The morning light shone through the leaves, and a thick white mist covered the hillside like a veil.

Zuo Lie drove his horse to the grassy slope and saw that the tent of the camp had turned into rags and was lying on the ground, and the grass, rocks, and slopes were full of soldiers' corpses, and the blood was congealed black, one by one, like a black snake swimming on the hillside. Apparently there was an unusually fierce battle here last night.

Zuo Lie circled around the hillside, and then looked around on the top of the mountain, but he didn't find a single live hole.

When he visited his home last night, his wife and children did not know where to go, which already broke his heart, but the camp was ransacked and the whole army was destroyed, so anxious that he fell to the ground. Thinking of the earnest entrustment of the Shang King Zu Geng, the minister wanted Fu Shuo's expectant gaze, the kingdom of the world was eyeing the royal capital, and there was no square inch for a while, and in a trance, a hot current surged into the throat, and a stream of blood spurted out from a mouth, and it was dark in front of him, and he fainted between the rocks.

I don't know how long it took, in a trance, there was a hot and wet thing sweeping around on his face, Zuo Lie woke up slowly, opened his eyes and saw that his mount was licking his face with his tongue out, and turned his head to see that the thick fog in the morning had disappeared, and the melting sun was shining on the snow and dead branches of the treetops in the west, and a few jackdaws flew through the woods with a few sounds, apparently it was afternoon.

Lie sat up from the ground, calmed down a little, and a cold wind blew down from the top of the slope and blew on his back. He couldn't help but shudder, feeling that his stomach was rumbling with hunger, and his hands and feet were cold and weak. He himself searched for the army's dry food and ate a few bites, and then went to the mountain spring at the root of the mountain to drink water, and his body began to slowly warm up, and he had some strength, thinking about his life as a horse, he had never been so embarrassed as today, and he became a bald general without even seeing the face of the enemy. He couldn't help but regret that he had left the camp last night, and he didn't know who the enemy was in the shadows, but he had removed his men and horses overnight, and if he hadn't left last night, he would have been poisoned by him.

Zu Geng ordered him to find out the truth within five days and welcome the new king back to the north, and it was now the afternoon of the third day. A thought flashed through his mind, the only thing left in his mind was his own life, even if he couldn't fight the enemy hiding in the shadows, he had to figure out who the other party was. He didn't believe that the enemy could blockade the entire Panlong City, and as long as Zu Jia was still alive, he would do everything he could to find him and send him on his way back to the north.

Thinking of this, Lie changed his armor into a cloth robe, hung the bronze sword he carried with him at his waist, and disguised himself as a civilian to avoid people's eyes and ears, and rode a horse to look at Panlong City and run. When I arrived in the city, I saw that the streets in the city were much more depressed than ten years ago.

When Wu Ding was alive, he used this place as an important military and political town to guard the southern country, and he visited this place every five years to inspect in person, and brought the bronze smelting and pottery craftsmen of the Central Plains here, so that the handicraft here continued to progress, and it was famous, and constantly strengthened the city wall, recruited troops and horses, so that many people also gathered here to seek wealth, so that the commercial ports in the city were lined up, the boats and cars were like dragons, and the pedestrians were like weaving, and the prosperous scene was comparable to the royal capital.

After the death of Wu Ding, the second son Zu Geng succeeded to the throne, set his eyes on Mobei, stationed heavy troops in Yan Zhao, many merchants also chased the pace of Zu Geng, all the way to the north, resulting in the gradual reduction of the commercial port of Panlong City, the number of households halved, and only the locals who could not bear to leave their hometowns lived here.

Zuo Lie rode his horse and went straight to the southeast of the city, the palace of Panlong City was over there, and he still remembered that the last time Wu Ding and his wife came here, they stayed in the palace to summon him. From then on, he followed Wu Ding to fight in the south and the north, conquering a large area of land between the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, and establishing a vast empire. I thought that I was defeated by the heroes and was named the pioneer of the expedition to the west, how majestic it was, but now I was attacked by others and became a loner.

