That night, there was a slightly complete adobe house in Beiyuanzhuang.

The candles were bright in the room. Li Yuanfang sat on a dilapidated wooden chair, while Di Renjie was walking slowly, only to hear the thunder rolling outside the window. From time to time, a flash of lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating the room.

At this time, Di Renjie suddenly stopped and muttered: "Carbon! Dry yard... Carbon! Dry yard!"

Pictures kept passing by his eyes. On a dark night, the lights were brightly lit in the Beiyuan Licang Field, and countless figures were busy, putting sacks of grain on the carriage... Di Renjie's mouth slightly faded and he whispered: "I guessed it right..."

Li Yuanfang was beside him, and heard Di Renjie muttering to himself, and hurriedly stood up and said, "Sir, what are you talking about?"

Di Renjie suddenly raised his head and shouted: "Yuan Fang, you will call Zeng Tai and the others soon. Let's set off now! Go to the warehouse!"

The rain was getting heavier and heavier. With the thunder and lightning, several fast horses were speeding on the road. In a short while, they arrived at the ruins of Beiyuan Rikuangchang.

At this time, a huge lightning flashed by, illuminating the warehouse that had long been ruined and ashes, adding a bit of gloomy and terrifying.

At this time, the Beiyuan Rikuangchang was poured by heavy rain, and the black ashes turned into black mud, making it almost difficult to get out of the foot. Di Renjie and his men were walking carefully in the ruins, one step deep and one step shallow...

Zeng Tai, who was following Di Renjie, looked confused and said with some confusion: "Teacher, what are we doing here?"

Di Renjie did not answer, but reached out to wipe the rain on his face and walked forward slowly. At this time, Beiyuan was burned to a flat ground, and naturally there was no larger cover. Soon, a few people came to a very empty flat ground. Di Renjie stomped his feet, and the land under his feet was extremely hard, as if it had been compacted.

Di Renjie let out a long sigh, turned to Li Yuanfang and others and ordered: "You can look around and see if there is anything unusual."

Although the few people didn't know the intention of Di Renjie doing this, they still did not dare to neglect it. They scattered and carefully looked for anything unusual.

"Sir, come and see here!" At this time, Li Lang, who was holding a torch not far away, waved to Di Renjie. Seeing this, everyone rushed over. Di Renjie took the torch from Li Lang and shone it on the ground. He saw that the rammed earth was covered with ruts.

Li Yuanfang whispered: "Sir, it's a rut."

Di Renjie nodded without saying a word, but walked forward along the mark of the ruts. After a while, he arrived at the ruins of a warehouse. Because the fire scattered the ashes, burying the ruts in front of him deeply.

Di Renjie did not have a disappointed expression, but turned around and ordered:

"Yuanfang, you take Li Lang and the others in this direction and look forward to see if there are any ruts!"

"Yes, sir." Li Yuanfang agreed with a fist, then took Zhang Huan, Li Lang and others to hold the torch and searched forward slowly and carefully.

"Mr., is this rut..." Zeng Tai also looked at Di Renjie thoughtfully and said.

"Yes, it was the vehicles used by those bad guys to transport grain." Di Renjie stroked his beard and smiled: "If it weren't for the old man from Beiyuanzhuang reminding me, I would have thought that there was no food in this warehouse, but just an empty warehouse.

But unexpectedly, there was still a lot of grain stored in the warehouse. The old man also said that after the fire, they had come to the warehouse to look for grain, but there was no residue at all. How could this be possible? No matter how big the fire burns, it is impossible to burn all the grain without any residue. There is only one explanation. They transported all the grain, and the ruts were left when transporting grain!"

"Teacher, then we can follow the ruts to find that batch of food." Zeng Tai's eyes lit up and he said in surprise.

"With this possibility, we have one more clue at the most time." Di Renjie nodded.

"Sir... Sir..." At this time, Li Yuanfang's shout suddenly came from the front. Di Renjie and the others hurried forward, and soon the ruins came out and came to Li Yuanfang and the others.

Li Yuanfang held up the torch and pointed to the ground and said:

"Sir, look, there are a lot of ruts here that are heading southeast!"

Hearing this, Di Renjie hurriedly lowered his head and squatted down. Under the light of the fire, he saw that there were indeed many rut marks on the ground, pressing deep ravines on the ground. Di Renjie gestured with his hands again, then stood up and said:

"From the ruts, there should be heavy stuff on the car. Let's look forward!" As he said that, he took the lead in following the ruts.

After walking for about half an hour, the front became more and more desolate, and it was already a deserted wilderness. "Sir! Be careful!" While Di Renjie was walking forward, Li Yuanfang suddenly took Di Renjie forward. Di Renjie was shocked and hurriedly looked forward.

There was an extremely wide river ahead. The fire shone on it, and the river surface was like a mirror and there was not even a ripples. It was flowing quietly, and his feet were less than a foot from the river surface. If Li Yuanfang hadn't grabbed him, he would have plunged into the river.

Di Renjie stroked his heart, which was a little frightened, and then said, "Yuan Fang, look around and have you found anything..."

When Li Yuanfang and others heard this, they spread around, while Di Renjie stared at the river in front of him, thinking a little uneasy. After a while, Li Yuanfang and others turned around, and Li Yuanfang said:

"Sir, except for finding some broken ropes and some blurred ruts on some trees over there, there is nothing left."

"My teacher, so do I have nothing but some straw ropes." Zeng Tai also said.

