The New Year will be celebrated in two days.

The biting cold wind is whistling, and even under the sun, the sky is still gray.

Su Qing and Wang Xiaosan and his party were all wearing security uniforms, and the team trotted into Xujiagou.

The police soldier who led the way in the front raised his hand and pointed: "There is a village in Zizhen Village where something happened not far ahead."

Su Qing looked up and saw that black smoke was still floating above the village in the distance.

After a while, the group came to the deserted grain drying ground outside the village.

There were forty or fifty corpses in their eyes, without exception, all of them were old, weak, women and children.

The soldiers were still lifting the bodies out of the village.

"Captain Su, I only found a surviving little girl." Director Zhang, who arrived first, had red eyes and was in a heavy mood.

Su Qing was in a very sad mood: "What the hell is going on?"

Director Zhang has been busy since the middle of the night until now: "According to that child, after dark yesterday, a group of bandits suddenly surrounded the place and then killed everyone when they see it."

"About...how many villagers died?"

"Almost all the people who died fleeing here... are about eighty, and the specific data is still counted."

“Are there any survivors?”

"Only that child, who asked her that she didn't know anything, had to hide in the cellar before she escaped. She found her not long after we came here. She would have been frightened. If we hadn't discovered it earlier, she would have been frozen to death and was now arranged to sleep in the village." Director Zhang shook his head.

Su Qing thought carefully and was silent for a while: "Even drinking water here is a problem. People cannot survive at all. We have sent the blockade line for most of us. Why are there so many fellow villagers here?"

"Earlier, the enemy deliberately let go of the blockade line, with the goal of driving the elderly, weak, women and children into the mountains, in an attempt to let the people drag down our team in the mountains. Therefore, many ordinary people who cannot survive received news and went to this area, intending to cross the blockade line from here to our base.

But a month ago, the Japanese suddenly strengthened the blockade, and many fellow villagers who were not aware of the situation continued to come here. The county government had not had time to organize them to cross the blockade line, so it stayed here."

"Can it be sure that the Japanese took action?"

"It shouldn't be!" Director Zhang shook his head: "Most of the people guarding the blockade ditch in this area are puppet troops. Our public security team has developed some insiders in the middle. According to the insiders, the Japanese did not come out at all during this period. According to the situation they provided, it is very likely that the bandits did it."

"Bandits? Bandits are always profitable and cannot afford to get up early. They don't need to attack these poor people, right?"

"I can't say anything about this, but the reason is still under investigation, but it has not been found yet."

"What bandits are there nearby?"

Zhang Yi analyzed the possibility: "There are many small bandits, so if they want to slaughter the village, they should not be able to do it. Moreover, Xujiagou is the hometown of the traitor Xu Jinsheng. With his friendship with those bandits, it is unlikely that such a thing will happen, unless... unless it is seeking revenge."

Su Qing reminded: "Don't forget the group of people from Ma Dabangzi, the largest bandit leader nearby."

"Ma Dagangzi? It's not very likely. He came out of the mountains and surrendered to the enemy. We arranged for people to contact him some time ago. This guy is not the kind of person who is stubborn and unwilling to be a traitor. He talked to him several times, but this guy was a bachelor, saying that he couldn't bear the hardship of being the Eighth Route Army. After he arrived at the plains, he surrendered to Wang Ziquan under the command of Xu Jinsheng, took the title of a public security army, and became the township chief who maintained the government."

Su Qing has a good memory: "I have seen it from the information we investigated the enemy. It is not impossible for this Ma Dabangzi to still do evil after becoming the village head."

"After all, this is the hometown of the traitor Xu. Because he has a relationship with Xu Jinsheng, logically speaking... it shouldn't be him. We warned him when we contacted him, and he promised not to bully the villagers. Later, he restrained a lot and occasionally sold some scarce supplies to the guerrillas. I think it shouldn't be him!"

Su Qing suddenly thought of something: "No matter whether it was him or not, check his activities that night. The bandits who came out of the mountains would never be able to change their temperament. If such a big thing happens, we will never let go of any clues."

"I have arranged people to inquire about the news. No matter the elderly, weak, women and children, all of them were killed without exception. I always feel like a revenge killing, and it is impossible for me to have no clues at all." Director Zhang said this and suddenly remembered something: "It's strange, why are the people we arranged to inquire about the news yet? "

"I remember Xujiagou is the ancestral land of the traitor Xu Jinsheng. Such a big thing happened, why didn't I see someone from the Xu family?"

"Uh, I didn't pay attention to this. If you say this, will anyone seek revenge on Xu's surname? Then they will kill all the people in the Xu family?"

Su Qing gritted his teeth: "With the fleeing people venting their anger, no matter who they are, they will pull him out and make him pay the price of bleeding."

Director Zhang nodded: "To kill so many villagers, there are definitely many people coming. I have arranged to mobilize the masses in the nearby villages to inquire if there have been a large group of people in the past two days. As long as you can find out who has come here, you will definitely find out."

Su Qing looked at the corpses on the ground and his face turned pale: "Okay, you arranged for someone to bury the corpses of these villagers first. I'll go for a walk in the village."

A mountain to the south was wrapped in a mountain, and a group of soldiers were working hard to dig a hole. Director Zhang held paper and pen and counted the corpse with several soldiers.

Wang Xiaosan followed Su Qing into the village: "Sister Su, Director Zhang is experienced. He must have seen the situation in the village a long time ago. What are the good things we see when we enter the village?"

Director Zhang was in a bad mood, maybe he ignored anything.

"Hey, the ancestral hall of this dog traitor's family is still well maintained." Wang Xiaosan muttered at the stone archway in front of him.

"The ancestral hall?" Su Qing was stunned for a moment, his pretty white face tightly looked up for a while: "Wang Xiaosan, let's go in and take a look!"

Wang Xiaosan waved his hand, and a soldier behind him rushed into the Xu family ancestral hall first.

Su Qing was speechless in the cold wind when he looked at the empty and dilapidated scene in the room.

There are no doors and windows, so there is no need to think that it is burned out by refugees, and there are no tablets on the stone shrines.

There is nothing.

The Xu family has industries in the county town. Perhaps the Xu family arranged for people to pack all the ancestral tablets to transport them to the city.

No, although the ancestral hall is dilapidated, the walls of the houses are all made of stone bricks. It is always much better than seeing the houses in the village along the way. If all the people from the Xu family left, there is no reason why those fleeing monks would not enter the Xu family's ancestral hall.

However, there was not even a trace of blood in the ancestral hall.

This is unreasonable. If the Xu family's enemies seek revenge and have killed so many people, they will definitely be deeply divided into blood. Logically speaking, the Xu family's ancestral hall should not be left.

Thinking of this, he turned around: "Wang Xiaosan, do you know where the Xu family's ancestral tomb is?"

Wang Xiaosan was confused: "How could I know about this... I'll ask Director Zhang, some of them have been in this area for a long time, so I should know."

"Let's go and have a look."

Wang Xiaosan subconsciously asked: "What are you looking at?"

"Go and see if the Xu family's ancestral tomb has been dug up..." Su Qing said and turned around and went out.
Chapter completed!