Chapter 3 Strange incident twenty years ago

Zhu Baolin continued: "At that time, the younger generation of the four prominent families were all studying in the same private school. That year, they happened to go out for a trip, so the four of them walked together and arrived in the Jinsha County area in the south of Dingzhou City. They were originally traveling around the mountains and rivers, reciting poems and music, but they unconsciously came to a valley along a remote path, but accidentally discovered a gold mine."

"Gold Mine?" Everyone was shocked.

Zhu Baolin said proudly: "In our Dingzhou area, it does not produce iron or copper, but there are three gold mines. Although there are no gold mines around Jinsha County, Jinsha has been found in the rivers outside the county since ancient times, so that river is called Jinsha River, and the county by the river is named Jinsha County."

Everyone nodded repeatedly when they heard this, and then they realized that there was such a name in this county and river.

Fang Ling's heart moved. Unexpectedly, although there were not many people in Dingzhou, there were three gold mines. No wonder he saw that the county and county were quite wealthy all the way. If he could hold Dingzhou firmly in his hands, it would be of great help to his strength. Thinking of this, he made up his mind to solve the problem of the five major cities. As long as he conquered the four prominent clans, Dingzhou would be the thing in his pocket.

"What after discovering the gold mine?" Song Ying'er was stunned and asked afterwards.

Zhu Baolin said with a serious expression: "It was a great thing to discover a gold mine, but an accident happened in the middle. It is said that the four young masters entered the mine curiously and wanted to explore how big the gold mine was. As a result, on the way back, the mine cave suddenly collapsed and the two young masters Zheng Wu who were behind were locked in the mine cave. Both young masters Bai Wei were scholars, and they could not move the collapsed huge rock away, so they had to return to Jinsha County and ask someone to tell their family and Zheng Wu.

What happened to the family. After the four major families arrived, they immediately cleared the collapsed land and searched for the whereabouts of the two young masters in the mine. However, the terrain inside the mine was complex, not only with complex roads like spider webs, but also with underground rivers formed by turbulent groundwater flows, so the two young masters were not found in the end. Of course, the Zheng Wu and his family did not believe that this was just an accident, but believed that Bai and Wei killed the two young masters in order to divide the gold mine."

Everyone frowned and Fang Ling also felt a deeper conflict. Although he had just expected that there were deeper conflicts between the great clans, he did not expect that it would be two lives. If it was just a simple economic dispute, then he could use his skill to resolve it. However, this involved one by one, and things became extremely complicated. It would be impossible to untie the knots of the four families.

Zhu Baolin said again: "The more troublesome thing is still to come. Bai Wei's family insisted that it was an accident. Because the first person who discovered the gold mine was the Bai family's son, the two families decided to give only a small part of the gold mine mining rights to Zheng Wu's family. Neither of these two families were vegetarians, so of course they would not give up and threatened to give them a look. As a result, not long after, Bai Wei's two sons were discovered at the same time one morning and turned into two stone men."

"What, stone man?" Everyone was shocked again when they heard this, and couldn't help looking at each other.

Fang Ling turned his head and looked at Zhu Baolin and asked in a deep voice, "What's going on with this stone man?"

Zhu Baolin explained: "It is said that after the two young men finished their meal that night, they both returned to the inn in Jinsha County to rest, but the next morning screams came from their rooms. Everyone rushed in and saw that they turned into stones while struggling."

"This... this is too strange. How can a person turn into a stone? Could it be a means of concealing people's ears?" Dong Canghai couldn't help but say suspiciously.

Zhu Baolin smiled bitterly and said, "This is absolutely true. I have seen it in the Bai Mansion with my own eyes. At that time, the two major families of Bai and Wei searched for famous doctors, but no one found the cause of the disease, and I don't know if they are still alive."

Song Ying'er couldn't help but look at Fang Ling. Fang Ling saw it and knew what she was thinking. Such a strange thing would inevitably be associated with the cultivation of the truth. This made the already troublesome thing even more confusing.

Zhu Baolin said: "The two families of Bai and Wei thought that the two young masters had changed this way, and the Zheng and Wu families invited evil witches from the south to come and used evil tricks to retaliate against the two families and refused to divide more gold mines for them. So the two sides began to have a feud and fought very hard. Even both sides secretly went to mine gold mines. However, every time someone went in, there would always be a collapse accident and many people died. Both sides thought it was the other party's deception, so the four major families formed an alliance and fought for a full twenty years."

Everyone was sighing and felt even more heavy. The conflicts in the past twenty years were not only economic interests, but also a bunch of human lives. It is probably more difficult to resolve them in just a few days than climbing to the sky. However, if it cannot be resolved, once the Yizhou troops attacked a large scale, the front line would be defeated.

