Chapter 60: County Prison Clues

  Coming out of the side hall, Zu Zhao, following his grandfather's orders, invited several noble guests to rest in an empty wing room in the west courtyard.

  The guards who were previously outside the side hall were all attendants of Gong Sun and Hao Yan, and they were arranged to stay in a small guest house south of the villa. When accompanying the group along the corridor, the three people were initially lost in thought, occasionally whispering a few words, all of which were concerns about the bandit troubles in Ling County.

  Just after passing through the west gate of the temple, Gong Sunzhan suddenly quickened his pace and walked alongside Zu Zhao, who was leading the way.

  "Ancestor Master, I heard from Ancestor General earlier that you also used to study under Master Lu, right?"

  "That's right. About six years ago, my grandfather sent me to Zhuo County to follow Master Lu and learn the classics, but unfortunately, it wasn't for long. Oh, I've heard that you, Lord Gongsun, are also a disciple of Master Lu?" Zushao understood what Gongsun Zan was getting at and replied in an unhurried tone.

  "Haha, what a coincidence. It seems that we are fellow disciples of the same master, if you don't mind, I'll call you younger brother." Gong Sun said with a hearty smile.

  "It's an honor, younger brother thanks elder brother for his concern." Zu Zhao stopped in his tracks and formally bowed to Gongsun Zan. Although Gongsun Zan was now only the historian of a single state, he was still considered a person with some status. Moreover, it wouldn't be long before he would achieve great success and become a powerful warlord. For him, it was clear that before his power grew stronger, he needed to build more connections with people.

  "Alright, alright." Gong Sun Zan stepped forward and supported his ancestor, Zu Zhao.

  Following closely behind, Zhang Nan saw this scene and had many thoughts in his heart. In any case, he was just a county lieutenant, far inferior to Gongsun Zan, the governor of the province. It seemed that from now on, he could not underestimate Zuozhao again.

  Just then, a figure suddenly ran out from behind the corridor, and it was Zu Zhan.

  "Big shot."

  Zu Zhao and Gong Sun Zan turned around together. Zu Zhan came forward, first asked a courtesy to Gong Sun Zan and others, then whispered to Zu Zhao: "A Cheng and the others have returned, they are waiting for the young master in the backyard."

  Zu Cheng and others were injured on that day and stayed in Lingzhi County to recover. His injury was not serious at first, but later he deliberately stayed in Lingzhi County to take care of other wounded soldiers. Moreover, before Zu Zhao left Lingzhi, he specially instructed Zu Cheng to contact Tian Xian when the opportunity arose and investigate the clues of the bandits in the county prison. Today's return obviously has some gains.

  Zu Zhao immediately apologized to Gong Sun and others, letting Zu Yan lead the way forward, while he himself took a detour to the backyard.

  Upon arriving at the backyard stable, seven or eight young men were supporting several injured young men into the courtyard. Zu Cheng's arm was still bandaged and he looked very haggard. Zu Zhao first went to those injured young men to comfort and instruct them, then came over to Zu Cheng, who barely managed a bow.

  "Are you quite well?" asked Zu Chao with concern.

  "Thank you, young master, for remembering me, I'm no longer in trouble." Zu Cheng sighed and said.

  "That's good. Is there any new news on Lian Zhi's side?" Zu Zhao asked again immediately.

  "Yes, yesterday morning, Governor Tian summoned me to the county prison, but those bandit chiefs were not being held in the cells."

  "Is that so?" Zu Zhao furrowed his brow and pondered for a moment. Such an important prisoner was not in the prison, and he wondered if Wang Xiangjun had done something foolish again. He immediately asked, "If so, can you find out any other news?"

  "Although there was no leader among the thieves, all of them confessed that they had not originally planned to rob our family's horses. Most of them didn't even know about our family and it wasn't until the day before that they suddenly decided to lay an ambush," said Zu Cheng.

  "A sudden impulse?" Zu Zhao narrowed his eyes, his face stern. "This is unlikely. Based on our investigation of the scene that night, the thief had clearly made careful arrangements."

  "But those little thieves in prison all say so, could it be... they're deceiving me!" Zu Cheng said angrily.

