Ita Era

Chapter 140 Ironclad Soldiers

The old man returned to the oxcart, but did not immediately drive the oxen. After thinking for a while, he said, "Sir, although I did not see the girl, I did see a strange cart."

Ding Shi asked, "What's strange about it?"

The old man replied, "Judging from his attire, he should be a peddler who travels from village to village, but there shouldn't be any peddlers at that time."

The old man further explained, "I passed the cart and saw several bolts of floral cloth on it."

It sounded fine, but Dante was a smart man and understood the old man's meaning: the morning dew was heavy, and if he came from the town, he would have had to set off in the middle of the night. It was very unusual for him not to use oil paper to cover the cloth.

Ding Shi immediately perked up and asked, "Old man, do you know where he's going?"

The old man turned around and pointed east: "I saw him on the main road. After the oxcart had gone for a while, I turned around and saw him taking the road to Dawang Village."

"Where did the old man meet the other party?"

The old man pointed ahead, 30 meters from the intersection of Peach Blossom Village: "That rock."

"Thank you, husband."

After saying goodbye to the old man, Ding Shi walked a hundred meters to the intersection of Dawang Village. Then he turned back to the intersection of Taohua Village.

The two carts passed each other; the oxcart was no faster than the handcart. Ding Shi walked towards the old man, constantly looking back, then realized something was wrong.

Besides Peach Blossom Village, there are three other intersections on this road leading to other villages, with Dawang Village being the furthest.

Assuming the other party is heading to Dawang Village, then you shouldn't attack Daya near the Peach Blossom Village intersection, but rather at the Dawang Village intersection, because Daya will definitely pass through the Dawang Village intersection.

The second intersection is Zhongwang Village, which is quite far from the Taohua Village intersection. You can also ambush Daya, who will inevitably pass by, at the Zhongwang Village intersection.

The most suspicious location is the Xiaowang Village intersection. There are no reeds to obstruct the view at this intersection, making the road and visibility very open. If Daya were waiting at the Xiaowang Village intersection, she would see dark figures and vehicles in the distance and become curious, staring intently, thus preventing the ambush from being carried out.

Another possibility is that the cart's destination wasn't the three villages, but rather it was continuing forward. After passing these villages, the next intersection was five li away; by then it would be daylight, and the road would be much busier. Since the buyer could control the time, they would certainly try to avoid peak hours.

Although it cannot be completely certain, Ding Shi believes that there is an 80% chance that Daya was kidnapped to Xiaowang Village.

Yong'an City has not experienced war for a century. Apart from occasional floods, the area is generally blessed with favorable weather and is a land of plenty. The three towns and twenty-one villages are mostly large villages, with a population of around three hundred households.

Relatively speaking, the road to Xiaowang Village is very well constructed, with stone tablets along the roadside bearing the names of those who donated money to repair it.

After riding an electric scooter for about three miles, you will see the first house. The house is built on the hillside, and a dirt road winds down from it.

The roads in Xiaowang Village are arranged in a right-angled pattern, consisting of East Road and South Road, with the village center located at the right angle. Most villagers' houses are built around these two roads. Interestingly, none of the houses are located directly on the roads; dirt roads connect East Road and South Road, with each dirt road ending at a house.

The dirt road is not only a road, but also a field ridge.

The roadside is lined with fields, and the fields are lined with houses. You can go out and work right away, and if there's anything going on at home, you can just shout it out.

The east road is only one meter wide, making it difficult for two handcarts to pass each other. In contrast, the south road is 1.5 meters wide, well-maintained, and potholes have been filled with fresh stones and soil.

While inspecting the southern road, Ding discovered wheel tracks and hoofprints, traces of a horse-drawn carriage. Horse-drawn carriages were still relatively rare in rural areas; donkey carts and mule carts were more durable, while oxen were used for daily pulling and plowing, serving a wider range of purposes.

These details reveal that there are wealthy households to the south.

