Chapter 1162 Without a Trace
Haihan was able to control the situation in Fushan County so quickly after coming to Dengzhou. In addition to powerful force, it is also very important to pay attention to rules in doing things. Many things that can be solved directly with force, Haihan still tried his best. It may be handled through relatively gentle methods such as publicity, negotiation, and bribery, and there is no rush to implement land annexation measures in this area. Although it cost some more time and money, it gained valuable public support. Except for the large number of refugees who went to Haihan, even the local landlord class in Fushan County did not have much ill feelings towards Haihan. Only country squires like Ma Dongqiang were interested in marrying Haihan.
For the local people in Fushan County, the Haihan Army has a strong self-discipline and has not caused any negative news since arriving here. In the eyes of some people, it is even more reliable than the Ming Army. But if the matter of the little girl who escaped from marriage is not solved properly, and the outside world mistakenly thinks that Haihan played some disgraceful role in this process, it is very likely to have an impact on the hard-earned reputation, and even further It affects Haihan’s subsequent development plan in the local area.
There is no precedent for this kind of thing in the past. As early as when Haihan first arrived in Sanya and developed the Tiandu Iron Mine, there were time-travelers who couldn't control their crotch and caused trouble with local Li women. Tian Yeyou was Being in charge of mine operations, I naturally have a better understanding of these things. Although the nature of the matter is different from what happened to Chen Yixin, if someone deliberately spreads the news in a negative direction about taking in the little girl, the adverse consequences will most likely be similar.
Chen Yixin has been serving in the army for seven years and has been to many places during the Northern and Southern War. After Tian Yeyou reminded him, he naturally thought of the reason. The most ideal way to handle this matter is, of course, to persuade the woman's family to take the initiative to break off the engagement, and then quietly send the little girl back, as if nothing happened. However, neither Tian Yeyou nor Chen Yixin were sure whether this plan would work. This has to wait until the little girl's mood stabilizes, and then she can slowly get into the details and figure out the ins and outs of the matter before she can find a solution to the problem.
When Ma Yuling settled down in Fushan Copper Mine, her father Ma Dongqiang was already furious. After he confirmed that Ma Yuling had run away from home, he chased her out with his entourage. When Ma Yuling left Majiazhuang, she left alone and did not ride away the horses at home. Along the way to the west, there are carriages and horses only in Guxian Town. Ma Dongqiang thinks that there will be news about his daughter if he catches up here.
But Ma Dongqiang asked a few pedestrians on the road, and they all said that they had never seen such a little girl traveling alone. Ma Dongqiang thought to himself that this girl could move so fast and walked so far in half a day, but he underestimated her ability. However, this official road can only lead all the way to Guxian Town, and Ma Yuling has been to Dengzhou before, so she should know this route very well, so there is no need to worry about her taking the wrong road.
As for the origin of the new road that turned south halfway, Ma Dongqiang naturally knew that it was a road built by the Haihan people before winter in order to mine in the mountainous area. At present, Haihan people transport materials and personnel to the mining area through this new road connected to the official road. However, nearby villagers know that the place where this road leads is within the scope of military control of Haihan, and all entry and exit are accepted. During the interrogation, out of respect for the Haihan Army, they generally would not go this route deliberately.
Of course, Ma Dongqiang would not think that his daughter would take this new path rashly. After all, as long as she could distinguish between east, west and north, she would not go in the wrong direction at this fork in the road. So he didn't hesitate here and continued chasing along the official road to the west. Even if he tried hard, he would never have imagined that his daughter was really smart and chose this path that ordinary people would not take.
Before dark, Ma Dongqiang and his entourage arrived at Guxian Town. He ordered one of his followers to book a room at the hotel, and took another follower to visit two carriage shops in the town. If the daughter arrives at Guxian Town first, then as usual she will hire carriages and horses here, and then continue to Dengzhou. Even if she has to rest in the town for one night before leaving, she should hire carriages and horses in advance. , so if you want to inquire about her movements, the best place to go is the carriage shop in the town.
However, the reality is that Ma Dongqiang is disappointed. Today, there is no single girl going to the two carriage shops in the town to hire carriages and horses. Ma Dongqiang was afraid that Ma Yuling might ask someone to do it for him, so he did not give up. He inquired carefully and found that even the hotels in the town had not booked carriages or horses for this day. The only carriage that was ordered all day long was from a customer heading from Dengzhou to Fushan.