Di Renjie nodded. It was already late at night, but the rain had no intention of stopping. Instead, it was getting heavier and heavier. After staying for a moment, Di Renjie said:

"Let's go back to Beiyuanzhuang..."

...

The next day, the rain gradually stopped for a night, but it was still cloudy, making the sky look a little dim.

In the adobe house, Di Renjie was smiling and watching an old man gnawing with big white flour steamed buns. While gnawing at the steamed buns with big mouthfuls, he also said to Di Renjie in ambiguous way: "Old sir... you... choke... why don't you eat it?"

Di Renjie smiled and waved his hand:

"Old man, eat, I'm not hungry!"

The old man looked at Di Renjie with a strange look and whispered: "There are still people in this world who are not hungry?"

Li Yuanfang, who was standing beside him, smiled and said, "Old man, you should eat quickly, don't worry about us."

The old man nodded, stuffed half of the steamed bun into his mouth, and worked very hard to put the steamed bun down his throat. He took a breath, and beat his chest and said, "Hey, I'm so full. The old man hasn't eaten this way for more than a month."

Di Renjie looked at the old man with a smile and said in a gentle voice:

"Old man, should you eat some?"

Upon hearing this, the old man waved his hand and said:

"No...No, I can't eat anymore, I can't eat anymore, it's going to be dead!"

At this time, the old man suddenly slapped his head and smiled awkwardly at Di Renjie:

"Look at my brain, I'm not very good at it when I'm old. I know how to eat and forget all the important things. Old sir, you asked me last night, has anyone in the village noticed anything unusual during this period?"

Di Renjie nodded and said, "That's right, old man, but what did you find."

The old man said, "You can't tell me, someone has seen it!"

Di Renjie's eyes lit up and he hurriedly said:

"Who is it"

Seeing that Di Renjie was a little anxious, the old man hurriedly said, "It's a widow in our village, the one you saw first yesterday!" He said and shouted outside the house.

"Widow Qi, come in quickly!"

Soon, the woman Di Renjie saw yesterday walked in with Ergouer a little restrainedly.

Di Renjie hurriedly stood up and said with a smile:

"Come on, sister, come and sit down."

Widow Qi nodded timidly, sat down and said:

"Old sir, Mr. Zhang just told me that I discovered this a month ago, the day before the warehouse was burned, when it was almost dark, I took Ergou to wash clothes by the river, and saw many large ships coming up on the river, hundreds of which covered the river.

I was shocked and Ergou, so I hurriedly hid behind the big trees by the river. When the boats were approaching, I took a secret glance and saw that there were more than a dozen burly men standing on each boat. Someone shouted: There is a warehouse in front, so prepare quickly."

"And the next day, the warehouse camp caught fire. I... I was afraid that I would not dare to tell anyone!" Widow Qi said with her head down carefully.

Di Renjie nodded and asked with a smile: "Well, sister, what else did you find behind it?"

Widow Qi continued, "The next day, it was also at that time. It was a little dark. I saw these ships again on the river. It seemed that they were loaded with something on the ship and they were walking very slowly.

Oh, by the way! There are also many straw mats on the boat."

Di Renjie took a deep breath and asked, "You mean the next day, that is, the night when the fire broke out?"

Widow Qi nodded quickly: "Yeah, that night, there was a fire in the warehouse at night."

Di Renjie asked again: "You said that the boat was walking very slowly and was covered with some straw mats?"

Widow Qi nodded again.

Di Renjie pondered for a moment before asking the old man again: "Old man, are there many boats on this river on weekdays?"

The old man hurriedly said, "It depends on when it is. There are fewer boats in spring and winter, and more boats in summer and autumn."

Di Renjie said curiously: "Oh? Why is this?"

The old man said, "Old sir, you don't know that this fish is rich in the water called "Zhiqiu Fish". This fish is extremely delicious and is loved by the men in the city and is of great value. Therefore, many fishermen come to catch it. However, this fish is the most plump in late summer and early autumn. So at that time, the water is full of boats and the most lively time."

Di Renjie nodded, looked at Widow Qi and said, "Sister, you see those ships sailing in that direction."

Widow Qi said: "It's the direction to the county town!"

Di Renjie nodded and pondered: "The night before the fire in the warehouse, hundreds of large ships headed towards the warehouse, and the next day these ships returned with things... What does this mean?"

Li Yuanfang said at this time: "Do you think this matter is related to the fire in the warehouse?"

Di Renjie pondered for a long time before saying, "Sister Qi said just now that these fast ships walked very slowly when they returned, and the ship was covered with straw mats, full of things..."

Li Yuanfang nodded: "That's right."

At this time, Di Renjie suddenly paused and said to the old man and Widow Qi with a smile: "Old man, let's talk about this first today, you can go back first!"

Seeing this, the old man stood up tactfully, bowed and said, "The little old man will take his leave first. If you have anything to do, please come and tell me to wait."

As he said that, he took Widow Qi out the door. After sending the old man and others away, Di Renjie turned to Di Chun and said:

"Go and get the map!"

Hearing this, Di Chun hurried into the inner room and took out a roll of map from his bag, walked back to the outer room, and spread the map on the table.

Di Renjie pointed at the location of Beiyuanzhuang with his fingers and said to Li Yuanfang and others: "Come on, take a look, go through Beiyuanzhuang, and the first stop is Yongqing County. The waterway is about a hundred miles, and there are no other tributaries in between..."

At this time, Zeng Taihu said, "Mr., is it possible that so many boats are being dispatched together?"
To be continued...