Ding Shi waited at the village entrance for a while, then caught the lucky guy and questioned him. Because he was wearing official robes, the guy answered all his questions without hesitation.

There's nothing unusual about the east road; it runs along the stream with two fields on either side, and behind the fields are houses, mostly located on higher ground.

The residents on the south side are relatively few, and the area is far from the irrigation canal. The fields here are all farmland that the farmers have reclaimed themselves.

The southern road is a mile long, ending at Xiaowang Mountain, which is a hundred meters high. At the end of the road stands a wealthy family. The patriarch of the family, surnamed Wang, is seventy-five years old this year. He once served as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, a third-rank official. Eight years ago, he retired and returned to his hometown. During his tenure, he rebuilt his old house on the original site, and the villagers all called him the Vice Minister.

The Vice Minister had one wife and three concubines, with a total of twelve children. Most of the children lived in other places, either as officials or engaged in other livelihoods. Only the family of the Vice Minister's eldest son remained in their hometown. The eldest son was known as Master Wang. Because most of the Wang family's descendants held official titles, which exempted them from taxes on certain lands, almost all the land in the village was registered under the Wang family's name, allowing them to simply collect rent.

Master Wang was not only a large landowner, but also the village head and clan leader of Xiaowang Village. However, compared to his father, he had few children, with only one son and one daughter.

Master Wang is thirty-five years old this year. He has two sons: the elder son is seventeen and a scholar who has passed the imperial examinations at the county level; the younger son is fifteen and a student who has passed the preliminary examinations at the county level. Everyone calls them the two young masters.

Ding Shi asked, "Are both the eldest and youngest sons home?"

The villager replied, "Both the youngest sons are studying at the county college, and they come back for two days each month."

Ding Shi did not press the matter, fearing he might alert the enemy, so he thanked the villagers and headed towards the Vice Minister's house.

The Vice Minister's residence was very grand, with a 1.5-meter-wide bluestone road leading to the main gate. The gate was a double iron gate with two stone lions on the left and right, and several uniformed servants were sweeping the road at the entrance.

Ding Shi did not go to the Vice Minister's house. Instead, he went directly into the mountains, climbed up a big tree on the mountainside, and took out his binoculars to look at the Vice Minister's house.

Although not as grand as the smaller Wang residence, it is still quite large, a four-courtyard mansion. The last courtyard is called the rear main house, and the main hall of the rear main house is decorated in white, with a coffin placed inside.

Ding Shi could see clearly that no one was wearing mourning clothes, except for a middle-aged woman wearing a white headscarf. Ding Shi consulted the system's encyclopedia and confirmed that the deceased was the middle-aged woman's child, and a boy at that.

Just as I was about to put away the binoculars, a woman dressed in mourning clothes came out of the east wing behind me, followed by a burly old woman. The old woman pressed the woman down to kneel in front of the coffin, and she remained motionless, without crying.

A middle-aged woman stepped forward and slapped the woman, pinching her face and cursing. The old woman gave the middle-aged woman a bamboo stick. The stick struck the woman, who began to cry. The middle-aged woman struck her again before stopping.

According to the copy of the encyclopedia, the person wearing mourning clothes was either the deceased's wife or the deceased's daughter.

There are two problems. First, it is uncertain whether Ding Shi was involved in a ghost marriage or whether the person was Daya. Not only is there no photo, but the mourning clothes also cover her face, making it impossible to compare her with Zheng Shi.

The second issue is the opponent's combat strength.

To the left of the Wang residence was a military camp, equipped with stables, side rooms, a drill ground, and a central command tent. The camp was hidden in the middle of a grove of trees that extended into the Wang residence. The left side of the first courtyard of the Wang residence connected to the military camp, and the kitchen and dormitories were located in this area.

There are currently a dozen or so cavalrymen practicing mounted archery on the training ground. What's going on?
Ding Shi then sought out nearby villagers to inquire about the situation, but they avoided the topic. Penniless, he had no choice but to threaten them with a knife before the villagers finally revealed the truth.