Ma Dongqiang felt something was wrong in his heart, so he quickly checked all the places in the town where he could stay, but still found nothing. It seemed that no such person had ever been to Guxian Town.
Until this moment, Ma Dongqiang never thought about whether something happened to his daughter on the way. After all, from Majiazhuang to Dengzhou, Guxian Town is a must-pass on the official road, and the journey from Majiazhuang to Guxian Town is After Haihan repeatedly eliminated bandits in the county, this section of the road has become a relatively safe passage. Ordinary thieves would not dare to cause trouble along this road in broad daylight. Ma Dongqiang believes that it is possible that his daughter chose to bypass the town and did not enter the town at all in order not to reveal her whereabouts. There are at least two routes from Guxian Town to the west to Dengzhou City. It is difficult to guess which route Ma Yuling will choose.
Ma Dongqiang and his party all travel on horseback. On the one hand, the horses need rest time to recover their strength. On the other hand, it is not convenient to chase them in the dark at night. The old official roads that are in disrepair are likely to cause their mounts to break their legs. Therefore, although Ma Dongqiang was anxious, he still chose to rest in Guxian Town for one night out of caution, and then proceed to Dengzhou the next day.
As soon as it got dark the next day, Ma Dongqiang and his entourage left the inn where they were staying and headed north along the coastline. More than 20 places north of Guxian Town is Jijia Town, another populated area on the way. The population size of Jijia Town was originally larger than that of Guxian Town, but because it was closer to Dengzhou City and suffered more severe damage during the war, it is currently not as prosperous as Guxian Town.
However, Ma Dongqiang's family-hunting activities in Jijia Town still yielded nothing. No one in the town seemed to have seen a single girl passing through this place in the past two days. Even though Ma Dongqiang offered a reward of ten taels of silver for this, but during their stay During half a day in Jijia Town, no real and reliable news was received.
By this time, Ma Dongqiang had a vague premonition in his heart, but by now, he was almost halfway through the trip. If he didn't go to Dengzhou City to confirm the situation, Ma Dongqiang had no intention of looking back. Now it is impossible to search through other routes. For now, I can only bite the bullet and go forward, go to Dengzhou to see if this girl has entered the city quietly.
After leaving Jijia Town, Ma Dongqiang and his party hurriedly hurried and finally entered Dengzhou City before the city gate was closed at night, and then went straight to the eldest son's home. As expected, they still missed. The eldest son, Ma Cai, had no idea of his father's purpose. After listening to Ma Dongqiang's detailed explanation, he realized that the younger sister of the family had run away from home to get married.
Ma Cai didn't know the seriousness of the matter, so he comforted her by saying, "Father, don't be so nervous. From a child's point of view, the little sister may be hiding in a best friend's house. After a few days, when the father calms down, he will naturally take advantage of the opportunity and go home." My little sister Huizhi Lanxin should be able to take care of herself.”
Ma Dongqiang sighed: "You don't know something. Now this is not her problem alone. If she stays outside for a few more days, Majiazhuang will also be dragged into crisis!"
Ma Cai wondered: "Why do you say this? Is it possible that there is a time limit for the marriage arranged by my father for my little sister?" Ma Dongqiang said: "This is asking for trouble for my father. He tried every means to beg his grandfather to sue his grandmother, and even paid for it. I only asked General Haihan to agree to meet your little sister in Majiazhuang three days later. Unexpectedly, this girl was afraid of harming her father, so she ran away quietly. Think about it three days later! When General Haihan comes to Majiazhuang and sees no one, wouldn’t he think that his father is deliberately deceiving him about this matter? If someone is unhappy and enslaves everyone in Majiazhuang, it will be a big trouble! "
Ma Cai responded: "Isn't this reasonable? Is it useless to be a Dengzhou official? I heard that the general Guo Xingning who came from Yanzhou a few days ago had a fight with the Haihan army, which severely dampened the spirit of the Haihan people."
Ma Dongqiang said disdainfully: "Are you talking about the Ming army sent by Dengzhou to drive away the Haihan people in Fushan? If the entire army was not wiped out in Fushan County, they would have been doomed! My father saw many prisoners of the Ming army in those two days. After being tied up and escorted back to the camp by the Haihan people, this guy named Guo still has the nerve to go back to the city and claim victory?”
