The sky was faint, and the fire in the criminal department was still burning.

Mei Xiaoren and the Living Yama King stood side by side outside the gate, waiting for everyone to put out the fire. It was not enough to rely on the officials of the Shanggyeong Prefecture and the government soldiers of the Criminal Department to extinguish the fire, but two hours ago, the forbidden army guarding Gyeonggi arrived to help, so that the fire could be brought under control and did not continue to spread.

Mei Xiaoren caught a glimpse of the Living Hades holding the sword in his hand, still with an ice ballast face. She asked lightly, "Xiangye asked you to come?" ”

"The prince of Xia is a repeat offender in the imperial court, and there can be no mistakes."

"Why didn't you lock up the prisoners in the first place, you're not safer there than here?"

Liuyue glanced at Mei Xiaoren, "The Hidden Moon Terrace Prison only disposes of the people who are asked by the master to dispose of them, and the people in it are not charged with crimes and have no way to live, and the people of the imperial court naturally have to be taken into custody by the yamen of the imperial court." ”

No way out? Mei Xiaoren "chuckled" in his heart, frowned and asked, "There are no exceptions?" ”

"There are no exceptions."

"And what about the people you took from the academy in the first place?"

Liuyue glanced at Mei Xiaoren again, "Who do you want to inquire about?" ”

There were many people around, Mei Xiaoren tilted his head slightly, and whispered, "Bishop Zhou." ”

"Oh."

Mei Xiaoren hurriedly asked, "How is he?" ”

Liuyue looked ahead, clasped her hands, and looked indifferent, "If you want to know, go ask the master yourself." ”

Mei Xiaoren couldn't help but glance at him, if she had the courage to ask, she would have asked it earlier, in the past, because the weight of this question was too heavy, and one answer might make some changes between them, she didn't dare to ask easily; Now that something had changed between them, she didn't even dare to look at him, let alone ask questions......

Two hours later, the flame was extinguished.

Mei Xiaoren and Liuyue walked into the backyard of the Criminal Department, and they saw ruins, most of the houses were burned to ruins, and smoke was billowing everywhere.

At first, the fire was confined in the high wall, but then the door in the middle was burned down, and the tongue of fire spat out to ignite the house outside.

Mei Xiaoren stood inside the wall and looked around, and as far as the eye could see, it was a mess, and the prison was burned to the ground, and it collapsed.

The air was filled with the smell of burning, unusually unpleasant, and she took out a handkerchief to cover her mouth and nose and walked around.

After noon, the officials cleaned up the ruins, and the corpses they found were neatly laid out in the open space in the high wall, most of them were charred, and it was impossible to distinguish between men and women, let alone see their faces......

After counting the number of people, the waiter of the criminal department reported to Liuyue: "Governor, it is the death row cell that is on fire, and there are forty-three death row inmates in custody, and many of them are here. ”

Mei Xiaoren asked: "Including the prince of Xia Kingdom?" ”

"Including."

Mei Xiaoren's frowning eyebrows still didn't loosen. When she walked around the courtyard just now, she endured her nausea and carefully looked at every unrecognizable corpse, and she wanted to find out the prince of Xia Kingdom, but when she saw the end, she was not sure.

The waiter of the criminal department said that all the prisoners were here, Mei Xiaoren glanced over, and saw that although these people were fat and thin, they were not much different in height and shortness, and she remembered that the prince of Xia Kingdom was born very tall.

Of all the corpses, none of them fit her impression.

"Mei Fucheng, the envoys of the Xia Kingdom are still in the post house."

The Living Yama said behind her.

Mei Xiaoren left the officials to help clean up, and she followed the living Hades out of the criminal department, one person and one horse, and rushed to the post house.

On the way, Mei Xiaoren asked while riding his horse: "The Metropolitan Governor also suspects that there is something wrong with this fire?" ”

"The master said that it is not strange that the capital caught fire, but the strange thing is that it burned the criminal department."