The third son of the Vice Minister was a general stationed on the northern frontier, where conflicts had occurred frequently over the past decade. The general was compassionate towards his subordinates and loved his soldiers like his own children, so he sent his wounded personal guards to his estate to recuperate.

The imperial guards were essentially household slaves, not part of the official government establishment. They were extremely brave in battle, and their pay and equipment were the responsibility of their commanders. This was similar to the household retainer system of the Ming Dynasty. Each general maintained a personal guard of a dozen or even several hundred men, whose fighting strength far surpassed that of ordinary soldiers. These guards were fearless and specifically tasked with fighting tough battles.

Ding Shi returned to the tree and continued his surveillance.

Nearly a hundred heavily armored soldiers were lined up on the training ground, practicing offensive and defensive formations. They were fully armored, equipped with sabers and bows and arrows, and their equipment weighed nearly 45 kilograms.

What can a hundred soldiers do?

In historical battles, Zheng Chenggong dispatched eight armored soldiers to defeat 200 defenders at Wantai. In Jingnan, he led a thousand armored soldiers to inflict heavy losses on three thousand Jurchen cavalry, suffering fewer than a hundred casualties himself while inflicting a thousand casualties on the enemy.

According to the system encyclopedia, while armored soldiers are indeed powerful, training one is costly and their equipment is expensive.

How could a small village have a hundred armored soldiers?
Ding Shi took out a walkie-talkie to explain the situation, and Yu Yuan immediately knew that this armored army was most likely related to the Third Prince.

That's the third prince who was supported by Princess Yong'an.

The Wang family had a general stationed at the border. Under the guise of recuperating from injuries, they sent elite troops to Yong'an City. Yong'an City was a battleground, most famous for its Yong'an Pass. Holding Yong'an Pass would cut off the northward advance of the loyalist army. And Xiaowang Village was only 25 kilometers away from Yong'an Pass.

If the emperor were to suddenly pass away, the third prince could simultaneously dispatch the northern royal army south to attack the capital, while also using heavily armored soldiers in conjunction with the garrison to hold Yong'an Pass and prevent the southern army from advancing north. If the third prince still held military power in the capital, usurping the throne would be a piece of cake for him.

No wonder I only have one case; this damn system is trying to snatch food from my jaws.

Su Su: "I found some information here. The current Second Prince's wife is the daughter of the Prime Minister, the Second Prince's concubine is the daughter of the Imperial Guard Commander, and the Second Prince's maternal grandfather is the Marquis of the Southwest, who has 20 soldiers under his command to guard the Southwest and deter the local chieftains."

Ding Shi asked, "Is the background of this broken dungeon getting richer and richer?"

Su Su replied, “It’s not only rich, but also very complicated. One scholar said that the new magistrate of Yong’an County should have been the newly promoted second-place scholar. He was a man of the Third Prince, but he encountered bandits on his way to his post in the mountains and his whereabouts are now unknown. So the Ministry of Personnel appointed Yu Yuan as the new magistrate.”

The woman in red asked, "Then whose people are we?"

Su Su replied, "Yu Yuan is the top scholar in this imperial examination, a disciple of the emperor. We should be the emperor's people."

Yu Yuan said, "Chu Yu and I are still analyzing the background. I personally am not very willing to support the emperor. However, at present we have no connections and lack the resources to pledge our loyalty, so we can only follow the emperor for now."

Wang Meng said, "Yong'an Pass is under the jurisdiction of the garrison general and has nothing to do with me."

Su Su and the scholar continued chatting and making tea, then steered the conversation toward the prefect. Su Su then went to the restroom again, took out her walkie-talkie, and reported: "The prefect and the garrison general are probably the Crown Prince's men."

Ding Shi sighed. Another crown prince? Oh well, he shouldn't worry about the affairs of the world anyway, since the world has never controlled him. He should focus on how to get this little girl out of trouble.

