in the north, but it was too dark to be difficult to trace. The thieves should have fled north. Ah Cheng replied.

"North? Since there are clues, what are we waiting for? Let's chase them together. It depends on where these little thieves can escape. Gongsun Long said excitedly, most eager to try.

Zu Zhao pondered for a moment. If he did not find anything strange about the black arrow, he would certainly insist on chasing it. At present, it is not too far from the time of the crime. First-hand clues are very important, and the possibility of catching up with the thief is also the greatest. If we have to wait until tomorrow, no one can know where these thieves will flee. However, considering that there is a ruthless man among the thieves, they can't determine the true identity of these people for a while, and they must not be easily entrusted.

"The risk of night travel is too high. Since the thief escapes far away, it can only be discussed in the long run. The first thing we came here is to find the remains of our brothers. Now that they have been found, we will naturally send them back to our home immediately to comfort the families of the victims. Wait until tomorrow, and then call Zuji and others to find the whereabouts of the thief. He said solemnly.

Everyone may be a little unwilling, but they dare not disove to obey the words of the eldest son. Although Gongsun Long was still angry, he didn't say anything more because he admired Zu Zhao very much.

Before getting on the horse, Zu Zhao stared far away from the north for a while, and there was always a feeling of waves.

On the way back to Zujiazhuang, Gongsun Long couldn't help guessing and said, "The thief came from the north and fled to the north. Will he be a barbarian who crossed the border? Although I don't know what's going on in Youbeiping County, there are often nonsense in our Xuandu County, which is really hateful.

Several children of the ancestors nearby heard this and followed for a discussion.

However, Zu Zhao did not say anything from beginning to end, looking thoughtful. It's not that he didn't hear Gongsun Long's words, but he just thought that it didn't make much sense to guess alone now. Under the black light, even the survivors could not tell the identity of the thief, and random speculation would go astray.

As soon as he returned to Xu Wu County, more than a dozen riders suddenly came from the oncoming official road. Recently, it was found that the leader turned out to be Zu Ji and more than a dozen other children who had just returned from Xihe Bridge. This afternoon's test season was the winner. As usual, he stayed in the town restaurant for a big meal, and also ate the big deer sent by Han Dang. After drinking, he returned to Zujiazhuang. After hearing about Uncle Hong's accident, Zu Ji and others couldn't help but chase him out.

After the meeting, Zu Ji still had a drunken atmosphere, but with a righteous face and tone, he hurriedly asked Zu Zhao and others about the following. Zu Zhao briefly explained two sentences, and then returned to Zujiazhuang with Zu Ji.

Zujiazhuang is still brightly lit. Not only that, there are several more decorated carriages outside the gate of the front yard, as well as a team of bodyguards with knives and neatly dressed in leather. It is the doormen and lieutenants gathered by the county government. Zu Zhao first placed the bodies of the victims in person, and then ordered Zu Ji to lead a group of children who usually participated in the training to take turns to rest in groups of 20 people and help take care of and do some chores on the manor.

Zu Ji solemnly responded to the order and began to organize idle men in Zhuang with Zu Cheng, Zu Zhong and others.

Gongsun Long planned to go with him, but he was tired. Halfway through, he turned back to the West Courtyard.