The red flag messenger came from Jiangling, and the guards of the Xiangyang city gate saw the red flag messenger from afar, and knew that something was wrong, so they hurriedly greeted it.

The Red Flag Messenger handed the guards a bamboo tube wrapped in several layers of red cloth, and then planted it from his horse and passed out.

The guards hurriedly sent the bamboo tube wrapped in red cloth to Xingzai, and the inner guards handed it to the inner supervisor, who in turn hurriedly presented it to Emperor Liu Jian.

The internal supervisor opened the bamboo tube for Liu Jian and took out the secret letter to see that the content was that the county guards, Taishou and county commanders of Jiangling, Jingling, and Wuchang had been assassinated within three days.

Liu Jian threw the secret letter to the ground: "It's too much to deceive people!" Deliver the decree and arrest the rebel! Destroy the Nine Clans! ”

The inner supervisors were stunned, and Liu Jian immediately understood that he had lost his temper, and he didn't know who did it, and this will was passed on in vain.

"Well, quickly go and convene the officials above the fifth grade in Xiangyang to discuss it! This matter must be investigated! ”

More than 300 years after the founding of the Great Liang People's Republic of China, even if it is the remnants of the mountains and rivers now, it is the first time that such a large-scale local official has been assassinated.

This is flouting imperial power, and it is also openly declaring war on the clans behind the officials! Who has the audacity?

When the officials gathered in the Jixian Palace, Liu Jian had already seen the details of the secret letter.

The death of Wang Qing of Jiangling County, the death of Luo Yu, the death of Luo Yu, the Taishou of Wuchang, and the death of Yang Tan, the Taishou of Wuchang, and the remaining officials were as many as 43 people were killed, and 76 people were seriously injured.

When the ministers were informed of this situation, everyone's faces changed drastically, one was shocked, and the other was afraid of endangering themselves.

What kind of great ability does it take to kill hundreds of seriously wounded officials in three days?

Today has the ability to kill dozens of magistrates overnight, and tomorrow it will be killed in Xiangyang City.

Zhen Yuanhao was the first to speak: "The minister thought that it was necessary to strengthen the vigilance of the capital, implement a curfew, strictly check all the personnel who entered the capital, and ensure the safety of His Majesty and hundreds of officials first!" and then send capable ministers with strong martial arts to Jiangling and other places to investigate the case in detail, it is impossible for the murderer to kill so many court officials, it is impossible not to leave clues! ”

Liu Jian nodded: "Then who wants to be in charge of the defense of the capital?" Who went to Gangneung to investigate the case? ”

In normal times, Huang Chuanting and others from the academy would have taken over the defense of the capital a long time ago, and they were silent at the moment.

Because no one can guarantee whether these murderers have already entered the capital, and if something happens in the capital at that time, the person in charge of defense will be inescapable.

Murong Ling took over the matter of being in charge of defense: "The curfew and inventory of the capital are only treating the symptoms but not the root cause, and they are very passive, there is a way to do it, but I can't say it to you above the court, and I will explain it to you in detail after I implement it!" ”

Liu Jian knew Murong Ling's methods, so he stared at Murong Ling and said firmly: "I believe in you, from this moment on, the forbidden army, internal guards, and patrol battalions are all at your disposal!" ”

Murong Ling also nodded: "You can do me a favor and help me spread a message, just say that with my Murong Ling here, don't even think of an assassin in this capital to come in!" ”

Everyone looked at each other, only Liu Mingge smiled: "You guys just do it!" Are you willing to go with me to Gangneung to investigate the case? ”

As soon as he mentioned going to Jiangling, the sound of discussion suddenly stopped, and only Di Jing, the secretary of Dali Temple, replied: "Di is willing to go with the prime minister!" ”

It's not that Di Jing is not afraid of danger, it's just that this matter is his duty, plus he was directly promoted by Liu Jian, so he neither belongs to the academy faction, nor is he a person from Chen Jiajun or Liu Mingge.

Liu Jian was a little relieved that he finally had his cronies willing to share his worries.