The door of the Panlong City Palace, which is tall and big, can drive six horses in parallel, and there are a few words written above the door: Panwang Palace, there is a team of soldiers standing on both sides of the door. A soldier saw that Zuo Lie was dressed as a civilian, with a scar on his face, only half an ear, and half an empty sleeve hanging down, and said that he was a crippled beggar, and blasted him away.

Zuo Lie took out the Wang Fu from his bosom and handed it to the soldiers led by him. The soldier led him to the hall of the house and sat down, and called a slave girl to serve tea.

Zuo Lie took two sips of tea and saw an eighteen or nineteen boy walk in outside the door. The young man had broad shoulders and a thin waist, fair skin, long eyebrows and a high nose, dark eyes, and was wearing a purple silk robe.

Zuo Lie secretly applauded the young man's graceful demeanor, not wanting the young man to be surprised by his appearance, maybe he was frightened by his appearance. The young man called the soldiers outside the door to ask, and the soldier presented the fierce king talisman, and the young man came to the hall after seeing it, looked at him with immature eyes, and said: "The king is coming, I don't know what happened?" ”

Zuo Lie was anxious to see Zu Jia, so he told the Shang King that he had been ill for a long time and was eager for Zu Jia to return to the north to take the throne.

The corners of the young man's mouth turned up slightly, revealing a subtle sneer, saying that his father had traveled far away and had not returned, and he could not accept the king's order.

Zuo Lie heard him call Zu Jia his father, thinking that he must be Zu Jia's son. The heart said, I didn't expect Zujia to live here, but he had already married a wife, and the children were nearly weak. If he can return to Yin to attack the king, this child will naturally be the crown prince.

Zuo Lie asked the young man when Zu Jia would be able to return.

"I don't know!" The teenager said.

He also asked Zu Jia if he could bring a guard with him.

The boy said, "There should be." ”

The current situation is complicated, Zuo Lie is worried that Zu Jia will be harmed, so he asks the young man to tell Zu Jia where he is traveling and wants to go to protect him in person.

The young man looked embarrassed and said, "My father didn't tell him where he was when he went out. And he has always had guards by his side, so nothing should happen. It is estimated that after tonight, I will be able to return home tomorrow. Speaking of this, I only heard a woman in the corridor outside the house shouting, "Yan'er, come here." "It sounded very good, soft and crisp.

Zuo Lie listened to this voice, stunned, and felt very familiar.

The young man answered, and then ordered the slave girl next to him to arrange for the guests to rest, and then went out, and disappeared after three or two turns between the pillars.

Zuo Lie wanted to ask some more questions, talk about the strange things in the past two days, and tell the young man named Yan'er to arrange for the government soldiers to be more guarded, but he didn't want him to disappear like a gust of wind. Looking at his somewhat immature back, his heart suddenly became hot. Thinking that his son is still alive and is exactly the same age as him, he doesn't feel secretly sighing.

The slave girl led him to a room. The beds, beds, bedding, tables, chairs, and tea sets in the room are all complete, and I think it is a post house specially used to welcome guests. When he was seated, another slave girl brought dinner. He ate supper, drank two glasses of wine, washed his face, hands and feet, put the brass sword at his waist under his pillow, took off his coat and went to bed and lay down. He was immediately bumpy, hungry and cold, and exhausted for a long time, and as soon as he touched his head on the pillow, he fell into a deep sleep. In the middle of the night, his lower abdomen tightened, and the string in his heart suddenly tightened, and the danger hidden in his heart suddenly jumped out of his dream, and he was so startled that he hurriedly broke free from his sleep and opened his eyes.

There are several wooden lattice windows in this room, and at night they are all covered by thick curtains, and there is no light to come in, Zuo Lie's eyes are dark, and when his eyes slowly get used to it, he suddenly saw a black shadow standing upside down in front of the bed, at first he thought it was in a dream, he was dazzled, and he rubbed his eyes, but he saw that the black shadow turned in a circle in the air and fell to the ground, without the slightest sound, like a ghost, which scared Lie out of a cold sweat.