Mei Xiaoren nodded. If this fire originated from someone who wanted to help the prince of Xia Kingdom, Jin Cicada, get out of his shell, then the envoys of Xia Kingdom must know about it, but it should not only be Xia people who helped.

How many people did the envoys bring into Beijing, and where did they have the ability to set fire to the prison of the Criminal Department, let alone take advantage of the chaos to pick up the prisoners......

Kyo Station.

At the beginning, in order to guard the envoys of the Xia State under Chu Yu's order, the Ministry of Rites specially borrowed troops from the forbidden army and surrounded the post house, so that no fly could fly out.

Wherever the Living Yama King reached, even the Ministry of Rites had to retreat three points, Mei Xiaoren followed the Living Yama King into the post house, went upstairs, and went straight to the upper room where the envoys of the Xia Kingdom lived.

At this time, the door of the room was closed, and there were two Xia Kingdom guards standing outside.

Mei Xiaoren walked outside the door and said, "Your Excellency, we have something important to inform your lordship, and I hope your lord will come out to see you." ”

As soon as her voice fell, the door of the room immediately opened, and the envoy of the Xia Kingdom walked out with a stiff face, and after seeing her, his face became even more gloomy, "Is it about my prince?" ”

"Last night, the prison of the Ministry of Punishment was flooded, and the fire was so fast that none of the people we found inside survived."

The envoys of the Xia Kingdom were stunned: "What, you burned to death my prince of Great Xia!" ”

The corners of Mei Xiaoren's lips twitched, and he asked with interest: "How do you know that your prince is in the prison of the Criminal Department?" Then he asked, "Why, in order to rob the prison, you made special inquiries?" ”

She asked the people from the Ministry of Rites outside the post house, and the people from the Ministry of Rites said that during the time that the envoys of the Xia Kingdom were locked up here, they had never paid attention to him, and his news should be closed.

"You don't want to frame indiscriminately, the cell is on fire, you came to tell me, isn't it related to the prince?"

Mei Xiaoren didn't bother to talk nonsense with anyone, and said bluntly: "Where is your prince, explain it as soon as possible, if you don't want to say it, whether he can have the life to leave Daning doesn't matter for the time being, and you are destined to be difficult to leave alive." ”

"The two countries are at war without ......"

Before the envoy of the Xia Kingdom finished speaking, with a "bang", a silver sword glowing with cold light was already on his neck.

Mei Xiaoren saw the Living Yama King calmly draw his sword, and slowly stretched it forward, just like that, the envoys of the Xia Kingdom closed their mouths for talking nonsense.

Seeing this, the two Xia Kingdom guards drew their swords and faced each other. The envoy of the Xia Kingdom sneered: "You killed the prince, and you still want to kill us?" ”

"The sins committed by your prince have nothing to do with you, but you robbed the prison and hid people, which is regarded as the same crime, and you are not honest!" Mei Xiaoren said.

"We don't know!" The envoy of the Xia Kingdom raised his chin and looked hard.

Liuyue indifferently put away her sword and turned to leave.

Mei Xiaoren guessed that he should go back to ask his master, after all, envoys are different from ordinary criminals, whether to arrest or not, they have no right to make up their minds.

She also turned around, and heard the person behind her mutter, and when the voice stopped, she was jerked forward, and when she stood still, she saw that the Living Hades had drawn his sword again, and stabbed straight behind her.

It turned out that the two Xia Kingdom guards planned to take advantage of their surprise and sneak attack from behind.

Seeing that the conspiracy was revealed, the two guards immediately raised their swords and slashed at the living Hades, risking their lives to resist.

The corridor is narrow, but it's big enough to live Hades.

The movement alarmed the forbidden army outside the courtyard, and before the forbidden army rushed upstairs, the living king of Hades had already raised his sword and dealt with the two people who did not want to die.

One of them was sealed in the throat, the other was pierced in the heart, and only the envoys of the Xia Kingdom who were hiding behind were still unharmed.