Zhao Xingde and Li Rui were talking and laughing, when they suddenly heard an exclamation from outside Zheng Xiangtang, "Murder and murder!" In Zheng Xiangtang, the officials of the five prefectures who were still arguing and arguing couldn't help but look at each other in amazement, and they hadn't come back to their senses. Several more "There are assassins!" "Come on!" These people believe they heard correctly. The assassin openly committed murder outside Zheng Xiangtang, as if a drop of water had dropped into the oil pot, and suddenly exploded the pot, and everyone had a look of shock, stunned and anger on their faces, and the crowd was excited, and nearly half of them drew their swords and ran towards the outside of the hall. Immediately after "Chase the Assassins!" "Catch them!" "Riders chase after you!" The voices came and went. Outside the hall there was the sound of horses' hooves.

Zhao Xingde and Li Rui's faces changed, and they poured out of the hall with the flow of people. Zhao Xingde held the hilt of the sword at his waist with his right hand, and carefully protected Li Rui behind him with his left hand. As soon as he arrived at the gate of the palace, he saw two people lying in the snow a hundred steps away, seemingly wearing Confucian robes, and their figures were vaguely familiar. The blood of the victim was soaked in the snow, and it looked particularly dazzling in the afternoon sun. An ominous premonition surged into Zhao Xingde's heart, and he immediately walked quickly towards that side.

Lieutenant Conyer stood in front of the victim and shouted, "Where is the sergeant!" The sergeants who had already drawn their blades gathered around him. Form a circle around the corpse to prevent others from coming forward. One is to prevent the accomplices of the suspect, and the other is to protect the scene of the murder. Not far away, more than a dozen people sat on their horses with swords, and the leader was leaning down to inquire about the direction of the murderer's escape from those who had witnessed the murderer, and then urged his horses to chase after him quickly.

When he came closer, he saw that the two scholars from the Dongren Society who had just left were killed and fell to the ground, Zhao Xingde's face was even heavier, and Li Rui's face changed greatly, and he said in a trembling voice: "Brother Wang, Brother Wu!" I saw that Wang Zhong was already lying on the ground and did not move. Wu Yue still had some breath, a sergeant was squatting to hold him, one hand pressed on the artery above his wound, but the blood continued to gurgle out, and he couldn't stop, Wu Yue's face gradually turned pale, and his exhalation was like a broken bellows. Li Rui immediately wanted to rush forward to visit, but was stopped by several sergeants who were already standing around.

Kang Deming's face turned pale, and he shouted: "Wait for idlers to not get close!" The sergeants drew their swords and moved the crowd five steps away from the corpses. The people gathered around consciously stood in the outer circle, some guessing the identity of the victim and the murderer, and some cursing through gritted teeth. The Scholar's Mansion is a sacred and solemn place, and even a battalion of Tiger Wing Army, which is stationed next to the Scholar's Mansion to protect it, cannot enter without the permission of the scholars. This assassin dared to commit murder here, and he also killed people at the door of Zheng Xiangtang, the most important thing in the Academy's Mansion, which was simply the greatest humiliation to all Xia Guoshi.

Seeing that Li Rui was stopped outside, Zhao Xingde walked over, handed over the waist card, and said in a deep voice: "The last general will be Zhao De of the Ying Camp." This is Mr. Li Rui, a friend of the victim. Captain Kang, can you let us come forward? Kang Deming went up and down him with vigilance, and in retrospect, it seemed that he did see Li Rui and Zhao De standing with the two victims. He nodded, and said in a deep voice, "Okay," and reminded, "Don't turn over that body until the inquest." ”

Zhao Xingde immediately stepped forward with Li Rui. But when he saw that Wang Zhong was shot in the face and throat, he was killed instantly. Wu Yue was shot in the chest, his face was already blue, his eyes were open, and his breath was weak. Li Rui squatted down beside him and whispered anxiously: "Brother Wu, Brother Wu!" Zhao Xingde looked at Wu Yue's wound carefully, a short crossbow arrow was deeply sunk into his left lung, he couldn't help but sigh secretly, this is a fatal wound that cannot be saved, if the crossbow arrow is pulled out on the spot, he is afraid that he will die immediately. And the new blood was black, which made Zhao Xingde's heart sink even more: "This is a poisonous crossbow, such a ruthless method." "The murderer was afraid that the shot would miss and that he would need his life, so he smeared the crossbow with a highly poisonous substance. He looked at the sergeant who was supporting Wu Yue, and the other party also looked at him with powerlessness.