"Is that true?" Ma Cai was a little surprised after hearing these words: "There is also a legend in Dengzhou City that before the Ming army entered the city, they reorganized outside the city and reissued weapons and flags to cover up the fact of defeat. This rumor It sounded ridiculous at first, and I even argued with others about whether it was true or not, but I didn’t expect it to be true.”
Ma Dongqiang said: "Now in Fushan County, the county government office and the Qishan Qianhu Office have become decorations. The real person in charge is the "Zhifu Port Management Committee" organized by the Haihan people. The Haihan people plan to open a mine in Fushan County. The prefect wants to He wanted to seize food from the tiger's mouth, but he didn't expect that the Haihan people had no intention of giving in, so they fought head-on with the officers and soldiers. If the Haihan people were not invincible, how could my father take the initiative to propose marriage to them? It's a pity that your little sister can't understand. My father worked so hard that he left home without saying goodbye at this juncture, and now he can’t even be found, alas! ”
Ma Cai frowned and said: "If the Haihan people want to pursue it, it is indeed difficult to explain. But what kind of person is the father looking for this person for my little sister?"
Ma Dongqiang said: "From my father's perspective, I can be called a dragon or a phoenix among men. I am about the same age as you. Before I get married, I am already a general in the Haihan Army at a young age. I heard that the Haihan Army wiped out the Wanjia Army in Fushan County. , and he also had a commanding role. My father specially spent money to find someone to find out. It is said that this person was also favored by the court in Haihan. He began to fight abroad when he was a teenager to open up territory for Haihan. Tu has made countless achievements so far and has a bright future!”
Ma Cai clicked his tongue and said: "If I marry such a powerful person, I won't be at a disadvantage."
"That's the truth!" Ma Dongqiang clapped his legs and sighed: "My father also advised her the same way, but this damn girl didn't believe anything she said. She felt that what her father said was all lies to her, and she also thought that Haihan Kingdom was too far away. She is willing to marry out of the country. Little does she know that if she doesn't marry this wealthy family, she will have to marry someone else sooner or later, and it is unlikely that the man will have such favorable conditions. This marriage can not only help our Ma family find shelter in troubled times. It will allow her to live a happy life in the future, and it will also allow her to branch out overseas and give her family another way out. Why not do it? ”
Ma Cai pondered: "Although this is a good thing, the most important thing now is to quickly find the whereabouts of my little sister. Didn't my father find any news all the way from Majiazhuang to Dengzhou?"
"I asked around along the way, but no one had ever seen a single woman like Yu Ling. Later, let alone single women, I asked about all women of similar age, but still no progress. My father guessed that if it wasn't halfway If I took other routes, something happened..."
"It's unlikely that something happened, right?" Ma Cai denied: "The road from Fushan County to Dengzhou is an official road. There are many villages and towns along the way. I haven't heard of any wild animals causing trouble. The bandits were also wiped out by the Haihan people. It should be There won’t be any danger. It’s just that the little girl didn’t go out very often, so she might have misjudged the direction and ended up on a side road.”
Ma Dongqiang said: "As a father, I actually think so, but now one day has passed within the three-day time limit, and there are two days left. If we can't find this girl, we will be in big trouble."
Ma Cai said: "It's better to do this. Tomorrow, it will be convenient for the child to return to Majiazhuang by different routes for his father, and then he will carefully filter out the routes that the younger sister may choose to take when she comes to Dengzhou. If she still can't find it, she will put up a list and offer a reward. By the way, she can There is an explanation for the Haihan people.”
Ma Dongqiang couldn't think of any other solution for the moment, but Ma Cai's idea was more reliable, so he agreed immediately. The father and son studied the route until late at night, then went back to their rooms to sleep.
Early the next morning, the father and son each led several of their entourages and marched on two separate routes back to Majiazhuang, Fushan County. The two stopped to inquire about Ma Yuling at villages and towns along the way, but Miss Ma never went to these places at all. No matter how much they inquired, they would not get any valuable information, and it was just a waste of time.
However, Miss Ma has no idea how hard her father and brother are looking for her. She is now living in a mining camp and is quite at ease.
(End of chapter)