National color raw owl

() Chu Huan and his party entered Taiyuan after leaving Huzhou. If Huzhou is mountainous, then Taiyuan has a lot of water. Taiyuan has many lakes, hundreds of miles of fertile fields, and intertwined fields. Compared with the roads in Huzhou, the roads in Taiyuan are easier. Much smoother.

Taiyuan has always been an important residence in the northern part of the empire. Chen Yangcang, one of the four major granaries of the empire, is located in the territory of Anyi Road. As the capital of Anyi Road, the grain storage in Taiyuan City has been located in the northern part of the empire since the founding of the country. In the front row, the weather is good. It is reasonable to say that the people here should have a good life, but in fact, the finances of Anyi Road have always been very difficult. It is precisely because the court knows that there is a famine in Anyi and the harvest is very good. When it comes to collecting grain and grass, the first thing that comes to mind in the northern region is Taiyuan Prefecture.

Taiyuan Mansion collected a lot of food and grass, but as the glorious family of the empire, An Guogong's Huang Clan has always enjoyed tax-free treatment, but at least one-third of Anyi's wealth belongs to the Huang Clan. In this way, the tax, food and grass collected can only be apportioned to other places. Anyi seems to be doing well, but the taxes paid by the people are often much higher than other places.

However, one thing is undeniable, Taiyuan City is definitely one of the most prosperous cities in the northern part of the empire. Although it is adjacent to Xishan Road, Yunshan Mansion, the capital of Xishan Road, is definitely not as prosperous as Taiyuan Mansion.

Chu Huan has yet to appreciate the prosperity of Taiyuan Mansion, and he is less than two days away from Taiyuan City.

The prosperity of Taiyuan City does not mean that all places in Taiyuan are bustling and prosperous. At least the road that Chu Huan is walking now seems very secluded and depressed.

After parting with Yun Dali, Chu Huan tried his best to find a place to live before dark. It would be better if he passed through a town, otherwise he would find a village to settle down.

He wasn't worried about what the black shops in the wilderness could do to him, he just didn't want to cause more trouble before arriving at Taiyuan Mansion.

This road didn't look barren, but it was uninhabited. It was getting dark, but there was no sign of a town. Chu Huan thought that he could only find a village to settle down.

After a gust of wind, Sun Zikong couldn't help covering his nose and said, "Master, do you smell it?"

Chu Huan nodded. When the gust of wind blew, a smell of rancidity penetrated into his nostrils. Chu Huan looked in the direction of the wind, and there seemed to be a forest in the distance. Chu Huan reined in his horse, and behind him was On the contrary, he was understanding, urged the horse to come forward, and said: "My lord, I'll go over and see what's going on."

Chu Huan thought for a while and nodded. The woods were not far away, but the sun was setting and the sky was dark, so it looked a little blurry. Chu Huan could clearly see Ma Zheng's shadow. Ma Zheng arrived at the edge of the woods. He came back quickly, showing a bit of excitement, "My lord, there seems to be a family in the woods, we can stay there."

"Oh?" Chu Huan raised his eyebrows, "How many families are there?"

"There are about twenty families." Ma Zheng reported, "But I didn't see anyone."

Chu Huan said in a low voice: "Let's go over and have a look. If it's convenient, we can stay here for the night. I'm afraid there is only this village nearby. If this place doesn't accept it, we can only spend the night in the wild. "

If it were a normal season, Chu Huan wouldn't mind sleeping in the wild, but it's winter now, and the night has become very cold. It's a long-distance journey. If you use your body to keep out the cold at night, you need to consume a lot of energy, so you can find a place Drinking a cup of hot water and taking a good rest will be of great help to the recovery of physical and mental strength.

As he approached the forest, Chu Huan felt that the rancid smell became more and more disgusting, and felt a little weird. Sun Zikong had already pulled a cloth towel and covered his nose, as if he couldn't stop the smell, and used Hands covered, when I got to the edge of the forest, I saw a village next to the forest. There were more than 20 scattered houses, most of which were built of rammed earth. This is the most common ordinary village.

The life of the common people is to work when the sun rises and to rest when the sun sets. It's just that the sun has already set at this time, but this village is extremely quiet, as quiet as death.

"There seems to be no one." Ma Zheng said: "There is no one in the village. At this time, it should be time to light the lamps."

Chu Huan nodded slightly. In fact, he had already seen the strangeness of this place. There were more than 20 houses, none of which were lit, and no one could be seen. It stands to reason that there are more than 20 households, and this village is not too small. There is no such dead silence. reason.

"Is it an abandoned village?" Sun Zikong wondered.

Ma Zheng shook his head and said, "I don't think so. Look at the fence over there, it seems that it was built recently. You see, the fence has been built more than half, and it hasn't been finished yet...!" Before he finished speaking, he Hearing Sun Zikong's voice said: "My mother...!" The voice was a bit frightened, Chu Huan was looking at the village, heard Sun Zikong's voice, and hurriedly turned his head to look, but saw Sun Zikong's expression was terrified, As if seeing a ghost, he frowned and asked, "What's going on?"

