In the early morning, the sky was already bright, and there were not many pedestrians on the potholed and uneven streets of Cangzhou Prefecture.

Cangzhou was not a big state in the first place, the population was not large, and in the past two years, because of the increasingly fierce bandits and wars, the entire city has been half empty.

Some people died, some people fled to other places, and the people who still stayed in Cangzhou were either unable to leave their homeland, or had no relatives to run to, not so much living in Cangzhou, but fighting for their lives with the sky.

At a vegetable stall on the side of the street, a woman passing by stopped, carried a vegetable basket, and after picking and choosing, asked, "How do you sell this turnip?" ”

The stall owner sat on the stone steps, raised his head, and said, "Two pennies a catty." ”

"Two pennies?" The woman in coarse cloth frowned and said, "Yesterday it was still a penny!" ”

The stall owner glanced at her and said lightly: "Yesterday, the official master only charged five cents for occupying the road, and today he will charge ten cents!" ”

The price of a pound of radish doubled, and the original one-month expense would now be used up in half a month, and the woman picked up the vegetable basket angrily and said, "I'll take a look at other ones!" ”

She walked around the street, and when she came back again, her face completely collapsed.

"Where is this drinking blood and eating meat, they are going to smash their bones and swallow them, this day is about to be unbearable!"

"Who said it wasn'......" The stall owner who sold vegetables finally sighed and said: "When Cangzhou was occupied by those anti-thieves, it was the people who suffered, and now Cangzhou has been taken back by the government, and it is still the people who suffer, when will this hard day be the end?" ”

The woman thought for a while and said, "That's not necessarily bad, when Princess Duanrong was in Cangzhou two years ago, everything wasn't all good, alas, it's a pity ......"

The stall owner seemed to remember something, and suddenly said, "I heard two days ago that Her Royal Highness the princess is coming back......

The woman put down the vegetable basket and said mysteriously: "I also heard that Princess Duanrong has been the emperor's life since she was a child, and she is the same as the princess of Jingguo next door, and she will become the empress in ......the future."

The two of them talked mysteriously for a while, and the stall owner waved his hand and said: "Sister-in-law, I see that you and I can talk very well, this is all fate, so let's sell this dish to you today, or the price of yesterday......"

"That's a ......good feeling," said the woman, with a smile on her face, "I have to pick a little more today!" ”

She picked a whole basket of vegetables, handed it to the stall owner, and said, "Weigh it." ”

After weighing the stall owner, he said: "A total of twenty-two yuan, I will wipe you a small amount and give twenty yuan." ”

The woman took out her purse, counted the copper coins, gave them to him, and said, "Count them." ”

The stall owner smiled, kicked the vegetable money into his arms, and said, "You don't need to count it, sister-in-law, can you still lie to me......

"Nacheng, I'll go back first!" The woman waved her hand to him, and when the stall owner saw her disappear, he immediately counted the money that he had brought back to his arms, and it didn't matter if he gave two less, because the money for the vegetables was originally twenty yuan, and he added a small change and wiped another one......

After counting it twice, looking at the eighteen cents in his hand, the stall owner fell into deep thought.

He sighed, the world is declining, the people's hearts are not ancient, and the current people are even ignorant of two pennies for vegetables, and the simple folk customs of Cangzhou are corrupted by these people......

At this time, a man who was walking and pulling his belt came over and asked, "Lao Wang, did anyone come to buy vegetables just now?" ”

The young stall owner kicked the money in his arms, stood up, waved his hand, and said, "No, but a sister-in-law came and picked out the dishes for a long time, but then it was too expensive, so I didn't buy ......."

"Alas, I don't want to go up, but if it doesn't go up, this little money will be handed over to the government, you say they, why can't they learn from the previous Princess Duanrong......" The man sighed, looked at him, and said gratefully: "I had a bad stomach yesterday, thank you for helping me look at the stall......"

"You're welcome...... the young man stood up, waved his hand, and said, "It's just a gesture......

After the young man left, the man counted with his fingers and muttered, "It's a good day......

He cleaned up the vegetable stall early, returned home, told his wife and children to take good care of the house, walked out of the house by himself, walked around a few streets and alleys, and when he walked to the door of a deep house, he gently knocked on the door three times, and said in a low voice: "Jing Ke assassinated King Qin." ”

The gate opened, he walked in, closed them with his hand, and dozens of people had gathered in the spacious courtyard in front of him.

After another half an hour, from time to time someone came in from outside, and at a certain moment, someone counted the number of people, and everyone stood neatly in the courtyard, and a young man came out of it.

Everyone bowed down and said, "I've seen the messenger!" ”

"No need to be polite." The young man waved his hand and said: "I won't say more nonsense, the defenders outside the city are blocked, tonight's task is to enter the Assassin's Mansion, the Assassin's Mansion, our people are ready, you must remember, we are different from those thieves, after attacking the Assassin's Mansion, we are not allowed to loot and kill, if there is a violator, the canon will be dealt with!" ”

"Yes!"

Everyone responded in unison.

……

Thorn Shifu, for some reason, Cangzhou Thorn Shi always felt a little restless tonight.

It was already dark, and he walked out of the hall into the courtyard, pacing a little anxiously.

A figure walked into the courtyard from outside, walked to his side, and asked with concern, "My lord, what's wrong?" ”

Cangzhou Thorn Shi looked at the master beside him and asked, "There is no news of Princess Duanrong yet?" ”

These days, he didn't care about the rumors about Princess Duanrong in Cangzhou City, but in the past few days, the rumors have been very loud and rainy, and his heart finally began to feel uneasy.

When the master heard this, he smiled and said: "My lord is too worried, these things are just the products of those foolish people chasing after the wind and shadows, and exaggerating them exaggeratedly, do you also think that Princess Duanrong can be the emperor?" ”

When Cangzhou Assassin Shi heard this, he felt a little relieved, thought about it, and said: "There is no wind and no waves, and there is a root cause in chasing after the wind and shadows, so we can't take it lightly, and let the city defense strengthen the defense these days......"

The master nodded and said, "Yes, I'll go down and make arrangements." ”

"In addition, send someone to post the portrait of Princess Duanrong, and post more outside the state city, and those who find clues will be rewarded with a thousand taels of silver!"

"Yes!"

Cangzhou Thorn Shi waved his hand and said, "Okay, you go down and make arrangements." ”

Watching the master walk out, he stroked his beard, Cangzhou is a place, he doesn't want to stay for a moment, if he can catch Princess Duanrong, he will be greeted with a bright future......

The master walked out of the courtyard, took two servants, walked to the gate of the Assassin's Mansion, and said to the few people guarding the door: "Lord Assassin has an order, step up patrols in the past few days, there are not enough people on the city defense side, you can also go together, just leave it to the two of them here." ”

Several people did not suspect it, and immediately retreated after responding respectfully.

At the same time, Cangzhou Thorn Shi returned to the hall, looked at the few people who suddenly appeared in the hall, and paused.

A young woman at the front looked at him and asked, "Are you looking for me?" ”

After Cangzhou Thorn Shi was stunned, his face changed wildly, and he immediately turned around and withdrew from the hall.

At this time, there was already a mess in the Assassin's Mansion, and the fire outside the city was even more intense, and a voice loomed, like thunder......