It's really hard to just farm peacefully.

Just as Governor Fang and his entourage were traveling day and night towards Heding Prefecture, a group of people had already braved the wind and snow to sneak into Qinshan and headed straight for the mine.

That day, after Chunying tested Jiang Yan and reported the news that Jiang Yan had accidentally obtained gold sand and stone, General Song sent a pigeon message and arranged for Song San, who stayed in Heding Prefecture, to lead a team to Dongshan Village to investigate.

Because they knew from Jiang Yan's narration that Dongshan Village was very wary of outsiders, Song San and others did not choose to go straight into Dongshan Village or show up to interact with the villagers when they arrived in Rongcheng County.

Instead, he began to approach the village stealthily from four or five miles away from Dongshan Village, intending to observe whether there was anything unusual around, in case they had joined forces with Governor Fang to deliberately set a trap for them.

However, within two days, Song San's men discovered that three suspicious people were moving around Dongshan Village and had communicated with the people of Dongshan Village.

Song San instinctively felt that these suspicious individuals might become a breakthrough point for their trip. When they left, he led his team to quietly follow them.

In the early winter, the grass and leaves in the mountains have withered, making it difficult to find shelter. In addition, the ground is covered with inevitable dry fallen leaves, which rustle when stepped on.

Song San and others had to increase the distance of tracking, and it took a lot of effort to find the place where the three people were stationed - the cave where Dongshan Village had previously avoided the flood.

Song San looked at the faint light emanating from the cave entrance and recalled the details Zhou Li had reported. He was basically certain that the people inside had close ties with Dongshan Village and were most likely from Dongshan Village.

In order to avoid missing any clues, they found a cave in the mountains that could be used to avoid the cold and provide concealed observation. They took turns squatting there all night and found that there were at least eight people in the cave, all of them middle-aged men.

Song San's expression was solemn, and he felt it was a very difficult situation. There were too many targets, and each operation was carried out in pairs. However, his team only had four people, so it was basically impossible to subdue and question them quietly.

To be on the safe side, he even sent a message to Dongtai County, hoping Chunying could help them get Jiang Yan's support so that they could start with the people of Dongshan Village at the foot of the mountain.

Of course, Song San was also considering how to directly contact the people in the cave without conflict if Jiang Yan refused to cooperate.

When Jiang Fu, Zhao Quan and Xu Yuan returned to Tiankeng Mountain from Dongshan Village, they vaguely felt that someone was following them.

Although they looked back several times and couldn't see any trace of them, they were able to escape from the mine alive and successfully evade pursuit. In addition to their good physical fitness, they also had the sensitivity to people's prying eyes developed through long-term training, as well as a cautious attitude in everything they did.

They pretended to be unaware of anything along the way, just to lure people into the Tiankeng Mountain cave and ambush them.

Tiankeng Mountain is far away from Dongshan Village, and since Fu Nulang from Heding Prefecture bought the mountain, basically no outsiders have set foot there.

If the person following you has bad intentions, it will be very convenient to destroy the body and cover up the crime once they force you to reveal the person behind the incident.

Jiang Fu and his companions waited in the cave for a whole night and even lit torches at the entrance to provide directions for the followers. However, they did not expect that those people hid and did not move, even when they deliberately went out and used themselves as bait, they remained unmoved.

It was not until Jiang Youqi discovered a carrier pigeon flying out of the forest that they immediately decided to take the initiative and attack. This matter could not be delayed any longer.

Song San and others never expected that they would be surrounded by the target with knives just after they sent the message and before they could think of a countermeasure.

A quarter of an hour later, the four people's hands and feet were tied tightly with hemp ropes, making it difficult for them to move. Their bodies were barely leaning against the inner wall of the cave, maintaining a sitting posture.