He saw that Wu Yueshang was a little conscious, and said in a low voice: "Brother Wu, do you know who did the poison?" Kang Deming listened to Zhao Xingde's questioning and also walked over. Wu Yue's face was dazed, and his breath was faint: "I don't know." Kang Deming's face showed disappointment, Zhao Xingde also sighed slightly, and said: "Brother Wu, do you still have any unfulfilled wishes?" Wu Yue's eyes moved, looking at Li Rui, and then at Kang Deming, he only made a sound in his throat, Li Rui faintly heard a "gurgle" sound, his heart moved slightly, and he said in a deep voice: "Is it the matter of the apprentices in Guanzhong?" Wu Yue closed his eyes slightly, opened them again, and squeezed out a smile on his face, and before long, he shivered violently again, his teeth rattled, and he couldn't speak anymore.

At this time, there was the sound of horses' hooves outside the crowd, Zhao Xingde looked up and saw that it was more than 200 horsemen who were coming, and the leading captain of the Tiger Wing Military Academy asked where the murderer went, and immediately chased out with more than 100 horsemen, leaving more than 50 people to maintain at the scene of the murder, waiting for the officials of the Dunhuang government to come. When the formed Tiger Wings arrived, the sergeants who had previously maintained order dispersed. Only Zhao Xingde and Li Rui were still with the two victims.

Li Rui saw that Wu Yue's eyes had dilated, held his hand, and shouted in a low voice: "Brother Wu, Brother Wu." Wu Yue's snort gradually weakened, and his body gradually became cold, but his eyes were still open. Zhao Xingde was silent for a moment, and said in a low voice: "The murderer will definitely be brought to justice, Brother Wu is easy to go." She closed her eyes for him. At this time, the officials and servants had already arrived, carried the body onto the mortuary, and transported it back to the Dunhuang Lingyamen. Zhao Xingde left with Li Rui. The sun in the sky was bright and dazzling, but the mood of the two was as gloomy as a dark cloud.

The two of them walked to the fork of the road, and another team of more than 100 Tiger Wing cavalry passed by Zhao Xingde and Li Rui, and galloped north along the official road. The sergeant who lived nearby heard the news and immediately prepared his horse to join the search for the Assassin. Because of the haste of the incident, most people wore simple leather armor in their home robes, and then put on a sheepskin coat to keep out the cold overnight.

Zhao Xingde and Li Rui avoided the side of the road, looking at the back of the cavalry galloping away, Zhao Xingde couldn't help but speed up his pace. The Hexi Corridor where Dunhuang is located has a closed terrain and there is nowhere to hide in the plains, so the murderers fled to the north, always wanting to escape into the northern Horsehair Mountain. If they want to be brought to justice, it is best to catch up with the suspect before they cross the mountains and abscond into the desert. At the same time, the various mountain passes of Horsehair Mountain were blocked, and even the cavalry and the Shado pasture in the north of the desert were mobilized to intercept them.

"Shi Cai said that the crossbow arrows used by the assassins were weapons made in the Luoyang Workshop," Li Rui said as she walked, "It's probably the enemy of the Kanto region." ”

"It's unbelievable that they came all the way to Dunhuang to kill people." Zhao Xingde shook his head and said. It should not be a political enemy of the DPRK and China. The momentum of the society is greater, and the head of the society, Chen Dong, can still survive on Fujian Road. In the eyes of the traitorous party, this Dongren Society is just an ant-like existence, and it is really not enough to use assassins.

Li Rui also said: "I think it is clear that the murderer deliberately planted the blame. The two of them spoke. A horse galloped from the opposite side, and when he saw Zhao Xingde, he shouted loudly: "Zhao military envoy, there is an order from the General's Mansion, and our battalion will gather the brothers stationed in the Western Capital to assist in chasing down the suspect of the assassination in the Bachelor's Mansion." Did the Assassins flee north? Zhao Xingde looked up and saw that it was Liu Zheng, a sergeant under his command, nodded and said loudly: "Okay, I will also prepare the horse immediately." ”

Liu Zheng gave a military salute to Zhao Xingde on the horse, shouted loudly in his mouth, slammed the horse's belly, and urged the horse to go north. He also had to inform several other Sergeants of the Chengying Battalion who were resting at their homes nearby.