The only solution I can think of right now is to rappel down the cliff behind the mountain to the fourth courtyard of the house and take Daya away from the main hall. The woman who will be forced to kneel and be beaten is tentatively Daya; otherwise, Ding Shi wouldn't know where to find her.

The cliff is 30 meters high, and a large pine tree grows outwards from it. Reaching the four courtyards using ropes isn't difficult. The challenge lies in getting Da Ya away. Currently, the people of the Fire Seed tribe are all very busy, and they don't have much time left to spare; they can't spare any manpower to support Ding Shi.

Ding Shi didn't have much time left. He guessed that Da Ya would be locked in a coffin tonight, and the funeral would be held tomorrow morning, where she would be buried in the ground along with the rotting corpse inside the coffin.

After a morning of investigation, Ding Shi figured out the basic situation of the Wang residence.

The military camp and the royal residence were two independent systems, with the only connection between them being food supplies. All the food for the military camp was purchased by the servants of the royal residence and delivered to the military camp's kitchen.

With a hundred armored soldiers by his side, the Wang residence did not hire guards, only servants and maids.

The first courtyard housed servants, maids, and other staff. The Vice Minister, his son, Master Wang, and his grandson, Young Master Wang, lived in the second and third courtyards. The two great-grandsons, the eldest and youngest, lived in the fourth courtyard. The family ate in the main hall of the second courtyard, with meals brought from the kitchen of the first courtyard by servants.

There were quite a few people eating at the main and secondary tables at noon. They were the Vice Minister, Master Wang, and Master Wang's young master, who had several wives and concubines, plus a young master.

There were about 20 servants and nearly 40 maids and old women. Some of them lived in the second, third, and fourth courtyards, and each concubine had two maids or old women to serve her.

The fourth courtyard where the coffin was located was the most deserted. During mealtimes, only Daya and an old woman who was watching over Daya were present. The old woman took the food and put it aside, then kicked Daya. Daya did not react, so the old woman pulled off Daya's white hat, grabbed Daya's hair, and forced her to sit in front of the food bowl.

The old woman grabbed a handful of rice and shoved it into Daya's mouth. Daya couldn't resist and quickly begged for mercy. The old woman released Daya and watched her eat on her own.

Seeing this, Ding Shi left the reconnaissance point. He first went back to the county government office, summoned his deputies Zhang San and Li Si, and explained his plan. Then he went to the county town to buy firecrackers and ropes, changed into a set of short clothes, and returned to Xiaowang Village.

At 5:30 p.m., the servants of the Wang family began to light the lamps, and dishes were delivered one by one to the second hall. The masters gathered in the second hall from all directions. The old woman who was guarding Daya in the fourth courtyard went to the first courtyard to eat first, and then serve food to Daya.

Ding Shi rappelled down the cliff, landed on the wall, jumped down, went around behind Da Ya, stepped forward and covered Da Ya's mouth as she knelt down, asking, "Don't shout, I'm an official, what's your name?" He loosened his grip a little.

Daya answered, "Daya."

Ding Shi asked, "What is your father's name?"

Daya answered, "Chen Ergou."

Ding Shi said, "Come with me."

Ding Shi led Da Ya to the wall, put a rope around her body, and instructed her, "Don't make a sound. There are government officials waiting for you up there."

Ding Shi took two steps back, waving his hands, and Zhang San and Li Si together pulled Da Ya up. Da Ya was smart enough that, although she was startled, she covered her mouth tightly and didn't make a sound.

When Daya had gone up 15 meters, Ding Shi heard a clanging sound coming from afar and immediately found a place to hide.

A short while later, Master Wang entered the mourning hall with a Taoist priest carrying a brass bell. Master Wang didn't see Da Ya and didn't suspect anything; after all, everyone needs to use the restroom sometimes.

The Taoist priest put his belongings aside, began to ring a bell, and chanted: "A thousand-mile marriage is tied by a single thread, yet separated by the realms of Yin and Yang..."

Ding Shi cursed inwardly: What kind of damn incantation is this? It's so perfunctory.

(End of this chapter)