Everyone was silent and didn't know what to say for a moment. Song Ying'er stomped her feet and cursed Empress Song for being too cruel and actually used this kind of poisonous trick.

After a while of silence, Mo Xiang took the lead and said, "Since General Zhu has been to the Bai family, he should have a lot of connection with the Bai family. I wonder if you think this young master of the Bai family will do such a kind of unreasonable thing?"

Zhu Baolin thought for a moment and said solemnly: "This Bai family's young master is elegant and polite, and he is quite talented. He will date him several times at the end of that year. I feel that this person does not look like a ruthless person, and the Wei family's young master is not like an ordinary playboy. He is polite and often helps the poor."

"Where are the two young masters Zheng Wu?" Mo Xiang continued to ask.

Zhu Baolin quickly replied: "Although these two generals have never been in contact, their reputation is much better than their elders. So after the four young masters got along well, many people thought that if all four of them could inherit the position of the head of the family, then the four prominent clans might form a very powerful force."

Mo Xiang said, "Your Highness, the little woman thinks there are too many doubts about the things that happened back then. This should have been just a simple matter, but because it involves the interests of the gold mine, I am afraid that some people who are interested are more willing to complicate things. After all, four aristocratic families make more money than four four gold mines. If you want to conquer the four masters, the best way is to investigate the truth about the things that happened back then."

Shen Huantian said, "Your Highness, although what Mr. Mo said is reasonable, we have no time left, and we must find a way out."

Fang Ling thought seriously and said in a deep voice: "Then let me investigate this matter personally. Time is too urgent. Only Chi Yan's fast footwork can gain a lot of time. If I have not come back within five days, the military commander Mo will recruit the generals of the four cities to Qingzhong City on behalf of me, and I will be moved by emotion and reason. If they can cooperate with the overall situation, that's best. Otherwise - even if they cut off their heads, they must unify the troops in the five towns!"

Seeing Fang Ling's evil spirit be revealed, Zhu Baolin and Li Yongcheng were secretly surprised, thinking that the King of Shicheng had such a great evil spirit and had extraordinary courage. No wonder he could not even be a match for Gu Shaofeng.

Having said that, Fang Ling also knew that the consequences of doing so were quite serious. After all, the four prominent clans were not ordinary forces. Although they might be able to command the troops of the four towns at the moment, they were very unfavorable for long-term combat. The best way was to investigate the truth about the mine twenty years ago. Even though this was not a good time to solve the mystery.

Next, Fang Ling asked Zhu Baolin some related questions, and then formulated a plan for a way out to ensure that even if he was not present, his subordinates could do things properly.

Then, Fang Ling rode the red flames and quickly left the city and headed to Dingzhou City.

As the best among the Red Blood BMWs, Chi Yan was much faster than ordinary horses. It took only a day and a half to arrive at the destination. Fang Ling did not want to alarm Yuan Dekang. He casually found an inn and then sneaked into the Bai family mansion, one of the four prominent families, in the night.

The Bai family is the oldest of the four prominent families. They have lived in Dingzhou for more than 150 years and are deeply rooted. However, in the past twenty years, the four prominent families have been constantly flirting with each other, and various industries compete with each other, winning and losing, making and losing, so it may not be so luxurious. However, because the foundation is still there, it still has the style of a large gateway. Its mansion is located on the most prosperous street in Dingzhou City. The mansion covers a large area and is no smaller than the Dingzhou government office. Several servants outside the mansion are majestic and guarding the big copper gate, and the stone lion at the door shows vicissitudes.

Of course, the guards and other garrisons would not cause any obstacles to Fang Ling's spy. He easily lurked into the Bai Mansion and followed the route provided by Zhu Baolin along the ridge of the corridor. He soon arrived at a deserted yard.

There were two servants guarding outside the yard. They were dozing off, their heads bit by bit like woodpeckers.

Fang Ling fell down from the roof and gently pushed open the door of the courtyard. The dark room without candles seemed to be dead silence, without any breath of life, only the undulating figures on the bed, which added a bit of horror in this environment.

Fang Ling walked up with big strodes, pulled open the roller blind and saw the Bai family's young master on the bed.

The young master of the Bai family was placed on the bed like a stone sculpture, and his clothes were still there, but his body had been completely petrified and appeared in a sky-blue color. If someone said that this was carved, it was probably a masterpiece that could be famous throughout the ages, because except for the stone sculpture, it was almost the same as a real person, and the face still had a terrified expression before petrification, which made people shudder.

Fang Ling frowned slightly, sat on the edge of the bed, reached out to press his hand on him, and pinched it. His body was indeed no different from a stone, cold and very crisp and hard. Then he inputted a ray of sun fire and walked around the Bai family's young master.
Chapter completed!