Plotting with You: The Forensic Scientist in Ancient Times!-Chapter 445 - 444: Encroachment

A few people gathered around, stood behind those people to see what was happening here.

They saw some things that looked like announcements posted on the walls of the pass, densely packed with small characters. It generally said that the Vassal King of Fan Country has been plagued by illness for a long time and wishes to seek the best doctors in the world to enter his mansion for treatment. If someone can help the King Fan eliminate the root of the illness, there will surely be rich rewards.

This promise of rich rewards was not just empty words with no evidence; it detailed the amounts of gold and silver, rare treasures, and beauties, itemizing with great generosity.

Besides this newly posted announcement, the wall also showed layers of old papers beneath it. Judging from the vaguely visible writing at the exposed corners, it wasn’t much different from the new announcement.

"It seems that King Fan has been ill for a long time!" Yan Daoxin muttered after reading.

The old man in front of him heard this, turned around, saw a handsome young man, and responded, "Yes, we see these kinds of announcements regularly, new ones being posted every few days.

It must be that the illness of King Fan has lingered for more than a year now!"

"Probably even longer!" A middle-aged man beside them clicked his tongue, "It’s truly strange. Don’t they have plenty of powerful witch doctors, witchcraft medicine, and witchcraft in Bhutan? How come they can’t even cure their own king?

Why do they put up new announcements every month or so?"

"Probably even more often..." The old man grinned, "Maybe those witch doctors and witchcraft medicines can only be used for harm rather than healing!"

"Tsk, they brought it on themselves..." The middle-aged man also laughed lowly, agreeing.

"Are the people of Bhutan always this mean-spirited? Your king is sick, and you all seem so happy?" Yan Daoxin asked curiously.

The middle-aged man glanced over him again, seeing that he didn’t look like a Fan Country person in any way, still somewhat apprehensive, and just snorted, "They say silence is golden, just like the Fan Country people, acting like a biting dog that doesn’t bark, always sneakily biting without a sound."

"Where are you young fellows from? You look unfamiliar," the old man asked.

"Elder, we are two wandering doctors, traveling around with our apprentices and followers, with no fixed abode.

We have been coming and going in Jie Country, Shuo Country, and also Lan Country, but as for Fan Country, we never had the opportunity to set foot there." Yan Daoxin replied seriously.

"Ah, doctors! No wonder you’re interested in the announcement." Once the old man heard, his guard eased a bit, and he kindly advised, "I see you all look quite familiar, so let me give you a friendly warning: it’s best not to go to Fan Country if you can avoid it, it’s very sinister.

You, being honest practitioners of medicine, cannot afford to entangle with those who use underhanded tricks, or you might suffer a great loss!"

"It seems that Fan Country’s reputation is quite bad..." Yan Daoxin rubbed his chin, looking half-convinced, "However, they do have many rare herbs there that cannot be found elsewhere..."

"Young man, whether herbs or no herbs, missing them won’t stop you from living; you only have one life!" The old man sighed a long breath and patted Yan Daoxin’s shoulder, "Listen to an old man’s advice.

Just look at that wall of the pass, do you think it’s new or old?"

Not only Yan Daoxin but also Lu Qing and Zhu Yu, who had been quietly listening from behind, turned their gazes toward the wall at the old man’s words.

The wall did not look brand new, with some moss on it and nothing particularly special at first glance.

But upon closer inspection, some clues could be discerned.

For example, the bricks of the wall were neatly arranged, aside from the moss markings, with all corners intact, showing no signs of being weathered by wind or rain.

It seemed that this wall was built no more than three to five years ago.

"Why is there a new wall? Did the old one collapse?" Yan Daoxin asked.

Building a new wall is always a large project, especially in such pass locations, where tearing down and rebuilding the original high and sturdy wall is not taken lightly.

Generally, they are repeatedly repaired and maintained, with no major actions for a hundred years or more unless a natural disaster causes the wall to collapse.

"It did not collapse." The middle-aged man snorted, "This wall was built outside their original old city wall, pushing the entire wall forward by a hundred or so zhang!"

The old man quickly gestured to be silent: "Quiet down! There are soldiers of Fan Country standing under that pass gate! What good can come if they hear?!"

"Let it or not!" The middle-aged man said resentfully, though his voice involuntarily lowered, "As long as they wish, none of us can come to any good!"

"This..." Yan Daoxin looked surprised, mimicking the middle-aged man by lowering his voice, "This pass’s wall pushed forward by a hundred or so zhang, is it not built on the Lan Country’s territory?!

Does your king... not know?"

"Who knows whether he knows or not..." The middle-aged man grunted, clearly filled with anger, but since he was a Lan Country person, he spoke more cautiously about his vassal king, mumbling a bit but dared not speak further. He turned his face away angrily, expressing his discontent with a snort.

Zhu Yu and Lu Qing exchanged a silent glance.

It seemed that the issues on the Lan Country side were more serious than they originally thought. They had only considered that the Immortal Castle and Little Mountain Building showing up in Lan Country’s territory indicated lax governance by the Prince Lan.

Now looking at the local people around the pass, they seemed to harbor quite some resentment towards the royal family, though ultimately it was their own king, and in front of strangers, they dared not speak openly of their grievances.

But Fan Country pushing their border forward by a hundred or so zhang, while Lan Country remained unresponsive, with only minor civilian grumbles, seemed quite absurd.

"Was this originally a wasteland?" Although a wasteland should not be casually occupied by neighboring countries, Yan Daoxin feigned ignorance to continue coaxing the other’s words.

"Not at all! This was originally the fields and woods of a nearby village. The Fan people poured poison water and released poisonous insects down from the walls, ruining the crops and killing the trees in the forest. The surrounding people had no way to live, so they had to move away.

The Fan people then seized the opportunity to take over this area."