  Zu Zhao slowly took a deep breath, his face showing contemplation.

  "For the time being, it's hard to say, perhaps these little followers were indeed unaware of the situation beforehand, but their leader had already made detailed plans in advance, so they could proceed in an orderly manner." He speculated.

  "Oh, right. They also said that the Hu people who came this time are not all Hu people. The reason they hid in the woods is not to avoid our pursuit of the horse robbery case, but to meet other troops. They said that this time it's going to be a big deal." Zu Cheng put on a serious face and said solemnly.

  "What? What are they going to do?" Zu Chao's eyes turned cold as he immediately asked.

  "We asked, whether by intimidation or enticement, and even deceived them into saying that others had confessed, but they all said they didn't know." Zu Cheng sighed helplessly, his expression showing a hint of frustration.

  "It seems that this matter is indeed not trivial. Unfortunately, the clues we have now are limited, and with the incompetence of Wang County in Lingdu County, even if we report this matter, I'm afraid there will be no results." Zu Zhao said solemnly.

  "What's to be done? The thief is so rampant, the conspiracy is obvious, can't we just let it go?" Zu Cheng asked urgently.

  "This matter is likely to require careful consideration. This time, the great defeat of the bandits must have disrupted their original plan, and for the time being, they will not dare to make any rash moves. From now on, even if the authorities do nothing, we must still be more vigilant." Zu Zhao said with a sigh.

  "Huh, in that case, we should strengthen our daily training and actively prepare to meet the enemy!" Zu Cheng thought for a moment before suddenly having an epiphany, and hastily proposed.

  "What you said is right. Originally, it was for the sake of preparing against thieves this winter. Now that the bandits are daring to collude with the Hu thieves, the threat is getting bigger and bigger, we should also be more proactive in responding. In a few days, I will invite Zhang Yuan and Zhang Yu, the two brothers, to come out and carefully discuss this matter." Zu Zhao nodded and said, his surface expression did not show much reaction, everything seemed logical, but in his heart, he had a hint of satisfaction, his underlying intention was to hope that others would realize the importance of preparing against thieves.

  "That's right. From now on, not only will we invite the Zhang brothers to join our training, but I'm afraid we'll also have to recruit more young men from this county. This time, the number of bandits is already greater than ours, who knows if we won't encounter even more in the future!" Zu Cheng said resolutely.

  "Let's discuss this later. Anyway, the winter preparations against thieves are about to begin, and at that time, we can use the county government's call to do this." Zu Zhao said with some insight.

  "That's right. But we have to discuss it with County Chief Chen first." Zu Cheng said again.

  "Hmm, I believe County Chief Chen won't give us too much trouble. After all, we have a precedent for dealing with bandits, and in previous years, my ancestors' family has always taken the lead in preparing against thieves. County Chief Chen has no reason not to trust us." Zu Zhao said with a slight nod.

  Zu Cheng nodded in agreement with Zu Zhao, and over the past month, he had indeed noticed a huge change in the young master. However, this wasn't anything to be surprised about, after all, this was the year of the young master's coming of age. The young master had made wise predictions and judgments about the events that had occurred recently, and with his bravery and courage, how could he not gain people's respect?

  "By the way, how has Lord Han been lately?" After a brief silence, Zu Chao asked again.

  Han Dang became low-key after being ordered to take charge of the county, and he was hardly seen in his daily life. Later, when he returned to Xu Wu with his fellow villagers, he disappeared without even saying goodbye. Although on the eve of the ancestral worship ceremony, Han Dang still appeared and had a cup of wine, but before Zu Chao could rush over from the inner courtyard, he left again.

  "Mr. Han? I haven't seen him in the past few days, though. But Ah Zhong and Da Zhuang said they saw him yesterday in the county town." Zu Cheng said with some confusion.

  "Oh, okay, I was just casually asking. You go rest first." Zu Zhao said with a slight nod.

  Wow, visiting relatives and friends during the first month of the year.

  Also, I recommend "Escape from Earth" and Hayao Miyazaki's "Grave of the Fireflies"! It's better to watch the latter after a year, otherwise...