Spring comes to the desperate place

Chapter 487 I Don’t Want to Be Named

While Song Chunlin was looking for someone, Gu Fengyue was not idle either. He asked others to patrol as before, but secretly mobilized a small caravan of the Wang family.

The Wang family's main power is in shipping. After they got in touch with the Gu family, the first route they opened up was the northern route bordering the grassland. Because it was a small caravan that had just been established not long ago, the Wang family did not want to cause trouble, so they used Song Qingxi's name and had nothing to do with the Gu family on the surface.

It was precisely because this was unknown that Gu Fengyue called him in for questioning.

The Song family is from the south and is more aware of the slightest movement in the south. This time, Gu Fengyue found them mainly to ask about the two vassal kings in the south.

Since the death of the previous emperor, the two old princes have returned to their own territories and have not taken any other actions since then.

But Gu Fengyun had already noticed something was wrong. Some years ago, someone came from the south to steal rice seeds, but after the investigation was carried out in the south, there was no further news. Gu Fengyun did not believe that the two princes were unaware of the existence of spies from other countries. The other party could come all the way to the capital, but these two did nothing. Later, when officials from the Ministry of Justice went to hold them accountable, they were evaded by these two.

As for Cai Sheng's disappearance this time, Gu Fengyue inexplicably felt that it had little to do with the barbarians. Knowing the power of explosives, the barbarians would never act rashly unless they wanted to provoke a war between the two countries again. With the previous experience of the Jin Kingdom, they were not fools and dared not kidnap Cai Sheng blatantly.

Therefore, the most likely ones are the two old princes in the south. After the Song family's caravan arrived, Gu Fengyue became more certain of his guess.

"You said it's been difficult to harvest grain in the south these past few years?"

The Song family's steward replied tremblingly, "Reporting to the Grand Marshal, it is indeed true. In the past two years, there have been many grain merchants in the south. Every time the grain is harvested, they will buy large quantities of grain from farmers at a price 10% higher than the market price. Because their prices are high and they pay them generously, and since everyone doesn't have to transport the grain themselves, the people are more willing to trade with them than to sell it to the grain store."

Gu Fengyue's heart sank, and he hurriedly asked the steward, "How long have they been collecting grain, and how large is the specific area?"

The manager was stunned by the question, and after thinking for a while, he gestured out a general range.

"I can't remember exactly when, but it happened about three or four years ago. I only know that the area covered Lingnan and Yanzhou. These people said that they transported the grain to the north to sell. My masters are all from the south, so I don't know whether it was transported to the north."

This unknown answer was very clever. Gu Fengyue pondered for a long time, so long that the steward began to feel uneasy. He then waved the steward away and asked him to wait outside. He wrote three letters, two of which he gave to the steward, asking them to deliver them to the White Tower as soon as possible, and the other one he gave to his personal guard, asking them to deliver it to the capital.

"Remember, hand this letter to my brother, and you must reach the capital alive. Do you understand?"

The personal guard immediately understood, hid the letter in his inner pocket, bowed, and immediately set off for the capital.

On the other side, the steward received the task and arranged the smartest servant and the fastest horse to take the letter to Baita City.

The three letters set out on two different routes. At this time, Song Chunlin had used his mental power to find out the place where Cai Sheng and his apprentice were imprisoned. Things were just as he guessed. Cai Sheng could not have escaped. The only explanation was that they were being held hostage. Song Chunlin followed the vague horseshoe prints on the ground and tracked them all the way to the troglodyte courtyard.

As the name suggests, a troglodyte courtyard is a courtyard built underground. The house cannot be seen from the ground. In addition, there are many trees planted around it. From a distance, it looks like a sparse forest. If Song Chunlin did not have mental power, he would probably have missed this place easily.

Cai Sheng and his apprentice were imprisoned separately. The other party probably wanted to get the formula of explosives from Cai Sheng, so they treated him politely. Although he was tied up, the room he was held in was very comfortably decorated. There was even a new cotton quilt on the bed, so it would not hurt at all if he fell on it.

The apprentice on the other side was not so lucky. He was staying in a place similar to a warehouse with nothing in it. The apprentice huddled in the corner shivering and staring at the door in horror.

Song Chunlin silently lit a candle for him and focused more of his mental energy on Cai Sheng. After looking at the place where the two were imprisoned, he looked at the surrounding environment and the other party's guards.

Wow, you wouldn't know until you see it. I found that there were more than fifty people guarding this small yard inside and outside. In addition to the twenty people in the yard, there were more than thirty people outside, all hiding in the trees. I don't know how these people could bear to stay in the trees motionless.

Song Chunlin was not too far away from that place, and it was getting late, so he planned to find a place to rest and see if the other party would have any next move. Normally speaking, Cai Sheng had been captured for some time, and the other party could not have kept them like this forever. Maybe the person behind the scenes would come over to question them soon.

Song Chunlin kept watching over them until late at night. Just when he dozed off, there was finally some movement in the troglodyte courtyard over there. Song Chunlin discovered that they were preparing to transfer Cai Sheng and his apprentice. Now neither the master nor the apprentice was given any preferential treatment. They were all drugged, packed up, and stuffed into a big box. The boxes were then loaded onto a truck and prepared to be transported away.

Song Chunlin saw that the opportunity had come, so he silently said sorry to the two of them in his heart, and then he raised his legs and followed. He was far behind the team. The team traveled all night and finally stopped when passing through a small town.

A carriage carrying a large box was driven into one of the empty houses, and Master Cai Sheng and his apprentice were released from the box.

It was unknown how much drug these people had given Cai Sheng. When Cai Sheng and his apprentice were carried out of the box, they were still not awake. Song Chunlin was afraid that the drugs would make Cai Sheng a fool.