"Master, you...look over there...!" Sun Tzukong's eyes were full of horror, he raised his hand and pointed in the air, and everyone followed his finger to look over there. Soon, everyone was surprised The se.

It is early winter now, and there are no leaves on the trees, and they are all bare branches. At this time, Chu Huan and the three found that there was a tall tree in front of it, and that big tree had many branches. There was actually a hairy corpse hanging on the branch of the tree.

The branch was like a spear, piercing through the corpse. The corpse was not a human body, it was covered in hairy hair, and it was located in a very high position. If Sun Zikong hadn't reminded him, if he didn't look closely, he might not have found it.

"Looks like... like a dog!" Ma Zheng said.

Chu Huan looked at it intently, nodded slightly, "It's a dog." He felt very puzzled in his heart, who made a dog's dead body run through a branch?Was the dog hung up after death, or did it die alive with a branch piercing its body?To be able to climb such a tall tree, and to be able to hang this dog on a branch, is not something ordinary people can do.

"Everyone, be careful, this place is weird." Chu Huan said in a deep voice. He knew that ordinary villagers would not be able to hang a dog corpse on that branch. Although the branch was not thin, it was not extremely thick either. , protruding from the tree trunk and extending outwards. If ordinary people want to hang a dog carcass on it, they can only climb up that branch and carry the dog carcass over. It can also bear fifty or sixty catties. Cheng Ren weighs much more than this weight. If he is not careful, the trunk will break. If he falls from such a high place, he will be seriously injured even if he does not die. risk.

"My lord, look over there, there is another one!" Liu Suifeng said suddenly, "That seems to be a dog too...!"

Chu Huan looked over, and sure enough, he saw a dog corpse hanging from the branch of another big tree.

Chu Huan was surprised, he didn't say much, turned the horse's head, and galloped for a certain distance. Seeing this, Sun Zikong and others didn't understand why, but saw Chu Huan galloped for more than 200 meters, reined in the horse, turned his head, and walked away from the horse. Looking towards the woods from a distance, I can see clearly at this time, there are not two dog corpses hanging on the treetops, there are as many as six or seven, all of which are hanging high on the branches of the big trees.

Chu Huan took a closer look and breathed a sigh of relief. Although the scene was very strange, no one's life was involved in it after all. What he feared most was that there were dead bodies hanging from the treetops.

He rode over to the village. Sun Zikong and the others knew that things were weird, so they all galloped behind Chu Huan, and a group of four rode to the village. There was silence all around. Chu Huan stopped his horse, first scanned it, and then approached. A house, passing by the door, looked in from the window, only to see that the house was empty, leaving a few pieces of old and dilapidated furniture piled up in the corner, the house was actually unoccupied.

The other people also dispersed at this time, checked the village, and then gathered around Chu Huan, shaking their heads. Chu Huan understood the meaning, apparently no one lived in this village.

There were dog corpses outside the village, and there was no one in the village. Coupled with the deserted surroundings, the atmosphere seemed extremely strange.

"Everyone dismount, we will live here." Chu Huan got off his horse and led the horse to a house. Sun Zikong was a little surprised and said, "Master, can we live here?"

"Why can't you live?" Chu Huan said with a faint smile: "These houses are empty, and a fire inside will make them very warm. Are you still willing to suffer from the cold outside?"

He handed over the reins of the horse to Sun Zikong, and let him tie it outside the door. Although Ma Zheng and Liu Suifeng felt a little uneasy, since Chu Huan made such a decision, they naturally would not go against it.

There is no shortage of wood for lighting a fire in the house. Wood for heating can be seen everywhere in the village. Several people sat around the fire and married dry food. At last, Sun Zikong couldn't help asking: "Master, what do you mean here?" What's going on?" He couldn't help but glanced out from the window, it was dark outside, and Sun Zikong always felt that there seemed to be a pair of eyes staring at him in the darkness, although there were Chu Huan and the others Beside him, he still felt a little hairy on his body, and said in a low voice: "How did those dogs hang on the treetops? Why is there no one in this village?"

Chu Huan said: "Of course there were people in the village before, but they just left not long ago."

Sun Tzukong was taken aback, and wondered, "How does the master know that they left not long ago?"

"Didn't you go to the kitchen just now?" Chu Huan rubbed his chin and said, "You can still see the dust in the stove, and they've only left for about ten days at most."

"That is to say, they left only five or six days ago." Sun Tzukong wondered, "Why did they leave this fine village behind?"

Chu Huan leaned against the wall, took off the water bag around his waist, took a sip of water, and said, "I'm afraid it has something to do with the dead dogs hanging on the treetops in the forest outside the village."