The military order was like a mountain, Zhao Xingde immediately said goodbye to Li Rui, and hurried home, Li Ruoxue had already received Liu Zheng's notice and stood in the courtyard waiting. Zhao Xingde's armor, bow and arrows, grain water bladders, and large coats were all sorted out and placed next to the saddle. Zhao Xingde's face pretended to be relaxed, smiled slightly, gently hugged Ruoxue in his arms, and said with relief: "It's just a few clowns hiding in the dark, and the General's Mansion has launched a net of heaven and earth, which will make it impossible for him to spread his wings." ”

He said it easily, in fact, thousands of troops were scattered, each small team of sergeants only a few horses, a dozen horses, if suddenly encountered those assassins, the other party dared to assassinate in the Dunhuang Bachelor's Mansion, he was not afraid of death, and there was a poisonous crossbow, and the trapped beast was still fighting, it was still quite dangerous.

Li Ruoxue lowered her eyes, covered the worry in her eyes, and said in a low voice, "Take care." Forcibly held back his reluctance, let go of Zhao Xingde, watched him get on the horse and gallop out of the door, before returning to the bedroom, kneeling in front of the Guanyin statue and closing his eyes to pray for him for safety.

This bloody case in the Bachelor's Mansion shook the Five Mansions. Emperor Chen Xuanyi was furious, and personally issued an order, ordering the Dragon Tooth Army to transfer two battalions of sergeants to arrest the suspects, half an hour later, the Dragon Tooth, Tiger Wing, and Chengying Army dispatched a total of thousands of sergeants, and the cavalry opened a large net and slowly searched northward, and the other military envoy Fei Cai notified the Fengsui, the battalion and the Yinhu Ranch north of the Horsehair Mountain Pass, and paid close attention to all suspicious people. Yumen Pass and Yangguan in the northwest and Xiaoguan in the southeast are all closed.

This great search related to the prestige of the imperial court lasted from day to night, and the advance Tiger Wing Army continued to find traces of the fleeing suspect, and the hounds domesticated by the Military Intelligence Department and the Yamen of Dunhuang Mansion also followed the smell of the suspect's war horse. At night, thousands of soldiers lit torches and searched in the wilderness, and finally at dawn the next day, the three suspects were besieged in a col in the Horsehair Mountain, but the three outlaws, in desperation, committed suicide with a poisonous crossbow.

The huge formation was put on, but only three corpses were brought back. Needless to say, there must be a mastermind behind the suspect, but it takes time to verify. After a day and night of toil, the cavalry returning were a little listless. Behind the window of a small building, a figure stood sideways in the shadows, with a pair of cold eyes, looking at all this condescendingly.

"I shot two buzzing flies to death, and I watched a big show. 20,000 guan, the value of the flower. Qiu Daguan turned the jasper ring on his index finger, and a contemptuous smile appeared on his face. His hands were well maintained, and the thick joints were sunk in the thick muscles.

"Shopkeeper, will it be too much trouble this time, and there will be some risks?" Shopkeeper Luo, who was standing behind him, asked cautiously. He is the treasurer of Qiu Daguan's most confidant. When he was in the Song Kingdom, whether it was trafficking in human beings, illegal salt, or arranging people to smash rival shops, colluding with mountain bandits to kill people and plunder goods, Qiu Darui was relieved to let him do it. Sometimes Qiu Darui has no time to clone himself, and the gold worth more than 100,000 yuan is also assured to let the shopkeeper Luo handle it and hand it over to the government. This time the business was done, and Qiu Darui also took him with him. This time, dealing with this group of scholars who were also from the Kanto region to make trouble, Shopkeeper Luo felt that Qiu Daguan was not doing it properly.

"Risky?" Qiu Darui repeated softly, a cold light flashed in his eyes, and he said slowly, "If I let them enter the Prime Minister's Mansion, it will be called a risk." There was a power in the words that could not be disobeyed.