The black shadow flickered to the side of the bed, and raised a cold light to stab at the left fierce neck. Lie instinctively fell backwards, and the cold light slashed the gauze tent above his head in two, and then rushed to Zuo Lie's chest with great speed. Zuo Lie has been through a hundred battles in the end, although he is old and disabled, at this critical moment, he can also rely on his instinct to roll out of the bed, and immediately roll to the feet of the black shadow, but the left half-amputated arm is still touched by the cold light, and there is a huge pain. Ignoring the pain, he swept the bronze sword in his hand against the ground and towards the black shadow's calf.

The black shadow didn't expect him to dodge and kill twice in succession, and he could still hand a sword to himself, and he hurriedly jumped back, but the bronze sword was too close, and although he let go of the sword, it was swept to the calf by the sharp tip of the sword, pulling out a bloody wound. But the black shadow had already reached the door, and as soon as he turned around, he disappeared, but he swished and sent two hidden weapons to the door of Zuo Lie's face. Zuo Lie was lying on the ground, too late to get up, the sword dance swept all the hidden weapons down, and said in his heart, this is the clue, don't lose it, rolled up from the ground and chased out of the door.

The palace is built on a flat hill on the shore of Panlong Lake, surrounded by water on three sides, there is a wharf in the south, there are many cargo ships and fishing boats moored there, fluttering and swaying in the waves, fishermen and boatmen go out of the port to fish and transport goods during the day, and at night the boat is moored here to cook on the fire, pulp laundry, sew fishing nets, take the fishing nets to the tidal flats to dry, because there are many fishermen, the fishing nets are connected end to end straight like a labyrinth.

Zuo Lie followed the black shadow and jumped to the courtyard wall, and saw the black shadow squatting and swept past the wall. The wall of the courtyard was much higher than the ordinary one, and Zuo Lie had difficulty with his hands and feet, so he needed the strength of one hand to climb the wall, and by the time he stood firm at the head of the wall, the black shadow had already run down the hill and ran into the labyrinth of fishing nets on the tidal flats.

Zuo Lie was unwilling to give up, and limped to chase there, but he didn't see even half a figure, only the fishing nets rustling in the night wind, so he had to turn around and go back to the house. He lit the lamp and examined his left arm, but fortunately he had only some flesh wounds, not bones, so he bandaged it with the herbs he had brought with him. Because of the danger at any time, he didn't dare to sleep again, so he raised his pillow and half-lay at the head of the bed with his sword in his arms.

Zuo Lie wondered in his heart, how could there be assassins in the palace? How did the Assassin know that he had come to greet Zujia, but he had been dressed as a civilian all the way? And I also accurately found the post house where I stayed. Thinking carefully about the way to the palace, there was no one to follow, could it be that there were spies in this palace? If this is the case, then there were no less than 100 slaves and maidservants in this palace, and who revealed the news to the Assassins? In the few hours since I entered the palace, only two female slaves had entered, and those two female slaves were petite, and the tall figure of the assassin was very different, and it was impossible for them to be them. No matter how much he thought about the guards he encountered in the palace, he couldn't think of anyone with a physique similar to this assassin. However, as soon as this assassin appeared, he felt that he had a clue, as long as he found this assassin, he could find out about the Yingjia army. Taking a step back, even if the murderer can't be detected, as long as he survives tonight safely, Zujia returns home tomorrow and asks him to embark on the road back to the north, which is a good start.

At this time, a string of music came from nowhere, and it was carefully identified as a Tao Xun, whimpering, crying like a complaint. Outside the window, the moonlight and clouds alternated, and the music was like a ghost wandering among the dark houses. Zuo Lie secretly thought, now that the strong enemy is in the dark, I am in the light, and I must be vigilant when necessary, and when I think of this, my ears become more and more vigilant, and the music becomes clearer, and the thoughts of listening to people gradually go away, and I fall asleep flutteringly.