"Okay, the prime minister and Dali Siqing are willing to risk their lives to investigate the case, and I am from the twenty-four camps outside the city

Deploy a battalion of soldiers and horses to protect you! ”

"Your Majesty has received it with good intentions! We don't bring this soldiers and horses, but Suizhou, Yiling and the water and land checkpoints leading to the capital need some soldiers and horses, and please command and dispatch as soon as possible! ”

"The two of you don't bring soldiers and horses, go deep into the dangerous place, I can't rest assured, in case there is a mistake, the court will suffer heavy losses! I am ashamed of you! Liu Jian was still a little worried

"Your Majesty, there are hundreds of soldiers guarding the county guard, but they still haven't escaped the disaster! It shows that the other party is an assassin with high martial arts, and we sent a large army to Gangneung, but we were passive! Now that the minister and Dali Siqing are going, they can find some clues in the dark! By the way, the minister suddenly remembered a person, and His Majesty could send an edict to him to go to Gangneung first! This person is Li Xiaofei, who has been in Jiangling for a year! ”

"Li Xiaofei? There have been rumors in Jiangling that Li Xiaofei and Wang Qingzhi were at odds in the past, and this time Wang Qingzhi was killed, and many people suspected Li Xiaofei. If you send him, I'm afraid there will be more trouble! Chen Zhengnan reminded

"Yes, Li Xiaofei is the most inappropriate to go, and the assassin also knows that he will not go, but if he goes, all these things will change, and the assassin's original plan will also be affected. So that we can avoid being led by the nose by the Assassins! "What Liu Mingge wants is for someone to cause chaos and disrupt the assassin's inherent plan

"I think what the prime minister said makes sense, since even we are against Li Xiaofei going to Jiangling to investigate the case, the assassin must have thought of this! Now the imperial court deliberately sent Li Xiaofei to go, believing that the plans of those assassins would definitely be interfered with! ”

"Since this is the case, I followed the advice of the prime minister and you, and ordered Li Xiaofei to be the messenger and go to Jiangling and other places to solve the case within a month!"

After Li Xiaofei received the holy decree, he shook his head: "This month to solve the case, I'm afraid that I, Li Xiaofei, don't have this ability."

"Brother, did the emperor say to let you go alone?" Zhang Mengqi asked

"Not really, the decree says to do it cheaply! What advice does Brother Zhang have for solving the case? ”

"Haha, what advice can I have? Since it's cheap, I think you might as well ask for an order and bring a few battalions of soldiers and horses to search for it! ”

Li Xiaofei originally thought that this idea was a bad idea, but after thinking about it, it would be safer to have a few battalions of soldiers and horses in his hands.

"Brother Zhang is right, then bring Brother Zhang's Xiao Cavalry Camp and Feng Hengshan's Hengshan Camp! But I still have to ask Your Majesty for advice first! Mobilizing the army to leave the capital and go to the local county is a rebellion without asking for an order! ”

"It's easy to say, my brother is in the camp to prepare first!"

The request went very smoothly, but Liu Jian told Li Xiaofei to pay attention to protecting himself, and the surviving officials in Jiangling suspected that this matter was related to Li Xiaofei's implementation of the new policy.

Li Xiaofei also did not defend himself: "I know that Your Majesty believes in me!" What's more, if I have this ability, I will go directly to Cui Ju to implement the new policy! ”

"Take care! There aren't many people I can trust! ”

Li Xiaofei led two battalions of soldiers and horses to arrest the assassin with great fanfare along the way, and many people laughed at him behind his back, where can the assassin be caught like this.

Murong Ling's boast of Haikou was slapped in the face on the third day, and Du Zhishangshu Xiang Xiaoyu, Yushi Dafu Yan Yi, and Lang Zhong Ling Han Shi were assassinated one after another.

Among them, Xiang Xiaoyu was killed on the spot, and Murong Ling and the forbidden army only recaptured the body.

Three ministers were assassinated, and one died, and the whole capital was panicked, especially some inns looked like assassins.

The patrol battalion and the internal guards took advantage of the situation to search the whole city, and after searching for more than ten days, the assassins did not find it, but they arrested some spies and Jiangyang thieves.

In fact, there were no assassins in the capital, and the assassination of Xiang Xiaoyu and the other three was just a bureau set up by Murong Ling, and the purpose was

Let everyone in the capital become frightened birds.

However, the funeral and other activities for Xiang Xiaoyu are going on as usual, Xiang Xiaoyu's wife and children are crying in a faint way, and at the same time, Xiang Xiaoyu has been secretly escorted by Murong Ling to Chengdu Ren Yizhou as a transit envoy.

In this way, strangers have nowhere to hide in the capital, because in the mouths of the people, three big officials have not been killed a long time ago.

Even children don't dare to go out casually, because they all know that hundreds of officials have been killed in the capital, and who else has been wiped out, and so on.

"It seems that this rumor is sometimes beneficial," Liu Jian said to Murong Ling

Murong Ling still looked solemn: "Your Majesty, this battle has just begun, and the investigators have not yet passed back any useful information, and we have not found any evidence. It looks like the opponent has been planning for a long time! ”

"Doubt, everyone is just skeptical, but doubt may also have his reasonableness!" Liu Jian actually suspected that Pharmacist Zhu was going to do it, so he created such an incident to disturb Liu Jian

In terms of motives, it is indeed possible that Pharmacist Zhu, because now Liu Jian's subordinates are panicking, and the army has also disrupted the original deployment because of the capture of the assassins.

But from this point of view, Cui Ju also has the possibility of committing a crime, and the suspicion is greater.

"Your Majesty, the purpose of the Assassins is to lead us to suspect our imaginary enemies, and they continue to hide! On the surface, it seems that all the local officials were killed, and the ministers of the DPRK and China were not injured in the slightest. But in fact, it put everyone in danger, and it also made the local court suspicious, this trick is too insidious! ”

"In that case, we have to wait! But in the end, this matter must be explained to the officials who were killed! Otherwise, there will be no one to use in the future! ”

Liu Mingge and Di Jing pretended to be gentlemen who told fortunes, Liu Mingge was blindfolded, and Di Jing led him with a red rope and walked on a bamboo pole.

The two of them are dressed in coarse linen clothes, and they have been walking for more than ten days, so they seem to be fortune tellers who have been walking among the people for many years.

By the time they came to Jiangling City, Li Xiaofei and they had already arrived for ten days.

Li Xiaofei and Zhang Mengqi, Feng Hengshan, plus the people of the Linjiang King's Mansion, reviewed the entire Jiangling City over and over again.

This stupid method still paid off, in addition to catching some thieves and thieves, it also caught a person related to the case.

Wang Huaien, the steward of the county guard, did not find evidence of him, but Feng Hengshan, a big fat man, saw that this clear-eyed steward was not pleasing to the eye, and wanted to make things difficult for him, but after a scare and whipping, Wang Huaien did all the tricks.

Li Xiaofei was stunned: "This is okay?" Just look at a person who is not pleasing to the eye, and you can find clues by arresting and torturing them? ”

Wang Huaien kowtowed like pounding garlic: "I didn't kill anyone!" I didn't kill anyone! I just told them which room the adults slept in."

"Nonsense, if you tell them all such secrets, will you be able to live?" Zhang Mengqi didn't believe it either

"No, no, no, I didn't say it directly, I said it when I went to find Xiaowei, who was my good friend in Ruyi Building, and bragged to Xiaowei that I was in charge of affairs in the county guard's mansion. Later, Xiaowei suddenly disappeared, and then Lord Wang was killed, when I thought about it, I was afraid, and I blamed me for being greedy for beauty! ”

"You're a good kid at making up stories! If you don't tell the truth, I'll cut you right now! Zhang Mengqi pulled out his knife and came out

"My lord, spare my life, I tell the truth! It was I who ate flower wine in Ruyi Building, drank too much, stayed there for one night, and only found that I had lost a key to the firewood house when I returned home. That Xiaowei is indeed missing, this, adult, I am telling the truth, please find out! ”